On how PhDs become human evil

However, few people know that in Fuyuki City, besides the Tohsaka family, there is another family of magicians.

——【Matou】

Many people might not recognize the family name, but its other name carries some weight among the older generation in the magic world.

The Zorgens were originally a clan in Europe skilled at creating familiars. Two hundred years ago, the head of the clan, in order to achieve his wish of immortality, together with the Tohsaka family and the Einzbern family, constructed a ritual called the Heaven's Feel in Fuyuki City.

However, on the eve of the ritual's completion, the three starter families turned on each other, each wanting to monopolize the spoils. Coupled with various objective reasons, the ritual ultimately failed, later known as the "First Holy Grail War."

It can be said that, although it is not widely known, the Matou family has achieved remarkable success as a family of mages, because they developed the Command Seals system for the Holy Grail War.

And now, Bai Jie has arrived at the gate of this reclusive family.

Among the three founding families of the Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family is hidden in the forest, its atmosphere incredibly tranquil, like a mythical secret realm. The Tohsaka family, on the other hand, exudes an aristocratic air due to their family rules, noble and elegant.

However, the Matou family residence in front of Bai Jie was like a ghostly realm; it could easily be called a haunted house. The eerie atmosphere made people not want to get close at all, and they would stay as far away as possible.

"I'm sorry, Master, I made you come to a place like this specifically." Kallen said apologetically.

"I'm fine with it, there are plenty of eerie places over there, like the Clock Tower. What I'm more concerned about is why you came here in the first place?"

Although they had only spent a few days together, Bai Jie had come to understand Kallen's personality to some extent. She was definitely not someone who would return to a place like this for no reason. There must be a reason why she brought him here.

Nodding, Kallen of Original Sin said with a solemn expression, "The Phantom Thief discovered Berserker's Master and, after following him, found that he had come here."

"Berserker?"

Bai Jie frowned. He had never seen the Berserker in person, but he had heard some things about him from Kenneth.

His abilities are unknown, he has the ability to turn anything into a Noble Phantasm, and even though he is a berserker, his martial arts skills are top-notch.

In short—a formidable enemy!

But Bai Jie was even more confused. Even if he knew that the Berserker's Master lived here, why did he come here? Was he planning a decapitation operation?

“After following that Master here, the Phantom Thief originally intended to continue following him, but she left as soon as she got close,” Kallen continued to explain. “According to her, she sensed something that she felt a deep-seated loathing.”

"Something that you genuinely feel disgusted by?"

“Insects,” Kallen of Original Sin said. “And not just one insect. When she forced herself to sneak back in for the second time, she discovered an entire swarm of insects in the basement!”

A swarm of insects in a basement!

Just thinking about it gave Bai Jie the creeps. He really couldn't believe that a magician would like to keep insects. Although no magician was normal, this was the first time he had ever encountered one so abnormal!

"So you're planning to tear this place down?"

"Originally, I planned to summon the burial mechanism to carry out a devastating attack on this area, but doing so might leave some bugs behind, so I decided to eliminate them from within."

"Then why did you bring me here? Am I so weak that I'm just here to cheer you on and shout '666'?"

Kallen, her face stiffening, really wanted to say that if Master was so weak, then there were very few people in the world who could fight him, but looking at Bai Jie's harmless appearance...

"Master, please produce the Divine Keys like the Judgment of Heavenly Fire and the Oath of Judah before claiming you're powerless, okay? Also, I remember Miss Chen saying you can transform into some kind of Kamen Rider, right? And that hybrid cannon from before... You're telling me you're powerless?"

"But I really can't tie up a chicken. When I used to eat roasted chicken in Longmen, I tried to pick out a chicken, but I couldn't even catch it." Bai Jie said sincerely; he really couldn't even tie up a chicken!

(So ​​it was this chicken! Master, you really know how to twist concepts!)

Kallen, the original sin, can only be described this way: when she's serious, it seems like nothing can escape her predictions and calculations, but when she's not serious, she just talks nonsense, making it hard to tell which one is the real her.

"Okay, okay, I'll go with you. Let's have some dog food."

----------------------

Inside the Matou family residence, despite not having been notified beforehand, Bai Jie and Kallen were invited inside by a middle-aged man as soon as they arrived at the door. The man's name was Matou Tsuruno, the current head of the Matou family.

(The current head of the household acts like a servant, lacking any authority as the head of the family; he's just a puppet...)

Sitting on the sofa in the reception room, Bai Jie thought to himself that this was not uncommon in the magic world. Some magicians, due to their advanced age, did not want to deal with political issues, so they left all the daily affairs to the puppet family head they had supported. Although they had retired behind the scenes on the surface, when it came to important matters, the final decision was still made by him.

For magicians, politics is completely unimportant; its only purpose is to grant them more resources to get closer to the root of the problem.

"Tap tap tap..."

After waiting for about ten minutes, a sound finally came from outside the door. It sounded like a cane tapping on the floor, and soon Bai Jie heard someone speaking.

"I never expected that a genius from the Clock Tower would visit me. I am truly humbled. Please forgive my poor legs and the fact that I am late."

"No, it's my fault for not informing you beforehand—"

Bai Jie froze halfway through his sentence, while Kallen, who was standing next to him, looked like she had seen a ghost!

The reason was simple: the appearance of the person who appeared in front of them was truly terrifying!

The old man was very short, and his skin was quite withered, like a mummy, with a sense of decay and shriveling all over his body.

In addition, the old man was bald, with deep-set eyes that made him look like a skeleton, yet his eyes shone with a terrifying light, making him extremely frightening.

"Holy crap, are you a monster?!"

P.S.: A friend gifted me a Gan Jiang skin with the "Eternal Victory" buff, so I've been playing King of Glory all day. Sorry for the late update.

P.S.: I read somewhere that if you go to Fate and don't kill some old bug, you're not worthy of being a transmigrator. When I first read Fate, I thought Sakura was the heroine, but then...emmmm, it was just awful. And when I watched Fate/Zero...everyone knows what that means, so I won't go into details.

P.S.: Please recommend, vote, and tip! It'll be available on the 16th, so please give it a try! I've already put a bounty on it, don't you want me to release a huge update so you can read to your heart's content?

Section 119, Chapter 21. Original Sin: Hasta La Vista

Upon hearing about Zouken Matou, the de facto head of the Matou family, from Tsuruno Matou, Bai Jie became extremely wary. After all, magicians are unfathomable as they age, and no one knows how many hidden tricks these old fogies possess.

But now that they've actually met, Bai Jie realizes he's still a frog in a well.

He knew that magicians were all madmen, and he had seen many traditional magicians in the Clock Tower, but the appearance of Zouken Matou once again refreshed his understanding of magicians.

Because of his years of practice in projection magic, enhancement magic, and simulated weaponry, Bai Jie's insight has long since reached an unbelievable level. He can understand more than 80% of the structure and principles of any weapon or magic with just one glance.

This insight also applies to humans. In fact, due to his past scheming with SilverAsh, Wei Yanwu, Otto, and others, Bai Jie's insight into people is even greater than his insight into things. This is why he was able to outmaneuver Tohsaka Tokiomi and Gilgamesh to the brink of despair.

Kallen might have been frightened by Zouken Matou's terrifying appearance, but Bai Jie was different; he was frightened by Zouken Matou's inner self.

He saw the madness of a magician hidden deep within Zouken Matou's heart, and his filthy soul, which was as rotten and decaying as rotten wood. If one were to make a comparison, Zouken Matou's soul was even more disgusting than rat droppings in a sewer!

Of course, over the years, Bai Jie has seen his share of ups and downs. He has even done things like saving the world and fighting against extraterrestrial life forms. So now, it's impossible for him to lose his composure just because someone's inner nature is so filthy.

So—he took the A!

"Old bug, take my Judas Strike!"

Bai Jie has always been a very proactive person. He never wastes words when he can take action. Although he usually sits behind the scenes as the commander, when it comes to a real fight... the Divine Key will come crashing down on him!

So Zouken Matou had barely uttered a single sentence, and before he even stepped through the door, Judah, radiating a ghostly blue light, smashed his already crumbling body to pieces! He even followed up with a final blow to prevent it from killing him!

(Author's note: Actually, I originally wanted to write about "smashing it like Caesar," but... jokes aside, let's not make fun of Caesar, right? So I decided not to write it.)

At this moment, in the eyes of Kallen and Tsuruno Matou, this scene can be described as follows: Je suddenly rose up, smashed Matou's head with Judah, and killed him several times.

“Phew, my eyes are clean now—though I’d ​​like to say that, you should still be alive, Lord Zouken Matou.” Bai Jie said, carrying Judas on his back. “Although your soul is so filthy and rotten that it’s disgusting, it also proves that you have lived for hundreds of years. Otherwise, your soul could not have decayed like that. In other words, you are an old monster who has lived for hundreds of years—I don’t believe that an old monster can be killed by me and Judas.”

"Hey hey hey..."

A chilling, ghostly laugh echoed through the room. Suddenly, Zouken Matou's body, which had been smashed to pieces, rose to its feet in a bizarre, almost grotesque manner. That pose, if it happened a decade or two later, would undoubtedly become viral meme material on some website, but in the present—

"*Longmen swear words!*" Bai Jie instantly cursed. He really didn't understand how someone whose entire body's muscle tissue was destroyed and whose bones were all pulverized could still stand up! Didn't he know that would scare children?!

"These young people nowadays really don't know any manners. They actually resorted to violence against an old man right from the start. Has the Archibald clan fallen into decline?"

"Unfortunately, I was just adopted, so don't talk to me about aristocratic manners." Bai Jie sneered. "As for you, I was originally thinking of chatting with you for a while to see if I could get any information out of you, but I've changed my mind now. I've decided to kill you first before I go check out what's in the basement."

basement.

The mere mention of that place filled Matou Tsuruno's face with horror, while Matou Zouken's mud-like face revealed an expression that was as frightening as could be. If this were to be released, it would surely scare people into silence—after all, how could one speak if they were scared to death?

"The basement, huh? I didn't expect you to know this much. I don't know how you found out, but unfortunately, you can't possibly get there."

"You don't actually think you can stop me and my servant, do you?"

"If I were outside, it would be impossible, but as long as I am in the Matou family, I am definitely no less than a so-called Servant."

As soon as Zouken Matou finished speaking, the entire room began to writhe. The walls, ceiling, floor... everything started to writhe wildly like insects—no, not just "like," but "actually" insects!

This room itself is an insect nest!

Countless insects wriggled in all directions, overlapping each other and secreting some kind of liquid, creating a chilling sound that filled the entire space.

nausea!

These were Bai Jie and Kallen's only thoughts at this moment!

"Hasta·La·Vista!"

Amidst Kallen's sharp cry, a jet-black mecha materialized from the imaginary space. The mecha itself wasn't particularly complex, but its numerous black cannon muzzles were enough to send chills down one's spine!

Without any hesitation, Kallen of Original Sin opened all the cannon doors, and countless missiles, lasers, and energy bullets turned into a torrent of artillery fire, surging out in all directions!

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!

A blazing flash swept across the area in an instant. The explosive flames from the missile explosion scorched the insect's body, emitting a stench that made people want to avoid it like the plague. The insect's corpse, shattered by the explosion, flew everywhere, chunks of flesh flying wildly in the small space before being burned to ashes in the flames.

This was truly a refreshing scene, like burning away three years' worth of accumulated exam papers and workbooks, if you ignored the stench and the disastrous sight.

In just ten seconds, the swarm of insects that had filled the entire room was blasted to smithereens by Kallen's barrage of fire.

Archer is a class known for its ranged attacks, and while Kallen's ranged firepower isn't as exceptional as Gilgamesh's, it's still legion-level firepower, making her an ultimate individual fighter. On the battlefield, she's absolutely powerful enough to turn the tide of battle single-handedly.

While Zouken Matou's swarm of insects was vast in number, their individual abilities were truly lacking. Faced with Kallen's attack, their only remaining path was destruction.

"But isn't this a bit too much?"

Looking at the Matou residence, which had been reduced to ruins by Kallen's Noble Phantasm, Bai Jie scratched his head in embarrassment.

(I shouldn't have to pay compensation, right?)

P.S.: Update

P.S.: While I was writing this, I watched episode 47 of Zi-O. In summary: Tsukasa Kadoya is awesome! The Decade spin-off is confirmed! Grand Zi-O finally got his moment in the spotlight, but was unfortunately banned! However, considering the movie, I personally feel that Toei seems to have used the entire Zi-O TV series as a prelude to the movie. I have to say, no wonder it's Toshiki and Shirakura.

P.S.: Please recommend, vote with monthly tickets, and give me a reward!