章 249: Chapter 244: The Castle of Separation Part 5

Everything his eyes saw revealed the destruction that spirit had caused. Simply an overwhelming force emanating from that slender body. A bloodthirsty force that walked leisurely between the holes left by the beast when it was kicked.

Waver's breathing stopped as he saw it appear through the dust that rose up after the rubble. Out of the darkness, his glaring eyes staring straight ahead without showing any visible emotion, Assassin stepped out through the hole in the wall, and upon seeing the man, seemed to return to normal.

Quite relaxed for what was happening, Toru suddenly said to him in his bored tone of voice:

"I found out more things."

"Uh-..."

Speechless.

This was more than he could digest. If it was this boy's sheer brute strength shown in the sudden destruction and the beast that appeared slamming against the wall, then that meant something that Waver understood perfectly.

'He's a hell of a lot stronger than he was ten years ago...'

And he also understood that this was due to the Master who summoned it. Sakura possessed incredible talent and mana accompanied by two mysterious forms of magecraft (Imaginary Numbers and Dust) And even, if no one could know this, the truth is that Sakura summoned the most powerful version of the Assassin 'Asahi Toru' since this one only had as a limitation the use of Senjutsu and Rinnegan, because from then on, his strength and speed are exactly the same as when he was alive. Although it also depended on the amount of mana of his Master, that would not be a problem if it was Sakura.

On her side, Gray looked nervously at this alcoholic boy. His sudden appearance on the scene scared her a bit, but she managed to calm down so she could look the boy in the eyes.

***

Approaching at a moderate speed, Sakura ran down the halls next to Toru's clone. Each step she took felt like a soft thud on the soles of her feet; echoing off the floor with the soles of her boots. She breathed heavily as she thought looking at the destroyed walls and a small part of the castle.

'What I saw at that moment... what I could feel...'

Her mind was deep in thought, stunned by how savagely brutal Toru could be in battle. That fancy memory she had of him had vanished like smoke inside her mind. Accompanying Chaos, with booming, dry sounds, destruction in every sense of the word, running through it all, amidst the dust floating in the air like a cloud of mist that wouldn't let her see, she approached the boy's presence, however, she stopped when she saw who was next to him....

She already knew. She knew that this had to happen someday, for hiding something of this magnitude is extremely difficult.

She stopped dead in her tracks next to the clone, who upon seeing his original disappeared.

At the same time, Sakura looked her father in the eyes, and when he also looked at her, she ducked her gaze holding her arm. She tried to hide in the shadows of uncertainty, but she understood that her father would question her about this.

Thus she heard the footsteps of her father's body shoes echoing on the dusty white floor. He was approaching her in no hurry to chat.

'What can I tell him...?'

She wondered. She had already thought of some explanations for this, but the moment she saw her father, all those explanations disappeared without a trace. Her mind was empty, with nothing to think about.

This was something she hadn't expected.....

"Sakura..."

His voice, accompanied by a warm feeling in her head, a hand gently stroking her hair.

She shyly looked up and met a faint smile on her father's face.

He was looking at her kindly. He was being understanding. When it comes to Sakura, he will never make rash decisions. Besides this situation was something this cowardly man had already prepared for in advance.

Although it pained him to know that he would never be chosen by the Grail again, he understood that this was not what it was about at the moment. Seeing his adopted daughter's expression, a face of concern and regret, but one that above all held great sadness, he thought that they are both the same in some way.

Both with a trauma they carry over the road of life; something they can never escape from; something they will have to face....

With a soft voice, he said to Sakura:

"Don't worry... You shouldn't feel bad about this..."

Sakura's eyes lit up and she felt her heart clench. She ducked her gaze again and whispered.

"You always do the same thing."

Waver nodded.

"I know. I'm hopeless..."

And at all this, Luvia's perception of Waver did a 180-degree turn. She had never imagined that this man would be such an understanding and kind father. Although she could already sense this having heard from various people that this Lord is too humble, but also someone who participated in the war for the Holy Grail....

"Well, now that we are here..."

Waver looked at Toru. He then looked at the destruction on the walls and felt a deep headache.

***

It could be said that on his shoulders lay all the blame. It could be said that he overplayed his hand using force. You could also say that he lost himself for a few moments while fighting, but what he can't tolerate is being seen like that, as if he were a criminal surrounded by four people. That brought back bad memories.

Sitting on the floor, with his hands on his knees, his body stiff because somehow everything had turned against him, Toru closed his eyes and felt Waver's words echoing in the room, yet what was that man talking about? Toru really wasn't paying attention to him. For him this immediately became a nuisance.

Still, while being scolded by Waver for the destruction he caused earlier, he thought about some things.

'There are some things that I no longer need to confirm, but... If only I could use my Senjutsu I could easily sense where that shadowy dog is coming from. Moreover, as a possibility, I could even see if anyone here is involved in this, but now I'm just limited to using my ninjutsu and my physical strength... Now I think about it too late, but I could have put different clones to guard... Too bad... my logical thinking is getting rusty...'

He opened his eyes and for a second saw the blonde girl in the corner of the room with her arms crossed.

"Is someone going to explain to me what's going on here?"

Luvia asked.

As Gray stood in silence, Sakura tried to summarize everything.

Finally, removing the gloves from her hands, she revealed the triple red mark on the back of her left hand. Three marks that somehow came together to form three petals of a flower.

"Chosen by the Holy Grail..."

Luvia whispered, but then looked at the boy sitting on the ground analyzing him from head to toe.

"Who are you?"

Asking that of a Servant was stupid. Toru obviously wasn't going to reveal his identity. Instead he shook his head making it clear that he wasn't going to allow himself to say anything.

However, Sakura simply blurted out her Servant's class.

"It's Assassin."

"What?"

To Luvia that made no sense. No Assassin would be able to cause such destruction. That was common sense, but it seems her common sense is only limited to what she read in books, as she saw with her own eyes the strength of Assassin.

In the end, to hide her earlier reaction, Luvia cleared her throat.

"Leaving that aside. About what you said earlier. The thing about the dog and the invitation in the letter..."

"Uh... About that-"

The door resounded with three knocks interrupting Sakura. Gray took it upon himself to open the door and found Luvia's bodyguard, Clown. A very pathetic name indeed.

"Lady, you need to see this right away."

The man looked down at the floor nodding. Luvia took the man's advice and approached the door. The man also looked at Waver.

"You too."

Waver had a bad feeling.

"Let's save the explanations about Assassin for later. Let's move forward."

***

They were all present there. They were gathered to see tragedy and the beginning of a lot of eccentricities displayed on a solid white bed which everyone called the floor.

It was the statue of the Archangel Michael, who held a great sword aloft looking skyward. His feathered winged figure was a bit intimidating to one of those present, but there was no point in exploring that.

Strung on the sword, impaled from back to abdomen. No eyes in her pale face, no blood and no life in her body, lay Adashino Hishiri impaled on that sword, looking skyward next to the angel.

The woman's blood had dripped all over the statue staining the white floor with a large puddle.

Those present saw the scene and all understood at once. What Waver had said earlier. The information they had so far...

Toru was right...

"Heine, could you put her down?"

"Yes. Right away."

The young man said after Waver's voice ended. He held out his hand and hundreds of white rose petals flew towards Hishiri. The petals covered her and lifted her upward as the sword slowly came out of her impaled body. Finally the petals laid the woman on the ground and Waver checked her belongings.

He frowned as he saw the letter she had.

"I get it..."

He looked back to where Sakura and Toru were watching silently.

"You knew?"

He asked him. They all looked back; they looked at Toru. He in response approached Waver and his eyes looked different with the Shigan. He bent down to look at the corpse and said:

"I discovered it a short while ago. That was the reason I decided to act, but I see I took too long. It seems that Adashino Hishiri died while I was fighting the shadowy beast, so right now the case is obvious. This is not a mystery. This is not a simple murder. I know what's going on, so you better get ready."

Gray looked at the Assassin for a moment. She sensed something coming that she had always wanted to see. Even though the situation wasn't the best, she heard it clearly. That cliché line...

"The one responsible for this. The one who controls the strings behind the scenes. The killer is among us."

And Toru already thought he had a suspect.....

-The next day-

"Everyone already found out that you have such a strong Servant at your disposal. On the bright side, they didn't see him fighting but the destruction he caused. That's a point in our favor. That way no one will try to get close to us."

Waver this time was smoking as he walked towards the crime scene together with Sakura and Gray. Toru was also there, hidden in the cloak of his ghostly form so that no one would see him.

A while ago he was standing next to Sakura accompanying her at breakfast, so he couldn't see what was going on in the room in his absence. When he arrived in the room together with Sakura, they saw the old man in a wheelchair walking away down the long corridor together with his assistant. That was interesting to him, so he decided to talk about it.

His ghostly voice echoed off the two walls of the large hallway.

"You were talking to that old man Caesarmund earlier. If he told you anything that we can use to solve this, you should tell me. I have all the secrets of this castle in my mind, but there are still things I'm missing."

Waver took this seriously.

"He said Geryon Ashbourne had a son. The boy's mother died when he was born. But it wasn't from childbirth, it was from a hereditary disease. The child met the same fate and died at a very early age, just like his mother. Ashbourne suffered from this and, in the very words of Orlocke Caesarmund, went mad after that..."

"It seems that person must have felt very lonely in the great walls of this castle."

Sakura said. Waver nodded, but Gray somehow felt that it was a very sad story.

Waver finished by saying:

"That old man said that from that moment he together with Geryon started a strange line of investigation. That's all I have so far, did it do any good?"

Toru didn't answer.

"Assassin?"

No answer. Everyone stood in the hallway to find out what was happening to this guy, but after a deep and boring five second pause, Toru's body materialized. The boy looked out the window at the sun and closed his eyes in thought.

They stared at him in silence until, after two more seconds, Toru looked at them with a terrifying coldness.

His dull voice, with a soft hint of insight echoed down the long hallway.

"I already solved this fake mystery..."

The truth of Geryon Ashbourne....

To be continued...