Oh my, oh my... you know what happens if you go for the C route, heh~ heh~ heh~ (lecherous grin...)
-----------------------------------A divider for the author to remember where the last plot left off---------------------------------
"Fervor, meisanguis." (Boil, my blood.)
At the command of a certain presence in the woods, the silver fluid poured out of the bottle where it had been coiled up, its surface trembling faintly.
"Automatoportumdefensio (Autonomous Defense); AutonlatoporIunlquaerere (Automatic Target Search); Dilectusincursio (Automatic Attack)."
The mercury swiftly condensed into a sphere before the castle gates. With every new command it received, rows of dark-red runes emerged across its outer layer.
"Next... hehehe, let's give them a romantic greeting—Bohren (Drill)!"
The sphere of mercury bulged forward, molding itself into a massive drill. Then the figure controlling it snapped his fingers, and the drill began spinning at high speed with a shrill, dangerous screech as it bore down on the main gates of Einzbern Castle.
----------------------------------------(①)------------------------------------
Surrounded by countless Tentacle Monsters, the young swordswoman finally realized something was wrong, no matter how slow she might have been.
Taking innocent children hostage and slaughtering them before her eyes, provoking her into charging into their encirclement—though these low-level familiars were individually weak, their numbers were overwhelming. Saber had also discovered that they could not only regenerate from the corpses of the children they had just killed, but even restore themselves using the bodies of comrades cut into pieces. In other words, unless she could wipe them out along with their summoner in one stroke, this battle would become an endless war of attrition—until she collapsed from exhaustion.
That Caster might have been mad in both word and deed, but his tactics were truly formidable—at this point, even Saber had to admit it. Forget fulfilling the victory she had promised Irisviel; even protecting herself was becoming a problem.
This was terrible. Was there any way out—did she have to unleash "that" here? The holy sword granted by the spirits possessed incomparable power, but was she really going to be forced to reveal her greatest trump card because of one deranged Caster? That would be the greatest insult to this sword.
Besides, these Sea Demons were not lined up in a single row. One swing of her sword would not be enough to eradicate them.
Suppressing the urge to release its true name, Saber's greatest hope now rested on Kiritsugu Emiya—though their ideals were completely incompatible, Saber believed that with his combat instincts, he would surely use a Command Spell to turn the situation around at the critical moment.
Though it was deeply ironic to place her trust in a Master with whom she had no compatibility whatsoever, she had no other choice.
The culprit who had reduced the renowned King Arthur to such a sorry state—Saber glared furiously at the madman still shouting meaningless words. Rather than being cowed by her anger, he became even more delighted and unrestrained after sensing her gaze.
"Even when facing overwhelming numbers in peril, you never feared, never yielded. Your eyes have never doubted victory. You truly have not changed. That noble fighting spirit, that exalted soul—without a doubt, they are proof that you are Joan of Arc. And yet..."
Caster pressed both hands to his cheeks, intoxicated as he watched Saber struggle to fend off the Tentacle Monsters' attacks. (②)
"Why? Why have you still not awakened? Do you still believe in God's protection? Do you think a miracle will come save you in such desperate straits?—How lamentable! Have you forgotten the Battle of Compiègne? Forgotten God's trap, which cast you down from the pinnacle of glory into the hell of ruin? After suffering so much humiliation, do you still intend to be God's puppet!?"
Shut up! She wanted to seal that mouth spouting nonsense. She wanted him to know what judgment awaited the sin of taking children's lives for the sake of pointless delusions—but however much she wanted it, her sword tip could not reach him. Saber was blocked by walls of monsters piled ten layers, twenty layers deep, leaving Caster far too distant. Thus, his muttering from within his own little world still drifted through the air and into Saber's ears.
"All gods are liars, Lady Saint. Why can't you ever recognize that? Oh, Saintly Maiden~ if they truly could manifest so-called divine miracles, then why do they not come punish a sinner like me? So relying on gods is no more likely than a cart falling from the sky and crushing me—"
"Boom!"
Before Caster could finish his sentence, an ox-drawn chariot wrapped in lightning came plunging down from the night sky over Fuyuki, its landing point directly where Caster stood.
From beyond the rising dust, Saber heard a deep, powerful male voice declare, "Caster's bounty has been claimed by me, Iskandar, King of Conquerors!"
-----------------------------So, friends, don't talk too big-----------------------------
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
The machine guns continuously spat deadly tongues of flame. Though there were only two of them, in the hands of the Magus Killer, who was thoroughly versed in such weapons, they created the sense of suppressive firepower. On an ordinary battlefield, this situation could practically be considered half a victory already.
Unfortunately, this was not a battlefield, but a war—an extraordinary war.
"Skreeeeech!"
A massive silver drill nearly two meters in diameter blocked the bullets' path. Not only did it shield the man behind it from being hit, it also used the force of its rotation to ricochet those bullets away at different angles. They bounced wildly around the narrow corridor, posing an enormous threat to their original owner.
Upon realizing that his attacks could not even serve as a distraction, Kiritsugu Emiya decisively threw away both submachine guns and fled at full speed away from the drill. But his pursuer clearly had no intention of letting him go.
"Angefahren (Ram)!"
The drill suddenly surged forward. A Mystic Code crafted by someone of Clock Tower instructor level possessed performance no human body could withstand. Kiritsugu Emiya was about to be twisted into that spiral—
"Time Alter—triple accel!" (Time Alter: Triple Acceleration)
After chanting the spell, the Magus Killer instantly vanished from the corridor—or rather, his speed had become too great for human vision to follow, creating that illusion. In reality, he had merely run to the corner and turned.
"Oh, not bad technique."
The controller of the mercury drill praised his opponent. He knew how tremendous a burden magecraft capable of producing such an effect placed upon the human body, but that did not mean he would show mercy.
At his command, the mercury spread flat along the walls and floor, extending in every direction through the castle as it searched for its enemy. It did not even overlook the cracks between the floorboards. Whenever it encountered a branching path, the mercury split off another stream to explore it. Under this all-encompassing, carpet-like detection method, there should have been no blind spots.
But Kiritsugu Emiya did not think so—mercury, even infused with Mana, was still nothing more than an inanimate object. It had no eyes and could only identify targets through touch. So if there were a "human body" without a heartbeat or body heat, then to that mercury's senses, it should be no different from the walls or floor.
"Time Alter—triple stagnate!" (Time Alter: Triple Stagnation)
Kiritsugu Emiya was now a wall, a section of floor. Every physiological function in his body had been reduced, so those mercury droplets would never discover him—what?
As Kiritsugu Emiya hid around the corner, preparing to ambush his opponent, he noticed that the mercury streams extending toward him were violently trembling at the end of every branch. Looking closely, he saw why: the mercury at each tip had formed into a small drill that spun without pause.
Even if the mercury could not sense him, the instant it touched his body, that part of his flesh would be ground into fragments.
With his plan having failed, Kiritsugu Emiya could only cancel Time Alter and keep running. The vibrations in the floor caused by his footsteps alerted the nearby mercury streams searching for targets, and their speed abruptly increased as they converged on the source of the vibrations.
---------------------------------The Woods.avi----------------------------
"Woman, I have a question for you."
Before Kirei Kotomine stood a silver-haired woman backed into a corner. Her clothes were torn in many places and stained with blood in others. It was clear that some intense physical activity had taken place earlier.
"What kind of resolve drove you to choose to oppose me here?"
At first, he had thought meeting this woman here was merely a coincidence. Since fierce fighting was taking place within the castle, Kiritsugu Emiya had told her, as a Master, to hide outside the enemy's field of vision—but upon further thought, that was impossible. This woman controlled the barrier spanning the entire forest. If she had intended to avoid him, there was no way he could have encountered her.
Which meant she had sought him out on her own.
She had not even brought her Servant. She had no combat experience, yet she had chosen to oppose an Executor. What reckless behavior—how could the Einzbern family's prized homunculus technology produce such an imprecise creation?
No, that was not right. If she were defective, Einzbern would not have entrusted her with the responsibility of the Holy Grail War. Then the question became—why had this woman voluntarily appeared to stop him?
"..."
"You seem, like that young lady from before, not to be the type who will obediently answer."
Kirei Kotomine looked at his captive, who was helpless yet still brimming with fighting spirit. Unable to understand human emotions, he seemed to gradually experience something called helplessness.
Then how should he interrogate her? The silver-haired, red-eyed woman was already covered in wounds. If she suffered any further shock, she might not survive.
If she died, he naturally would not get any answers. But her uncooperative attitude was also a problem.
Wait. Silver hair and red eyes—his own Servant looked like that too. Looking carefully, even their facial features bore a slight resemblance—there could not possibly be any connection between them, could there? Still, Assassin should be better than him at prying information out of someone's mouth. Perhaps he should let her...
The corner of Kirei Kotomine's mouth curved into a tiny, pleasurable smile.
----------------------Notes----------------------
① What is romance? A man's romance is a drill! Also, the German was done through Baidu Translate, so no guarantee whatsoever of accuracy.
② Please imagine Yuno Gasai's face.
--------------------Author's Note----------------------
I hadn't logged into Qidian in ages, and when I did yesterday, just as I expected, my bookmarks had dropped... so I felt it was time to do something. On top of that, I saw so many comments in the review section asking for the C route—compared to my Silent Hill-like review section, that really counts as a lot—so here you have this chapter.
There are some pretty obvious bits of foreshadowing in here. If you do not understand them for now, you will naturally understand once everything is finished... I think I can tie it all together. I do have an outline, after all.
The plot has already begun running off the rails... That promise in the prologue to "seriously follow the plot" has already been tossed onto Apokolips for Uncle Darkseid to eat... Sigh, sure enough, you should not talk too big.
Also, as for why I started playing dead after my birthday:
Exams, exams! I cannot finish them and go home until the 25th! If there were no exams, I would absolutely update 3,000+ words every day! (Do not point out that I also did not update before, when there were no exams. Before was before; I have decided to turn over a new leaf—just take my word for it.)
About half the subjects I have already finished are probably failed, so lately I have been shamelessly currying favor with and begging my teachers... I never knew I could be so... so pathetic...
And next up are Advanced Mathematics and Linear Algebra. Judging by how far I have gotten in studying ahead, the odds of me hanging myself from a southeast branch are huge...
But even the national soccer team has gone and done that thing, right? So I think simply giving up and letting fate **me would be a bad idea. I still have to struggle a little, at least so that when I do hang myself, I can have a comfortable pose~ (@^_^@)~
Anyway, for those who have finished their exams, happy New Year. For those who have not, may your exams be easy and may you pass every subject. For those working or graduating, may wealth flow in and may you enjoy good health.
—By Director Luo, who stayed up all night playing Storm on New Year's Eve, slept through all of New Year's Day, and only just remembered to send these wishes.
----------------------------Behind the Scenes------------------------
Jizi: What about me? After more than a month without updating, I finally showed up, and where was my screen time? I did not even get one line! I only appeared in that mapo priest's memories! I would have been better off not appearing at all!
Author: Who said you had not shown your face for over a month? Didn't you make the rounds next door?
Jizi: You mean ? Miss Gu Ming is really wonderful. Not only did she arrange for me to be a teacher, a profession that makes it easy to get close to cute little girls, she even gave me a younger sister. It could not be better! And there are already little girls I can tempt!
Author: But you turned into a soft girl~
Jizi: ...What is wrong with being a soft girl?
Author: Being one is fine, but it is you yourself...
Jizi: ...What is wrong with me?
Author: You are fine, but you turned into a soft girl...
Jizi: ...What is wrong with being a soft girl?
Author: After a moment of silence, hehe...
Author: Anyway, more advertising. The author is a beautiful girl. —the recent arc has some degree of crossover with mine, so everyone please go support it... Though why am I recommending someone with more bookmarks and clicks than me?
Jizi: Because you are pathetic... By the way, was my appearance only for advertising? Watch out, or I will move in next door and never come back!
Author: Whatever. I can just dig a new pit...
Jizi: I was wrong, please do not do that!
Author: And you called me pathetic...
Before you continue