If the Murderer Isn't a Girl, the Ending Will Be Miserable

"Fill it, fill it, fill it, fill it. Repeat four times... Huh? Was it five?" Ryunosuke Uryu muttered, painting a magic circle with red paint in his apartment's living room. The ritual was supposed to be more solemn, but Ryunosuke disliked oppressive atmospheres; his own comfort was far more important.

"Alright, that should do it. Fill it, fill it, fill it, fill it, fill it. That's five times, yep..."

After completing the ritual, the remaining paint was used to decorate the walls in a specific pattern. Once finished, Ryunosuke turned to the only other living person in the room – a small boy, curled up in the corner, bound and trembling. His face was contorted in a silent sob, his mouth gagged. Through tear-filled eyes, he stared at three figures in the room; his sister and parents, or at least they had been. Now, they were just corpses.

As Ryunosuke began to expound on his worldview and unique artistic sensibilities to the child, a strange phenomenon started to manifest, centered around the blood-drawn sigil behind him. Air currents stirred within the enclosed space, rapidly escalating from a gentle breeze to a violent whirlwind, tossing the room's furnishings about.

Sensing the anomaly, Ryunosuke paused his monologue and, along with the boy, stared at the magic circle. Ryunosuke's gaze was filled with anticipation and excitement, while the boy's was on the verge of utter terror.

Simultaneously, a sharp sting shot through the back of Ryunosuke's right hand, like a high-voltage current burning his nerves. A tattoo-like pattern appeared there.

Through the swirling vortex of air, faint phosphorescent lights emerged. Mist seeped from the magic circle, accompanied by occasional sparks of weak lightning and electricity. Ryunosuke felt it – something, something that didn't belong to this era, perhaps not even this dimension, was about to appear.

"Hear ye..." a voice echoed from within the misty space. It wasn't the brutal or eerie tone one might expect from a "demon," but rather impossibly gentle. "Are you the Master who summoned me?"

A figure, entirely cloaked in black robes and a hood, with a strangely designed mask, materialized before Ryunosuke. Though he couldn't see its face, Ryunosuke was certain it wasn't any known life form in this world, which made him even more excited.

"I don't know about 'Master,' but I'm the one who summoned you with that magic circle. My name is Ryunosuke Uryu, freelancer. I enjoy killing, and I like children and young girls."

A hint of emotion colored the voice from beneath the mask, though Ryunosuke couldn't discern if it was anger or joy. What mattered was the reply: "What a coincidence, I like young girls too. But why did you summon me?"

"Huh?" As if surprised that the "demon" he summoned could converse like a normal person, Ryunosuke tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Nothing much, I just wanted to see. I guess I got bored with mortal killings, and I was curious what 'non-human' was like."

"I understand. Then I shall give you what you have been searching for."

"That would be great! But before that, this little boy, should I eat him? I'm particularly... ugh!"

The blade of a scythe pierced his abdomen with a thwack, splattering blood. The blade then carved an arc before lifting upwards, exiting Ryunosuke's body from his chest.

"Wow..." Looking at the pure red, Ryunosuke thought, "Ah, this is it." What he had been searching for but could never find was apparently hidden within his own body. The dangling intestines and other organs – weren't these exactly what he wanted? His desire to know what the intestines of a blonde human looked like, or the internal organs of a black person, all lost their meaning now, as everything exposed from his wound captured his complete attention.

"As expected of a 'demon,' this is what I've been looking for..."

On his lifeless face, there wasn't a trace of pain. His lips were curved in an incredibly brilliant smile.

"Breaking News: A fire broke out in a building at [Address Redacted] in Fuyuki City. The fire spread from a single room. The cause of the fire is unknown. Police found four bodies at the scene. Three have been identified as residents of the household. The fourth body sustained trauma from the abdomen to the chest and was missing a right hand. Preliminary findings suggest this individual was the primary suspect in several recent murder cases. A male child, identified as a resident of the household, was found unconscious at a corner outside the house and is currently receiving treatment. Police are conducting an in-depth investigation into the details of the case..."

In a small hotel near Fuyuki Port, Jizi listened to the news broadcast on an old television while retrieving a human right arm from a jar of formalin. She gently touched the back of her hand, and the three Command Seals that had been there transferred to her own hand.

After completing this task, Jizi created a watercolor brush the same color as her skin to conceal the Command Seals.

"Mission accomplished!"

As for where she got the money and identification to stay at the hotel, well, by utilizing Caster's Class Skill, "Item Construction," and enhancing her Noble Phantasm, "Thousands of Delusions," Jizi declared she could outperform anyone in the world who made a living by forging documents or printing counterfeit money.

"Hmm, according to the timeline, after Caster appears, it's time for the dark-skinned guy to do his gymnastics. There doesn't seem to be anything for me to intervene in. Plus, I'm currently in the southernmost part of Fuyuki City, and the Tohsaka Residence is in the north. I won't bother joining that commotion. Why not just go stake out the church? Wait, isn't the church also in the north?"

"Then let's flip a coin!"

Jizi casually materialized a coin – one side read "Watch Gymnastics," the other "Go to Church" – and flipped it. The result was...

"This one doesn't count! I'm not going to watch the dark-skinned guy do gymnastics! Let's go again! Best two out of three!"

"...Damn it, best three out of five!"

"Best four out of seven!"

"..."

"Best five thousand out of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine!"

"Finally, it landed on 'Go to Church'! A man decides victory in one go, so I'm going to the church!"

[Jizi: Fuck! Even with Luck D, it shouldn't be this way!]

"According to the rules of the Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine requests protection from the Church for his personal safety."

"I accept. As the supervisor of this war, I, Risei Kotomine, guarantee your safety. Please, come inside."

Although this was somewhat hypocritical for the two who had already made arrangements.

However, to avoid attracting attention, they could only put on a show at the church entrance. Risei Kotomine, with a solemn expression, pretended to be an impartial supervisor and led his son, who was also disguised as a defeated magus, into the church.

For Fuyuki City, with its large foreign population, the number of people who regularly attended church services was higher than in other cities. And this Fuyuki Church, though located in the far east, possessed a magnificent aura of Western religious faith. While it appeared to be merely a place for ordinary believers, in reality, this church was built as a sacred church for the purpose of supervising the Holy Grail War. Its spiritual veins ranked third, said to be comparable to the Tohsaka family's mansion, which ranked second locally.

Of course, the person serving as the priest here needed to be elected by members of the "Eighth Secretariat," responsible for supervising the battles between Masters and Servants. This meant that Risei Kotomine, who had been attending to ordinary believers in this church for three years, was indeed that person.

"Everything is proceeding according to plan, right?"

The script was normal up to this point, but the next development caught Risei Kotomine completely off guard. Before he could finish speaking, an Assassin suddenly appeared before them to report: "Master, there's a variable! All our brethren stationed to monitor the route from the Tohsaka Residence to the church have lost their presence. They must have been eliminated by someone!"

"What? How is that possible? Who?"

"I don't know. They were all dealt with in an instant."

"No matter how weak individual Assassins are when their strength is dispersed, being able to locate an Assassin in a state of 'presence severance' and kill them in one blow is absolutely impossible for a human," Kirei Kotomine said calmly, analyzing the current situation, unlike his father who showed signs of distress due to the change in plans. "Among the known Servants, more than one possesses such attack power – in fact, almost all of them can do it. However, their means of detection are another matter. Saber, Lancer, Berserker, and Rider do not have such abilities. Even if their Noble Phantasms have some special properties, it's more likely to suspect—"

"—Caster?" Risei Kotomine, having recovered his composure, quickly followed his son's line of thought.

"Oh, have all the nearby monsters been cleared out?" Jizi's figure appeared in the forest outside the church. Just as Father Matou had deduced, she was the one who had just cleared out the nearby Assassins. As for how she found them, although hidden Assassins are neither visually detectable nor emit magical energy – note, magical energy – they are almost like air to the magi and Heroic Spirits of this world. However, Jizi's body is a Xilin construct capable of interacting with and perceiving psionic energy. Psionic energy is a concept far beyond the level of magical energy. Therefore, no matter how profound the concealment technique, as long as there is an energy flow, Jizi can locate it – at best, the perception might be blurry, but with a little time, a high-definition result can be obtained.

First, I'll do a general sweep, marking the green dots on the minimap. If they're close, I'll snipe them with Destruction and Ruin: Gōgō II for a headshot. If they're far and I can't see clearly, I'll throw my mask nearby and transfer my senses to it to clear the battlefield fog. Once I have vision, I'll repeat the process—I have special scouting skills, you can't envy them.

"The monsters aren't spawning anymore. Looks like this dungeon is cleared. I couldn't beat the final boss, but beating up the little guys was easy and satisfying. My mana's running low, and I've achieved my goal of scaring those guys who are colluding with the administrators. I'll head back now to prepare for tomorrow night's party. Hmm, one last bit of blackmail wouldn't hurt, DA☆ZE!"

Inside the church, Risei Kotomine, who was online discussing countermeasures with Tokiomi, suddenly felt a strong killing intent. The moment they dodged, an arrow with a note attached shattered the glass and flew in through the window, aiming directly for Kirei Kotomine's head. However, before it could hit, it was caught by the Assassin guarding his side.

"Father, this is likely just a message. Considering the opponent's ability to silently eliminate Assassin clones, this attack is far below their usual standard." Kirei Kotomine's voice remained steady, unshaken by the countless life-or-death trials he had endured.

"What did they say?"

"Master, just a few words and this photo."

The note's content was simple: a photo showing all the Assassins appearing simultaneously, along with a demand for the church to deliver supplies to several designated locations. Otherwise, they threatened to reveal that "Assassin has cloning abilities" and that "the church, as supervisor, is colluding with the Tohsaka family." Combined with the photo, many participants would likely believe them.

"Damn it... The church can afford these supplies, but this feeling of a failed plan falling into someone else's scheme is truly unpleasant." This was the second time Risei Kotomine had lost his composure that night. However, he wasn't worried about whether the other party would keep their word. In the Holy Grail War, there were only winners and losers. Even if they broke their promise, hehe, the dead have no mouths. Even if he survived the Holy Grail War, it wouldn't be difficult for the church's power to track down a magus who had been a Master. The rest would be even simpler.

"Father, a significant portion of the items requested are materials for making mana recovery potions. Therefore, we can confirm it's Caster. Only this Class can 'Item Creation.' It can also be inferred that actions like tonight's would have been a huge drain on them. The problem is, what's with this photo? There's no trace of forgery, but Caster was only summoned this morning. I'm certain I didn't have Assassin gather at the locations in the photo during that time. And how did they know the appearances of each Assassin? It seems this enemy possesses a detection ability that we cannot grasp at all."

"We'll discuss that later. You go prepare the supplies first. With such a major blunder right at the start, can this really proceed smoothly, my friend Tokiomi..."