Gilles de Rais's Revenge

"What? He disappeared?"

At the Fujimura Family residence, things had already become somewhat chaotic because Scarface had failed to pick up the boy from school.

"Young Lady, when I went to the school, that was what they told me. They checked the surveillance footage at the school gate. Broly left the school on his own."

Scarface spoke somewhat innocently.

In Japan, primary school students went home by themselves, so when school let the children leave for the day, Branch 1 Elementary School in Fuyuki Outskirts would not deliberately stop any child from leaving.

As a result, when Scarface received notice that school had ended early but went to pick Broly up at the usual time, he learned that Broly was no longer at school.

Scarface had failed to pick him up, the boy had disappeared, and there was still a child-abducting murderer roaming around Fuyuki City. Fujimura Taiga, who had returned home after school, immediately exploded.

"Didn't the school call and tell you to pick him up early?"

Fujimura Taiga grabbed Scarface by the collar, her eyes looking as though they wanted to tear this bastard apart.

"I..."

Scarface did not know how to respond. At the time, he had simply thought there was nothing wrong with letting the child stay at school until it was time to pick him up.

"Taiga, let him go. There was something to deal with in the group this afternoon, so I had him run an errand for me."

Just as Fujimura Taiga was about to hit someone, Fujimura Raiga spoke up for Scarface.

"Grandfather..."

"I know you're anxious, but don't panic yet. When a problem arises, panicking is useless. Blaming others is useless too. What matters most now is finding a way to solve the problem."

Fujimura Raiga spoke very calmly to his granddaughter.

"Then what do we do now?"

Fujimura Taiga asked.

"Some of the roads around the school have surveillance cameras. With the Fujimura Group's connections, we can obtain that footage. So first, we need to have someone retrieve the surveillance recordings from the surrounding roads and find the child's trail after he left school."

"Then hurry up."

"I already sent someone to do it. According to the footage, that child boarded a train to Fuyuki West Station without paying."

"Huh?"

Fujimura Taiga was somewhat surprised, while Fujimura Raiga wore an expression that said, This is what your grandfather can do. He was teaching his granddaughter not to lose her composure in a crisis.

"What happened after that?"

"If you were me, Taiga, what would you do?"

"I'd find Broly."

"But what if there were no more cameras?"

"I'd go look for him myself."

"Wrong. Your strength alone is limited. You need to mobilize the Fujimura Group to search for him. And it isn't as simple as finding the child. The greatest danger to children in Fuyuki City right now is that serial abductor and murderer. We need to search for that criminal's trail as well, while also using our connections to contact the police and have them help with the search."

Fujimura Raiga's explanation of how to handle this sudden incident left Fujimura Taiga staring blankly.

Seeing his granddaughter's dazed expression, the old man was very satisfied before continuing, "These are things ordinary people cannot do. When an ordinary person goes missing, a case cannot be filed until forty-eight hours later, and even then, it is often difficult to get results.

"But the Fujimura Group is different. Not only can we mobilize our men to search, we can also use certain connections to contact the police and have them assist us.

"So, Taiga, do you understand now how important it is to have an organization?"

Fujimura Taiga: "..."

"Grandfather, what you said makes a lot of sense. I do agree now that having an organization is a good thing. But that doesn't seem to be what matters right now. I just want to ask, have you found Broly yet?"

"Not yet, but there should be news soon."

"So you haven't found him. No, I'm going out to look for him too..."

"Fujimura-oneesan, can we eat now?"

Just as Fujimura Taiga was asking where the boy had last been seen, Broly descended from the sky. He landed in the backyard, saw several people inside the house who had not noticed him, then walked over and asked his older sister wife.

"How can you still be thinking about food at a time like this? Right now... huh?!"

Fujimura Taiga stopped mid-sentence as she realized what she had heard. She turned around along with everyone else and looked at Broly, who had suddenly appeared outside in the yard.

"Huh? You're back?"

Scarface asked.

"Yeah, I'm back."

Broly nodded.

"Where have you been, Little One? I was worried sick when I heard you'd suddenly disappeared."

Fujimura Taiga pounced on him, hugged him, and asked.

"My desk mate wife and I went to find another friend she sits with. On the way, she even treated me to Takoyaki.

"And in the end, she gave me her share of Takoyaki too. That thing called Takoyaki is really good..."

Thinking about his after-school experience, Broly answered Fujimura Taiga's question. Yet in his answer, the taste of Takoyaki and the different ways to eat it seemed to be the details worth describing. As for unimportant things, he simply skipped over them.

"When you go out to play with friends, you need to tell an adult first, understand? Otherwise, people will worry about you."

Seeing that Broly had returned safely, Fujimura Taiga finally relaxed, though she still gave the boy a lecture.

"Okay, I understand."

Broly took it to heart and nodded obediently.

"As long as you remember. Come on, big sister will take you to eat."

After rubbing the boy's head, Fujimura Taiga took him toward the main dining hall.

"Old man, this..."

"Tell everyone to stop. Have them come back."

Fujimura Raiga waved a hand. Broly's disappearance had been an unexpected incident, but at least it had let his granddaughter understand the benefits of having subordinates and influence. The boy's safe return was even better. At least they no longer needed to waste effort searching for his trail.

"Did this guy get hit by a Heavy Truck?"

The missing child had been found and taken away, but the police still needed to remain and deal with the corpse of the suspected criminal. Looking at the young man's body embedded in a shattered wooden crate, its abdominal cavity almost entirely destroyed, the officers investigating the scene frowned.

They had seen plenty of death scenes, but this one was especially absurd. They simply could not determine what had turned him into this state.

"No matter what, this should be the prime suspect behind the recent home invasions, murders, child abductions, and child torture killings in Fuyuki City.

"Take detailed photographs of this man's face. Once we return, we'll need to investigate his identity and see if we can find any concrete evidence."

After the Police Inspector in charge of the scene finished speaking, he realized none of his subordinates had responded.

"Why aren't any of you saying anything?"

Turning around, he saw his subordinates wrapped around the necks by several Tentacle Monsters.

They were hanging in mid-air, struggling desperately yet unable to break free.

"M-Monsters?"

The Police Inspector's eyes widened as he took two steps back, only to find there was nowhere left to retreat. Behind him was the gruesomely mangled corpse.

"Let my men go."

He could only draw his pistol, trying to threaten the monsters gripping his subordinates' necks into releasing their tentacles.

"How could this happen?"

But before he could fire, a surprised and disbelieving voice came from behind the Sea Demons.

"It's dangerous here."

A Monsterized Person wearing blue robes ignored the Police Inspector's warning and strode into the bar.

His eyes bulged so prominently that they made people think of goldfish, yet he passed right through the Sea Demons without receiving any obstruction.

"Ryunosuke Uryu, my Master. I never expected you to die before me."

Bluebeard Gilles de Rais's eyes were filled with sorrow. A Master who shared his language and his interests had been presented before him in the form of a corpse.

"However, you died with great artistry. I imagine you dedicated yourself to art!"

Since the Sea Demons had not stopped this man, and he had come over to speak to the corpse, the Police Inspector realized something.

"You're working with this abductor and murder suspect, and these monsters are under your control?"

The Police Inspector aimed his gun at the man.

"Tell those monsters to let my colleagues go, or I'll shoot."

The Police Inspector threatened him. Some of the officers were already rolling their eyes back. He had to act.

"Hm?"

Bluebeard lowered his head and looked at the policeman, who only came up to his chest. "Don't you know that you shouldn't disturb someone while they are grieving for the dead?"

He raised a hand toward the man's head, but did not grab him. He merely held it before him. "Still, you don't look like you have any artistic sense at all. I suppose I'll forgive you."

Bluebeard chanted softly. The Police Inspector did not understand what he was doing, but he shouted, "I told you to make those monsters put my colleagues down! Did you hear me?"

"Dark Sacrifice, Sea Monster Summoning."

A magic circle formed, and the casting material was the Police Inspector before him.

"What is this? What did you do?!"

A sudden, agonizing pain erupted inside his body, and the Police Inspector's expression changed.

"Rip—"

Before he could pull the trigger, a Sea Demon burst out of his body.

He died, his flesh consumed by the monster that had emerged from within him.

"Ryunosuke Uryu, God is so unfair. He made a great human artist like you leave the stage ahead of time. But it doesn't matter. You still have me.

"I, Gilles de Rais, swear here and now that I will make that agent of God's will, the one who forced you off the stage early, leave this stage called the world in the very same manner."

He thrust his hand into the body of an officer hanging from a Sea Demon beside him, and Bluebeard Gilles de Rais pulled out a still-beating heart.

His chant sounded once more. As the heart burst apart as casting material, its blood, carrying the resentment of the dead, was guided by magecraft toward a certain direction.

"Fog? No, this is a phenomenon caused by magecraft!"

Through Assassin's vision, Kirei Kotomine, who was standing by at Fuyuki Church, discovered Caster moving with a group of Sea Demons.

That man still had no intention of concealing the supernatural. In fact, he had gone even further, leading a group of Familiars through the streets.

Every ordinary person they encountered along the way was killed without explanation and then used as material for summoning Familiars.

"What a lunatic!"

While notifying Tokiomi Tohsaka that Caster had begun a new move, Kirei Kotomine also had his Assassin knock out the innocent pedestrians along Caster's route and toss them aside.

It was not out of any goodwill toward saving people. He simply did not want Caster's Familiar army to keep expanding.

"What? Caster summoned a group of large Familiars in the streets and is parading them around?"

Upon receiving the news, Tokiomi Tohsaka felt as though his blood pressure was about to burst through the roof. As the head of the Tohsaka Family, Fuyuki City's greatest magecraft lineage, he had both an obligation and a responsibility to preserve the local mystery.

Caster's act of leading a huge group of Familiars through the streets without restraint was practically an attack right in his face, challenging his limits as a Magician.

Could the Holy Grail Ritual still be called a mysterious ritual at this point? Why not hang a loudspeaker around that man's neck and announce it to the whole world?

"Has Caster's Master gone mad? Letting his Servant do this—aren't they afraid of being besieged and killed by the other Servants?"

"Tokiomi-sensei, forgive my bluntness, but that pair has been insane since the Holy Grail Ritual began."

"Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Then what is their target? After causing such a huge commotion, do they merely want to turn themselves into a target of public criticism?"

"Judging from Caster's route, he and his Familiar army are heading toward Saber's new base. I don't know why, but Caster has been targeting Saber all along. Teacher, should we intercept Caster's actions now?"

After reporting Caster's intended target, Kirei Kotomine asked.

"They're going after Saber? Then there's no need to intercept them. Let that mad Caster pair serve as a scouting stone and test Saber's strength.

"Of course, continue having Assassin clear out the ordinary people along their route. If too many ordinary people die, it will be difficult to cover this up."

Tokiomi Tohsaka did not stop Caster's actions. He merely had his disciple do some work to make the aftermath easier to handle and reduce civilian casualties.

Guided by the blood of resentment, Gilles de Rais arrived without obstruction in Fuyuki City's Old Town, aided by the silent efforts of Kirei Kotomine's Servant to remove innocent pedestrians.

"Kiritsugu!"

Within the residence serving as their new base, Artoria sensed something unusual in the air. She rushed into the house and found that her Master, Emiya Kiritsugu, had also noticed the abnormal magical power in the air.

At that moment, he had already assembled a submachine gun. Emiya Kiritsugu looked at Saber rushing in and instructed Hisau Maiya, who still bore some injuries, "Protect Irisviel. Saber and I will go out to meet the enemy."

Under the moonlit night, fog filled the streets and dark clouds covered the moon. The instant moonlight emerged again, Caster and his Sea Demon army appeared at the far end of the street. There were far more Familiars than during the attack on Einzbern Castle.

"Evil Path, how many innocent people have you slaughtered now?!"

Looking at the enormous Sea Demon horde, Artoria felt only fury. She was neither of this era nor this country, yet the Code of Chivalry she upheld filled her with anger toward someone committing such vile acts.

"Oh my, what an extraordinary coincidence. To think I would reunite here with the beautiful Holy Maiden. It seems fate itself is arranging for you to return to my side. But, Holy Maiden, I, Gilles de Rais, am not here for you tonight. I am here for revenge!"

"Huh?!"

Both Artoria, who had come out onto the street to face the enemy, and Emiya Kiritsugu, who had already set up his gun on the rooftop, cried out in surprise.

"My Master, Ryunosuke Uryu, a great human artist, was murdered in an unnamed bar. My magecraft has guided this army of revenge here. Step aside, Holy Maiden. There is no role for you in tonight's performance."