It became a half-corpse, oozing internal organs and blood as it writhed and stood up.
"G-Good... it hurts... It hurts so much..."
"--What kind of research could create such a pointless thing? Just thinking about it makes me sick."
With a long sigh of exasperation, she kicked Arac away as he tried to attack her.
"No... more..."
"Where is the 'doctor' who made you? If you don't tell me, I'll chop you into mincemeat."
Natalia snatched up the hatchet and held it against the man.
"Doctor... there..."
Arac pointed toward the bookshelf with a trembling finger.
Natalia assumed there was an exit behind the bookshelf, but apparently there wasn't.
"Electric... television... TV..."
Arac pointed back and forth between the television and the bookshelf. The shelf held grimoires too advanced for any idiot to understand, something that appeared to be the villagers' medical records from all these years, and also—.
"Video tape...?"
A television and a videotape?
Shirou had mastered Mystic Eyes of Petrification to an incredible degree.
He effortlessly bypassed the surveillance sentries and found the house where Natalia had been taken.
"Ah, you're here?"
For some reason, Natalia was sitting on the sofa watching television.
"What are you doing?"
Shirou was about to complain when his attention was drawn to "that thing" piled in the corner of the room.
"What is this?"
"Apparently it's called Arac. He's Heinrich Zeppter's assistant or disciple."
Before Shirou could examine it further, Natalia called him over and pointed at the television.
"Zeppter...?"
"Yes. Kid, it looks like this is a love letter from hell."
A long-haired man appeared on the television screen.
Half his face was covered by a thick beard. There was neither madness nor emptiness in his deep-set eyes—only the glow of reason.
"--To the Hounds of the Association