The night was still long. The Servants' war was fierce, and the Masters' struggle was no less so. (Laughs)
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P.S.: Second update.
Didn't expect that, did you? I'm still doing two updates a day. (.?ω?.)
Group C Withdraws Early
The scene shifted to Fuyuki City's sewers. In this dark, damp underground city, weak moans and sobs echoed everywhere, hinting at all manner of terrifying presences. In this area beyond the law's reach, Masters and Servants incompatible with the human world reveled to their hearts' content.
"Amazing. Truly amazing!!" The orange-haired youth crouched on the ground and shouted excitedly at the crystal ball before him. Like a child seeing a movie for the first time, his face was filled with an innocent smile.
Smoke drifted hazily through the air, rubble lay piled like mountains, and the desolate nightscape made one wonder whether two modern armies had fought each other here. Yet this scene had not existed from the beginning. Twenty minutes earlier, this thoroughly devastated landscape had still been an empty, silent warehouse district. The fierce battle that unfolded there was reflected in full by the crystal ball.
"Hey, hey, old man, look! This silver weapon is incredible." A naive smile sparkled in the youth's narrow eyes as he cheered.
Within the crystal ball, a mage from the Clock Tower was controlling Moon Marrow Spirit Fluid and its inferior Mystic Code to hunt Kiritsugu Emiya everywhere. Though their battle was not as intense or deadly as a Servant battle, the Servants were simply too fast to see clearly. In terms of visual impact alone, the Masters' fight was more interesting.
"Mr. Bluebeard, everything that just happened was real, right? That was incredible~ This isn't some electronic game platform!" Ryunosuke Uryu danced about excitedly. He had never seen such a thrilling battle before. Compared to it, his own methods of killing prey were far too dull.
Ever since he had stumbled upon an opportunity to use a hereditary book of magical rituals to complete a summoning ritual and form a contract with the Servant Caster, Ryunosuke Uryu had abandoned ordinary behavior. He craved excitement and entertainment, viewing the battle that had just taken place as the finest feast of amusement and enjoying it without the slightest resistance.
Caster did not answer. He merely stared fervently at the crystal ball. In the night scene reflected within it, a petite girl wielded an invisible sword as she fought a warrior armed with Twin Pistols. Caster stared blankly at that figure as though possessed, his frog-like eyes bulging as if they might pop from their sockets. First, great tears streamed down his face, and then he burst into loud sobs.
"Old man, what's wrong?" Ryunosuke Uryu was somewhat at a loss as he watched the weeping mage. Though they had not known each other long, Ryunosuke Uryu had already been won over by Mr. Bluebeard's aesthetics and regarded him as a mentor in life. Seeing that mentor cry before him left Ryunosuke Uryu flustered.
"It has come true," Caster murmured softly, before breaking into crazed laughter.
"My wish has already come true." Caster lowered his head and covered his face with both hands, tears flowing through the gaps between his fingers. He laughed like a comedian, yet cried like an audience member immersed in a tragedy. He seemed to be laughing and crying at once, impossible to understand.
"What came true? What are you talking about?" This was something Ryunosuke had no choice but to ask. He had no idea what had happened. Caster's joyful expression suggested that something extraordinary had occurred, but the reason for it left him bewildered.
"The Holy Grail chose me! It granted my wish!"
Caster seemed unable to see the confusion in his Master's eyes. He seized Ryunosuke Uryu's hand and shook it desperately, wanting to share this joy with him.
"But I... haven't even seen or touched that so-called Holy Grail?" Ryunosuke Uryu became even more confused. He did not even know what the Holy Grail looked like, yet he was being told that he had already grasped it.
Still, it was nice that it made the old man so happy. Ryunosuke Uryu thought this, since he had never desired any Holy Grail. Compared to something like that, he cared more about where he could put his new ideas into practice tomorrow.
"You saw her, didn't you! She told me! That dignified face, that holy bearing—she must be the 'girl' destined to change my fate! My beloved holy maiden!" Caster rambled on, completely unlike the taciturn image of Baron Gilles de Rais recorded in history books.
Yes, Caster's true identity was the French noble Gilles de Rais. He was a figure widely found in European stories—or rather, European horror stories. He was one of the inspirations for Bluebeard, the protagonist of "Grimm's Fairy Tales"; a vampire in the French novel "Over There"; and a villain in "Justice and Courts of France." Europeans regarded him as a symbol of evil and depravity.
This was the story of a Dragon Slayer becoming an evil dragon. In the end, the former Marshal of France became a fiend wearing human skin. After committing countless atrocities, he was ultimately sentenced to hanging, and his corpse was then burned, reduced to ashes upon the pyre. He died in the same way as his beloved Joan of Arc.
However, it was said that the flames capable of purifying filth and evil had failed to cleanse this marshal's soul. At the very least, in this Holy Grail War, Caster was still engaged in his old trade.
"She was once abandoned by God! She died in humiliation through the schemes of hypocrites, before the foolish people she had protected!" Caster's voice was profoundly stirring, and even a born killer could feel his grief and indignation. "But now, she has finally returned to life. This! This is a miracle! It was the Holy Grail's power that restored her! I saved her from the hands of that false god! She has finally come back to life and is no longer bound by God!" Caster's voice suddenly rose with passion, his words becoming slightly incoherent. At this moment, he looked like a believer standing before Christ. His devout appearance was such that people would believe he was a saint.
"For some reason, I'm starting to look forward to it too, Mr. Bluebeard." Ryunosuke Uryu pointed at the children tied to pillars nearby and said cheerfully to his close friend, "In that case, how about we celebrate? I have a pretty good idea, Mr. Bluebeard. Do you want to see—"
Thud. A dull sound came from Ryunosuke Uryu's body, cutting off his words. He lowered his head in disbelief and, under the faint light of the crystal ball, saw that his chest had already been stained crimson. Then he staggered and fell to the ground. There was a fist-sized hole in Ryunosuke Uryu's back, flesh and blood splattering everywhere. Someone had shot him with a Dum-dum bullet.
A young man emerged from around a bend in the sewer. In his hand was a typical large-caliber revolver, with faint white smoke drifting from its muzzle. There was no doubt that he was Ryunosuke Uryu's killer.
"No—!" Caster clawed at his face with both hands and howled in grief. In but an instant, his dear friend had been killed before his eyes. He could not believe this cruel reality.