What Comes Next

"Uncle, you're not well right now. You should talk less," the boy insisted stubbornly. "Once we get the chance, we'll escape!"

"Yeah, escape..."

Wang Xiaoming sighed and weakly reached out to stroke the boy's hair, silently apologizing in his heart:

[Sorry. The uncle you're talking about is nothing but a coward.]

[So cold—]

[This must be a normal reaction before dying, right?]

"Be filled, be filled, be filled..."

[What is this? It feels so familiar...]

The voice reaching his ears gave Wang Xiaoming, whose consciousness had already begun to blur, a strange sense of... déjà vu.

"Again and again, the next is... five."

"Huh? Uncle?"

Hearing Wang Xiaoming suddenly speak while half-conscious, the boy was overjoyed. But when he heard a voice coming from Ryunosuke's side, he froze.

"Okay~ That's exactly five times!"

"Goodness, I can't make out these characters anymore." Ryunosuke Uryu scratched his head as he looked at the notebook, now riddled with holes from insects. He was rather troubled. Suddenly, Wang Xiaoming's indistinct muttering caught Ryunosuke's attention.

"Then, when it is full, it is time to discard it."

When the boy saw Ryunosuke turn his gaze toward them, his body shivered instinctively.

"Wang-san?"

Ryunosuke's voice was filled with barely contained excitement. He hurried over, grabbed Wang Xiaoming by the collar, and shook him repeatedly:

"Wang-san, you actually know the incantation for summoning a Demon?! And you never told me about something this cool!! What comes next? What should I say next?!! Tell me, hurry up and tell me!!!"

"Ah—That hurts!"

At some point, the little boy suddenly pounced on Ryunosuke and bit the hand gripping Wang Xiaoming's collar.

Ignoring the boy's hateful glare, Ryunosuke flung him into the corner with a forceful swing of his right hand. He stared blankly at the blood streaming from the back of his own hand.

How long had it been since he was last injured? Ever since he started killing people, he'd used all sorts of methods—poisoning them, hitting them from behind, and so on—but Ryunosuke had always managed to protect himself well. This was the first time he'd been hurt and bled in the past few years.

Judging by the mangled flesh on the back of his hand, the boy must have bitten down with tremendous force. Yet, strangely, Ryunosuke felt no anger. Instead, an odd thought came to him:

[Is there any difference between my blood and other people's?]

But now wasn't the time to test that. Ryunosuke shook his head and walked toward the boy he'd thrown into the corner. He'd test it later.

"Kid, you know what? You're the first [material] to make me bleed."

Whether from pain or fear, the boy instinctively curled up. As Ryunosuke approached, he couldn't help trembling.

Ryunosuke bent down, grabbed the boy by the collar, and hauled him up. He gave him a bloodthirsty smile:

"So I have to reward you!"

He was still only a child, and the impulse he'd acted on moments ago had already turned to fear. In the boy's mind, Ryunosuke was no different from the devils in fairy tales. A scream surged up his throat, but when it reached his lips, it turned into meaningless words. Tears of terror silently slid from his eyes.

[Dad, Mom... somebody, please save me... Uncle!]

The boy suddenly widened his eyes and stared behind Ryunosuke.

"I remember someone promised me he wouldn't lay a hand on this child." Wang Xiaoming stood behind Ryunosuke and spoke in a low voice, a knife pressed to Ryunosuke's neck.

"Wang-san, you're not dead yet."

Feeling the cold touch against his neck, Ryunosuke didn't turn around. Instead, he smiled and said, "You probably don't even have the strength to swing that knife anymore, do you?"

That was true. Wang Xiaoming had lost a great deal of blood, and without doing anything to stop it, he'd already used up all his strength just to stand.

"..."

The knife slipped from his hand, and Wang Xiaoming's body went limp against Ryunosuke's back. The body's will to survive had been completely worn away.

[So... this is how people die.]

"Uncle!!!"

The instant he saw Wang Xiaoming collapse and lie still, the boy's emotions crumbled too.

[Somebody, please save me!]

Pain—

A sudden, intense pain jolted the boy slightly back to his senses. The back of his right hand burned as if an iron brand had been pressed against it.

"What's this?"

Ryunosuke tilted his head, staring at the red pattern that had suddenly appeared on the back of the boy's right hand, like a tattoo. After a moment, his eyes widened:

"Kid, could it be that you've been chosen by the Demon Lord?!!"

Ryunosuke seemed unable to accept the result. He shook the boy by the collar and demanded, "Why? Why?! Why!!!"

The boy, suspended in midair by his collar, had turned bright red in the face.

[This is awful. I don't want to die yet.]

[Somebody...]

[Save me.]

"Hm, maybe I should just cut his hand off."

As he watched the boy begin to roll his eyes, Ryunosuke Uryu caught sight of the knife on the ground from the corner of his eye.

Whoosh—

A breeze suddenly stirred inside the sealed room, but in the blink of an eye, the faint current swelled into a fierce gale that made it hard to stand. The room's decorations were swept up by the wind and smashed to pieces.

"What is this...?"

Ryunosuke turned and saw that the Summoning Circle, which had been motionless moments ago, was now shining brilliantly.

A flash of light. Then came a thunderclap, like a bolt of lightning, stirring up a cloud of dust in the room.

"Caster, answering the summons. Oh my, it looks like you're in a bit of trouble, Master~"

The dust quickly settled, and a hooded figure gradually emerged from it.

[Be filled, be filled, be filled, be filled, be filled

Again and again

Then, when it is full, it is time to discard it

...]

A flash of light passed, and a girl in armor appeared within the Summoning Circle. Her emerald-green eyes fixed on the man who had summoned her.

[Servant, Saber, answering the summons. I ask you: are you my Master?]

[Tokiomi... I'll kill you!!!]

On a rooftop, a white-haired man in a hood struggled to his feet, enduring the pain. He glared at the elegant man in a suit across from him, his eyes brimming with hatred.

[And you think you can?]

The elegant man in the red suit looked at the white-haired man with cold indifference. His gaze was like that of someone looking at a corpse!

[Insects! Devour him!]

The cocoons surrounding the white-haired man burst open, transforming into one venomous bee after another, each with a mouthful of sharp teeth. At their master's command, the swarm surged toward him!

[Tch.]

[Saber, by the Command Spell...]

The bloodstained, golden-haired girl watched her Master with an earnest gaze.

(Give me the Holy Grail.)

[Destroy the Holy Grail with your Noble Phantasm.]

The longing in the girl's eyes instantly turned to disbelief.

[Why?!]

Saber wanted to loudly question her Master, but she realized it was already too late. A second command had come:

[By the third Command Spell, I command you...]

The disbelief in the girl's eyes gave way to despair.

[Kiritsugu, why? Why did it have to be you?!]

(You were the one who wanted the Holy Grail most of all!)

[Destroy the Holy Grail.]

The golden Holy Sword swung down decisively, with the man's words and the girl's despair.

The next second,

Golden light illuminated half the night over this Far East Town.

[All the evils and curses in this world? You'd need at least three times this power to curse me!]

Amid the Black Mud, filled with filth, ill omens, and every manner of negative aura, a naked Golden-haired Man looked down on it all with disdain. The majesty radiating from him kept the Black Mud from drawing near.

[Who acknowledges it? Who permits it? And who will bear the sin?]

Hearing the question, the Golden-haired Man let out a scornful laugh:

[What a foolish question. Only a fool like you could ask something like that. But very well, I, the King, will mercifully tell you!]

[The King will acknowledge it, the King will permit it, and the King will bear the sins of the whole world.]

The golden-haired king's answer seemed to illuminate the entire dark space. Seemingly cowed by his bearing, the Black Mud writhed, then burst apart and scattered in every direction.

Wang Xiaoming jolted upright as he opened his eyes, his face pale as he clutched his head and clenched his teeth.

Pain—

An indescribable pain—

The memories buried in Wang Xiaoming's mind began to gradually resurface. Like waves, they crashed against his mind again and again without pause.

Wang Xiaoming felt as though his head was about to explode.

"Ah—!"

In the end, Wang Xiaoming couldn't help crying out in pain.

After shouting, Wang Xiaoming felt the headache ease. Soon, the pain disappeared without a trace. Only the hospital gown soaked with cold sweat proved that it hadn't been a hallucination.

Wait...

Only then did Wang Xiaoming realize he was sitting on a bed in a hospital gown. White curtains surrounded him, completely blocking his view.

Swish—

The curtain was suddenly pulled open, and a small figure threw himself at him first:

"Uncle—!"