Absorbing the disc proved far easier than Roland had imagined. Unlike his previous fusions with Shendu and his transformation into an Angel, there was no discomfort or strange sensation whatsoever, as though he had been born to possess this ability.
He had closed his eyes to listen to the words within the disc.
They were the last words of his only friend, Kirei Kotomine.
Even in the message he had left within his soul before dying, the rigid priest's tone still carried anguish.
In that voice that never seemed to hold a trace of laughter, he poured everything out to Roland.
His very first words seized all of Roland's attention.
"I'm sorry, Lord Roland,
-I lied."
"Offering you my soul and becoming a cornerstone of heaven are all wonderful things, but I was not as at peace as I appeared."
In the moonless darkness, the disc, gradually staining black and being swallowed up by Roland, conveyed Kirei Kotomine's almost fearful trembling in a cold, yearning, mechanical voice.
Roland listened silently, utterly unmoved.
"I firmly believe you will succeed. Everything is developing as you said it would. Even an existence such as mine can hear the gears of fate meshing.
"But that is precisely why I feel uneasy."
"I have no doubt that Kirei Kotomine will find salvation. In the new heaven, everything will be saved by you, even those who are flawed. What truly troubles me is a simple question. Will that Kirei Kotomine still be Kirei Kotomine?"
"In the boundless world itself, across countless cycles, there may be countless Kirei Kotomines. But the Kirei Kotomine who met {Roland}, was changed by him, and was saved by him-that is me alone."
His claim that he resembled Araya Souren had not been an excuse. It was what Kirei Kotomine truly believed.