Just then.
Kayneth suddenly murmured hoarsely, "Grand Duke..."
His expression was no longer distraught, leaving only an eerie calm.
The Grand Duke lowered his head, looking down at Kayneth from his height of one hundred and ninety centimeters.
Kayneth lowered the hands covering his face, his eyes fixed on him. "You're a Dead Apostle, aren't you?"
The Grand Duke's brows furrowed slightly. Haven't you already tested that? What are you trying to do at a time like this?
Kayneth stared at him, his gaze almost piercing through him. His body trembled, his lips quivered, and his eyes had already sunk into a lightless abyss. "You are. You are, aren't you?"
His voice trembled. A desperate man was descending into madness.
The Grand Duke nodded. At this point, there was no need to hide it anymore. "Yes."
Kayneth gave a wretched smile, his facial muscles contorting, the corners of his mouth stretching to his ears, yet there was not a trace of amusement in his eyes. "Good. Wonderful."
He murmured, "I want revenge. I want to destroy that person! That man-Kiritsugu Emiya!"
"I've already lost everything... everything!"
He raised his head and looked at the Grand Duke. "Whatever it takes, I'll make him pay!"
He knelt without the slightest hesitation.
The Lord of El-Melloi, the genius of the Clock Tower, the pride of the "prodigy"... all dissolved into nothing on the filthy floor.
Kayneth knelt before a Dead Apostle. "I want to become a Dead Apostle."
"Right now."
Silence fell over the warehouse.
The Grand Duke looked down at the man kneeling on the floor. "Ah... that is one way."
"Are you prepared?"
Kayneth raised his head. "I am."
"You will depart from all normality and enter an irreversible state of abnormality."
"I know. Mages are the greatest abnormality of all."