"Keep going! Crush them! Kill them!"
Ryunosuke Uryuu stood like a fervent zealot before his revered deity, eyes blazing with madness and obsession, shouting and gesturing wildly. To onlookers, his incomprehensible behavior resembled that of a mental patient, prompting them to steer clear, leaving a wide berth around him.
"This is the toybox of the divine! Hahaha... no more boredom! No need to go out of my way to kill—people will die endlessly, crushed, torn, shredded, devoured! Death, death, death, unending death. I can keep seeing innards I've never seen before... every day, everywhere in the world! No end, no conclusion..."
Blood splattered as the colossal demon seemed to falter, yet Ryunosuke cheered with unhinged fervor.
Whether the giant demon rampaged or was destroyed, its "beauty" intoxicated him.
Lost in his ecstasy, he failed to notice that, compared to the bloody feast he craved, his own death would come first.
A man in a trench coat appeared silently beside him, drawing a long, black pistol from his waist and pressing it against Ryunosuke's side.
"Ugh—"
Bang!
A muffled shot rang out, the silencer releasing a bullet that traced a path through the air, piercing Ryunosuke's abdomen.
Instinctively, he looked down at his wound.
Ssssh!
Like a faucet opened to full blast, blood gushed from his abdomen. The bullet came from a magical armament, its caliber rivaling a sniper rifle. Such a wound was fatal—unless a miraculous healer from another world intervened.
Now, Ryunosuke beheld his own "beauty."
"Ah... truly magnificent..."
Staring at his white shirt, now soaked red with blood, his eyes gleamed with awe and longing, as if beholding something exquisite.
"So that's it... no wonder I didn't see it before. They say you overlook what's closest... not someone else's..."
Cradling his bloodied forehead, Ryunosuke muttered to himself.
"What I sought was inside me all along? Hmph... I finally found it. If it was in my body, why didn't someone tell me sooner..."
Savoring the pain, the cold, the haze, he felt his life ebbing away. Reflecting on his relentless pursuit, Ryunosuke made his final summation. Though his young life was ending, the journey brief, he had found what he sought: an understanding of "death." All along, he feared failing to find it before his life ended. What would he be then?
He had avoided that thought, but now, he had his answer to death.
"Not a mage?"
A puzzled voice came from behind, followed by another gun being drawn, its muzzle flashing.
A bullet tore through his skull!
"Caster's Master is down. Caster won't last much longer. One team eliminated!"
The man who killed Ryunosuke was Kiritsugu Emiya. In this chaotic moment, he'd spotted the strange figure, leading to Ryunosuke's demise.
But... the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Clap, clap, clap!
A man with short golden hair, clad in a dashing navy-blue robe, strode forward, clapping with natural confidence.
Was he applauding Kiritsugu's clean kill or his own successful trap?
"You're... Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald!"
Kiritsugu knew every competitor's name, and this man was the strongest Master on paper—one of the Clock Tower's twelve Lords, the current head of the formidable El-Melloi faction.
"Greetings, vile mage. Not scurrying away at the sight of me, Lord El-Melloi?"
Kayneth smirked with haughty pride.
Without hesitation, Kiritsugu raised a submachine gun from his waist and fired at Kayneth.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The muzzle flashed, bullets spraying at close range.
Clang, clang, clang!
A golden figure appeared before Kayneth, its spear whirling impossibly fast, defying physics to deflect every bullet.
"Lancer? Berserker!!!"
Seeing the summoned Servant, Kiritsugu didn't hesitate, calling his own!
Whoosh!
From afar, a beam shot toward Kayneth at five times the speed of sound.
"Hm!"
Lancer's eyes narrowed, spotting an arrow. With a flick of his spear, he parried it.
The arrow plunged into the sea, exploding like a depth charge, raising waves dozens of feet high.
"Lancer! Handle that Servant. This one's mine!"
Kayneth grinned arrogantly, pulling a small vial from his coat and tilting it.
"Fervor, mei sanguis. (Boil, my blood!)"
With the incantation, the spell activated. The mere 100 milliliters of liquid expanded wildly once it left the vial, forming a silver sphere nearly a meter wide.
This was Kayneth's trump card, his proudest creation, enabling a non-combatant like him to rival Servants.
The armament, Volumen Hydrargyrum, was a supreme mystic code crafted from Kayneth's dual Wind and Water attributes and his mastery of fluid manipulation magecraft.
The silver sphere was specially treated mercury, which Kayneth could shape freely, molding the formless liquid into any form.
"Be cautious!"
Lancer left only a warning before leaping, his body surpassing triple the speed of sound, charging toward the distant enemy.
Now, only Kiritsugu and Kayneth remained!
***
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