"...!!"
Rin Tohsaka's entire body went rigid as she slowly turned around.
Standing behind her was the orange-haired young man, smiling with an unsettling grin as he looked down at her.
His right hand, adorned with a purple bracelet, rested on her shoulder.
The bracelet emitted an eerie violet glow.
At the same time, the needle of the Mana Compass hanging from Rin's neck spun another two or three full revolutions.
"Hey there, little girl."
Ryunosuke Uryū smiled pleasantly.
"Did you get lost?"
"I..."
The light gradually faded from Rin's eyes.
A thin strand of drool slipped from the corner of her mouth.
She opened her lips as if to answer...
Then slowly closed them again.
"Perfect."
"The old man's toy really works."
Grinning from ear to ear, Ryunosuke took Rin's hand with one hand and another newly abducted little boy with the other before leading them deeper into the alley.
What Ryunosuke failed to notice was that Rin's magical energy was instinctively resisting the bracelet's mental domination.
Deep within her eyes...
A tiny spark of reason—
No larger than a grain of rice—
Was steadily growing brighter.
"So this makes thirteen tonight..."
"Add the twelve from last night..."
"Twenty-five children in this warehouse already."
"We're getting closer and closer to the quota the old man wanted..."
After weaving through several twisting streets, Ryunosuke finally led Rin and the boy into a dim underground warehouse.
Children with empty, lifeless eyes lay scattered across the dusty floor like discarded trash.
Moments later...
Rin became one of them.
"There are more and more police around."
"Better go hunting again while I still have the chance."
Chuckling to himself, Ryunosuke leisurely walked back out of the warehouse.
The sound of his footsteps gradually faded away.
About ten seconds later—
The light slowly returned to Rin's eyes.
"Oww..."
She rubbed the palm she had scraped against the floor when she'd been thrown down.
Slowly getting to her feet, she widened her emerald eyes and surveyed the warehouse.
"It's so dark..."
Rin took a gemstone from her pocket.
Even without channeling magical energy into it, it emitted a faint glow.
Not wanting to attract attention, she relied on that tiny light to examine each child's face one by one.
She vaguely remembered the kidnapper mentioning that the children taken yesterday were also being held here.
If that was true...
Then Kotone had to be here somewhere.
Carefully...
She checked every vacant face illuminated by the gemstone.
Before long—
She found her.
"Kotone!"
"..."
Turning the unconscious girl over onto her back, Rin desperately called her name.
There was no response.
"So she really was..."
Rin frowned.
Once again, she prepared to use the same method as before.
This time she was even more cautious.
She absolutely didn't want to accidentally turn Kotone into an idiot.
However—
Just as the needle of magical energy finished forming at her fingertip...
Rin instinctively looked up.
Ryunosuke had returned without making a sound.
He stood at the entrance, quietly watching her cast her spell.
"Oh?"
"So you can use magecraft, little girl."
"Good thing I decided to be careful."
His grin stretched almost to his ears.
"I..."
"I..."
"I..."
Rin's body and mind trembled simultaneously.
The magical needle she had painstakingly condensed instantly collapsed.
She turned and ran deeper into the warehouse.
"Ahhh!"
Her foot caught on something.
She fell hard onto the floor.
Looking back—
She saw half of a human leg protruding from the partially opened door of a storage cabinet.
The impact caused the cabinet door to swing open.
Inside...
Dismembered body parts—
Legs.
Arms.
Torsos—
Were piled together haphazardly like a grotesque stack of toy blocks.
The stench of decay flooded into her nose.
"Blech!"
Rin immediately emptied the contents of her stomach.
Her gaze toward Ryunosuke became filled with pure terror.
"D-Don't come any closer!"
"Oh."
"So you've seen it."
Ryunosuke smiled casually.
"We're planning a party."
"But we're still a little short on guests."
"So we need an excellent medium like you."
As he spoke, he slowly approached.
Rin retreated.
He advanced.
No matter where she ran...
There was nowhere left to escape.
Soon—
Her back struck the wall.
She had reached a dead end.
Ryunosuke stepped forward and grabbed one of her twin ponytails.
"If the old man finds out I caught a child with magical talent..."
"He'll be absolutely thrilled!"
He laughed with the pure excitement of a child opening a birthday present.
"L-Let go of me!"
Rin struggled desperately.
But the strength of a child was hopelessly outmatched by an adult.
"Now, now..."
"That won't do."
Still gripping her hair with his left hand—
Ryunosuke seized Rin's face with his right.
The same hand bore both the glowing purple bracelet...
And all three Command Seals.
The bracelet pulsed once more.
Its hypnotic glow drew Rin's gaze.
Her expression quickly became vacant again.
Drool trickled from the corner of her mouth.
That bracelet...
So it really was the thing controlling Kotone and the others!
Remembering why she had come here in the first place...
Resolve suddenly returned to Rin's eyes.
She grabbed hold of the purple bracelet with both hands.
"Huh?"
"What are you doing?"
Ryunosuke asked in confusion.
"If you pour too much magical energy into a gemstone..."
"It'll explode."
"Be careful..."
Her father's warning echoed through her mind.
Ignoring it completely—
Rin frantically poured every ounce of magical energy she possessed into the bracelet.
Blue and crimson magical energy erupted around her.
The Mana Compass hanging from her neck was lifted into the air by the violent surge.
Its needle spun wildly.
"What is this?!"
Rin shouted.
BOOM!
The purple bracelet exploded.
A torrent of magical energy blasted Ryunosuke backward like a violent shockwave.
The source of the hypnosis had been destroyed.
At once—
Purple mist rose from every abducted child inside the warehouse before dispersing into the air.
One after another...
The children regained consciousness.
"Kotone!"
"R-Rin?"
"Where are we?"
The moment she landed, Rin rushed over, grabbed Kotone's hand, and pulled her toward the exit.
"No time to explain!"
"Run!"
Her commanding shout immediately silenced the crying children who had just awakened.
Standing at the front like a fearless big sister—
Rin led all of them out of the warehouse.
"Damn it..."
"My back..."
Ryunosuke tried to chase after them.
He managed only two steps before clutching his lower back and leaning heavily against the wall.
His bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the children fleeing into the night.
"That's twice now..."
"Damn it all!"
BANG!!
Enraged, Ryunosuke slammed his fist into the warehouse wall until blood streamed down his hand.
The madness in his eyes only deepened.
Then—
He slowly raised his right hand.
His gaze fell upon the three intact Command Seals.
"I've got three of them anyway..."
"Using one here should be fine... right?"
Convincing himself, he grinned.
Then loudly declared,
"I command you by my Command Seal..."
"Come to me at once, Caster!"
Ordinarily...
No sane Master participating in the Holy Grail War would waste something as precious as a Command Seal so casually.
But Ryunosuke Uryū had never been sane.
Everything he did existed for one purpose alone—
His own amusement.
Consequences...
Methods...
None of it mattered to him.
Compared to the still-conflicted Kirei Kotomine at this stage...
Ryunosuke had long since sprinted down the path of indulging his own twisted pleasures.
His complete destruction—
Whether his own...
Or everyone else's—
Was only a matter of time.
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