Her head throbbed slightly. Images of raging flames wrapping around her surroundings flashed by. A chill arose in Ritsuka's heart, and her body went weak, nearly causing her to kneel directly on the ground. She hurriedly supported herself against the car beside her.
"Hah, hah, hah... What is that?!"
Panting heavily, Ritsuka's forehead and cheeks were covered in cold sweat.
Kiritsugu's eyes widened as he asked the air, "What's happening...?"
"This kind of phenomenon is not a realm that humans can reach."
Everything in front of that thing was sucked in and torn apart. The pitch-black mud tornado was like a gathering of malice. Just staring at it made Ritsuka dizzy, and a feeling of nausea surged up immediately.
Kiritsugu hurriedly ran to the other side of the car to support Ritsuka, taking her back inside, preparing to drive back to escape that massive disaster.
In the face of that unknown danger, he betrayed his own justice. He could do nothing but run away... "Kiritsugu..."
Ritsuka was in an inexplicably poor state, her face slightly pale. Kiritsugu had to help her fasten her seatbelt.
Amidst the chaos, Ritsuka closed her eyes, which were very sore for some unknown reason.
The storm formed by the pitch-black sludge wantonly eroded the rural town before them. Ritsuka, her face pale, clutched her forehead and leaned back in the passenger seat, panting heavily, her body feeling somewhat hot.
"Kiritsugu..."
As the car turned around to leave, Ritsuka's gaze shifted slightly, looking at Kiritsugu, who had chosen to avoid it.
Kiritsugu should know what that thing was. It awakened an unknown fear in his heart, a substance that likely haunted him like a nightmare.
To give up so completely without action—it seemed Kiritsugu truly no longer wanted to be a 'hero of justice'. This somewhat hollow ideal had been crushed by reality, crushed by the fact that Ritsuka's importance to Kiritsugu was extremely high.
After all, that town could no longer be saved. If he sacrificed the person beside him for that ethereal possibility again, Kiritsugu, who had chosen to discard justice, would never forgive himself.
The 'hero of justice' had fled.
Driving the car to turn around and begin their escape, the solemn-faced Kiritsugu did not see that on Ritsuka's left cheek, dots of blue patterns were rising.
Left cheek—collarbone—ribs. Something like a pulse was awakening. As her body temperature rose, her blood began to boil. In Ritsuka's squinted eyes, the magical energy surging to the corners of her eyes revealed a mysterious color.
A dim color flickered in her eyes. Ritsuka pursed her lips and forced out a sound, "You can't... Kiritsugu... You can't just abandon the people right in front of us who can be saved..."
She wasn't some saint; she simply couldn't abandon people crying for help in front of her. Those massive cries for help poured into her ears, a great sorrow striking her soul—
'Anyone, please save us...'
'What on earth is that?!'
'I don't want to die yet!'
'God, please save us!'
...[Emiya Shirou (Archer)]
[synchronization value 15%]
Wind and snow eroded the vision, and countless sword mounds stood in sight. The colorless world was lonely and cold... Hallucination-like scenes appeared one after another. Countless phenomena struck Ritsuka's consciousness, and everything before her began to blur.
Just as Ritsuka was being worn down by the hallucinations, a holy light took over her vision.
The surging light swallowed all the black mud within it. That mass of black mud, which seemed like a collection of malice, twisted in an attempt to break free, but was ultimately suppressed by a god-like majesty, completely dissipating from view.
It was something holy and pure that dispelled the darkness and protected the people who should have fallen into the pitch black.
Her head tilted back, Ritsuka panted, completely confused, like someone who had become muddled after a fever reached 40 degrees.
What was it that she had just seen?
The sound of a car door closing and footsteps sounded beside her. Kiritsugu left the car after his vision returned, watching the gradually disappearing miracle in shock.
Coming to his senses, he hurriedly asked about Ritsuka's condition, "Are you okay?!"
"I'm alright, it's just a bit strange."
The things she saw after closing her eyes had vanished, as if they had never appeared. The ice and snow had all dissipated, but she had definitely seen and even seemed to understand something just now.
This really was an unfathomable situation, Ritsuka couldn't help but complain in her heart.
Returning to the car, Kiritsugu drove into the town, but the people fleeing from there blocked the road, and the car's progress was extremely slow.
The sky was an oppressive gray, and the layers of dark clouds made the air heavy. A somewhat irritable Kiritsugu took out a cigarette and lit it. This time, Ritsuka didn't say anything like "it's bad for your health."
Kiritsugu needed to calm down. Too many things had happened in a short time, and this man who had spent his life running for justice hadn't been able to sort everything out yet.
Ritsuka also needed to think calmly.
"The town not far from Miyama Town—the Sakatsuki Family... Kiritsugu, I think we probably need to hurry."
Ritsuka took a notebook from her pocket and threw it to the smoking Kiritsugu, while simultaneously opening the car door and jumping out again.
Kiritsugu came to the front to protect Ritsuka. The two of them pushed through the crowd and traveled across most of the town, arriving at a bamboo forest that was completely out of place with the town's atmosphere.
Panting from the long run, Ritsuka grabbed the corner of Kiritsugu's coat and looked ahead at the giant pit formed in the black mud storm, as well as the ancient house at the edge of the pit that could be described as ruins. Only half a room remained that hadn't been swallowed by that strange black substance.
"That is..."
Kiritsugu's footsteps paused, his eyes filled with shock. The mystery in his sight, which surpassed the ordinary, made him not even dare to step forward, as resisting voices came from all over his body.
The Child of God!
A Little girl sat in the room that had half-disappeared, looking at the toy in her hand with a clear, inorganic gaze, as if everything happening in the outside world had nothing to do with her. The secluded atmosphere was separated by the boundary between the ruins and the house, existing only within that small room.
As if sensing the arrival of outsiders, the Little girl finally raised her head and looked in Ritsuka's direction, making eye contact with the two for a moment.
For some reason, Ritsuka's heart jolted. That holy, faint majesty nearly crushed her all at once. Fortunately, the moment they locked eyes, the magical energy in her body began to resist, and with astonishing willpower, she avoided the possibility of kneeling on the ground.
Having just indiscriminately granted the people's wish to live, a terrifyingly mysterious atmosphere lingered around the Little girl.
"Kiritsugu, is that the 'Divine Child'?"
Ritsuka clicked her tongue slightly and looked at Uncle Kiritsugu, who was standing in front of her. That god-like aura had gradually disappeared, for some unknown reason.
Faced with Ritsuka's question, and with the facts already before him, a flash of anticipation also crossed Kiritsugu's eyes. "That's right. She was the one who cleared that irresistible black mud just now, likely by granting the wishes of the people in the town."
"The pitch-black mud flow swallowed the New Moon clan's barrier, and countless wishes flooded toward the Divine Child all at once. Because they were facing a crisis that could lead to the deaths of countless people, everyone's wishes were probably roughly the same."
Kiritsugu took a deep breath, his lips curling up. "A cry for help. The wishes of the people that flooded toward the Divine Child before were all to live."
"The power to indiscriminately grant people's wishes... truly worthy of the Divine Child."
Looking at each other from a distance, Ritsuka locked eyes with the girl who wasn't at all shy. The black-haired, red-eyed Little girl seemed curious about them, but she didn't make any move, just quietly watching there.
Crack—!
The sound of something breaking came, and Ritsuka's eyes immediately widened.
Behind the room, which was only half-left, was a very deep and massive pit. The room's pillars had begun to shatter, and the entire room showed signs of collapsing.
Kiritsugu was still immersed in the excitement of finding the mystery. Ritsuka instinctively rushed forward, the patterns of Reinforcement Magic wrapping around her legs, and for a moment, she burst forth with an astonishing speed that didn't match her age.
"Not good, Ritsuka, be careful!"
Quickly pulling out his Mystic Code and holding the gun in his hand, Kiritsugu decisively fired toward Ritsuka's back, several bullets grazing past her.