On the rooftop of Einzbern Castle, the icy wind cut like a blade.
Kiritsugu Emiya looked at the young man who had scrambled onto the rooftop like a phantom.
Without a word of nonsense, he unhesitatingly pulled the trigger of the Calico M950 submachine gun in his hands.
*Trrr-rat-tat-tat!*
Dazzling tongues of fire spurted forth as dense 9mm Parabellum rounds swept toward Yoru Hayashi’s face like a Reaper’s scythe.
Faced with such an unreasonable modern firearm ambush, an ordinary magus’s first reaction would undoubtedly be to chant an incantation and raise a magical shield.
But that required time, and the submachine gun’s rate of fire gave no time at all.
This was precisely the source of Kiritsugu Emiya’s confidence as the “Magus Killer.”
However, he had encountered an anomaly today.
*Hum—*
The dual passive skills [Mind’s Eye (True)] and [Master of Positioning] sounded mad warnings inside Yoru Hayashi’s mind.
In his eyes, the trajectories of the bullets seemed to slow down tenfold.
Not only did Yoru Hayashi fail to retreat, but he lowered his center of gravity and charged forward in a tight Z-pattern directly into the hail of lead!
*Whoosh!
Whoosh!*
Bullets grazed his shoulders and cheeks, drawing thin lines of blood, but none hit anything vital.
In less than two breaths, Yoru Hayashi crossed the ten-meter gap, closing in until he was less than two meters from Kiritsugu.
He drew back his right fist, pale blue magic power bursting into flame as the explosive force of Bajiquan gathered, aiming straight for Kiritsugu’s heart!
“Time Alter—Double Accel!”
At the line between life and death, Kiritsugu cold-bloodedly recited the activation incantation.
His heart contracted violently, his blood flow instantly doubling as his entire speed was forcibly elevated to another dimension.
A split second before Yoru Hayashi’s fist struck home, Kiritsugu slid two paces to the right like a teleporting shadow.
Not only did he flawlessly dodge the strike, but he smoothly drew a hand-cannon-like custom single-shot pistol from inside his trench coat—a Thompson Contender.
The pitch-black muzzle pressed hard against Yoru Hayashi’s left shoulder.
A glint of cold mockery flashed across Kiritsugu’s dead-fish eyes.
A magus engaging in close-quarters combat would inevitably run their Magic Circuits at full capacity.
And loaded inside the chamber was an “Origin Bullet,” made from the ground powder of his own ribs.
So long as it hit, the Origin Bullet’s concept of “Sever and Bind” would spread frantically alongside the flow of magical energy, instantly turning the opponent’s internal Magic Circuits into a mangle of ruined flesh.
*Bang!*
A deafening gunshot echoed across the rooftop.
The large-caliber bullet instantly pierced Yoru Hayashi’s left shoulder, bursting in a spray of blood.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Kiritsugu executed a backflip to open the distance, landing with a faint gasp.
Double Accel put an immense burden on the body, but he was certain the battle was over.
Taking a hit from an Origin Bullet meant the enemy’s internal Magic Circuits were undoubtedly running wild right now.
That kind of agony—like being flayed by a thousand blades—was enough to make any tough guy roll on the ground wailing, ultimately turning them into a broken husk unable to use magic ever again.
“It’s over,” Kiritsugu said coldly, lowering his gun.
“Over my ass.”
A crude, contemptuous curse caused Kiritsugu’s pupils to shrink violently.
He snapped his head up to see the young man, whose left shoulder was still dripping blood, not rolling on the ground at all.
Instead, he wiped off the blood on his shoulder like it was nothing, looking at Kiritsugu as if he were staring at an idiot.
“Is that it?
I thought your trump card was something amazing.
You shot me with a crappy pistol and expected me to drop to my knees?
The hell do you think this is, a mob movie?”
Yoru Hayashi grinned, revealing a row of sharp white teeth.
The Origin Bullet had indeed taken effect.
Yoru Hayashi could feel the Magic Circuits around his left shoulder twisting into a bizarre knot.
If he were an ordinary magus, this pain would have been unbearable.
The problem was that Yoru Hayashi’s pain resistance had long been tortured in the worm pit dozens of times by the System, maxed out to an absurdly high level!
As for Magic Circuits going wild?
At worst, he’d die once and reboot—he didn’t care at all!
“Impossible…
How could the Origin Bullet’s interference fail?” For the first time, a flicker of emotion known as panic appeared on Kiritsugu’s perpetually expressionless face.
“This is what you call a stat diff, got it?!”
He slammed his foot down, shattering the concrete rooftop beneath him with a loud *boom*.
He moved so fast that Kiritsugu didn’t even have time to trigger “Time Alter” again!
*Snap!*
Yoru Hayashi grabbed Kiritsugu’s right wrist—the hand holding the gun—pinning it like a steel vise.
*Crack!*
The sound of fracturing bone echoed.
Kiritsugu let out a muffled grunt, and his pistol dropped to the ground.
“You sure love cheap shots, don’t you!”
Although Yoru Hayashi’s left shoulder was injured, his right arm was completely fine.
He wound up his arm and delivered a ferocious, open-handed slap straight to Kiritsugu’s perpetually sullen face!
*SLAP!!!*
The smack was utterly solid.
The impact lifted Kiritsugu off his feet, spinning him half a turn in midair before he crashed hard against the outer wall of the rooftop water tower and tumbled to the ground.
“Kiritsugu!”
The iron rooftop door was smashed open, and Maiya Hisau burst out with a submachine gun in hand.
Seeing Kiritsugu collapsed on the ground and spitting blood, her eyes nearly tore open with rage.
She raised her gun to open fire.
“Get lost.”
Yoru Hayashi casually flicked up the discarded Calico submachine gun on the ground with his foot and kicked it forward.
The heavy gun frame slammed squarely into Maiya’s knee.
With a sharp *crack*, Maiya instantly collapsed onto her knees, losing her grip on her weapon.
Yoru Hayashi walked slowly up to Kiritsugu, planted his foot onto the Magus Killer’s chest, and looked down at him from above.
“Kiritsugu Emiya.
Sacrificing the minority to save the majority.
So long as you can achieve your so-called peace, you’d ruthlessly murder your biological father and foster mother without hesitation.
You think you’re a hero of justice carrying the weight of the world, don’t you?”
Yoru Hayashi’s voice dripped with unreserved disgust.
Kiritsugu grit his teeth, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes still filled with stubborn resolve: “So long as I can obtain the Holy Grail and eliminate all bloodshed and conflict in the world…
I won’t hesitate, even if I must bear all the sin.”
“Phooey!”
Yoru Hayashi spat right beside Kiritsugu’s face, almost hitting him squarely.
“Stop touching yourself with your own self-dramatization.
Did you solve too many Trolley Problems and actually start believing you’re God?
You want to save the world, so you feel totally justified preparing your wife Irisviel to become the Holy Grail’s vessel and go die?”
Kiritsugu’s pupils contracted violently as he glared at Yoru Hayashi.
“You…
how do you know Iri’s identity…”
“I don’t just know she’s going to die—I also know your daughter, Illya, hidden in that German castle, will follow in her mother’s footsteps in the future and have her heart ripped out!”
Like a devil, Yoru Hayashi used the most venomous words to tear open the deepest, softest vulnerability in Kiritsugu’s heart.
“Your so-called world salvation is bought by stepping on the corpses of your own wife and daughter!
What’s even funnier is that the crappy cup you’re sacrificing everything to get was corrupted way back during the Third Holy Grail War!
What’s inside isn’t a miracle at all, but ‘All the World’s Evil’!
If you actually make a wish, Fuyuki City will turn into a sea of flames in an instant, taking hundreds of thousands of people down with you!”
“Impossible!
You’re lying to me!”
Kiritsugu’s mindset shattered completely.
He could endure physical torture, but he could never accept that the miracle he had sacrificed everything for—even preparing to sacrifice Irisviel—was actually a world-destroying bomb!
“I don’t have time to lie to an old middle-aged guy like you.”
Yoru Hayashi pressed his foot down, making Kiritsugu’s ribs creak ominously.
“I came here today to flip the table.
You aren’t taking this Holy Grail.
And don’t even think about sacrificing your wife.
I just can’t stand bastards like you who throw away their humanity into the trash for the sake of a broken cup.”
*BOOM—!!!*
Just as Yoru Hayashi was tormenting his soul, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly resonated from the first floor of the castle beneath their feet.
Immediately after, a silver figure crashed straight through the floor of the rooftop, bringing up rubble and smoke as she fought her way all the way from the first-floor hall to the roof!
Her Royal Sword was pressing down hard against Artoria’s invisible blade as the two of them dismantled the building all the way from the grand hall to the rooftop.
“Arthur!
Why won’t you release your Holy Sword!
Are you looking down on me?!”
Mordred’s eyes were blood-red.
Her silver armor had already been slashed with several cracks by sword qi, but her assault showed no signs of slowing down; instead, it grew increasingly unhinged.
Artoria was panting heavily, her left arm hanging limply at her side.
She looked at the wild child before her, her emerald eyes filled with anguish and confusion.
“Mordred…
You do not understand the heart of a king.
You should not have been born in that era, much less obsessed over the throne.”
“There it is again!
That disgusting line again!”
Mordred was so enraged tears almost spilled from her eyes.
What she wanted wasn’t the throne at all; she just wanted her father’s acknowledgment and eye contact, even if just once!
Yet King Arthur was forever standing on high, maintaining that perfect, humanless posture for the sake of the country!
“Since you don’t understand me…
then take your ridiculous ideals and go die!!!”
Crimson lightning soared into the sky as Mordred raised her Royal Sword high, preparing to release her Noble Phantasm.
“Stop, stop, stop!”
Yoru Hayashi kicked Kiritsugu Emiya aside and shouted urgently to break the spellcasting.
“Little Mo!
Tone it down!
There are still people up here!
A single Noble Phantasm from you will blast me along with her!”
Mordred paused her movement and turned to look at Yoru Hayashi.
Though her face was full of annoyance, she forcibly suppressed the release of her Noble Phantasm, though her Royal Sword still pointed firmly at Artoria.
“Mind your own business!
This is between me and her!”
Artoria saw Yoru Hayashi, then looked at Kiritsugu collapsed on the ground, immediately realizing the gravity of the situation.
“Are you the Master accompanying Gilgamesh?” Saber stepped in front of Kiritsugu, standing on full guard.
“Don’t be nervous, Chief.”
Yoru Hayashi picked his ear.
“Tonight is just a domestic violence scene; I’m just the tour guide.
But looking at your communication efficiency, you two wouldn’t get anywhere in eight hundred years.”
He turned to look at Mordred: “Alright, you vented your anger, you fought your battle.
Her left arm is crippled; even if you slice her to death now, it wouldn’t be a fair win.
Let’s go home and get a late-night snack, then come back tomorrow to trouble her again.”
Mordred bit her lip, glaring fiercely at Artoria.
Though unwilling, she knew Yoru Hayashi was right.
Slaying a low-HP King Arthur wouldn’t prove her capacity at all.
“You bastard King Father…
Just you wait!
Next time we meet, I’ll definitely force you to draw your Holy Sword with your own hands and fight me!”
Throwing down those harsh words, Mordred disarmed her armor, pulled her oversized red trench coat back on, and walked behind Yoru Hayashi in a huff.
Yoru Hayashi glanced at Kiritsugu Emiya, who was still lying paralyzed on the ground with a face as pale as ash.
“Old bastard Kiritsugu, think carefully about what I just said.
Instead of playing hero of justice, you’d better go home and spend more time with your wife.
Let’s go!”
Yoru Hayashi waved his hand and leaped down from the rooftop with Mordred.
Outside the forest, Gilgamesh was leaning against the car door, looking at them with a face full of impatience as they walked out.
“Finished cleaning up?
What a waste of time.”
“Let’s go, let me go home and sleep.
Tomorrow there’s even more exciting work waiting for us.” Yoru Hayashi pulled open the car door, feeling quite pleased.