Chapter 26: Episode 24

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Shido No-name, formerly Tenshou, was a simple lad with simple needs and wants. Born into a family with generations of Martial practice, he was the black sheep with little to no talent with their Arts. It didn't take his parents long to kick him out… Forced to live on the street, surviving by the day, he had developed a hatred for his relatives who had refused to aid him in any way. It didn't come as a surprise to anyone when Shido jumped at the opportunity to help in the destruction of his former family in exchange for powers– Powers that he used to crush the remaining resistance of the Tenshou.

Revenge was better than the sweetest nectar and with his family members either in a ditch or on the run, Shido had happily offered his all to his current boss. Sure, he was no Captain, he wasn't even a Commander of the organization, but he wielded a decent amount of influence and got to eat as much as he wished, any time he wished. Others might grow to want more after this, but Shido wasn't 'others', he was Shido– He got people to order around, foods on his table and, occasionally, women to put his prick in and that was enough. He was happy with his lot in life, no reason to go risking his being in battles when he already had everything he could ever wish for.

Which was why he decided to transfer to Shibuya– The current headquarter of their budding Martial organization.

He thought this would keep him safe and away from harm's way… He was wrong, he realized when a blade pressed against his throat while unzipping his pants. Him and his men were celebrating their most recent victory over another smaller Sect; and he had gone to take a piss after having one too many drinks. Yes, he got the news that Kiyoshi was closing in on them and that they should prepare for the eventual attacks, but he didn't care. His establishment was but one amongst many to Ragnarok, it didn't even bring in that much money to begin with and was almost entirely unimportant to the whole of their organization.

Surely, those honorable Kiyoshi-bastards wouldn't waste manpower on his tiny Yakuza-styled office, right? Or at least, to his alcohol-addled brain, that had been the perfect reasoning to explain for the lack of patrols and security measures. It's definitely not because he was too much of a slob to bother organizing his men, absolutely not! Besides, it's not like Kiyoshi could launch an attack so soon after their loss against the Eighth Captain anyways… With that in mind, he had told his men to keep to their old schedule and throw the biggest party they could afford. In hindsight, perhaps she should have listened to the higher-ups, then maybe he wouldn't be in this situation.

"W‐ What do you want? Do you know who I am?!" That, that was not the correct choice of dialogue as the hand holding the another; so slender and fragile-looking, yet so menacing at the same time, quickly put in further pressure, causing the edge to dig into the exposed skin of his throat, drawing wet, warm blood that trickled down his neck to his chest. Shido was so scared the piss seemed to have been sucked back into his body, any urge to urinate leaving him entirely as he sobered up. "Okay, okay! W- What do you want?! Money? Women? I can get you anything, j- just let me go!" A snort sounded from behind him as the assailant forces him on his knees in front of the urinal.

For the first time in his life, Shido felt sympathy and apologetic towards someone other than himself. White porcelain stained yellowish green with unflushed wastes, both from him and his group of dozens men, and an unholy smell that reeked to high Heavens, a scent he doubted even the most powerful deodorizer could cover up. On the contrary, the mixture of pees and artificial fragrance had only made the odor that much worse. 'I really need to pay the janitor more…' He mused to himself. "Hey, are you listening, you damned drunk?"

Shido snapped out of his alcohol-induced haze as he felt someone slap him over the head– The voice, while slightly squeaky and young, was distinctively male compared to the previous snort. Suddenly, he found himself thrown against the urinal, grimacing to himself at the horrible smell now clinging to his clothes. It took a few moments, but at last, Shido could see his assailants: Two… Children? Well, one was a young male child, the other was a female teenager. Although both had black hair, that was about where the similarities ended.

The boy was a Westerner, it's clear in his facial features, as for the girl, she was the typical nadeshiko with huge, enormous boobs, glossy black eyes and adorning her person was an uniform of the same color that hugged her curves. She was just his type, and had the circumstance been any different, he would have definitely gotten her into his bed. Sadly, the sword in her hands seemed to disagree as she noticed his lewd gaze on her chest and swung. Time stopped for Shido, he couldn't even scream, staring blankly at the blade nearing his neck only to slash a few strands of his hair.

"Look at my chest again, and you're dead." The boy smiled wearily, reaching to pat Shido's shoulder, but thought otherwise when he saw the stains on his jacket. "Look, Shido–" His eyes widened at the sound of his name. "Relax, you don't have to worry. I'm Leo, and I'm not here to hurt you… Can't say the same about her though–" The boy pointed. "So why don't you help us, which will in turn, help you?" The boy– Leo waved his hands, fingers humming with ambient powers that clung to his skin. Such a simple, non-important action, yet it made the tenseness that was gradually settling in subsided in an instance.

"Now, tell me what I want to know, and I promise Shibata-chan here won't hurt you, 'kay?" – "Yessh…" Was he slurring? He wasn't sure, but if he was, then he must have the alcohol to thank. It couldn't possibly be anything else, right?

…

[Quest Chain: Mages Amongst Men (1)]

Difficulty: Hard

Your next foes after the Apostle, while not particularly impressive, are powerful in their own way. Having unknowingly assisted their enemies, the leaders of Ragnarok have set their sight on you and even sent their lackeys to attack your adorable little tsundere! Put action where your mouth is and murder them all.

Rewards: Exp, One Random Skill, 10 Attribute Points

Failure: Possible Death, Embarrassment, Loss Of The Title: A Queen's New Pet

Yeah… Those were some pretty heavy cons, especially the loss of [Title]. There were many ways to see what the loss might represent, but I was fairly certain it meant Gilgamesh would lose all interest in me, which was bad– Like Apocalyptic-Bad. Although, to be fair, the Rewards were tempting as well. Ten AP equaled two Levels worth of Points by themselves, better yet, it wouldn't affect my Level. Although this might seem inconsequential to other Gamers, for me, it made a lot of differences. Quests were already hard to come by, and killing NPC didn't give Exp, or maybe it did, but the amount was too little for me to notice?

Either way, with this ten Points, I could push one of my Stats near the threshold worry-free. I was thinking AGI, as it fitted my Style the most.

Still, this posed a dilemma. Should I allocate my saving(Points) now? Sure, the Difficulty wasn't ridiculous, but as the last big Quest had proven, things could go wrong, and they could go wrong quick. 'Fuck it, let's leave that for future-me.' While I was stuck in my head, Shibata had taken it on herself to subdue one of the grunts in the toilet. I swiftly followed her, avoiding the drunken slobs that littered the hallway. After a quick use of [Mesmerize], we were able to find out what they were celebrating. As it turned, this mess wasn't actually due to the Mages' incompetency, but was mostly Shido's fault.

Yes, Mages. The Quest notification had given me the hint, all I had to do next was activating [Future Calculation] to validate the information. I wasn't sure how to feel not having a Skill included in the Rewards, but maybe it was better that way? I already had plenty of Skills and still had my research to finish, being given more Otherworldly Abilities would divide my attention too much…

Back to Shido here, he was too assured in his position, too incompetent to follow the Mages' orders, which had given us an opportunity of a lifetime. I was ready to stabbity-stab-stab my way through the base, then clear a path for the two of us– A plan that had been rendered unnecessary since the guards were either drunk, passed out or on the verge of overdosing on opium. Apparently, the Mages' concoctions couldn't protect the thugs from their own stupidity. We also found out there were about fifties grunts assigned to this establishment, but only thirties were currently within the place.

The rest likely went homes to their families or something. 'Good for them.' I smirked at the dazed man. "Thanks for cooperating, Shido-san. As promised, Shibata will not harm you…" I heard angry gurgles behind me. Shibata was not pleased with my decision, it seemed. Unwilling to listen to her naggings, my hand shot at the drunk's neck, watching the happiness drained from his face was… Unsettling. "W- What?! Y- Y- You said–" I interrupted. "I said Shibata will not harm you, I never said anything about not killing you myself." He didn't get to say his last words as I pressed my hand against his mouth while the other ripped out his vocal cord.

"When you get down there–" I looked the dying man straight in his eyes. "Be sure to make reservations for your coo-workers and bosses." I pushed and Shido fell lifelessly backwards, head limp on the stained porcelain. "Is… Is that necessary?" Shibata questioned, voice trembling with agitation. "They attacked my friend, as far as I'm concerned, this is exactly what they deserved." I flung the crushed organ away, walking past the frozen Shibata towards the sink to wash my bloody gloved hand. "You understand, right Shibata-chan? There are certain lines–" I shook the water off, staring at Shibata's reflection.

"Lines that should not be crossed… And they did." Shibata didn't respond, but from the look on her face, I got the feeling she understood somewhat.

…

"The Hell are those two doing?!" Bakugou shouted to no one in particular, his voice gravel and angry as he looked at the establishment from afar. This, of course, upset Okamoto– The girl who was too kind, too gentle to ever earn his respect. He never got why Sasaki would put the girl in his group, she was talented, but she didn't have a single bone for violence in her, which was a problem since his group was supposed to specialize in guerilla warfare. They were the Enforcers, the boogeymen that hunted down Kiyoshi's enemies and drained their forces of morale and stamina so the larger forces could have an easier time.

"I- I'm sure they have their reasons, Katsuki-san." He growled. "I. DON'T. CARE. Those fuckers sure are taking their damned time! We have been sitting here for almost an hour now! How long are they going to keep us waiting?!" The girl seemed to shrink at his rage, voice lowering so much that it's a miracle he could even hear her over the loud hum of the truck engine. "C- Calm down, Katsuki-san…"

…

My knife came down at the drunk's shoulder as my silenced his scream with a punch that left his lower jaw broken and hanging loosely to his masseter. I yanked out the object, causing his eyes to water from the pain and shoved in six times into his abdomen, my last stab was pulled sideway with enough force to cleave clean through his torso, leaving his innards spilling to the floor. Around me were several other corpses that were in various states of mutilation: Their organs trickling out of the multitude of holes on their bodies, severed limbs laid in a puddle of blood, and/or their heads decapitated in jagged cuts.

It was quite the ghastly sight, though it didn't bother me much, not after that whole debacle with Regul and his horde of minions. "You really are a cute kid…" Shibata remarked sarcastically.

Hers was less messy than me, most of her victims had clean cuts to their throats or torsos, only a few had their limbs hacked off, though all of which were clean, almost surgical slashes. "It's about sending a message, Shibata-chan." I wiped the blood onto my pants. This small group was the closest thing to a patrol we had encountered, they were armed with Mystic Codes– Nothing too impressive, just cheap stuffs that wouldn't cost more than a few dimes to create, and they were way more sober than the rest. I wouldn't call fighting them 'a challenge', but it was more exciting than cleaving through a bunch of intoxicated idiots who couldn't hold their weapons right.

Suddenly, we heard wet gurgles as one amongst Shibata's pile tried to reach out to us. "W- Why are y- you doing this?" I sighed. "You see, Shibata-chan? This is why you have to brutalize them or some might just survive." I didn't answer the dying man, opting to poke fun at the girl instead as I drew my knife, twirling it in my hands and kneeling by his side. Seeming to understand what was going to happen next, the Ragnarok's grunt opened his mouth, to beg for mercy no doubt, but I just couldn't find it in myself to care about his plight, knife slamming into his forehead and fragmenting his skull. "You're not a warrior, you're a butcher…"

"Well–" I wiped my knife against the corpse's shirt. "It's easier that way."

"How?!" I gave her a disinterested side-glance. "By de-humanizing them, Shibata-san. The moment they chose to be my enemies is also the moment I no longer consider them humans, or even sentient, just dumb animals that I have to slaughter. The more ridiculous and brutal a kill, the more fascinated I am, and the less I have to concern myself with moral dilemmas and just how human they are." I hadn't killed a human before until today. My first real kill– That Shido fella, hadn't exactly been the cleanest, it was disgusting and bloody and the terror in his eyes had been haunting to say the least.

I could definitely see why veterans of war were often traumatized by the deeds they had done and horror they had witnessed, which was why I chose to kill them in the most ridiculous way I could think of so I could desensitize myself with the act. It also helped that I had played plenty of hack'n'slash in my first life, and thinking of them as the wave and wave of enemies before the Boss' arrival helped me cope somewhat. In fact, even in my thoughts, I had never referred to them as anything more than 'grunts', 'thugs' and 'lackeys', because that's all they were to me, nameless, faceless NPCs put there to pad out the sections prior to the Boss.

And thinking of this whole mess as a videogame makes it easier to murder them.

"Does that make sense?" I wondered out loud. Shibata kept her mouth shut, but I could feel her silent gaze boring into the back of my head. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke, voice heavy with an emotion I couldn't quite make out. "Let's– Let's just go, there are only the ones partying left, we can signal Bakugou to start with the second portion of the plan." – "Right, you call them, I'll wait here." My attention turned to the neck clutched in the corpse's hand, I pried the thing from its place– It was one of those antique photo-locket, a quick use of [Structural Gasp] showed it had been made of cheap materials and engraved on the outside was a faded 'I love you'.

I flicked it open and what greeted my eyes was the picture of a woman in her thirties, decently pretty, hair tied in a neat bun. She was smiling and for the slightest instance, I thought I saw the picture move, her eyes blinking accusingly at me. Then, I jerked as I felt a hand land on my shoulder. "Leo-san?! Are you alright?" My head snapped towards Shibata who was shaking me, her face taken by concern. "Y- Yeah, I'm fine." I spoke, trying to portray as much confidence as I could muster, but I could see I wasn't fooling her, not one bit. Thankfully, she didn't delve in further. "C'mon, we need to move to the front of the office, Bakugou is driving and he should be here within–"

*BOOM

*BOOM

*BOOM

"I'm guessing that's them?" The front had burst into flame and the distant shouts told me Bakugou and Okamoto were already making quick work of those still alive. I got to my feet, experiencing a dash of nausea and dizziness that nearly made me fall to my knees. The rumbling of the ground thanks to several more explosions didn't help as I tried to steady myself before relenting to my fate and fell forwards only to be caught by Shibata. "I suppose you are still a child after all…" She whispered softly, to herself or to me, I wasn't sure, I was too busy dealing with the headache that I hadn't even noticed was there.

"You did well." A voice drawled in my ears, crooked, raspy and demonic and evil echoing inside my head, yet there were more, the voices of thousands from young to old, men to women all repeating the same thing at once. I clutched my head. Gods, I could hardly describe it, but it sounded like the beckoning of the Devil himself. "D- Did you say something, Shibata-chan?" The girl didn't reply, merely looking at me, puzzled by my pale appearance no doubt. "Nevermind, it's nothing, I must have heard wrong." Whatever the Hell that was, it could wait, I had to see this through first.

…

Bakugou charged at the coming foes, fists blazing with hot, yellowish white Ki that promised naught but pain and suffering for those daring to cross his path. The second his fists reached their target, their limbs and bodies burst into explosive, all-consuming flame that melted the skin off their flesh. Behind him, Okamoto with her wires shot at the panicking thugs, tying some while incapacitating others. I must admit, they made for a decent pair. Okamoto herself lacked the courage to kill, but she was amazing at crowd control. All Bakugou had to do was stopping those that had somehow avoided her web of wires and finishing those that had already been caught.

Shibata and I only looked for a few seconds before bolting in ourselves. The girl didn't hesitate to slit the throats of the three on fire, while I drew my rapier and swung at the fat guy that was trying to jump on our support, in a desperate attempt to free his friends perhaps? My blade came at his Achilles heels, severing his tendons as he fell, then I twirled the needle-sword in my hand, aiming the tip at his exposed chest and slammed down, my rapier nailing him to the floor and likely destroying all of his ribcage from the impact. But, there were still enemies to be killed, so I yanked out my blade, holding it in the famous reverse-grip.

The next one to come at me was skinny and short, but he was fast. [Structural Gasp] showed that his legs were being empowered by Ki, although that appeared to have negative effect on the muscles as his vessels bulged, throbbed and bruised all at the same time. To his credit, despite being in visible pain, the thug didn't stop. I rewarded his commitment with leg-sweep and as he fell, legs now bursting with blood, I spun behind him, rapier piercing through his throat, another spin left him headless like so many others I had encountered. The third didn't waste any time, running at me, screaming with his cursed club raised over head.

It's here that I truly understood why Kiyoshi had yet been overwhelmed despite their numerical disadvantage: These guys sucked balls at fighting. The things they did were what you would expect from a school tussle, or gangster-wannabes, not experienced Martial Artists that had trained all their lives. I brought my sword up to block, letting the club slide harmlessly down the length of my blade and with his downwards momentum, I tucked him onto my waiting sword. He died within seconds after having his heart pierced, eyes still wide with terror.

Another came. I blocked the first, throwing a punch that dazed him, the other two were met with my Phantoms, one killed after the ghostly projection shoved a sword through his chest, the last was punched until his face resembled mashed potatoes.

It's here that the remaining grunts of Ragnarok realized their mistake and made to flee, a futile endeavor as Bakugou, Okamoto and Shibata chased them down. As for me? As the kids called it these days, I pulled out the nine. Well, not exactly, since my gun didn't use 9mm rounds, but you got the idea. I took potshots at the fleeing thugs and managed to nail two headshots, the other five were at their torsos and legs, but in my defense, the recoil on this gun was super-duper bad. Yes, I had test-shot it before, and still I wasn't used to how ridiculous it was, coupled with size, I could barely hold it right. "You have a gun?!"

I smirked at Shibata. "I have a gun." Finished hunting down those who tried to retreat, Okamoto approached me silently, her voice meek. "T- That's illegal, Leo-san…" I raised an eyebrow at her comment, then looked at the piles of corpses in our vicinity. "The four of us just killed like fifties people, Okamoto-chan, I don't think the cops will care, this will raise my sentence at most." I rolled my eyes, regretting it immediately as I put a hand to my forehead. "Jesus." I dropped to my knees. "The fuck happened? Is this too much for you, you little shit?" Bakugou mocked and the previous voices returned in full force. "He dares to taunt us? KILL HIM."

Heartbeats… Screams… Cries… Good Gods, what was happening to me? "Hey–" Did someone just call me? Or was that an illusion too? I felt my stomach spin and puked tars; black, sludge-like tars that smelled and left a horrible after-taste. I dropped to the ground in a fetal position. "Leo-san! Are– Alright?!" Another voice cut in. "What the fuck?! We– Get him– Back–!" Everything was becoming less and less coherent as this went on. I could barely keep up with their conversation through the sea of whispers. Hell, I could barely think at all. "I- I–" I croaked. "Bri- Bring me to a b- bed. I'll b- be fine."

Then I promptly passed out.

.

.

.

A sky consumed by flame.

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Entire area populated by the howling, twisted humanoids whose skin had blackened and charred.

The sun eclipsed by unholy powers. The rays of light, which were supposed to be golden and warm turned a scathing, fiery orange.

Clouds made of choking smokes and scatters of ashes.

Then, there was she, beautiful, unnaturally so in fact.

In total contrast to this World's residents, hers was white and flawless like porcelain.

Hair of the same color that appeared to sparkle with the dancing embers.

Eyes– Wine-colored orbs that peered into my soul. "You've come, Foreigner."

Her voice was like the soothing tones of a lullaby, melodic and gentle.

Still, I wasn't fooled. I knew who she was, what she was…

Even if I had not possessed the meta-knowledge that I did, I'd have been able to make out that something was wrong.

Her presence seemed to sink into itself.

Her eyes, so pretty, yet so malicious.

She couldn't possibly be anyone else other than the thing that had tainted the Grail.

"Angra Mainyu… I suppose I should have expected this."

She chuckled. "Yet, you did not."

"You are… You are a lot less hostile than I'd expect."

Her grin widened. "I despise this Humanity and all their flaws, but you are not of this World, are you? You are not one of them."

I frowned, about refute, but she beat me to it. "Don't deny it. I was there, I saw your soul enter its new vessel, I've been watching you for some time now."

"Then why the wait? Why now?" Voice was steady, I questioned the Daemon.

"Evil is weird like that, when you killed Regul– That miserable worm, you didn't take joy in it, not really. Yes, you might have felt relief, but at the end of the day, it's a responsibility to you–"

Pausing, she- it put a finger to its lips. "But this? Murdering people- Humans, most of whom are just trying to make ends meet for vengeance?

Now that, that's well within my territory."

"I tire of this charade, what do you want from me, Daemon?!" I growled, readying my Spells, but deep down, I had a feeling it would have been useless.

"Relax, Leonis… As unbelievable as it might be, I do not wish you any harm." The Daemon raised ita hands in mock-surrender, an unnaturally wide grin still plastered on its visage.

Its form then shifted and pulsed, disintegrating into a pool of dark, sludge-like muds that slithered and wormed its way towards me.

I took hasty steps back in response. I knew what that was, I had seen it corrupt even Saber, albeit not directly.

Few could withstand its taint besides Gilgamesh whose Ego was just a tad too big for even the Daemon King and Shirou, or Shiro, having resisted its corruption with sheer the sheer alienness of their minds.

The muds reformed behind me, I whirled around to face the smirking Daemon, this time taking on the form of a male teenager covered in glowing, violet tattoos.

It approached, the remaining muds shooting at my legs to keep me in place.

Its face was mere inches from mine when it spoke, unexpectedly peppy. "How about it, Leo-tan? Wanna be my friend?"

"No." I replied curtly, adding after a bit of thoughts. "What's your angle here? What do you want from me?"

"Sadly, what I want, you can not provide just yet, but there will come a day when I need your aid, Leo-tan. So, as you told that Shido fella, how about you and I make a deal?

You agree to help me, and I will in turn help you?" I frowned at the Daemon. "I'm not making any deal until you speak of what you want."

"Oh, don't be like that, Leo-tan." Its fingers caressed my cheek and I cringed at its touch. "I've already given you a gift, have I not?"

What gift–? Oh… That. "[Hell King's Engine] is a decent ability, but I'd have done fine without it."

"Perhaps, perhaps not, but you can't deny its usefulness, Leo-tan." It turned from me, eyes gazing at something far away in the infernal horizon.

"Come, I will show you something." I was soon whisked away alongside the Daemon.

We stopped at the edge of a forest, blackened, desiccated trees.

Beneath us were hundreds of people of Age long past, each wore clothes resembling potatoes-bags that were either patched up, torn or both.

Their bodies skinny, skins unhealthily pale, even up high, I could see the bones poking through their flesh.

"Once upon a time–" The Daemon began, for once expressing something other than the smugness that he had shown previously.

"Near the end of the Age Of Gods, there was a small tribe of hundreds. They used to live happy lives, ate to their stomachs burst and drank to their hearts' content.

Then disaster struck. No one knew what happened, but one day… One day their crops failed, their water tainted, fishes and animals all died of diseases they couldn't possibly hope to understand, those that survived fled to other lands far from theirs.

Overnight, their lives changed." The lines of people moved as he spoke, dragging along a screaming child who likely hadn't even reached his twelfth birthday.

"The old priests said it was a curse, that their tribe had somehow angered the Gods, thus they must make tributes to appease them in the form of human sacrifice.

And so, every week, one would be chosen to be tied up and tortured until their bodies and wills were broken." The scene beneath changed, this time the original child was gone, replaced by another but female.

The Daemon transformed to reflect this child. "They said children were the most innocent, and by picking children, their sins would be forgiven."

I watched in horror as the tribesmen nailed said child to the pole behind her, knives ready to cut and slice into her flesh. "They were wrong…

Nothing had changed, their crops didn't flourish, their water and lakes were still tainted with poisonous sludge and the animals were still gone.

But, they got to enjoy themselves at least." It's voice, now made up of hundreds, male and female, yet all young chuckled humorlessly.

I could almost taste the hatred and rage that had consumed its being. "It didn't take long the tribe to be wiped out, their minds too twisted to care about their own wellbeing, just that they could satisfy their vices."

It looked at me, eyes humming with anger and a need to kill that betrayed its now child-like form. "So you see, Leo-tan… To me, Humanity isn't worth saving, or living."

It paused, recomposing itself. "But you are not part of them even if you look and behave similar to these animals, you are fundamentally different. You can help free me from the Curses that have plagued my being for an Eternity.

Before, I thought the only method to accomplish such a task was the destruction of Humanity. After all, no humans equal no Evil. I won't lie and say I haven't looked forwards to their sufferings, still…

We can not stand this miserable existence any longer. When the time comes, either you or that Shiro girl will be our replacement, the one to hold all Evils and be responsible for all Sins through that faux Holy Grail.

If you agree, shake my hand, and I can promise you I will not destroy this World." It smiled softly, a smile that was more benevolent than I ever thought was possible for something so vile.

"All we wish for is to be free of our Fates." Hundreds of other voices cried around us, asking, begging to be set free. "What do you say, Leo-tan?"

I stared at its outstretched hand, covered in violet light made of pure malevolence and… Shook on it

I couldn't let Shiro bear this Fate, and though it might be arrogant, I was sure I could find a way to make use of All The World's Evil... The Daemon laughed heartily, floating to my ears.

Although, maybe I was wrong? Perhaps the girl was better suited than me to deal with this endless stream of Curses? Shirou Emiya did resist the taint in Fate route after all, and her Reality Marble was a World unto its own… Regardless, it's too late to change my decision now.

It whispered and suddenly, I was thrown into the Void. The last thing I saw was a glimpse of the Daemon's almost euphoric expression as it danced amidst the burning sky. "See you later, Leo-tan~"

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