Capítulo 25: What Did I Discover!? A Wild Loli
Nightfall in Fuyuki City brought with it deadly, eerie threats lurking in the shadows.
A small girl sat on a train bound from Zenjou to the new Fuyuki City, clutching a magical compass tightly.
"It will be okay, Kotone," she silently prayed, her lake-blue eyes gazing anxiously at the neon-lit skyline of Fuyuki New Town. Beneath the city's bright façade, something dark and foreboding seemed to be waiting.
"Always maintain elegance," she reminded herself.
Pushing aside her fear, seven-year-old Tohsaka Rin repeated her family's creed as she set foot back in Fuyuki.
——
Kiritsugu Emiya's orders were to monitor all the unusual activity across Fuyuki City, but Kurumi only followed the instructions halfway. Most of her duplicates were lazing around in flower shops, tea rooms, or bookstores.
She flipped through a newspaper, reading about bizarre murders, child abductions, and the horrifying explosions near Matou Mansion and Miyama Town. The police had even issued a curfew, and panic was spreading throughout the city.
While tracking magical fluctuations, Kurumi noticed Rider's group emerging from the sewage outfall of the Mion River. Judging by the remnants of fire and lightning still crackling inside, it seemed they had destroyed Caster's workshop.
Kurumi glanced at the fiery remnants within the sewer but decided against investigating further. However, after taking just a few steps away, she detected four unusual spiritual signatures emanating from the sewage outlet.
Assassins.
Kurumi's method of detection differed from that of other Servants. She tracked both magical energy and time simultaneously.
[Presence Concealment] might work against most Servants, but to Kurumi's gaze, it was as useless as trying to hide in plain sight. She could see them as clearly as if they were unclothed.
Clink.
The sound of chains clattering filled the air as Kurumi's short musket, gleaming with gun blades, slid into her hand. Humming a soft tune, she stood atop the river's surface, blocking the Assassins' escape.
"Well, well, good evening~~ Assassins." Kurumi waved her gun playfully at the four Assassins emerging from the shadows, her laugh soft and sweet, yet chilling.
From the darkness, pale hands reached out, forming a black and red Astral Dress around her. Kurumi deliberately struck a fearsome pose, smiling at the masked Assassins draped in black combat gear. There was nothing more satisfying than fighting Assassins.
The Assassins exchanged glances before one of them rushed at her, moving with the speed of a falcon, dagger drawn. The other three split off to flee. Hassan of the Hundred Faces had divided into eighty forms, with no ability to regenerate—losing even one would be a heavy blow.
"Oh? You think you can escape?" Kurumi giggled, her laughter sending chills down the Assassin's spine.
The Assassin before her had no choice but to confront her head-on, hoping to buy enough time for the others to escape.
Like a descending blood moon, Kurumi's gun blade spun in a deadly arc before flying like a meteor and ripping through the Assassin, his body falling into the Mion River.
Kurumi floated back to the riverbank, landing with an effortless grace.
"Just these few?"
"Not enough to be fun."
"Are there any more?"
...
One by one, identical, elegant young girls began to gather around her. Each held a gun blade, eyes glowing like crimson roses, filled with disdain.
Trying to compete with me in splitting bodies? Bold move.
As the sun set, Fuyuki was bathed in a warm, golden hue. Kurumi mentally calculated the time—if Rider's group had broken through Caster's workshop, then it meant that the banquet of kings was about to begin.
She wasn't particularly interested in watching two brutish men bully a little girl, but she couldn't let her garden be trampled by some charging chariot.
Plus, the banquet meant... more Assassins to hunt.
The thought made Kurumi grin.
——
The streets of Fuyuki grew increasingly empty as night fell.
Police patrols scoured the city, searching for anyone still out past curfew. In twos, Kurumi's duplicates wandered the streets, often causing the police to wonder if they were seeing things.
"Huh?" Kurumi stopped as she spotted a familiar figure in a dark alley near Shimozasa. A small girl with twin tails, wearing a dark red winter uniform from Yatsushiro Elementary School, was cautiously making her way into someone's magical workshop.
Clutching a finely crafted magical compass in her hands, she walked nervously.
"Rin?" Kurumi tilted her head. That's Sakura's sister, isn't it? A wild loli?
Without a sound, Kurumi melded into the shadows, following the girl.
Rin gathered her courage and continued down the dark alley. The magical compass in her hand spun faster and faster, deepening the unease in her heart.
Suddenly, the needle began spinning wildly, and Rin could swear she heard soft, chilling laughter—like the layered voices of many girls giggling ominously.
Rin's shoulders tensed as she clutched a gemstone, charged with magical energy, tightly in her hand—a perfect product of her after-school assignments.
...
Crunch. Crunch.
From the shadows of a nearby house came the sound of bones being ground together.
Something was breathing in the darkness ahead, its damp breath reaching her skin.
"No, no, no, no—"
Rin trembled, realizing that things weren't as simple as she had imagined.
Please, let nothing happen to you, Kotone.
But there was no sign of Kotone's presence in the dark. Even if she were here, she would no longer be... herself.
Rin's innate talent as a mage was extraordinary. Even though she had never encountered monsters or vampires before, she knew that she was standing at the very edge of danger.
To learn magic, one must first learn to understand death—and at only seven years old, Rin had learned this lesson.
Death was inescapable, pure and simple.
A buzzing sound began to fill her ears, as if something was whispering to her, threatening to burn her mind just by thinking.
Her foot slipped, and the gemstone fell from her hand, shattering against the ground. In the faint glow of the shards, Rin finally saw it—blood.
She raised her head in terror. Something was emerging from the darkness, something so horrifying that it threatened to swallow her whole.
...
Boom!
The gemstone exploded like fireworks, the sharp fragments cutting through her stockings.
But the explosion also drove away the suffocating fear.
In that moment, Rin displayed her extraordinary talent as a mage, turning around and fleeing as fast as her legs could carry her.
——
In the darkness, Ryuunosuke Uryuu, the killer, emerged, a playful grin on his face. A purple, glowing magical bracelet dangled from his wrist.
He was about to give chase to the young prey when he felt something cold and hard press against his forehead.
From the shadows, a young girl in a lavish dress stepped forward, holding a short, antique musket. Her eyes looked at him with nothing but disgust.
"Huh? What's with this weird outfit, little girl? Want to join big brother's party?" he laughed, reaching out to push the gun away.
Boom.
A lifeless body slumped to the ground like a discarded bag.
"Trash."
Kurumi muttered as she walked away, gazing in the direction Rin had fled, still puzzled.
"Kotone? Was that the name of the little girl we saved last time?"
-103:57:21
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