Fate/Magus Path

122 Death?

"It's truly horrific..."

Scenes of bloodshed were not unfamiliar to Shiki. She had witnessed them both in films and in reality.

But compared to the visceral impact of today's scene, all her previous experiences seemed restrained, almost tame.

The killers she had encountered before paled in comparison to this carnage, this sea of blood and mountains of corpses.

It wasn't that her mental fortitude was lacking. Rather, as long as one was human, standing amidst dismembered limbs and the suffocating stench of blood was bound to trigger a deep, visceral discomfort.

Arcueid entered the scene with her hand instinctively covering her nose and mouth. Her delicate features grew pale, not from shock at the carnage, but from the overwhelming scent of blood that stirred something primal within her.

Everywhere she looked, body parts lay scattered. Severed heads, half-chewed, mingled with pools of blood, brain matter, and the unmistakable scent of death. The fluids of those who had lost their lives... blood, bile, and the last remnants of involuntary reflex... coalesced into a pungent, grotesque mix.

The entire floor was awash in blood, forming a vast pool. Broken bodies and tattered clothing floated on its surface. Every step pressed down on something soft, most likely the entrails of the deceased.

Blood. Defilement.

What had once been an apartment building, home to hundreds, had become a hellish pit of flesh and gore. If one listened closely, the sound of monstrous chewing echoed faintly in the darkness, a horrifying symphony of beasts feeding on human remains.

"Rest in peace..."

Standing at the heart of the carnage, Roy clenched his fists as his gaze swept over the devastation. His pale blue eyes focused on the countless distorted faces of the dead, whose silent cries seemed to echo in the void.

There were too many voices, too many souls crying out. He could not listen to them all. Instead, he took out a Bible and holy water he had borrowed from Kotomine Kirei, offering the simplest of prayers for the slaughtered.

"Don't worry... I will make the one responsible pay."

"This is unforgivable!"

At this moment, Roy was the calmest among them. By contrast, Aoko, the guardian of Misaki Town's ley lines, was seething with rage.

Someone had dared to commit such a heinous act in her hometown, right under her watch. Her fury was a volatile storm, a ticking bomb waiting to explode.

No matter who the culprit was... even if it were one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors... they would not escape her wrath.

Just then...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire erupted from the floors above, accompanied by the dying roars of beasts.

Elsewhere, Emiya Kiritsugu, who had arrived ahead of them, found himself equally shaken by the hellish scene. The appearance of Dead Apostles stirred memories of his own painful past.

The island of his childhood, once a haven of innocence, had been tainted by monsters. His father, his lover, his mentor, and even his adoptive mother... they were all casualties of these inhuman creatures.

How many more lives will you drag into hell before you're satisfied?!

Anger. Grief. A tempest of emotions clouded Kiritsugu's mind. He had abandoned all pretense of subtlety, wielding his twin pistols with practiced fury, unleashing a relentless barrage of bullets to keep the beasts at bay.