After completing his work and perfecting the arrangements, Kirei took only one step into the church and immediately sensed the presence of death.
There was a faint smell of blood and a lingering scent of gunpowder. Someone must have committed an unforgivable act within the sacred halls.
Although he couldn't sense anyone lying in wait, Kirei cautiously moved forward, passing through the pews of the congregation. Just before he reached the altar, he noticed a figure sprawled on the ground beside it.
"Father..."
The weak cry escaped his lips, and as Kirei laid eyes on Father Risei, the experienced eyes of an Executor had already detected the bullet hole piercing through the priest's back and the bloodstains on the ground.
Kirei felt as if his mind had gone completely numb, yet he carefully examined his father's lifeless body with that feeling still lingering.
Rolling up the sleeve of his right hand, which bore the Command Spells entrusted to him, he verified the number of seals inscribed on his wrist.
"No, this can't be possible."
Kirei exclaimed once again, surprised. He knew that his father's Command Spells were protected by powerful divine words and were almost impossible to be stripped away without his permission. But now, all of these Command Spells had disappeared, and Kirei couldn't help but be astonished.
After the initial shock, Kirei forced himself to calm down and continue his examination.
Father Risei's right hand was intact, without any traces of magecraft or other abnormalities, indicating that the Command Spells had been removed through normal means. So, did Father Risei willingly give them away?
The only person for whom Father Risei would willingly bestow the Command Spells was his teacher, Tokiomi Tohsaka. But if it was Tokiomi, he wouldn't have killed Father Risei; his pride wouldn't allow him to do so. Moreover, even if he did want to kill Father Risei, he wouldn't use a gun, but rather magecraft. After three years of studying under Tokiomi, Kirei knew him very well and wouldn't be mistaken.
What could be the explanation then? Besides Father Risei himself, were there others who knew the phrase "divine words"?
With these doubts in mind, Kirei continued to examine his father's body.
Kirei lifted his father's right hand and noticed traces of friction on the fingertips, different from the bloodstains. It was a mark left by rubbing. Before his death, Father Risei had smeared his blood on his fingertips and applied it somewhere.
Having noticed this, it would be easy to find the bloodstain text with a little searching.
Written on the floor in mottled penmanship was the crimson testament "jn424" - if one had no religious affiliation, they might consider it an incomprehensible code. But for Kirei, who inherited his father's devout faith, the meaning behind these last words couldn't be clearer.
It was most likely the "divine words" from John 4:24, and it was the inheritance and trust that Father Risei wanted to entrust to his son, hoping that he would inherit the position and responsibility of the Supervisor.
But... this code had been deciphered by someone else.
Lost in thought, Kirei picked up the Bible by his father's side. With this book, even someone unrelated to the Church could potentially decipher this code, considering the relatively high notoriety of the Gospel of John.
Had Father been careless? The Bible that he always carried with him had become the tool that the culprit used to decipher the "divine words."
No, it might not necessarily be the work of the culprit.
If the culprit hadn't left, Father Risei might not have left a code, and even if he did, it wouldn't have been such an obvious one.
Perhaps after the culprit left, someone else visited the church to see Father and discovered his lifeless body. They deciphered the code and transferred the Command Spells.
Yes, that would make sense. Caster is already dead, and the Masters of Saber, Lancer, Rider, and Assassin could have visited Father to obtain additional Command Spells.
The culprit who killed Father could be one of them, or it could be the Master of Berserker, who didn't participate in the battle.
As his brain concluded, Kirei's mind relaxed, and tears unknowingly fell from his eyes, leaving him in a state of utter shock.
Seeing his father's body and shedding tears in response to his father's will... It was a natural reaction for a person. But at this moment, Kirei felt like he had stepped into an abyss and was engulfed in a near-terrifying state of confusion.
"Do not look directly at it," the voice within his heart solemnly warned him.
"Kirei Kotomine, you must not understand, nor can you acknowledge this emotion surging within you right now. Because..."
Tears. When was the last time he shed tears?
Yes, it was three unforgettable years ago when his late wife held his tears in her hands and said, "You love me, don't you?"
As Kirei struggled to resist the memories flooding his mind, an inexplicable impulse, completely different from the emotions in his memories, surged within him.
Hunger!
Thirst!
Impulse!
Accompanied by the sight of red, an insidious and irresistible temptation invaded Kirei's reason.
It was as if a person who hadn't eaten for days felt hungry.
As if a person who hadn't drunk water for days felt thirsty.
As if a person who had abstained for days felt desire.
The red blood emitted a peculiar, irresistible allure, pounding against the barriers of Kirei's mind and common sense like waves.
"It's happening again, just like in Caster's workshop!"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Why is blood attracting me?"
"Why do I feel a longing for blood?"
"How can humans be drawn to the blood of their kind?"
"Could this be the abnormality Gilgamesh spoke of?"
"Then why didn't I have these impulses before?"
The thoughts in his mind didn't affect his actions, and his trembling hand—the hand that had taken many lives without ever trembling—reached towards the not-yet-dried bloodstains on the ground.
"No!"
"No!"
"No!"
Reason kept reminding him.
But in his heart, another voice roared madly.
"I want it!"
"I want it!"
"I want it!"
Kirei felt his body split into two parts: the physical desires and the rational soul.
The two constantly battled, his hand moving up and down near the bloodstains, like a person experiencing a fit of madness.
Perhaps this is what a saint meant by fighting the demons within one's heart.
Perhaps, if I can defeat this demon, I will become a normal person.
Or perhaps, I will be completely assimilated by the demon and fall into darkness?
Struggling.
Fighting.
Kirei did not give up.
He resisted, he struggled. A follower of God could not succumb to the temptations of the demon.
...
After an unknown length of time, the desire and impulse for blood gradually faded away, replaced by an indescribable emptiness.
Kirei silently gazed at his father's lifeless body, his heart filled with a deathly silence, like a scorched wasteland.
"...Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."
Suddenly, Kirei began to recite the Lord's Prayer, a prayer he was accustomed to reciting every day as if he was praying for his father's blessings and repenting at the same time.
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil... Amen."
Accompanied by the sign of the cross on his forehead, chest, left shoulder, and right shoulder, the deep meaning behind the tears and the inexplicable impulse were sealed away.
...
In a distant western city, a city that had been silent for hundreds of years.
A pair of crimson eyes suddenly opened, unparalleled golden light shining through the pupils, only to fade into silence in the next moment, and those crimson eyes closed once again.
The ancient city was once again shrouded in darkness as if nothing had happened.
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