Chapter 164: The Premiere of Fate/Zero Chapter Two! (6)
The story continues.
On Fuyuki City's large bridge, Ryunosuke was shouting with excitement, flailing his arms and legs wildly.
"Amazing, amazing! This is incredible!"
"Go, Bluebeard! Crush them! Kill them! This place is a god's toy box!"
"No more boredom, no more tedious killing. From now on, I won't even need to lift a finger. People will keep dying, one after another—ground into pulp, minced into meat, blown to pieces, devoured completely, dying and dying until nothing is left."
"What color are the intestines of a blond human? What texture does a black man's liver have? I'll get to see all kinds of organs I haven't seen yet! Every day, every day, fascinating things will happen all over the world!"
Ryunosuke, still cheering wildly in celebration of his triumph, continued to support his ally who had transformed into a rampaging beast.
But in the next instant, he felt his body being thrown far away by some invisible force.
Not only that, but the people around him, upon meeting his gaze, screamed in horror and backed away, as if the bizarre phenomena unfolding in the river and sky were happening right before their eyes.
"What's wrong? Hey! What's going on?"
Unable to comprehend the situation, Ryunosuke eagerly asked the people nearby what strange event had occurred. But then, he suddenly felt a warm, slick sensation in the hand touching his abdomen.
"Whoa!"
He saw a pure red—unmixed with any other color.
A faint smile instinctively crept across Ryunosuke's pale lips.
"So that's it. No wonder I could never find it."
"It turns out the thing I've been searching for this whole time wasn't anywhere else. It was inside my own guts..."
"I've finally found it…"
"Honestly, if it was inside me all along, you should've just told me sooner…"
As his words trailed off, a bullet fired from hundreds of meters away pierced through his head.
Even though everything above his nose had been blown off, a smile of contentment still lingered on his lips.
On the other side, hidden in the ship's cabin, Kiritsugu Emiya lowered his gun and turned his gaze toward the massive sea monster, which, far from disappearing, had grown even more ferocious. Slowly, he opened his communicator.
"I've eliminated Caster's Master, but the monster summoned by Caster still persists. This indicates that its magical power comes from within. We need to completely destroy it to make it disappear."
"And to eliminate it, ordinary Noble Phantasms, or even anti-army ones, won't suffice. It requires the level of power capable of wiping it out in an instant—only an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm would do."
"Currently, the only one with such power is our Saber. However, Saber's Noble Phantasm can't be used because her right hand was injured by Lancer's spear."
"There's only one option left."
"Let's see just how strong their so-called knightly honor really is!"
...
The series of unfolding scenes tightened the nerves of the audience.
The intense battle abruptly shifted to Kiritsugu's snake-like perspective. While everyone felt a rush of satisfaction seeing the evil Ryunosuke finally dead, they also instinctively sensed a chill in the air.
"Ryunosuke is finally dead. A guy with no normal sense of morality—he'd probably fit better in the world of Kara no Kyoukai; he feels too out of place in Fate."
"Honestly, just seeing this guy made me sick. Glad he's finally gone."
"Still, he died pretty content, didn't he? Not many people in this movie seem to get that kind of satisfaction."
"By the way, what's Kiritsugu planning now? He mentioned that Saber has an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm. What could that be? Isn't Saber's Noble Phantasm her sword?"
"No idea. Guess we'll find out soon enough."
The audience was hooked, their curiosity piqued. From the start of the movie until now, the relentless action had provided an incredible visual feast.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the theater, Knight Commander Wilcliff sneered.
"Chivalry? Ha! That outdated, decaying concept, invented by ancient nobles. What's the point of it? General, do you believe in that?"
Facing Wilcliff 's disdain, General Wilhelm chuckled.
"I don't, but that doesn't stop me from respecting it."
"Heh, respect? The enemies on the battlefield certainly won't respect you when they kill you."
"The times have changed, and so has the way of thinking. Adapting to the situation is key—that's how the Empire's army stays undefeated."
"That's true, but it doesn't stop me from thinking it's utterly foolish."
The two highest-ranking leaders of the Empire exchanged these thoughts, while the knights around them remained silent, unable to say a word.
Although Lyra wanted to argue, her position as vice-captain made it difficult for her to speak up. She could only lower her head silently.
However, Emperor Hubbard seemed quite intrigued by the conversation and began discussing it further with General Wilhelm.
...
In the corner of the theater.
The orc prophet watched the screen while recalling the plot up to this point.
As much as he wanted to treat the movie as pure entertainment, his role as the prophet of the Orc Kingdom wouldn't allow him to fully relax. He focused intently, mentally filling in the gaps with his own insights.
In the story, both the summoning of Heroic Spirits and the battles between mages appeared fantastical and unreal. Yet, he could sense an underlying reality behind it all.
This realism emerged through subtle details—the strategic thinking of the mages, reminiscent of modern warfare, and the sheer power of the Heroic Spirits in combat. All of it filled him with an inexplicable unease.
"Muttering to himself, he wondered aloud, 'How could such a terrifying demon god possibly be defeated?'"
The orc prophet knew that once that question was answered, all his confusion would be resolved.
At that moment, perhaps he would finally see through the film, unveiling the true power of the human empire and understanding the real gap between the Orc Kingdom and the human empire.
...
Meanwhile, at the Imperial Mage Academy.
The mages were deep in discussion, debating how to defeat such a terrifying sea monster.
"Should we use a sixth-tier forbidden spell, like Sky Burst, Eternal Storm, or Ice Age?"
"Fate/Zero doesn't have an Archmage; how would they cast forbidden spells?"
"Could a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm destroy that thing? I thought Iskander's Ionian Hetairoi was already over the top. How could anything more extreme appear?"
"Gilgamesh is acting so arrogant—maybe he actually does have a way to destroy that giant sea monster."
"But Kiritsugu said Saber was the key to defeating it, didn't he?"
"No way! Saber's just a swordsman. Could she seriously cut down something that big with a sword, like casting some kind of forbidden-tier mega-spell?"
"Haha, that's way too ridiculous..."
Amid all the chatter, people continued to watch the screen, eager to see how the story would unfold.
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