A short while earlier—
After Ryunosuke Uryū was shot in the head by Kiritsugu Emiya...
With the situation having deviated from his expectations, Gilgamesh paid no attention to the petty squabbling of lesser beings after Ryunosuke's death as a Master. Instead, he immediately returned to the Tohsaka Mansion.
Meanwhile, in order to preserve their own lives, Kiritsugu Emiya and Maiya Hisau chose not to act before Leon and Artoria arrived. They simply continued observing Caster, who had lost his Master.
Because of that decision, they witnessed a scene they would never forget.
"Ryunosuke! Ryunosuke! Are you leaving me as well?! Among all humanity, only a precious few can truly appreciate beauty and harmony... Only the two of us could!"
"So this is the fate of all art given physical form... Even its creator cannot escape destruction!"
"Damn the gods! All they ever do is toy with mankind!"
"Ryunosuke!"
On the riverbank, Gilles de Rais wept uncontrollably as he cradled Ryunosuke Uryū's headless corpse—or rather, what remained of it. At least the lower jaw was still intact.
"Beauty is nothing more than an illusion destined to be destroyed... That's right! I must destroy everything! Since Ryunosuke's body still remains, then I shall restore what is missing through art!"
"And to ensure that what happened just now never happens again... I shall use myself as the material! This is the ultimate work of art, Ryunosuke!"
"What is he trying to do?" Maiya frowned.
Through her binoculars, she watched Caster position Ryunosuke's mangled corpse against his own body before pulling out the grotesque, yellow-bound Prelati's Spellbook and beginning an incantation.
The distance was too great to hear the words. Even though Maiya could read lips, the language Caster spoke was neither Japanese nor English, but an incomprehensible arcane tongue.
"Is he... Could he be trying to fuse himself with his dead Master?!"
Kiritsugu had witnessed countless grotesque and inhuman monstrosities over the years, yet Gilles' actions still shattered the upper limit of what he considered insanity.
Had it been an animal—a dog or even livestock—his reaction would never have been this severe.
But this...
He was performing unspeakable surgery on a human corpse.
A headless human corpse.
An icy chill crawled up both Kiritsugu's and Maiya's spines.
Kiritsugu immediately tried to contact Leon, but at the worst possible moment, neither his phone nor the radio would connect.
"Damn it..."
Setting both devices aside, Kiritsugu frowned deeply and once again aimed through his sniper scope.
His finger rested lightly on the trigger.
He wanted to fire.
Yet after a long moment of hesitation...
He lowered the rifle.
He still had something far more important to accomplish.
He absolutely could not afford to die here.
Even if allowing Caster to live would inevitably bring catastrophic destruction later...
The unfortunate truth remained—
He was no match for a Servant.
And during the brief period of Kiritsugu's hesitation...
Gilles completed his work.
He grafted Ryunosuke's corpse onto his own body.
The two now shared a single head, while their bodies split apart below the neck.
At first glance...
It almost looked normal.
But it radiated an indescribable sense of wrongness.
Cases of conjoined twins existed in the real world.
Yet despite being far less seamlessly fused than Gilles and Ryunosuke were now, none of them inspired even a fraction of the horror before them.
The current Gilles resembled some bizarre four-legged octopus.
His hunched posture and twisted physique were gradually becoming more and more like the Tentacled Familiars he commanded.
"..."
Simply watching the spectacle made Kiritsugu and Maiya feel as though their sanity was plummeting.
"Huh? I'm... not dead? M-Monsieur... it's so dark. Why can't I see anything?"
Ryunosuke's puzzled voice emerged from Gilles' mouth.
At the same moment, the Command Seals that had disappeared from the back of Ryunosuke's right hand reappeared.
"Ryunosuke! This is a miracle! A miracle born from the art we created together!"
Gilles cried out excitedly.
Facing the body attached to his own, he tearfully embraced Ryunosuke.
"A miracle? I get it now! God must've saved me!"
Ryunosuke "replied."
"God? No, no, no!"
Gilles immediately shook his head.
"I have committed countless acts of blasphemy and rebellion against Heaven. God would never bestow His grace upon someone like me!"
"So why would someone like you, who has never been religious nor witnessed a miracle, think such a thing?" Gilles asked curiously.
"Because, you see..."
Ryunosuke answered cheerfully.
"This world may seem boring at first, but if you really look around, you'll find all sorts of fascinating and bizarre things."
"I used to think that a world hiding so many wonderful things had to be absolutely perfect."
"As long as you're willing to slow down and enjoy it... miracles are everywhere."
"So I'm grateful to God for writing this gigantic entertainment novel with over five billion characters—and for generously allowing us to take part in it and keep writing it ourselves!"
"Subarashii!"
"I am truly moved, Ryunosuke. Your enlightenment has reached heights far beyond my own."
Gilles lowered his head in genuine shame before asking,
"Then tell me, Ryunosuke... do you believe God truly loves humanity?"
"Of course He does!"
Ryunosuke answered without the slightest hesitation before asking in return,
"If someone had to keep writing the script of this world every second without stopping, do you think they could endure it without love?"
"He must be having the time of His life writing it! Watching His own masterpiece unfold!"
Ryunosuke gestured animatedly as he spoke.
"God loves humanity's songs of courage and hope."
"But He also loves blood splattering through the air."
"He loves screams."
"He loves despair."
"If that weren't true, why would the insides of living creatures be so colorful?"
"So, Monsieur... this world must be overflowing with God's love."
"In this era, when the people have abandoned their faith and rulers have long since forsaken divine will, to witness such a fresh and vibrant belief emerge..."
"As I thought!"
"Reviving you was the greatest decision I could have made, Ryunosuke!"
"No..."
"My esteemed Master!"
"Oh, come on~"
"You're making me blush."
Ryunosuke's hand gently stroked Gilles' forehead while speaking through Gilles' mouth in an embarrassed tone.
To Kiritsugu and Maiya, who observed everything from afar...
The entire scene resembled a grotesque one-man performance by some inhuman abomination.
Talking to himself.
Answering himself.
Two personalities sharing a single body.
Or perhaps...
Had the deranged kidnapper and serial murderer known as Ryunosuke Uryū truly been resurrected?
Or had Gilles de Rais, after fusing with Ryunosuke's corpse, simply fractured his own mind and created a second personality that believed itself to be Ryunosuke?
No one knew.
No one could know.
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