A chilling, incomparably frigid air made the Einzbern castle even colder. The blue beam perfectly struck Berserker's back, instantly encasing his upper body in ice.
A cornered beast fights desperately, but the Berserker, having lost his regenerative ability, faced three powerful Servants.
Finally, Berserker exited... becoming the first Servant to be eliminated in this Holy Grail War.
However, since Berserker's Master, Ryuunosuke, did not appear near the Einzbern castle, he narrowly escaped death.
Without a Servant, Ryuunosuke was merely an ordinary person slightly stronger than average. Although he possessed Magic Crests in his body, he had never systematically studied magecraft. His actual combat ability might be even worse than the weak "Princess" Waver (Waver's strength wasn't in combat anyway; the guy couldn't even use a basic hypnosis spell properly).
So Meruem didn't pay him any mind. If that guy continued to court death, any Master he encountered would casually finish him off. He wasn't worth worrying about.
"LANCER's presence is no longer here. Seems that guy has already left with his Master." The Conqueror King spoke first. His and Meruem's purpose in coming here was only to defeat Berserker and support SABER.
Since that was done, there was no need to stay. As for SABER's Master? To be honest, Meruem didn't feel he had any common language with Kiritsugu.
Moreover, Kiritsugu had set him up once before. Not killing him was already giving face to Artoria. As for the Conqueror King? Sorry, he had even less goodwill toward guys who used despicable methods. Kayneth was one, and Kiritsugu Emiya was another.
Tonight, at least two Masters effectively exited... Ryuunosuke and... Kayneth. Unless something unexpected happened, Kiritsugu Emiya must have already given Kayneth a few Origin Bullets, right? Kayneth, losing his Magic Circuits, would become a useless existence, and his wife Sola would forcibly take the Command Spells from him to join the war.
Sola? ...Heh, just a pitiful woman charmed by Diarmuid's curse into betraying her fiance. She was even less of a threat than Kayneth, a person even more naive than Tokiomi.
"Then the Conqueror King and I will be leaving. SABER, look forward to meeting you again." Meruem said meaningfully to Artoria as he left.
Because he suddenly thought of a very fun proposal.
"Mr. Demon actually lost..." Ryuunosuke, seeing the image of Berserker being beheaded in a strange mirror, slumped weakly against the wall as if all strength had been drained from his body. The mirror showing Berserker's battle vanished after Berserker was killed. It belonged to Berserker originally, so naturally, it disappeared with the Servant's death.
The "Demon" he summoned, who had always been invincible, was actually defeated by three people teaming up. Ryuunosuke couldn't accept this for a moment.
He even lost interest in his favorite pastime of slaughter. This allowed the few terrified children tied up beside Ryuunosuke to escape their doom.
"Hehehehe... I followed the scent of blood here, and I didn't expect to find such a surprise." An aged, decaying voice echoed in the tunnel where Ryuunosuke was hiding.
"Who?!" Ryuunosuke was startled at first, then immediately stood up, looking around warily while his right hand quietly slipped into his pocket, where a poisoned dagger was hidden.
Although he was a bit depressed by Bluebeard's defeat, it didn't mean he disregarded his own life or planned to commit suicide for love. His bond with Bluebeard wasn't as deep as in the original story yet; after all, a Berserker who couldn't speak couldn't really communicate feelings.
"This old man is Zouken Matou." Clack clack clack, a hooded man who looked quite young walked out of the darkness, though his complexion was like a junkie overdosed on drugs. But even Ryuunosuke, an ordinary person, could smell the overwhelming stench of death and ominousness on the man—and, of course, the thick smell of egg whites (semen).
Don't forget, Crest Worms can only survive on male bodily fluids.
"Are you with the guys who killed Mr. Demon? Are you here to kill me?" Ryuunosuke remained secretly vigilant, looking for an opportunity to deal Zouken Matou a fatal blow.
Although Ryuunosuke was a murderous demon and a serial killer, he wasn't stupid. On the contrary, as an ordinary person, Ryuunosuke was actually quite excellent.
In terms of talent as a normal human, he was no worse than Shinji Matou in FSN. His greatest strength was communication. Yes, despite being an incomprehensible killer, his forte was communicating with people. He possessed a considerable affinity that made people unconsciously trust him. What an ironic fact.
He understood he absolutely couldn't win head-on against those guys shown in the mirror who fought "Mr. Demon." But... a sneak attack wasn't out of the question. In his career as a killer, he had encountered people stronger than himself, yet they still died by his hand.
"Kill you? No, no, no... This old man has no such intention." Zouken Matou revealed a strange smile at Ryuunosuke.
Who was Zouken Matou? An old monster who had lived for hundreds of years. Even though Ryuunosuke had killed many people, he wasn't even one ten-thousandth of Zouken. Zouken naturally understood what Ryuunosuke was thinking.
Zouken looked around, his eyes glancing over the terrified children tied on the ground, then said to Ryuunosuke, "You are a man of considerable talent. Are you willing to stay in dark corners for your entire life?"
"What do you mean?" Ryuunosuke didn't relax in the slightest; his peripheral vision remained fixed on Zouken. This was the basic principle of a qualified killer: only relax your vigilance when facing a dead person.
"Don't you want to obtain power like that? Unrivaled power... hehehe, to kill even under the sunlight." Zouken's words were hypnotic, deeply captivating Ryuunosuke.
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