"She's really lucky to be alive, not even dead yet."
Rin pulled back a tattered tarp not far from a wheeled stretcher, revealing Sola underneath.
Her body was covered in blood that had congealed and dried into clumps. The wounds were concentrated on her left side, all shallow linear scratches, appearing to have been deliberately cut along a certain pattern.
Her Magic Circuits had been stripped away.
As Rin channeled magic to spread throughout the dying Sola's body, she found that all of her Magic Circuits had vanished from her inner world, leaving only empty pathways, like electrical wires from which the copper strands had been pulled, leaving only the plastic casing.
To still be alive after having her Magic Circuits forcibly taken, one had to admit her tenacious vitality. Finally, a witness with clues had been found. She seemed to be dying and time was of the essence. Should Rin directly read her memories or heal her first before asking?
After some deliberation, Rin decided to heal her. After all, the memory-reading method was a bit too disgusting.
"I'll heal you for the sake of that pretty face."
Projection: All-Flaws Must-Be-Repaired.
This noble phantasm, a grand healing magic, could resolve all curses, diseases, poisons, and all damage caused by external factors. It could calculate the original state of the injured and automatically restore it, appearing to others as if time were reversing. It could overcome anything except death, but it could not bring back the life of someone already dead.
The dense wounds rapidly healed, her pale skin, drained of blood, quickly regained its color, and her faint breathing became steady and strong. Her stolen Magic Circuits were also reshaped and regenerated.
Watching Sola, now fully restored and deeply asleep, Rin nodded in satisfaction and snapped her fingers.
First Process: Torrent!
Suddenly, a five-meter-high water tornado erupted in front of Rin, directly engulfing Sola and spinning her rapidly inside, like clothes in a washing machine drum.
After about a minute of churning, the water tornado exploded under Rin's control, unleashing a torrential rain in the blood-soaked factory. As the mist dispersed, the heavy smell of blood immediately dissipated considerably.
Rin watched the now clean Sola fall from the air, accurately positioned her hands, and caught her steadily.
"Are you awake… huh?"
Seeing Sola's dizzy, spiral eyes at this moment, she probably couldn't hear Rin's question.
Finally, Rin obtained the information she wanted from the traumatized Sola, who had been tortured to the brink of death and back. Though unintentional, it certainly felt like an interrogation.
Rin placed the overstimulated Sola, who had fallen unconscious again, into her car outside. She looked around the bloody, deserted factory, sighing helplessly. This place absolutely could not be left as it was.
She tossed the wheeled stretcher into the gruesome pool of flesh and blood. White-hot flames ignited in Rin's hand and flew into the blood pool, erasing all traces of defilement and sin. The fire rapidly spread, engulfing the entire abandoned mechanical factory.
Once again, dozens of innocent lives vanished just like that, with even the traces of their demise thoroughly erased. They were destined to become cold cases in police archives, part of the annual statistics of inexplicably missing persons.
After dropping Sola off at a hotel in Fuyuki City, Rin left a million Japanese yen and a plane ticket for England the next morning, then departed without a word. She figured that after being treated as a sacrifice by Kayneth, Sola would no longer participate in the Holy Grail War. Besides returning to the Clock Tower to report the situation, she likely had nowhere else to go.
What Rin needed to worry about now was that Caster would actively come to instigate, and even rescue, Kayneth to deal with her, and Kayneth actually accepted Caster's instigation, even sacrificing his beloved fiancée and forcibly taking her Magic Circuits.
Two people who had never even met directly suddenly became allies against me. The traces of behind-the-scenes manipulation are too obvious.
"Master, what should we do?"
Lancelot had also become aware of the immediate crisis. What seemed like an unexpected turn of events was actually an indication of unusually deep waters.
"Search. Kayneth is almost certainly setting up a battlefield to deal with us. As a legitimate, traditional Magus, he excels at positional warfare. The most direct method now is to find him before he finishes setting up his position, drag him out, and kill him."
"Understood, Master. I will search for Lancer's traces now."
"Hmm, it seems the knightly duel promised to Saber and Lancer cannot be fulfilled."
Lancelot, moving at the high speed of a Heroic Spirit in spiritual form, quickly began searching throughout the Fuyuki area. Rin had roughly anticipated this situation this morning and had brought a replica of the sleeping mirror (fairy eye/familiar) with her, setting up a comprehensive search of Fuyuki City from a hotel room.
Kayneth truly hated this place, this Fuyuki City. Even living in such a luxurious suite again, the gloomy mood in Kayneth's heart did not alleviate in the slightest.
In his opinion, the vulgar objects in this room were merely a collection of waste—just a gloomy room, expensive furniture, and luxurious daily necessities.
For Kayneth, who was born a nobleman, what he found most unbearable was when common, unrefined things donned a luxurious facade and pretended to be noble, and this hotel room was exactly like that.
It had no historical background, no cultural heritage; it was merely a pigsty decorated with a lavish exterior.
This sense of baseness was not limited to just this hotel. This entire tiny island nation called Japan was filled with unpleasant and ugly sensations that grated on Kayneth's nerves.
The entire Shinto (New City) of Fuyuki showed no local flavor. Looking at the city's nightscape from a high vantage point like this, you couldn't even tell which country or city you were in.
It was just a collection of some vulgar things. If you asked what this city truly was, in Kayneth's eyes, it was nothing more than a garbage dump.
This easternmost island nation would have been far more interesting if it had retained its original, simple charm as a remote fishing village...
However, the Japanese race is probably incapable of understanding such things.
This uncivilized country, which didn't even have a constitution a hundred years ago, is trying to compete with Western countries by relying solely on scientific technology and economic development, which is like shamelessly trying to squeeze into the ranks of civilized nations.
But, how could such an ignorantly hopeless country give birth to a genius who easily surpasses and crushes him, who was called a child prodigy from a young age! Isn't this the greatest joke God has played on the world?!
Moreover, he fights without the slightest elegance or nobility of a Magus, acting like an ignorant and mad Barbarian. To be easily surpassed by such an existence is the greatest insult to all true Magus nobles of this era!
Now, Kenneth El-Melloi Archisorte will use the Shinto (New City) Central Building, Fuyuki's tallest and recently completed structure, as his base to show her what a true Magus is!
Standing on a magic circle in the center of the living room of the largest presidential suite on the top floor of the hotel, Kayneth, with a ferocious expression, was operating the boundary spell that enveloped the entire building.
At this moment, he seemed to have returned to his original, perfect state, but the dark undercurrent of black flowing in the deepest part of his eyes became increasingly heavy.
Kayneth no longer possessed the arrogant and confident demeanor he had when he first arrived in Fuyuki City. Now, he was like a mad stray dog whose confidence had been shattered, desperately trying to reclaim his lost pride. His still-clear mind could only revolve around this central thought; his fiancée, his family, and the Clock Tower were all cast aside.
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