One day had passed since Rin's arrival in that world, and during that time, she had managed to adapt surprisingly quickly. Before long, she had developed a good relationship with Ingvild. The young girl's shy, gentle, and reserved personality reminded Rin greatly of her younger sister, Sakura, whom she was not particularly close to. Even so, that resemblance made her feel naturally comfortable in her company.
Rin had also maintained a friendly relationship with Mio, Valerie, Ravel, and Seekvaira, although each of them possessed a very different personality. As for Maria... well, the little succubus was somewhat troublesome. Her constant teasing often gave Rin headaches, but she was already beginning to realize that this was merely Maria's peculiar way of getting closer to people.
Echidna, on the other hand, was someone Rin preferred to keep a certain distance from. Although she showed no hostility whatsoever, there was something about her behavior and her incessant curiosity that made Rin uncomfortable. Deep down, Rin found that girl strangely frightening and had no intention of getting too close to her.
She had also met Grayfia, the head maid of the mansion, who seemed to take her responsibilities extremely seriously and maintained a strict, professional demeanor at all times. In addition, Rin had the opportunity to meet Oda Nobunaga. Since she already knew that Nobunaga was an extremely famous historical figure in her world, she was shocked to discover that Nobunaga was actually a woman. Even so, that familiarity made her feel somewhat more at ease in her presence, although she quickly realized that, behind her arrogance and dominant personality, that woman was quite difficult to deal with....
Aside from the fact that living with so many girls and having a summoner who was a Devil would probably make her new life rather chaotic, Rin had been given several luxuries that left her considerably excited. The room she had been given was nearly three times larger than the one she had possessed at the Tohsaka Mansion, and right beside it was an enormous library that she could access whenever she wished. Furthermore, her private bathroom looked more like a genuine Japanese hot spring, available at any hour of the day. She had also received several luxurious outfits and discovered that, if she needed anything, all she had to do was ask one of the mansion's maids, who would provide whatever was within her capabilities. Such a comfortable and luxurious life was truly difficult to refuse. Moreover, she would finally have enough time and resources to study magecraft properly, without constantly having to worry about the limitations and responsibilities she had possessed in her former world. Looking at it that way, perhaps being brought to that world was not such a bad thing after all.....
... ...
That same night, the gears of fate began to turn once again. After spending hours shouting in the online chat about how incompetent her teammates were, blaming them entirely for the defeat, Nobunaga ended up breaking her video game for the sixth time. Then, as though nothing had happened, she drank more than she should have and went to sleep, following her usual routine.
After the past few weeks, during which she had had the opportunity to experience the dream cycle more than once, that vague and undefined feeling she had regarding her Master had begun to grow increasingly clear. Scenes of parties and celebrations emerged in her mind: laughter, toasts, lively conversations, and Alear's face, with hair and eyes of different colors, celebrating countless victories alongside numerous Servants.
There were also memories of strange conversations in a place called Chaldea, an environment filled with advanced technology, long white corridors, and an atmosphere marked by the constant responsibility of saving the world. In those memories, Alear appeared as a determined Master, speaking with Servants, discussing strategies, and carrying the weight of an uncertain future upon his shoulders.
Yes, as those memories returned, Nobunaga also came to know her Master better and, consequently, began to care about him. One could even say that she loved him....
As the nights progressed, however, the memories of his life grew increasingly darker. The scenes from his childhood were already painful enough, but everything that came afterward was even worse. Betrayals, losses, profound loneliness, and a succession of suffering that seemed as though it would never end.
Nobunaga watched helplessly as that boy grew up and faced the world almost entirely alone, carrying scars that would never be able to heal completely. In the end, she watched him die—not in a heroic or glorious manner, but silently, in a hospital room, in a way that was heavy and profoundly sorrowful.
When the final image disappeared and darkness consumed the dream, Nobunaga believed that the cycle had finally come to an end.
Then, the mist returned once more.
... ...
The air was cold, heavy, and musty, permeated by a nauseating stench of decay and chemicals. They were in the basement of some gloomy building.
In front of her, she saw the newly awakened little boy blink his eyes in a daze. Nobunaga could feel the whirlwind of emotions clashing within the boy's chest: confusion, shock, and a naive glimmer of hope as he wondered whether this was some kind of hospital and whether his eyes had been healed.
No, you fool..., Nobunaga stepped forward, gritting her teeth. Look around! This isn't a hospital!
She watched in forced, desperate silence as the child looked down at his own tiny hands and realized the terrible truth: he had become smaller. He was a little boy of only three or four years old..
A decrepit old man approached, wearing a disgusting and disturbing smile. He called himself a "magus" and began giving a grotesque explanation about Magecraft, laughing at the ignorance of fairy tales while manipulating a flask that began to release a thick, purple smoke. The little boy tried to speak, but no words came out of his childish throat; he was chained to an altar by a collar around his neck.
Nobunaga watched everything from several meters away, witnessing absolute terror devour the child's sanity.
His desperate thoughts echoed around her:
"What the fuck is happening!? Who is this strange old man?"
Without showing the slightest mercy, the old man pulled the chain and dragged the child through the dark corridor, illuminated only by ancient torches. They descended even deeper, toward a staircase that led to an abyssal pit. Nobunaga followed them with firm, heavy steps, consumed by growing fury.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the Servant's blood ran cold.
The basement floor was covered by a bubbling mass of disgusting, writhing gray worms, crawling over one another.
The old man spoke with sickening enthusiasm about imitating the training methods of the "Matou family," using Crest Worms modified through alchemy to forcibly expand the child's Magic Circuits and restructure his body. Then, as though he were throwing away a bag of garbage, he tossed the little boy directly into that sea of parasites.
"STOP!" Nobunaga instinctively tried to rush forward, reaching for her sword to cut that old man in half. But her blade did not even leave its sheath, and her steps came to a halt. She knew it was useless. That was the past. Nothing more than a memory engraved in time....
She was forced to watch.
The light in the boy's blue eyes vanished instantly. He fell onto the cold ground....
The worms stirred. Drawn to the warmth of the child's body, they began to writhe and invade his orifices. One of them tore its way through his anus, piercing his insides. The boy tried to scream, but the pain was so overwhelming that his voice became trapped in his throat. His eyes widened, and tears flowed continuously. Then, when he opened his mouth in agonizing silence, another worm slid inside, violating his throat.
Nobunaga stood there beside the pit. She, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, who had witnessed massacres and battlefields covered in blood, felt a deep and overwhelming nausea. Watching that tiny body spasm violently on the ground, writhing in convulsions from a pain that surpassed every human limit, made her own fists tremble with fury and revulsion.
In an attempt to escape that indescribable agony, the boy's shattered mind sought refuge in past traumas.
Each memory revealed itself before Nobunaga like glimpses of the accumulated pain that boy had endured. He spent hours in that hell, being violated by feverish insects, until he lost consciousness and was thrown into a cold room.
The following weeks in the dream passed as though time were skipping before her eyes. Nobunaga followed him wherever he went, watching silently as he stared into the mirror in a dark room illuminated by a solitary candle. He looked like a broken porcelain doll: skin as white as snow, bright blue eyes that were completely dead, and hair that had turned white as the moon due to the stress and experiments. She watched him climb onto a stool, pick up a razor blade from the sink, and press it against his own throat.
His arm froze. The Magic Crest of the extinct Zepter family, which Freldeus had grafted onto his body, possessed a mental restriction that enforced self-preservation.
Not even death belonged to him anymore.
"I'm going to kill you..." The child's voice came out hoarse, ruined by weeks of screaming.
The hatred emanating from him was the only thing keeping what remained of his sanity intact. Nobunaga watched that boy lie down on the cold bed. Curled up in a fetal position, hugging his own legs, the little boy cried quietly until the sheets became soaked. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying that it was all merely a nightmare and that, when he opened them, he would be back in the warmth of his former home. But, afraid to face the reality of the dark room, he kept them tightly closed until he fell asleep.....
The mist of the dream slowly began to dissipate, signaling the end of the vision.
Nobunaga walked slowly toward the edge of the bed and stopped beside the sleeping child. She looked down, staring at the boy's fragile figure.
Her usual arrogance had been completely shattered. Her hands trembled, and the fire of hatred burned in her red eyes with overwhelming intensity.
"So this is the hell you went through, my Master...?" she thought, her voice echoing within her own mind.
... ...
Nobunaga suddenly awoke in bed, her body rigid and her face pale. An expression of pure disgust still marked her features as her breathing came out uneven. Cold sweat ran down the back of her neck...
Her mind was flooded with confused fragments of even deeper memories from her time in Chaldea, where Alear had been her Master and partner in crime.
___________________
(A/N: What if I told you that, for the price of a cup of coffee, you could be 35 chapters ahead of the story? We're starting Volume Two there! It focuses on the human world, no more politics! There's much more action!
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