Chapter 200: Maria the Ripper (The Holy Mother of Dissection)
In the precise annals of history, 19th-century England saw the emergence of a serial killer known as "Jack the Ripper." Records state that over a period of two months starting from August 31, 1888, Jack the Ripper murdered at least five prostitutes. Because the killer sent signed letters and organ fragments to news agencies on several occasions, he is known as the pioneer of "theatrical crime."
He is the most famous grotesque killer in the world; on the other hand, he remains a figure shrouded in mystery—one who left no conclusive evidence other than corpses, making it impossible to determine his race or even gender.
Under normal circumstances, as time turned, the identity of the true killer would remain buried in history, with the world never having the chance to uncover their true face. However, the one who truly became the Heroic Spirit "Jack the Ripper" was actually a life-form of a different concept—an evil spirit formed from the aggregation of the grudges of dead children.
London in 1888 had tens of thousands of prostitutes, but at that time, contraceptive technology was incredibly primitive and crude. Often, children were killed only after they were essentially fully formed. Even setting aside those abandoned immediately after birth, the children removed from the womb by doctors were, by modern definition, already living "humans."
The bodies of these infants were thrown into the rivers near the East End, and their resentment accumulated continuously in those chaotic waters. The grudges of tens of thousands of infants who were denied birth gradually began to take the form of a young girl.
Born from the resentment of abandoned children, this newborn girl desperately craved maternal love. She tried to call out "Mother" to the first woman she met, only to be met with cold rejection and verbal abuse. Her newborn ignorance, coupled with accumulated hatred, led her to kill the woman who rejected her, and she continued to kill in the same manner for the same reason multiple times.
One day, this "evil spirit" was discovered by a passing magus, and her brief, sinful life was brought to an abrupt end.
However, due to the nature of "Jack the Ripper" having an undefined true identity, the appearance and characteristics of the Heroic Spirit change depending on the Class and circumstances of the summoning in a [Holy Grail War].
Much like how summoning "Sasaki Kojiro" brings forth a nameless individual from history who mastered the "Tsubame Gaeshi" rather than the actual historical figure, when "Jack the Ripper" is summoned in the Assassin class, there is a high probability that the resulting Servant will be this young girl composed of the grudges of dead infants.
In a sense, she is no different from a Cursed Spirit; both are born from human malice and hold deep enmity toward the human species.
Having never lived, they kill continuously in an attempt to return to the womb. To put it accurately, they are an "Atypical Jack" born from the [Side of the Victims].
However, they do not identify themselves strictly by the name "Jack the Ripper."
As a collective of vengeful spirits, their memories are often hazy; even if they know they killed prostitutes, they don't remember who. As an Assassin, they have no specific target; rather, they strike at the entire society that killed them.
Such intense emotion is something even heroes find hard to understand, let alone save. Furthermore, regarding the Master who summons them, whether male or female, she demands they provide the emotion known as "maternal love."
The Noble Phantasm Emiya was currently using was the weapon held by this Servant—the conceptual crystallization of the Jack the Ripper incident: Maria the Ripper (The Holy Mother of Dissection).
In its normal state, it consists of four Rank D knives. Only when specific conditions are met does it gain the malicious effect of the grudges of those tens of thousands of children in the London slums who were aborted for the sake of survival.
When the Noble Phantasm is unleashed, its power multiplies sequentially as three conditions are met:
The target must be female (including female animals). Mist must be present on the field. It must be nighttime.
When all conditions are met and the Noble Phantasm is used, the target's internal organs are instantly dragged out of their body, turning them directly into a dissected corpse.
Hanami's Domain, [Horizon of the Captivating Katiedid], indeed looked like a landscape of blue sky and white clouds, but a Domain clearly does not possess the "World" characteristics of an [Reality Marble], so the actual time remained nighttime.
It seemed that, aside from the third condition of it being night, the other two conditions were actively fulfilled by Hanami.
The "female" condition was originally just a guess, but the moment Emiya pulled out Maria the Ripper, the Noble Phantasm confirmed it for him.
And the misty environment was something she had actively created...
One could only say that when Emiya prepared this Noble Phantasm, he thought it wouldn't hurt to have it ready, as preparation is always better than none.
Who could have guessed that Hanami would provide the perfect environment for its use right now? Sometimes in battle, the hidden stat of "Luck" is quite important.
When Hanami finally triggered her long-planned blast—not hesitating to use her own kind as fertilizer—Emiya lightly raised the short knives in his hand.
"A real shame... This place is Hell. Maria the Ripper."
No matter how fast Hanami's attack was, Emiya's Noble Phantasm release would always be one step faster. Even though Maria the Ripper does not possess the powerful causality-reversal magecraft of Gae Bolg, it is nonetheless a conceptual Noble Phantasm that achieves its predetermined effect the instant it is released.
The method of its attack is not on a physical level; it uses a technique similar to a curse to directly inflict the true damage of organ removal upon the enemy.
A Heroic Spirit with resistance to curses and Noble Phantasms could mitigate the lethality of the damage, but Hanami was clearly not among them; she couldn't even comprehend the principles behind the Noble Phantasm. Before Maria the Ripper, the only things she could rely on were her innate malice as a Cursed Spirit and her powerful life force...
Squeltch—!
In an instant Hanami couldn't comprehend, her abdomen was hollowed out by the power of the Noble Phantasm, leaving a hideous, terrifying hole through which the ruined wasteland behind her could be seen.
Green fluid dripped down bit by bit. Her attack naturally lost its "sure-hit" property the moment her body took such heavy damage and the Domain collapsed. The blast only managed to graze Emiya's body, landing in the distance and triggering a earth-shaking rumble.
It likely wouldn't be long before a massive crowd of mindless Cursed Spirits gathered here again.
"...How...?"
Hanami could not understand how her meticulously prepared ultimate strike was broken so easily.
Was the gap in strength truly this vast? She couldn't even grasp why this situation had occurred.
"Well, how should I put this?
Maybe... it's just that your luck isn't very good."
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