Maintaining the facade of gentleness, Kanjuro reached out and gently brushed away some dust from her hair, his voice carrying a soul-bewitching power: "Work hard to survive. One day, I will come to take you away from here."
After saying that, he stood up under Maiya's blank and reluctant gaze. In the dim yellow light of the sunset, he turned and left resolutely, his silhouette stretched long.
The warmth of the bun still lingered in Maiya's hand. She stared blankly at the receding figure that seemed to bring the only hope. A strong urge to chase after him welled up in her heart, but she found her feet as heavy as lead; she couldn't move them no matter what, and could only watch him disappear at the end of her vision.
She didn't know that the moment she took that bun, an invisible brand from the dark bible had already been planted silently in the depths of her soul, like the most secret parasite. From this moment on, her every move would be under Kanjuro's remote surveillance.
Time passed quietly.
Every day, through the link of the dark bible, Kanjuro calmly "observed" Maiya's life, like observing microorganisms in a petri dish.
He knew clearly that the destined calamity was about to descend, but he was in no hurry to intervene.
He was waiting patiently for the darkest and most desperate moment to arrive.
He would descend in the posture of a "savior" only at the moment she fell to the bottom of the abyss and lost all hope. Only in this way could he reap the ultimate "gratitude" and complete control.
The salty and coarse sea breeze on the island blew day and night, but it couldn't disperse the tension and fear permeating the air.
On this day, the flames of war finally spread to this slum without any warning.
The landing soldiers began a frenzy of burning, killing, and looting. Cries, explosions, and sinister laughter intertwined into a hellish symphony.
Maiya, like a startled deer, ran and hid desperately among the flaming, smoke-filled ruins, her heart filled with unprecedented fear.
However, misfortune still struck. She was discovered by a squad of soldiers who had gone mad with killing.
"Look! There's a young chick here!"
"Hehe, looks like she's still a virgin, right?"
"Brothers, we're going to have some fun today!"
With lewd and cruel smiles on their faces, the soldiers approached her step by step like hungry wolves that had caught their prey, cornering her.
With her back against the cold ruins and no way to retreat, Maiya's eyes were filled with despair and tears, and her small body trembled with extreme fear.
Just as one of the dirty hands was about to touch her—
A sudden change occurred!
Countless twisted, slimy tentacles emitting an ominous black aura, like demonic claws reaching out from the depths of hell, appeared out of thin air and pierced through the bodies of these soldiers in the blink of an eye!
Blood gushed out like fountains, the screams stopped abruptly, and the soldiers who were so arrogant just now became cold corpses lying on the ground in an instant, scattered everywhere in a bloody and terrifying scene.
A figure walked out slowly and calmly from the permeating darkness and smoke.
Kanjuro had a faint, all-controlling smile on his face. His gaze passed over the corpses strewn across the ground and fell on Maiya, who was curled up in a corner, still in shock.
Unexpectedly, as Maiya looked at this scene like a demon god descending upon the world, and at those terrifying tentacles and Kanjuro's sinister figure, instead of showing fear, her eyes burst with an almost religious fervor!
It was him!
It was the man who gave her food and hope!
"They didn't do anything to you, did they?" Kanjuro walked up to her, his voice still maintaining its disguised gentleness.
Maiya shook her head vigorously, indicating no. Although her clothes were stained with dirt, they were indeed intact and hadn't been torn.
Kanjuro nodded with satisfaction, reached out, and gently took her trembling, petite body into his arms. He leaned down and whispered in her ear in a voice only the two of them could hear, a voice carrying a demonic temptation: "Then... are you willing to become a 'tool' belonging only to me from now on?"
"I am willing!" Maiya answered almost immediately, her voice not loud but carrying a resolute firmness.
She looked up at Kanjuro's charmingly handsome face, her vision filled with unreserved fervor and worship.
She couldn't forget the bun that was like charcoal in the snow, and even more so, she couldn't forget the scene of him descending like a god (or rather, a demon god) at this moment to slaughter the villains for her.
"Very well." Kanjuro's tongue lightly licked the corner of his mouth, revealing an even deeper smile. "As the first step of being my tool, you must become a vessel for me to vent my desires. Even so, are you still willing?"
"I am willing." There was not the slightest hesitation in Maiya's eyes. To her, being able to dedicate everything to the existence that "saved" her was a natural destination.
"Very well, come with me." Kanjuro said no more, picked up the light Maiya in his arms, and with a few flickers of his figure, found a relatively hidden, undisturbed, dilapidated corner.
Then, unilateral possession and "output" completed a twisted "contract" ritual on these ruins that had just experienced bloodiness.
Since then, Maiya never saw Kanjuro again.
"How can I return to Master's side?" A look of madness was on Maiya's face.
Kanjuro brushed through her hair. "Just be yourself for now. If one day you meet a man named Emiya Kiritsugu, remember to tell me, because you are my undercover agent."
"Okay! I'll remember." Amidst Maiya's reluctance, Kanjuro left.
He was still waiting.
He had to continue waiting.
After all, he had to prepare for his Fourth Holy Grail War.
Maiya left the island and became a mercenary killer.
Apathetic and ruthless.
But Kanjuro was the most vulnerable place in the depths of her soul.
She would always think of Kanjuro.
In the dense forest, Maiya heard the sound of someone being injured. She went up to help and only then did she learn the other person's name.
"My name is Emiya Kiritsugu. Thank you," Kiritsugu said softly.
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