"So, I suppose this counts as my last words."
Natalia furrowed her brow slightly.
The man on the television continued his confession. "The Zepter family has indeed strayed from the proper path."
"In our pursuit of restoring the human body, we learned to revive flesh, restore the knowledge stored in the brain, and even repair damaged Magic Circuits."
"Having come this far, the only thing left would be to research a method of calling back the souls of the dead."
"But that has nothing to do with our goal. We have no interest in the spirit. We care only about the Resurrection of the body."
As though tired of speaking, he shook his head.
"A single finger, a strand of hair, a fingernail, an eyeball. From such fragments, we developed the technology to restore the entire body."
"We developed the technology to graft another person's arm onto a missing limb and make the body recognize it as its own."
"We also developed the technology to make the body recognize and control entirely new parts."
He fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"...But what does any of it amount to? Pointless. No matter how many words you use to describe it, it is nothing more than a toy."
"He's not wrong."
Natalia muttered under her breath. The Zepter family's Magecraft was certainly astonishing, but it was a field no one would appreciate or acknowledge.
No one wanted a method for mass-producing the living dead.
At that moment, Shirou noticed that the rational gleam in the man's eyes was gradually fading as his confession continued.
"Yes. Nothing more than a toy."
"But we... no, I have nothing to do with the Magi who pursue The Root."
"I simply harbor a hopeless love for that toy..."
"..."
Madness radiated from every inch of the man on the screen.
His smile resembled a facial spasm, as though darkness were spilling from his mouth.
"Yes! I love them!"
"I've fallen in love with them! The monsters I created bring me joy from the bottom of my heart!"
The Magus wore the innocent smile of a child. He truly loved his life's work.
All at once, an indescribable madness filled the filthy room.
Natalia's experience warned her that something was wrong.
Was this... mental contamination?
The kid might be swallowed up by it!
She turned anxiously toward Shirou, only to find him completely unaffected.
"..."
It seemed she had worried for nothing. The kid was far stronger than she had imagined.
Natalia smiled in relief.
"When your purpose, your methods, your interests, and your hobbies all amount to the same thing, you're the worst kind of Magus."
His purpose was to toy with the dead.
His method was to toy with the dead.
His interest was to toy with the dead.
His hobby was to toy with the dead.
"I created monsters. I kept creating and creating and creating. Yet I was painfully aware that my interests had strayed from the paths of both humanity and Magecraft. That was why I came to this town... to this land abandoned by everyone, where I could conduct my research however I pleased."
The man continued his deranged account.
"Six arms, all moving independently at once. Four legs, all running in perfect coordination. Two heads capable of thinking simultaneously, and eyes embedded throughout the body to provide an unobstructed view in every direction... Ah, what joy! It was magnificent!"
Amid the madness, Shirou remained calm enough to notice something strange.
"Natalia-san... Is the floor on the television moving?"
"Hm?"
Following his gaze, Natalia noticed the floor in the footage as well.
It really was moving.
It twitched and convulsed like a living creature.
"I fused an infant with an old man to create a man with three brains... I even recreated the Hundred-Armed Titan in miniature. I am satisfied now. Only one possibility remains for my imagination to explore."
By then, it was no longer just the floor. Every part of the room in the footage was writhing.
Natalia and Shirou held their breath, waiting to see what would happen.
"To turn myself into a monster. Wouldn't that be the perfect ending?"
The moment he said those words, an enormous mass engulfed the Magus in the footage.
Heinrich Zepter cheered as it swallowed him whole.
The recording ended abruptly.
Static filled the television screen as Shirou and Natalia rose from the sofa.
"So that man turned himself into a monster?"
Natalia nodded in response to Shirou's question.
"...Well, not exactly."
"Besides, there's nothing surprising about a Magus who's lost himself reaching some insane conclusion."
"He started treating absurd, morally bankrupt ideas that most people would laugh off as perfectly normal."
Natalia spoke while inspecting the weapons Shirou had brought.
"Humans only need to take one small step in the wrong direction to fall."
"This is different from the Zepter family gradually losing their way after spending years buried in their research."
"This kind of madness can rob you or me of our sanity in an instant."
"..."
Shirou remained silent.
Natalia looked up at him.
"I take back what I said earlier. You'll be fine, kid."
"Maybe I'm just better at hiding it."
The silver-haired huntress shook her head earnestly.
"No. My eyes don't lie when it comes to people. Your heart is stronger than anyone's."
Shirou was about to reply when his vision suddenly went dark and something soft pressed against his face.
Natalia pulled him into her arms and gently patted his back.
"Hey, don't treat me like a child," Shirou complained.
"Sorry, sorry. You're already a very capable kid."
Natalia released him and rubbed her eyes with a smile.
"All right. It's time to hunt."
Natalia had spent more than half a month hiding in the town, searching for the enemy's whereabouts every day without finding a single clue.
At one point, she had even begun to suspect that Heinrich Zepter was already dead or had left the town long ago.
After watching the recording, however, she was certain that the repulsive Magus was still alive and hiding somewhere nearby.
"So the answer is..."
They both looked down at the wooden floor beneath their feet.
"Shirou-kun, could you handle this?"
The red-haired boy nodded without a word.
Mana rippled through the air as a pitch-black katana appeared in his hand.
"Whew."
Natalia let out an impressed whistle.
The red-haired boy drew the "Yamato" and plunged its blade, which radiated an intense demonic aura, into the floor.
The wooden boards cracked and splintered. The collapse spread outward with the blade at its center.
The "Yamato," which possessed the property of "Separation," could effortlessly divide objects that had been forcibly fused together through Magecraft.
The "ground itself," which had been transformed into a living organism, crumbled and disintegrated, eventually revealing a seemingly bottomless cavern.
It looked like a road leading straight into hell.
"So he really was hiding underground."
Natalia tossed her lit cigarette into the opening and watched the tiny red glow slowly disappear into the darkness.
"All right."
The silver-haired huntress wrapped one arm around Shirou's waist and leaped into the abyss.
The shaft was more than twenty meters deep.
When Natalia sensed the ground approaching, she drove one hand into the wall and scraped her fingernails along the rock, slowing their descent until they came to a stop.
"...I can't believe a place like this exists."
It was a natural underground cavern rather than something created by human hands.
Feeling the cold air and the dense concentration of Mana within the damp atmosphere, Shirou realized that they had reached a Leyline similar to the Great Hollow.
"Hey. Something's coming."
Natalia whispered as she conjured a light with Magecraft and began moving forward.
After only a few steps, a putrid stench assaulted them.
Even more disturbing than the smell of rotting flesh was the wet, squelching noise coming from the darkness, like masses of flesh twisting around one another.
Then they saw it.
The closest comparison would have been an enormous queen ant.
Humans were being produced one after another from its incomparably massive ovipositor.
One of them emerged covered from head to toe in fluid, yet still wearing his clothes.
It was the man Shirou had killed the previous night.
"This man... He was at the inn."
"Yeah. I've seen that face too."
The man wiped away the fluid with one hand, rose stiffly to his feet, and walked deeper into the cavern.
"So the villagers who attacked us..."
"Were all this thing's children."
Shirou and Natalia were now certain.
The colossal, tumor-like mountain of flesh that served as a human factory was Heinrich Zepter, the man they had been searching for.
Even Dead Apostles, who regarded human life with contempt, would have sneered at that hideous, distorted form and condemned him as an aberration.
The townspeople had never been ghouls.
They had all become its puppets, repeating the same "cycle" day after day within this small, isolated world.
For some reason, the anguished face of a certain monk Shirou had encountered in Mifune City surfaced in his mind.
"It looks like killing it is our only option."
Natalia named the creature the "Fly King."
"Now we need to work out a strategy..."
"That won't be necessary."
Shirou stepped out of the darkness.
"Hey! Wait!"
Natalia growled under her breath.
She gritted her teeth but ultimately decided against following him into the open. Instead, she remained hidden in the shadows, pump-action shotgun at the ready as she watched their surroundings.
Shirou walked forward without the slightest caution and came face-to-face with the monster.
Countless compound eyes swiveled toward him at once.
Shirou paid them no attention. Showing no trace of fear, he spoke with calm authority.
"Nice to meet you, Heinrich Zepter."
The monster remained silent, but a powerful telepathic voice entered Shirou's mind.
"The pleasure is mine, Shirou Amamiya."
"How do you know my name?"
The enormous mass of flesh rotated its compound eyes.
"Everything in this town is part of me. There is nothing here I do not know."
"That includes the woman hiding over there with her weapon trained on me."
"..."
Natalia remained silent and did not move.
"I see. So you really did succeed. That body is almost completely immortal, yet you're still human."
"Precisely. I, Heinrich Zepter, am a genuine human being, and with a perfectly sound mind, I love this form."
"Do you intend to remain here forever, controlling the villagers who serve as your avatars and passing your days in peace?"
"Of course not. I am both human and a Magus. Naturally, I possess desires appropriate to both."
"Even after becoming this, you still want the same mundane things. Are you trying to reach The Root? Do you intend to use your immortal life to reach the realm everyone longs for?"
Zepter responded with such palpable derision that even Natalia could sense it from her hiding place.
The Root was the vortex from which all things began and to which all things returned, the destination sought by nearly every Magus.
"I would rather ask why you do not desire it."
Shirou's expression did not change.
"Because I have no reason to. I've already reached the place I longed for."
The hideous monster replied.
"I feel the same. I love this chaotic world."
"What would I gain from knowing the world's end, its beginning, and its conclusion?"
"That so-called absolute singularity is unbearably dull."
"What I desire is something simple that allows me to transform into countless forms."
Shirou smiled.
"We might have gotten along surprisingly well."
"Before the battle begins, I'd like to ask you something."
"Go ahead. Since it has been so long since I last received a guest, I see no reason to deny your final request."
Shirou narrowed his eyes.
"Did anyone else assist you with your research?"
"What?"
"Did you truly achieve all of this solely through your own efforts and the Zepter family's technology?"
"Of course."
Zepter's voice overflowed with pride.
His love for the art of "corpse modification" had brought him to his present heights.
He had surpassed his ancestors.
He had surpassed his rivals.
Even high-ranking Dead Apostles and the Age of Gods Magi of the Wandering Sea would marvel at his achievements.
Shirou sighed.
"...Then let me ask a different question."
Weren't you only supposed to ask one? Natalia thought.
Shirou continued.
"Odd Vorzak. Does that name mean anything to you?"
"Who is that?"
Zepter answered without a moment's hesitation.
"...I see. That's all I needed to know."
"Are you finished with your questions? Then die and become part of my collection!"
The instant she felt his killing intent, Natalia poured all the Mana she had drawn from Shirou into strengthening her body and charged forward with her shotgun.
Before she could reach him, however, countless tentacles surged toward Shirou from every direction.
"Kid!"
Natalia shouted in alarm.
Despite being surrounded by countless tentacles, Shirou remained exactly where he stood.
He slowly drew the "Yamato."
The moment the blade left its sheath, a flash of light seemed to illuminate the dark underground cavern.
Even the putrid stench was swept away.
His strike was faster than the hideous monster's lashing tentacles.
It was faster than Natalia's Mad Enhancement.
The demonic katana flashed through the air.
Countless flying slashes severed the tentacles around him, then tore into the monster's main body.
The colossal army of flesh collapsed. Its hardened armor of meat burst apart in every direction.
A man's face was revealed within.
It was shriveled and emaciated like a mummy, but those vacant eyes unmistakably belonged to the man Shirou and Natalia had just seen on television.
Their eyes met.
Heinrich Zepter's clouded gaze twisted with shock and terror.
The expression lasted for only an instant.
Countless slashes engulfed his face, reducing it to hundreds, then thousands of scraps of flesh.
"Whoa..."
Natalia stood frozen, too stunned to speak.
With a single casual stroke, Shirou had instantly killed the terrifying immortal monstrosity.
"Kid... What exactly are you?"
Shirou turned to her with a smile.
"Just an ordinary human raised by an irresponsible Succubus Mixed-Blood."
Natalia could only laugh.
...
"Ugh, it stinks. I'm going to throw up."
Natalia picked her way through the mounds of remains, searching for her target.
"Kid, help me look. The Magic Crest should be somewhere among this wreckage."
It was the Zepter family's secret Magecraft, engraved directly into their flesh.
Selling it would provide enough money for Natalia to live comfortably for a while.
Natalia had always suffered from a serious spending habit. She impulsively purchased shelters all over the world and called them "retreats," which was why she was perpetually broke.
Shirou eventually found the Magic Crest on the mummy-like arm.
"..."
Before calling Natalia over, he stopped to think.
This Magecraft was far too dangerous.
It was not merely a technique for resurrecting the dead. It was a technique for creating the living from the dead.
Could something like that be allowed onto the market?
After spending two days with Natalia, Shirou had already gained a clear understanding of her character.
She would do good when she could, but she would not sacrifice her own interests to prevent an "evil that had yet to occur."
As a bounty hunter, Natalia would undoubtedly sell this Magecraft without hesitation.
"Did you find it?"
"I did."
"Really? That's great! Shirou-kun, I knew you were capable!"
Natalia hurried over excitedly, only to hear Shirou say:
"I'd like to destroy it, if you're willing to let me, Natalia-san."
"..."
Natalia's expression turned grave.
After a moment, she spoke in a cold voice.
"I don't agree."
"All right. I understand..."
"But I didn't see it either."
"Huh?"
The silver-haired huntress smiled and patted the boy on the shoulder.
"We never found Heinrich Zepter's Magic Crest. That's what happened."
"Natalia-san..."
"Burn all of this before we leave."
Shirou nodded, pushed the arm bearing the Magic Crest back into the rotting flesh, and burned everything to ash.
...
"Welcome back! How did it go?"
The moment Shirou and Natalia returned to the inn, Caren rushed over to greet them enthusiastically.
The desire for money in the nun's eyes was impossible to hide.
"Did you find Heinrich Zepter? Did you get anything valuable?"
"It was a complete waste of time. Rotten luck."
Natalia brushed past Caren, muttered, "Call me when dinner is ready," and headed toward her room.
Having burned through too much Mana, she intended to get some sleep first.
"What? How could that happen? You didn't find anything?"
Caren's shoulders drooped in disappointment.
Shirou also returned to his room.
On the way back, he and Natalia had agreed to rest for the night and leave the following morning.
...
Late that night, the inn lay shrouded in silence.
After Heinrich Zepter, the master of the cursed domain, died, everything in the town returned to nothingness.
In the most literal sense, all ten thousand residents had reverted to lumps of flesh.
Dead, dead, dead.
No, it could not even be called death.
The miserable fate of the humans in that place had been nothing more than crumbling into dust.
Every building had collapsed. Only the inn protected by Natalia's Barrier remained standing.
Had a helicopter passed overhead, its passengers would have seen the absurd sight of a lone inn standing in the middle of a wasteland.
Inside, Shirou, Natalia, and Caren were sleeping soundly in their rooms, seemingly without a care in the world.
With the enemy's leader eliminated, there should have been no one left to guard against.
"She" strolled leisurely through the inn's corridors.
The old wooden floorboards creaked beneath her feet, but "she" did not care.
"She" had absolute confidence in her hypnotic Magecraft.
She had never expected Heinrich Zepter to be eliminated so easily.
All the time and effort she had invested in him had gone to waste...
Still, there was no reason to mourn the loss. She could simply create another test subject.
After all, science advanced through repeated setbacks and failures!
This time, her target was a human-Succubus Mixed-Blood, an exceedingly rare specimen.
What would happen if a human-Succubus Mixed-Blood were transformed into a Dead Apostle?
The thought alone was enough to excite her.
"She" hummed softly as she approached the door to Natalia's room.
She pushed it open and walked straight inside.
"..."
Natalia lay motionless on the bed, her eyes closed as she slept peacefully.
Even the battle-hardened huntress who had survived countless brushes with death seemed completely unaware of the danger approaching her.
"She" licked her crimson lips.
Unable to suppress the smile curling at the corners of her mouth, she raised a syringe and brought the needle toward the artery in Natalia's wrist.
"!!"
The air was torn apart in an instant.
A sword shot out of the void and pierced "her" body. The force of the impact hurled "her" backward and pinned "her" directly to the wall.
"I knew you'd give yourself away eventually."
A boy emerged from the darkness.
His hair burned as red as flame, and his golden eyes resembled the light of dusk.
It was Shirou Amamiya.
Another figure appeared behind him.
It was Natalia, the very person who was supposed to be asleep in the bed.
The figure beneath the blankets had been nothing more than a decoy concealed by an illusion. It had already crumbled into a pile of gravel.
"Wait... Shirou... What in the world is going on?"
Natalia, whom Shirou had awakened only five minutes earlier, stared at the scene in astonishment.
"...Exactly what it looks like."
Shirou turned toward the woman pinned to the wall.
The sword had pierced her heart and lungs. She coughed up mouthfuls of blood, staining her dark clothing crimson.
A delicate young face.
Wavy silver hair.
A jet-black nun's habit.
The person who had attacked Natalia was none other than Caren Hortensia.
More precisely, it was something disguised as "Caren Hortensia."
An impostor.