"Ugh... You... What are you talking about, Shirou...?"
Caren Hortensia, pinned to the wall by a sword, spoke as she coughed up blood.
She wore a pitiful expression of agony, as though pleading for help. But when she saw the utter coldness in Shirou's eyes, she sighed as if giving up.
"My, my... I never expected to slip up here. That makes this my second failure today."
The false Caren abandoned both her disguise and her attempts to win their sympathy. Tilting her head, she asked, "My disguise should have been flawless. How did you see through it?"
"She's an impostor...?"
Natalia's eyes widened.
No matter how she looked at her, the girl pinned to the wall was Caren Hortensia herself.
Of course, that was beside the point. For anyone who had entered the world of Mystery, altering their appearance was hardly difficult.
What truly shocked Natalia was the revelation that another unknown presence besides Heinrich Zepter had been hiding in the town.
"When did it happen...?" she asked instinctively.
When had Caren been replaced?
Natalia herself had only met Caren for the first time yesterday, so perhaps it had happened even before then.
"It was probably while we were fighting Heinrich Zepter. She broke into the inn and took control of Caren," Shirou explained.
"I think she should be here any moment now."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the closed door flew open with a bang.
"Honestly... To think I was led around by the nose so thoroughly. This is absolutely unforgivable."
A girl with magnificent silver curls entered the room.
It was the real Caren Hortensia.
Shirou continued his explanation. "Before we left, I placed something on Caren. When we returned, I noticed that it was gone, so I realized there was something wrong with the Caren here."
"What was it?" Natalia asked, blinking.
"A lock of hair from a Homunculus," Shirou replied.
It was a strand of silver hair Justeaze had given Shirou, treating it as an extension of herself.
Though it was merely a lock of hair, it came from the Third Magician. Even a single strand possessed Mystery and functioned as a Mystic Code.
It allowed Shirou to sense Caren's presence, communicate with her through long-distance telepathy, and even awaken her from deep hypnosis.
Incidentally, when Shirou contacted Caren, she had been wandering through a forest in southern France with vacant eyes.
"I see. You hid it among Caren's silver hair... Even the most flawless disguise couldn't reproduce something like that."
Now that the real Caren had appeared, only one question remained.
Who was the person who had attacked Natalia?
Shirou stared at the impostor.
"You were the one secretly assisting Heinrich Zepter with his research, weren't you?"
"That's right," the girl admitted cheerfully.
"She... helped Heinrich?" Natalia asked in astonishment.
According to Heinrich's account, he had inherited his family's Magecraft and, through his love of "corpse modification," transformed himself into a truly immortal being.
He had converted all ten thousand residents of the town into his "children" and controlled the town like a collection of marionettes.
"If he could turn others into puppets, then it's entirely possible that he was someone else's toy without ever realizing it."
Natalia fell silent, struck by the bitter irony.
That madman had believed he had achieved his dream. That Magus had reigned over the town like a god.
Yet his entire life had merely been someone else's experiment.
"Then who the hell is she!?"
"How cruel, Natalia-san. Have you forgotten me already?"
The girl pinned to the wall gave her a spine-chilling smile.
"I even took care of you once~"
Natalia's eyes widened.
"Wh..."
"I kindly took you in and saved you from those violent villagers, yet you repaid my generosity by killing me. How awful... Boo-hoo."
The false Caren Hortensia pulled a mournful face.
"You're... the one from back then...!"
Natalia finally remembered.
The doctor. Heinrich Zepter's assistant, whom the townspeople had called "Arach."
"Bingo! Correct!"
The girl laughed happily.
At that moment, Shirou noticed that the shadow cast behind her by the moonlight was swelling.
Caren's normally soft, beautiful waves began swaying despite the lack of wind, gradually taking on the appearance of a many-legged arthropod baring its claws.
The sword piercing her chest slowly slid free, and the girl dropped to the floor with a thud.
When she rose again, the young nun dressed in black had vanished without a trace.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
An unfamiliar woman with an outrageous appearance now stood in the room.
Her features were refined and her skin fair. Though she wore no makeup, her eyes and lips were unnaturally seductive. Her messy blonde hair, tied loosely behind her head, carried a reddish tint.
She wore an orange jacket, a black leather skirt, and high heels. The front of her top hung daringly open, exposing the upper halves of her breasts and her rose-colored lace bra.
She was tall and slender, with long limbs. Her full breasts and narrow waist gave her the distinctive allure of a mature woman.
A bright, friendly smile adorned her face.
It was not a false professional smile. It looked entirely natural, yet that very naturalness inspired a quiet, creeping dread.
"..."
Caren held her breath, her face going blank.
Although Shirou had restored her consciousness, her head was still clouded.
She could no longer remember how the woman had so effortlessly gained her trust and robbed her of consciousness.
It had been entirely different from what Natalia, a half-Succubus, had experienced. Even now, merely remembering it made Caren tremble uncontrollably.
The woman gazed happily at the red-haired boy.
"Nice to meet you, Shirou-chan~
"My name is Arach. Written phonetically in Japanese, it becomes Araku. Everyone in town calls me Dr. Arach."
"And I'd be delighted if you called me Dr. Arach too, Shirou-chan, with plenty of warmth and affection!"
The woman called herself Arach, and she certainly evoked the image of a spider.
Dr. Arach's lethal, clinging gaze wrapped around everyone present like spider silk.
Natalia had been completely fooled.
This woman had never been Heinrich's assistant.
She was neither a Magus, a ghoul, nor a Dead Apostle.
She was human... wasn't she?
Yet Natalia's instincts as a hunter warned her that the woman calling herself Dr. Arach was more dangerous than any heretic she had ever encountered.
Suppressing the trembling of her body, Natalia asked, "What exactly was your relationship with Heinrich Zepter?"
Dr. Arach shrugged.
"I'm merely a carefree little blade of grass, a woman who drifts wherever the wind carries her like a spider without a nest. I just happened to share a tiny connection with Heinrich-kun."
"'Your research is fascinating! Would you like me to give you a hand?' That was how I invited him, but Heinrich-kun rejected me outright."
"Boo-hoo~ It was the first time a man had ever rejected me so bluntly. I was so heartbroken that..."
Dr. Arach's lips curled upward, revealing sharp canine teeth.
"Well~ Heinrich-kun did fulfill his dream in the end, so why don't we overlook the little matter of me modifying his brain and memories?"
"You..." Natalia ground her teeth.
Dr. Arach pouted like a sulking child.
"Don't look at me like that, Natalia-chan. I'm not some wicked missionary like you think, you know?
"By the time I approached Heinrich-kun, the Association and the Church were already hunting him because his human experiments had destroyed an entire village."
"If anything, my intervention kept the damage Heinrich-kun caused to the bare minimum~"
"The bare minimum... meaning ten thousand victims?" Shirou asked coldly.
"That's right."
Dr. Arach smiled as though it were no concern of hers.
"All right, all right. I understand, I understand. I'll reflect properly once I get back and do my best to prevent another runaway case like Heinrich-kun in the future!"
"...Do you really think you have a future?"
As Natalia spoke, she placed a hand over the handgun at her waist.
At the same time, Caren prepared to summon the Holy Shroud.
Dr. Arach remained completely unfazed.
"Killing me here would be entirely pointless, you know..."
"That isn't for you to decide!"
Before Natalia had even finished speaking, she and Caren attacked almost simultaneously.
The deep crimson Holy Shroud wrapped around Dr. Arach's entire body, depriving her of movement.
Bang!
An explosive bullet mercilessly tore through the center of Dr. Arach's forehead.
Had it worked?
The very thought was hopelessly naive.
This woman had survived a sword through the chest. There was no way destroying her head with a bullet would kill her so easily.
However...
Natalia's bullets had been treated with Magecraft and were nothing like ordinary modern ammunition. They should have inflicted genuine damage.
"A silver bullet imbued with a spell formula? Sorry, but I developed immunity to those five hundred years ago~"
The wound in Dr. Arach's forehead regenerated completely within a second.
She smiled happily.
If firearms were useless, Natalia would have to rely on her body.
Mana erupted from her.
She activated "Mad Enhancement" without hesitation. Fortunately, she had slept well during the day, allowing her to gain strength comparable to a Magical Beast for a short time.
Natalia sprang forward, lashing out with one long, shapely leg at Dr. Arach, who remained immobilized by the Holy Shroud.
"!!"
Dr. Arach glared at Natalia and Caren at the same time.
Within an instant, her golden pupils turned a vivid crimson.
Mystic Eyes!
By the time Natalia realized it, it was already too late.
Her entire body was blasted into the wall, while Caren collapsed silently to the floor without offering the slightest resistance.
The situation reversed in an instant.
The Holy Shroud binding Dr. Arach slowly slipped away.
Then...
Squelch.
Blood erupted from Dr. Arach's body.
Shirou appeared in front of her and drove the "Yamato" straight through her abdomen.
"Huh...?"
Only then did Dr. Arach realize that something was wrong.
Why?
Shirou-chan was clearly the greatest threat, so why had she deliberately ignored his presence and left herself completely defenseless against him?
She had focused on the hunter and the nun while overlooking the true danger, allowing him to approach her with absurd ease.
How had that happened?
"!"
Dr. Arach looked toward Natalia, whom she had sent flying.
Was it the influence of "Illusion Arts"?
She had never imagined she would be outmaneuvered by a descendant of an Succubus Mixed-Blood.
Dr. Arach mustered all her strength and shoved Shirou Amamiya away.
She staggered backward, struck the wall, and collapsed heavily onto the floor.
"Ugh... That hurts. How many years has it been since I last felt pain like this...?"
The woman leaned against the wall, clutching her bleeding abdomen.
Her voice came in broken gasps, yet her face still carried a delighted smile.
"This pain is soaking into my organs, like something melting inside my womb and ovaries. It feels so good I can hardly bear it...♡"
Holding the "Yamato," Shirou walked over to Dr. Arach.
She raised her head and looked up at the boy gazing coldly down at her, forcing a smile onto her face.
"You know as well as I do, don't you, Shirou-chan? Something like this can't kill me."
Shirou studied her and nodded without changing his expression.
"You don't even possess the concept of death."
"!"
Natalia was stunned.
Although she had already suspected that the "Dr. Arach" before them was not the true body, learning that she did not even possess the concept of death left both Natalia and Caren speechless.
"Ugh...!"
Dr. Arach cried out as Shirou kicked her to the floor without the slightest mercy.
"It doesn't matter if I can't truly kill you. It doesn't matter if you have no concept of death..."
Shirou planted one foot firmly on the woman's back.
Then, like an executioner, he raised the "Yamato" high above his head with both hands.
"I'll simply kill you every time I see you."
"I see. What a shame. I truly thought... that you and I were the same kind, Shirou-chan."
Dr. Arach's beautiful face was pressed against the filthy floor, her expression filled with genuine regret.
"No. You and I are the same kind, Shirou-chan. We'll become partners who share the same ideals."
"Mmm~ My Doctor Radar is never wrong."
"I think you've simply been led astray by humans for now. Someday, you'll return to our side, won't you?"
"Are you finished talking nonsense?" Shirou asked expressionlessly.
The woman gave the red-haired boy a meaningful look.
"Hehe... Then I'll see you again, Shirou-chan. I look forward to getting along with you from now on♡"
The blade traced a beautiful arc through the midnight air.
The head of Arachne, the spider-like demonic woman known as Dr. Arach, rolled across the floor.
Even with her lifeline severed, her beautiful, seductive face continued to smile with lifelike vibrancy.