In the dead of night, a large man walks slowly. His well-worn cassock flutters as he heads toward his destination through a quiet residential area where people are fast asleep.
Before long, he arrives at a house with a magnificent gate.
He reflects on the information about Zouken, the man he's decided to work with.
(The vessel for the Holy Grail is the Einzbern girl... once I secure her, the rest doesn't matter. No, wait, if I kill the master, it might upset Archer.)
"Civil War."
The man—Kirei Kotomine—summons his Stand. It materializes the guilt of those it targets, crushing them. Its effect covers the entire mansion, showing the people inside their worst nightmares.
(I've confirmed that Saber and Rider are in a battle with Archer. It seems that Matou lured the irregular... but against an irregular, even with Lancelot, the outcome is uncertain.)
Kirei used his authority to prepare heavy weapons and gave them to Zouken. At that time, he realized that Zouken's body was already at its limit. How much longer could he maintain a Servant, or even how much longer would he live?
(It has nothing to do with me.)
Whether Zouken is defeated or not, or if the irregular stands in his way, Kirei is certain that with the strongest Servant and the best Stand ability, he has no enemies.
Now, all he has to do is proceed toward his promised victory.
He takes one step onto the property.
"Oh..."
At the same time, a bounded field is activated. It's a field to trap anything that enters and to prevent any disturbances inside from being transmitted to the outside. A grin spreads across his face at the overly obvious trap.
"I see, so you want to settle things here. How foolish of you to do it within the range of my Civil War!"
Within Civil War's domain, Kirei cannot be defeated. It's an unchangeable fact. He makes a premature declaration of victory to the man who appears before him.
"Yes. That's right. I am the ninth head of the Archibald family, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. I'll put my life and pride on the line for this, so face me honorably!"
Beside him is his strongest Mystic Code, Volumen Hydrargyrum. He is immaculately dressed in a formal suit, and his hair is perfectly styled.
His expression is stern, filled with confidence and determination. He's the picture of a perfect gentleman.
"..."
...If only Kiritsugu, standing behind him, hadn't poured bottled water on him.
His perfectly set hair quickly falls apart, and his suit becomes drenched.
"..."
Even Kirei is left speechless. What in the world is he doing?
However, he immediately notices something strange.
"Why... isn't Civil War activating...?"
The guilt isn't attacking the two of them. The deep-seated guilt in their hearts shouldn't disappear so easily. Even if magic were used to temporarily seal their memories, the Stand ability should still work without a problem.
"You're wrong, Archer's Master. You're too ignorant about your own power, aren't you?"
Kayneth chuckles. He would be perfect if he weren't dripping wet. Or perhaps, the water only makes him a more handsome man.
"The 'guilt' you speak of can be washed away with 'pure water'! It's utterly ridiculous to challenge me without even knowing such a simple weakness."
"(If we hadn't received information from the irregular, we would have both been defeated.)"
Kiritsugu doesn't let his inner thoughts show on his face as he pours more water over his own head.
Even though he's in a state to fight, overcoming his past trauma is a different story. If he doesn't regularly wash away his guilt, he'll revert to his previous state.
"I see... the irregular's Servant. Truly, they seem to be an even more troublesome existence than I anticipated. It's as if they were born just to get in my way."
While what he says is not entirely wrong, Kirei's confidence doesn't waver.
"Even so, your victory is impossible."
There is one thing you must never do within the range of Civil War: kill. Causing injury is acceptable, but murder is forbidden.
If you kill an opponent, their guilt is transferred to you. On top of that, the opponent doesn't die. Instead, they become immortal, protected by the very sin you just committed—the act of killing them.
This rule applies to Kirei as well, but as a master of martial arts who understands how to break a person without killing them, he has countless ways to neutralize his opponents without murder.
At worst, he can just secure Irisviel and escape.
"You're at a significant disadvantage."
"That level of handicap is just right for an opponent like you."
That was the signal for the beginning.
Kirei charges toward Kayneth. But Volumen Hydrargyrum, which can react easily to a claymore mine, doesn't care about speed.
Kirei's vision is instantly filled with a dull gray. Volumen Hydrargyrum has shifted into its defensive form. Its speed is truly overwhelming. The only question is its strength.
"Ha!"
His fist sinks in. The liquid metal envelops Kirei, welcoming him in... and trapping him.
Kirei's eyes widen in surprise, but Kayneth's follow-up attack doesn't stop.
"ACHOOO!"
Kayneth's war cry and fist are released simultaneously. Kirei manages to pull his hand free from the mercury bonds and dodges, but Kayneth immediately takes another stance. These are not just copied movements.
"A modern magus doesn't simply study the truth. I'm only doing this as a hobby, but you need to be able to do this much."
The sleeves of his suit are gone from the elbow down, but his arm movements are completely unaffected. It seems the restraint was too weak.
Thinking this, Kirei pulls out a black key with his other hand.
Kiritsugu's Calico M950 opens fire. Countless bullets rain down on Kirei. He deflects them with his masterful handling of the black key. If he can use both hands to hold a black key, it would be an impenetrable defense.
(It doesn't matter how many bullets are fired at me. What I need to be careful of is...!)
"Scalp!"
The heavy mercury is shot out at high pressure, reaching a level more than sufficient to kill a human. This attack can sever anything from titanium steel to diamond. There's no way Kirei can defend against it with a black key.
It's a somewhat simple attack, but with Kiritsugu's annoying bullet support, and in addition...
"Tch!"
The ground feels different beneath his feet. Something shoots up from the ground.
He twists his body and barely dodges it.
(Is it a needle? Are they trying to incapacitate me with a drug?)
It makes sense that Kiritsugu wouldn't have come unprepared. The house is now filled with traps.
(Am I being lured into a trap?)
In that case...
"!!"
He stomps his foot, cracking the ground. The force of the stomp fractures the bones in Kirei's leg. It's a full-force attack that even reinforcement magic can't keep up with.
(I won't kill him. I'll destroy his spine and paralyze his lower body!)
His target is Kayneth. He calculates the defensive power of Volumen Hydrargyrum and aims to pierce through it. He uses a Command Spell to give himself a further boost. In his peripheral vision, Kiritsugu is aiming the Calico, but he won't be in time.
In the next moment...
...an Origin Bullet pierced Kirei's skull.
"...Huh...?"
Scattering his brains, Kirei collapses, only able to utter such a foolish, meaningless word.
A martial arts master like Kirei would normally be able to knock it away with his hand, even if he was caught completely off guard. Although taking a bullet of this power would render his hand useless.
This time, he couldn't even do that.
Without learning the truth, Kirei's consciousness was dragged into eternal darkness.
---------
"We... we did it...?"
"Yesss! Direct hit! You did it, shorty!"
"You had your eyes closed when you shot!"
The small partner floating near his hand shouts.
He can't quite grasp that he 'did it.' His head feels light, as if he's in a dream. The tension prevents his body from moving properly. His throat is dry. Even though he wants to move just his fingertips, not even the smallest part of him will obey.
When he came to, he felt a recoil that threatened to dislocate his shoulder and heard an explosive sound loud enough to rupture his eardrums.
Waver, the sniper, holds his ringing ears and looks down at the plain gun in his hands—the Thompson/Center Contender that Kiritsugu gave him—and the Stand entrusted to him, Sex Pistols.
Sex Pistols
A Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5 that belongs to Guido Mista. It attaches itself to bullets, allowing it to freely manipulate their trajectory. The bullets they control can also damage other Stands. Mista's Pistols has no No. 4, but since Kiritsugu doesn't have any particular feelings about the number '4,' No. 4 does exist.
'Huh?! I have to shoot this?!'
'Yes. Based on what the irregular said and what I've seen of my Stand, this is the most effective strategy. Maiya has a role to play in case something happens: to get our wife to a safe place.'
'Distracting them and hitting them with an unmissable bullet... a cowardly tactic, but if this isn't a magical duel, then so be it.'
'You can decline if you want. You're not used to this kind of rough business.'
'In that case, we'd have less of a diversion, right?... Also, is it really that easy to hit them?'
'Don't you worry! No matter how bad you are, we'll make sure it hits!'
'Ugh! Fine, I'll do it! I can't be the only one to run away!'
He sighs as he remembers. It's just like Kiritsugu to have a strategy that involves entrusting a Stand he's just received to someone else.
Kiritsugu's plan went perfectly. As Kirei grew impatient with Volumen Hydrargyrum and Kiritsugu's support and launched a major attack, they hit him with an Origin Bullet aided by the Pistols.
The Stand's effect doesn't activate if the murder occurs outside of Civil War's range.
"Maybe I shouldn't have taken this on..."
"What are you talking about, after you just shot him!"
He had accepted this major role out of pride. But now, it's not because it's difficult or because he's nervous. It's because the reality that the bullet he fired took a person's life is slowly sinking in.
He won, but he feels sick.
He wished he never had to go through such a painful experience—
"No, that's wrong."
He denies it.
"That's wrong. This is what I was doing. It would be cowardly to just jump in and then run away when things got hard."
For now,
"Ugh... I need to get down soon."
Waver decides he needs to get back to the mansion, unnoticed by the residents who seem to have woken up from the gunshot, and find an airsickness bag.
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