That fleeting red figure on the rooftop, like a stone cast into still water, stirred violent ripples in Leo's heart lake, which had already sunk into despair.
'Archer... Heroic Spirit Emiya...'
'A being of absolute rationality, an existence that won't be affected by the demonic nature of my face...'
The bone-chilling coldness that had risen from his tailbone, in mere seconds, impossibly transformed into another kind of cold clarity, trembling with a strange energy.
Fear still existed, but it was no longer pure, paralyzing despair. Instead, it became fuel driving his brain to race at high speed.
He realized he was not without hope.
This impregnable prison had revealed one single, possible "variable."
The pallor on Leo's face gradually faded, replaced by an almost numb calmness.
He lowered his eyes, concealing the flash of brilliance within them, and allowed Rin to help him up from the cold carpet, treating him like a fragile treasure, gently brushing away non-existent dust from his clothes.
"See, Leo, staying by my side is the safest thing..."
Rin's voice returned to that sickly gentleness. She cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Don't think about leaving anymore, okay? It's too dangerous out there. Only I can protect you."
Leo didn't answer, only stared at her with hollow eyes, as if his soul had been extracted.
This attitude of "resignation" clearly pleased Rin.
She believed her "love" and "determination" had finally completely crushed Leo's will to resist.
'Good... that's it... let her think I've given up...'
Leo told himself in his mind.
He obediently let Rin take his hand and lead him to sit on the living room sofa.
Rin, like a child who had gotten her beloved toy, nestled affectionately against him, resting her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes contentedly, inhaling the scent from his body that she was obsessed with.
For the next several hours, Leo completely transformed into a doll without thoughts.
When Rin told him to watch TV, he stared at the screen; when she fed him fruit, he opened his mouth; when she talked to him, he responded with the simplest syllables.
His obedience and docility lowered Rin's vigilance to its lowest point.
She was completely immersed in the incomparable satisfaction and happiness of having her beloved completely under her control.
Finally, the clock on the wall showed eight o'clock.
"Ah, it's already this time."
Rin reluctantly lifted her head from Leo's shoulder. "I need to go to school. Though I'd love to spend the whole day with you, as a magus I also need to maintain a normal person's identity as a cover."
She stood up and adjusted her beige school uniform top and black miniskirt.
'The opportunity has come!'
Leo's heart suddenly jumped, but his face remained perfectly composed.
Rin walked to the entrance to change her shoes, but before leaving, she turned back, her lake-green eyes flickering with pink hearts, gazing deeply at Leo, her tone carrying an irrefutable command and a hint of sweet threat.
"Leo, you'll be a good boy and wait for me to come home, right~"
"Don't think about running away again. That would only make me sad... and if I become sad, I don't know what I might do."
She revealed a sweet smile. "My Archer will stay to 'keep you company,' so you won't be lonely."
With that, she finally turned and opened the door, leaving the mansion.
Click.
With the sound of the lock falling into place, the entire grand mansion suddenly fell into complete silence.
The sickly sweet atmosphere in the air seemed to dissipate along with Rin's departure.
In its place came something cold and sharp—a tension like the edge of a blade.
Leo slowly exhaled a turbid breath, his taut nerves finally able to relax for a moment.
He didn't act immediately. Instead, he sat quietly on the sofa, waiting.
Sure enough, in less than ten seconds, the space before him twisted, and red spiritual particles began to gather.
The Heroic Spirit in the red coat, white-haired and dark-skinned, materialized silently in the center of the living room.
Archer didn't look at him at first. Instead, he glanced around, confirming his Master had left and that the mansion's barriers remained intact.
Only then did he turn those hawk-like sharp gray eyes toward Leo on the sofa.
It was a gaze of pure assessment, completely devoid of any emotional color.
No admiration, no obsession, no disgust—like an engineer observing a complex but unstable machine.
Leo knew he had only one chance.
He stood up from the sofa and straightened his clothes, making himself appear as presentable and harmless as possible.
"You're her Servant, Archer, right?" Leo took the initiative to speak, his voice steady, betraying no hint of nervousness.
Archer's eyebrows raised slightly, seeming somewhat surprised that this man, kept by his Master like a caged canary, would dare initiate conversation with him.
"So what if I am."
His voice was low and hoarse, full of masculine magnetism, but his tone carried a coldness and mockery that kept people at arm's length. "Are you the 'trouble' that has my Master so enchanted?"
"I'm not the trouble."
Leo shook his head, meeting Archer's assessing gaze directly and calmly. "Or rather, I'm the vessel of 'trouble.' It's not my intention."
'I must make him understand that I'm passive, that I'm a victim...'
"Oh?"
Archer crossed his arms over his chest, a mocking smile playing at his lips. "That's certainly a convenient explanation. Blame everything on an innate 'trait' and you can enjoy all the benefits it brings with a clear conscience."
"Benefits?"
Leo laughed bitterly at himself, gesturing to himself and then to the luxurious yet prison-like surroundings. "You call this a benefit? Being forcibly confined by a mentally unstable girl, losing all freedom, unable to have even my own will... If this is what you call 'benefits,' I'd rather not have them."
His tone was sincere and earnest, containing pain and helplessness that even someone as cynical as Archer could feel.
Archer's eyes changed slightly. Though the mockery at his lips didn't diminish, the assessment in his gaze deepened.
"Continue."
Leo knew his words were working.
He took a deep breath and laid out his entire situation in the most concise and objective language possible.
From how he came to this world (of course, not claiming to be a transmigrator from reality, but explaining it as a visitor from a parallel world within the Nasuverse), how he discovered that his body possessed a fatal attraction to women, the various tragedies this ability had caused, and finally how three nights ago, merely by removing his hood for a breath of air, he was seen by Rin Tohsaka and forcibly "brought" here.
"I don't know the principle behind my ability, but it distorts the minds of all women who see my true face, making them develop extreme possessiveness and romantic obsession."
"Rin... she's also a victim. Everything she's doing now isn't of her own volition, but rather she's been 'contaminated' by my ability."
Leo threw out the most critical question, striking directly at Archer's core. "The Holy Grail War is a deadly battle where lives are wagered. With her mind completely filled with me right now, how can she calmly analyze the battlefield? How can she make the most correct judgments? As her Servant, do you really want to see her die pointlessly in this war for such a ridiculous reason?"
These words struck Archer's heart like a heavy hammer.
He might not care about Leo's life or death, but he could not ignore Rin Tohsaka's safety.
He had witnessed all of Rin's abnormalities these past few days.
That young lady who was originally shrewd, proud, and strived for perfection in everything, now acted like an ordinary girl caught in first love, spending all her time and energy on this man of unknown origin. She had even set up the highest-level barrier she herself thought was overkill, all to "protect" him.
This was certainly not the state a qualified Master should be in.
"So, what do you want?"
Archer's voice remained cold, but the mockery in it had faded considerably, replaced instead by a kind of serious interrogation.
"Let me go."
Leo said without hesitation. "As long as I leave here and completely disappear from her sight, the influence of this ability of mine should gradually weaken over time, and eventually disappear. When that happens, she can return to normal, become that calm and powerful magus you need her to be again."
He took a step forward, his gaze burning as he looked at Archer.
"I'm not asking you to betray your Master. On the contrary, I'm asking you, for the sake of your Master, to help her break free from this 'curse' that is me."
"I don't need you to escort me to safety, and I don't need any help. You only need to... create an opening in the barrier around this mansion, one large enough for me to pass through, even if it's only for ten seconds. Everything after that has nothing to do with you."
The living room fell silent once more.
Archer's gray eyes gazed deeply at Leo, as if trying to see through his very soul.
Leo met his gaze without flinching, laying bare his sincerity and his desperate desire to survive without reservation.
This was his only gamble—betting his life on the whim of this mysterious Heroic Spirit.
After a long while, Archer finally spoke slowly, breaking the suffocating silence.
"Your story is interesting, and the logic is... barely sound."
He turned around, his back to Leo, leaving him with a tall and solitary red silhouette.
"But don't misunderstand. I won't completely believe you based on your one-sided account."
"I will use my own eyes to observe and judge. Your existence, for Rin, is it honey, or... a poison potent enough to be fatal?"
"Until then, you'd better behave yourself. If I discover you have any intention of harming Rin..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but the sharp killing intent that erupted and was instantly suppressed made his meaning perfectly clear.
Then his figure dissolved into scattered spirit particles and vanished into the air.
Leo stood in place for a long time, unmoving.
He knew he was temporarily safe.
His gamble had succeeded halfway.
But the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head had multiplied from one to two.