As soon as he entered Fuyuki Church, the gloomy environment made Emiya Shirou shudder and make him feel a little uncomfortable.
His eyelids were beating constantly. As a magician, although he was still a dabbler, his awareness of danger was particularly keen. The feeling of horror made his heart beat slightly faster.
Even with Medusa and Saber behind him, it couldn't give Shirou much sense of security.
Without delay, the three of them searched and found that there were shadows of buildings between the walls. They were small steps that were easily overlooked.
Unexpectedly, it didn't take long to find the stairs leading to the church basement.
But the deep and dark underground passage is like a giant beast in the shadows opening its bloody mouth, swallowing up all creatures that dare to break in.
Depressing, cold, scary...everywhere is weird.
"Shirou, wait, let me explore the way." Saber frowned and called out to her master in time.
Phew~
The magic power was released from her petite body, and the whirlwind blew up the girl's golden sand-like hair, and a set of shining silver knight armor was put on her body.
With a "clang" sound, Saber pulled out the invisible holy sword, and stepped into the stairs leading to the basement before Shirou.
The young hero followed immediately, and Medusa held the stake dagger and stood back.
As soon as he entered the stairs, a cold and decaying aura hit his face, as if it was the sinister wind from the Nine Nether Hells, which made Shirou shiver.
"There's something...something wrong here!"
The white face of the stupid king was filled with solemnity.
Her intuition did not give any warning, proving that there should be no traps or dangers here. However, the weird and cold atmosphere made people feel goosebumps.
"Well, I feel very uncomfortable too."
Medusa spoke in a cold voice, her purple pupils looking around.
Shirou's face looked a little heavy, and he felt inexplicably depressed and did not speak.
He always had a frightening feeling that this place didn't look like a place for living people at all, like a funeral parlor, morgue, corpse pit or mass grave.
Even if nothing unusual is found, it still makes people feel uncomfortable.
Tick tock...tick tock
The sound seemed to be that of water dripping, which was particularly eerie in the dark underground of the church.
The three of them followed the sound and found a secret door at the end of the stairs with a mark of unknown meaning on it.
The secret door was not locked. Saber, Shirou, and Medusa looked at each other and pushed the invisible sword against it to open the door.
The three of them filed in, and because they were close enough, they finally saw clearly what was inside. The cruel sight burned their retinas in an instant.
That's──
Hell, living hell.
At first glance, it looks like a corpse. It's all corpses.
There were densely packed corpses all around, and there was a strong smell of disinfectant that lingered in the air.
A drop of water dripped into the lips of a corpse. The open lips had remained like this for who knows how many years. The lips had rotted and the flesh on the chin was like a ball of mud.
This is a bunch of rotten people.
But not one of them is dead, they are all alive.
They look a lot like corpses, and most of their limbs are very deformed, twisted, or mutilated.
They all have no limbs or have been cut off.
These people were placed in coffins, and the ends of the severed limbs were bones. Among the surrounding stone gaps were many maggot seedbeds.
These "living people" only have heads and bodies, which are as decayed and broken as dead branches.
The sound of the moving air sounds like crying, like mourning.
Other than that, there was no sound, and the silence was terrifying. The throats of these "corpses" had degenerated and had no function of making sounds. They were just trachea to maintain life.
A certain "corpse" instinctively turned slightly to look at the intruders.
Maybe because the angle of turning his neck was a little too large, one of his eyeballs fell down, but the other eye and the empty eye socket were still looking at them.
Although the "corpse" looked at Saber and the others, it showed no emotion at all.
The broken and decayed body grew on the coffin, with empty eyes and no sound, just like a paramecium swimming under stimulation. It was not out of curiosity, but just a stress reaction.
The impact of this cruel scene of hell on earth on the three of them can be imagined.
Saber lowered her head slightly, unable to see her expression clearly. Her body trembled slightly, and the fingers holding the sword hilt clenched loudly.
Not fear, but anger.
"Yan-feng-qi-li!" Finally, she reached the limit of her endurance, and her deep voice seemed to come out from between her teeth, containing boiling murderous intent.
When these words were spoken, these "corpses" reacted.
There was something strange in the coffin. They were trembling and crying like mosquitoes. In the coffin, insects were slowly eating them, chewing their vitality and flesh.
Ah──
What's this?
Why is this happening?
Emiya Shirou looked at all this in despair. He couldn't scream. During this time, he didn't even know who he was, where he was, and what he was doing. He just felt that his mind was blank and buzzing.
After finally regaining consciousness, he discovered that these "corpses" were all teenagers.
For some reason, it even gave him a vaguely familiar feeling.
Shirou felt a palpitation in his heart, his whole body was cold, and his body suddenly went limp.
Even though Archer reminded him several times, this cruel scene was too exciting and reminded him directly of the fire outside the Fuyuki Civic Hall ten years ago.
"Shirou, are you okay?"
He was dizzy and about to fall, but Saber reached out to help him in time.
Medusa, whose eyes were dull, took a deep breath and came to her senses. She took a few steps forward, resisting the feeling of nausea and vomiting, and carefully observed the condition of these teenagers and the coffin.
With her brows furrowed, she realized that Kotomine Kirei had used some mechanism or magic to fuse the bodies of these young men with the coffins.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! These coffins are connected to the flesh and blood of these teenagers, and they are constantly gnawing and absorbing the nutrients from their bodies.
Vitality, magic, and even something close to the soul are squeezed out of the coffin.
Just like a parasite does not want its host to die, the reason why these teenagers are still alive is because someone wants to squeeze out the vitality and magic power of these people little by little.
There is no doubt that this is collecting magic power.
Medusa made a judgment. She possesses the Noble Phantasm "Seal of Others: Blood Temple" that can absorb magic power, so she naturally understands this very well.
"This is the priest collecting human magic power. They have been in this situation for at least five years."
At this point, Sister R's voice, which she thought was ruthless to her enemies, started to tremble a little.
She has also done murder.
Many Servants actually killed countless people. Even King Da Mao killed many invaders and aliens in order to protect Britain.
She has also done it, and Caster has done it too, by absorbing the magic power of humans.
"Seal of Others·Blood Temple" is very vicious. Once it is activated, the people inside will quickly turn into pus and blood, turning into magic power.
However, whether it was Medusa using the "Blood Temple" to absorb the vitality and magic power of the teachers and students in the school, or whether Mother C was attacking innocent townspeople.
Those people will be weak, in pain, or even die on the spot afterwards.
But at least the process is quick and doesn't last long.
Killing can only be done with a nod of the head, but sometimes, a happy death is something that is desired but unattainable.
If Father Kotomine killed these teenagers directly, Sister R would only say that he was cruel enough, but she wouldn't be too surprised.
She would not be too surprised if Father Kotomine drained the vitality and magic power of these children in one go or several times. She had also released the "Seal of Others: Blood Temple" in the school, but it was only given by Ren.
Destroyed.
But when I think about the fact that these teenagers have been in this state of life and death for many years in the basement, even Medusa will feel numb.
In the dark basement, my limbs were cut off and placed in a coffin. I had to watch my body's flesh and blood being eaten away bit by bit, feeling the vitality and my soul being sucked out bit by bit...
Over time, it becomes the most cruel punishment in the world.
Kariya has only been tortured by the old bug for a year, but these children have been tortured for at least five years.
Thinking of this, Medusa's body trembled.
She suddenly felt that she, the notorious "gorgon" in mythology, was nothing compared to Kotomine Kirei.
If people become cruel, it will shock even the devil.
Medusa suddenly thought of Archer's words. To be honest, before, she could not imagine that a human being could be so cruel.
It's not even hard to imagine that that guy Kotomine Kirei will come to check here regularly.
He wanted to ensure that these teenagers were still alive, and also check whether there were any problems with the layout here, so that the teenagers could continue to serve as magical "energy sources" and "human flesh batteries".
This is simply...
Having to witness this kind of scene of hell on earth all the time, it would be difficult for anyone with a little bit of conscience to continue.
"No...not just five years, maybe ten...ten years." Shirou suddenly stood firm and stopped letting Saber support him.
His back was turned to Medusa and Saber, and his expression could not be clearly seen. He staggered a few steps and walked to a certain "corpse".
Shirou pointed to an emerald pendant in the shape of angel wings around the boy's neck:
"I forgot his name, but ten years ago, in the hospital ward (after the fire, many people were sent to the hospital for treatment, including Shirou, and later Kiritsugu went to the hospital to officially adopt Shirou), he said
, this is his grandfather’s relic—Emerald Wings.
He said that this was a token of love given by his grandfather to his grandmother, and later his father gave it to his mother...
Because the shape is a bit unique, and there is this story, I... I still remember this thing, he is the... child at the beginning, no wonder it always feels a bit... familiar, they... they are all orphans who survived the fire."
At the end of the sentence, Shirou's voice trembled and he stuttered.
His body was trembling slightly, and he was faintly crying.
"Shirou!" Saber looked worried.
She wanted to step forward, but he didn't look back, but raised a hand to stop her: "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine."
His expression couldn't be seen clearly, but his voice seemed to have returned to calmness.
But after hearing these words and looking at his lonely back, Saber became even more worried. She already regretted not listening to Archer's warning and letting Shirou come in.
Even a knight like her who has been on the battlefield for more than ten years and is used to seeing life and death can't adapt to this kind of scene, let alone a young man.
The worst part was that unlike her, Shirou knew these victims.
The fire was the most painful scar for the young man. This was undoubtedly another stab at his bloody wound!
"Originally, I should also be one of them, if my father hadn't adopted me."
His voice was a little hoarse, and Shirou stared blankly at the familiar man in front of him who looked like a walking corpse and could no longer even cry.
It was only then that tears fell silently from his face.
They are all survivors of the fire, children who are homeless and have lost everything. Even if they are not related by blood, they still have a bond.
However, fate was so cruel. Even though they had nothing left, this ruthless world did not give these poor orphans even a little warmth in the end.
However, he was adopted by Kiritsugu, and thus, he was the only one spared from such a fate.
Ah───Ah!!
Shirou really wanted to shout out loud, but no sound came out.
What right does he have to cry and cry here? Compared to these people, at least he has an adoptive father and a family.
Saber couldn't help it anymore and wanted to step forward, but was pulled back.
Glancing back, Medusa shook her head at her and told her not to disturb him at this time. Any comfort at this moment was useless and would only be counterproductive.
Originally, Shirou Emiya had the guilt of being a fire survivor. It was the guilt that he survived and was saved while others perished in the flames... Now, it seems that he is the only survivor left.
At this time, he was just a hair away from collapse. He was mentally strong enough to not go crazy.
"Rider, you said that Kotomine Kirei is using this method to absorb the vitality and magic power of these people, right? Why does it last for such a long time? What does Archer know?"
After a long silence, with his back to the two of them, Shirou finally asked.
Saber also had some doubts on her face: "Under normal circumstances, even if the priest has to use this method to provide magic power to Lancer, it will only be in the past few days. The Holy Grail War has only started less than a week ago."
"So, it's not Cu Chulainn, these magic powers are not provided to Lancer."
Medusa shook her head. She also knew magic and had some knowledge of ways to absorb magic. She pointed at these coffins and added:
"Some of the arrangements under the church are still functioning, which means that life and magic are still being absorbed and transferred to a certain Servant."
Brother Gou was eliminated and was unable to receive magic power, which obviously had nothing to do with this mess.
In fact, Cu Chulainn didn't know about this at all.
Otherwise, Brother Gou would definitely not be able to bear it. He could still bear the incident of Kotomine Kirei sneaking up on Mapo, but this kind of thing has exceeded his bottom line. If he knew about it, he would definitely fall out with Mapo.
"It's to provide magic power to Servants, and it started ten years ago. Doesn't that mean..."
Thinking about it, Saber was shocked when she said this.
Medusa nodded: "Yes, obviously, a certain servant survived ten years ago, and Kotomine Kirei is serving him and providing him with the magic power he needs for his activities."
Father Mapo had three followers.
The hundred-faced Hassan has long since cooled down. This magic power is obviously not for big dogs, so naturally the only one left is the great King of Heroes.
"Is it that Kim Pika?" Saber frowned.
Before the end of the last Holy Grail War, besides her, five Servants were confirmed dead, and only that Golden Pika was not eliminated at that time.
"To be precise, it's the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh."
Medusa couldn't help but shook her head, relying on the magic power of these teenagers to survive. Does this kind of garbage deserve to be called the King of Heroes?
──
(PS: This paragraph comes from the plot of the FSN game. Players can choose to enter the scene─"Fifteen Days·Church Underground", the scene name: Cost of Survival·Reckoning of Karma.
Several animations have deleted this plot out of consideration, but it does not mean that it has not happened. It has happened in Fate line, HF line, UBW line, any line.)