Utaha and Ichika's expressions were extremely grim.
Although they already knew that Roy was a homunculus and understood that homunculi held a very low status in this world, seeing so many beings with identical appearances and intellect to humans lying there waiting to die still made their vision darken, as if they were on the verge of fainting.
Humans could indeed slaughter chickens and pigs without hesitation, but that was out of necessity for survival. Faced with sentient homunculi—beings that, like infants, could one day grow into normal humans just like them—how could anyone bring themselves to commit such cruelty?
Were magi all creatures with no moral boundaries whatsoever?
Utaha had thought she understood magi, but now she realized how terribly wrong she had been.
Even Rin's expression was far from pleasant.
Thanks to Tokiomi Tohsaka's early death, her mindset hadn't been molded into that of a magus who disregarded human ethics. Seeing this scene, while her rationality told her it was normal, her heart still churned with nausea.
If possible, she hoped she would never become that kind of magus.
"Let's go, to Roy's location."
Only Illya remained completely unfazed.
Her expression was cold, her emotions seemingly undisturbed, as she led the three of them onward.
The surroundings warped once more into a kaleidoscope of surreal transformations.
Dreams were controlled by the heart—wherever the dreamer wished to go, they could arrive in an instant. It was no surprise that they could enter someone else's dream when their dreams were connected.
When the world stabilized again, the four found themselves in a hospital room.
It was a private ward, neatly arranged without a single sharp object in sight.
There was only one patient in the room.
He had the same white hair as those homunculi, his frail body draped in an oversized, semi-transparent hospital gown. Through the fabric, they could see numerous healed wounds on his skin.
Most striking of all, his eyes were bound with bandages, forever shut off from the light.
"Get out!"
The patient shoved away the faceless girl by his bedside and roared at her with pure hatred.
This scene plunged Rin and the others into an indescribable silence.
The only thing they understood was that this was the core of the dream.
A place constructed from Roy's past, where Roy himself resided.
In other words.
The homunculus on the hospital bed—tortured, his eyes gouged out—was Roy himself.
"I already guessed it, I knew it, but still—"
Rin stared at the homunculus on the bed, who would fly into fits of rage and scream uncontrollably, and felt her heart sink to its lowest point.
Utaha and Ichika were too shocked to speak.
"Oh my, the moment I let my guard down, a few rats managed to sneak in, didn't they?"
Just then, the scene before the four of them seemed to recede at superluminal speed, vanishing from their sight in the blink of an eye.
When the world stabilized again, they found themselves back on the desolate hill where they had first appeared.
Before them stood a figure clad entirely in black, with only a pair of cold, gleaming eyes visible. In his hand was a sharp dagger shaped like a beast's claw.
Rin and Illya instantly assumed combat stances—one pulling out gemstones, the other silver threads.
"Tsk tsk, I'm in a really bad mood right now!"
Angra Mainyu narrowed his eyes into slits, his gaze dripping with undisguised killing intent.
The murderous aura crashed over them like a storm, setting off alarm bells in Rin and Illya's minds.
"No, this might actually work out perfectly!"
Suddenly, the killing intent receded like the tide.
Angra Mainyu grinned brightly, revealing a row of white teeth, but the malice radiating from him was suffocating.
Snap!
He snapped his fingers.
A crucifix suddenly materialized on the hill, right in front of Rin and the others.
Bound to it, as if punishing a sinner, was a figure they knew all too well.
"What's this? Did you throw a tantrum after I rejected you?"
In the blink of an eye, the scenery had shifted to the familiar hill he hadn't seen in years. Roy, bound hand and foot to the crucifix, let out a cold, mocking laugh.
Then, his eyes fell on the four girls not far away, and his expression froze.
They got in... Did Touko do this?
"Roy? Is that really you?"
Rin tightened her grip on the gemstones in her hand, staring at Roy on the crucifix with a mix of tension and joy.
If they could save him, they could escape this dream!
"Are you blind? Look next to the black guy!"
Illya shot her a glare.
Rin snapped back to reality and looked beside Angra Mainyu—the "black guy."
An odd, grotesque figure had appeared beside him at some point.
It was nothing more than a floating mass of flesh, only half a person's height, with no limbs to speak of. Yet, its body was covered in countless eyes—most of them fixed intently on the girls, while the remaining few on its back stared at Roy on the crucifix.
An overwhelming aura of resentment emanated from it, like a vengeful spirit that had died with grievances unaddressed.
"That's... a cursed spirit?"
Rin's teeth clenched.
Fuyuki City wasn't supposed to experience cursed spirit incidents—the only exception was this time, due to Zouken Matou's interference.
This cursed spirit must have entered alongside Zouken Matou!
"...What are you planning?"
Roy narrowed his eyes dangerously at Angra Mainyu.
"Keeping all that malice locked up in your heart is such a waste. So, I thought I'd do you a favour and dig it out for you!"
Angra Mainyu grinned openly, the corners of his eyes creasing with unrestrained malice.
"I know your spirit is incredibly resilient—after all, three years of curses couldn't corrupt you. Ordinary physical torture probably won't break you, and I don't know what's suppressing the malice in your heart. But have you ever experienced this?"
He pointed at Rin and the others.
"They came into this dream to save you, so they must care deeply for you, right? If I tortured them to death a hundred times over, do you think that'd be enough to make the malice in your heart boil over?"
"Ah, right, right—this guy might look ugly, but he's actually a Nightmare Cursed Spirit. Killing people through dreams isn't impossible for him!"
Angra Mainyu gestured at the grotesque flesh lump beside him.
Rin and the others paled, a mix of dread and terror clawing its way up from the depths of their hearts.
"Angra Mainyu, you bastard..."
Roy's expression darkened ominously.
A surge of intense hatred rose from the depths of his heart, morphing into pure destructive impulse. He wanted nothing more than to tear the man to pieces.
"Ehehehehe, so, do you understand the situation now?"
Angra Mainyu giggled, his upturned eyes brimming with mockery.
"If you don't make a contract with me right now, I'll kill every last one of them. Got it?"
***
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