[FMMISM] Chapter 58: I'll Take Care of Irisviel and Lancer for You

'...Tch, don't tell me he was deliberately luring me into sniping him?'

Although he had narrowly escaped death countless times, Kiritsugu had never felt such profound frustration and panic.

He continued to flee while beginning to reload his single-shot pistol.

As Kiritsugu pulled down the switch, opened the gun, and loaded a bullet, suddenly, a hand emerged from the darkness, tightly pressing down on his left hand that was retrieving the bullet.

At this moment, Ragna had moved from ten meters away to right in front of Kiritsugu in an instant.

His speed was so fast it felt like teleportation.

Once again grabbing Kiritsugu, Ragna still didn't attack.

With a mocking expression on his face, Ragna placed his tightly clenched right fist in front of Kiritsugu and then slowly opened his hand.

"!!!"

In Kiritsugu's wavering vision, a crushed bullet shell fell from Ragna's palm.

As the brass glowed in the darkness, it clearly revealed the miracle of catching bullets with bare hands.

"...Impossible."

Seeing this scene, even the battle-hardened Mage Killer emitted a desperate, deep voice.

Indeed, it was impossible.

Whether it was the speed equivalent to teleportation or the ability to catch bullets at point-blank range with bare hands, it was no longer within the realm of humans but had already reached the realm of Servants.

Moreover, it was certainly not something Ragna's current body could achieve.

Nonetheless, Ragna still accomplished it.

In fact, to achieve this, Kiritsugu was partly responsible.

When Kiritsugu activated 'Time Alter - Square Accel,' the flow of time around Ragna slowed to a quarter of its normal speed. Even so, unable to comprehend this and powerless to counterattack, Kiritsugu's heart was filled only with deep frustration.

Watching the justice bringer's spirit gradually wane, a sly gleam sparkled in the Ragna's eyes.

'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... Now, let's see how it feels to be hit in the chest by an anti-material rifle bullet.'

In the next instant, Ragna threw a lightning-fast punch, landing squarely on Kiritsugu's chest.

BOOM!

"Kheok—!"

With a thunderous crash, Kiritsugu let out a painful groan, his body being sent flying several meters away.

Without any martial arts expertise, Ragna simply returned the power of the sniper who had shot him earlier with his own fist.

Moments later, the forest was quiet again.

At this moment, the scene was filled with broken tree trunks and swirling dust, with Kiritsugu lying motionless in a crater more than two meters wide.

Cough! Cough!

Kiritsugu coughed painfully, spitting out large amounts of blood.

Ragna, with his hands in his pockets, bounced over to Kiritsugu's side casually, humming an anime song.

If a sniper rifle capable of piercing armored vehicles could easily shatter a human body, what if that same energy were concentrated into a fist?

Not only would the ribs be shattered, but the internal organs would also be crushed in a flash of lightning.

Yet, it didn't kill Kiritsugu, because mages like him were just that tough.

At this moment, Kiritsugu suddenly remembered a quote from a movie.

—Women and children can afford to be careless, but not men. {T/N: From the Godfather.}

Without a doubt, he was now feeling the meaning of this quote firsthand.

Sadly, his first carelessness became the last.

From beginning to end, everything was a part of his opponent's scheme, and the whole process was merely a mockery.

Kiritsugu's Holy Grail War ended just as abruptly and completely as this.

Ragna strolled slowly to Kiritsugu's side, bent down, lifted his coat, and began to search.

"Let me find… Ahh, found it."

Ragna's eyes lit up as he pulled out a small box from the Mage Killer's coat.

It was a box of Taiwanese cigarettes that Kiritsugu always carried with him.

"Want one?" Ragna asked, holding a cigarette between his fingers.

Kiritsugu's face remained tense, saying nothing.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot, you've got three broken ribs stuck in your lungs right now…"

"Well, this is my first time smoking, y'know? Back when I used to hang out at nightclubs, people there would often pass around cigarettes, but I always turned them down."

Ragna smiled, using a lighter he had also confiscated from Kiritsugu to light the cigarette.

However, as he took a deep drag on the cigarette, he put on a pained expression.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

"Holy, what the hell is this?"

An indescribable sourness filled Ragna's mouth, and it took him a while to get used to the taste.

After some time, his head started to feel a bit floaty.

"Hmm... Well, not bad..."

Ragna exhaled a puff of smoke and turned to look down at Kiritsugu with his cold, black eyes.

Surprisingly, even in the face of such a devastating defeat, there was still an unyielding light in Kiritsugu's gaze.

Kiritsugu's lips trembled, not out of fear but from tension.

For him, there was still a glimmer of hope.

No matter how dire the situation was, as long as his opponent didn't know 'that secret', his wife could still have a chance to gain victory.

However, Ragna crushed his last hope with a single sentence.

"Nice to meet you, Einzbern's minion, Mr. Mage Killer—No, that name might not suit you. After all—Emiya Kiritsugu, you are actually the true Master of Lancer, yeah?"

"!!!"

Ragna's calm words pierced Kiritsugu's heart like a bullet, taking away the last shred of hope from his soul.

"Kill me..." Kiritsugu rasped, his eyes going hollow.

Seeing this, Ragna smiled with the satisfaction of a victor and shook his head.

"Sorry, that's not something I can do." Ragna said briefly, then continued in his mind. 'I don't want to be hated by Irisviel for the rest of my life after all. Besides... you still have some value left to be exploited.'

Shortly afterward, he flicked away the burning cigarette butt, crouched beside Kiritsugu, and started rummaging through his coat pockets.

"You should have it on you... that thing."

Before long, Ragna pulled out a scroll of parchment from Kiritsugu's coat and tossed it on the ground.

It was none other than the 'Self-Geis Scroll' that Kiritsugu always carried, and, to make matters worse, it was a Self-Geis Scroll that compelled someone to willingly relinquish their Master status.

"!!!"

Kiritsugu stared with a look of terror as if his eyes might pop out, shifting between Ragna's face and the parchment.

'Impossible! How could he even know about this?!'

Staring at the parchment he once used to trap countless lives, Kiritsugu felt overwhelmed by immense sadness and despair, knowing he would soon face the same fate as his victims.

"Sign this and get out of Fuyuki. Of course, this isn’t a request—it’s an order, old man. You don’t have a choice."

Gently patting Kiritsugu on the shoulder, Ragna leaned in close to his ear, whispering like a devil.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of Irisviel and Lancer for you..."