[FMMISM] Chapter 56: Origin Bullets

"Huff..."

Releasing the trigger of his anti-material sniper rifle, Kiritsugu took a drag on the cigarette hanging from his lips, reflecting on the sensation of the shot he had just fired.

He was one hundred percent sure that his Origin Bullet had indeed hit his target.

Through the sniper's 10x scope, he clearly saw the black-haired boy fall to the ground, growling in pain, and twitching on the ground.

By the way, the so-called 'Origin Bullets' were bullets made by grinding Kiritsugu's ribs into powder, then condensing them with a craft to preserve his soul and sealing them within bullets as their core.

They were conceptual weapons embodying the concept of 'Severing and Binding' from his dual Origins, capable of destroying the Magic Circuits of mages—clearly the nemesis of all mages.

For a sniper, the chance to silently assassinate came only once. Once the gunshot was fired, the target would become alert, and the location of the sniper would be detected.

Despite this, Kiritsugu did not use this crucial bullet on the strongest and most fearsome great witch, Morgan.

From any perspective, Morgan was the greatest threat at the moment, yet this battle-hardened Mage Killer had, after careful consideration, aimed at Ragna instead.

Such a result surprised even Irisviel.

She had informed her husband that Ragna was actually a Servant, so why would he make such a mistaken choice?

In reality, Kiritsugu did not ignore his wife's warning.

Not only that, he had not missed any battlefield intelligence either.

During the confrontation with Artoria, Morgan had indeed referred to Ragna as 'Assassin'. Yet, with this knowledge in mind, Kiritsugu still firmly fired his Origin Bullet at Ragna without hesitation.

'Caster's words are just an act, that boy is the true Master.'

When observing Morgan and Ragna, Kiritsugu made that judgment.

It was made based on his keen senses honed through decades of battlefield experience and the detailed investigation conducted after arriving in Fuyuki.

Several days had passed since the battle in the port, and nearly a week had passed since the commencement of the Holy Grail War, yet only five Masters and Servants had appeared on the surface.

In this situation, Kiritsugu decided not to act rashly but to remain hidden and intensify the investigation into the identities of the remaining Masters.

Ultimately, he came across a secret through internet means.

Several days ago, he discovered that the Sajyou family from Tokyo and the Matou family from Fuyuki had been in contact over the past year.

Although the reliability of this information was not high, at this point, Kiritsugu would not overlook any hint of activity. Because of this, the name 'Ragna' finally appeared before the seasoned hunter, Emiya Kiritsugu.

It was this boy who had been spotted with the daughter of the Matou family.

At that time, Kiritsugu sat in front of his laptop, reading the email he had just received.

"Ragna... from the name, he should be foreigner... According to the records, he is adopted by Sajyou Hiroki's daughter, Sajyou Manaka..."

"It's absurd… Sajyou Hiroki's daughter is only seventeen this year, right? It's clear that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's registration staff was hypnotized by magecraft."

"Ragna, born in 1982, is twelve years old this year. However, his background before being adopted by the Sajyou family is unknown."

"After coming to Tokyo, he lived a debauched life like a rich young master, holding dozens of VIP cards for various nightclubs and gambling dens. Once, he lost twenty million yen in a single day at a horse racetrack."

"Really… What a horrible boy... Even so, things like this should be quite common in the world of magecraft, right?" Maiya chimed in while maintaining her weapons in the corner of the room.

"One's character doesn't matter at all. Maybe he has outstanding magecraft talent, which is why the Sajyou family took him in, either as a family heir or as a future husband for one of their daughters..."

Realizing something, Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes.

"No, if that's the case, then why is he not listed as Sajyou Hiroki's adopted son but as his daughter's adopted son in the records? On top of that, he was suddenly kicked out of a nightclub by alert staff while he was spending money there."

"What do you mean?" Maiya looked confusedly at him, who was typing on his keyboard.

"It means that while he was enjoying himself at the nightclub, he accidentally lost his Mystic Code, leading to the exposure of his identity as a child. In other words, this boy has no magecraft talent at all. He only used prepared Mystic Code to conceal his identity and access adult venues."

"Kiritsugu, do you think this boy is related to the downfall of the Matou family?" Maiya asked.

"I'm not sure, but... I think this boy is one of the Masters in this Holy Grail War, and… he is extremely dangerous..."

"Dangerous?" Maiya frowned.

After a moment of silence, Kiritsugu resolutely nodded and continued to explain.

"Perhaps… he's even more dangerous than Kotomine Kirei... From this boy's experiences, I see no behavioral logic. I can't understand his reason or wish for participating in the Holy Grail War at all... If I had to find an explanation, it's that for him, the Holy Grail War is no different from horse racing… just a form of entertainment for passing time."

"Participating in this kind of deadly war just to kill time? Such arrogant thinking, and yet the Holy Grail still granted him Command Spells... Just this alone is extremely, extremely frightening..."

Kiritsugu sighed deeply, staring gloomily at the computer screen for a while before turning his face.

"Maiya, do you have any thoughts on this boy?"

"No." Maiya shook her head, her stoic face remained expressionless.

Whoosh—

As the night breeze passed, it pulled Kiritsugu from his memories back to reality.

He tightened his grip on the anti-material sniper rifle and aligned his eyes with the scope once more.

However, he suddenly recalled the words Artoria had spoken earlier to Ragna.

'What exactly did Lancer mean by 'the disgrace you've brought upon a married woman'?'

'Forget it, that's a trivial matter for now.'

Shaking his head, Kiritsugu focused his eyes on the scope.

As Kiritsugu saw the motionless Ragna sprawled on the ground after getting hit by his Origin Bullet, he knew the boy was already a lost cause. He probably never understood what had happened to his body until the end.

If it had been an ordinary anti-material rifle bullet that penetrated Ragna's spine and shredded his internal organs, a skilled mage could still heal it without a problem, even with such a fatal injury.

However, when against Origin Bullets, it was different.

It could be said that Kiritsugu earned the reputation of 'Mage Killer' precisely because of these Origin Bullets, which could destroy the Magic Circuit itself.

If Magic Circuits were compared to high-voltage power lines, then Origin Bullets would be like a drop of water. After all, dropping a conductive liquid onto a dense electrical circuit would cause a short circuit, burn it out, and lead to irreversible damage.

Before tonight, Kiritsugu had used this method to kill thirty-seven mages, and this boy was his latest victim, the thirty-eighth.

At this moment, the boy's Magic Circuits should have gone berserk and been completely ruined.

'I was right... that boy is indeed a participant mage, Caster's Master...'

Even though he thought like that, Kiritsugu strangely felt no joy, only a tingling sensation on his scalp.