BCloud
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MMMS 37
🕑 Added 2025-04-25 01:03:18 +0000 UTCTurning back the clock about ten hours earlier. When the fanatic awoke in bed, she immediately fell into intense self-reproach. How could this happen... what a completely foolish act I committed. She wasn't concerned at all about still being alive. Nor did she care about the black heart formed from curses now in her left chest. She just stared at the ceiling with a sorrowful expression. "I... no longer even deserve to call myself a believer..."
The reason she hadn't been chosen as the leader of the Assassins went beyond making others fear her. She was simply too straightforward. Charging into Caster's magical workshop in broad daylight to carry out an attack—no proper Old Man of the Mountain would ever choose such tactics. It must have been because the "warrior's spirit" in her was stronger than the "assassin's instinct," which is why she couldn't become the leader of the order. Only after being killed did she realize this truth, and she kept blaming herself for her immaturity.
Someone as undeveloped as her, did she truly have the right to eliminate this heretical ritual that had misled their leaders? This must be why she was punished directly by that person, by the Fallen Angel himself.
When her heart was taken from her, she couldn't even see the Angel's movements. Clearly, her faith was that weak. That was the true divine technique that could guide the order. Compared to this person, the eighteen Zabaniya Noble Phantasm she had proudly mastered were meaningless and even disrespectful.
She clasped her hands together and whispered, ashamed of her weakness. Why the Messenger of Heaven would spare her worthless life—she already knew the answer in her heart. That person must have considered her existence an embarrassment to the order, and decided she must be trained from the beginning.
The door to the room opened. "Oh, you're already awake."
"My lord Angel." She slowly got out of bed, her eyes no longer uncertain. Why this person hadn't taken her life—it must be because the time wasn't right. Her presence here was the result of this person's will.
"My lord. Thank you for freeing me from the control of the heretical ritual," she knelt with both knees before Ryuuto, pressing her forehead firmly against the floor. "Please allow me to serve at your side. Please allow me to offer myself to you, to help you destroy the heretical obstacles that stand in your way."
"...Is that so? Is this your answer?"
"Yes," she replied.
He looked down at her from above - her thick black twin braids spreading on the floor, her mature yet austere body wrapped in black robes, the slender fingers that had taken countless lives, and the pale nape of her neck exposed as a sign of submission.
Looking at her with contempt, the young man said calmly, "Fanatic, it seems... your faith is still lacking."
"In your wisdom... I have nothing to say," the deeply ashamed fanatic pressed her forehead against the floor with enough force to damage it.
"Well, nothing can be done about it now. For the time being, put this on," he said, tossing a deep blue garment in front of her.
"...Wh-what is this?" she raised her head, staring at "that" thrown before her. It was a modern garment that would expose her face, limbs, neck, and collarbones extensively. In modern times it seemed ordinary, but for her...
"R-respected lord... wh-what kind of immodest clothing is this?"
The girl who had just overcome her confusion now found herself thrown into new bewilderment.
"This is the battle armor that suits you. Wear it and reflect on your sins. Change your clothes and then come out with me."
Leaving her in a state of mental turmoil, he hummed a tune as he left the guest room.
…
Dozens of kilometers from the duel between Artoria and the Sun Knight, Ryuuto stood at the highest point in Fuyuki, watching the battle while addressing the swimsuit-clad girl behind him.
"How do you feel?"
When he spoke to her, the assassin was secretly pulling at the swimsuit fabric with her pinky finger, feeling the unfamiliar elastic material against her skin. The cold floor beneath her bare feet felt jarringly real compared to the surreal situation she found herself in.
"Uh... ah, yes." Hearing his question, she pressed her slightly dry lips together. "Yes, master. There's an unusual sense of freedom. I feel my body becoming one with nature."
For a female member of the Assassin order, this was undoubtedly a major taboo. The fanatic had never even shown her face to a man before, let alone worn a swimsuit.
Her mind felt as if it were burning with embarrassment, heat rising from her neck to her cheeks while her exposed skin tingled painfully as though submerged in ice water during the depths of winter.
Goosebumps rose on her arms as a particularly strong gust of wind swept across the building, carrying dried leaves that scraped against the surface. It truly felt like experiencing extreme heat and cold at the same time—her internal fire of shame contrasting with the external chill that made her shoulders tense and spine stiffen.
"I-if you wouldn't mind... Master, could I please put my black robe back on?"
"Hmm? What did you... just say?" he turned his face and stared directly into her eyes.
"Eep!... No, nothing... I misspoke! P-please ignore that. This is clearly the test you prepared for me, and I failed to appreciate your intentions. Please forgive my rudeness."
The master said this was a test, she reminded herself. A test to overcome the past—and only by moving beyond that childish past could one truly grow.
"Very good," he said, examining her swimsuit once more with satisfaction. The late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows across the grounds, highlighting the shyly attractive expression on her face, the simple yet charming braids that framed her downturned eyes, and the elegantly defined collarbones that tensed with each shallow breath she took.
"...Ahem." He swallowed hard. Better finish tonight's business quickly and return home to spend time with the homunculus sisters.
He crouched down in front of the kneeling fanatic, gently taking one of her braids and bringing it to his lips. "Maintain this position and experience the world anew."
"Y-yes, my lord."
"Alright then." Just as he stood up to continue watching the battle between Saber and Lancer, she unexpectedly spoke. “Um…”
It was unusual for her to speak without being asked. "What is it?"
"Master," her eyes contained a faint but intense light. "I've found him... That heretical magus you've been searching for is nearby..."
