"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!"
He overturned the tray on the table and the IV stand by the bed, venting his rage without restraint.
During his long life as a lab rat, he had been as powerless as livestock, dragged onto the operating table by magi and subjected to utterly unreasonable suffering. The flames of anger had long burned fiercely in his heart, and his resentment was so deep it could never be washed away. Countless negative emotions had accumulated in the bottomless abyss of his heart.
And now, with his eyes gouged out, the malice in his heart had finally reached its peak.
"I'll kill every last one of you! One day, I'll slaughter every single one of you without exception!"
"This damn world! You want to save it, don't you? Then I'll make sure to destroy it!"
"One day, absolutely! One day, absolutely!!"
His twisted, ferocious expression made him look like a mindless beast that knew only slaughter.
The roar in his heart sounded like a demon emerging from the depths of hell.
The surroundings had long since turned pitch black.
After that homunculus had his eyes gouged out, everything around him plunged into darkness. Only the voice of his heart echoed in this dark space, and his malice spread like a curse, infecting Roy's mind.
Clap clap clap!
Suddenly, enthusiastic applause rang out.
"Ahhh, now that was quite the show!"
Along with the voice, a pitch-black figure appeared before Roy.
His entire body was jet black—his features, limbs, even his hair—as if no light could reflect off him. Only a pair of distinct, mocking eyes, white pupils against black, imprinted themselves into Roy's vision.
He seemed thoroughly entertained by that painful past, his gaze brimming with schadenfreude.
"That was your past, wasn't it? Oh my, you look absolutely terrifying!"
The shadow's voice was dripping with amusement, his tone unbearably flippant.
Facing him, Roy's face was filled with murderous intent so palpable it seemed to physically press down on the shadowy figure, who let out a dry, silent chuckle.
"Heh, don't misunderstand. I'm not your enemy. On the contrary, I'm here to help you. I'm your ally!"
The shadow spread his arms as if embracing him affectionately.
"After all, no matter how you look at it, we've spent three whole years together. I'm the one who knows you best!"
These words were not a lie.
His tone was utterly sincere.
In fact, he truly believed what he was saying.
But Roy curled his lips into a sneer, his expression oozing contempt.
This smile was the polar opposite of his usual warm, infectious grin—it was as if they belonged to two entirely different people.
"So, the 'bond' and 'friendship' you're talking about is you tormenting me every other day, Angra Mainyu?"
"Ah, well, what can I say? That was unavoidable!"
The shadow shrugged, his tone dripping with faux helplessness.
"If I didn't fight back and just let you manipulate me with those Mystic Eyes, wouldn't you have just taken the Greater Grail for yourself? I'm a pure love warrior—no NTR allowed!"
He didn't deny the identity Roy had revealed.
The pitch-black figure was like the deepest evil in the world.
His name—Angra Mainyu.
The one lurking within the Greater Grail, the one who had spent three years pouring curses into Roy, was none other than him.
"Ahem, let's not dwell on that."
Angra Mainyu cleared his throat, clumsily changing the subject in a way so transparent it was almost pitiful.
"So, Roy, how about teaming up with me? Become my Master!"
"I refuse."
Roy's face twisted with undisguised disgust.
"You didn't even think about it?!"
Angra Mainyu gasped, visibly wounded.
"Come on, don't be like that! At least hear me out first. Uh, where was I… Oh, right! I'm your ally, the one who understands you best. Yeah, that's it."
"I understand you. Being forced to bear the so-called 'righteous mission' of saving the world, being bullied and trampled under the guise of 'good intentions' by those villains—your heart must be overflowing with hatred for humanity, right?"
"I'm the same. Branded with the false title of 'All the World's Evil,' tortured and killed by those self-righteous bastards who claim to act 'for the world' and 'for humanity'!"
"The hearts of humans in this world are blacker than a black hole that devours all light. They commit atrocities worse than demons while waving the banner of righteousness. We're both victims of humanity's inherent evil. I'm just like you. I'm the one who understands you best in this world. Our compatibility is perfect!"
"So, make a contract with me!"
Angra Mainyu stretched out his hand, his voice brimming with passion.
Angra Mainyu—the apex of Zoroastrian dualism, the evil god crowned as the King of Demons, the one blamed for all the evil in the world.
But in truth, he was just an ordinary young man born in ancient Persia in the 6th century BCE. The people of his village branded him with the name of the evil god Angra Mainyu, turning him into a sacrificial offering to prove humanity's goodness and vent their evil. He was imprisoned atop a mountain without reason, his hands and feet severed, his eyes gouged out, forced to endure every imaginable suffering before finally dying.
"Lend me your malice. Don't you want to wipe out all of humanity? But there are still about a hundred million humans left in this world. Don't you want to slaughter every last one of them? As revenge against those wicked humans, if you form a contract with me and use your malice to power the Greater Grail, we can exterminate every single human being without exception. No half-measures like last time. Isn't this the ending you desire?"
There was nothing seductive about Angra Mainyu's tone. As far as speeches went, it was undeniably third-rate—he had no talent for persuasion.
He was simply using honest, straightforward words to stoke Roy's malice, trying to dredge up the endless negativity buried in the abyss of his heart.
"So, this is why you dragged me here?"
Roy's expression was cold, utterly unreadable.
"That's right."
Angra Mainyu nodded bluntly.
"Zouken Matou was somewhat useful. Too bad he died before he could fully dismantle the Spirit Barrier. What a joke—coming back just to die immediately!"
So, this guy had ties to Zouken Matou as well?
But that had nothing to do with the matter at hand.
"Angra Mainyu, you said you're the one who understands me best, didn't you?"
Roy's face twisted into a look of utter disdain.
"If you really understood me, you wouldn't be saying any of this."
"It's true—I want to wipe out every last human in the world. Even now, that malice lurks in my heart. One day, if I slip up, it might erupt again and cause a catastrophe."
"But unfortunately, destroying humanity was never my wish… No, my wish was never just about destroying humanity."
"Don't flatter yourself. You don't understand me at all!"
***
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