Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

"Really?"

Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils constricted, his body trembled with excitement, and his face was filled with unbelievable joy. Even the words he uttered were somewhat off-key.

"Yes, we encountered this child at the cliff and managed to subdue her beforehand."

"So, she's still a Dead Apostle?"

In an instant, the boy keenly perceived the crucial implicit information, and his joy was extinguished like a bucket of ice water.

At this moment, Samael frowned, his eyes narrowed, and his tone was meaningful.

"If she appeared in front of you, what would you do?"

Kiritsugu Emiya's gaze quietly fell on the dagger on the ground, his eyes becoming lifeless and empty, as if they had lost focus, and he murmured a response.

"This time, I won't make the wrong choice..."

That's it...

In the darkness, the serpentine vertical pupils, opening and closing, revealed a sharp glint, and... regret...

written request for leave

Sorry, I need to take the next two days off. I had a nucleic acid test today and was busy for most of the day, so I won't be able to update. I also have an appointment tomorrow during the day.

Okay, to be honest, I've been dragged to the city for a blind date. I need to buy some clothes and get myself ready, which will probably take another day. I'll update again tomorrow night when I get back.

There's nothing I can do about this; my cousin introduced us, so I can't refuse her.

Okay, I'll just send a red envelope in the group to make it up to everyone.

Also, just a heads-up.

Kiritsugu and Father Kotomine can cause trouble.

For example, having "Shirou" adopt "Kiritsugu Papa".

In the future, Alice, Illya, and Black will all appear. Don't worry, it's harmless.

Chapter 47 You've broken the law, you know that? (6k)

Indeed, some things are truly difficult to change.

Samael shook his head, leaned against the stone wall in the cave, turned his gaze to the boy in the moonlight who was about to be trapped in some tragic fate, and asked with a faint smile.

"If I remember correctly, Kiritsugu, your dream is to become a champion of justice, right?"

The secret declaration that he once made to Xia Lei by the lake was revealed by the mysterious man before him. Emiya Kiritsugu was stunned. Looking into those eyes that seemed to see through all the chaos of the world, he paused for a moment, came back to his senses, bit his lip, and subconsciously nodded.

"A very lofty ambition, perhaps I can help you."

Samael beckoned to the somewhat nervous Kiritsugu Emiya to relax and sit down, then, with a faint smile on his face, casually pondered as if having a chat.

"But before that, I have a few questions to test you. I hope you will follow your heart and answer them seriously."

"Um……"

Looking at the man who had saved him from the guilt of patricide, Kiritsugu Emiya's expression shifted, and he nodded emphatically.

"Imagine five people in a hospital awaiting organ transplants: one with atrophied heart, one with necrotic lungs, one with an eye infection, one with liver cancer, and one with kidney failure, all facing life-threatening situations. Meanwhile, in the next ward lies a healthy, vegetative patient with normal organs. All five are elites in their respective fields, while this one person is helpless, likely to never wake up, and useless to the world. Sacrificing him could bring happiness to many. As a champion of justice, what would you do?"

"This is murder..."

The boy paused for a moment, then hesitated.

Samael smiled, his expression unchanged.

“Some evil is necessary, just like your father and the villagers…”

Upon hearing this, Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils contracted, and he immediately gritted his teeth and made a decision.

"Sacrifice one to save five!"

"Very good, five people have been saved because of you! Kiritsugu!"

Samael clapped his hands in admiration, a broad smile spreading across his face, before raising the stakes again.

"If there are 1000 critically ill patients in hospital beds right now, waiting for organ transplants, and it would be possible to save them by sacrificing another 500 homeless people, what would you do?"

"Sacrifice 500 to save...1000?"

The boy opened his mouth, his expression wavering, looking very conflicted.

Samael was very satisfied, a broad smile spreading across his face.

"Congratulations, you saved 1000 people this time!"

"But... 501 people have already died..."

Emiya Kiritsugu pursed his lips and murmured to himself.

"You are a champion of justice; this is a necessary sacrifice!"

Samael was unfazed, his eyes filled with encouragement and admiration, as he continued to weigh the scales on his partner of justice, asking again.

"Now, given your two achievements, another 10,000 people have come to plead for your help. They only need to sacrifice 3,000 to survive. What will you do?"

"..."

Kiritsugu Emiya shook his head, his eyes glazed over, and remained silent for a long time.

"Let me answer that for you: hunt them down, harvest their hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys, and use them to save more people!"

Samael made a difficult choice for the righteous partner before him, and his smile grew even brighter.

"Correct! That's the kind of answer Kiritsugu Emiya should give!"

"No, this...this is different!"

The boy gritted his teeth and shook his head in protest.

"What's the difference? Sacrificing the minority to save the majority—isn't that the philosophy you want to uphold?"

Samael patted the boy on the shoulder, his gaze approving, his eyes brimming with praise, like a demon tempting humanity into the abyss.

"No, no! I only wanted to save the original five!"

Amidst a jumble of conflicting thoughts, Kiritsugu Emiya struggled back to the initial crossroads.

"And then? Is there a difference?"

Samael's smile faded, and he glanced at his righteous companion beside him, his tone carrying a deeper meaning.

"Since you believe that human life can be quantified and that sacrificing a few to save the many is a just act, then from the moment you tore open this rule with your own values, there will be 1000, 5000, or even 50000 people who want to live trying to cross the boundary in exchange for their own lives."

Then, it won't just be this one person who dies; thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people could fall victim to this so-called standard of measurement.

So, this is the justice you're trying to uphold?

As the man described it, Kiritsugu Emiya seemed to see, in those deep, ever-changing vertical pupils, people using the name of justice to hunt down intellectually disabled people who wasted resources, turning people who could have been saved into tools for harvesting organs, and driving homeless people into incinerators... Countless twisted souls cursed that so-called justice.

No, are you kidding me! This is not the result I wanted at all! How could this happen!

Instantly, the boy's eyes widened in fear, his hands buried in his disheveled hair, and his face turned pale.

“Listen, we have no right to arbitrarily take the lives of others. When you think you are above order and rules and decide which side to sacrifice or which side to save, your sense of justice has already become distorted.”

Samael's gaze was deep and his expression solemn.

"Am I not allowed to do anything when I see others suffering?"

Kiritsugu Emiya was bewildered and murmured in anguish.

"of course not!"

Samael shook his head, his voice low.

"In times of crisis, if we want to practice our morality, we can sacrifice ourselves to save others' lives. But remember, this is only a personal moral obligation to you. You cannot turn it into 'I can sacrifice others to save myself or save the lives of others.' That would be wrong, and you don't have that right!"

Immediately, a cold smile appeared on the ancient snake's lips, its tone sarcastic.

"Going back to the original question, since you're so eager to save those five people lying in hospital beds, why don't you just commit suicide and donate your organs?"

Samuel paused, looked intently at the bewildered boy before him, and pondered solemnly.

"Kid, remember this: morality and justice, in most cases, are merely forms of self-discipline, not external regulation!"

The resounding response shook Kiritsugu Emiya to his core, tearing his cherished ideals to shreds. His expression shifted rapidly, and he remained unable to calm down for a long time.

Samael glanced up at the somewhat dazed boy and shook his head inwardly.

Actually, he neither disliked nor liked this little guy named Emiya Kiritsugu.

According to historical events, this "partner of justice" will kill his own father to atone for his sins after the crisis on Eminmego Island, and will be adopted by bounty hunter Natalia.

The two were like master and disciple, and also like mother and son.

When Natalia was on a mission to hunt down the magician Odd Polzak, known as the "Messenger of the Demon Bees," she encountered an unexpected incident.

Although she killed Od Bolzac on the passenger plane, it caused his "Dead Apostle Bees" to go berserk. Natalia failed to eliminate the "Dead Apostle Bees" in time, and they attacked the passengers one after another. In an instant, the passenger seats of the giant passenger plane turned into a living hell infested by the Dead Apostles.

At that time, Natalia did her best to survive, but could only keep the dead out of the cockpit.

Kiritsugu Emiya, who was on the ground to provide support, chose to deceive his adoptive mother into not taking any drastic actions, while tearfully shooting down the plane along with her, thus averting a potential Dead Apostle crisis and saving most people.

Later, in order to seek salvation for all mankind, he participated in the Holy Grail War. However, after realizing the corrupt nature of the Holy Grail, he chose to sacrifice his wife in order to prevent an even greater crisis from breaking out.

This partner of justice, through repeated losses, regarded himself as an ideal balance, human lives as quantifiable numbers, weighing gains and losses time and again, and adhering to the principle of sacrificing the minority to save the majority.

Even if one side of the scale is his father, adoptive mother, wife, or daughter, it will not sway his judgment; he can sacrifice them without hesitation.

This is what Kiritsugu Emiya calls justice...

Admittedly, in a sense, this painful choice is noble, but it goes against the essence of being human, so cold that it chills you to the bone, so sublime that it is twisted and ruthless.

Therefore, his end was one of loneliness and regret, a tragic and sorrowful conclusion.

In contrast, Samael admires another future ally of justice, Shirou Emiya, Kiritsugu Emiya's adopted son.

As fellow idealists, Shirou Emiya does not see himself as a cold scale, but rather as a weight, willing to risk his life at any time to save others.

The same is true.

If the price of saving others is one's own loved ones, Kiritsugu Emiya's choice would be to sacrifice his own family without hesitation, but Shirou Emiya's answer is to make that sacrifice in place of his own family!

As he said, morality and justice, in most cases, are only a form of self-discipline, not external discipline!

Your self-sacrifice for others may seem foolish, but it is worthy of respect.

However, if one is generous at the expense of others, sacrificing others to save the majority in order to practice so-called justice, it seems too distorted and self-indulgent.

This is why Samael wasn't particularly fond of Kiritsugu Emiya, but rather admired Shirou Emiya more.

Furthermore, from a darker perspective, Kiritsugu Emiya's so-called justice may not be entirely pure.

Samael remembered that, following the course of history, after the tragedy on Emmygo Island, Kiritsugu Emiya would naturally assume that it was his inaction that allowed Shaley to infect the entire island, leading to the destruction of everyone in the fire.

Therefore, he chose to "correct" his mistakes by killing his father, Emiya Norikaze, who was about to escape and might continue to cause the same tragedy in the future. For the same reason, he also stabbed his adoptive mother, Natalia, and his wife.

In the name of "justice," loved ones are sacrificed time and time again, and the sunk costs are constantly increasing as the balance is tipped higher and higher.

So, if one easily admits that one's beliefs are wrong, then the sacrifices of one's first love, Xia Lei, one's father, Emiya Norikaze, one's adoptive mother, Natalia... will be worthless.

This kind of subversion is enough to drive a person crazy.

Therefore, he cannot make mistakes, nor can he change; he will only become more and more paranoid and ruthless until he has nothing left.

His future self was already distorted.

However, this righteous ally has not yet embarked on the path of sacrificing his relatives, nor has he been burdened with the guilt of patricide. Perhaps there is still a chance to redeem himself.

Samael's thoughts receded like a tide, his mind returned, and he looked up at the boy beside him, who looked dazed and confused. He shook his head slightly and murmured softly.

"There was a guy named Plato in ancient Greece who said something that you should take note of: justice is having your own things to do, that is, each person keeping to their own place and performing their own duties."

Then, the ancient serpent paused, and sighed slightly.

"Therefore, when it comes to justice, it is best to first uphold the justice of actions and then pursue the justice of results. If you start by trampling on order and achieve seemingly good results, in reality, there will be endless troubles. No matter how bright the fruit grows on a poisonous tree, it is useless."

Upholding...actional justice...pursuing...outcome justice?

The boy buried his head in these profound words, his pale and naive ideals in his mind were strongly impacted, and his brows furrowed in thought.

Samael's gaze fell upon the subtle changes in Kiritsugu Emiya's expression. He clapped his hands, rubbed his chin, and playfully posed a classic philosophical question.