Chapter 60 Timed Explosion, Hotel Collapse

Irisviel had never seen her husband look like this.

That desperate expression was like that of a wounded and terrified child, who seemed about to burst into tears. The man standing there was not a skilled magician killer at all, but a weak and timid man.

"Kiritsugu, you——"

Irisviel could feel his chest trembling, and his husband's strong and reliable arms were now as weak as a child clinging to his mother.

"If I——" Kiritsugu's arms hurt Irisviel, and his hoarse and weak voice asked in her ear: "If I decide to abandon everything and run away now——Aili, are you willing to go with me?"

This was probably the question that Irisviel could imagine that Emiya Kiritsugu would be the least likely to say.

"Illya... What about the child in Winter City?"

"I will go back and bring her out, and kill anyone who gets in the way." The man's answer was urgent and concise, proving his firm will.

"In the days ahead... I will invest everything I have in ourselves. I am willing to use all my life to protect you and Illya..."

"..."

At this moment, Irisviel finally understood how far the man in front of her had been pushed. Before they arrived, it seemed that someone had used a mysterious method to completely destroy the warrior's firm body and mind.

He was not the Kiritsugu nine years ago, not the killing machine who was as sharp as a hound, as ruthless and sharp as a bullet blade, and trained himself to the limit. He has changed too much, becoming fragile and worrying.

Irisviel knew what changed him - that was his wife and daughter, the impurities that would never have been mixed into Kiritsugu Emiya's life.

Before coming to the Winter City, Kiritsugu Emiya had nothing to lose, and even the heart to feel pain no longer existed, so he could be so ruthless and cold, and decisively abandon and sacrifice in pursuit of the unattainable dream of saving the world.

What Kiritsugu needs to do now is to let himself go back to the past. But the reversal of time made his soul wail. The changes in the past ten years were too profound. The existence of Irisviel and Illya made Kiritsugu Emiya find his bond in the world again.

The killer who devoted everything to his ideal was gone. Instead, he had a soft spot and could no longer remain cold.

Kiritsugu Emiya's resistance to Saber revealed his weakness. Now he was doing his best just to maintain himself. He had no spare energy to accept Saber, and he had no intention of thinking about how to coordinate his relationship with the Knight King.

Irisviel felt stuffy in her chest. Her beloved man suffered such pain, but she could not save him. Because it was not others who tortured Kiritsugu, but himself.

If he agreed to Kiritsugu's words, then their future would definitely develop in a different direction, whether it was good or bad.

However, Irisviel just smiled gently and spoke as if she had penetrated her husband's soul:

"Can we escape?"

"We can escape. It's still not too late to leave now." Kiritsugu answered immediately. But this sentence was not from the existing conviction, but was only said in words to force himself to believe in an extremely slim hope.

"——You are lying." So Irisviel refuted him, gently but cruelly denying him.

"This sentence is a lie. Emiya Kiritsugu, you will never escape. You will not forgive yourself for abandoning the Holy Grail and being unable to save the world. You will definitely become the first and last punisher and strangle the existence of 'Emiya Kiritsugu'."

The man in the embrace was silent.

Was he crying? Or did he whimper silently?

Because he knew very well that he had no other choice.

The iron curtain had fallen, and the moment they stepped into Fuyuki City, there was no place to escape.

After realizing this, it seemed as if something was broken.

And instead, a new belief condensed in Emiya Kiritsugu's heart.

"Ah, yes, we can't escape anymore."

Gently and irresistibly pushed away the embrace, and what appeared in front of Irisviel was the cold and careful "magician killer" again.

"At least before fate comes, please allow me to struggle a little more."

Speaking in an extremely sarcastic tone, Emiya Kiritsugu asked Saber to take Irisviel away, and then took out a pager, but this old-fashioned machine neither vibrated nor made a ringing sound. The receiving signal was sent to the detonator connected to the C4 bomb through a modified line.

He pressed the last button without hesitation.

Accompanied by a low rumble like thunder, a dazzling cloud of fire suddenly enveloped the hotel.

Although the explosion was not large, the explosion did not even reach outside the unmanned hotel.

But what replaced the explosion in the night sky was the strange wail of steel and concrete crushing each other.

The hotel collapsed!

The high-rise hotel, which is more than 150 meters high, remained upright and collapsed as if it was sucked into the ground. Because all the outer walls collapsed inward, no debris burst out, and only the dust generated by the collapse buried the surrounding streets.

With Kiritsugu Emiya's superb blasting skills, by destroying the load-bearing walls and key pillars, the Hyatt Hotel was pressed inward due to its own weight, achieving the goal of complete destruction.

Without any extra arrangements, the impact on the surroundings was minimized, and even the sound was almost non-existent. Only the collapse of a 150-meter-high building could prove how skilled and terrifying Emiya Kiritsugu's blasting skills were.

However, the man who caused all this did not even look at the explosion. His coat was blown up by the strong wind caused by the collapse of the building. He strolled among the crowd, with the sobbing of frightened children around him, and a mother beside him hurriedly comforted her child.

But such a scene could no longer shake Emiya Kiritsugu's steps.

He walked forward indifferently, watching the crowd running back and forth. When the wind pressure finally stopped, he lit the cigarette in his mouth and made a phone call.

"Maiya, how is the situation on your side?"

"There was no movement on the 32nd floor until the end, and the target did not escape outside the building."

"Very good."

Emiya Kiritsugu walked to the foot of another building and took out a cello-like case from a hidden corner at the entrance of the corridor.

"Get ready for the sniper, Maiya."

The case was opened, and the well-maintained gun parts lay quietly inside. The magician killer quickly assembled them and turned them into a dangerous weapon.

With a cigarette in his mouth, Emiya Kiritsugu raised the sniper rifle and said coldly:

"Even if Kenneth dies, Caster's master Sakutsuki can't be declared dead so easily."

"When that happens, we will pierce his head ourselves."