Chapter 64: Died a Miserable Death
The pedestrian street was packed with people. Su Xiao blended into the crowd. Kirei Kotomine often wore a black priest's outfit. With enough time, finding him among the crowd wasn't impossible.
Five minutes later, Su Xiao's gaze swept across the roadside and quickly withdrew. He raised a hand to stop a passerby beside him. He had already spotted the target.
"Excuse me, could you..."
Su Xiao pretended to ask for directions and started chatting with the passerby. The passerby was very polite, so the inquiry ended quickly. Su Xiao shook his head, as if unsatisfied with the answer.
Kirei Kotomine by the street had already looked toward Su Xiao. He had sensed Su Xiao glancing at him earlier, but when he noticed Su Xiao asking someone for directions, Kotomine withdrew his gaze.
"As expected, tracking a Servant is difficult."
Kirei Kotomine's tone was calm. He had been tracking Su Xiao's trail, and now it was clearly a failed pursuit.
"This... priest?"
Just as he was about to turn and leave, Kirei Kotomine stopped, turning his head to look at the passerby who had addressed him.
"Is there something?"
Kirei Kotomine sized up Su Xiao, but Su Xiao, now disguised and holding a map, showed no flaws.
"Excuse me, how do I get to Yongchuan District?"
Su Xiao didn't look at Kotomine as he spoke; he simply handed over the map and pointed to a spot on it. It was a rather vague map.
"..."
Kirei Kotomine took a small step back before accepting the map. It was that small step back that made Su Xiao retract the short blade that had already slid out of his sleeve.
"Yongchuan District is..."
Kirei Kotomine briefly explained the route to Su Xiao. Although the beast within him had awakened, old habits didn't change immediately. The former Kirei Kotomine was helpful and polite.
"So that's where it is. I think I've been circling around. I heard there's a restaurant over there with good steak, and I wanted to try it, but now I've lost interest."
Su Xiao's expression barely changed. When talking to others, too much expression change was abnormal; a polite smile sufficed.
"A student like you shouldn't go to that restaurant. The food there is expensive."
Kirei Kotomine turned and walked away.
"How did you know I was a student?"
Su Xiao looked at Kotomine's back in surprise. Kotomine didn't reply and gradually walked off.
In Su Xiao's jacket pocket, a corner of a student ID was visible.
"Good vigilance."
Just now, Su Xiao had had a chance to act, but considering Kotomine's physical skills weren't weak, if he couldn't guarantee a one-hit kill, Kotomine would immediately use a Command Spell to forcibly summon the King of Heroes, which would be troublesome.
Su Xiao merged into the crowd. From start to finish, Kirei Kotomine hadn't noticed anything unusual.
...
Kirei Kotomine walked along the street, considering his next move. But the hunger in his stomach reminded him that he needed to eat.
Kotome glanced at a few restaurants on the pedestrian street. Nothing appealed to him, but on the next block, there was a Chinese restaurant. He had seen its promotional poster before.
An image of a dish surfaced in Kotomine's mind. The soft, smooth texture and the fiery, spicy flavor made his stomach acid secrete faster, eroding his stomach lining.
Ten minutes later, Kirei Kotomine entered the Chinese restaurant. A waiter approached.
"Sir, please come in."
After sitting down, Kotomine didn't look at the menu.
"One serving of Mapo Tofu, one serving of rice. Make the Mapo Tofu extra spicy."
"Yes, sir."
The waiter bowed and left. The Chinese restaurant was quite large, and it was noon, so the place was nearly full. This made Kotomine frown. He felt the food would be slow.
Sure enough, after a full thirty minutes, a plate of Mapo Tofu and a bowl of rice were placed on the table in front of Kotomine.
"Sorry for the wait, sir. Please enjoy."
The waiter also placed a glass of iced orange juice on the table.
"I didn't order this."
Kotomine looked puzzled.
"It's like this, sir. You've been waiting..." The waiter checked his watch. "For over 25 minutes. According to our policy, if a guest waits more than 25 minutes, we offer a complimentary drink. If you don't like this flavor, we can exchange it..."
"No need."
Kotomine took off his coat. As a regular eater of Mapo Tofu, he knew he'd be sweating from the spice soon.
"Call me if you need anything, sir."
After receiving Kotomine's nod, the waiter bowed and left.
Kotomine took out a handful of fine needles covered in runes. He inserted the needles into the tofu and rice separately. After confirming both were non-toxic, he looked at the iced orange juice. After a moment's hesitation, he inserted a needle into the juice.
In Kotomine's view, if someone were to poison him, they would definitely choose the Mapo Tofu and rice, because he might not drink the orange juice.
Clink~ The ice cubes in the orange juice shifted, and droplets slid down the glass.
Though the delicious food tempted him, Kotomine was cautious enough. Only after confirming all the food was non-toxic did he pick up his chopsticks.
A few minutes later, Kotomine finished a large plate of fiery Mapo Tofu and a bowl of rice. Sweat beaded on his forehead. It was thoroughly satisfying.
After eating a bowl of rice and a large plate of super-spicy Mapo Tofu, even Kotomine, a magus, began to feel his throat dry.
He picked up the orange juice on the table and took a few big gulps.
"Ah~"
Kotomine exhaled a breath of cool air. Nothing was more satisfying than drinking iced orange juice after eating spicy food.
"Check, please."
Kotomine tugged at the collar of his clothes.
"Cough~"
Kotomine coughed lightly. Perhaps because of the spice, his throat was very dry. This made him instinctively reach for the orange juice again, wanting another sip.
"Sir... your... total... is..."
The voice beside Kotomine began to sound distant. He immediately realized he had been poisoned, and with a potent toxin. But the food was fine, and the juice should have been non-toxic. Where was the problem?
That was indeed the case. The food and drink were all non-toxic. The poison was hidden inside the ice cubes of the iced orange juice. When the ice melted to a certain point, the poison inside would leak out.
"I command by the Command Spell—"
Pfft!
A short blade stabbed into Kirei Kotomine's throat. The blade was exceptionally sharp, piercing from his throat straight into his brainstem.
"Huff~"
Kotomine's mouth gaped open, letting out a breath. His body uncontrollably leaned back.
"Sir, your total is one life."
Su Xiao, disguised as a waiter, pulled the short blade from Kotomine's throat and grabbed his hair.
Shrrrk.
The short blade slashed across Kotomine's throat. The Slaughter Short Blade's three effects—Throat Slit (Passive), Blood Weep (Passive), and Moonlight Radiance (Passive)—were triggered simultaneously.
Equipment Effect 1: Throat Slit (Passive) — When slitting any creature's throat, deals additional damage.
Note: Additional damage is 50% to 60% of base damage. Additional damage ignores physical defense and resistance.
Equipment Effect 2: Blood Weep (Passive) — If Throat Slit is successfully triggered, performs a Stamina attribute check on the enemy. If the enemy fails the check, Blood Weep is triggered, causing massive blood loss. Bleeding damage is 4% of the enemy's maximum health per second, lasting 10 seconds. This damage has priority.
Note: If the enemy's health is below 30%, bleeding duration is reduced by 50% (5 seconds), and bleeding effect is doubled (8% of maximum health per second).
Equipment Effect 3: Moonlight Radiance (Passive) — Sharpness +14, Armor Penetration +10, Penetration +9.
...
Sizzle~
Blood sprayed from Kirei Kotomine's throat. His body stiffened. Under the terrifying additional damage plus bleeding damage, he died without even using a Command Spell. He died extremely cleanly. As for whether it was peaceful, judging by his still-kicking legs, it probably wasn't very peaceful.
To be precise, he died a miserable death, twitching and convulsing.