MM Racing Chapter 91 Kirei Kotomine
Chapter 91 Kirei Kotomine
The night rain fell silently.
In a state between sleep and wakefulness, Arthur felt a familiar pull, accompanied by a strange floral fragrance.
That was a gentle ripple coming from deep within the Dragon Power River.
A warm, almost melting sensation invaded his dream without hesitation, gently stirring the riverbed of his consciousness like a prank.
Arthur opened his eyes and found himself in another place.
All around was a soft interplay of light and shadow, hazy and indistinct, with countless seemingly intangible petals drifting down from the void.
Arthur sat in some indistinct place, still wearing the thin white pajamas he had worn to sleep.
Then, she appeared.
Without any warning, as always, Meryl did things in a way that was both illogical and perfectly logical.
"Oh dear, who is it that is spreading such heavy and tedious thoughts from the depths of this dream?"
Accompanied by a light and slightly teasing voice, the sheer fabric of her dress, as if woven from a dream, drew a graceful arc in the air.
The next second, like a cat that had finally found a comfortable pillow, Mary unceremoniously crossed all safe distances and pressed herself against it.
She wrapped her arms around Arthur's shoulders and rested her chin comfortably on his collarbone.
The cloyingly sweet scent, the kind that even numbs reason, that belongs to a nightmare instantly filled Arthur's breath.
Arthur's body tensed instinctively for a moment, but after sensing that familiar magical fluctuation, he helplessly relaxed.
Arthur simply tilted his head back slightly, letting her hang on him like a vine, and then let out a very soft sigh.
"...Merry."
Arthur's voice carried the languor of someone just waking up, "You've been sneaking into someone else's dream again."
"This is my privilege, Arthur," Mary chuckled in his ear, her voice carrying her signature, all-knowing pleasure.
"There's a hidden anxiety in your Dragon Power River. I thought our invincible king had encountered some trouble that even the Holy Sword couldn't cleave..."
Following the internet connection, it turned out he was frowning over the little girls in another world again?
Her tone was somewhat casual and teasing, but there was no real blame.
Arthur remained silent for a moment.
He lowered his gaze, looking at the flower magician in his arms who seemed to never change, her emerald eyes reflecting the light that permeated his dreams.
"...I'm sorry, Meryl, this time, I may have to stay in this world for quite a while."
He thought of the upcoming Holy Grail War, of Sakura and Rin's smiling faces in the courtyard, and of the land of Britain that he had protected.
That heavy sense of responsibility prevented him from giving a definite return date.
Mary tilted her head slightly to look at him. A hint of tenderness, almost imperceptible to herself, flickered in her all-seeing eyes, but her tone remained light:
"Wang really likes to shoulder burdens that don't belong to him."
She stretched out her finger and idly circled it around Arthur's golden hair.
"Don't worry about Britain, Arthur. Although I don't know how long you've been in this world, time doesn't matter in different universes."
Since you left, the sun in Camelot has only set once.
Arthur was slightly taken aback.
"……one day?"
"That's right, the distance between yesterday and today is just that."
Mary yawned, as if stating some boring truth.
"So put away your unnecessary worries. Apart from those few women, your knights haven't even had time to miss you yet."
A fleeting moment.
Arthur felt something loosening in his chest.
It was a string that he himself didn't realize had already taut, about Camelot, about Morgan and the others...
Under the seemingly light but actually incredibly precise comfort of Mary, the tension quietly eased.
He closed his eyes.
"……Understood."
When she opened her eyes again, those emerald green eyes had become clear and resolute once more, and the long-lurking gloom had completely dissipated.
"Thank you, Mary."
"If you really want to thank me..."
Mary nestled deeper into his embrace, her voice laced with the cunning of a nightmare.
"I'd rather hear what you find interesting than just a verbal thank you. I get really bored without you around."
"..."
Arthur shook his head helplessly, but ultimately followed her wishes and tightened his arm around her shoulder a little.
Using a more casual tone than usual, I told her about everything I had seen and heard during this period, as if I were telling her a bedtime story.
Mary listened quietly, occasionally letting out a few ambiguous chuckles, and sometimes drawing meaningless magic circles on Arthur's chest with her fingertips.
She could see everything through her clairvoyance, yet she remained like a greedy listener, enjoying the process of him telling her the story.
Night gradually faded away on the edge of dreams.
Until a certain moment, the edge of the dream's barrier began to glow with the faint light of dawn.
Mary stopped playing with Arthur's hair and straightened up from his embrace.
"The morning light is coming in, I should go," she said.
"Um."
"Arthur." The petals falling around Meryl seemed to freeze at that moment, and her frivolous tone finally settled, revealing a certainty that reached the very soul.
"Here, just wield your sword according to the path you believe in. As for your return journey... I will always be watching over you."
Arthur looked at her. "I understand."
Meili's figure transformed into countless glowing petals in the flowing light, gradually dissolving in the morning light.
Arthur sat in the crumbling dream, watching the last phantom petal slowly disappear from his palm, and clenched his fist.
……
The air was thick with moisture.
The crisp sound of a wooden sword rang out in the spacious dojo of the Tohsaka residence, breaking the afternoon's dullness.
"Press your center of gravity down further, Qili. Your Bajiquan is too focused on the moment of defeating the enemy, but you have neglected the flow of power between the bones."
Arthur, dressed in a gray tracksuit, stood calmly in the center of the field, holding a wooden sword in his hand.
Opposite him, Kirei Kotomine was maintaining a standard, almost bizarre, starting stance.
This representative of the Holy Church had a face as resolute as steel, and a pair of unfathomable, unwavering eyes.
"Yes, Mr. Arthur."
Kirei responded softly, then suddenly tapped his toes on the ground.
In an instant, his figure transformed into a dark shadow, and his heavy iron-clad body slammed into Arthur with a tearing sound.
This is a deadly move powerful enough to shatter the internal organs of an ordinary person.
However, Arthur merely shifted his body slightly, and the wooden sword in his hand, as if it had been waiting there all along, deftly blocked Kirei's elbow joint.
"Bang!"
A gentle yet unshakeable force emanated from the wooden sword, instantly dispelling Kirei's power, which was capable of shattering metal and splitting rocks, as if it had vanished into thin air.
Kirei took three steps back, his breathing still eerily steady. He looked at Arthur, and that deep, scrutinizing look resurfaced once more.
This was his third month training with Arthur, but he still couldn't find any weakness or flaw in Arthur.
This perfection caused Kirei a physiological and extremely secretive anxiety.
After the sparring session, the two sat under the veranda, looking at the courtyard in the distance.
Rin and Sakura were practicing the perception lesson that Arthur had set out for them, and the two little girls' laughter sounded particularly clear in the drizzle.
Aoi Tohsaka sat to one side, knitting a seasonal sweater in her hands; the scene was as serene as a classical painting.
"Mr. Arthur," Kirei broke the silence, his voice low and cold.
"I do not understand."
"Don't understand what?" Arthur took the towel Kirei handed him, his emerald green eyes looking at her.
"You are not a Heroic Spirit, but a king with flesh and blood. If that's the case, why do you remain in this mundane daily life?"
Kirei turned his head, his gaze falling on Rin, who was wiping her younger sister's sweat. "Is it for Tohsaka-sensei's long-cherished wish? Or for these two children?"
"Kiri, what does this home look like in your eyes?" Arthur didn't answer directly, but instead posed a question.
Kirei was silent for a moment, then spoke in an extremely rational tone:
"A highly efficient magician incubator, with the teacher's wife providing stable logistics, the teacher controlling the resources, and you providing top-notch instruction."
This place is filled with order, warmth, and hope; under any moral standard, it is a model of happiness.
"But in your eyes, none of this matters, right?"
Arthur put down the towel. "I see no resonance of this kind of happiness in your soul."
Kirei's fingers tightened slightly. His originally stagnant state of mind was stirred by Arthur's calm words.
"So, Mr. Arthur, what does the Holy Grail mean to you?" Kirei asked the question he had been pondering for a long time.
"If it truly can grant all wishes as rumored, what would you, as king, pray to it for?"
Arthur's gaze did not linger in the courtyard, but rather passed through everything before him, as if landing on some distant and unseen place.
"The Holy Grail I have seen is a defiled thing."
His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority.
"I've seen the black mud flowing out of that thing with my own eyes. It's not a container for wishes, but a curse."
He paused, his emerald eyes appearing exceptionally clear against the backdrop of the drizzle.
"I destroyed it. There were no prayers, no regrets. That kind of thing wasn't even worth a wish for."
Kirei frowned very slightly. He had not heard of this matter before; it must be Arthur's experience in another world.
However, he did not expect Arthur to gloss over it in such an almost indifferent tone.
"Then." Kirei's tone remained unchanged, but a rare stubbornness welled up in his eyes.
"What would you do if, beyond its corrupt nature, there existed a truly pure vessel for desire?"
"Nothing will change."
Arthur did not hesitate for a moment.
"A true king should not entrust his responsibilities to miracles. What I protect and what I bear must be accomplished by my own hands."
If one relies on promises made in a cup of wine, what difference is there between them and those who entrust their dreams to fantasies?
His tone remained unchanged. "Moreover, none of the things I care about can be given by the Holy Grail."
In the courtyard, Rin threw herself into Aoi's arms, with Sakura following behind, giggling, as the rain began to fall softly.
Kirei took in this scene, and the air fell silent for a moment.
"..."
"Kirei, what you really want to ask about has never been the Holy Grail, nor is it me."
Arthur stood up, walked up to Kirley, and looked down at the agent tormented by abstinence and emptiness.
His eyes sparkled like stars, piercing through the very essence of the person before him.
"You are seeking your own pleasure."
You find yourself feeling nothing when you see cherry blossoms in full bloom or loved ones embracing, but you feel a certain tremor deep inside when you see chaos, destruction, and despair.
You feel both fear and excitement about it.
Kirei's breath stopped for a moment, didn't it? Was that what he truly felt?
He never imagined that the image of himself that Arthur held was so twisted, hidden beneath the cross.
"Mr. Arthur...do you consider this evil?"
"No, Kirei, it's just emptiness." Arthur's tone was not judgmental, but it was more unbearable than any judgment.
"You are a traveler who has lost the anchor of your soul."
If you can't find a legitimate reason to justify your existence, you'll ignite the despair of others to light your own way.
This isn't malicious; it's just your way of responding.
Arthur reached out and placed his hand on Kirei's shoulder. The scorching heat of the Red Dragon Furnace penetrated Kirei's skin, giving him the illusion that he was about to melt.
"I'll be watching you from here."
As long as I remain in this city, you can only find your answers within the order, if you try to step into that forbidden shadow…
Arthur's eyes suddenly sharpened. "My sword will descend faster than your darkness."
After Arthur left, Kirei Kotomine remained seated in the corridor, motionless for a long time.
He looked at his trembling hands, not from fear, but from some indescribable, unprecedented thrill.
"Arthur Pendragon..."
He murmured the name to himself.
If Tokiomi gave him the feeling of a towering but somewhat rigid monument.
So, Arthur gave him the feeling of a sun walking in the world, radiating divine light.
Ultimate justice, ultimate protection, ultimate perfection.
That sun didn't even need the Holy Grail; it had extinguished it itself, as if casually flicking out an insignificant match.
So...
Kirei slowly lowered his head, his gaze falling on the ripples of rain spreading across the ground. A thought, never before named, silently took shape in his mind:
If such an existence eventually collapses in despair.
If one day those emerald eyes become tainted with filth and confusion, and sink into an inescapable abyss...
Kirei's lips curled up in a rare, subtle, and extremely dangerous arc.
"That kind of scene..."