Chapter 36: What Did He Treat Human Life As?
Why could Emiya reach this conclusion so quickly?
Because after multiple battles with Cursed Spirits, he found that the existence of those monsters doesn't entirely follow physical laws.
The weight, body structure, and other factors of a real, living creature correspond to reality; their functions are dictated by their construction.
But Cursed Spirits are different.
They are essentially a composite of Cursed Energy and Curses. Even if their bodies are materialized to some extent, their interior is a chaotic collection of flesh and blood. The concept is somewhat similar to Servants who manifest in the real world through Magical Energy and their Spiritual Core, but Cursed Spirits are far cruder than the latter.
Furthermore, when using the Kanshou and Bakuya, which have an exorcism effect, against Cursed Spirits, the restraining effect is always exceptionally obvious.
Yet, in the brief moments of contact with this monster, Emiya found that its existence was remarkably close to reality, and the special effects of Kanshou and Bakuya barely worked.
Another crucial point was... could a creature like a Cursed Spirit really have such a clear heartbeat? Emiya had never noticed any of the Cursed Spirits he exorcised before having an organ like a heart.
It looked like a monster saturated with Cursed Energy, yet it was completely unlike a Cursed Spirit...
Confirming that the monster was temporarily unable to resist, Emiya, realizing something was wrong, slowly crouched down and attempted to check its status.
"Ah—"
"Ahhh—!"
Even now, it continued to emit those unconscious, strange cries.
Emiya looked at its wound; bright red blood was still slowly pouring out, revealing various crowded organs underneath. Although it sounds strange to say, the condition of this body was much more delicate than that of a typical Cursed Spirit.
Just as he was about to do something, a ray of light suddenly cast in from the corner of the building, drawing Emiya's attention to an unusually reflective spot on the monster's body. It was an exquisite wristwatch, its second hand still faithfully ticking. It was perfectly intact and worn on the monster's twisted limb.
"...." Emiya had a theory, but he dared not confirm it just yet.
On the other side, Yotsuya Miko had been extremely worried since Emiya entered the abandoned building, but she didn't dare to follow him in.
She knew she wouldn't be able to help and would only get in the way, so she could only wait outside. However, the sounds of fighting only lasted for a short moment at the beginning, then completely ceased.
Miko waited for a little longer, finally unable to suppress her anxiety, and cautiously peered toward the building. As soon as she turned the corner, she saw the situation unfolding on the first floor. Emiya was half-crouching in front of a monster, seemingly confirming something.
Confirming the fight was over, Yotsuya Miko hurried closer.
"What happened, Emiya-kun?" She noticed Emiya's expression was incredibly serious.
"Miko, this monster... appears to be human."
"Eh??" H-human?
Yotsuya Miko instinctively glanced at the monster nearby. It was still alive, constantly tearing out those meaningless screams.
Its twisted body and blood-soaked wounds made her extremely uncomfortable. She forced herself to observe, but still couldn't see any connection between this monster and a human being.
Indeed, the monster was completely unrecognizable as human, but Emiya clearly discerned its identity.
It was precisely because of this that Emiya felt an unusual surge of anger.
A person could absolutely not transform into this Cursed Spirit-like monster for no reason. Not to mention, he was lured here by the Residual Cursed Energy that was deliberately left behind.
What kind of malicious individual could commit such an act?
Even if it was an aggressive provocation, to drag an ordinary person into it... Emiya was furious, yet he remained rational enough to know that since the culprit had led him here but didn't show up, it was almost impossible for him to track them down now.
He immediately called Ijichi. It was possible that someone at the Jujutsu High could help return the creature to its original state. Emiya knew such hope was slim, but he absolutely couldn't give up.
Several minutes later, Ijichi arrived with a few Assistant Supervisors.
After examining the monster, they decided to take it away and brought Emiya and Miko to a nearby outpost. The suspected human monster was transported to Jujutsu High for
examination. After another few minutes, a communication from the High School reached Emiya.
"It's human." Emiya had just answered the phone, and before he could even ask, he heard a clear female voice on the other end state the answer he was most concerned about. "No, to be more accurate, they were human. Their body was forcibly altered into this state by Cursed Technique."
As expected... Even though he had mentally prepared for it, Emiya subconsciously clenched his fist after truly receiving this answer. But just being angry was useless.
"If he was originally human, why is his body saturated with Cursed Energy like a Cursed Spirit?" If that weren't the case, Emiya would have noticed something was wrong the moment he made contact with the person.
"For that, we'll have to find the culprit and ask what this technique is all about. However, there are signs of manipulation near the brainstem, likely to cause consciousness impairment and induce a state of confusion.
If they can modify the brain, they might also be able to modify ordinary people to use Cursed Energy, given that the relationship between the brain and Cursed Energy is still largely a mystery."
The voice on the other end had answered quite accurately. Cursed Energy is not a product entirely detached from the body; even Cursed Techniques are tied to bloodline and inheritance, but humanity has simply not yet researched that level of brain connection.
"Modified brain, does that mean he is already dead? Is there no way to save him?" More than anything else, this was what Emiya wished to know.
"I regret to inform you, we currently possess no Cursed Technique that can delve this deeply into the human body. Furthermore, he was already dead before he reached the High School... It had nothing to do with the injuries you inflicted, but rather a shock death triggered by the transformation.
The body was brutally transformed by the Cursed Technique. Even with a deliberate influence on the brainstem, the human body cannot withstand such violent alteration... It's like when an ecosystem is broken, most of the life within it dies. Humans are the same."
The human body, whose complex structure took countless years of evolution to approach perfection, is not something that can be casually tampered with for innovation.
"So, the moment he was altered by the Cursed Technique, was he already handed a death sentence?"
"That's about right. Because this body is like a glass object that was smashed and then arbitrarily melted together, making it a hundred times harder than trying to mend a broken mirror."
"...." Emiya could barely contain his rage.
That person who caused all this, what did he treat human life as?
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