Umbrella Corporation.
Inside a secret room underground.
In the hot environment, the lights were blazing, and an iron chain hung from the ceiling, suspending a woman in mid-air. Blood stained her clothes red, gathering at her tiptoes before dripping down.
"...Who sent you?"
Across from her, Kiritsugu Emiya sat on a wooden stool, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, asking in a cold tone. He looked at the young woman as if she were dead meat, showing no mercy despite her attractive appearance.
"I don't know...I just took the money to do the job."
The woman weakly raised her head, her voice hoarse as she said, "Kiritsugu Emiya, I know you're a Mages like me, so you should know I took an anonymous mission."
"Not planning to tell the truth?"
Kiritsugu Emiya sighed slightly, then stood up and walked to the woman, pulling aside the fabric over her abdomen. He gently stroked it, wiping away the wet bloodstains.
"What, are you interested in my body?"
The female Mages showed a seductive yet mocking smile: "Sure, whatever position you want, as long as you let me go, I'll cooperate obediently."
"Don't misunderstand, it's just that bloodstains tend to extinguish my cigarette."
Kiritsugu Emiya shook his head, pressed the lit cigarette onto the woman's stomach, slowly grinding it down. The woman's body instantly tensed, suppressing a low moan of pain.
"Now you have two choices. One is for me to torture you to death through various means, and the other is to sign a contract to compensate Boss Touko two hundred million US dollars."
"Are you crazy? If I had two hundred million US dollars, why would I come here to steal data?"
"It's alright, you can slowly pay it back through work."
"I wouldn't be able to pay that back even if I died!"
"It's alright...if you die, then you won't need to pay it back."
"Two hundred million US dollars is really too much. It needs to be reduced to an acceptable level; otherwise, it'll be very demotivating."
"No, if you don't sign, you die!"
"Only a ghost would sign that! Isn't this just a slave contract?!"
The female Mages roared her refusal. She absolutely did not want to become a puppet in someone's hand for life, to be played with until she died.
If that were the case, she would rather bite her tongue and commit suicide than endure such humiliation.
"Are you sure?"
Kiritsugu Emiya shook his head coldly, flicked the cigarette from his hand, then took out a pistol from his waist, aiming it at the female Mages, about to pull the trigger.
"Wait, it's not impossible!!!"
Seeing that the man was truly going to kill her, the female Mages immediately caved: "Isn't it just two hundred million US dollars in compensation? I'll sign it, alright?!"
"Mm~"
Kiritsugu Emiya nodded, then turned to the doorway and said, "Release this woman, then bring the two hundred million dollar contract Lady Aozaki prepared."
As his voice fell, the high-hanging iron chain began to turn and lower, allowing the female Mages, who had been exposed to the fluorescent lights for a day and a night, to return to the ground. Then, the sound of shackles being unlocked followed.
"I won't just obediently submit!"
The moment the shackles were removed, the female Mages's eyes turned fierce, and she lunged at Kiritsugu Emiya, but in the next second, a great force suddenly struck her abdomen.
She was kicked in the abdomen by Kiritsugu Emiya, rolled a few times on the ground, and slammed heavily into the wall.
"You bastard...you're really strong!"
The female Mages curled up in the corner, the intense pain rendering her unable to move. She had originally intended to hijack this man, thereby coercing the Umbrella Corporation to let her leave.
However, it now seemed impossible.
"...Such a cliché. You think this is a movie, where you can casually hijack an enemy executive and then leave coolly like a protagonist."
Kiritsugu Emiya shook his head.
"This is terrible!"
The female Mages cursed bitterly, her expression ferocious. If she hadn't gone through an intense battle and then cruel torture, she would never have been in such a pathetic state.
"Another disobedient one?"
A werewolf walked in, glanced at the woman in pain, and smirked disdainfully: "Honestly, these clueless idiots keep popping up every other day."
There were many people who came to steal data, but not a single one managed to leave successfully. Some, due to their decent strength, signed two hundred million dollar compensation contracts, while others, due to their lack of value, became corpses.
"Who knew there was a pack of werewolves guarding this place?"
Kiritsugu Emiya gave a wry smile, then took the contract from the werewolf's hand, threw it onto the female Mages, and his tone suddenly turned cold again:
"Sign it quickly, then we have a mission."
"..."
The female Mages looked at the contract paper floating towards her and said in a gloomy tone, "Even if I'm signing...at least give me a pen."
"Just use your blood to write."
Kiritsugu Emiya said indifferently.
"..."
The female Mages choked, then, using her own blood, wrote her name on the contract paper.
"Hm...Aoyama Seika, is it?"
Glancing at the written name, Kiritsugu Emiya nodded, then calmly said, "Let's go. Come with me to collect some things. The boss will need them very soon."
"Collect what?"
Aoyama Seika stood up with difficulty, clutching her stomach.
"Hm...it's probably to collect things related to Nordic Runes, preferably things that can effectively aid in Rune research."
Kiritsugu Emiya shrugged and turned to leave the secret room.
"Runes...hasn't that magical foundation already declined?"
Upon hearing this, Aoyama Seika frowned, then clutched her stomach and struggled to follow him.