Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 955 - : The Reason for Survival

Shirley and Natalia found themselves in a deadly predicament.

The island where Shirley was located had been besieged by both Executors and Enforcers. The Enforcers were not much of a threat since their target was Emiya Norikita, and they weren't specifically hunting Dead Apostles. However, the Executors were a different story. These specialists from the Church were trained to combat heretics, and vampires were their prime targets for elimination.

Each Executor could sense and track vampires through their auras, and given Shirley's weakened condition, there was no way she could escape them.

Natalia, too, was trapped. The sealed nature of the airplane cockpit and the altitude at which it was flying made it impossible for her to escape. Even if the missile hadn't hit the cockpit, the force from the altitude alone would have killed her. No amount of magical reinforcement, or even transforming into a ghoul after being stung by a Dead Apostle Bee, could have saved her.

So, when the two appeared before Kiritsugu, he thought he was either dreaming or seeing an illusion.

Both Shirley and Natalia had their explanations for their survival.

Shirley, still possessing self-awareness, asked Kiritsugu to kill her. She knew she was in a terrible state, no longer fully human or vampire, and that living like this was worse than death. Her survival instincts prevented her from taking her own life, but she still took action. After Kiritsugu left, she found a cave far from the village, sealed herself inside and waited to die.

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Meanwhile, the spread of ghouls on the island, caused by Shirley's prior blood-sucking activities, had become a serious problem. The Executors burned the entire island indiscriminately to eliminate the infestation, as the situation was too widespread to handle by conventional means.

After purifying the island with fire, the Executors assumed that all the ghouls had been destroyed. They couldn't have imagined that one ghoul had sealed herself away, trying to suppress her hunger for blood and flesh.

The sealed cave and the raging flames masked Shirley's presence, allowing her to escape detection by sheer luck.

But this didn't guarantee her survival. Ghouls, unlike Dead Apostles, need a constant supply of fresh blood and flesh. Their insatiable hunger reduces them to little more than animals, and without sustenance, their bodies gradually deteriorate and eventually disappear without a trace.

Even if Shirley's instincts had overpowered her reason and she had broken the seal to leave the cave, it wouldn't have mattered. The Executors had incinerated all life on the island. While the ocean was full of flesh and blood, vampires could not cross running water, so she couldn't feed from the sea.

Eventually, Shirley grew weak from a lack of blood and was on the verge of disappearing. At that moment, another vampire—not a human, but a full-fledged Dead Apostle—arrived on the island.

This vampire saved Shirley before she vanished and took her to a special facility that housed half-turned vampires like her.

Just as the Church trains orphans, vampires have their organizations. Some Dead Apostles roam the world in search of stray vampires, offering them proper guidance.

In a certain sense, these Dead Apostles care more about this process than humans. Out of a hundred humans, only one might become a ghoul, and the chance of becoming a true Dead Apostle is less than one in ten thousand. With the low birth rate and constant hunts by the Church and the Mage's Association, some forward-thinking Dead Apostles established these organizations to strengthen their kind.

At the facility, Shirley learned that she was no longer human but a ghoul, a monster. She was also told that this state was temporary. If she could survive this stage and become a true Dead Apostle, she would regain her rationality and control her bloodlust. Aside from changes in lifestyle and diet, she would essentially remain herself.

This gave her, who had once sought death, a spark of hope. She didn't want to die; she wanted to see the boy she considered her little brother again. Before leaving the island, she had visited the house deep in the forest—the only place not burned down. She hadn't found the bodies of the two people she knew, so she believed they were still alive. After all, they were magi with extraordinary powers and must have escaped.

Thus, Shirley settled into the world of vampires, learning to control her new body.

After nearly thirty years, she completed her transformation from ghoul to Dead Apostle. She was finally able to leave the vampire world, with her guide being none other than Natalia.

Compared to Shirley's tumultuous journey, Natalia's experience was much simpler.

On that plane, there wasn't just one Dead Apostle, Borzak, but another, far more important figure. To this individual, Borzak was nothing more than an insignificant ant. He merely observed from the sidelines, even after Borzak's death, allowing the Dead Apostle Bees to wreak havoc, turning the cabin into a living hell.

It wasn't until Kiritsugu, still somewhat naive at the time, fired a missile at the plane that this individual was forced to act to avoid falling into the sea. Although he hadn't intended to save anyone, his actions gave Natalia a slim chance at survival. Her indomitable will and survival instincts kicked in once again, allowing her to pull through.

However, she was barely alive. In a twist of fate, the Dead Apostle Bees she had viewed as her greatest enemies became her salvation. Vampires possess far greater resilience than humans, and to survive, she willingly allowed herself to be stung, extending her life.

This act moved the high-ranking Dead Apostle who had been observing her. He took Natalia away as her body temperature began to drop due to her transformation into a vampire.

From there, Natalia's story mirrored Shirley's. She underwent training, learned about the world of Dead Apostles, and progressed rapidly from ghoul to revenant, eventually becoming a full-fledged Dead Apostle.

Mystery are drawn to other mysteries, and magus has a much higher aptitude for becoming vampires than ordinary people. Moreover, Natalia had the blood of a succubus, a phantasmal species, which gave her an even greater affinity. As a result, despite turning into a vampire later than Shirley, Natalia became a true Dead Apostle much earlier. Her experience as a bounty hunter also made her self-sufficient, unlike Shirley, who had to be taught everything from scratch.

Being a newly turned Dead Apostle made it easier for Natalia to bond with other rookies.

Thus, the two most important women in Emiya Kiritsugu's life before his transformation into a magus killer met each other.