"Shadow Servant? What's that supposed to be?"
"Shadow Servant," Shirou explained quickly, his tone calm and clear. "Unlike the real Servants of the Holy Grail War, they're pseudo-beings created using the Saint Graph of a Heroic Spirit as a template — shadows of the original, like a reflection left on a mirror."
Because their Saint Graphs are incomplete, these Shadow Servants are far weaker than the genuine article, and as fakes, they can't use any real Servant skills or Noble Phantasms.
As he spoke, Shirou kept a wary eye on their surroundings. The source of the Shadow Servants didn't matter for the moment — what puzzled him was why they had targeted the three of them.
Who was their real target?
If it was him, then it meant they were followers of Odin. If it was Eriyi, then it meant they coveted her value as a vessel for a god.
If it was Charlotte… then the enemy could be from any faction involved in the Holy Grail War.
"Careful, they're coming!"
The Shadow Servants surged forward like a pack of wolves, or hunters on the plains, their bodies wrapped in black miasma that almost blended completely with the night. The darkness they came from felt like the underworld itself, or the hell of legend.
Their terrifying howls fell abruptly silent the instant they attacked; only the sound of leaves brushing the ground remained.
But none of this could hide from Shirou's Mind's Eye. The rhythm of their breathing charged with magical energy, the keen aura of drawn blades — all entered his dense sensory world through the air. In the next moment, he locked onto the leading swordsman among them.
"An ancient nodachi… a completely new weapon design I've never seen before…"
These days, Shirou only needed a glance to record every detail about a weapon. The Shadow Servants had no idea they were "arming the enemy" just by attacking him.
"Noble Phantasm Release—"
Blinding light split the night sky, and the sword roared like a dragon!
Shirou raised the Tai'a Sword high, his eyes blazing as he swept over the blades in the Shadow Servants' hands, absorbing every ounce of data from these designs before finally calling out its true name—
"With the mountains and rivers of Chu as the blade, with the blood and tears of the lords as the edge — Qi Guan Shan He, Wang Dao Wu Jiu!" (Dominating the Mountains and Rivers, the King's Path Without Blame)
Once wielded by a king of Chu to tear through entire armies, this anti-army Noble Phantasm ripped the air apart in an instant, unleashing an overwhelming wave of sword energy like roaring forests and raging rivers, its force unstoppable as it crashed toward the enemy ranks.
Boom—!
The earth trembled, the sword energy tearing up the ground in deep, jagged scars like a battlefield storm whipped up by ten thousand blades.
The foremost Shadow Servant was the first to fall, his miasma-wrapped body shredded into fragments, sword splintering, armor shattering, and within moments reduced to dust. The next, unable to dodge in time, met the same fate…
From the instant Shirou's sword shone and he spoke the release chant, Charlotte's eyes had gone wide, her mouth falling open in disbelief.
Not long ago, she had been thrilled to gain the power of Sima Yi, eager to test a Servant's trump card — a Noble Phantasm. That power had filled her with confidence, making her feel like she stood atop the world.
And now? She turned and saw her teammate, Shirou — without any outside aid — simply conjuring a Noble Phantasm on the spot… and releasing it outright!
She was almost at a loss for words. Damn it, are you the Servant or am I?
She'd always thought of Shirou as a genius in alchemy, a man born to unravel the world's mysteries. Learning of his god-slaying feat had made her realize he was also a master fighter.
She'd never understood how such completely different abilities could exist in one person.
Alchemy experts weren't usually elite combatants — most were recluses, like her grandfather in his lab, or Master Flamel in his attic… few ever stepped onto a battlefield.
Now she understood — your alchemy is so absurd you can just "print" a Noble Phantasm whenever you feel like it, huh?
She glanced at Eriyi, still a mystery to her, whose eyes now sparkled as she watched Shirou wield his gleaming blade, notebook in hand, scribbling furiously as if recording the real face of the world itself.
As for the danger surrounding them, Eriyi seemed oblivious, lost in her own world.
Enough with this airheadedness—
"Don't just stand there daydreaming, watch your back!"
Shirou's warning snapped Charlotte back to reality. She spun around, snapping open her suitcase as liquid mercury poured out like a living thing.
"Let's try this!"
With her Servant powers, the alchemical construct performed far beyond normal limits. Under her magical control, the mercury's strength and agility soared to impossible heights, moving with a lifelike will.
Shnk!
Like a venomous assassin, the mercury slithered along the ground before lashing upward into sharp spikes that skewered an incoming Shadow Servant, the sound of metal piercing flesh echoing in the dark.
That's more like it! Charlotte's lips curled slightly in satisfaction.
If she'd fought so hard to earn a Master's spot and Servant powers only to stand by helplessly, she might as well bury herself alive.
"How many enemies left? Can you count them?" Shirou asked suddenly.
"What?" She blinked, caught off guard.
"I mean your mercury's AI — it should have data-gathering functions like a computer!" His tone was urgent, eyes still scanning the darkness through his Mind's Eye for the next wave.
Understanding, she crouched and touched the shifting mercury, speaking a soft command. "—Adjust!"
The mercury instantly abandoned its spike form, spreading out into a thin, shimmering layer that flowed outward like moonlit water, creeping to engulf the surrounding space.
Seconds later, Charlotte spoke, disbelief in her voice. "…Just now, we destroyed 32. Still active and approaching: 87… Watching from a distance: 143, 297, 489… How can there be so many!?"
Her voice rose, turning into a murmur. The numbers seemed endless. Were Shadow Servants infinite? With such numbers, they should've been exposed to the surface world long ago — unless they were trapped inside the Nibelungen. But why did this place look exactly like reality?
"We can't just play into their rhythm."
Shirou's voice was decisive. "We have to find and eliminate the distortion's source — only then can we escape!"
He had a guess about this space — something like the "Mirror World" from Magical Girl Illya, a reality copy formed by twisted ley lines. But in Illya, the distortion was caused by Class Cards and held berserk blackened Servants. Here, it was just a horde of skill-less, Noble-Phantasm-less shadows.
So what exactly was twisting the ley lines here?
"What do we do?" Charlotte asked, tense now. The so-called Holy Grail War was far more dangerous than she'd thought — and this was a hell of a welcome.
Her original plan had been to meet Shirou in person, summon a Servant, and challenge him for fun. Now she was dragged into something bizarre — and worst of all, it was Shirou protecting her along the way.
"Mobile battle!" Shirou ordered. "I'll guard us while we move. You use your mercury to scout the enemy and find the true distortion hidden among the shadows!"
"Got it!" Charlotte nodded quickly, scanning around as her mercury relayed constant updates. "North — that's where they're coming from. Could be the nest!"
They moved at once, fighting as they went. Eriyi stayed safe in the middle, blissfully cheerful, as if on a fantasy adventure.
Charlotte glanced at her, unable to help thinking — is she fearless, or just clueless?
In her eyes, Eriyi — "Shirou's little sister" — was older than her, yet still had this childlike innocence.
Thinking about it, the fact that this "little sister" had survived peacefully to this age was probably thanks to Shirou's care. And that… was a debt she could never repay.
(End of Chapter)
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