The barrier created by Prince Pax seemed to be a special kind of barrier, designed to imprison from the inside. It stopped normal magic from working, which meant it could control strong people it trapped.
Besides that, the barrier seemed to weaken fighting spirit power. Shirou felt it easily and realized that even Sword Saint level fighting spirit blade energy couldn't break through a barrier like this.
Probably even a normal King-level fighter would have a hard time.
The only ones who could do it were probably top-level King-level fighters like Ghislaine, who could destroy such a highly specialized barrier.
Shirou's obvious strength right now is only Saint-level. Even though he's a Sword Saint with a strong attack, he couldn't break through this King-level barrier.
That's why Pax was acting so arrogant.
"Heh, you're still so confident even now. You really like to surprise me, Shirou Greyrat."
Pax laughed as he looked at Shirou. "Not bad, this feeling is great. It makes me really excited. Remember to keep it up until the end! Yes, I'm really looking forward to it, really looking forward to it! Roxy, hurry up and come..."
Pax laughed loudly, as if he thought Shirou's resistance was pointless.
At the same time, he seemed to be deliberately angering Shirou by having his servants wake up Lilia, who was nearby, and remove the gag from her mouth.
When Lilia woke up and saw Shirou and Aisha's situation, she looked panicked. She quickly begged Pax, "No, don't do this! Please, Prince! I'll do anything, just not to Shirou..."
"Shut up! This Prince doesn't need old women!"
Pax laughed and clapped his hands arrogantly.
Hearing this, the female knight Ginger couldn't help but say, "Prince, this has nothing to do with Aisha. How about letting Aisha go?"
"Are you kidding? If I let her go, what if she runs off and writes letters again?"
Pax seemed worried about Aisha's letters and said coldly, "I've heard that the Greyrat family are nobles in the Asura Kingdom, and even have higher nobles called Boreas behind them. If I make enemies of people like that, even this Prince's life would be in danger."
"But the letters Aisha wrote have already been torn up."
"You can write letters as many times as you want!"
"The higher nobles won't act based on letters written by a child, right? What if you just ignore it?"
"No, I absolutely can't do that!"
Pax seemed angered by Ginger's question and said angrily, "Are you trying to defy me? Have you forgotten about your family members who are being held?"
"...Ugh!"
Ginger's face showed pain.
From the conversation, it seemed that her family members were being held hostage by Pax, which was why she obeyed him so much.
Shirou watched everything happening, and his projection preparations were almost complete.
Because of the barrier's limitations, Shirou's projection magic was also slightly affected, making him realize that magic and spells might not be completely unrelated.
But no matter what, he had finally made all the preparations.
"Bro, brother..."
Aisha grabbed Shirou's sleeve in fear, her face full of anxiety and despair.
"It's okay."
Shirou comforted her and patted Aisha's head. "I'll always protect you, both Aisha and Lilia. I'll protect you both!"
"Really?"
"Of course. As your brother, I never tell lies."
As Shirou spoke, his right hand picked up the Emerald Bow from his bag. Because of the special situation, Shirou usually carried a bow and arrows with him.
Now it was finally coming in handy.
Then, Shirou raised the Emerald Bow, and with the other hand, he slowly placed the projection of almost fully formed magic power onto the bowstring.
"I Am The Bone Of My Sword!"
A faint blue light slowly appeared in Shirou's hand.
A short sword with a unique structure and spiral patterns gradually appeared.
This was undoubtedly one of the projection Noble Phantasms held by Servant Emiya—the Fake Spiral Sword!
Shirou had projected the Fake Spiral Sword once before.
That was a long, long time ago, during his battle with Ghislaine. Back then, the arrow he fired had even surprised Ghislaine, shaking her with his power.
Later, Shirou realized that projection magic wasn't something he could show off casually. Every time he used his magic circuits, he could clearly feel Servant Emiya's soul invading him.
As a result, he gradually stopped using projection techniques.
Until now, when he was trapped in a completely desperate situation, and unable to break the situation without using projection techniques, he had to use Servant Emiya's techniques again.
"Projection, complete!"
"Fake Spiral Sword (Caladbolg)!"
The moment he spoke, all twenty-seven of Shirou's magic circuits on his right hand suddenly lit up, meaning he poured all his magic power into this one attack.
After all, he was facing a King-level barrier, and he had to fight it with all his might!
"Boom!"
Even through the barrier, the massive magic power could be clearly felt.
Prince Pax, who had been full of confidence and even wanted to tease Lilia and Shirou again, suddenly looked confused.
His face was full of horror, and he said anxiously, "What's happening? Someone tell this Prince, what's going on?!"
The soldiers around him were also confused, unable to understand what Shirou was doing.
After all, projection magic was completely different from any other technique in the world, a technique that shouldn't exist in this world.
Normal people couldn't understand what was happening.
But one thing was clear: from the completed bow and arrow that Shirou was holding, everyone could feel an unprecedented destructive power building up.
"Hmph, don't struggle! Shirou Greyrat, that's a King-level barrier. It's not something a Sword Saint like you can break!"
Pax said, as if trying to boost his confidence, trying to accept reality.
Shirou saw his expression and didn't care at all.
He just silently fired the fully constructed arrow—
"Snap!"
A crisp sound, like a thunderclap on flat ground, burst out.
"Boom!"
The Fake Spiral Sword collided with the King-level barrier.
The two sides reached a brief standoff.
Then, Pax's face showed a confused expression.
Because he saw with his own eyes that in the next few seconds, the carefully prepared King-level barrier developed web-like patterns, and these patterns continued to spread.
Until the very end—
"Crack!"
A crisp sound burst out.
Pax watched as a ray of light passed before his eyes, and in the next second, it pierced through the air and stuck into his shoulder. This was because Pax had instinctively dodged to the side after seeing the barrier destroyed; otherwise, that arrow would have pierced straight through his heart.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
The Prince's scream echoed through the palace.
Pax was horrified to find a clearly visible hole in his right shoulder, devouring all the flesh and exposing bare bones.
Because everything happened so suddenly, even the blood hadn't had time to flow out yet.
Or rather, the blood was evaporated by the power of the arrow as soon as it flowed out!
"P, Prince!"
The soldiers nearby panicked completely. A group of them frantically stood in front of Pax, while also trying to use healing magic to keep Pax alive.
At the same time, most of them couldn't understand what had just happened.
Because behind Pax, the entire palace was blasted with a huge hole by Shirou's arrow. The Fake Spiral Sword that had been fired still didn't stop, as if it wanted to pierce through the sky.
"..."
In an instant, only the faint light from the healing magic and a silence remained on the scene.
Everyone in the Shirone Kingdom was plunged into extreme confusion and anxiety because of this arrow, which was like a shooting star flying in reverse.
"Huff..."
Shirou put away the Emerald Bow.
Each time he fully released all his magic circuits and projected a Noble Phantasm, he would feel an extremely strong sense of suffocation, as if there was pressure coming from the soul level.
But he couldn't help it, because he was still too far away from Servant Emiya.
Forcing himself to use abilities beyond his limit was the result.
However, as long as he could stay awake and not be influenced by Servant Emiya's consciousness, then it wouldn't be the worst situation.
After breaking the barrier, Shirou looked at the chaotic scene in front of him and felt that the people of the Shirone Kingdom shouldn't dare to cause him any more trouble.
Pax had been hit by that arrow just now. Even if he didn't die, he would become a cripple.
"Lilia, are you okay?"
Shirou quickly went to Lilia's side with Aisha and released her restraints.
Because Lilia had a disability, she couldn't move too much. Shirou could only carry her on his back with one hand, while holding Aisha in front of him with the other.
The Shirou from when he was little definitely couldn't do something like this.
But now he had grown tall enough to hold two people at the same time.
"Young Master Shirou, you've really grown up..."
Lilia said with emotion. It was as if in the blink of an eye, she had found that the once reliable boy had become an even more reliable and mature young man, making her feel complicated.
"Mom, Brother Shirou is just like you said, reliable, handsome, and strong!"
Aisha said excitedly to Lilia, "It's great that Aisha has a brother like this!"
"Hehe..."
Lilia just smiled and nodded at Aisha's words.
Shirou looked at the conversation between the mother and daughter and smiled. He was about to take them away when he found that a large number of soldiers had surrounded the entire palace.
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