Shirou didn't expect to be suddenly attacked in Rudeus's room, so he was a little unsure. But he was quick enough to get ready to fight right away.
The attacks that just happened didn't have any warning signs.
There's no doubt it was magic cast without chanting.
Shirou has been in countless fights and met many, many magicians, but almost none of them used magic without chanting.
To Shirou, magic without chanting almost always meant one person: his brother in this world, Rudeus Greyrat.
"Is that you, Rudy?"
Shirou tried to ask the figure in the shadows, but his words didn't seem to reach the other person.
The person deep in the room seemed annoyed that the magic didn't beat Shirou.
"Clap!"
The next second, the person angrily raised their right hand, and the whole room suddenly became damp.
Most people wouldn't think much of this, since it's just a little more water in the air and doesn't stop you from moving.
But Shirou knows Rudeus very well, and he knows what can happen because of strange things like this.
Back in Buena Village, Shirou often fought Rudeus, and he was always amazed by Rudeus's strange creativity.
Even if it looked like a small, simple spell, Rudeus could always make it do really amazing things.
Now, after so many years, he believes that Rudeus's talent must have fully grown and become even stronger than before.
So, Shirou dared not take this obvious strange thing lightly and pulled out the long sword at his waist.
Even though this is Magic University, having a sword isn't that strange.
That's because most of the people who come to Magic University are adventurers.
There are so many adventurers that the people walking around usually look like warriors, not the magicians with long robes and staffs that people think about.
This is because being an adventurer is very dangerous, and you need a strong body to handle exploring different places.
Magicians usually have strong bodies, and some even know sword fighting and other fighting moves.
So, no one cared that Shirou had a sword with him at Magic University.
Of course, this is still a university, not a dangerous wild place, so Shirou only brought a long sword with him and didn't bring all his gear like before.
He didn't even bring the Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace that the Sword God gave him.
"Watch out!"
While Shirou was paying attention to the water in the air getting thicker, Cliff noticed the danger before him and warned him.
Shirou reacted quickly, but he still got hit.
Because the other person's move wasn't trying to attack Shirou.
All the water in the air became solid and then quickly turned into steam, making a thick fog that covered the area.
Then, some of the water blended into the floor, making the ground under Shirou's feet turn into something like a swamp, and he started sinking.
"!!!"
Shirou often faced this kind of move when he fought Rudeus as a kid. He didn't know how to deal with it then, and even though he's much stronger now, he still can't handle it well.
Since his legs are stuck in the swamp and he can't see because of the fog, most adventurers and magicians would probably be in trouble.
If it were the old Shirou, he would probably have to use projection magic to find a way to defend.
But the current Shirou has fought the Dragon God and trained in the Holy Land of Swords. He's a different person now, and he can deal with such bad magic!
"Clap!"
Shirou tried to keep his legs as steady as possible while they were sinking into the swamp. At the same time, he held his long sword in position, ready to use the Water God Style.
At the same time, many rocks were thrown from far away again.
Because of the fog, most people wouldn't even be able to tell where the rocks were coming from, and they wouldn't be able to block the attacks with their legs stuck.
But Shirou isn't an ordinary person.
He quickly used the Water God Style's best move, focusing on defense and counterattacks.
It looked like a normal strike, but it had all of Shirou's understanding of the Water God Style. It wasn't as good as what Reida, the Water God, could do, but it was much better than a normal Water Saint!
"Crack!"
In an instant, the sword in his hand moved like water, not only knocking down all the rocks, but even sending some of them back!
"What?"
The person in the room didn't seem to expect anyone to be able to handle this situation, let alone fight back. They seemed confused and lost.
It wasn't until they felt the danger coming close that they used water wall magic to protect themselves.
"Splash!"
Water turned into a solid wall, blocking the flying rocks.
But before the other person could relax, Shirou attacked again.
Taking advantage of the other person using other magic and not being able to keep up the swamp magic, Shirou used his Saint-level fighting spirit and strong body to break free from the swamp trapping his legs. He then took advantage of the other person being distracted and charged towards the back of the room!
The person in the room seemed completely unprepared for this sudden change in the situation.
Only now did they start quickly getting ready for a stronger spell.
"Splash!"
Hot water started spinning around from all directions.
It was still magic cast without chanting.
But even with magic cast without chanting, if it's at the Saint level, it takes a long time to get ready to cast it.
However, the other person was clearly very talented, and they quickly got the Saint-level magic ready because they were nervous!
Shirou could even clearly feel the Saint-level magic energy gathering around him!
He absolutely couldn't let the other person cast this spell!
Shirou had a lot of experience in battle. As soon as he had this thought, he chose to use a special technique from the North God Style: throwing his sword!
When he didn't have enough distance and needed to close the gap quickly, the North God Style's moves were always surprisingly useful.
Of course, Shirou didn't plan to kill the other person directly, so he deliberately threw the weapon off to the side, so the blade would just barely miss them.
The person in the room didn't have much experience in battle, so they didn't realize that the sword wouldn't hit them. They thought it would reach them before the magic was ready, so they instinctively stopped casting the magic, covered their head, closed their eyes, and looked desperate.
"Crack!"
Finally, when the sword that Shirou threw stuck straight into the wall, the swelling water elements that had gathered around disappeared into energy in the air because the caster stopped casting the magic.
"Phew…"
Shirou won the fight, but he didn't feel any joy.
Because the fight felt very strange to him, like he was back in Buena Village years ago, fighting his brother Rudeus.
Since the owner of this room should be Rudeus, this feeling isn't that strange.
But Shirou couldn't understand why Rudeus used the exact same moves in the fight just now as he did years ago.
The swamp magic, the water fog magic, and the final Saint-level water magic were all almost the same as when he left Buena Village.
It was like the past few years didn't exist for the owner of this room, and their strength hadn't changed at all.
This was hard to imagine for the talented Rudeus that Shirou knew.
Is this person really Rudeus?
To answer the question in his mind, Shirou immediately went to the back of the room and pulled back the curtain that was making the room dark.
What he saw was a messy room, like a garbage dump, and a tired-looking, blond-haired young man who didn't look like a person at all in the middle of the room.
Even though the other person's appearance had changed a lot over the years, becoming taller and looking more like Zenith and Paul, Shirou still recognized him right away as Rudeus, his brother in this world.
However, the other person's current state was clearly very bad.
He was not only very tired and smelled bad, but he also looked extremely pale, probably because he had been hiding in his room for a long time and not going out to get sunlight and exercise.
His skinny body and dark circles under his eyes made him look like a dry corpse.
Anyone could see that he was in a bad situation.
"Rudy... what happened to you?"
Shirou couldn't understand what had happened to the other person, and he couldn't help but show a confused and worried look.
When Rudeus heard this familiar name, he finally came back from his fear of death.
First, he got up from the ground in a panic. Then, he stared at the tall, strange young man in front of him. After looking at him carefully, he seemed to finally realize who it was and said in a daze:
"Shirou... Brother Shirou, is that you?"
"It's me."
Shirou nodded, seeing that Rudeus recognized him.
He thought the other person would have a touching reunion with him, or at least change their hostile attitude and be friendly to him.
But he never expected that after recognizing him, Rudeus would look even more scared, like a child who had done something wrong and been caught by their parents.
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