Chapter 11. Teaching the Sword to a Swordsman, and Magecraft to a Magus
"Giva, if you don't want to answer that, let me rephrase the question. I recall that magi have a principle of concealment, don't they? Is it really okay to convert the souls of ordinary people in the city center into magical energy so ostentatiously and recklessly?"
Shirou hadn't forgotten what Giva said.
The reason he killed those magi was to keep the Mages' Association from finding out.
Magi didn't have much of a moral compass. However, creating an abnormality in human society large enough to cause a stir and exposing Mystery was a violation of the rules even within the Association.
The Mages' Association was more proactive than anyone else in dealing with those who caused such problems.
If exposed, Giva himself would be wanted. Unless he found a remote corner of the world without an Association presence to hide in, his life as a magus could never continue normally again.
What exactly did this magus hope to gain by betting all his risks and not hesitating to be driven into a corner for this one desperate gamble?
Shirou began to step forward.
Without stopping his questioning, Shirou pressed closer to Giva as calmly as if he were walking in his own territory.
He was facing a magus whose hand still burned with steaming flames, the magecraft accumulated in his hand ready to be fired at any moment.
Shirou didn't dodge or flinch; he merely tilted the tip of his blade.
The dangerous three-meter line between them—Shirou crossed it without hesitation. When Shirou checked again...
Giva retreated, as if trying to maintain a safe distance.
Instead of firing the magical flame that served as his lifeline and emitted incredible heat, he subconsciously took a step back.
Though it was only a small step, he knit his brows as if surprised at himself. After hiding the wrinkles on his forehead, he eventually sneered in response:
"Don't trouble yourself. When these places return to normal, a 'natural gas explosion' will occur. This is just an unfortunate chain of accidents in a commercial street; what does it have to do with me? Even the Mages' Association won't have time to look for me for the next few days."
In the next few days, they wouldn't have time to look for Giva?
Rather than being surprised by the magus's malice, Shirou first tightened his grip on the sword.
At the same time, this topic opened the magus's floodgates. As if to boast about everything he had painstakingly arranged, he spoke once more.
—Shirou was indeed waiting for him to explain, but Shirou hadn't expected him to be so blunt about it.
"Within the Temple, I am unsurpassed. As long as I obtain a sufficiently massive amount of magical energy, I can invert the Kuruoka family's Bounded Field into a Temple. The summoning circle will fall directly under my control. Once I handle the Kuruoka family after forbidding the summoning, the Command Spells will also become my property under the rules of the Temple. They've even prepared the catalyst to summon that First Emperor for me—is there any turn of events more natural than this?"
If Shirou had known, he should have prepared himself mentally.
No one refuted him. In the brief silence after he finished speaking, Shirou's eyes widened slightly, while Sakura, watching from further away, saw her pupils contract. The two of them exchanged a glance.
Giva interpreted this as fear of himself. Regaining his confidence, he began to cackle.
Because of his excitement, he was no longer tight-lipped. Between his opening and closing mouth, topics he hadn't intended to mention a while ago came pouring out.
"That's right... I will win this 'Holy Grail War' as a newly minted Master! A Master with a Temple combined with the setup of the First Emperor—there is absolutely no possibility of failure!"
A projectile that wasn't magecraft flew across the room. With pinpoint accuracy, it struck his heart at a speed Giva himself couldn't possibly imagine.
Servants killing each other. Countless brushes with death. A golden Heroic Spirit wanting to destroy the world. A girl manipulated by the will residing in the Grail, turned into a puppet. Countless phantoms flashed by.
The war ended. It was supposed to be over.
Like a severed rope, the Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City had been structurally annihilated; it was irreparable. The report of "Complete destruction, no dismantling required" still sat safely in Rin's suitcase.
The Holy Grail War of Fuyuki, after lasting five generations, had completely and surely ended. That land would never again be tainted by the curse known as the "Holy Grail War."
So when the unexpected words hit him, the magus named Giva himself was no longer important. Anything would do.
Because in the instant he felt the illusion that he was still in Fuyuki, still in the past, Emiya Shirou's heart began to swell.
"So, the abnormality I felt... was it accumulating magical energy to participate in a Holy Grail War? Giva, first tell me: what exactly is this Holy Grail War you're talking about!"
Shirou instantly sorted out the logic of the situation and questioned him.
Conversely, the magus's emotions gradually stabilized and became cold: "What is that attitude toward a magus who possesses a Temple, huh? Why should I tell a magical bumpkin like you? It was a mistake to speak of my plans due to a moment of emotion."
He raised his hand, but this time Shirou did not have the patience to wait.
'So fast!'
In Giva's vision, Shirou's speed was a dimension faster than his calculations. Swift as a beast, he was essentially unpredictable, moving without even a starting stance.
"Eek!?"
Giva urgently switched his three-line chant to a finger snap, barely managing to activate his magecraft before the opponent reached him. But the opponent ignored his magecraft entirely, letting the flames envelop him, only to emerge unharmed at the end of the fire.
The sword in his hand was already about to strike.
Giva's pupils shrank, and he rolled urgently to the side, barely managing to evade this first strike.
The youth raised his head in the periphery of Giva's vision, panting slightly as if cooling himself by inhaling the cold air, his gaze looking toward Giva.
This time, Giva finally saw the magecraft the youth was using—or so he thought.
"Projection..."
He scrutinized it for a moment, then suddenly let out a forced sneer.
Giva was actually quite anxious. In his anxiety, he had already forgotten to connect the dots regarding the neutralization of his Single Action and three-line magecraft.
Furthermore, it was obvious that he lacked insight.
Despite being a candidate Master for a Holy Grail War, he lacked the eye to judge the special nature of a Servant's Noble Phantasm.
A niche genius believing himself to be an all-rounder. Tragedy often stems from this.
"Projection magecraft... so you use that kind of garbage magecraft."
Despite twice nearly being cut down, Giva actually seemed composed.
"I don't know what kind of Mystic Code you used to get that defensive performance, but you don't really think you can cut me down with Projection magecraft, do you?"
Then, his attitude grew worse. As if feeling insulted, he declared with anger:
"Even if I don't study trash like Projection magecraft, I'm still top-tier! And besides..."
Giva extended his arm, and traces of his own magical energy began to appear in his palm.
"Gradation Air."
A longsword appeared in his hand. In reality, he was using true Projection magecraft.
"Don't think I lack close-combat ability; I know a thing or two about swordsmanship."
Perhaps the scene could have just started playing from the moment the magus was cut nearly in half.
But few people are that liberal with their edits, and Shirou had no interest in remembering him. Besides, from the start of the battle to the end, not much time had passed.
The first exchange. Sword and blade clashed.
"Hey, as a parting gift for your promise to send me to hell, don't you plan to say a bit more about the Holy Grail War?"
"No deal."
The second exchange. "Is there really no possibility of you telling me what this Holy Grail War is?"
The magus's veins popped: "Are you ever going to shut up?"
The third exchange. "Fine, I get it."
The fourth exchange. A diagonal slash. The magus watched in horror as his projected longsword snapped in two. Then, a red flower of blood blossomed on his chest.
And so it ended.
The magus's breathing was faint. Like the magus corpse from before, he collapsed to the floor with a look of disbelief.
Before he could figure out what happened, the blade was already inches from his neck.
"If you don't speak soon, I will kill you."
In his blurred red vision, the opponent was expressionless; only the distant male voice reached him.
"Knowing a thing or two" was, in fact, quite literally "a thing or two."
If it were the Shirou who had just learned to project Kanshou and Bakuya and only had one or two Magic Circuits open, and he fought this guy using only swords, it would have been very difficult, but he probably would have won in the end anyway.
Holding back to gain information was simply a waste of time. Threatening him directly with his life was faster for Shirou.
There was only one reason he had chosen to hold back rather than threaten until just now. Shirou unconsciously rubbed the hilt of the sword in his hand, staring at Giva to be ready for whatever might happen next.
He seemed still immersed in his own world.
"I... lost? I lost in my own Temple? I should be no less than... a magus from the Age of Gods, yet I'm... lying on the ground like this?
Why? Every step of my plan should have been correct... an Age of Gods Temple... should be unrivaled against modern magecraft? I haven't even become a Master, and I'm going to die here?"
In his pain, he could no longer listen to Shirou's words. The situation was moving in the worst direction Shirou had envisioned.
Then, the magus's consciousness suddenly focused on Shirou.
"You despicable coward! What kind of trick did you use! My family's eternal legacy is going to be destroyed by someone like you! You brat!"
Yes, I'm truly sorry for "despicably" winning against you.
"Don't get cocky! If only I had summoned a Servant...!! If I had a Servant in my hand! Surely, surely any familiar at all could wipe out a maggot like you!"
'Uh, are they really that strong?'
In a state of blood loss and madness, Giva's words were becoming incoherent. Even using these words as a medium, he was releasing a large number of curse spells at Shirou, but they were all blocked by Shirou's Magic Resistance. At this stage, rather than curses, it was more like a mix of obsessions that Shirou had no interest in.
However, his instincts seemed to realize the intended use of this Bounded Field.
"Fix..."
That was a magical keyword that caused even Shirou's expression to change.
The ground was vibrating. A rush of magical energy that could be felt by the physical body swept across his skin, giving Shirou goosebumps.
A massive amount of magical energy, so much that he could almost hear it, suddenly poured toward the magus who was the master of the Bounded Field.
He didn't even need to think about where this was coming from. The conclusion was plain and disgusting.
Shirou let out a sigh.
As expected, the thing he was most worried about had happened.
The magus had the "ability" to forcefully extract life force from within his Temple field. In other words, once things reached this point of mutual destruction, there was no longer any possibility of questioning him.
He had to finish him off before he could truly harm the people and leave them with lasting damage.
Shirou flipped his blade. Giva seemed to realize what he was trying to do, a final madness flashing in his eyes.
His fingers met again, about to snap.
In this state of rapidly surging magical energy, Shirou predicted that even a finger snap would barely be able to break through his Magic Resistance.
It would only end with a few minor burns. Compared to that, protecting the rapidly diminishing life force of the people was far more important.
Therefore, Shirou did not dodge at all. He drove the blade down with maximum speed.
Snap.
The blade successfully pierced through. The snap was successfully executed.
Giva, his throat impaled, revealed a murky smile. However, Shirou did not feel the sensation of burning heat searing his skin.
It took a moment to react. Then, Shirou finally followed Giva's gaze and looked toward the flames.
"Sakura, look out!!"
The flames went straight toward the girl; Shirou shouted instinctively before his reason could take over.
Having committed his entire body to impaling Giva, Shirou could not move in time to act as a meat shield to block this blast.
"......"
However, hearing this instinctive cry of concern—the girl looked away with a shy, bashful smile.
A giant shadow rose from behind her, swiping away the giant fiery fangs in front of her.
Nonsensically and glaringly, that massive chunk of fire, which had the momentum to burn heaven and earth, had completely disappeared. Looking closely, there was only a small red light glowing deep within the shadow.
"?"
Shirou could understand Giva's frozen smile and dumbfounded expression to a certain extent.
Immediately, a second black shadow stood up.
Next was an infinite play of shadows rising.
Every second, a giant shadow rolled up from the pitch-black ground and stood silently. The shadow giants stacked layer upon layer, submerging half the hall, like dominoes or A4 paper pressed into a package.
They looked down upon Giva alone.
Without anyone noticing, not only this army, but even snake-like black ribbons seeped out from the floor of the entire hall, turning the room into a hellish portrait of dancing serpents.
The total magical energy was probably over ten thousand—no, fifty thousand.
A pure black ribbon extended before Giva's eyes and shook gently.
Giva's gaze was hollow.
Then he breathed his last with an expression of despair.
"Honestly, Senpai, what are you worried about me for? ...It makes me a little embarrassed."
In that hellish landscape, only Sakura looked normal.
Well, even if Sakura could only consume around a thousand mana at once, if she continuously repeated the process, she could naturally create such a scene.
For Sakura, who had once been a Lesser Grail linked to Angra Mainyu—does something like "magical energy" even matter?
"Senpai, should I eat him? Um, when this gentleman was insulting Senpai just now, I was actually very angry. But I kept myself under control."
She was still smiling, her expression a bit frightening.
"I get it, we have to 'eat' him, don't we? Otherwise, this cafe will become a murder scene. But I definitely don't want you to 'digest' him, Sakura. Find a place to drop him out later, and we'll bury him separately with the other two victims."
Shirou broke into a cold sweat and could only reply sheepishly.