"You're the one who showed up in the apartment…"
Although Alba was shocked that Shirou had rushed into the flames to save Touko and come out without a scratch, he quickly regained his surface composure.
The Magecraft he had unleashed just now had not been meant to kill Touko, but to torment her, so he had controlled its power.
Since the boy was Touko's disciple, it would not be strange for him to carry a Rune Stone that protected him from fire. If the exposure lasted only an instant, remaining unharmed was entirely possible.
That said, he really did move well...
With a composed smile, Alba studied Shirou Amamiya. "Kid, are you Touko's disciple?"
"Didn't I tell you not to smoke while you're sick?"
Shirou leaned close and sniffed Touko's hair. The scent of smoke was still fresh.
"..."
The blond Magus, ignored by Shirou, froze.
This was not the first time Shirou had ignored him. Earlier, when he had approached from behind and chosen not to ambush Alba, that too had been a kind of disregard, though it could be excused as "rescuing Touko" being more important.
This time, however, Alba could clearly tell that Shirou was ignoring him on purpose.
"Oh, come on~ What's wrong with having one every now and then~"
The orange-haired Magus nestled in the boy's arms, speaking in a girlish, wheedling tone.
Shirou was not going to back down over that.
"No means no. It would be one thing normally, but sneaking cigarettes when you're already sick... In the end, I'm the one who has to take care of you, aren't I?"
"Hehe. Now that I think about it, it's precisely because Shirou takes such good care of me that I can afford to be this reckless."
Shirou frowned. "So you're saying this is my fault?"
"Don't get mad. You're so stiff, Shirou. That's why you're always making Alice upset, isn't it?"
"That has nothing to do with this! Why is Alice's name even coming up right now? And besides, Alice and I get along just fine... probably."
As usual, Shirou was being teased by Touko's words.
The only difference was that this time, while they bickered, there was an outsider in the office, along with the familiars he had brought.
"So, what exactly is going on here?"
Shirou looked around at the monsters filling the room and asked.
"Since when did 'Garan no Dou' branch out into new business ventures? Are we shooting some cheap B-movie now?
Spare me, Touko-nee-san. I really can't handle horror movies or gore films."
Touko smiled. "No, Shirou... look carefully. These aren't monster props from a movie.
They're the result of a Magus's decade-plus of painstaking research.
Tragic in every possible sense, really, but since he did at least work hard, let's offer him a little positive feedback for consolation."
"......"
Alba Cornelius was now completely certain.
These two had not taken him seriously from the very beginning.
It was almost unbelievable.
Even in this situation.
Even though he held an overwhelming advantage, even though he had already defeated her and proven that Alba Cornelius was the finest puppet master in the Clock Tower.
This woman, Touko Aozaki, still looked down on him, and even brought her disciple along to mock him.
A tremendous humiliation welled up inside Alba. His rage had reached its limit.
"Now you understand, Shirou. The reason I sneak cigarettes is because I saw something this painfully dull. Without something to smoke, I simply couldn't stand it."
"Sorry, I misunderstood you... Yeah, I guess there really was no helping it."
Shirou carried Touko Aozaki to a corner of the office, gently set her down on the floor, then turned to face the horde of monsters surrounding him.
Once away from the boy, Touko Aozaki took off her glasses and fixed the blond Magus with an icy gaze unlike anything before.
"Alba, you just called this child my disciple, didn't you?"
In the past, Alba would likely have flinched before Touko's cold, piercing eyes. But he had just defeated her. The shackles called inferiority, which had bound him for so long, had vanished.
"Am I wrong? You always say you don't have disciples. Isn't he one?
Seeing that your disciple is just as arrogant and worthless as you puts me at ease.
How wonderful. Now there's even more fun to be had, Touko Aozaki!"
A crazed smile spread across Alba's face.
Simply tormenting Touko was clearly not enough to make up for the wounds he had suffered over the years. How fortunate that Touko had a disciple too.
"I said he isn't my disciple, you idiot."
Touko Aozaki said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"This child is my familiar."
"What?"
Shirou and Alba spoke at the same time.
When did I fall to Beo's level?
Of course, Touko was talking nonsense.
She had wanted to say it for a long time, and today she had finally seized the chance.
Shirou looked unhappily at the lying puppet master, only to see her toss him a flirtatious wink.
Touko: Think of it as a little service for the patient♡~
Shirou: ...There won't be a next time.
"..."
Alba sized Shirou up again.
Touko's claim was absurd, but Alba was suspicious by nature. He could not simply dismiss it as a joke from a foul-tempered puppet master.
Soon, the corner of his mouth lifted smugly. "I see. I remember now, that rumor.
Your familiar lost to your sister in a duel, so you found yourself an inferior replacement?"
"Say whatever you want," Touko said.
At a time like this, you could at least keep bragging about me, Shirou thought.
Just then, the monsters that had been waiting in the room moved.
Under Alba's silent command, the monsters lunged at the boy.
In the next instant.
"Spare me. I'm still the one who'll have to clean this up afterward."
Shirou sighed helplessly. At the same time, ripples of Mana spread around him, and countless swords emerged from the void, turning into a brutal downpour.
"——————"
Before a storm of countless blades, each at the level of a Noble Phantasm, the army of monsters created by the Magus was helpless.
In the blink of an eye, the room fell silent.
Every last monster had been killed instantly.
They were pinned firmly to the bare concrete floor and walls of the abandoned building, then vanished without a trace along with the weapons that had appeared from thin air.
The only ones left were the unarmed red-haired boy and Touko Aozaki, seated behind him with an enraptured expression.
"How is that possible?"
Alba's mouth hung open.
The Projection Magecraft Shirou had just used made cold sweat pour down his back.
Reproducing dozens of swords in a single instant was already far beyond the understanding of the modern Magecraft world.
And yet that was not all...
Every sword the boy had projected overflowed with terrifying Mana. Even from a distance, Alba could sense the depth of Mystery they possessed.
At least a thousand years old.
"Who exactly are you...?"
Alba stared at the boy in astonishment.
The moment their eyes met, he sucked in a sharp breath.
What was going on?
Why did it feel as though his soul itself had been pierced?
Forcing his faintly trembling legs to stay still, Alba shouted, "Kid! Who exactly are you?"
"Hmm. Looks like the secrecy around me was handled pretty well... The Clock Tower's information on me has already been quietly dealt with."
Shirou tilted his head, thoughtful.
Someday, if he had the chance to go to London, he really would have to bring a proper gift and visit Sola-Ui-san to thank her.
"What are you even talking about!? Who are you? Why are you in Aozaki's workshop!?"
Seeing Shirou's completely unconcerned attitude, Alba finally lost his patience and yelled, then looked back toward Touko.
She spoke with a teasing smile.
"As repayment for the advice you gave me earlier, I'll answer that question for him."
"Eight years ago... during that ridiculous Aozaki family successor duel in Misaki City, he was the one who defeated my trump-card familiar."
"Huh?"
Alba's shoulders shook from the shock.
How could that be possible?
His first instinct was that Touko Aozaki had to be lying.
Touko's familiar was the golden beast named Lugh Beowulf.
An Elemental with over two thousand years of Mystery, a being from the Age of Gods that still existed in the modern era.
As a completed Third Magic, it was immortal and indestructible, which was why Touko Aozaki had treated it as her "decisive weapon against the Fifth Magic."
A certain Magus from the "Age of Gods Alliance," one who had lived for over a thousand years, had been slain by that creature. It was a true monster.
And a monster like that... had not lost to Aoko Aozaki, the wielder of the Fifth Magic, but to this frail-looking human boy in front of him?
No. Absolutely impossible.
But... what if Touko Aozaki was not lying?
Alba raised his Mystic Code staff.
"Go away the shadow. It is impossible to touch the things which are not visible. Forget the darkness. It is impossible to see the things which are not touched."
He chanted the spell at a speed close to his limit.
"The question is prohibited. The answer is simple."
"I have the flame in the left hand. And I have everything in the right hand."
The long incantation took less than two seconds to leave the mouth of the second abbot of Sponheim Abbey.
Even Touko let out an impressed "Oh~."
In her memory, Alba had always loved chants that were far longer than necessary and packed with useless wording, but it seemed he really had grown quite a bit over the past few years.
The current Alba, at least when it came to the art of destructive Magecraft, could probably be counted among the very best in the Clock Tower.
Touko Aozaki thought to herself that while his technique had been polished to its limit, Alba... his luck seemed rather poor.
He had run into Shirou of all people.
"I am the order. Therefore, you will be defeated securely!"
In an instant, blue flames capable of vaporizing everything formed in the room.
"I told you, I'm the one who has to clean up the place afterward. Don't make more work for me."
In a single instant, Shirou moved from ten meters away to directly in front of Alba, a sword gripped in his hand.
As the blond Magus wondered in confusion why his Magecraft had not activated, he finally noticed that his right hand, the one holding the staff, had vanished.
"Eh... huh?"
Alba brought the severed wrist up before his eyes in disbelief. The cut was impossibly clean.
"Guh, aaaaaaaah!"
Only then did the blond Magus's face twist in pain. He dropped to his knees and began screaming.
He clutched his wrist and started casting a healing formula. Shirou, of course, did not stop him. After all, if he let Alba keep spraying blood everywhere, the agency would end up filthy.
What he had done just now was only a warning.
Alba might have been arrogant, but he still thought like a Magus. Shirou judged that once Alba understood the overwhelming gap in strength between them, he would behave.
He would leave the troublesome matters to Touko. He really did not want to get casually tangled up in other people's pasts again.
Sure enough, just as Shirou had guessed, Alba gave up resisting completely.
The air of a victor he had carried moments earlier was gone, and his lifeless state made him look almost like a corpse.
He may look young on the outside, Shirou thought, but his soul must already be withered and old.
"Why... I don't understand..."
Alba glared at Shirou with hatred and asked weakly.
"Why did you get in the way of my revenge...? Someone as powerful as you, why are you working under Aozaki?"
Because I need money to help support my household, and Touko-nee-san is insanely rich, Shirou thought.
"That woman is nothing but a defective product!"
Alba gnashed his teeth, his voice thick with bitter resentment. "Do you know? In our Association, the highest-ranking Magi are granted titles of color. And among those, the three primary colors are the greatest honor of the era. Ever since she joined the Association, that woman has been obsessed with obtaining the title of 'Blue,' a color befitting her surname. But the Association never granted her 'Blue.' Ironically, she received a red-based title, the opposite of her surname, a vulgar color just like her name. A color perfectly suited to an Orange Magus!"
The young man gave a sinister laugh, his face turning almost demonic.
"The 'Scarred Red,' for one who failed to obtain a primary color... Hahahahaha! Isn't that the perfect title for her?"
"..."
A chill ran through Shirou.
It was unmistakable killing intent, coming from behind him.
Even though it was not aimed at him, it was still enough to make his skin crawl.
"Shirou, thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to me."
At some point, Touko Aozaki had walked up behind Shirou. With a gentle expression, she placed a hand on his shoulder.