Chapter 30: You Are the Challenger
The roles of attacker and defender had flipped.
If, before Polnareff fired the blade of [Silver Chariot], Shirou Emiya and the others held an overwhelming advantage—one could even say they had already achieved a total victory in this Stand battle—then the moment Polnareff joined the fray, everything changed.
"While I'm forced to expend my energy dealing with the shockwaves of this explosion..."
"You chose to continue firing blades with [Silver Chariot], hitting the ice shields protecting Jotaro and the others with what are likely blades manufactured by [Judgement]..."
If the intel from Shirou's past-life memories was correct, the blade that [Silver Chariot] can fire is actually limited to a single shot. After firing this lone projectile, [Silver Chariot] loses its primary weapon, the rapier. Not only is it unable to fire more blades, but even its sole means of attack—the sword itself—takes a considerable amount of time to slowly regenerate.
Thus, unless absolutely necessary, Polnareff would never use this ranged attack.
However, the power of [Judgement] perfectly compensated for this weakness. By simply making a wish to [Judgement], the Stand could manufacture a stockpile of "bomb-blades" for Polnareff that matched the exact dimensions of [Silver Chariot's] rapier.
Yes, bomb-blades.
Shirou saw that after Polnareff used the first projectile to detonate the clay bombs within the glacier, he used the resulting smoke and fire as cover to continue firing new blades. All of them were aimed at the ice shields around Jotaro and the rest, embedding themselves deeply within the frost.
Given the prior experience with [Judgement] using gunpowder-mixed soil to create explosive clay puppets, it wasn't hard for Shirou to guess that these blades shared the same origin. Since Cameo had likely successfully broken free from the ice during the high heat of the explosion, he regained control over these bomb-blades.
Essentially, the moment Shirou dared to release the ice shields and unfreeze Jotaro and the others, Cameo would immediately deactivate his Stand ability, letting these bomb-blades—which were already heated by friction from high-speed travel—perform a precision bombardment on the group.
Of course, Shirou could try to use the power of [Magician's Red: White Album] to lower the temperature of these specific blades first. However, [Magician's Red] has a Precision rank of C. The [Fake Magician's Red] Shirou obtained through Projection Magecraft saw that precision drop another rank to D.
This poor precision meant Shirou had to concentrate his entire attention on the activation of his ability just to ensure the ice blocks—blown slightly away from him by the blast—protected Jotaro's group rather than accidentally turning them into permanent ice sculptures.
In other words, if he chose to focus on cooling the blades, he would have no energy left to deal with Polnareff's subsequent attacks.
"Then my choice is clear—
I will defeat you here first, Polnareff, before dealing with the 'bombs' on Jotaro and the others!"
Shirou didn't just say it; he acted on it, stepping out from his own protective ice barrier to show his resolve. He believed that Polnareff, though outside the restaurant, could hear his declaration of a duel.
Sure enough.
Just as he finished speaking, a silver flash streaked past his eyes. The ripple in the air stirred by the blade grazed Shirou's hair. Together with the whistle of slicing wind by his ear, it told Shirou exactly the direction and position of the shooter.
Polnareff—had accepted his invitation to a duel!
—"Just as my memories described, Polnareff is a man of chivalry."
—"He never takes unfair advantage of others."
—"Once the 5v2 numbers shifted to a 1v2, given Polnareff's personality, it was almost impossible for him to refuse a 1v1 challenge."
—"He even went as far as to intentionally reveal his hidden position to achieve what he considers a fair duel."
Of course, being chivalrous didn't mean being foolish. Shirou didn't assume that because Polnareff revealed his location, he would simply let Shirou walk up to him safely.
Rather...
—Life Detection Mantle!!
Shirou covered his entire body in the life-detecting flames of [Fake Magician's Red]. He pushed his perception and sensitivity to Stand energy to the limit. He even used the primal reactions of the flames to accelerate and dodge like a rocket thruster.
Propelled by the fire, he only had to tilt his head slightly to dodge the blades still screaming toward him. Even if Cameo, hiding in the wings, tried to deactivate the Stand power of the blades to detonate the raw gunpowder, how could [Judgement]—with a mere D in Precision—catch the high-speed projectiles fired by [Silver Chariot]?
By the time the bombs began to explode, Shirou, sprinting toward Polnareff's position, had already left the blasts and their flashes far behind. To put it bluntly: from the moment Shirou
issued the challenge and Polnareff responded, the duel had begun. If Shirou couldn't even manage the step of reaching his opponent, he had no right to challenge him in the first place.
But conversely:
"You who cannot stop my advance... you have now entered my fifteen-meter range.
Within this fifteen-meter radius, the limit of my life-detecting flames...
Whatever you or your [Silver Chariot] try to do, I will know it with perfect clarity."
Beyond seven paces, the gun is fast; within seven paces, the gun is both accurate and fast. Logically, as the distance between Shirou and Polnareff closed, [Fake Magician's Red]—which also suffered from low precision—should have found it harder to track the high-speed blades.
But why would Shirou rely on the basic stats of [Fake Magician's Red] to track them? As the distance shrank, the life-detecting flames enveloping Shirou only detected Polnareff's movements with increasing clarity!
"Including your exact location."
Enveloped in raging fire, Shirou looked like a god descended to earth. "Jean Pierre Polnareff... you are the challenger."
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