Chapter 74: Crushing Numerical Superiority
Heracles, the most famous Great Hero of Greek Mythology.
His fame is so vast that even children in major Eastern nations have seen cartoons produced by a world-famous mouse on children's television channels featuring him. Such is his worldwide influence.
In the world of Servants—beings whose physical parameters are determined by their fame, to the point where high enough fame can allow them to surpass their living selves—Heracles is a monster. Furthermore, his Master in this Holy Grail War is Illya, a magus whose magical energy parameters surpass nearly half the magi in the Type-Moon world.
With the exception of Luck, which sits at B, his other parameters are either A or above A. These are the invincible stats Heracles possesses when manifesting in the Berserker class!
To say this might not provide a concrete sense of scale, but one example should make it clear:
In the Heaven's Feel route, Artoria Alter—corrupted by the Black Mud within the Grail—faced Berserker during her attack on Illya. In the adaptation by ufotable, Artoria Alter, backed by the Grail's supply, used brute force to crush Berserker, grinding him into the dirt. Even Berserker's Noble Phantasm of immortality became nothing more than a target; under her saturated "Mana Burst," he lost life after life until he was completely killed...
...However, the events in the original game and the adaptation are ten thousand miles apart.
First of all, the battle between Artoria Alter and Berserker was never a duel. It was Artoria Alter, Assassin, and the Shadow (the incarnation of Matou Sakura) ganging up on Berserker. Yet, even when his body was restrained by the Shadow—which holds absolute authority over Servants—Berserker still fought the infinitely-supplied Artoria Alter to a standstill. It took the Shadow covering him in more and more mud to swallow and weaken his strength before he could be defeated.
Berserker Heracles is an invincible "Stat Monster."
Yet now, facing such an invincible Stat Monster, Emiya Shirou was fighting him on equal terms... No, it wasn't just equal! Emiya Shirou's numerical values were actually higher than Berserker's!?
"Is it that blade?" Archer (EMIYA) was the first to react. "That blade is extremely wrong!
It's not just the blade; even Emiya Shirou himself is wrong right now. It's as if he's being controlled by something.
His movements show no signs of swordsmanship technique, yet against the superb martial arts that Berserker hasn't forgotten even under the influence of Mad Enhancement, he always manages to parry at exactly the right moment..."
This was absolutely not something Emiya Shirou should be capable of!
As a future version of Shirou who also knew Berserker's data, Archer immediately looked at the Japanese sword projected in Shirou's hand. Unlike Noble Phantasms, where one can feel their power through the magical energy clinging to them, the blade in Shirou's hand looked ornate but lacked any special aura; one couldn't even sense the fluctuation of mana from it. It looked like an ordinary katana.
But putting everything else aside, the fact that the blade hadn't shattered despite clashing with Berserker's brute force proved it was no ordinary weapon.
'Controlling the mind, turning an ordinary person who grips it into a Sword Saint instantly, a strange-looking blade...'
Putting these descriptors together, Archer—who was originally from Japan and, due to his unique Origin, took a keen interest in all manner of blades—quickly associated it with the Japanese legends of Cursed Blades (You-tou).
'So, the reason my self in this special timeline has changed so much is because of that Cursed Blade?'
While Archer let his thoughts wander, Emiya Shirou spoke to solve the mystery: "[Anubis]—that is the name of this blade."
"Its ability is simple: it controls the person holding it, turning someone who knows nothing of the sword into a master in a short time.
Furthermore, as long as it is in combat, this blade automatically records the enemy's information to evolve. It remembers the previous enemy's battle patterns and copies—or even surpasses—the strength and speed the enemy possessed!"
The massive difference in size between Berserker and Shirou provided Berserker with no advantage during this series of exchanges. On the contrary, as time passed...
Because he had projected the [Pseudo-Anubis] and thrown it out to record Berserker's information back when he first blocked Berserker's advance, Shirou now possessed parameters that exceeded Berserker's.
This allowed him, even while fighting Berserker, to spare the focus to answer everyone's confusion. At the same time, Berserker's combat instincts and all of his combat moves were being fully memorized by [Pseudo-Anubis] during the fight.
There were no flashy sword techniques like "slashing three times at once" or "simultaneous triple thrusts." Emiya Shirou, wielding [Pseudo-Anubis], simply showed that he had completely seen through Berserker's attack routes. Even the intuition provided by Berserker's Mind's Eye (False) was seen through.
With a single strike, he jarred Berserker's arms wide with the blade, leaving his center wide open, and slashed down!
The immortality Noble Phantasm of [God Hand] couldn't stall the blade for even a moment against such absolute numerical power. One of Berserker's lives was violently cleaved away by Emiya Shirou.
"Illya, this is what it means to be the strongest."
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