Shirou was forced into a fight with Alexander, the third North God. As the fight started, he was surprised to not feel too nervous.
Maybe it was because he had met many strong people, like Dragon God Orsted, Sword God Gal Farion, strong Water God Reida Reia, and the second North God. He had seen so many that he wasn't too nervous facing Alexander, who was seventh in the world's power ranking.
But, not being nervous didn't mean there wasn't a big difference between them.
Their power difference was huge. Shirou's current body wasn't even at the Emperor level, let alone fighting a God-level opponent.
But now that he was in this situation, he couldn't back down.
Alexander was using Zenith's life to force him. If Shirou didn't fight, Alexander would definitely kill Zenith, which Shirou couldn't accept.
Looking back, it all started because Shirou wrongly thought Alexander was a trustworthy friend and recruited him into the adventure team.
If Shirou hadn't taken Alexander to the deepest part of the transfer maze, he probably wouldn't have been able to get through the many layers of transfer magic circles and wouldn't have been able to threaten Zenith's life.
So, Shirou saw this as his own mistake.
He had to fix it, even if it meant giving his life.
Of course, all of this was based on Shirou putting Zenith's life above everything else.
Choosing between justice and family wasn't new to Shirou, or rather, it was something he knew very well.
He had faced a similar choice before when his sister Miyu was taken by the Ainsworth family to be a wish-granting machine to save the world.
Shirou had thought about it then. If he chose justice and gave up Miyu's life, his adopted father Emiya Kiritsugu's wish would be fulfilled. Miyu would meet everyone's expectations and save the world.
But Shirou quickly realized the problem with that.
No one had ever asked Miyu what she wanted.
If saving the world meant sacrificing an innocent girl's life, then the world's rules were already wrong.
If the world and justice were wrong, then there was no need to make it happen.
So, Shirou decided to give up the path of justice and his adopted father Emiya Kiritsugu's expectations. He bet everything on his own body and stopped the Ainsworth family's plan.
In some ways, he was the bad guy.
He destroyed all the hard work people had put in to achieve justice in an instant.
If that wasn't evil, then there was probably no such thing as evil.
But Shirou didn't care if he was evil. He was ready for anything, even becoming a demon, and he wouldn't change his mind.
That determination still remained in Shirou's heart.
He couldn't accept so-called justice being more important than someone's life, or people using the excuse of justice to oppress others.
Whether it was the Ainsworth family or the third North God.
He would use his hands and his sword to destroy them all!
"Come on!"
Shirou attacked first.
He wasn't confused at all. He moved as fast as he could, taking the shortest route to deliver the fastest sword strike, quickly getting close to Alexander.
Alexander calmly pulled out his sword from its sheath to block the attack.
Shirou's sword was so fast that it was hard to see, and Paul and the others couldn't keep up with the movements. However, Alexander was able to calmly block the attack. As soon as Shirou stopped moving, he even launched a counter-attack.
"North God Style Anti-Three Forms, Swallow Returns!"
Alexander's sword sheath appeared in front of Shirou in a strange way as he moved. Shirou couldn't dodge it, so he had to block it with his sword.
But Alexander seemed to have predicted that he would block it.
Alexander laughed and grabbed the sword sheath with both hands. He focused all his fighting energy into the hit and smashed Shirou away!
"Boom!"
A cloud of dust spread out.
Shirou barely dodged Alexander's attack. As a North God Style user, he wasn't as fast as someone using Sword God Style. But the exchange showed that even though Alexander couldn't keep up with Shirou's speed, he could still stop him.
"Hehe, I naturally asked about Sword God Style since it's the strongest sword style in the world."
Alexander said with a smile, "Although I didn't meet the Sword God himself, I did fight the Sword Emperors of the Holy Land of Swords and learned how to deal with Sword God Style moves."
"..."
Shirou didn't respond to Alexander's detailed explanation.
He didn't care if Alexander could really break Sword God Style. All he needed to do now was use all his skills to try and break through Alexander's strong defense!
"Slash!"
Shirou got into position and the Longsword of Light form appeared in his hand. Finally, with all his strength, he suddenly shot forward at Alexander with lightning speed.
Shirou was now fully a Sword King, and his sword was getting closer and closer to the speed of light.
With extreme acceleration, the sword in his hand seemed to turn into a beam of light!
Facing the Longsword of Light's attack, Alexander seemed a little troubled. North God Style, unlike Water God Style, didn't have a way to directly block the Longsword of Light.
But Alexander's trouble only lasted a moment. He seemed to quickly find an answer.
Just as Shirou was about to reach Alexander, Alexander's movements suddenly changed in a strange way. It was like he had suddenly sped up, moving so fast that it seemed impossible. He jumped up and dodged Shirou's sword of light at the last second.
At the same time, he easily jumped behind Shirou and swung his sword sheath straight at Shirou's back.
Shirou frowned at this obvious strange situation.
Because the Longsword of Light was too fast, it was hard to change its direction once it was swung. If he tried to stop it, he might even hurt himself.
This meant he couldn't block Alexander's attack from behind.
For a normal Sword God Style Swordsman, there would be nothing to do but take the attack.
But Shirou wasn't a normal Sword God Style Swordsman.
Besides Sword God Style, he also knew North God Style at the Saint level, Water God Style at the Saint level, and his own unique skills.
"Snap!"
The moment Shirou felt the attack coming, he suddenly turned all the magic power in his body into energy and released it inside his body.
Magic power release.
This skill belonged to King Arthur Artoria. After Shirou practiced and tested it many times, he could now use it freely. He could use it even without using projection loading.
Using the special skill of magic power release, Shirou was able to change direction while swinging the Longsword of Light.
So, Alexander's attack only hit the air and didn't hurt Shirou at all.
"Wow, that was an amazing skill... it's kind of like a magician's trick."
Alexander commented on Shirou's performance, still looking like he had everything under control.
Shirou quietly said, "Speaking of magician's skills, your performance just now was more like magic, wasn't it? Is that your ability, or your sword's ability?"
"Oh? You saw through it?"
Alexander seemed very surprised by Shirou's words and quietly replied, "It seems like I can't hide it anymore. Okay, that was the power of the Dragon King Sword."
"..."
Shirou frowned when he heard Alexander's words.
He could understand that something special had happened, but he couldn't explain exactly how Alexander did it.
There were too many possibilities. It could have been some kind of flying skill, or magic power release like his, or even a more unique ability to control something...
Since he couldn't figure it out, Shirou quietly put the Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace back in its sheath and decided not to use that weapon to fight.
"Hmm? Are you going to give up?"
Alexander looked disappointed, not wanting the fight to end.
Shirou wasn't planning to end the fight either. He just decided not to use Sword God Style moves. With the big difference in power between them, straightforward Sword God Style wouldn't be able to beat the current North God.
"Projection, start!"
Shirou used projection magic, and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands again.
Seeing this, Alexander looked curious and said in surprise, "Oh? Was that magic? Is there such amazing magic?"
"..."
Shirou ignored Alexander. After projecting the twin swords, he quietly got into a fighting stance and charged forward in the next moment!
Since Shirou gave up Sword God Style, his speed dropped a lot.
But that was only compared to before. Actually, Shirou's speed had improved a lot. In his current state, his speed was almost as fast as Servant Emiya's form.
This was because he had improved himself a lot during this time. Shirou's training had finally paid off and improved all his basic abilities.
So, even against Alexander, the North God, Shirou could barely keep up with his movements. He used his mind's eye to find openings and swung his twin swords -
"Crane Wing, Falling Not!"
Shirou started with a familiar move, crossing the twin swords in his hands to create a chain.
Alexander didn't pay much attention to his movements. He casually swung his sword to block and easily knocked the twin swords out of Shirou's hands.
Although the twin swords were knocked away, Shirou wasn't discouraged. He continued to project, and another pair of twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya formed in his hands.
"Mind Skill, Mount Tai Arrives!"
"Mind Skill, Yellow River Crosses!"
As Shirou swung the twin swords in his hands, he deliberately adjusted his distance from Alexander, getting closer and closer. At the same time, the twin swords flying in the air created a deadly chain.
Alexander noticed Shirou's strange movements, but he didn't have time to realize the danger. He continued to fight Shirou head-on and knocked the twin swords out of his hands again.
"Only Name, Separate Heaven Accepts!"
"Two Heroes, Share Life Separate!"
After preparing everything, Shirou decisively grabbed the chance. After all four Kanshou and Bakuya flying in the air were in the right positions, he strengthened the Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands. He worked with the weapons from all directions to launch a deadly attack on Alexander!
He didn't hold back at all and swung his final sword with all his strength.
"Crane Wing Triple Strike!"
The moment the deadly sword skill was used, Shirou almost saw Alexander being knocked down.
But just as everything was about to be completed, something unbelievable happened.
After Alexander realized he was surrounded on all sides, he flew into the air in a strange way.
He completely ignored the laws of gravity and dodged all the Kanshou and Bakuya's paths in a strange way. He naturally pushed Shirou back with his sword.
Now, everyone understood Alexander's ability.
"Controlling gravity? Is that gravity magic?"
Roxy recognized Alexander's ability right away from the distance. "Isn't it said that only the Dragon King family can use gravity magic and that humans haven't mastered it yet? Why?"
"Dragon King?"
Hearing Roxy's words, Shirou realized what was happening. He looked at Alexander in the air and said, "That's the power of the Dragon King Sword, the ability to control gravity!"
"Hehe, correct answer."
Alexander quietly admitted Shirou's words, "The Dragon King Sword is made from the body of the Dragon King. It inherits the Dragon King's power and allows ordinary people who can't use magic to use the strongest gravity magic. This is the truth of why the Dragon King Sword is called the strongest sword! After all, even an ordinary person who has just learned swordsmanship can beat an experienced swordsman if they can control gravity!"
"..."
Shirou wanted to argue, but he couldn't.
The scene just now was real. Alexander had only used the sword's most minor ability and easily dodged his deadly Crane Wing Triple Strike.
If Alexander really pulled out the Dragon King Sword, everyone could imagine how powerful it would be!
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