Chapter 6: Regarding the Ten-Second Speed-Clearing of a Boss Room
A tiny silhouette dashed forward, running ahead of John. Serving as a reference point, he made the impending fist look all the more colossal.
He was like a small dot contrasting against a white background.
Red hair, a slender build.
Beneath his bangs, glowing brown eyes were lowered.
In his hands, two blades with clear, flawless auras materialized.
"Overedge."
After reciting these words, the two swords began to expand explosively, transforming into something resembling the wings of a crane existing in the Orient.
The two blades, almost as long as his entire body, effortlessly stole John's gaze.
His arms moved. One was easily flung out, tracing an arc through the air. Immediately after, he leaped.
The remaining giant sword collided with the skeletal finger, producing a crisp, metallic chime. John actually saw the giant arm deflect downward by a few degrees, while that person was also sent flying upward by the impact. After adjusting his posture, he landed on the giant's elongated radius bone.
The fist's momentum remained undiminished, but that was no longer his concern, so he ignored it. Just as John thought that he and the others would eventually have to find a way to take this blow, a more impactful development unfolded.
The iron block that had traced an arc beforehand immediately began to spin back. At its landing point, the giant fist happened to pass through—consequently, the Crane Wings struck precisely into it, causing cracks to erupt in the carpal bones.
Immediately following this, a surge of light welled up from the point of impact, and then erupted violently from within. It was a magnificent, localized explosion of magical energy that shattered illusions.
The recoil even caused the entire giant skeleton to shake. The arm passed by John and the others, skewing like a derailed train. John could clearly see that because the entire carpal bone had been half-obliterated, the giant's hand was distorted in an almost irreversible way.
The figure standing on the radius bone began to sprint upward, as if climbing a towering skyscraper.
The giant skeleton immediately began to shake the arm contaminated by the foreign object, but failed to shake him off. On the contrary, in the next instant, several thin lines were carved into the giant's torso.
Every place marked by a line began to crack. Even if they weren't particularly devastating wounds, the sharpness of that blade alone was enough to chill one's heart.
Seeming to realize that this approach wasn't very effective, the person continued to climb higher. He was almost within reach of the shoulder.
The giant skeleton extended its other hand, attempting to swat him. To this, his countermeasure was... to throw the giant blade again, while a bow appeared in his hand.
Without stopping his stride, he fired arrows while sprinting.
A blue rain of arrows struck the giant's palm head-on. The palm couldn't press down and was frozen stiffly in place. At the same time, the last blade had already reached the giant's right metacarpal bone, emitting an equally magnificent light.
The pressure from the palm vanished. The silhouette continued to advance within the light, standing atop the shoulder. For only an instant, his figure vanished.
When John's gaze captured him again, he was standing on the giant's other shoulder, holding a demon-red katana.
It was already the posture of Zanshin (remaining mind/intent), and the true name arrived belatedly:
"Akasa no Sankai / Mountain Fire of the Red Creation)"
Slender, red, sheet-like flames suddenly erupted on the giant's neck, looking like a guillotine that separated the skull from the cervical vertebrae within the crimson sheets.
Shirou took this opportunity to drop down first, stepping three times on the bones of the giant—which had not yet collapsed—to reduce the burden of the fall. Finally, he landed steadily with a ukemi (breakfall).
After the red flames dissipated, the skeletal giant, whose skull and cervical vertebrae were indeed separated, began to collapse with a rumble.
The dust kicked up slapped John, the twenty-eight, and Sigma in the face. Everyone watched the scene to its conclusion in silence.
No one spoke first.
Shirou, however, turned back to look at the collapsed body parts, muttered in relief: "...Fortunately, the weak point really was the head."
'Then if it hadn't been the head, were you planning to keep hitting it until it couldn't get up again?'
John forcibly swallowed this question.
Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed true. If one didn't even have the strength to resolve a single giant skeleton, in this eerie place, being attacked was basically equivalent to certain death.
Being able to resolve an existence of this level was only natural; it was an entrance ticket for dealing with even more severe situations.
However, the monster among the twenty-eight likely didn't have the confidence to face this thing without casualties, and Sigma was at the level where he wouldn't even dream of trying to deal with such a thing.
Everyone silently kept their own estimates to themselves.
"Very impressive." Finally, it was Sigma who frankly clapped twice for the person who, theoretically, was a friend, and spoke his honest thoughts in a flat tone.
That said, he saw that Shirou's own complexion had not relaxed; instead, realizing something was wrong, he gripped his side arm, his gaze becoming grave.
"Emiya, what's wrong?"
Shirou looked toward the inside of his arm through his light clothing, pondered for a moment, and answered honestly: "I'm ashamed to say this, but usually, I have others supporting my magical energy, so I don't have any scruples about using magic. My own magical capacity is quite ordinary, not particularly large. They have helped me a great deal."
"Does that refer to using some kind of Mystic Code?" one of the monster-twenty-eight raised their hand, interested.
Shirou shook his head noncommittally: "No, it's slightly different..."
Without explaining the exact difference, Shirou just continued: "Although I have always felt that it was perhaps a bit unfair or extravagant... usually, the magical energy I consume is quickly replenished. But now, that function isn't responding, so I can only use my own magical energy."
The connection had not disappeared.
The connection still existed, and the path still existed. What had disappeared in the city's replica was the feedback.
Shirou could not feel anything from the other end of the path. Thus, by the same logic, Rin could not feel Shirou on the other end of the path either.
Usually, it operated on a principle like pressure differential; once one side consumed magical energy, the other side's magical energy would automatically flow in along the path.
But now, the pressure differential seemed to have been forcibly leveled. Deceived by this false appearance, Shirou could not sense Rin's fluctuations in magical energy, and Rin could not
sense Shirou's fluctuations in magical energy. Furthermore, magical energy would no longer automatically flow from one end to the other.
Although the path still existed... but since the other party didn't know he was using magical energy, how could he get the other party to actively inject magical energy into a path that had no feedback and seemed like it was broken?
The cause of the deception was likely the particularity inherent in the replica Fuyuki City itself. It was not just a particularity in its nature, but also possessed some kind of conceptual particularity.
However, the conclusion was actually quite simple.
Shirou stated the conclusion directly.
"—In short, just now I used up about one-fifth of my magical energy, but it didn't recover."
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