Chapter 13 Shirou's Two New Bows, Flat's Small Skill
First, they confirmed the status of the remaining monsters; the community in the current area had been completely swept, and there were no abnormalities.
With a deep exhale, Shirou relaxed his stance. Shirou began to check his remaining mana, while Clan Calatin scattered again to start regrouping.
"Shirou Emiya, can you wait five minutes for us?"
"Yeah, leaving at that time is no problem."
During the interval as the atmosphere eased, members of the police bureau would occasionally strike up a conversation with Shirou as they walked by, to which Shirou would—respond; the atmosphere was very good.
John also proactively approached and thanked Shirou. Although they were in an equal cooperative relationship, the rain of arrows from a moment ago had relieved a lot of the pressure on the front lines; he felt that he at least couldn't show no reaction to the help he had received.
Awkward.
"I'm also being covered by so many people for the first time, it's mutual. The experience is very novel."
Tactics, coordination, synergy—Clan Calatin were powerful enough to be called strong in any field requiring cooperation. Not only was the coordination between them exquisite, but the judgment to protect Shirou, who was engaged in long-range attacks, was not requested by Shirou; it was something they did spontaneously.
The consciousness to take appropriate actions for the appropriate role without anyone needing to remind them. This was a fighting style that only exists when one does not keep their gaze on themselves, but on others. Shirou, who had been cared for by such gazes, gave them a gentle evaluation.
Caught between pride and shame, hearing this evaluation, John made an expression of wanting to be happy but not daring to be too happy.
"Is your mana still sufficient?"
"Consumed a little, not much."
Shirou checked his mana situation once: "Need to consider other alternative methods, otherwise, I won't be able to hold up if I keep using mana."
Thinking of something, Shirou extended his hand and lifted it to the side. The surrounding mana began to rise sharply, the atmosphere condensed toward the center, and a ball of light fused from blue light materialized in Shirou's palm. When the ball of light disappeared, what rapidly expanded in its place was a crystal-clear long weapon.
Shirou had just casually taken a weapon from the Sword Hill. But when they noticed it, the surrounding officers stopped what they were saying one after another, turning their heads to look as if he had performed nuclear fusion on his hand on the spot. The scene was momentarily quiet to the point of being awkward.
They couldn't help but notice it, even if they didn't want to, because that weapon was emitting a strong sense of presence that could be felt even from behind.
It was a bow that did not fit in. It was as magnificent as crystal, as if it had been carved from a material like glaze; the entire bow stretched naturally, yet it emitted a soul-stirring momentum. Although it was not a Noble Phantasm, the powerful mana flowing within it made them unable to take their eyes off it.
After all, the mana within it no longer belonged to the category of mana in terms of quality. The entire weapon was composed of extremely special mana. It was completely different in nature from modern mana, giving the impression of an ancient heirloom. But even established on such a foundation, that mana was not something that should belong to humans.
They didn't recognize this kind of mana—a power that seemed to be resonating with the atmosphere, making the air feel a few degrees hotter. Therefore, the unknown makes people panic.
And because it was so obvious, they suddenly realized: he created this huge, high-density mass of mana out of thin air, swaying in the air—yet his mana aura had barely decreased?
Setting aside where this mana mass came from, whose hands could have bestowed such power upon a weapon with mana quality as concentrated as a black hole in his palm? Everyone knew this was not something that was easy to ask, but it was impossible to ignore!
Only Shirou knew that it was an aggregate of mana known as 「Divine Spirit Essence」. That is to say—Alcides' bow.
"Human, if you survive and go back, will you really replicate this bow as well?" said that existence from before. This was the answer.
A Servant's Noble Phantasm, along with their body itself, is woven and reproduced using mana. Since he could project copies of those Noble Phantasms, if it was shaped into a clear physical object using mana, there was no reason he couldn't project it, right? Alcides' bow had even been used for melee combat before; the conditions had long since been fully met.
However, as expected, Shirou could project it, but not completely. Alcides' bow was not as stable as a Servant's Noble Phantasm.
Shirou did not have skills related to Divine Spirit Essence. Even if he could project it, because Shirou could not suppress its form with spontaneous power continuously, it would turn back into formless Divine Spirit Essence after one or two minutes and could not maintain its shape. Although using this bow would temporarily raise Shirou's abilities in all aspects, one
projection lasted only a minute or two. In the end, the mana consumption would actually increase.
It was not suitable for use in the current situation where there were mana constraints.
Although the weapon was strong, Shirou simply abandoned the idea of borrowing Alcides' weapon for the moment. This time it was just an experimental projection to observe the situation; if it didn't work, he would just find other alternatives.
"If increasing the power is not cost-effective, then as expected, I should choose to replace mana arrows with physical arrows to save mana." Regarding this, Shirou was seriously considering it.
"However, there are no materials in the pseudo-Snowfield City to make arrows, right? ...Wait, could it be that you also have items related to arrow creation?" John asked. It was common sense that using physical arrows required prior production. So, John naturally thought of similar abilities. Looking at his clear, pure gaze, Shirou looked away with a guilty conscience. Well, it was something he had seen, after all, and by the time he realized it, he had already subconsciously recorded it.
"I didn't use it much before... so I only got it recently; after all, the Archer's Noble Phantasm among you is of this type." The Archer of Clan Calatin' Noble Phantasm: [Brionac Ibar]. This bow had a total of three special effects and one True Name Release. Effect 1: Split Tracking. Regardless of the user's archery skills, the arrows would automatically correct their direction toward the enemy's position. The actual hit rate is proportional to the archery skill. The user could also choose to split one arrow into several attacks. Effect 2: Basic Shot Correction. The power of basic shots would automatically receive a certain degree of increase and reinforcement. Effect 3: Arrow Creation. While holding the Noble Phantasm, one could generate arrows made of special metallic materials and save them.
It could be said that this Noble Phantasm was quite easy to use when it was designed. As long as he modified the feel, Shirou felt it was quite easy to use, stronger than the bow he was originally using.
As expected of the Caster's handiwork, it was impeccable in terms of user-friendliness. Although Shirou could repeatedly copy his bow many times and could transfer the effects, he couldn't take the initiative to manufacture Noble Phantasm effects like him for others to use easily. Every trade has its master.
The good news was that although Shirou couldn't actively create Noble Phantasm effects, from the moment he created the Noble Phantasm effect, Shirou included the Noble Phantasm effect in his inventory that he could transfer.
"?" John was full of questions with a simple face, then he realized and clapped his hands: "So that's it! Mr. Shirou learned arrow creation from Mini's Noble Phantasm, right!"
"Learned it... yes, yes, I learned it." Although it wasn't the kind of "learned it" you're thinking of. But things had come to this, and he couldn't say it anymore.
It's really strange, hasn't five minutes passed yet? Clearly, five minutes usually passes in a flash when practicing swordsmanship. Could it be that he entered Rin's treasure box?
"Hey?" While still escaping from reality, suddenly a burst of noise was born in Shirou's ear. Just like auditory hallucinations...
"Hey, hey? Can you hear me, Butler-kun?"
But it wasn't an auditory hallucination. The sound block was clearly vibrating his skull. Stopping his movements and shifting his gaze, switching states within a breath, Shirou immediately concentrated all his attention on the sound he heard and confirmed:
"—Flat?"
John, who was beside him, was startled by this shout and looked at Shirou without understanding. He clearly couldn't hear the incoming voice.
Only Shirou could communicate with the other party.
"It's me! I finally saw you, Butler-kun. It's really great that I didn't step into the trap room in vain."
The airy voice continued.
"Trap room? Flat, can you specifically point out which room you are referring to?"
This statement made one scratch their head. However, for Flat, the distinction between what is important and what is not important is often very strange. Or rather, he knows very well where the point lies, so he will gloss over the parts that are not the point—even if that is actually a very thrilling thing.
"The room where the treasures of Mesopotamia are kept!"
I see... Hey, isn't that the room of that most troublesome guy!? As an experienced person full of experience, Shirou couldn't help but sincerely comfort: "Congratulations, on being safe and sound."
"Thank you!"
Flat probably went to the Crystal Hill. Then, he saw Shirou and the others at the highest point of the city. Shirou was no longer surprised that Flat could find him. As long as he was okay.
"This magecraft should be Telepathy. Flat, you are near us, right? Don't you want to come and join us?" Telepathy should be a magecraft that requires face-to-face contact; the focus is on the concealment of communication and cannot be too far away. When Shirou asked this, the other side shook his head: "No, I am in the air now, on Mr. Jack's back—ah, I mean Mr. Jack
turned into an eagle. I just saw everyone from the police bureau, but it seems to be a different team from you, so I'm watching. They are far away from you."
Shirou looked up at the sky and didn't see any birds.
"Don't look for me, you are out of my line of sight now, I think I must have left your line of sight."
You should have said so earlier.
"No, wait." Shirou reacted to the abnormal situation that defied magecraft common sense. "You are so far away from us that you can't be seen... How have you been telepathing with me the whole time?"
"Ah, it's like this! I first saw Butler-kun through Clairvoyance, and then I immediately created a Telepathy formula and stuffed it into a curse I temporarily wrote! Because there are many legends about passing curses through the gaze, it can even be said to be one of the origins of Mystic Eyes, so magecraft-wise, the curse was successfully sent to you! This curse is a blank bullet and has no damage, so please rest assured, Butler-kun, Telepathy is the point!"
Flat said happily: "For example... hasn't the MOBA(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game just become popular in the world recently? Just set this as my small skill~! Something like marking a friendly unit within the field of vision for ultra-long-range communication!"
Shirou thought about what he meant and finally concluded: "Understood."
"Understood? I didn't understand this at all."
Perhaps in the eyes of others, the situation of the two can only be said to be half a catty versus eight taels. But the principle of "what is easy in one trade is difficult in another" is also a truth in the world.
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