Shirou Emiya Stands on Terra Chapter 27

"No."

As Shirou shook his head, Exusiai's smile turned to despair.

There were only two ways to say goodbye to a little tummy: eat less or exercise more.

Exusiai decided to increase her exercise starting tomorrow. As for eating less, forget it! It was against heavenly principles for a Laterano citizen to not eat dessert! And it would be a disservice to Shirou to not finish the meals he cooked! So, she could only focus on exercise!

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic!"

Shirou tidied his messy hair and clothes, trying to change the subject.

"Where were we just now? I think we were talking about our main job description?"

Texas recalled their previous conversation, which seemed to be about their main job description.

"Mm, Sora mentioned that you deliver rather dangerous cargo and encounter all sorts of people."

Shirou remembered it clearly, because he was mobbed right after that.

"That's right. Because we encounter all sorts of battles, trust is more important to us than anything else. You should understand what I mean, right?"

Texas said earnestly to Shirou. Matters between men and women, or being strong, weren't the most important things; what mattered was being trustworthy.

An untrustworthy teammate would only drag down the team's mission progress, or even lead to the entire team failing their mission or dying. Compared to the risk of death, other things truly weren't that important.

"I think I understand."

Listening to Texas, Shirou understood her meaning.

It was similar to Saber in his memories. Before her identity as a woman, she was a Servant. The members of Penguin Logistics were the same.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Exusiai, standing nearby, didn't understand their conversation at all. After all, she and Croissant had been playing games beside them just now.

"Nothing, you'll know later."

Seeing that Shirou seemed to have accepted reality, Texas happily chewed on her Pocky. After this, their team would have an additional ranged support. Although dealing with guys who used shields might still be difficult, it was still an extra pair of hands.

It was also time to ask the boss to apply for a bigger vehicle.

35 Dream

After sending the four of them back to their respective rooms, Shirou began his daily essential task.

The Pseudo. Spiral Sword in Shirou's hand reshaped itself into a slender form.

This was one of the extended abilities of projection. It allowed him to alter the form of the Noble Phantasm he projected to a certain extent. It was through this ability that Archer shaped most of his swords into slender forms and fired them as arrows.

"Still too slow..."

Shirou picked up the slender Pseudo. Spiral Sword in his hand and examined it carefully. After the last magical circuit outburst, he could now project Noble Phantasms completely, not just empty shells with an exterior, but actual Noble Phantasms.

It was just that the overall speed was a bit slow, or rather, his proficiency was nowhere near Archer's.

It already took some time to project the Pseudo. Spiral Sword, and with the change in form, it would likely take at least ten seconds.

However, it was sufficient as a finishing move. After all, this was originally what Archer used in conjunction with Calamity Jane for ultra-long-range demolition.

If there was a problem, it was that the magic consumption was quite high, and Shirou found it a bit difficult to handle.

However, for some reason, his magic recovery speed was quite fast. It felt as if something was supplying him with magic.

After thinking about it, Shirou couldn't come up with anything, so he gave up.

He withdrew the magic from the Pseudo. Spiral Sword in his hand, and it disappeared into blue light particles.

Ultimately, the Spiral Sword in his hand could only be used as an arrow. If he were to use it as a sword, it would be better to project Gan Jiang Mo Ye, as it consumed less magic and was more convenient.

"But Unlimited Blade Works..."

Shirou muttered to himself. For some reason, he couldn't activate Unlimited Blade Works. However, it might be because this was another world?

Shirou racked his brain but couldn't figure out the reason. He could only put this problem and the abnormal magic recovery aside for later consideration.

His priority now was to improve the speed and accuracy of his projection. Previously, to maintain his energy to take care of everyone in Penguin Logistics, he hadn't pushed himself to the limit with training as he had in the past. Now, his training intensity needed to return to that previous level.

He didn't want to fail the trust placed in him by Texas.

The words Texas spoke, besides expressing that they didn't mind, also conveyed that they actually trusted Shirou very much.

He didn't want to betray that trust.

So, he had to work harder now.

Shirou only stopped training when he started to feel dizzy. After wiping off his sweat, he lay down on the bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Perhaps it was due to exhaustion, but Shirou felt that he slept very, very soundly.

"..."

"...Shirou, Shirou! Are you alright!"

In a daze, Shirou felt someone calling him. From the sound, it seemed to be a woman, and she sounded very familiar. It must be someone he knew?

Slightly opening his eyes, Shirou saw two blurry figures. One was a black-haired girl wearing red, and the other was a white-haired girl wearing purple.

"He's opened his eyes! Shirou... Shirou, can you hear me? Don't close your eyes, try to stay awake!"

A blurry white figure was constantly holding his left hand and talking to him.

Shirou felt it was a bit noisy. He was so sleepy and tired, and just wanted to have a good sleep. But after hearing what the other person said, he still forced himself to perk up.

Although he didn't know why, if it was the other person's request, he would do it.

"We need to stop the bleeding. Archer has gone to hold off that golden bastard. We need to hurry and stop Shirou's bleeding and get him to a safe place."

The blurry red figure seemed to tear something, and then seemed to do something to his right hand.

His consciousness was a bit hazy, and a slight pain made Shirou sober up a little.

What just happened?

Berserker fought with the golden Archer and lost, and the golden Archer seemed to want to attack Illya, but at the last moment, he pushed Illya away.

The price seemed to be... his right hand.

Is he going to die?

Fortunately, the golden Archer was kicked away by Berserker at the end. If it weren't for that strange golden chain, he might have been smashed to pieces with an axe.

However, the damage caused by the Noble Phantasm had completely shattered his right hand, with no possibility of reattachment.

He didn't regret it. If he hadn't pushed Illya away, Illya would likely have been pierced by the Noble Phantasm.

"Archer? Where is that Golden Flash?"

Seeing Archer suddenly appear, Illya asked with a frown. Because there were two Archers, Illya used Rin's nickname for the other guy to distinguish them.

However, Archer's attitude towards Shirou had always been very bad, so Illya wasn't giving him a good look now and was privately wary of him.

"As you can see, the black mud repelled that guy, but I also got some of it."

Archer pointed to a small hole in his abdomen, where crimson patterns could still be seen spreading, but Archer didn't care at all. He looked at Shirou, who had fallen to the ground.

"You look terrible. How does it feel to sacrifice your life to help others?"

"Archer!"

Rin glared at Archer. She had known for a long time that their relationship was bad, but she didn't expect Archer to be in the mood to joke at a time like this.

Even Illya showed displeasure, and began preparing her magic.

"Is your right hand completely shattered? There's no way to reattach it. If Saber's contract hadn't been broken after being purified, at least Avalon could have healed the wound..."

Archer squatted down to examine Shirou's injuries carefully, but his words still made the two people beside him frown slightly.

"Archer, you..."

Rin originally wanted Archer to go to the side to rest and recover, but she didn't expect Archer to suddenly project a black sword into his left hand.

"What do you want to do?"

Illya blocked between Archer and Shirou. She didn't need to use any magic. No matter what magic it was, it definitely wouldn't be as fast as the sword in Archer's hand.

"Archer, why do you want to kill Shirou?"

Rin knew that there was no room for negotiation in the current situation. Even if she used a Command Spell to stop him, it would be useless. So, the only thing she could do was to find out why Archer wanted to kill Shirou.

"...Isn't that obvious? Tohsaka?"

Seeing their actions, Archer was silent for a moment, then spoke in a tone and with a name that Rin was very familiar with.

"Archer, you..."

All the scenes of Archer and Shirou meeting in the past flashed through her mind, as well as Archer's past in her dreams. Rin finally understood the relationship between the two.

Archer didn't answer, but raised the sword in his left hand.

Illya wanted to stop him, but Rin held her back.

"Rin! What are you doing? Let go of me!"

Illya, held by Rin, struggled constantly.

36 It's all the Holy Grail's fault!

"Archer doesn't intend to kill Shirou right now."

As if responding to Rin's words, Archer placed the sword in his hand on his right shoulder.

"Archer? What are you...?"

Illya stopped struggling and looked at his actions with confusion.

"I am a Servant. When contaminated, this is the best choice. At least one person can survive."

Archer looked at Illya, who had been trying to stop him, and Rin, who had held her back, and smiled with relief.

Although he couldn't personally bury the ideal of a "hero of justice," when he first saw that Shirou Emiya and Illya's relationship had eased considerably, he gave up his extreme approach and chose peaceful conversation.

He didn't reveal his true name, but spoke a lot as someone who had been through it. That seed had been planted, and that was enough.

Through the conversation, he also remembered why he had made the ideal of becoming a "hero of justice."

He had never wanted to kill Shirou Emiya, but rather to prevent the next "hero of justice" from becoming an executioner.

Yes, he just hoped Shirou Emiya wouldn't repeat the same mistakes as Archer.

"Shirou Emiya! Since you took Illya's hand, don't let go! Live! And then go defeat that guy!"

The moment Archer finished speaking, he brought down the blade in his hand with a single strike, and Shirou woke up.

Upon waking, Shirou first touched his right hand, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming it was still there.

"What was that just now? Memories from the gate? No, rather than memories, it felt more like a simple dream."

Shirou looked at his right hand. No matter how he looked at it, it was his usual right hand.

His rationality and his still-present right hand both told him that what just happened was merely a dream, but his subconscious felt that it wasn't just a dream. It might be a fragment of memory from the Holy Grail War that he had lost.

If it wasn't his memory, how could it be so real?

And if it were his memory... what was going on with his right hand?

Taking a deep breath, Shirou organized the fragments he could still recall.

First, he had lost his right hand trying to save Illya, Rin and Illya were helping him stop the bleeding, and finally Archer came over and chopped off his own right hand with his blade.

There was no context or explanation. Where was Saber? What happened afterwards? What was Archer trying to do by cutting off his own hand, grafting it onto him directly? Could a human have an Servant's arm grafted onto them?

"Giving me only a part of it like this is truly full of malice! Is this the Holy Grail's doing? Do you know how difficult it was for me when you only gave me textual knowledge? And now you're only stuffing a portion of memories into me?"

Thinking of this, Shirou, in his exasperation, threw all his questions at the Holy Grail.

Every mistake, every fault, was the Holy Grail's fault!

"Calm down... What needs to be done now is to record these events first."

Shirou, forcing himself to calm down, first took out his notebook to record these matters.

He would record any particularly vivid memories from the gate, and any memories related to magecraft, into the notebook.