Shirou Emiya Stands Upon Terra

Shirou craned his head to look at the data above, then pulled back after one glance.

The reason was simple: he could not understand it.

The densely packed data made Shirou's head ache after only a single look.

"There'll be summarized data for you afterward, so don't worry too much."

Seeing Shirou's reaction, Isv spoke.

If Shirou, who had never received any formal education, could understand this information, Isv would be more worried instead.

"That's great. What should I do next?"

Hearing that there would be a summary, Shirou stopped agonizing over the data on the screen and asked what he should do next.

"Next is practical combat training. The crossbow has been prepared over there."

Looking in the direction Isv indicated, Shirou saw a rather exquisite crossbow.

After thinking for a moment, Shirou did not pick up the crossbow and instead asked, "Can I use another weapon?"

"Of course. Use whatever feels comfortable. What kind of weapon do you need?"

Isv did not force Shirou to use a crossbow. Combat was about choosing whatever suited one best. It was only because Shirou had displayed an exceptional talent for sniping that the Emperor had asked Isv to prepare that crossbow.

The plan had been to let Shirou take the crossbow with him after the test. Once Shirou had earned some money, they could make adjustments based on his needs or replace it with another one depending on the situation.

But it did not matter if Shirou did not want it. It had merely been taken from the warehouse, and at worst, it could simply be put back.

He just had to find a weapon that suited Shirou's needs.

"A blade or a sword."

After some thought, Shirou decided to use swords as his weapons.

"Would standard-issue ones work? I think the warehouse here has some. I'll go get them."

Recalling what weapons were in stock in the warehouse, Isv stood up and prepared to fetch them.

"No need. Let's begin right away."

Shirou extended his hand and began his Projection.

"Trace on—"

"Did you bring a wea...pon?"

Isv turned his head, assuming Shirou had brought a weapon of his own.

Then he saw a flash of light in Shirou's hand, and a pair of black-and-white swords appeared in his grasp.

"...If you have a weapon, go to the room over there."

Though Isv was extremely curious, his professional discipline made him tell Shirou to finish the test first.

With Shirou possessing such a special ability, his boss would surely be very interested as well.

Isv was now very much looking forward to seeing his boss let out an indescribable penguin shriek upon watching the recorded footage.

Let Me See

Upon entering the room Isv had mentioned, Shirou's first impression was that it was highly advanced.

Although the exterior looked much like a dilapidated building, Shirou could still use magecraft to pick up clues that a large number of machines were operating here.

"Practical combat training..."

Tightening his grip on Gan Jiang Mo Ye, Shirou's body gradually entered a combat-ready state.

"Next is the practical combat segment. You will face various enemies here and search for a blue point of light. The blue point will appear after five minutes. Before then, you must evade these virtual enemies' attacks. Either surviving until the end or eliminating all enemies is acceptable."

Isv's explanation came through the broadcast. To ensure Shirou understood, he spoke a little more slowly.

"So for the first five minutes, I just deal with the enemies, and after that I clear the test by finding the blue point of light?"

Although Isv had already explained it clearly, Shirou still summarized it briefly.

"That's right. I'll adjust the difficulty according to the situation. The equipment on your body will simulate your physical condition, so even though these enemies will not inflict fatal injuries, please avoid being hit as much as possible."

Isv added.

"I understand."

Shirou roughly understood the entire process. His goal was to reach the blue point of light, but before that, he had to endure at least five minutes of attacks, with the difficulty adjusted by Isv.

The attacks would not cause fatal injuries, but the equipment he wore would simulate them, so it was best not to be hit at all.

"Then the test will begin in ten seconds. Shirou, please use all your strength in this test. Remember, all of it."

As Isv's voice fell, Shirou saw several machines in the distance activate.

He briefly checked his surroundings. There were signs of activation in at least three directions.

Shirou took several small steps toward the direction where no machines had activated and began simulating in his mind how he should respond when the time came.

"Your observation skills are good. You noticed from the start which directions the enemies were coming from."

Isv carefully watched Shirou on the screen, noting his actions and recording anything worth documenting in advance.

Once the time came, Isv pressed the red button beside him, and the machines in the room began their respective operations.

These were all machines Isv had configured, designed entirely around the terrain here. Taken elsewhere, they would be nothing but scrap metal, but they were more than sufficient for testing in this place.

Watching the machines charge toward him, Shirou first dashed for nearby cover while throwing the Gan Jiang Mo Ye in his hands, destroying the two machines at the front.

On Isv's display, Shirou rushed toward the machines on one side at incredible speed. Even after throwing his twin blades, identical ones would appear in his hands, while the thrown blades turned into blue light and dissipated after a period of time.

Every place the blades passed left behind a clean cross-section on the machines.

"His movements are extremely quick and efficient, and his judgment is good as well. It's hard to imagine someone like this would willingly be a babysitter."

After Shirou eliminated a third of the machines within a minute, Isv commented on his performance while slightly raising the difficulty.

"?"

Noticing the machines' attack patterns had changed, Shirou immediately found cover and hid behind it.

After the previous exchange, Shirou had roughly figured out how these machines attacked. Most of them used rubber bullets, while some attacked by ramming. The vast majority acted independently.

But for a moment just now, Shirou had sensed that the machines' movement patterns suddenly changed, as though a leaderless squad had abruptly gained someone to command it.

"If that's the case, Gan Jiang Mo Ye alone probably won't be enough."

Shirou dismissed the twin blades in his hands, replacing them with a black bow.

"A bow?"

Seeing the bow in Shirou's hand, Isv became curious about how he intended to use it in battle. Shirou might have been slicing through these machines as easily as vegetables, but in reality, even if Exusiai attacked them with etched bullets, it would be difficult to shoot through them.

Shirou held the bow in his left hand and several arrows in his right. The instant he turned and left cover, he nocked and fired.

Several arrows glowed red as they flew toward their targets like crimson meteors.

One arrow for each machine. Several machines were instantly disabled.

"..."

Despite being well-traveled and knowledgeable, this was Isv's first time seeing something like this.

The machines Shirou destroyed with arrows were the charging types, their outer shells exceptionally thick, yet they had been wiped out by a single shot.

And it had only been a short while, yet Shirou had already destroyed more than half the machines. When Texas had come before, she had only taken down half during the test before it ended. Shirou, meanwhile, was advancing toward total annihilation.

"Since he can use long-range weapons, it's only reasonable for me to deploy drones too, right?"

After making a few adjustments, Isv released several dozen drones.

Normally, tests involving close-range weapons such as swords would not deploy so many drones. At most, one or two would be released near the light point at the end to interfere.

But since Shirou had taken out a bow, there was nothing wrong with Isv releasing the drone swarms normally used to test bows and crossbows.

Shirou, however, did not see it that way.

He had originally planned to slowly whittle down the enemy's numbers with arrows, but a sudden warning of danger in his heart made him immediately leave the cover where he had been standing.

A swarm of drones fired countless rubber bullets at Shirou's previous position.

"Drones!?"

Seeing more than a dozen drones hovering overhead, Shirou began to feel that this test had become somewhat difficult.

As he ran and dodged the barrage of rubber bullets, Shirou prioritized attacking the drones in the air. After all, drones were highly mobile, unlike the machines on the ground, which moved slowly.

Shirou leaped over a wave of attacks and landed atop an elevated platform.

Half-kneeling on the platform, he angled his bow and nocked an arrow.

Pouring mana into it, Shirou fired the arrow enveloped in red magical energy.

The arrow burst apart like fireworks after being fired, destroying the drones across an entire area.

"Both your tactical planning and skill are exceptional? Just where is your limit? Let me see!"

Watching Shirou swiftly wipe out the drone swarm, Isv decided to take control personally.

Isv rapidly took over all the machines and the remaining drones, beginning a coordinated assault on Shirou.

An Unexpected Path

Under Isv's control, the machines and drones became exceptionally troublesome.

Originally, Shirou could have slowly maneuvered around and looked for opportunities to take them out, but now, the moment he paused, he would be met with a barrage of rubber bullets.

"The difficulty shot up way too much!"

Shirou knew it had to be Isv outside adjusting the difficulty. He had noticed the previous increases, but this time it had suddenly risen several levels at once!

Although Shirou wanted to blow up these machines with a single Imitation: Spiral Sword, whether his opponent would give him the chance was one thing, but this was a basement. If Spiral Sword exploded here, he would bury himself on the spot.

He decisively abandoned the Black Bow. In this situation, the instant he showed himself and drew the bowstring, he would get a faceful of rubber bullets. He still had to rely on Gan Jiang Mo Ye.

He still could not smoothly use a bow in mobile combat, so he could only rely on the twin blades he was most familiar with.

Although his thrown twin blades could be avoided, relying on Gan Jiang Mo Ye's tendency to attract each other, Shirou still took down quite a few enemies.

"Their numbers have gone down, so why have they become even more annoying? Don't tell me someone's controlling them?"

Watching the machines and drones grow increasingly agile in both movement and attack, Shirou felt thoroughly disgusted.

Ding—

Shirou heard a sound, then saw a blue light flashing in the distance.

Seeing the blue light, Shirou assessed the considerable distance between himself and it, as well as the large number of enemies in between.

"Isn't this some kind of rigged setup?"

Shirou grumbled inwardly, but his body kept moving.

Naturally, this was also Isv's doing. He had already roughly assessed Shirou's level; now he needed a more extreme environment to force Shirou to his limits.

In any case, Isv himself judged the results of the simulated test. It did not matter even if Shirou failed—Isv already had a fairly good idea. Tactical planning and combat technique were inherently vague areas, highly subjective.

On the screen, Shirou did not immediately choose to attack. Instead, he surveyed his surroundings.

Then Shirou seemed to reach some conclusion and flung out the twin blades in his hands. Isv controlled the machines to evade the attack.

After the previous attacks, Isv had already determined that the flight path of one blade was dictated by the position of the other. The two blades seemed to attract each other, eventually converging in the same place.

As long as he understood that principle, dodging them should naturally be easy...?

"It exploded?"

Isv stared at the explosion from the drone's perspective and fell silent.

This was not an option he had anticipated.

Casually pulling out swords, bows, and arrows was one thing, but now he was telling him they could explode too?

Isv felt like he had taken in a bit too much external information today. His head hurt.