Shirou knelt with one knee on the vehicle, hooking his foot into the rack mounted on the roof. This allowed him to stabilize his body fairly well so he wouldn't easily be blown away by the wind.
"Whew... Are they on both sides?"
After standing on the roof, Shirou's field of vision opened up, and he also spotted the trailing convoy to the rear-right that he hadn't been able to see earlier due to the angles.
"Shirou, isn't this way too dangerous? I'll get a rope and tie you down!"
Exusiai leaned her upper body out of the vehicle's sunroof, complaining as she looked at Shirou kneeling on the roof, while tying the rope Sora handed her to Shirou's ankle.
The other end of the rope was tied to the front passenger seat, which to a certain extent would prevent Shirou from simply getting whooshed away by the wind.
Unfortunately, the howling of the wind was a bit too loud, and Shirou didn't clearly hear Exusiai's complaints; he only saw her tie a rope around his foot.
This was pretty good, as it meant he could now pull off something big.
Turning his head, the people in the rear were a little over a kilometer away. Shirou could clearly see that they were all wearing identical black clothes and that each of them held a weapon.
Sabers, firearms, staves, magic staffs, shields, hammers—they had everything you could expect.
Considering how Texas had constantly changed directions earlier while these people still stubbornly stayed right on their tail, the problems with these individuals were certainly huge.
Still, to avoid friendly fire or misunderstandings, Shirou decided to say hello first.
As for how to say hello?
"Trace on—"
A long black bow fell into Shirou's hand.
"???"
Exusiai stared in utter bewilderment at the bow in Shirou's hand. Weren't there only dual blades?
Well, come to think of it, if he only had dual blades, his job class adaptability shouldn't have shown Sniper and Caster. This seemed to be a mistake on their part for not confirming things properly back then.
Exusiai watched as Shirou held the bow in his left hand, while in his right hand a somewhat strangely shaped sword was gradually taking form.
"Exu, how's the situation up there?"
Croissant's head squeezed out from the sunroof beside them. Both of them were fairly slender, and the sunroof had been designed rather large to begin with, so squeezing both of them through was still more than enough room.
Croissant had intended to bring an earpiece for Shirou so he could stay in communication. Although wearing an earpiece in such a windy environment would probably only yield a massive amount of static, Shirou would at least be able to hear what they were saying.
Then she saw the sword gradually forming in Shirou's hand, its appearance bearing a striking resemblance to a spiral.
"Huh?"
Croissant turned her head to look at Exusiai, trying to get an answer from her.
"Don't look at me, I don't get this operation."
Faced with Croissant's death glare, Exusiai shook her head to indicate she had no idea.
"What do you suppose Shirou's planning to do holding a bow and that strange sword? Shoot it out like an arrow?"
Croissant lowered her body slightly so she wouldn't be disturbed by the strong external wind, allowing them to converse normally.
"No, no, no, using a sword as an arrow is way too fantasy, isn't it? Let alone considering whether it can accurately hit the target without tail fins, just the weight alone makes it practically impossible, right?"
Regarding Croissant's wild imagination, Exusiai felt she was overthinking it.
The most important part of an arrow was its tail fins; good tail fins allowed an arrow to hit its target more precisely. Without tail fins, an arrow would have trouble even flying stably, let alone using a very heavy "sword" as ammunition.
"But... Exu, it really looks like Shirou is about to use that thing as an arrow."
Croissant gave Exusiai's body a light nudge, pointing toward Shirou, who was already preparing to notch the spiral sword onto the bowstring.
Bright red magical energy was converging toward the spiral sword in his hand.
"By Laterano, are you really planning to use this thing as an arrow, Shirou? How on earth is it gonna n—"
Exusiai had originally intended to complain about Shirou treating a bulky sword like an arrow, but she stopped her complaint the moment she saw Shirou make the spiral sword slender.
"Did you say something just now, Exusiai?"
Shirou turned his head to ask. While he had been concentrating on projecting the spiral sword earlier, he thought he heard Croissant and Exusiai vaguely saying something, but the wind was too loud for him to hear clearly.
"I said it takes you thirty-odd seconds just to fire a single shot, how long is it gonna take to clear out the enemies ahead?"
Exusiai instantly changed her tune, speaking loudly. From initially doubting whether Shirou could even use a sword as an arrow, she shifted to claiming that Shirou's attack speed was far too slow.
"Exu, that is definitely not what you just said."
Beside her, Croissant watched Exusiai change her narrative, giving her teammate a deeply disappointed look.
"That? No need to worry, I'm just giving the other side a warning first. One shot is enough."
Shirou shifted his focus back to the rear. What he needed to aim at wasn't the cluster of vehicles itself, but a spot somewhat further ahead.
After all, it was just a warning, and the best way to issue a warning in this kind of wilderness was an explosion. If the other party still insisted on chasing them after that, then he wouldn't show any mercy.
So speaking of explosions—
One simply had to mention Archer's Broken Phantasm, the Caladbolg II, and its fine companion, Imaginary Break.
Shirou remembered the explosive effects caused by Archer's use of the Caladbolg II in his memories extremely well.
"Caladbolg II!"
Releasing the bowstring, the Caladbolg II shot straight toward the spot Shirou had aimed at.
"No way, isn't this way too off-target?"
Watching the trajectory of the arrow, Exusiai quickly estimated where it was going to hit.
She suspected Shirou was messing with her. Where had that hundred-percent-hit momentum from before gone?
Although Croissant couldn't quite read the situation, she had a gut feeling that this arrow of Shirou's... no, this "sword"—might not be quite so simple.
The moment after firing, Shirou grabbed onto a sturdy handhold while shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Hold on tight!"
Before Exusiai and Croissant could react, they saw a mushroom cloud blossom precisely where Shirou had just fired the spiral sword.
May Laterano protect me.
Exusiai almost lost her footing and tumbled back into the vehicle, saved only by Croissant grabbing her by the collar just in time.
A concise and punchy Longmen curse.
Croissant hauled Exusiai back. Although she had guessed that Shirou's arrow might not be ordinary, she never expected it to turn out like this?
Who could have possibly predicted it?
Once the shockwave of the explosion subsided, Shirou could see that all the enemy vehicles had ground to a halt, showing no intention of continuing the pursuit.
"All done, they've all stopped."
Shirou announced to the two stunned individuals, while gently pushing Croissant's still-gaping jaw back up into place.
"Shirou, you... I... This..."
Exusiai pondered for a long time without managing to come up with anything to say. After stammering for quite a while, she decided she needed to reboot her brain and update her worldview a bit.
Croissant, you might as well just eat bread.
After Shirou blew up a mushroom cloud to put an end to the enemy's tailgating behavior, Texas drove the vehicle forward for a good long stretch before finally coming to a stop.
Though letting Shirou in directly probably wouldn't have made much difference anyway, given that the sunroof on Exusiai's side had already let a fair amount of dust and sand into the brand-new vehicle.
Even so, considering that Shirou still had a rope tied to his foot and it wouldn't be easy to climb in through the sunroof, stopping the car so Shirou could board properly was the most sensible course of action. It also gave everyone a chance to clean up the interior a bit and brush the dust and sand off their faces and hair.
"What on earth did you just do, Shirou?! There was this huge boom!"
Sora asked Shirou as she wiped her face clean with a damp towel.
Just moments ago inside the vehicle, when she asked Exusiai and Croissant what was happening, the two of them had given a completely incoherent explanation.
Something about Shirou pulling out a weird-looking sword, firing it, and then it exploding.
That description was a bit too abstract, wasn't it? It was really hard for her to wrap her head around!
All Sora had seen earlier was Shirou vaulting onto the roof, Texas driving, and Exusiai and Croissant checking the situation from the sunroof. All she could do herself was grab a rope and hand it to Exusiai to pass to Shirou.
Then came a deafening roar, all within the span of about a minute from start to finish.
Right after that, she saw Exusiai and Croissant return to their seats with strange expressions on their faces, announcing that the problem was solved.
It left her genuinely curious about what had just happened to make Exusiai and Croissant pull those kinds of expressions!
Texas at her side looked equally curious. Although she didn't speak, the way her tail and ears kept twitching gave away her true feelings.
"It was nothing... I just fired an arrow to give them a warning."
Faced with Sora's curious inquiry, Shirou replied while beating the dust off his Penguin Logistics jacket.
"An arrow? Was it an arrow or a longsword, make up your mind! Who uses a bow and manages to pull off that kind of effect?! Praise Laterano, you literally blew up a mushroom cloud!"
Exusiai couldn't help jumping out to complain. Even as a Laterano native, she hadn't witnessed that kind of mushroom cloud scene many times, yet Shirou had just casually tossed one out?
"Exu, I just realized something. Every time you complain about Shirou, Shirou ends up actually pulling off whatever you complained about. Why don't you complain about Shirou becoming a billionaire? Then make him take us along to make a fortune!"
Croissant reflected on how, in the past, whenever Exusiai complained about Shirou, Shirou would end up resolving situations in an utterly incredible manner just as Exusiai predicted.
Thus, an idea struck her: if she got Exusiai to complain about Shirou becoming rich, then Shirou would get rich, and they wouldn't have to work so hard anymore!
"You're overthinking it. Is your head stuffed with bread?"
Shirou delivered a swift chop to the top of Croissant's head. Most of those things had just happened to coincide by pure chance, yet this bread-head actually wanted to rely on metaphysics to get rich?
Should she just toss this money-obsessed bread-head away already?
"Was that your most lethal attack, Shirou?"
Judging by her teammates' descriptions and the mushroom cloud she had caught in the rearview mirror, Texas was roughly able to make an assessment.
She hadn't expected Shirou to possess that kind of capability. With power like that, he could attain high status and influence in any faction he joined, yet here he was looking after them in Penguin Logistics?
It felt thoroughly surreal. Texas even briefly wondered if Shirou had some ulterior motive, but she quickly dismissed the thought herself.
If Shirou truly harbored other motives, he would have been entirely capable of concealing his strength, so that theory didn't hold up.
"Most lethal... I suppose you could say that?"
Shirou thought about it for a moment. The spiral sword should be considered a devastating anti-group weapon, but Noble Phantasms each had their own unique traits. Many couldn't be directly compared against one another, and every Noble Phantasm certainly had its own ideal scenario for deployment.
"You 'suppose'? Shirou, you'd definitely be super popular if you went to Laterano. Hand-crafting mushroom clouds and all that—it's practically every Laterano native's dream."
Exusiai's lips twitched slightly. She genuinely envied this kind of long-range attack method of Shirou's that came bundled with an explosion.
If she could do that too, heavy defenders would be nothing more than trash in front of her!
Just thinking about it felt exhilarating.
Though it was just a thought.
"Get back in the car, we've wasted quite a bit of time."
Seeing that her teammates had finished tidying up more or less, Texas gestured over a map and spoke.
They had drifted slightly off their original route now, but not by too much—the delay was mostly due to stopping just then.
Hearing Texas's words, the others quickly packed up their gear and climbed back inside.
"I feel like my presence in this team is getting thinner by the day."
Exusiai lay flat against the passenger seat in serene resignation.
"Exu, please don't think like that... You can at least still shine bright!"
Croissant patted Exusiai's shoulder as she spoke.
"...Croissant, you really should just eat some bread."
Such a heartwarming scene was too much even for Shirou to watch, prompting him to shove the bread Sora had handed him straight into Croissant's mouth.
Croissant chewed on the bread that had just been stuffed into her face.
Hm, it was still a croissant.
"Shirou, is your ability capable of materializing anything?"
Texas asked from the driver's seat. She had only gained a simple understanding of it last time, but right now it seemed Shirou's abilities went far beyond that.
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