Chapter 190
"Um?"
Lancer looked at the object at his feet with a puzzled expression.
Boom——
An explosion occurred, and flames shot into the sky in an instant, causing the onlookers' eyelids to twitch.
Especially Rin Tohsaka and Archer, their necks shrank back, and Rin Tohsaka couldn't help but complain.
"This is just too... shameless! They started their sneak attack before even landing, and they even used..."
"High-Explosive Grenade."
Kiritsugu Emiya kindly explained to Rin Tohsaka what Li Yue had thrown out.
Rin Tohsaka nodded awkwardly, then continued to complain.
"Speaking of which, he really is worthy of being your future self. You also carry all kinds of guns and grenades. Even as Heroic Spirit, you still use guns, daggers, and grenades. I really didn't expect that grenades would become Noble Phantasm one day."
The Emiya beside him nodded in agreement. Even if he became Heroic Spirit in the future, his Noble Phantasm would still be traditional weapons. Even the sniper rifle he used on the Middle Eastern battlefield could not be considered Noble Phantasm. On the contrary, his father, after becoming Heroic Spirit, even brought grenades with him. He was really amazing. He was worthy of being called his father!
330. Lancer, eliminated after taking three consecutive explosions.
Lancer never expected that someone would use a sneak attack right from the start.
Li Yue simply jumped over the wall out of the classroom, and the things on her body fell off as if they had rolled off the ground. The whole process was very natural.
Then the thing that rolled near him exploded!
The Protection from Arrows is Blessing that Lancer possesses, allowing him to dodge thrown or projectiles. If the opponent's Noble Phantasm is a thrown or projectile attack, he can even perfectly dodge it. It is a Noble Phantasm that looks weak but Blessing actually very powerful.
Throughout the entire Fifth War, thanks to this Blessing, he was even able to entangle with Gilgamesh, a player with cheat codes, for half a day.
However, this Blessing cannot prevent area-of-effect explosion damage!
So, as soon as Li Yue came up, he threw out a High-Explosive Grenade, giving Lancer an explosive surprise right from the start.
In the firelight, Lancer reappeared. Compared to his previous confident demeanor, Lancer now looked somewhat disheveled, with burn marks on his face and a patch of his blue hair turning slightly black.
"Hey, is it any way to launch a sneak attack right from the start like this?"
Li Yue didn't mind and directly asked a question in return.
"So, how would you like me, the assassin, to launch a sneak attack?"
Lancer was speechless for a moment before speaking.
"Um... okay, your job class should indeed be like this."
"As an assassin, you really can only use these little tricks to fight."
Lancer's words were full of disdain for Li Yue, especially his denigration of Li Yue's fighting style.
But Li Yue didn't care about that. Instead, she immediately raised her hand, pulled out her pistol, and fired a shot at Lancer.
The bullet was fired from the pistol and flew towards Lancer, whose excellent eyesight allowed him to easily see the trajectory of the bullet.
However, he did not dodge, because the Protection from Arrows allowed him to ignore the attack.
Sure enough, as the bullet flew close to him, it deliberately changed direction and flew past his face.
"Hmph~~~"
Lancer chuckled smugly, and then the bullet exploded.
Boom——
The flash of the exploding bullet directly impacted Cú Chulainn's face, instantly causing large burns and singing a large patch of his hair.
The previous High-Explosive Grenade exploded at his feet, giving him time to react and protect his face. But now the bullet exploded right next to his face, leaving him no time to protect himself.
"You bastard, what kind of weapon are you using?!"
Lancer covered her face and fiercely questioned Li Yue.
"Just a regular time-delayed, self-activating high-explosive bullet."
"Can you really call that kind of thing ordinary?!"
Lancer didn't respond. Instead, Rin Tohsaka, who was watching from the corridor, made a comment. She turned to Kiritsugu Emiya next to her, trying to get Kiritsugu Emiya to explain to her.
"I'm not really sure about that either, but it's probably one of the newer bullets."
Kiritsugu Emiya genuinely didn't know. He came from the 1990s, and he really didn't know what time it was now, especially since the one who became Heroic Spirit was his future self. Perhaps it was because future technology had developed and some new bullets had been created?
He had only been in the future World Line for a short time, and didn't have a particularly good understanding of current military technology.
"I'm saying, your gun isn't filled with this kind of stuff, is it?"
Lancer pointed at the Automatic Submachine Gun in Li Yue's hand and couldn't help but ask.
"What do you think? After all, as an assassin, I can only fight you by using such petty tricks, right?"
Li Yue repeated the same words that Lancer had just used to mock him, leaving Lancer speechless.
"I'll assume that all the bullets in your weapon are like these. After all, if they weren't, your gun would be completely useless to me. It's fortunate that you happen to have such a weapon."
Although he was ambushed twice, Lancer didn't care. So what if he was ambushed? He could still attack someone from behind. But now he knew Assassin's fighting style. Now that he knew what kind of fighting style Assassin had, it would be easier to deal with. He could just dodge Assassin's bullets. He could stay as far away as possible. Once he got close, the result would be completely different.
Lancer is the second strongest class after Saber, and is also excellent in close combat. So, in Lancer's opinion, as long as he gets close to Li Yue, he can definitely kill him in one hit, especially with his Noble Phantasm which is designed for one-hit kills!
Having made his decision, Lancer took a step forward and vanished from his spot in an instant. His extraordinary agility allowed him to unleash superhuman speed, arriving directly in front of Li Yue and thrusting his spear directly into Li Yue's chest.
If this shot hits, it can pierce right through a person!
Li Yue used her dagger to block the tip of the spear, then Shi Jie rubbed the spear with the dagger, creating sparks, and moved closer to Lancer.
Lancer raised his hand and forcefully swept his spear horizontally, knocking Li Yue away as she tried to approach. Then, he gripped the spear with both hands, preparing to charge forward again.
However, as he gripped the gun with both hands, he noticed something was wrong. Looking down, he discovered a black square stuck to the gun in his hands.
"This..."
Boom--
Another violent explosion occurred.
Lancer was sent flying through the air, the explosion landing squarely on his chest. He had no chance to defend himself, and even he was severely injured.
The impact of the explosion and the intense heat turned Lancer into a burning projectile, sending him flying directly to the distant teaching building, where he crashed into the building's exterior wall before coming to a stop.
"Cough cough~~"
Lancer, who had fallen from the wall, clutched his chest wound and coughed violently. The close-range explosion had burned a large hole in his clothes, and the terrible impact had caused severe internal injuries. If it were an ordinary human, he would have died from the excessive impact on his internal organs by now. Lancer survived only because of his physical abilities as a Servant and his strong endurance.
"You bastard... cough cough..."
Lancer clutched his chest, glaring fiercely at Li Yue. He hadn't expected that he would be tricked again after confidently declaring he was fine. It was incredibly frustrating.
"It seems you're not as strong as you claim. A few bombs are enough to take you down as Lancer."
"Even the weapons are in my hands."
In Li Yue's hand, Lancer's blood-red spear was tightly gripped. The previous explosion had forced Lancer to release his spear, which Li Yue then easily seized.
Lancer glared at Li Yue, preparing to step forward and snatch the spear back—it was his Noble Phantasm.
But before he could make a move, Li Yue pulled out a dagger, slashed a crack in the air, and threw the spear into it, leaving Lancer completely dumbfounded.
"Damn it, you just wait!"
Lancer didn't hesitate to make a harsh statement before quickly retreating.
The first battle of the first night ended with Lancer being blown up three times in a row, losing his Noble Phantasm and being forced to retreat.
The entire battle left the onlookers speechless.
Rin Tohsaka was deeply shocked.
"Is this how Assassins fight?"
331. The son protects the father, and the father protects the son.
Lancer's retreat brought the first captain's battle of the first night of the Holy Grail War to an abrupt end, but there was something else after the battle, namely Shirou Emiya.
"So, Kiritsugu is actually your son, Uncle?"
Rin Tohsaka looked at Shirou Emiya with genuine surprise.
The eccentric magician I met turned out to be my classmate's father.
"To be precise, he is my son, but he is not my son."
Kiritsugu Emiya helplessly spread his hands in explanation.
"What do you mean? What do you mean by 'your son is not your son'?"
Rin Tohsaka was a little dizzy; she felt that Kiritsugu Emiya's explanation was too convoluted.
Hearing Kiritsugu Emiya's words, the Emiya understood perfectly. After all, although he was called Kiritsugu, he was Kiritsugu Emiya's biological son. He was adopted after the Fourth War. So he was Kiritsugu Emiya's son, but not his Kiritsugu Emiya son.
But that's what the Emiya thought. Kiritsugu Emiya thought differently. In his view, this was himself in this World Line, the son of the Emiya Kiritsugu, not his son from another World Line. So this was "his" son, but not his son.
However, Shirou Emiya didn't care about all the twists and turns. He just looked at Kiritsugu Emiya in front of him, and his eyes filled with tears.
"Kiritsugu, you're back."
His only relative in the past ten years left him when he was still young, leaving him forever. So he has always been alone, relying on the Kiritsugu Emiya Fujimura family, whom he befriended when he was alive, to get to where he is today. Although he always seems cheerful on the surface, he actually longs for family in his heart.
And now, his family has finally returned.
Seeing the boy's expectant gaze, Kiritsugu Emiya a deep breath helplessly and then nodded.
"Um."
Although he is not his own son, he is still "his" son. He is currently wearing a hood, so his face cannot be seen, and therefore he has to come forward himself.
"Kiritsugu!"
Shirou Emiya excitedly walked over and hugged Kiritsugu Emiya, making the middle-aged man feel awkward for a moment, but his inner tenderness made him pat Shirou Emiya on the shoulder in response.
"Tch~"
The Emiya looked at Shirou Emiya Kiritsugu Emiya and felt extremely displeased. Why was he so lucky in this World Line, able to continue living with Kiritsugu, and probably still dreaming of being a hero of justice? It was really infuriating.
However, after the Emiya showed hostility towards Shirou Emiya, he instantly felt a heavy pressure on his shoulders, and his whole body was suddenly pressed down.
What?! What's going on? This terrifying pressure!
Emiya, braced himself and sensed the surrounding Magic Power. To his surprise, he discovered that the sudden pressure on him was coming from Emiya Kiritsugu wearing a hood, standing beside him.
Hey, Dad, this isn't serious. Are you really favoring this kid? I was just a little hostile towards him. You don't need to unleash this murderous aura on me like this. This is the kind of terrifying killing intent you only have after killing so many people.
Because he was wearing a hood, the Emiya could only see the two blood-red eyes of the Emiya Kiritsugu, which looked like they were staring at him with red LED lights. An ordinary person would probably be terrified if they saw them.
However, for the Emiya, he wasn't scared to tears; he just felt a bit amused and exasperated.
What's this? Just last night, I stopped my father, who had turned into Heroic Spirit, from causing trouble for my father. Now, my father, who has also turned into Heroic Spirit, is starting to stop me, who has also turned into Heroic Spirit, from causing trouble for me.
What's most ridiculous is that he knows why his Heroic Spirit father is causing trouble for his current father, but his Heroic Spirit father doesn't know why he's causing trouble for Shirou Emiya.
Moreover, the other party didn't even recognize his identity.
There's no way around it; the appearance of the Emiya is vastly different from that of the current Shirou Emiya, while the Emiya Kiritsugu Emiya, except that his skin has darkened and his hair has turned white, just like his own.
Why did Dad's skin turn dark and his hair turn white? Did he also go to the Middle East battlefield?
With these questions in mind, the Emiya looked at the Emiya Kiritsugu, only to find the pressure on him growing heavier.
Oh no, Dad's misunderstood. He thinks I'm provoking him!
Emiya quickly smiled apologetically and then looked away. Sure enough, the pressure on him disappeared. Feeling that the pressure was gone, Emiya couldn't help but mutter to himself.
Tsk, when did Dad become so protective of his son? How come I never knew Dad had this side to him? Did he just hide it all along?
"I never expected that you, Kiritsugu, were a magician. You've always been a very good cloak in disguise."
While the Emiya muttered to himself, Rin Tohsaka focused her attention on Shirou Emiya, sizing him up from head to toe.
"I'm sorry, Tohsaka, I didn't expect you to be a magician. Besides, my magic skills aren't actually that high. Kiritsugu only taught me simple enhancement magic."
"Enhancement magic? That's certainly a simple magic trick."
Rin Tohsaka nodded affirmatively.
"If that's all there is to it, then you can only be described as a half-baked expert. You don't even know about the Tohsaka family, and I reckon you don't know anything about the Tohsaka Matou family either."
The Three Founding Families of the Holy Grail War, the Tohsaka family and the Matou family, are considered local powers in Fuyuki. The Tohsaka family, in particular, are the masters of the Fuyuki Spirit Vein and the administrators of the magic world in Fuyuki City. It's quite absurd that a magician who has lived in Fuyuki for over a decade would be completely unaware of this.