Muscle Monster

Humming an unknown tune, Shirou walked alone through the pitch-black hospital corridor. Just how dark was it? Shirou could tell you plainly: it was as black as Doraemon!

What? You asked how that made sense when Doraemon was clearly blue? The point was that he could make it impossible to see your hand in front of your face. Could you?

Shirou ventured deeper into the corridor and arrived at Kirie's room. Pushing open the door, he saw only a man in a long coat standing inside.

"Souren Araya?" Shirou froze for a moment upon seeing him, then asked tentatively.

"That's right. And who are you?" Souren Araya's powerful voice rang out.

"You could say I'm something like Fujou Kirie's friend. For now, I'm merely an unknown nobody," Shirou said unhurriedly.

"An unknown nobody? How would an unknown nobody know my name?" Souren Araya asked. He was not like Touko Aozaki, renowned throughout the Clock Tower for her exceptional puppet-making skills and also an exceedingly rare Grand Magus.

Souren Araya had merely lived a little longer and possessed somewhat stronger martial arts. Other than that, he was only good at fighting.

"Because of Touko. You know each other!" Shirou sold Touko out without hesitation. "Perhaps you don't remember, but you once took a photograph together. By chance, I saw that photo before. I asked her about it, and she told me."

"Aozaki? What a pity. She has already fallen. Then what about you? Are you her disciple?" Souren Araya asked again.

Souren Araya harbored an indescribable feeling toward Touko. They had studied together, pursued the Root together, and perhaps there had even been affection between them. But none of that mattered anymore.

"No, not yet."

"Is that so?" Souren Araya did not press Shirou further, nor did he say something like, "Why refuse? She is a mage of the highest rank." There was no point. If he had asked, he would not have been Souren Araya.

"Hey, Kirie, this guy hasn't done anything to you, has he?" Shirou asked Kirie.

"Mm." Kirie smiled as she answered Shirou. To her, Shirou was the only person in a long time who had cared about her. Being cared for made her happy. "I'm fine, Shirou. That man said he would give me a body that could move freely."

Shirou trusted Kirie completely. He would never suspect that she might be lying to him. Kirie had no reason to deceive him, and she simply would not do so.

Although Souren Araya had looked after her for over a decade, Kirie had actually known nothing about it. Just think about it: between a young boy with the face of a good person and a creepy old man who looked obviously untrustworthy, anyone without peculiar tastes would know whom to choose.

"That's good!" Hearing Kirie's answer, Shirou smiled. He smiled like a child—or rather, a child capable of nuking Kanbiko City into peace.

"However..." Shirou shifted his gaze to Souren Araya. "That said, I can't let you bewitch my companion. That would give me quite a headache, Mr. Araya."

A faint smile hung on Shirou's face, but there was no mirth in his eyes. Instead, they were filled with coldness.

You wanted to set your sights on his people?

Sure, no problem!

But you had better be prepared to face a monster!

As he mobilized his mana, a golden triple-layered boundary unfolded beneath Souren Araya's feet. Like the mages of the Emiya Family, Souren Araya was also an aberrant mage.

But unlike Kiritsugu and Shirou, whose aptitude for magecraft was fairly decent, Souren Araya possessed very little talent as a mage and could barely use magecraft at all.

Besides, strength did not always represent one's achievements in magecraft.

Though his combat power stood at the pinnacle among pure-blooded ordinary humans in this world, his formidable strength was built entirely upon his exceptional martial arts, the combat experience accumulated over a lifespan of two centuries, and his unique boundary, the Sixfold Boundary.

Yes, although Souren Araya had only deployed three layers of the boundary so far, there were indeed six in total. He simply had not unfolded the remaining ones yet.

Seeing that Souren Araya had already prepared himself for battle, Shirou naturally did not hold back either.

With a Sonido, he appeared before Souren Araya and seized the man's face. Then Sonido activated once more, carrying both of them out of the hospital room.

Two figures, one large and one small, suddenly appeared on the hospital rooftop. The instant they appeared, they swiftly put distance between each other. They were Shirou and Souren Araya.

If they fought in the hospital room, Kirie would inevitably be caught up in it, so changing battlefields was imperative.

"A peculiar method of movement. It resembles the rumored Second Magic," Souren Araya commented.

"Yeah, it resembles it a little. That's all. I don't have the slightest connection to Zelretch," Shirou said, too lazy to explain.

Sonido worked by tearing through space, enabling movement between two points. The instant of activation and transit both counted as invincibility frames.

Most people who had played Honor of Kings knew that Diao Chan's second skill made her invincible while it was being used. Sonido was roughly the same. And since Sonido was spatial movement, it was only natural that it somewhat resembled the Second Magic, which controlled space.

"I heard from Touko that you're an old mage who has lived for over two hundred meters. You should count as my senior on the path of magecraft, so let this junior show you a little trick!"

Trace On!

As the glow of mana faded, a katana appeared in Shirou's hand. After all, he could not carry the Black Winged Great Demon around at all times; that would be far too troublesome. Projection Magecraft was therefore the best choice.

"Foolish! Projection Magecraft can only reproduce an object's form. At its core, it is an empty shell, fundamentally different from the original!"

Whether he was mocking Shirou or critiquing him, Souren Araya actually began evaluating Shirou's Projection Magecraft.

"No, that only applies to ordinary Projection Magecraft. Mine is special. Besides, an imitation is not necessarily inferior to the original. Souren Araya, you'd better be careful!"

Shirou performed a backflip and leaped onto the hospital rooftop's water tank. Framed by moonlight, he held the katana and swung it upward in a one-hundred-eighty-degree clockwise arc, raising it above his head.

"Although saying this before a fight is pretty stupid... well, whatever..." Shirou muttered a few self-mocking words before speaking to Souren Araya. "Hey, I'm coming. Watch out—don't die!"

With that, Shirou kicked off the water tank and flew toward Souren Araya, slashing down with the katana at incredible speed.

Shirou's speed was nearly enough to break the sound barrier, producing a sonic boom. A mage like Kayneth, who neglected his own body, might be cut down before he even had time to chant if he failed to react quickly enough.

But Souren Araya was not like Kayneth, someone who became utterly helpless the moment he lost his Mystic Code. Facing that supersonic strike, he did not even deploy a boundary. He merely raised his left arm and blocked the fierce slash.

When his arm collided with the blade, it actually produced the sound of metal striking metal.

Shirou clicked his tongue inwardly. He could even block that? Should he say it was only to be expected of Souren Araya? At the same time, Shirou felt frustrated. Why was everyone who fought him head-on a muscle monster?