"Testing, testing. This is Emiya Shirou. Can you hear me, Natalia?"
As he moved swiftly, Shirou's voice came over the radio. Natalia had no intention of going down with him.
"Hey, kid, stop fooling around. My equipment doesn't need that kind of idiot-proof operation. The Kajiamena Family is the first target. Since you bragged so extravagantly before, you'd better show me some real action now!"
"Of course!" Shirou's tone and expression brimmed with confidence. Sending him to wipe out ordinary magi was like using a cannon to kill mosquitoes.
With Steel Skin alone, it was questionable whether the other side could even break through his defenses.
If he somehow managed to screw this up, Shirou might as well buy a block of tofu from the market outside, freeze it overnight in the fridge, then smash his head into it and die.
When Shirou saw the Kajiamena Family's front gate, he slowed down. Natalia found a high point and set up her sniper rifle, just in case Shirou went soft-hearted and got himself into trouble.
"Hey, Natalia, this is the target's nest, right?" Standing before the Kajiamena Family's gate, Shirou looked it over. The plain gate carried an ancient air, and it appeared to be at least a hundred years old. For a classic wooden gate to have survived this long was no easy feat.
But what did that have to do with him? Shirou was here to kill people, and maybe demolish the place while he was at it. An antique like this, clearly belonging to the sort that hated to leave its ancestral home, had to be smashed first.
"Open sesame, here we go!"
After confirming it several times, Shirou kicked the gate without the slightest bit of decorum.
Thud! The ancient gate let out a dull boom, yet did not budge an inch. Shirou himself was pushed back a step by the recoil from that kick.
He gave the gate a slightly surprised look, then backed up another two steps. He slid forward, planted his feet, spun around, and threw a side kick.
Thud! This time, the gate made a clearly louder sound, but it was still completely unscathed. Two consecutive kicks had failed to open it, which at least proved that this gate was not some shoddy construction job.
But after putting in so much effort without opening the gate, Shirou could not quite save face. He scratched his head awkwardly and chuckled. "Looks like brute force alone won't cut it when dealing with magi. I'll have to put in a little real effort."
Shirou raised an index finger toward the gate. What should one do if a gate would not kick open? Emiya taught you the answer: naturally, start things off by blasting it open with a Light Cannon!
The next moment, magical energy surged forth from every direction and gathered at Shirou's fingertip. For an instant, even space itself seemed to freeze.
"Cero!"
The moment Shirou called out the skill's name, the vast amount of magical energy gathered in one spot erupted forth, crashing into the gate that had remained standing firm even after two kicks with unstoppable force.
A gate was still just a gate. Though it was old, it was not the floor of Ryuudou Temple or the bridge at Fuyuki. It could not possibly withstand a Light Cannon; enduring two kicks had already been its limit.
The gate was destroyed, and the force of the Cero continued forward until it blasted through the Kajiamena Family's rear wall before finally stopping.
"Was that a bit much?" Shirou shook his head. "Whatever, who cares?"
Natalia had already put away her sniper rifle. After witnessing the Cero's power, she could already conclude that Shirou would win. This kind of strength was simply on an entirely different level from that of ordinary magi.
Shirou closed his eyes and used his sensory vision to locate the direction of his prey. Without caring where it might lead, he walked straight toward it.
Shirou stopped in front of a wall. He could feel that his prey was very close now, likely right behind this wall, and Shirou was simply not on the same level as them.
At the same time, Shirou noticed something else. "The magical energy here is denser than elsewhere. A Magic Workshop?"
It was common knowledge that one should not fight inside another magus's workshop. But one type of person existed specifically to break common sense: overpowered protagonists, such as Shirou.
When Shirou saw a wall that needed smashing, his first thought was not of demolition crews, but of a method supposedly invented by some construction worker: "First use a small hammer to chip at the seams, then finish it with a sledgehammer."
But he had no plans to use a hammer. Shirou was not a construction worker, after all. If anything, he was a magus; at worst, an assassin or an archer. Leaving sledgehammer work to Berserker would be better.
Shirou's original plan had been to fire a Gran Rey Cero and flatten this Magic Workshop outright. Light Cannon-type skills packed far too much power and weight, perfect for dealing with all the flashy tricks magi liked to use.
But after thinking it over carefully, Shirou realized something: he seemed to be a magus himself... He had decided. As a magus, how could he not use a few flashy tricks?
Trace On!
After the two-line chant, an ancient-looking katana appeared in Shirou's hand.
A magus's workshop was equipped with barriers to prevent it from being raided, so after a brief consideration, Shirou projected this blade.
Kuji Kanetsune. When Shiki had shown it to him last time, Shirou had also taken the chance to analyze its structure. Kanetsune possessed unparalleled advantages against barriers. It could even cut through the temple of a professional Barrier Master like Souren Araya, so the barrier of a minor family like the Kajiamena Family was naturally no problem.
Holding the Fake Kanesada, Shirou flicked it upward. The instant the blade's tip reached the highest point he could manage, he immediately changed moves. With a flick of his wrist, he spun the blade in a flourish, then flicked it again and unleashed a horizontal slash.
On the surface, Shirou had merely swung twice through the air. In reality, the defensive shield covering the Kajiamena Family's Magic Workshop had already been completely destroyed.
"Next, like this."
Shirou muttered as a dark green magical energy coiled around the Fake Kanesada in his hand. Come to think of it, he had imitated Kurosaki Ichigo's technique: wrapping the crescent portion of Getsuga Tensho around the blade, allowing every slash to attain the power of a crescent.
Shirou did not know Getsuga Tensho, so he used a similar move instead: his Cero.
Boom! No slash carrying the power of a Cero could possibly be stopped by a wall, even if that wall had been reinforced with countless Reinforcement-type spells.
Did they think everywhere was Ryuudou Temple?
After that strike, the Fake Kanesada in Shirou's hand finally snapped under the strain. Though Kanetsune possessed its unique supernatural ability, its durability was no different from an ordinary blade. Using it to unleash a Cero strike had been far too much.