Max-Level Account Sneaks into the Novice Zone

Let's turn our attention back to the Old Tie Family.

Last time, we said that as soon as Shirou landed, he was surrounded by the Buffilo Family's puppet army...

Well, it's still unclear who was surrounding whom. From a combat standpoint, it's entirely possible Shirou was the one surrounding those puppets. In short, Shirou inexplicably started cutting through the puppet horde like a one-man army.

Sure, those puppets packed a heavy punch when they swung their fists, almost giving off the vibe of one-shotting some purple Caster, but their movements were just too damn slow.

Never mind someone inhuman like Shirou—even an ordinary person with decent reflexes could dodge their attacks.

So dealing with them, Shirou didn't need any tricks. A single slap was enough to crush one.

Smack! The last puppet in his field of vision was smashed into a pile of dirt and rubble. Shirou shook his hand with the same chuunibyou flair as Yanlong Xia, then looked off in one direction—toward the Buffilo Family Workshop.

"Warm-up's over," he said. "I'll stick with my earlier take—this prey's got a lot more chew than the last one. Just wondering how long that chewiness will last."

He casually fired a Bala. It scraped across the ground, carving a trail before being stopped by a wall. That was the Buffilo Family Workshop, the location of Shirou's current target. Usually, magi hole up in their own workshops.

Of course, exceptions existed—oddball magi were a different story. Shirou reached out his left hand and wiped it across the wall, then clenched his right fist. A faint trace of his unique dark-green Cero leaked through the gaps in his fingers, making his fist look like a glowing green lightbulb.

"Lucky for me, I just came up with a new move. Not convenient to test it in crowded places, so I'll try it out here!" Shirou muttered to himself.

The inspiration for this move came from Kurosaki Ichigo's Wrapped Getsuga—wrapping Getsuga around the blade so every slash carried its power.

Shirou didn't know Getsuga Tensho, so he found a substitute: his Cero. And he didn't plan to wrap it around a sword either—he went straight to wrapping it around his fist. He named the move Serious Punch.

His glowing green fist traced an emerald arc through the air. Shirou hadn't bothered to break the barrier with Fake Kanesada beforehand this time, but that didn't matter. In his view, no barrier in this world was unbreakable—if it seemed that way, it just meant you weren't hitting hard enough.

A sound like demolition rang out as the Buffilo Family Workshop's barrier, along with an entire wall, shattered under Shirou's blow. And then... Shirou fell into a pit.

A load of sand and gravel tumbled down with him. It looked like an automatic spell, triggered the moment the barrier broke. Classic routine: dig a hole, bury some dirt, count one-two-three-four-five. But what got buried wasn't seeds—it was a person. So what came up wasn't cash, but a flash of light—a green glow that made your heart race.

A massive surge of magical energy shot skyward. A single Cero melted all the sand and gravel, and Shirou flew straight out of the pit.

That's when he noticed the wall he'd just broken was now perfectly intact again. When in doubt, ask. Shirou had never been much of a student, but in this situation, it was better to check.

Conveniently, there was someone in the distance who'd been watching him the whole time.

"Natalia-san, did you see what just happened?" Shirou asked.

"That wall regenerated," Natalia's voice came through the radio. "Probably some kind of earth-attribute spell. I've seen similar ones—as long as the spell's magical energy isn't depleted, that wall will keep repairing itself."

"That's detailed. As expected of Natalia-san!" Shirou praised sincerely, then asked, "Since the wall can regenerate, what if I just erase the whole workshop?"

"Then our payment's probably down the drain!" Natalia said half-jokingly.

"I see..." Shirou rested his right hand on his chin, his left hand supporting his right elbow, striking a thoughtful pose for a moment before saying, "Looks like I'll have to break the wall first, then get inside before it regenerates."

"I don't support that idea either. This spell was designed to trap something. Walking in like that might just play into their hands."

"Is that so?" Shirou figured he could probably just brute-force his way through and win, but to avoid capsizing in a ditch, a little caution was warranted. "Then how about this?"

Shirou laid out his plan to Natalia, and she immediately gave the go-ahead. "I'm starting to think you and that brat Kiritsugu really are father and son. Facing similar situations, you both handle it about the same way."

Shirou rolled his eyes. Starting to think? Still "starting"? Do we really look that little like father and son... Hey, wait—actually, yeah, they didn't have much of a father-son resemblance.

Shirou was a master of all household skills, while Kiritsugu... And they were foster father and son—the whole blood-related dynamic didn't apply to them at all. If someone told Kiritsugu, "Your son really looks like you," Shirou could bet his cooking that person would be beaten black and blue the next day. Oh, and maybe they'd catch a Spear of Thunder falling from the sky too.

The only thing they might share was chuunibyou, but that was hardly something to brag about. Besides, both of them were men of action. Since the plan was set, Youth—let's go, yaranaika, one shot to the soul!

He Projected a bow in one hand and a European-style rapier in the other. To make shooting easier, Shirou skipped Projecting the rapier's guard.

He planned to shoot the sword like an arrow. Sure, it felt a bit like copying some mountain-dwelling savage, but for now, it was the simplest method.

And Shirou had a new idea: he'd wrap Cero around the arrow and fire it off. He'd only recently realized just how versatile Cero was—you could wrap it around anything.

Aiming at the Buffilo Family Workshop, Shirou didn't hesitate. He started with three swords... three arrows... Forget it, let's just call them jian.

Just as Natalia had said, that wall had incredible regenerative power. The damage from those three jian was repaired in a few breaths.

That was exactly what Shirou wanted! You thought those were heavy arrowheads? Nope, those were explosive arrowheads!

Broken Phantasm!

A two-bar incantation spilled from Shirou's lips. He deliberately controlled the power to ensure the target would leave a corpse.

With the detonation of magical energy, the Buffilo Family Workshop turned into a firecracker in an instant.

After a thunderous blast, the head of the Buffilo family emerged from the smoke-blackened pit, his face dark as coal—from the explosion.

No idea why he wasn't dead despite being charred almost to the color of coal.

"Did you do this?" the Buffilo patriarch glared at Shirou and demanded.

His tone carried anger and hatred, but not a trace of contempt. A magus's strength was measured by their magical reserves and skill, not their age.

Looking at that face darker than Lord Bao's, Shirou immediately decided he didn't want to talk to this black-faced guy. He activated Sonido, appeared behind him, and swung his glowing green fist, aiming to land a Serious Punch.

Then the guy moved, and Shirou went flying backward.

Lying in a pile of rubble, Shirou wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. The original injury had already healed during his flight thanks to his Superhigh-Speed Regeneration.

He got up, looked back in the direction he'd been sent flying, and said, "Even you're here? Just how unlucky can I get!"

Can't find the book title? Try searching the author—maybe it just got renamed.