I Run Fast

"I had to admit, you were strong. At least among all the beings I had fought, you were the strongest." White Winged Ancestor spread his wings and spoke from the heart.

White Winged Ancestor had existed since Solomon's era and survived all the way to the present. He was a genuine old monster, so praise from him carried considerable weight.

Moreover, the look in White Winged Ancestor's eyes as he watched Shirou had changed. A flame called interest had been kindled within them; it had been a long time since anyone had fascinated him so intensely.

Though whether Shirou was actually human remained uncertain.

Neither of them had gone all out yet. They both understood that perfectly well, but so what?

"Though this clearly isn't the time to say it, thank you for the compliment, White Winged Ancestor." Although they were enemies, Shirou still intended to show respect toward an elder—at least on the surface.

Ulquiorra, who had stood beside Shirou, had already dissolved into spirit particles. Specks of light gathered in Shirou's hand, forming the shape of a katana. Zanpakuto, Black Winged Great Demon, had arrived!

"A new round is about to begin, old man. Even if you want to dance, you'd better keep up with the rhythm!" Shirou said, waving his blade before pointing its tip at White Winged Ancestor.

"Don't get too arrogant, human. I was the one who held the upper hand in our battle just now! Ignorance of your own limits will only hasten your death." White Winged Ancestor also drew his weapon: a slender white rapier.

Honestly, his obsession with white was about as excessive as Touko Aozaki's obsession with orange.

Shirou did not care about any of that. He swung his sword directly at White Winged Ancestor, who raised his own blade to block.

Sword struck sword with a crisp clang, scattering sparks.

Shirou held his sword one-handed and braced the back of Black Winged Great Demon with his other hand. The next instant, that dark green magical energy appeared again. This time, it clung to the Zanpakuto and erupted through it as its vessel.

White Winged Ancestor had seen this move several times already. There was no way he did not know what it was.

At that moment, only one thought remained in White Winged Ancestor's mind—Was this guy insane? Detonating such violent energy at this distance—even if his regenerative power is comparable to mine, he won't come out of it unscathed!

White Winged Ancestor was not that Magical Girl, Aoko Aozaki. He could not afford to waste time casually.

Before his thoughts had even finished, the Cero unleashed in the manner of Getsuga Tensho blasted him away. Yet with his regenerative ability, his wounds healed in no time. A True Ancestor's regeneration was simply too powerful.

But Shirou had already achieved his goal. Before White Winged Ancestor could regain control of his body, Shirou used Sonido to appear behind him. With Cero wrapped around his Zanpakuto, he sent White Winged Ancestor flying like he was swinging a baseball bat.

Then Sonido activated again. This time, Shirou appeared directly above White Winged Ancestor and brought down a Sure-Win Rising Dragon Sword with a technique similar to the one before.

However, that strike was destined to miss, because White Winged Ancestor had completed his chant. A pure white magical formula blocked Shirou's attack.

White Winged Ancestor, who had become a True Ancestor through magical research, was already an exceptionally powerful mage. And because he had lived so long, the magecraft he used was all extremely ancient. In this world, magecraft essentially followed one damned rule: the older it was, the stronger it became.

Taking advantage of that opening, White Winged Ancestor turned his sword hand and thrust upward at Shirou from an exceptionally tricky angle. It looked as though he intended to split Shirou in two from bottom to top.

Shirou instinctively sensed danger and dodged right. But he was still too slow; half his left arm was severed. Shirou did not dare linger and immediately used Sonido to retreat.

"Two seconds," White Winged Ancestor announced. "That instantaneous movement of yours is remarkable, almost comparable to the Second Magic. But after each use, you must wait roughly two seconds before activating it again. Am I wrong?"

Shirou's heart sank. His opponent had even been calculating the interval between his Sonidos. That meant White Winged Ancestor had not used his full strength at all, and the information about Sonido had already been exposed. That was not a good sign.

Even so, he could not lose face.

"So what if you figured it out? Do you think that kind of slash is enough to defeat me?" Blood quickly stopped flowing from Shirou's severed arm. Then, starting from the bone, his arm rapidly regenerated. "See? Even when it comes to being unkillable, I might not be inferior to you!"

"Is that so?" White Winged Ancestor opened one pure white magic circle after another. For a moment, he even looked like a certain purple caster. "Boy, let me teach you something as your senior: any ability related to regeneration has its limits. Even I would struggle to withstand an attack this dense. What would you do?"

A trace of amusement entered White Winged Ancestor's voice. Then every magic circle in the sky unleashed its attack.

"Tch! White Winged Ancestor, do you think I'm an idiot? Only a fool would stand there and take this many large-scale spells head-on!" Shirou retorted without backing down.

Though what he really thought was, If I had anti-magic resistance on Jeanne's level, I'd stand still and catch every one of your spells with my face!

Ideals were plump, but reality was skinny. Anti-magic resistance had already been patented by Servants; Shirou could never have it, not in this lifetime. If he wanted a share, he could only kill himself—but then again, only an idiot would commit suicide!

Therefore, Shirou could only deal with the magic missiles filling the sky himself. As an old powerhouse, White Winged Ancestor's magic missiles were nothing like Luvia's Gandr shots. If Shirou took three or four of them, he would have a hard time enduring it. Fortunately, he had never planned to take them head-on.

Trace On!

Blades gleaming with cold light emerged from the radiance of magical energy. It's just magecraft. It's not like I can't use it too! Shirou thought, though no matter how one looked at it, he was simply jealous of White Winged Ancestor's dazzling array of high-level magic circles.

The projected swords naturally could not block high-level magecraft by themselves, but aside from Archer's routine sword clashes, the best way to use this move was in combination with Broken Phantasm.

Since the originals of the projected items were not particularly impressive, there were no nuclear sword bombs—only grenade-level power... Well, it would have to do!

Magecraft collided with flying swords, creating the impression of magic battling cultivation, complete with special effects. Shirou had no mood to watch the action movie unfolding before him. He gathered massive amounts of magical energy in his legs and used the third of the five spells he currently knew—

"Reinforcement, begin!"...

Speaking of Reinforcement, it was a truly versatile spell. It was as universally useful as Cero.

For instance, some obscure public school teacher had used it to solo the Cowlick King. And some unnamed young lady had used it to let a certain purple Age of Gods mage experience the brutal beating of a working adult, calling it, "Close combat is also a required course for modern magi." Though no matter how one looked at it, it sounded like Devil Muscle Rin making excuses.

After using Reinforcement, Shirou's speed increased again. This time, he broke the sound barrier in one burst and arrived behind White Winged Ancestor.

He did not use Sonido because its cooldown had been seen through. Two seconds sounded short, but in the hands of someone like White Winged Ancestor, it was more than enough time. Better to save it for running away.

"You're just an outdated old fossil! Let me tell you, the two ultimate arts of modern magi have long become punching each other and drawing swords to fight! Take this!" Please refer to Merlin and the Doctor.

Raising Black Winged Great Demon, which glowed green, Shirou slashed down at White Winged Ancestor with all his strength.

White Winged Ancestor raised his sword and blocked the strike without any suspense. Shirou had expected that. If White Winged Ancestor could not even do this much, the grass on his grave would already be several meters tall.

Shirou did not dare press recklessly. The instant his strike failed, he withdrew. A point-blank Cero might have caught an opponent like White Winged Ancestor off guard once, but it would not work a second time.

Stepping on spirit particles, Shirou moved behind White Winged Ancestor again. Slash, blocked, withdraw; he moved to his side, cut upward, and was intercepted.

Shirou knew he could not match White Winged Ancestor in combat technique, so he simply seized the entire rhythm of the battle with a ferocious offensive.

Though Shirou's assault was fierce, White Winged Ancestor's defense was equally impenetrable. He was waiting—waiting for Shirou's stamina to run out. Reinforcement could enhance speed and strength, but accordingly, it also accelerated the consumption of stamina.

Put simply, Reinforcement was like an accelerator. Step on the gas, and the car ran faster—but it also burned more fuel.

Naturally, Shirou understood White Winged Ancestor's intentions as well. From their exchanges just now, he could tell that White Winged Ancestor's martial skill was too great for Shirou to suppress him, and Shirou could not possibly maintain the initiative forever.

Shirou appeared calm, but inwardly, he was already overjoyed.

Come on! Focus even more attention on me, then get the shock of your life, you white-haired old bastard!

As Shirou and White Winged Ancestor remained locked in battle, the sky split open. A gigantic monster wearing a white bony mask with a long nose poked its head through, followed by a body dozens of meters tall.

The monster let out a piercing shriek, then opened its mouth. It drew vast amounts of magical energy from the atmosphere and gathered it together before blasting White Winged Ancestor in the face with a Cero.

As for Shirou, he had already used Sonido and left ahead of time.

I run fast, so I do whatever I want!