Reclaiming Two (That Moment of Light)

"But, old man—"

"What?"

"You're a magus. If they let you marry into the family, then this Einzbern place must be a magus family too."

"That's right, but can you stop bringing up the marrying-in thing? For what it's worth, this family has two thousand years of history. See that forest over there? That's the Einzbern barrier."

"I see... Then let's start with one shot!"

Shirou stretched out a finger, and in the next instant, a terrifyingly vast surge of magical energy gathered at his fingertip, then compressed, compressed, and compressed again. This was the signature skill of a Gillian—

—"Cero!"

To test the extent of his power, Shirou had just put his full strength into this one shot, and it had already surpassed the scope of an ordinary Cero.

According to Ulquiorra, to avoid damaging Las Noches, the first ten Espada were forbidden from fully releasing their Cero beneath the canopy. Their Cero was called the "Cero of the King." What Shirou had just fired belonged to that category.

Starting off with a hand-crafted Light Cannon had a noticeable effect. Most of the Walnut Trees in front of the two Emiyas had been cleared, leaving only an oval crater nearly a kilometer in diameter and about a meter deep.

The Einzbern family did have a protective barrier, but even Kiritsugu at his peak could force his way through something like that. Before the Cero of the King, it was no sturdier than paper—pierced with a single poke.

With Kiritsugu's sharp eyesight, he could even see the castle he had once lived in through the sparse trees at the edge... Einzbern Castle.

"Great, the barrier's taken care of!" Shirou said, brimming with energy as he waved his little fist.

...This had already surpassed the scope of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. No, wait!

"Hey, hey, Shirou, what the hell are you doing? Making such a huge commotion—now everyone knows we're here!" Kiritsugu's face was full of exasperation. Why did I have to adopt such a troublesome son?

If Shirou knew what Kiritsugu was thinking right now, he would have told him: What am I? Have you heard of Mordred? Now that's the real representative of a troublesome child!

"No worries, Dad! The great assassin, First Hassan, King Hassan, once taught his juniors: Don't go for assassination—go for domination! Life doesn't give you that much time for Presence Concealment. If you hate someone, go cut them down! What's the use of Presence Concealment? You'll get caught anyway..."

"Um... Shirou." Seeing that Shirou was about to ramble on, Kiritsugu cut him off. "I don't know, and I don't want to know, where you heard all that, but this is clearly not the time for it."

With that, Kiritsugu decisively drew his gun and aimed ahead. "We're surrounded."

Looking forward, Ahad had already led several dozen Combat Homunculi to appear before Shirou and Kiritsugu.

A barrier was like the front door of a magus's home. When someone blasted the Einzbern family's front door with a Light Cannon, it would be strange if no one showed up to respond. So they came.

"Shameless traitor, you still have the nerve to return!" Ahad spoke first, immediately calling him a traitor, as if Kiritsugu had done something truly unforgivable.

Before Kiritsugu could reply, Shirou pointed at Ahad and cut in: "Old man, don't spout that nonsense. You're all surrounded by the two of us. I'll give you thirty seconds to lay down your weapons and surrender, or don't blame me for nuking you!"

"Don't say that, Shirou. We're just here to bring back Ilya. Lord Ahad, if you return Ilya to me, we'll leave immediately." Kiritsugu said calmly. Well, it would have been calmer if he put his gun down.

"Wishful thinking! Traitor, you haven't brought back the Holy Grail, so we won't let you see Ilyasviel! Or do you think that with a single powerful Mystic Code, you can take down me and all these Combat Homunculi? Don't forget, I am also a magus."

In Ahad's view, what had just destroyed the barrier was at most one of Kiritsugu's Mystic Codes. The world of magi operated on equivalent exchange. A technique of such power would surely come with a tremendous cost, since that last shot was already at an extraordinary level. (Wolverine: What did you say?)

As for why he didn't think it was a large-scale spell? Well, everyone knew that Kiritsugu Emiya was a gun enthusiast and an anomaly among magi.

Unlike other magi, Kiritsugu saw magic and machinery as just tools to achieve his goals.

Kiritsugu advocated treating magic entirely as a tool, so he was basically a magical 007 who relied on high-tech whenever modern science could replace a method.

Kiritsugu had even once thought about building a Kiritsugu Car loaded with awesome gear and going on a rampage.

Emmm... How to put it? That was an era of chuunibyou.

"Dad, I think we can kill this old man now. You haven't infiltrated yet, have you? In my opinion, killing all the witnesses is the best infiltration."

Shirou said this with complete calm, while Kiritsugu broke out in a cold sweat. This brat—could he not say such spine-chilling things with such an innocent face?!

"Arrogant brat, get him!" Ahad waved his hand and ordered the Homunculi behind him.

The Einzbern family wasn't good at combat, but sometimes numbers could make up for quality.

At the command, several dozen Homunculi, carrying weapons made of dozens of kilograms of refined steel, charged at the two Emiyas. Kiritsugu Emiya was about to act, but Shirou stopped him.

"Wait, Dad. Let me handle it. I should at least stretch my legs a bit," Emiya Shirou said.

"Can you manage?" Even though Kiritsugu knew Shirou was strong, he still asked. He wasn't worried about Ahad—he was worried that Shirou would wipe out Ahad outright, which would be troublesome.

"In that case, let's tear this brat apart first!" Ahad said.

These Combat Homunculi were created based on his experiences from the previous Holy Grail Wars.

These enhanced Homunculi possessed strength at least several times that of an ordinary human. They could swing axes weighing dozens of pounds as if they weighed nothing, had high-quality, stable Magic Circuits, and most importantly, they were obedient.

With these on his side, Ahad firmly believed that the winner of the next Holy Grail War would be his Einzbern family. (Like hell anyone believes that.)

"Sigh—garbage that doesn't understand the height of the stars, acting like a child, reaching out just to touch the heavens? How naive."

Shirou let out a long sigh. His gaze turned cold and sharp, and a pressure from the depths of his soul radiated outward, accompanied by a dense killing intent.

This wasn't Shirou's full power—after all, his intention was just to show off, not to completely destroy the Homunculi before him.

"The battle has begun. So, Homunculi, is your power reserve sufficient?"