Who Says Archers Can't Fight Up Close

Luvia's home entered maintenance mode just like that. Red Archer's arrow had shot straight through the castle, leaving a hole in its wall as large as the main gate—and it went straight through from north to south.

It was still livable, but in Luvia's words, how could a young lady like her possibly live in such a rundown place? So—

"Um. Everyone, take a short break. Saber, let's go tidy up the rooms."

The only place that could still accommodate so many people was Emiya Shirou's home. The group poured into Shirou's house. Though the courtyard was a little old, it had a pleasant atmosphere and was very clean. Shirou clearly cleaned it regularly.

Shirou counted the number of people, then took Saber with him to prepare the rooms. Their intimate behavior made Tohsaka Rin and Luvia green with envy!

"Shirou! I'll help too!"

"Hohohoho~ I'll help as well~ Don't you have a saying here that those who don't work don't eat? I don't want to get kicked out~"

Rin and Luvia hurried after them. Seeing this, Mo Shuying was genuinely envious.

"Ah, I'm so jealous. Oh right, Red Archer, are you jealous too?"

Mo Shuying smiled at Red Archer.

Red Archer: "...What does Red Archer mean?"

"A red Archer. Red Archer for short. What do you think? Pretty fitting, right?"

Mo Shuying pointed at Red Archer's red outfit as if it were only natural.

Red Archer: "..."

Astolfo, standing nearby, nodded rapidly.

"Perfect! That's absolutely perfect! What about me? What about me?"

Astolfo looked at Mo Shuying expectantly. Mo Shuying smiled.

"Astolfo, sit down. Red Archer still hasn't answered the question I asked him just now. Don't think changing the subject will work."

Red Archer: "..."

Astolfo: "Ah~ Astolfo~ That sounds so nice!"

Red Archer felt like cursing, but Astolfo was delighted. He felt that he had gained another friend.

"You keep asking me questions, but you seem to know me very well. Who exactly are you?"

Red Archer still did not answer Mo Shuying's question, instead asking one of his own.

"Me? I'm just someone with too much free time, and now I can only improve myself by exercising every day. Mm, a passerby."

Mo Shuying had noticed something: after leaving the Singularity space, the task to eliminate monsters had disappeared from his Daily Quest.

Thinking about it, that made sense. Where would the real world find so many monsters for him to kill?

That left only one Daily Quest: exercise. Mo Shuying was actually somewhat troubled by this, because without monsters, his leveling speed had slowed considerably. Killing humans could earn experience points too; he had gained quite a bit from killing that mage before, but—

Mo Shuying was not the kind of person who would stop at nothing just to level up.

"E-Exercise?"

Red Archer glanced at Mo Shuying's well-built physique. He still needed to exercise? Obviously, this was another half-hearted excuse!

Having been toyed with by Mo Shuying like this several times, Red Archer was furious.

"Wouldn't training by yourself be rather boring? How about it? Want to spar?"

Red Archer extended a hand in invitation.

Mo Shuying looked at him, utterly unmotivated. There was no benefit whether he won or lost. Wasting energy on something pointless was not something an Otaku would do.

Just as he was about to refuse—

Ding~ Daily Quest 2 issued.

First Victory!

Defeat a Heroic Spirit to receive the corresponding First Victory reward.

There it was! Wasn't this exactly the benefit he needed?

"Sure. I also want to see what I'm capable of now. Please go easy on me, Archer!"

Mo Shuying rose to his feet, a flicker of excitement appearing in his eyes.

Red Archer stood as well. They were roughly the same height and met each other's gaze, both smiling faintly.

"Heh. I'll try."

Emiya Shirou's courtyard was large enough for the two of them to fight.

"What's going on? What's going on?!"

Having received the news, Shirou hurried over. Seeing the two already facing each other in the courtyard, he was at a loss.

"Oh, it's nothing. They're just sparring."

Astolfo held an orange and ate it with great relish, watching with equal enjoyment.

Seeing this, Luvia frowned and stepped forward.

"Luvia, please stop them!"

Emiya Shirou saw Luvia step forward and assumed she was going to stop their fight. But then—

"You two should still be careful while fighting. Don't collapse this house too, or we really won't have anywhere to live. I'll draw a boundary for you. If either an attack or a person crosses the line, that counts as a loss."

Luvia flicked her hand, scattering over a dozen gems with precision. They landed around them, forming a circle a hundred meters across.

A glow rose, and a formation that dampened sound and light appeared.

Tohsaka Rin spoke after hearing Luvia's words.

"Hey, hey, hey, Luvia! My Archer is an archer! Isn't that rule a little unfairly targeted?"

But as soon as Tohsaka Rin finished speaking, Red Archer inside waved a hand.

The gesture meant it was fine. He could accept those conditions for victory.

"..."

Since Red Archer had said so, Tohsaka Rin had no reason to argue further. She stormed over to the side of the hallway and sat down, then shouted at Emiya Shirou.

"Shirou! Bring me a cup of tea!"

Emiya Shirou: "..."

"Let's begin."

"Then let's begin."

With no more interruptions, Red Archer and Mo Shuying officially began their spar.

The moment Mo Shuying finished speaking, he began to vanish. With A+ Presence Concealment, he might not be noticed even standing face-to-face with someone.

However, Red Archer was no ordinary Heroic Spirit. With an angry roar, he immediately unleashed his ultimate!

"Are you toying with me, Assassin?!"

"Bzzz!"

Red Archer raised a hand toward an empty patch of ground! More than a dozen longswords of various kinds rapidly formed around him! Then, like arrows, they shot out at high speed!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The dozen or so longswords appeared to be blindly firing at one spot, but just as they were about to hit the ground, Mo Shuying's figure emerged.

"Break!"

No frills whatsoever! Mo Shuying threw a punch! The force of Intentional Blast Punch surged out! Even without Heroic Spirit Value, it was tremendously powerful! It blasted away the approaching longswords, scattering them across the ground.

"Oh~ What incredible strength. Are you really an Assassin?"

Red Archer stood there with his arms folded, looking down on him from above. Around him, longswords continued to form one after another.

Mo Shuying grinned.

"These days, how can you make it out in the world without something impressive to show? Aren't you the same? You're clearly an archer, yet your close combat is absurd."

"Heh, same to you. Enough chatter. Here it comes! Go!"

After that simple probing, the real attack began. Red Archer possessed the Mind's Eye skill, so he had no fear of Mo Shuying's concealment. To him, an assassin who had lost the ability to launch sneak attacks had nothing with which to defeat him!

However!

"Trace On!"

Along with Mo Shuying's murmur, his clothes transformed into the same Red-Black Holy Shroud worn by Red Archer.

At the same time, twin blades appeared in Mo Shuying's hands! With both blades in hand, Mo Shuying faced the weapons flying toward him!

He swung his blades!