Chapter 622
The flat land rose up like clay, transforming into a sea resembling a raging storm.
"... Here it comes, Shirou."
The silver-haired goddess reminded him from the side, Shirou nodded, meticulously igniting the circuits within his body.
Just as his battle with Enkidu was about to erupt—
Something strange, something that didn't belong to this world, was born.
After escaping the barrier world, Sajyou Ayaka temporarily travels with Magecraft named Flat Erskodes.
He is another Berserker, the Master of Jack the Ripper.
The boy came from El-Melloi Classroom in London and was one of Lord El-Melloi II's earliest students.
He was once a promising child prodigy, and became a student of that famous lecturer at a young age, but wasted several years because he was unable to graduate from the Clock Tower.
The reason he couldn't graduate wasn't due to his Magecraft abilities, but rather other issues.
For example, his frivolous act of secretly coming to the United States to participate in the Holy Grail War without telling his teacher.
Ignoring their antagonistic relationship in the Holy Grail War, Flat approached Sajyou Ayaka and told her, "I have a friend who is also named Sajyou Ayaka, with the same name and appearance as you."
Feeling doubted about her own existence, Sajyou Ayaka grasped at a straw and pressed Flat, "What do you know?"
However, at this moment--
With a whoosh of wind, a sniper bullet fired from the shadows pierced Flat's head.
The problem children in El-Melloi Classroom died tragically in a foreign land.
If that's the case, it might actually be a better outcome.
Even the masterminds behind his assassination never anticipated what was inside this Clock Tower prodigy.
After Flat was killed, the "foreign object" that had been contained within it was thus released.
The perpetrators of the attack on Flat were not police officers, but they witnessed the entire incident.
A young Magecraft from London was shot in the head by an unidentified sniper and fell silently to the ground.
But what happened next was completely baffling.
Flat, who had been utterly humiliated, actually stood up again after a while.
And his entire aura changed.
They were less like humans and more like cold, lifeless dolls.
Rising from Flat Erskides' corpse was a strange humanoid figure that resembled the boy, yet seemed incredibly distant.
"It" can be described as a torrent of powerful energy.
It is somewhat different from a massive energy entity like Heroic Spirit.
That is the magical vortex created by directly condensing the surrounding magical energy into one place, accelerating it, and then releasing it immediately.
From that fragmented human body, nothingness and light emanated, as if a dark shadow were trying to absorb all the light.
Then, in the center of the split chest, there was a "core" that looked like a giant eyeball, shimmering with all the light surrounding its body.
The only thing that can be confirmed is that Flat Erskodes transformed into another, unfamiliar human form after being killed.
In the blink of an eye, the humanoid slaughtered the thirty-odd people who were participating in the sniping from the shadows, and then landed on the top of Crystal Hill Snowfield, and slowly looked around.
The newly born humanoid figure opened its eyes and looked at the objects moving at high speed in the city.
Those were the Heroic Spirit who called himself Saber— Richard the Lionheart King and his Master, Sajyou Ayaka.
The "alien" boy's Magic Circuits instantly saw through everything.
The essence of Sajyou Ayaka.
They are the same as themselves, and are "foreign objects" in the eyes of human society.
"That thing will become an obstacle to my revenge against humanity."
As he spoke, he condensed a ball of magic in his palm.
With a splattering sound of something twisting and pressing, shadows emanating from the hole in his chest enveloped his arms.
A circular Magic Circle appeared on the missing elbow, amplifying the magic power flowing from the chest and concentrating it through the suspended forearm to the fingertips.
The shadows covering the arms expanded, forming more Magic Circle that stacked and activated in two or three layers at the missing elbows and in front of the outstretched palms.
Moreover, the shadows that grew from behind seized the broken crystalline substances that had been peeled off the body, and spread out like Wings, drawing three-dimensional patterns in the air.
Any Magecraft would find this unbelievable.
The boy's Magic Circuits are growing and multiplying outside the body, measured in seconds.
He acquired the power that a prestigious family with a long history would take hundreds of years to accumulate in just a few seconds.
The magic of the atmosphere permeating the city --
Or rather, the energy of the dragon veins that were allocated to the land for the Holy Grail War was rapidly concentrating around him.
In the context of the Holy Grail War, he was channeling immense power, comparable to Noble Phantasm, into a single point.
Immediately afterwards, the "otherworldly" boy launched an attack on Sajyou Ayaka in the distance.
"... Hello."
Hearing the voice from behind, the boy stopped his attack, skillfully circulating his condensed magic within his body before turning around.
Appearing there at some unknown time were a boy with short red hair and a young man with long green hair.
Shirou Amamiya and Enkidu.
Sensing something amiss, the two tacitly stopped fighting and rushed over together.
"Are you Heroic Spirit? Are the guardians of Human Order here to destroy me?"
"Foreign object?" the boy asked.
Enkidu replied, "I am now merely Servant who walks with my Master across the land."
Besides, in my opinion, it's too early to determine whether you're a scourge to this planet.
"... Then what are you doing here?"
"We'll decide whether or not to eliminate you based on your response."
Shirou said with a displeased expression, "You were just about to make a move on Sajyou Ayaka, weren't you? Why?"
Enkidu added, "I'm an ally of that girl. Since you intend to attack them, I can't stand by and do nothing."
"... That girl? You treat her as a human, Servant?"
Shirou: "What else could it be but a human? A stone statue used to decorate a Japanese-style room?"
Enkidu: "Yes, she is human, just as you are."
Faced with the two who answered without hesitation, the "strange" boy frowned unhappily and gritted his teeth slightly.
"That's perfect... I'd like to confirm that too."
The moment the boy whispered those words, he skillfully manipulated the rapidly circulating magic around him, and the swirling ball of magic enveloped Shirou and Enkidu.
"... Just how far could a 'me' without a 'me' possibly devour the world?"
It was a magical manipulation that disregarded the rules of Magecraft, such as incantations or spells, a miracle that far surpassed the scope of modern Magecraft.
"Which of us should go?"
Faced with overwhelming hostility, Shirou and Enkidu unfazed, instead exchanging bewildered glances over who should fight.
The spearman raised his clenched fist, smiled, and said, "Let's decide using modern methods."
"The Holy Grail even taught you this kind of knowledge?" Shirou frowned.
Enkidu: "Surprisingly, this is very important knowledge... rock-paper-scissors."
Shirou: "You seem quite confident?"
Enkidu: "The base stat for Luck is 'A', right?"
Shirou: "I understand a little better now why you and Ishtar have such a bad relationship."
So, the result of their rock-paper-scissors game was...
"It seems the Holy Grail only taught you how to play rock-paper-scissors, but not the tricks of the trade."
Shirou smiled smugly and took a step forward.
Enkidu looked annoyed, staring at his right hand that had been wielding the scissors.
"Is the discussion over?" the "strange object" boy asked.
"Yes, it seems you're having a bit of bad luck, running into me as your rival."
Shirou looked at the other person quietly and said.
"I don't know what happened to you, but I'm going to beat you until you never have the thought of 'wanting to destroy the world' again."
Volume 8: Chapter 388 Kidnapping a Loli, and Saving the World Along the Way
"... Tia," the boy suddenly spoke up.
"?"
"Tia Erskides. That's the name my deceased friend gave me."
"Hey..."
Shirou scoffed nonchalantly, "I have no interest in knowing your name."
"..."
Enkidu saw countless swords emerging from the void behind Shirou and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
The Projection swords relentlessly attacked Tia Erskides' body.
Faced with the overwhelming barrage of countless blades before him, the young boy began to ponder.
What can a fully realized version of yourself accomplish?
Having shed the shackles of being called a "friend" by Flat Erskides, he has transformed into the final form that the ancestors of the Escardos Family had hoped for.
After that, it was all unexplored territory.
However, he already possessed the relevant knowledge.
It's all written in the Magecraft Crest passed down through generations of Erskides, and only he can understand it now.
Therefore, the boy remained calm and unhurried.
As countless sharp blades approached him, he accelerated his consciousness to its limit, causing his subjective world to cease functioning.
Of course, time didn't actually stop; the boy's own movements slowed down as well, and the air enveloping his body seemed to become a warm, viscous sea.
The boy also accelerated the flow of primal force through his body's Magic Circuit, rapidly exchanging and circulating it with the surrounding magical elements.
It achieves a magical acceleration that is as absurd as upgrading an internal combustion engine and starting an external rocket engine.
But the magic still flowed as beautifully as a perfect work of art, causing the Shadow Wings of the exhibition to change shape and create Magecraft spells that defied common sense.
Perhaps it just looks like a new Magecraft being created on the spot, but is actually slightly different.
For example, an impromptu "orchestra" composed of various Magecraft of varying degrees.
This is Flat Erskodes's most proficient Magecraft form.
It can achieve the most suitable effect for the present moment, but because I can no longer fully reproduce it, it has the extremely troublesome flaw of not being able to systematize it.
Basically, that's what the boy did.
By combining multiple systems through Magecraft, one can achieve explosive acceleration of their own nerves and limb movements, and continuously repair the cells and joints damaged as a result.