Shirou's Return from the Fae Kingdom

Zouken Matou narrowed his eyes, instinctively sensing danger: The brat just called those two swords "Blades of Chaos"?

Even after living for half a millennium, the old Magus had never heard of them.

The overwhelming presence emanating from the twin flaming blades far surpassed any divine weapon he knew of.

Yet, he had never heard of them?

In fact—

Let alone Zouken Matou, Shirou himself didn't know their origin.

"As expected... no matter how much magic I pour into it, I can't make the blade burn."

The golden-haired girl called the Savior Ash—Morgan—observed the chained twin blades with disbelief.

As a Paradise Fae bearing a certain mission, Morgan, though not as skilled as Shirou, had an innate connection with swords.

However, the strange chained blades Shirou projected were rejecting the Paradise Fae.

Hmph, Morgan pouted her lips, clearly displeased.

"Don't be jealous of the weapon," Shirou said with a wry smile.

"Who's jealous?" Morgan glared at him. "Shirou, where did you see these two swords?"

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember?"

Yes, the red-haired boy nodded honestly. "I have no memory of the origin of these two swords. At some point, they just appeared in my mind."

Shirou could store all the prototypes (swords) he had seen within himself and replicate them when needed.

But there were also some weapons that he had never seen before, yet they felt as if they had been in the boy's deep memory from the very beginning—

These "Blades of Chaos" were one of them.

"I see, you really are incredible."

Morgan looked deeply at the red-haired boy. "But listen, Shirou, these chain blades haven't unleashed their true power yet."

Shirou blinked. "Really? I like them a lot. They perform well in various battlefield environments; you could say they're my most compatible, destined weapons."

Morgan shook her head. "This is not their true power yet."

Shirou said dejectedly, "I'm sorry for being a third-rate Magus and a self-taught swordsman, Morgan. You're so strict."

"That's not what I meant! Honestly! Shirou, you're exceptionally talented, yet you always put yourself down. I really dislike that about you."

Morgan sighed and asked with a serious expression, "Shirou, do you know about 'gods'?"

"My homeland... the one in the human world?"

"That's right, the ones called 'gods' and 'divine spirits' in the Pan-Human History. They don't exist on our Fae island.

So... in the world of Fae, the 'Blades of Chaos' cannot unleash the true power they hide."

Shirou hummed and stroked the blade. "Even so, I'll choose them."

Hearing this, Morgan revealed a gentle yet stern smile.

"I knew you'd say that. This is the Shirou I know."

"—Hiss."

Shirou Amamiya took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.

How could he express the emotions surging within him right now?

Shirou had thought he would never have the chance to wield these twin blades again.

Yet, fate, in its mischievous way, seemed unwilling to let him return to an ordinary life.

The pilgrimage, the Autumn War, the decisive battle against the Great Calamity...

Just by holding the hilt, sealed memories flooded into his mind.

In a flash, the aura surrounding Shirou Amamiya changed.

From this moment on, he was no longer a boy engrossed in peaceful city life, but had become the King of Knights of the Fae, who would unite Britain with absolute power.

In the boy's pupils, an eternal flame burned, capable of incinerating all evil insects.

"Yaaah—!!"

A girl's scream echoed in the Workshop.

Sakura Matou, left by the edge of the pit, lost her strength and slipped, falling in.

While the girl was still in mid-air, the Incubus Worms at the bottom of the pit seemed to sense the arrival of delicious bait. They let out piercing screeches in unison and writhed like a tidal wave of black mud.

The grotesque swarm of worms scrambled to rush towards Sakura Matou's falling point, but—

The sound of chains echoed above the underground workshop.

Just as the girl was about to fall into the worm's maw, a chain suddenly shot out.

It was the "Blades of Chaos."

Shirou swung his right arm, throwing the curved blade, and the chain that shot out with it bound the girl's waist.

The chain blade, over ten meters long, was now like an extension of his arm.

Precise and fast, it was the embodiment of the martial skill Shirou Amamiya had honed with his heart and soul.

"Sakura."

"Brother Shirou!"

The red-haired boy pulled Sakura Matou back, catching her steadily and holding her in his arms.

It didn't end there.

Shirou swung his free left arm, repeating the maneuver and shooting out another curved blade.

The burning blade embedded itself firmly into the ground at the bottom of the pit, simultaneously killing several Incubus Worms on the spot.

"!"

Zouken Matou seemed to realize something.

His withered face twisted in fear, and he roared hysterically.

"No! Stop! Brat, stop it... Do you know how much effort I put into this--"

"I only know that pests should die."

Shirou Amamiya whispered in a low voice.

A cluster of flickering flames erupted from his palm, traveling rapidly through the chain like a lit fuse, reaching the blade in an instant--

"Boom----!!"

With a violent explosion, Zouken Matou's proud worm treasury instantly turned into a sea of purgatorial fire.

Crackling...

All the evil Incubus Worms were burned to ashes.

Volume 1, Chapter 010: Kill Yourself!

Sakura Matou's eyes widened, so stunned she couldn't speak.

Was she dreaming?

Everything she had experienced tonight was too incredible.

No matter how she thought about it, it was a nightmare.

However, the gentleness and warmth from her shoulder, Shirou's arm around her, told her this was not a dream.

Moreover... even if it were just a dream, Sakura Matou thought faintly, it certainly wouldn't be a nightmare.

"Prepare to escape."

The boy's low whisper interrupted her thoughts.

"Huh? Eek--!"

Sakura Matou cried out in surprise because Shirou scooped her up entirely--a princess carry.

Then, Shirou ran out without looking back.

"You ungrateful brat! How dare you... Don't you dare run!"

The old Magus glared with bloodshot, enraged eyes, his body transforming into a swarm of insects as he gave chase.

If it were Shirou Amamiya in his prime, he naturally wouldn't have bothered with a worm master like Zouken Matou.

In "Britain," any random country Fae possessed combat power comparable to human Magus, not to mention calamities that even Fae avoided.

Among those black enemies, insect-type calamities were particularly troublesome for the Savior team--

The reason was that Morgan would go berserk when facing insects, becoming completely unable to fight.

One could imagine how much Shirou suffered to clean up her mess, and how deep his resentment towards pests ran.

He was even once given the title "Insect Exterminator Knight" for burning a large number of caterpillar calamities in a battle one night.

It was a pity that Shirou was only 7 years old now, his body not yet mature and never having undergone systematic training.

Simply projecting the "Blades of Chaos" consumed most of his magic, and burning the worm treasury earlier had drained the rest to almost nothing.

Fortunately, the opponent had also depleted their resources.

Zouken Matou's main combat power came from his worm treasury; this was a mutually destructive exchange.

Shirou carried Sakura Matou out of the workshop, and Zouken Matou, cursing all the way, pursued them relentlessly.

"Ungrateful brat, who do you think took you in!"

With centuries of accumulation destroyed in an instant, Zouken Matou was filled only with regret.

He had actually investigated Shirou Amamiya in secret and knew how he and his grandson had met.

But he hadn't taken it to heart.

Even though he knew Shirou was a brat who couldn't stand evil and hated wickedness, he still kept him in the mansion because he found it amusing.

"Brat, do you really want to become a hero of justice that badly?"

Zouken Matou threatened him with a deranged mind.

"I'll use my worms to control your body and defile the Tohsaka Family's daughter! I'll let you experience true despair!"

That pool of Incubus Worms was not only Zouken Matou's source of power but also the foundation for maintaining his physical body.

After losing his worm nest, the old Magus's remaining lifespan was not even enough for him to live until the next Holy Grail War, sixty years later.

To Zouken Matou, the wish to "stay alive" was greater than anything, which was why he became so enraged that he lost his reason--

"BOOM----!!"

The passage connecting the Workshop to the mansion collapsed amidst the explosion.

"Nngh----!"

Zouken Matou let out a mournful cry.

Caught off guard, huge rubble and stone blocks falling from above completely buried him.

This was Shirou Amamiya's doing, a pre-arranged trap. He had embedded homemade bombs in the ceiling of the passage.

Demolition Blasting—this was a high-difficulty demolition technique mainly used for tearing down large, tall buildings.

By destroying the most crucial pillars of the building's strength at a single point, the building's own weight would crush the entire structure inward.

This technique could turn a building into a pile of rubble with the minimum amount of explosives, more efficiently and more surely. It could be called an art form of destruction.