"Are you sure you want me to say it? Even if I do, are you sure you have the nerve to go looking for them?"
Ahad's face darkened, and the hall was tense enough for swords to be drawn at any moment. Yet Li Mo remained seated leisurely, speaking in a flippant tone.
What a joke. A bunch of homunculi going to pick a fight with the mighty Second Magician?
There had to be a limit to courting death, didn't there?
Before Ahad could speak, a gunshot cracked. Li Mo jerked backward and fell into his chair.
"Einzbern, Kiritsugu Emiya, are you trying to get your entire family wiped out?!" Li Mo clutched his chest and rose from his chair with a grim expression, staring at the man entering the hall with a gun in hand.
Without a word of warning, the Einzbern family had made their move!
The man who had fired at his chest and was now walking in from outside the hall was precisely the enemy Li Mo had always imagined: Kiritsugu Emiya!
Of course, since he knew he might run into this guy, how could Li Mo have failed to prepare? Protected by two bulletproof vests, the shot had done absolutely nothing.
Sakuragi swiftly ducked behind a nearby table, but Li Mo remained where he was, coldly watching the Einzberns present.
"Projection, begin!"
Blazing light flooded the hall. Though warm, it carried a trace of savage, unrestrained violence, as inviolable as the majesty of heaven and as terrifying as divine punishment. A phantom fireball slowly appeared above Li Mo's head, expanding and expanding until it became a sun as vast as a castle. Wherever the sun touched the roof, it burned away completely, leaving not even ash behind.
Li Mo had projected the sun!
Normally, Projection Magecraft came with immense restrictions. First, one had to have personally seen the projected object and know its exact form and parameters. Second, one's own magical energy had to be powerful enough to allow the projected object to manifest from illusion into reality. Unfortunately for the Einzbern family, Li Mo possessed both requirements!
Who had never seen the sun? And as for its form and parameters, wasn't it simply a nuclear explosion caused by massive quantities of hydrogen and helium continuously reacting? Coupled with Li Mo's personal encounter with the sun in the Lotus World, accomplishing something no one else would even dare imagine—projecting the sun—had come easily to him.
Perhaps because he had used the sun from the Lotus World as its base, the sun overhead always made Li Mo feel as if he were connected to that world within the lotus. While everyone else saw only savagery and frenzy in it, all Li Mo felt was warmth, as though he had returned to his mother's womb.
Before Li Mo could say anything, everyone else present had already collapsed in terror. Only a few magi, such as Ahad and Kiritsugu Emiya, barely remained standing. Yet the disbelief in their eyes and their trembling bodies revealed just how shaken they were.
Projecting the sun—what kind of power was that? From ancient times to the present, who could have conceived of such a thing? Who would have dared to?
Was this the Clock Tower's orthodox inheritance? Could this really be an inheritance of the Clock Tower?
It simply defied all reason!
Seeing the terror in their eyes, Li Mo merely sneered. "Einzbern, have you decided how you want to die?"
Had you decided how to face my wrath?!
Everyone lowered their heads in silence. Yet to Li Mo's surprise, Kiritsugu Emiya stepped forward at that moment.
"I fired the shot. It has nothing to do with the Einzbern family. If you want revenge, come after me. Spare them."
I was the one who acted. I wasn't representing the entire Einzbern family, so why were you shouting at them?
At least spare Irisviel and Illya.
But those words failed to move Li Mo. His sneer never faded, and as he looked at the gun Kiritsugu still held, he grew even angrier.
Fine, those were some tough words. He really had become a mature Kiritsugu!
But now he knew how to come out and play the victim? Why hadn't he thought of that when he pulled the trigger?
We hadn't even finished negotiating, and he had opened fire?
And did he take Li Mo for an idiot, thinking he didn't know the relationship between Kiritsugu Emiya and the Einzberns?
Rolling heat waves surged through the hall. The sun above Li Mo's head recklessly unleashed its light and heat, vaporizing the snow that had piled around the castle for countless years. The rising mist was dried away by the heat before it could spread. In everyone's eyes, there was nothing left but terror, as though Li Mo might erase them into nothingness the next instant.
In truth, that was not wrong. Their future fate rested in Li Mo's hands at this very moment, did it not?
"Don't you hurt Kiritsugu!"
Just as Li Mo was about to speak, a small figure suddenly rushed in. Like a mother hen shielding her chicks, she spread her arms and stood in front of Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel, glaring furiously at Li Mo.
Her childish face, crimson eyes, and silver-white hair made Li Mo swallow the words that were about to leave his mouth.
Illya?
At that moment, a rich, magnetic voice sounded from a corner, forcing Li Mo to suppress his anger.
"Stop, boy of the Brishisan family. I have already seen your performance."
Li Mo turned his head. Silver-white cropped hair, a beard, and a black overcoat—it was indeed Kishua, the Second Magician.
Kishua still sat in a chair in the corner. He looked up at the sun overhead, his face filled with surprise and admiration. "In terms of destructive power alone, this sun you projected is no weaker than the Five True Magics. Projecting the sun—how did you come up with such an ingenious idea?"
His tone was sincere, but Li Mo had no intention of answering. Instead, he put on an unwilling expression and said, "Lord Kishua, I have already delivered the item to you, but this is a matter between me and the Einzberns. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for you to intervene?"
"You have an objection?" Kishua's reaction caught Li Mo off guard. His eyes widened, and the authority in his expression left Li Mo utterly unable to argue.
"The Einzbern family is a continuation of the Third Magus. Although those magi from back then have either left or died, it is still a family that carries the inheritance of a Magician. Never mind me—even your teacher would not allow you to do something irreversible!"
Hearing that, Li Mo did not argue. He nodded in agreement and said, "Lord Kishua, you are right. But since they attacked me, they should at least compensate me with something to soothe my wounded heart."
Kishua froze. Then, seeing that although Li Mo's eyes were on him, his hand was gripping Avalon tightly, he burst out laughing.
This brat had set his sights on the Avalon Kishua wanted him to return?
That was right. What Li Mo wanted was indeed Avalon!
The moment Illya appeared, Li Mo had already decided to let the matter end there. At most, he would extort another batch of magical materials from the Einzberns.
But Kishua's sudden appearance reminded him of the beginning of this entire affair—Avalon. Then he suddenly realized that no magical materials could compare to Avalon, which could be used as a Noble Phantasm.
As for how Kiritsugu would summon the Cowlick King without Avalon, or how Shirou would survive Lancer's pursuit later on, what did any of that have to do with Li Mo?
This was compensation for getting shot. It was what Li Mo deserved!
He would take it with a clear conscience!
Before you continue