Right up until the moment he was attacked, Darnic still had not grasped what was happening.
Among the powers his opponent had displayed, countless ones demanded a cautious response from him. But what was this about drawing a gun?
Unlike most traditional magi, Darnic kept up with the times. He had even equipped Yggdmillennia's Homunculus guards with firearms.
But that was only a way to exploit the Homunculi's fearlessness in the face of death to hold enemies at bay. In a true battle of Magecraft, firearms could not deliver a decisive blow. And here, inside his Workshop transformed into a dream, even letting something with as little Mystery as a firearm hit him without any resistance would do him no harm.
Could Caster's Master have realized this was hopeless and decided to find a way to save face?
It dawned on Darnic. With his politically minded brain, he instantly filled in Roland's entire thought process, then confidently deployed a barrier.
Sure enough, even a large-caliber bullet was stopped by Darnic's barrier. But the power contained within it would not disappear so easily.
Through the occult connection, agonizing pain spread throughout Darnic's body before he even realized what had happened. His organs and nerves were torn into a mangled mess.
Before he could even scream, blood sprayed from his mouth. His entire body convulsed as his nerves shattered, while the Magic Circuits supplying magical energy throughout his body connected haphazardly and ran wild, rendered unusable.
Roland casually flicked open the cylinder, letting the faintly smoking cartridge case slide out.
Against magi, Kiritsugu Emiya's Origin Bullets could also deliver a deadly surprise on the first encounter. The ingrained contempt magi held for firearms made them even more effective.
After acquiring the Origin Bullets, Roland had realized that, when dealing with magi, these things were far more useful than a wand!
More than half of Kiritsugu Emiya's formidable reputation as the Magus Killer came from them. If their supply had not been limited, his record would only have been more impressive.
Darnic dropped to his knees without conscious thought, seemingly stripped of all ability to fight. Yet a look of surprise appeared in Roland's eyes.
"You're still alive?"
After being hit by an Origin Bullet, Darnic's whole body should have been incapable of supplying any more magical energy. He had also suffered severe injuries from his own magical energy running wild. Yet even so, he had not lost consciousness.
Lancer strolled over to Darnic and helped him up, not the least bit concerned about the situation.
This was enough to prove that, following the Third Holy Grail War, this man's condition had once again diverged drastically from what Roland remembered.
"Truly impressive. Compressing an Origin through spiritual engineering, then manifesting it within the person struck. No wonder it was so unstoppable even in a dream. I doubt more than a handful of Masters in this Holy Grail War could defend against that."
Supported by Lancer, Darnic laboriously shifted his eyes toward Roland.
"So, do I qualify now?"
"Of course you do. Let's sign the contract."
Roland's eyes lit up. Without saying anything more, he left his mark on the parchment.
"Now, I still need to check on the other pairs. If you need anything, just send a familiar into this area. I'll come to you."
With their fragile alliance established, Roland left Darnic's Workshop with Caster.
"That Old Worm really was hiding something. He might not have approached Darnic just to prevent the Greater Grail from being stolen. Caster, did you sense that man's condition just now?"
"He's a cripple, nothing more. I doubt he can even look after himself now. His own rampaging magical energy inflicted severe internal injuries on his body. He probably doesn't have long to live."
"But even so, his contract with Lancer showed no fluctuations," Caster said in puzzlement. "And his body felt very strange to me."
"I could clearly sense the fluctuations of his soul, but they kept fading in and out, as though that weren't his own body. Yet there wasn't the slightest sign of anything amiss when he deployed his spells. That would be impossible if he were truly relying on someone else's body."
Roland raised his head and gazed up at the night sky. "Yes, very strange. And then there's Enkidu. A Holy Relic of that Heroic Spirit shouldn't be able to appear in the present world. How did he..."
While Roland pondered this, Caster asked cautiously, "Then, Master, do you truly intend to honor that contract? Your attack left him in that state, yet he could still act respectfully toward you. I don't think someone so calculating can be trusted."
"Who does he think he is?"
Roland inspected the invisible restraints on his soul with displeasure. The arrogance that had remained hidden beneath his gentle exterior finally bared its fangs.
"A mere mayfly, born in the morning and dead by nightfall, dares to try to bind me with an oath?"
Unlike Yoshikage Kira's overt influence, Shendu's influence worked subtly. His arrogance did not mean he dismissed everything out of hand, so he could still behave normally, cooperate with Valmont, and tempt other mortals.
But that apparent equality was, at its core, the pity of a superior being, not genuine gentleness. He was a mighty Fire Demon, a noble dragon who would neither age nor die. Apart from his own kind, everything in the world stood apart from him.
Even Jackie Chan had only earned Shendu's recognition after defeating him many times. Only then had Shendu called him his nemesis and deemed his body a suitable vessel for his soul.
Making promises to others felt much like playing with a pet. But if the other party actually dared use a contract to demand something of him, that would be taking liberties.
"Caster, lend me your Noble Phantasm."
"Huh?" At Roland's command, Medea instinctively took out Rule Breaker. "What do you intend to do with it?"
"Break the contract, of course. I don't want this disgusting thing on me for another moment. Let Darnic fulfill the contract on his own."
Hearing Roland's words, Medea hurriedly hid the dagger in her hand. "If it's something that simple, can't you do it yourself? Using this Noble Phantasm would also break the Master-Servant contract between us."
"Huh?" Roland froze, then looked at Medea. "What do you mean, I can do it myself?"
"You didn't know?" Hearing Roland ask such a strange question, Medea was surprised instead.
"With your noble soul, capable of producing true ether and even surpassing the gods, how could a contract between mortals possibly bind you, Master?"
After spending some time with Roland, Medea had come to understand him a little better. "I've never seen anything like the defiance within your soul, Master. Freedom is its innate nature. Even beings as noble as you would need at least four of their number to impose an effective contract on you. Ideally, it would take seven to bind you completely."
"Really?" Roland instinctively touched the newly established contract. Sure enough, just as Medea had said, his soul gave a casual twist, and the contract slipped off helplessly.
Faced with that result, even Roland was at a loss for words.
So when Shendu said it was common knowledge, he wasn't exaggerating his own abilities, but simply describing them?