Chapter 177: I'll (W) Drive (D) You (N) Guys (M) Wild (D)
Was Emiya intentionally bullying his students?
Of course not. How could that be!
Testing students' true strength through practical combat guidance is exactly what Emiya, as a teacher, ought to do. Just as teachers in schools use exam papers to test their students, this was only natural and right.
However, the current situation was indeed opportune. Emiya felt he had perhaps been a bit too kind to the students previously; a rare chance like this to make them a little afraid of him was hard to come by. "A strict teacher produces a brilliant student"—this saying might not apply to every scenario, but it has its merits.
As long as he could stimulate the students' potential to a certain extent, allowing them to accumulate greater strength before danger arrived, Emiya didn't mind playing the "villain" at all.
There is more than one way to be good to someone besides constant compliance and indulgence; sometimes, occasional severity produces better results.
Having said that... when it came time to educate his little sister, Miyu, he would certainly consider a policy of total gentleness and "soft power."
"Spare the rod and spoil the child," "Strict teachers produce brilliant students," "Spoiling a child ruins them"... what kind of twisted logic was that?
His sister Miyu was surely the most well-behaved child in the world, incredibly sensible without needing such "education." He would only need to guide her gently with a bit of knowledge.
Regardless, Miyu was different from "bad" students like Itadori Yuji, who didn't even want to look at their books properly.
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Since Emiya had taken such a firm stance, Itadori and Nobara naturally lost all room for refusal and were dragged away by him. About ten minutes later, the three of them, fully prepared, arrived at the foot of the back mountain—which had been destroyed beyond recognition.
Originally, after returning to his quarters to retrieve his heavy weapon, Itadori Yuji had regained a bit of confidence. The Axe-Shield he carried, specially forged by Emiya, weighed nearly three tons. A couple of casual swings carried earth-shaking momentum, capable of splitting mountains and cracking rocks. Is there any confidence more secure than solid weight?
But upon seeing the scene at the back mountain, Itadori realized he was not just wrong, but catastrophically wrong. The entire mountain had been split into several pieces. Was this truly something humanly possible?!
Looking at the ravines that were hundreds of meters long, then looking at the pitiful "shield-axe" on his back... the metaphor of "using a toothpick to stir a water vat" became instantly vivid. Even if he went back and trained for another two and a half years, there was no way he could reach this level.
"Emiya-sensei, this couldn't be..."
"That's right. It was left over from my fight with Megumi Fushiguro. I accidentally failed to hold back my strength, and it turned out like this. I just hope Principal Yaga won't be too angry when he sees it," Emiya replied in a flat, slightly apologetic tone.
'You've had it rough, Fushiguro.'
Itadori now understood that this wasn't because Fushiguro wasn't trying hard enough; the fact that he hadn't been split into ten pieces like the mountain was already the result of him giving it his all.
All Itadori could do now was pray—pray that Fushiguro would wake up one day instead of sleeping forever, leaving Itadori to face this nightmare alone.
Wait... didn't he have Nobara by his side?
After glancing at Nobara Kugisaki, whose expression was even more exaggerated than his own, Itadori's mood improved significantly.
It wasn't because the two of them together could win, but because realizing someone else was suffering with him made him feel much better.
Unlike Itadori, Nobara's mental state was a bit more collapsed. At least the shield-axe next to her was a heavy-duty weapon for comparison, but what about her?
Having her use Black Keys to fight a guy like this—was this a joke?
Even if the Executor Kirei Kotomine, who could brawl with Heroic Spirits, were to take the field himself, he would probably only have one thing to say upon seeing Heracles: "Are you F* kidding me]."
In this world, not everyone has Emiya's superb adaptability to handle all types of opponents. Those good at fighting humans can't fight monsters, and power-type offensive players can't do delicate work. If Nobara were to use short-handled weapons like Black Keys for a head-on clash of strength, she would probably be pinned under "a few rocks" by now.
And by "a few," it's because her body wouldn't be in one piece—if it were only dozens of pieces, she'd be lucky.
Though a bit unethical, she was truly relieved—relieved that the one getting beaten just now wasn't her.
"Alright, alright. Don't say I didn't give you a head start. You organize the first attack.
You can discuss tactics if you want, but you only have three minutes. Once three minutes are up, if you haven't initiated an attack, I'll start helping you take the initiative."
After a moment of thought, Emiya decided to continue the high-pressure policy—letting Itadori and Nobara feel enough pressure to stimulate their potential.
Since they had already misunderstood, he might as well let them keep misunderstanding; children who haven't experienced the wind and rain can't see the rainbow, can they?
"What do we do, Nobara? Emiya-sensei doesn't look like he's joking. We're really doomed this time." Upon receiving the order, Itadori Yuji immediately huddled close to Nobara, asking in the lowest voice possible.
"How should I know? But this change is too big. What on earth happened?"
Nobara still couldn't understand why the usually kind Emiya had suddenly turned into a "Steel-Blooded Instructor." It didn't look like he was acting.
This was purely like he had swapped personalities!
"Is it possible... that Fushiguro's performance was so bad that it made Emiya-sensei this angry?" Itadori used his clever brain to think for a moment and easily reached this seemingly logical conclusion.
"That actually sounds possible? That guy Fushiguro, how dare he do something like that!" Regardless of whether he was the victim, Nobara was now going to categorize his actions as "malicious harm"!
"Talk about revenge later! Quickly think about what we should do now!"
At least Itadori's head was clear enough to realize he was about to suffer very soon.
"Let me think, maybe we could..."
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