Chapter 178: How Can a Charge Blade Deal Damage Without Charging?
"Come on, Emiya-sensei, we're ready!"
After a brief, rapid discussion, Itadori Yuji actually shouted to Emiya first—showing quite a bit of sportsmanship—before preparing to launch the attack. While this behavior significantly boosted the young man's moral standing, Emiya felt he should remain skeptical about what kind of combat strategy Itadori could actually devise.
"No problem. I can accept an attack anytime, as long as you can bear the consequences."
Emiya maintained his ambiguously threatening tone, but such threats no longer worked on the determined Itadori Yuji.
He was the type of stubborn soul who, once he decided to fight, would struggle to the bitter end.
Every personality has its pros and cons.
"Nobara, let's go just like we planned!"
The moment he spoke, Itadori immediately unslung the shield—massive in both mass and volume—from his back. Holding it firmly in front of him, he charged head-first toward Emiya. When a defensive shield is enlarged to a certain extent, its greatest weakness is inevitably clumsiness, but its advantage is the ability to expand the defensive range from oneself to the teammates behind.
With such a gargantuan shield standing there, Emiya couldn't even see Nobara's form in the rear, let alone predict her movements.
"Placing yourself entirely in the role of the team's 'tank' to sacrifice... that really is just like you."
"Trace on."
Flicking his wrists to grip Kanshou and Bakuya, Emiya immediately leapt up, intending to escape the situation where his vision and information gathering were restricted. However, despite carrying such heavy equipment, Itadori erupted with speed no less than his own.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
Suddenly leaping while dragging the shield, Itadori held it at his side like a club and twisted his body with all his might, swinging it toward Emiya.
Bang!
The heavy object, carrying immense inertia, collided with the twin swords crossed in front of Emiya. Naturally, the lighter swords were knocked further away.
It must be said that Itadori's body is strange; despite being an ordinary person before his experience with Ryomen Sukuna, his physical strength surpassed even Maki Zenin's (who has a Heavenly Restriction) and, in Emiya's memory, was second only to Fushiguro Toji.
As for Todo Aoi? Under Emiya's current tutelage, Itadori could already firmly suppress him in terms of raw power.
"Now's our chance!"
"Emiya-sensei, watch this!"
Once Emiya was knocked high into the air by Itadori, he could finally see Kugisaki Nobara in the rear. She had just pulled open her coat, revealing dozens of short hilts of various colors hidden inside.
While original Black Keys come in many varieties, most of the blades are composed directly of magical energy. Emiya chose to preserve this advantage. Since Nobara usually uses them as throwaway consumables—potentially using over a dozen on a single opponent—how could she carry enough if they were all fully materialized blades? Was she supposed to carry a massive executioner's crate like a certain blue-haired nun?
But keeping only the hilt was different. Their size was barely larger than the nails Nobara usually used, allowing her to hide many across her body. The different colors were simply a specialization Emiya added so she could quickly and accurately distinguish the specific effects of each Black Key.
Nobara quickly pinched four red hilts from under her collar. As Cursed Energy poured in, pitch-black blades, seemingly solid, instantly extended from them. Cursed Energy is not as gentle as magical energy, so these holy exorcism tools had to be modified this way.
At least it fit the name now, didn't it? Regardless of the hilt, the blade would always be black.
As several red-hilt Black Keys took flight at extreme speed, their forms collapsed into thin lines, making it almost impossible to track their exact positions. Much like film can be divided into frames, the human eye doesn't strictly capture "continuous" motion because the brain can't process truly uninterrupted, total information.
In this state, the thinner and faster an object, the easier it is for the eye to ignore, no matter how hard you focus—which is why Nobara chose nails as her weapon in the first place.
Though the Black Keys were relatively larger, they provided greater power and accuracy, making them a strictly better option. Even Emiya, who helped create them, had to focus intensely to accurately intercept those attacks.
Clang, clang, clang—!
After spinning his blades to shatter the Black Keys flying toward him, Emiya threw Kanshou and Bakuya to launch a counter-attack at Nobara. However, the speed of the twin swords was not as fast as the Black Keys, so Itadori arrived just in time to block.
Boom!
After the explosion of fire, the great shield held by Itadori remained gleaming, unaffected by any damage. When Emiya forged this weapon, he had only considered weight and sturdiness; its defensive power was beyond reproach.
Behind Itadori, Nobara suddenly leapt again, using the tall shield as a stepping stone to lunge at Emiya. She fired several Black Keys as a distraction before gripping multiple hilts in each hand like claws, swiping at Emiya.
Projecting new blades to clear the incoming projectiles, Emiya swung his sword horizontally toward the charging Nobara—
Screech—!
There wasn't even a sound of impact, because Emiya's blade sliced through her weapons with effortless precision.
"Eh?!"
Staring at her hands, which were now full of shattered fragments, Nobara froze on the spot, not realizing what had happened.
"Sorry, sorry. Did I forget to tell you one thing?
Because the main body of the Black Key blades is currently made of Cursed Energy—which is negative energy—it is fundamentally incompatible with the positive energy generated by Reverse Cursed Technique.
So when facing an opponent who has mastered Reverse Cursed Technique, you must never expose your weakness so easily, let alone shove it right in front of them. Otherwise, why would I have specially forged solid Black Keys for you as well?"
While giving this lecture, Emiya's other hand rapidly flipped his blade, using the back of it to knock Nobara firmly on the head.
Bop!
Well, that was a very "solid" sound of impact.
"Nobara, get out of the way!!"
But even Emiya had made a small mistake. In Itadori's original plan, the person responsible for the final blow wasn't the more lethal-looking Nobara, but himself—the one who had been playing the role of the shield from the start.
By the time Itadori shouted, he had already switched the great shield in his hand to its Charge Blade (Shield-Axe) mode, nearly three meters in length. Having completed several "energy charges," he swung it violently toward Emiya's flank.
"HRAAAAAAAAH!!!"
BOOM!!!
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