Chapter 90: It is Night, and So It Begins Again
After that, because Sakura said she wanted to play too, the match turned into Sakura vs. Shirou. Once that round ended, it inexplicably transformed into a "sister war" of Sakura vs. Rin. Lady Sakura won match after match, invincible and unstoppable.
"Why!?"
The young mistress suffered defeat after defeat, cut down in the game. After clutching Shirou's collar to deliver a heart-poured complaint, Rin finally, begrudgingly, followed the others back to her own room. Based on balance, protocol, and other altogether complicated factors, they would sleep separately.
With the girls heading back, the room for the "boys' group" of one returned to the proper definition of a single suite.
If he strengthened his hearing with prana, he could faintly hear the sound of the girls showering through the walls. Shirou silently switched off the reinforcement. That was a pure slip of the mind; nothing happened.
In any case, Shirou had finally returned to a state of being alone...
...Wait, that wasn't for certain either. After double-checking twice that neither Illya nor Rider were haunting his room, Shirou finally let out a sigh of relief. No one disturbed him.
The night of the second day of the Holy Grail War; the moon hung high in the frost-filled sky. Having formed an alliance with the police and developed a formula to seal Alcides' black mud, today's results were sufficient for the Emiya household. If there were no obvious combat fluctuations nearby, the Emiya household wouldn't stay up all night monitoring like some unlucky mastermind who couldn't catch a break.
Rin and Sakura were likely already asleep, but Shirou alone felt no drowsiness. He wanted to do something. Yet, now that he actually had free time, he didn't quite know how to arrange it.
After finishing his washing, Shirou suddenly remembered that during this long day, he hadn't actually done his morning training. In the morning, he had only taken a stroll outside. Furthermore, yesterday he had slept through the night due to the battle with Alcides.
"...I should at least train a little."
As if feeling guilty, he glanced left, then right. Withdrawing his gaze, he projected a cloth and quickly sat cross-legged on the piece covering the floor.
Trace on.
Flashes of prana began to condense into physical forms upon the cloth. The first weapon was a dark dagger, barely longer than a palm, as tiny as a bee sting. It was a Noble Phantasm with an anesthetic effect upon a successful strike.
The second weapon was a longsword that traced magnificent twin arcs, reflecting a silver-white glow: Hrunting.
Concentrating his mind and suppressing his breath, Shirou tuned his thoughts to a combat state. There are two modes for Broken Phantasm.
The first is using the Noble Phantasm as a container for a bomb, detonating the prana contained within to trigger a massive magical explosion. The scale of the explosion increases according to the rank of the Noble Phantasm used. Detonating a fantasy that serves as the proof of a hero is truly an exceptional usage; if one did not possess infinite Noble Phantasms, it would be no different from self-sabotage. Its uniqueness had even caused Alcides to suffer a minor setback.
But the second mode—Shirou had yet to see anyone use it. Not even those who had fought him.
"[The Broken Fantasy]."
He spoke the incantation as a suggestion. His Magic Circuits opened fully, and the finger lightly stroking the Noble Phantasm moved slightly, triggering the prana within.
Then... the small, slender Noble Phantasm disintegrated silently in an instant, turning into dust that dissipated into the air. Only a massive surge of prana rippled through the empty room.
Shirou picked up Hrunting, which lay to the side, and swung it. Its color had deepened. This Noble Phantasm had indeed been infused with "Poison."
If this Hrunting hit an unsuspecting enemy, even if they saw through its True Name, it would instantly leave them in a paralyzed, immobile state. A normal Hrunting would not have such an effect.
A transfer of the mode of existence.
This was the second mode of Broken Phantasm. When triggering the destruction of a single Noble Phantasm, it does not cause physical magical damage. Instead, it uses the bursting prana as a medium to transfer the concept and philosophy of existence from the destroyed Noble Phantasm to another.
In all likelihood... so far, this was a capability only Shirou understood. Just as a Reality Marble is a subspecies of Marble Phantasm, this function was an unearthed subspecies of Broken Phantasm.
A weapon originally non-toxic would be infused with poison; a fragile weapon would become indestructible; a weapon requiring manual aiming would become a relentless pursuer... destroying an old Noble Phantasm to let a new one inherit its existence.
This was a domain of infinite possibilities, but one that Shirou had not yet thoroughly mastered. The trouble was that even with Shirou's current level, it was difficult to record a
finished, modified Noble Phantasm into the "Blade Works" to project it directly next time. Shirou felt no intuition from the weapon before him that he could project it again immediately.
In other words, without meeting certain conditions, each use required a fresh performance of Broken Phantasm.
As Shirou swung the blade twice, producing sharp whistles in the air, Hrunting bloomed in silver-deep sword-flowers tinged with gold, vanishing into nothingness as he performed a sheathing motion.
Tracking + Poison. A simple yet practical combination.
Shirou stood up, and a flash in his hand manifested once more into the form of Rule Breaker. After plucking the prana of this Noble Phantasm, Shirou tossed it into the air. Then, he immediately grasped two new short swords that expanded from a sphere of light.
The jagged dagger shattered like glass; in its place, the dissipating prana surged downward, pouring back into Shirou and being incorporated into the twin short swords in his left and right hands.
Kanshou and Bakuya + Spell-breaking.
The difference from last time was that this time, he did not let them disappear. As if constructing a blueprint in his mind, Shirou held the blades level, carefully analyzing the composition of these two Noble Phantasms.
The creative philosophy and accumulated years were very chaotic. Two different modes of existence were fused together, like two solutions mixing to form a new one; he had to know the position of every single ion in this "beaker." Otherwise, he couldn't be said to have fully grasped its structure.
Shirou exhaled again—steeled for his brain to overheat. First, he reinforced his eyes with magecraft. This wasn't enough, so his consciousness sank, diving deeper into the armament. He felt himself enter a darkness that seemed isolated from everything around him. Only this weapon—only this Noble Phantasm—still reflected colored light within the dark.
To fully grasp its structure, Shirou continued receiving all information regarding the Noble Phantasm, beginning to sort out the creative philosophy and the blended years bit by bit. He was working with a level of seriousness far greater than any previous projection, and because of that, he suddenly noticed it.
—There were particles of black haze, which didn't belong to the weapon itself and seemed familiar, clinging to it.
Before entering this focused state, there had clearly been nothing on Shirou's blades. Or rather, had these things been clinging to the blades all along, yet Shirou—despite never letting the blades leave his sight—had been unable to see them until now?
The mist pulsed inorganically, seemingly not coveting anything. They simply filled the space equally while leaving slight traces on every object.
And... they were drifting slowly toward Shirou.
"!!"
The imaginary world where only the weapon existed in the void shattered instantly. Returning to reality, the light representing physical reinforcement flickered and died out. Because he was choked, Shirou began to cough unexpectedly.
Then, Shirou's expression changed sharply, and he immediately strode toward the door. Just now, more than just that black mist had been analyzed.
The prana of multiple Servants had drifted by in a wisp, mingled with the familiar black mist.
The moon over Snowfield remained loftily above the distant sky, but it was soon obscured by clouds. Behind those clouds, monsters and spirits surged. On this night, something of vital importance was about to happen. Everyone who understood Snowfield was gripped by a clear premonition.
Shirou walked steadily toward the room at the other end. He knew very well. If there were multiple Servants, it had to be this way.
He raised his hand to press the doorbell but stopped for a moment. Before he could make up his mind, the person inside opened the door. Wearing loose pajamas but with a tense demeanor, Saber stood like a silver knight, ready to head out.
"..."
Upon seeing each other, both fell silent. Finally, seemingly understanding why Shirou was standing at her door, Saber showed a look of both admiration and concern.
She spoke: "Did you notice it too, Shirou?"
"—There are multiple Servants in the city."
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