To put it simply, Rin and Luvia were exhausted. The two girls had been fighting for a long ti before attacking Sakura, depleting most of their stamina. They managed to hold out just to see how far their valued sister could go.
After they fell, Shinji stepped in personally to help Sakura until Justeaze reminded him not to waste any more magical energy, forcing him to stop reluctantly. Ti was still too short for him to teach all the intricacies he knew.
"My ti is running out. The rest of the journey is up to you."
"Brother, are you leaving?" Sakura asked, holding onto Shinji's sleeve with reluctance.
"Yes, I was just passing through, and now it's ti for to be on my way. Rember what I taught you, rember your resolve. From now on, it'll be up to you to handle Luvia-chan and Rin-chan."
With that, Shinji patted Sakura's head one last ti and departed gracefully.
"Luvia-chan?"
"Rin-chan?"
The two girls lying on the ground glared in the direction Shinji left, their eyes burning with fierce anger as if they wanted to incinerate that man on the spot.
Unexpectedly, that man who had just climbed over the wall reappeared on it.
"Oh, I nearly forgot, do you have any parchnt for writing formal docunts? I need a few sheets urgently."
"Yes, please wait a mont, I'll fetch them right away." A few sheets of parchnt were nothing to Tokiomi Tohsaka, who dashed into his workshop at lightning speed.
Receiving what he wanted, Shinji waved goodbye.
"This ti I'm leaving. We probably won't have a chance to et again, so don't miss ."
Just a passerby in childhood, perhaps soon forgotten—or so Shinji thought, unaware that these three prodigies would never forget this strange young man for the rest of their lives.
A few years later, the girls grew up and went to study at the Clock Tower. There, they t a classmate who resembled the young man, beginning a brand new chapter in their story.
◇◇◇
Artoria personally oversaw the Matou family, and young Shinji returned with the parchnt. Zouken knew the situation was beyond his control and reluctantly agreed to Shinji's request, signing his na on the docunt—both nas: Matou Zouken and Makiri Zolgen.
Shinji knew better than anyone how troubleso the old worm was. He would use any ans necessary to eliminate potential threats. The reason he didn't kill him outright was that this old worm was sowhat better than the one who had already died, and the Shinji of this world needed a teacher in magecraft. Despite his flaws, the old worm was still a great magus. With his guidance, Shinji might carve out his path in this era filled with prodigies.
Of course, Shinji also knew that with the old worm's experience and insight, the binding docunt might not completely control him. However, the docunt was the ultimate contract for magus, and it would still significantly hinder him. As long as he could buy a few years for this world's Shinji to grow, the old worm would find it much harder to harm him. He might even end up getting himself caught in the process.
Shinji's confidence stemd from the fact that what he did was not just about opening magical circuits in the way the old worm saw it. It also involved a rule related to the Third Magic: when the sa person from parallel worlds ets under certain conditions, they resonate with each other, leading to phenona like shared mories and experiences. In the "Fate/stay night" Unlimited Blade Works route, Heroic Spirit Emiya shared his combat experience with young Shirou Emiya, allowing him to grow rapidly.
Shinji's case was similar. The sa source of magical power entering the body of this world's Shinji not only opened his magical circuits but also transferred so of Servant Shinji's skills and battle experiences. More importantly, these were stored not in the brain but in the body and magical circuits, so this world's Shinji had no idea he had received a cheat, adopting a protagonist's template.
Though this cheat was a pirated version and not as complete as the official protagonist template, it was still a powerful trump card, enough to severely hinder the old worm. Having left this hidden ace, Shinji could finally be at ease.
So might argue that this wouldn't necessarily be enough to suppress Zouken completely, and Shinji wouldn't deny it—nothing in life is absolute, and the path of magecraft is far from smooth. If, with all these safeguards, he still couldn't overco a heavily injured old worm, then there would be no point in stepping into the world of magecraft at all.
After completing everything, Shinji and Artoria left the Matou household.
At that mont, Shinji only had enough magical energy to maintain his existence for half an hour. He hurriedly bid farewell to Artoria and returned as quickly as possible to Mount Enzou, to the altar where the Greater Grail had been buried for over a hundred years. Only there could Justeaze use the most familiar leyline to send Shinji back to Trifas.
The altar, dormant for over sixty years, was lit up once again. Shinji's servant body once more disintegrated into its most basic spiritual particles, which traveled through the interconnected leylines spanning the entire Earth, transcending the limitations of space, and returned to the place where it had vanished a few hours ago.
The distance shrank from half the globe to just a few kiloters, and Shinji once again sensed Fiore's presence. Vast amounts of magical energy flowed into Shinji's body through the magical pathways constructed by their contract, gradually replenishing his nearly exhausted servant form.
"Finally caught my breath. Sorry, homunculi providing with magical energy, although you might not even understand what 'sorry' ans."
Stretching his reford body, Shinji gazed at the distant Millennia Castle and spoke softly.
After hours of exertion, Shinji's energy depletion was comparable to that of a major battle. Providing this much magical energy would require Fiore, an exceptional magus, to strain her life force, let alone the homunculi created specifically as sources of magical power. Perhaps, the mont he demanded magical energy through their contract, a few homunculi had been drained dry.
Although Shinji felt so guilt about this, he did not regret it. In his eyes, unless a homunculus had developed a human heart and self-awareness like Justeaze or Irisviel, they were no different from animals. How many people feel guilty about slaughtering pigs for at? Shinji certainly didn't. His guilt stemd only from the homunculi's human-like structure and the potential he had destroyed for them to awaken self-awareness.
After so thought, he added:
"I hope none of the homunculi I drained was you, Sieg. Otherwise... well, it wouldn't matter. I never intended to follow the original storyline anyway, and I don't know why Higashide-sensei chose such a protagonist."
Talking to himself, Shinji walked towards the ancient castle in the brightening daylight.
There, his master awaited him.
P.S.: The story of Fuyuki in this parallel world ends here; next, we'll return to the main storyline.
P.S.2: So readers might feel the pace is too slow, but since we're here, it wouldn't make sense not to et this world's version of the main characters. I imagine many readers are also curious about what the Three Great Families of this world have beco.
Reviews
All reviews (0)