Chapter 253: Emiya: Who Are You?
Strictly speaking, the actual attack of [Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat] is not directed at the victim themselves. This is because the moment the Noble Phantasm is unleashed, the "dual existence" mirrored in the reflection is already established.
From that point on, Cursed Arm's attack can completely bypass the victim, focusing solely on the "dual existence" that can only be touched by his own demonic arm.
Since the real target of the attack is not the person themselves, all evasive and defensive maneuvers by the victim become moot. Furthermore, while the mirrored "dual existence" is said to be identical to the original, it lacks actual "mass." Everything about it is like an illusion—as fleeting as a dream or a mirage.
In such a moment, only Cursed Arm's right hand—which carries the soul information of the demon Shaitan—can use the effect of the "curse" to touch the dual existence that lacks a physical form, delivering a fatal blow to the enemy through it.
If the effect of touching the "dual existence" didn't have such a restriction, Cursed Arm wouldn't just be a Heroic Spirit who barely reaches the level of a normal Servant via [Zabaniya]; he would be a first-class Servant capable of easily crushing most enemies.
Even with such limitations, most Servants possess absolutely no ability to successfully defend against [Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat]...
The effect of attacking directly through the dual existence is far too exaggerated, almost entirely severing the possibility of the victim preserving themselves through any form of defense. However, there is no such thing as a perfect or invincible Noble Phantasm in this world, even for one touted as a "one-hit kill."
When [Zabaniya] is successfully activated by Cursed Arm, only three possibilities remain to defend against it:
First, [Zabaniya] has a limited range. As long as one harasses him with long-range attacks from a distance, Cursed Arm instantly becomes one of the weakest types of Servants... but this point loses all utility once the Noble Phantasm has been successfully triggered.
Second is [Magic Resistance]. After all, the essence of this Noble Phantasm is ultimately just a "curse." As long as the Servant's own magical energy level is extremely high, or they receive some form of protection that immunizes them against the vast majority of magical energy, it is possible to negate the effect of the "curse."
As for the final possibility, it is when the Servant's "human" attributes are so sparse that they can move freely even after losing their heart... for example, certain special Servants with undead or even mechanical attributes.
Many Heroic Spirits' Noble Phantasms are like this: they generally possess a conceptual ability along with a few specific weaknesses. Or, like the Holy Sword, they possess purely
overwhelming explosive power. This is why in a one-on-one battle between Servants, one must collect sufficient intelligence beforehand.
If one has absolute confidence in their strength, they can indeed launch a surprise attack before intelligence is fully gathered, but the drawback is having to accept a conclusion where they might fail due to carelessness.
Upon first seeing that Cursed Arm, as an Assassin, had abandoned melee and opted for throwing daggers as his primary method of attack, Emiya's first instinct was naturally to quickly resolve the fight through the close-quarters combat the opponent lacked confidence in.
But who could realize the true name and abilities of an enemy Servant before seeing any defining characteristics? Even if Emiya had already learned of the opponent's traits and appearance, the [Presence Concealment] inherent to the Assassin class was nothing to sneeze at.
Never mind hiding before a fight; even during combat, the power of [Presence Concealment] allows one to suddenly disengage and wait for an opportunity to ambush again, causing the enemy to suddenly lose track of them in the heat of battle.
Had the mindless opponent not failed to hide his killing intent from the start, even a cautious Emiya might not have detected his presence.
It wasn't until he saw that highly iconic demonic arm that Emiya suddenly realized Cursed Arm's identity. Yet, the Assassin, devoid of any reason, relied on bodily instinct to suddenly retreat and used his absolute ace Noble Phantasm without any second thought.
This isn't even limited to battles between Servants; any normal person wouldn't expose and use their finishing move and ace card at the very beginning of a fight... Don't those Ultramen fighting monsters also only release their beam skills to finish the opponent at the very end of the battle?
Except for certain particularly frenzied fellows, things naturally develop this way.
Due to these difficult-to-evade factors, Emiya, despite maintaining his guard, still allowed Cursed Arm to successfully unleash his Noble Phantasm.
However, when facing this kind of attack—which was a "curse" in essence and almost rule-based—even Emiya, who mastered countless Noble Phantasms, didn't seem to have a very good countermeasure. Sword-type Noble Phantasms obviously wouldn't have defensive capabilities in this regard, and even defensive Noble Phantasms rarely possessed this specific type of utility.
It was clearly too late to try and dodge now... so what should be done?
The moment he realized the Assassin had unleashed his Noble Phantasm, Emiya's mind had already begun working hard to think of how to block or evade this certain-kill attack.
The "curse" had already been activated; it was far too late to try and open the distance now. As for [Magic Resistance], Emiya, who didn't even count as a Servant, obviously wouldn't have an attribute like [Magic Resistance], which is unique to beings whose "Mystery" has reached a certain level.
As for magical energy, Emiya couldn't even compare to many of the better Magi. And even those excellent Magi with extremely strong magical energy couldn't reach the level of directly negating a curse; at the very least, one would need an amount of magical energy comparable to the "Holy Grail" to achieve that.
Regarding the [Reverse Cursed Technique], the only thing he could place hope in, Emiya didn't know if he could reach a level like Ryomen Sukuna, who could move freely even without a heart. He hadn't even sustained such a serious injury to date.
But if that were the case... wouldn't he just have to gamble on his luck that he wouldn't be finished off by this Noble Phantasm?
The moment his thoughts reached this point, Emiya suddenly thought of a way that seemed capable of solving the problem in front of him—
Emiya lightly dropped Kanshou and Bakuya to the ground. Then, facing Cursed Arm's demonic arm as it grew frantically and twisted toward him, he chose to form a hollow triangular hand seal with both hands, perfectly framing the Assassin and his attack within the visual field of the seal.
"Cursed energy full output, technique release... [Flame Style: Kagutsuchi]!!!"
BOOM!!!!!!
This was the first time Emiya tried to resolve an opponent purely in the manner of a Jujutsu Sorcerer—that is, using a Cursed Technique. But clearly, the final result was even more outstanding than imagined.
The moment the Assassin's arm finally reached Emiya—specifically, the moment his palm clenched around the "dual existence's" heart—pitch-black flames instantly covered the opponent's body... no, it should be said they filled all the space in front of Emiya.
Flames born from nothingness rose from the ground over the river in a surging posture, shooting up to a height of over ten meters—yet they had no temperature, and there wasn't even the sound of burning. They simply destroyed the surrounding environment in silence.
When the pitch-black flames gradually dissipated seconds after losing their target and cursed energy supply, a widening triangular scar appeared on the ground in front of Emiya, extending all the way to the shore, allowing the river water to pour into the deeper pit.
"The power... is it actually even more terrifying than I imagined?"
The enhancement of the technique wasn't purely through training. It was just that as Emiya continuously improved his smithing skills, the derivative technique [Kagutsuchi] also saw its release effect enhanced, waiting for Emiya to master it.
As a purely destructive technique, Emiya didn't actually need to improve his technical skill with it; he only needed to improve the precision of the release and the quality of the cursed energy he could pour into it.
Although Emiya himself was never troubled by the quantity of his cursed energy, however massive it might be, a human body would still endure a great burden if it over-accepted a negative energy like cursed energy. Thus, Emiya had always used cursed energy temperately within the required range.
But looking at it now, if one combines excessive cursed energy with the technique like this... the destructiveness seems decent? It can already completely compare to the full-force strike of an average Servant.
"However, as expected, the danger is indeed quite a bit higher when facing enemies like Servants and Heroic Spirits...?"
After confirming that there was no longer any trace of the enemy before him, Emiya lightly placed his palm on his chest, quietly feeling the "thump-thump" sound produced by his rapidly beating heart.
In that moment just now, he had actually felt the constriction of his heart being tightly grasped by someone. If the release of the technique had been even half a second later, he would have had to try using [Reverse Cursed Technique] to replace and maintain the operation of the heart area.
It wasn't even that the battle process concluded with Emiya's attack resolving the opponent before the Assassin's Noble Phantasm took full effect. Because the moment [Zabaniya] was triggered, the unavoidable "curse" was already established.
It was just that the final way the problem was solved still followed Emiya's idea—since an excessive amount of magical energy could potentially cancel out the activation of [Zabaniya], would cursed energy, which is similar to a "curse" in form, also be able to do so?
The release of [Kagutsuchi] was merely incidental; Emiya's true intent was to use an excessive amount of cursed energy to wash over his own body to negate the curse... It's just that a normal person's body couldn't carry excessive cursed energy for long periods like it could with positive-affinity power, which is why he outputted all the cursed energy via the technique release. Otherwise, what was he supposed to do with the excess cursed energy drawn from that "unknown source of cursed energy"? Was he supposed to pour it back?
One should know how dangerous that behavior would be just by thinking about it. Who could guarantee no accidents would happen?
Compared to that, the fact that the power of the technique release far exceeded expectations and even successfully dealt with the Assassin—who had extremely poor defensive capabilities—was a pleasant surprise.
Or rather... after the Assassin abandoned the assassination he was best at to choose frontal combat, his tragic end was already predestined.
"Whoa! What an amazing technique! To solve the enemy so easily—as expected of Emiya-sensei!"
After seeing that the enemy had been completely dealt with, Itadori Yuji, who had been hiding behind the tree stump, suddenly emerged from behind and came to Emiya's side while waving his fists. "But... didn't you say your technique's name was [Smithing], Emiya-sensei? How can you use this kind of flame technique too?"
Faced with Itadori Yuji's inquiry, Emiya turned his head to look at him and answered very seriously: "When [Smithing], one needs to use fire. Isn't it only natural at a time like this?"
The guy next door who claims to be a chef, Ryomen Sukuna, can simultaneously use two completely different technique forms—'Slashing' and 'Flames.' Why can't a master blade-smith do the same?
"Is... is that so??!"
Hearing this answer, Itadori Yuji was first exaggeratedly shocked, and then he tried to use his not-so-flexible brain to analyze the possibility: "Come to think of it, it seems it really is like that..."
"So Emiya-sensei, what exactly was that guy just now? His form didn't look like a Cursed Spirit, but it would be a bit too strange to say he was a Curse User." Itadori Yuji's head might turn a bit slowly, but he had his own merits—he was quite diligent and inquisitive, and he would trust and follow the words and advice of a comrade who might be smarter.
After all, when facing something one completely doesn't understand, asking others more questions is by no means a bad thing; instead, acting recklessly is.
"That? That was a Heroic Spirit, or more accurately, the Servant form of a Heroic Spirit after manifestation."
"Servant... Heroic Spirit??"
Clearly, although Emiya had accurately answered his question, such terms were still a bit too profound for Itadori Yuji.
"How should I put it... to describe it in simpler words, you can understand the so-called Heroic Spirit as a synonym for those heroes who were able to leave a brilliant name in history or mythology. These Heroic Spirits will be remembered by the world, thereby leaving a trace outside the world that will never be erased by time.
And a Servant is something modern humans create by using certain means to call down a portion of these Heroic Spirits from the [Throne of Heroes] outside the world to achieve various goals, finally manifesting them in the world...
A Servant is only a part of a Heroic Spirit, potentially showing the state of these heroic figures during a certain period or story. At the same time, while they possess wisdom, their physiological activities are similar to ordinary people.
It's just this Assassin—I don't know why he lacked any shred of reason, even though that's something that should only happen to a Berserker... It's possible the summoner made some corrections to the incantation, leading to this final result..."
Using the opportunity to explain to Itadori Yuji, Emiya himself didn't forget to continue trying to analyze the reasons why the current situation was happening.
However, while Itadori's diligence was a virtue, his insufficient brain was a physiological state that could not be changed.
Actually, by the time Emiya reached the third sentence, Itadori—who couldn't quite understand all this in a short time—had already let his mind wander. While he stopped taking in more information, he cast a curious gaze into the pit that had been cleared of the Assassin.
It was this curious gaze that made him notice something slightly different—
"Um, Emiya-sensei... what is that 'bzzzt' glowing thing? Does the Servant you mentioned actually drop gold coins?"
Now, if we were talking about this, Itadori Yuji understood! He had, after all, played some video games in the past and was very familiar with the "kill monsters, level up, drop equipment" routine.
"A glowing thing?"
Emiya had never heard of a Servant dropping some strange item after being defeated.
Upon realizing something was wrong, Emiya immediately flickered into the pit, which had already accumulated into a pool, and reached out to grab the object floating in mid-air.
The familiar brass-colored card, and the image of the dual-wielding figure printed on the front of the card, immediately brought back some not-so-pleasant memories for Emiya.
"This is... an Assassin Class Card?!"
Crack—crack!
Before Emiya could recover from the information he had suddenly received, he saw several cracks like shattered glass suddenly appear in mid-air. These cracks covered the entire sky in a short amount of time, until it looked completely overwhelmed—
CRASH!!!
The entire world shattered like a glass product, but what subsequently appeared before Emiya's eyes was not another alien space, but a scene almost identical to the original one.
If there was a difference, it was that the world before him had inexplicably become more vivid... The jungle had the chirping of insects, and from the distant bridge, the sound of honking horns continuously drifted over. It wasn't at all like the deathly stillness of moments ago.
When Emiya looked down, he even found that the original pit beneath his feet had disappeared. He was standing perfectly fine on the street beside the river.
"So, this really is Fuyuki City, but it's just not the one I'm familiar with... is that what this means?"
Emiya knew very well that after enduring that special [Holy Grail War], the Fuyuki City of his original world could never be this peaceful again.
So, is the Fuyuki City of this world also undergoing a special [Holy Grail War]?
The fact that the Servant actually manifested via a Class Card was quite surprising to Emiya, but if explained with parallel world theory, this level of similarity seemed entirely acceptable...
Emiya still needed a certain amount of time and intelligence to analyze the information he was receiving at this moment. However, this was a real world after all, and in a city with high population density, it was hard not to be bumped into by someone.
By the time Emiya noticed that an ordinary passerby seemed to be approaching, he looked up and immediately saw a purple-haired figure walking briskly toward him from not far away. The other person shouted the moment they saw him—
"Shirou-kun, what are you doing here? Didn't you say you were going home early?"
As the other person approached him, Emiya still hadn't fully decided how to handle this situation of meeting an "acquaintance."
"What's wrong? Why aren't you saying a single word?"
"..."
"Who are you?"
"HUH??????"
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