Shinji Matou at Your Service

After sending Shinji away with the Leg Power, Scathach casually pulled out her twin spears, twirling them as she spoke:

"You all should be getting up now, right? He's already gone, and the effects of the magic should be wearing off. It was just magic unconsciously leaked out; it wasn't enough to kill you."

The Counter Force does not allow humans to reach the Root. Since they had sent agents to intercept Souren Araya, how could they let Shinji, who was moving even faster, go? The reason Araya was killed while Shinji remained unharmed was that, unknowingly, Shinji had released magic that forced the Guardians to the ground, rendering them unable to move.

The Guardians, who are similar to heroic spirits, have a poor affinity with the Third Magic, which is the magic of the soul. While it wasn't much of a problem when Shinji was still incomplete, once the magic was fully realized and he became a Magician, no number of Guardians would be able to stop him. That's why Shirou Emiya had said that if Shinji knew the reason, they wouldn't be able to kill him.

Magicians are the enemies of the world, but at the same time, they are also beings the world is powerless against.

As soon as Scathach finished speaking, the Guardians, who had been lying in the sand like corpses, began to slowly rise. The first thing they did upon standing wasn't to attack, but to rush past Scathach in unison, chasing after the direction where Shinji had left.

Scathach wasn't surprised. She switched her grip on the twin spears from forward to reverse and started drawing on the ground.

"I see. You think Shinji hasn't fully uncovered the magic yet, so you believe there's still a chance to kill him? Heh, not a bad idea, but if I just let you go, wouldn't all my efforts be for nothing?"

The yellow sand beneath them sank, forming a vortex, and an ancient gate emerged from below, slowly opening.

"Stay with me a little longer—Gate of Skye, the gateway to the demonic realm overflowing with death!"

The pull directly upon their souls was ten times stronger than it would have been in the real world. After all, this was the outer world, the true realm of shadows. Without the restrictions of the real world, the full power of the Land of Shadows could finally be displayed.

The massive suction pulled everything around into it, including the Guardians who were chasing at full speed, and even Scathach herself.

By the time the Guardians wrested control of their bodies back from the pull, the desert landscape had vanished, replaced by a monochrome world of black, white, and gray.

Judging by the varying shades of these colors and the faint outlines, one could barely make out that this place seemed to be a castle. The only color within the castle was the figure sitting on the throne—the unparalleled, eternal queen.

This was not a Servant with a materialized soul or a manifestation of magic from afar; this was a true, living being, flesh and blood.

Simply sitting there, she exerted immense pressure on the Guardians below, as if they were facing one of the seven Grand Servants, beings whom even the Counter Force struggled to control.

"Welcome to the Land of Shadows," the real Scathach said, her voice regal.

"This is my domain. Even the Counter Force has difficulty interfering here. Until my disciple returns to the real world, you will remain here. Of course, if you're unwilling, you can try to defeat me with force. With the Counter Force's protection, you aren't truly mortal, just like me, so you can challenge me as many times as you like."

Her authoritative gaze shifted toward the three Guardians standing at the back—Shirou Emiya, Kiritsugu Emiya, and Okita Souji—who had just been annihilated by Void Thrust.

No matter how powerful Void Thrust was, it could only kill them once. Afterward, Alaya summoned them back from the Throne of Heroes, only for them to be sucked into the Gate of Skye once again.

By the way, entering the Gate of Skye also required one to die first. However, thanks to Alaya's protection, the Guardians nullified the instant-death effect this time around.

The Queen of the Demon Realm raised her hand, and two red spears floated in the air on either side of her.

These were not Noble Phantasms, but genuine artifacts—Cursed Spears, crafted from the bones and fangs of the Beast of the Sea!

"It's been a long time since I've had a real fight. Can you ignite the long-lost fire in my blood?"

◇◇◇

A boy and a girl, drenched in sweat, working hard, with fiery passion. And no, don't get the wrong idea. They weren't doing anything inappropriate—what they were doing was even more exhausting than a certain primal activity.

They were forging swords—more specifically, forging a blade.

At a corner of Ryuudou Temple, a prime spiritual site located at the nexus of Fuyuki City's first leyline.

The blacksmith was Shirou Muramasa, the twenty-seventh generation. He was also the only Master who hadn't gone to the altar that night.

Originally, he had planned to join the Emiya family in watching the final ritual. But as he reached the fork in the mountain path, he heard a long-familiar voice—a voice that called out to him.

This voice made him abandon the idea of attending the ceremony. Instead, he carried his forge and hammer into Ryuudou Temple and walked to the pond in the backyard.

He said that the water here was imbued with spiritual energy, with special powers that were essential to forging a blade.

Then, he began to stoke the fire, placing the sword blank he had been working on for some time onto the anvil, and repeatedly striking it with the hammer he had inherited from his master.

This bizarre behavior naturally disturbed the monks of Ryuudou Temple. Fortunately, the young girl accompanying the boy stepped in just in time.

She was none other than Ayako Mitsuzuri. A bit of a busybody, she had noticed that Shirou was behaving abnormally and had quietly followed him.

Ayako didn't get along well with Issei Ryuudou, the son of the head monk of Ryuudou Temple, who considered her an enemy of Buddhism. However, this estrangement allowed her to be on familiar terms with the monks at the temple. With her vouching for them, the monks found the situation strange but didn't interfere too much.

Though Ryuudou Temple's connection to the world of magic had long since faded, living in such a spiritually rich location, they were far more accustomed to supernatural occurrences than ordinary people.

Thus, Shirou was able to focus on forging the blade, and he even gained a beautiful assistant to help carry firewood and water.

By now, Shirou had completely entered a state of total focus.

His mind was entirely on the forging.

In his brain, he could only see his master demonstrating the technique over and over again.

In his eyes, there was nothing but the hammer, the sword blank, the forge, the bellows, the water, and everything related to the task at hand.

Echoing in his ears was a voice engraved deep into his soul.

"People grow old. No matter how strong the body, it will eventually wither. Even a soul cannot withstand the erosion of time and will decay, mutate, and rot."

"No matter how much evil is cut down, it will continue to sprout like wild grass."

"So what do you do? Swing the hammer. With each strike, forge your belief in saving humanity into the iron skeleton."

"What do you do? Pump the bellows. With each breath of wind, instill the thoughts of your redemption into the furnace."

"What do you do? Quench with bare hands. With each hiss, temper the culmination of your life into the blade's edge."

"This body exists only for the forging of swords. Even if my body dissipates, even if no one remembers my name, the countless blades I forged will return to dust."

"But this one blade, this single blade, is forged for the sake of humanity."