[Red Archer handed the pendant back to Tohsaka Rin, which finally lifted her spirits a little.]
[Unfortunately, the pendant had now become nothing more than a useless ornament.]
[After taking a short rest, a sudden thought struck Tohsaka Rin.]
[If my Master finds out that Shirou Emiya is still alive… will he order me to kill him again?]
[She couldn't help but dwell on the possibility. Without wasting time, she quickly asked Red Archer to take her to the Emiya household.]
[As they neared the residence, they could sense Cú Chulainn's presence.]
[Tohsaka Rin's guess had been correct, Cú Chulainn had come to finish off Shirou Emiya.]
[However, aside from Cú Chulainn, there was now another Heroic Spirit present, and the two were locked in battle.]
Fujimura Taiga: "Damn it! If you've got guts, come at me! What's the point of chasing after an ordinary person!?"
House Cook: "Uh, Taiga… strictly speaking, you're an ordinary person too."
Waver: "Kotomine Kirei really won't let this go… Is he trying to take revenge on Shirou Emiya for what happened between him and Kiritsugu?"
Cú Chulainn: "Tch—"
Cú Chulainn was getting annoyed. Did that damn priest really think of him as just some hired assassin?
[Time rewinds slightly, showing the events from Shirou Emiya's perspective.]
[Though Cú Chulainn had no interest in hunting down normal people, Kotomine Kirei had already issued the order, leaving him with no choice but to obey.]
[Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Kotomine Kirei, having learned the identity of the target, was unable to suppress his amusement.]
[Shirou Emiya sensed his pursuer closing in, and in a panic, he instinctively turned around, only to see nothing behind him.]
["Yo—"]
[Cú Chulainn, still in the mood to tease, deliberately called out. The moment Shirou instinctively turned toward the voice, he struck, driving his spear straight through his heart.]
[Cú Chulainn showed no mercy, aiming to finish him in a single blow and spare him unnecessary suffering.]
[Since beheading him would have made identification difficult, he instead chose his most precise technique, Piercing the Heart.]
Blonde Rin: "You have such terrible taste."
Cú Chulainn: "I just didn't want the kid to suffer."
A surprise attack like that would at least allow Emiya Shirou to die painlessly.
[Am I… really going to die?]
[Shirou Emiya collapsed, his heart pierced. He couldn't even scream—his body simply grew colder, his vision growing blurrier.]
["Unlucky brat. Since you saw me, you might as well go to hell. After all, only the dead stay silent. Just curse your own weakness and bad luck—then die."]
[Cú Chulainn scoffed at himself. "This kind of job is disgusting… And yet they still call us 'heroes.' What a joke."]
[With that, Cú Chulainn departed, leaving behind only the motionless body. Moments later, Red Archer appeared, looking down at the dying Shirou Emiya with an impassive gaze.]
[When Shirou Emiya regained consciousness, he instinctively reached for his chest—his heart was intact. The realization left him in shock. Had everything just been a dream?]
[But as he looked at his torn school uniform and the bloodstains covering his body, he knew it hadn't been.]
[Who… saved me?]
[The only vague memories he had were of a voice, a blurry face, and a red gemstone pendant.]
Waver: "So this is where Shirou and Rin's story begins."
Tohsaka Rin: "H-Hey! What are you talking about!?"
Waver: "Oh? You forgot already?"
During the first round of questions and answers, Shirou and Rin had been seen standing together in El-Melloi's classroom, holding hands, looking quite close.
Tohsaka Rin: "That was just a video! Right now, I have nothing to do with this guy!"
But deep down, she was unsettled.
Shirou already had Sakura… If he ended up falling for someone else because of this…
Could this be the reason why she and Sakura were at odds in that previous video?
[After resting for a bit, Shirou Emiya weakly made his way home.]
[Everything that had happened tonight was too overwhelming—not to mention he had already been through a near-death experience once earlier that morning.]
[Once I find the person who saved me, I'll make sure to thank them properly.]
[However, before he even had a chance to catch his breath upon returning to the empty mansion, Cú Chulainn suddenly appeared inside his house—spear already pointed at his head.]
[Shirou Emiya flinched in shock, but his instincts reacted faster than his thoughts, allowing him to narrowly dodge the attack and gain some distance.]
[With no proper weapon on hand, he had no choice but to grab a rolled-up poster and reinforce it with structural reinforcement magecraft.]
[Cú Chulainn remained relaxed, clearly not taking Shirou Emiya seriously.]
["It'd be pretty grim to watch yourself get killed. But look at it this way—I'm doing you a favor. Getting killed twice in one day? Damn, the human world is cruel as hell."]
[Cú Chulainn thrust his spear forward, and Shirou Emiya barely managed to parry the attack with his enhanced poster. While he successfully deflected the strike, his arm was still slashed, leaving a wound.]
[But Shirou Emiya didn't have time to dwell on that now—he could only keep blocking.]
["Heh… Interesting. It's weak, but I can sense the presence of magecraft… So that's how it works? He had his heart pierced, yet he's still alive?"]
[Cú Chulainn withdrew his spear, sensing a distant warning from Rune Magecraft. Immediately, he formulated a plan while observing the boy who still stubbornly resisted.]
[Instead of continuing his assault, he simply studied the boy standing before him.]
[The way Shirou Emiya resisted death, refusing to surrender to fate, reminded him of himself—bound to that stone before his own demise.]
Caules: "Uh… Is he just stalling for time?"
Fiore: "It seems that way."
Zabiko: "Cú Chulainn really is showing his kinder side here."
Scáthach: "Hmph, you just underestimated your opponent. You let an ordinary boy block your attack—sloppy work, Cú Chulainn."
Cú Chulainn: "!!!"
Cú Chulainn's hair stood on end. He felt deeply wronged.
What happened in the video had nothing to do with him!
[Seeing that Cú Chulainn had momentarily stopped attacking, Shirou Emiya clutched the wound on his right hand and slowly backed away.]
[The life that had been saved with such difficulty… must not be lost again.]
"Haha! Now this is getting fun, isn't it?"
[Cú Chulainn activated his spear-throwing technique, casually launching attacks at Shirou Emiya.]
[Shirou Emiya frantically retreated, breaking through the paper door behind him and tumbling into the corridor. Without hesitation, he scrambled to his feet, broke a window, and escaped outside.]
[Cú Chulainn immediately caught up and kicked Shirou Emiya in the chest. But in a last-ditch effort, Shirou instinctively raised his reinforced poster to block the blow.]
[The reinforcement magecraft that had failed him countless times now proved surprisingly reliable in this life-or-death moment.]
[However, the force behind the kick was tremendous—the enhanced poster bent from the impact, and Shirou Emiya was sent rolling across the ground, pain surging through his entire body.]
[Even so, he didn't let out a single scream.]
[If he cried out, it might attract neighbors or passersby… and they would probably meet the same fate as him.]
Irisviel: "Shirou, even at a time like this, you're still worried about others."
Fujimura Taiga: "What a kind and good kid!"
[Shirou Emiya gritted his teeth and forced himself up from the ground. His body instinctively led him to flee—straight into the storage shed.]
"I wanted to give you a quick death, but you insist on this meaningless struggle. If you were a real man, you'd just die already."
[Cú Chulainn admired Shirou Emiya's resilience and kindness, but he couldn't keep delaying, the priest was getting impatient.]
[That little girl was taking too long. At this rate, this kid really was going to die today.]
[What Cú Chulainn didn't notice was that when Shirou Emiya collapsed inside the storage shed, a summoning circle suddenly ignited beneath him.]
[It was the very same summoning circle that Irisviel had taught Artoria to draw during the Fourth Holy Grail War—one that Artoria herself had inscribed.]
Emiya Kiritsugu: "So this is how he summoned a Servant…"
Irisviel: "I never imagined that an action I took on impulse would end up saving Shirou's stubborn nature ten years later."
Illya: "It's like Mother's spirit is secretly protecting Shirou."
Shirou Emiya had been practicing magecraft here for years, yet the summoning circle had never responded—until now.
It really did feel like Irisviel's blessing.
[As Cú Chulainn thrust his spear toward Shirou Emiya, the boy could only hold up his reinforced poster like a shield. But it was no use, the poster shattered instantly, and he was sent flying again.]
I can't run anymore… I can't escape…
"Checkmate! That last move of yours was pretty surprising, kid."
[Cú Chulainn decided to taunt him again: "But I really don't get you. You've got some decent instincts, yet you know nothing about magecraft. Even if you were the seventh Master, you wouldn't be much of one."]
["You must be joking!"]
[Shirou Emiya forced himself to his feet, anger flashing in his eyes. "I was just saved… If I was saved, then I can't die so easily! I have to live, I have an obligation to! If I die, then everything ends! It's meaningless to die here… You kill people without a second thought, as if divine protection excuses it!"]
[The desire—the desire to live, the desire to eliminate this executioner, the things he longed for burned stronger in his heart. That intense determination caused the faint Command Seal on the back of his hand to glow brightly, becoming fully visible.]
(To be continued.)
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