Chapter 3: The First Battle
Shirou stood on the cliff, watching the woman on horseback galloping toward him from a distance. He had, of course, sensed her gaze, and his exceptional vision allowed him to clearly see the woman's face.
When he saw her face clearly, he was surprised once again. He had seen this woman before. More precisely, he had seen her in the memories of the soul fragment's owner.
Esdeath was her name. She was a character from an anime and could be considered the final boss. This realization left Shirou confused once more, even making him question whether this world was real.
However, the unknown light source sent him another message, answering his doubts. For now, he set those thoughts aside. At this moment, he faced a choice: to fight or not.
Honestly, Shirou was a little excited to try, as the information he had obtained from the memories of others was merely observational and not as good as his own firsthand experience. He needed to find the missing parts of the light source in this world. It was only natural that he would inevitably come into conflict with the local forces. He wasn't entirely sure of the strength of this world, and Esdeath could be considered one of its strongest. Fighting her would undoubtedly give him a clear understanding of the native inhabitants' power.
As Shirou was thinking, Esdeath had already arrived before him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm just a traveler who stumbled upon this place by chance."
"Oh?" Esdeath raised an eyebrow, then the playful look on the face of the man before her caught her attention. She immediately understood his intentions.
"This is a battlefield. There are troops stationed or fighting in every direction. An ordinary person wouldn't even have time to hide when faced with combat, so how could you have made it deep into the heart of the battlefield and observed it with such interest? I'll ask again, who are you?"
A cold voice came from her mouth. Clearly, she was a little annoyed by the awkward joke made by the man before her.
"Ah, I already told you, I'm a traveler. There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me." Shirou spread his hands and smiled helplessly.
"When we get to the torture chamber, I'll see if you can still joke."
As soon as she finished speaking, her sword was drawn. Clearly, Esdeath was no longer in the mood for small talk. Moreover, she also saw that the other party was clearly trying to provoke her into action. She didn't know why the other party was doing this or what they were relying on, but they clearly weren't taking the strongest person in the empire seriously.
'Whatever you're relying on, just bring it out and let me see if you can give me some amusement. Then I'll make you submit, and that's the most enjoyable part.'
Although he didn't know what the sadistic female general before him was thinking, Shirou still felt a chill. He rolled to dodge the slash of her sword, and magic power surged within his body.
"Trace On."
The projection magecraft he had repeated thousands of times completed all its processes in an instant.
Two short swords, one white and one black, appeared in Shirou's hands.
Kanshou and Bakuya!
Famous swords inherited from Chinese culture. These swords were a pair of yin and yang, male and female, based on the Yin-Yang concept. The black-bladed one was Kanshou, and the white-bladed one was Byakuya. As married swords, they shared a strong bond, meaning that even if one was accidentally lost, it would eventually return to its owner.
These were Shirou's strongest weapons and were perfectly suited to test the person before him.
He crossed the swords in front of his chest to block the Western sword that was about to strike him again. He twisted his arm and added a kick at the same time.
However, this was no problem for Esdeath, who easily blocked it.
But Shirou's goal had been achieved, and the distance between the two widened.
However, it was clear that Esdeath wasn't easy to deal with. In less than a second, she adjusted her posture again and charged forward.
The two engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand battle.
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
The flashes of swords and the atmosphere of slaughter slowly spread not far from the battlefield.
'What terrifying strength! The reputation of being the strongest in the empire is well-deserved.'
The dagger in his hand was knocked away again, but then another identical dagger appeared in his hand and deflected the next attack.
Shirou looked at Esdeath before him and praised her without hesitation. Indeed, in terms of strength alone, the person before him could be compared to some Heroic Spirits. Compared to her, his own strength was indeed weaker.
"Oh? Is this all your strength? I'm becoming more interested in you. I didn't expect you to be an Imperial Arms user. What kind of Imperial Arms do you have? I've never heard of one that can restore itself indefinitely."
She narrowed her eyes slightly and stared at the dagger that had just been knocked away. The dagger slowly disappeared as its magic power dissipated. Apparently, in a world where magecraft didn't exist, Esdeath mistook Shirou's Projection Magecraft for an Imperial Arms.
"Who knows? Maybe you just haven't experienced enough."
"Your mouth is disgusting. I'll punish you thoroughly once we get to the torture chamber."
The verbal confrontation didn't affect the clash of weapons in their hands, and their close combat abilities could be said to be evenly matched at this point. However, Shirou and Esdeath had only been testing each other so far, and neither had shown their true abilities. Esdeath's Demon's Extract and Shirou's Projection Magecraft could instantly turn the tide of the battle. Both of them were confident of this.
However, it was clear that Esdeath couldn't wait any longer.
The dagger and rapier clashed again, but this time, Shirou immediately retreated backward. More than a dozen ice spikes were embedded in the spot where he had just been standing. Clearly, Esdeath was getting serious.
Numerous ice spikes appeared around Esdeath, densely filling the space around her.
Just as Shirou stabilized his body, the ice spikes whistled toward him. It was clear that Esdeath wanted to overwhelm him so he wouldn't have the strength to fight back.
Shirou wasn't afraid of this at all. He extended his right hand, and a beautiful purple flower appeared before him.
"Rho Aias."
Each petal represented one layer of defense, totaling seven layers, each strong enough to rival the walls of an ancient city. This Noble Phantasm originated from the seven-layered bronze shield wrapped in ox hide that Ajax used to deflect Hector's spear during the Trojan War in Greek mythology.
The beautiful purple shield perfectly blocked the ice spikes, but it wasn't over yet, as Shirou immediately began his counterattack.
Numerous standard long swords shot out and headed straight for Esdeath's ice spikes, and the two collided violently.
The clanging sounds were endless, but this time, it was clear that Shirou had the upper hand.
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
The hardness of the long swords far surpassed that of the ice edges, and many of the long swords pierced through the ice spikes and shot toward Esdeath.
In response, Esdeath didn't make any move—layer after layer of ice walls appeared before her, perfectly blocking all the attacks coming her way. The swords were embedded in the ice walls, but not a single one managed to penetrate and harm her.
"This is your trump card, but what a pity it's not mature enough. If this is all you have, you might as well surrender." Esdeath looked at the ice wall before her and spoke in a dismissive tone.
"Arrogance leads to destruction, Esdeath." Shirou looked at the unharmed female general before him and lightly chanted an incantation.
"Broken Phantasm."
*BOOM!*
The next second, a massive explosion occurred beside Esdeath.