Bab 16: Matou Decimation (3)
Shirou and Zouken were currently engaged in a staring battle. It was quite a ridiculous sight, seeing a young boy and an old man getting ready to fight each other.
Meanwhile, Kiritsugu was checking the condition of the young girl. She seemed to have passed out, but her eyes were still open.
"Hey, wake up! Oi! Wake up!"
After shaking her a few times, it seemed like she had regained her consciousness. Looking around and seeing that the surroundings had changed, she had a million questions running through her mind.
Just as she was about to ask, she heard an immature voice that she had encountered before.
"Old man, get her away from here for now! I'll deal with it later."
"Alright. You heard him."
"U-Um… who is he?"
"Him? He's my son, Shirou."
As he was saying that, Kiritsugu had a proud smile on his face. Although not blood related, he was still technically his father.
Which Magus wouldn't be proud of their son being able to handle a powerful old geezer like Zouken?
"Shirou…"
Sakura kept repeating his name in her head as Kiritsugu carried her away from the battlefield. Since they were still within the Bounded Field, the best they could do was get away from the immediate area of effect.
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"Now that Sakura's away from here, let's get down to business."
"Heh, try whatever you want."
"Die!!"
To begin with a slightly lighter assault, Shirou created another two Excaliburs in his hands and ran towards Zouken.
Zouken, who was just standing still, was sliced into human sashimi.
However, there was no blood. In fact, before his body even fell to the ground, it had already mended itself.
On Zouken's face was a look of ridicule, as if he was saying, 'Is that all you can do?'
And Shirou was successfully provoked. Shouting out in slight anger and slight excitement, he summoned a multitude of swords behind his back.
Ranging from Excalibur, to other Holy Swords like Durandal, Hrunting, or Caladbolg, they all turned to face Zouken. However, only Excalibur was the real thing. The other Holy Swords were simply extrapolated from Excalibur's structure.
"Hahahahaha! That's not going to work!"
The numerous Holy Swords pierced straight through his body. This time, it seemed like there was some effect.
The Holy Swords are aligned with light, which is usually used in exorcism. Shirou knew that Kotomine had exorcised Zouken at one point, so he was banking on that to hurt him.
"Ugh… that hurt a little bit. I'll have to pay you back for that! Go, my worms!"
Shirou's plan worked, as Zouken launched his worms towards him.
However, before they could even reach him, they had already been impaled by at least 20 different swords.
"Grr… go!"
Zouken was dissatisfied. He sent wave after wave of worms, yet none of them managed to reach Shirou.
Shirou, on the other hand, had started attacking again. Several swords were always sent towards the worms, while other swords were sent to Zouken's body.
The back and forth continued for a while. Shirou had unlimited blades, while Zouken had nearly inexhaustible worms.
"Hehehe… this isn't going to get you anywhere!"
"I know…"
*Puchi* *Puchi*
The worms kept on coming. There was no respite for either of them.
However, Shirou could see that Zouken's regeneration was slowing down. As more and more swords started sticking out of Zouken's body, Shirou recognized his chance to force an end to the battle.
"Origin Bullet!"
The swords behind Shirou started shrinking. The creaking of metal made for an unpleasant sound, but the end result would be well worth it.
The swords shrank until they became the size of a bullet. Since a large amount of mass had been compressed into such a small shape, the internal stability of it was next to zero.
As such, Shirou had to fire them as quickly as possible, lest friendly fire occurs.
"Go!"
*Whoosh* *Whoosh*
Bullet after bullet whizzed past Shirou, a large amount of wind blowing through his hair.
The scene just happened to have been witnessed by both Sakura and Kiritsugu, and they were both gobsmacked.
Kiritsugu had no idea how Shirou had learned about Origin Bullets, while Sakura was in full maiden mode.
She had taken the fact that Kariya had died as a warning, that anyone who opposed Zouken would end up dead. After that, she had given up on rescue and accepted her life as a tool.
However, the boy in front of her made her rethink all of that. He was clearly capable enough to handle Zouken, even though he was so much younger. Just the thought of that made Sakura's heart pound madly.
A blush slowly spread on her face despite the situation she was in, and Kiritsugu was thinking to himself that he would get another daughter soon.
Almost a kilometre away from their position but still within hearing range, Shirou's Bullets were about to make contact with Zouken.
Initially, he had tried to block them with his worms, but Shirou had predicted such an action. He sent normal swords, not Origin Bullets, to get them out of the way, clearing a path.
Zouken, overwhelmed by the immense arsenal of Shirou, could do nothing but watch as the Bullets approached his body. He had no idea what would happen, but he knew that the name 'Origin Bullet' was something bad.
No matter what it actually did, the name implied that it had something to do with a Magus's Origin. Since the Origin was the very thing that defined a Magus, it was the most powerful thing in their toolset.
Zouken was inwardly afraid. Over his centuries of life, he had never been cornered to such an extent. Thankfully, he already had a backup plan…
"Kiritsugu, now! Shoot Sakura with an Origin Bullet!"
Shirou's words poured cold water onto Zouken, as he started getting more and more afraid. Nevermind the fact that his main body was in Sakura, his work with her body was his life's work.
If she were to be destroyed…
Zouken hurriedly activated his main body and manipulated the worms within Sakura's body.
Standing opposite him, Shirou had a smirk on his face.
He had been waiting for this exact moment. By making sure Zouken could hear him speak to Kiritsugu, he had basically lured him into activating the worms.
That meant that by the time Kiritsugu actually shot, the worms would be fully in action, and would be severed.
Now came the hard part. Shirou had to time it perfectly. He needed to use his own Origin Bullets to change Zouken's worms within Sakura, then draw them out before Kiritsugu's 'Binding' could be activated.
If not, then it would still mess up Sakura's body, to a much worse extent than if she hadn't been shot.
*Boom*
Shirou's first Origin Bullet hit Zouken. The resulting explosion blinded all parties within the Unlimited Blade Works, and only subsided after a few seconds. After that came a sequence of explosions, less than 0.5 seconds apart.
A large crater was now in the place where Zouken was standing, and the only thing within that crater was a weirdly shaped sword.
With no time to care about that, Shirou rushed towards Kiritsugu's position.
He ran with full speed. He reinforced his legs, and even started expelling a small amount of Prana from his feet as a boost.
By the time he reached Sakura, Kiritsugu's Contender was on her forehead.
"Shirou, why do you want me to shoot her?"
"Just do it!"
"No! I'm not going to kill a small girl! She doesn't even have Magic Circuits!"
"Damn it!"
While Kiritsugu and Shirou were arguing, Sakura started spasming on the ground.
She felt an inhumane amount of pain, starting from the location around her heart. She knew that the worms had started eating again. However, this time, they were much more aggressive; as if they wanted to kill her.
In an instant, it was like the fog covering her thoughts had been lifted, as she reached enlightenment.
Slowly crawling on all fours towards Kiritsugu's feet, she struggled to raise her head and look at him.
"Shoot… Shoot me… please."
Kiritsugu's face was scrunched up. He had vowed not to take another life. He had vowed to retire from being a Magus. Yet… these two children were telling him to do the opposite.
"Damn! If you aren't doing it, then I will!"
Shirou was not waiting around anymore. In one hand, he started forming his final Origin Bullet in a while.
With his other, he reached towards Kiritsugu's Contender, wrenching it right out of his hands.
Rapidly turning the barrel towards Sakura, he shot.
His own Origin bullet left his palm a millisecond after.
*Bang*
The sound of a gunshot echoed within his Reality Marble, before everything fell silent…
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
SSBGoditz
SSBGoditz A bit of a longer chapter to wrap things up.
Cliff-kun strikes again!
The part where Kiritsugu refuses to follow his instructions is because Shirou didn't elaborate on his knowledge. It's an important part towards his growth.
He needs to explain things properly, otherwise things won't go the way he wants them to.
To be fair though, the same applies to me as well. xD
Thanks for reading!
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