Author: me
Type-Moon (Nasuverse)
Chapter 10. The Battle
"In life, things don't always happen the way you want them to. Sometimes you have to fight for what you want, and sometimes you have to accept and accept things as they are." - unknown Magician.
*****
Although Sora was just running - each step was ten meters long. Fluttering over the ground, he was like a ghost, making his way through the forest.
As they approached the site of the explosion, the situation was not as bad as it first appeared. A crater five meters in diameter, scorched earth and charred stones all around. The buildings themselves were intact, protected by a magical barrier.
Glancing around, Sora did not see Kiritsugu. Expectedly. He understood his father's tactics perfectly. To divert attention to the explosion while he himself went to the weakest point in the barrier, which he was to crack by means of a magic bomb. Sora knew what potions and magical reagents Kiritsugu had bought, he was present at the deal after all, albeit in the role of a suitcase. The reagents Kiritsugu bought could be used to make a magical bomb, his father had personally taught him that.
However, even knowing his father's true plan, Sora decided to act on his own. For one thing, if he showed up so early in front of Kiritsugu, he would probably, thinking about his son's safety, not be concentrating on the fight. And secondly, Sora has long wanted to stretch himself a bit, all he has done for three years is study Magic and harden his body, and as a man who before that lived a life of constant hunting and killing monsters, his understanding of how to stretch is perverse.
While Sora watched the aftermath of Kiritsugu's sabotage, a small band of men armed with edged weapons marched toward the place. They all looked alike. White hair, red eyes, and an expressionless face that looked more like a mask. Homunculi. Artificial humans created by Alchemy. In Lunar World there is an expression that homunculi are Magical Chains in human form. The reason for this designation is that homunculi are born with incredibly strong Magical Chains, which gives them insane, raw magical power that is second only to the strongest Mages in the world. But such power comes at a price. All homunculi are born with some physical defect: short stature, short lifespan, low intelligence. This is evident in the squad of homunculi on their way to Sora, all of them low in stature, the tallest among them only a head and a half taller than Sora.
Stopping ten meters away from Sora, the homunculi spoke in unison.
- Intruder! Must be eliminated!
There was no emotion in their eyes, like machines programmed to destroy their enemies, these homunculi immediately pointed their weapons at Sora.
"Strange... as far as I know, homunculi aren't very smart, but they have consciousness, but these aren't homunculi at all, they're more like some kind of fighting machine. What's going on here?" - With a couple of guesses, Sora thought with disgust about the worst one, creating people and then "programming" them afterwards. But before he felt pity for these creatures, he used Synergy, removing all emotion and using [Thought acceleration], accelerating his brain to maximum. Almost immediately thereafter, Sora felt a surge of Mana from the homunculi, the young Mage managed to recoil at the very last moment, and a trail of three blades appeared in his place.
At the same time, one of the homunculi lowered his hand, the spell he used worked in a second.
"[Blade of Wind], a Thaumaturgy spell based on the manipulation of the wind element, the cast speed of this homunculus is astounding."
In the next instant, Magic flew at Sora: Fireball, Blades of Wind, Air Bullet, Fire Arrow, even Paralysis and Dream Magic were applied, but because of the magical resistance of his Chains, they did not work. Each of Sora's spells was dodged, as if at the last moment. After so much time, he was finally back on the battlefield, and as if falling into a trance, he remembered everything he knew how to do.
Don't dodge too low! Too fast and too long a step! Now, what's your hurry! What are your hands for if you don't use them!
It was as if he of the past, Murphy, was teaching his present, Sora, how to fight.
Each of these lessons was taught to him.
The constant use of Magic heats up the Magical Circuits in the Mage's body, and if you use them long enough, you can burn yourself out. So at some point all the homunculi stopped. Without missing his opportunity, Sora made a sharp dash forward, using [Strengthening] to its maximum. In a moment he was beside his opponents.
He grabbed hold of the homunculus' arm, lifted it up, and threw it over himself with a whistle. His back hit the ground, and the homunculus forgot how to breathe for a moment. Wrenching his sword from his fallen foe's hands, Sora pierced his heart before he dashed forward.
As he approached the next opponent, Sora used [Displacement] and changed the snow under his feet to ice within 10 meters. The homunculi, not expecting such a trick, lost their balance, costing the head of the opponent closest to Sora and the cut throat of another homunculi behind him.
Neither homunculus noticed the fountain of scarlet blood from its comrade's neck. Neither noticed the other, kneeling and grunting, holding a hand to his neck. Completely ignoring the dead men, they stabilized themselves, through [Strengthening] their body's connection to the ice, and lunged at the intruder.
Sora shook the blood off his blade with a motion so swift that the blade blurred in the air. The ruby drops fell in a semicircle to the ground.
The young Mage turned, the [Ansuz] rune lit up in his palm, and the next instant a fiery spear struck the nearest homunculus, turning it into a living torch. After that, Sora sprang from his seat like a wild dog, he began to slay his opponents.
He didn't slow down as he raced past the homunculi, and the one holding the huge axe, he jabbed at him from below. It was at an angle, in the middle of his belly, the sword entered the flesh smoothly and came out just as smoothly.
Inertia carried him further, and just then, ducking from the impact of the spear, he lunged under the arms of the wielder of the staff weapon, not taking a swing but relying on his speed, he put the sword out in front of him and jogged a little to the side. The homunculus gurgled strangely, before he could let go of the spear, a thin, horizontal line appeared on his body, and in the next second a jet of bright, pulsating blood flew in all directions.
The two remaining homunculi came at him slowly, coherently, both carrying heavy European spades. Compared to their weapons, the homunculi were shorter, and each looked as fragile as an ancient doll.
He did not wait for them to apply Magic, jumping to the one on his left, he briefly grappled with him: up, down, up, down, turning so that he would be momentarily separated from his comrade. His spade was heavier and longer, and Sora could not so easily get close to his opponent. The moment the second homunculus approached him from behind, Sora activated [Rune Evaz], which gave his next strike an acceleration, forcing the homunculus in front of him into a rumble. Rushing like lightning with a broad, flat sword blow, he stripped his opponent of his head.
The next moment, he crouched, the tip of the spear flashed over his head, and he struck hard and sneakily at his knee, and immediately, jumping up, he shoved the homunculus in the stomach with his shoulder, putting all his weight into the blow. Sora bounced back into range of the homunculus' pike.
"These are finished." - Looking at the blood spreading in the snow, Sora thought.
Feeling a sharp surge of magical energy, the young Mage looked to the west. Kiritsugu was fighting there. The next moment, Sora ran in that direction with a blurred shadow.
With the strength the young Mage now possessed, he ran the ten kilometers separating the two battlefields in two and a half minutes. Once there he saw dozens of scattered homunculus bodies, everything around was scorched and the magical energy was in chaos, but... the magical barrier stood unscathed.
A little further away, Kiritsugu stood opposite an old man with white hair and a white long beard that resembled a frozen waterfall. If they had fought before, the Mage Killer was clearly losing. A burnt coat lay beneath his feet, burns on his hands, a quick puff of breath.
"Hell, if his wounds are still tolerable on the outside, then on the inside... his curse got even bigger... the more often he uses Magic, the faster the dirt absorbs his Magical Chains." - This was a terrible conclusion. If Kiritsugu survived this battle, he could be considered dead anyway.
The next moment, the Magus Killer and the white-haired old man attacked. Kiritsugu drew his pistol and fired five bullets one at a time at the old man, who ignored it, let loose a stream of fire from his palm, and with his other hand beat off all the bullets. Kiritsugu darted away from the fire and unloaded a clip into the old man with all his strength. However, this had no effect, on the other hand, the old man raised his other hand and drew a horizontal line with it, using the Magic [Displacement] he changed the function of the fire from "burn" to "explode". All the fire created by the old man exploded in an instant. Before he could dodge it, Kiritsugu flew backwards, breaking a couple of trees.
"It's no good, we've got to pick a moment and help my father." - Sora, well aware of the gravity of the situation, decided to find a convenient position to attack.
Just at that moment the old man decided to start talking like a typical villain from the movies. While the old man was gloating about how Kiritsugu was nothing and that mages like him were mocked as "The Hanged Man," Sora approached the old man from behind. Twenty meters behind the white-haired Mage, Sora equalized his breathing and maximized [Strengthened] his legs, so much so that the old man wouldn't feel the Magic being applied, and in a second he was gone.
In two strokes of his heart, he was near the Wizard. The old man, anticipating this, moved snakily out of his way, coming in from the left. Sora didn't try to hit him with his sword, he stopped abruptly, twisted his body, and like a spring, his foot kicked Mage in the chest, putting all the force and inertia of the turn into the blow. The recoil almost made him lose his balance, but it was worth it. The mage flew backward as if struck by a siege battering ram, crashing into the nearest tree, splitting it in half.
- You look like shit, old man. - admiring his work, Sora greeted his father.
- I know without you, - Kiritsugu said irritably. - I told you to wait in the car.
- You said you'd be back, but you look like you're going to die once you take a step.
Before he could respond to Sora's sarcastic comment, Kiritsugu turned his head toward the old man. The mage, groaning with a stifled groan, was rising.
- Who is that? - Sora inquired.
- Jubstacheit von Einzbern is the head of the Einzbern family, one of the best Alchemists in the world.
- And he's tough and you can't tell he's an old man.
- He's a strong Mage, and that's all that matters.
As if resigned to the fact that Sora is here, Kiriugu stands beside his son, preparing to continue the fight.
- Damn boy, what a monstrous power.
- I don't want to hear that from an old man who has withstood such a blow.
- Magus Killer, you took a child to be your partner. Are you that desperate?
Ignoring the old Mage, the father turned to his son.
- Sora, you stupid boy, you really don't know when to listen to me. - Kiritsugu clicked as if reluctantly, tiny flames of prana dancing above his hand. - You know what's going to happen now, don't you?
- We're going to kick that old man's ass and take Illya.
Without answering, Kiritsugu only smiled weakly. Standing side by side, father and son simultaneously snapped out of their seats.