[3rd POV]
"Sakura, you should go take care Shirou. His hand is injured, and it's making things difficult for him."
After returning home, Shinji assigned the task of looking after Shirou to Sakura. Recently, he had some things to do and didn't want her to know about them.
"Yes."
Sakura agreed.
"If it gets too late, you can stay over there. Shirou's is good man, and lately, the nights in Fuyuki City haven't been peaceful."
It wasn't just "not peaceful", but it was absolute chaos.
When Shinji found out that Touko was about to fight with a magus, he froze in place.
This wasn't because Shinji cared about her but because if a Grand Puppeteer like her died, his plans would be delayed for who knows how long.
"Yes."
Sakura left the Matou household and headed her way to the Emiya residence.
As she walked away, an old man with a dark expression slowly stepped out from the shadows.
"Shinji, it seems like you know something about those two people?"
Zouken Matou was old but not dead yet.
He had already sensed the arrival of those two terrifying figures in Fuyuki City, and he wanted nothing to do with them.
Of course, he didn't believe that these two had been invited by Shinji. After all, the Matou family didn't have that kind of power.
"I've been doing some business with that Grand Puppeteer recently. I didn't expect it would get this complicated."
Shinji wasn't sure if this was good luck or bad luck, but that puppet master seemed to have a way to survive, and at least his research on external magic circuits wouldn't face major setbacks.
"A Grand Puppeteer? Shinji, you really can't sit still, can you?"
Zouken chuckled ominously, clearly not thinking that a worthless brat without magic circuits could cause any real trouble.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely give you a surprise when the time comes."
Shinji smiled in return.
He was confident that his "surprise" would be so good that it would send that old geezer straight to the afterlife.
...
"Sigh~ We agreed not to use magecraft, but she isn't the same as before."
In Mount Enzou's underground cavern, Touko observed the underground ley line and began to construct the barrier.
Even though Aoko wouldn't use magic in their fight, she was no longer the immature magus she had once been.
Now, she was a powerful force relying solely on the "Magic Bullet" spell, capable of terrifying destructive power.
To defeat her, Touko had to use every advantage she could get.
As a top student of the Clock Tower, Touko naturally knew about the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.
However, she didn't have time to wait for a ritual that only happened once every sixty years.
Moreover, even if she were to get magic, the only one she cared about was the "Blue" of the Aozaki family.
"Fuyuki can support the destruction of the Fifth Magic. The quality of the ley lines here is quite high."
While the ley lines were of high quality, that didn't mean Touko could use them freely.
Currently, one ley line belonged to the Tohsaka family who were the overseers of Fuyuki.
She had no interest in stealing from them, nor did she want to stir up unnecessary trouble.
The ley line in the Fuyuki Church was similar in that regard.
The remaining two ley lines were either too close to the city or too far away, leaving only the one under Mount Enzou as a viable option.
This area was on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, and people rarely came here and the underground space was also large enough for her and her sister to fight without holding back.
Moreover, the underground cavern had already been modified as a site for the Holy Grail's manifestation, saving Touko's time.
She just needed to do now was simply make adjustments.
With her knowledge of magecraft, if she could tap into the underground ley lines for power, she would be able to do what her old classmate, Souren Araya, had accomplished.
A small world completely under her control, along with a puppet strong enough to match her needs.
...
"Fujimaru-kun, are you thinking about something?"
Inside Ryuudou Temple, Kiara looked at the somewhat distracted Kyouya.
Recently, Kyouya has been studying the basics of the scriptures even more diligently, but his impatience is making his efforts less effective.
If it was a magecraft theory from the Tohsaka family, he could simply memorize it with his "Demon Brain" and analyze it later.
However, the knowledge in these Buddhist scriptures or sutras was not something that could be understood simply through memory alone.
"It's nothing... I just think Buddhism really doesn't speak human language."
He spread out the scripture he was reading.
The monks in the stories all spoke in riddles as if their main goal was to avoid talking like normal people.
"These? These are Buddhist kōans. They're meant to be hard to understand."
After growing up in a Buddhist background, Kiara had been deeply influenced from a young age and was naturally familiar with these koans.
"The Zen teachings are about transmitting wisdom from heart to heart, not through written words. When passing down the teachings, they don't usually directly say 'What is Buddha?', but rather describe what 'Buddha' is not, using negation to help one discover the truth on their own."
Kiara explained calmly.
'This isn't just for arguing for the sake of arguing?'
That was Kyouya's first thought about Zen Buddhism but then, he realized that this was actually a very clever way of thinking.
The truth is that humans cannot truly comprehend the realm of the "Buddha," and using human reasoning and language to think and speak to explain it will always be different from the true "Buddha."
Zen Buddhism understood this very point, which is why there isn't a direct definition of "What is Buddha?" There's only "What Buddha is not."
It uses a kind of dialectical thinking to challenge others and confirm their own understanding of "Buddha."
This is one of the reasons why Zen Buddhism has remained prosperous for so many years.
"Look at these stories from a different perspective, and I'm sure, Fujimaru-kun, you'll come up with new insights."
She suggested with a gentle smile.
As Kiara encouraged him from the side, Kyouya refocused his attention on the Buddhist scriptures.
As that feeling of restlessness faded away and his perspective shifted, the conversations that once seemed like riddles gradually understood in his eyes.
The "Demon Brain" skill worked at full speed, and in his imagination, a figure slowly appeared before him.
This time, the mental projection was not a formidable opponent, but rather a monk with a blurred face.
It was a monk he had imagined from the stories in his hands.
"May I ask, what is the true meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"
The "Patriarch" referred to here is Bodhidharma, who came from the West to teach the scriptures and spread the Buddhist teachings.
The real question behind this sentence from the high monk is: "What is Buddha?"
"The cypress tree in the courtyard."
He answered just like in the story.
"Buddha" isn't anything specific, everything in the world has the Buddha nature, even something as casually mentioned as a cypress tree in the courtyard.
However, what Kyouya didn't know was that his words caught the attention of Kiara.
This incredibly talented girl sensed... a transparent cypress tree behind him, something that only she could see.
To be continued...
...
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