Shinji Matou At Your Service

Chapter 72: Battle between Magus and Magus Killer (9)

Anyone familiar with the Einzbern family knows that they are not skilled in combat, as evidenced by their early exits in the three previous Holy Grail Wars.

This situation primarily arises due to the nature of their artificial lifeforms. These artificial lifeforms are tools created by humans for a specific purpose. They are imbued with a predetermined mission from their inception, and their existence revolves solely around fulfilling that mission. Even if they possess intelligence comparable to humans, they rarely contemplate matters outside of their mission, let alone seek change.

The Einzbern family is such a clan. The central program, the central control artificial intelligence, and the creator of all artificial beings, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, engraved the mission of "achieving the Third Magic, relieving all of humanity" upon their creation. Even though the magus who engraved this mission has given up, it continues to persist day after day.

Jubstacheit's essence is an automatic mechanism that operates perpetually at the cost of being unable to progress. It serves as both a created humanoid terminal and as the administrator of the Einzbern family. However, Jubstacheit itself lacks personality. To manage the Einzbern family and achieve the ultimate goal, it creates a humanoid terminal and implants "human nature" as the head of the Einzbern family. The current head is the eighth-generation humanoid terminal, a constructed being named Acht who has lived for over two hundred years.

It is evident how mechanical and inflexible the implanted humanity is when it comes from an artificial intelligence that cannot grow. All the previous heads of the family have recognized that they and the artificial beings within the family are more naive than humans. To protect this "relief for humanity, the reproduction of miracles" factory, they have unanimously chosen to isolate the family from the outside world and avoid any communication unless necessary.

Their pure thoughts and isolation have directly resulted in the lack of growth in almost every aspect of the Einzbern family, except for alchemy (as the central program cannot grow, but other artificial beings still have the potential).

Finally, after three consecutive failures, Acht became aware of the fact that the entire magical world knows: the Einzbern family's artificial beings are not skilled in combat. To change this situation and achieve victory in the Fourth Holy Grail War, Acht chose to introduce specialized weapons against magi nine years before the war began. He brought in Emiya Kiritsugu, a magus killer with the blood of many magi on his hands, as a son-in-law to the family.

To be fair, it was an excellent move. If Kiritsugu were to become the head of the Einzbern family, he would have made the same choice.

Then, he would become the combat instructor for the Einzbern family, teaching the artificial beings how to fight and kill. Artificial beings are not humans and do not have human limitations. Their bodies can be enhanced to a level comparable to Heroic Spirits (as seen with Illyasviel's two bodyguards, whose panel attributes are not inferior to Servants). They have pure thoughts and high obedience to commands, making them excellent soldiers. Within nine years, a specialized force of artificial beings could be created, led by a magus killer like Kiritsugu, ensuring a success rate of at least ninety percent.

Unfortunately, Acht's stubbornness and lack of adaptability wasted this brilliant strategy. He treated Kiritsugu as a mere tool like the other artificial beings, only sending him out to fight and not allowing the winds of change from the outside world to influence their household. It was not until the failure of the Fourth Holy Grail War that Acht realized his mistake and began creating combat-oriented artificial beings. However, without a suitable instructor, concerns arose about the intelligence of these combat-oriented artificial beings.

From the first Holy Grail War to the disintegration or blockade of the Holy Grail in the final war, the Einzbern family never achieved success. Jubstacheit and Acht should bear the primary responsibility for this.

The only person in the Einzbern family who was influenced by Kiritsugu Emiya was Irisviel von Einzbern. Kiritsugu transformed her into an individual, a wife, and a mother, allowing her to truly live and merge her own will with the family's alchemy to create the combat magecraft "Form of the Soul."

However, Kiritsugu didn't want the corruption of the battlefield to tarnish Irisviel's purity, so he didn't teach her how to fight. As a result, Irisviel lacked combat experience and was easily defeated by Kotomine Kirei.

On the other hand, Justeaze von Einzbern was much stronger. First, she developed an obsession under the influence of a Heroic Spirit's soul, prompting her to contemplate this obsession. Then, under the conscious and unconscious influence of Shinji, she recognized the Einzbern family's weakness in combat and conceived a similar idea to develop combat magecraft.

Unlike Irisviel, Justeaze had Scáthach by her side, who possessed extensive combat experience and was a well-rounded fighter. She also had Shinji, a skilled strategist and time traveler, as well as Sakura and Kariya as training partners. This allowed Justeaze, initially unfamiliar with the world or combat, to possess combat abilities that Kotomine Kirei would not dare to underestimate.

Having destroyed four black keys, the white cords continued to extend forward, approaching Kirei at a speed no less than that of the black keys.

Kirei's combat intuition, honed through countless battles, told him that the strength of these white cords exceeded that of mere metal wires. He couldn't afford to be entangled, as it would likely result in his demise.

This judgment was accurate. Each thread of Justeaze's gloves was not made of earthly material or crafted through magecraft. It was a miracle, a creation of Justeaze's innate Third Magic. These threads possessed unimaginable toughness and could acquire various properties based on changes in magical energy. This was the conceptual dress Justeaze created to complement her combat magecraft, recognized by Scáthach as a pseudo-Noble Phantasm of Rank B - "Sen no Ito, Hyaku no Musubi" (Thousand Threads, Hundred Knots)!

"Thousand Threads, Hundred Knots!"

Justeaze possessed precise weaving abilities far surpassing those of ordinary magi. Under her control, the eight threads twisted and moved along eight different trajectories as part of the incantation, creating a dazzling and impregnable spectacle.

With a single glance, Kirei realized that breaking through the thread-twisting formation was impossible. He swiftly used his expertise in Bajiquan to slide and evade, retreating beyond the reach of the threads.

As one of the foremost Executors, Kirei had engaged in countless battles with magi. He wouldn't retreat due to this minor setback; his retreat was to prepare for a better offense.

Standing outside the thread-twisting formation, Kirei calmly observed Justeaze, who was as emotionless as himself, and once again drew out four black keys, two in each hand—no one knew how many black keys he concealed beneath his priestly robes.

Within 0.3 seconds, Kirei threw the four black keys. However, this time, his targets were not Justeaze, but the motionless Maya lying on the ground and Irisviel standing behind Justeaze.

Kirei didn't possess the chivalrous spirit of engaging in one-on-one combat. Both Maiya and Irisviel were enemies standing in opposition to him. Whether Justeaze saved them or not, it would only bring him benefits without drawbacks.

If she didn't save them, Maiya and Irisviel would die, and Kirei would have two fewer enemies. Although these two enemies seemed to have lost their combat abilities, no one knew when they might recover. Kirei didn't want to leave any potential future troubles.

If Justeaze saved them, there would be openings in the thread-twisting formation. Through his previous evasions, Kirei had roughly grasped the speed of the threads. They were as flexible as the black keys, but their lateral or sideways movement was slower. Intercepting the black keys required lateral movement, and Kirei was confident that he could exploit this opening to get closer and decide the outcome with a single strike.

In the blink of an eye, Justeaze made a choice - to save them.

Kirei also made a choice. His feet forcefully stomped the ground, and his entire body resembled a hunting cheetah as he covered a distance of ten meters with astonishing speed.

In Chinese martial arts, whether it's with weapons or bare-handed, regardless of the style, the first lesson is always to establish a firm horse stance. Only after mastering this stance can one progress to learn other techniques because the essence of Chinese martial arts lies in harnessing the power of the earth.

Among the various styles of Kung Fu, Bajiquan (Eight Trigram Palm) has a unique focus on footwork, giving rise to a special footwork technique called "stomping."

The "stomping" in Bajiquan, also known as "stomping step" or "duozi," is a crucial element in the distinctive footwork of Bajiquan and an integral component of its power. The power of the arms is ultimately limited, but stomping can coordinate the power of the entire body into one point, unleashing unimaginable strength.

Bajiquan emphasizes being "as tense as a drawn bow, and as explosive as thunder." This "drawn bow" stems from the technique of "stomping." Kirei's successive stomping on the ground at this moment is akin to a tightly drawn bow, poised to release its power and create a striking impact.

The distance between the two rapidly narrowed, from ten meters to three meters in the blink of an eye. With just one more step, the thunderous strike would land on Justeaze.

Kirei, deadly serious, had long abandoned any intention of showing mercy. Countless dangers had taught him that compassion on the battlefield was equivalent to inviting death.

Kirei took a step forward, stomping with one foot, followed by another stomping step. He channeled force from his heel, through his waist, flowing into both hands and out through his fingertips.

This strike carried a resounding name: "Facing the Sun Palm." It was one of the eight ultimate techniques of Bajiquan. Kirei had honed his skills in this martial art for over twenty years, and the power contained within his hands deserved the description of "thunderous."

Kirei was confident that once this punch landed, the battle would be over.