Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

"Emiya-senpai, so it was you! You scared us to death!"

Eita Tanaka and Keisaku Sato patted their foreheads; the sudden sound in such a quiet space had indeed startled them.

They thought it was a Crimson World Apostle who had come looking for them.

Although Margot was also there, they knew their own limitations and could only leave quickly to avoid causing Margot any trouble when they encountered a Crimson World Apostle.

"Has the glass jar already been taken by the Crimson World Apostles?"

After glancing around briefly, Shirou Emiya did not see the glass jar that should have been in the very center of the room, emitting a pale blue light.

"It seems you've grasped the current situation."

Marjorie stopped what she was doing and stepped down from the book that was floating in the air.

Upon seeing Shirou Emiya arrive, he wore an unprecedentedly serious expression.

“A large number of Crimson World Apostles have already flooded into this city.”

A childish voice came from behind Shirou Emiya, and Kamsin slowly emerged from the shadows, carrying Kazumi Yoshida in one hand.

"Yoshida-kun!"

"Tanaka-kun and Sato-kun?"

Yoshida Kazumi suddenly understood why the two of them were often not at school; it was probably because they had become Flame Haze's assistants.

"【Dressed Rider】?"

"You've come to this city too?"

Margery frowned slightly, but didn't think too much about it; it wasn't unusual to encounter multiple Flame Haze warriors in one city.

Moreover, in the current situation, having an extra helper is a good thing. As for why...

"The last fluctuation occurred yesterday morning."

Marjorie immediately shared what she had learned with everyone present.

"So the Crimson Apostles who took the glass jar did so only after that. Although we don't know when they did it, they had at least one night to turn around. I'm afraid those Crimson Apostles have already taken root in this city."

"We have no time to waste now. Those Crimson World Apostles hiding in the shadows could launch an attack at any moment."

Margery bit her lower lip, cursing the trouble in her heart, but her hands didn't stop. She recited poems that Emiya Shirou couldn't understand with his current level of education.

She began to unleash her magic, needing to determine as quickly as possible just how many Crimson World Apostles had arrived in Misaki City.

Although the glass jar can display the entire city scene, it only has this one function: to allow users to freely explore the current situation around them.

It can be said to be an incredibly exciting strategic Noble Phantasm.

Although Marjorie added a built-in detection method, the detection method of that method is very simple.

It means that as long as the power of existence exceeds a certain value, it will prompt Margery, Shana, and Shirou Emiya.

If the value does not exceed this threshold, then Marjorie's Freedom Technique will remain inactive.

After all, in addition to humans coming and going, some torches also enter and leave Misaki City. Naturally, setting a threshold is the best way to determine whether Crimson World Apostles and Phosphorus have come to Misaki City.

Even the weakest Crimson World Apostle possesses a greater capacity for existence than a human.

Not to mention the Flame Haze warriors who fought against those Crimson World Apostles.

When Wilhelmina appeared at Shirou Emiya's house, he felt a slight unease, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

She was not a Crimson Denizen, and given her familiarity with Shana, Shirou Emiya did not immediately think of the Glass Jar.

It wasn't until Kamsin appeared that Shirou Emiya remembered that Margery's Freedom Technique should be able to be sensed even by Flame Haze.

"Zheng—!"

A totem-like magic square suddenly lit up the sky above Misaki City.

Under that totem-like free-form posture, sky-blue flames burned all around, transforming into a barrier of yang fire, like a protective encirclement that enveloped the entire city.

At that moment, the world turned red.

At this moment, cause and effect were severed.

Time seemed to stand still within the sealed interior, and all sorts of indescribable auras emanated from the city.

That was the aura of various Crimson World Apostles mixed together.

Directly opposite this room, suspended in the air, is a girl wearing a school uniform with shoulder-length light blue hair.

As the sky-blue flames burned in her hand, a triangular tin staff slowly appeared in her grasp.

A terrifying force is constantly influencing the entire city.

"That's... a human? That's impossible!"

Margery looked at the girl floating in the sky with disbelief.

A circular, blue, free-form ring was quickly constructed in the sky.

"If this Free Law is completed, it will be able to amplify the distortions existing in the city, causing the entire Misaki City to be reduced to ashes and cease to exist in an instant!"

Kamsin is known to many as a Flame Haze, partly because he is indeed an excellent fighter, and partly because he is one of the very few Flame Haze who is a tuner.

He was able to smooth over cities that had been distorted by the battles between Flame Haze and Crimson Denizens, allowing those torches, those distorted beings of the mortal realm, to melt away peacefully.

Eliminate all things that cause distortion in the present world.

The Free Law that is now appearing above Misaki City is a tuning method that is almost completely contrary to the tuning method he has mastered.

If they were to actually start playing, all the torches in the city would go berserk in an instant.

The resulting distortions will be amplified rapidly. If it were just an ordinary city, this free law would at most only cause more distortions.

As for distorting the entire city, that would be an extremely difficult task.

But Misaki City is different; Fariagni's initial goal was to devour the city.

If it weren't for Shirou Emiya's appearance, his plan would have basically succeeded.

Although detonating all the torches remaining in the city at this time would not cause the destruction of the entire city, it would only cause enormous distortion.

But Fariagni was only one step away from devouring the city, and that Free Law also had the function of expanding and distorting. Basically, if this Free Law were successfully released...

The inevitable end for the entire city will be its complete annihilation.

Emiya Shirou stomped on the ground, shot through the window, and hurtled towards the girl holding the triangular staff in the air.

Chapter 279 Battlefields Everywhere

The girl, who had been suspended in mid-air, seemed to have suddenly lost her support and fell straight down from the sky.

"Zheng——!"

Seeing the girl suddenly fall, Shirou Emiya's pupils contracted, and an extremely ordinary katana appeared behind him and shot towards his feet.

Using the force of the incoming sword arrow, Shirou Emiya suddenly pushed off with his foot, changing direction in mid-air, with only the whistling wind audible.

Emiya Shirou caught the falling girl steadily with both hands. She crashed through the glass of an office building across the street, rolled a few times on the ground, and then slowly came to a stop.

The girl was held tightly in Shirou Emiya's arms and was not harmed in the slightest.

"What...is this?"

The girl spoke in a daze.

"Stay here and don't run around!"

Emiya Shirou gently released his grip, placed the girl aside, and looked out the window.

Outside, Margery had transformed into a blue beast, a hybrid of bear and wolf, relentlessly battling the various phosphorescent particles surging toward her.

Those Crimson World Apostles weren't that stupid. The best way to deal with such powerful Flame Haze warriors was to use phosphorus to wear them down.

Under their arrangement, the entire city's inhabitants can now be transformed into their power of existence; these Crimson World Apostles have no concern about the consumption of resources.

Emiya Shirou had no intention of harming the girl.

He initially rushed out with the intention of stopping her from continuing her spellcasting.

Although he didn't manage to stop her from completing the construction of the Free Law, Shirou Emiya wouldn't make things difficult for her.

If she is indeed a Crimson World Apostle in disguise, Shirou Emiya certainly won't let her go. While he won't take her life, he won't let her stay here peacefully either.

But she was not only human, but she also seemed to be a human who knew nothing, so Shirou Emiya naturally couldn't do anything more to her.

The entire city of Misaki is in great danger right now, so it's clearly better to keep her further away from the battlefield than to keep her by my side and protect her.

"------!"

"Pfft——!"

The sound of flesh being torn apart rang out in front of Shirou Emiya, and dark red flames burst forth from the ground carrying incredibly sharp blades.

An incredibly long and narrow knife wound appeared on Shirou Emiya's chest, staining his clothes once again.

But this was not the time to be amazed. A short sword with a chain appeared beside Shirou Emiya and swiftly armed him in the blink of an eye as he was sent flying backward.

"long time no see!"

A very deep voice came from the man who had slashed Shirou Emiya's chest.

"【Broken Blade】!"

As Shirou Emiya flew backward, his pupils changed drastically. He quickly steadied himself, his feet leaving a long trail of sparks as they scraped the ground.

Feeling the sharp pain in his chest, Shirou Emiya stared at the man in front of him with an extremely serious expression.

If this weren't a high-rise building of over twenty stories, that speed would have been enough to kill him in one strike.

Even if Shirou Emiya reacted quickly enough, he couldn't dodge it.

Without the "Demon Possessed" amulet, Shirou Emiya's physical abilities weren't much higher than those of an ordinary person, if one had to find a point of comparison.

Emiya Shirou's current physical abilities are roughly 0.75 times that of Esdeath, who doesn't use breathing techniques, hasn't activated her Demon Slayer Mark, and can't use enhancement magic.

His physical abilities alone were enough to put him on par with Tatsumi, who was wearing the "Demon Possessed" outfit.

However, such physical abilities were simply not enough in front of [Broken Blade]. Even when Shirou Emiya was in such a tall building, he could only barely dodge the fatal blow when [Broken Blade] rushed out from the ground.