Departure
After Shirō and the others briefly organized the intelligence they had gathered, they handed everything over to Shikamaru. Tai Yi and the rest waited quietly for Shikamaru's analysis.
Shirō, meanwhile, returned to his room to tend to the injuries he had sustained that day, ensuring they wouldn't affect tomorrow's battle.
Fortunately, it was only a slight overload. His magic circuits had been strained, but not damaged. He quickly applied treatment and swallowed some of the medicine he had formulated after his last circuit injury.
By morning, he would be fine. That formula had been designed after his previous near-crippling overload, and although he had long since recovered, he made sure to always carry a few doses just in case.
With that settled, Shirō turned his attention to theoretical research on the Broken Phantasm—a technique he had never actually used in combat.
If he could master even the basics of it, it might become tomorrow's trump card.
Through study, Shirō realized that the concept was deceptively simple: destruction through overload. Since the projected Noble Phantasm was connected to him, detonation required nothing more than his intent. The key lay in controlling distance and scope.
Higher-ranked weapons produced exponentially greater destruction. Fortunately, he didn't need to test them one by one; the relevant data already existed within Red Archer's memories.
After resting, he noticed it was getting late and went downstairs to check on Shikamaru.
Shikamaru was still bent over the map, brows furrowed, analyzing every scrap of information.
Seeing Shirō, Nakamura gave him an inquiring look. Shirō waved it off, signaling he was fine. Tai Yi, however, kept winking at him.
Shirō frowned and replied in quick hand signs: What are you trying to say?
Are your injuries serious? Tai Yi signed back. If so, tomorrow we'll withdraw. Better to retreat than lose you.
Shirō sighed. How am I supposed to guess all that from one look? Don't worry. I'll be fine by morning. It won't affect the battle.
Good. Then I can relax, Tai Yi replied with a small grin.
Not long after, Shikamaru finally set down his brush, exhaling as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He tapped the map.
"This," he declared, "should be their real headquarters."
Shirō blinked. "Wait, didn't those three captives already reveal the headquarters? Tai Yi's genjutsu interrogation shouldn't have failed."
"That location was a decoy," Shikamaru explained. "Bait. They probably didn't even know the true location themselves."
"They wanted to stall us," Nakamura muttered, narrowing his eyes.
"Exactly. Delay us long enough, and the mission would fail on its own."
Originally, the team's plan had been straightforward—cause a bit of destruction, let the enemy abandon their base, and avoid escalating into a full-scale war. That was why they had brought the three prisoners back without concealment: to warn the enemy to evacuate their core members.
But if Shikamaru's analysis was right, then the enemy hadn't moved at all. They were betting everything on dragging things out until the mission collapsed.
It was a clever move—but they had underestimated Shikamaru's ability to deduce the truth.
All eyes turned to Nakamura, their captain. The decision had to come from him.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Nakamura snorted. "Go rest and prepare. If they want to play games, we'll play along. But this time, we finish it properly."
Shirō and the others smiled faintly. Nakamura's tone carried finality. Their enemies would not escape.
That night, Shirō carefully organized the Noble Phantasms he intended to use as Broken Phantasms. He separated his standard weapons from expendables—he didn't want to risk blowing up a weapon he relied on.
He prepared several from C-rank and below, mostly favoring E-rank projections, which consumed little prana and could be used freely. Then he replenished his ninja tools—kunai, shuriken, explosive tags—by unsealing them from a storage scroll.
Once satisfied, he double-checked his gear, then laid down to rest.
At dawn, the squad departed, slipping away undetected. Shirō left behind a doll as a decoy in his bed.
It was a creation only possible after he had studied the basics of the Enchanters' Displacement Magecraft. He couldn't reproduce their ability to transfer both appearance and personality, but mimicking physical form and aura was simple enough.
When he first demonstrated it, Nakamura and the others were stunned. Against sensory-type shinobi, it was nearly perfect. Whether it could fool the Byakugan remained untested, but against ordinary detection, it was flawless.
As always, their admiration carried a trace of envy.
The team arrived at the location Shikamaru had deduced. On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a quiet waterfall.
Shirō had already sent Gray Snake to investigate the inside—nothing.
"Shikamaru, are you sure?" Tai Yi asked, Sharingan active as he scanned the surroundings. "No illusions either."
"Keep looking," Shikamaru replied. "It should be nearby."
Just as they were about to move on, Shirō's Clairvoyance flared, catching something strange in the stone wall beside the waterfall.
"Tai Yi, Yuhi—check that wall," he called sharply.
The two immediately focused their eyes on the cliff face. Everyone else held back, waiting for their judgment.
"…This is Earth Release," Tai Yi muttered.
Yuhi added, "Not just that. There are traces of genjutsu—recently dispelled. Unless you're looking closely, you'd never notice."
"So this is it, then," Shirō concluded, eyes narrowing as anticipation stirred in his chest.