"This should be the place."
Looking down at the map Najenda had provided him, Shirou gently knocked on the iron door.
"Excuse me, anyone here?"
An odd sense of familiarity washed over him, as though he'd knocked on a strange wooden door like this once before.
Shirou hadn't bothered hiding his presence at all. After leaving Night Raid's hideout via a secret underground passage, he had boldly walked the Empire's streets openly.
Aside from a brief encounter with Seryu in the pleasure district, no one from the Empire recognized him, and even she had no idea of his relationship with the Three Beasts. Even if they met again, it wouldn't lead to immediate conflict.
When Shirou had collapsed back then, he'd been covered head-to-toe in blood, his face obscured, hardly breathing. The soldiers barely paid him any attention, focusing instead on Bulat and the armored warrior on the boat.
As for why Incursio appeared simultaneously while Bulat was still alive—that was a headache best left to the Empire's top brass.
Currently, Emiya Shirou was not a wanted man within the Empire. He moved around as freely as when he'd traveled alongside the Three Beasts. Everyone simply treated him like an ordinary citizen.
"What's the matter? Master isn't here right now."
The door swung open, revealing a young, muscular man standing shirtless before Shirou.
"Pork tastes delicious."
"Vegetables are healthier."
"Come in," the young man said, stepping aside to let Shirou enter, then promptly closed the door.
These lines were a code used by Night Raid when exchanging intelligence with informants. Naturally, anyone able to respond correctly would be affiliated with the Revolutionary Army.
Night Raid took precautions by using different passwords with each informant, preventing the Empire from unraveling their entire network if someone were captured.
This particular informant was one Akame personally managed, and she'd provided Shirou with the proper phrases herself.
"What brings the Revolutionary Army here? Nothing unusual has happened in this area recently."
As soon as Shirou stepped inside, a wave of scorching heat surged forward, forcing him to take several steps back.
"Nothing major. I just need you to examine this weapon and see if you can glean anything useful."
Shirou handed over the replicated Teigu he'd projected the day before to the young man.
Najenda had asked if these replicas could be mass-produced.
Shirou shook his head firmly. With his current magical capacity, he could barely manage projecting two copies of Incursio.
This weapon wasn't like the Nichirin blades. Apart from their unique material capable of slaying demons, Nichirin blades had no additional complexity, allowing Shirou to project nearly ten of them—provided he didn't expend magic on Breathing Techniques.
As for Shirou's special technique—his Broken Phantasm—it consumed half his mana instantly. Naturally, he didn't waste energy like that often.
They'd also tested how closely Shirou's replica Incursio matched the original.
Compared to the genuine Teigu, the replica's offensive and defensive capabilities were both a notch lower.
Regarding duration, Shirou concluded it could maintain its form indefinitely as long as the internal mana wasn't depleted. If left unused as decoration, it might last decades. But once activated—even standing still without taking action—the armor lasted only an hour. Additionally, it still required the user to possess a certain baseline of physical strength.
But crucially, it was limited only by physical capabilities—there were no mental constraints.
In that sense, the replica was vastly superior to ordinary Shingu.
Without the mental strain, someone with sufficient physical ability could simultaneously wield two, three, or even more Teigu at once.
It was a completely unreasonable method of amplifying strength. Enhancing physical capabilities had various methods—even modifications were possible—but nobody knew how to directly increase mental resilience.
They'd experimented by having Akame fight using Incursio alongside her original weapon, Murasame.
The answer was immediate: the equipment was completely compatible. Akame's combat prowess surged drastically. Incursio not only boosted her physical stats significantly but also compensated for her vulnerabilities in defense.
Then Shirou stunned everyone by casually projecting a copy of Murasame, prompting shocked silence.
Was his counterfeiting speed really that absurd?
Next came Leone, who experimented by wielding three Teigu simultaneously.
Her base strength hadn't initially met Incursio's requirements, but her own Teigu temporarily boosted her physical abilities, letting her layer one over the other. Leone zipped around Night Raid's members at blazing speeds, leaving behind only afterimages visible to anyone but Akame, Bulat, and Najenda.
According to Leone, aside from feeling her body begin to deteriorate, everything else felt amazing. Her Teigu, Lionelle, granted exceptional regeneration, so such minor breakdown posed no real issue.
Her speed had more than doubled, and the replica Murasame she wielded retained its lethal properties, mirroring Akame's original.
However, since both were instant-kill weapons, they couldn't precisely gauge which was superior. They could only assume the replica Murasame, like replica Incursio, was slightly weaker than its genuine counterpart.
In Najenda's eyes, this wasn't just a game-changer—it defied common sense entirely.
Even though these replicas were slightly inferior to genuine Teigu, they were substantially stronger than most Shingu—and without any negative side effects. If they truly could be mass-produced, the consequences were unimaginable.
Najenda's gaze at Emiya Shirou had changed yet again, her eyes sparkling as though she'd discovered a gold mine.
Further testing revealed Shirou could reliably project several Teigu: Incursio, Murasame, Pumpkin, and even Cross Tail.
Aside from Leone's biological Teigu, Shirou effortlessly produced replicas of nearly every weapon Night Raid used, making the team suddenly feel their own original Teigu were less impressive by comparison.
Shirou had explained he could only project sword-type weapons. Initially, they believed replicating Pumpkin—a ranged Teigu—would be impossible. But because it had a blade-like close-combat attachment, Shirou treated it as fundamentally sword-related, though primarily intended for ranged combat.
And thus, he'd projected it with ease.
Everyone was thoroughly shocked.
Since there was no immediate opportunity for Shirou to enter the Imperial Palace, Najenda decided Shirou should first visit a Revolutionary Army informant within the capital. Perhaps specialists could study these replicas and determine if mass production was feasible.
Professional work required professional hands, after all. Thus, Shirou found himself standing here now.