31 Summoning the Heroic Spirit Shirou
The Fate company was gradually becoming more organized.
As a genius girl president, Mash originally wanted to record all these inner monologues to use as promotional material for the company's next event.
But Shirou interrupted her, and she completely forgot.
Mash looked at her tactless senpai with dissatisfaction. She was about to complain, but then suddenly opened her mouth wide and stared with wide eyes.
"What? What's with that 'Senpai come out and see God' expression?" Shirou asked Mash suspiciously.
The other girls who looked over also showed surprised expressions.
At that moment, behind the boy's head, a white magical circle appeared like a summoning glyph.
The circle then emitted an intense white light, and Shirou was sucked into it.
.
.
.
The story had actually begun just a few minutes earlier.
It was a late afternoon after school. On a side street leading home, the sky was still fairly bright, just beginning to shift into dusk.
The girl's name was Asuna Yuuki.
Right now, she was facing the biggest crisis of her life.
She was being forced to jump around by a monster with tentacles that was firing light blasts at her. A tiny chattering creature hovered noisily by her side.
This wasn't a boss in a tower-climbing game, nor a virtual-reality game projected into the street via a headset. It was a real, flesh-and-blood monster, exhaling a foul, fishy stench.
She had only left school early like usual as a member of the go-home club, taking the same route home as always.
But today, for some reason, the surroundings had become eerily quiet, and the air felt heavy.
She looked around—yes, it was a familiar scene. This was indeed her usual route home. So why was everything so strange?
Just then, her phone lit up with a flash of white light, and a tiny black-haired figure leapt from the screen.
"Danger! Master! Please summon a Heroic Spirit and prepare for battle!"
"Battle?" Asuna asked in surprise. She looked at the familiar-looking chibi figure and wondered if she was dreaming.
As soon as she spoke—
A large crack appeared in the road ahead. Space shattered like broken glass, then split apart entirely.
A dark bluish, round creature emerged from within. It had a dozen or more octopus-like tentacles sprouting from its back.
At the center of its front was a huge eyeball, surrounded by bulging veins, and it floated ominously into the air.
"Eyeball thing?! Why is that here?!" the girl screamed, turning to flee, but she couldn't outrun it.
"No time to explain. Proceeding with automatic possession summon!" the little figure shouted, initiating the system.
A white light enveloped the flaxen-haired girl.
Scanning enemy attributes: Class: Archer, Race: Beholder, Massive mana reaction, suspected mutant;
Selecting a Heroic Spirit compatible with possession summoning for host;
Class: Lancer confirmed;
Compatibility: 95%;
Summon initiated!
Lancer-class Heroic Spirit: Minamoto no Raikou!
A great general of the Heian period, the strongest mystery-slayer in the country's history, now materializing as a student council president from another world!
A stream of white light spiraled like a dragon.
A tall, elegant figure stood firm, a sheath hanging from her left greave, a white katana in hand, clad in a feathered cloak that fluttered as she rose.
A valiant, tall young woman stood straight.
Her eyes were proud and noble.
She glanced at the floating tentacled eyeball monster and said coolly:
"Though I don't understand everything yet, since there's a monster here—I'll cut it down first!"
The feathered cloak fluttered in the wind.
She leapt into the air, dodging the eye-beam with a sidestep and instantly appeared behind the beholder. Her white blade crackled with lightning, transforming into a thunder blade that slashed down swiftly.
This blade, once bathed in the blood of countless monsters, was deadly sharp. If it landed, it would sever even the thickest tentacles and burn them to ash with lightning.
But just as the blade struck, it stopped mere millimeters from the monster, blocked as if by a transparent, indestructible shield.
The monster's eye rotated. Several tentacles straightened like spears and shot toward her.
The girl quickly threw a ball attached to a wire. Lightning surged from it, intercepting the tentacles—but the lightning was blocked by the same shield and couldn't harm the monster at all.
"It's not even that strong—why can't I cut it? What's going on?" the girl muttered, pulling back.
"Master! The monster has a high-energy mana shield. Normal attacks can't damage it!" the little figure analyzed.
"How are we supposed to beat it then?!" the girl shouted in frustration.
All her attacks were blocked. If she got close, the tentacles would grab her. At a distance, she became a target for the eye-beam.
Even with Minamoto no Raikou possessing her, the girl could only dodge and retreat.
"Master! Please summon an ally!" the little figure urged.
"Huh? That's an option? But pulling someone else into this kind of danger—is that really okay? Maybe I should just wait until my Noble Phantasm reaches 300% charge and go for a decisive strike..."
"Master, one of your friends is a warrior who has fought these monsters many times before! Don't hesitate to summon him!" The figure projected a holographic interface, highlighting an account.
"If it's someone who can turn the tide... Oh! Got it!" The girl's eyes lit up as she selected a name. "It's not eggplant—summon now!"
At that moment, the boy caught in the white light saw, in the dimensional void, a tall tower standing in a distant flower field.
Even the blue-gold scabbard slumbering deep within his soul seemed to stir, flashing briefly before falling silent again.
There, the boy saw a half-human, half-incubus man with a carefree smile.
Silver long hair, violet eyes, holding a black magic staff.
His white robes held within them the king's sword once used by a sovereign. He had secluded himself in that tower for thousands of years, far from the mortal world.
His name was Merlin, the Magus of Flowers!
"..." Merlin looked at the boy, his lips moving.
He seemed to be saying something—but then the white light engulfed the boy entirely.
On the street, a pillar of light burst forth. A boy in a flowing white robe, purple ribbons, and black pants leapt out, holding a magic staff.
"This time, I've been summoned? My class is Caster? The legendary mentor of King Arthur, Merlin..." Shirou drew a sword that closely resembled the holy sword he was familiar with.
In the legends, this sword had broken during a duel when Arthur violated the code of chivalry. But as the sword's creator, Merlin seemed to have restored it.
Shirou examined his surroundings: a dull, ordinary street filled with oppressive air and magic—clearly an alternate dimension.
Ahead, a scantily clad girl was being chased by the dark-blue eyeball monster. She skillfully dodged the monster's tentacles and beams, heading back toward him.
"You're Shirou from our grade, right? You're Not An Eggplant?! Great! Help me deal with this thing!" the flaxen-haired girl recognized the white-robed boy.
"Asuna Yuuki?" Shirou looked at the girl who was openly showing off her figure, dressed in a pink bikini and bouncing around the street.
She looked familiar. Wasn't she the famous second-year at International High School, on par with Yukinoshita? And how did she know him?
No—now wasn't the time for questions!
Shirou shoved the distractions from his mind and swung the Sword in the Stone toward the monster.
At this moment, the boy had inherited part of Merlin's memories and combat experience.
As the man who once taught Arthur swordsmanship, this level of swordplay was second nature to him.
British sword techniques weren't unfamiliar to Shirou.
As he swung the Sword in the Stone, memories from the Heroic Spirit within him emerged—of a young blonde girl with a ponytail, practicing swordsmanship daily under the guidance of her mentor and brother.
He couldn't help but recall those times when he had received sword training from that golden-haired girl in the dojo.
What nostalgia!
The way she sternly knocked his shinai from his hands; the times she sat across from him in her blue-and-white uniform for serious talks; the pouting when he chose dual-wielding instead of learning her style...
Mimicking the girl's sword movements from his memories, Shirou released magical energy.
With a clean swing of the golden holy sword, a golden slash raced along the ground—then rose up beneath the monster.