Chapter 20. Thaumaturgy Battle: Rin vs. Flat III
The El-Melloi Classroom—it is a special territory presided over by a new Lord whose true name is Waver Velvet, a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
Though it is merely a rumor circulating in the outside world, it is said that the classroom produces nothing but monsters. Regardless of status or wealth, no matter how troublesome the student, any magus with ambition can receive proper guidance there. It is rumored that even the disciple of a Magician persistently attends lectures there over the long term.
By the time people realized it, it had become the sharpest and most peculiar place in the Clock Tower. And even within that group, one student is particularly representative.
Flat Escardos.
Although he has slipped into this Holy Grail War and transformed into one of the Masters, if he were encountered in any other setting, Flat is the "wall" of genius students in the El-Melloi Classroom—a good companion who sticks his nose into everyone's business to help whenever they are in trouble.
Those who know him well often call him a "Genius Idiot." This is because Flat's talent is so high it is akin to a natural phenomenon, yet he acts nothing like a magus. Even professional magi say Flat lacks the proper "magus mindset," which resulted in his graduation being tragically delayed.
This includes his reason for participating in the Holy Grail War: he simply wanted to meet Heroic Spirits and Masters. When he happened to see a "Catalyst Delivery" for the Professor, Flat wagged his tail, asked the Professor for it, and then high-spiritedly grabbed a toy knife to travel thousands of miles to the United States.
What Flat summoned was the Berserker commonly known as Jack the Ripper. Just as one might expect, Flat spent his time fully engaged in chatting with Jack, sunbathing on park lawns, evading the surveillance network in the sky, and searching for a suitable motel... until he bumped into an impossibly smiling enforcer.
Even in this Holy Grail War, Flat surely could have done many shocking things with a smile, perhaps even achieving some incredible feat... or stirring up incredible trouble.
This was supposed to be a story where he made his mark, but Flat was thinking... why does it feel like I'm already about to be taken out before I've even started fighting the Holy Grail War?
The light—not rainbow-colored, but still shimmering with iridescent hues—faded away.
An energetic Flat actively brushed aside this magical bombardment, reappearing in a disheveled state.
Terrifying plumes of white smoke billowed from the deeply gouged ground, slowly rising from the low points.
"You're amazing, Miss Rin!" The blonde student offered a respectful and sincere thumbs-up.
"Can I just say that you are the one person I don't want to hear that from—the guy who just tanked a point-blank spell?"
While the extra single-shot attacks Rin added for Flat were easy to interfere with, they were powerful, fast, and high-damage. Thus, Flat had to very quickly and precisely control the contents to veer away from him; if he failed to move in time and took a direct hit, a person with Flat's constitution would be bedridden for half a day.
Flat's specialty is sensing and analysis; his forte in magecraft is interference and reversal. On one hand, Flat is skilled at hacking into others' magecraft and rewriting its contents. On the other hand, he can intervene in nature at will to achieve versatile magical effects.
However, the clever little tricks Flat was so confident in were proving ineffective against the current Rin.
Though Flat can intervene in magecraft, Rin was utilizing an elemental cycle of magic bullets that transformed every second—the most troublesome of magical techniques, where no two magic bullets shared identical properties. Unless he interfered with the gem she held in her hand, every magic bullet already generated was an independent unit.
With the magic bullets numbering so high that quantity became meaningless, Flat's maximum interference speed was 215 rounds at once, twisting their directions to make them collide and self-destruct, meaning he could affect 430 rounds. Beyond that, he was truly out of options.
To stop her, Flat had to interfere with the gem in her hand, but the gem she held was protected within the [Five Stars of Rotation].
The [Five Stars of Rotation] is a super-defensive thaumaturgical formula that dominates the Five Great Elements, neutralizing an opponent's magic of the same attribute by integrating the elements. As long as the attribute matches, an enemy's formula cannot maintain its form to reach the caster.
The only way is to press tightly into the [Five Stars of Rotation], entering the gap between the barrier and the caster.
To interfere with the gem, he first had to interfere with the [Five Stars of Rotation], but to interfere with the [Five Stars of Rotation]...
" Game Select - Interference Start."
Flat sprinted, attempting to interfere with this absolute defensive line that could not be breached by the Five Great Elements.
"Reinforcement Start."
The master of the formation simultaneously performed inspections and repairs.
A master of a technique capable of neutralizing the vast majority of Five-Element magecraft through calculation is not a commoner who can be settled by interference in a single second.
Even with Miss Rin reinforcing it, it usually wouldn't take Flat more than fifteen seconds to intrude upon this formation, but for some reason, Flat judged the time had been delayed to thirty seconds. That was enough for Rin to exercise more powerful magecraft to force Flat into defense.
It seemed the "Starry Sky of Gems" above her head was augmenting her processing power.
Flat had to interfere with the gem stars first.
But the gem stars were inside the [Five Stars of Rotation].
How to interfere with the gem in Rin's hand? Interfere with the [Five Stars of Rotation] first.
How to interfere with the [Five Stars of Rotation]? Interfere with the gem stars first.
How to interfere with the gem stars? Interfere with the [Five Stars of Rotation] first.
...Flat was definitely being hard-countered, wasn't he?
"Aaah, I guess I just have to force my way in!"
Flat loudly blurted out his "public conspiracy" and began to sprint, braced behind a block of Ether element.
40 meters. This was the remaining distance between them.
" Unnummeriert, Zusammentreffen, Winterpunkte, Neun Sterne, Artillerie (Non-numbered, converge, winter solstice, nine-star alignment, bombardment.)"
The nine gems at Rin's fingertips all transformed into projectiles.
In terms of the number of gems she could command to fire, this was Rin's current absolute limit. By multiplying nine ordinary gems, she could achieve the output of a forbidden spell.
Though she wasn't using her trump card, Rin's magical maneuvers were undoubtedly masterful techniques.
A gale roared back as the massive bombardment was launched, blowing Flat's slightly curly hair out of shape.
Flat's mouth hung wide open as the Ether element blocks in front of him rapidly multiplied.
With an "extra-serious" vibe, Flat commanded countless Ether element blocks to intercept a bombardment even more powerful than the last.
" Play Ball - Intervene in the bombardment!"
The Ether blocks were collapsing. Things that were inherently formless were given shape, and thus, upon their destruction, they would naturally revert to formlessness in a flash. Every tiny Ether element vanished in this manner.
The larger Ether blocks allowed the dissolution process to be seen, vanishing one by one before Flat's eyes.
Finally, the bombardment reached the shield directly protecting Flat, resulting in a violent clash.
With a slightly tense expression, Flat concentrated his consciousness on the magical field. As the Ether emitted an unstable and ominous hum, Flat suddenly intoned:
" Game Set -Status Shift!"
With a snap of his fingers, an abnormal change occurred in the magical field.
The direction of all magical power veered toward an unrelated side. The bombardment deflected at an eerie angle in a different direction.
Flat discarded his nearly shattered shield and took off running. A very happy Flat stood in stark contrast to the seemingly expressionless Rin.
" Sechs Sterne (Six-star alignment), blast him."
20 meters remaining.
Time didn't allow Rin to exercise another forbidden spell; as such, she would inevitably utilize the time to launch her fastest pursuit yet.
That bombardment.
It had deflected the moment it made contact with Flat. Naturally, Flat was unscathed.
"Huh?"
Even Rin wore a look of bewilderment.
"No way, he's already adapted to this type of bombardment!?"
That was likely the case. Flat felt that since he had already interfered with an even stronger concentration of magical power, then against an attack of the same type—!
He naturally remembered the sensation of the interference!
The so-called "secondary invalidation"—a genius who, once they have interfered with something once, can do so every time without needing a medium—that is the kind of person Flat is.
The distance closed to 10 meters, and the Void element dissipated. After all, he had stepped into the barrier of the [Five Stars of Rotation]. But at this distance, indirect magecraft wasn't necessary.
Flat used his maximum stride to close the gap, yet he didn't seek to touch Rin; instead, he raised his hand into the air.
In response, Rin took a pugilistic stance. After a slight sway of her posture, her feet felt light as she actively met him with a unique footwork.
It was over.
Flat, of course, had no intention of exchanging martial arts with Rin. His goal was merely to touch her.
Therefore, having finished his incredibly arduous "marathon," he didn't think twice before using the hand he'd enhanced with reinforcement magecraft to block Rin's sudden, explosive palm strike.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Magecraft activation complete. Interference should initiate.
A spell to burst several non-vital internal organs and cause a magus to temporarily lose their ability to act should have taken effect.
However, after a moment of daze, Flat realized his interference had no target to latch onto.
The reason was that Rin's body surface had been covered—without him knowing when—by a magical film that isolated her from the outside world. Flat's interference was targeted at the human body, and he hadn't specifically programmed a formula to bypass this miniature barrier.
In conclusion—Flat hadn't "interfered" with Tohsaka Rin at all.
"Sorry, but I'm the practical type!"
She had definitely swallowed a gem while her silhouette was hidden by the Mystic Eye Killer.
Before he could even force out a hollow laugh, Flat was sent flying by a palm strike rich with internal power, tracing a beautiful parabola through the air.
'Ahaha, I'm done for.'