Chapter 205: Why are you retreating?
"What the...?"
What is called an accident? This is what is called an accident! What is called horror? This is what is called horror!
For those who do not understand the Stand ability of [Pseudo-The World], seeing its ability for the first time, seeing Emiya Shirou suddenly disappear and then suddenly reappear, and in the process of this sudden disappearance, watching their companions fall one after another—anyone would feel a sense of horror arising from the bottom of their heart.
Even when someone realizes what the true Stand ability of [Pseudo-The World] is, for those unable to move in a world where time has stopped, this horror brought about by the unknown will not be alleviated even slightly by the unknown becoming known. On the contrary, it will further deepen their fear.
Such is Julian's situation at this moment. Unable to move in the frozen world, and unaware of what Emiya Shirou did within that stopped time, Julian only saw Emiya Shirou's sudden appearance and the sudden collapse of Angelica and the others.
Therefore, the moment Julian saw that Emiya Shirou had already arrived in front of him and seemed to be reaching out to touch him— —Displacement Magecraft!!
A series of spatial displacements were already flickering incessantly behind him. Along with Julian's subconscious retreating steps, he desperately widened the distance between himself and Emiya Shirou!
"Why are you widening the distance?"
Without continuing the pursuit, Emiya Shirou just stood where he was, watching Julian's desperate flight. "Didn't you say that you would do anything to save the world?
Now that I have used this action to prove that I am not your friend, but an enemy who wants to stop you from saving the world, why do you go out of your way to widen the distance between us?
To truly defeat an enemy like me, shouldn't you be as close to me as possible?"
Speaking of this, Emiya Shirou also looked at Julian's empty hands. Although being empty-handed does not mean Julian can only fight with his fists. For Julian, who possesses displacement magecraft and can perform spatial displacement, distance is actually not important.
But at the same time, magecraft must also follow the principle of equivalent exchange. Its power and distance are directly proportional to the magic power paid out by the mage. Julian, having stretched the distance so far—even if he could shorten it using displacement magecraft, how much wasted magic power would that entail?
This is not a performance that one should have in front of a formidable enemy.
"Or is it that you are afraid that being too close will make you unable to see my figure, afraid of what I might do outside of your line of sight?" Emiya Shirou stated his words calmly. He no longer showed the strength he used to instantly kill Angelica and the others earlier. There was only a calmness akin to a conversation between friends.
Yet, this unhurried attitude and the words with which Emiya Shirou called out Julian's inner thoughts made Julian's forehead uncontrollably sprout droplets of sweat, even more so than Emiya Shirou's initial one-shot kills.
"If that is truly the case, then it is merely a superfluous effort.
Maintaining distance only has meaning in battles where both sides are evenly matched, but the distance between you and me is meaningless..."
[Pseudo-The World]!!
A calm statement, met with calm breathing and waiting.
As the cooldown time for stopping time passed in such meaningless narration, Emiya Shirou's figure once again disappeared from before Julian.
And when Emiya Shirou reappeared, a strange colored dagger gripped in his hand had already crossed this long distance. He pointed the tip of the dagger and touched Julian's chest, saying: "...Look, just like this. If I want to, I can stab this weapon into your heart at any time."
"...!?"
N-no... I didn't perceive anything at all!?
Unlike the first time he was completely unprepared, after seeing Angelica and the others suddenly defeated, Julian was not truly doing nothing while using displacement magecraft to retreat.
Within his displacement, the surrounding space—after he successfully retreated to a certain distance—had had its orientation displaced accordingly.
In other words, let alone Emiya Shirou approaching him as he was now, even the moment Emiya Shirou wanted to approach him, he would have been made to walk in circles in the original spot by this spatial labyrinth set up using displacement magecraft.
But now...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The Magic Circuits refined magic power incessantly and permeated it into the ground, displacing the shape of the terrain. Transforming them into one sharp spike after another, they thrust violently toward the Emiya Shirou above, hoping to force him back temporarily.
Only now, still able to feel the sensation of the dagger Emiya Shirou had previously extended against his chest, did Julian have the opportunity to open his lips and let his mouth breathe heavily into the fresh air of the surroundings.
"Hoo~~ Haa~~ Hoo~~ Haa~~!!"
Only now did he have the time to calm down and pause his mind to think.
What on earth just happened? How on earth did Emiya Shirou do it?!
"That magecraft that suddenly disappears and reappears is absolutely not invincible!
Otherwise, just as Emiya said, my heart would have been pierced through by him long ago.
—Emiya didn't do it, there must be a problem here! That magecraft of his definitely has some limiting conditions attached to it!"
Seemingly wanting to use this way to dispel the chill of near-death in his heart, Julian's brain began this incessant thinking.
"Think, my brain! Hurry up and figure it out!"
"It's about time."
Julian was thinking, while Emiya Shirou was also contemplating in his heart:
"Although Julian hasn't acted or disguised himself as Darius until now.
But this kind of thing is not something Julian can decide at all; it is that Darius had long ago cast displacement magecraft on his bloodline.
It makes him perform personality and soul displacement with his descendants, allowing him, who lived in an era a thousand years ago, to continue surviving.
In other words, by being touched by [Rule Breaker], the Darius displacement magecraft currently ongoing on Julian's body will undoubtedly be forcibly dispelled."
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