Chapter 124: I'm Starting to Like You, Sorcerer.
Can the body overpower the soul? This question, better suited for philosophers and researchers, was clearly not one Emiya needed to consider.
But it was undeniable that Fushiguro Toji, having regained part of his consciousness, was definitely more powerful than the unknown Curse User from before.
Humans are not born with innate knowledge; one needs time and experience to perfectly master anything.
If the previous enemy was merely an ordinary person holding a gun, the current Emiya had to face a monster who was one with the weapon.
"If the satisfaction you speak of means killing you once, then I might just be able to do that."
Whether or not he was the enemy's match was not the most important thing. But if he already assumed he would lose before the battle began, the probability of achieving victory would be zero.
Emiya would not so quickly forget this principle, which he had just taught Fushiguro Megumi not long ago.
"Good, very good.
Now, let me test your caliber first—"
The speed of sound propagation in the air is 344 m/s, and Fushiguro Toji's explosive speed would definitely not be slower than the speed of sound.
Because almost at the moment his words fell, his body had already flashed in front of Emiya with the sound wave, bringing the greatsword in his hand down in a sudden chop.
Boom!
So fast... his speed is more exaggerated than before...
Emiya, who had anticipated the move and started his dodge early, narrowly avoided the attack. The pressure from the blade fell completely close to his face.
Emiya himself only lost a few strands of white hair, but the ground, cracked under the immense force, fared poorly.
Could such an exaggerated change occur merely by switching consciousness, even with the same physical abilities?!
"Not bad, not bad~"
Fushiguro Toji faintly praised Emiya with his mouth, but his body completed a twist the instant the opponent's dodge maneuver stalled in mid-air, smashing the greatsword out fiercely—
"Trace On!"
—Boom!!!
Under the merciless outpouring of immense force, Emiya, who was briefly suspended in mid-air, was immediately sent flying backward like a cannonball.
Emiya flew for nearly a hundred meters in the air before he managed to right himself. Even with the blade in his hand digging into the ground to anchor him, he skidded for more than ten meters before finally counteracting all the force.
"What is this power..."
When the shocked Emiya looked down at the blade in his hand, he saw obvious cracks where it had been struck; it could not withstand a second attack.
Forget humans; even Curses with physically specialized bodies wouldn't have this level of strength, would they?
A normal Special Grade is evaluated based on a series of comprehensive abilities, including Cursed Technique, Cursed Energy amount, skill, and combat experience. Yet, the man in front of him could perfectly fit into the Special Grade category based on physical strength alone.
The physical talent obtained in exchange for a complete [Heavenly Restriction] involves far more than just the heavy-handed metric of strength.
Strength, speed, jumping ability, flexibility, the five senses, reaction time, perception, combat intuition, defense, Cursed Energy resistance... the perfect blend of all these attributes is the reason why Fushiguro Toji can be called the [Heavenly Restriction Tyrant].
There should have been quite a few people throughout history with a reversed Heavenly Restriction, including Zen'in Maki, but none of them bore this title. [Heavenly Restriction Tyrant] is a title reserved for Fushiguro Toji alone.
If assessed on a Servant status sheet, it would likely mean that, apart from Magic and Luck being unknown, all other attributes are maxed out.
It would probably be impossible for Emiya to engage in a battle of pure strength. Wide-area Noble Phantasms of the Mana Burst type might also be dodged or fail to cause fatal injuries.
Thus, the only possibility of defeating the opponent likely lies in Noble Phantasms based on cause-and-effect concepts.
However, even Noble Phantasms like Fragarach would be counteracted by him, as the concept of a 'trump card' probably doesn't work at all against an opponent who fights purely with their body. This is perhaps the clumsiest yet most direct method of breaking it.
Therefore, the best and simplest method of response is likely Gáe Bolg - Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death.
However, this causality-based Noble Phantasm also has a targeting range, and requires a brief moment for True Name Release when activating the Noble Phantasm—Emiya couldn't guarantee that the opponent would allow him such a fatal opening.
If he fails to achieve a single-strike kill effect, letting the opponent understand even slight characteristics of the Noble Phantasm would make things very difficult.
Should he temporarily enter a certain combat rhythm with the opponent, and then seize the opportunity to activate the Noble Phantasm and immediately end the fight?
So the question now is, can Emiya, in close combat, keep up with the opponent's fighting rhythm?
"Very good, Sorcerer. I rarely encounter Sorcerers who can fight me up close; they are all too complacent.
Killing doesn't require any troublesome Cursed Techniques; you just need to run a blade through the body.
What is your Cursed Technique? Is it just creating weapons?"
Due to his childhood experience of being ostracized by the Zen'in family for having no Cursed Energy, Fushiguro Toji is completely indifferent to Sorcerers, harboring a kind of equal-opportunity hatred towards them.
The small scar near his mouth was left after the Zen'in family threw him into a room full of Curses when he was five years old.
Without Cursed Energy, he couldn't see or harm Curses, but Fushiguro Toji's physical prowess allowed him to perceive and locate Curses purely through his senses, even 'seeing' them more clearly than those with Cursed Energy.
However, after leaving the Zen'in family, his job was not to exorcise Curses but to kill Sorcerers.
He was quite experienced in dealing with all kinds of Sorcerers, though for him, the most convenient method was always to kill the Sorcerer before they could release their Cursed Technique.
If he didn't know he was currently just a dead man, he wouldn't bother speaking so much to a Sorcerer.
"Trace On."
Emiya didn't directly respond to Fushiguro Toji's question but waved his hand to project dozens of blades behind him, offering a more perfect answer.
Gojo Satoru had previously told him that the [Heavenly Restriction Tyrant] possesses extremely strong Cursed Energy resistance. Let alone Emiya's [Reinforcement] technique, even the guaranteed-hit effect of a Domain would likely be ineffective.
After all, the prerequisite for a Domain to capture and lock onto an enemy is for the opponent to possess Cursed Energy—and despite Cursed Energy being something even ordinary people possess, Fushiguro Toji has none.
"Hmph, excellent...!"
Seeing Emiya's display, Fushiguro Toji was not angry; instead, he grew increasingly excited and smiled.
Isn't this much better than Sorcerers who casually reveal their information under the guise of a [Binding Vow]?
"I'm starting to like you, Sorcerer!"
Boom!
In an instant, a rain of blades descended, and Fushiguro Toji stomped the ground fiercely, moving at extreme speed.
Arrogant as he was, he did not choose to use his speed to bypass the blade attacks but charged straight toward the incoming torrent of swords—
Boom—Boom—Boom!
As he wielded the greatsword in his hand to precisely strike the incoming blades, the Noble Phantasms, which were only intended as one-time investments, erupted into powerful explosions, yet they caused no negative effect on his movement.
Fushiguro Toji cut through the incoming blades and the fire from the explosions time and again, yet he himself was completely unaffected.
In just a few short seconds, dozens of Noble Phantasms were severed by him without reserve, and the time consumed gave Emiya sufficient space to react.
"Trace————On!!!"
Emiya raised his hands high, clutching a massive, rapidly forming axe-sword, and then unhesitatingly brought it down with a fierce smash toward Fushiguro Toji, who had rushed right in front of him.
Boom!!!
Fushiguro Toji could certainly dodge, but his nature would not allow him to back down from a pure clash of strength.
Under the terrifying collision of forces, the ground collapsed downwards. Trees and vegetation several meters away were all snapped by the invisible shockwave, yet Fushiguro Toji's knees did not bend one bit.
The greatsword and the axe-sword continuously sparked new flames under the opposing forces, and under the dominant position of the axe-sword, the arm supporting the greatsword was inevitably forced to bend.
But the more this happened, the more excited Fushiguro Toji became.
Exorcising Curses, killing Sorcerers—these things were meaningless anyway, just a means for him to earn money.
But this kind of unreserved outpouring of strength—this was truly a first.
"Bring more!
SORCERER!!!!!!!!!"
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