"Boom!"
Shirou's spear, with all his might, after releasing the true name of the treasure, the Piercing Death Thorn Spear showed its full power!
Piercing Death Thorn Spear, the treasure of the Servant Cu Chulainn, is also a terrifying magic spear with the attribute of reversing cause and effect.
It only has one effect, which is to reverse cause and effect, using the "result" of a guaranteed heart strike to determine the "cause" of wielding the spear's attack.
Because the result is already determined before the spear is thrown, general defense and evasion are meaningless, no matter what you do.
The tip of the spear will always reach the heart, and after piercing the heart, the spear will fall, reaching the predetermined end.
Such a terrifying effect has even reached the level of interfering with fate, which is the level only curses have.
If used by Cu Chulainn himself, this "causality spear" that can reverse cause and effect can even pierce gods, unless they themselves have the ability to change fate. Otherwise, even gods cannot escape the spear's lock and will undoubtedly be pierced through the heart.
Unfortunately, Shirou himself does not have Cu Chulainn's level of power, and the effect of projected treasures will be one level lower than the original treasure.
Therefore, the Piercing Death Thorn Spear wielded by Shirou, although it also has the "piercing the opponent's heart" result when released, its own spear does not have an unchangeable trajectory.
Of course, because the attribute of reversing cause and effect is too powerful, even if Shirou himself is not good at spear techniques, this terrifying attack still carries a strong aura, rushing straight towards the Sword God!
"!!!"
Faced with the Piercing Death Thorn Spear, feeling the pressure from the spear tip reaching directly to his heart, the Sword God couldn't help but reveal a serious expression.
He took a stance.
Feet apart, knees slightly bent, hands on the sword hilt, posing as if to cover the sword.
This is the stance of Iai.
A move familiar to anyone who has learned Sword God Style.
Sword God Style is a swordsmanship that focuses on wielding the fastest and heaviest sword no matter what.
Its secret is Longsword of Light, which can ensure that the fastest and strongest sword is swung no matter what, using extreme speed as the main means of attack.
However, although most Sword God Style Swordsmen use Longsword of Light, the attack methods that different Swordsmen are good at are completely different.
The main distinction is between three different stances.
The first is a swordsmanship called Middle Stance, which can handle any rhythm and is the basic form of Sword God Style.
The second is Upper Stance, suitable for those who are good at disrupting the opponent's rhythm and attacking deeply. It is an attack-oriented stance.
The last is called Iai, suitable for those who are good at seeing through the opponent's rhythm and using their senses to find the best opportunity. It is a defensive stance.
In other words, those who can see through rhythm use Iai, those who can disrupt rhythm use Upper Stance, and those who don't specialize in either side use Middle Stance.
After learning Sword God Style, Shirou's main way of swinging his sword has always been Middle Stance. He didn't particularly learn any kind of swordsmanship. He simply used the sword itself, swung slashes with the most basic form of Longsword of Light, and used the most rational way to swing his sword.
Of course, this is not an outstanding method, or rather, it is quite ordinary.
The Sword God gave him such a bad evaluation because he saw the fact that he had no outstanding talent.
In contrast, Eris's Sword God Style has always been Upper Stance, because Eris has a natural sense of rhythm and can actively disrupt the opponent's rhythm, constantly attacking and attacking again. This is a sword swung purely by instinct, without any so-called techniques.
In a sense, this is the strongest Sword God Style swordsmanship, which is purely natural Sword God Style: only offense, no defense.
The Sword God's optimism about Eris comes from this.
As for the Sword God himself, the swordsmanship he uses is Iai.
This is a super-fast slash that is closer to Water God Style, reversing the situation at critical moments with a counterattack, somewhat similar to North God Style's Twenty Slashes, but it is many times faster than Twenty Slashes.
The Sword God had always just posed any way he wanted, wielding his weapon with the most relaxed movements, but now he seriously took a stance, making a swinging motion with the most serious attitude.
Therefore, his aura almost instantly became different from before. He was like a blade, standing there waiting for Shirou to get closer, exhaling slowly and patiently waiting for the distance to close little by little.
"..."
When he reached a certain limit, the Sword God suddenly moved.
His sword was swung at an extremely fast speed, and it hooked all the threads around him. Those threads, which were originally like invisible sword energy, were now all entangled, and in the form of entanglement they slammed into Shirou's Piercing Death Thorn Spear, wrapping around the spear tip.
Although it was only a brief moment, in the Sword God Style's offensive, a moment can determine the outcome.
"Crack!"
In the instant that Shirou didn't have time to react, he felt an impact on his back.
It was the feeling of being cut by a sword.
The Sword God Style's Longsword of Light, wielded with Sword King-level fighting spirit, easily cut through the air like butter and reached Shirou.
Shirou's body was almost cut in half in an instant...
That scene didn't happen.
The Sword God's sword was deflected the moment it collided with Shirou's body. And because the Piercing Death Thorn Spear was only blocked, not completely stopped, it continued to advance with the goal of reaching the heart. As a result, the Sword God could only swing one sword and had to retreat as much as possible, making a blocking action.
Because Shirou's martial skill in spear techniques is not as good as Cu Chulainn's, and the projected treasure is one level lower, his Piercing Death Thorn Spear is not unstoppable.
The Sword God used Sword King-level fighting spirit and a full-force Longsword of Light to barely block this attack.
But a clear bloody hole still appeared in his chest, although the wound only slightly pierced the skin and did not completely reach the heart.
This collision was, in a sense, a victory for Shirou.
But Shirou was not happy.
He just took off his coat, letting the clothes that had been shattered by the sword fall to the ground, revealing the dragon scale armor on his body.
Evil Dragon Blood Armor.
This armor, which was not useful when facing the Dragon God Orsted, now played a key role in the fight against the Sword God.
Because the Sword God claimed to fight him with Sword King-level strength, he did not wield Sword God-level sword energy.
This means that even if the Sword God's sword is fast, its power is only at the Sword King level, and it cannot completely defeat the Evil Dragon Blood Armor.
Of course, the Sword God also seems to have a skill like Mind's Eye.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have swung his sword at Shirou's back just now, but would have swung his sword directly at the front.
The Sword God probably sensed by intuition that the weakness of the Evil Dragon Blood Armor was on the back, so he subconsciously swung his sword at Shirou's back.
But the Sword God's judgment still had some errors. He didn't hit the weak point of the Evil Dragon Blood Armor. The tip of the sword was slightly deflected, causing the damage to be completely blocked by the armor.
Even so, it is enough to prove the terror of the Sword God. This strongest human Swordsman in the world does have unparalleled skill and strength.
"..."
After this collision, Shirou and the Sword God did not continue to attack for a short time.
The Sword God stared at Shirou's figure, and spoke first: "I misjudged you. You may actually be a genius."
"No, I am not a genius."
"No need to be modest. Even if it's a fake technique, a false secret art, as long as it truly reaches where it should reach, it can still become the strongest."
The Sword God spoke with a complicated expression, and continued, "Magic, swordsmanship, spear techniques, archery, weapons, armor... No matter how you get them, it doesn't matter. As long as you make all the techniques the strongest, you can become the strongest. But you are not enough yet. Your skills are too shallow. Even if you have many, they are useless, because none of them are top-notch."
"..."
Shirou himself had a similar feeling about the Sword God's words.
Or rather, it was because he realized that he could never break through Angelica, who used the Gilgamesh card, and that everything was completely crushed by the Ea sword, that he realized that Servant Emiya's greatest weakness was the lack of extreme and singular means of secret art.
In order to solve this weakness, he tried his best to learn Sword God Style after coming to this world, trying to study Sword God Style to the extreme.
However, he himself does not have extraordinary talent and lacks that crucial aptitude.
His sword can never reach the peak.
This is the limit of Servant Emiya, and it is also what Shirou has always wanted to overcome.
But the reason why a limit is a limit is precisely because it cannot be surpassed. It is an indelible concept that locks the essence and upper limit of a creature...
While Shirou was silent, the Sword God, after thinking for a long time, suddenly released the sword in his hand, and said silently: "I got it, I understand what you need, kid. Your name is Shirou, right."
"That's right."
Shirou was confused that the Sword God would suddenly ask him that.
The Sword God said calmly: "You can stay in the Holy Land of Swords for the time being. The Sword Saint examination of the Holy Land of Swords will begin soon. You can directly participate in it then."
"This... why?"
Shirou didn't understand why the Sword God wanted him to participate in the Sword Saint examination. After all, he had already learned Longsword of Light. Even if he was directly given the title of Sword Saint, there would be no problem.
Moreover, for Shirou, the main goal of coming to the Holy Land of Swords was to learn swordsmanship above the Sword Saint, to learn techniques of a higher level than Longsword of Light.
If not for that, he would have gone to find his family members.
So, he didn't understand why the Sword God wanted him to participate in the Sword Saint examination.
The Sword God did not explain Shirou's confusion. He just said silently: "I am too lazy to explain the reason, but I can only tell you that if you want to become stronger and maximize your talent, you had better do as I say. Also, take off that weird armor on your body and put on this set I give you."
"This..."
Shirou took a set of armor from the Sword God, but after getting it, he realized that the weight of this armor was beyond imagination.
If the Evil Dragon Blood Armor is light armor, then this set of armor is a heavy armor so heavy that he almost can't hold it!
If you wear such a set of armor, let alone fight, even swinging a sword would probably be a problem!
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