"This is... magic?"
When Unlimited Blade Works fully appeared as a unique space, even the Water God Reida Reia couldn't help but show surprise.
She looked around at the unfamiliar environment, as if she had never imagined that magic could create something like this, and was completely shocked by Unlimited Blade Works for a moment.
Of course, this shock wouldn't change the Water God's idea of winning.
Or rather, the Water God Reida believed that even if Shirou used such strange magic, it was impossible for him to defeat her.
She calmly held the golden sword passed down by generations of Water Gods and said without any change in expression, "I didn't expect you to have such amazing magic. No wonder even the second North God had such high hopes for you. But unfortunately, even with this magic, you can't change the result of this fight. After all, compared to swordsmanship, magic's biggest weakness is that it's just too slow to use."
The Water God's words weren't arrogant, but a very fair comment.
In this world, anyone can see the endless potential of magic, and it's possible to develop very promising technology. But even so, the only powers that really study magic are the magic three countries in the north of the central continent, who have no choice but to study magic because they lack resources.
Apart from the magic three countries, most of the top powers lack interest and investment in magic.
The Asura Kingdom, the Dragon King Kingdom, and the Holy Kingdom of Milis don't value magic much and aren't willing to study it.
The strongest human countries all have this attitude, which shows how unimportant magic is.
Usually, only a few small countries are willing to study magic.
The main reason for this is that magic doesn't have much use in war.
Because magic is too slow to use, as the Water God just said, its real-world value is low, and the military usually doesn't pay much attention to it.
After all, even a Saint-level magician could be killed by an ordinary swordsman if they aren't careful, let alone facing a professional killer.
Magicians lack close-combat skills, and their bodies are too weak, so it's hard to use them on the battlefield.
So far, the biggest use for magicians is in the adventurer area.
Because adventurers often have to deal with monsters and beasts with no intelligence, and these creatures often have very strong shells, making most swordsman's attacks useless. In this case, slow-to-use magic with strong attack power can be very helpful.
So most magicians who graduate from magic universities end up becoming adventurers, joining teams with adventurers of other classes to fight monsters or explore dungeons.
And the armies of various countries rarely have any magicians involved.
Over the years, this situation has led to the belief that magicians lack real-world combat ability, making it even harder to improve magic itself and develop magic that has real value in combat.
Even Shirou himself had similar ideas in the beginning, until he met Rudeus, his talented younger brother who could use chantless magic, and changed his mind a little about magic.
But even Rudeus has trouble fighting strong people one-on-one because he lacks close-combat skills. He often needs help and support from his teammates to be effective.
In summary, the Water God's comment about Shirou isn't arrogant, but reasonable.
Based on her general understanding of magic, she believes that Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works may look amazing, but it won't affect the fight.
Shirou didn't try to convince her with words.
To prove that his Unlimited Blade Works could defeat the Water God, he needed action, not talk.
Only by defeating the Water God in combat, by defeating the Water God's Deprivation Sword Field, could he prove everything!
So Shirou slowly raised his sword, ready to face the Water God.
"Too slow."
The Water God said coldly about Shirou's action, and gently moved the golden sword in her hand, using the power of the Deprivation Sword Field.
Even inside Unlimited Blade Works, the Water God's Deprivation Sword Field was still going all out. The sword strikes she sent out instantly reached Shirou, trying to cut off his hand holding the sword.
"Are you sure I'm the slow one?"
Shirou's expression didn't change as he replied to the Water God Reida.
At the same time, several swords stuck in the surrounding sword hills suddenly flew over, directly blocking the Water God's sword energy.
"Clang,"
"Clang," "Clang,"
Sparks flew.
Sword and sword energy clashed, finally canceling each other out.
"What?!"
The Water God's expression changed slightly.
The swords flying from the sword hills were so fast that even her Deprivation Sword Field could barely keep up, which meant that the attacks of the Deprivation Sword Field were completely blocked.
This was completely different from the Water God's understanding and knowledge of magic, making her realize that Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works might not be the magic she knew, but something even harder to understand!
"Snap!"
While the Water God was shocked by the unbelievably fast activation speed of Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou had already launched his attack, taking the initiative to attack the Water God Reida.
The biggest difference between Unlimited Blade Works and ordinary magic is that once inside Unlimited Blade Works, the power of the sword creation is completely released.
Shirou doesn't even need to project anything extra, or use extra magic power. He only needs to maintain the existence of Unlimited Blade Works to freely control all the weapons inside.
This means that there's no limit to the activation speed of Unlimited Blade Works. As long as Shirou wants, he can shoot out thousands of swords instantly, completely overwhelming his opponent with numbers!
Even if the Water God's Deprivation Sword Field can attack opponents without end, Shirou can use the corresponding weapons to directly cancel out the Water God's attacks.
Besides, there's definitely a limit to the Water God's activation speed of the Deprivation Sword Field.
Her attack speed can't be endless.
In contrast, the number of swords in Unlimited Blade Works is truly endless. Shirou can launch all the weapons with a speed far beyond the Deprivation Sword Field!
This is why the Dragon King was sure that Shirou could defeat the Water God if he controlled Unlimited Blade Works!
What's happening proves that!
"Puchi!!"
Under Shirou's control, an amazing number of swords flew up from the sword hills, circled in the air, and then rushed towards the Water God Reida.
--Countless swords are appearing in front of her, flying straight towards her from the air.
Such a hopeless scene would make most people close their eyes and wait for death, but the Water God Reida didn't feel shaken. She suddenly swung the golden sword in her hand, and amazing sword energy burst out.
"Boom!"
The amazing sword energy tore through space, the Water God Reida used the secret technique of Water God Style, destroying all the flying swords in the air.
Just as the Water God was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the same thing happened again.
A large number of swords on the sword hills shook like the sky was falling, and began to fly into the air one by one, surrounding the Water God's location like a sword prison.
Yes, Shirou had no intention of fighting head-on, and planned to use Unlimited Blade Works for long-range attacks, slowly killing the Water God from a distance.
This isn't anything sneaky, just using the right methods.
After all, the Water God herself was the first to use this method. Her Deprivation Sword Field is similar to limiting opponents to gain victory.
Shirou is just giving her a taste of her own medicine!
This can be considered a fight of spaces in a way.
Since the Water God is using a space that deprives movement to limit her opponent, then he will create a space of swords, using an endless number of swords to limit the Water God in return!
In fact, this is a real head-on battle.
The Water God's Deprivation Sword Field and Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works are completely the same in terms of ability concept. So in the end, this battle is a contest of scale.
Which side's space is more powerful, which side's space is stronger, can only be decided by real combat!
...
Changing the view to the magic city of Sharia for a moment.
After Shirou rode the Dragon King's magic circle to the Asura Kingdom, Paul and Rudeus returned to the house in Sharia first.
In this new Greyrat home, everyone looked serious, not enjoying the peaceful everyday life without fighting.
Paul kept pacing back and forth in the living room, and would occasionally get annoyed, take out his loved sword, and run to the yard to swing it to get his mind off things.
Besides Paul, everyone in the Greyrat family showed worried expressions.
Rudeus was studying magic on the surface, but he couldn't calm down at all. His eyes kept wandering around, unable to concentrate.
The two younger sisters, Norn and Aisha, weren't in the mood to play like normal kids. They were sitting quietly in the living room, with obvious worry on their faces.
Roxy, as a tutor, was also very worried, to the point that she hadn't even gone to the magic university to register as a teacher yet.
Lilia, as a maid, was relatively quiet. She needed to take care of Zenith, who had lost her ability to move and think.
But Lilia was surprised that Zenith seemed very different today.
The blonde woman's empty gaze kept looking south, as if she could see through mountains and rivers, reaching someone's side.
While everyone in the family had their own thoughts, but were all worried about Shirou in the Asura Kingdom, Aisha suddenly said, "Can't we just go to my brother?"
"Eh?"
Aisha's sudden statement surprised everyone in the Greyrat family.
They looked at each other, as if they had never thought of that option.
After thinking for a short time, Paul seemed to quickly make a decision, nodding and saying, "You're right, Aisha, I should go support Shirou!"
Paul had been able to stay calm before, trying not to go to the Asura Kingdom and make things worse.
But after this long wait, his calm had gradually worn away, and he was now completely controlled by his unchecked emotions, and wanted to rush to the Asura Kingdom to help at all costs, not willing to sit at home and do nothing.
"I'll go with you, Dad!"
Rudeus nodded quickly. He had the same idea and didn't want to waste time here, doing nothing.
"But if you and Rudeus leave, what about the home?"
Lilia said with hesitation, "Lady Zenith is still in this state and needs me to take care of her, but there's nothing I can do for Aisha and Norn."
"This..."
Paul and Rudeus hesitated at Lilia's words, feeling that it might not be good to abandon the home and run to the Asura Kingdom.
Aisha took the opportunity to continue to say, "Why don't we all go together? Anyway, with Dad and Rudeus here, there won't be any danger."
"No, that's too..."
Paul and Rudeus looked at each other, feeling that this suggestion was too dangerous.
But after thinking carefully, they realized that this was really the best choice. After all, it was clearly better to have everyone with them than to have them stay at home.
And they could ask the Dragon King to borrow the transfer magic circle, so they wouldn't need to travel a long distance and could reach the Asura Kingdom instantly.
That way, the risk would be much smaller.
Thinking of this, Paul pushed Rudeus to go to the Dragon King to borrow the magic circle first, and if it didn't work, they could think of other ideas.
Rudeus hesitated and went to see the Dragon King, and found that he was very open-minded and willing to lend the transfer magic circle.
This made everyone in the Greyrat family both surprised and happy, and they immediately prepared to go to the Asura Kingdom.
The only one who couldn't go was Roxy, because as a demon race, she wasn't allowed to go to the Dragon King's floating fortress.
This made Roxy feel very down, but she had no choice but to watch everyone leave.
Paul, as the head of the family, took on the responsibility of maintaining the safety of the trip, and seemed very excited, remembering the trip Shirou and Rudeus took when they were young. They couldn't complete that family trip because of Rudeus's shyness, but now they had a chance to make up for it.
For the rest of the Greyrat family, this trip was also meaningful, and they all showed excitement.
But after most people were excited, they quickly became calm and realized that it was more important to help Shirou than to take a family trip.
However, Aisha, who started this idea, showed clear excitement and looking forward during the process. Her undisguised attitude was almost abnormal, as if she couldn't wait to get to the Asura Kingdom.