While accompanying the man's complaints about Archer, Shirou continued leaping across the rooftops.
His movement speed was extremely fast. With his mystic code equipped and reinforcement magecraft enhancing his body, jumping from one building to another was not particularly difficult.
The difficult part was avoiding making noise as much as possible. That was also the main reason he chose not to travel through the streets.
Secondly, without transportation... the straight-line route was the shortest path.
"Heh heh."
After talking for quite a while, the man suddenly laughed twice.
Hearing that laugh, Shirou's movements paused briefly before he gritted his teeth and accelerated once more.
"The grudge between you and that irritating fellow does not really interest me. After all, the feeling I get from you is almost identical to Archer. But that also creates a contradiction, because people cannot possibly grow younger again—"
At that point, Ironbull deliberately dragged out his tone.
"—And besides, I personally witnessed that man's death. So then, just who exactly are you, Mister Emiya Shirou?"
The man's voice remained extremely calm, as though he were merely asking an ordinary question.
"..."
After going in circles only to return to this topic again, Shirou felt completely innocent.
This was clearly a debt left behind by Archer, so why was he the one being forced to deal with it?
Looking at the same sacred shroud wrapped around his right arm, Shirou could only sigh and accept reality. The reason this man became fixated on him might very well be connected to this mystic code.
Forget it. Considering Archer had helped him before, he would resolve this matter himself.
"I am simply myself, not some other person. If you are after Archer, then all I can say is that you have the wrong target."
After being toyed with for so long, and with the man continuously linking him together with Archer, Shirou was beginning to lose his temper. Even his tone became noticeably sharper.
Still, he was not provoking the man recklessly.
At this point, he had already reached the rooftop of a shorter building near Ironbull Logistics headquarters.
From this angle, the shooting trajectory was not especially ideal, but for Shirou it allowed much more room for maneuvering.
"I can tell. On this land where nothing can be trusted, the only thing I trust is my own eyes. There are far too many similarities between you and him at the spiritual level or rather, that fellow himself was already something like a ghost, so I did not need to see much in the first place."
"But you are different Emiya Shirou! I saw it long ago! Besides yourself, there are two other shadows inside you!"
"What a surprise! He is actually here? He is here, he is here!"
As Ironbull continued speaking, his tone gradually descended into madness.
Listening through the communicator, Shirou frowned deeply.
This man truly was bizarre. He was actually claiming he could see souls?
Still, the statement about there being two shadows within him was correct. Shirou had already encountered both Archer and Nameless...
But there should have been one more.
If the man had pointed out three people instead, Shirou might have considered listening to him a little more seriously.
As things stood now, however, forget it.
Hearing the increasingly crazed laughter through the communicator only made Shirou feel that the man needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Focusing his mind without saying another word, Caladbolg appeared in Shirou's hand.
The moment Swire below and the approaching Penguin Logistics members in the distance saw the sword in his grasp, expressions of shock spread across their faces.
Penguin Logistics, of all people, could absolutely guarantee just how destructive that thing was.
And now Shirou was planning to use that monstrous weapon inside the city district?
Had the constant "Archer this, Archer that" finally angered him?
But Chen and the others were still inside the building!
And once that shot shattered the structure, the falling debris alone would bring catastrophic destruction to Lungmen's urban district!
Although they knew Shirou was not the kind of person to act impulsively, seeing him place the spiral sword onto the bow and aim still made everyone panic internally.
"That is...?"
Unlike the others, who were clearly alarmed, the usually composed Texas noticed something attached to the tail end of Shirou's spiral sword.
It appeared to be... a silver cord.
"Hahahaha! What an unexpected delight! Although I could not personally deliver the final blow to him, using you instead is not bad either!"
Inside the office, Ironbull had completely abandoned the composed demeanor he wore earlier. A twisted grin now stretched across his face.
Meanwhile, Chen and the Guard Department officers could only stand at a considerable distance away and watch him lose his mind.
They had no choice.
The remote control was still in his hand, so none of them dared act rashly. Earlier, he had even used it to threaten them into surrendering their weapons, all of which now sat piled beside him.
And Ironbull himself was no weakling either. At the very least, Chen knew she could not subdue him quickly. She already sensed that much when she tried to stop him earlier.
This was his home ground. She had no idea where traps might be hidden, and Ironbull himself possessed the sturdy physique typical of a Forte.
Ever since his conversation with Shirou caused his emotions to grow increasingly agitated, Chen had been waiting for an opportunity.
The single chance capable of breaking this deadlock.
Either Swire's side would successfully disable the remote using communication-disruption equipment, or Ironbull himself would lower his guard.
At the moment, the latter seemed more likely.
The instant Ironbull turned his back to her, Chen prepared to rush forward, retrieve her sword, and eliminate him in one motion.
Unfortunately, the moment he turned around again, he pressed the button in his hand and immediately yanked open the curtains.
Everything had been part of his plan from the very beginning.
Exhausting the Guard Department's stamina.
Exhausting Shirou's stamina.
Disrupting Shirou's thoughts and judgment.
Deploying personnel and drones to block Shirou's sniping...
And most importantly of all:
Forcing Shirou into locating the perfect firing position.
Every single part had fallen within his calculations.
After all, people like Shirou were incredibly easy to understand. Knowing the scale of destruction they could cause, they would always try to choose attack trajectories that minimized harm to others.
The curtains had been installed for exactly that purpose.
The Guard Department officers were also deliberately left alive to make Shirou hesitate.
Even the fact that Shirou would choose a lower upward-angle sniping point had been anticipated.
Although the shot came from below, a certain amount of angle and elevation was still necessary to see inside the office.
And that meant Shirou's choices were limited to only a few specific buildings.
Manipulating people like this was something he excelled at.
Although he had channels for obtaining large quantities of explosives, planting massive amounts of them throughout Lungmen's urban districts carried too high a risk of being discovered.
From the very beginning, his true target had always been Shirou.
For that purpose, he had arranged enough explosives to destroy an entire building on the rooftop he specifically selected.
Combined with the preparations he had already made beforehand, guiding Shirou toward the designated location had been incredibly easy.
Everything was proceeding according to his plan!
"!"
The instant the man pressed the remote control, Chen heard the sound of an explosion erupting outside.
At that moment, she no longer cared about anything else.
She immediately lunged forward, picking up a random sword from the ground in a rather awkward posture before charging straight at him.
Hoshiguma rushed forward alongside her.
Although she was not carrying Hannya, the toughness of her body alone was still not something to underestimate.
But before either of them could reach him, Ironbull, who had been standing by the window in the front row to admire the fruits of his scheme, suddenly underwent a dramatic change in expression.
His smug look turned into confusion.
Then confusion turned into terror.
And in the next instant, Chen saw the familiar spiral sword flying upward at an angled trajectory.
"Everyone get down!"
Chen reacted immediately.
She understood better than anyone just how destructive that thing would be once it exploded.
Even throwing themselves to the ground probably would not help much.
But all they could do was lie flat and avoid being blown away by the blast.
Yet what awaited them was not a deafening explosion.
Instead, they heard the sound of shattering glass.
Then they saw Shirou, dressed in filthy red-and-black clothing, shouting the phrase he always declared before using his abilities:
"Trace on!"
A black blade appeared in Shirou's left hand and instantly sliced off Ironbull's arm together with the remote control as the man attempted to flee.
Immediately afterward, a white blade flew out and split apart both the severed hand and the remote itself, completely destroying the device.
Meanwhile, silver cords wrapped repeatedly around Shirou's right arm, while the object previously attached to the other end had long since disappeared.
Using it this way had been extremely dangerous.
Even with the mystic code and reinforcement magecraft supporting him, Shirou still felt that the condition of his right arm was terrible.
Mainly due to the enormous pulling force from that instant.
Time rewound slightly to around ten seconds earlier.
While Shirou drew his bow and aimed the Caladbolg slightly above the office, after hearing Ironbull's words, he suddenly sensed something activating beneath his feet.
Then the location where he stood exploded apart under a massive quantity of explosives.
The power of the blast possessed nearly one-third the destructive grandeur of a Caladbolg itself.
However, the actual damage to Shirou was not especially severe.
After all, his mystic code had been specially designed with defensive capabilities in mind, not to mention the reinforcement magecraft covering his body.
Moreover, the moment he sensed danger, he immediately released the bowstring, allowing Caladbolg tied to the silver grappling cord to drag him upward along with it.
Then he crashed through the office windows and directly chopped off the man's arm.
Cutting off elbows was something he was extremely familiar with. His movements had been smooth and efficient.
The price, however, was that he had probably strained his right arm.
Technically, he could have done this from five hundred meters away as well.
But after considering the limits of his body's durability, he abandoned that option.
Now it seemed his judgment had been correct.
Even this relatively short distance had left his arm feeling nearly useless.
If the distance had been any greater... his arm probably would have ended up in a cast.
"...How exactly did you fly up here?"
Still lying flat on the ground with her head covered, Chen looked at Shirou in confusion.
Hoshiguma beside her, along with the other Guard Department officers present, shared the exact same bewilderment.
As for the criminal, after Shirou chopped off his arm, he had also received a kick and was now sprawled unconscious nearby.
The whole thing had happened so suddenly.
"I tied a rope to the end of the arrow."
After confirming that everyone present was safe and unharmed, Shirou finally relaxed completely and sat down on the floor.
At the same time, his mystic code dissolved away.
Aside from some numbness whenever he moved his right arm, he did not appear to have any other injuries.
"Ridiculous."
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Chen felt that his method was absurd beyond words.
Just imagine it:
Attaching a rope to an arrow capable of traveling at extreme speed, then tying a human being to the other end before firing it.
What would happen?
Either the rope would snap, or the person attached to it would suffer severe injuries from the instantaneous acceleration.
Chen understood enough physics to know that much.
And seeing how Shirou was unconsciously shifting his weight toward his left side, she immediately realized his situation belonged to the latter category.
Thinking that over, Chen rubbed her forehead and said:
"Secure the scene first. Also arrange medical treatment for Shirou."
There was not much else she could say.
After giving a few simple orders to the Guard Department officers present, she retrieved her communicator and contacted Swire to send people over.
She did not have any intention of criticizing Shirou for taking such a dangerous approach.
Putting aside the fact that he resolved the crisis perfectly...
Judging from the explosion earlier, Shirou himself had clearly fallen into a trap and only resorted to such drastic measures because he had no better choice.
As for the earlier conversation between Shirou and Ironbull, everyone was certainly curious, but nobody hurried to question him about it right now.
From the way Shirou spoke, those memories clearly did not seem pleasant.
His tone whenever discussing them had been far from good.
Still...
The idea of two separate souls existing inside Shirou sounded bizarre no matter how they thought about it.
Yet Shirou himself did not seem particularly bothered by it.
"Is there something on my face?"
After sitting on the floor for a moment to catch his breath, Shirou finally came back to his senses and noticed that Chen had been staring at him the entire time.
That gaze almost looked as though she wanted to shoot laser beams from her eyes straight through him.
Combined with the serious expression on her face, Shirou felt that something about the atmosphere was rather strange.
"No, it is nothing. Can you stand up?"
Hearing Shirou's question, Chen shook her head and replied.
At the same time, she stepped forward and tried to help support him.
Both Chi Xiao and her standard sword had already been returned to her waist, while Ironbull and his severed arm had been taken away by other officers. At the moment, only Shirou, Chen, Hoshiguma, and a few Guard Department members remained behind on standby.
"Of course."
Shirou did not fully accept Chen's assistance. He merely let her give him a hand getting up.
"Let the doctors examine you later... after this, just get some proper rest."
Chen did not feel rejected by Shirou's behavior.
After all, he had always been like this.
Still... she could not shake the feeling that Shirou disliked getting too close to other people.