The scene switched again.
Fuyuki City.
Fire!
A strange phenomenon appeared above the entire city; flames engulfed the city, painting the sky with a brilliant hue.
At the same time, in the midst of the ruins, two individuals were fighting with all their might.
In the firelight, their figures became blurry, only vaguely discernible as a blonde lady in blue armor and a short-haired youth in golden armor.
The blue-clad swordswoman and the golden-armored figure were both great heroes; their battle was intense and thrilling.
Their figures rapidly moved across the battlefield, sword light flashing, sparks flying.
The blue-clad swordswoman wielded her longsword, each swing carrying endless power and courage.
Her gaze was firm, looking fearlessly at the golden-armored figure.
The golden-armored figure, on the other hand, held his divine sword, each swing carrying the power to destroy everything.
His gaze was cold and ruthless, as if everything was under his control.
This entire fight sequence was presented through animation, dazzling to the eyes and incredibly impactful.
After only about 20 seconds of fighting, Yamada Masaharu was deeply shaken.
What kind of top-tier camera work and action performance is this?!
Every clash between the two made his heart race, making him exclaim with satisfaction.
The two held their swords, crossed, parried, and then separated in an instant.
The camera quickly rotated, then zoomed in.
At this point, it had transitioned from an animation to a battle scene.
The main perspective was that of the female swordswoman in blue armor.
And she was the character Yamada Masaharu was currently playing.
Huh?
Yamada Masaharu just realized that what he had seen earlier was merely an opening.
He hadn't yet reacted, including how the game transitioned from animation to battle.
The entire battle was in 2D, but it used a rather clever chessboard-like design.
The entire large chessboard was the fiery ruins of Fuyuki City.
The female swordswoman stood at the bottom right corner of the chessboard.
In the upper left corner, stood the golden-armored youth, head held high.
He slightly raised his right hand, holding a golden longsword.
The two confronted each other coldly, and from their movements in the picture, one could see them breathing, the blue-armored maiden's skirt swaying with her breath.
The maiden's gaze was sharp and resolute.
So cool.
This game primarily focused on galgame elements, so the turn-based combat was merely a supplementary feature, used to fill the game and add some enjoyment.
However, thanks to the combat mechanism, Yamada Masaharu gained some understanding of the character's attributes.
For turn-based combat, pokeni didn't pursue too many new tricks, but instead adopted a mechanism similar to Onmyoji.
It wasn't made into a card combo, as Aoki Haruhi mainly considered that this was just a game for telling the main story, and there was no need to make the combat too complex. FGO's combat isn't actually excellent; its advantage lies in its ability to support players in collecting Servants, and that's enough.
He clicked on the attribute panel and took a look:
[Mysterious Blue-Clad Swordswoman???]
[Strength A]
[Endurance B]
[Agility A]
[Magic Resistance
Rank: A
The blue-clad swordswoman possesses Magic Resistance capable of nullifying magic circles and instantaneous high-level magic contracts.
Modern magi are basically unable to harm her.
No matter how great the magic, magic below A will be nullified.
If a Master uses only one Command Spell, she can even resist the command.
Due to her dragon attribute, her Magic Resistance may not be fully effective against 'Dragon-Slaying Magic'.]
[Riding: A
She possesses A-rank riding ability after becoming a Servant.
She can skillfully ride various mounts, including ancient two-horse chariots and modern land vehicles. She cannot control fantasy species of the Monstrous Beast or Divine Beast class.
...
She has ridden a motorcycle before.
If she were given a suitable mount, the development of the battle might be different.]
[Luck: A]
After reading the relevant introductions, Yamada Masaharu returned to the game.
The current Saber possessed several different skills.
[Innate Skills
Instinct: A
'Instinct' is the ability to instantly determine 'the most suitable action for oneself' in battle.
It can even enter the realm of 'predicting the future'. She can predict bullet trajectories through wind sound and intuition, avoiding attacks from firearms. Obstructions to sight and hearing are halved.]
[Mana Burst: A
'Mana Burst' refers to strengthening one's weapons and body through magic power.]
[Charisma: B]
[Possessed Noble Phantasms
Excalibur
Rank: A++]
[Invisible Air
Rank: C]
Unlike the turn-based game Yamada Masaharu had encountered before, none of the attributes here had particularly clear quantitative values.
For example, what does A represent? 100, 200?
He didn't know, but it was certain that A was better than B.
In the game's setting, although the ranks were fixed, these things could actually be linked to the character's own numerical values, meaning attack power and health points were the quantifiable standards. The higher the attack power, the higher the value of all skills provided. The higher the health, the higher the survival value provided. In future battles, character levels could be increased through specific means to enhance these two values. Aoki Haruhi's design also served as preparation for future game expansions.
Yamada Masaharu looked around and nodded.
He couldn't understand it at all.
In short, just attack, right?
This battle was just an opening tutorial for beginners.
Although he didn't think much and just attacked mindlessly, he quickly defeated the golden-armored youth.
The screen was pulled up again, entering a cutscene.
Boom!
Golden and blue lights intertwined and collided like lightning, erupting with immense destructive power. The force was like a massive bomb, starting from a single point where the two clashed, then rapidly spreading out.
Boom!
Flames surged, sweeping through the city with destructive force.
The entire Fuyuki City was engulfed in a sea of fire.
...
[Ten Years Later]
Huh?
Yamada Masaharu was stunned. How did it jump to ten years later after just one battle?!
Did I miss something in between?
It felt like time had been stolen.
A man's voice rang out:
[The time has come]
[Seven magi will participate]
In the scene, many playing cards fell, their backs having a golden metallic sheen.
When the cards flipped over, one of them showed a swordsman covered in European knight armor, holding a longsword.
And an archer with a longbow...
There were a total of seven cards, falling from above, constantly flipping.
Images overlapped, and in a church, a blue light was projected from the dome above.
Nearby, a middle-aged man in a priest's attire held a candle, a smile blooming on his lips.
[They will fight each other for the sole Holy Grail]
The priest's lowered eyelids slowly lifted, revealing his ink-colored eyes.
"This is—
The Holy Grail War!"
...
At this point, the game officially began. The male protagonist, Emiya Shirou, woke up from a nightmare.
Next was the galgame presentation style Yamada Masaharu was more familiar with: a visual novel, composed of text, illustrations, and animations, accompanied by character voice acting, drawing him into the story.
He once again dreamed of the great fire in Fuyuki City ten years ago.
In that fire, Emiya Shirou was almost buried in the ruins, but fortunately, he was rescued by his adoptive father, Emiya Kiritsugu, allowing him to grow up successfully.
Five years ago, Shirou's adoptive father, Kiritsugu, passed away, and Fujimura-gumi's young mistress, Fujimura Taiga, became Shirou's guardian.
On the night Kiritsugu passed away, Shirou and Kiritsugu made a promise that he would take over his role as a 'Hero of Justice'. Kiritsugu said, 'Then I can rest easy,' and then quietly fell asleep, never to wake up again.
To become someone like Kiritsugu, Shirou trained every day.
Kiritsugu had said that if he wanted to do the same things as him, he had to train his body well.
Since then, Shirou came to Emiya's dojo every day to train.
However, today, Emiya Shirou had overslept in the warehouse due to repairing something.
Just then, the warehouse door opened.
In his line of sight, a purple-haired maiden appeared.
She wore a school uniform, gentle and considerate.
"Senpai actually overslept today. I'm occasionally happy when you oversleep."
The girl named Matou Sakura smiled slightly, "This way I can wake Senpai up myself."
"Sorry." Emiya Shirou scratched his head.
Then he stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes, "If that's the case, then I'll go prepare breakfast."
"I'll prepare breakfast. Please take your time, Senpai."
Yamada Masaharu sighed with emotion, 'This is the kind of girl I like.'
Where in the world could you find such a wonderful girl!
...
Matou Sakura, wearing an apron in the kitchen, with a small hair clip pinning part of her hair behind her ear, was truly adorable.
And she had a captivating gentleness.
Just like the virtuous mistress of this home.
And her cooking was delicious.
During the meal, she even made Fujimura Taiga roar, "Another bowl!"
After breakfast, Emiya Shirou and Matou Sakura went to school together.
...
The game was pieced together from several scenes.
First was the large map section.
The entire large map, which was an overhead view of Fuyuki City, was drawn quite beautifully by Pokeni, and it had a three-dimensional feel.
On the map, there were several different locations:
Emiya, School.
Others were not yet open.
Emiya would be further divided into several parts—
Emiya's room, Fujimura Taiga's room, Sakura's room…
Huh?
Yamada Masaharu wondered, was Sakura actually living at Emiya?
From the conversation with Sakura, it was learned that this cute, gentle, and understanding girl came to Emiya to take care of them because the male protagonist was injured a year ago.
Fujimura Taiga, that useless guy, although Shirou's guardian, cooked incredibly bad food, and Emiya used to do the cooking before he was injured.
After he was injured, Sakura voluntarily took on this responsibility.
Ah… what a good child.
Yamada Masaharu thought, this must be the female protagonist, right?
Is she a conquerable character?
It felt like not much effort would be needed; judging by the current situation, Sakura would be very easy to win over.
However, with such a wonderful girl, how could he bear to pursue anyone else?
Yamada Masaharu had already made some predictions.
…
The school was also divided into several different scenes, namely—
Classroom, corridor, archery club, playground, etc…
According to the typical galgame settings, going to different scenes should trigger different dialogues and plots.
Sometimes there might even be mutually exclusive options; for example, if you are with Sakura, you won't be able to go find other female protagonists.
Yamada Masaharu had a general understanding.
So, according to today's situation, should he go to school first?
After going to school, he also met many new characters, including a very annoying Matou Shinji, who was said to be Sakura's brother, but his tone of voice and way of doing things always made people dislike him.
And for some reason, Sakura seemed very afraid of her brother.
At school, he also saw a cute girl with twin ponytails, wearing red clothes.
She was said to be Tohsaka Rin, and was very popular among boys because of her outstanding excellence.
The boy next to him teased, "Emiya, are you staring at her like that because you've also fallen for Tohsaka?"
"Who's fallen for her?!"
Emiya denied it.
However, for some reason, when he saw Tohsaka, a strange feeling surged in his heart.
After a day of classes and helping/working from afternoon to evening, Shirou returned home in the dark.
On the way, he met a white-haired girl.
The white-haired girl smiled happily, and as the two crossed paths, she said something strange.
"You'll die if you don't summon it quickly, big brother."
What did that mean?
Yamada Masaharu felt a chill run down his spine just hearing her words.
…
Playing up to this point, Yamada Masaharu felt a cold shiver run through his body, and after taking out the game box and re-confirming, he was certain that the script was written by someone named Nasu Kinoko, not Gen Urobuchi.
But what was with this sense of suspense and the oppressive feeling of impending death?
Yamada Masaharu still couldn't understand.
Could it be—
Nasu Kinoko was a new pen name adopted by Gen Urobuchi?!
Just to escape the fact of delivering blades to players?!
Terrifying.
Thinking about it carefully, this possibility really existed.
Otherwise, why would Pokeni hand over a new game project to a complete newcomer for creation?
And the name Takeuchi Takashi is very suspicious, isn't it?
It might very well be a combination of Shinji Mikami and Gen Urobuchi.
…
Time came to the morning of the next day.
This time, Shirou woke up normally at 5:30 AM. Yesterday, Shirou woke up late, so Sakura made breakfast. Shirou planned to repay her this morning. Before Sakura came over, Shirou had prepared breakfast.
The two of them flirting and being so affectionate truly made Yamada Masaharu feel incredibly gratified.
Such girls probably only existed in game, right?
After a conversation with Fujimura Taiga, a new dojo was unlocked—
Where Emiya Shirou could train with dummies to improve his abilities.
After hitting two dummies, Yamada Masaharu was ready to leave.
At this point, the male protagonist noticed faint bruises on Sakura's wrist, believed Matou Shinji had done it, and decided to beat Shinji up.
After some conversation and understanding:
In fact, a year ago, because Shinji bullied Sakura, Shirou had already beaten Shinji once, which resulted in the deterioration of Shirou's and Shinji's relationship.
Later, Shirou quit the archery club, and Sakura felt very guilty about it.
So that's how it was, Matou Shinji was too annoying, wasn't he?
How could he treat his own sister like that?
Thinking of the scars on Sakura's hand, Yamada Masaharu gnashed his teeth in hatred.
No new locations were unlocked in Fuyuki City, so there was no choice but to go to school.
February 2nd. Morning, Emiya Residence.
Shirou dreamed of the big fire from ten years ago again and woke up after six in the morning once more.
Hearing Sakura cooking, the male protagonist quickly went to prepare breakfast with Sakura.
When they were leaving, Sakura said she wouldn't be able to help from tonight until Monday.
Shirou's left hand, which originally only had marks, began to bleed, but he felt no pain at all; the wound was just a red, swollen strip, like a bruise.
Sakura, noticing this, her expression stiffened.
Shirou: "Forget it, it doesn't hurt, it should disappear soon. It's fine, no need to worry."
Sakura: "…Yes. Since Senpai says so, I won't worry."
As soon as he entered the school gate, Shirou felt something was off.
Closing his eyes, the atmosphere suddenly changed — the school building was covered in a foul substance like a mucous membrane, and the students running in the schoolyard felt like hollow puppets.
Yamada Masaharu's heart skipped a beat; he just felt something was about to happen.
Shirou was about to leave school when Sakura's brother, Matou Shinji, approached Emiya Shirou again.
Because Fujimura Taiga asked Matou Shinji to clean the archery club, but Matou Shinji refused, he wanted Shirou to help.
Emiya Shirou couldn't help but frown.
This guy…
Yamada Masaharu had the same expression; it's clearly your responsibility, why do you want someone else to do it?
He really wanted to beat this guy up and send him flying!
If Shirou's archery club friend, Mitsuzuri Ayako, saw the messy archery club tomorrow, she would have a headache again.
Instead of letting Mitsuzuri Ayako clean up Shinji's mess, it was more appropriate for himself, who was good at it, to do it.
So, Shirou stayed to tidy up the archery club until evening.
As dusk fell, at that very moment, sounds of fighting came from outside.
At some unknown point, two people in strange clothes had appeared in the school.
One of them held dual blades (yes, this was an archer), wearing a cool red long coat, while the opposing spear-wielding warrior wore a blue, form-fitting battle suit.
This fight was extremely dazzling.
The two went back and forth, exchanging countless blows within a mere few seconds.
The clashing of blades and spears broke the silence of the night sky.
And the collision of their powers also shone with terrifying sparks on the campus.
So scary…
Emiya Shirou thought.
What exactly was this?
It didn't seem like a human fight at all.
Although Shirou was over forty meters away from the two Servants, Shirou's intuition still told him that if he tried to escape, he would be immediately discovered and then impaled from behind by a spear.
Shirou was in a dilemma, desperately trying to stop himself from making a sound.
The blue Lancer was about to deliver a fatal blow to kill the close-range archer when he noticed Shirou's breathing forty meters away.
…
Emiya Shirou ran desperately.
Where could he choose to go in the school?
Seeing this scene, Yamada Masaharu also became nervous.
Finally, he randomly chose a library; that should be safe, right?
So Emiya Shirou hid inside the library.
"What just happened…"
Emiya sat on the ground, still shaken, gasping for air.
Just then, a face appeared next to him.
"Yo."
The blue Lancer's red eyes suddenly appeared, startling Yamada Masaharu as well.
Damn it!
Who are you trying to scare to death?!
"You ran quite fast, didn't you? But, well, since you saw it, you might as well die."
Before the Lancer finished speaking, the long spear in his hand had already swung out.
This battle didn't even trigger; it went straight to a plot kill.
Pfft…
A long spear pierced through Emiya Shirou's chest.
Blood immediately spread out.
The entire screen darkened with it.
What?!
Yamada Masaharu's heart tightened.
Dead?!
Can you believe the male protagonist just died like that?!
Please Support me by becoming my Patreon member and get 20+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon