Chapter 84: Magus Killer
"Did I? I don't think I did."
Emiya Shirou looked at Tohsaka Rin, bewildered. While he had indeed admitted to admiring her—and that admiration had only deepened after seeing her in his past-life memories—it was precisely because of those memories that he had been careful. To avoid misunderstanding, he had pointedly omitted saying that he had liked her even more since getting to know her.
'Wait?'
Despite outward appearances, his emotional intelligence was actually quite high. So why did Rin still react like that?
Perhaps Shirou's gaze was too direct. Or perhaps it was because Lancer—who had been "eating popcorn" and watching the drama unfold all night—was casting such an annoyingly interested look their way.
Rin's face flushed even deeper. She lunged forward, covering Shirou's mouth just as he was about to say more. "I said you spoke wrong, Emiya-kun. Do you have an objection!?"
"......"
Stared down by Rin's dangerous expression, Shirou still didn't understand what was happening. Nevertheless, he helplessly raised both hands in a "French military salute" to avoid further conflict. "But Tohsaka, right now you're..."
"In short, Emiya-kun, you're planning to split up, right?"
Whether Rin finally realized her current posture was just as "inappropriate" as Shirou's words, or whether it was because the heat of his breath was hitting her hand as he spoke, she pulled back instantly.
Trying to act as if nothing had happened—while her hands, now hidden behind her back, fidgeted awkwardly—she changed the subject. "I'll go to the Matou residence to pick up Sakura, and you'll head to the church to face that fake priest.
But Emiya-kun, if Sakura has really been remodeled into a Grail vessel like you said, then it won't make a difference whether we take her out of that house or not, right?
Or are you saying your 'Healing' magecraft can even fix that?" At this point, Rin placed heavy emphasis on the word "Healing."
After witnessing his "Healing" magecraft firsthand, she adamantly refused to believe that whatever he was doing was actually healing!
What kind of healing magic restores Command Spells?!
Yet, just as Rin thought she had found the limit of Shirou's "Healing," he dropped an even bigger bombshell.
'Healing magical modifications...'
That was not a simple claim. To adapt to the Tohsaka Magic Crest, Rin herself had undergone such modifications. In fact, a Magic Crest itself is essentially a foreign organ—the magical achievements inherited from predecessors.
Even with the Tohsaka bloodline, the connection between the first Tohsaka magus and Rin, separated by countless generations, was not strong enough to prevent "rejection" during the transplant. To adapt to the Crest, the body must be modified.
If Shirou could heal such modifications... could he make a magus "unfit" for their own Magic Crest?
This level of counter-play... he was a literal Magus Killer!
"Yes, it can be healed."
Shirou didn't overthink it the way Rin did. Or rather, Rin's understanding of "healing" and Shirou's were two different things. He said honestly, "I can help Sakura escape her future as a Grail sacrifice."
With his past-life memories, Shirou knew exactly why Sakura was a Lesser Grail.
Matou Zouken had transformed fragments of the Lesser Grail into Crest Worms and implanted them into her. These, along with the Crest Worms already parasitizing her body, formed a brand-new set of Magic Circuits. That was the only reason she was an incomplete Lesser Grail.
In other words, he just needed to extract every Crest Worm and then heal her body. This was not difficult for [Pseudo-Crazy Diamond].
Even for the worms embedded deep in her nerves or near her heart—given a healing ability that could restore a person even if they were blown to ash—it would simply mean "a bit" of pain during the process.
"Is that so."
Hearing Shirou's affirmation, Rin confirmed once again: This is definitely not healing magecraft!
However... more than worrying about how this "Healing" targeted magi, Rin felt a wave of relief. To her, the fact that Sakura could be saved was far more important than the "Magus Killer" implications.
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"Have I been discovered?
The youngsters of this era are truly something else—both that little girl from the Tohsaka family and the brat taken in by Emiya Kiritsugu."
Despite Shirou's constant searching with life-detection flames and his use of Stand flames—invisible to all but Stand Users—to incinerate the spying insects, Matou Zouken was still a magus who had lived for hundreds of years.
Even under the "dimensionality reduction strike" of a power system from another world, Zouken had managed to catch the gist of their conversation before being cut off. He didn't realize that, thanks to Shirou's "spoilers," he had been exposed long ago. He still believed he could remain hidden as the ultimate mastermind.
"I can't guarantee Kirei won't sell me out, though. So..."
Ignoring Shirou's group for a moment, Zouken did not stay at the Matou house, nor did he intend to jump into the mess at the church.
At the gates of Ryudou Temple, as a swarm of flying insects began to coalesce into a human shape, Matou Zouken muttered to himself:
"Let this old man move around a bit and play with you youngsters."
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