You call this a projection?

”Fine, I suppose the act of deleting your memories, Kuzuki-sensei, is inherently a bit unethical.”

Emiya Shirou did not discard the DISC. Instead, he placed it safely in his pocket. He shook his head with a silent, helpless wry smile:

”Once the Holy Grail War is over, I’ll return this memory DISC to you, Kuzuki-sensei. At that time, whether you want to seek revenge against me or do something else—I’ll take it.”

Did Emiya Shirou not know this would be a hassle? Even though Kuzuki Souichirou had ”washed his hands” of his past and no longer engaged in anything related to killing—even giving up the daily exercises that reminded him of the assassination group—it didn’t mean he had truly forgotten his assassination arts. Nor did it mean he would never kill again.

But it was the same principle as before: Emiya Shirou could not bring himself to go on a killing spree for things that hadn’t happened yet, or things that were merely possibilities.

Consequently, when Tohsaka Rin rushed over, she discovered Kuzuki Souichirou lying unconscious on the ground.

”Kuzuki-sensei?”

”It’s Rin, huh,” Shirou nodded. ”Just as you’re guessing, Kuzuki-sensei was Caster’s Master. By extension, he could also be considered Assassin’s Master.”

Since Assassin’s Master was Caster, and Caster’s Master was Kuzuki Souichirou, rounding it off to say Kuzuki was Assassin’s Master wasn’t technically incorrect.

However, hearing this confirmation made Tohsaka Rin look at Shirou with a face of pure disbelief. ”No way...”

What was this? Was this still the cruel Holy Grail War she had in her mind? Why was it that almost all the Masters in this war were either students or teachers from Homurahara Academy?

Excluding Bazett, the Master sent by the Mage’s Association, and Illya, the Three Families’ Master who arrived from the Einzbern Castle in Germany—one by one, the Masters in this war turned out to be her acquaintances?!

Was Fuyuki City really this small?

Even though Rin had guessed Kuzuki might be involved with the war the moment she saw him here, she couldn’t help but fall into deep doubt. She gained a brand-new understanding of what Tohsaka Tokiomi had told her during her magecraft training: that a magus must discard their emotions when necessary.

In a Holy Grail War full of acquaintances, if one didn’t discard their emotions, forget victory—one might not even be able to manage a fight.

”Father, was this the kind of resolve you held when you participated back then?”

Unaware of the specific circumstances of the Fourth Holy Grail War, and only knowing that Tokiomi, Kotomine Kirei, and Shirou’s adoptive father had participated, Rin was undoubtedly miscalculating the situation. Of course, having never received a ”true” magus education, Tohsaka Rin was never going to truly discard her emotions anyway.

After a moment of sentimentality, Rin quickly pulled Shirou’s attention back to her. ”Anyway, Emiya-kun, I remember you saying you could heal Sakura, right?

Do you know what’s going on with Sakura’s current condition?”

As she spoke, Archer (Emiya) gently laid the still-unconscious Matou Sakura on the ground. Rin touched Sakura’s burning forehead with heartache. ”At first, I thought the Matou family head had done something. But no matter how I tried to dispel the magecraft in her body, her condition wouldn’t improve.

On the contrary, as if sensing my interference, the situation inside Sakura’s body grew worse and worse.”

Of course, Rin could have continued to feed Sakura specially treated gems to temporarily suppress the condition using Tohsaka gem magecraft. But the Tohsaka family finances meant Rin simply didn’t have that many gems. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so desperate to seek help from Shirou.

The Tohsaka family going bankrupt? Or Matou Sakura dying? Or perhaps both? Rin was faced with one impossible problem after another.

”Yeah, leave it to me,” Shirou nodded. ”And Rin, your magecraft wasn’t ineffective. In fact, your first-aid work was excellent.”

Though Shirou couldn’t hold a candle to Rin in terms of formal magecraft knowledge, he currently held the soul of Matou Zouken. He could project another’s experience onto himself just like his Projection Magecraft, performing a counterfeit version of Displacement Magecraft. In terms of treating Sakura’s condition, he was a far greater authority than Rin.

Even though Shirou had been remotely dealing with Sakura’s Crest Worms through [Pseudo-Atum] since the moment he extracted Zouken’s soul, such a delicate operation couldn’t be completed with a single remote command.

Ever since she was adopted by the Matou family, Sakura’s body had been continuously eroded by Crest Worms. Her body had long since achieved a state of assimilation and symbiosis with them. Losing the Crest Worms meant that most of Sakura’s bodily functions would cease; she would inevitably die alongside the worms.

However, Sakura’s current condition was much better than Shirou had anticipated. Rin had clearly put in a massive effort here. It was just that whether it was the magic circuits, the

human nerves, or the spinal cord—this level of treatment, which even modern medicine struggles with, was far beyond Rin’s curriculum.

But...

Things that stumped Tohsaka Rin could not stump Emiya Shirou.

Thanks to the progression of the Holy Grail War, even though Shirou had used Projection Magecraft and projected Stands countless times this night, the magical energy intercepted from the Greater Grail by [Pseudo-Atum] ensured he remained in peak condition. With nearly infinite mana, he manifested the fists of [Pseudo-Crazy Diamond] to pummel Matou Sakura’s body!

”Dora-dora-dora-dora-dora!!!”

[Pseudo-Crazy Diamond]!!

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