Chapter 54

Compared with the cutting-edge military equipment developed by Fire Moth, "Noble Phantasms" obtained by Shirou from the Class Card Archer are not so different.

For ordinary people and even heroic spirits, the power of Noble Phantasms is indeed powerful.

Judging from the arsenal and experience Shirou got from "that heroic spirit" the most powerful "holy sword" available right now is only at the "Anti-City" level

Anti-City Noble Phantasm—even among Heroic Spirits, is one of the most advanced types of Noble Phantasm.

But for humans...or at least, for the human civilization of this world, it isn't too difficult to destroy a city.

The Anti-Honkai Squad's fleets belonging to Fire Moth can easily achieve similar results to these Anti-City Noble Phantasms.

In terms of physical power alone "Noble Phantasm" and modern cutting-edge weapons are equal, but when some characteristics of these "Noble Phantasm" are involved the entire situation changes.

For example, it is simple to create something close to Rho Aias that Shirou just traced a moment ago.

In Greek mythology this shield was used to defend against Hector's Durindana, so the shield sublimated into a "conceptual weapon" with absolute defense against thrown weapons.

Hector's Durindana is not "invincible" so it could not destroy "Rho Aias". Due to this experience, the shield was sublimated into a weapon with "absolute defense against thrown weapons".

Quantified by data, "Rho Aias" is just a defensive treasure composed of seven city walls.

For modern construction technology, it can be easily manufactured as long as a certain amount of manpower and material resources are used.

The Fire Moth fleet who can destroy a city wouldn't even find destroying seven city walls a challenge.

First of all, even with the technology of Fire Moth, it is impossible to create seven walls with excellent performance in an instant.

Secondly, if the seven walls were destroyed there was no way for Fire Moth to restore those walls without sending an engineering team to repair them.

Similar to weapons, defensive treasures will fluctuate with the level of magic power injected by the user.

Of course, no matter how much magic power is injected, no matter what kind of Noble Phantasm it is, there's a "maximum output" that cannot be altered.

Normally, the "maximum output" that a Noble Phantasm can achieve is its original rank.

Therefore a "Noble Phantasm" is the biggest trump card of a heroic spirit, but to a certain extent the "Noble Phantasm" can be seen as a shackle that restrains their strength.

No matter how much magical power one possesses, there is a limit on how much power a Noble Phantasm can exert

—But for Shirou, who is a "Faker", the shackles that restrain his own strength isn't the "maximum output" a Noble Phantasm can exert

According to the limitations of projection magic, the fakes created by Shirou will inevitably be one level lower than the originals, no matter how high his projection accuracy is.

...But, if one fake can't beat the real one, what if Shirou projected two, three, or even four more?

—So, when facing the raging rail gun and close-range aircraft gunfire appears like droplets in the rain.

If the activation time does not exceed a millisecond, and as long as enough magic power is invested, the gorgeous flowers can continuously be [Trace] by Shirou.

Turning the main warship into an absolute domain that cannot be violated by others

Fragments of light kept falling around like dancing snowflakes under the bombardment of the artillery fire.

Cracks appeared on the seven-petal shield with intense vibrations, but in the next instant, the cracks were easily erased.

Facing the cutting-edge weapons of modern technology, Shirou fully demonstrated the natural advantages of the defense-type Noble Phantasm.

The moment when the warship broke into the enemy fleet as if it wasn't under the attack of thousands of artillery fire, the pilots of the fifth squadron were stunned by the scene that only happened in a third-rate drama.

At this moment, the entire night sky seemed to have fallen into a brief silence.

But in the next instant, all the ace pilots of the fifth team reacted.

No words were required, and no communication is required.

The moment when they realized that the enemy fleet was ordered to block the main ship, all the warships of the fifth team opposed the intention of the opponent's fleet without any hesitation.

The enemy ships suddenly entered into chaos as the fifth squadron carried out precise kills one by one.

'I don't know if it's because the "enemy" manipulating this fleet is also in a panic.'

It's an attack involving being invaded by the main ship of the first squadron in the center while constantly being eaten on the outside by the fifth squadron fleet.

The number of enemy warships that were increasing suddenly stopped increasing.

Although it is temporarily impossible to confirm the nature of the other party's ability, as a copying master, Shirou knew it after seeing this scene.

No matter what the essence of the other party's "copying" ability is, it is absolutely impossible to use without burden.

Although the battle looks a little scary, the unknown enemy actually reached its limit when it created this fleet.

The 2500 Honkai Wave Energy fluctuations certainly created a "new category" completely different from the Honkai beasts he encountered before.

It is rational and knows that the biggest threat it needs to face is the fleet of the first squadron the moment it came into this world.

Relying on the information obtained from the first squadron the enemy has been copying the latest model of the warship of Fire Moth and hid those warships.

It didn't show its fangs until the fleet of the fifth squadron broke into the location of the Honkai outbreak.

Even if the opponent is such a special existence, Shirou doesn't think that human civilization will lose to the hidden enemy.

He says this because judging from the other party's performance, this "copying" ability is far from reaching the level of being a decisive threat to human civilization.

Even if there are no accidents, the fifth team would also suffer a lot of losses at the hands of that enemy.

But as long as Fire Moths can react and unite the remaining three teams into a fleet, they can forcibly behead that enemy.

—Of course, if the enemy escaped, the harm it would cause to human civilization would be much more serious than the current Honkai disaster.

Shirou squinted his eyes amidst the oncoming gust of wind and the non-stop swaying transparent flowers.

He seized the moment when the main ship reached the center of the enemy fleet and slammed his legs hard.

The whole person flew out from the outside of the spaceship at once.

No astralization was performed.

Although Shirou can transform into a spiritual body that can ignore all physical force, he couldn't interfere with others in that form.

In the howling wind, the gorgeous holy cloth stood out like a red flag flying in mid-air.

—As Shirou mercilessly used his fast thinking to the limit, time stopped instantly.

Sending him into the enemy fleet is what Himeko and Olga have to do, finding a way to the enemy's specific location to kill it is Shirou's job.

This kind of enemy cannot be allowed to survive tonight—this is the ultimate goal shared by the three of them.

Judging the concept of creation

Hypothesizing the basic structure

Duplicating the composition material

Imitating the skills of its making

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every manufacturing process

"I am the bone of my sword—(A sword made by nature)"

As the iridescent light lines in Shiro's pupils became brighter and brighter, all the enemy fleets were in front of him.

A layer of dense cracks appeared in his field of vision, like a sign that it was about to break.

The golden bow in his hand was raised high.

The line across the warship, the line across the top of the hull, the line extending from the engine to the wings...

The target was set on these one hundred "lines", and all of them were locked.

The Noble Phantasm that can accurately draw those dark thin lines across these hundreds of spaceships in an instant is—

"Projection complete"

"Nine Lives: Shooting the Hundred Heads"

—in the dazzling streamer.

—in the scattered sparks.

Hundreds of bright and sharp light trails locked onto these "lines" in the middle of the sky, and galloped away like a meteor.

In the next moment—

A total of a hundred warships were easily disintegrated into two halves by the lights that didn't even appear to pierce them.

The pilots of the fifth team froze.

Through the rear-view monitor, Himeko and Olga were stunned when they saw this scene.

The members of the first team who had just withdrawn from Chishui Town were stunned.

Elysia looked at the scene in the sky where a total of a hundred meteors streaked across a hundred warships.

"It's so beautiful..." She gently opened and closed her lips. The voice of admiration overflowed from her mouth unconsciously.

"Is it the same as Shirou's projection magic? Has the creation suffered too much damage to the point it can't maintain its own existence?"

After being divided into two those warships did not fall but turned into a burst of scattered twilight on the spot and dissolved into the sky just like how those Noble Phantasm projected by Shirou disappeared.

In mid-air, Shirou, who forcibly dismantled a hundred warships turned his gaze in a certain direction without hesitation.

—Over there is a blue-haired young man with a dull expression floating in midair.

"This guy...can fly?"

After a moment of doubt, a low groan came softly from Shirou who had already started to fall.

"No matter what, I finally caught you..."

Although this guy's appearance was beyond Shirou's expectations and he looked like a somewhat handsome human youth.

Shirou could understand that although he looked the same as a human, this young man with dark blue hair did not stand on the same side as humans.

Under the pitch-black sky shrouded in volcanic ash, the hundred streaks of light left by the completely liberating [Nine Lives: Shooting the Hundred Heads] quickly faded after completing their mission.

As Shirou locked his eyes in the direction of the blue-haired young man, the young man with dark blue hair sensed that gaze mixed with a bone-chilling air and turned his gaze towards the boy holding the bow.

Eyes that shouldn't meet saw each other.

At this moment, these two humanoid beings from different worlds with similar abilities confirmed the killing intent in each other's eyes.

'This guy—is the enemy of human civilization.' Shirou was so sure.

'This guy—is the sworn enemy of "us".' The young man with dark blue hair thought so too

The two killing intents locked onto each other's direction.

The license to kill was a formless contract that both parties recognized.

The moment their eyes met, they were both ready to kill each other.

However, it was not fair from the very beginning.

Compared with the young man with dark blue hair who was born not long ago, Shirou has more combat experience than the other party.

He has made the correct choice ahead of the other party the moment they both confirmed each other's killing intents.

Before his body was about to fall, he took out a red magic spear condensed from magic light.

This action also represented that Shirou had issued a death sentence to the blue-haired youth.