50 A Mana What?!

Fuyuki, Japan,

Shinto District,

"Y'know, all things considered even I'm a bit jealous of you."

Roman slightly nodded, staring down at the Magus Killer with both hands resting on his cane. This much was truth, the Trambelio wasn't one to shy away from admitting his shortcomings...

The raging winds had calmed down considerably and the heavy showers of rain were reduced to nothing but a pleasant pour.

Massive explosions occurred in the distance but went completely ignored by both individuals there then. The Magus Killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, stared up at what was perhaps the greatest adversary he'd faced ever and he'd faced a lot, even a Dead Apostle.... Still, even those horrifying vampiric beings had weaknesses. Magicians, as Kiritsugu had come to learn the hard way, had none.

He smiled in a self-deprecating manner, realising that in his despair he'd forgotten to account for the fact that a Magician couldn't possibly stupid or untalented...., "What about..... this?" Kiritsugu pointed at his own figure with both hands, "Could you be jealous of?"

"Well..... minus the naivete and incompetence," Roman Trambelio pointed a finger at his forehead, a small grin on his face, "Your mind."

"But... I was outsmarted?" Kiritsugu didn't quite understand, perhaps too shaken by the possible costs of his failure there....

"Nein, not that." Roman waved his hand dismissively, "That way of thinking, the ability to push regrets so far back they don't matter. It does make you a boor ja, but.... You can't really understand how much easier my life would be if I could do that." The Magician sighed, turning about and beginning a slow-paced tread towards a certain collapsed skyscraper.

It was true, the ability to kill innocents without regretting it was something he didn't have. Every time a plan came around involving them, there would be this nagging feeling reminding them that even if his own house was shit, theirs probably wasn't. There were people who loved them, depended on them and possibly vice versa.....,

"I can't kill like you."

He admitted with another sigh, God knew it would make life easier.

""....""

Kiritsugu and Artoria found themselves wordless, wasn't this the same man who'd been threatening to wipe the city off the face of the very Earth? It was most probably a ploy at getting them to feel bad or something, there was no way what he said was true.

Roman slightly grinned, giving them a thumbs up, "I do love it when people take me so seriously. Now then, I'll leave you two to think about your failures."

Before the two could answer however, the Magician abruptly stopped, his head shooting to the right, eyes slightly wide, "How the fuck did Nobunaga w-"

Just as he was about to finish his words, a supersonic boom right by his side interrupted him and the next thing anyone saw was his body split in two halves.

".....Target eliminated?"

Okita slightly tilted her head, sheathing her massive blade as she eyed the blood spraying from the corpse... She wasn't going to be caught off guard this time, he felt human, he did but now she knew that he wouldn't fall as easily as one.

Kiritsugu looked at the downed Magician in silence, slowly backing away from the scene, he knew full well this was no longer any place for a man like him to be. Strangely enough however, he found himself stopped by Artoria.... The British King had grabbed his arm, staring at him with a face that showed no emotions, "Are you truly going to leave him to fend for himself against a servant?"

"He's.... an enemy." Kiritsugu spoke slowly, his gaze cold and unfeeling, "Let him weaken the servant..."

"Master.... He spoke true. I am certain Irisviel would be saddened as well." Artoria, strangely enough, tried to convince Kiritsugu to help Roman, perhaps finally understanding why all that had happened that day felt somewhat unnatural. The Magician had been putting up a facade.

"....."

Roman's body reattached itself in an instant and the Magician sat up slowly, fixing his jaw as he stared at the 'Saber' in contemplation, ".....Weren't you dust after that nuke?" He looked her up and down and noticed that much of her height was added to by the incredibly high heeled shoes she was wearing, "Compensating for something are we?"

Okita only raised her sword in response, gripping the hilt with both hands, "....." She was going to do this as many times as it took..... Still, what was he talking about?

Roman's gaze fell on her chest, "Nevermind..... it's probably a height complex." He calmly stood up, a leisurely smile plastered on his face as he dusted off his coat.... That too was a mask though. Dozens of possibilities ran through his mind, dozens that turned to hundreds within a matter of moments, he didn't quite understand how she was still alive....

Surviving a falling star while injured and held down with no chance to retaliate or defend oneself wasn't within the realm of possibility, even for servants. Furthermore, her blade had just sliced him apart.. How was that possible? Roman had been covered by a field that quite literally placed him in a different space.....

"You came back to life." The Magician placed a hand on his chin, his smile growing slightly wider, "What's more, that sword seems to ignore.. no, it deletes what it cuts, nein?" Roman rubbed his chin, the fact that she'd made a run straight for him both times confirmed that there was motive.. The Master being random was no longer plausible then.

Okita's eyes widened by a barely noticeable bit, "....?" The Demon Sword Rengoku, or rather her Noble Phantasm did precisely that, deleting what was deemed unnecessary from existence.... It could even shoot concentrated beams that held the same ability... The essence was an infinite beam of light with no zenith embodying the destructive nature of the endless, maybe the void....

The end result, was a complete erasure of it's targets.

In a swift motion, the Counter Guardian leaned back, holding up the tip of her blade as it started glowing a bright crimson colour, "Begone."

"I don't think so..." Roman's smile faded, massive levels of magical energy, enough to rival those of a servant, came rolling off the Magician's figure in red VERY visible waves, "This is your fault, Kiritsugu." He dropped his cane, stretching his arms as his grin slowly returned.

He didn't really want to reveal one of his trump cards like this but, the situation was a dire one and it would cost him dearly if he didn't do at least this much. Roman understood that fully.

Kiritsugu's mouth opened in disbelief... Any normal magus would have a much more intense reaction and his was quite tame compared to the possibilities, "I never did stand a chance did I?" The sheer amount of magical energy made even the highest a magus could have look like a miniscule mana crystal in comparison.... This was unnatural, far too unnatural...

Artoria took a step back, surprise evident on her face, "Are you not human?" She asked incredulously, how did a normal human have 'that'? The ground cracked under them and dense pure magical energy flooded the entire block. An occurrence that didn't go unnoticed by those currently presiding in the city.

"I'm human." Roman answered calmly, straightening his posture with audible pops... One of the first things he'd ever done since realising the nature of his ability, construct for himself a Mana Core of the highest quality just in case there came an occasion where he would have no prana to use from the surroundings.... Of course at that time, he'd not been aware that Mana Cores were a concept this verse was well aware of only, they were held by mythical beings and heroes that could trample over any they wanted to.

In more technical terms, the body of a magus could be called a machine that produced Magical Energy (also known as Od) while a Mana Core was a factory... A commonly known fact is that factories have machines in large numbers depending on their size and a high end one would have hundreds, thousands perhaps tens of thousands of them.... Something like this made the Magician more of a monster than he already was.

....Kiritsugu was also confused however, if this was the true nature of Roman's prowess, he could easily command immense respect and fear in the Magus World..... Why didn't he then?

"What will you do, mutt?" Roman smiled at Okita, coming to the conclusion that some higher force was tasking the Saber...

Why? Well, it couldn't be a human considering how much thought was put into covering his tracks.. A prideful conclusion? Yes but the magician wasn't willing to settle for any less.

The Counter Guardian too understood that if he possessed a disabled Mana Core, it would take time for it to work at full capacity.... If the levels of energy were this high now then she didn't want to face what would come later...

Therefore,

Breathing deeply, Okita Souji Alter, thrust forth Rengoku releasing a massive brilliant black beam that would erase what was necessary, or more bluntly put, erase Roman.

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Share thoughts mfs.

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Writing this reminds me of the last time I posted a chapter on this certain day, I think it was a few chapters before or after I posted a grand war arc. Don't try to understand what that means, you won't get it. Just a bit nostalgic that this too is nearing the climax of a war, same as then.

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You can find upto 7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/stoned_face