Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Admittedly, he held another sword, Excalibur Morgan, but judging from the power of Shirou's "King's Hammer" just now, it was still far inferior to the holy sword in his hand.

Although it is the same sword, the magical power of the users is vastly different.

Even if Shirou unleashes his full power, it would be difficult to reach the level of an A++ rank "anti-city Noble Phantasm".

It's an A-rank "Anti-Army Noble Phantasm" or a B-rank "Anti-City Noble Phantasm".

Even if part of its flesh could be cut off instantly, this monster could quickly regenerate due to its characteristics.

To truly kill it, one must free the holy sword oneself.

Saber believes that destroying the sea monster should be her mission, but...

why?

Artoria watched Shirou's retreating figure and felt a strange sense of peace.

Despite his narrow back and slender hands and feet, he was still just a child.

However, Saber felt that if it were him, he might actually be able to do it—

"I understand. You can decide for yourself."

Saber nodded solemnly, then gave a gentle smile.

"I'm really looking forward to your performance."

Shirou gave her a deep look, then resolutely rushed out of the forest and disappeared into the mist.

"You don't actually think that brat can defeat the Sea Demon, do you, Saber?"

Lancer asked with a mocking expression.

Saber remained silent, merely raising an invisible sword.

After exchanging a final glance with Shirou, she suddenly understood something—

Beliefs don't need the approval of others; you only need to believe in your own heart.

As for the enemy, what is needed is not words, but blades drawn.

"Lancer, monster born of me, let's settle this once and for all!"

With her fighting spirit rekindled, Saber raised her holy sword and unleashed a slash at the demon Diarmuid, imbued with the "Wind King's Barrier".

……

……

Archer gazes from the distant sky at the monster that has appeared on the outskirts of the city.

"What an appalling and ugly sight..."

Gilgamesh rested his chin on his hand, leaning lazily against the Vimana, the throne of the king of the heavens, while his master, Tokiomi Tohsaka, stood respectfully beside him like a servant.

Archer said with disgust, "Although I already knew that this era was so ugly that it was beyond redemption, I never expected that it could still produce such disgusting filth."

Indeed, we should simply sweep the surface of this planet clean, making it more worthy of the appearance of my royal courtyard.

Don't you think so, Tokiomi?

The hero king from the Age of Gods lamented the decadence of modern times while spouting arrogant words, completely disregarding the threat of the monsters.

Meanwhile, Tokiomi Tohsaka, who was standing beside him, was extremely anxious.

The world of magic has countless rules, the most supreme of which is "secrecy".

The appearance of the monster has violated the principle of secrecy in magic, which will not only jeopardize the continuation of the Holy Grail War, but also ruin the reputation of Tokiomi Tohsaka, the land administrator.

Even for the sake of the Tohsaka family's prestige, he wanted to eliminate that monster as soon as possible.

"My king, that monster is a pest that is ravaging your garden. I beg you to spare its life and kill it!"

"That's the job of a gardener."

However, Archer coldly rejected Tokiomi's request.

"Or are you trying to fool me, mistaking my treasured weapon for a gardener's hoe?"

“How dare I! But as you can see—there is nothing in this world that can defeat it except you.”

Now is a golden opportunity to demonstrate the might of the Hero King; I urge you to consider this carefully!

Gilgamesh snorted unhappily, then raised his hand.

Golden ripples spread out above the spaceship, projecting several dazzling Noble Phantasms that exploded on the writhing mountain of filthy flesh directly below.

The explosion that occurred in an instant caused the monster to lose a third of its body.

However, Tokiomi Tohsaka's joy lasted only a few seconds before the twisted mass of flesh began to inflate like a balloon, covering the damaged area.

Just as Saber's "intuition" suggested, this otherworldly sea monster possesses near-infinite regenerative abilities.

Its structure is so simple that it has no weaknesses and its movements are not affected by injury.

Even if the grimoire that became the core of the sea monster is destroyed, it will not leave the surface.

"—Go back, Tokiomi. I don't want to see this filth again."

Archer's bright red eyes revealed disgust as he spoke with contempt.

"Please wait, King of Heroes! If we use the Heaven-Opening Sword hidden deep within your treasure vault..."

Tokiomi Tohsaka's words caused a sudden change in the atmosphere surrounding Gilgamesh.

"Tokiomi, you idiot!!!"

The Heaven-Opening Sword is regarded by the King of Heroes as the supreme treasure of his half, surpassing everything in the King's Treasury.

Just as Archer was enraged and about to escalate the situation—

An unusual aura and shock emanating from somewhere in the distance stunned everyone involved in this Holy Grail War.

"Huh? Master! Are you really going to do this?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

Shirou's nonchalant remarks startled Ms. Avalon.

Then she dispelled her spirit form and grabbed the red-haired boy's wrist—

They stopped Shirou from using the "Royal Command Spell".

"Wait, wait a minute! Didn't I warn you before?"

Lady Avalon gave Shirou a serious look she had never shown before.

"These three Command Seals should not be used unless absolutely necessary."

No matter how hard Shirou racked his brains, he couldn't recall her ever "warning" him before; at most, it could only be called "incitement."

Shirou frowned and said, "With my current strength, I can't kill that monster, so I have no choice but to use it, right?"

"Uh, but... Master just needs to delay the monster's advance, and then hand it over to Saber to deal with, right?"

Shirou shook his head: "We can't leave everything to her. I'll deal with this monster myself."

Ultimately, I bear some responsibility for not destroying it initially because I wanted to study the grimoire.

"But the 'Royal Command Spell' consumes your life force. Is that alright?"

Shirou looked into the dreamlike, beautiful eyes of the Flower Magician.

"To be honest, whatever the monster is like... the excuse of eliminating the monster and protecting the city is just a random pretext."

Shirou lowered his head and stared at the red and black markings on the back of his hand.

"I just want to see my future self."

Ever since I heard you say that you could use magic to achieve a certain degree of simulated time travel... I've been thinking about this constantly.

"Big sister Avalon, although I don't know what your purpose was in preparing the 'Royal Proclamation Command Spell' for me, I truly feel so grateful—you're so wonderful to be my Servant."

The red-haired boy raised his head again and said with an extremely serious expression, "So don't stop me, or I'll send you back to the Throne of Heroes right now."

"..."

Ms. Avalon wanted to say something more, but after seeing the red-haired boy's clearly hostile gaze, she wisely shut her mouth.

"Alright, I won't say anything more."

"Even if you told me, I wouldn't take your advice."

"Yes, that's what we agreed on back then~"

As Ms. Avalon spoke with a smile, she transformed back into her spirit form.

Shirou looked at the three patterns on the back of his hand and infused them with magic.

Just then, he sensed the presence of a huge creature behind him, staring at him.

Although there was a colossal, mountain-like otherworldly sea monster in front of them, capable of devouring a city, the presence of "that" behind them was far greater than that of the monster.

Shirou knew "that"'s name, so he didn't pay any attention to it.

Even though "that" was radiating a strong malice that was invading the skin and numbing the nerves, Shirou didn't care at all.

Give your full attention.

As his magical circuits went berserk, Shirou vaguely saw a landscape at dusk.

A sword appeared before him.

Most of the sword was buried in the burning earth; it looked like it had to be pulled out.

Of course, this was impossible with the frail body of a child.

and so--

"Command my body with a command spell."

As the Command Seals on the back of his hand shone with a crimson light, Shirou's body was also enveloped in a bright glow.

As Ms. Avalon once said, the "Royal Command Spell" is not a basic magic that strengthens the body, but rather a more difficult one.

A magical formula is constructed within the boy's body, separating the inner part of a specific space from the "flow of time"—

To achieve "time manipulation" limited to one's own physical body.

Compared to “time manipulation” such as reversing cause and effect or interfering with the past, this kind of “time adjustment” that is limited to itself is far from being called a miracle (magic).

"They say it's the closest thing to magic... I think it's called something like 'Solid Barrier'? Never mind."

That's right.

The "Royal Command Spell" written by Lady Avalon is essentially a Reality Marble.

In another world, it is called "proper time control".

Although it is the closest thing to magic, it is ultimately not magic, especially since it is limited to its own form.

The advantage is that because it is an inherent barrier opened within itself, it is not subject to "world correction".

However, the time frame for "adjustment" is correspondingly extremely limited.

Normally, it would only accelerate one's own time by a few times, which is about the limit for humans.

However, due to the addition of the Command Seal, which is essentially a giant block of magical energy, coupled with Lady Avalon's unparalleled magical skill—

The "Royal Command Spell" became a miracle with a duration of "three minutes" and the effect of "accelerating to ten years in the future".

By accelerating his own time, Shirou successfully arrived in the "future ten years later".

The downside of this magic trick is that it puts a tremendous strain on the body.

Magic that adjusts time will inevitably cause errors in the flow of time inside and outside the barrier, especially when it is "ten years later".

After the barrier is broken, a natural force will occur to repair the gap, which is called "world correction".

This repairing force will naturally be applied to the "manipulated party," and Shirou's internal barrier, that is, his physical body, will be squeezed and distorted to match the original flow of time.

Although Ms. Avalon had done her best to minimize the side effects, it was impossible to achieve such radical effects without harming the body.

With the activation of the "Royal Command Spell".