Chapter 1618: Advent

Fuyuki City, Hoishiyuan Academy.

The sky was gradually darkening, and the tidy campus seemed somewhat desolate, no longer as lively as it was during the day.

A red-haired boy carried a bucket, the floor beneath his feet reflecting the moonlight, faint traces of water still visible.

“Done.”

The red-haired boy rolled up his sleeves, set down the bucket, and admired the result of his hours of labor. Although he had no obligation to clean the campus to such an extent, the cool night breeze made him feel refreshed and content.

With one hand on his hip, the red-haired boy looked up at the moonlight outside the corridor. It was already late, and he decided it was time to head home, ending a simple yet fulfilling day.

Just as the boy was about to change his clothes and shoes to leave the campus, the sound of metal clashing reached his ears, and he was visibly startled. There shouldn’t have been anyone around when he cleaned the campus earlier.

Ordinary people, when faced with the night about to fall, would certainly leave the campus quickly with the thought that less trouble is better than more.

However, this boy was not ordinary. His name was Shirou Emiya, the protagonist of the story, aspiring to become a partner of justice. Yet, if given another chance, Shirou Emiya would never seek the source of that sound, because in his view, perhaps that way the demon wouldn’t be released.

Shirou Emiya walked towards the playground, following the source of the sound. Even before leaving the school building, he saw two men fighting fiercely on the playground.

Sparks and red light splattered, smoke rising. Seeing these two, Shirou Emiya paused for a moment.

“What are those two doing?”

Instinctively, Shirou Emiya felt something was wrong. The attire of those two didn’t look modern at all. One wore a red windbreaker and held a short knife; the other wore blue armor and held a blood-red long spear.

“Who is it!”

The man holding the blood-colored long spear shouted abruptly; the battle caused the pendant on his ear to sway non-stop.

Only then did Shirou Emiya realize he had to escape immediately. Those two were clearly not normal.

Just as Shirou Emiya fled into the hallway of the classroom building, he felt a chill in his chest, as if something had pierced into his body, with pain radiating from his chest.

The man holding the long spear slowly appeared before Shirou Emiya, having been almost invisible before.

As a Heroic Spirit, ambushing an ordinary person was obviously not a very honorable act. Therefore, the Heroic Spirit with the long spear spoke a few meaningless lines like “Blame yourself for not being strong enough” or “Perhaps this is the curse of fate” before leaving young Shirou Emiya to die in the hallway.

Blood spread below Shirou Emiya as he felt himself about to die, his body gradually growing cold, his pierced heart about to stop beating.

“Boy, waiting here to die like a sick dog, are you willing? If you accept the Command Seal, you don’t have to die.”

A glimmer of light returned to Shirou Emiya’s eyes. He felt as though a pair of eyes were staring at him through space, eyes flickering with blue rays—sharp, cold, seeming to be ready to behead him at any moment.

“I, refuse.”

Shirou Emiya used his last bit of strength to say this sentence. For some reason, he instinctively felt that he absolutely couldn’t let the owner of those eyes descend into this world.

“Wrong choice.”

Bang!

Shirou Emiya felt as though his brain was hit with a heavy strike, the blue smoke in Su Xiao’s hand elegantly drifting in the anomalous space, the situation more interesting than he imagined. Shirou Emiya’s existence indicated that the Fifth Holy Grail War had not continued the story development of his previous world, meaning Emiya Kiritsugu was not dead, continuing the plot adapted by the Blood Gate Adventure Group.

“Spare me, why does it have to be you, and why today…”

A dim voice reached Shirou Emiya’s ear, his blurred consciousness turning his head with effort. He seemed to see a silhouette that gave him a different feeling, that was safety.

After who knows how long, Shirou Emiya’s body twitched, still lying in the school’s hallway, moonlight streaming through the window.

With a gaze full of confusion, Shirou Emiya sat up; the blood under him had vanished. Raising his hand to touch his chest instinctively, he felt a sticky and damp sensation from the blood stains on his clothes.

For a moment, Shirou Emiya doubted he had entered the afterlife, but after looking around, he realized he was still in the school’s hallway.

“What happened…”

Shirou Emiya was utterly baffled, staggering to his feet and running towards the school’s exit. Although unclear about what had happened, he knew this was not the place to linger; it was better to leave quickly.

A slightly eerie scene unfolded, a teenager whose chest was full of blood-stains running down the street, the street deserted, the boy appearing on the verge of collapse.

Ten minutes later.

Bang.

Shirou Emiya fell over onto his home’s tatami, gasping heavily as he flipped over to gaze at the ceiling above.

“What was that, too abnormal, and almost got killed—not, was already killed, then someone revived me. Also, what was that voice before, a Command Seal?”

With some difficulty, the boy sat up; except for bewilderment, there was nothing else in his eyes.

Ring～

The sound of a bell chimed, and hearing it, Shirou Emiya instinctively lifted his head. The man, who had killed him before, appeared with the blood spear, attacking him from above—the sharp tip of the spear made Shirou Emiya feel a subtle pain in his forehead.

With a swift sweep, the blood spear pierced the ground, Shirou Emiya rolling aside to dodge the spear’s thrust. It was evident the Heroic Spirit attacking him wasn’t being serious, otherwise Shirou Emiya would already be skewered.

A muffled sound followed, and Shirou Emiya’s head hit the wooden wall as he struggled to his feet.

“I can’t believe I’m not dead; killing a person twice in one day—is the world always this cruel and bloody?”

Upon hearing the words of the man wielding the blood spear, Shirou Emiya instinctively wanted to retort: “Cruel and bloody are caused by you, Lancer. What’s the grudge to chase me home?” Unfortunately, the man with the blood spear didn’t give him a chance to retort, the blood-red spear light flashing, closing in a few steps on Shirou Emiya.

After a bout of one-sided crushing, Shirou Emiya was kicked out of the house, rolling into the yard like a ground gourd. Truly, this generation was no match for the previous; Shirou Emiya’s father (adoptive father), Emiya Kiritsugu, was a fierce man who could confront Heroic Spirits using various weapons in a short time. Shirou Emiya, however, was completely crushed.

“Wasting so much time, it’s time to resolve this. Don’t worry, this time I’ll chop off your head to make sure you won’t come back to life.”

The Blood Spear Heroic Spirit slightly bent his body, evidently taking this somewhat seriously.

Boom!

A loud noise came from behind Shirou Emiya, causing the Lancer Heroic Spirit not far away to leap backward, his pupils gradually constricting.

“Time’s up.”

As Shirou Emiya heard this voice from behind, a sense of restriction appeared on his right forearm, followed by a whirlwind of dizziness and intense pain—his hand had been pulled into an anomalous space.

“Ah!!”

Almost instantly, Shirou Emiya felt as if his arm bones were about to crack; a burning pain spread from the back of his hand. The next moment, the pain vanished, and he regained freedom.

Dazzling white light emanated from behind Shirou Emiya, a summoning circle gradually drawing itself in the air. Originally white, it was quickly eroded by blood energy into red.

A figure stepped out from the summoning circle. Holding his arms, Shirou Emiya glanced sideways, his face full of agony.

“Relax, I won’t kill you, no need to be so tense.”

Beside Su Xiao, the blood energy gradually dissipated. He looked at Shirou Emiya with a warm smile on his face; seeing this smile, Shirou Emiya swallowed his saliva, feeling even more ominous.

PS: (Two chapters today, Wasted mosquito needs to carefully perfect the mutual damage with Blood Gate.)