Part 140: Hanging death

"!?"
We stare at each other.
Did that scream come from below…!?

Music: Footsteps of Destruction




"Hey, do you know where it came from, Emiya-kun!?"
"No! I can only tell it was below us!"
"Hold on, I'll lift the boundary field now!"





"!"
The student is collapsed in front of the emergency exit.

"…Good. She's only unconscious."
I check on the female student.
She must be in the first year.
She's unconscious, but I don't see any wounds, so she should be all right.


"You're wrong! She's so pale! Can't you tell that she's empty inside!?"
"Huh…? Empty inside…?"


"She has had her magical energy, no, life energy to be precise, drained. …This is about as bad, no, worse than the people who got attacked by Caster.
She'll die if we let her be."
"Die!? Even though she doesn't have any wounds!?"

She hasn't been killed, so it's possible she could die.


"Hey now. It's only natural for someone to die if they're empty inside even if they don't have any external wounds. …Hold on, I think I can do something with the stone I have"

She searches her pocket.
…Thank God.
It seems serious, but Tohsaka seems to know how to cure her.

Tohsaka kneels down and looks at the female student.
""
Her face looks serious.
She tends to the female student while sweat forms on her forehead.



"Geez, it's so annoying…! Can you close the door, Emiya-kun!? The wind's moving my hair."
"Huhoh, that emergency exit?"
I look at the open emergency exit.

"Huh?"
Open…?
Come to think of it, we still haven't figured out why this girl is unconscious.
She didn't do this herself, so somebody else must have attacked her.
We ran here right after we heard the scream, so the emergency exit is the only place to get away from.

"Oh."
Is it because I was looking at the emergency exit?
I sense "something" black being shot and I-

Music: Stop

"Watch out, Tohsaka!"



…I protect Tohsaka with my right arm.



"!"
Just like Tohsaka said, a black dagger is piercing my right arm.



No, it's too big to call it a nail.
Something like a dagger has pierced through my arm.



"It hurts. It really hurts."
But it hurts so much that I can't panic.
But more than that…
Someone threw this at Tohsaka's face?

Music: Breach





"It has to be around here."
I look around.
I don't know what I'm feeling, but I certainly feel it.
The "person" that attacked that female student,
the "person" that attacked Tohsaka with that dagger is nearby.
The person is still around.
If I close my eyes, I can feel the dark magical energy moving.





"Shinji…?"
I stop.
Why is Shinji here?
He's missing right now…
No, Mitsuzuri's the one missing, Shinji's the last one who saw her, and



"……!"
I instantly dodge it.
I just keep falling and keep rolling forward to avoid it.

"Haguh……!!!!"
My throat.
It scraped it and my skin's cut.
But this is rather fortunate.
If I had been a second too late, it would've been my throat that got cut.

"You…!"
I instantly get up.
In front of me…



…Stands a woman in black with an irritating smile.

"A Servant…!"
I'm sure of it.
A concentration of magical energy even Tohsaka cannot stand up to.
An ethereal beauty and a thick smell of blood.
I don't know what class she is, but her existence is beyond human

"She disappeared…!?"
The black shadow disappears from my vision.
My instincts tell me I'll be killed.
I desperately swing my weapon above me.



"Guh!!"
I parry the "nail" coming for my head.
She's like a spider, jumping through the woods as if she's sticking to the trees.



"Haa!"
I run to a nearby tree and put my back against it.
It should be able to block any attacks from behind me now. No, I have to believe that it can.

"Damnher figure stands out so much, so"
I don't see that Servant in black anywhere.
She might be jumping from branch to branch, as I don't see her coming down.

""
Sweat rolls down my forehead.
The sound of chains is like that of a snake aiming for its prey.

"HaHaha, ha."
I suppress the laughter trying to escape me.
The sound of chains echoes through the woods.
Even though I might be killed in the next moment, my mind is completely blank.
I don't have any notion of time, and the guillotine isn't coming down.

"HaHa, ha."
That's what's strange.
The battle should've been over by now.

But I'm still alive.
It's so strange that I think I might have been killed by that previous surprise attack and might be merely dreaming now.



Butis it all right?
I placed myself in this dangerous situation. Then, I should hold responsibility for that, and most of all



"I'm surprised. You're not using your Command Spell?"
"!"
The voice echoes.
She's above meon a branch somewhere, as I expected.

"…Heh. Unfortunately, I don't have too many left, so I don't know what I'd do in the future if I use one for something like this."
And well, I don't really know how to use it.

"…I see. You must be brave unlike my Master."
I search around me.
Where is the voice coming from?

"Then I shall alter my course of action. I cannot go all out against a Master without his ServantI shall kindly kill you."
…The voice stops.
The sound of chains is the only sound echoing through the woods.

""
She's coming.
What I have to do is get out of this place.
To do so, I would have to block her "nail" a few times.

"……"
The fact that I have to defend myself using a chair leg is so pathetic that it's funny.
If I at least had





If this stick was as splendid as the weapons he had, I might even be able to counter-attack.


When Shirou's life is on the line, he can think of only one man...

"

Here I go."
…I don't have time to think about what-ifs.
It's about 30 meters to get out of the woods.
This isn't much compared to the chase I had with Tohsaka!







"Fuh!"
I repel the attack from above.





And then, using the weapon, I block the roundhouse kick executed by the Servant.



She's in front of me now.
I repel her attacks!

"No way!?"
The Servant in black retreats.

""
It's just a coincidence.
If the first surprise attack was blocked by coincidence, these attacks were also blocked by chance.
I can't even see her movements.
For me to stay alive in spite of that is nothing but pure luck.

But.
Are coincidences something that continue on like this?
No, what if my assumptions are wrong in the first place?
The first attack.
The surprise attack to my head.
Emiya Shirou could not block such attacks.
I cannot block them even by coincidence

"You…"
The Servant in black murmurs.
Her irritated voice is rather surprisingly beautiful.

"Hah, you're no good. You're not as good as the other Servants!"





I swing at the Servant in front of me.
"……!"
The Servant in black blocks my blow and jumps back.

"I can make it!"
There's nothing in my way now.
The Servant in black has retreated.
Now, all I have to do is go a few more meters and

Music: Stop



"Huh?"
My body falls.
Rather, I'm being pulled back.
My right arm hurts.
The pierced arm is being pulled by some force!?



That makes me realize.
The thing extending from her weapon.
The annoying sound of chains.
The sound of the chains moving.
The sound of the binding chains that I've heard since I came out of the building



Leave it to Shirou to not notice a giant, metal chain connected to his arm.

"Crap!"
I reach out for my right arm with my left, but it's too late.
The arm moves up by itself and is lifted up.







The Servant in black approaches.
I can't run away or fight now that I'm suspended in midair.

"You said I am inferior to other Servants?
…This is troubling. I cannot kill you until I correct that misunderstanding of yours."
…I'm like a sacrifice.
It's like the one put to the gallows in a Western movie.

The nail-like dagger is raised.
The Servant in black licks the tip of it.
"Let me see. I shall take those mistaken eyes of yours.
I shall take your remaining limbs afterwards."
She jumps lightly and appears right in front of me, who's suspended three meters above the ground.