Chapter 146 - Bigger Is Better!
Durandal, the legendary weapon of the paladin Roland, is one of the three great holy swords of Europe, rumored to house a Miracle.
The activation of a Miracle often requires a greater price in exchange, but the resulting outcome cannot be something entirely impossible.
For example, causing a person's heart to suddenly stop and die is something that has a probability of occurring. As long as the person using the Miracle can afford the price, the Miracle can manifest. However, causing the sun that rises from the East to rise from the West instead is impossible under the iron laws of physical rules, so no matter what price is paid, the Miracle probably cannot achieve it.
Fushiguro Megumi had previously witnessed Emiya use Durandal itself to exchange for the Miracle of communicating with Sukuna's soul inside Itadori Yuji, and the blade subsequently shattered. Originally, Fushiguro wanted to try asking Emiya if he could use a similar technique to awaken his comatose sister, but he temporarily gave up the idea after seeing the blade shatter.
Yet now, the other party suddenly told him... that this kind of Miracle can also be replicated?!
Thinking carefully, Emiya-sensei's words when using the Binding Vow seemed to indeed refer to 'this blade,' and his ability allows him to repeatedly create various weapons with special abilities... So, can it really be done this way? Is the Binding Vow truly such a useful thing?!
In that instant, Fushiguro Megumi felt Emiya had helped him open the door to a new world. The Shadow Technique, which allows for the arbitrary combination of ten types of Shadow Shikigami, is simply a perfect Cursed Technique. His Ten Shadows Technique seems completely capable of being bound and altered in the direction described by Emiya, and his strength is certain to undergo a radical transformation and growth in a short period.
But before that, there was one thing Fushiguro Megumi had to ask—
"Emiya-sensei, this Holy Sword... it can bring about a Miracle, right?
I want to try to use it to break the curse that has left my sister comatose. I don't care what the cost is.
Or, if possible, it would be even better if I could use this blade and pay the price myself..."
Fushiguro Megumi desperately wanted to awaken his sister, but he absolutely did not want Emiya, a good person, to pay that price in his stead. Even if he tried to compensate Emiya, he would still feel guilt. There is no need for others to pay any price; he simply wants to achieve what he wants to achieve by paying everything himself.
"What? There's absolutely no need to speak in such a pessimistic tone, Fushiguro.
As your teacher, I should naturally help my students resolve their difficulties. And... your sister is also technically a student at the Tokyo school, isn't she?
Once I've finished guiding the remaining few students, I can try to investigate her condition. If you absolutely must thank me, then try to perfect the Binding Vow I taught you and grow to become stronger.
It is the wish of every sensei to see their students grow into towering trees even taller than themselves."
Regardless of what other teachers think, whether they are merely fulfilling their duties or genuinely teaching, Emiya's thoughts are exactly like this. He is happy for his own progress and equally happy for his students' progress—after all, that is part of his own achievement.
"....Thank you very much, Emiya-sensei. I will definitely try to complete this Binding Vow and will absolutely not disappoint you."
Since the conversation had reached this point, any further evasion from Fushiguro Megumi would be excessive sentimentality. Clearly, even if he wanted to help Emiya achieve some goal, it must be after he successfully improves his own ability; otherwise, he will ultimately just be a burden.
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After sending Fushiguro Megumi back, Emiya successively called Panda and Inumaki Toge and provided tentative guidance to them. Compared to the other three, who more or less needed to change, the direction of improvement for these two was much simpler.
Panda, as a Cursed Corpse, has no Cursed Technique. His biggest feature is three different cores (forms), and he can use each core as a life that can be consumed once. Emiya has already seen the most gentle Panda core and the powerfully strong Gorilla core. According to Panda, the remaining core is the Triceratops core, which represents the form of his 'sister.' His sister's personality is quite introverted—the kind of internal disposition that would kill someone just for looking at her due to extreme shyness, so it's difficult to display directly.
Although this redefinition of introversion is a bit strange, the so-called "brother" and "sister" were actually what Yaga Masamichi told him after creating him. The memory after the form shift remains Panda's own, but the personality is forcibly changed. Emiya doesn't understand this method of creating sentient Cursed Corpses, and the opponent's strength is difficult to increase through training like a normal sorcerer, so the main direction of improvement is in technique.
Fist blades are, after all, a weapon that requires considerable skill and mental effort; without enough experience and guidance, they are difficult to master perfectly. The principles of "a foot longer is a foot stronger; a foot shorter is a foot riskier" still hold true.
Big swords and axes only need to be swung down mindlessly, but for us fist-blade players, there's a lot to consider: not only how to evade, but also constantly controlling the distance between the blades, and then seizing the opportunity to break through the range of long-handled weapons to attack. The operation level is maxed out.
Emiya originally provided this weapon only to enhance Panda's destructive power during attacks. Now, he can consider making a variable weapon that can simultaneously adapt to multiple cores, and it cannot rely too much on the hands. However, Panda only needs to specialize in the fist blade for the time being.
As for Inumaki Toge's Cursed Speech Cursed Technique, this technique is difficult to improve through special techniques; at most, one can try to refine the vocabulary used regularly to handle more situations.
Emiya's idea is to train him to be a close-combat specialist outside of his technique, which would maximize the effectiveness of his Cursed Technique. The greatest advantage of this technique is that it frees up the hands required for other Cursed Techniques. Therefore, Inumaki Toge can directly use Cursed Speech like 'Don't move' to control the opponent's actions while engaging in close combat, and then use a weapon for a decisive blow.
Or, if his close-combat skills become more proficient, he could use simple and highly effective Cursed Speech like 'Close your eyes' to gain an advantage.
The efficiency would definitely be raised exponentially compared to pure Cursed Speech attacks. Emiya originally wanted to give him a staff or a similar weapon, but after much deliberation, such weapons are too difficult to supplement Inumaki Toge's inherent lack of destructive power, so the weapon was ultimately switched to... a greatsword.
After all, the current goal is to pursue extreme damage.
Other knives require a long time to practice, but a greatsword only needs to be aimed at the opponent's weakness and swung down. The time gained by Cursed Speech is completely enough for Inumaki Toge to complete the charging and attacking steps. As long as the weapon is strong enough, a one-hit kill is not a problem.
Excluding Zen'in Maki and Itadori Yuji, Inumaki Toge already has the best physical constitution among the students. Therefore, Emiya perfectly upheld the principle that bigger is better and decided to forge a sufficiently lethal blade.
Hmm, two meters long, fifty centimeters wide. That should be enough. Or perhaps pair it with two modern spears?
With this, the problems of most students have been solved. The only one remaining is... Itadori Yuji.
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