"Damn! Shinji is really going too far this time!"
Several magi at the club were also badly startled. As top students in the study of the occult, they were supposed to be well-informed and possess strong nerves.
After all, some of the things they encounter while researching magecraft are far more terrifying than a mere skeleton.
However, no matter how strong one's nerves are, they're still susceptible to sudden scares.
When that skeletal mask suddenly flashed across the screen, everyone instinctively leaned back in fright.
"Great, that white mask scared my drowsiness away—what a wake-up call."
Fujita grinned nervously, patting his chest repeatedly.
Due to the replica armor he had at home, Fujita was arguably the one least resistant to Hassan's appearance in the room.
"Hoo—"
Even Alice secretly felt a hint of nervousness.
Fortunately, as a master of expression management, she quickly adjusted her demeanor before anyone noticed her panic.
"The horror movie vibe from the first episode is back," Alice calmly commented.
Since the first episode, Shinji had refrained from adding any jump-scare elements in the HF series.
Although eerie background music was used during the appearance of the "Shadow" and the scenes in the worm pit, they were still within an acceptable range for viewers.
However, the sudden jump scare just now reminded everyone of the heart-pounding thrill they experienced during the first episode.
In fact, Shinji had only planned a single jump scare for this entire episode.
But precisely because of this, the rare, unexpected scare left a stronger impression on the audience.
Nevertheless, Hassan on screen wasn't about to wait for the viewers to recover before taking action.
Upon appearing, Hassan slightly raised his left hand—
Clink!
Before the black dagger could pierce Shirou Emiya's forehead, it was deflected by someone.
It was Kotomine Kirei!
Despite still holding Illya, he managed to react in the nick of time.
"What an eyesore," Kirei said with a frown.
"You didn't show up when we infiltrated earlier, but now you've come uninvited when we're busiest."
After weighing the pros and cons, Kirei suddenly tossed Illya to Shirou.
"What are you doing?! Is that how you treat a lady?!"
Illya complained indignantly as she was barely caught by Shirou.
Unfortunately, her words were completely ignored by the fake priest.
"I'll leave Illya to you. That guy is mine. As a priest, it's routine for me to exorcise evil spirits."
With that, Kirei deftly parried three black daggers thrown by the Assassin using his Black Keys.
"Kirei—"
Shirou was initially conflicted about this apparent betrayal, but hearing the beast's roar behind him, he quickly made up his mind.
"We're leaving now, Kirei!"
Without hesitation, Shirou, holding Illya tightly, began sprinting with all his strength.
Before long, their red silhouettes vanished into the depths of the forest.
This could have been a moving farewell—a supporting character sacrificing hope for survival to create an opportunity for the protagonists.
However, most of the audience didn't find the scene touching, likely because the one saying goodbye was Kotomine Kirei.
As one of the few truly irredeemable villains in the FSN storyline, Kirei had been making viewers uncomfortable since his first appearance.
"If it's that fake priest, it'd be better if he just dies sooner."
In the temporary screening room, Illya quietly muttered, clearly unimpressed.
Even though she knew how the story would unfold, she couldn't help but cheer for the skull-faced assassin.
After all—
"Damn it, during the filming of that scene, the stench on that fake priest nearly killed me!"
Illya puffed up her cheeks in frustration.
Since this scene required Kirei to carry Illya throughout, she had to endure being in his arms the entire time.
Kirei wasn't a pervert—he acted entirely professionally during the shoot.
But Illya simply couldn't stand the overwhelming smell emanating from him. Whether it was because he carried too much tofu or ate too much mapo tofu, the scent of spices clung to him like an aura.
Throughout the shoot, Illya's nose was filled with an overpowering spice odor.
Never before had Illya been so annoyed by someone. That mapo priest was truly one of a kind.
"Do you dislike him that much?"
Akiha, unaware of what had transpired on set, blinked curiously and asked.
"Of course," Illya replied with a serious expression. "If it weren't for the script, I would've scratched him just to give Brother Yan Qing a chance to finish him off."
Shirou immediately objected, "Don't bother. Brother Yan Qing wouldn't do that."
"Ugh, how boring."
Illya pouted in frustration. She knew Yan Qing wouldn't act that way, but her brother's attitude was still disappointing.
At this point, shouldn't a proper brother rush over to beat up that mapo priest?
Sadly, her brother was too mild-mannered to do something so undignified.
'If only Shinji were my brother. He'd definitely stand up for me.'
Illya thought angrily.
Standing beside her, Shirou could somewhat guess her thoughts. Instead of arguing, he smiled faintly.
'Illya, you probably don't know that it was Shinji's idea to make Kirei smell like spices. It was all to help you act out your dislike for him.'
Shirou shrugged slightly. His little sister was still too naive, getting completely played by Shinji.
'Next time, I should find a chance to teach her more about the bitterness of reality.'
Shirou suppressed a laugh, thinking. Like Shinji, teasing one's little sister was one of the greatest joys of being an older brother.
Besides, Shirou was glad he had one advantage over Shinji.
'At least Illya isn't as violent as Sakura. I win this round, Shinji.'
Ah-choo!
Shinji sneezed without knowing why.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Despite Illya's wish for Kirei to get humiliated on screen, it didn't happen. The fight between Kirei and the Hassan of the Cursed Arm only lasted a few minutes.
Not because the fight ended quickly, but because the camera switched to Shirou's perspective.
The following extended action sequence alternates between Kirei and Shirou's viewpoints.
Shinji carefully intercut both battles during editing to create a balanced pace.
The styles of the two battles—Kotomine Kirei vs. Hassan of the Cursed Arm, and Shirou Emiya vs. Heracles—are completely different. The former is a graceful and agile fight, while the latter is a brute-force clash.
To avoid visual fatigue for the audience, Shinji naturally decided to alternate between the two. Therefore, after Kotomine Kirei forced Zouken Matou out of hiding, the scene transitioned back to Shirou Emiya.
At this point, Shirou was sprinting through the forest, carrying Illya in his arms, desperately trying to escape. The scene resembled the game Temple Run that Shinji had played on his smartphone before he transmigrated.
Unfortunately, Shirou, being a human, was clearly no match for a Servant. Even though he was running for his life, he could still feel the wild presence behind him closing in.
"Ah—ah—ah—" Shirou gasped for breath, barely able to keep going.
He didn't want to stop, but he knew one thing—if he stopped, he would die!
At this moment, the only thing Shirou could do was transform his fear and exhaustion into fuel, burning his inner engine to keep moving at high speed.
"■■■——!!"
Another furious roar echoed, this time right beside Shirou's ear.
"Shirou, stop now!"
Sensing imminent danger, Illya screamed.
But Shirou's body reacted even faster than her warning.
"Trace—On!"
Shirou skidded to a sudden stop, planting his feet firmly on the ground. With one arm holding Illya, he stretched out his other hand.
"Begin!"
A golden knight's sword appeared in Shirou's hand, and the magic circuits beneath his red bandages lit up.
In the original game script, Shirou was supposed to use the Black Keys that Kirei had given him during this battle. However, Shinji felt there was no need to show such a one-time-use weapon and potentially confuse the audience, as it was merely a cameo reference to Tsukihime.
Black Keys were Kirei's signature weapon, and the audience had already seen them in Fate/Zero.
As for Shirou, projection magecraft was the way to go.
"Ahhhhh——!"
Feeling the wind slicing toward him from the side, Shirou mustered all his strength and charged forward—
Bam!
Shirou's body was sent flying like a rubber ball, and Illya, whom he had been holding, was also thrown out.
Shirou's seemingly flawless projected knight's sword was utterly useless against the giant beast, shattered like a lollipop with a single swipe.
By the time Shirou regained consciousness, he had already flown dozens of meters away, landing like a javelin.
If it weren't for the reinforcement provided by Archer's arm, this single blow would have left Shirou bedridden for the rest of his life—assuming he survived the encounter and didn't end up reporting to Tiger Dojo in the afterlife.
"Ugh, ouch… Why am I always the one getting hurt…"
Shirou's complaints ceased as he stood up, because he finally got a clear look at his enemy.
Previously, due to Berserker's slow movement, Kotomine Kirei had speculated that something was wrong. His theory was partially correct but not entirely accurate.
At this point, Berserker's features had become so distorted that his eyes, nose, and mouth were barely distinguishable.
In fact, the only relatively intact parts of Berserker were his glowing red eyes, which radiated killing intent, unmistakably resembling eyes.
Aside from that, Berserker's body was either covered in black mud or exposed, with crimson muscle visible—wounds inflicted by Saber Alter that hadn't healed.
Just by looking at him, it was clear that this monster was no longer the Berserker they knew but a creature solely meant for destruction.
"■■■——!!"
With a roar, the black beast raised its axe-sword and slashed down—
The screen went black.
"Damn it, Heracles!"
Shinji, sitting in the front row, angrily stood up and turned to complain to Heracles.
"How many times have I told you, stop blocking the projector!"
"■??"
Heracles, who had accidentally blocked the projector while passing through the aisle, innocently bit into a chunk of beef.
<+>
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