"My friend? Aha, don't worry about him. If you're gonna worry about anyone, worry about the guy in blue! From where I come from, my guy's considered the number one strongest! Almost nothing can touch him!" The young man said enthusiastically, as though this was all in the bag. Archer gave the blonde boy a skeptical look, as though the thought of Lancer being forced onto the defensive was a difficult one to imagine, but didn't say anything, letting him continue speaking,
"The name's Tsuchimikado by the way-nya. I've heard about Tohsaka, but not about you. Guessin' you're some sort of guardian?"
Meanwhile, Rin silently went to work, the pendant shining brightly as she did her stuff, pressing it against where Shirou's heart would be. Mana was what fueled the body in this kind of world. One could almost call it "life energy" if they wanted to be cheesy about it, but it wouldn't exactly be inaccurate. Coming into contact with this kind of energy usually worked out well as long as it was pure or raw, but... well, "raw" mana was something some preferred to not take, and something others couldn't live without.
Let's just say I'd rather not talk about the financially struggling mages that live off selling their "raw mana in a jar."
"C'mon... work, damn it! You have to live! For her sake!"
That was right. Shirou was a good friend of someone important to Rin... She wouldn't be able to stand it if he would be gone. His death was something that could not stick around.
From the other side of the building, a loud explosion rocked the building a bit.
"Heh, that must be my guy at work," the young man named Tsuchimikado said with his usual cocky grin.
- - -
"Alright, then!" Lancer exclaimed, getting into position,
"You've forced my hand! I wanted to save this for a more heated fight, but like a rat trapped in the corner, I gotta do what I gotta do!"
Even though his Master had only sent him to scout the area and play around a bit, he couldn't back down now. A Heroic Spirit had heroic pride. He had to finish this fight out of principle.
The spear began to glow as Lancer began to charge his attack, whatever it was.
"Stick around and you'll see the extent of my power! I'll be taking your heart now! Gae Bolg!" He began to say, before quickly thrusting the spear forward, the weapon brimming with a strange power that was difficult to ascertain. It wasn't unlike magical energy, but it was something even a number of other Servants might have trouble identifying the origin of.
Either way, the albino young man kept his guard up. Ever since a previous encounter with a humiliatingly tough opponent, he had learned not to underestimate his foes, no matter how good his conventional defense was.
As the spear was thrust forward, something almost resembling a laser or energy beam would appear, heading straight for the young man! This phenomena was known as Gae Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death. Originating from Irish mythology, in short, it is the kind of "unavoidable attack" that targets a person's heart and will move even at impossible angles if it meant hitting its mark.
It determines the opponent's fate simply through its use, an always fatal move that pierces the heart with one thrust. It is also possible for him to activate it without actively striking the heart. It is an attack on destiny itself, enough to challenge the authority of the gods. This was the Noble Phantasm, or rather, one of the trump cards that Lancer had under his belt. In short, the unstoppable attack that one had no way of avoiding or countering.
However, there was one problem.
Physics, while a popular scientific study, isn't strictly science. Simply put, it was the work of things in motion, and like many concrete things, most magic worked on physics as well.
Ever since a certain earlier incident involving a fantastical world called Hyrule, the young man was able to identify all sorts of magic and whatnot when he was normally unable to. His own power, Redirection, easily reflected the vector of anything that would come towards him. If a punch would be thrown at him, the force of the punch would be negated and sent right back at the attacker. If someone were to try to shoot him with a bullet, the bullet would bounce off and be sent right back at the shooter with the same force and speed as when it was flying towards him. And so on. Not even less concrete things like gases could affect him.
It was one of the powers that the young man known as Accelerator had.
So there was the problem. An unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
An attack that challenged destiny to hit the target's heart no matter what clashed with a defense that protected against anything no matter what.
A paradox like this never ended well.
BOOM.
