You call this a projection?

Rumble————!!

A deafening explosion rang out once more.

Flames and dust billowed. Under Polnareff’s miraculous swordsmanship, at the moment he controlled [Silver Chariot] to flick up those explosive rapier blades, he had already determined their landing coordinates. They were flung with pinpoint accuracy to surround Shirou Emiya.

Once the explosion successfully occurred, Shirou Emiya’s vision would be completely enveloped by layers of blooming fire, smoke, and dust.

This was Polnareff’s battle plan!

Furthermore!

—”The turbulent air currents generated by the explosion will also disrupt the perception of the life-detecting flames. Just like how a lighter’s flame has difficulty igniting an object when it’s windy... is that what you’re thinking?”

Was he anxious? No.

Even though he realized this was Polnareff’s strategy—intended to neutralize his life-detector perception—Shirou Emiya’s heart remained calm and composed. Or rather, while this method might work against conventional fire, it wouldn’t work against a Stand!

—”Fire is sensitive to the flow of air. That is why Avdol was able to use this principle to develop a life-detector that can sense the air currents from a living being’s breathing, thereby locking onto the opponent’s position.”

—”And in the current situation, I indeed can no longer lock onto your position through your breathing, Polnareff, or the air currents from [Silver Chariot’s] attacks.”

—”However, no matter how you change the flow of air, you cannot hide the energy that a Stand automatically emits.”

Can no longer perceive the air currents? Then he wouldn’t use them!

Shirou Emiya directly shut off his air-current perception, turning his focus entirely toward the sensing of Stand energy. He would locate [Silver Chariot] and, by extension, lock onto Polnareff’s position!

Except...

One, two, four, eight...!?

Through the life-detecting flames, the Stand energy signatures Shirou Emiya could perceive actually exceeded eight! This was more than the number of Stand users on their side plus Polnareff and Cameo combined!?

What’s more, in Shirou’s perception, every individual Stand energy entity appearing within this fifteen-meter radius was lunging toward him at a speed no slower than [Silver Chariot].

This was clearly impossible!

—”Intentionally creating this explosion wasn’t just because you wanted to block my perception of air currents, Polnareff. Did you actually plan to block my sight as well from the very beginning?”

What exactly had Polnareff done? For a moment, Shirou Emiya truly didn’t know.

But there was one thing Shirou was certain of: these Stand energy signatures that suddenly appeared in his perception hadn’t entered the fifteen-meter range from the outside. They had manifested directly within it.

Because Shirou had kept his life-detector active and covered his entire body with these special flames to respond to [Silver Chariot’s] ultra-high-speed attacks, he was positive that there hadn’t been this much Stand energy within his range previously.

The only explanation was that Polnareff had done something using [Silver Chariot]. And the answer to the mystery was likely something very simple—a small trick that required Polnareff to use a series of visual obstructions to ensure it wouldn’t be discovered.

Instead of falling into confusion over how the number of Stand signatures had suddenly increased, Shirou Emiya thought in reverse about the purpose of Polnareff’s prior actions. He quickly discovered the inconsistency.

—”In other words, most of these Stand energy signatures I’m suddenly sensing are fakes.”

—”They were all created to interfere with my perception, making it impossible for me to lock onto the real [Silver Chariot] hidden among them.”

Realizing Polnareff’s intent, Shirou Emiya quickly surmised his goal. He could even guess what Polnareff would do next.

The only question was... should he commit to this guess and provide a response and countermeasure based on it?

If he guessed right, it went without saying: Shirou Emiya would have absolute confidence in defeating Polnareff in one fell swoop!

But if he guessed wrong... without a doubt, Shirou Emiya would be stepping right into Polnareff’s trap.

Could Shirou Emiya make that decision?

Absolutely. With ease!

Shirou Emiya had come here for this very reason. How could he possibly shrink back now?

”Come at me, Polnareff!!”

-

-

-

On the other side.

Just as Shirou Emiya had perceived, Polnareff was sprinting toward him. Was he truly doing what Shirou suspected—using a method to make Shirou sense a large amount of Stand energy to jam the life-detector?

The answer was... indeed.

And it was a method that Shirou Emiya would have recognized at a glance if his vision hadn’t been obscured by the explosion.

It was nothing more than [Silver Chariot] shedding its armor. By combining the impact force of the ”armor-off” with Polnareff’s swordsmanship, he had successfully thrown the pieces toward Shirou from all directions simultaneously.

Since the armor of [Silver Chariot] is fundamentally a part of the Stand, the pieces naturally carried Stand energy, which Shirou Emiya would then perceive.

Polnareff was exploiting exactly that. Through the multi-angled offensive of both [Silver Chariot] and the propelled armor pieces, he ensured that Shirou could not immediately perceive his position or react to his attack.

This was the method Polnareff had painstakingly devised to deal with the life-detecting flames.

Undoubtedly, his method was a success.

But by the same token, how would Polnareff respond to Shirou Emiya’s next move after seeing through the trick?

Polnareff, who was about to reach Shirou thanks to his post-armor-off speed boost and the numerical interference, suddenly heard a loud boom.

Surging flames erupted violently from beneath Shirou Emiya’s feet.

This wasn’t meant to drive Polnareff away. Or rather, against Polnareff’s swordsmanship which could cut even fire, [Pseudo-Magician’s Red’s] fire attacks could only be used to drain Polnareff’s stamina; they couldn’t deliver a decisive blow.

Therefore, this fire wasn’t prepared for Polnareff. It was prepared for Shirou Emiya himself!

Using the principle of rocket propulsion, Shirou Emiya was now outputting flames downward to drive his body directly into the sky.

That’s right. In this battlefield specially created by Polnareff, Shirou Emiya indeed couldn’t sense where [Silver Chariot] was. But wouldn’t it be fine as long as he left this battlefield and escaped the vision-obscuring environment caused by the explosion?

”Jet-propulsion flight!?

Just how many Stand abilities do you have left that you haven’t used yet, you bastard?”

Looking at the soaring Shirou Emiya, even Polnareff—controlled as he was by the vampire flesh bud—couldn’t help but exclaim.

There was no other reason; Shirou Emiya had simply taken the ability to control fire to an extreme level of versatility. From the basic release of flames, to freezing by absorbing heat, to the life-detection that had once left him scratching his head, and finally to this jet flight.

Compared to most Stands that have only one or two abilities—or simply no special ability at all—the list of traits for [Magician’s Red] was simply too luxurious.

”However!”

He didn’t back down. On the contrary, Polnareff, catching up from behind, used an ascent speed far faster than Shirou’s to likewise soar into the high altitude:

”This kind of flight—I can do it too!”

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