Wrought King of Iron

Chapter 33: White Knight Blood (I)

Death.

The hundreds, no, thousands of scenarios I can envision all end in the next second with my death.

It wasn't as if he was so incredibly strong that he shattered my blade in an instant. Rather, it was as if there was no resistance to his swing in the first place. There was no clash of might. His sword seamlessly and cleanly cut through my blade as if it was made of paper- no, even holding paper, I would have felt the slightest of power from his strike. But I didn't.

It is a blade that can cut through anything.

That was the only conclusion I could come to, and if so, then there was nothing I could do to block his blade. No point even trying to use Rho Aias if resistance doesn't so much as exist against his blade.

I can't get hit. His blade will cleave through my neck and I'll die. I need to evade it. I need to get away.

That one thought was at the forefront of my mind, but even if the vampire before me wasn't fundamentally strong in a conventional sense, he was insanely fast. Even if I used mana to enhance my body, I wouldn't have the speed to evade.

It was all futile. My outburst of anger was futile, if I won't have a chance to follow up on it. Passing those trials were all futile. All that training with Zelretch was in vain. Surviving the grail war was worthless. The life that Kiritsugu saved, was pointless. After all, I can't achieve anything if I'm dead. I can't save anyone, and I never have.

No!

It didn't take me long to give up. Not because I was weak-willed, but so disappointed in my weakness. To lose a battle in one hit would be shameful, to myself mostly. 

However, I remembered something. My father may not have taught me magecraft, but Kiritsugu was a true magus, at least to me. Not just in spirit either. He may not have shown me any of his magic before, because he lacked the physical strength to do so. But I have seen them. Not in person, but I have observed and tried to use it. After all, Kaleidoscope is an ability that transcends space and time. I saw it. Kiritsugu's magic.

Time Alter: Double Accel

The world slowed down to half its usual speed. No, it was just that I had sped up to twice the speed. The sword that was about to cut my throat at unimaginable speed slowed down just enough. Just enough for me to save my self.

Barely managing to dodge in time, I slid under his blade, which cut through several strands of my hair. His eyes seemed to widen out of surprise, as he had full confidence in that one swing. I quickly jumped backwards, and deactivated the spell. Though, because of adrenaline, I had not noticed the immense pain in that single short moment, after I generated distance, I was hit by it all at once.

Using the technique of my father, I had managed to dodge that fatal strike. Using my own body as a reality marble, I sped up my internal time by two times, allowing me to act two times faster. However, because a reality marble affects the world and distorts it, in turn the world fights back, and tries to crush the invasion of falsehood that is a reality marble. The pain came from being crushed by the will of the world.

'Impressive for someone as weak as you.' Svelten smirked as he said that, possibly pleased that the fight didn't end there.

Trying not to show weakness, I stood up straight, resisting the urge to yell in pain, and shouted, 'What the hell is that cutlass?'

Bringing his blade up to his face, he, stared intently at it, and smiled. Dragging his finger along the side of its edge, he said, 'So you noticed there is something special about it. Good intuition. This sword has a special ability indeed, that reduced your sword to smithereens. Now, I wonder whether you truly grasp what it it is? And I'm no fool to tell you my secret if you don't already know, but allow me to demonstrate what you have surmised.'