The world is burning.
This is of course just a metaphor.
But at this moment, in the eyes of the four people in the deep mountains outside Fuyuki City, the world was burning, as if the end of the world had come.
The rolling flames engulfed the surrounding trees like a tsunami, devouring the wooden house in the center, endlessly and without stopping.
Burn, burn, burn.
The feast of flames dyed the night sky a fiery red for a long time, leaving the entire world with only one color.
No, that's not it.
Although it looks inconspicuous and difficult to detect, there is indeed a different color in the center of the world of fire.
Black, deep black, darker than the night.
No matter how the flames attack, the black color can never be swallowed up.
When the fire subsided a little, the black area immediately began to expand outward.
It looks like a black waterfall, or like the rushing torrent of the Weiyuan River.
Mud and water splashed and surged, and wherever they passed, flames never stopped. It was more effective than the fire extinguishers in the hands of professional firefighters.
In the very center of the darkness, three tall figures in black stood up straight, and their gloomy gazes pierced through the obstruction of the sea of fire and shot directly into the faces of three of the four people at the edge of the sea of fire.
One gaze corresponds to one person.
"Your fire cannot overcome my chaos."
Nero Chaos, the master of "Chaos", said to the old man with white hair and beard.
"Hand over the Command Seals."
Standing at the forefront of the "chaos" current, Roa stared at Shirou who was behind the old man.
"Surrender, Ryougi Shiki."
Standing behind the turbid current, Araya Soren's goal remains unchanged: the woman who is close to death and connected to the "root".
"This, this can't defeat them?"
Shirou, a young boy who was not yet an adult and had not officially entered society, shuddered involuntarily.
The old man remained calm and analyzed calmly: "Well, it seems that the other party's 'chaos' is the real thing, and it is not something that my fire can devour."
"If fire doesn't work, I'll use a knife." Shiki said, taking a stance of Iai, "Old man, help me clear the way. As long as I can get close, I can kill them."
"You can, but I don't think you can succeed." The old man shook his head slowly. "The enemy is well aware of your abilities. The previous attack was obviously intended to limit your performance. I'm afraid that what they are doing now is also to lure you into a trap - you are doing this, which is exactly what they want."
"Yes, what the old man said is right." The little girl who was most closely protected by the old man, Shirou, and Shiki, Ryougi Mina, said, "Mom has no chance of winning. There seems to be something hidden near those three bad guys. It feels to me that it is more dangerous than Mom's eyes and the old man's knife."
"Then, what should we do?" Shirou panicked.
What happened recently has been challenging his nerves. He was born into a family of swordsmiths with a long history. All the elders in the family, including his father, were swordsmiths, and the tradition has been passed down to him for 27 generations. He started learning sword forging at the age of seven, and when he was seventeen, he had learned enough. His father gave him a trial according to the family tradition, requiring him to forge a famous sword independently.
So he left his hometown of Ise alone and returned to Fuyuki where he lived in his childhood. He built a two-room hut in an uninhabited mountain and devoted himself to forging swords.
The accident happened at this time.
One day, he accidentally injured his hand while forging, and blood dripped into the forge, which somehow emitted a strong light and then exploded.
When he recovered from the impact of the explosion, he saw an old man appearing in the place where the forge was, and was commenting on the semi-finished products he had made.
The temperature was not high enough, the force was uneven, the forging times were insufficient, and there were problems with the materials - he criticized the work that he was originally quite satisfied with for many things.
Shirou, who was young and hot-headed and was inexplicably hit by a bomb, became angry at the time and started arguing with the old man directly. He also announced his name as "the 27th generation Senko Muramasa", hoping to use his family history to increase his weight.
Unexpectedly, it didn't matter if Shirou didn't say his number. As soon as he said his number, the old man got angry and knocked Shirou to the ground with a half-finished knife blank.
"Why did you hit me?" Shirou asked.
"Do you know who I am?" the old man squatted in front of him and asked with a cold face.
"I don't know." Shirou shook his head instinctively, stunned.
"The name you used was originally mine. Your level is so low, yet you still dare to use the name of Sengo Muramasa. Do you think I have the qualifications to hit you?"
Shirou certainly didn't believe what the old man said. The first generation of Senko Village was from the Warring States Period, how could he still be alive
The old man who called himself Sengo Muramasa said that he was dead, but celebrities like him would become heroic spirits after death, and sometimes they would come to the world in special ways. Then he explained the concepts of the Holy Grail War, Masters, and Servants to Shirou - looking at his stupid look and the strange way he summoned him just now, it was clear that he summoned himself purely by accident.
Shirou was confused again. Senko Muramasa was able to forge the legendary "Demon Sword Muramasa" in his youth, so the family he founded could not be just an ordinary family. Shirou had seen many mysteries over the years as his father forged knives for various Japanese families. But the existence of mythical beings such as Heroic Spirits, Servants, and Holy Grails was still far beyond his imagination. Even though the old man taught him to read the job description, parameters, real name, etc. through the master-servant contract, he still found it difficult to accept.
Of course, Shirou finally accepted the reality, because the old man used the unique method of a swordsmith - he forged Shirou's semi-finished sword blank into a sword on the spot. It took less than half an hour, but he made a work that Shirou's father, the 26th generation Senko Muramasa, could not reach.
Throwing the knife in front of Shirou, the old man asked, "Do you want to learn?"
"Yes, of course." Shirou nodded hurriedly. He truly loved the profession of swordsmith.
The old man smiled and twirled his beard: "Your level is not good, but your attitude is good. Since you are so sincere, I will kneel down and become your disciple."
"Ah?" The sudden surprise made Shirou stunned for the third time.
The old man frowned and said, "Why, you don't want to?"
"Yes, of course. But, according to seniority, you should be my ancestor, so..."
"According to your status, you are still my master. There is no need to worry about these nonsense. If you are willing, kneel down and become my disciple. If you are not willing, get out of here."
Having said that, Shirou didn't know what to say, so he knelt down and kowtowed respectfully.
"Master, please accept my disciple's greetings."
"Okay, from today on, you are my disciple." The old man's style was as straightforward as the swords he forged. "Although I don't know how much time I have, I will try my best to teach you everything I know. How much you can learn depends on your ability. Start with the most basic material selection. Go to the warehouse."
"Yes, Master."
Thus, the old man and the young began to practice forging enthusiastically day and night.