Chinese martial arts are profound and extensive, with various schools and techniques emerging one after another, but if you ask which one is most admired by foreigners, especially the Japanese, the answer is no doubt - "Bajiquan".
Whether it is the two-dimensional or three-dimensional world, the Japanese love Bajiquan very much, and Kotomine Risei is no exception. After sixty years of practicing Bajiquan, he has reached the realm of "seeking the truth".
Kotomine Kirei learned from his father and had profound attainments in "Bajiquan". After being trained by the "Agent", Kirei was even better than his father in killing people with Bajiquan.
There has always been a saying in the Chinese martial arts community that "Tai Chi can bring peace to the world, while Bajiquan can determine the outcome of the world." This shows how powerful and domineering Bajiquan is.
Shinji was sure that if Kirei punched him hard, he would be killed even if he prepared protective magic in advance.
Don't let him get close to you!
Shinji continued to rush forward while injecting magic power into the slingshot in his hand.
When Justisa modified the slingshot, she added a design similar to the church's black keys, which could generate a semi-solid object made of magic power. Combined with the Y-shaped bow body, it looked like a peculiarly shaped dagger.
According to legend, Perseus's snake-hunting sickle also had a straight and curved blade. When constructing the ritual, Justisia specially incorporated the shape of an ancient Greek dagger.
"Strengthen your arms!"
As Shinji chanted in a low voice, the blade solidified by magic power and the sword blade generated by magic power collided with each other.
The force transmitted from the blade is extremely strong. If Shinji had fixed the "handle" to his arm with a strap in advance, the "short sword" would immediately slip out of his hand.
Although he managed to keep the "tankatana", Shinji still paid a heavy price by dislocating his wrist.
Shinji, who finally opened a breakthrough, ignored the pain and staggered forward.
How could Kotomine Kirei be willing to let go of the prey that was so close to his hand? He took a breath and took a step forward to cover the distance that would take an ordinary person five or six steps.
This is a way of sliding on the ground silently to approach the enemy, which is called "live step" and is also one of the dangerous secret techniques of Bajiquan.
Kirei, who had adjusted his body to the best condition, slid like the god of death, rapidly shortening the distance between the two of them, and it seemed that he would catch up in a few seconds.
At this moment, Shinji bent and stretched the thumb of his right hand, and a silver bullet shot out to the back.
Before Kotomine Kirei could respond, the silver bullet exploded in mid-air, and a white light more dazzling than the midday sun passed over Kirei who raised one hand, and covered the entire thirty-eighth floor.
Kirei, who was the first to be hit, had his vision taken away by the white light. He groaned and stopped, switching from an aggressive offensive posture to a defensive one.
A master of his level can fight by relying on hearing and breath perception even if he temporarily loses his vision.
Shinji secretly said it was a pity. If Kotomine Kirei continued to pursue, he could use the special effects of his cloak and sickle to make him suffer a great loss, but Kirei, who was extremely experienced in combat, always remained calm and did not leave any chance for him to take advantage of.
"As expected of a big boss in FSN world line, he is really powerful."
Shinji took a last look at Kotomine Kirei, who was holding a black key in one hand and a fist in the other, in an offensive and defensive posture, then turned around and jumped down from the elevator.
Hisau Maiya, who was injured by Kotomine Kirei, had already taken advantage of the gap between Shinji and Kotomine Kirei's fight to leave this dangerous place. With her understanding of Emiya Kiritsugu, when Shinji showed the laser sight, she knew that the reinforcement was not Kiritsugu - that man's marksmanship did not require the use of this kind of close-range night combat auxiliary equipment.
When Kotomine Kirei regained his vision, he was the only one left in the entire Fuyuki Center Building. This powerful agent did not rush to leave. He first carefully smoothed the wrinkles on his monastic robes, then walked to the place where Shinji had first appeared to observe and think carefully.
Not long after, he seemed to have discovered something, and he took two side steps to hide behind a pillar. His movements and steps were exactly the same as Shinji's when he was dodging Black Key.
The sidestep was just the beginning. Next, Kirei imitated Shinji's rolling, counterattacking, deflecting the black keys, and throwing flash bombs.
Except for the slingshot firing silver bullets, which was misunderstood by Kirei as shooting a pistol, the rest of the imitations were almost perfect.
Finally, Kirei stood at the elevator entrance where Shinji disappeared, his narrow but thick eyebrows furrowing tighter and tighter.
"All the movements are restored, but I always feel like something is wrong... Emiya Kiritsugu..."
Kotomine Kirei was not the only one who was troubled by Shinji's deliberate confusion, but also Emiya Kiritsugu who had just reunited with Hisau Maiya.
After hearing something unusual from the cell phone, Emiya Kiritsugu rushed to the central building as quickly as possible. He wanted to use smoke bombs and magic to support Maiya, but he didn't expect that Maiya had already escaped.
Kiritsugu, who learned what happened from Maiya, had the same expression as Kotomine Kirei.
"Why did the agent of the Holy Church target me? And why did that mysterious man save you?"
"There's not enough information to make a judgement." Maiya knew Kiritsugu was asking herself, but she still answered because she was a part of Kiritsugu.
"Go and investigate. Use all your intelligence networks to investigate. Especially that agent. I have a feeling that he will be the biggest threat to me in this Holy Grail War."
Even though he didn't know Kotomine Kirei's identity, Emiya Kiritsugu still gave the former the greatest attention. The two of them were like the two poles of a magnet, hostile to each other but also attracted to each other.
Shinji, who was separated from the others by a wall, listened to the two people's voices gradually fading away, and once again confirmed the fact that Emiya Kiritsugu was unaware of the existence of Kotomine Kirei, and drew his own conclusions based on the information revealed by Kiritsugu and Maiya.
Kiritsugu is a thorough pragmatist. His goal is to win the Holy Grail War, and everything he does revolves around this core.
Because of the intrusion of the time traveler Butterfly, Kotomine Kirei did not become the Master, and was hidden by Tōsaka Tokiomi as a secret weapon and ignored by Emiya Kiritsugu.
On the contrary, Kotomine Kirei, the son of Kotomine Risei and Tōsaka Tokiomi's secret assistant, had already known about the existence of Emiya Kiritsugu and had become interested in him, which led to tonight's big drama.
Shinji didn't know if Kiritsugu would be able to save Maiya at the critical moment like in the original world line if he hadn't intervened, and whether the situation would become uncontrollable - fortunately, there is no if -
The airflow caused by the butterfly was offset by the butterfly itself, and the world line was restored.
The next time we meet, both sides will be fully prepared.
Shinji thought so, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously, but was interrupted by the pain in his wrist, and finally froze into a strange expression.
"This is a mantis stalking a cicada, with the oriole behind and the slingshot below. In the end, the cicada survived, the mantis survived, the oriole was intact, and my slingshot also completed the test - is this a happy ending for everyone?"
Shinji gritted his teeth and used magic to reconnect his wrist.
"Pah, I'm not happy at all. It hurts me so much."