Chapter 33 - Miracle
Miracles only happen to those who believe in them.
Well, although they have cleared the minimum conditions for survival, the situation remains hopeless.
Me and Illyasviel.
Anyone who doesn't know anything about magic would say I'm the winner. They might even call me a coward or a scumbag, and throw empty cans and stones at me. That's how big the difference in our physiques is.
But I really wasn't feeling optimistic at all.
If he was asked to fight the bear in place of this little girl, he would probably jump in. That is how great the difference in strength is between magicians and non-magicians.
Before the Holy Grail War began in earnest, I had a mock battle with Medea. During that time, I couldn't even get her to walk, let alone touch her. Of course, that was when Medea went easy on me.
To be honest, if an ordinary human were to challenge a magician, the difficulty level would be no different from clearing a Final Fantasy game without saving. In other words, it's impossible if you think about it normally.
But I know. The idiot who defeated Neo Exdeath at level 7. From the opening to the ending, it was five hours. No, this is irrelevant.
Well, just because it's tough doesn't mean you should give up. It doesn't matter if you can do something you have to do. That's what my respected hero said. By the way, it's a secret that it was a comedy part.
Holding the knife in front of him, he shook his left arm, relaxing the muscles. As he did so, he called out to Illyasviel.
"Hey, do you know what a desert needle is?"
"...What is that?"
"Well, if you don't know, that's fine."
As soon as the line finished, he collapsed and ran off.
What do you think you should do when you are fighting an opponent who is no match for you no matter how hard you try, and when you really want to beat that opponent?
This is a line that the protagonist was told by his master in a flashback in an old light novel I read a long time ago.
The young protagonist replied that he didn't know. The master, with a mischievous smile on his face, told him:
(I told you, cheating, Mr. Childman!)
He lowers his body and sprints, crawling along the ground.
It's hard to believe I'm running at such a speed with just my legs. In my enhanced state, I can run 100 meters in under 5 seconds. I'm amazed, it's faster than Master Roshi.
Swing your left arm while running.
Seeing Tokarev leap out from under her sleeve, Illyasviel showed a look of disappointment.
Do you really think that kind of toy will work?
(Or so you think.)
Of course, that wouldn't work. In the first place, this is a genuine toy that can only shoot BB bullets.
He raised his left arm and pretended to point the gun, then threw it over his head.
Illyasviel reflexively followed it with her eyes, and missed the sight of something else rolling out from under my left sleeve.
Dot
There was the sound of something heavy hitting the damp earth. Attracted by the sound, Illyasviel now looked down. Immediately afterwards, there was an explosion of light.
Riot suppressionFlashbang GrenadeFlash Grenade.
This is one of the items that Haruno ordered for me through Yukinoshita that I treasured.
The flash burned her retina and Illyasviel flinched.
Having asked Medea to provide some protection beforehand, I closed the distance in one go without slowing down even in the light, and thrust my knife towards the center of the creature's small body.
There was no hesitation. The opponent was overwhelmingly stronger than himself. There was no room for hesitation. And yet, the blade never reached its target.
The large hollowed-out blade and the right hand holding it were entangled by an invisible, incomprehensible force.
A few centimeters in front of Illyasviel's chest. She was frozen in place, motionless.
"...That's pretty cruel. What will you do if your eyesight gets worse?"
Along with those words, an upward force was applied to my right arm, or rather around my wrist, and I was slowly lifted up.
"Uh...oh!?"
He resists but it's no use. Even after his elbow is fully extended, his wrist continues to rise, and he is eventually left hanging in mid-air.
"Not a good look. What should we do from here?"
His eyes met with a sneer from Illyasviel. He looked to the right for a moment. Inspired by that, Illyasviel reflexively looked to the right as well.
Easy for anyone to doEye guidanceMisdirectionIn that instant, he raised his still free left hand--
Megishi
Along with that ear-splitting sound, the left arm that should have been pointed at Illyasviel was twisted in a strange direction.
His arm, its bones shattered, hung limp, and the tear gas he had been hiding spilled out.
Illyasviel smiled faintly and spoke to me as I hung in the air.
"Do you think the same move will work twice?"
"Yeah, I think so."
In reality, I let Emiya and the others escape. I was sweating profusely, but I still managed to smile.
As he shook his broken left arm, something fell out of his sleeve.
The moment Illyasviel turned her eyes to it, flashes of light flooded the place again.
The second flash grenade. This is the last of Haruno's surprise items.
Illyasviel must have already taken measures, so I can't expect it to have any blinding effect. Still, it will draw attention. That will be enough.
What is an effective surprise attack?
An attack from behind? No. An attack from outside of line of sight? No.
They're not wrong, but they miss the point. A surprise attack is effective because it comes from outside of consciousness.
If the opponent is not expecting the attack at all, a surprise attack from the front can be successful. Even Makunouchi Ippo can be knocked to the mat with one blow from a long hook that is not expected.
I push in the thumb of my right hand, which is suspended in the air and immobilized.
Snap!
There was the sound of a hard spring popping.
Spetsnaz knife.
This knife is said to have been used by the Soviet special forces, Spetsnaz, and with a spring-loaded blade that can be ejected, it's a masterpiece that will surely appeal to any middle school kid in your life.
It is unclear whether the Spetsnaz actually used this knife, but the "spring-operated knife" does exist. By the way, it is illegal in Japan.
The one I got is probably a fake copy that was made based on some kind of urban legend.
The center of gravity is strange, so it is slightly difficult to handle, and the essential spring is weak, so the range is less than 3m.
But I was originally an amateur. If the quality of the equipment would affect the outcome of the fight, I wouldn't be fighting to the death.
So, if I were to engage in direct combat in a Holy Grail War, the most important thing would be how to surprise my opponent. It all came down to that one thing.
In that sense, the Spetsnaz knife is the perfect weapon.
And now, I was using that weapon at its best.
Just as the enemy was sure of victory, their attention was drawn to their feet, and from above, from the right hand that was supposed to be restrained, a deadly blade was unleashed――
"--Wow, there are toys like this? That's pretty interesting."
In the end, it never reached Illyasviel.
"... Y-You...!"
The released blade stopped in mid-air, just a few centimetres in front of Illyasviel's forehead.
"You use vulgar language. I don't like it."
As if in sync with Illyasviel's words, handleless knives floated gently around her.
I knew it would never come.
A 1% chance. Only fiction would take a chance like that and make it work.
If you were to try this in real life, you would inevitably lose.
Gichiri
The force holding his wrist tightened, and the handle of the knife in his hand fell.
"Are you out of magic tricks? Then it's my turn now, right?"
Saying that, the girl in white sneered.
Like a cat in front of a mouse.
Miracles only come to those who believe in them.
Hikigaya Hachiman's high crisis avoidance ability is largely due to distrust.
He doesn't believe in anything.
Not goodwill. Not good luck. Not coincidences.
Of course, he can't do anything by himself. That's why he needs to rely on someone.
So, as a concession, he chose not to doubt more than necessary.
In some fictional stories, there are works that treat "not doubting" as a superior equivalent of "believing". But it's actually the other way around. True trust is what lies beyond doubt.
Hikigaya Hachiman doesn't believe.
Not other people. Not friendship. Not fate. Not even himself.
It was because he didn't believe that he was able to get through the days of being close to death without touching the line of death.
But that's as far as it goes. From this point on, not doubting alone is not enough.
This was the limit of Hikigaya Hachiman's inability to believe.
Miracles only come to those who believe in them. Of
course, miracles are not so cheap that they can be made to happen just by believing.
There are far more people who continue to believe in miracles until the very end, and end up losing their lives without anything happening.
However, only those who continue to believe in them are able to create miracles.
Miracles only come to those who believe in them. In
other words, Hikigaya Hachiman, who does not believe in miracles, will
never create a miracle.