Fate: I Will Eventually Become the Hero of Justice

Chapter 190

Shirou recognized the spear all too well. Whenever he entered the shadow world in his dreams during the 20th century, Scathach would attack him with this very same weapon, without even giving him a chance to speak.

"Wait a minute--!" he shouted out, trying to halt her assault.

Scathach, who had been poised to strike him down with the deadly spear, halted and regarded him icily. "Are you surrendering and returning on your own accord?" she demanded.

"No, I just wanted to ask...don't you know me?" Shirou pointed to himself, trying to make sense of the situation.

She shook her head coldly. "I don't know you," she replied flatly.

"What's going on?" he frowned, trying to make sense of the situation. Wasn't the shadow land supposed to be separate from the real world? Why didn't this version of Scathach recognize him?

Puzzled and suspicious, he approached Scathach.

But she remained motionless. This strange ghost seemed to have given up on returning to the world of the living. That's fine. She was not interested in fighting with weaklings or those who had given up.

He approached her and gestured towards his own face. "Do you really not recognize me?"

"I don't know you," she replied, shaking her head. Before she could ask a questions of her own, he suddenly threw a lump of black mud right into her eyes.

"If you can't remember me, then there's no point in wasting any more time with you. Goodbye!" With that, Shirou deftly avoided Scathach's angry strike, activated his [Wisdom of Dún Scáith], and switched to the Assassin class skill, [Presence Concealment C-], enveloping himself in a cloak of black mud and effectively concealing his presence.

Standing still, he created a mud figure that bore his own presence and made it sprint away into the distance.

Scathach, covered in black mud, grew increasingly agitated and began to chase after the decoy, her presence fading into the distance as she ran further and further away.

Taking advantage of the situation, Shirou turned on his heel and swiftly fled from the haunted grounds.

He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself as he thought, "This shishou from this era is much easier to deceive."

He recalled how in the shadowy realm of his dreams, none of his underhanded tactics were effective against her. During training sessions, Scathach would mercilessly assault him, poking and prodding until he was at his wits' end, only then speaking to him with a smile.

But this version of Scathach...ha! She seemed much simpler to fool.

As her vision cleared, Scathach gazed at the mud figure that was riddled with holes, the result of her own angry strikes. Her eyes twitched with frustration as she took in the scene.

Looking around her, she took a deep breath, realizing that she had been thoroughly duped by that guy clever ploy!

She had been outsmarted, and her hand instinctively clenched around her spear in anger.

...

Many spiritual deaths later...

"What kind of despicable person was he?" Scathach seethed, still fuming over Shirou's deceitful tactics.

As one who had traveled the world for hundreds of years, Scathach had become the gatekeeper of the shadow land, diligently guarding the boundary between life and death.

In the course of her duties, she had slain countless undead creatures, humans, and even deities. It was inconceivable to her that anyone would stoop so low as to use such underhanded tactics against her.