Chapter 157: Temporary Dwelling

What is justice?

It can be said that it is siding on the good and fending off evil. It involves delivering judgement to the one that had committed evil. However, what is the basis to it? How can one know the correct judgement to deliver?

This is one of the few things that Sayaka had realized during the time she was delirious. While she's in her Quasi-Demon form, she retained a bit of her consciousness and thought of it.

The answer that she arrived into is quite simple:

"Justice... is something that I deem right. Judgement is the choice that I had chosen based on my beliefs."

Boom-!

The short-charged magical power into the [Arondight] exploded, forcing Caster to consume more of her gathered magical power through the leyline. Due to her Age of Gods magecraft, Sayaka couldn't pierce through her defenses.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

Mami converted more of her ribbons into dozens of muskets and shot at her direction. each of it is formed using Mami's magical power, hence they couldn't be neglected.

Meanwhile, thoughts flew past Sayaka's mind.

'I shouldn't agitate the nameless hero at first, Sensei still needs our protection at the moment.' She thought of Shiro's severely injured situation. 'I can't use the twin blades to create a convergence field, so...'

Streaks of lightning appeared out of thin air before materializing as a golden sword. This is one of the sword armaments that she can project during her [Doppel] form. For some strange reason, the projections that she could use during her Quasi-Demon form stuck with her even though she became much weaker than that state.

Three golden swords materialized before it emitted a huge sense of danger to anyone else in this Bounded Field. They look like a jian, a double-edged sword of Eastern origin.

Sparks of electricity danced around the blades while fire enveloped it like a snake. Furthermore, it also possessed a bone-chilling cold, a sharp contradiction to its previous two elements.

Sayaka held one of them in her vacant hand while she sent the remaining two at Caster's direction.

Sou-! Sou-!

As for their name...

'Xuanyuan Sword.'

With a thought, four more additional Xuanyuan Swords manifested. They looked ethereal, but their threat is the real deal.

Seeing such a strange [Projection] magecraft akin to a Servant's [Item Creation], Caster is intrigued. Of course, she didn't let down her guard as she deployed several layers of barriers to block them.

Still, what caught her off guard is it penetrating through them easily. Albeit a fake, the [Xuanyuan Sword], also known as the [10th Divine Key], has a very high level when it comes to "existence". Even if it's replicated, its level is high enough, so as to speak, to bypass these barriers easily.

Boom-!

Sayaka looked at Mami right after that, to which the latter responded by creating a huge cannon that pointed out to the empty space nearby.

"Tiro·Finale!"

Huge concentration of magical power gathered into it before firing off as a bright beam of light. Due to its power comparable to an A Ranked Noble Phantasm, it broke the Bounded Field that entrapped them easily.

Sayaka took Shiro and piggy-backed him whilst trying her best not to look at him. She herself fell to the cuteness that he has in his child form, thus she tried her best to control herself.

'Sayaka, you're one of the two that is relied on by your teacher. Evil thoughts begone!'

Though, the same thing couldn't be said towards the other, whom had fallen deeply already.

"Sayaka, I can carry our teacher alone." She said so with an elegant smile.

She only sighed upon seeing this. Who would've expected that the senpai that she respects will turn out to be like a... student obsessed with their teacher...

"Mami-senpai, we need to deal with them first." Sayaka said as she formed a huge [Xuanyuan Sword] once more, embedding it deeply to the Temple's ground. Then, it specifically targeted Caster who had fended off her previous surprise attack.

"You... What kind of sword is this? To not be negated by the [Rule Breaker]..!" Caster said as she swung a ceremonial dagger with zigzagged-shape blade. Strangely, the suppression applied on her weakened by a considerable amount.

Although, it wasn't of much use since at this moment, Archer came back together with the current Saber-class in this Holy Grail War. She has light-emerald eyes and blonde hair, and together with her current armor, she looked very valiant—her authority as a king was imposed to those who saw her.

She held a blade in her hand, though it is covered by [Wind Magecraft], making it invisible.

After some talking, Archer's group of four followed the two Magical Girls who went farther to this temple, away from Caster's preparations under her [Territory Creation—A].

The silence between them was broken by Mami as she asked, "Do you know a place where we could stay at?"

******

"Thank you for the food, Emiya-san."

"It's not a big deal... Anyways, are you really sure about paying? I don't mind if you stay here for a few days..."

In the end, the Magical Girl duo ended up temporarily living at Shirou Emiya's house. As for the reason why... they embarassingly found out that they didn't bring any money when they arrived at this world. Coupled with the fact that it is currently 2004, they are somehow clueless on how to proceed.

Yes, they can mimic Kyoko's action of stealing other's property, but it didn't bode with them well—with one being an advocator of Justice and the former being an Executor of her own Justice...

Shirou Emiya offered them to live in his household for a while and they accepted. As their payment, Sayaka would guide Shirou to further his magecraft since both of them almost have the same skillsets.

"No, it's fine. Everything having a price is a rule of a magus, right?" Sayaka said.

Hearing this, Rin was relieved and replied, "Looks like I won't have to step up for you."

"Tohsaka, they're only middle school students..."

"What about it? We met Berserker's Master and she looks like a ten-year old!"

Shirou became silent as he heard this. He understood that Rin is right, but he couldn't bring to be vigilant towards someone younger than him. More so when this girl didn't have any ill intention towards him.

"Rin is correct, Shirou." The blonde-hair Saber spoke up after finishing her third serving. "It is better to be vigilant towards strangers who might become your potential enemy."

Sayaka's eyebrow rose, but she didn't mind and said calmly, "I could've attacked you a few hours ago."

"But you didn't, which made you an exception to it."

It's too bad that Saber couldn't see the [Arondight] in her own hands as Sayaka dematerialized it before her arrival. If she saw it, no one knows what reaction she would've made.

{Sayaka, teacher woke up.}

Suddenly, Sayaka heard this through their telepathic link, one of their abilities as a Magical Girl.

"Please excuse me for a while." She said before rushing into one of the guest rooms where Shiro resides...