Chapter 158: Handicapped

Just as everyone else is having dinner, Shiro woke up. The moment he did, he was greeted with a splitting headache as well as a dizzy feeling.

"Huh. I'm blind, I see." He lowly mumbled as he realized his current predicament.

Shiro was sure that he already opened his eyes, yet what greeted him is endless darkness. He can still sense the general outline of the room he's in due to his [Ruler of Space-Time (SSS)] evolving into a higher level, which is called...

[Lord of the Mysteries (EX)].

He tried calling forth the system panel but only an incomplete panel greeted him.

[Lord of the Mysteries (EX)]

Details: One of the highest-level Beyonder... fusing three Beyonder Pathways, namely: The Fool... oor... It is the ability... to see through all mys... Basic...

Effe...:

....Projec...: It...

"Sigh."

During the descent of the [Demon God], Shiro has been conscious all those time. Many questions were answered and he was satisfied of it. Though, this caused him to have more doubts once more.

'...Who am "I"..?'

In the end, he threw that thinking away as what matters is his present. He is him; Shiro is Shiro. He believes that nothing changes that.

'Most of my abilities got upgraded, but I couldn't even use them...'

During the absorption of the portion of [The Root], the system crashed several times. That's right, to better accommodate it, its current set-up isn't enough. Thus, the system took the chance to upgrade itself every time it crashed.

While it can now accommodate those powers, it wrecked Shiro's mind, body, and soul. If not for him using [Third True Magic—Heaven's Feel] to stabilize his current soul by taking his child form and heal most of the damages, he would've ended up in an even weaker state than now.

Still, this caused his body to sync into his current soul, which is that of a child's. Moreover, he couldn't exert most of his abilities too much, lest he triggers all sorts of injuries. He couldn't even use the [Third True Magic] at this state...

'As for the Chat Group...' Shiro thought about his current savings in it and hoped that he could buy something to fix his current state. Though, nothing greeted him even when he called it out.

Suddenly, a glitched out prompt appeared in front of him.

[Due to... absorption... connection... severed tempo...]

Fortunately, he could understand what it was willing to say.

'Temporary disconnection to the Chat Group? I'm afraid that I would make everyone worried...'

Just as he tried to stand up, he heard a gentle voice.

"Sensei..?"

"Mami-chan?" Instead of his usual mature voice, what came out is a childish one instead.

"...Yes?"

Shiro felt that something is wrong with his 10th student, but he couldn't see her expressions properly, only her general outline. If he can...

Mami swiftly wiped off the nosebleed that she had for the umpteenth time. She couldn't simply extricate herself with Shiro's current appearance, one that she would love to give hugs to...

"Where are we right now?" He asked.

"For now, we are temporarily living under Emiya-san's residence."

"...Come again?"

Shiro became speechless for a while upon hearing this. Never had he expected that they would end up in this world, much less come in contact with Emiya Shirou the moment they do so!

"We're in this situation right now because..."

Mami explained what happened to them upon their arrival. Facing off against Caster, Sayaka using her new [Doppel] form to have the upper hand during that battle, and the meeting between them and the gang of 2 Servants and their respective Masters.

"Caster... The Princess of Colchis. There's also that fake priest and the arrogant guy from the last war, too." He massaged his forehead as he thought of the problems that they'll face in this world. 'Both of them will be able to handle most things, but it'll be a different matter if the King of Heroes use his final weapon. Luckily, it's his version before concluding his journey towards immortality.'

Thinking of that other version of his, Caster Gilgamesh, Shiro felt thankful that the one in here is the prideful one. In the first place, Shirou was able to defeat him due to his pride—him not choosing to use Ea against a faker ended up with him dead.

He quickly concluded his thoughts that are now in a normal speed.

Just as he was about to say something, he sensed Mami freezing in place as she watched his thoughtful look.

To her, this only made him even more adorable!

"Mami-chan, are you alright?" He asked as he realized that something is definitely wrong with her.

"Y-yes! I'll be calling Sayaka for a moment."

"Alright..."

*****

As soon as Sayaka opened the sliding door, what greeted her is a tatami room with a single bed on it. Lying on top of it is a child who looked like a 10-year old in his oversized white hoodie. He has a gender-neutral face, but the thing that is very conspicuous the most is his amplified cuteness.

Due to his max-level charm, he became extremely adorable to the eyes of others. If he didn't have his hood to partially hide his face, everyone would've suffered from this level of cuteness.

However, his eyes are seemingly dull as if it lost its former luster. His thin stature also spoke volumes of his current strength at the moment.

"Sensei?"

"Ah, Sayaka-chan?"

His head looked at Sayaka's direction, with the latter making an eye contact with the former's pupils in a split second. In that moment, she saw the illusion of a vast universe. Its space and time is visible in her eyes, like a naturally flowing river. Concepts are weaved upon that river, and those who see it will have a chance to deepen their understanding towards the core laws of the universe.

'Time is fleeting.'

This thought popped up in her head, perfectly describing what she saw just now. Soon, she snapped back to reality, but not without any gains. The same went for Mami, but she didn't care much as she quietly looked at him.

Surprisingly, that strange aura also dissipated away from the child.

"There must be no chairs. Hm... Come sit here." He said as he patted the corner of the bed.

Sayaka did as she was told, though she earned Mami's perfectly "fine" looks.

"So... Mami-chan told me about what happened. We're in the Fifth Holy Grail war, and all of the Servants had been summoned. So, this should be the most hectic two weeks that we might face." Shiro said with a solemn tone. "...and this world being the one from the stories that I have mentioned is right."

Hearing this, Sayaka seemingly recalled something as she said, "In the latter part of the nameless hero's story, he wanted to kill his former self to stop his 'idiotic' self from carrying on with his ideals..!"

"Archer will be our enemy, then." Mami added while she held the [Heaven Concealment Array (SSR)] that Shiro took out from his [Dimensional Storage (SSR)] with great difficulty. This together with the [Old World Suit (SSR)] made him cough out blood once more. As for the [Restorative Potion (SSR)], he knew that it is futile to consume that.

Only a UR-rated item would help against his Creator-level and above injuries, which is something that he doesn't have at the moment. Even now, his [Healing Factor], [Phenex's Regeneration], and a few more abilities are trying to heal him. This made him wince in pain every now and then since they are essentially abilities; and using those would injure him further.

If not for the fact that his regeneration surpassed his injuries by a small margin, he wouldn't have done this.

"Wait a moment." Shiro suddenly said as he strenuously stood up from the bed.

He stood up in front of the door, and the moment he opened it...

"Ah?!"

"Kya!"

Two girls fell from it, with one of them having a pair of twintails and the other one being a blonde whose hair is braided very well.

Shiro saw Shirou making a helpless and apologetic face as he said, "I'm sorry about this..."

Though, the trio froze as they saw his current appearance.