Unlimited Blade Works of the Raging Dimension

Shirou sped through the mountains and forests, appearing slightly impatient. He took out the "trophy" he had just received from Esdeath to examine it. His expression looked somewhat gloomy.

"Hah..." Shirou stopped on a large tree branch and adjusted his mindset slightly.

He realized something was wrong with himself. If it were a normal time, he would never have said to Esdeath, "You belong to me, I am your Master." nor would he have taken an item as a trophy—an action that was almost embarrassing.

It seemed there was a slight change in his personality, which made him a little nervous.

He immediately suspected the light source within his body, as it was the most suspicious element. Moreover, he had originally planned to leave after Esdeath lost her ability to fight, but when he saw Esdeath's headpiece, it felt as if he had been controlled by someone and removed it. His earlier statement was now a cover for his own mistake.

"What is this? What's the use of this thing?"

With such questions in mind, Shirou carefully observed the headpiece.

The headpiece was very small and not crafted with great care. It didn't look like a rare item made by a renowned artisan but rather something created by an ordinary person. The entire headpiece resembled a leaf, colored blue, adorned with a few dull gemstones and hung with some thin tassels. Beyond that, there was nothing particularly noteworthy.

Why did the light source react to this headpiece?

Shirou was filled with doubt; he didn't know what was happening.

At that moment, the headpiece in his hand suddenly emitted a faint silver light, which stood out starkly in the dim forest.

"What's going on?"

Shirou instinctively threw the headpiece away, and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands, carefully aiming at the glowing headpiece.

The thrown headpiece didn't fall to the ground but floated in the air as if defying the laws of physics. The silver light from the headpiece grew even brighter, though not blinding.

Under Shirou's watchful gaze, a beam of light emerged from the headpiece.

This light source was very familiar—there was one inside his body.

As soon as the light left the headpiece, it shot straight toward him as if it had identified its target.

Seeing this, Shirou lowered his guard, and even Kanshou and Bakuya disappeared from his hands, allowing the light source to merge into his body. When the light appeared, he had guessed the reason.

This light source might be one of the missing parts of the light source within his body.

That was precisely why he had snatched Esdeath's headpiece in such a manner.

Sure enough, as the new light source merged with the one in his body, it sent him another message, confirming his earlier speculation—this was indeed a missing part of the light source.

However, it also sent him another message: since Shirou had found the missing part for it, the light source wanted to reward him.

"Oh? This is interesting. It seems the new boss has a lot of benefits?" Shirou raised an eyebrow.

Indeed, it wasn't wrong to consider the light source as his current boss. After all, Shirou had originally worked under Alaya. However, Alaya was somewhat stingy, so Shirou had little free time and could only follow instructions. The light source had corrected the unnatural factors affecting humanity. In other words, he had just switched to a boss that offered better benefits.

It took some time to distribute the reward, but Shirou didn't mind and simply waited. After all, it wasn't a big deal.

Sitting under the shade of a tree, he closed his eyes and quietly recovered his energy. Although the fight with Esdeath had been brief, it was still draining. After all, Esdeath was the strongest in the empire. Although she hadn't yet developed her two incredibly powerful secret techniques: Mahapadma and Ice Cavalry, she could still be considered one of the strongest people in this world.

In other words, the Esdeath Shirou faced hadn't reached her peak strength as seen in the anime. If it were the Esdeath from the end of the anime, Shirou would be in great danger. After all, Mahapadma, which froze time and space, or Ice Cavalry, which could cover the entire empire in a blizzard, were techniques he had no good way to counter.

However, Shirou also had his advantages. His new body, both in terms of physical fitness and total magical energy, far surpassed his previous strength, especially his magical energy. If he were to participate in the Holy Grail War again, he might achieve an EX rank in magical energy, and his strength and endurance would likely also increase significantly.

"But what's wrong with my personality?"

Although Shirou was resting, he still couldn't forget his earlier abnormality. It would be very bad if something was wrong with his personality or mind.

This anomaly needed to be resolved as soon as possible, or it would become a significant hidden danger in future battles.

As he was thinking, a voice sounded in his ear.

"Are you my contractor? You don't look happy."

The voice was somewhat strange, as if it wasn't human.

Shirou suddenly opened his eyes. The early warning awareness he had developed from years of battles allowed him to be highly aware of his surroundings even with his eyes closed. Yet, until the voice spoke, he hadn't noticed it at all.

"Don't worry, I'm not an enemy."

The voice came again, and Shirou finally saw the owner of the voice.

"My name is Zaruba, please guide me."

"...A skull ring?!"

"..."

The atmosphere was awkward, but it was true. The owner of the voice was a ring shaped like a skull. The entire ring was made of an unknown silver metal. From its shape and patterns, it was clear that the craftsmanship was exquisite.

At this moment, Shirou also reacted, "You must be a product of some kind of alchemy, so you're the so-called reward?"

"You don't seem too slow; you understood it immediately." A satisfied expression appeared on the skull ring. "Let's get to know each other again. My name is Zaruba, I am a magical wheel, and you are also your assistant."

"Assistant?"

"Well, I think you've already noticed. That person can only roughly convey their intentions but can't communicate with you directly, so they asked me to come and assist you, as well as relay their messages. That person made some changes to me and gave me some information, so if you have any questions, just ask me."

"I see." Shirou picked up Zaruba and placed it on the middle finger of his left hand. His expression immediately turned serious.

"Then, Zaruba, I want to ask you, is my earlier abnormality related to the light source?"