Marvel's master of cosmic magic-Chapter 605

Fuyuki City.

In the quiet courtyard of a traditional home, seventeen-year-old Shirou Emiya stared through the window at a red maple tree that had long since lost its life.

"What a waste," he murmured. "If you were an appliance, I could fix you."

Ten years ago, after the great fire, his adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya had planted that tree with him. Five years earlier, after Kiritsugu’s death, the maple had begun to wither for reasons Shirou never understood. He had tried everything he could think of.

Today, only a bare trunk remained.

After his usual morning exercises, Shirou dressed and headed into the living room.

"I’m sorry, Sakura. I keep making you work so hard."

In the kitchen, a gentle girl with violet hair, wearing an apron, set down the final bowl of miso soup and smiled softly.

"It’s really nothing," she said. "I come because I want to."

Her name was Sakura Matou. She wasn’t Shirou’s sister. He had lost his entire family in the fire a decade ago. Sakura was the younger sister of Shinji Matou, a former friend. After Shirou and Shinji had fallen out, Sakura often came by out of guilt over her brother’s behavior, quietly helping with housework.

She was kind. Almost painfully so.

"Morning, Taiga," Shirou said as he sat down, greeting the short-haired woman reading a newspaper across from him.

She wasn’t family either. A friend Kiritsugu had met after moving here, she’d become Shirou’s guardian after his death. She also happened to be his English teacher, chronically irresponsible, and completely incapable of cooking.

"Morning, Shirou," Taiga Fujimura replied casually without lowering the paper.

The moment Shirou took his first bite and spat it out, she jumped up laughing.

"Got you! I swapped the soy sauce and seasoning bottles! Revenge for yesterday!"

Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose. "You’re twenty-five. Why are you like this first thing in the morning?"

The house filled with noise and laughter. Eventually, the three finished breakfast and prepared to leave.

Taiga sped off ahead on her scooter. Shirou and Sakura cleaned up together, then headed out side by side.

As Shirou closed the door, he paused.

"...Huh?"

"What’s wrong, senpai?" Sakura asked, concerned.

Shirou shook his head and locked the door. "Nothing. Must’ve imagined it."

For just a moment, he could have sworn the dead maple tree had shifted. Almost like it was alive.

A trick of the wind, he told himself.

They walked away.

Seconds later, the impossible happened.

The withered maple tree trembled. Bark smoothed. Branches stretched. Crimson leaves burst forth in a rush of color, restoring the tree to full, radiant life. An overwhelming presence pulsed beneath its surface, dense with vitality and mana far beyond anything natural.

"Well... this is new."

A human face formed along the trunk, speaking in mild surprise.

The maple tree was Rowan Mercer.

"A tree, huh," Rowan mused. "Could’ve been worse."

He wasn’t particularly bothered. At his current level, form hardly mattered. Stone, flesh, wood. All of it was temporary. With a simple transformation spell, any shape could become human.

And truthfully, the incremental power this new body added was negligible. Once upon a time, a single extra human body would have doubled his physical strength. Now, it barely registered.

What interested him was the world itself.

Every new world meant a new system. New magic. New rules. Things he could study, adapt, and integrate into his own growing domain.

And honestly, a tree wasn’t a bad start. Photosynthesis alone beat grocery shopping.

"Fuyuki City..." Rowan murmured. "Japan, apparently. Though I don’t recall a city with this name."

He shifted smoothly into human form and surveyed his surroundings. Another unfamiliar world. But by now, he’d noticed patterns.

Every world he’d entered originated from stories. Films, novels, games, animation. They fell into rough categories. Western myth and fantasy. Japanese urban fantasy and anime. And occasionally, something stranger.

What they all had in common was this:

None of them were normal.

"There’s always magic," Rowan said quietly. "One way or another."

Since this world was unfamiliar, caution came first.

Suppressing his presence completely, Rowan vaulted the courtyard wall and followed after Shirou Emiya and Sakura Matou, blending seamlessly into the morning streets of Fuyuki City.

For now, observation would do.

...

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