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In Kirei and Kiritsugu's final fight, Kirei uses Command Spells as his Mana
source.

That rendered Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet ineffective. Was that on purpose? That
is, did Kirei know about Kiritsugu's ability and use Command Spells as a Mana
source to counter it?

To note:

  * Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet must have been a pretty well-guarded secret, or Archibald El-Melloi should not have been caught off guard by it;
  * Using Command Spells as a Mana source is pretty unconventional;
  * In the anime (have not read the Light Novel), there is no indication that Kirei knew about Kiritsugu's ability before the fight;


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2014-09-23T07:24:43.723
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fate-zero
Did Kirei know about Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet, or was he just lucky?


Most of [Kotomine's Command
Spells](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Kotomine_Kirei#Command_Spells) are
actually inherited by his father and the previous supervisors of the Holy
Grail Wars at the end of the war, since a Master can only obtain 3 from the
Holy Grail.

> In addition to his own Command Seals on his lower left arm, he also has
> Command Seals inherited from his father that cover his right arm from the
> elbow to the wrist. The supervisor of the Holy Grail War is entrusted with
> the Command Seals recollected from previous Holy Grail Wars, so he has
> access to a great number of them.

He of course got all of the Command Spells that Risei Kotomine had after
Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi killed him. And because his Magic Circuit is still
underdeveloped by the time of the Forth Holy Grail War, he uses Command Seals
as makeshift Magic Circuits and sacrifices them, similar to how Shirou
sacrifices the Magic Circuits he made during his training when he does
Projections (as noted when he projects Excalibur).

The [Origin
Bullets](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Kiritsugu_Emiya#Thompson_Contender)
utilizes Kiritsugu's Origin of "Severing and Binding"

> The "Severing" aspect will cause prana stored within the Circuits to ignore
> the paths within the body, flowing chaotically and destroying it in the
> process. Afterward, the circuits will be bound together again with the
> "Binding" aspect, albeit in a chaotic and useless manner, thus rendering
> them permanently inoperable and destroying the target's magecraft abilities.

However, since Kotomine is using Command Spells as Magic Circuits, the Origin
Bullets affects the Command Spell Kotomine used and leaving the others intact.
Kotomine doesn't fight like an orthodox magus which Kiritsugu has fought in
the past, and the fact he was even born with with Magic Circuits is abnormal
by itself, so Kotomine isn't your typical Magus.

As for what Kotomine knew of Kiritsugu's abilities, while he probably didn't
know them at the time he was still a skilled Executor, it's noted that he's
skilled enough to judge the type of bullet by the sound of gunfire and able to
analyze the situation calmly. Coupled with his own physical prowess and how he
uses the Command Seals to reinforce his own body and equipment, he probably
figured out Kiritsugu's bullets weren't normal and prepared a suitable Anti-
Magus Defense (devised from experience hunting strange Magi in the past for
the Church) backed by Command Spells as replacement for a Magic Circuit. And
as we can see, he quickly worked out how to defend against Kiritsugu's
bullets.


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