บท 1393: Eleven
Ideally, Vahn would be able to increase his strength without limit during the interval where his enemies prepared their own plans. If he really wanted to, it was possible to enter Azathoth's, Tiamat's, Arcueid's, or even Aoko's personal dimensions but, fearing he would become even more detached from the world, Vahn elected to just follow his usual schedule. Though he did, in fact, make use of these 'Realms', it was generally to relax and enjoy a few hours alone with the girls themselves, rarely to increase his strength.
Vahn had been hunting within the forests of Avalon alongside Fenrir, Hati, Gareth, and, as could be expected, Atalanta. Since it would be too easy otherwise, Vahn opted not to use his domain and, much like the girls themselves, he wielded an ornate wooden shortbow. It reminded him of his past as a skilled archer so, ever since Atalanta first invited him to go hunting, Vahn had made a sport of things, inviting the more 'feral' women in his entourage as a means of bonding.
Unfortunately, this evening proved more eventful than most as, shortly after he had watched the girls sprint off into the forest, Alaya informed him, "There is an attack on the European Supercolony. Knight Tristan sustained critical injuries but was saved by Knight Lancelot. The latter is engaging an enemy Heroic Spirit, the Child of Light, Cú Chulainn."
Vahn had turned serious the moment he heard Alaya's words but, upon hearing who Lancelot was fighting, he couldn't help but blank as rare lightheadedness overtook him. He had never met the infamous spearman but, as one of Scáthach's students, Vahn obviously knew his senior disciples well. Cú Chulainn had been the protege Scáthach was most proud of and, due to how famous his legend was, Cú was one of the most commonly summoned Lancer-Class Heroic Spirits...
After quickly recovering, Vahn sent a telepathic message to everyone he was connected to, Scáthach included. The latter instantly appeared at his side, even before he had finished the message, asking in a cold tone, "Are you certain...?"
Though her expression didn't show it, Vahn had known his Shishou long enough to see how 'excited' she was to encounter her former student. She had been the one to dismiss the idea of summoning Cú to aid the Empire, as he was rather notorious for doing things his own way, but, as could be expected, there was no way she would miss reuniting with her former most promising student, even if it was on the battlefield.
While offering up a prayer to his senior disciple, Vahn offered a wry smile in response to Scáthach's words. What he didn't expect was for her to instantly grab him, stating, "This will be your eleventh challenge." before teleporting them both outside of Avalon. It was pretty clear from her reaction that it wasn't up for discussion so, for entirely different reasons, Vahn offered another prayer to the rather unfortunate Hero...
---
Though the distance between Avalon and the European Supercolonly was just under 2,000km, it took less than twenty seconds to reach their destination with Scáthach literally tearing through the fabric of Space to transfer them. It would have actually been faster to just have Alaya perform the transfer but, perhaps as a result of knowing who was protecting the Supercolony, Scáthach wasn't thinking clearly.
Cú Chulainn was undoubtedly a very powerful Heroic Spirit but, with six former Knights of the Round Table, a legendary Queen, and a battalion of Homunculi protecting the construction site, it was only a matter of time until he was defeated. Any of the Knights would be able to match him for a short period of time but, considering his opponent was Lancelot, there was little chance of him lasting for an extended period of time. After all, with Cú already injuring one of his comrades, Lancelot would not give the infamous spearman any quarter...
By the time Vahn and Scáthach reached the European Supercolony, Lancelot, Gaheris, and Percival had surrounded a man wearing a form-fitting blue bodysuit trimmed with glistening silver trim. It was easy to see, based on garb alone, that the man was an apprentice of Scáthach as, in the past, she had even tried to get him to wear something similar. The scarlet red spear made this even more apparent as, while less intimidating than those formed by his Shishou, Vahn could sense the Law of Slaughter emanating from Cú Chulainn's [Gae Bolg].
Just as Vahn was about to tell the others to back down, as it was pretty obvious Scáthach wanted him to battle against Cú, he found himself at a loss for words as, without any decorum at all, she threw him through the air like a meteor with all her might. Though Vahn was able to right himself before landing, he still left a deep crater between Lancelot and Cú Chulainn, sending both men jumping backward, shouting, "You dare interfere in an honorable duel!?"
As the cloud of debris marking his landing cleared away, revealing Vahn lightly patting down his clothes, Lancelot and the other Knights immediately bowed, the former exclaiming, "Forgive me, Your Majesty, I spoke out of turn...!"
Hearing Lancelot's remark, Vahn gestured for everyone to rise, stating in a firm tone, "Worry not. It is my mistake for intervening in your battle. However, these are special circumstances so, please, stand aside and protect the Supercolony. Given Cú Chulainn's presence, there is a chance other enemies are skulking about in the shadows."
Though their first instinct was to protect their Lord, none of the Imperial Knights dared to disobey a direct order from Vahn. He had proven his skill on several occasions and, even if he somehow fell in battle, even this wasn't enough to actually kill him. Thus, after issuing proper salutes, Lancelot led the others to secure the perimeter and scout for other enemies. The only one to remain behind was Boudica but, from the very beginning, she had been observing the battle from atop the perimeter wall, sword and shield at the ready...
Seeing how the other had reacted toward Vahn, Cú Chulainn had a battle-crazed smile on his face as she shouldered his spear and asked, "So, you're the one they call the Sage Emperor, eh? You must be pretty confident in yourself to send your men away like that. Even I would have had trouble with that purple bastard, you know?"
Hearing Cú mention the color purple, Vahn's brow nearly twitched as, despite knowing the remark was in regard to Lancelot's armor, the fact Scáthach was watching from the void made him strangely nervous. Fortunately, his training hadn't been for naught so, without letting it show on his face, he kept a calm and composed demeanor as he answered, "You know, I'd really like to know the value of your Luck Parameter...I can't imagine it is higher than E-Rank..."
The moment he heard Vahn's remark, Cú's expression darkened slightly as a dry and coarse laugh escaped his lips. As Vahn implied, his Luck was notoriously low and, as a result of the peculiar way he had been summoned, it was even lower than normal. It was so bad that, at times, he would actually trip on flat ground while, during his battle with Lancelot, he had even breathed in a live mosquito, something that should have been destroyed by the clash of their weapons...
Feeling as if his pride had been attacked, Cú adopted a fierce expression with his spear pointed toward Vahn, saying, "Draw your weapon, bastard...I'll show you Luck means nothing in the face of true skill..."
Since Scáthach would probably lambast him for footing around the issue, Vahn answered Cú by pulling out a scarlet-red spear of his own. This was enough to cause the man's expression to darken even further as he lunged forward with incredible momentum, roaring, "Where did you get that spear from!?"
Vahn was slightly surprised by Cú's speed but, considering most Lancer-Class Servants had A-Rank Agility, it wasn't completely outside his expectations. Unfortunately for the blue-haired man, it was very difficult for the current Vahn to hold back against enemies who emitted killing intent so, using his own exceptional Agility, he deflected Cú's onslaught of spear strikes using similar techniques. As could be expected, this incensed the man even further so, after performing an overhead strike and launching himself backward, he shouted, "Try and copy this...!"
While sliding backward along the ground, a swirling vortex of red energy had surrounded the tip of Cú's spear. It was a violent and malicious amalgamation of energy, one which threatened anything unfortunate enough to cross its path with death and, once it had reached a critical level, he instantly changed direction, accelerating to several times the speed of sound in as he shouted, "Gae Bolg~!" in a voice that somehow reached Vahn's ears before the attack was fired.
Like a snake made of red lightning, Cú's spear covered the relatively short distance between himself and Vahn in an instant. Despite this, Vahn was able to deflect it with his own, diverting the attack to the side with what appeared to be considerable ease. In the next moment, however, the world itself seemed to 'flicker' for a brief moment as time began to stagnate. Then, with the sound of several panes of glass shattering, causality itself was rewritten, this time with the tip of Cú's spear piercing toward his heart.
It was here where Cú's bad Luck really shone as, not only did Vahn have a considerable amount of experience dealing with attacks that altered causality but, due to Cú's Noble Phantasm only being at B-Rank, it wouldn't have even been able to pierce him in the first place. Thus, shocking the youthful spearman to the core, Vahn's left hand seemed to move faster than time, appearing in two places at once for a brief moment as he caught the tip of [Gae Bolg] with his bare hand.
Before Cú could process what his eyes had just witnessed, he felt a subtle shift in the force acting on his spear. In the next instant, Vahn's figure had vanished from his perception and, though his instinct allowed him to twist his body and strike towards Vahn's new location, this wasn't remotely enough to deter his counterattack. As a result, Vahn stabbed through Cú's leg with his own spear, deflected the latter's with his left hand and, in less time than it took to blink, formed a second spear out of thin air before stabbing the man a second time in the chest.
Vahn possessing [Gae Bolg] had been both a surprise and an insult as, with the passage of time, it was always possible to obtain the weapons of former Heroes. However, seeing how Vahn was able to create another [Gae Bolg] from thin air, Cú instantly realized the truth so, even as he was skewered with a third spear, he managed to smile, blood dripping from his lips as he asked, "How is she...?"
With two more spears in hand, Vahn pierced through Cú's right wrist while placing the tip of his second spear at the man's throat before answering, "Harsh but fair..."
Hearing Vahn's response, Cú began laughing in spite of the pain. Then, without caring whether or not Vahn was evil, he smiled appreciatively as he said, "I'm glad she was able to find someone else to mentor. Maybe you'll be able to succeed where I failed...hey, do me a favor, will ya...? The next time you see that woman...tell her...I died with a smile...so...as a Teacher...she should be able to live with one...hahaha..."
Accompanying his final laugh, Cú attempted to use one of the [Gae Bolg]s Vahn had stabbed into his body to perform one last counterattack. At the same moment, a white aura emanated from his body and, though the light had already faded from his ruby-red eyes, he managed to strike nearly as fast as Scáthach's most powerful attack. Even this wasn't enough to take down Vahn, however, as 'close' simply wasn't enough to cut it. Without even moving, he opened up a hole in his body, allowing the spear to pass through harmlessly as Cú, with a smile on his face, died on his feet...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Hunting with the Animal-Eared Entourage','That Luck Parameter...','Can you even call it a Nasuverse fanfic unless there is at least one Cú Chulainn death?')
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