Chương 9: 9. Cú and Merlin Take Turns
Cú Chulainn blew out his breath as his mistress vanished into the depths of the shattered keep, Ritsu following behind. Ren's mouth had been sweet and warm and her blush adorable, but she'd kissed him like a child emulating a fairy tale, for all that she was eminently not a child in body. And yet he'd responded to her all the same. He almost—but not quite—regretted that she hadn't meant it.
"My goodness," said Merlin lightly. "Were you as surprised by that as I was? Such a rash girl."
Cú gave the mage a narrow look. "I'm not interested in being a pawn in her flirtation with you."
Amusement flickered on Merlin's face. "Do you think that's what it was?"
"Oh yeah. I've been used by enough women to recognize that when I see it."
"Hmm," said Merlin, looking at where Ren had vanished into the keep. "I could say the same, and yet what I see is that she simply can't keep her eyes—or hands—off you."
The Lancer stared off into the distance, remembering. Cú had never been averse to dalliance, even in his Servant afterlife. But dalliance was the opposite of attachment, and he couldn't help but be attached to whomever he'd sworn to serve.
Even if he knew nothing about her beyond her fierce gaze and hot mouth.
In any case, it was harder to obey orders when you were fucking the person you were fighting for. Sometimes in his life it had been… unavoidable. But this time, with this near-child…
He realized abruptly that Merlin was grinning at him and sighed. "Hey. Listen up, you. Don't make things complicated, or else I'll get annoyed. I'm usually a pretty easygoing guy. Let's keep it that way."
"Now, now, that's not really fair, is it? Sometimes things get complicated all on their own. I don't want to be blamed if that happens. Well. At least I don't want to be stabbed, you know?"
Cú squinted at Merlin and then pivoted, taking a few steps closer to the broken fortress wall. "Then maybe you should work on helping things stay simple instead."
Merlin drifted after him. "Are you really the Hound of Ulster? I never heard he was such a stick in the mud."
"Yeah, that's another reason I hate you—" Something dark flashed near them, something Cú had been waiting for, and he and Merlin both instantly leapt back from ground zero as a beam of black light exploded through where they'd been. The very air sizzled, and even though Cú had been prepared, even inviting the attack, he was still taken aback by its intensity.
The black beam had destroyed another section of fortress wall before exiting through the previously-existing hole, scattering some rubble but simply silently slagging most of it.
"There she is," said Merlin happily, but flung a taut hand toward the entrance to the fortress where the girls were. A barrier of light traced itself over the opening. It wouldn't stop the Servant known as Artoria Alter for more than a few heartbeats, but it would at least keep their reckless Master from charging into the middle of a battle.
Cú bounded over to the dark beam's entry point, climbing over some rubble to look down the path of blasted trees into the forest, whistling at the devastation. Far away, the blackened King of Knights stalked toward them, the distant clang of her ebony armor a grim music.
Merlin called, "Do you still think leading her here was a good idea?"
"Eh. As soon as she transformed from that dragon I knew she'd find the fortress. You were still here, after all." Cú watched the Saber advance, a grin widening. Then he darted toward her, only halting a few yards away as she swung her sword to point at him.
"Get out of my way," she said flatly, "If you do, I'll let your Master live. This is no Grail War. All I want now is the child."
But Cú Cuchlainn only chuckled, and lowered himself into a fighting stance.
***
Merlin sighed as he watched a battle erupt between Cú and the darkened form of his one-time protégé. Really, the Child of Light and Serendipity made a perfect pair: each one reckless, over-confident, dependent on Merlin to keep them alive. Well, he'd do his best, if only to keep this odd story he'd found himself in going.
He leaned against the broken wall and watched as Artoria Alter slowly but steadily forced Cú back down the path she'd created to the Summoner's Fortress. Merlin noticed when Ren and Ritsu started banging on the barrier he'd erected, but he didn't bother turning around, only waving his hand behind his back in a vaguely reassuring way.
Abruptly, Cú disengaged entirely, leaping back to land just within the fortress wall. He wasn't even that out of breath. With a crooked smile, he said, "Over to you, Kingmaker."
Merlin said, "So you can use strategy, Hound," and shook his hair back as he stepped away from where he'd been lounging.
"Artoria," he called. The woman in black armor looked at him with flat golden eyes, and Merlin felt that strange, rare pang of emotion that only she had ever made him feel. This version of Artoria both should and shouldn't exist. Shouldn't, because she hadn't, because the girl-child he'd bred and raised and used had a heart even he couldn't break until he'd abandoned her. And should have because he hadn't cared one bit about her heart when he'd built her.
That golden gaze inspected him, judged him, and found him wanting. "You," she said with disinterest, and looked away to where Cú had fallen back.
"Hey, hey, hey, pay attention," said Merlin, tapping his staff on the rubble. White and pink flowers bloomed over the stone and flowed toward Artoria. When they touched her metal boots, suddenly the two of them were in an endless green meadow, where once upon a time he'd trained her in dreams.
He'd wanted to revert her back to the child she'd been, too, or at least the illusion of such. But the blackened armor and the tyrant's heart resisted that most intimate of changes. She frowned, looking down at the flowers around her and then raised her gaze to Merlin again.
"This land shall not be your new playground, magus," Artoria said dispassionately, as a dark aura kindled around her. The pressure rolling off her made Merlin sway back. Suddenly she spun and caught Cú Chulainn's red spear with her blade. Merlin's illusion fragmented around the Irish warrior as he once again engaged her.
Merlin set his teeth. The easy solution hadn't worked. It never did with Artoria, but he still kept trying. Now it was time to get into the gritty details. While Cú engaged her, Merlin used the tiny part of the illusion Artoria had accepted—the scent of the grass crushed underfoot—as a backdoor to explore the magic that had summoned her.
That mirror… That mirror tapped into something unpleasantly familiar, and bound her tightly to her current form. It took him only a moment to determine that without some kind of physical access to the actual mirror, he couldn't quickly unravel anything.
Only a moment, but it only took a moment for Artoria's dark aura to both batter through his illusion and send Cú flying against the fortress wall. Artoria didn't even bother to confirm he was down, simply striding on toward the fortress.
It was a surefire way to piss Cú off. He rose to his feet, without his usual bounce and with a grim expression on his face. Blood streamed from his head and one leg. He set his spear low, his eyes glinting.
<Wait,> Merlin told him telepathically. <I'll just give you a hand first…>
He couldn't easily undo what had summoned Artoria, but he still had access to the fundamental matrix he'd been analyzing. It was a simple enough matter to briefly pinch off the flow of foreign mana empowering her. He did so.
As Artoria kept walking toward the fortress, he frowned. That usually works, he sent absently to Cú.
But that was just the first of a few things that went wrong all at once. As Cú shook his head, Serendipity's voice suddenly echoed in Merlin's head with an unexpectedly binding force.
<Never keep me from a battle.>
At the same time, something burned through the barrier he'd placed to protect the girls. It was the Seal on Serendipity's hand, combined with a frankly amazing aura radiating off Ritsu's little foxette.
"Gáe—" began Cú. He'd already been seriously injured by Artoria Alter. But the fool probably felt it was the only thing left to do.
<Don't sacrifice yourself for something so stupid,> Merlin snapped mentally. <You'll miss. You always miss.> He ran after Artoria, skidding to a halt as she struck back at him instinctively. Dodging the blade, he danced around her. "Hey, hey, hey."
Artoria caught his mantle in her mailed fist and pulled him close to her, close enough that he could see how her moongold hair and eyes had darkened. Her hair was almost orange. Ah. She hadn't been immediately impacted by the temporary clamp he'd put on her mana flow because she was drawing directly on her host.
"Go home," hissed Artoria, with the first hint of emotion he'd seen from her. Then she looked beyond him and thrust him aside.
Serendipity stood in the courtyard, her face flushed and her chest heaving angrily. Merlin appreciated it in mild resignation as he contemplated the depressing options for a next step. "How dare you—"
"The little Master," said Artoria. "You sent your Servant to fight me, so now you die." The dark aura around her vanished as she pulled back her sword. "Excalibur—"
"Tora?" said Ritsu in a small voice as she stepped out from behind Ren.
Artoria froze, which was an unfortunate thing to do when in the middle of unleashing a devastating Noble Phantasm. It released anyhow, but twisted around Artoria like a pretzel before slamming back into her.
Artoria cried out in pain and Ritsu took an anxious step forward before being restrained by Ren's hand. "Tora? Are you all right?"
"Now, Cú!" said Ren and her hand flashed again.
"No!�� shrieked Ritsu, and once again strange power burned off her familiar. Thoughtfully, Merlin added some sparkles and then a dazzling glow. When it faded, Cú crouched protectively in front of Ren. Meanwhile, Artoria was bleeding from the chest but still alive. Her face was subtly different and her hair as orange as Ritsu's. She stared at the younger girl with shocked eyes.
At that point, Merlin had to lift his magical thumb from the mana conduit fueling Artoria. It was that or there'd be even more of a mess to clean up, if he was any judge. The moongold hair and eyes returned, and Artoria glared around. Her gaze fell on Ritsu and her face flickered one final time.
"Masters," she muttered in clear annoyance, and Merlin nodded in wholehearted agreement. Then, before anybody could start something new, she turned and fled from the fortress, using her reinvigorated dark aura to achieve a speed even Cú had to envy.
"Well!" said Merlin, looking around. "That was certainly a mess."
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