Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

It was only after Cú Chulainn's body began to disappear into particles of light that Scáthach finally appeared from within the void. She manifested herself right in front of her former student, a wistful look in her ruby-like eyes as she muttered, "You always were a foolish boy..." Then, just before Cú's body disappeared, Scáthach gently ran her hand down his face, closing his lightless eyes to give him a more peaceful appearance...When Cú's body finally disappeared completely, Vahn could hear Scáthach audibly inhale before she turned around, her gentle look nowhere to be seen as she stated, "I had not expected something like this to happen. Now that it has, only your final challenge awaits...once you have steeled yourself, find me on the Isle of Skye. I will await you at the place where my legend began..."With her words finished, Scáthach disappeared within the void, leaving Vahn at a loss for words. The last few months had been relatively uneventful so it was rather disorienting to have things progress so quickly. Though he knew Scáthach had been losing her patience as of late, the appearance of Cú Chulainn seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Now, the next time he met the purple-clad beauty, it would undoubtedly be a fight to the death.Feeling more than a little exasperated, Vahn released a tired sigh before looking toward the top of the wall and waving down Boudica. In response, she unhesitantly jumped down and, even without reinforcing her body with mana, her physique alone was enough to withstand the 50m fall, even in full armor. Though she landed rather roughly, without much grace, Vahn dutifully pretended not to notice as he turned his eyes toward where Cú had been standing moments prior...After taking a few deep breaths to collect herself, Boudica approached Vahn's side, a confident and dignified look on her face as she asked, "Is there something you require of me, Master?"Answering Boudica's inquiry with a curt nod, Vahn explained, "Make sure nothing snuck in during the personnel evacuation. Once the Supercolony had been cleared out, we'll be performing a detailed sweep and scan of the entire region. Cú must have been sent here for a reason...we'll not rest until it is found."With her orders received, Boudica performed a knightly salute, striking her breastplate with her gauntleted hand, before shouting, "Ha! I will carry out your orders without fail!" Afterward, she gave a courteous bow and, after being dismissed by Vahn, quickly set out to perform her duties.After watching Boudica's departing figure, cloaked in a thick white cape, Vahn released another sigh before turning his eyes skyward and expanding his senses through the area. Now that he was here, he was compelled to sweep the area a few times. Part of him was tempted to give chase and pursue Scáthach directly to the Isle of Skye but, knowing he wasn't in the proper state of mind to face her in an unrestricted battle, this was the next best thing.Fortunately, or perhaps not, Vahn's senses did, in fact, pick up the presence of an anomalous magical signature. Sensing it, he couldn't help but roll his eyes before muttering, "I suppose we're not at the point where you'll inform me every time something like this happens, huh?"Without replying to his question directly, Alaya made her intentions known by wiggling around and biting him a little harder than before. Truthfully, there were a lot of things she could tell Vahn but, as it would only stress him out even further, she never proactively fed him information. The only reason she had informed him about Tristan being attacked was due to a prior order, not out of her concern for the red-haired Knight's safety. This information had to be paid for with Magical Energy so, unless Vahn fed her a phenomenal amount, there were limits to what she could actually provide him.Vahn, of course, knew that Alaya was still bound by the restrictions placed on her. This was actually a very good thing as, with the recent changes in her behavior, it would cause a lot of problems if she was able to act freely. Thus, while part of him wished she would be more 'proactive' when it came to important matters, it, honestly, wasn't really her job. He already expected quite a bit from her so, as frustrating as her silence was, at times, Vahn couldn't hold her accountable...After teleporting to where the anomalous magical signature was, Vahn found a peculiar metallic box that, from appearances alone, seemed high tech. It had a sleek black surface with a laser-engraved runic pattern embossed onto its surface. This was a technology that Da Vinci had developed around two years ago but, as only Imperial Tech made use of such systems, seeing a foreign device possess a similar level of tech showed just how advanced their enemies were.Since nothing good would come from leaving the device alone, Vahn placed his palm against its surface and, after a brief tug-of-war against whatever was controlling it, he forcibly took control of the object before throwing it into his Inventory. Then, passing his intent through the foreign magical energy, Vahn attempted to trace the energy back to its source. He had been able to send his intent around freely even before entering the Nasuverse and, with his mastery over Space Laws, it would be difficult to avoid his detection.Unfortunately, while Vahn was able to pursue the source for several seconds, whoever had been in control seemed to realize what was happening. In response, they sent an explosive pulse of magical energy through the original signal. This was similar to how Modern Magi used Counter Curses and, if he was a normal person, Vahn could even receive a backlash if he continued his pursuit. Fortunately, he was anything but normal so, despite a small trickle of blood running down his nose, Vahn forced his way through the surge, latching onto the original signal and tracking the source to a mountain range near the border between Pakistan and China.Despite the constant lectures he received about taking action on his own, Vahn wasn't the type to just sit around while his enemy slithered in the shadows like a snake. He was already holding council back in Avalon, the benefit of having two bodies, so he instantly gave out mobilization orders while teleporting to the location, courtesy of Alaya. Moments later, several other ripples appeared in the surrounding space as, from within the void, Arcueid, Okita, and, as he knew she had been longing for battle, Altera appeared.Vahn was tired of just letting his enemies do whatever they wanted so, with a calm and commanding tone, he ordered, "Arcueid, I want you to pull this entire mountain into your Marble Phantasm. Okita, make sure none of the enemies are able to escape. If you have the option between killing or sparing them, lean towards the latter but do not be afraid to strike them down if they are dangerous. Altera, you will stay at my side...if there are any powerful enemies, I will let you take care of them..."Though Arcueid could manifest her Marble Phantasm with ease, pulling things from the real world into it was considerably more difficult. Despite this, she unhesitantly stepped forward and brought her hands together, much like she was praying. In the next moment, her aura seemed to cover the heavens themselves and, after a couple of seconds had passed, the night sky became a bright blue as she forcibly pulled everything in her surroundings into her Marble Phantasm. This left her gasping for breath but, after a minute or so of absorbing energy from the earth, combined with Vahn feeding her a considerable amount of Source Energy, she was back at full capacity.The moment Arcueid's Marble Phantasm manifested, Okita vanished like a phantom from Vahn's side, immediately followed by the latter muttering, "ORT, keep watch from above. If anything tries to fly away or forcibly intervene, feel free to capture or kill them..."With just a few simple commands, Vahn now had three Tier 5 existences acting on his orders while, back in Avalon, Aoko and Maxwell were helping to feed magical energy into his body. It wasn't the most efficient process but, with Maxwell being able to output an infinite amount of energy, Vahn would be able to muster a functionally infinite amount of his own. As a result, his normally green eyes began to blaze with a divine blue light, his momentum seeming to rise even higher than the 8600m mountain before him.---Mountains had always been a source of great mystery and mysticism, even dating back to the Era of the Gods. Most mountains were natural formations that came into being as a result of two tectonic plates moving against each other. As a result, the energies contained within the earth spilled out in these regions and, while not necessarily part of a Leyline, many acted as Artificial Leylines as a result. It was for this reason that so many Magi, Sages, and Spiritual Hermits had made their home atop mountain as, more often than not, many were direct portals to Spiritual Lands.A Spiritual Land was an area on the Surface Texture where the boundaries between the Surface and Reverse Sides, at times, became weakened. This allowed for various mutations in plants and animals, often resulting in the formation of treasure-grade medicinal herbs and powerful monsters. Since the strength of a Magus family was often directly related to the number of Spiritual Lands under their influence, it wasn't uncommon to find powerful Bounded Fields wherever famous mountains existed.Due to lacking the personnel to police them, and generally not caring about the resources inside, the Empire had left most Spiritual Lands to whoever felt like claiming them. Eventually, the entire planet would become a Spiritual Land so, while there were certainly benefits to be had, the Empire would have to invest manpower it didn't have in an effort to claim them. Most of them had been left to the Mage's Association to police and, now, as a result of his half-measures, Vahn bore witness as, from within the subsumed Bounded Field, a veritable army of Golems and Magical Constructs poured out.Despite a seemingly endless sea of enemy forces, neither Vahn nor any of his allies showed any sign of perturbance. They all remained calm and collected as, when it came to true power, numbers rarely made much of a difference. A billion ants might be able to take down an elephant but even a billion times that number could do little against entities on the level of planetary bodies. Vahn himself had yet to reach this level but Arcueid, ORT, and even Altera, easily qualified as Tier 5 existences.As there were some enemies within the air, a brilliant flash of emerald green light caused all other colors to fade into darkness as ORT, appearing much like an angular green spaceship, tore through every aerial enemy in seconds. At the same time, Okita was leaving behind cuts in the air that, even after several seconds passed, continued to sever the void. This caused a powerful and destructive gravitational force to suck in anything foolish enough to near the affected area and, as her attacks continued to build, lightning formed from reddish-black energy began to dance between each of the rifts.Since it was a good opportunity, Vahn gave a small nod towards the patiently waiting Altera, saying, "Take care not to cause collateral damage to the mountain and your allies. You have enough power to wipe these enemies out with devastating your surroundings. Other than that, feel free to cut loose as much as you want."Hearing Vahn's words, Altera simply replied with an, "I see..." before pulling her tri-colored sword out of her chest. In the next moment, she kicked off the ground with enough force to cause Vahn's and Arcueid's clothes to flutter as a shockwave of dust and debris crashed into them. This caused Vahn to issue a small sigh and, though she was slightly annoyed by Altera's actions, Arcueid decided to just laugh it off. Then, entangling her arm with Vahn's, she adorned a radiant smile on her face, asking, "Shall we go~?"https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

Like a dam breaking, unleashing a wave of destruction, Altera swept through the crowd of automatons with unstoppable force. She was like a living tempest as, even without sweeping her sword through enemies, her movements alone were enough to tear them asunder. There was little the unfortunate magical constructs could do, much like sailors swept up in a typhoon or a young child caught in a rip current, swept out into the unforgiving sea without a means to free themselves from the tragedy they had wrought.Vahn couldn't help but stall for a moment as he watched Altera in action, much like a pedestrian who had just witnessed a car crash. Part of him even felt guilty that his enemies sent out automatons in a vain attempt to stall for time as, in more ways than one, it showed a general disregard for their own creations. Since he had always been the type that appreciated everything he created, paving the way forward for it to develop an Ego, Vahn simply couldn't agree with methods like this.In order to bring this battle to an end as soon as possible, Vahn and Arcueid made their way to the mountain peak in an instant. As it had been pulled inside of her Marble Phantasm, Arcueid had near-absolute control over the surrounding space so, even though the entrance had been concealed by several meters of magically reinforced stone, she was able to simply create a new entrance with the sweep of her hand. Reality Manipulation was a very powerful ability and, if she used it maliciously, Arcueid could likely kill everyone hiding inside without getting anywhere near them.With the combination of their abilities, Vahn and Arcueid were able to analyze the structure of the entire mountain in a very short period of time. As a result, they ended up in a vast chamber near the heart of the mountain, home to a large crystalline tree that was more than 50m in height. It glistened with green and gold light and, if not for the various monitors and machines burrowed into its trunk, it would have been quite the sight to behold.Since they had taken a more 'direct' route, Vahn and Arcueid landed silently a few meters away from the tree's base, circumventing all of the security measures that had been put in place. This caused the man standing over the terminals to release a tired sigh as he lazily looked back and stated, "You really do things your own way, don't you? Seriously, no regard for other people's efforts at all..."After nodding in response to the man's complaint, Vahn casually extended his hand, manifesting [Enkidu] in their surroundings to seal off the surrounding space. Though Arcueid could achieve a similar effect using her own power, Vahn didn't want to leave everything to her. He was already here so, if there was something he could do to remove their enemy's advantages, he would do so without hesitation.Seeing the resplendent golden chains now swirling around the room, the man released a tired sigh before plopping down in his chair and saying, "Tell me...what exactly are you? I've spent more than two months trying to understand this world you've created. If I were allowed to be honest, I don't actually disagree with your methods. What I can't understand is what you are, where you came from, and how you came to possess this power..."As he spoke, the man briefly eyed Arcueid, fully aware of her identity and the power she had at her disposal. What didn't make sense was Vahn as, prior to setting his plans in motion, nothing like Vahn had ever existed. This frustrated him to no end as, unless he was able to completely split his timeline from Vahn's, all of time was fated to converge at the point of Vahn's present. This meant all of his efforts and hard work would be for naught as, depending on how things developed, his own timeline would never even be set into motion. In a way, it proved that free will had never existed in the first place as, with a single person's existence, the variability of the future was completely removed...Vahn hadn't arrived with the intent to make casual conversation so, rather than answer the man's question, he vanished from where he had been standing. This caused the man to tense in his seat while simultaneously trigger a device in his left hand. A complex barrier formed from hexagonal panels immediately shielded his body, repelling Vahn's strike with enough force to rupture the sleeve of his right arm. Even his muscle had ruptured slightly but, with his regeneration, he healed almost instantly as he continued pressing his palm against the barrier's surface.With a paling expression on his face, the lazy-looking man on the inside managed a wry smile as he remarked, "This shield can even block a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm...man, I really hate your type. I wasn't showing any kind of hostility yet you went out of your way to attack me. I guess this is why you are able to do something as messed up as throwing the entire world into chaos for the sake of your ambitions?"Hearing the man's words, Vahn squinted his eyes slightly, his pupils turning pale-gold as his right hand morphed into a claw covered in azure scales. At the same time, individuals segments of the hexagonal grid began to crack, causing the man inside to pale even more. It was only at this point that Vahn decided to answer, stating in a firm and decisive tone, "You've had more than two months to try and initiate a dialogue. You've injured the people I've cared about, plotted against my Empire, and took proactive measures to undermine the peaceful world I'm trying to create. The time for talk is long behind us..."The moment his words trailed off, Vahn's claw tore through the last vestiges of the barrier, piercing into the man's chest. This wasn't meant to be a lethal blow but, after everything the man had set in motion, Vahn wasn't going to let him off easily. These types always knew a considerable amount of information so, while it would be simple to just finish him off, the absence of other enemies made killing him unwise.Frustratingly, Vahn realized the truth of the matter as soon as his hand entered the man's chest. This caused his eyes to blaze like suns, his claw clenching with tremendous force as he ripped out a flurry of mechanical parts and wires. At the same time, the shaggy-haired man seated within the shattered barrier offered a sly smile before mockingly stating, "Did you really think I would use my real body to send signals into Empire-controlled territory? As I said, Vahn Aldrnari Mason, I've been watching and researching you for a while now. Though the loss of Cú is regrettable, don't think we're going to be defeated so easily...!"Likely emulating Vahn, the man waited until he had finished his exclamation before pressing another device hidden away in his sleeve. Unfortunately, due to the presence of [Enkidu], sending signals was all but impossible so, with an annoyed grimace on his face, the man simply self-destructed instead of collapsing the entire mountain range. His core was nearly as powerful as the one used by the current Rani IV so, while it wasn't enough to kill Vahn or Arcueid, it was more than enough to annihilate the crystalline tree and his duplicate body.Following a pulse of magical energy, a brilliant white light erupted from the shaggy-haired man's body. Immediately afterward, Vahn was propelled backward with tremendous force, slamming into the spatial lock formed by [Enkidu]. It felt like he was being crushed by an entire planet but, just as he was able to teleport out, Arcueid appeared to embrace his body. This caused all the pressure to disappear in an instant, the explosion flowing away from them due to Arcueid's influence. Even the sounds of the explosion were unable to reach him so, with a tired sigh, Vahn pressed his forehead to Arcueid's and complained, "I'm really starting to hate these people..."Though it wasn't all that dissimilar to what he, Da Vinci, or Touko would do, the fact his enemies went to such extreme length to hide was remarkably frustrating. Cú may very well have been his only chance to obtain information about their overarching plans as, with his nature, it probably wouldn't have taken too much effort to convince him they weren't the bad guys. Now, Vahn had to settle for having obtained the identity of the shaggy-haired man and securing the strange black box that had been planted in the Supercolony.There was a chance he had chosen his form to mislead them but, based on the information provided by Alaya, the shaggy-haired automaton had the same presence and appearance as one of history's most famous mathematicians and inventors, Archimedes. This guaranteed the man had either found a way to transmigrate or, much like Cú, he was a Heroic Spirit. As for the black box, his Inventory had yet to identify its function but, with enough time, all of its secrets would become known to him.Since the trip hadn't been a complete waste of time, Vahn enjoyed his embrace with Arcueid for a bit longer than necessary. The explosion had already faded away and, as a result of [Enkidu], most of the chamber had been left undamaged. This allowed a greater volume of mana to flow from the Artificial Leyline below but, given enough time, it would eventually return to normal.Now that things had reached this point, Vahn realized they needed to investigate and, if necessary, destroy all foreign Bounded Fields. They may even need to investigate other Subtextures as Avalon and the Wandering Sea were not the only ones in existence.Given how crafty Archimedes and his allies had proven to be, it wouldn't come as a surprise to learn they had even ventured to the Reverse Side of the World. He would need to confer with Sherlock as, if it turned out they were forging alliances with the very Gods he was making plans again, there was a very real chance a war between the Surface and Reverse Sides would become necessary. He could only hope that, if they truly considered themselves 'heroes' in the battle against evil, they wouldn't resort to such blatantly destructive methods.As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Vahn was overtaken by a powerful compulsion to sigh as, with his Karmic Value, combined with various other factors, there were likely very few lengths his enemies wouldn't go to. They could come up with some contrived logic that it was better to entrust the world to a select group of Gods, rather than leave it in the hands of an 'Evil Emperor'. Heroes weren't exactly known for thinking things through so, as long as they were able to achieve the end they sought, the means used and the repercussions they faced rarely mattered...Though he didn't say it out loud, Vahn internally remarked that being the villain sucked even more than being the 'hero'. Unless he really threw himself into the role that had been assigned him, doing all kinds of terrible acts, he would continue to be pressured from both sides of the spectrum. Ideally, he would be able to reach some kind of compromise with the enemy group but, given their actions thus far, they were wholly dedicated to undermining his efforts...After shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Vahn planted a kiss on the concerned-looking Arcueid, returning the smile to her face. Afterward, they looked around the area for a short while but, due to the powerful explosion, all traces of the system that had existed previously had been erased. This left the larger facility to explore but, as there were no signs of life anywhere within, it was best to leave it to the Atlas Temple's clean-up crew to investigate.Having made up his mind on the matter, Vahn exited the facility alongside Arcueid. There, amidst a sea of automaton corpses, Altera stood atop the shattered torso of a larger specimen, her veil-like hair tossed gently by the frigid mountain wind. Though her figure gave her a somewhat emaciated appearance, she gave off the impression of both a Goddess of War and a flower that only bloomed amidst countless corpses. It was a strangely beautiful yet morbid sight, especially with the terrifying ORT hovering nearby, it's blade-like appendages waiting to slaughter anything still living amongst the tens of thousands of automatons...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Altera, human-shaped natural disaster','Archimedes trying to be sneaky. Guess he didn't account for Alaya being able to identify him in an instant o3o...','There are Heroes on both sides of a conflict')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

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?')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

Chapter 1394: Trace