The runes flashed with a red light, transforming into a wave of crimson flames that surged toward Cú Chulainn from behind.
Upon closer inspection, those runes were clearly the Primordial Runes symbolizing fire—the very ones he had written earlier to test the limits of Roy's Mystic Eyes.
Unbeknownst to him, while being lured at godlike speed by Okita Souji, he had somehow returned to the very spot where their battle had begun.
The flames roared toward him from behind, and the rune stones on his body reacted instinctively, forming a barrier between him and the inferno.
"The power has multiplied several times over!"
Feeling the ferocious assault of the flames behind him, Cú Chulainn's expression shifted.
His own runes, now under the enemy's control, had become even more powerful than when he wielded them?
What kind of cuckoldry was this?!
Was it due to greater magical energy? Or could his Mystic Eyes enhance the potency of magecraft? Or perhaps both?
Whatever the case, Cú Chulainn didn't dare let his guard down.
Before him, Okita Souji once again assumed the Hira-Seigan stance, her sword tip slightly lowered, aimed directly at his heart. Her entire aura was restrained, like the calm before a storm.
Being caught between two deadly threats was fatal.
In that instant, Cú Chulainn took advantage of the brief respite provided by the rune stones to quickly inscribe a new barrier rune, shielding his entire body.
Behind him, the flame runes continued to spew fire relentlessly, as though never tiring.
Okita's gaze was sharp as thorns.
Then, in the next moment, she kicked off the ground and charged.
At that very instant, Cú Chulainn felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding.
"—Lightless Three-Stage Thrust!"
Hidden within this lunge was Okita's secret technique.
There was a crucial difference between Okita's secret sword and Sasaki Kojirou's demonic blade.
It lay in their opening stances.
Sasaki Kojirou's Tsubame Gaeshi had a highly distinctive preparatory stance. The moment he assumed it, his opponent would immediately recognize that the next strike would be extraordinary—his ultimate technique.
In contrast, Okita's secret sword began with the Hira-Seigan stance, a common posture for thrusting attacks. Many Japanese swordsmen used Hira-Seigan when executing a thrust, so unless one was intimately familiar with Okita, they would only be wary of her lunge—not her secret technique, the Lightless Three-Stage Thrust.
In that split second of offense and defense, the battle was decided.
The peerless genius Okita Souji's secret sword contained not just one thrust, but two and three—all within a single motion. Not sequential, but simultaneous. Three thrusts struck the same point at the same time.
This paradox created a "phenomenon collapse" at the tip of her sword, rendering the Lightless Three-Stage Thrust an utterly indefensible, transcendent technique!
Clang—!
The rune barrier shattered like glass.
The blade pierced flesh and bone, skewering Cú Chulainn's heart.
"Guh—!"
A thick spray of blood erupted from Cú Chulainn's mouth.
Okita swiftly withdrew her sword and retreated.
'Well done. Cú Chulainn is famously tenacious in myth—stay alert for his Battle Continuation.'
Roy's voice echoed in her mind.
The betrayal of the flame runes and the sudden secret sword had been a seamless collaboration—a result of Roy communicating with Okita telepathically while putting on a show with Bazett.
When entangled with Bazett, he hadn't even bothered to turn around.
What seemed like arrogance was actually a ploy to keep the flame rune Cú Chulainn had written earlier firmly within his Mystic Eyes' control.
"You really didn't give me a single opening."
Cú Chulainn lowered his hand, which had been poised to inscribe a counter-rune. Watching Okita warily retreat, he could only laugh bitterly.
The moment his heart was pierced, he had planned to retaliate—to take the Saber down with him in death. But his opponent hadn't given him even that chance.
With his spiritual core—his heart—destroyed, his strength rapidly drained away. Cú Chulainn dropped to one knee.
"Caster!"
Bazett's face twisted as she rushed to his side.
"Sorry, Master. Seems like I was the one dragging you down this time."
Cú Chulainn smiled wryly.
Being summoned as a Caster had been a severe disadvantage. Not only were his parameters drastically reduced, but his signature magecraft had been completely countered by the enemy Master's Mystic Eyes.
The Command Spells, which the Mage's Association elders had considered their trump card, had gone entirely unused—they hadn't dared risk it, fearing Roy might seize control of even those. If he had stolen the Command Spells and ordered Cú Chulainn to kill himself, it would've been a farce.
They had been thoroughly outmatched.
Had he been summoned as a Lancer, he would never have lost so ignominiously.
"Hey, Master over there. From what you said earlier, you and my Master don't have any personal grudge, right? How about letting her go?"
Cú Chulainn turned to Roy, pleading for Bazett's life.
Though on the brink of death, the man's expression remained composed—no trace of fear or despair.
"I never planned to kill her in the first place."
Roy adjusted his glasses and shrugged indifferently.
"This is my promise to a great hero. Rest easy."
"Hah, good to hear. But this performance was far from 'great hero' material. Tch, if only I'd been summoned as a Lancer..."
Despite the blood still flowing from his chest, Cú Chulainn laughed freely.
"Well, that's how it is. Sorry for being such a disappointing Servant, Master..."
"No. You were the best Servant I could've asked for."
Bazett shook her head, her eyes visibly softening with acceptance.
"If that's what you think, then I've got no regrets..."
With those words, Cú Chulainn's head slowly bowed.
"You think he might suddenly jump up and stab me?"
Roy wasn't quick to trust. Remembering how Cú Chulainn in the stories had a habit of bouncing back from death, he eyed the corpse warily.
Okita gave him a strange look.
Only when Cú Chulainn's body gradually dissolved into motes of mana did Roy finally relax, walking over to the two runes he had frozen midair.
Unlike the modern runes reconstructed by Touko, these were genuine Primordial Runes, created by the great god Odin himself. In the hands of a master, they could even approach the level of divine authority!
Though he only had the runes for "Flame" and "Barrier," in Roy's eyes, both were priceless treasures!
Once again, Roy activated his Mystic Eyes. His vision penetrated the runes' inner workings, his gaze like invisible hands seizing control of their magecraft foundations.
"I see, I see... So this is how Primordial Runes function..."
Roy nodded eagerly, delighted.
He learned magecraft frighteningly fast.
When studying modern runes under Touko, it had taken him less than a month to master the entire set.
For ordinary magi, learning a spell required first obtaining its foundation—understanding its structure inside and out, then painstakingly reconstructing that foundation within themselves before they could channel magical energy through it to cast the spell.
But Roy's Mystic Eyes could forcibly intervene in any spell, hijacking its foundation and wresting control of it—in short, the ultimate cuckoldry.
Once the foundation belonged to him, all he needed was a little time to study it before he could effortlessly recreate it within himself, wielding the magecraft as naturally as breathing.
This held true even for Primordial Runes.
Given some time to analyze them, he'd soon wield these two Primordial Runes as if they were his own!
"This time, I lost."
Bazett sighed, staring blankly at where Cú Chulainn had vanished.
She had no wish she wanted the Holy Grail to fulfill—especially not the corrupted Grail of this war.
Her participation had been solely due to her reputation as the Mage's Association's top enforcer. The Association, eager to claim victory in the Holy Grail War, had assigned her their slot, ordering her to win.
Personally, she held no great loyalty to the Association's ways. Winning would've been fine, but losing wasn't unacceptable either. As a descendant of the Red Branch Knights, she had idolized Cú Chulainn—just fighting alongside him had been satisfaction enough.
Still, claiming she hadn't hoped to win would've been a lie. Falling short left her with a pang of regret.
Even so, she conceded defeat without complaint.
***
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