FATE/PARALLEL COLORS

Chapter 3: Shifting Spectrum

Chaldea's observatory telescope whirred from side to side, observing the cloudless night sky with total clarity. The facility housed several smaller telescopes, but this particular one was the largest and most sophisticated lens available, crafted with the best technology possible in the 21st century. With the additional combination of Magecraft and ancient stargazing technologies, perhaps even further amplified by certain Casters, this lens could observe events well outside the Milky Way Galaxy's boundaries. With Chaldea so focused on saving Earth from the Incineration of Humanity though, not much time could be invested into observing the stars.

This evening however, one particular Caster had been compelled to book the observatory for herself. For several hours, she fiddled with the controls and used her magic to amplify the picture being fed to her through the computer. The things she saw were beyond this world – new planets with mysterious biological structures, supermassive stars that were hundreds of times larger than the Sun, undiscovered comets, and even a black hole at the center of the galaxy. Despite these amazing discoveries, she wasn't interested in them whatsoever.

She wasn't sure what it was… Instinct? Compulsion? An outside force? Either way, something inspired her to concentrate her search on a particular section of the observable universe, drawing the optical instruments forward as much as humanly possible with the additional help of her magic. All the while, her mood remained foul. She wasn't upset at anyone, nor did she really have a reason to be so bothered. She was living a good life in Chaldea, surrounded by staff members and Servants who finally understood how difficult her life had been, and why she made the choices she did in her previous life. Yet these bitter emotions refused to subside. Whenever she was in a poor state such as this, she would turn her eyes to the heavens and look for some sort of shift in the cosmos as her answer. This was probably no different.

As the telescope observed something which interested her, she made it snap some pictures so she could look at them later. If a regular technician had been looking at these images, they probably would only see the usual tiny spots of light flickering within the infinite black void of space. With the blessing of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and the night, the Servant could make out something that was not visible to the human eye.

What is this?

The young woman narrowed her eyes and thinned her lips. It was difficult to describe what she was seeing. It wasn't a black hole – not by the standard definition, anyway. It certainly was a 'hole' though, like some god poked their finger into space itself, and she was looking at whatever was left behind of such a divine prank. Her uneasiness intensified into genuine anxiety, and she forced herself to tear her eyes away from the monitor.

She heard the door slide open, and two sets of footsteps approached up the metallic steps to where she was. Two Servants found her hobbling away from the computer and pressing her fingers against her forehead. She had enough strength to look over at who her visitors were. One was Gilles de Rais, the deranged Caster who symbolized the historic French hero's descent into madness and depravity after Jeanne d'Arc's death. The other was Crom Cruach, the Celtic god of bounty and sacrifice utilizing the body of Kuzuki Soichirou as his vessel.

"Oh my," Gilles remarked when he saw the female Caster appearing unwell. "Are you feeling unwell, Medea of Colchis?"

"Ngh…" she groaned. As much as she wanted to answer him, she didn't have the strength to do so.

Crom Cruach quickly hurried to Medea's side and helped her stand up straight, then made her sit down on the corner sofa. He leaned in and felt her temperature, which made her blush like a lovestruck girl.

"Hmm," the Assassin murmured. "Your Spirit Origin appears to have been drained of about 10% of its mana."

"I certainly can feel it," Medea admitted. It felt like the equivalent of suffering from the common cold for her.

"What happened? How did you spontaneously lose mana like that?"

"It was that… thing…"

While Crom Cruach inspected Medea, Gilles grew curious when he saw the strange gap in space on the monitor. He approached the computer and stared closer at the bizarre phenomenon. Suddenly, Medea cried out, "Don't look at it!"

He barely paid her any mind, concentrating his bulging eyes on the shimmering rift. Rather than feel uneasy from it like Medea did, he grew more and more fascinated. Then he blurted in his typical incompressible rambling tone, "Could this be it? The source of the imperceptibly slight disturbance in the stars?"

"Wha… You felt something too!?"

"Indeed, my fair lady. Where exactly is this located?"

"Somewhere deep in the Andromeda Galaxy, near its nucleus…"

"Goodness. In terms of astronomical scale, it is practically right next to us."

Medea recovered enough to stand back up, although Crom Cruach kept her steady just to be sure. Surprised by Gilles' lack of reaction, she asked, "Are you not affected from looking at it?"

"Affected?" the Frenchman wondered. "Well now… I cannot say I am."

"How is this possible? How can I have my mana drained just from glancing at it, yet you're perfectly fine after staring so intently!?"

Crom Cruach shifted his eyes between them, then said, "This is just a theory, but perhaps it's a matter of one's level of mental corrosion."

"Mental corrosion?" Medea wondered.

"Something like how Berserkers are not affected from seeing the horrors of humanity since their mental capacities are already so severely reduced. None of us have Madness Enhancement, of course, but I believe Sir Gilles here possesses a high rank in Mental Pollution, meaning that mental interference abilities will either be ineffective, or lose a great deal of potency."

"Ohhh! Why yes, I do!" Gilles exclaimed exuberantly. "If this truly is a living entity beyond human comprehension that we are looking at, then it would make sense for Lady Medea's mana to be drained while I remain unharmed! After all… mm hm hm hm hm hm… my own mind is equally beyond understanding! So that is the reason, hm!? To look upon the embodiment of insanity itself and retain one's sanity is the true mark of an insane person! It is as though I stared at the very face of God Himself! Splendid! I truly am humbled by such an extraordinary event!"

"I… don't know what to make of that…" Medea grumbled bitterly. "Anyway, I'm more worried about why my mana was stolen in the first place. Could this thing really have done the impossible? Could it steal an observer's mana while stationed in a completely different galaxy?"

"Who knows?" Crom Cruach murmured. "Our knowledge of extraterrestrial beings is severely lacking in that regard. Either way, it is worrying to know that such an entity is out there."

"Not just that it's out there, but that it's also watching us."

"You mean it sees us?"

"I don't know if it's picking Chaldea up, per se. At the very least, it has to be able to see Earth. Anyone who makes eye contact with it must create some sort of connection with it by accident, allowing it to tap one's prana reserves."

Gilles stroked his long greyed fingers over the keyboard as he said, "Remiss as I am, I must suspend this observation at once. It would not bode well for Master to see this without understanding its inherent nature and structure first."

"Please," Medea frowned. "I don't know what I'd do if I have to look at that abomination again."

Crom Cruach helped her down the stairs, then said, "You need your rest. Let's go back to our room."

"Sorry about this…"

"No need. Gilles, could you report this to Da Vinci for us? Also, don't mention any of this to Master and the other Servants. We do not want to be responsible for an unnecessary uproar, especially among the staff when they are already weary from being the last human beings on Earth."

"Leave it to me," Gilles assured, and watched the pair leave. His jovial mood quickly subsided as he pondered about the inexplicable gap and its mysterious powers.

That was not the entity itself. What we were looking at was only the smallest of holes into a different dimension, where our otherworldly observer probably lurks. There is no rule saying that aliens cannot observe us the same way we observe them, after all. Lady Medea's Spirit Origin was likely being sucked into this other realm just from making visual contact with it. Indeed, I too felt the sensation like my entire body was being warped into a vacuum. I cannot imagine an ordinary human like Master and the other technicians surviving such an experience.

His expression suddenly turned fierce, as he clenched his teeth and scrunched his brows with fury.

But then, why watch us like this? Do they find delight in our struggle against the King of Mages? Do they think this is some sort of game they can watch for their own amusement!?

His anger then subsided for a moment.

Or are they interested in us for a different reason?

Unable to answer his own questions, all he could do was resign to his ignorance and close his eyes.

What are they watching us for? Or rather…

His eyes instantly shot open with horror.

Who are they watching?

For the following two days, Connla accompanied Medb in her daytime activities throughout Chaldea. Most of it involved girly things that the child Lancer wasn't accustomed to, such as learning how to wear makeup, looking up various types of jewelry in the database, and trying on various clothes. Naturally, they took frequent baths together in the hot spring, and Connla quickly figured out how to massage Medb's back that satisfied the queen so much that she nearly nodded to sleep a couple of times. When nighttime came, Medb commanded Connla to go straight to bed, citing that the night was a time for 'grown up activities'.

However, Connla was slowly getting bored of such pastimes. She understood that Medb just wanted to keep an eye on her, but she just wasn't used to behaving like how a girl should. All of her time training under Aife and Scathach had probably nulled any semblance of feminine interests, and Medb's attempts to rouse them were not working. She decided to try something else – bringing Connla to the simulator and letting her do whatever she felt most comfortable with.

As the duo approached the simulator entrance, they saw Da Vinci and Lucius Tiberius heading in their general direction as well. The inventor cheerfully chirped, "Good morning, you two. Are you here to use the simulator?"

"That's right," Medb said. "Connie's not been herself lately, so I want to let her do whatever she wants for today."

"Hm… Several of the Servants were complaining about bugs in the system, so I'm here to fix them while most of them are out on other jobs. Lucius here offered to help me in case anything went wrong."

"More like you dragged me out of the regal suite with the promise of free ascension materials," the irate Roman grumbled, clearly still looking a little drunk.

"Oh, hush you. If these bugs are as bad as the other Servants claim them to be, then you'll have some good opponents to fight."

Lucius scoffed at her, then saw Connla appearing forlorn as she stared at the ground in silence. He leaned over her and rubbed her hair while saying, "Hey, it's been a while. Are you getting better?"

"… Mm."

"Damn, you don't look so good. Whatever happened in that Akakor world must've really messed you up."

"I guess so…"

"Do you want to do some training? It's not good to lie around and wallow all the time. A good match should get some exercise in for you."

"But Ms. Da Vinci said…"

The inventor remarked, "Don't worry about the glitches. So long as nothing bad happens, I can always take care of it after you're done."

"Oh… okay, then."

"Fwa ha ha ha, that's more like it!" Lucius laughed, clearly getting excited for the upcoming match. "I only got to see how you fight as a Saber, so this will be my first time seeing what you can do as a Lancer! It's supposed to be the class that lets you reach the peak of your abilities."

"Who told you that?" Connla wondered.

"Cu Lancer."

She glanced away sadly, then mumbled, "I thought so."

He grew worried that he might have said something inappropriate. No one said anything about it, so he left it be and headed into the center of the simulator with her. Da Vinci and Medb adjusted the settings so that their surroundings consisted of a dense forest with fallen trees, beaten dirt roads, and tall grasses. The two warriors took their positions on opposite sides of the central clearing, then brandished their weapons.

"I'll let you go first. Hit me with everything you've got, kid!" Lucius exclaimed before getting into his combat stance and pointing Florent at her. She likewise did so, then closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose herself. She needed to push these negative emotions aside and concentrate on the fight.

After a few tense seconds, she initiated the duel by running up to Lucius and twirling on her feet while flailing her spear about in a methodical rhythm. Lucius blocked each strike and pushed her back with a mighty blow from his sword. She hopped backwards several times, spinning on her toes and keeping her spear outward so it struck his weapon during her retreat. She suddenly came to a stop and jabbed her polearm at his midsection. He leapt over Connla's small body with ease, but she whipped around and delivered another blow against his sword that made him fly off several meters, only barely landing back on his feet. She kept up her usual offense, not wanting to give her stronger opponent a chance to weaken her endurance by forcing her to continuously parry heavy strikes. When he found an opening, Lucius snatched Connla's shawl and whipped her petite body in an arc over him so that she crashed onto the ground back-first. He raised his foot in preparation to stomp her chest, but she immediately rolled aside before he could hit her, and vaulted upright without any break in her combat tempo.

He chased after her, but she made him stop instantly when she thrust her spear at his face. He only just narrowly blocked it. He then scraped Florent along the spear's pole, inching it ever closer to her head with each passing millisecond. She flipped around him as he passed by her back, purposely letting go of her weapon for a split second before retrieving it and slashing at his upper shoulder. Her maneuver successfully gouged through his black coat and some muscle tissue. Although startled by the injury, Lucius ignored the pain and continued fighting back against Connla's unrelenting barrage.

They kept up this fierce clash for at least three minutes, with Lucius not being able to find a chance to harm Connla in turn. During the battle though, he was slightly rattled by how vacant her expression was. There wasn't any joy, anger, determination, or grief. She just remained blank-faced, refusing to show him what she could be potentially thinking at any given moment. Although he knew that she had been trained not to show emotion, something felt like it was missing… In an intense battle such as this, many warriors communicated to each other through their expressions, which made it easier to predict their next moves. The absence of such visual cues was particularly off-putting for him. Regardless if he was fighting an adult or a child, that sort of vapid countenance creeped him out.

For just an instant, Lucius understood how equally ferocious and confusing of a fight this must have been for Cuchulainn.

He raised his leg and attempted to kick Connla's cheek. She reacted quickly enough to snatch his foot and prepare to stab her blade directly into his ankle. Growing more desperate, he stabbed Florent at her other cheek, managing to carve a line along the flesh. The pain startled her and she released her grip before flipping backwards. He pursued her and swung his sword horizontally, unleashing a white-hot arc of energy dotted with flower petals. She ran vertically up the nearest simulated tree, and it was cleaved through at the base the very moment she hopped off and descended upon him. After a lithe twirl to reposition herself, she directed both feet downward and stamped them against his face, then leapt off and performed another series of spins before landing. Lucius collapsed onto his back, stunned that she got a good blow in that wounded both his nose and his pride.

"Whoa," Da Vinci gasped in awe. "Her reaction times are amazing! No wonder her Agility parameters can't be measured with standard statistics!"

Medb giggled. "That's only natural - she has to be that quick on her feet to be able to keep up with Cu. Just what I would expect from my cute little brave."

"She better be careful though. Lucius may not have the reflexes, but his strength is nothing to sneeze at."

Just as the inventor said this, the glass window in front of them rumbled. While they were preoccupied with their conversation, Lucius managed to make Connla stumble enough for him to power his fist up with Florent's blessing and punch her stomach as hard as he could. Her mind went numb as the agony dominated all of her senses. Her vision swam like caustics ebbing on a swimming pool, and her eyes rolled back into her head as she lost consciousness.

"There," Lucius remarked. "Looks like I've won this f-"

He stopped in mid-sentence when he felt her left hand snatch his wrist. Her head was still slumped over, so he couldn't tell what her expression was. That was when an orange glow flickered over her hand. The Roman suddenly felt his skin get scalding hot, and his widened his eyes in horror.

"Gh… GAAAAH!?"

He quickly flung Connla off and grabbed his burning arm in a vain effort to control the pain. His flesh cooked as he glared at her, then noticed the glowing Ansuz symbol on her palm.

Shit! I forgot she can use Runecraft!

Still, he was rather puzzled by this turn of events. He knew his punch had to have rendered her comatose. How could she keep fighting when her small body wasn't capable of handling such brute force? His question would soon be answered when she tilted her head up and faced him. Her gait was clumsier than usual, but he felt there was more to it than just her coping with the pain. It almost resembled her being controlled by marionette strings, what with the abnormal twitching and ambling about. More disturbing was how her eyes remained closed the entire time. As far as he knew, she wasn't trained in the art of fighting while fully blind.

When he saw those closed eyes, he realized, Is she actually asleep!?

Lucius couldn't waste time pondering what was going on. Connla was already upon him, emanating something that didn't feel like murderous bloodlust, but was nonetheless as dangerous. Her fighting style appeared different as well, utilizing more low-ground twirls and spins rather than concentrated thrusts. This allowed her to move much, much faster than before, and he had serious trouble blocking her low blows when he was used to fighting against higher strikes. Her movements were so fluid that she could be mistaken for a living entity made out of water. Even the grasp on her spear appeared to lack motivation, as she spun and whipped it around without so much as a care. Despite her unenthusiastic behavior, her offense was significantly deadlier than before, and she kept lacerating him faster than he realized.

"God damn it!" Lucius cursed, deciding that fighting her at close range was not an option anymore. If he wanted any chance at victory, he had to use his Noble Phantasm and wake her back up. First off, he needed to do something about her spear. As she reeled back and prepared to slash at his chest, he likewise swung Florent as hard as he could, unleashing an intense battle cry.

"HRAAA~AAAH!"

CLANG!

Connla's spear sailed out of her hands and stabbed into the ground many meters away. Her arms kept feeling the reverberations, but her sleeping expression never changed. As she stumbled, he immediately grabbed her shawl and tossed her high into the air, then raised his sword and prepared to execute his Noble Phantasm.

"My blade sings of the Emperor's rule over all the people of the continent!" Lucius began his chant.

"This is bad!" Da Vinci grimaced. "His magical energy readings are rising rapidly! Is he seriously going to use his Noble Phantasm on her!?"

"Connie!" Medb shrieked. "Lucius, STOP! Aren't you supposed to be just training with her!?"

The Roman Procurator didn't pay attention to her.

"Behold my authority, and tremble at its might! Demon Sword, FLORENT!"

With a huge swing of his energized blade, a vicious hurricane of pure light and flower petals rocketed toward the sailing Connla. Unperturbed by the incoming storm, which would surely vaporize her if it struck her, she reached her free hand out. The air shifted in the space between both warriors, and a long thin rod made out of shining steel protruded through. She grabbed it and rotated her body around for a whole swing before flying off in a spin towards a direction unrelated to Lucius' attack. The stunned Roman watched in horror as his Noble Phantasm sliced at nothing but empty air, exploding against the wall and decimating anything around the blast radius. Medb and Da Vinci were equally as gobsmacked at what they were witnessing. Neither of them had any idea why the Lancer was able to summon a rod seemingly out of nowhere and escape from such a deadly Noble Phantasm unharmed.

While the others were distracted, Connla safely landed on a patch of simulated grass, still very much asleep. She raised her arms up and cupped her hands, as if holding an invisible spear. Then her mouth moved. The words echoing from her lips were truly horrible for anyone present to hear:

"Ye'bthnkk ot fhtagn azanahoth ph'nglui ya orr'e." †

That was when the air over her arms shifted, appearing muddled and vague for a few moments. Then something metallic dropped through, and she grasped it before the hazy portal closed itself. It was a polearm with the same design as her original leaf-bladed boar spear, but it was comprised of a purely metal rod and three lance-like cones for the blade. To a spectator from the modern era, it looked like a perfectly polished work of metal sculpture art. Since Connla was alive around 2000 years ago, when weapons were made out of wood, stone and bronze, it appeared unnatural for her to be using such a futuristic-looking craftwork as a weapon.

"What did she say just now?" Medb wondered.

"I have no idea…" Da Vinci admitted in shock. She fervently tapped on the keyboard to analyze what was going on with the simulator itself. At a time like this, she would have been glad to find any sort of glitches that were affecting Connla directly. However, to her utter dismay, the system was working perfectly fine. The simulator wasn't really supposed to affect Servants' minds anyway, but she wanted to make absolutely sure.

Medb watched in horror as Lucius struggled to fend off Connla's attacks. He was being pushed back further and further, unable to retaliate, until he slammed against a tree. He saw her alien spear being pointed at his face, and her strange bloodlust exploded as she thrusted. He grit his teeth in panic, then ducked beneath the deadly strike and passed by her while slicing the flank of her exposed midsection. If she was in pain, her placid, sleeping face didn't show it whatsoever. She immediately turned on her heel and leapt at him while twirling her body and spear in a confusing array of spinning strikes.

The moment Connla landed back on her feet, Lucius attempted to grab her for a third time. However, she anticipated this and leaned her entire body backwards, narrowly missing his arm while simultaneously raising her foot to kick his chin. The instant Connla's foot made contact, she disappeared in a flash of colors. Those in the control room couldn't figure out where she vanished to, until she reappeared performing a flying kick to his back, then disappeared and reappeared again with a second diving strike against his chest. One more unexpected teleport later, and she planted both feet on his back and forced him to be dragged across the ground face-first. Once Lucius' momentum stopped, Connla gracefully vaulted off him with a twirl and landed before him unscathed.

Medb smacked her hands upon the console and cried out, "Wh… What was that!?"

Without answering, Da Vinci slammed her fist upon the alarm button and called through the intercom, "Emergency! Emergency! All available Servants on standby are to come prepared for battle in the simulator! All staff are to take shelter in their rooms! This is not a drill! I repeat - all available Servants on standby are to come prepared for battle in the simulator at once! Please, come as quickly as you can!"

In the recreation room, four Servants sat around a table playing poker. The participants were Cuchulainn Lancer, Okada Izo, Tawara Touta, and Wyatt Earp. In particular, Izo wasn't familiar with how poker worked, so this session was mainly to help him get acclimated with the game. There weren't any stakes beyond masculine pride, although the others mostly wanted to play it safe due to the samurai's notoriously short temper.

Once they had full hands of cards, Touta began the reveals by dropping his cards and saying, "Three of a kind."

"Straight," Cuchulainn smirked.

"Oof. Got me already. I should've folded when I could."

Izo exuberantly slapped his cards on the table and barked, "Oh yeah!? Well look at this, boys! Royal freakin' flush, baby!"

They examined his hand – a six, seven, eight, nine, and ten of clubs. Earp cringed a little, then said, "Uh, 'ate t'break it t'ya, mate, but that be a straight flush."

"Huh?"

"Royal flush is ten, jack, queen, king and ace o'the same suit."

"Wait, wha-?" the ronin was confused, and he needed to refer to the chart that the gunman gave him. His cheeks flushed red when he realized his mistake, and both Cuchulainn and Touta chuckled. He heard their snorting and shouted, "Shut it, ya cretins! So what if I made a mistake 'ere an' there!? I still kicked yer asses fair an' square!"

"I wouldn't speak so soon if I were ya," Earp smugly reminded him as he revealed his own hand – a royal flush of hearts.

Izo smacked his hands on the table in frustration. "WHAA~AT!? That's impossible! Why ya nailin' all the good 'ands all the time!?"

"They dun call me the luckiest gunslinger in 'Murican 'istory fer nothin'."

Cuchulainn and Touta gave Earp wry glances. Izo wasn't smart enough to realize it, but they could tell that the cowboy was cheating. They weren't sure if they had it in them to explain this to Izo though, given how overly sensitive he was to being made fun of. Before the tension could escalate into a potential argument, the klaxon alarm blared throughout all of Chaldea. They heard Da Vinci's voice calling out on the intercom, "Emergency! Emergency! All available Servants on standby are to come prepared for battle in the simulator! All staff are to take shelter in their rooms! This is not a drill! I repeat-"

"The 'ell? Is somethin' wrong in the sim'lator?" Izo wondered.

"If it's an 'mergency, we better git our hides down there pronto, fellas," Earp said.

"Wait a minute…" Cuchulainn murmured as a dreadful realization dawned on him. "Lucius said he was going to do some training with Connla there, didn't he?"

"I think so," Touta said.

Without thinking, the Celtic hero scrambled to his feet, running out of the gaming parlor as fast as he could. He didn't care if the others followed him or not. His casual clothes shifted until he was garbed in his usual blue bodysuit, and he made Gae Bolg appear in his hand as he approaching the doors to the simulator's command room. He barged through and demanded, "What's going on here!?"

"Cu!" Medb ran up to her former nemesis with panic in her eyes. "It's Connie! She's not fighting like her usual self!"

He was about to ask her what she meant, but glanced over at Connla as she opened another grey portal that flung various metallic cones at Lucius. Not only did he have to parry her usual spear attacks, he also had to worry about being gouged and pierced by these odd shapes being flung at him from who knew where. The Saber was growing more and more exhausted by the millisecond as he struggled to hold his own against such a ruthless onslaught, and he was losing a dangerous amount of blood. He didn't have the magical energy needed to help him through this barrage either.

Although Cuchulainn didn't understand what was happening, he realized he needed to stop Connla. He didn't bother waiting for the doors to open, instead smashing through with Gae Bolg and launching himself headlong at her before she could pierce Lucius' heart out with another sharpened spike. His roar attracted her attention, and she left Lucius to collapse to the ground so she could concentrate on her new opponent. She raised her arm and summoned an array of sharpened cones that formed into a line of shark-like teeth that bit down around him. He dove through the crushing blow and somersaulted so that he could kick Connla's chest, sending her flying backwards. A rift opened behind her, and she fell through it before she could hit the wall.

"What the hell!?" Cuchulainn screamed.

"Be careful, Cu!" Medb warned him from the control panel. "Connie's opening up these weird portals and using metallic weapons that we've never seen before! Not only that, she's totally unconscious! She can't hear us whatsoever!"

"Sleep fighting, huh? Just my fucking luck…"

Another hazy gap in space opened, and Connla's alien lance blasted through, spinning like a boomerang as it descended upon him and viciously rotated against his blocking Gae Bolg. He skidded backwards on his feet, and he noticed a second portal open behind him. Connla dove through and swept her leg at his ankle, intent on tripping him. He jumped over the kick and simultaneously batted the flying spear away, poking his lance into the ground so he could elegantly vault upside-down to safety. She retrieved her weapon and dueled him in a blinding dervish of movement and raining sparks.

"CONNIE, WAKE UP! OPEN YOUR EYES ALREADY! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!" Medb kept screaming at the top of her lungs, with a waterfall of tears streaming down her cheeks.

Her words never reached the comatose Lancer. As Cuchulainn stabbed down at her, she phased out of space for a moment, then reappeared with her face directly in front of his. In a breathy voice, she whispered, "Kadishtu mgleth n'ghftlloig…" ††

He choked up, unable to understand what she was saying. She disappeared again, then appeared about 100 meters away and made her spear float over her. She raised both arms like she was using the weapon as a staff to cast a spell, then thrust her arms forth so that the spear pointed at Cuchulainn. He thought it was going to fly at her again, but his immediate surroundings were suddenly covered in darkness. He turned his eyes upward, and yelped in shock.

A massive cylindrical column dropped over Cuchulainn's head like a gigantic stamp, engulfing him in that very dangerous shadow. He launched his body forward with such force that it left a tiny crater behind, as he escaped with seconds to spare before the cylinder smashed on the ground where he previously was. He was immediately on top of Connla, twisting and twirling Gae Bolg around him in another chaotic dance that she calmly parried with her flying alien spear. The two Lancers, considered to be the fastest in human history, maintained this cacophony of blinding speed and sharp reflexes for what felt like forever. Their personalities were dramatically different as well; Cuchulainn, fully engrossed in rage and frustration, allowed his riastrad to overtake his senses, while Connla barely showed any emotion and maintained her peacefully sleeping expression. Da Vinci and Medb couldn't tell which one of them was more dangerous.

Cuchulainn jumped at Connla and did a low diving kick that knocked her into the air. He would have swiped Gae Bolg at her back, but she planted her feet against an impromptu platform Rune and rushed down at him like a missile, knocking him on his back. She raised her spear in a cleaving motion, but he rolled out of the way in time and clashed against her, pushing his full weight to force her into a stalemate. As he glared at her closed eyes, a disturbing thought crossed his mind…

Am I going to have to use Gae Bolg on her?

† - Literally R'Lyehian for, "Shapes of sleep worm in my soul," though can be treated in proper English as, "Shapes of sleep worming in my soul".

†† - "Know true sorrow." Couldn't find a R-Lyehian phrase for "Understand true despair," so this was the closest I could get. I'm not super familiar with the language, so for those into Lovecraft, let me know if there's a better alternative.