FATE/NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM

"New Order of the Ages"

Chapter 18: Into the Mouth of Hell

"Amazing…" was all Rama could utter.

"So this is the true Child of Cuchulainn," Nightingale murmured.

They said this while observing the deadly match between the corrupted Child of Light and his only child. They weren't familiar with Connla's original legend, but they could see how she was the daughter of probably the world's strongest and most tenacious Lancer. With her Spirit Origin finally reconstituted, it was like the heroes had their own Cuchulainn to make up for the enemy being the original. Connla certainly wasn't as strong as her father, but her reaction times and evasion abilities easily kept Cuchulainn on his toes despite possessing the power to destroy gods.

Connla hopped, jumped and slashed about furiously, fighting on a reactionary basis to avoid Cuchulainn's mighty spear swings. Her petite stature made most believe that it was impossible for such a diminutive little girl to hold her own against a massive beast, but she proved that assumption wrong because her small frame actually made it easier for her to duck under Gae Bolg's deadly swipes while targeting his exposed lower half with spear stabs and magic. Her movements resembled dancing more than regular dodges, which frustrated Cuchulainn and enraged him further.

After she blocked another attack, she flipped backwards to reunite with Rama and Nightingale. She breathed hard, and the nurse healed several small wounds she had sustained during the fierce scuffle. The woman remarked, "Don't push yourself. You're still too young to be fighting so seriously."

"I can't let that slow me down, Ms. Nightingale. I have to go all out, or die trying. If I retreat, I'll be breaking one of my geasa."

"Ituha… No, my mistake. You're Connla now, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Do you have all of your memories back?"

"I do. I remember everything, including what I did as Ituha and Fia-Leanbh."

"Wonderful. Then I'm happy to report that you've been discharged as my patient."

"Thank you for all of your help. So then, are you going to be treating Father now?"

"Naturally," Nightingale said and stood in front of the child Lancer. "He is still deathly ill and needs an emergency operation. We three each have our roles – I am the surgeon, Rama is the knife, and Connla is the medicine. Let's fight as hard as we can and bring this man back to full health!"

"Now there's a task I can get behind," Rama smirked.

Cuchulainn's shoulders shuddered as he started laughing at Nightingale's absurd allegory. He muttered, "Now there's a first. I've sustained injuries that can break lesser men's spirits, but I don't recall ever getting sick."

"That's where you and Edison are different," Nightingale retorted. "He had the courage to admit that he was ill. The same can't be said for you."

"Why should I? I am who I am – wicked and immoral, like Medb. There's no need to keep someone like me alive."

"Your daughter doesn't seem to think so. If even one person wants you saved, then it's my job to make that wish a reality."

He stared at the worried Connla, then smirked, "Fine. If it's for her, then fight me with everything you have. Hold nothing back. Be as cruel and relentless as you'd like. If you don't, you will die."

"Here he comes!"

Cuchulainn reared his legs back, then sprinted straight for the trio. Connla and Nightingale suddenly split up, and Cuchulainn saw too late the glowing halo over Rama's hand as he prepared his Noble Phantasm while behind his allies. The crackling disc smashed against Cuchulainn's midsection and hurled him backwards across the courtyard, leaving behind a deep gash along the earth. He roared and destroyed the massive projectile with Gae Bolg before rushing back in at Rama and delivering a tremendous punch to his jaw. As the Indian hero pounded across the pavement, Nightingale switched in and engaged in the fiercest boxing match of her life with him. Both warriors clenched their teeth and glared at each other like devils, and the ground around them cratered from the incredible forces emanating from their countless blows.

Cuchulainn tried to punch her face, but suddenly found his arms constricted when Connla leapt onto his back and wrapped her arms and legs around his armpits and chest like a spider. He snarled and jammed his elbow against her side, damaging her viscera so badly that she spit blood between her clenched teeth.

"NGH!" she gasped, but the pain only incited her to hold on tighter.

"MWAAAAH!" Nightingale shrieked and dug her fist right into Cuchulainn's belly. Hideous couldn't begin to describe how contorted his expression looked as he puked blood all over Nightingale's clothes. Despite the incredible torment he was enduring, he tightly grabbed Connla's arm and whipped her around, knocking her against Nightingale and throwing the two females away in a violent tumble. Although Nightingale collapsed onto her back, Connla recovered and scurried along the pavement to return to Cuchulainn. He readied Gae Bolg and stabbed straight at her head, but she expertly twirled under and slashed at his forearm, creating a long gash along the skin.

While focused on Connla, he didn't notice Rama until he jumped in and kicked his jaw. Cuchulainn screamed and swung Gae Bolg in a blinding flurry of crimson wind, slicing and dicing everything in the cursed spear's path. Connla and Rama did an amazing job of blocking each and every strike that threatened to kill them, moving their weapons and bodies just as quickly and furiously as Cuchulainn was.

"JUMP!" Rama shouted at Connla.

The Mad King made one last horizontal swing that would have cleaved them to pieces, but they hopped over it simultaneously. The shockwave alone cut through trees and pillars like they weren't even there, causing them to collapse. Then without warning, Cuchulainn's upper back was sent flying forward, and he fell right on his face. Nightingale had tackled him with a powerful dropkick, allowing her comrades to land back on their feet without fear of a counterattack. The trio stood side-to-side as they waited for their enemy to get back up and fight them again.

"GWAAAAH!" Cuchulainn let out an otherworldly snarl and got back up into a javelin throwing position, then hurled Gae Bolg at them without using his Noble Phantasm.

"Gah!?" Connla gasped as she and her allies split apart to avoid being decimated. Just as quickly as he would retrieve the weapon, he would hurl it again with the force of a fired cannon at anyone he saw, blasting the grounds around the White House with glowing scarlet craters. The pain from throwing Gae Bolg with such colossal might tore him apart over and over again, but he didn't care anymore. He was so insulted from these three measly Servants making a fool out of him that he wanted them to die. His entire form seemed to change in response to his anger, granting him a torn black mantle fitting for a diabolical king.

Nightingale somersaulted away from an explosion, but Cuchulainn caught up to her and grabbed her face before smashing it and her upper body right into the dirt. Faster than one could blink, he left her lying there and chased after Rama. They dueled with their weapons again, but the Saber was no match for his enemy's insanity and lost his grip on his sword. Cuchulainn swung Gae Bolg down upon Rama's neck, leaving him in the same agonizing state as Nightingale. Cuchulainn looked around for Connla, but he couldn't find her anywhere.

"Is she inside…?" he muttered to himself and tried to investigate. However, he felt an unusual tug around his ankle that preventing him from walking, and he looked down with a snarl. Rama had both of his arms wrapped around Cuchulainn's foot and lower leg to immobilize him. The Mad King grit his teeth and stomped his other foot right on Rama's face, breaking his nose and bruising his eye shut.

"YAAH!"

The unexpected scream directed Cuchulainn's attention towards Connla, who was flying toward him while propelled by a small hurricane wrapped around her body. She brandished not her usual wooden spear, but a small hunting knife that she aimed at his shoulder. The short blade gouged through the muscle. He didn't even notice the glow coming from the knife, stunned from staring into his young daughter's frenzied eyes

"What are you doing!?" he yelled.

"You'll soon find out!"

Then a familiar symbol shone on the blade's hilt, and its energy transferred from the blade directly into his bloodstream. He widened his eyes and clenched his teeth in absolute horror.

"You wouldn't-!"

With tears rolling down her face, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "ANSUZ!"

With that fateful incantation, Connla and Cuchulainn were engulfed in an eruption of fire and ashes. The scorching winds blew everywhere, and the world around them trembled violently.

Elizabeth screamed and squeezed her eyes shut, prepared to join Nero in death. However, the pain and agony she was expecting never came.

"Uh…? Am I… okay?" she whimpered, then looked up.

Standing between her and the Demon Pillar that would have killed her was Edison, his body sparking with electricity. The creature backed away a bit, but remained hovering above the pair.

"It truly is difficult to stand up and fight," the Presi-King murmured. "But one becomes a hero by treading past that despair countless times. If I allowed a young lady such as yourself to shoulder that burden, I would have been a disgrace to America! Now, I'll show you abominations what a real heroic figure looks like!"

He raised his arms and shouted, "World Faith Domination!"

He unleashed his Noble Phantasm upon the nearest Demon Pillars, causing them to suffer massive injuries from the great explosion of light and colors. Elizabeth gasped at the spectacle and exclaimed, "That's amazing! With that kind of power, my live concert can shine brighter than before! Glitter! Sparkles! Colors! Glow sticks! Dragons! It's got it all!"

"I never thought my inventions would be used for such a thing…"

"Excellent. Edison has returned to fight with us," Helena said. "But even if all of us fought together, who knows how many minutes we could last. If only there was something that could give us an advantage…"

True to her word, though the Servants fought as valiantly as they could, it was genuinely impossible for only six warriors to go against 28 Demon Pillars at once. Beowulf tried to sever one from the ground, but another tentacle smacked him aside like he wasn't even there. Li Shuwen stabbed his lance into another pillar's eyes, but it didn't seem bothered and hurled him away.

"Tch! Something of this size is difficult to strike chi into!" he growled as he landed back on his feet.

"This is ridiculous," Edison stated. "I have to do something… If only I could evacuate everyone…"

"You idiot! What would be the point of that!?" Elizabeth shouted. "I can still… fight…!"

"No!" he caught her as she teetered on her feet. "You cannot move anymore. You must leave at once!"

"But-!"

"If you stay, you will get caught in the blast!"

"Blast?"

"Hey, Blavatsky! Take care of everyone for me!"

"What are you-!?" Helena tried to ask, but then saw that Edison was gathering a huge amount of energy in his chest plate. She panicked, "Are you going to self-destruct!?"

"Don't try to stop me! This is the only thing I can think of!" he screamed desperately. "I have a duty to protect everyone, even if it's only for a short while! I'll give my life for that purpose, if I have to! Not because I am the Presi-King, or a Servant, or even Thomas Alva Edison! It is because I am human!"

"Edison!" everyone else screamed in unison.

The world around them turned bright. Everyone was silent for several agonizing long moments.

"… Hm?" the Presi-King murmured in confusion.

The others were likewise as baffled. All of the energy he had been storing up fizzled into nothing. No, that wasn't quite it – it was more accurate to say that someone else took that power from him and directed it as a current towards the Demon Pillars. Each tentacle acted as a temporary conduit to pass along the millions of volts to each other, stunning all of them for a short while.

"Wh… What just happened?" Robin Hood wondered.

Then, they soon heard it. An unfamiliar man arrogantly laughed over the stunned crowd and boasted, "Hah hah hah hah hah hah! How unsightly of you, Edison! Indeed, you are an ordinary man unfit to stand before me! Revere my name in shame, then be gone from my sight!"

Edison's white fur began to stand on end as he recognized that irritating laugh and pontificating tone. He snarled, "This disgusting voice… And that shameless countenance… D-Don't tell me…"

"Of course I'll tell you! I am the true pioneer of the stars, the one and only genius who fathered the modern era! I am-!"

"Mr. Hysteric!"

"Tesla, you fool! I'm Nikola Tesla!"

"No way!" Helena screeched in disbelief. "Nikola Tesla is here!?"

The black-haired man wearing a purple-and-grey outfit approached his eternal rival with crossed arms and declared, "Indeed! I am a man blessed with as much impeccable timing as innate genius! Even so, I cannot ignore the plight that has befallen this land which I shall forge my legend upon! HOWEVER! Make no mistake, Thomas Alva Edison! Even if I was summoned a thousand times, I would never, EVER help you! I am only doing this for my own self-benefit! This era is crying for a real hero, and I was summoned for this monumental task! How honored I am! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Grrrrgh… That atrocious laugh… It's like he's been practicing it in front of a mirror every day!" Edison trembled. "Don't mess with me, Tesla! You're just an eccentric that stood out!"

"If I am an eccentric, then you are sinfully ordinary! Just a common man who used geniuses like myself to further his own manipulative career!"

"I am a CEO! Without CEOs, geniuses would only be seen as the world's laughingstocks! How can someone as brilliant as you not understand something so basic!?"

"Okay, gentlemen, we get it already. You're both incredible men," Helena stopped their childish bickering. "Right now, we need to focus on reality! Not even the power of electricity can stop these things."

"Stop them? Surely you jest, Madame Blavatsky," Tesla said. "Our job is not to defeat them. We only need to seal them away long enough for the little princess and her guardians to kill that lunatic king. Once he's dead, the Clan Calatin will disappear, and victory will be ours."

"An electric cage," Edison realized. "But even if we tried to, our individual power output won't be enough to restrain all of the Demon Pillars at once."

"Gh… Stop stealing words out of my mouth, you ordinary cur! I was just getting to that!"

"Liar."

"The fact remains that I have the higher power output. All I need you to do is to overload with your Noble Phantasm, then I will use mine to transfer both of our electrical outputs onto the Demon Pillars. That will create a conduit and paralyze all of them."

"That'll be enough lighting to kill an immortal monster until the end of time! Very well! Here goes nothing!"

Edison activated his ultimate attack again, while Tesla raised his arm to generate a halo of raw electricity. It fed off of Edison's lightning and grew stronger by the second, practically turning into a supernova of pure voltage.

"Thunder and lightning, descend from the heavens!" Tesla shouted.

"Bring light to this world that has plunged into darkness!" Edison added.

"System Keuranos!"

"World Faith Domination!"

A mighty current swept through the Demon Pillars like blood rushing through vessels. None of the monsters could escape the intolerable amounts of lighting coursing through them, and the electricity jolted them so much that they writhed uncontrollably.

"Kgh…" Edison gasped, exhausted from using all of his power. "So… Now what do we do?"

"Fool!" Tesla barked. "I already told you! Our job is to only hold them back! I must admit that even though I am the face of the modern era, sometimes even ancient relics still have their uses."

"What are you talking about?"

"Wait!" Helena shouted. "I'm sensing a huge amount of Ether being gathered!"

Then the group heard another man's voice calmly declare, "Expanding sacred domain… Secured. Setting divine punishment enforcement limits… Calculating amount of time needed for energy convergence and acceleration… Counting down."

Robin remembered hearing that voice before and exclaimed, "It's Arjuna!"

The dark-skinned man, who had abandoned the Celts' cause after Cuchulainn killed Karna, was hovering high above the shocked Demon Pillars. An eerie aqua-colored wind swirled around him, then converged over his hand as a tiny white light. Although it looked small, it easily had the power to decimate several kilometers of land around it.

"I suggest you all evacuate as soon as possible," the Archer told the other Servants. "I will try to keep the scale to a minimum, but you will not survive if you remain here."

"What about you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I will sacrifice myself for this attack. I have no need to hold back any longer. My Divine Construct will rain Heaven's wrath upon these demons."

"Gah! We have to run! We'll be consumed by it if we don't!" Robin shuddered.

Arjuna waited for the others to retreat as far as they could, then flung the ball of light over the Demon Pillars and shouted, "By the rage of Shiva, your life ends here! Pashupata!"

The starry light grew bigger and stronger by the millisecond, until the entire area was swallowed in a brilliant white supernova.

Back at the White House, a large section of the ground had been gutted out, turning into a makeshift hearth of crackling flames and rising plumes of smoke.

"Agh…! C-Connla! Connla!" Rama shouted, coughing after inhaling some bitter fumes.

To his relief, he found the young girl kneeling and gasping heavily, but otherwise unharmed. The smoke dissipated enough for the heroes to see Cuchulainn standing in a wobbled position. A huge burn mark was left behind where Connla's knife had been, and a lot of blood seeped out of the wound. The Mad King's Spirit Origin was starting to collapse from all of the effort expended to make himself stronger, along with the massive damage he took from the three Heroic Spirits. Connla's last attack caused such grievous injuries that it would be impossible for him to recover – his insides were literally roasted, and his cooked skin sizzled. He fell onto one knee and coughed up a tremendous amount of blood.

"Yes! We did it!" Rama smiled triumphantly. "We have finally defeated Cuchulainn!"

Although she had landed the decisive blow, Connla grew worried for the fallen Ulster hero, and she timidly approached him while moaning, "Father…"

Nightingale immediately grabbed her wrist and shouted, "No! He's still too dangerous!"

"But…"

"Ggh," Cuchulainn gasped. Then, even though he looked as defeated as could be, he smirked and glared at the trio with defiant red eyes. "My dream of creating a country for you is finished. At last, this stifling role as a king is over…"

He teetered back to his feet, then declared, "Before I'm done though, I have one last test of courage to give to you all."

The exasperated Rama exclaimed, "You mean there's more!?"

"Have you forgotten? I still have the Holy Grail."

"This can't be!"

"Right. I still need to summon the Demon God guarding the Grail, and become one with it."

Connla couldn't believe what she was hearing. Cuchulainn cupped his hand and made the Holy Grail appear. He looked into her despairing eyes, then murmured, "I promise that this is the last obstacle. Defeat the Demon God causing this world's incineration, and you will save everyone."

"No, don't do it!" she pleaded.

He grinned. It wasn't an arrogant smirk, but one of pride and confidence in her abilities. All he could say to her was, "Good luck…"

He raised the demonic chalice and shouted, "O Holy Grail, the ultimate vessel to make wishes come true! Manifest your true form! Remember your true name! Join with me, and rise as one of the 72 Demon Gods!"

A sinister light engulfed him, and sinewy white tendrils tore through the concrete that wrapped around his legs, slithering along his body like writhing snakes.

"This is ridiculous!" Rama groaned. "Ungh… I don't have the energy to use my Noble Phantasm anymore…"

Connla cried and trembled, fixated on her father's transformation into something unspeakable. Even though she was scared out of her wits, there also seemed to be a pang of nostalgia that hit her very core.

I know this feeling. In some other world… In some other time… I saw Father morph into an inhuman creature right in front of me.

While the other two were lost in utter despair, Nightingale remained steadfast and declared, "I shall sever all that is toxic, all that is harmful! I shall do all in my power to guide people to the state of well-being! Nightingale Pledge!"

Green ripples danced around her feet, and streaks of light rose all around her. Then the image of a giant nurse wielding a sword appeared above her and lowered its blade. The trio's wounds immediately closed up, and they could feel a newfound energy revitalizing them.

"Stand strong, you two!" she declared. "Now is the time to save lives! Do not worry about your wounds – I shall treat them as many times as it takes! Once we emerge victorious, everything will return to the way it is meant to be!"

Rama nodded. "That's right. We'll fight as much as it takes. We'll crush the outrageous, and overcome despair. This is the final battle!"

Connla couldn't say any words of encouragement. She was too choked up from watching Cuchulainn's abhorrent metamorphosis. The white pseudopodia completely engulfed his figure, and countless red eyes shaped like diamonds opened up as blinking tumors all along the demonic pillar of flesh and viscera.

"One of the 72 Demon God Pillars… Rank 38, the Demon of War, Halphas," Cuchulainn's disembodied voice echoed deeply from within the sickly husk. "War is eternal. In order to cleanse the filth and make way for a new order of the ages, weapons are necessary. That which is old must be severed so that new life may prosper. That is why mortals are fated to fight for all eternity. It is a cycle that shall never cease."

"NO!" Nightingale objected. "No, no, no, no! I will deny it for all eternity! When the number of lives saved outnumber those lost, the deadly spiral of conflict will cease! If it refuses to grind to a halt on its own, then I'll force it to stop with my own hands! That is my solemn duty, both as a nurse and as a Servant!"

Rama pointed his sword at Halphas and declared, "Humans are not slaves of war! If you can't understand that, then be gone from this world, unholy creature! Even if we die and are brought back a thousand times over, we'll never give up!"

"I exist to bestow conflict," Halphas said coldly. "I answered this man's wish to give his child a future where innocent people would not suffer at the hands of monsters. To accomplish this, I gave him the power to eradicate those he deemed worthless to his cause, but the clean up was much larger than he anticipated. He called upon the flames of war to burn everything away, so that then his child could live in peace. However, the child did not accept his wish and rebelled against him, forcing him to give up his greatest hope and destroy everything for the sake of destruction."

"Father…" Connla sobbed.

"The time for reclamation has come. I shall take all life away from this world and bestow it upon my master. Only then shall I set this man free and allow him to reunite with his child in death."

"Connla!" Rama exclaimed. "You need to stay strong! Don't listen to anything that monstrosity says! If you believe you made the right decision in leaving the Celts, then stand tall and remain firm in that choice! Show your father your true conviction! It's the only way to make him proud of you now!"

"… Mm."

Halphas generated a blood-red shockwave that tore through the ground and rippled towards the trio. Their teeth rattled as the deep crimson energy rippled past them, tossing them aside. Connla flipped forth like a gymnast and jammed her spear into the monster's flesh as deep as she could go. One of its eyes shone brightly before firing a laser that pummeled her back. Rama went around to the other side and slashed at its flesh, but a different set of eyes knocked him back with a separate volley of shots. Nightingale hoped to attack Halphas from a third angle while it was busy with the others. However, it could see 360 degrees all around and keep track of the Servants' movements while forcing them back with powerful spells and attacks.

"Damn it! If only there were more Servants to help us out!" Rama snarled.

"They're probably all busy with the Clan Calatin," Nightingale said. "We must stay strong and wear this monstrosity down until they return!"

Connla grew concerned, knowing that Cuchulainn was still inside Halphas. Could he see what was going on as well? Was he watching her struggle for her life against his ultimate challenge? There was no way for her to know. Yet she only had one thought on her mind;

Father… I want to get you out of there…

She looked at the wounds they caused so far and noticed something unusual; they were not regenerating. Halphas was probably so arrogant that it didn't bother healing, instead using its resources strictly for offense. Connla hurried over to Rama and asked, "Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you throw your Noble Phantasm at the spot I just gouged out?"

"I can try, but what is that going to accomplish? It won't be enough to sever the Demon Pillar."

"Just trust me, please."

"All right."

Rama made his sword float upon his hand, then transformed it into the familiar white cutting halo.

"Brahmastra!" he exclaimed and hurled it at the spot Connla indicated. It sliced open the wound into a much larger size, but the Noble Phantasm fizzled out before it could do more damage.

"Futile," Halphas coldly declared.

"No," Connla retorted. Then, to Rama and Nightingale's shock, she ran toward the bleeding gash while screaming, "It's perfect!"

"Mmm!?"

The young Lancer jumped inside the massive tear and dug her way inside Halphas!

"You idiot!" Rama shrieked. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Nightingale cried out, "It's too late! We can't get her out of there now!"

"Foolish child!" Halphas snarled, but was unable to force Connla out once she burrowed in deep enough.

The world inside the Demon Pillar felt more like an alternate dimension rather than diving into some creature's innards. Sure, there were plenty of taut fibers and mysterious organs that pulsed with life, but gravity didn't seem to mean anything in this unusual space. Connla swam through the air, looking to see if she could find Halphas' core. The sinewy threads beckoned her to follow a particular path until she found them all converging upon a single point.

There, encased in dozens of pumping white tentacles, was Cuchulainn Alter. He had his eyes closed, appearing to be asleep. He functioned as the anchor point for Halphas to manifest in this world, and he had given up on his conquest while waiting for death to take him away. He just wanted to fade away and disappear, no longer feeling pain or sorrow tearing him apart.

"Father!" Connla exclaimed and floated in front of him, resting her palms upon his cheeks.

He wearily opened his eyes, then became utterly horrified as he shouted, "Connla!? What are you doing here!?"

"To save you, of course!"

"You fool! There is nothing you can accomplish by saving me!"

"You're wrong!" she cried. "Teacher and Sir Diarmuid told me that this is my duty! This is the very reason why I was summoned – to save your soul from the darkness that Queen Medb and Halphas plunged you into! Everyone may have forgotten who the true Cuchulainn is, but I still remember! I want you to return to being the Ulster hero you once were!"

"Forget about me! If you go back now, you still have a chance to survive!"

"No… There's no way for us three to defeat the Demon Pillar on our own. That's why I'll do this!"

Connla wildly cut through the threads with her spear to free Cuchulainn, then pulled him away as the fibers converged and threatened to ensnare him again. However, she switched places with him and allowed herself to be tangled within the grotesque sinew.

"NO! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HER!" Cuchulainn raged and tried to free her himself. However, Connla used her Runes to surround him in a wind vacuum that slowly blew him away from her. He cried out, "You can't do this! You absolutely CANNOT do this!"

"It can't be helped. Everyone is exhausted. That's why I'll extinguish the last vestiges of evil in this land with my life," she moaned as her arms and legs were engulfed in demonic flesh. "It's the least I can do to apologize for being the source of everyone's suffering, including yours."

"CONNLA!"

He tried to reach out to her, but his fervently grasping hand only caught air.

"You told me before," she murmured, taking one last good look at Cuchulainn with a hollow smile. "No matter what bizarre shape or form you appear as in any world or dimension, you're still my father at heart. Well, it is also true for me, as your daughter. Even if your sins are heavy in this timeline, I want you to live so you may atone for your crimes. That's my wish for you in this world. I'm sure any other version of me in any other world would want the same thing for you. It is the reason I'm sending you away from here. I don't mind if you wind up being angry with me for the rest of your life – I probably deserve it."

Eventually, the tendrils completely obscured her face from his view.

"Farewell, Father. May we meet again in more favorable circumstances."

"STOP III~IIIT!"

He tried to plead with her, but his throat tightened in absolute despair. The shining gust of wind carried him out of the Demon Pillar's dark core and disgorged him out of the demonic white flesh in a burst of black blood. He tumbled across the ground viciously until he came to a stop face-down, his soaked body dripping with some vile otherworldly substance.

"Cuchulainn!?" Rama shouted. "What's going on!? Where's Connla!?"

"She's… she's-!" the Mad King coughed and glared the most hideous glare in the universe at Halphas.

To their astonishment, the Demon Pillar remained sill. The nightmarish creature that had been tossing the Heroic Spirits about like rag dolls was doing nothing, and it got them anxious. After a moment of strained silence, that was when the first signs began to show themselves.

Nightingale blinked and asked, "What was that?"

She noticed small streaks of light shining around the monster. They weren't large at first, but soon grew in size and intensity as the seconds passed. Halphas started to moan in torment, like how one would groan while suffering from some inexplicable pain in their upper torso. The winds also picked up once again, rotating around the demon in a stationary cyclone.

"SHIT!" Cuchulainn punched the ground. "That idiot! She's using her Noble Phantasm to destroy Halphas from the inside!"

"That's insane!" the nurse objected. "She's not strong enough to kill it on her own! All she will accomplish is just slowing it down at the cost of her life! She's committing suicide for no reason at all!"

"You're right… except that she doesn't just use her own power."

"What do you mean?"

"Connla's Noble Phantasm, Laoch Gan Finsceal†, summons the spirits of common heroes who have been forgotten by time. She acts as the medium that allows them to unleash their vengeance as a deadly wind upon the ones who ruined them. In this world, there must be thousands that me and my forces destroyed, and now she is beckoning them to release their anger against the evil that twisted this world. If she was older, she would be able to withstand their full fury, but as she is right now…"

Rama's eyes widened in horror. "She doesn't stand a chance?"

"Yeah," Cuchulainn muttered grimly. "Perhaps this is the victims' way of getting back at me. Since Connla's my daughter, those vengeful spirits will be more than happy to make me endure the pain they felt by taking her away from me…"

Nightingale immediately got to her feet and shouted, "I won't allow it! There is no human being in this world who deserves to die! If thousands of angry spirits want to kill an innocent person, then I'll banish each and every one of them with my bare hands if I have to!"

"No. There's nothing you can do."

"I won't give up! There must be-!"

"Will you shut up already? I never said that I was going to give up on Connla. Quit your screaming and let me take care of this."

"What are you going to do?"

"What else?"

Cuchulainn stood back up in a huddled pose, then declared, "Dive into Hell and drag her back out."

He closed his eyes and focused on summoning an eerie darkness around him. He was channeling into his despair and rage, transforming his dark emotions into unholy scales that would encase him in the armor and claws of the ancient sea monster Curruid. During the process, all he could think about was Connla's sad smile, making him believe she had given up on living in this world. Her final words tore him apart at his deepest core:

"Farewell."

He refused to allow her to die alone. He almost lost her once, and wasn't by her side when she 'perished' the first time. He wouldn't let it happen again. If she was going to die for real, he would accompany her in death so she wasn't lonely. If he could save her though, he would do everything in his power to make his wish for her come true.

No. This is not good-bye. Not yet!

The horned helmet covered his head like a carapace and shielded his angry expression from the world. His form vanished within the sickening dark aura, and he could feel the layers of black armor surrounding the rest of his body.

Just a little longer… Even if it's just a little longer, I want to be with you in this world! I promise I won't screw up anymore! I'll make sure you have the future you deserve!

The dark cloud engulfing him dissipated, revealing him in his Noble Phantasm – the same one he used to nearly destroy Scathach. His howl was not of this world, sounding more like a Phantasmal's war cry than a human's screaming.

Hang in there! Don't you die on me just yet!

The monstrous man hunched forward like a beast, then called out his Noble Phantasm's name:

"CURRUID COINCHENN!"

Cuchulainn dashed like a madman towards the Demon Pillar, then made a mighty leap onto its side and burrowed his massive claws inside the tough white flesh. He ignored the violent winds, random slashes of light, and the demon's own attacks to try and shake him off. He concentrated on nothing but ripping apart this monster and diving inside to get Connla back. With a shout that would shatter the heavens, he finally tore open Halphas' exterior with a fantastic spurt of black blood, and then crawled inside the gigantic creature like a parasite. The demon squealed in immeasurable pain from the dual Noble Phantasms shearing it into shreds from the inside.

The others could do nothing except watch the gory spectacle while making sure they didn't get viciously blown away. The tornado only got stronger with each passing second, so they had to hold on to whatever they could for dear life. The shining flashes of light continued tearing through Halphas without remorse, cracking and snapping like rapid gunfire as bits and pieces of the Demon God disintegrated. Eventually, all of its diamond-like ruby eyes and the red crystals surrounding its base shattered into imperceptible fragments, leaving its pure white flesh exposed to the destructive elements. With its insides utterly destroyed, it didn't take much for the assault to reach back outside and start tearing apart its thick hide and multiple eyes.

The hundreds of slashes cracking about randomly eventually converged into one point. After a powerful moment of silence… it happened.

FWOOOM!

What followed was perhaps the mightiest explosion of wind ever seen in human history. Perhaps only the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 could be used as a comparison to the forces this cyclone generated. Rama and Nightingale finally lost their footing and went flying into the distance.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

† - "Hero Without Legend"