Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 86! Don't you guys love it when everything in life is going just wonderful? Like, college/school is doing great, your sports team wins, you go enjoy nature outside, socialize with friends, or have that free day to play whatever game you wanna play. Like, it kinda makes a person sit back, look up, smile and think: 'Perhaps life doesn't suck that much.'

But for any of you who who's week isn't going well, I hope the next one does, as when someone is down, the only way from there is going up. Remember, your life isn't worhtless, as there can always be something you can make out of it. Better days will come.

And with all that said, let's start it!

DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author


"Where you going, Miss Scáthach?" Nightingale asked, having encountered the celtic spearwoman lonely wandering around the almost empty streets of Denver at night.

"Going to talk with those two kids from Chaldea." Scáthach responded to the nurse, stopping her steps. "There's something I want to see from them. But also..." She turned around, staring Nightingale, face to face. "Since you are here, I think I can also talk about something to you."

"Talking of something to me?" Nightingale raised an eyebrow. "What is it about?"

"It's Cú Chulainn. Or to be more precise, this alter version of him." Scáthach answered. "As a person who swears on treating and nursing others to good health, you despise diseases, don't you?"

"More than anything. Diseases are impure and harmful by nature." Nightingale replied. "I'd wish for a world without them."

"Then I'll let you know that Cú Alter is a case of one big terrible disease." The celtic spearwoman said. "A monstrousity that wears the identity of my former student, even if its just an alternate version of him."

"Any symptoms that you could use to describe?" Nightingale enqueried, adjusting her gloves.

"A man with no desires or ambitions. A lackluster sense of goal to himself." Scáthach described, staring at the full moon. "A fitting illness for such being."

"I suspected as much." Nightingale replied. "An individual like him couldn't be of a healthy and sound mine. Glad to see I wasn't the only one with that thought."

"Eh. I too just had those thougts recently. Diseases have long lost meaning to me." Scáthach said, wondering when was the last time she ever felt sick. "Due to my near immortal status being close to that of a Divine Spirit, I can't say illnesses are a thing that affects me anymore. So much so that I almost didn't notice it the ones residing within Cú Alter."

"But alas, here you are. A Heroic Spirit, like me and the rest." Nightingale pointed out, seeing that despite having a solid level of certain immortality, the spearwoman had still become a servant, a phenomenon only possible through death of a great, remarkable hero or person.

Scáthach giggled a bit at that. "How ironic, isn't it? I might have overcame death, but I still wasn't able to transcend over it." She laid a hand on her own chest. "Condemning me to be abandoned by life, fleeting around as a ghost."

"We're servants. We're all technically ghosts but with a more completed physical form and bodies consisted of pure mana." Nightingale told to the spearwoman. "But even here, we can still be vulnerable to diseases, special ones. No one can be immune to everything. Whether they be on a physical or emotional level."

"Hum, if you say so." Scáthach stared again at the nurse. "However, you do believe that any illness has a cure for it?"

"In certain ways, yes. I do believe that." Nightingale responded. "And if there isn't, then as a nurse, it is my duty to find a way to, as I'll never abandon or refuse to treat a patient."

"You speak with quite the convection. The war must've had some changes on you. Or, you were already like that." Scáthach commented on the nurse's trait of keeping loyal to her obligation as an health worker. "I think I can rely you on something then."

"Hm." Nightingale only made a small grumble with her mouth, implying to Scáthach to tell her what it was.

"I've decided to take on Cú Alter, alone." Scáthach revealed. "I'll be departing earlier than the rest of the you on the morning the campaign of the final battle begins."

"Of the part about wanting to fight Cú Alter, I already anticipated that you'd wish for that." Nightingale replied, not being particularly surprised about that thing in specific. "But to want to fight him alone? Are the motives that extremely personal?"

"You could say it." Scáthach grabbed her spear with both hands, observing it closely. "He is a illness that is correlated to me through the identity of the servant it posesses." She tightened her grasp on the weapon. "There is no one better suited to deal with him than me."

"For that, I do have no doubt." Nightingale was sure on Scáthach's capabilities as a seasoned warrior and mentor to take on Cú Alter. "Altough, I am uncertain it will be an easy fight."

"I shall persuade Cú Alter to my location through a rune spell. He'll surely recognize it and come torwards me." Scáthach stared at her own reflection on the spear. "That's when it will be only us two. No allies or innocent bystanders to worry about. I'll try to make sure to get rid of him, preventing him from causing us trouble right at the war's beggining." She then gazed at Nightingale. "But if I do end up failling...treat him of his illness in my place."


Present

Having reached to the location after following tiredlessly the rune that guided to him here, the big and ferocious celtic spearman grinned has his eyes captured the person who he had expected to see the moment he caught sign of the rune.

"Hehehe. Quite the long time, hasn't it, teacher?" Cú Alter said with an amused tone, staring directly at Scáthach who was waiting for him in one of the tall trees large branches, looking down on him.

"Sorry, I don't recall having ever trained you." Scáthach said with slight animosity, giving a stern look at Cú Alter.

The spearman laughed in reaction. "Oi,oi. No need to be that hostile, teacher. I might have changed a bit, but you still know who I am." Cú Alter opened up his arms, the one that had been damaged pretty badly on his fight with Tesla before having been fully healed. "The most prolific student you helped transform into a warrior, Cú Chulainn. You cannot deny that."

"Eh." Scáthach made a simple and short chuckle at that. "You might have his face and name, but you'll never be the one I'd consider to have been my student. You are completely different from Cú Chulainn."

"Hmm, you aren't exactly wrong." Cú Alter replied, taking some steps to the left. "Really, I am a contrasting version of him. I don't censor you for not recognizing me as your student, teacher." His eyes continued to look at Scáthach, who's gaze was still following him. "But can't you see how superior I am to the one you trained? How I went beyond and surpassed every other aspect you've teached him? You should feel flattered teacher!" He raised his voice, stucking his Gáe Bolg to the ground. "I am the perfect warrior of the perfect pupil you ever had!"

"Tsk. Spare me of the nonsense." Scáthach shook her head in disapproval. "Cú Chulainn was far from perfect, even after my teachings. Such mindless behaviour doesn't suit you well, Sétanta."

"Graah!" Having made no warning, Cú Alter launched his spear to the tree Scáthach was at, obliterating it totally. However, the surprise attack obviously hadn't killed Scáthach, who landed on the ground, right behind Cú Alter. "That name. Was that supposed to prickle me?" Cú Alter asked, turning around to confront Scáthach.

"I just thought you'd need a lesson, being my student or not." Scáthach replied, summoning a spear in her hand and a second one in the other. "A lesson to put you in place!"

"Keh. Show-off." Cú Alter scoffed at the fact his teacher was wielding two spears at the same time. He called back his Gáe Bolg. "Well, do and try teach me again! I'm more than happy to show you the student has surpassed his master!" He exclaimed, putting pressure on his own legs to then dash torwards Scáthach.

"Mhm!" With experience, the spearwoman easily defended herself from her student's blow, see it coming a mile away. As response, she hit him back with her second spear, having been blocked by Cú Alter. The two proceeded to clash a couple more times before a brutal impact between their weapons made each one inadvertently be pulled away, thei feet dragging some meters into the ground.

"I see you continue as resilient as ever teacher!" Cú Alter commented. "At least you aren't afraid of going all out!"

"Oh, you can spare me of that. You'd think I would seriously hold back my punches?" Walking some steps forward, Scáthach moved her spears, preparing herself for a new attack. "If you really say to be my student, there's a thing you should always know about me: I'm never afraid of going all out in a battle, even with my students!" She sprinted fastly at Cú Alter, hitting his Gáe Bolg with her first spear, it was strong enough to break his temporary defense, swinging her second spear at him, landing a cut on his abdomen.

"Kkghg!" Fighting back, Cú Alter moved his tail. Scáthach took a quick step back in attempt to get out from the tail's reach. Unfortunately, the Cú Alter's tail ended up catching her ankle and trapping it. With an abrupt swing, Cú Alter used his tail to throw Scáthach at a tree's trunk. The spearwoman was able to turn the situation around however, landing with her boots on the trunk perfectly. But soon enough she'd have to move up and above as Cú Alter threw his Gáe Bolg at her again, forcing the spearwoman to teleport quickly to another tree.

Cú Alter begun to hunt her down in the area, launching his spear at any tree he saw with movement in the leaves and branches, his attacks passing nearby Scáthach who skillfuly dodged them, moving from tree to tree with every lightening step.

"This power is more destructive than of the Cú Chulainn I knew. He is tearing the whole forest apart just to hit me." Scáthach analysed to herself as she kept dodging and moving around. "But he's so brutish and reckless in his movements that they are easily denounced. I can keep wi-" But against her own discourse, Gáe Bolg appeard underneath Scáthach's feet, piercing through the branch she was about to land in, scrapping her on the left side of the stomach. "Glurgh!?" Some blood came out from the spearwoman's mouth. "H-He managed to hit me?!"

"Ehehehe. Gotcha." Cú Alter cackled, calling back Gáe Bolg, now drenched with his teacher's blood. "You tought I didn't had a notion of your speed and pattern movement? Sorry to say it, but you were wrong about that! I have it well memorized!" He exclaimed. "All I needed was to time and adjust the throw of Gáe Bolg to your next step, predicting correctly where you would go next."

Scáthach landed on the branch of another tree, making pressure on her own wound to avoid more blood from spilling out. "So that's how..." She said lowly, wanting to ignore the pain as she still tried to remain hidden from him. "This Cú Chulainn isn't that shallow and mind empty then."

"Surprised that you wouldn't be as untouchable as you thought, teacher? That this student may be better than you?" Cú Alter said, his eyes shifting to the trees and branches concealing Scáthach from behind. "Or that you are becoming predictable?"

"Hm!" Ignoring to give an answer, Scáthach instead proceeded to move onto the next tree as Cú Alter destroyed the one she was previously on. She kept repeating the strategy, doing her best to avoid being hit again by Cú Alter's spear. Soon enough, the forest was getting large holes on its area, the leaves being scattered away and the trees brought down by the itensity of the battle. "I'll have to wait for it. Be patient." Scáthach said to herself as surely, there wouldn't be any trees left at one point for her to keep jumping from place to place in order to evade her opponent's Gáe Bolg. Her mind focused and quiet, her eyes sharp. She knew Cú Alter was following her movement. "An opportunity. An opening."

Launching and calling Gáe Bolg back and forth, Cú Alter had already diffloristized a good chunk of the woods, thousands of leaves and destroyed wood lying on the ground. "For how long are you going to keep up with this? I thought the teacher was a more capable warrior than this!" Cú Alter provoked, goading her to come out of the trees. That's what he wanted. For Scáthach to precipitate and lose her composure.

But the spearwoman knew better than anyone how important maintaining her head cold was in a fight. She waited for the moment, counting down the seconds to herself. "Not yet." She moved out of the place again.

"Come out already!" Cú Alter shouted.

"Hold it." Scáthach went to another tree.

"Do I need to go all the way out just to force you to step away from your damn hide-out?!" Cú Alter was already getting sick of it.

"Hold it a little longer." Scáthach awaited a few more seconds, feeling the chance was getting nearer.

Cú Alter had enough. "You asked for it teacher!" He shouted, emanating a huge amount of mana o Gáe Bolg the moment he pierced it on the ground. "I'm using my-"

That was the signal. "Now!" Jumping out of the leaves and branches of the trees, Scáthach appeared on Cú Alter's right, pointing one of her two spears at him while in midair. "I'm right here!" She made her presence known, hurling the spear at Cú Alter.

The spearman however, seemed to have anticipated it.

"Protection from Arrows!"

Swiftly, the berserker spearman dodged efficiently from the dashing spear of Scáthach. The spearwoman wasn't done yet, sprinting torwards her enemy at almost the same time, swinging her second spear at him, about to slice him on the small opening she had found out on the left side of his abdomen. Sadly, Cú Alter dodged from the second blow as well, backing off Scáthach from him.

"Impressive." Scáthach called back her first spear. "To think your reaction was quick enough to dodge two of my fastest attacks yet."

"Heh. I knew you'd come out to attack me sooner or later." Cú Alter told her. "That you'd wait for me to give you an 'opening' so that you could take the chance to strike me." He poked his own forehead. "Always make the adversary think they got the upper hand on you, isn't that right, teacher?"

Scáthach left out a lowly grunt. "So you do have the memories of my lessons."

"Of course I'd have. I'm a version of the hero you trained!" Cú Alter said. "Do you want something more similar than that? Every trick, technique, stratagem you have, you shared its knowledge and passed it down to me." The spearman pointed to himself, showing that he was way more than familiar with his teacher fighting style. "Whatever you're thinking of using against me, I'll probably guess it before you can even try."

"But you still forget an important lesson." Scáthach talked back. "Recognizing and memorizing the opponent's attacks does not imply that you will win the fight because of that." She cited. "Until the adversary is down, victory is never guaranteed."

"But of course teacher. Claiming victory too soon would be nothing but foolish." Cú Alter replied, holding Gáe Bolg with both his hands and moving it close to him, ready to continue fighting. "That's why I won't rest until I see your body vanishing into thin air! You have nothing left to teach me! I have outgrown the need for your advices!" Cú Alter jumped torwards her. "You're technically useless to me!"

Scáthach put her two spears in front, blocking Cú Alter's attack, the weapons coming into a clash. "How can you be perceptive yet witless at the same time? There's always something new to learn, be it from me or not!" She fought back, trying to win the clash against the opponent. "But you don't get it nor ever will, because I'm putting a stop to your vile terror here!"

"Ahahaha! But what if you fail? You honestly think that I will accept perishing here and to you?" Cú Alter applied more brute strenght on Gáe Bolg. "As the perfect warrior that I was labeled to be, I cannot ever dare to taste defeat! I'll not allow it! And after I'm done with you, I'll crush everyone else of my enemies as follow up." He grinned at Scáthach. "You've created a monster, teacher. Who will be able to defeat me if not you?"

That was a good question. Cú Alter was a true powerhouse alone. A behemoth that could take on many enemies at once. A horryfying beast with thirst for violence and war, twisted from the morals of the original Cú Chulainn. A despicable warrior that was perfected through Scáthach's teachings, having retained the memories of that time from his original self. The great level of his skills as a fighter of today, could pretty much be attributed to her. So really, if she couldn't defeat hher own student, who else could?

Surprisinly, Scáthatch had an aswer for that, looking at Cú Alter with a smile. "It isn't as simple as you think it is."


Three Days Ago

"Uff!"

"Waah!"

Peko and Nala both laid on the ground defeated, having been easily beaten down by Scáthach and Li Shuwen in the first minute of their training. The twins well tried but weren't able to compete against the two servants who fastly put them down.

"And that was it for the first exercise. You'll need to do better next time." Scáthach said, looking down on the two children.

"A lot better." Li Shuwen added, standing by the spearwoman's side.

"Uugh...That was so...sudden." Peko slowly got up while rubbing his head, still a bit dazed by quick combat. "You barely gave us a chance."

"And that's not fair at all!" Nala exclaimed, getting immediatly up with an angry pout on her face. "How do you want us to improve if you'll come at us like that?"

"We said we'd train and teach you. Not that we would hold your hands during the lessons." Li Shuwen told to the girl with an unfriendly face. "If you want to really improve yourself, there's no better way to achieve that than going through the rough way!"

"Yeah, but like...at least give us some tips first before attacking us unprepared!" Nala replied back, thinking the two servant should have teached them a few things before doing a fight between them. She wasn't even able to scratch her sword on Li Shuwen's body.

"In battle, there isn't such thing as preparation, as the enemy most likely won't give you any." Scáthach told to Nala. "The best solution to avoid that is to always be prepared, wether a fight is happening or not, thus no opponent can get you by surprise or slouch."

"Well, that may sound true and can be quite the useful advice." Peko replied. "But what about other things? I doubt being always prepared is enough to win a fight. Aren't you going to teach us actual moves and spells?"

"I'd consider that. However, we challenge you to hold your ground in a fight against us for three minutes in order to proceed to the next steps of the training." Li Shuwen told the twins, who looked at him and Scáthach in shock.

"What?! Hold against you for three minutes?!" Nala exclaimed.

"We barely lasted a minute!" Peko added.

"But it was the first time. You two were still unaware of what to expect." Scáthach talked to them. "I'm sure that now that you have a better idea of how we fight, you can be more prepared for our attacks."

"So you're telling us that we should figure out how to fight you back on our own?" Nala protested. "No help? Anything?"

"I presume you have defeated servants before, haven't you?" Li Shuwen questioned her. "Did you had them giving advices or you just got the hang of it?"

"Well, no but..." Nala tried to come up with a response. "That was different!"

"On what exactly? You were also capable of figuring out and outmatch the opponent those times, weren't you?" Li Shuwen asked. "If so, then this situation is precisely the same."

"..." Nala didn't respond, not having any arguments to respond to the martial artist.

"Learn that observing and studying the enemy during a fight is essential. Discover their weaknesses and strong points." Scáthach told to the two.

"But you said that the enemy wouldn't give us any chance to prepare ourselves!" Peko told, thinking that the spearwoman was contradicting herself.

"I did said it. Yet, be it as it may, one can study and fight the enemy at the same time." Scáthach told to the boy. "Keep that in mind. To be able to perform both at the same time is a great trait of a fighter with experience."

"We know that! But-"

"But what?" Li Shuwen cut Peko short. "Afraid that you won't master it immediatly and so you both decide to whine instead? If we're standing here just for that then forget about being our temporary students!"

"..." Peko went silent, the words of the martial artist having shutted him up.

Li Shuwen looked to the twins. "Listen, you have to accept that the path to become stronger is many times, a harsh one. To overcome difficulties you'll have to comprehend and study them first. Nothing is easy, with every obstacle being bigger than the previous one. As you stand right now, it will not be enough to transcend the current and future ones that may appear on the way to your goals." He continued his verbal lecture. "You'll have to go way beyond than that! Reach new heights! Ascend your powers!"

"Ascend?" Nala muttered, slightly captivated by Li Shuwen's talk.

"You both paid attention when watching us two fighting one another, weren't you?" Scáthach asked them, mentioning the small fight she had with Li Shuwen when she had introduced herself to their group recently.

"Y-Yeah, we were. I'm not sure if I was seeing it right at the moment but I noticed how you were using some type of spells during the short intervals of your clashes to power yourself up." Peko replied to the spearwoman, describing his observation during her short battle with Li Shuwen.

Scáthach gave the kid a little smile. "Very good. It's true I was using spells to boost my skills. As I suspected, you have some good keen eyes for having caught on that." She complimented the boy's ability. "If you can spot those small details at such speed, I believe you are also able to notice more of them in your opponent while fighting them."

"You think?" Peko said, blushing with a bit due to getting a small praise out of the spearwoman. He didn't expect to get a compliment because of that.

"I do." Scáthach said to him before staring at Nala. "Same thing goes for you."

"With that being said, let's start from the beggining again." Li Shuwen speaked. "Make sure to last longer this time or even the full three minutes."

"Humm, so it will have to be this way." Peko said, seeing that if they wanted to be trained by the two servants, they'd have to prove themselves to them first. He went to look at his sister. "What do you say about this sis?"

Still thinking on what Li Shuwen said, Nala took some time to respond, lifting up her head to stare at the dark sky of the Land of Shadows. "If we wanna surpass our enemies, there's no other method but to ascend ourselves hum?" She then recalled of her encounters and battles against Solomon and Cú Alter. How humiliating those harsh defeats were and made Nala feel weak. How it was a reality check of a slap in the face to show her she wasn't as undefeateble as she originally thought. That there was still so much to better up and evolve. If she wanted to recover her and Peko's past, then she couldn't stay like this. "In that case..." She smiled confidently to them. "I'll accept your terms!"

"Good. Way better than chicken out." Li Shuwen replied. "You at least understand that hardships are a necessity to someone's progression."

"Eh! Last thing you'll see from me is being a chicken!" Nala told to the martial artist confidently, proceeding to stare at her brother. "And you Peko? Are you ready for it?"

Peko smiled back at her, this attitude of his sibling being a joy to watch when not being way too pushy or arrogant. "Sure thing! Let's show them our worth!" The boy said, gaining a nod from Nala as the two summoned their swords again, ready to face against Scáthach and Li Shuwen a second time.

The servant duo also went back to their fighting positions, the second attempt of the twins about to start.

"Once again..." Scáthach spinned her spear around before putting a stop and pointing it at them. "Display your strenght to us!"

And the time passed on the Land of Shadows. Seconds transformed into minutes that would then mutate into hours. That entire period was spent with Peko and Nala trying their hardest to fight back and resist both Scáthach and Li Shuwen for three minutes. They failed a dozen times, repeatedly. When they thought they'd somehow win the challenge, the servant duo would find a way to surprise them and knock the twins down onto the ground near the end. Despite that, Peko and Nala would always get back up and try over and over again, feeling that they were getting closer of succeeding at each attempt, never giving up. It seemed the four would be all night doing that. Until...

"Hmgh!"

"Gnghg!"

Peko and Nala had just blocked some attacks of Scáthach and Li Shuwen respectively, having a close call with them. The twins were feeling greatly exhausted at this point, the fatigue having been build up during all of their failed attempts. But thankfully, their bodies could finally rest.

"Good job." Scáthach congratulated the two, much to their confusion. "You've managed to withold us for the entirety of the three minutes." She stated, with both her and Li Shuwen backing off their weapons as the challenge was done.

"Meaning you have indeed showed us your potential." Li Shuwen told the twins. "Guess that makes you more than enough qualificated to be our students."

Panting a bit in tiredness, the twins proceeded to lower their swords and guards down, hearing that they have passed this 'mini test' of the two servants.

"Ahah! We...we finally did it!" Peko said happily, cleaning the sweat from his face as he rest a bit.

"See? I knew we could make it eventually!" Nala responded to her brother, smilling as well. Despite the small exhaustion, she was still up to start learning more from Scáthach and Li Shuwen. "Now, what else are you gonna teach us? Whatever it is I have more than energy left to do it!"

Scáthach looked at Li Shuwen. "Say, how many hours has past since we've been here?"

"About two or three hours I guess." The martial artist responded to her.

Scáthach put a thumb under her chin, pensative. "Well, in that case I think we will be ending here for today." She said, much to the twin's huge letdown. "We will continue tomorrow."

"Eh?!"

"What?!"

"Meh. Fine by me. My arms were starting to get a little sore from all this constant fighting." Li Shuwen was okay with Scáthach's decision on the other hand.

"Hey now! Are you kidding with us?!" Nala complained hard, throwing her fists around in the air. "We endured and passed your stupid test! Training us some more minutes in a new lesson should be the minimum you could do!"

"Well, I think I also don't mind that much..." Peko murmured to the side. "Ritsuka and Mash could also be worried with us since we still haven't came back."

Li Shuwen begun to walk torwards the giant gate that served as an exit to the Land of Shadows as well, ignoring the young girl's protests. "Your body has its natural limits. Don't be a dumb and push them more than the necessary." He told to Nala, passing past her.

She tried to argue back. "But I-"

"Also, your slashes need better definition. Doing a hundred of them in different directions isn't pratical." Li Shuwen adviced. "Do not fear the man who practices a thousand moves at once, but yes the man who practices one move a thousand times."

Nala couldn't quite understand what he meant by that initially. "Eh? Come again?"

"That's all the advice I'm telling you for now." Li Shuwen stood in front of the gates, turning around to Scáthach before leaving. "How about we come practice earlier tomorrow? What do you say?"

Scáthach agreed. "It shall be it so. Have a goodnight, master of the Bajiquan."

"See ya tomorrow." Li Shuwen said goodbye too with a simple gesture of his hand, walking through the gates and leaving the small simulated version of the Land of Shadows.

"Grr, that guy..." Nala was still a tad upset, not satisfied in not having been teached enough today. "He's dead wrong if he thinks I'm going to just cross my arms and be content with our training of today!" She said to herself, running torwards the gates, going after Li Shuwen and leaving Peko and Scáthach alone.

"Well, guess I'm also exiting now." Peko begun to walk torwards the gates.

But Scáthach still had something to tell him. "Wait a minute please!" She said to Peko, walking over him.

"Hum? What is it Scáthach?" Peko turned around, looking at the spearwoman in front of him.

Simply, Scáthach put a hand on the boy's head, patting him. "You performed well."

"A-Aah, h-humm...t-thanks?" Peko's face reddened a bit.

Doing a movement with her finger, Scáthach invoked an ancient letter of her region, showing it to Peko. "Because of that, I think you deserve seeing it."

Peko's eyes glowed a bit as he laid sight upon the spell. "That's..."

"A rune. The ones I use for combat." Scáthach told the boy. "Letters of an alphabet that stores great magic within. It can help a lot during fights. Each rune with a specific type of magic of its own, granting some large quantity of dexterity." The spearwoman looked to Peko. "I figure you want me to teach you one."

"Yes I do!" Peko replied intrigued, wanting to learn how to use it.

"But due to the time we have until the beggining of the war, I can only taught you one." Scáthach told him. "Do you have in mind what do you want?"

Thinking for a bit, Peko had a choice in mind. "Actually, I do have. Something that I want to better it out."

Scáthach smiled. "You can tell me what it is later so that we can work on that tomorrow." She told him. "In the meantime, go to reflect before sleeping."

"Huh? Why?" Peko asked her.

"Because reflecting and meditating are things that helps a person channel their inner mana better." Scáthach explained. "You can collect your toughts like rice grains and inspect them one by one.

"Uhmm, I see." Peko replied. "Know what's the best way on how to reflect?"

"By doing nothing most of the times." Scáthach said. "Just empty your head for a few moments and relax. If that's how you feel better at reflecting that is." The spearwoman told him. "Everyone has their own ways of reflecting."

"Even you?" Peko asked her.

"Yes. Even me." Scáthach speaked. "What do you think I do in order to reflect?"

Peko thought on that. "Hummmm...stand on top of your spear while reading small books of poetry?"

A drop of sweat fell from Scáthach's head as reaction. "Why did you came up with that as your answer?"

"Just a random guess." Peko explained. "But I'll try and reflect before sleeping!" He smiled heartfully to Scáthach. "Thank you for the teaching today, teacher!"

Choosing to not speak, Scáthach's lips made a small curl movement, going slightly up. A little joy ignited within her body.

Peko however found it strange Scáthach didn't said anything back to him. "What is it? S-Shouldn't have called you teacher?" Peko thought, feeling guilty about it. "Sorry if you don't like being called that. I assumed that-"

"No. It's fine." Scáthach said, still with the smile on her face. "You can continue calling me that. I don't mind."

"O-Oh! That's a relief to hear!" Peko replied, glad that he didn't said something Scáthach might had not liked. "Better get going already. I'll be sure to train harder tomorrow!" Peko waved at Scáthach as he went for the exit of the Land of Shadows. "Have a goodnight, teacher!"

Scáthach waved in return to him, seeing Peko leave her domain. "Bye!"

Seeing Peko made her feel nostalgic. Remembering of those days were she used to train Cú Chulainn. How she could see the image of the young Sétanta in him despite the two having different types of behaviour. It was like she had went back in time, teaching her student again. The sensation was almost the same. It seemed Scáthach had long forgotten of the hidden joy that was being a teacher, spending so many years after isolated.

She looked forward to train Peko the next two following days. See where his and his sister's potential could reach.

"We aren't losing this war."


Present

"Even if I die here, there will be others left to stop you!" Scáthach told to Cú Alter as their clash prolonged. "They won't be losing this war! Not to you!" She proclaimed, staring in the eyes of her previous and greatest student.

"And who will be there to defeat me then?" Cú Alter asked, his mind thinking of other enemies of him. "Keh! The small brat and his little friend group of clowns? Are you serious?" Cú Alter laughed with mockery, thinking how comedic and absurd such possibility was for him. Not that he'd consider Peko to be a weakling anymore after their fight in the theater. But he perceived the boy to still be some levels below him from having a real chance to take him down. "Oh teacher, and I'd judged you to be smarter than that!"

"And I thought underestimating your opponents wasn't a thing I'd see Cú Chulainn doing. Sadly, it looks to be another one of your flaws!" Scáthach told him. "Funny, since you proclaim yourself to be a perfect warrior!" She said, overcoming Cú Alter's muscle power and breaking his defense, winning the clash. "But you won't need to worry about having to face other enemies! You won't be able to go further in the war than here! I'll make sure you die at the very beggining, Cú Chulainn!" She exclaimed, one of her two spears about to go straight into Cú Alter's heart.

Grinning from ear to ear, the spearman loved the devotion his teacher had in killing him. "We'll see about that, teacher!"

Fate Stay Night: Heaven's Feel OST- They Rule the Battlefield

Pulling Gáe Bolg back and swinging it forth, Cú Alter crashed it into Scáthach's spear, the impact throwing the two to opposite sides of the arena as a giant cloud of smoke arised from the brutal impact.

Quickly shoving the dust away, Cú Alter immediatly looked for Scáthach, his eyes aiming at everywhere as the smoke settled down. From the middle of it, a fast figure jumped at him with agilean speed, almost getting a slash on his body.

"Kgh!" Cú Alter blocked it in a matter of miliseconds, his reaction being in the nick of time as the speeding figure hopped around him, targetting other areas of his body with two shinning red spears. "Hehehe. Always making things hard."

Scáthach moved around like a ninja in the shadows, her body completely unspotabble to the untrained eye. She had Cú Alter cornered with her speed alone. Going for the head, Scáthach planned to chop it off with a swift swing of her weapon. Fighting anybody else, she would definetly land it. But against her former student...

"Like I didn't saw it coming!" Cú Alter shouted, lowering his body to avoide the blow, proceeding to kick Scáthach in the stomach.

"Krgh!" The spearwoman fell some meters away in the ground. Getting up with no time to waste, Scáthach saw Cú Alter already charging at her.

'Wisdom of Dún Scáith!"

Doing a quick rune spell, Scáthach managed to get out of her opponent's way, with Cú Alter chasing her down more deeply into the forest. The spears of the two traded blows between each other during the chase, blowing and cutting down entire hectares of trees and forest, slowly turning it into a devastated torned apart scenario.

Doing a great jump, Cú Alter tried to reach closer to Scáthach who blew off his arm with one of her spears.

"Grraaghrgh!" Cú Alter let out a painful angry wail. "Damn you!" Incredibly, the spearman continued to chase Scáthach down, even spelling a rune of his own and casting it on the place of his amputated arm, growing one back into place, much to Scáthach's displeasure.

"He regenerated his arm?" Her eyes could not believe it. Never she expected such forbidden rune spell to be used by Cú Chulainn. The version she trained with never came to use it as far as she knew.

"Gehahaha! Surprised, teacher? I'm sure you didn't saw this one coming!" Cú Alter said, reveling in his teacher's bafflement. "This is what makes me better! Stronger! I do what the Cú Chulainn you trained would never be capable of doing!" The spearman's Gáe Bolg slashed torwards Scáthach, slicing a lot of trees along the way.

Scáthach avoided the attack, descending from the trees and landing back on the ground. "You might know everything about me."

"Graah!" Cú Alter also hopped down from the trees, pointing down his Gáe Bolg at Scáthach, smashing the ground with it, creating a large crater on it.

"And I might not know some things about this version of you."

Throwing one of her spears at Cú Alter, Scáthach runned at him as the spearman deflected the first one. As Cú Alter swinged his Gáe Bolg at her, Scáthach dodged it, jumping up and landing on his spear, her eyes looking into his. "But I was still your teacher."

Cú Alter quickly shaked Scáthach off of Gáe Bolg, with the spearwoman timing out his attacks for when to block it or defend it. His pattern was still fresh in her mind even after all these years despite this being a corrupt version. There was some remaining similarities in the way Cú Alter and Cú Chulainn fought.

"Primeval Rune!"

Scáthach slided between Cú Alter's legs, calling back her first spear and slashing Cú Alter in the back, much to the spearman's shock. "I still know majority of your movements!"

"Gargh!" Cú Alter swept his lizard tail at Scáthach, backing her away from him. "Even knowing your tricks you continue to be one tough opponent!" He smirked despite the small frustration of being hit. "Exactly what I was looking for when I realized the possibility of you being here!"

"Like I had told you before." Scáthach mentioned the previous 'lesson' she told to Cú Alter about knowing the enemy's movements not granting victory. "You have good fighting qualities in there. But there are so many negatives in there dragging you away from being the 'perfect warrior' you'd think you are." Scáthach circulated her two spears, putting one above the other. "I could've helped you train those flaws of yours. A shame that you are what you are however. See this as my reprimand for your actions."

"And what exactly am I, teacher?" Cú Alter replied, not wanting an answer from her exactly. "A king who craves for nohing else but the bloodshed of the battlefield!?" Cú Alter shouted, powering up his Gáe Bolg. "A student who will kill his master, proving how mighty he has become!?" He smiled evily. "I do not care for what I am, only for what and who I have to destroy!"

"You're a lost cause." Scáthach replied. "I'll end the pitiful existence that you are!" Exclaiming, the spearwoman pointed her two spears at Cú Alter, their appearence looking similar to that of Gáe Bolg. One could think they were replica's of that weapon. And they would still be half-right. Altough not the same, Scáthach's spears were of a familiar model to Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg, being from one generation before.

"Stab and penetrate!"

"You can try then!" Cú Alter shouted, also igniting a red flame into Gáe Bolg and pointing it at Scáthach.

"Thrust and impale!"

Releasing a red glow and flames from it as well, Scáthach was about to use her Noble Phantasm in the form of her two spears.

"Soaring Spear of Piercing Death: Gáe Bolg Alternative!"

"Gáe Bolg!"

Throwing the spears at the same time, Gáe Bolg and Gáe Bolg Alternative struggle against one another upon the agressive collison. The strenght of the clash was so great that entire trees were ripped from the ground and flew away into the air as the strong vibrations continued, decimating even more of the forest. Eventually, the two attacks canceled each other out, resulting into a giant explosion that could be seen miles away.

With the destruction of the moment dying down, Scáthach fell to her knees, feeling a slight annoying pain in the arm she used to throw her spear. The usage of her Noble Phantasm having costed some good amount of mana. "This fight made me put more power in my Noble Phantasm than normal. I need to be careful to not overuse it." She used a healing rune on her arm, recovering from the pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! FUCKING HEEEEEELLLL!" On the other side, Cú Alter let out an agonizing roar as he tightly grabbed the arm he had used to launch Gáe Bolg, an insufferable burning pain screeching his entire nerves on the limb. If Scáthach's pain on her arm was annoying, the pain of Cú Alter's arm was unbearable. "DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"

Scáthach watched in disgust to the terrible state of his arm, looking burnt and charred beyond any recognizion. "You fool! Gáe Bolg bears a curse as a weapon!" She scolded Cú Alter. "You shouldn't abuse its power so recklessly or else it destroys your body!"

"SHUT UP!" Cú Alter yelled, a lot of sweat running down his face as he ripped off his own damaged arm. This pain was more agonizing than the one he had suffered against Tesla. Using a regenerative rune, Cú Alter swapped his scrapped arm for a new one, putting the pain away.

Being down, this could be the moment Scáthach would finish him off. "He's down! I got to take this chance!" Positioning her spears, Scáthach would unleash her other Noble Phantasm on him: Gate of Skye. "Despite being a small simulated version of the Land of Shadows, Cú Alter will die the moment he goes through the gate!" She stared at the agonized Cú Alter who was still recovering from the pain, ready to hit with her spear on the ground and summon the gates. "This is it for you! I-..."

"I..."

"I..."

"I..."

Looking upon the face of slight suffering from Cú Alter, Scáthach remembered of the trainings she used to give to the warrior when he was still named Sétanta. How he'd complain on how harsh they were at the beggining. How many days, months and years they'd spent together. The evolution and development she witnessed the child going through, transforming into a full grown and capable hero. The days they would do sparring. How she always took care and look after Cú Cuhlainn even if she wasn't the greatest at displaying emotions of affection. All of those memories...

"I..."

This was what Scáthach feared when she'd have to inevitably face Cú Alter in this Singularity. She thought she could lose to Cú Alter, not because of him possibly being stronger than her. But because of the emotional attachement she had with Cú Chulainn in general, keeping her away from killing him.

"I...I can't do this!" Scáthach said to herself, her spear trembling with hesitation.

The opportunity had been wasted.

"The harms of having a soft heart, isn't that right, teacher?"

"!" Scáthach looked at Cú Alter, now fully recovered and up.

"Well, I don't have one!" The spearman told her with a vile smile, a sinister aura of purple and red flames beggining to burn his body, releasing tenebrous winds into the area. "And I'll show you how to finish a job!"

Scáthach covered her face against the violent gusts of wind. "What's this?"

"Slaughter.

Without exception."

Inside the aura, Cú Alter was transforming into something horrific. A monster ready to tear apart mercilessly anything in his path. Like implants, more sharp pieces begun to appear around his body, giving the corrupted Ireland's Child of Light, a more animalistic look.

"Liberate all curses.

Without moderation."

Scáthach's eyes widened in terror at what she was witnessing. "This technique...!"

"Be prepared to challenge despair..."

Liberating the aura from his body, Cú Alter revealed himself into an even more frightening and grotesque attire. Giant red and dark grey pieces of a monster's skeleton, being used as a sort of armor for Cú Alter who now hid his face on a helmet. His Gáe Bolg was gone, replaced by huge horrifying red claws on his hands. Only one thing could describe the appearence of this monstrosity: despair.

Scáthach never saw Cú Chulainn using something like that in her life. That armor or spell was a thing she had never teached it to him. But even startled, she seemed to recognize the skeleton that was being used as the armor. "That-...It can't be!"

Saying nothing, Cú Alter jumped forward, giving no reaction to his teacher.

"The Beast of Crunching Deathtusk: Curruid Coinchenn!"

With a gasp, Scáthach still tried to dodge the claws. But it was too late.

Once it sliced her body, a dozen of spears pierced through her meat and skin, having obliterated majority of her insides, and staining Cú Alter's armor.

"G..ghrgh...grghgrhgh!" Scáthach stood defeated, her eyes losing life as blood flowed from her mouth. A haunting silence filling the zone.

"It's over." Cú Alter said simply, removing the spears from Scáthach's body, making the spearwoman fall flat on the ground. "I won." He begun to walk away, having nothing to say to his teacher. No one could survive to his Noble Phantasm. Not even a near immortal like her.

"W...What..."

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls OST- A Mortal Heart

Hearing the faint voice, Cú Alter turned around to see Scáthach still conscious somehow, trying to speak with him despite feeling her life snuffing away.

"What...made you into this...Cú Chulainn..?" Scáthach asked to Cú Alter, her vision being all blurred. "You...were never...a monster..."

"..." Cú Alter looked down at his dying master, opting to hear her in silence.

"I...I shouldn't have...let you down that path..." Scáthach tried to reach out her hand to him. "I'm sorry Cú Chulainn...I'm sorry..."

Looking on the nightmarish person that was Cú Alter, Scáthach saw the image of young Sétanta instead, smilling down at her.

"Oi, teacher!"

Then his older self.

"Oi, teacher!"

Scáthach always had a deep dream of someday, the two would fight on a honrable due and she would end up being killed the best student she ever had, as a symbol of legacy and how Cú Chulainn had surpassed her. But to think she would end up dying to this version of him, was a sick humour of a tragic fate.

"Please...remember of how...noble you once were..." Scáthach begged, having almost no energy left to speak, her eyes slowly closing. "Please...I want...to see my student..." And she stopped speaking, falling uncoscious. In no time, her body would surely vanish alongside her soul.

Cú Alter looked at her corpse for a few seconds, his mind contemplating on Scáthach's dying words. He thought he would feel happiness after having bested his teacher. The woman who thought him everything and shaped him into being the spearman he came to be. A fundamental part of him.

But he didn't experience any joy from it. Instead, being left with a bittwer feeling. Perhaps even one of defeat.

Cú Alter left Scáthach's body alone, walking away, with his mind now having to concentrate on the war that was about to take off at any moment now.

"It was a good fight, teacher."


Marching on the region of Montgomery, the South Army was on its way to invade the headquarters of the Celtic Empire, being led by the chaldeans, Nightingale, Rama and Karna.

Looking to the side, Ritsuka saw how Nala seemingly bothered. "What's the long-face for, Nala?"

"It's nothing." Nala replied, sounding a bit grumpy.

"Is it about Scáthach?" Mash asked the girl.

"No it is- Of course it is about Scáthach!" Nala replied. "Did she really had to go away and fight Cú Alter on her own without telling us?"

"I also think she shouldn't have done that. But I believe she had her reasons." Peko tried to find a justification for the spearwoman's action.

"Well, we also have our reasons to fight against Cú Alter!" Nala replied back.

"Miss Scáthach's reasons may have been more personal than ours." Nightingale told her. "Do not dismiss the story those two had with each other. If anything, it makes the most sense why she would want to fight him alone."

"I hope she's fine." Peko commented, wanting to be sure Scáthach would come back and with the announcement of Cú Alter's defeat.

"If she ended up killing Cú Alter before the war even properly started, that would be quite the benefit for us." Rama speaked. "It would be one of our main targets already down within the first minutes!"

"If Cú Alter is or was already killed by Scáthach, we have yet to know." Karna replied. "What we do know is that the Celtic Army isn't only him despite of being an important piece to their side. Remember, Medb and the other servants are dangerous as well." He warned to the rest of the group, not wanting them to take the other Heroic Spirits of the enemy side less seriosuly because they were not Cú Alter.

Ritsuka nodded to the hindu lancer. "Roger that!"

And shortly after he had replied to Karna, Ritsuka and the party alongside the entire army heard loud noises of war cries and stampede. From a hill a kilometer away to their left, an entire armada of celtic soldiers and wyverns emerged, running down the terrain to come and fight them.

The war had oficially started.

"Celtic army approaching from the left!" Mash exclaimed. "Everyone, get your weapons!" She said, quickly summoning her shield, with Peko and Nala summoning their swords as well, proceeding to go fight against the celtic soldiers.

"It has finally started." Rama stared at the incoming enemy army before shifting his sight to his own troops, the human soldiers carrying what looked like some modernized bazookas. "Men! Open fire!" He gave the order.

"You too helter skelters! Charge!" Nightingale instructed to the robot soldiers of their army. "Anyone who gets injured fall back! I'll be on the rear to treat your wounds!"

The helter skelters did as it was told and charged to the enemies as the human soldiers pointed their bazookas at the flying wyverns, pulling the trigger, firing an electric net that captured and electrified some wyverns, neutralizing them.

"Wow! Those things work beautifuly!" Ritsuka commented, amazed at seeing the guns in action.

"Craftmanship of Edison! A good gift that he gave us!" Nightingale told to Ritsuka.

"And to think he was going through an 'inventor's block'." Rama handed one to the master of humanity. "Go and help the others Fujimaru! I hope you have a good aim!"

Ritsuka looked at the bazooka in his hands. "Well, guess that sooner or later I would end up having to use a gun during these missions." He then stared to Rama and Nightingale. "Will do my best! Take care!" He said, with the three going on to do their own things to help their side win the battle.

In the air, Karna was flying over the battlefield, obliterating the wyverns that would attack him with his Vasavi Shakti. From above, he could see the entire perimeter of the battle. Karna was deciding wich areas of the enemy army he would start bombarding down. "My spear should wipe out a good portion of the enemies without hurting our side. I'm goi-"

Having his train of tought broken, Karna quickly turned around, deflecting an arrow that was coming at him in high speed. The person who fired was right in front of him, in the sky as well.

"Attentive as ever." Arjuna speaked, slightly lowering Agni Gandiva. "This is starting to become repetitive, Karna."

To be continued...


And that was it for chapter 86!

Next one: Karna vs Arjuna!

90% of this chapter was basically Scáthach vs Cú Alter, so I hoped to have been able to pass you the sensation of a great fight through the words and description. And like, all of us love/like Scáthach, don't we? I think I have never met anyone of the fandom that hated her. They would either be huge fans of her or be kinda okay. And I can see why, I think Scáthach is one of the few servants of the game that nobody dislikes and don't have largely obnoxious/annoying fans screaming in your ear how awsome and sexy she is everytime. (But I could be wrong idk. There is always a first time for everything).

And I know that the community in general sees Scáthach as this badass, sexy, ninja warrior sensei/aunt figure. But, and I know it isn't everyone that sees it in the same way, I think Scáthach also has a motherly side of hers, specially if we put Cú in the equation. Like, I'm not saying that Scáthach would be the type of having three kids to raise, read bedtime stories, making cutesy breakfasts or anything the like. But I'm damn sure that she would be the type that if she ever found a baby orphan at her doorstep, she would raise that baby as if they were her child! So in short, Scáthach would be a kind of mother that while not being entirely affectionate all the time, she'd still care and treat her own children. (I think Skadi would be more of an affection mother type)

But with the topic of student-master relationship tossed to the side, let's move onto the brothers relationship next chapter! And brothers who fight each other, so even more relatable! :D

That's all I wanted to say, and see you next time, on chapter 87! Peace! (Holy cow, this chapter will barely have 10k words! When was the last time we had a chapter with less than 10k words?)

P.S:

Peko (Working as the receptionist of a gym): Eeeh, I really didn't had any luck at the restaurant after that accident and being sued in court. Had to restart from zero again. Thankfully, it's an humble beggining here at this gym. If I get a stable job in here, I'll be able to start paying rent soon enough!

Leonidas: Hey there small champ! Keep up the good work!

Peko: Yes, sir Leonidas! All I have to do here is just smile and greet the customers while they come here to do their work out routine.

(Okita and Lobo appear)

Okita: Hi there!

Peko: Hello! Welcome to the FitBros Gym! How can I help you?

Okita: We are looking for 'the good stuff'.

Peko: Eh? The good stuff? Well, if you want to get some muscles in a quick time I recommend you some training and excercise routines here on this pa-

Okita: We aren't looking for that! We're looking for another thing.

Peko:...Protein?

Okita (Shows her and Lobo's police badges): No kiddo. The 'special good stuff'.

Peko: Humm...Sorry, but we don't have that type of products here.

Okita: Lobo's scent tells otherwise. Might we check the storage room?

Peko: Sure.

(The three go to the storage room in search of the 'good stuff')

Peko (Sees Lobo sniffing around): I'm telling you, we don't possess or sold any suspicious products here! The gym is clean and law-abiding!

(A bottle falls from a shelf, spilling out some special 'white powder' from it)

Okita (With a smug): You were saying?

Peko: I-I had no idea we had that! I literally just started working here yesterday!