Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
"Damn… Those guys are so lucky." Tatsuo muttered to himself while watching Sumire deal with the police, who showed up shortly after Rig and the last of the Alpha Clones was taken away from the venue, from the backseat of a limo. "They get to go back to the apartment like nothing happened. Meanwhile, I gotta sit here and wait until the cops finish their investigation, or whatever the hell they were doing."
As Tatsuo said, after Rig and the Alpha Clones were subdued, James, Alfonzo, Elicia, and the others who did not live in this world were sent back to the apartment using Zelretch's magic. Meanwhile, Tatsuo, Sumire, and the others with identities in this world were tasked with dealing with the aftermath.
As for those who passed out from Venelana's aura, namely Tenma, Mikoto, and Eri, their memories of the event were erased with the use of [Devil Magic]. Then, there were Chiho and Akira, who, despite not having any supernatural abilities, managed to stay conscious. Though, they were completely incapable of moving during the entire situation. Their memories were not erased. Though, because of the situation, there was no time to tell them exactly what was going on.
However, they would be given the opportunity to learn about the supernatural at a later date. And if they decided, after finding out the truth, that they would rather have their memories of the event erased, that would be done at that time.
"Perhaps you would like to vent your frustrations on me once we get home, Master?" Tio said quietly, as to not ruin Tatsuo's reputation in public. "Instead of hitting a heavy bag, I am here whenever you need stress relief."
Just the thought of being tied up and hung from the ceiling while Tatsuo landed punches and kicks on her, who was completely unable to resist, made Tio begin to breathe slightly harder while her cheeks reddened.
"*sigh* I don't know what to do with you." Tatsuo said in a tired tone, knowing that letting Tio know just how put off by her suggestion he was would only make things worse. "But seriously, how much longer is this gonna take? We've been here for more than four hours. It's already past two in the morning."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to leave soon." Kasumi said in a soothing tone. "But if you're tired, you should lay down."
As she spoke her last sentence, Kasumi gently patted her lap while smiling at Tatsuo.
Seeing that, Ayane, who was also seated in the limousine rolled her eyes.
"Looks like someone Is getting thirsty after seeing all the competition, huh?" Ayane asked in a flat tone.
In response, Kasumi blushed slightly. Even so, her smile did not waver as she continued to stare at Tatsuo.
As for Tatsuo, he simply shrugged his shoulders. Then, he laid his head on Kasumi's lap as she indicated. And as soon as he did, he felt Kasumi's slender fingers begin threading through his hair while gently rubbing his scalp as her smile widened in happiness.
"Tch!" Ayane clicked her tongue as she looked away.
"But seriously, how much longer is this gonna take?" Tatsuo asked, not paying attention to Ayane's jealous reaction, Kasumi's widening smile, or the way Tio looked kind of lost. Although he had an idea of what Tio was thinking, he had no desire to delve into the thoughts of such a perverted woman. Instead, he just closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Kasumi's fingers on his scalp.
About half an hour later, Sumire and Mai returned to the limousine, having just finished dealing with the police and arranging transport for Yakumo, Tenma, Mikoto, Eri, and Akira. Seeing the scene inside, Sumire smiled happily while quickly covering Mai's mouth to stop her from raging.
"Can't you see that Tatsu-Chan is sleeping?" Sumire asked in a whisper. "Do you want to wake him up, Mai-Chan?"
"Mmph! Mmph!" Ma's muffled protest rang out as she tried, and failed, to pry Sumire's hand off her mouth with jealousy burning in her eyes.
"*sigh* You really need to learn how to share, Mai-Chan." Sumire said, sounding utterly disappointed in her assistant. "Anyway, let's go home. I've got a few questions I need to ask the two we brought back alive."
With that said, Sumire signaled to the driver to get moving. And without hesitation, the limousine pulled away from Suntory Hall, heading back towards Sasazuka to drop off the Soramoto family at their apartment.
The next morning, Tatsuo was not awakened naturally. Instead, he woke up when a dense killing intent fell over him.
As his eyes snapped open, Tatsuo leapt out of his bed, his modified trench knives appearing in his hands as he turned towards the source of the killing intent.
"Huh?" Tatsuo intoned, clear confusion in his expression as he looked at the source of the killing intent. "Master Scáthach? What's going on?"
"I was just curious to see the extent of your training." Scáthach replied calmly. "And it is clear to see that that organization who trained you was quite thorough. I did not even have time to launch an attack after releasing my killing intent before you were awake and ready for combat."
And just as Scáthach said, she was holding her crimson red spear, Gáe Bolg, in the position to thrust with the tip aimed at where Tatsuo's head was located while he was sleeping. However, after saying her piece, she dismissed Gáe Bolg and turned towards the bedroom door.
"Anyway, now that you are awake, come down to the training room." Scáthach said, her tone leaving no room for refusal. "Oh, and get dressed. I'm sure your mother and the others would not like to have to clean up the stains from the nosebleeds your current state of undress would elicit from all the girls who are interested in you."
Then, without even looking back, Scáthach walked to the door, stepped through it, and closed it behind her, leaving Tatsuo completely confused.
"*Sigh* I remember James saying he went through something like this when he was first training under her." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he looked down to see what was wrong with what he was wearing. "But I never thought I'd have to--- Huh? Why the hell am I naked? Actually, how did I even get up here? I remember falling asleep in the limo last night… Or this morning… Or whatever…"
In fact, by the time the limousine carrying Tatsuo, Sumire, and the other girls arrived at the apartment building, Tatsuo was still asleep. And because of how peacefully he was sleeping, Sumire could not bear to wake him up.
So, Sumire simply [Blinked] with him into his bedroom. She then undressed him before tucking him into his bed. After that, she went off to interrogate Rig. And until now, no one in the apartment has seen her since she dragged Rig into her office to… "chat."
"Well, whatever." Tatsuo muttered to himself. "From training with her during Winter Break, I know it would be a bad idea to keep Master Scáthach waiting. But at least she accepted my request to spar."
With that, Tatsuo dismissed his trench knives. Then, he walked into his closet to find some clothes to spar in.
Meanwhile, most of the group was gathered in the training room one floor below the penthouse.
"So, he's really going through with it, huh?" Alfonzo asked while using some of the training equipment to get in a quick workout.
"Yeah." James replied with a shrug. "But seriously, I don't understand what would possess someone to willingly ask for a spar with Master."
"Is sparring with Scáthach really that bad?" Elicia asked curiously.
"Yeah. In fact, it's probably worse than whatever you're thinking." James replied with a shrug. "Hell, I'm not sure how many times I almost died… Or maybe did die… during my training with Master."
"What?" Shea exclaimed in panic. "We have to stop this!"
"Calm down, Shea." Tio said calmly. "Tatsuo-Sama would not have requested this if he was not certain he would survive. Besides, there must be something he wants to achieve with this."
"The question is, what could that be?" Zelretch asked while stroking his beard. "Because if this Scáthach is anything like the one from my world, this could be quite dangerous for him."
"There's a Scáthach in our world, too?" Sakura asked.
"Yes… Though, I wouldn't be surprised if no one believed that she actually existed." Zelretch replied. "Most people think she's probably dead or on the Reverse Side of the World. But in reality, she's just confined to the Land of Shadows. But that place is neither on our side or the other side of the world. Instead, it exists outside of the physical world in its entirety."
"That's so much more complicated than how it was in my world." James said while shaking his head. "The Land of the Dead is just another realm connected to Ireland I my world. Hell, I even knew better than to get too close without permission when I was eleven. In fact, if Lancer hadn't stolen my kill back then, I probably would have never met Master."
"Lancer?" Sakura asked while thinking back to the Holy Grail War she participated in with Tatsuo and Elicia.
"Oh, that's just what we call him." James replied while waving dismissively. "he's a reincarnation of Ireland's Son of Light, Cú Chulainn."
"And you actually call him Lancer?" Zelretch asked rhetorically. "How interesting."
"Yeah, he actually told us to call him that because he got tired of Mizore and Moka calling him Cú." James said with a smile. "*sigh* Those were the good old days. Those two ran that joke into the ground, though."
Before the conversation could continue any further, the elevator doors slid open and Scáthach walked through them.
"Actually, now that I think about it, this Scáthach looks quite similar to the one I am familiar with." Zelretch muttered while looking at the approaching Scáthach.
"Master, you didn't traumatize Tatsuo when you woke him up, did you?" James asked with a mischievous smile on his face.
Instead of replying, Scáthach only glanced in James direction, not dignifying his teasing question with a response.
"He should be here soon." Scáthach replied.
Then, without saying any more, Scáthach stepped into the caged off sparring ring and began stretching lightly.
"What did you do to make her mad this early in the morning?" Alfonzo asked curiously.
"Honestly, I can never be sure." James replied.
"That doesn't really surprise me." Elicia said while shaking her head. "You're even worse than Fonzie when it comes to trolling people."
"Why would you think that she might have traumatized Tatsuo-Kun when she woke him up?" Violet asked. "Master Scáthach doesn't seem like the type to do something like that to me."
"That's because you've never been trained by Master." James replied. "I don't know how many times I was almost killed in my sleep when I was training with her in the Land of Shadows."
Hearing that, Violet was not sure if James was joking or just exaggerating. But when she saw the faraway look in his eyes, she started to think that he might not be exaggerating all that much.
Not long later, Tatsuo, dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of black shorts, stepped out of the elevator. Looking around, he could see most of those present were working out while Venelana, Grayfia, and Zelretch were just watching and chatting. He then saw Scáthach standing in the middle of the sparring ring with her eyes closed and he made his way in that direction.
"Yo, good morning, Tatsuo." Alfonzo said as he put the weight he was lighting back on the rack. He then pointed towards the sparring ring with his chin and lowered his voice as he continued. "Are you really going through with this? From what James said, there's a good chance that you might end up dead at the end of this little sparring match."
"Mornin'." Tatsuo replied casually. "And yeah, I'm going through with it. See, what James doesn't know is that Master Scáthach never pushes things that far if you're not her disciple. At least, that's what Dante told me back when I visited his world last year."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Alfonzo replied, somewhat understanding. "Anyway, just be careful. We've got a [Mission] tomorrow. We don't need you half-dead when it starts."
"Well, if I can't go because of injury, there are still five other people who can go, right?" Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "Besides, Lici said she really wanted to go, right? So, things should be fine."
"If you say so." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head. "Anyway, just don't get your ass kicked too badly."
"Put up a good fight against Master Scáthach first before saying shit like that." Tatsuo shot back while rolling his eyes.
After a few more steps, Tatsuo arrived at the entrance to the sparring ring. Meanwhile, everyone else in the training room, interested in the upcoming spar, finished their sets before making their way over to the ring, as well.
"Do your best, Tatsuo-Kun." Violet cheered from outside the cage.
"Don't die." Aletia said in an almost deadpan tone.
"That's not a good way to cheer for someone, Miss Aletia." Shea pointed out.
"No, she' got it right this time.' James said while shaking his head. "When the difference in strength is this big, not dying is a win condition when fighting Master."
"Don't forget, Tatsuo isn't Master Scáthach's student." Alfonzo pointed out. "So, she'll probably only treat him like she treats the members of your peerages, right?"
"Oh, now that you mention it." James said while cupping his chin in thought.
"Rias-Sama was right." Tio said while covering her smile with her hand fan. "You really do look like an old man when you do that."
"I agree." Zelretch added while stroking his beard.
"Whatever." James said while rolling his eyes.
"So, how long do you think Tatsuo will last?" Elicia asked.
"That depends on master." James replied with a shrug. "Because if she gets bored, this match won't last very long at all."
Meanwhile, Tatsuo and Scáthach were facing each other in the ring.
"So, why did you wish to spar with this Scáthach?" Scáthach asked as she materialized Gáe Bolg and flourished it with a masterful level of skill.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard about the Magecraft I picked up on the last [Mission] we took, right?" Tatsuo asked as he used [Projection Magecraft] to materialize a 6'7" long, crimson spear before flourishing it and taking a fighting stance. "I now have access to quite the number of spears and spear-type weapons because of it. So, I wanted to learn the proper way to use a spear from the best spear wielder I've ever met."
"I see." Scáthach replied while examining the spear Tatsuo summoned. "You chose a spear of Irish origins. If I'm not mistaken, that was the spear belonging to Diarmuid Ua Duibhne of the Knights of Fianna. But if I recall correctly, he wielded two spears, one long and one short. Why have you only summoned one."
"Because before learning how to dual wield, wouldn't it be better to learn how to handle one properly?" Tatsuo asked with an eyebrow raised.
"A fine answer." Scáthach replied as she, too, took her fighting stance. "Very well then, let us begin. I'll start by matching your physical level. And depending how well you handle that, I will increase the pressure accordingly."
"Understood." Tatsuo replied with a nod.