Chapter 69: Lancer Ga Shinda! Kono Hito De Nashi!!
[You abandon the Agility check for the smash and switch to using a skill.]
Blocking this ball directly was probably hopeless; the only option was to take a detour using a skill.
"Oho?"
Cu Chulainn sensed the sudden surge of mana from Eikou, as if he were preparing to use a skill.
"Yo, boy,"
Cu Chulainn bared his teeth in a grin, his red eyes flashing with a sharp light.
"It's useless. In terms of speed, we're still a bit faster. And besides, even if you really do manage to smash successfully, you won't be able to hurt me!"
That's right—Cu Chulainn possesses the defensive skill [Protection from Arrows].
It can evade and counter all forms of thrown attacks—even a smashed volleyball is no exception.
In a volleyball match, the two sides cannot have any bodily contact at all; the only way to damage the opponent is through the ball, but that would be completely nullified by [Protection from Arrows].
Therefore, on the court, Cu Chulainn was almost an invincible existence.
He absolutely would not suffer any damage at all!
"I will activate my skill..."
At the very instant their two hands were about to touch the volleyball, Eikou suddenly shouted loudly.
"High-Speed Divine Words!"
"Huh?"
Cu Chulainn froze for a split second.
[You have activated [High-Speed Divine Words B]]
A dice fell.
[The result is E, check - great success!]
What, another great success?
Eikou was a little surprised; he had not expected this use of the skill to go so smoothly.
Could it be because of Luck? Because Cu Chulainn has Luck E, did the opponent's misfortune inadvertently highlight his own luck instead?
[In that fleeting second, you used High-Speed Divine Words to whisper a curse into Cu Chulainn's ear.]
[The firm tone that allowed no doubt, the fully embellished phrasing, along with emotions brimming to the fullest, immediately persuaded Cu Chulainn.]
[Cu Chulainn's eyes widened, unable to believe it, his inner world shaken violently.]
"What…?!"
Cu Chulainn stared wide-eyed, looking as though he had just taken a fatal blow.
"That's impossible, this can't be happening!"
"Cu Chulainn's fighting spirit weakened in an instant?"
EMIYA exclaimed in shock from the side, "Could this be the legendary skill… talk-no-jutsu?!"
[An excessive amount of information overloads his mind; Cu Chulainn receives the temporary status [Stunned].]
[As for what you said, if summarized, it was just one sentence...]
"I am the Husband of your Master."
"?????!!!!"
Cu Chulainn was completely shaken, standing there dumbfounded, in that instant even forgetting what he had been about to do.
Bang!
Eikou seized the opportunity and unleashed an extremely powerful smash, immediately slamming the volleyball that was suspended in midair straight down into their side of the court.
A loud explosion rang out as the ball hit the sand, sending dust flying everywhere.
"Nice, we scored a point!"
Eikou cheered.
Kotomine Kirei could not help but freeze; this sudden reversal completely caught him off guard.
"Lancer… what on earth is wrong with you? Such a good opportunity, and you handed it straight to the opponent?"
He frowned slightly and questioned him.
"Don't ask anymore,"
Eikou said calmly. "Let this child depart in peace."
Cu Chulainn lay on the sand, still wearing the same wide-eyed, gaping expression, unable to believe what had just happened.
"How could this be… that cold and proud Master was actually taken down by a boy?"
Eikou's face reddened slightly, thinking to himself that this line sounded far too easy to misunderstand. Scathach really is a mature woman, but saying it like this made it sound as if he were some colt pulling a heavy cart.
He lightly patted Cu Chulainn on the shoulder and said:
"I know this announcement was made a bit abruptly, but it's fine. From now on I'll call you Bro Dog, and you can call me Grand Master."
"This form of address is way too weird?!"
Cu Chulainn roared.
EMIYA, standing nearby and watching the two of them wrestle back and forth verbally, could not help but shout:
"Why did you two suddenly start talking about hierarchy, is this some kind of reconciliation father–son recognition program?!"
[Cu Chulainn's inner world suffers an enormous shock.]
[...]
[After that, it is precisely the moment of your counterattack.]
[You continue to go through many exchanges.]
[Because of this mentally damaging truth, Cu Chulainn is unable to focus on fighting; his mind keeps pondering whether you really are the Master of his Master, causing his attacks to become hesitant.]
[Seizing that opportunity, you and Caenis concentrate your firepower on Kotomine Kirei.]
[Before long, you have pulled the score back; it is now 4 : 6, and you will very quickly overturn the situation.]
"Lancer, what exactly are you doing?"
Seeing the score being overturned, Kotomine Kirei coldly looked toward Cu Chulainn, who was shrinking back at his side.
"The boy over there is the husband of my Master. Showing the bare minimum of courtesy—isn't that what should be done?"
Cu Chulainn had already begun to stop caring about everything, his voice filled with weariness.
"Besides, I was never suited to cooperating with others in the first place, much less with a bastard like you."
"..."
If Kotomine Kirei was angry, then at the very least he showed not the slightest sign of it on his face.
He merely looked at Cu Chulainn quietly for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Eikou on the opposite side.
"So that's how it is. Shounen, this is your strategy. You say you'll abide by the rules, yet in practice you use every trick in the book. Your inner self is truly quite contradictory."
"There's nothing to it, I'm just giving it my all."
Eikou said seriously.
"Giving it your all? Very well, you indeed succeeded in disrupting the Lancer on my side. But it seems you've forgotten that I still have a substitute on my side, so…"
Kotomine Kirei suddenly raised his wrist and issued an order with extreme proficiency.
"I use a Command Spell to order you—kill yourself, Lancer! You no longer have any value!"
"???"
Everyone was stunned, and Cu Chulainn's eyes went wide.
They saw him spring up and smash a punch hard into his own head.
Immediately after came a heavy "thud," as the Lancer in tight blue attire collapsed onto the sand, completely motionless.
[Lancer Ga Shinda! (Lancer Dead!)]
Kono Hito De Nashi! (You aren't Human!)
"Wait, someone actually died?! What the hell is this, was it really necessary to go that far?!"
Eikou shouted in a daze.
"Hmph…"
Priest Kotomine revealed an expression of "keikaku doori,"
"With this, one person on my side has been eliminated, so I can request to have a substitute member enter the field."
"The cost of this substitution is way too high! Couldn't you have just properly asked to substitute normally?!"
"Huh, so it turns out you can directly switch to a substitute… ohya ohya, it seems the volleyball rules the Holy Grail passed on to me are a bit different from reality, huh."
Don't dump everything on the Holy Grail! Is the Holy Grail your cram-school teacher or something?! You clearly just deliberately wanted to permanently eliminate Cu Chulainn, your malice toward him is way too excessive!
"By the way…"
As Eikou spoke, he glanced at the back of his hand—there was clearly not a single Command Spell there.
Ah right, this isn't a Holy Grail War anyway, and Kotomine Kirei isn't even a Master; he doesn't have any Command Spells at all. Then how exactly did he order Lancer to commit suicide?
"Ha ha, didn't expect that, did you,"
Kotomine Kirei smiled faintly and said.
"This Irish warrior once spent a period of time closely associated with me, and with bitch… ahem, pardon my rudeness, with me and God of Love Amour. Through repeated training, we implanted a conditioned reflex into Cu Chulainn. Without any Command Spell, as long as we give the order, he will commit suicide."
"No way, did you people really train him like training a dog?! And couldn't you have chosen a more proper command?! Can this kind of command really become muscle memory through repeated training?!"
You and Caren really are cast from the same mold, truly father and daughter through and through!
"Rest assured, Shounen, this isn't a real Command Spell, so he probably isn't dead. You don't need to worry about the beach being stained by his blood."
"Are you focusing on the wrong thing to worry about here?!"
"..."
As for EMIYA standing to the side, he silently looked at the unconscious Cu Chulainn, then looked over at Kotomine Kirei.
After a while, he slowly opened his mouth and said:
"I have to say, I seem to be starting to like this man named Kotomine Kirei."
What exactly do you like about him, which part hit your tastes? Seeing Cu Chulainn 'die' makes you that happy? Don't casually remix your own classic line from before!
[Be that as it may, the relationship among these three people is truly not good at all.]
[Without sparing even a single moment to mourn Cu Chulainn, the next person to step onto the court is... EMIYA!]