"Run! My Chariot!! Show our power to the heroes of all ages and places!!"
Achilles' chariot tore through the battlefield, crushing Demon Gods beneath its wheels in an instant.
"Foolish things, boasting only size. It is a simple task to shoot them down."
With the Nine-Strike-One-Shot Dragon Homing Laser, Hercules evaporated the Demon Gods in the blink of an eye.
"—Haaah!!"
Emitting flames and radiance, Karna flew freely in all directions, his mere presence incinerating the pillars.
"Haaaaah!!"
Raikou cleaved a Demon God in two with a single stroke, then turned it into a honeycomb with a storm of arrows.
"Force them to regenerate endlessly!! If they focus solely on regeneration, no attacks will come!!"
Wielding clubs in both hands, Rama crushed them with single, heavy blows.
"Run through them, Macha, Sengrain!"
With a sprint of terrifying ferocity, Loeg turned the Demon Gods into minced meat.
"Medb-chan!! Watch meeeee!!!"
Ferdiad swung his greatsword, generating a tornado that swallowed everything in its path.
The Demon Gods were exposed to a tyranny so violent that if they did not devote themselves entirely to regeneration, they would be instantly annihilated—
"As expected. If even a single piece remains, they regenerate."
—If we aim for erasure, we must destroy everything in a single blow. Or, to hold them back, the effective strategy seems to be inflicting damage that constantly exceeds their durability, forcing them to focus on healing.
"Assuming there are seven, one for each Singularity. —In that case, we need enough moves to keep hunting seven Demon Gods continuously. —Hmph. Annihilation is Marduk's area of expertise."
—Unless we layer everyone's Noble Phantasms, we won't reach total erasure...
—Until that moment, everyone... don't lose!
The Evil Dragon Facing the World / The Maiden Queen of Lust
"I am Queen Medb. —Tell me your name."
Celtic soldiers appeared. Dragons, Bicorns, Gazers, Spriggans.
Utilizing all her authorities as 'Queen,' she entered a dueling stance with body and soul.
[—Fujimaru Rikka. Likes: Communication and subculture in general. Dislikes: ...Preconceptions.]
She clad herself in mud, hardening it into armor.
—The 'Evil Dragon' of her imagination.
She created a jet-black full body suit of armor streaked with crimson lines, incorporating the design of an evil dragon from a certain hunting game. Furthermore, she combined the essence of Lancelot, whom she had met before, with the Berserker Armor, shaping the helmet into a dragon's head. It was a peerless suit of armor that could be called Rikka's "Subculture Armor."
The materials woven together were entirely 'All the World's Evils.'
The Dojigiri Yasutsuna gripped in her right hand crackled with black and red lightning, transforming into a colossal Ship-Cleaving Sword (Zankantou).
The bow in her left hand fused with her arm. The lion pelt mantle transformed into black wings. The shield borrowed from Achilles became gauntlets attached to both arms.
The parts corresponding to golden eyes shone brilliantly, and the aura of chaotic conquest filled the air—
A humanoid 'Dragon' manifested.
"I see—then, shall we begin?"
She raised her whip high, sending the command.
[Yeah—whenever you're ready—!]
Taking a stance just like the Mother of her soul, she let out a low growl.
...Words and familiarity were unnecessary.
"Now, my cute children—"
[—Mom, I'm borrowing your strength—!]
Let women speak only through martial force—!!
"—Now! Trample her!! First, I'll show you the dignity of a Queen!!"
[Roar! Me!! Like an Evil Dragon!!]
The soldiers charged at the single girl.
""""Uooooooooh!!!!""""
The girl roared at everything before her.
[Daaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!]
Staking their survival, she threw her whole body into the leap—!
...One hundred of Medb's elite soldiers, created using Fergus's seed.
Wielding swords, firing arrows, thrusting spears, they intercepted the Evil Dragon before them with a war cry. They were Medb's brave, gallant warriors—her boast, her children.
Normally, humans would be no match for this combat race—especially a Master, who would be swallowed up instantly.
—That is, if she were a normal Master.
[Daryaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!]
With the roar of an Evil Dragon drowning out the war cries of a hundred men.
Growling, screaming, scattering primal fear—she wielded the mother's love dwelling in her katana, unleashing her martial arts.
Before the Evil Dragon's armor, swords chipped and shattered, spears failed to pierce and snapped. Arrows were swallowed by the mud before they could strike home.
The Dojigiri, shaped into a giant Ship-Cleaving Sword in her right hand, swung freely in all directions. A barrage like a crashing fang, a flash like lightning, a giant windmill throw transforming the blade.
Her sword technique was a combination of her mother's martial arts and the culture Rikka loved. She was performing the 'moves from games and anime' that everyone dreams of, sublimated into Rikka's own unique combat style by utilizing the shape-shifting mud and the physical boost from Mana Burst.
Before the surging, peerless sword skills, half the Celtic warriors were cut down in the blink of an eye.
—It stood to reason. The 'Techniques of the Genji Leader,' the 'Body tempered and clad in mud to the pinnacle of toughness,' and the 'Heart' that controlled them.
—To the current Rikka, who had united these factors, mere brave warriors were of no account.
[Artemis! Let's go!!]
Activating the Moon Goddess's bow fused to her left hand, she fired a sweeping volley of lunar light arrows from her gauntlet, piercing through the Celtic soldiers.
The arrows were infused with mud; wherever they hit, the Celtic soldiers melted, dissolved, and were swallowed up.
[Oooooh—!!!]
Lifting her left leg high, she slammed her heel onto the floor of the White House's outer garden. The impact permeated the ground, and mud erupted like a volcano, blasting the remaining Celtic soldiers into the air.
[—Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!]
She unleashed a roar of absolute death that vibrated and collapsed molecular structures, instantly turning the caught soldiers into ash and dust.
"Buoooooaaaah!!!"
[Mu—]
No sooner had she exterminated the soldiers than a Bicorn, leaping out like a rampaging horse, attacked Rikka, raising its front hooves high to trample her.
[—Sei-ya!!]
Instantly crouching, she swept the Bicorn's supporting hind legs with a leg sweep.
"—!?"
Quickly closing in on the Bicorn as it lost balance and was thrown into the air, she grabbed its head, pulling it into the posture of a Coconut Crush wrestling move.
[—Hmph!!!]
Using the mud as a booster, she accelerated her instantaneous speed many times over, clamping its head between her knee and arm in one breath and crushing it.
Splatter, smash, collapse. With its head crushed along with its brain stem, the Bicorn died instantly.
[—Tch!]
She covered her body with wings transformed from the Nemean Lion pelt, neutralizing the Evil Eye fired from behind.
—Spotting the Gazer firing from a distance, she instantly sheathed her katana, pulled a spear from the mud, held it in a straight line, and charged.
[Zeeei-ya—!!!]
A one-hit kill allowing neither escape nor evasion. A single thrust of the spear, powered by brute strength and acceleration, gouged out the internal organs along with the giant eyeball.
'Fill yourself with Qi in the cycle of the heavens, and pierce the enemy with maximum speed and impact point. Think about the details after you kill it.'
A death-dealing blow combining the essential secrets of her three masters. The lack of skill compensated by her mother; the lack of muscle power compensated by Mana Burst.
Before the skewered meat could harden, she kicked it away and pulled out the spear.
[Guh—!!!]
Suddenly, she took a stomp from a giant leg, and the ground where Rikka stood caved in. A kick delivered by the massive limbs of a Spriggan.
A blow that not even a Servant would walk away from unscathed—Rikka caught it with the dragon-headed gauntlet formed from Achilles' shield.
[Don't... underestimate... MEEEEEEE—!!]
Roaring like her mentor, she caught the Spriggan's leg from the front, pushed it back with brute force, and simultaneously detached the wings, combined them, and threw them.
[SCRANDER!! CUTTEEEER!!!]
The thrown wing-blade roared through the air, slicing the Spriggan's body in two.
『Gugoaaaaaaaaaaa!!』
A Dragon roared, swinging its neck wide and filling its mouth with flame.
—A breath attack!
Intuiting this, Rikka attached the wing-blade to her chest, fused her left hand's bow and lines, charged the energy, and fired.
[Rikka Twin! SHOOOOOT!!!]
A scorching breath fired against a jet-black beam.
『Gugoaaaaaa!!?』
Instantly pushed back, a massive explosion detonated at its mouth. The Dragon flinched, its posture crumbling significantly.
[—Now!]
She wrapped the mud's magical energy around the Dojigiri Yasutsuna in her right hand, shape-shifting it. Transforming it into a colossal blade vast enough to tower into the heavens, she returned the wings to her back, crouched low—
[—Haaaaaaah!!!]
Crushing the bedrock around her, smashing the earth, Rikka flapped her wings and soared into the sky.
—Medb, watching this spectacle, felt a shiver run from the bottom of her heart.
How gallant.
How brave.
Smashing through countless difficulties, destroying, dancing, advancing—that courageous, fearless radiance.
—How wonderful, she thought. For just a moment, undeniably, Medb harbored that impression.
"—If only you were a man—"
If she wasn't a fellow woman, an enemy...
If she were the opposite sex—a 'male' to devour and be devoured by...
—Even if far inferior to Cu-chan, he would be worthy of my attention, my love, and my kneeling...
...Shaking off that sentiment, Medb immediately summoned her Chariot and boarded it.
"That's right, to me, women are enemies! Nothing but obstacles competing for the seed of men—!"
Snap, she cracked her whip, rousing the bulls.
"I am the only womb needed to bear children! I'll hammer that into you thoroughly—!"
Crushing the sentiment that had been born, Medb's Chariot raised a war cry—!
[Punishment! Execution! CHESSSTOOOOOOOOOO————!!!!]
Flying beyond the clouds where even the Dragon had to look up, accelerating downward with directional Mana Burst, she brought down the jet-black Dojigiri, now transformed into a blade ten meters long, straight onto the Dragon—!
Hammering the blade into the centerline of its face, the Dragon took the momentum-infused Ship-Cleaving Sword, split in two, and was instantly swallowed by the mud and incinerated.
[I name it Genji Genryu: Punishment - Cloud-Piercing Sword. —Thank you, Mom, Boss Sanger—]
Slowly pulling up the massive sword—
『—It is not over yet, Rikka!』
Reflexively responding to her mother's voice ringing in her brain, Rikka thrust the flat of the blade forward.
"—Too bad! I was just about to run you over! You really are a monster!"
Impact, then vibration. The ground her bracing legs stood upon was gouged out, carving a track like a train path as she was pushed back with increasing momentum.
[This is your Noble Phantasm—!]
Rikka muttered bitterly.
"Yes! 'My Beloved Iron Chariot: Chariot My Love'! The royal authority that rules men! The steel that oppresses men! The terror that drives men mad! —It's a barbaric use different from the original method, but I'll show it to you specially!"
Rikka caught the charge of the raging bulls. Her legs gouged the earth as she retreated, the momentum increasing further.
"What's wrong!? Is that all you have!? Can you only beat the children, but not a Servant!?"
Medb shouted, swinging her whip.
"As a 'Queen,' I am utterly defeated! Since you massacred all the children I created and prepared! May I hear your impressions!?"
[NOT REALLY!!]
"Is that so! You're quite refreshing! Even more so—"
[—?]
"—Never mind! Just listen! I will ask you a question!"
As Rikka pushed against the Chariot, Medb threw a question from atop it.
"That form of Cu-chan—that is what you wished for upon the Holy Grail, isn't it! —May I ask what you wished for!?"
—Yes, Medb couldn't help but ask.
How did her nemesis obtain the partner she yearned for?
—What was the wish that turned him toward her? As a woman, as one who once loved him... she couldn't help but ask.
"Come—tell me! What did you—"
[—I thought my wish was too heavy... but maybe for Aniki, it's just common sense!]
Bracing herself, Rikka began to dampen the Chariot's momentum.
[—I want him to be a warrior who loses to no one until the world is saved! That is what I wished for Aniki!!]
—Medb's thoughts were dominated by a blank white.
"—Eh... just... that?"
—Such a thing, there was no need to even wish for.
He was a born warrior, a brave hero.
Above all, uninhibited and free—
To wish for something... so obvious for him... for him?
"—Why did you wish for that... may I ask?"
In that moment, Medb forgot everything.
Forgetting she was a Queen, forgetting the duel, she asked.
—Driven purely by her curiosity and interest as a woman.
[I saw Aniki fighting in the Holy Grail War! —You could say it's a Servant's role and leave it at that, but! —Aniki met with way too much misfortune!]
Grind, she planted her feet, stepping in hard enough to shatter the earth.
[Even though he's so strong and cool—he couldn't display his true ability properly! I just simply thought! 'I want to see Aniki's full power, unbound by anything!']
"————"
['Just once, I want to let Aniki fight with everything he's got!' —Whatever gave you the idea he belongs to me!?]
Eventually, the momentum was completely neutralized, and the Iron Chariot came to a halt.
['Aniki belongs only to Aniki'! —Except for two people, I have never thought of the heroes as my property!!]
"————————...Just... that...?"
Grabbing the horns of the two bulls together.
[Everyone gathered at Chaldea, all the heroes are—!!]
Unleashing a full-power Mana Burst into her core and arm strength, she began to swing the Iron Chariot like a giant swing.
[My comrades, and my precious... FAMILY!!]
With the wind pressure and shock causing the bulls to faint—simultaneously—
[THERE IS NO WAY THEY ARE MY POSSESSIONS!!!]
She flung the Iron Chariot, Medb included, high into the sky—!!
"————So that is... the wish you entrusted to Cu-chan—"
Thrown from the Chariot, Medb ruminated on that impression.
—The one and only man I yearned for.
The man who was freer than anyone, despite being tormented by all unreasonableness.
The one and only man who died without hating anyone.
—I want him, I wished.
I want you no matter what. I obtained the Holy Grail and wished without hesitation.
'Make Cú Chulainn an evil king. An evil king who stands equal to me.'
—And yet, she did the same thing to Cu-chan, but...
'Be a warrior who loses to no one.'
Telling the Holy Grail such a modest, obvious thing.
'Be you, just as you are'—she told him that.
—Ah, I understand. I have understood.
"—Ahaha."
My Cu-chan is listless.
That Cu-chan looks like he's having fun.
The me who distorted him, and the girl who affirmed him.
—Because she is that kind of girl...
[Hah—!!]
Rikka leaped toward Medb, who had been thrown into the air.
—Because she didn't desire to 'possess' his everything—
[The Nine Lives of Hades — First]
Hooking her legs around the stomach, grabbing the neck and legs.
—She was able to obtain...
Ejecting mud, slamming into the earth with all her might and speed—!
['Great Snowy Mountain Drop (Ooyuki-yama Oroshi)'——!!!]
—...His single heart.
Slammed down with full force, the ground gouged out, Medb had one of her vitals, the 'Back,' sealed.
"Gah—!!"
[—Tch!]
Even while being slammed, Medb wrapped both arms around Rikka, pulling her into a clinch.
[Not yet—!]
"—I cannot afford... to lose...! On the name... of Cu-chan...!"
With the power of a Servant and the pride of a Queen, Medb repelled the erosion of the mud and strangled Rikka's neck with force.
(This is not an opponent I can show mercy to!)
Quickly bending Medb's torso into a V-shape, grabbing the arms dangling in the air.
[Second and Third!]
Rotating her body to increase momentum—
[—'Spin Arm Salt'——!!!]
Sealing the vitals 'Both Arms,' she hammered in a suplex to crush them—!!
"Guhhh—!!"
Sweeping the legs.
[Wha—!?]
Medb instantly locked Rikka's leg in a Figure-Four Leglock, tightening the hold.
[—Gaaaaaaah!!]
She leaked a groan of agony at the perfectly executed leg technique, but immediately broke out of it using the brute force of Mana Burst.
"Ah—!"
Rikka stood up instantly, folded Medb's legs, lifted her high...
[Fourth and Fifth!]
Onto her raised knee—
[—'Double Knee Crusher'!!]
She slammed both of Medb's legs, shattering the 'Legs' together—!!
"Gafu—!!"
[—Gah!!]
Even with her legs destroyed, Medb slammed a full-force headbutt into Rikka's head.
Through the mask, the shock transmitted—instinctively moving behind Medb.
[Sixth! Aniki—I'm aiming for the head!!]
Putting her whole momentum into it—
[—'Helm Breaker (Kabuto Wari)'!!]
She smashed her into the earth—!!
The vital point 'Brain' crushed.
"—Guhhh!!"
Yet still, facing Medb's grit and spirit as she resisted with a body attack.
[Tchhh, —Seventh!!]
Leaping up as if sucked in, Rikka came down from above the head—
['Stomach Crush'!!!]
Driving a headbutt into the 'Stomach' as if to pierce it, crushing the vital point—!!
"Geho, ah—!!"
Receiving seven strikes strong enough to shake her Spirit Core.
"Not... yet... Not yet..."
Teetering, she reached out her hand, gripping Rikka's palm with all her remaining strength—
[—Eighth.]
As if enduring that strength that didn't seem like a dying body, Rikka gripped that hand back, strongly, tightly.
[—'Gandr'!!]
She hammered in Chaldea's strongest Gandr, one capable of stunning Medb's Spirit Origin, directly—!
"—Aaah—!!"
[Guuuuh!!]
Even while being stunned, she bit into Rikka's neck with full force, roaring as if to tear out her throat—!
[—In that case—!!]
Clack, clutching both arms in the position for a Spin Arm Salt, rotating, spinning, spinning—giving it momentum until Medb's body stood vertically upright due to the speed and impact—at that moment.
['The Nine Lives of Hades' — LAST, ONE!!]
Throwing her high into the heavens, hooking her left leg around the upside-down Medb's 'Neck,' entering the completion of the technique—!
"—Ah, aaah...!"
Squeezing out the last of her strength, using both arms, Medb put power into prying off the left leg.
[I won't let you!!]
Rikka slammed the sole of her right foot onto the left leg that was being pried off, solidifying the hold.
"Tch—!!"
As Medb resisted to remove it, Rikka slammed her right hand onto the stacked right foot, forcing it down with power, completing the technique—!
[The finishing move I intended to save for Goetia! —Holding back or sparing it would be rude to you, so I unleash it NOW!!]
Ejecting mud as magical energy, accelerating to double speed or more, she hammered in the full-power killing blow that would shatter the Queen's pride along with her—!!
"————Fufu—"
—Medb smiled.
While her body was being thoroughly destroyed, she smiled refreshingly, radiantly.
"—Hey... Rikka."
Knowing it wouldn't reach, the Queen spoke.
"If I... and you... had met differently—"
[The name is the technique my soul taught me—!! Beast's Guillotine - Modified!!]
Now, the Evil Dragon pierces the earth!
Its name is—!
['Guillotine of Pity: GOETIA GUILLOTINE LIVES'———!!!!!!!]
Impact, storm, fissure, severe quake.
The maximum attack of full force was slammed into Medb, and a shockwave equivalent to a massive explosion covered the entire area—!!
—...Eventually, silence wrapped the surroundings.
"Haa, haa, haa... haa..."
Having poured in all her energy, unable to maintain the Azi Dahaka Armor, Rikka released it.
"————It's... my, loss, huh."
Slowly, with her Spirit Core shattered, Medb began to fade away.
"—Can I ask... just one thing?"
Breathing faintly, she asked Rikka.
"Why... did you not aim... for my hair..."
—When removing techniques, when tearing her away, Rikka never once aimed for Medb's hair. She didn't even touch it.
"—Because I promised Aniki."
Rikka told her. The 'promise' exchanged with Cú Chulainn.
"Hair is a woman's life, right?"
"—...Is that... so. That's right..."
...Really, how unfair.
Even though he rejected me flatly, he remembers things like that properly...
—Really...
"I don't think I won with this, Medb."
"...Eh?"
"I was overwhelmed the whole time. You drew out every technique I was saving. ...Winning the match but losing the fight—that's me."
Rikka declared.
"—I won't lose next time. Let's definitely do this again. —As friends who fought with their lives on the line."
—Connecting a bond to the Queen.
"Fri... ends..."
—While fading away radiantly.
"—Come to think of it. I never had... a single... female friend...—"
Smiling with satisfaction, Medb vanished—
"..."
...Slowly, she stood up.
"...You were... very strong. Next time... please teach me."
Looking up at the sky, she muttered slowly.
"That 'Girl Power' to fight to the end for the person you love—teach that to me."
Rikka continued to look up at the sky with a clear expression—
—I'm sorry, Cu-chan. I'm going ahead.
—Please, don't lose. Keep being the strongest King.
—Because my Cu-chan is the strongest King who loses to no one...
—Ferdiad. The promise... maybe, someday... okay?
"—Mu!"
"...Ferdiad?"
"————Truly a flower on a high peak. I've been dumped flatly, haven't I—Hahahaha!"
—Someday, then. Oh Queen.
-------------------------------
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