Every person in the world pursues what they desire.
For some, it's wealth.
For some, it's longevity.
For some, it's a partner.
But what Scathach sought was death.
That's right.
Scathach, as the Queen and Gatekeeper of the "Land of Shadows," from beginning to end, pursued her own death.
She wanted to break free from this eternal form of life.
Even if the manner of death might be somewhat humble, she would have no complaints whatsoever.
Of course, if possible, Scathach still hoped that she could best be killed by her disciple Cu Chulainn himself.
Because then, she would have witnessed his graduation as a warrior.
And so, under the influence of this hope, Scathach produced a strange resonance with the Holy Grail.
But this cup, which was said to be able to grant any wish, did not bring the death she desired.
Instead, it brought the call of a man named Kayneth, who was her polar opposite, and who, no matter how hard he tried, could not avoid his own death.
In this situation, Scathach felt a miraculous sense of curiosity towards him.
In this world, were there actually people who absolutely could not escape their own death?
And so—
She answered this summoning and came before Kayneth in a rather special state.
Scathach referred to this act as "contacting death."
Of course, she did not admit that she was his Servant—because the Queen of the Land of Shadows could absolutely not become anyone's subordinate.
Nor was she willing to tell the future she saw to this man with an extremely dangerous hairline.
That would go against her code of conduct.
However—
In order to understand how exactly she could replicate this fate of inevitable death, Scathach was still very willing to do some things according to his instructions.
If it weren't for the woman named Sola-Ui—
Years of exile and restriction had long since given Scathach a pair of eyes that could see into the hearts of others.
With a single glance, she saw that this woman named Sola-Ui did not love her husband at all.
No, "not loving" probably wasn't enough to describe this woman.
It was clearly a state of being together out of necessity; even saying she was annoyed might be an understatement.
Scathach was certain that given a viable opportunity, Sola-Ui would absolutely betray her husband.
This could be seen from her resistance when Kayneth ordered her to supply him with magical energy to win the Holy Grail War.
But—
None of this had anything to do with her. Scathach decided she would not say a single extra word about it.
She didn't care what kind of ending they reached.
All this queen wanted was how to replicate the fate of certain death.
From this perspective, Scathach felt that her compatibility with Kayneth was the best.
But in a sense, the two also had the worst compatibility.
If she obtained the method of replication from Kayneth, Scathach was certain she would abandon him without hesitation.
As for her identity as Lancer, there would naturally be a way to resolve that at the time.
But Artoria didn't understand any of this.
Her intuition was telling her that the woman before her, holding a dark red spear, was absolutely not someone to be trifled with.
Not to mention that the other party had seen through her identity the moment they met.
To be able to do that, the actual situation was obvious—she was also a Servant.
And judging by her solitary appearance, it was likely that her group, similar to herself and Kiritsugu, had adopted the method of concealing their Master.
"Master, please step back a little," Artoria said, while also gathering her magical energy to transform into her white battle dress.
And in the next moment, she also held the Sword of Assured Victory (Caliburn) in her hand!
Seeing this scene, Irisviel realized that a battle was about to take place.
She remembered her husband Emiya Kiritsugu's instructions, and then, in the most serious tone, pretended to be the true Master and "issued" orders to Artoria.
"Saber, defeat her!" Irisviel commanded firmly.
Hearing this, Scathach looked at Irisviel.
A hint of doubt appeared in those wine-red eyes.
"Exposing yourself so casually?" She questioned the apparent lack of caution.
"That's not something you need to worry about," Artoria retorted to Scathach's words, then gripped her Sword of Assured Victory (Caliburn) and charged towards the other party.
"Saber's desire for battle is quite strong," Scathach said to herself, and then began to parry Artoria's attacks with her dark red spear.
It was a powerful weapon called Gae Bolg Alternative!
*Clang!*
The Sword of Assured Victory and Gae Bolg Alternative collided, producing brilliant sparks.
It was a sight that could be seen clearly even in broad daylight.
"Excellent swordsmanship," Scathach commented like a teacher while effortlessly parrying Artoria's attacks.
"The courage to take the initiative is also quite commendable." She added appreciatively.
"If we had met under normal circumstances—"
"Saber, I think I might have been willing to take you as a disciple." She offered speculatively.
"There's no need for that!"
Artoria pulled back the locked Sword of Assured Victory, then changed her sword swing style and attacked again.
This was a method she had learned from Ian.
It was something more suitable for actual combat than the traditional swordsmanship taught by her elder brother Kay.
It could often disrupt the opponent's rhythm.
*Clang!*
*Clang!*
Relying on the techniques taught to her by Ian, Artoria achieved remarkably effective results with several consecutive attacks, suppressing Scathach.
However, Scathach was not angered by being temporarily at a disadvantage; instead, she further praised Artoria's actions.
"Amazing!" She exclaimed.
"You know how to change your fighting style based on the opponent's situation." She observed.
"Saber, you must have been instructed by someone, haven't you?! Let me meet him!" She demanded curiously.
"..."
Artoria felt her breathing quicken.
Because the other party was clearly fighting her in an extremely relaxed state.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible for her to constantly evaluate her attacks while in combat.
Therefore—
Her strength must be above her own.
Artoria's premonition quickly became reality.
Scathach continued to speak.
"But unfortunately, those words just now seem to have no meaning." She stated regretfully.
"Saber, right now... we are absolute enemies!" She declared, her tone shifting.
After saying this, Scathach blocked Artoria's attack with one hand and freed her other hand.
Her wine-red eyes also glowed.
In the next second, a completely identical Gae Bolg Alternative appeared in her empty hand.
In an instant, the situation began to reverse.
Scathach, wielding her dual spears, counterattacked Artoria with a fierce offensive.
"Saber, faster!"
Scathach's weapons continuously struck the Sword of Assured Victory, playing a melody like death.
"Saber! Show me something even more amazing!" She urged, pressing her attack.
"..."
Artoria had no time to respond to Scathach before her.
At this moment, she knew that the other party was indeed very powerful.
Fortunately, she was not without a way to resist.
The Red Dragon's heart granted her an extremely high level of "Instinct."
This was an ability that could be effective in battle—allowing her to completely predict the opponent's next attack intention and then evade or counterattack based on that.
For someone of Artoria's level, it could even reach a momentary "future sight."
So—
Although Scathach's attacks were indeed powerful and incredibly swift, Artoria was still able to maintain almost perfect defense.
Of course, the premise for achieving this defense was Artoria's intense concentration.
A slight distraction could very likely lead to injury due to momentary oversight.
However—
Simply defending passively like this definitely wouldn't solve the problem.
How could she launch a fatal counterattack?
Artoria quietly pondered this question.
But at this moment, she heard Scathach suddenly utter a sentence.
"So it's Instinct?" Scathach observed.
"In that case, it is indeed impossible to attack you in this manner." She concluded.
"What?!"
Before Artoria could understand what Scathach's words meant, she saw the other party brace her dual spears and then thrust them upwards.
Out of the instinct to defend, she also raised her Sword of Assured Victory, attempting to block the other party's attack.
However—
Scathach did not attack this time as Artoria had predicted.
Instead, she immediately rolled back, creating a considerable distance from the girl swordsman before her.
This was an extremely perplexing action.
Artoria completely didn't understand why the Lancer, who had the upper hand, would suddenly do this.
But Scathach quickly made her understand the answer.
"Your Instinct is indeed formidable, something that even I am surprised by." She acknowledged.
"But—"
Scathach gripped her two Gae Bolg Alternative spears.
A flash of dark red light intertwined; they seemed to be imbued with some extremely terrifying sorcery, continuously emitting a power that made one tremble with fear.
"What if what you have to face is an attack that is absolutely unavoidable?" She questioned with a chilling tone.
"Gae Bolg Alternative!" She declared, unleashing the technique.
"What did you say?!"
As soon as Artoria finished hearing those words, she saw Scathach hurl one of the dark red spears towards her.
Honestly, in the eyes of the girl swordsman with "Instinct," the flight speed of this weapon was definitely not fast; it could even be described with a word like "slow."
But—
Through her "Instinct," Artoria could only perceive one and only one outcome for this spear:
It would hit her!
Yes.
No matter how many actions Artoria envisioned in her mind to evade this spear projectile, the final result was consistently that it would hit her.
She instantly realized that there was a significant problem with this spear.
But it was already too late.
The dark red spear struck Artoria's right shoulder squarely.
Immediately, fresh blood sprayed into the morning air.
"Saber!" Irisviel behind her exclaimed in alarm.
Although she didn't quite understand how the conflict between Servants should end, she knew that her friend Artoria was injured—this meant she was at a relative disadvantage in the battle.
However, Irisviel just saw the surface.
For Artoria, who was truly bearing the attack, the situation was much more serious than that.
She found that her movements had become significantly slower.
The spear thrown by this Lancer seemed to have some extremely complex sorcery or ritual on it, capable of directly sealing the target's movements in a short period, rendering them unable to move an inch.
If her body hadn't possessed a naturally strong resistance to magecraft, she probably wouldn't even be able to move her feet right now.
But—
In this situation, being able to move a few steps and being completely unable to move made no difference.
Because Lancer was absolutely impossible to stop her attack at this time.
And indeed, that was the case.
Scathach revealed a smile of approval.
"Impressive." She commented.
"Hit by my Gae Bolg Alternative, you still have the residual ability to move." She observed.
"But... this is where it ends." She declared, raising her other spear.
Her Noble Phantasm, Gae Bolg Alternative, was actually a combined attack.
The first spear was merely meant to immobilize the opponent in place.
The one that truly killed the opponent was the second spear—it would directly pierce the opponent's heart, causing fatal damage.
This was a heavy blow capable of instantly eliminating even a deity, but it also consumed a large amount of magical energy.
Scathach would never normally adopt such an attack method.
The reason she was using it now was simply that she felt the Saber before her was worthy of it.
However—
This Queen of the Land of Shadows could never have imagined that another figure would appear near this port at this moment.
"Golden Eater!"
A thunderous roar came.
A giant axe-halberd struck the ground, making a heavy sound.
Immediately, countless lightning bolts, like an explosion, stirred up a wave of dust, and then charged towards Scathach, who was raising her spear, like stampeding bulls.
This was an attack that absolutely could not be taken head-on!
Scathach reacted quickly; she immediately aborted her attack on Artoria.
As a warrior, she instantly rolled to the side, flashing away with the fastest speed.
But even so, Scathach was still nearly hit—after all, that was genuine lightning!
Who had unleashed such an attack?
As the smoke cleared, the mystery was revealed.
Only to see a tall man with golden hair standing there holding the axe-halberd.
"Golden!"
"You will not—!"
"Harm Dad's friend!" He roared protectively.