Land of Shadows, Dun Scaith.
The day after James faced off against the majority of his peerage, Cu Chulainn was prepared to fight Scathach. While James, Sona, and their peerages were waiting for the duel to start, Sona asked a question.
"I get the feeling this is going to be different than our spars with Master Scathach." Sona said while waiting for an answer from James.
"If it feels that way, that's because it is." James replied with his usual smile missing. "Master is gonna be going all out this time."
"So, will it be like that one time you fought all out last time?" Mizore asked with a bit of fear on her face. "I thought you were gonna die that time."
Hearing that, Tsubaki hurriedly turned her head toward the battlefield.
"Is Setanta going to be alright?" Tsubaki asked nervously.
"Honestly, I don't know." James said. "Master said that both of us have surpassed the original Cu Chulainn. However, I'm thinking that she means in terms of skill. I doubt we're that strong."
"Are you serious?" Sona asked. "In terms of skill in battle, she said that the two of you have surpassed the greatest hero of Celtic Mythology?"
"Yeah, she said it the day we got here." James replied with a nod. "That's why she hasn't let us spar with any of you one on one. On top of being stronger, even if we lowered our power to even, it wouldn't be much of a spar."
Dante was about to object when he heard what James had to say, however, a bright light from the training field pulled his attention away from the conversation. Dante was not the only one whose attention was drawn to the bright light. Everyone turned to it after seeing it.
"So, she released the seals." James said as he watched his master and brother disciple. "Pretty impressive. He's equal to the current me, right now."
While James was talking to the others, Cu Chulainn was talking about the upcoming duel with Scathach.
"Are you ready?" Scathach asked. "You should be prepared to die during this fight."
"*Sigh* I'm ready, Master." Cu Chulainn replied as he tightened his grip on his weapon. "But what is the win condition, if I may ask?"
"Survive." Scathach stated nonchalantly. "All you have to do is survive while I assess your growth. That means I expect you to show me everything you have learned."
"Understood." Cu Chulainn said with determination in his eyes.
"Good." Scathach said with a nod. "Then, I will release your seals. You will have one minute to acclimate to your new strength. After that, I will attack."
With that, Scathach's right index finger lit up as she pointed it at Cu Chulainn. Then, runic sentences lit up around Cu Chulainn's wrists and ankles. After that, a string of runes connected the four runic sentences to Cu Chulainn's heart. Scathach then turned her finger as if she were turning a key and the runic sentences began to disassemble. When the last runes disappeared from Cu Chulainn's body, Cu Chulainn began to shine brightly.
As the light shined, Cu Chulainn could feel his body strengthening while his demonic power reserves increased sharply. Starting at the peak of the initial-level, Cu Chulainn felt his power rise to the intermediate-level quickly. Then, after a few minutes, he felt himself breakthrough to the advanced-level. Then, after a few more minutes, Cu Chulainn's power stabilized at the peak of the ultimate-rank.
"It would seem you have pushed yourself, my disciple." Scathach said while nodding in satisfaction. "To grow two full levels, I am impressed."
"Thank you, Master." Cu Chulainn said as he tested his body.
Gripping his fists, checking his range of motion, throwing punches, jumping in the air, and swinging his spear. Cu Chulainn went through a series of warm up exercises in the minute he was alloted to adjust to his new strength. Then, just as he finished, he took his fighting stance. And as soon as he was in his stance, he swung his spear to parry a thrust aimed at his throat. Then, using the momentum from his parry, Cu Chulainn swung the butt of his spear at Scathach's left side.
Spinning her spear in response, Scathach was able to easily deflect the incoming strike upward. Then, she pulled her spear back and launched a barrage of thrusts. Cu Chulainn, dodged most of the incoming attacks and those he could not, he deflected with the minimum force necessary. After the barrage stopped, Cu Chulainn launched his own barrage of attacks. Thrusts, sweeps, and flicks were sent at his master from all angles and at varying speeds.
"This is nuts!" Dante exclaimed. "Has that bastard, Lancer, been holding back against me?"
"Not at all." James said while shaking his head. "Lancer has had some pretty intense seals on his body suppressing his physical and demonic power for a few years now. So, it would have been impossible to fight at that level before today."
"Wait, if Lancer had those seals on him, does that mean you do, too?" Sona asked.
"Yeah, since I turned thirteen." James replied while watching every detail of the ongoing duel. "Lancer and I got them at the same time."
"If Lancer went up from initial-level to the peak of the ultimate-rank, then what will you look like after removing the seals?" Moka asked curiously.
"That's right!" Mizore exclaimed. "You're already at the peak of the rank. So how much will you grow."
"I'd like to know too." James said with a shrug. "There's no way to find out until the seals come off."
By the time they were both warmed up, their spears looked like nothing more than red blurs. Eventually, Cu Chulainn realized he would get nowhere if things kept up like this. In fact, the duel would not even end in a draw because he could feel more clearly the difference in power between himself and Scathach. With that realization, Cu Chulainn activated a rune on the tip of his spear the moment Scathach deflected one of his thrusts.
As the two spears collided, an explosion occurred, and the sudden shockwave knocked Scathach off balance for a moment. Taking advantage of that moment, Cu Chulainn stepped in and slammed his shoulder into Scathach's chest, which caused her to stumble back a step. Then, he used her unbalanced stance to hook the spear in Scathach's hand and pin it to the ground. After that, he threw a punch toward Scathach's collar bone.
Releasing her left hand from the spear, Scathach raised it to block the punch. Using that opportunity, Cu Chulainn kicked Scathach's wrist and caused her to drop the spear. Normally, Scathach would never lose her grip on her weapon. However, Cu Chulainn used another rune. Placing a low powered lightning rune on the sole of his boot, Cu Chulainn was able to mask its activation by flaring his demonic energy when he threw the kick.
Although the rune was not strong enough to do any physical damage, the numbness the lightning brought, mixed with the force of Cu Chulainn's kick was enough to disarm Scathach. Now, deciding to press the advantage, Cu Chulainn launched another barrage of strikes. And without a weapon, Scathach was forced to back away from her spear.
'Why isn't she just summoning another one?' Cu Chulainn thought to himself. 'She could easily summon as many as she wants. I mean she's literally got, like, hundreds of them.'
While Cu Chulainn was pushing Scathach back without her weapon, the spectators were in shock.
"Is Lancer... winning?" Flora asked with a shocked expression on her face.
"That's what it looks like." Moka said unsurely. "But I get the feeling there's more to it than we think."
"Your instincts are good." James said while watching closely. "If Lancer isn't careful, he's gonna step into a trap."
"A trap?" Tsubaki asked. "What kind of trap."
"I'm sure you all saw how Lancer used runes to disarm Master, right?"
To that question, everyone watching the duel nodded.
"Then, who do you think it was that taught runecraft to Lancer?" James asked with a smirk as he saw the moment when Scathach began her counterattack.
As everyone gasped in realization, Scathach activated some of the runes she had laid while she was backing away from Cu Chulainn. First, as Cu Chulainn stepped forward, a rune that removed friction in a local area was activated. Although his foot did not slide very far forward due to his excellent bodily control, that little bit was more than enough for Scathach. Just as his foot stopped sliding forward, a gravity rune was activated, causing Cu Chulainn's leg to become forty times heavier. Then, as he came to an abrupt stop, Scathach flung herself toward her disciple and landed a punch on his collar bone. Then, she followed it up with an elbow strike to his ribs. That was followed by a punch to his armpit. And the combo was ended with a chop to his thumb.
*Crack!*
Now, with his thumb broken, Cu Chulainn was no longer able to hold his spear. And at that moment, the effect of the gravity rune ran out. Then, before Scathach could reach out for it, Cu Chulainn kicked away his spear. Although he could handle the spear with his off hand, his power and precision would be reduced without his dominant hand. So, in his opinion fighting hand-to-hand was a much better alternative to fighting barehanded against a Scathach with a spear, should she ever retrieve one.
Then, from a match of spearmanship, the duel changed into one of martial arts and rune craft. And unfortunately, Cu Chulainn was soundly outclassed in both. Although he could hold his own in hand-to-hand combat, Scathach's mastery of runecraft was on a completely different level. With every strike that landed, there was an additional effect due to the different runes she activated upon contact. Sometimes Cu Chulainn would be numbed by lightning like he used to disarm Scathach, sometimes he would be hit with an additional explosion. Then, there were the runes that restricted his senses for a short time. Randomly losing sight, hearing, or the sense of touch from time to time was more than Cu Chulainn could handle.
"This is starting to get hard to watch." Dante said as he smirked.
"Why don't you wipe that smirk off your face and try saying that again." Lady said as she rolled her eyes at Dante.
"Even still, he's lasting a lot longer than usual." James said with a smile.
*Crack!*
"Oh, he broke her arm." James said with a smile. "I don't know how he managed to even sneak in that arm bar."
"Yeah, but even with that broken arm, how is she swinging him around like that?" Flora asked, clearly more interested in the fight now that it has changed into one of martial arts.
"I don't know, but doesn't it kinda look like how Hulk smashed Loki?" Mizore asked.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Eventually, the fight ended when Scathach landed a palm strike on the side of Cu Chulainn's face, breaking his jaw and most likely causing a concussion, knocking him unconscious. When the fight was over, Tsubaki, followed by Shuna, rushed toward the downed Cu Chulainn. As soon as they arrived, Shuna began healing the unconscious young man. Meanwhile, James walked to and picked up the two spears that had been discarded during the fight. When he arrived in front of Scathach, James offered her spear to her respectfully.
"So, did he pass?" James asked as he placed Cu Chulainn's spear next to him.
With that question, everyone else who had also made their way over to the two warriors listened carefully to hear the result.
"Yes, he passed." Scathach said with a rare smile on her face. "I am very proud to see how much he has grown."
Hearing that, everyone was excited for Cu Chulainn, even Dante who did his best to hide it. Unfortunately, Mizore noticed the twitching upper lip.
"Aww, look." Mizore said as she pointed at Dante. "The Tsundere Son of Sparda is trying not to smile. He's happy that Lancer passed too."
"Damn it!" Dante exclaimed. "When are you gonna stop calling me that?"
"When you stop acting like a tsundere." Mizore, Moka, Lady, Shuna, and Shion all said in unison.
After a few minutes of chatter, thanks to Shuna's healing, Cu Chulainn regained consciousness. Looking around at all the familiar faces, Cu Chulainn smiled wryly.
"Damn, it hurts more when a bunch of people see you get your ass kicked." Cu Chulainn said while hanging his head.
"Raise your head, my idiot disciple." Scathach said sternly. "Losing is not shameful. Have you not learned that from me after all these years? Or perhaps I need to reinforce the lesson?"
As she spoke, Scathach slammed the butt of her spear into the ground.
"No, Master, I understand." Cu Chulainn said with a nervous sweat. "It's just, Tsubaki saw."
As he spoke, Cu Chulainn's voice got quieter, and his face turned redder. Seeing that, Tsubaki hugged Cu Chulainn while everyone else smiled.
"Well, now that you've passed your final test, are you ready for your final lesson?" Scathach asked.
Hearing that, Cu Chulainn froze in horror. There was a time he would have been jumping in joy for this opportunity. But now that he has Tsubaki, he wanted to turn it down. Unfortunately, he was unsure if this lesson was manditory.
"Last lesson? What's that about?" Tsubaki asked curiously.
"It's a lesson on how to please a woman." Scathach said without changing her expression.
Hearing that, Tsubaki blushed and tried to hide Cu Chulainn from Scathach.
"Um... Master, I don't think I need that lesson." Cu Chulainn said with fear.
Looking over the couple, Scathach smiled mischievously. Then, she walked away.
"Come to my chambers later." Scathach said without looking back.