When Naoki opened his eyes again, it was past midnight.
As his consciousness and senses returned, intense pain and a sense of helplessness immediately flooded his entire body. He didn't have the strength to move even a single finger, let alone try to sit up from the bed.
"I… this…"
Naoki vaguely remembered that before losing consciousness, he intended to use a Command Spell to make Artoria take him back to the hotel to meet Merry. But this ceiling wasn't the hotel's ceiling.
So, he wasn't at the hotel?
"You're awake, Fairy Magus."
A voice reached his ears. Naoki struggled to shift his eyes to the side, but unfortunately, he could only catch a glimpse of wine-red hair, unable to see the speaker's full form. However, from the voice alone, he recognized who it was.
"Lancer… Aoko?"
"It seems you still have some cognitive ability, but it looks like you can't move at all." Scathach said, standing beside the bed and looking down at Naoki. "Do you want me to explain your current condition?"
"No… maybe… I can imagine…"
Naoki knew how bad his physical state was. The moment he regained consciousness, he felt it. The power of Arthur, which had always been with him, was gone. Having carried it for ten years, he was intimately aware of its presence.
"Since you know, I'll get to the conclusion—your remaining lifespan is, at most, twelve hours."
Twelve hours?
That was longer than he expected.
"You should've died when you lost consciousness, but another power within you forcibly held onto your life, barely keeping you alive until now. But that's limited—it can only sustain your life, not make you live forever. After all, you were supposed to die ten years ago. Now, you're paying the life debt you owe."
"I see…"
(Another power… it must be Arcueid.)
(She saved me again. I'll have to thank her later.)
"Lancer… can I ask… one thing?" Naoki looked at Scathach. "Just for tonight… let me stand… one more time…"
"There's a place… I have to go!"
Scathach fell silent for a moment. "Even if it means you won't survive afterward? Many people care about you. Dying for a personal whim—isn't that a bit irresponsible?"
"I know…"
(I was told long ago that my life no longer belongs to me alone.)
(Gray, Rei, Mordred, Atalanta, Ayaka… if I die, they'll be devastated and do irrational things. Who told them to be such restless people? Even Gray, sometimes, is so unreasonable.)
But…
"I have to go… if I don't…"
Naoki couldn't finish his words. His strength was no longer enough to complete his sentences, but Scathach could read his thoughts from his gaze. She had seen many warriors with that same look in the past.
The corner of her lips curved into a smile as Scathach placed her hand on Naoki's chest. "Then let's make a deal, young man."
"I can indeed give you the strength to move again tonight, but if you survive after finishing everything, you must fight me in a life-or-death battle."
Scathach had sensed a profound aura of death from Naoki last night. He was indeed someone who could kill the current Scathach. Letting him die like this would be such a waste. Just once was fine—whether to seek death or to satisfy a warrior's thirst for victory, Scathach wanted to fight Naoki.
As long as he could survive afterward.
"Alright."
Naoki agreed immediately. The next moment, Scathach waved her hand, inscribing runes one by one onto Naoki's chest.
Reviving a dying warrior to fight at full strength—such spells were not uncommon in Celtic mythology.
As the runes entered his body one by one, Naoki gradually felt his body fill with strength, like a balloon inflated with air. His hands and feet, previously immobile, could now move.
"At dawn, the runes will lose their power. Is that alright?"
"Yes, thank you so much."
Sitting up from the bed, moving as if nothing had happened, and putting on his clothes, Naoki stretched slightly, then pushed open the door. "By the way, Lancer… please convey my thanks to Aoko."
"If you want to thank her, come back yourself after dawn. She'd prefer you visit her in person."
"I will."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Shortly after Naoki left.
In the adjacent room, Aoko's room.
"He's gone."
Scathach released her spiritual form and appeared beside Aoko, who was lying on the bed. "I thought you'd show yourself."
"He doesn't like showing his embarrassing side to others, and… if I showed up, I wouldn't be able to hold back." Aoko said, staring at the ceiling. "Besides, since he said he'd come back, I don't need to worry about him anymore."
"He never breaks a promise."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Fuyuki Grand Hotel.
Top floor.
"Naoki's on his way here."
Merry, sensing the shift in her Magecraft's position, informed Morgan and Arthur.
Arthur nodded. "I felt it too… and his condition is unprecedentedly weak."
The effect of Merry's Magecraft was to separate the Arthur component from Naoki's body and transfer it to Arthur's, strengthening him. In essence, it was equivalent to merging two Arthurs into one. While it didn't quite achieve 1+1=2, it was at least 1+1=1.5, with the enhancement primarily in Mana.
As a result, Naoki temporarily lost Arthur's various abilities—Magic Resistance, intuition, the scabbard, and… the Dragon Heart.
Of course, this didn't mean replacing the heart, but its performance had weakened to that of a human heart. His Mana production rate was likely only a tenth of what it used to be.
And on top of that, he was dying…
"Attack, Berserker."
Morgan issued the order.
"Even if your opponent is your former Master, you won't show mercy, will you?"
"Yes."
Arthur nodded with difficulty, entered his spiritual form, and vanished from the room.