Even with just a glance, Lancer knew exactly what the other man was saying.
"Stay out of this."
That was it. Despite being in a tough fight, the other guy didn't want Lancer to interfere. He was clearly enjoying the scrap.
The skeletal Undead Army seemed endless as they charged at Cu Chulainn. While the flames kept the skeletons from being a real threat, the sheer numbers were draining Cu mana. Just as a skeleton soldier broke through the wall of fire, Darius III, perched atop his skeletal behemoth, let out a cruel smirk.
BOOM!!
The skeletal elephant charged. Cu Chulainn swung his staff, unleashing a massive fire tornado, but sweat was beading on his forehead. That last move clearly took a lot out of him. Then, the fire tornado suddenly buckled and burst.
As the tornado collapsed, the elephant Darius was riding shattered too. But Darius didn't flinch. He leapt from the air, gripping his scepters, and swung down at Cu Chulainn.
Cu tried to retreat, only to find himself surrounded by the Undead Army. Even with his Runes, he couldn't clear the area instantly. For the Caster class, this was basically checkmate.
After all, the weapons in Darius's hands were more like axes than scepters. Combined with his massive frame and the momentum of the fall...
CLANG!!
Cu held his staff horizontally with both hands, blocking the downward strike. The force was enough to drive him to one knee, but his face was still alight with battle lust.
"I wish we could've fought under different circumstances!"
He muttered something Darius couldn't understand. Then, Cu, who hadn't moved an inch since the start of the fight, suddenly threw himself backward—seemingly suicidally—into the weapons of the Undead Army. The moment he moved, an "Ansuz" Rune, representing fire, flared to life where he had just been standing.
KABOOM!!!
A pillar of fire, even more terrifying than before, engulfed Darius III. But he wasn't done. As Cu fell into the weapons of the undead, his robes glowed with a soft green light, shielding him from the skeletal blades. Simultaneously, he began drawing in the air with his staff.
In less than a second, over a dozen Runes manifested. Then—
Two massive flaming hands appeared on either side of the fire pillar and slammed together in the middle.
The massive impact, combined with the extreme heat, drew a scream of agony from Darius. As the scream faded, the surrounding Undead Army began to dissolve.
"Cough, cough!"
Cu coughed up some blood.
Clearly, while his mana shield blocked the lethal damage, it didn't stop the kinetic impact. Still, he leaned on his staff and looked toward Lancer.
Once the "Undead Army" had fully vanished, Lancer stepped out from the shadows. Cu walked over enthusiastically and then—
WHACK!
Their two staves collided sharply in mid-air. The two "brothers" locked eyes. Then—
"You too?"
"Nah, not me."
Lancer finished his sentence and promptly let go of his staff, reaching behind his back to pull out a blood-red spear.
Lancer biggest headache had always been carrying his weapons, but as a Heroic Spirit, his weapons were now Noble Phantasms. He could just dematerialize them. Seeing the red spear pointed at him, Cu expression turned strange, and he began muttering to himself.
"Could it really be what Shishou said..."
Lancer gut told him Cu was talking about him. He wanted to ask right away, but he knew that if he didn't "satisfy" Cu first, the guy wouldn't say a word. So—fight first!
Red spear met oak staff in a rhythmic, clashing dance. Both of their expressions grew increasingly serious.
While Lancer spear style shared similarities with Cu, they were fundamentally different.
Cu had been trained by his father and brother from a young age in all sorts of weapons. His style, while wild, was "orthodox" and refined to perfection under Scáthach's tutelage.
Lancer style, however, was pure instinct. He excelled at counter-attacking—it looked refined, but it was born from the dirt. Even Scáthach couldn't fully iron out his "street fighter" habits—though she probably never intended to.
Scáthach never wanted her students to be clones of her. She had already reached the end of her path; she wanted them to surpass her, which meant they had to find their own ways.
Cu did it, and so did Lancer.
In the silent, burning city, the clashing of weapons was interrupted by a dull thud.
Thump.
The oak staff caught Lancer right in the chest, and the world went dark for a second. When his vision returned, he saw a shirtless, sweat-drenched Cu Chulainn pointing his staff at his throat. Then, Cu smiled, planted his staff in the ground, and offered a hand.
Clasp.
Lancer took the hand and stood up, a trace of melancholy on his face.
"I lost again..."
He was thinking of the fight they had before he "graduated" all those years ago. He'd lost to his Senpai then, too.
Seeing Lancer moping, Cu rolled his eyes and patted him on the shoulder.
"If a punk like you beat me, where would my pride as the Senpai go? It's only been... what, a few years since you left the Land of Shadows?"
"Two and a half, I think?"
"..."
As Heroic Spirits, their personal time was detached from the normal timeline. Their "time" was essentially frozen at their death. This was why Heracles surpassing his own legend was so shocking.
Cu Chulainn had decades of life between graduating from the Land of Shadows and his eventual death. As a Servant, he was in his absolute prime. Looking at the disappointed Lancer, he rubbed his temples.
"You really are a freak, just like Shishou said..."