The Path to "Demon God" / "That Right Hand"

Roy believed that if Scathach truly unleashed her full power, his Divine Right would be able to determine her maximum output. With the right hand that possessed all the miracles of Christianity, he would certainly be able to defeat Scathach. But with Scathach's godlike martial arts—martial arts that allowed her to kill him effortlessly with nothing more than basic attacks—why would she need some ultimate technique capable of piercing the world and killing a true god?

"There's no time for you to think or hesitate. Chances vanish in an instant on the battlefield. Since you can't think of a way to break through, then search for wisdom in battle—in that boiling blood—with your instincts as a warrior!"

The Queen of the Shadow Land leaped high into the air once more. The two Magic Spears in her hands were like the tongues of venomous snakes, their tips radiating a sharp, bloodthirsty chill.

She seemed to be teaching her enemy, yet also lamenting the fall of a promising student. She gave Roy a hint for battle, but at the same time, her killing intent grew even more resolute. "...Show me your strength and courage, Scathach. This is your only chance!"

With that furious shout, her spears once again surged forth like twin dragons emerging from the sea, carrying the force to overturn heaven and earth as they stabbed straight toward Roy's chest.

Seek wisdom in battle, huh...

Roy parted his lips slightly, suddenly understanding.

That was right. He was a man who planned before acting, always seeking the optimal solution and calculating everything in advance. He believed that only rationality represented wisdom. But if that was the case, what difference was there between him and the Black Prince Alexander Gascoyne, whom he had killed?

If he continued like this, rational thought might allow him to remain undefeated in the short term. But sooner or later, perhaps he would end up like Gascoyne—when he could find no way out of his schemes and plans, when he encountered an unexpected situation and an enemy he could not resist, he would only be able to lose and die pathetically, utterly powerless to fight back.

Just like now. He had encountered an opponent like Scathach, whom he had never anticipated. All his calculations were useless. At a time like this, he could no longer rely on strategy. The only thing he could rely on was his own will—to seek out that one-in-a-thousand, one-in-ten-thousand chance of victory through an unyielding determination!

This was the way of the Mind's Eye. Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of victory, it would find that chance and put it into practice. And to temper such a powerful Mind's Eye, the first thing he needed was a will capable of enduring every pain, a will that would never yield!

At last, Roy understood. Anticipating the enemy's moves was wisdom. But when something happened without warning, being able to find a way to defeat the enemy in an instant, even amid the chaos and loss of reason that came with battle—that was an even greater form of wisdom!

So let his mind burn. Let his body burn. In this scorching heat, in this high-intensity battle, he would rely on that flash of wisdom to find the one and only path to survival!

Since I am a Campione now, then let me play the role of a Campione to the very end!!!

"I am the king! I am the conqueror! I am the man who slays gods!!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH—"

Roy roared at the top of his lungs. Since he was a king, since he was a conqueror, since he had slain a god with a mortal body, then even if he had to die, he would die gloriously and without regrets. Only then would he be worthy of the name Campione!

"···, please·····0"

"My glory fills heaven and earth!"

Bearing the wings of an angel, Roy transformed into light and flame as he activated the Divine Speed Authority. They said that among all martial arts, speed was unbeatable. Even if his martial skill was far inferior to Scathach's, as long as he possessed absolute speed, he could still remain undefeated.

"Good!!"

Seeing Roy suddenly summon his courage, displaying his strength despite facing an enemy he absolutely could not defeat, the Queen of the Shadow Land saw the determination to fight to the death burning in those eyes that had previously been full of fear and retreat. With that simple word, she gave Roy her praise and approval.

Ah, how long had it been since she had felt the thrill of slaughter? The heat that filled this withered body with flowing blood once more, the sensation of pouring water into her spirit after it had long since dried up, the anticipation and excitement that came with it—

How many years had it been since she last felt this way?

0...

She could no longer calculate it. With the Wisdom of the Demonic Realm, she could easily determine the number of years, but Scathach was unwilling to calculate the time she had spent alone in the Outer World, in this Shadow Land. Doing so would only make her sigh, Ah, so much time has already passed. It would make even her last memory of excitement grow blurred.

Ever since that Son of Light from Ireland had come to this Shadow Land, which was eternally filled with darkness, there had not been a single living creature left in this despairing world besides her.

She had once believed that man could grant her the death she longed for. But in the end, he had failed to escape the shackles of fate and had become a glorious Heroic Spirit. And the dead could never defeat her, the Queen of the land of the dead.

That man had ultimately been just that sort of person. Even so, the man named Cú Chulainn had been the person Scathach had encountered in her entire life who came closest to fulfilling her wish.

But his courage had still been completely worn away at the final moment.

Heh, now that she thought about it, it was rather amusing. He was clearly the son of the God of Light, Lugh, yet he had come to her Shadow Land, where the sun never shone, to seek instruction. It was almost laughable.

Ha, I was just sternly scolding someone for losing focus on the battlefield, yet now I've lost focus myself.

Scathach returned from her memories. Beneath her mask, her breathtakingly beautiful face revealed a helpless, self-mocking smile. ...I truly have withered. I've grown old as well.

Outsider, let me see your mettle. Let me see your courage. Campione, whose fate cannot even be observed by the Wisdom of the Demonic Realm—can you walk farther than that fierce hound who has already been shackled?

Chapter 114: The Path to "Demon God"

(Scathach has to be strong enough to become the protagonist's teacher. Besides, this is also part of the power-system setting of this novel.)

(Scathach in the Type-Moon series is fundamentally not the Scathach of mythology. In the setting, she is "one who transcended the world." She should have been a background character, but FGO turned her into a Servant just to make money, making her incredibly weak all at once. If anyone is to blame, blame the planners of FGO and Nasu. Why did they have to write Scathach that way?)

(The Enlightened One has transcended even the Type-Moon universe in the setting. That's far more impressive than any Demon God. So the ceiling of Type-Moon is extremely high, but its floor is also incredibly low.)

(I won't explain these things anymore in the future. It's better to explain them through the characters' dialogue in the story.)

People often said that the person who understood oneself best should be oneself, but those who could truly accomplish this were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Scathach was precisely one of those rare people. Unlike those who, after recognizing their own mediocrity, simply drifted with the tide, Scathach clearly understood that she possessed extraordinary talent and was an existence different from ordinary people. She had also made full use of that talent.

She had grown stronger constantly, always growing stronger. If her talent had to be described in a single word, that word would be—becoming stronger!

In the distant Age of Gods, when heroes were writing their epics and gods were ravaging the earth, Scathach had not been this strong. That was why, when she discovered Cú Chulainn, such a rare genius, she had hoped that he could kill her, who had been cursed by the gods.

The instant Scathach first saw Cú Chulainn, she had already seen through his fate and witnessed the result of his inevitable death. Yet she still hoped that this rare genius could break free of fate and overturn his destined death.

Unfortunately, the Hound of Cú Chulainn—the only one who had a chance of killing her—had ultimately still lost to his own fate. From that moment onward, Scathach knew that there was no longer anyone who could kill her.

As the long years passed, she grew stronger and stronger through her talent, until she and her Shadow Land transcended the world and reached the Outer World, falling into eternal solitude.

Perhaps only when this world itself disappeared could she truly welcome death. Until then, she could only continue existing alongside this world.

(That's exactly how it was written in the setting.)

"Where is the person who can kill me? Heh heh, such a person can't possibly exist—"

The solitary Queen whispered in a melodious voice that was both proud and self-mocking.

"Moses Parts the Sea!"

Under the effect of Divine Speed, Roy's speed was as swift as lightning. With a resolve to die and a concentration he had never before achieved, he brought down a palm strike capable of parting the sea toward Scathach before him!

"Your speed is indeed very fast to ordinary people, but to me, it is still—too slow!"

Scathach spoke unhurriedly. With only the slightest turn of her body, she dodged Roy's divine power that could part the sea. Amid a harsh ripping sound, the earth of the Shadow Land split open, forming a deep ravine that stretched into the distant horizon. The cliff Roy had seen was cleaved apart, and the stone buildings were reduced to rubble.

Scathach was not completely unharmed. Under Roy's Moses Parts the Sea, a few strands of dark-purple hair at her forehead were severed and drifted away like dandelion seeds.

"This move contains the power of myth and is powerful enough to rival a Servant's Noble Phantasm. But you obtained this technique from someone else rather than comprehending it yourself, didn't you? You know only its form, not its meaning. Your movements lack structure and continuity. You could have made it far better, but you don't know how to improve it."

After seeing Roy use Moses Parts the Sea, a gleam appeared in Scathach's rose-colored eyes. With her wisdom and strength, she could tell at a glance that Roy had usurped this technique from someone else, yet had independently added the power of the Bible to it. That alone was enough for Scathach to judge him a person of rare talent!

"Wrestling with God!"

After discovering that his Divine Speed was completely useless, since Scathach could easily keep up with him, Roy abandoned his hit-and-run tactics. He desperately unleashed every technique he knew. Against such a powerful enemy, he had to use all his strongest moves before she seriously killed him, leaving no regrets, and dance on the edge of death while exhausting his wisdom to seek a hope of survival!

Wrestling with God was the strongest move in Roy's Jacob's Ladder. It recreated Jacob's act of grasping God and possessed special effectiveness against gods!

Roy extended his large hand toward Scathach's shoulder. No matter how Scathach twisted her body, she could not evade it.

"It reverses cause and effect, so it cannot be dodged no matter how one evades, correct? And it also contains powerful damage against divinity. It is indeed an admirable technique."

The Wisdom of the Demonic Realm allowed Scathach to see through the concept contained within Roy's Wrestling with God. The powerful Queen of the Shadow Land blocked Roy's ultimate attack with ease while lecturing him.

"Unfortunately, I possess no divinity. I am a Campione like you, one who has slain gods... Reversing cause and effect is troublesome, but your technique is poorly executed. It is not impossible to break."

Scathach's tone gradually rose. She suddenly raised one of the Magic Spears in her hand and drew a line through empty space with its tip. It was an extremely simple rune, yet it contained mysteries that dazzled Roy. As multiple mysterious runes emerged, Roy was shocked to discover that the causal concept in his attack had returned to its proper order. Scathach only had to move her shoulder slightly to dodge the strike that should have been unavoidable.

"Primordial Runes?!"

Roy stopped in his tracks, his voice full of astonishment.

Runes were an extremely important part of magecraft. Roy had also studied them extensively in the Campione World, but—

"Why do you know the Primordial Runes?! Shouldn't they be a secret art passed down only by the Great God Odin? Even the runes used by magicians are merely simplified versions. Could you be connected to Odin? No, that can't be right. Aren't you a figure from Celtic Mythology?!"

Roy spoke in disbelief.

He had thought Scathach would not explain it to him, but unexpectedly, she answered tirelessly, like a teacher imparting knowledge: "...There is also an Odin in the Outer World... Then, do you know the Poetic Edda?"

"Of course I do. The Poetic Edda is the most important literary classic of the Norse Middle Ages, and one of the sources of Western mythology outside ancient Greece and Rome!"

Roy spoke solemnly. With his knowledge of history and mythology, there was no way he could not know that famous book.

"Then do you know the second chapter of the Poetic Edda, Hávamál?"

As if testing Roy, Scathach pointed at him with the Magic Spear in her hand as though it were a pointer and asked...

"Hávamál?"

Roy froze for a moment before suddenly understanding. "...I possess eighteen runes, and will never reveal a fraction of them. Never mind maidens or wives, don't hope to make me teach them. Though a thousand things and ten thousand things may be good, nothing is better than keeping them to myself. How this song ends, only one woman knows. If she isn't the woman I embraced, then she must be my sister and sworn companion!"

This poem had been spoken by the Great God Odin himself. It described the eighteen Primordial Runes. Odin had personally declared that he would never pass them on to anyone, yet one woman alone had received his inheritance!

If that woman was Scathach, then it explained why she knew the Primordial Runes. But why was she connected to Odin? Although one of the Norse Gods was indeed of the same origin as her, could this world also have undergone changes in its mythology?

For a moment, Roy was bewildered.

Seeing Roy's confusion, Scathach did not explain this time. Instead, she asked with some curiosity, "...There is also a Scathach in the Outer World?"

Even the Wisdom of the Demonic Realm could not know about matters of the Outer World.

"There is indeed a Scathach there..."

Roy answered with certainty. As someone extensively described in Celtic Mythology, Scathach could certainly be summoned into the Campione World as a Disobedient God. But—

"But the Scathach over there is absolutely not as strong as you. No, you're far too strong! In mythology, although Scathach was the teacher of great heroes such as Cú Chulainn, she was at most a powerful female warrior. She could never be like you, who has slain countless gods and even transcended the world!"

That was right. This Scathach was an existence beyond all standards. If she were truly only the Scathach recorded in mythology, Roy was confident that he could definitely defeat her!

"Do not be confused, outsider! The Scathach standing before you is the most special one even among the countless parallel worlds here!"

The purple-haired Queen spoke with solitary pride. Her voice carried absolute confidence in her own understanding, along with a sorrowful self-mockery.

"Gautama Siddhartha defeated the demon army beneath the Bodhi Tree through wisdom, attained enlightenment in a single day, became the Enlightened One Buddha, and thereby comprehended all things and transcended the universe. I am the one Scathach among countless Scathachs who attained enlightenment through slaughter. However, I cannot compare with Buddha, who transcended the universe. I merely surpassed this world and reached the Outer World."

Scathach seemed to enjoy teaching and loved answering other people's questions. "...I could not cross the abyss, but while gazing into it, I obtained the 'Wisdom of the Demonic Realm.' Thus, Scathach remains Scathach, merely the warrior guarding the gate in the Shadow Land. But I alone am different!"

The Queen of the Shadow Land, who understood herself thoroughly, spoke thus. She was proud of her achievements, yet sorrowful that she had taken such a great step forward that no one who came after her could ever catch up.

I remember Aiwass once said that Aleister had also tried to cross the abyss, which was why he summoned the Great Demon Kolozun, hoping to accomplish it through Kolozun's power. Could becoming a Demon God require crossing the abyss? And what exactly is the abyss?

At that moment, Roy was overwhelmed with delight, feeling that he had learned so much.

Sure enough, only by communicating and learning from someone who had reached that realm could one broaden one's perspective and see more beautiful scenery!

Chapter 115: "That Right Hand"

Roy's mind trembled. It was as though someone who had lived in a remote mountain village had suddenly arrived in a great city and witnessed its modern scenery. The shock inspired an inexplicable longing in him.

To manipulate the laws of the universe's phases as easily as one's own hand, to cause countless stars to fall with a wave, and extinguish hundreds of billions of suns amid laughter and conversation—how magnificent and heroic was that? Just imagining that he might one day accomplish such things made Roy involuntarily yearn for that exhilarating height.

However, Roy also knew that even Scathach before him was still far from that step. In Aleister's Silver Star System, this might merely be a difference of one realm, but the distance between them was like a heavenly chasm. Perhaps, just as Scathach had said, the thing separating them was the abyss!

At the same time, Roy also felt uneasy. Scathach and Aleister were both at the Peak of Humanity, but Aleister had probably already set one foot across the abyss. It was even possible that the man could cross it, yet was unwilling to do so himself. When Roy thought of having to "avenge himself" against such an unbelievable father, he felt an unbearable headache.

As for the Enlightened One mentioned by Scathach, that was actually Shakyamuni. In Aleister's Silver Star System, he was at least a perfect Demon God at the "9=2" level. It was even possible that he had reached the transcendent consciousness of "10=1," the "One Who Is Himself." There was nothing surprising about him transcending the universe.

23 Roy was far from capable of understanding such an existence.

"Don't stand there looking so troubled, outsider... This isn't something you should be trying to understand right now. Elementary-school students should study elementary-school arithmetic, not problems that belong in university."

Scathach could not bear to watch the "brilliantly talented" person before her become trapped in his own confusion, so she kindly comforted him. Her tone was gentle, like that of a big sister next door.

Roy returned to his senses and smiled helplessly. "...Hearing you, Her Highness Scathach, use this kind of analogy is rather difficult for me to get used to."

A Queen of the Shadow Land located in the Outer World was speaking of "elementary school" and "university." It gave Roy an oddly unreal feeling.

Still, he noticed that the atmosphere between them seemed to have eased considerably. It was no longer as tense as it had been at the beginning. Was it because he had gradually fulfilled Scathach's expectations?

Just as Roy was thinking this, Scathach showed him what it meant to be slapped in the face, and what it meant for a woman's expression to change faster than a page could turn.

"Do not think about irrelevant matters in front of an enemy or during battle. It will bring you lethal danger!"

Roy's vigilance rose sharply. Another red streak transformed into a bolt of thunder and shot toward him. Although he realized that it was the Magic Spear in Scathach's hand, his body's reaction could not keep up with his awareness at all.

"Guh—"

Another groan of pain escaped him. Roy felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw that the red Magic Spear had pierced through his kidney. The killing intent and demonic nature on the spear once again stimulated his body, making him tremble from head to toe as his soul shuddered and cold sweat poured from his forehead.

At that moment, he suddenly felt fortunate that he was a Campione. Even if he lost one kidney, he could grow another. If he had been an ordinary person, he would probably have lost his manly dignity by now!

Roy grabbed the spear protruding from his abdomen, but immediately gave up. He allowed Scathach to pull it out, bringing a spray of blood with it.

He was not particularly strong and was fundamentally incapable of competing with Scathach in brute force.

He was inferior in strength, inferior in speed, and the Authorities with mysterious powers were probably nothing more than laughable toys before Scathach. Roy retreated with a pale face. No matter how fiercely the sparks of wisdom battled in his mind, he could not find a way to victory.

The Mind's Eye could seize an opportunity even when there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance of victory. But what if there was not even a one-in-ten-thousand chance? What if the probability of victory was zero? Then the Mind's Eye would serve no purpose at all.

No, I still have one last method of victory... But...

Roy thought of the right hand that belonged solely to him, yet whose output he could not completely adjust. It was the Hand of God, which possessed "all the miracles of Christianity" and had reached the realm of omnipotence. Facing Scathach, the Queen of the Shadow Land who could not cross the abyss and could only stand at the Peak of Humanity while gazing up at the heavens, Roy firmly believed that this hand could absolutely defeat her.