Fate/Laoch Gan Finsceal

Chapter 16: Fragmented Resolve

FATE/LAOCH GAN FINSCEAL

"Hero Without Legend"

Chapter 16: Fragmented Resolve

An unusually cool breeze stirred Connla from her deep slumber.

Her eyes gradually cracked open, but not a lot of light hit her weary pupils. Her head felt like a ton of bricks, so she took her time getting back up to avoid suffering a massive headache. She found herself on the outskirts of Yucca Flat near Sheep Range, which was nowhere near where she was the last time she was awake.

What am I doing here?

The chilly wind hit her again, and she shivered. She found it odd that it had suddenly become as cold as a winter day when it was the middle of summer in one of the hottest places on Earth. She was in such a stupor from the weather that it took her a while to register what she had just gone through before losing consciousness.

That's right... I fought Father, and then...

The awful memory of Cuchulainn's mutation into Curruid resurfaced, and his words paralyzed her with instantaneous pangs of fear.

Oh my god!

Her shuddering helped her fight the cold at least, but it did nothing to settle her anxiety. She looked up at the sky and gasped in another bout of horror. While a faint trace of bright blue could be seen in the distance, the sky had blackened so badly that everything was navy blue dotted with dark clouds. Even tiny bits of snow fluttered around her.

"Wha-!?" she uttered, completely at a loss for words.

"Oh, she's finally up!"

Connla looked to the side to find her three partners running toward her. Spartacus was the one who let out that exclamation, and he leaned over her while asking, "How are you doing?"

"How am I...? What are you talking about?"

Sanson kneeled next to her and healed a cut that had reopened on her forehead. "Take it easy. All of us are in bad shape, but you took the worst of it."

"The worst... of what?"

"Oh, I see. You must have blacked out before it happened. I suppose it was fortunate for you – with your body being limp, you didn't sustain as terrible injuries as if you were awake."

He pointed behind her, and she looked back at Area 51 as he explained, "Cuchulainn used a new Noble Phantasm on us, and it blew us a great distance away. This is the third whole day since that encounter, but we awakened earlier than you, and have been on patrol ever since."

Connla was absolutely astonished to see what had become of the facility. What was once a barren desert obscuring the top-secret building's true location had now become a crystalline marvel. Deep blue ice spiked and jutted everywhere several hundred meters above the surface, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of frozen water. The snowfall was more concentrated in that area as well. More disturbing was that there seemed to be a faint red glow beneath the ice that suggested something more sinister was coagulating beneath it.

That's... the result of... Father's Noble Phantasm!?

She lost her mind. Clutching her head in sheer fright, she scrambled to her feet and suddenly fled from the area towards the heights of Sheep Range.

"Hey, where are you going!?" Spartacus exclaimed.

Leonidas grabbed his shoulder and said, "Wait. She needs some time to herself."