Chapter 19: Pierce With Conclusion

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FATE/LAOCH GAN FINSCEAL

"Hero Without Legend"

Chapter 19: Pierce With Conclusion

Curruid's breath flowed through his helmet. He didn't know what to think of his daughter's transformation into a proper knight. On the one hand, he was furious with the aliens for interrupting his desire to destroy everything. Yet as he gazed upon Connla's new form and the immense amount of confidence exuding from her soul, he couldn't resist feeling elated. Was his dream finally going to come true? Was she powerful enough to put a stop to him at last? He grew excited from wanting to put these questions to the test.

Connla got into a tall stance, then pointed her spear at four points on the ground around her and drew four specific Runes - Ansuz, the Rune of Flame; Algiz, the Rune of Life; Nauthiz, the Rune of Necessity; and Inguz, the Rune of Internal Growth. While they each had individual effects, when put together like this, they created a seal called Ath nGabla, the Rune of Vows. It served as an 'arena' where the one who set the Runes could no longer retreat, and those who saw them were not allowed to refuse combat. If one interpreted the four Runes as a whole statement, it would be, "The flame of life is necessary for human growth." To go against this vow was to reject human evolution through fierce trials and fall into spiritual stagnation. That was why Connla set Ath nGabla for herself; she wanted to reach a new level of combat prowess and understanding so that she could save Cuchulainn's soul.

Once Curruid saw those sigils, he understood what her message was; she was ready to fight to the death, and he had to respond equally. No more keeping her alive to let her see the end. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, his blood boiled with anticipation.

Nothing needed to be said between them anymore. It was time to fight.

In an instantaneous move, Connla disappeared from Curruid's view in a haze of green torrents. His eyes widened beneath his helmet, and he instinctively raised his claw upward to block a surprise piercing blow that she directed from above without him seeing it. The force behind it was so powerful that it snapped off one of the three claws on that hand with a deafening clang. Even though he was encased in heavy armor, not even it could prevent him from sliding back due to the recoil. Connla returned to the air in a stream of imperceptible winds, richocheting around at such blinding speeds that only those with Clairvoyance would be able to react accordingly, which Curruid did not possess. The cold air whooshed about with the strong gales each time she passed by him.

It took everything he had to block her fervent advances, and his armor kept cracking bit by bit with each consecutive blow. Even the surfaces she bounced off of rapidly showed signs of wear as the force of each landing dented those spots. All this while, Connla remained perfectly calm and focused on destroying Curruid's armor faster than it could regenerate. She could start to see more and more of him with every successful blow she landed on him.

Despite the storm he was fighting through, he remembered what happened when she used the same strategy on him before. Although the rate was much faster than their last battle, the pattern she used for her movement was identical. He snarled and raised his hand forth as she rocketed straight for him.

"Pathetic!" he shouted, prepared to snatch her in midair.

However, it wasn't going to be as simple as he expected. In an instant, his astonished eyes were suddenly inches away from the tip of her spear as it exploded in a gush of blood clean through his armored hand. Connla extracted her weapon out of his palm and flipped backwards with the grace of a gymnast.

"Not bad. You knew I was going to figure it out," Curruid smirked beneath his cracked helmet.

Following that compliment, they clashed in the wildest frenzy that any two warriors were capable of. If there had been anyone watching them, they would have only seen sparks of deep red and bright green striking each other repeatedly, neither gaining the upper hand over the other. Curruid was definitely about overpowering his enemy with brute force, but Connla's supersonic reflexes and elegant movements prevented him from getting in any sort of serious attack. Speaking from a strictly statistical view, Connla had become a glass cannon; a strong offensive warrior, but possessing poor defense. Taking any sort of strong attack from Curruid would definitely break her apart, so she had to remain on the move at all times.

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