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IBHJ Chapter 190
🕑 Added 2023-04-04 22:45:24 +0000 UTCShirou recognized the spear all too well. Whenever he entered the shadow world in his dreams during the 20th century, Scathach would attack him with this very same weapon, without even giving him a chance to speak.
"Wait a minute--!" he shouted out, trying to halt her assault.
Scathach, who had been poised to strike him down with the deadly spear, halted and regarded him icily. "Are you surrendering and returning on your own accord?" she demanded.
"No, I just wanted to ask...don't you know me?" Shirou pointed to himself, trying to make sense of the situation.
She shook her head coldly. "I don't know you," she replied flatly.
"What's going on?" he frowned, trying to make sense of the situation. Wasn't the shadow land supposed to be separate from the real world? Why didn't this version of Scathach recognize him?
Puzzled and suspicious, he approached Scathach.
But she remained motionless. This strange ghost seemed to have given up on returning to the world of the living. That's fine. She was not interested in fighting with weaklings or those who had given up.
He approached her and gestured towards his own face. "Do you really not recognize me?"
"I don't know you," she replied, shaking her head. Before she could ask a questions of her own, he suddenly threw a lump of black mud right into her eyes.
"If you can't remember me, then there's no point in wasting any more time with you. Goodbye!" With that, Shirou deftly avoided Scathach's angry strike, activated his [Wisdom of Dún Scáith], and switched to the Assassin class skill, [Presence Concealment C-], enveloping himself in a cloak of black mud and effectively concealing his presence.
Standing still, he created a mud figure that bore his own presence and made it sprint away into the distance.
Scathach, covered in black mud, grew increasingly agitated and began to chase after the decoy, her presence fading into the distance as she ran further and further away.
Taking advantage of the situation, Shirou turned on his heel and swiftly fled from the haunted grounds.
He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself as he thought, "This shishou from this era is much easier to deceive."
He recalled how in the shadowy realm of his dreams, none of his underhanded tactics were effective against her. During training sessions, Scathach would mercilessly assault him, poking and prodding until he was at his wits' end, only then speaking to him with a smile.
But this version of Scathach...ha! She seemed much simpler to fool.
As her vision cleared, Scathach gazed at the mud figure that was riddled with holes, the result of her own angry strikes. Her eyes twitched with frustration as she took in the scene.
Looking around her, she took a deep breath, realizing that she had been thoroughly duped by that guy clever ploy!
She had been outsmarted, and her hand instinctively clenched around her spear in anger.
...
Many spiritual deaths later...
"What kind of despicable person was he?" Scathach seethed, still fuming over Shirou's deceitful tactics.
As one who had traveled the world for hundreds of years, Scathach had become the gatekeeper of the shadow land, diligently guarding the boundary between life and death.
In the course of her duties, she had slain countless undead creatures, humans, and even deities. It was inconceivable to her that anyone would stoop so low as to use such underhanded tactics against her.
Scathach reflected on her current situation, her thoughts turning to the curse that had been placed upon her for daring to step into the realm of the gods in human form. As punishment for her transgression, she was doomed to live out her life cursed, her human form no longer able to fully belong to either the realm of gods or that of mortals.
As the Celtic gods slowly faded away, she too felt the world rejecting her presence. She knew that once they had vanished entirely, she would be cast out into the outer world. But she had long since accepted this fate.
Ever since taking up the mantle of gatekeeper for the haunted grounds, Scathach had known that this was a possibility, and had made peace with it.
Over the years, countless humans had ventured into the shadow world, seeking to learn from her. Among them, the most renowned was the great hero, Cu Chulainn.
Thinking of Cu, Scathach couldn't help but feel a sense of distaste at the memory of how he had resorted to self-harm in order to pressure her into teaching him. Despite this, she had never turned away anyone who sought to learn from her, and had ultimately shared her skills with the young hero.
As a legendary warrior who had ascended to the realm of the gods, Scathach had already seen her fair share of despicable behavior in her disciples. However, the encounter with Shirou had taken it to a whole new level of vileness.
Twenty-seven times!
A total of twenty-seven times!!!
In these 27 spiritual deaths, he had resorted to ambushes, hurling black mud into her face, throwing sand, kidney shots, digging holes, making threats, and even instigating other ghosts to flee. But his most potent weapon was his mouth.
When he spoke, he wore a sincere expression, with bright eyes that seemed to radiate an innocent, pure flame. People couldn't help but feel that he was genuine, even when he was lying through his teeth. His hands, on the other hand, were perpetually dirty.
She had fallen for his tricks a whopping 27 times!
Her anger boiled over, and she couldn't control it any longer. This wasn't an emotion she was accustomed to feeling, but it had taken hold of her nonetheless.
Since the day she was born, she had never known defeat. She had spent her entire life seeking out worthy adversaries, but none had ever succeeded in besting her. She yearned for someone who could finally defeat her, but the thought of being defeated twenty-seven times in a row was unbearable to her.
Scathach had once confronted this despicable person who had cheated death and every so often roamed the shadow land as a ghost, wreaking havoc on the natural cycle of life and death. She had hoped to get to the bottom of things and clear up the situation, despite the fact that he had attacked her.
But when she had questioned him, he had coldly laughed in her face, refusing to take any responsibility for his actions, saying it was none of his business. He had even gone so far as to mock her as an old woman. His mouth was particularly foul, and Scathach found it unbearable. Her anger flared out of control, but the man easily toyed with her before making his escape.
She realized what had happened. That despicable man with the foul mouth had deliberately provoked her, knowing that it would cause her to lose control of her emotions, and had then seized the opportunity to escape.
She wasn't a fool, and she was quick to learn from her mistakes. But this man always found new and ingenious ways to outwit her, making her feel like she was constantly playing catch-up.
Like now -
"I'm warning you," Shirou said, his voice laced with menace. "If you don't let me leave, I'll have my subordinates spread a rumor that Scathach is a promiscuous woman. They'll compile all sorts of sordid affairs and scandals into a book, and it will be passed down for generations to come. And you, cursed to live forever, will be judged by history as either a noble warrior or a promiscuous woman. The choice is yours."
"You... you...!!!" she was so angry that her hand was trembling as she pointed at him.
"What do you mean, 'you'. I'm tired of you always getting in my way. Don't you ever get tired of it? Move out of my way now, or I'll teach you the power of words! And by the way, there's a version of you and me in one of those stories. Would you like to hear it?" Shirou taunted.
"You... just go away! Go away!" Scathach gritted her teeth, her fury boiling over.
As a warrior, she couldn't tolerate this kind of insult.
"If you had done it earlier, things would be fine by now. You're really just asking for it."
Scathach took a deep breath, tightly gripping her spear as she stared at Shirou's back with eyes spitting fire. She couldn't believe how low this man could stoop.
"This man must die!" she thought to herself. "Spiritual death is not enough; he needs to die physically!"
Her eyes blazed with anger as she continued to glare at Shirou, her grip on the spear tightening with each passing second.
Scathach seethed with anger.
This was his 28th spiritual death, and the 28th time this despicable scumbag had done this to her.
"The 28th time!" she fumed. "This dishonorable bastard must be stopped!"
Determined to take action, she set out to find and physically eliminate this scumbag.
Through a slip of the tongue, she had discovered that his name was Arthur and he resided on the island of Cornwall in Britain.
"I'll kill him!" she seethed. This scumbag attempted to smear her reputation as a promiscuous woman. He must pay for his dishonorable actions!
Scathach's eyes blazed with fury as she made the difficult decision to leave the realm of death. However, she knew that if she left without proper precautions, restless spirits might escape and wreak havoc on the world of the living.
Desperate for a solution, she reluctantly turned to Aife, who had become the lover of her disciple, Cú Chulainn. It gave a bitter taste to ask for her help, but she had no choice but to request her assistance in guarding the realm of death temporarily, so that she could attend to the matter at hand.
"Sure, I can lend you a hand," Aife replied. "But if you're looking to get back at Arthur, you'll need to help me first. I need to reclaim my beloved horse, Dun Stallion."
Scathach looked puzzled, "Wasn't your horse taken by a witch? How does this concern Arthur?"
Aife's response was filled with anger, "That witch is none other than Arthur's own sister! She took my horse and gifted it to him!"
Scathach's expression turned grim, "That sounds like something that vile Arthur would do. He's capable of the most deplorable deeds. Very well, I'll assist you."
"How long will you be gone?" Aife asked.
With a hint of anger in her voice, Scathach replied, "You needn't worry. I'll be back within three days, at the latest!"
Aife looked taken aback, "You seem genuinely angry. What did that man do to you?"
"That's not your business," Scathach replied curtly. "In any case, I'll be back shortly. In the meantime, I'm leaving the haunted ground under your watch."
Scathach strode confidently out of the haunted grounds, her spear in hand and her demeanor imposing.
Aife had no doubt that Scathach was more than capable of handling herself, even if she was not a match for a god. In this era of the waning gods, there were few who could even come close to matching Scathach's prowess.
"Perhaps she'll return sooner than three days," Aife pondered, hopeful for her swift return.
She resolved to stand guard over the haunted grounds in her absence.
...
Cornwall.
"Your Majesty, Scathach has emerged!" Merlin reported.
Setting aside his papers, Shirou instructed, "Summon Morgan, the court mages, and Artoria. Have them prepare the suppression fields to welcome our guest."
"Are you sure about this?" Merlin asked.
"Absolutely," Shirou replied resolutely. "She's incredibly skilled and possesses immense potential. Now that I've encountered her, I must make use of her talents. Ready yourselves, we're going to capture her."
"Alright..." Merlin left.
Agravain, who had been assisting with the administration, let out an audible sigh beside the king.
"What troubles you, my loyal knight Agravain?"
"Nothing, Your Majesty," Agravain replied, though the situation felt all too familiar to him, no matter how he looked at it.
