A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 42: Chapter 41

We walked in silence towards one of the arenas in the vicinity. There were several places that one could go for the more physical applications of testing or sparing. Not all of them were wide open like where Rin or Luvia fought, many were private, and you merely needed to pay a fee to 'rent' them.

I of course swept the entire room for any third parties trying to peek.

"It is not too late to recant." Artoria gave me a look, stepping to one side of the arena.

"Then accept my words as truth." I retorted.

She frowned. "It seems I must end this foolishness with action."

"It seems I must beat some sense into you then." I replied, realizing that she was quite the stubborn woman.

There was no call to action, no indication of the battle starting, she stared at me and I could see that she was content to allow me to make the first move. Of course, she was a Servant she probably felt it would be bullying if she immediately came after me.

I raised an eyebrow, bringing out Mirage.

My Glass sword beamed with enthusiasm as the iridescent colors cascaded from a small swing.

She responded by summoning her armaments, the attire of a knight covering her body, her regal form looking all the more splendid covered in steel. She held something in her hand, something impossible to see with the naked eyes. A weapon, a Noble Phantasm, only by using my acute senses could I just see the faintest glimmer, the smallest fluttering of wind around her true weapon.

Invisible Air.

Elevated to the level of a Noble Phantasm, used as almost a 'sheath' for her True Sword. It was condensed wind-based Magecraft, so many layers applied upon one another that it made the weapon invisible.

I shook my head; it wasn't time to get lost in thought regarding her weapons.

[Reinforcement]

[Ebony Flesh]

I didn't stop, the Boosted Gear appeared on my hand. "Boost."

My body was filled with power, strength beyond what should be possible for a mortal.

She looked at me in surprise for a brief moment before steadying her expression,

I frowned slightly as she just sat there, allowed me to cast all these spells. She wasn't taking me seriously.

This wouldn't be a repeat of the fight against the samurai, I was playing to win now.

I had a strange thought, I pointed my finger right at her. "Turn Undead."

Her body twitched ever so slightly, and I just tilted my head in amusement. Honestly, I didn't think that world work, I was just curious at the result.

It seemed like that was enough of a call to action, because she moved.

Fast.

It was all I could think about as I pushed myself backwards and cast a [Distort]. Images of me filled the room, surrounding her.

I summoned hundreds of Ice Spears in the air to fly down at her. She swung her sword up, knocking them away with a burst of magical energy, only a few even getting close but her innate magical resistance made it so she could shrug them off without a conscious effort.

Every movement of her sword, dozens of my illusions dispersed. She unveiled an unfathomable level of swordsmanship; I merely touched the tip of the iceberg with my spar before.

Abruptly, her eyes turned right towards me, even with copies of me everywhere she could find me so easily.

What a frightening instinct.

"Haah!" Artoria swung her sword down on me, so quickly that I had no time to retreat, instead I met her attack with my own weapon, a shockwave bursting from the epicenter.

The ground under me cracked and splintered as I was pushed, my knee touched the ground, barely fending off her strike with my own sword.

"Surrender." She pushed her sword down just a bit harder, my arms tensed under the strain.

"You surrender." I grunted, forcing a smile on my face. "Boost."

Her eyes widened as I got a second wind and knocked her weapon back with the new burst of strength I had.

Spell circles began to swirl around my blade, lighting up with the obvious signs of spellcasting. A multitude of colors burst out as I tilted the point of my sword right at her in that narrow opening.

"Ether Canon."

A golden light met my spell as a cascade of different colors flew out in every direction.

The conclusion was obvious, I had barely pushed her back a few feet and her golden sword shined bright. I hadn't had time to charge up anything substantial, but it was still an impressive spell, unfortunately it was all for naught.

"Beautiful." I admired the naked sword before my eyes.

Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory.

"I see you're taking me seriously then?"

"You have a surprising number of tricks, but they will not defeat me." She gripped her weapon with both hands.

We moved simultaneously; swords blurred at insane speeds. Every swing, I was on the losing end of the exchange. This wasn't surprising, I knew she was still faster and stronger than me, how many more boosts would I need to match her?

I could only lament my lack of skill compared to her. I was practically cheating using my equipment to catch up.

An overhead slash, I blocked it with my Gauntlet, sweeping Mirage from the side even if my arm shuddered under the force. She simply countered by sliding her sword off and deflecting my blow. She pushed into my space, shouldering me in the chest, the force almost made me spit blood.

My feet dug into the ground in an attempt to keep my balance, I had a small window so I gathered Runes on my hand. "Bindings of Gaia."

The roots sprang up, surrounding her but I didn't finish. Several Runic Circles ignited around me, crackling with powerful magics.

"Lightning!" I called out again, not even giving the roots time to fully actuate.

I rained all manner of spells down, Fire sprang up from the ground, Ice bombarded from the sky. My lightning bolts continued to fire off as each spell circle finally ran out of magical energy. In that brief moment, dozens of spells are collided with that singular location.

Her form obscured by all the magical effects, only for a golden blade cut through everything, I could barely see her spin her body, slicing through her bindings and mitigating every spell that came her way.

What ridiculous magical resistance.

"You are a very impressive mage. If I were not a servant, perhaps your spells would have reached me." She looked at me, the ground torn asunder where she stood, but otherwise untouched.

I felt the ring on my ring and pulled out another item. I saw her eyes narrow as she saw the second sword I was holding.

She took a true stance this time, her weapon lifting up to her side, parallel to the ground. A moment later, she moved, using her bodies momentum and spinning on her heel to put all her weight into an overhead swing.

I had no choice but to block with both weapons, I could feel her small hesitance towards my second sword. I knew how she felt as it was also something I could feel just holding it, but it was able to provide some sort of suppression on her.

"Boost." I surprised her again, gaining the momentum back. She must have been wondering the limits of my gauntlet at this point, but I doubt I can take her by surprise again.

I knocked back her sword, stepping into a stab that was without her usual strength and speed, deflecting with Mirage and swinging at her with Ascalon. She recovered faster than expected, blocking my new Noble Phantasm, the sword she deemed the bigger threat, but Mirage followed up, moving towards her neck at insane speeds.

She took a half step back, the tip of my weapon missing her by a hair's breadth. To her absolute skill, she did not even dwell on it, knowing the path of my sword without a second glance.

But this was my only chance, I dropped Mirage, much to her astonishment as I opened my Gauntlet-clad hand.

"Pierce."

Her guard was completely destroyed, she twisted herself in an odd way to avoid the nearly point-blank burst of power.

I wasn't done. "FUS" My voice bellowed out, completely disabling her footing with the invisible force rippling out and slamming into her. Her back legged stomped into the ground, as to not be blown away.

I followed up with a swing of Ascalon.

What happened next was so quick it was a blur even to my eyesight. She moved at a much higher speed than she had previously, able to regain her composure so quick.

My sword flung into the air, trailing down a fair distance away, stabbing into the ground and I felt the warm touch of her sword at my nape.

"You have lost." Artoria said with no small amount of pride in her voice.

I think she's really the competitive sort.

"You went easy on me." I just sighed, realizing to the extent that she held back. Every time I took it up a notch, she matched me and even at the end she pushed way past my limits.

"Perhaps...but you reached me regardless." She replied, the smallest line of blood dripping down her cheek. "Fighting a Servant and managing to draw blood.....it is no small feat."

If I were willing to blow this place up, I may have been able to do more than that, but alas this is my current limit. And it wasn't like she couldn't do the same, if she wanted to, her casual swings could easily bring this building down. In hindsight there were a few more things I could have done, perhaps more kinetic force behind some physical attacks? It made me wish I had the staff for this particular moment, but what can you do.

"Well, I lost." I fully admitted.

"We had never agreed on a prize if I had won." She dismissed her armor and sword, returning back to her normal clothes.

"What do you want?" I tilted my head, it wasn't like I would duck out of a true defeat. If I lost, I lost, I would pay up any reward she wanted at this point and its not like she would ask something ridiculous from me.

"You fought valiantly...I have been forced to revaluate some thoughts I have had." She said quietly, contemplating various thoughts.

Well, at least I got through to her a bit.

"Rin explained to me some concepts about this era.....what a 'date' is. An evening spent in the accompany of another to see if both parties desire to further a romantic relationship. For my prize.....I have never experienced such a thing before and I find myself curious." Her cheeks turned the slightest pink, her gaze turning away from mine.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't Rin's exact wording, but it wasn't exactly wrong either. Well, the pain I'm feeling suddenly felt worth it.

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