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Lancer (TWDM Chap 25)
🕑 Added 2025-04-29 15:45:47 +0000 UTCIt happened so quickly that Azuma’s eyes couldn’t even follow. One second, the spear was in the man's hand. The next, a stream of pure red aura was ripping through the air. And, where his heart had once been, there was now a hole.
Or, there would’ve been a hole, if not for a notification that appeared in front of him.
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 0.00001% LUK event!]
Wow, that’s the luckiest I’ve been so far.
Which made sense - to counter a reality-warping skill, he needed reality-warping LUK.
However, despite the spear not making a hole in his gut, it didn’t mean that the attack disappeared. The whole point of the weapon was that it couldn’t fail - the attack didn’t come from the spear being thrown, the spear was thrown because an attack had happened. And so, the attack hit a different target.
“HUAP-” A female gasp came from behind Azuma, and Ravel fell backward onto the rocky floor below. Her eyes were wide with pain as a hole appeared in her chest, her heart disappearing from the attack.
“M…Master…” She gasped, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes.
“R-Ravel! H-Hold on, Ravel!” Aphrodite screamed in horror, diving down to the ground as her hands glowed, “W-What do we do?! Ravel’s got a hole in her chest!”
“Master…” Ravel groaned painfully, staring up at Azuma as she held up her hand, “I think… I think this is it for me…”
“No! I’ll save you Ravel!” Aphrodite panicked, tears forming in her eyes as she started casting various buffs on the devil, “A-Azuma! Help me! D-Do we have any Phenex Tears?!”
“Aph… this is it…” Ravel shook her head solemnly, looking up at Aphrodite with sad eyes, “It was… it was nice while it lasted. These were the best few months of my life…”
“No! Ravel!” Aphrodite screamed as Ravel’s eyelids fluttered shut, “RAVEEEELLLLLLL-”
“Just get up already,” Azuma deadpanned, staring down at the two women, “There’s an enemy here. An actually tough one, so we need to take it seriously.”
“You could at least pretend to be sad!” Ravel huffed, opening her eyes and sitting up as Aphrodite blinked in confusion, “If you cried for me, it would’ve been so romantic…”
“Y-You’re okay?!” Aphrodite spat out, looking at Ravel with hopeful eyes.
“She’s a Phenex,” Azuma deadpanned at the Goddess, “Her family’s whole thing is that they're immortal. She can just heal any wound.”
“...Oh, yay!” Aphrodite cheered, shooting up into the air again as she got over her sadness pretty quickly, “I was so worried!”
“Seriously? You even mentioned the Phenex Tears,” Azuma said dryly, “Ravel Phenex. Phenex Tears. You couldn’t put the two together?”
“P-Please stop messing around and be more aware, Master!” Artoria ripped Azuma from his teasing of Aphrodite as she lashed out with her sword, stopping the other Heroic Spirit in his tracks as he tried to get to Azuma.
Right, there’s a Heroic Spirit trying to kill me.
The Heroic Spirit in question was very familiar looking, as he had a thin, handsome face, a short plop of blue hair, and was covered all over in blue metallic armor. His armor was a bit intimidating, as it was a deep blue that color that seemed to shine even in the rather dim light of the glow ores. It was sleek and form-fitting, almost seemingly melded to the man’s body, with two silver shoulder plates to complement the seamless torso.
“Lancer, huh?” Azuma murmured, his eyes narrowing at the opponent.
[B-Rank Spear Master: Cu Chulainn]
I knew this would come eventually, but I didn’t think it’d be on the same floor.
As Azuma looked down at the intricate tattoo-like symbol on the top of his hand, he knew that the Command Seals meant there would be other Servant Masters around. Artoria had warned him about that numerous times, usually as a way to convince him to train, but Azuma didn’t think he’d see another Servant so soon.
The man's unit rank being ‘B’ was also more than a bit concerning, as despite Azuma spending more than a hundred thousand points upgrading Artoria, she was still classified as a ‘D-Rank’ unit. That didn’t necessarily mean she had the same strength or ability as a D-Rank monster, but it did mean that her body was still far from its normal capabilities. Even if Azuma trusted Artoria to defeat the other Heroic Spirit in a fair fight, she was at a big disadvantage here.
And, he’s just blatantly trying to murder me.
“Better Riser,” Azuma hummed, pointing a finger at Lancer, who was the reincarnated spirit of Cu Chulainn, “Burn him.”
Hey, he tried to kill me first. He has no right to be upset when my Phoenix turns him into a scorch mark.
As a bright light coming from the Phoenix’s flames alighted around him, Better Riser opened his mouth and sent a huge burst of fire at Lancer.
Damn, Better Riser is badass.
Azuma had no misconception that Lancer would die easily, but the flames looked like they would consume everything in their path, roaring forward like an inferno. The wall of fire couldn’t even be compared to the small bursts he had been using to cook meat before, and Artoria even had to dive out of the way despite being roughly a dozen feet away from Lancer.
Lancer, however, was still a Heroic Spirit. He merely raised his spear again, slashing it forward as the tip glowed with a bright red light. The spear cut through the storm of fire, cutting it in half and parting it around him. In the end, he looked pretty much unscathed.
“This is a battle you will regret starting, Lancer!” Artoria called out, staring stiffly at the man as she held up her sword, “My Master is not as weak as you believe!”
“No one down here is as weak as I’m used to,” Lancer grinned at Artoria’s words, “I like it. This Holy Grail War will be quite entertaining.”
“You know how to talk?” Azuma called out dryly as the man stared past Artoria at him, “Trying to kill someone when they’re not paying attention is a dickhead move, y’know?”
“My Master wants you dead,” Lancer merely smirked in response, twirling his spear lightly so it leaned on his shoulder. “You should learn to suspect things like this as a Master. If you don’t, I doubt we’ll have the chance to meet again.”
“Eh? How does he even know I exist?” Azuma deadpanned at Lancer, “I’ve never seen another Servant, much less whoever your Master is.”
“You made all this noise on the tenth floor, and you think he wouldn’t know?” Lancer merely countered.
So, he lives on one of the lower floors? Why’s he here waiting for me in this random ass dungeon?
“Fair enough, but, honestly, I don’t give a shit,” Azuma said bluntly, staring down Lancer, “We’re in a giant underground labyrinth, so I don’t even know how this whole ‘Holy Grail War’ shit is going to work. Just tell your Master to fuck off for me, kay?”
Lancer blinked at Azuma's words, his smirk twitching up into a small grin, “Hah. Life would be much easier if it were that simple, right?”
As he finished his words, Lancer twirled his spear again, the point directed at Azuma as his body tensed.
Yeah, shit is never that easy.
“Alright, we’re killing him,” Azuma said in finality, pulling out his own sword, “Ravel, Better Riser, shoot fire and shit. Aphrodite, buff me and Artoria. Artoria… just do whatever the fuck you want.”
With that being said, Azuma decided that he should make the first move.
This is the first real fight I’ve had in this world.
With the exception of his training with Artoria, Azuma had never actually faced an opponent he would struggle against.
Let’s start it off with a bang.
Azuma launched forward, disappearing and reappearing in front of Lancer as he shot through time. He lashed out, his sword alighting with the borrowed [Flame Slash] skill as he swung directly for Lancer’s neck. The Heroic Spirit, however, was not caught off guard. With a swift sidestep, he avoided the slash and brought his own spear around in a wide arc aimed at Azuma’s chest.
Fuck, he’s fast.
Azuma’s stats were nothing to laugh at after ‘training’ and ‘grinding’ so much, but even then, Lancer's swing was almost too fast for him to handle.
“Artoria!” Azuma shouted, his eyes narrowing as he brought up his sword to block the incoming strike. The clang of metal against metal echoed through the cavernous room, sparks flying as the two weapons collided. Azuma grunted, his arms tensing as the force of the blow pushed down on him.
This B-Rank body is nothing to laugh at.
Artoria, luckily, took the opportunity to dash at Lancer from behind. However, the nimble Heroic Spirit spun around, his spear leaving a trail of crimson light as he slashed his spear into her sword, parrying a flurry of blows. The difference in pure physical ability that came from the gap in unit levels quickly became apparent, as Lancer handled the onslaught effortlessly, then started to turn the tables.
His spear blurred out in an onslaught of his own, and Artoria found herself backpeddling as she struggled to keep up with the blows. However, she wasn’t alone.
“Fucker,” Azuma muttered, feeling a bit annoyed as he lunged forward at Lancer’s back, jabbing forward at the middle of it.
“Your swordsmanship is good, but you're just too weak,” Lancer taunted with a smirk, his back still turned to Azuma. He stepped forward, spinning his spear as he slammed the side of it into Artoria’s blade. She was sent stumbling backward, barely able to remain standing as Lancer spun around.
Lancer easily blocked Azuma’s next swing, showcasing the gap in experience as he shoved forward with the spear, pushing Azuma a step back as his knee shot up and slammed into Azuma’s stomach.
Fuck!
-4,750 HP! (84,540/89,290)
Azuma winced as the knee slammed into his gut, but his face shifted into a smirk.
+4,750 HP! (89,290/89,290)
His [Health Container] skill activated, instantly replenishing the depleted HP. Azuma twitched his free hand as the pain instantly disappeared, and a gust of wind appeared seemingly out of nowhere as the air in the colosseum swirled. It funneled forward like a tornado, barely even making Lancer budge as he just took one step forward while he was cut off guard from the sudden force.
However, that was all Azuma needed. His sword swung upward, [Posion Stab] activating as the tip of the blade seemed to simmer with a light purple color. Despite being a Heroic Spirit, even Lancer didn’t expect the hunched-over Azuma to suddenly be completely fine and counterattacking.
As a result, he only managed to mostly dodge the swing.
The blade of Azuma’s [Phoenix Sword] scraped along the side of Lancer’s armor, piercing through a small portion and drawing a strand of blood. Lancer’s smug expression morphed into a snarl as he took a step back, his eyes narrowing at Azuma.
“You're quite competent for a Master,” he murmured, his grip tightening on his spear as he glanced down at the small blood splotch. Despite the wound and the poison that came from Azuma’s skill, the man didn’t seem bothered at all by the pain.
Despite the fairly complex sequence between Azuma, Lancer, and Artoria, only roughly fifteen seconds had passed during the exchanges. Now, Aphrodite’s hands were glowing as a flurry of buffs appeared on both Azuma and Artoria.
[Special!] [Aphrodite] has cast a buff on you!
[STR Buff] - Your STR has temporarily increased by 100%!
[Special!] [Aphrodite] has cast a buff on you!
[AGI Buff] - Your AGI has temporarily increased by 100%!
[Special!] [Aphrodite] has cast a buff on you!
[END Buff] - Your END has temporarily increased by 100%!
[Special!] [Aphrodite] has cast a buff on you!
[MP Buff] - Your MP has temporarily increased by 100%!
[HP Buff] - Your HP has temporarily increased by 100%!
Oh, fuck yeah. Aph’s actually useful for once!
Azuma was reminded that despite Aphrodite being a complete airhead, she did have more use beyond her insanely sexy body. The woman was still a goddess, even if she was in a weakened form.
Azuma’s grip on his sword tightened as twin beams of fire burst toward Lancer from behind him, one human-sized one coming from Ravel as another, much larger, inferno came from Better Riser.
Lancer didn’t look very concerned, as he simply leaped into the air, his spear spinning in a whirlwind as he cut through the firestorm effortlessly. That was more a testament to his strength and skill than a knock on Ravel and Better Riser, as the trails of fire that curved around him singed the ground and completely melted through some of the small rocks littering the floor.
Lancer merely smirked again as he launched forward again, his spear pointed directly at Azuma’s head.
“Hey, do that fuckin’ thing now!” Azuma shouted eloquently as he lunged forward to meet Lancer, his speed able to keep up much better with Aphrodite’s boost.
Luckily, despite Azuma’s very vague words, the phoenix behind him knew what to do. Better Riser flapped his small wings, and the gust of wind that followed was much stronger than his small wings conveyed. The burst of wind slammed into Lancer, slowing him down ever so slightly as Azuma’s sword swung forward at him.
Lancer met the blow easily, even with the minor distraction, parrying Azuma’s attack and then quickly going on the offensive. His spear was like a blur, spinning and stabbing in fluid movements that Azuma would’ve had no chance of keeping up with if it weren’t for his high sword proficiency through training with Artoria.
Lancer’s face twisted in annoyance, as he obviously didn’t expect Azuma to be holding up so well against his assault. That was his mistake.
The brief moment of stalling Azuma created as he clashed with Lancer gave Artoria an opening. She took the chance, dashing at the side of Lancer as she swung her sword in a wide arc. Lancer turned away from Azuma to block Artoria’s slash, but was quickly put on the defensive.
Azuma didn’t just stand there watching, as he started to take the offense against Lancer as well. His sword joined Artoria’s, slashing expertly at Lancer. The man was quickly forced to backpedal, his spear spinning supernaturally fast as it took everything he had to hold off the combined onslaught of the buffed Azuma and Artoria. He did a pretty good job, too, but the Heroic Spirit had dived into a fight that was far more than a two-versus-one.
Better Riser shot forward in a burst of wind, soaring through the air and appearing behind Lancer as he opened his mouth to launch another inferno of fire. At the same time, a small glow surrounded the Servant’s body as Aphrodite’s hands glowed with a red aura, signifying the debuffs she was casting onto him.
Overall, the combination of Azuma and Artoria’s attacks, Better Riser attacking from the sky behind him, and Aphrodite’s debuffs was too much for Lancer to handle. He was forced to spin around, slashing his spear through the burst of fire to stop himself from becoming a scorch mark, but leaving himself open to Artoria’s strike. The blade made contact, cutting into Lancer’s shoulder guard and breaking through it.
Lancer recovered quickly, shoving his spear forward to block Azuma’s follow-up attack and quickly blackflipping away from the duo of sword users, but the damage was already done. There was a flood of blood streaming down from his shoulder, dying his all-blue armor in stains of red.
“You're more competent than I thought.” Lancer hummed, casually reaching up and wiping off some of the blood on his armor. Despite taking a sword to the shoulder and the stream of blood flowing from his body, the man seemed more annoyed than in actual pain.
“I suggest you retreat now, Lancer,” Artoria shouted out, her eyes hard as she stared down the man with her now blood-coated sword. “With Aphrodite’s powers, we are now on a similar playing field! If you think you can take me down while my Master is assisting me, then you are foolish!”
“Yeah! My super awesome buffing skills are making you totally weak, spear guy!” Aphrodite cheered, doing her best to get in on the shit-talking, but sounding more stupid than anything.
“...You’re not wrong, but I don’t need to defeat you, Saber,” Lancer’s face twitched into a smirk as he hefted up his spear, the tip glowing, “I’m not sure how you deflected it before, but I’ll simply change targets.”
Azuma’s eyes widened as Lancer stared directly at Aphrodite, his eyes narrowing in focus.
Fuck.
“HEY, ALL YOU DRAGON BASTARDS!” Azuma shouted abruptly, his voice booming as he turned to the stands of [F-Rank Dragonling]’s that had been watching the fight in confusion, “I’M YOU’RE NEW MASTER, GOT IT?! SO FUCKIN’ GET THIS GUY!”
The dragons were silent for a moment, but then a roaring cheer came as the small beasts started to swarm out from the stands. They leaped down into the arena, flooding toward Lancer at Azuma’s order.
Fuck, they’re too slow.
Azuma's plan was to use the swarm of dragons as meat shields to block Lancer’s view of Aphrodite. While his insane LUK stat had saved Azuma from Lancer’s Noble Phantasm earlier, the same couldn’t be said for Aphrodite. She was the only one who had no defense against the attack, as Ravel and Better Riser both had regeneration, while Artoria could defend herself with her own Noble Phantasm if it came down to it, and she was also the one whose life meant the most.
She’s tied to the dungeon core.
If Aphrodite was killed, then her life energy supporting the dungeon core would be cut off, and the dungeon would cease to exist. Artoria would disappear as a summoned unit, Better Riser’s familiar contract would break, and it would be up to Ravel to take down Lancer on her own.
And I’ll be fuckin’ dead.
Azuma’s lifeforce was also tied to the Dungeon Core, which was tied to Aphrodite. If she died, they were both dead.
Fuck.
The dragonlings were doing their job in swarming at Lancer, but Azuma’s order had been too slow. Lancer cocked his arm back, his speartip glowing red as he grinned widely.
“Ga-”
Luckily, Better Riser was still a Legendary Phoenix. A burst of flames came raining down at Lancer from above, and the man quickly dodged to the side as he was forced to cut off his attack.
“Don’t let him use it!” Azuma ordered, sprinting forward as the man raised his spear again.
Lancer’s tactic had obviously changed from ‘win the battle’ to ‘assassinate Aphrodite,’ as he quickly tried to use the attack again before Better Riser could stop him again.
“Gae-”
Just in time.
Azuma disappeared, blipping through time as the cooldown for his now multiple-times upgraded skill expired. He appeared in front of Lancer, stabbing his sword directly at the man's chest. Even if Lancer was extremely durable as a Heroic Spirit, he couldn’t just ignore a sword directed at his heart.
Lancer grunted in annoyance as he quickly redirected his spear, aiming it down and deflecting Azuma’s sword away. A second later, Better Riser’s stream of fire slammed down behind him, and that was all the time they needed to stall.
Wave after wave, making up literal hundreds of dragonlings, flooded toward Lancer as they finally reached him. The man grunted, his spear spinning as he cut through the first few effortlessly, but his tactic was ruined. He couldn’t even see Aphrodite as the army of dragons swarmed him, much less have an opportunity to launch his spear at her.
“Keep getting that fucker!” Azuma shouted, grinning as he watched the dragons sacrifice themselves by attacking Lancer, “Bite his head off!”
I doubt they’ll even get a hit off, but they’ll at least wear him down.
After that, Azuma and Artoria could continue to take him on, slowly wearing down the Heroic Spirit with the help of Better Riser and Ravel.
“Annoying bastards!!” Lancer shouted from the mass of dragons as his spear tore through dragon after dragon like they were paper, his eye twitching in annoyance, “This isn’t the end of this, Master of Saber!”
He abruptly lunged backward, sprinting back to the tunnel that he had originally come from as the dragons chased him.
“What the fuck! He’s running?” Azuma cursed, “That bastard! All this, and he’s running? Don’t let him get away alive!”
“I suggest you let him go, Master,” Artoria said wisely, stepping up next to him as she sheathed her sword.
“Eh? Why?” Azuma blinked at her advice, “I’ll probably get a fuck-ton of points for killing him.”
He’s B-Rank and a Heroic Spirit! He’s gotta be worth a lot!
“Heroic Spirits are very difficult to catch, especially ones like him,” Artoria explained with a shake of her head, “If you chase him into the lower floors, you’ll take a big loss by the time you manage to catch him - if you even can catch him. This one is rather slippery.”
“Damn,” Azuma sighed at the prospect of the Heroic Spirit getting away, but decided to trust her words, “Alright, whatever! Let him go!”
He’ll just kill all the dragons anyway. Might as well keep as many as I can.
It was annoying to let the point-drop that was Lancer get away, but Artoria was right. Azuma didn’t know where the Heroic Spirit was running to, and from his rather detailed map of the tenth floor, the only place the entrance to the eleventh floor could be was behind the castle.
“Did we win?” Aphrodite asked dumbly as she floated up next to Azuma, “He ran away, so we win, right? That guy was kind of scary…”
“He was definitely powerful,” Ravel agreed, her eyes narrowed at the dark tunnel that the dragons were slowly walking back in from, “I could barely even keep track of him. Even my older brother isn’t that fast…”
Azuma assumed she was referring to her actually powerful older brother, Ruval, as opposed to Riser, who was a weakling in the grand scheme of things.
“He’s a Heroic Spirit. Of course he’s tough,” Azuma hummed, then clarified at Aphrodite’s blank gaze, “He’s like Artoria.”
“A-Artoria is a spirit? But I can feel her…” Azuma stared blandly as Aphrodite poked Artoria’s cheek with wide eyes.
She’s been here for months at this point. How has Aph not heard anything about this?
“This is why you need to take your training more seriously, Master,” Artoria suggested, her eyes staring directly into Azuma’s with a hint of worry, “My existence here means that there are other Heroic Spirits, and not just Lancer. We got lucky that it was only him - he’s strong, but he’s reasonable. If it were Berserker, or even Caster…”
For once, Azuma actually nodded at her words. He couldn’t be sure what spirits were summoned into each class, but they had lucked out with Cu Chulainn. He was a powerful Servant, but his Noble Phantasm was designed for one-on-one battles, and the man was overall a solo fighter. Against multiple opponents, like the battle that had just happened, he was out of his element.
“You’re right,” Azuma nodded at her words.
“Master, I must insist-” Artoria paused, blinking in surprise, “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Azuma sighed, “This was a bit of an eye opener.”
It wasn’t that Azuma was ever in risk of death, or that he had lost someone precious, or that really anything impact at all had come from the battle, but it had still been an eye-opener for him.
For once, I didn’t wipe the floor with him.
Despite the All-Star lineup with him, consisting of a Heroic Spirit, a noble devil, a goddess, and a literal Legendary Phoenix, they had struggled against just one man.
Well, maybe not struggled, but we couldn’t even capture him.
His group certainly had the firepower - as Better Riser could easily blow up even a mountain if he wanted to - but that didn’t help much when they couldn’t hit their opponent. Lancer was simply too slippery and too skilled. Artoria was the only one of the group realistically skilled enough to match him, but she had the disadvantage of not being upgraded as much as Lancer - which led Azuma to the assumption that the other Dungeon Master who summoned Lancer was even more developed than Azuma at the moment. Even with the onslaught of all five of them, they had only managed to land a couple of blows.
Granted, for being up against a Heroic Spirit, we did pretty good.
While Azuma’s group hadn’t landed many attacks, neither had Lancer. For being up against a Heroic Spirit, who was only able to be summoned because he was a legendary fighter, the short battle could’ve been much worse.
“Let’s just go get the core,” Azuma pushed away the thoughts with a shake of his head.
We have the whole floor now, so I can stay away from the lower floors until I’m ready.
Azuma would feel much safer if Lancer came back for round two at his own Dungeon instead of this one, as if it came down to it, he could call in his favor with Ajuka to save him.
Azuma led his small group into the tunnel that Lancer had fled into, and the man was nowhere to be seen. A small trail of blood on the ground was the only sign that he had been there at all.
“Not again…” Aphrodite whined behind Azuma as they started walking down a long, dark hallway, seemingly starting another maze of dark and slimy hallways. Luckily, this section of the dungeon was much shorter than the entrance, and they soon came upon the core room.
“This is what I would expect from a dragon,” Azuma grinned, glancing around the room. “He said he didn’t have a bunch of gold, but this looks like a lot to me.”
The entire room was open, filled with only one large golden dragon statue, and was very golden all around. The walls looked to be made of pure gold, and the floor was a huge contrast from the gloomy hallways as it sparkled and glinted under a single glowy ore.
This fucker spent all his money on this room and statues instead of keeping the castle clean.
Azuma walked up to the statue, raising his fist to smash the dungeon core, when a female voice called out behind him.
“The alarm traps just went off, there’s someone-” The voice cut off, and Azuma glanced over his shoulder as one of the solid gold walls swung open with a hidden door.
“You’re not…” An orange-haired, gorgeous woman was staring at him, her eyes wide.
Okay, seeing another Servant in the dungeon makes sense, but why the fuck…
The rather moronic Dragon Dungeon Master having a pretty complex castle, which was even filled with traps and trap-like rooms with statues, suddenly made a lot more sense. He wasn’t the brains behind the operation. Instead, it was…
Fuckin’ Nami.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
Darth Vance
This went about how I expected, you did Lancer justice with this and Azuma needed a bit of a reality check. He's been incredibly lucky so far but even being as lazy as he is, he needed this. Though, I don't expect him to be as ambitious as Valon or as driven as Gray, it's a bit frustrating to see him doing so much less compared to them, and I know, that's what makes him stand out from them, just commenting all the same.
Lost4rt
Just saying, but Cu's spear should have killed Ravel. Her regeneration would at best keep her alive (or rather in a constant state of dying). Her heart wouldn't heal, wounds made by Gae Bolg can't be healed so long as the spear is still around. If she tore out the old heart and regenerated a new one, that would be fine though.
