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The Chosen One 22
🕑 Added 2024-04-03 05:58:55 +0000 UTC"Please don't destroy my house..." Shirou is sweating. "And please don't destroy each other either... I seriously think this is stupid. Can't we train like normal?" He is clearly nervous about this.
Saber smiles. "We will control ourselves... to a certain extent. Now please go sit with the others, Shirou." By the others she means Illya and Rider. Sakura didn't want to watch this, and so she went take a bath to ready herself for that... ritual.
Rin and Archer meanwhile, simply left because my big sister has too much pride to gather information on my abilities when our alliance is destined to horribly break. Though Archer is still willing to train Shirou after Saber and I are done.
Shirou sighs. "Honestly, how am I supposed to just sit down and relax in this situation..." He sends me a pleading look. "Daichi, I'm pretty sure she will back down if you ask, so please..." I probably should, shouldn't I?
You see, Saber's ask was a simple one. "I want to fight the Red and White Dragons of another world. Come at me at your full strength, and I shall answer in kind." That's pretty much what she told me.
Now, we can't actually fight at full power. Saber is a destructive person, and I'm a destructive guy too... Since we are fighting in this dojo, our abilities will be limited to a certain extent. In the end she's still a Servant however.
Honestly I'm terrified, but... "It's fine Emiya-Senpai, you should be worrying about Saber instead." I know I'm not strong.
I only won against Rider because she was weakened and toying with me. I only won against Lancer because he was also toying with me, and because I was willing to bet my life. I only won against Gilgamesh because I surrendered my life... but nonetheless, I don't want to back down.
Shirou looks me in the eye and then... accepts he won't be able to stop this. "Fine. Just so you know though, I'm worrying about the two of you." He puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know Kamen Rider Fuyuki is a match for King Arthur." Ugh, please don't tell me that's the name they chose for me.
I look away, a blush on my face. "Really, Kamen Rider Fuyuki?" Don't all Kamen Riders have bug motifs!? I'm a dragon guy damn it! Now I really have no choice, but to watch Kamen Rider.
He grins. "I could have called you worse, Captain Japan." And so, after embarassing me to death, Shirou finally walks over to the others.
Now that everyone is at a safe distance, Saber is glaring at me. It's not full of hatred or anything of course, it just screams out competitive. It reminds me of our snowball fight... Hopefully Telos Karma won't do anything this time.
Her voice sends shivers down my spine. "Shirou should be worrying about me... Did I hear that correctly, my squire?" Hah, when did I go from pupil to squire!? I better not need to clean her armor from now on.
My voice doesn't sound nearly as confident as hers. "I suppose you did." I still make no agressive movements however. We won't just throw ourselves at each other, we are waiting for Illya's signal.
The girl raises an arm. "So to remind everyone of the rules...! Destroying the house in ways I can't fix is bad! Killing Saber is bad! Killing Daichi is bad! Should everyone come close to breaking those rules, Rider will interfere!" The blindfolded Servant nods.
Saber nods... and then her armor appears. That isn't all of course, her invisible sword appears on her hand as well. She obviously won't be able to use Excalibur's true name here, but it's still terrifying to face that legendary blade.
And then I nod as well. Telos Karma is already summoned, but I open my hand, and Regulus Nemea appears on my grasp. After it, Absolute Demise rises from behind me. Then Canis Lykaon leaves my shadow and growls at Saber. After it I summon the Boosted Gear and the Divine Dividing...
That's right, as it currently stands... I can use all my unlocked Sacred Gears at once.
The only reason I know this at all is because Saber gave me sometime to strategize. I naturally used that time to learn from my Longinus' what my Balance Breakers could do, what Ddraig's evolution was, and what my new limit is.
Illya lowers her hand. "Please remember that you two are my two favorite people, so don't kill each other, but fight!" That's very nice of her to say.
My first move is simple. "Boost!" I double my power. The Daichi with a value of ten reaches the value of twenty. And of course, I have no idea how strong I am exactly why holding the Regulu Nemea, but I could probably kill most mages right now.
My second move is also simple. I try using Absolute Demise to freeze the area around the King of Knights. This isn't meant to be a finishing move, I just want to hold her back a little so I can keep boosting.
And then Saber punishes me for my foolishness of ever believing the King of Knights could be held back for ten seconds.
With a flex of her mana, she cracks the ice surrounding her, and launches herself at me like a missile. The ground beneath her flies backwards, but since Illya didn't stop me, this must be within acceptable parameters.
Welp, if nothing else, this confirms that Absolute Demise either isn't magic, or does not care about Magic Resistance.
I take a step back, and order Absolute Demise to make an ice shield ahead of me. Nonetheless, I will lose, even with six Longinus I cannot beat a high-tier Servant such as this one. I lose.
Or at least I would if I didn't have this trick upon my sleeve. "Welsh Dragon Over Booster!" My fake red Balance Breaker envelops me, the armor of the Red Dragon Emperor, Scale Mail.
I dismiss all my Longinus except for my axe. The truth is that in this state I could only handle two at the time. The Balance Breaker and another Longinus in base form. I definitely don't have the strength to handle two Balance Breakers either.
And most annoying of all... "Ten!" I have a time limit. I technically can handle ten seconds, but if I wish to use my Boosted Gear again today, I have to stop once I reach five seconds. Supposedly this will stop once I actually unlock Balance Breaker.
Saber crashes through the wall without any difficulty at all, and slashes at me. I was naturally already swinging my axe to counter her attack. Not that this would matter, she would probably just send me flying...
But I repeat, this is my trump card that shall save me. "Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!" My value of twenty skyrockets to six hundred and fourty. For a moment I become what is probably the strongest human alive.
Saber tries forcing her way through, her whole body is exploding with magical energy. This is what they must call a Mana Burst. An ability probably given to her due to her connection with the Red Dragon.
"Nine!" Nonetheless, with my immense strength at the present moment, and the power of the Regulus Nemea...
I, a human of the modern era, send King Arthur flying across the air.
She does however, manage to land on her feet. Using another Mana Burst to maneuver herself in the middle of the air. "I see that fighting a dragon with raw power is foolish." She does not rush at me however.
And I know exactly why. Much like my fight with lancer, I am the one with the disadvantage here, if she just sits and waits, my armor will end. The proverbial dragon will return to sleep.
I dismiss Regulus Nemea. "If that's how you want to play..." And then I summon Canis Lykaon through her shadow.
The wolf immediately goes for her throat with his fangs, while a sword grows from his head. He is aiming for the most amount of carnage possible. Not that this has any chance of working of course, Saber most likely has the Instinct skill after all.
I extend my hand towards Canis Lykaon, and... "Transfer!" Use the newest trick Ddraig gained, the trick gained once my Boosted Gear evolved. "Eight!" But the clock is still ticking.
Around eighty percent of my obtained energy is passed onto Lycaon. The rest is lost... To be honest, normally even more would be lost, but due to the fact that he is literally part of my soul, my output ends up being pretty great.
Nonetheless, Saber still fights back against the dog. She flinches once her sword collides against him however, Lycaon easily cutting through the magic surrounding Excalibur. For the first time I truly see the golden sword.
But I just wanted to buy me some time to safely approach Saber. "Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!" And so while she's occupied dancing with the dog, I bring myself up to my maximum potential yet again.
That is the scary potential of this Balance Breaker. The fact that I can ignore the time limit doesn't truly matter much, I still have my limits... What's important is that I can constantly use that gathered energy, and then immediately gather it all back.
Of course, the stamina consumption is immense, and I'm already feeling the strain, but I have a solution for that.
I tense my legs... "Jet!" And as the scale mail actually grows out jet thrusters from my back, I dash towards Saber. I once called her a missile, I was wrong. I'm definitely the missile here.
That isn't all either, on my way towards Saber I order Canis Lykaon to grow a blade from his body, and fire that blade at me. As soon as he does do, I dismiss him, and summon Telos Karma instead.
The Dharma Wheel spins, I grab the blade midair at the perfect angle, and so I never stop my charge. I reach Saber and we clash... The Dharma Wheel spins, her instincts fail her, I land a light cut on her cheek, drawing first blood.
Nonetheless, she doesn't need instinct to truly thrive, and as we begin locking blades the difference in skill between us is made clear. "Seven! Six!" Even though I'm much stronger than her, she's kicking my ass.
And so I make a bet. "Transfer!" And send all my accumulated power towards Telos Karma. The History Breaker receives the accumulated power of six boosts, and so with another spin... Saber messes up her footing.
She won't fall, but that gives me a decent amount of time to use that solution... "Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!" This time I only have enough stamina for five uses of Boost, and most annoying of all... "Five!" My time is up, and so I need to dismiss my armor.
That is if I was a normal user of Boosted Gear, but I'm not, and so suddenly Albion voice interject. "Vanishing Dragon Over Booster!" My red armor is replaced with white armor. I switch towards my next Balance Breaker. "Ten!" And that Balance Breaker hasn't been used for a second.
And with Saber still being confused due to Telos Karma I extend my hand and grab her by her face. "Divide! Divide! Divide!" I feel her strength entering my body, and most importantly I feel her stamina refilling mine.
Before she can counter attack, I spin her around and throw her away. Yet again she recovers midair however... She really is amazingly skilled, far more skilled than me.
Now I need to think... how do I approach her again...? Oh, I know I will use Half Dimension to divide the space between us and get a few more Divides. Though maybe I shouldn't be so cautious... Right now Saber is a low-tier Servant after all.
And then fear strikes my heart.
Saber raises her golden sword, it shines brighter than ever before. "Excal-!" And then she suddenly stops herself and dismisses her sword and armor. "My apologies for that, I concede. You are the victor, Daichi." An awkward silence settles in.
It is broken by Albion. "Nine! Eight!" I end my Balance Breaker of course. There's no need to waste even more stamina. In fact I feel so beat that I might not recover until it is nighttime.
Towards Saber however, I can only say one thing... "What?" What does she mean I won!? Is this some way of baiting me into some hidden attack, because that would totally be a dick move!
She pouts. "You wish to embarrass me Daichi? Isn't it obvious...?" I shake my head, I don't want to tease her or anything, I'm just genuinely confused. Daichi Ryouta should not have defeated King Arthur.
She blushes. "Well, as embarrassing as it is to admit... I didn't want to break the rules. I have a skill called Instinct..." As expected. "And it guides me towards always taking the best path possible during a battle."
"As the fight went on... It kept screaming at me to unleash Excalibur already, unless I wanted to become dragon food." So that's what happened just now. Saber ended up resisting her instincts to not kill me and destroy the house.
I chuckle a little. "Sorry, you ended up losing because of the terrain." There were many other options she could have chosen in a place more open. For example she could have run away until my timer ended.
She shaker her head. "Stop with that my squire. I am a... competitive person, and so what are you is making me mad." But I just said the truth... "After all, you were being held back as well, isn't that so?"
It is to a certain extent. I can't truly abuse Divine Dividing here. And I didn't use Transfer with Regulus Nemea and Absolute Demise to avoid collateral damage... Who knows what kind of chaos I could have caused if I transferred my power to the lion, and then Boosted myself to maximum again after all?
Even so I...
Saber smiles. "Congratulations, you beat me." I have nothing to say to that.
Until now however, I hadn't really paid much attention to our... audience, and they seemingly were shocked into silence, but with Saber's final announcement they all get up and rush at me.
Illya dashes at me, circling around my body like a predator. "You beat Saber! You beat Saber! You really beat Saber!" I have never seen her so excited before. It's way too cute.
And then she suddenly glares at Saber. "Hey, how dare you lose to Daichi!? Don't embarrass me, Saber!" Hey, is it a good thing that I won or not!? Please make up your mind instead of bullying your Servant.
Saber chuckles. "I will try doing better next time, Master" She clenches her fist. "I wonder if my scabbard would have helped against the White Dragon..." She must be talking about some Noble Phantasm I didn't see yet.
She shakes her head. "Though I supposed it doesn't matter." She sends the girl a comforting smile. "And Illyasviel worry not, for much like me, Daichi's strength is your strength."
Illyasviel's eyes widen, and so I naturally pat her head. "She's right you know? Since you promised to stay by my side I'll devote my everything to you." And now she's blushing. Cute! Way too cute!
She grits her teeth. "Mmmn...! Mom, a dangerous guy is touching me!" And so I naturally remove my hand from her head! Geez, I almost forgot her age for a second there.
Why does Saber look like she desperately wants to cry?
Shirou smiles towards me, getting my attention. "Hah, you really left me into the dust... Actually I might have started into your dust." He shakes his head. "You're amazing." If Emiya-Senpai says that to me... I might actually die.
"But... Well don't take this as a declaration of war or anything, but I won't stop trying to catch up. I want to become a hero, just like you." I have a feeling he is about to throw himself at Archer until he can't move anymore.
I blush. "I'm not really a h-."
Rider interjects. "You have the character of a hero, the accomplishments of a hero, the strength of a hero... Don't sell yourself short, Daichi." When did this become a Daichi praise party!?
She continues. "You're a man who I admire after all, a man who became a monster, and yet did not get addicted to blood... I so desperately wished I had your strength when I was alive... and so do not devalue yourself. It shames me, hurts me."
A blush appears on her face, it's slight, but there. "I cannot speak for the masses, but you're my hero. The man I will think of everytime I face a dilemma in the future." I might die...
But there's no way I could reject such a sincere confession. "Thanks Rider, I will do my best to keep being your hero and... I guess Emiya-Senpai's hero too." This feels like a dream.
However, there is something here I don't like. "Don't praise my strength though, I don't deserve it. The Longinus were granted to me and... I only got this strong because of using Juggernaut Drive. Not because I trained." I cheated.
Saber walks forward, being right in front of me. "Daichi Ryouta." Her charisma is at full display, she immediately gets my attention. "Not all strength is gained through training. Strength is gained through choices."
"It was because you chose to come back from that form that you were rewarded with power, just as Illya became worthy of your allegiance by helping you. Your journey led you here, of that there is no doubt." I...
"And about your weapons... Perhaps that bird indeed did simply choose a random boy, however I... the King of Knights find you worthy. Of that you have my word, my heart." That hurts.
That hurts. "How can you say that with a filthy wish such as yours?" I know I shouldn't have said it. I know and yet...! "You don't even find yourself worthy. You don't even care about your own journey." So why did she say such cruel words...?
She looks down. "A filthy wish... You certainly don't mince words, my most beloved squire. Nonetheless, I beg of you to have faith in this worthless king." I cannot let that stand, doesn't she...! "And more than that, I would never sully your name. That is my responsibility to you."
Her eyes focus on me yet again. "But..." Her golden sword is summoned, wind does not surround it. "I cannot grant you the ceremony you deserve, so let Excalibur, and the Mage of Flowers be my witness." We are now alone.
I don't even know how, but Illya, Rider and Shirou, are simply not here anymore. No, maybe it's us who aren't there. Saber and I are both on a field of flowers.
She chuckles. "As expected of Merlin, he truly is always watching." So this means that this place is...! "My squire, I ask of you... Will you do me the honor of joining my table? That is to say, will you become my knight?"
There is no way this is happening, there is just no way. "I... what!? Y-you don't mean-!" She cuts me off.
"I mean exactly what you think. Giving you the rank of a common knight would be most insulting. You may not have the formal training for it... But I believe you should take a place amidst my table, even if it was shattered many years ago."
More and more gentle petals fly around us. "But why...? What's even the point?" I don't say that because I think joining is beneath, but if Saber does not even wish to be a king anymore, then why is she inviting me here...?
She sighs. "The point is... is..." She takes a deep breath. "Ever since we started training I have felt a sense of responsibility towards you, as it was only natural. That sense of responsibility only grew as you grew."
"At first I thought of raising you as a fine man for you possess the White Dragon... Once the Red Dragon appeared, I knew that making you my squire was the right choice, fate. And then you... before I even knew what had happened you saved the world from that tyrant."
"I then decided to make you a knight, as it is the right of any man who carries the blood of the dragon, but then you defeated me..." A blush appears on her face. "At my table all are equal... is it so wrong I wish to be yours?"
That all sounds amazing, but in the end she only will... "I'm sorry, I really am flattered, but I won't join a king who abandons her own kingdoms." And besides, she's far beyond me, of that I have no doubt.
That blush gets fiercer. "How could I abandon my kingdom when the dragon stands before me, questioning my resolve? A filthy wish indeed... So please... find worth on yourself, my squire." That is to say...
Saber has abandoned her wish. "Do not carelessly throw your life away, do not become a dragon become a knight. M-my... my most precious and beloved knight." And so my resolve shatters.
No, it's more like it grows a thousand times. "If that's the case... Joining the Round Table might be the greatest thing to happen in my life." I wasn't even born with magical circuits... And now King Arthur is inviting me to the Round Table.
Saber smiles, her lips are trembling. "Then welcome, may that be my gift for you before the war ends... Your journey ahead shall be terrifying, of that I have no doubt my most beloved knight."
"But keep moving forward, as you have. Gather allies, touch hearts, connect them... If you do that, then I have no doubt that your path shall be a worthy one." She opens a hand, a flower petal falls upon it. "And when it ends... Should you have achieved victory or not..."
"Meet my knights at the throne, a place which you shall have undoubtedly reached at that point, and drink fine alcohol with them..." She blushes. "And please, even when that happens, keep following the petals, for I shall miss you, my final knight."
And so we return, nonetheless since my eyes never leave her, and her eyes never leave me, we will most likely never acknowledge that.
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AN: I hope you're happy Saber, now everyone with a Morgan can dunk on Daichi. Stop adding new traits to him!
Anyways, there's are three things I wanted to do this chapter. First of all I wanted to show that Daichi has now officially dropped the potential man title. He is scary strong, and can fight top-tier Servants head-on for a while.
Second I wanted to recycle that Saber and Medusa scene I talked about. Though Saber's scene ended up getting a lot more love... Sorry Medusa, but she really wants to be a main heroine!
Originally Saber was only going to make Daichi his squire to comfort him post JD. However here she battled and lost to what can be considered Britain (Red + White Dragon) itself so... she gave up on her wish.
