To become a king and a magician

"What do you mean by this, Archer?"

"Think about it carefully, you foolish bastards. Is there nothing in that guy's body except the power of the Holy Sword Wielder? Compared to the elixir of immortality, the other power within him is far more trustworthy."

Another power within Natsukawa Torato?

————————————————————————————————————

Aozaki Aoko's residence.

On the back of Xia Chuanhu's hand, which was lying on the bed, a faint light appeared on the crimson moon mark.

Arthur has never been the only one protecting Natsukawa Tora.

37. Awakening One

When Natsukawa Tora opened his eyes again, it was already past midnight.

The moment he regained consciousness, excruciating pain and weakness immediately overwhelmed his entire body. He couldn't even muster the strength to move a finger, let alone sit up in bed.

"I...this is..."

Natsukawa Torato vaguely remembered that before he lost consciousness, he was about to use a Command Spell to have Artoria take him back to the hotel to see Merry, but this ceiling was not the hotel ceiling.

So, am I not in a hotel?

"Are you awake, Spirit Master?"

A voice rang in his ears, and Natsukawa Tora barely managed to turn his eyes to the side, but unfortunately he could only see a few strands of wine-red hair and could not make out the speaker's full appearance. However, he could recognize who it was just by the voice.

"Lancer...Aoko?"

"It seems you still have some thinking ability, but it looks like you can't move at all now." Scáthach came to the bedside and looked down at Natsukawa Torata. "Do you need me to explain your current situation to you?"

"No... I think... I can think of something..."

Xia Chuanhu knew exactly how bad his body had become. He had felt it the moment he woke up. The power of Arthur that had always existed within him had disappeared. After all, it was something that had been with him for ten years, and Xia Chuanhu knew very well whether it existed or not.

"Since you know that, I'll just state the conclusion directly—you have at most twelve hours left to live."

Twelve hours?

It's been a surprisingly long time.

"You should have died when you lost consciousness, but another force within you forcibly kept you alive until now. However, that is only limited; it can only keep you alive, not keep you alive indefinitely. In the end, you should have died ten years ago; now you are paying the price for the life you owed."

"I see..."

Another force... is Arcueid, isn't it?

She saved me again; I really need to thank her properly later.

"Lancer...can I ask you...a favor?" Natsukawa Torato looked at Scáthach. "Tonight...let me...stand up again..."

"There's a place I absolutely must go!"

Scáthach paused for a moment: "Even if you can't survive the rest of the life? There are many people who care about you. It would be irresponsible to die for your own selfish desires."

"I know......."

I've been told this before; my life is no longer solely my own.

Grey, Zero, Mordred, Atalanta, Aika... If I were to die, they would probably be very sad and do some rather irrational things, since they are all restless creatures. Even Grey can be quite unreasonable at times.

but......

"I have to go... otherwise..."

Natsukawa Torama couldn't continue speaking; he no longer had the strength to finish his sentence. But Scáthach could see his thoughts in his eyes; she had seen many warriors with the same look in their eyes in the past.

A smile curved her lips as Scáthach placed her hand on Natsukawa Torato's chest: "Then, let's make a promise, boy."

"I can indeed give you the power to move again tonight, but if you are still alive after you have resolved everything, you will have to fight me to the death."

Scáthach could feel a strong sense of death from Natsukawa Torama last night. He was indeed someone who could kill her now. It would be a pity to let him die, so even if it was just once, whether it was to seek death or because of a warrior's competitive spirit, Scáthach wanted to fight Natsukawa Torama once.

That is, assuming he survives afterwards.

"Ah."

Xia Chuanhu agreed quickly, and the next moment, Scáthach waved her hand and wrote one rune after another on Xia Chuanhu's chest.

The ability to revive a dying warrior and give him a final burst of energy to fight again is a common technique in Celtic mythology.

As one rune after another disappeared into his body, Xia Chuanhu gradually felt his body filled with power, like a balloon being filled with air. His hands and feet, which were originally completely immobile, could now move.

"The runes will expire at dawn, is that alright?"

"Yes, thank you very much."

Sitting up in bed, as if nothing had happened, Natsukawa Tora got out of bed, dressed, stretched slightly, and then pushed open the door: "By the way, Lancer... please thank Aoko for me."

"If you want to express your gratitude, come back after dawn. She would prefer you to go see her by yourself."

"I will."

.......

Shortly after Natsukawa Tora left.

Next door, in Aozaki Aoko's room.

"he's gone."

Scáthach detached from her spirit form and appeared beside Aozaki Aoko, who was lying on the bed: "I thought you would show up."

“He doesn’t like to show his embarrassing side to others, and besides… even if I intervene, I can’t stop him.” Aozaki Aoko stared at the ceiling. “Moreover, since he said he would come back, I don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

"He never breaks his word."

——————————————————————————————————

Fuyuki Hotel.

Top floor.

"Tiger is already on his way here."

Mary, who had sensed the change in the position of her magic, spoke to Morgan and Arthur.

Arthur nodded: "I felt it too... and his condition is weaker than ever before."

Merry's magic effect is to peel away the part of Natsukawa Torato that belongs to Arthur and transfer it to Arthur to enhance him. In essence, it is equivalent to merging the two Servants Arthur into one. Although it cannot form 1+1=2, it is still at the level of 1+1=1.5, since the improvement mainly lies in the aspect of magic power.

As a result, Natsukawa Torama temporarily lost Arthur's various abilities, such as magic resistance, intuition, sword sheath, and... Dragon Heart.

Of course, this isn't a replacement heart; rather, its performance has been weakened to the same level as a human heart, with magic generation speed probably only one-tenth of what it used to be.

In addition, he was near death...

"Strike forth, Berserker."

Morgan gave this order.

"Even if the opponent is your former Master, you won't show any mercy, right?"

"Ah."

Arthur nodded with difficulty, then entered a spirit form and disappeared from the room.

38. Awakening II

On the way to the Fuyuki Grand Hotel, at the next intersection before you reach the hotel entrance.

Xia Chuanhu was stopped by someone.

"Long time no see—or rather, Tiger."

A somewhat ethereal figure, Meili, appeared out of thin air in front of Natsukawa Tora, wearing the same fake smile that Natsukawa Tora was all too familiar with.

Is it a triggered illusion? It must be set to trigger automatically when it arrives here.

After a moment of silence, Natsukawa Tora sighed softly: "This time, you really really messed with me. In terms of the level of pranks, this is the only time in ten years that you've gone this far, Meryl."

Are you angry?

"What do you think?" Natsukawa Tora looked up at the top floor of the Fuyuki Hotel, which had come into view. "You're right there, aren't you? You'd better find a refrigerator and freeze your bones a bit before I get there."

"Looks like you're serious about beating them half to death, no, you actually intend to kill them, don't you? Indeed, what they did to you deserves this outcome. Should we run away now?"

"Just kidding."

Mary smiled and said, "I won't fool you this time. I can assure you that what you see will be the real me. Whatever punishment you want to give me then, I will accept it."

"But before that, Tiger, there are still things you want to do, right?"

“Hmm…” Natsukawa Torato nodded. “Although I could ask you now, I’d rather confirm it with my own eyes… More importantly, I have something to ask you, Meryl—I’ve never asked you this before, but I want to this time. What is your purpose in doing this?”

Natsukawa Torato wasn't angry that Arthur's power had been taken away; it wasn't his own power to begin with. If Arthur wanted it back, he wouldn't hesitate. He had no attachment to Arthur's power.

But that must have been Morgan's trick, and Merry assisted Morgan—Natsukawa Torato wanted to know her reasons for doing so.

Even if it's just a sentence like, "Because it's interesting."

"Because it's interesting—that reason won't work this time, although it is indeed a large part of the reason. After all, she is essentially a bad woman who pursues happiness and joy. As long as it makes me happy, I will do it no matter how cruel it is."

"But this time it's a little different. Besides satisfying my own desires, I also want to see something else."

"To put it in high-sounding terms, it's... your glory—something like that."

......

The Fuyuki Grand Hotel has been emptied of all its staff.

Thanks to Morgan's magic and Mary's illusion, everyone had left the hotel, leaving only Arthur, Morgan, and Mary in the entire building.

Standing in the hall, Arthur's eyes were fixed on the main entrance.

Perhaps it's because the power I sent out ten years ago has returned to my body. My power has increased, and so has my berserk level. Although I can still suppress it now, I certainly won't be able to continue suppressing it in future battles.

When he was summoned again after ten years, Arthur was initially looking forward to it. He was genuinely happy to fight alongside his Master again. But now, he only hoped that Natsukawa Torato would not come here.

Compared to ten years ago, he is no longer the same person he once was. His inner self has been corrupted by madness, and his mental structure has become distorted. He is now just a beast wearing the appearance and name of [Arthur Pendragon], wielding his power.

Natsukawa Torato probably wouldn't want to see him like this.