It was only after a while, once both servants had vanished, that Shinji was able to piece together the meaning behind their conversation.
The so-called sacrifices were the Heroic Spirits collected by the Lesser Grail, used as fuel to activate the Greater Grail. According to Irisviel's analysis of the Lesser Grail, three Heroic Spirits had already perished before tonight's battle. Adding Scathach, Gilgamesh, and Iskandar from tonight brought the total to exactly six—just enough to fully activate the Greater Grail.
However, the analysis also revealed that one of those Heroic Spirits had a serious problem. Its soul was heavily damaged and insufficient to serve as a catalyst for activation. The direct evidence was that both Scathach's and Gilgamesh's souls had flowed into the Lesser Grail at the end.
Fully activating the Greater Grail, which opens the passage between this world and the outside, required six intact Heroic Spirits. The soul with significant damage was not counted, and perhaps that was part of the reason for the death match between Scathach and Gilgamesh.
This meant that to fully activate the Greater Grail and release its contents into the world, one more Heroic Spirit's soul was needed as a sacrifice.
It was clear now that Scathach had chosen Cú Chulainn as the final sacrifice.
To be honest, Shinji couldn't understand Scathach's thought process—most people would sacrifice outsiders, but for some reason, she had chosen to sacrifice her disciples.
First, she sacrificed herself, and now she wanted her two disciples to fight to the death.
While Shinji didn't mind having a match against Cú Chulainn—in fact, deep down, some part of him relished the thought of giving his senpai a good beating—he had only ever wanted to rough him up a bit, not kill him.
Even if they were to fight to the death, it should happen after the whole situation was resolved. Cú Chulainn had the kind of personality that made him a great asset in battle, and he was strong. Killing him now would be a waste. Besides, Scathach hadn't said he had to act immediately, so maybe it could wait…
However, the Queen of the Land of Shadows, who saw through the laws of causality, would never leave such an obvious loophole.
Even though Shinji had decided not to seek out Cú Chulainn for the time being, Cú Chulainn found him first. As Shinji rode Pegasus, carrying an unconscious Rin back, the spear of death, Gáe Bolg, flashed through the air in front of him.
Below, the man in blue armor casually waved. "Yo."
Shinji's eyelid twitched as he nearly sped away, but in the end, he descended—because of what Cú Chulainn said next.
"Don't make that face, kouhai—yeah, I guess that's what they call it here. I know you're not happy with that woman's final request. I'm not too happy about it either. But since she said it, we have to follow through."
"You… already know?"
"Yeah, she left me a message before she died."
Cú Chulainn's relaxed demeanor made Shinji admire him a bit.
Perhaps sensing Shinji's thoughts, the man dressed in blue scratched his head awkwardly.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not as carefree as you think. It's just—I've gotten used to it. Yeah, that's it. You live in the modern world, so you probably haven't experienced it. But back in the day, she'd throw us into the nests of phantasmal beasts under the guise of training or send us to fight powerful evil spirits for the sake of improvement. That was her teaching method. As long as she thought it was beneficial, she didn't care how we felt, and she never told us why we were doing it."
"…"
Shinji was speechless.
That sounded like something Scathach would do.
When he and Sakura were younger, they didn't suffer as much, but his father, Byakuya, and his uncle, Kariya, had lived through hell every single day. While they hadn't faced phantasmal beasts or evil spirits due to the world's constraints, over time, Scathach had still come up with plenty of new training methods.
"So don't overthink it. You'll never figure out what that woman is thinking. Just follow her instructions."
"You never thought about disobeying her?"
Shinji asked.
"Of course I have," Cú Chulainn replied, shrugging with a mix of honesty and helplessness.
"Not just me—other disciples too. But whether we resisted openly or rebelled in secret, it never ended well. One time, we finally got the chance, and over twenty of us teamed up to ambush her. Guess what happened?"
"You won?"
Shinji intentionally gave the opposite answer.
"Yeah, we won," Cú Chulainn nodded but then sighed.
"But that was only the first phase. After we managed to suppress her, she immediately entered the second phase—God-Slaying Mode. She wiped the floor with us, and the worst-off couldn't get up for three days."
"…"
I knew it.
"After that, no one dared to defy her. Even now that she's gone, she might have left some kind of punishment in place. Knowing her, she wouldn't leave any loopholes, especially when she's not acting on impulse."
Yeah, there weren't any loopholes. Even the rules she had set up were perfectly accounted for.
According to the tournament rules, participants could choose their opponents based on their ranking, and once someone had been chosen, they couldn't be picked again. However, the rules didn't state that someone who had been chosen couldn't choose another opponent.
Shinji had just been picked by Rin and hadn't yet used his right to choose as the fourth-place finisher. Although it would be perfectly reasonable to forfeit his chance and wait for the next round—especially since his condition wasn't ideal after just having fought a battle—choosing to fight again wouldn't technically violate the rules either. Maybe Scathach had taken note of that while setting up the rules.
"—And besides, I'm really curious," Cú Chulainn continued, "Why someone with mediocre spear skills and average magecraft like you would be held in such high regard by that woman? She seems to expect more from you than she ever did from me."
"Mediocre spear skills and average magecraft?"
Shinji's eyebrow twitched, and he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.
Ignoring Shinji's expression, Cú Chulainn continued to provoke him.
"It's the truth. Your spear skills and magecraft barely qualify as beginner-level by the standards of my time. Is it because you have a lot of Noble Phantasms?"
"You want to find out?"
Shinji patted Pegasus on the back, signaling it to take Rin back.
"I'm curious. Oh, looks like you've finally got some spirit in you," Cú Chulainn said, eagerly raising his Gáe Bolg.
"Thanks to your reminder, I don't want to let Shishou down," Shinji said as he raised his hand and gripped the Immortal Blade.
"And I'm also curious. Who does Shishou favor more—her former prized pupil or me?"
"Well then, let's find out," Cú Chulainn grinned fearlessly as he infused more magical energy into his lowered spear.
"Yeah, let's begin."
Shinji assumed the same stance, and in the next moment, the light of their weapons clashed.