Part 74: Spear Barbed With Death - Cu Chulainn - Part 2

Cu Chulainn - 2



Fuyuki, huh. Very appropriate for the upcoming nostalgia trip. As you'd expect from a Servant who has been around since stay night's prologue, Cu Chulainn has built up quite the pedigree within this series. At the start of Fate/stay night, Cu Chulainn is in the service of Kirei Kotomine, the creepy priest attending the church on the hill, though Cu originally had a Master named Bazett that Kotomine stole Cu's Command Spells from.

In the Fate route, Cu Chulainn doesn't get to do much, but near the climax of the story, the fact that Kotomine had both him and Gilgamesh under contract at the same time (well, more like a partner's arrangement with the King in Gold), and was not thrilled about the revelation. Cu eventually fights Gilgamesh, a fight we don't see in the visual novel (but we do see it in the anime), but it's very much certain he got his ass kicked, because Gilgamesh is in the final sequence of the Fate route and doesn't mention having fought the Irish spearman at all.

In the Unlimited Blade Works route, he's around a lot longer. At a low point in the heroes' fortune, he appears on Kotomine's order to assist the protagonists, a job he performs happily, as it puts him into conflict with EMIYA and gives him a chance to help out a cute girl. Also near the climax of the story, a supposedly-dead Kotomine reappears and orders his Servant to kill himself with Gae Bolg. Cu has no choice but to turn his spear on himself, but after piercing his own heart, puts his Master out of his misery. One thing very much consistent with all of Cu Chulainn's appearances: he cannot stand betrayal and will make anyone who backstabs him pay for it. This, of course, also extends to a general loathing for traitors.


In the Heaven's Feel route he goes out on a much less heroic note. See, Kotomine at the start of the story used Lancer as a means to scout out the other Masters, finding out who their Servants are and what their deals were. Fighting was secondary. After learning something big was going down in the remains of Caster's old haunt, he's attacked by a formless mass of bad news called the Shadow, along with the recently-summoned Assassin, Hassan-i-Sabbah. While he could fight Assassin, Hassan deployed his Noble Phantasm Zabaniya to crush Cu's heart and steal it, becoming much more articulate than he was prior. Without a heart, Cu's body crumbled and he would eventually be swallowed whole by the Shadow. Not the most pleasant ending for a character in that story.

Aside from his FSN appearance, he's had varying roles of importance in other Fate stories, so let's move on to alternate appearances, both of which originate in Grand Order. The first, Cu Chulainn as a Caster, appeared in the first singularity, Fuyuki. Along with learning how to wield a spear like a pro, Cu Chulainn also learned rune magic from Scathach, and as a Caster, fully utilizes it. He can also use magical runes as a Lancer, but he prefers not to. Also, his Noble Phantasm as a Caster is Wicker Man, which is what Nero was talking about last time when she was warning Cu against burning down the concert hall. Again, Grand Order and extella were being worked on at the same time, so it's not a surprise when one refers to the other.

His much more menacing appearance in the story is as a Berserker, in the America singularity. Queen Medb, having acquired a Holy Grail of her own, wished for a Cu Chulainn she could dominate and control in a way she never could in life. Out of that wish came Cu Chulainn as an Alter Berserker. Cu can summoned as a Berserker, but the twisted monstrosity he became because of Medb is something that never should have appeared. As a mockery of his former self, his body fused with the sea monster Curruid Coinchenn's body, having been the beast Gae Bolg was born from. In this form, Cu takes no pleasure in fighting, and his fight is merely to prove himself as the leader of the Celtic army, and killing's part of the job description. As someone who has abandoned all humanity to fight, he has an extremely mechanical view of it, and basically just wants to crush, kill, destroy, until there's nothing left to crush, kill, or destroy. Abandoning everything, he just wants to fight until his body can't hold itself together anymore.





Cu Chulainn stage 2

They're truly skilled if they can control the living fortress, the ferocious general of Zhongyuan. They know exactly how to use a Berserker. And it looks like they have some tricks up their sleeve as well. What are you thinking of? We could rush straight into danger, but...

Well, that's exactly what I'd want. I'll bring them right into my jaws with Ath nGabla. And I have no complaints about fighting that Berserker. I'll hunt him down right next to his "ruler".

Pardon my intrusion, but I'd like to lend my help as well. The two of you are incomparable warriors, and I'd love to see you fight with all your might.

...Well, now.

Yes, Child of the Sun? Do you have any objections to my assistance?

No, but...see, both of us have been with SE.RA.PH since the early days. I thought I had you all figured out, but now you want to go into battle... Did you have some change of heart? Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I forgot your heart's made of ice.

Sir, I see you retain your peerless sense of humor. I am but a loyal servant of the Sovereign, and a lowly systems admin.

I guess I'll let you leave it at that. Do what you want as support or whatever. Let's get going! I'll show you all the fangs of Culann's beastly hound!



Y'know, Medusa's plans would have been totally screwed if we weren't locked in this initial Sector. Good planning on her part, I guess.



Glory hog. I did all the work there. Anyway, Archimedes seems to assume we'll go after the Blood Fort Andromeda Sectors. He doesn't know who he's dealing with.



Instead, we'll be going right into the beast's fangs. As you'd expect, Lu Bu is extremely dangerous when he's super-powered (even if it's not strictly him being powerful, it's just us being weaker. This is what you call "details"), and not many aside from Cu could really handle this. Our current subject prides himself on being able to do damage and very quickly get away.



This is gonna be a bread and butter for fighting him, since you'll want to stay very far away while you build your Moon Drive gauge.



Even so, can't get sloppy here, no sir.



Yep, actually managed to beat him with one of the weakest characters in the game. I'm just talking strength, not speed.

Great job. Defeating Berserker in this situation would've been tough for anyone.

Good to know...



Incidentally, Cu has a *really* long S combo. I think it's like 8 or 9 different moves that ends with him throwing his spear in front of him.



Cu's final special has him launching a target into the air and..somehow dragging the enemy along for a number of hits. It's effective, but I'm still not quite sure how he manages it. Probably very advanced stuff.

After taking over this Sector and the next one, I finished the Regime Matrix (way before actually dispelling the Bloodfort, mind), so off we go to the final battle...that I have to string out over 3 more Sectors...

Who...could've known...there was someone who could fight under the Bloodfort...

You've misjudged. That kind of child's play can't stop me.

...Then I'll just have to give it my all.



When I finally got the last Sector, I got a weird thing where Medusa transformed in the Sector I was previously in, but she was still in the last Sector I was in, so the camera had to pan way over to another while I was in this one. It was weird, but not the weirdest thing that would happen while I fought her.



Just noticed this: she apparently took a bounding leap from a standing position...but that's not what I'm referring to.



I didn't even do anything that special. She went flying from my S S S S T attack, but I didn't know they could fly *that* high. Notice we still have one Aggressor on the field.



I did manage to kill him, in the very brief window between killing the Boss Servant and the stage ending.





Cu did his "Winning" animation, then the screen faded out, then faded back in for the results screen, then it blinked out and on AGAIN when the stats screen popped up. And then, just because that all wasn't weird enough...



Good to know...







You've won. Do as you like, Lancer.

Oh, man, you're weirding me out. You of all people giving up so easily. Where's that, what's that called, your usual creeping insidiousness? Is this actually what you're like underneath it all? Or is it just because you don't have a Master this time?

...

Why are you helping out the Empire of the Queen or whatever? Were you ever the sort to bow your head to a pseudo-Meab like her?

Same person as "Medb", as you might guess. Incidentally, Medb is one of Nasu's favorite Servants in Grand Order, and for whatever reason, last I heard he had like 4 copies of her. Pretty impressive for a fairly rare SSR. I know he has multiple copies, much in the same way Ayako Kawasumi has 4 or 5 copies of Saber Artoria. She even got one while trying to pull Mordred, which you know she had to appreciate the irony from. But if there's one thing you should know, is Kawasumi *loves* Artoria, so I don't think she was too upset about it.

What about you? I never imagined you were the sort of man to side with a Saber so infamously known to history as a despot.

Nah, that's just you overestimating me, and underestimating that Emperor of ours. She's actually a pretty serious kid for what she is. Hakunon and the Emperor really do care about the future of SE.RA.PH. And that fox girl is at least an improvement over the actual Maeb, or somebody like her.

...Is that how it is? The Saber on your side seems to have a very positive outlook.

Oh? Are you actually putting away your murderous glare for now? ...Well, shit. That's not fun, but what can you do? Guess I don't really have a reason to pierce your heart either. Not that I'm really into killing women in the first place.

You're not going to kill me? ...I never would have expected that from the Lancer I know.

Come on, do I look like someone who enjoys beating up women? I wouldn't kill them unless they came at me looking for a fight. Next time I see you on the battlefield, I'll stab you through the heart without hesitation. Now, if you got that, then scram.

Hmm, the enemy ruler's presence is gone? She must have used a function of the Regalia to teleport herself... But all that aside, that was a brilliant fight! You truly are the fierce Cu Chulainn! And I approve of your vociferous praise of me as well!

Hey, I just said what I thought. At first, I thought you really were gonna be a despot, but here you are all celebrating like some kid. You're a handful.