"You have come. Do you think you have the strength to challenge me?"
The Ancient One, who was teaching Mr. Stephen, suddenly frowned and then disappeared from Kamar-Taj, arriving at the border of the United States. There, a person was standing quietly, as if waiting for something. When the Ancient One saw this person, she said to her with great interest. The person who came was none other than Morgan, who had made a promise with the Ancient One. Regarding Morgan's arrival, the Ancient One expressed great interest. She didn't know where Morgan got the confidence to come and challenge her at this time. The Ancient One, who was observing carefully, expressed with regret in her heart that it was impossible to defeat her with this little growth.
"Sorcerer Supreme, I want to try and see the gap between us. Please forgive my willfulness."
Morgan was not angry at the Ancient One's somewhat mocking words. She knew she couldn't win against the Ancient One, but continuing to condense magic like this, she didn't know when she could challenge the Ancient One. If she didn't know the gap between herself and her enemy, she wouldn't even be qualified to face her. Last time, because she learned news about her sister, her mind was in chaos, and she hadn't fully understood the gap between herself and the Ancient One. Recently, her mood had been inexplicably irritable, so Morgan decided she wanted to challenge the Ancient One. After knowing the gap between herself and the Ancient One, she should be able to rest assured and become stronger, instead of locking herself in a small castle, knowing nothing and understanding nothing. Taking off the black cloak on her body, Morgan was wearing a leather jacket from the Great Britain era; she was now fully prepared for the attack.
"Since that is the case, then... I can accept your challenge, but you must defeat someone first."
After careful thought, Ancient One came up with a good idea. With a wave of her hand, a guy fell directly from mid-air; this person was none other than Mr. Stephen, who was on his way to the library to borrow books. Walking along, suddenly the ground beneath his feet vanished, and Mr. Stephen smelled the fresh scent of nature.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
It didn't hurt much, but he had fallen headfirst, okay!
With his mouth full of mud and grass, Stephen scrambled up and spat out the grass. Except for the bald master he apprenticed under, no one else should be capable of such a method of transportation!
Being smart, he didn't get angry; in an instant, he understood exactly who had transported him.
Stephen shook his head and looked around; sure enough, the bald person wearing orange robes was standing not far away.
Stephen was very helpless, but he didn't dare to get angry at Ancient One. He remembered that not two days ago, he had been left in a frozen wasteland by her and nearly froze to death.
If not for him risking his life to open a portal, Stephen reckoned he would have been stone-cold dead; speaking of which, it was truly a tearful, heartbreaking story.
"My condition is: you fight him, regardless of life or death."
"What?"
After brushing off the mud and grass, Stephen's eyes widened. What was going on? What did he do wrong? Why treat him like this? Did they have a feud in their past lives?
Sorcerer Supreme, why were you messing with him like this? This was life-threatening!
Ever since that 'thriller' in the snow, Stephen was filled with vigilance and fear toward Ancient One. He was terrified that one day, after falling asleep, he would end up as a lion's breakfast.
Hearing "regardless of life or death," Stephen turned and ran, but he quickly discovered that no matter how he ran, he would always return to the same spot.
"Are you sure you don't have a grudge against him?"
Morgan voiced Stephen's inner thoughts, but her hands didn't pause at all; a one-handed knight's sword appeared in Morgan's hand.
Even as a magician, she had been taught magic by the strongest magician in Great Britain, Merlin. But she was also a warrior capable of close-quarters combat; although not a knight, her close-quarters combat ability was no weaker than any of the twelve round table members.
Setting her stance, Morgan raised her sword and slashed at Stephen.
"You're serious~!"
Morgan's sword speed was extremely fast; a silver light flashed.
Feeling the danger, Stephen barely avoided the vital spot, but a bloodstain was slashed onto his arm. If he had been a bit slower, his arm would basically be gone.
He looked in terror at Morgan, who was preparing her next strike; he didn't expect this woman to actually attack. Looking closely, this woman looked so much like Artoria!
"Shield."
While he was distracted, Morgan's next strike arrived. Such a life-or-death battle caused Stephen's adrenaline to surge violently.
Under these circumstances, Stephen used his not-so-proficient magic to form a shield to block Morgan's attack, but because it was too rushed, the shield didn't serve its purpose well, though it did block Morgan's attack slightly; a piece of cloth on Stephen's body was slashed away.
"This training method is quite good."
Standing to the side, Ancient One nodded with satisfaction. She could see that Morgan feared her presence and didn't dare to truly kill him.
Actually, even if Morgan had tried to kill him, Ancient One was confident she could save Stephen. But if Morgan had fought for real, Stephen probably would have failed instantly and couldn't be trained.
Morgan probably understood Ancient One's intention slightly, so she didn't dare to actually slash at Stephen's head.
"Waah! Help~!"
After two more shallow bloodstains were slashed onto his body, Stephen finally couldn't take it anymore and shamefully fled.
Quickly opening a portal, Stephen ran inside. Morgan also stopped the pursuit; she rested the one-handed knight's sword on the ground, raised her eyebrows, and looked at Ancient One standing to the side.
"Now you can make a move, right?"
"My goodness, Mr. Stephen still needs to practice more."
A smile curled at the corner of her mouth; Ancient One didn't mind Stephen's 'fleeing' behavior.
She said this with a sigh, which actually made Morgan feel a chill down her spine. This person! She is truly a 'good master' to pit her disciple like this.
Merlin! I'm so sorry, I wronged you; you aren't some old bastard, but a normal, good master. The one in front of me is the true master who pits her disciple.
"Then, please pay attention, Miss Morgan."
Ancient One didn't know Morgan's inner thoughts; she slowly stepped forward, staring quietly at Morgan.
The magic power on her began to surge, creating a huge sense of oppression that increased the pressure on Morgan. But facing Ancient One, Morgan still firmly raised the knight's sword in her hand, and the magic power on her surged with full force.
"Boom~!"
What happened? In just an instant, in New York, Artoria, who was being kissed and hugged by Galacta, felt a bit uncomfortable as if she had sensed something.
She looked in surprise toward the direction where Morgan and the others were fighting. Although she couldn't see anything, Artoria felt that someone very close to her was being brutally beaten by reality.
"What is this human preparing to do? Making such a commotion, isn't she afraid of being seen?"
As the consciousness of the Planet, Ancient One's actions were not hidden from Gaea. She curiously used the Earth to watch this battle, but discovered a woman who looked very much like Artoria.
This made her glance at Artoria in surprise, but she didn't intend to tell Artoria about this. Since such an interesting thing had happened, of course, she should first figure it out carefully, then find a time to ask Artoria if she knew about it.
The value of this woman might allow her to leave a very good impression on Artoria.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.