[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/m4dsWXq.png[/img][color=d9869f][h2]Lucius Tiberius[/h2][/color][i][h3]Red Dragon Round Two, Einzbern Forest[/h3][/i] [@Cu Chulainn][/center]
Ah, it was exhilarating. 

Every second, every moment of this fight filled him with intense joy. 

[color=d9869f]"Excellent, excellent! Maybe your Germany really is worth taking!"[/color]

His laughter was a constant assault, casting weight onto the battlefield. It was not the same as the overwhelming pressure of his presence, it did not have a true 'effect', but...to any who had fought with the weight of lives bearing down on their shoulders, that laugh was an affront to everything they stood for. 

A declaration that the lives he fought for and the lives his enemies fought for, that the weight he bore, was something to be relished and drank from deeply. 

Yes, for glory and for ruin, he fought. 

Simply because it is worthwhile. 

Simply because it is fun. 

[b]Simply because it is something he can do.[/b]

[color=d9869f]"Yes, you're the same! Someone who became an eternal being! Someone recognized as a god on earth!"[/color]

The steed was not a factor. It had not even arrived on the battlefield by the time Lucius had begun moving, after all. While a beast such as Falke could defeat a Servant in a 'marathon', it would undoubtedly lose in a sprint. And...in order to reach the site of the battle before Lucius's blow met its mark, it would need to cross a much more significant distance than the space Lucius had to cut through in even less of the time. 

In other words, it would need to 'sprint' at a speed that utterly outclassed Lucius, not to mention the difficulty of sneaking past his own instincts. Given that, such a thing was pointless. For all his faith in his steed, it would not reach him in time; even if it did, dealing with such a thing was trivial at this stage.

[color=d9869f]"But, it's not enough, dragon king! Only the owner of my heart [b]has the qualification to kill me[/b]!"[/color]

The Command Seal impelling Dietrich was certainly there, but the power was too spread out. Under Lucius's pressure, it would not even allow the Rider to match him in agility with its power, much less cope with the limit-breaking speed he now possessed. Perhaps, if he had directed the magical energy towards that jet engine-like capability of his, using it to direct the blade faster than he himself could move, there would have been a chance. Perhaps, if he has used that magical energy in another way, he could have made his blow serious enough that it would have disrupted Lucius's strike. 

Perhaps.

But, even with the Command Seal, Dietrich was slower. 

But, even ignoring speed, their instincts were matched. 

And so, the outcome had already been decided. In order for his blow to meet its mark, Dietrich would have needed to move faster than Lucius could react. Against a faster Servant who further possessed instincts at the level of precognition, this was simply something Dietrich could not accomplish. 

And so, overestimating his opponent to the end and angling himself to avoid a blow that would never reach him, Lucius closed the gap between the two Servants, and Florent cut into the Rider. 

The curse, that primal destruction wrought from the cycle of death and rebirth at the hands of the Mother Goddess, penetrated into his spiritual foundation. Regardless of the damage of the blow itself, such direct contact with the sword made any chance of  resisting its curse futile. There was, perhaps, a fraction of a fraction of a chance that Dietrich, heaped in blessings, would be able to avoid an immediate death, but...

The domination of Lucius's was still present. 

With him weakened by that pressure, the curse battered against Dietrich's spiritual foundation. 

With him weakened by the curse, the weight of domination amplified. 

With him weakened by that pressure, the strength of the curse amplified. 

A feedback loop wrought by the twin powers that tore down the hero's strength occurred. 

Yes, regardless of his strength, regardless of his ability to resist that curse, it did not matter before the Sword Emperor. He would not even have time for a final strike, falling before his arms could move or his steed could reach the battlefield. Not that, even were this not the case, his opponent would grant him an ounce of leeway.

To the end, Lucius showed no sign of the battle being decided. Even as Dietrich's spiritual core shattered and he laughed in glee, he did not display an opening. 

[color=d9869f]"Do not despair. We are gods, now. You will surely have a chance the next time we meet."[/color]

...Because, after all, even if this man was not the same as that Red Dragon, he was an [b]Arturus[/b] nonetheless. 

An enemy like this deserved to at least be acknowledged that much.