Shinji was not joking about making a Cu Chulainn running game. He was really planning to develop such a game. After all, in the original world, Type-Moon had already released a similar game, so tormenting him again wouldn't be a big deal, at most it would be a repeat offense.
Of course, Shinji's goal in creating this Cu Chulainn parkour game wasn't just to torment the doggy.
Well, it wasn't only to torment him.
Another key goal was to gain experience in developing and marketing a game from start to finish.
The massive profits from mobile games were too tempting to pass up.
However, Type-Moon had no experience in making games yet, so they had to start from scratch.
Shinji thought it would be very beneficial to use a small game like this to give the company's game department some practice.
After all, you have to start small. It's unheard of for a game company to jump straight into making AAA games and succeed.
It's not just a matter of moving too fast, it's like pulling yourself apart at the seams.
Moreover, small games have their own advantages.
At the very least, they're easier to promote and get people to accept than more complex ones.
Just look at the most popular games in the world—it's not always about big productions.
Take Tetris, for example.
Simple games are easy to play and can be quite addictive.
Combined with Cu Chulainn's comedic actions, Shinji believed Run, Doggie, Run! had a chance to become a viral hit, maybe even rivaling the likes of Temple Run or Fruit Ninja.
In fact, though the game was still in its planning phase, it was already gaining some buzz—within Type-Moon, at least.
"Oh, a game starring the little doggie, eh?" Gilgamesh swirled his wine glass, smiling. "Not bad. Regardless of how the game turns out, this king will surely lend his support."
Archer raised an eyebrow. "You plan to buy 100,000 copies?"
Gilgamesh snorted. "As if. I'm just looking forward to seeing a million ways for the dog to die in the game."
"That's not bad either. You could make a whole movie out of it."
"Sounds fun. Count me in!"
"We'll see who can kill Cu Chulainn in the most gruesome way!"
"Yes! I'm going to have him crash into walls a hundred times!"
...
"You guys..." Cu Chulainn could do nothing but grit his teeth at the excited Heroic Spirits around him.
Fighting them was out of the question. Outnumbered as he was, Cu Chulainn knew that his only choice would be deciding whether he'd fall flat on his back or faceplant into the dirt.
However, not everyone was thrilled about the game.
Apart from the victimized Cu Chulainn, Sakura wasn't exactly fond of it either. But it wasn't because she pitied him. No, Sakura felt that her brother was being far too generous to him.
"Onii-sama~ Do you have something against me?" Sakura asked softly.
"Of course not! How could I possibly have any issues with my dear Sakura?" Shinji laughed awkwardly as he sidled up to her, clueless as to what he had done to upset his sister.
"If that's the case, why is a mere dog getting more attention than me, the heroine?"
"Is that so?" Shinji felt wronged. "That little blue mutt can't compare to Matou Sakura! Not even in screen time."
"But haven't you always said that the time spent in front of the camera isn't everything? What matters most is that the actor makes an impression on the audience, right?"
"A minor character, yet with such dazzling action scenes, a memorable appearance, and now even getting his own game..."
"A mere dog is stealing more attention than me, the heroine!" Sakura repeated.
Saber, sitting nearby, shot a curious glance at them before immediately scooting further away from Sakura.
"..."
Shinji knew it was pointless to argue with women.
The issue they're upset about is never the actual issue they argue about.
He needed to make Sakura happy, and once he did, she wouldn't care about what they were discussing earlier.
Shinji said, "Sakura, your story is unfolding bit by bit. Once your big moment arrives, all the other characters will fade into the background. They won't be able to compete with you."
"If they don't try to steal the spotlight now while you're still biding your time, they won't even have a chance for the audience to remember them later."
Sakura glanced at her brother and said coldly, "You're always so full of sweet talk."
But it seemed like she wasn't angry anymore.
"You're my sister, so of course I have to treat you well!" Shinji said, breathing a small sigh of relief.
Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Don't be so obsequious. It's gross."
"Got it..."
Shinji noted with a wry smile the way the corners of Sakura's mouth had curled up.
You're clearly happy, so what's with the act?
Shinji felt a little overwhelmed.
He thought about taking a long trip somewhere and hiding out for a few months.
Distance does make the heart grow fonder... When I first came back, Sakura was all "Onii-sama this, Onii-sama that." Now, she just gives me attitude.
Sakura, unaware of her brother's thoughts, turned her attention back to the increasingly intense fight on the television screen.
Saber, the outsider in all this sibling drama, finally spoke up about the HF route. "Master, this fight must've given Lancer a good workout, huh? His action scenes here are even longer than his fight against Archer in UBW."
"You'd have to ask him," Shinji replied. "He's pretty upset that he couldn't even unleash his Noble Phantasm. Even though he had the upper hand the whole time, he lost in the end. He's really not happy about it."
Arturia, standing in for Cu Chulainn, said magnanimously, "There's nothing to be done; after all, his orders were to gather information, not to defeat the enemy."
"Heh, I'm sure Cu Chulainn would appreciate your understanding," Shinji commented.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Cu Chulainn himself didn't feel too much regret over this scene.
After all, he had already captured enough attention from the audience.
Losing to the "shadow" later was simply a matter of the script dictating that he had to die—something beyond his control.
"The story is about that little lady (Sakura), after all. I'm satisfied with having had my moment in the spotlight," were Cu Chulainn's exact words.
If Cu Chulainn had known how little screen time he originally had in the HF (Heaven's Feel) route, and how his death was even more pitiful, who knows what he would have thought.
In truth, if the movie had strictly followed the original HF game plot, the first half would have featured only a few scattered battles—hardly enough to support a whole story.
Back then, FSN (Fate/stay night) was one of Nasu's works from before 2010, and at that time, he was still fixated on the idea of magicians engaging in secret, hidden battles. As a result, many of the fights in FSN were portrayed rather awkwardly.
It was odd. These battles between powerful, god-like Heroic Spirits should have been earth-shattering events, yet the story insisted they had no significant impact on the world around them. The most classic example of this was the repeatedly mentioned "floor tiles" at Ryudou Temple.
Thankfully, FSN was a visual novel, and some things could be described in a way that didn't feel too jarring.
However, this presented a major challenge when adapting the story to film.
Ufotable had no choice but to significantly modify the fight between Cu Chulainn and Hassan of the Cursed Arm. Otherwise, the first HF movie would have turned into an artsy film with almost no action scenes.
That's why in the HF movie, we saw Cu Chulainn and Cursed Arm engaging in a high-speed chase down the highway, destroying a building rooftop, causing a trailer to explode in the middle of the road, and creating chaos for the local cleanup crew. It was all to amplify the spectacle, ensuring HF had memorable action scenes.
This also demonstrated that Nasu's previous insistence on "secret magical battles" was impractical when it came to film adaptations. That said, Ufotable didn't want to go overboard; trashing a single trailer was their limit.
But Shinji didn't care about any of that. After orchestrating large-scale battle scenes in Fate/Zero, how could he be satisfied with just wrecking a single trailer? He didn't have the original author (Nasu) breathing down his neck, nor was he limited by budget. To hell with secret magical battles and keeping things hidden from the general public!
Heroic Spirits should fight until it's satisfying!
Thus, in Shinji's version, Cu Chulainn and Cursed Arm battled it out in an explosion of sparks and lightning, slashing their way from the gates of Ryudou Temple all the way to Tohsaka's eastern road—practically across the entire Fuyuki city.
According to a fan's unofficial tally, their fight ended up destroying 20 cars, 4 trucks, 7 buses, 6 residential rooftops, 3 rooftop water tanks, and even a Japanese-style garden. Finally, during their last battle in the forest, Cu Chulainn shredded countless trees as thick as bowls into wooden strips.
But, as Cursed Arm said, Cu Chulainn was merely struggling in vain.
Cu Chulainn had delayed finishing him off to extract information from Cursed Arm, but wasn't Cursed Arm also using that to lure Cu Chulainn into his trap? However, Cu Chulainn's warrior instincts weren't to be underestimated. Sensing the danger of the "shadow," he immediately decided to end the fight quickly.
The key to gathering information was ensuring his own safety, and Cu Chulainn had no intention of dying here. Using his spear to support himself, he leapt up from the water in one swift motion.
On the other side, the masked shadow extended its demonic arm.
"Your heart—I'll take it!"
Almost simultaneously, both Heroic Spirits spoke the same words.
But unfortunately—
"What—?!" Cu Chulainn stared in shock as he saw his heart being ripped from his chest by the hand of the figure before him.
And just like that, the powerless Lancer's body fell onto the black water's surface.
Splash
It was like bait being tossed into a pond. The surface of the water roiled violently. Countless black ribbons erupted from the water, impatiently, savagely, and brutally consuming the humanoid Heroic Spirit.
"This... isn't good..." Cu Chulainn muttered as his final words, before the blue Lancer's body was completely swallowed by the blackness.
Standing over the lake, the black-clad assassin watched the scene with glee, happily swallowing his prize—Lancer's heart.
The noise faded, and silence fell once more, both inside and outside the screen.
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind paying $5 each month to read till the latest posted chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Current Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 222: The End of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/im-not-master-im-124207926[3]
https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/im-not-master-im-124207926
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/im-not-master-im-124207926
[4] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl