All the sword struck was the barrier. It was like it came up automatically when I got too close. I continued stabbing wildly. It would get weaker if I gave it enough hell, right?

Wrong. Completely wrong. Her magic thrust me against the ground forcefully – harder than last time – and I skidded backwards on my stomach. It hurt. New scrapes began to bleed through my fur.

"N-no way…" I cringed. Had I seriously just gotten owned that badly twice in a row? Something only vaguely familiar tugged at my insides, and I realized it was apprehension. Uneasiness. With the outcome of my battles against Eggman being so predictable, I hadn't had a reason to be scared in a long time. But this wasn't Eggman.

I lifted my head, and my vision was blurry. Mere yards away, Merlina glared daggers at me. Something, some sort of aura I guessed, began to form around her. It was a bright blue… maybe fire? I blinked, trying to see it clearly.

"Sonic!" My sword shouted at me. Oh yeah, Caliburn. I forgot he existed sometimes, even though he was always in my hand. He pulled himself and my hand off the ground and above my head.

"Caliburn!" I said, surprised. Usually I was the one making the moves, not him. Then I realized he was using himself as a shield and decided to keep my mouth shut.

At the same time I spoke, Merlina's club-like weapon came slamming down, striking the sword so hard I felt the vibrations run up my arm. It made me want to collapse. Merlina hadn't even given me a chance to recover from the last blow, and now I had to hold back this thing!?

"Fool! A knight must always be on his guard!" Caliburn scolded. I thought I had been on my guard. I ignored him and looked on ahead, trying to focus my swimming vision enough to find a weak spot. I knew I only had a few seconds.

Merlina's new form wasn't fire; whatever she had transformed into was solid and formed around her body. Its body almost took on the form of the black knight himself, but not quite. With the ridiculously long limbs and eerie blue glow, it also reminded me of Perfect Chaos… only worse. It was monstrous and breathtaking at the same time.

And I could find no weak spots.

There was harder pressure as the thing put more strength behind its attack. I pushed against with Caliburn. My knees wanted to buckle and I felt weak at the core. I didn't understand it! Why had it taken its toll so fast? Even when Eggman managed to get lucky a few times, it was never this hard. Was Merlina that powerful?

Well, I suppose a refreshing challenge is better than feeling like I'm in some predictable video game.

Holding her back felt like trying to move an immovable object. I groaned with the effort. Just as it almost became too much, Merlina brought her arm down swiftly through the air, her weapon mimicking the motion. Then something I didn't expect happened.

Caliburn snapped in half and landed on the ground in two pieces.

"No—!" I gasped. For a few tense, long seconds, the room was completely silent. Both Merlina and I looked at the broken sacred sword in incredulity. I didn't believe it; I had never thought a sacred sword was capable of breaking. And as I looked up at her, glaring, and saw my inward shock mirrored in her face, I realized she hadn't either.

Something inside me crumpled a little.

Caliburn…

In the end, I never had any idea how much that irritating steel blade could've meant to me. His constant criticizing, and our heated disagreements, and his repetition of the word 'fool' until it no longer sounded like a real word… where in that mess did we ever form anything remotely close to a bond?

Even as I questioned it, distant yet vivid memories pinched at my obstinacy. Wisecrack exchanges, playful threats, subtle but increasing respect for one another…

"It is you, sir, who lacks the proper fighting skills."

"Well, it's your fault! You're a sad excuse for a teacher!"

…

"Heh, if you fall, Caliburn, I'm not going to pick you up!"

"You had better not drop me!"

…

"Don't worry! I've got one of the great sacred swords…"

"Of-of course! It's about time you figured that out!"

"I'm going to make this look easy. She won't know what hit her. You know… I've gotten pretty used to you, too."

"That is exactly what I told you not to do…!"

…

"NOOOOOO!!"

I cried out in rage on Caliburn's behalf and threw myself right at the Queen of the Underworld, attacking with empty hands. I was smacked away for a third time. The blow struck hard across the side of my chest, breaking ribs and inflicting the kind of pain you'd only expect to come from a smoldering piece of coal. I skidded across the ground on my back. I wanted to cry out, but for some reason, I held it back.

I got back up and started weakly forward. No choice.

It came at me, not even giving me time to get close, and I knew there was no avoiding it. The sound was like thunder as strike collided with body again, landing in the exact same spot where the ribs had broken. My eyes went wide and my mouth opened, but it hurt too much to even scream. I flipped over through the air as I flew back, and my face slammed against the ground. Skin pulled and ripped. It was still nothing compared to the searing sting in my torso.

Blood ran onto my hand as I reached up and held an open wound on my head. It stung to the touch and I immediately jerked my hand away. I tried to force myself to my feet, but it wasn't happening. I couldn't even see; it was like all the colors in the room had been taken and thrown into a blender and mixed with dirty water. Everything ached. I tried to breathe slowly in hopes that it would keep the broken bones from rubbing against each other. If it made a difference at all, it wasn't enough for me to appreciate.

With the terrible knowledge that Merlina was still right there and that I was in a position of pain and helplessness, it was hard to keep from panicking. It was hard. All I could do was lay there and hope against hope that she wasn't cruel enough to kick me while I was down…

Although my heart was pounding frantically in my head, I still heard the dark queen's voice through it, drier than the tundra and just as harsh. It wasn't the 'join my side and I'll ease back' offer that I had come to expect – not that I would give in if that was what she had said. I did not compromise. Ever. I would die before I submitted to my enemy or betrayed anyone who needed me.

Merlina said, "It is time to end this."

I tensed – it was all I could do in that moment. I was in a pinch and I knew it. In the past, Chaos Emeralds had usually been my easy way out of things. But now… now I was in a situation where I had absolutely nothing to help me, and my enemy did. I had been in this kind of situation once, maybe twice, and it had been ages ago. It had also been against Eggman, who'd only had machines to aid him, not potent magic. Not to mention… this time, I had no one to back me up. Caliburn was finished. I was alone in this.

And I didn't know how much more I could take.

I had never, ever been in a position like this before. As I realized how bad things had gotten, I suddenly remembered one of those old proverbs. I had no idea why, especially since it wasn't incredibly clichéd; just one of those things that stick in your head whether you make a point to remember it or not.

Character is who you are when no one's looking.

I guessed that made sense. When nobody's around, you don't have to look good or honest or selfless, or whatever you want others to see you as… and so you just act like yourself. I never tried to put on an act anyway.

All the same, there was nobody around unless Merlina counted, and I didn't count her.

All thought of the saying quickly faded out of my mind and never came back; I was too close to unconsciousness to retain it. It took a few seconds longer for me to come to completely. When I did, I began to push myself up, ignoring my body's demands.

Before I even realized what was happening, I heard myself scream. I was hit twice before it registered that I'd been hit once. The first blow was the most painful, smashing across the entire right side of my body and thrusting me across the room. The next ones landed before gravity had a chance to yank me back to the ground. But they hardly seemed to sting at all; it was like my body had blocked my senses.

I didn't even feel myself land, and that was usually the worst part. That scared me; was I going to pass out for real this time? I couldn't. Then it'd be over. Merlina would be able to do whatever she wanted. I had to get back up. I had to get back up…!

"Sir Sonic," a voice called, and I realized it was Percival. Had the Knights of the Round Table just arrived? "Sir Sonic, you've done enough!"

I hadn't even begun to stop Merlina. Not one blow had gotten past her shield. How could Percival say I'd done enough? I needed to keep fighting!

"Sonic, there is no point in continuing!" Lancelot hollered, his voice almost angry. I realized that I was almost standing up again. My hand was shaking as I pushed against my knee. I didn't know how in the world I'd managed to get that far.

I couldn't filter out the strain in my words – words that had once come out of Caliburn's mouth – but I said them anyway, smirking grimly at the cruel irony: "A knight… n-never flees… his foe… right?"

Nobody answered. That was fine. The answer was clear enough without being spoken.

Merlina was merciless. I couldn't believe how much she'd changed; how far she was taking all this. As she raised her hand up again – the one holding that little flower – horrible, horrible dread pulsed through my veins and tightened around my stomach. I had no second thoughts about what I'd said, but… that didn't mean I wasn't afraid.

Not again… wait…

The words were on the tip of my tongue. I made them stay there. I'd learned not to mind admitting it to myself when I was scared, but nobody else needed to hear it. That side of me was only for my own mind. Besides, letting it show would only make everyone else more apprehensive, and that wouldn't help anything. They needed to have faith in me. They needed to stop trying to convince me to quit. I could win this.

If I could survive it.

I tried to dodge Merlina's attack as it came at me, but against that kind of raw power, even my speed couldn't help.

"AAAGGHHHHHH!" The strike, hard enough to leave a burn mark, thrust me straight up. I felt myself slam head-on into the ceiling and then crash back to the floor. It took less than five seconds. The sound of the impact echoed off the walls. The echoing continued in my head even after the atmosphere was silent. Or maybe it was the panicked, furious pounding of my heart. I didn't know.

For several seconds, I just laid there. It felt good compared to everything else. I wished I could lay there for longer. Or maybe go to sleep, give in… escape it all…

I forced myself to a sitting position, pushing past the dizziness and discomfort along the way. My insides were screaming in agonizing protest. I knew I was critically injured.

But you still can't kill me, can you, Merlina?

The thought hopped across my mind in a brief flash of confidence, and in that instant I very much wanted to speak it right to her face and see her reaction. As soon as I opened my mouth, though, Gawain's loud voice cut through the air, a frantic warning: "This no longer has anything to do with chivalry! Get out of there! RUN!"

For what felt like the millionth time, I got all the way up from the floor. Completing that simple task hurt more than anything had so far… but I didn't even consider listening to him. It just wasn't in my nature.

I wondered where Gawain had shouted from, or if I'd be able to respond loudly enough for him to hear me. Couldn't he see the hypocrisy in what he'd said? He was the one who had always thought it to be about chivalry – heck, he had almost committed suicide because he thought he had 'failed his king.' But me…

"It was… never about chivalry for me…" I heard myself say. In that moment, I was proud of the resolve in my voice. Gawain must've heard it, too, because he didn't say another word. This was my fight, and I wasn't fighting for pride or heroism. And I certainly wasn't fighting to look like a good knight.

Merlina's eyes locked onto mine. Like before, I didn't look away. Like before, neither did she. But there was disbelief in her eyes.

It would wear off. There was no point in getting cocky now; she would attack again. I braced myself, ready to take it. What Lancelot had said sort of clicked then, and I began to wonder if – realistically – there was any point in continuing. If there was no way to stop her like this, then would trying to attack only cause me more pointless pain? Was it stupid to stay here and fight?

It doesn't matter.

My brows creased downward as I said, to the others and to myself, "I just gotta do what I've gotta do – that's all."

I have to try. I'll hold on 'til the end… even if it doesn't end right.

Merlina scowled at me. I'd never seen her scowl; until now, her face had been devoid of nearly all emotion. She raised her hand up again, a monstrous limb mimicking the motion, about to strike again. I didn't move or flinch. Maybe I couldn't avoid what was coming. Maybe I couldn't even win. But like before, I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me falter under her hand… and I sure as hell wasn't going to make this easy for her.

Then it happened. Out of nowhere, something huge and gold descended, crashing down around me like lightning. It was hot and blinding. I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst, knowing by now what to expect.

Nothing struck.

There was a sudden gasp, and then an awed exclamation: "The long lost light of the sacred swords!" It was Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. Realization finally dawned then: Merlina had never gotten the chance to finish her attack. The power surrounding me… it wasn't Merlina's magic, but something just as potent. Instead of a threat, it was something for me to use.

The sacred swords…!

Hesitation gave a slight pull at my mind. I hadn't forgotten what Nimue had said when we first met…"Whoever defeats King Arthur and takes his scabbard… might end up turning out the same way, right?" I mulled over that rhetorical question. If I used the swords' power, would I turn out like he had? And like Merlina had?

Nah.

I looked at the glory surrounding me, taking it all in. Through the golden rain between us, Merlina's angry expression caught my eye. "Well, you weren't fighting fair," I muttered, and it felt satisfying even though she probably couldn't hear me. I felt upward pressure, like something was trying to stretch me and make me taller, but it was more encouraging than forced. I caught on and relaxed, letting the energy around me lift me off the ground.

I sighed, relishing the relief. Finally, the tables were turning; I had outlasted the odds. Now things were where they should be. Now… this could be fun!