AN: Gore ahead and King Arthur is still female.
My rebellion was a battle between armies: the will of the people against the ideals of a god-sent king. The death toll of that day was monstrous. Fighting a force greater than that day using a single sword and any weapon I could grab from their rotting corpses was inevitably difficult. The only saving grace was that they were mindless corpses. Their move sets were highly predictable, where no signs of intelligence was visible in their actions. They were merely puppets that moved and attacked anything that was not their own.
The most effective strategy was to simply put myself in a box and strike the head of every undead I came upon. The zombies did not respond to anything that they could not perceive. Morgan's gift was a blessing as it both concealed my presence and my identity to a point I was invisible to the weak foot soldiers. I even fell asleep one time in the midst of the horde, only to wake up unharmed. The experience was frightful and nothing else.
My days would go by with killing undead, like mowing grass using a scythe. It reached a point where I grew tired of killing. The massacres of enemies were difficult in the sense that they were near endless. My main concern was running out of rations since the undead had devastated the wildlife of its game. Eating bugs for protein and water from tree leaves for three meals a day was revolting. Though, I have to say that ants were surprisingly delicious; those bloated ants filled with sweet liquid were nature's little candies.
This routine would repeat for days until I paved a path of rotten bodies leading to a cave entrance on the side of a mountain. The opening was located in a grass field and littered with broken weapons and corpses. The ominous pillar of light pierced from the tip of the mountain. Its power engulfed the blue sky, leaving sickly twisting purple vortexes in its place.
I brought my eyes to the base of the mountain to see a figure blocking the entrance; someone I knew should be dead.
King Arthur stood with her Excalibur planted into the ground. Her clothing, features, and even sword were different. They irradiated corruption present on all of the undead soldiers and the dark pillar of light. The oddest sight was the theme of his clothing, which consisted of a black dress and little to no metal components. The corrupted Excalibur glowed sickly in black aura. Her height was the same and her chest was sadly still flat.
That's one win for me.
"In the end of it all, we meet to fight once again to decide the fate of -" I was cut off by a vertical wave of energy shooting out of the corrupted blade. I kicked the ground to dodge the energy projectile.
"Okay, straight to the fight." A horizontal wave shot forth a second later. I dug my blade into the ground to stop my momentum and push myself to waist level. The wave of death sliced off the uppermost part of my helmet. The dislodged metal landed before me as a molten chunk.
I whistled in surprise at the destructive force of Excalibur. Or tried to because the revived king kept dishing out projectiles, all of which I had to avoid. I constantly moved around the battlefield to find some way to reach him. My eyes landed on a couple of lances that I then kicked into the air and struck them with the flat side of Clarent. Many broke on contact, but a few lances successfully flew towards Arthur and forced him to block.
In the valuable time I brought myself, I rushed in with my torso leaned forward. I picked up two short swords in mid-run and threw them as well in hopes of prolonging Arthur's next energy attack. Before getting close enough to engage, I grabbed a rusty longsword with my left hand and held Clarent on my right.
I swung the rusty blade upward in a diagonal. Arthur blocked it with Excalibur held in her left hand. I continued my attack by thrusting Clarent at her neck. Swiftly, Arthur deflected it using the back of her right hand against the flat side of my blade and followed up by punching my chest area. I was blown away by the force of her bare fist; the Arthur I was fighting was juiced up to hell. I dug my boots into the soil to regain my footing. He didn't leave me a chance as she dashed at me.
Instinctively, I moved Clarent towards myself to block the upcoming attack. Arthur saw it come and sliced off my right arm. The pain erupted through my mind and electrocuted my senses. I gritted my teeth to refrain myself from screaming.
The next instant, my chest felt cold and warmth was leaving my body. I looked towards Arthur to see Excalibur piercing my chest and going out my back. My helmet shattered apart at the impact.
There was such a huge gap in power between us.
"I have never hated you."
Mordred eyes snapped open. She looked around to see her younger self and her uncorrupted Father standing in the midst of a battlefield of dead soldiers. That moment was the final duel they had and the day she killed King Arthur.
However, the sight before her was different. The dialogue, the stance she took, and their clash were all different.
King Arthur pulled out Rhongomyniad and readied herself to strike. "If you want to know why I didn't give you the throne."
She shot forward and impaled Mordred's doppelganger. "It was because you don't have the capacity of a king."
Her twin was barely able to speak her dying word as blood spewed from her mouth.
"Fa...ther..."
The scene paused and replayed itself from the beginning.
"That was our destined fate." A male voice sounded from behind her. Mordred twisted her body to see a floating orb of red light. It sounded familiar, and she realized it was those strange thoughts that kept invading her head the moment she was born.
"What are you?" She demanded.
The orb floated to her side and its nonexistent eyes glanced at her. "That's a hard question...Though if I have a description, it would be that I am a part of you."
"So you are a parasite." Mordred spat at the orb. She was skeptical about its claims.
"That's not it." The orb trembled at the accusation. "I have been with you the moment you were born and have acted as your subconscious. It's more accurate to say I am your split personality."
Mordred scuffed at its correction and looked back at her supposed destiny. "What did you mean by that being our fate?"
"That's the future of a Mordred, who was blinded by the rejection of her Father, rebellion against him and lost her life." The orb explained.
"What makes her different from us?"
"Motivation." It simply answered. "That Mordred never experienced the loss and humility we had, so she never tried to be beyond what her King wanted her to be...She never saw Lena."
Mordred kept looking at her twin's sorrowful state. "I guess we never did escape our fate." She began to accept the orb as a part of her being. At their final confrontation, they were defeated by the hands of their corrupted father. "How ironic that the more we try to escape this path, the more the world tries to lead us back."
"We can still try." It reasoned.
Mordred laughed at its response. "We sure can." She extended her hand towards the orb. "What do you say we do it? Together...Like always."
The orb landed in her palm. "Will do. Be it a failure or success-" The orb began.
"This is my destiny to choose." Mordred finished.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" The adrenaline was kicking in and numbing my pain and bloodlust. I pushed the blade deeper into my body and wrapped my remaining arm around Arthur's shoulders. The target, who never expressed any emotion up until now, widened his eyes in shock.
I leaned closer to his neck and bit down on it. Blood spewed into my mouth and down my throat. My fangs went hard into his flesh, a beartrap wouldn't compare to the force I had applied. Arthur screamed and tried to dislodge me from his body. The sharp edges of my armor pierced his skin, increasing his agitation and desperation.
I never loosen my grip. There was nothing but pain and determination in my mind. If he wanted to kill me, then I would take him down with me. If it meant being a cannibal to accomplish this act of defiance, then so be it. In mere seconds, I felt bone and crushed past it. Then I felt my lower and upper teeth meeting each other. At the same time, his struggles stopped and his voice went silent.
I tore out the flesh from his body and spat out the flesh and bones onto the ground. Arthur's body dropped dead upon the grass, a pool of blood leaked from his gaping wound. I was left standing above his corpse for the second time. The corrupted Excalibur was still protruding from my back and I made no attempt to remove it.
I felt my right side being lighter than normal. My right lower arm was still missing so I wrapped it in cloth that I ripped from Arthur's black dress. Anything would do to slow my bleeding life force; I still had things to finish before I die.
I turned my head to see his corrupted corpse. "Happy Anniversary."
Slowly, I stumble my way into the cave.
