"Now's the time." Sonic turned to his sword.
"Indeed." Caliburn nodded.
"You ready?" the azure speedster turned to his little brother.
Ogilvie nodded. "Yes, I am. Let's—"
"WAIT!"
"Huh?!" the brothers turned to see their older brother appear out of his crystal mist, a new crystal sword in his hand as he advanced towards them.
"Ric!" the youngest triplet wanted to run to the eldest triplet but the middle triplet stopped him and glared at the other.
"What do you want?" he growled.
Maurice sighed. "Look, Nic, I'm not gonna hurt you guys again. Not this time. I want to help,"
"Why is that? Cause I'm pretty sure you don't want to help the Kingdom,"
"Indeed, I don't," the jade-eyed hedgehog confirmed, earning a glare from his emerald-eyed brother. "but I do want to make sure that you guys are safe…and alive…"
He choked on his words as tears began to roll down his cheeks from his eyes. The two exchanged worried looks before they walked over to embrace him in a hug.
"Sorry, Ric," Sonic stifled his own tears. "We…er, I didn't mean to make you cry,"
"Hey," Maurice smiled and wiped his tears. "It's okay. What's important now is that we stop Merlina,"
They all nodded then they ran towards the Hallow.
"Here we go!"
X
"Woah…" the triplet brothers' eyes widened to see the wizard on a throne.
Merlina was no longer the wizard she was before. She was now a queen, a Dark Queen, a.k.a the Dark Queen of the Underworld.
"I've been expecting the three of you to arrive," she spoke in her voice yet it felt…dark and…hollow…
"Just one question before we settle this." Maurice stepped forward to bravely ask. "Why'd you do it?"
"Yeah," Sonic was confused about everything. "Weren't we trying to save this kingdom from the Underworld?"
"This kingdom will fail one way or another." the Dark Queen replied, quite vaguely. "Such is its fate."
"Huh?!" Ogilvie scratched his head.
"Do you know what is to become of this kingdom?"
"Beats us," the triplets said in unison, each with a shrug.
Merlina stood up from her throne and moved forward. "Lancelot and Gawain's rift shall doom the Round Table. Arthur is struck down by his son Mordred and departs for Avalon."
"Hmm…" Maurice was listening closely. 'She got future vision of the occasion. I gotta know why…'
"This was to be our ideal world, but it will not last." she went on. "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table will end in ruin. The King Arthur my grandfather Merlin created led to nothing but mistakes, but I can succeed with the power of the scabbard, creating a kingdom that never ends."
She summoned a bloomed flower into her hands and the brothers got a flashback from when she first picked up the flower in the woods, making them all gasp in realization.
"What good is a world that goes on forever!?" the three cried out, holding out their swords.
"My sorrow an its ruin runs deeper than the depths of the Underworld. Do you not understand?"
"No!" Sonic growled, pouncing to attack. "And I don't wanna!"
"Nic, NO!" the other two tried to stop him but it was too late.
The emerald-eyed knight charged at Merlina, who used a force field to repel him, causing to be struck down.
"No!" His brothers rushed to his aid then they all glared at the Dark Queen.
"Your efforts are futile." she gave a smirk and chuckle.
The jade-eyed knight and the lime-eyed knight made an attempt to fight with rapid slashes but they both got repelled and thrown back.
"No way…" Sonic gasped in shock with wide eyes as a dark form with many tentacles appeared behind Merlina.
"Sonic!" Caliburn rushed to raise his knight's hand to guard him.
"Caliburn?!" the azure hero was surprised by the defense.
"Fool!" the talking, floating sword scolded. "A knight but always be on his guard!"
Suddenly, Merlina's creature slashed him in half, along with the other swords they had.
"Noo!!!!" the triplets were enraged and attempted to kill the Dark Queen right there, right now.
Unfortunately, they were hit back and were pushed down.
"It is time to end this…"
The triplets weakly looked up to see the creature once before they get rapidly thrashed by the beast, their screams filling the place as they get struck down.
From a portal above, Nimue and the Knights of the Round Table watched the battle in horror.
"Sir Maurice, Sir Sonic, Sir Ogilvie, you've done enough!" Percival cried out to them.
But that didn't faze them to give up their battle. Still weak as ever, the brothers helped each other to stand and pointed their half-bladed swords towards their foe.
"No!" Lancelot shouted. "There is no point in continuing."
"A-A knight never flees his foe, right, g-guys?" Sonic turned to his brothers, who nodded in agreement with him before they all get hit down again.
"You fools!" Gawain was in verge of extreme panic. "This no longer has anything to do with chivalry. Get out of there! Run!"
The three didn't listen and helped each other to stand up again.
"It…It was never about chivalry for any of us." Ogilvie admitted, his voice shaking.
"We've just gotta do what we've gotta do." Maurice nodded. "That's all."
"And that's…" Sonic patted on exhaustion. "…that's what we need to do."
"MAURICE! SONIC! OGILVIE!" the Knights of the Round Table screamed in agony until a bronze, a silver, and a golden light appeared from the portal.
"The long lost light of the scared sword!" Nimue gasped. "Quick! Your swords!"
They tossed their swords into the light and the light traveled to the triplet brothers.
In a flash, each triplet got a new piece of armor; Ogilvie gained a bronze armor and an orange cape while his air-powered sword turned into a golden staff with a crystal ball at it's tip. Maurice gained a silver armor and a black cape while his crystal sword reformed into a bigger one. Sonic, on the other hand, gained a golden armor and a red cape while Caliburn was reborn and transformed into a larger version of himself.
"Woah…" the three stared at each other in amazement.
"That's the greatest of the sacred swords; Excalibur!" Nimue gasped as she told them.
"Oh yeah!" the youngest triplet twirled his new staff around.
"Let's do this!" the eldest triplet proudly showed of his new sword.
"Alright! Let's go!" the middle triplet smirked, taking out Caliburn before they all charged at the Dark Queen.
"You cannot stop me." Merlina and her creature fused and turned into a huge monster.
"We have to destroy it!" Sonic told his team and they nodded in agreement.
SLASH! SWING! ZAP! BOOM!
The battle went on and on until Maurice and Ogilvie took Merlina by surprise, earning their brother an opportunity to end her, slicing her into half.
"NOOO!" she wailed, her dark form ceasing. "But I…I…AAAAH!!!"
"There's nothing the Excalibur cannot cut through." Caliburn smirked as they watched her reform back to her normal self.