OBERON

I once had a dream…

Opening my eyes, I found myself in the most comfortable position possible. The din of the living world was far away, non-existent from the peaceful silence that reigned within my ears.

I was never a fan of the spring-like ambiance of the forests of Wales. The magical pixie dust being produced by the little rejects of the world was too much even to my taste. Yet, I did appreciate the view it had over the skies, fake as they were.

Within that dream, I blissfully allowed myself to rest to the most beautiful the Moon had ever been in the artificial world of Fae Britain. For once, the imaginary fantasy that one broken child had in her obsession with this land allowed some beauty to linger unto the surface. I even found myself smiling.

The fledgling lights that some of the rejects, those who called Wales home started to spread their pale magnificence to make an artificial world seem natural and alive. They even allowed the sounds of the environment to prosper, from the simple throes of crickets and that of the gentle sway of the breeze as those who made the hazel thickets their home started to rest, turning to sleep.

I remember it vividly, how at peace I felt. How the many failures of an urge and objective I could not understand were washed away at how happy I felt.

Happy. Genuine happiness that allowed my two-faced smile to be what it was, a smile.

The soft tunes of the natural world around me were merely an imitation as far as I understood, yet they conveyed the same feeling of bliss as I felt the softest of hands caress and stroke my hair.

A soft hum is heard in the air. The voice it belonged to, was the most beautiful one I have ever heard. It far eclipsed even that of my most grand of performances. My grandest of tales.

It felt real. It felt genuine in an ocean of lies and false fantasies.

I remember humming to the tune as well. Our voices, our… souls dance in a duet that allows the many around us to brighten and twinkle. Like stars in the night sky. Burning with fervor, with their souls held high across the windowsill of fate.

Her hair was beautiful. Her dress, simple yet elegant. The seams, the cape she wore glistened with a majestic bluish black which had the wondrous, colorful stars etched upon its ethereal fabric. It twinkled like the night sky up above us. It marveled at the beauty of such an artificial world into something new entirely.

She then sings. A song I am not too familiar with. A song that I could not help but follow with my own voice. Yet the glistening, lovely tune of her ballad and melody makes me close my eyes and just let go.

Then that voice vanishes like wisps of smoke in the air.

My smile turned into a frown as the silence was only broken by the peaceful sounds of the inhabitants of Wales imitating the natural world. I remember opening my eyes in the dream. My expression turns into that of concern as I see her looking straight into the sky in silence. Her features were hidden from me as I remember feeling cold.

The chill was not only due to the literal temperature but of the crawling feeling of doubt and fear in my chest. In the dream, I called out her name. My Queen.

My Titania.

I asked her what was wrong. What ailed her. What caused her to become silent.

I… I wish I hadn't asked. For when she turned to me, she had no face. No voice. No features. A second later, I was in the forest grounds of Wales. Woken up, my head resting upon the hollowed grounds as if I were in vigil.

Silence remained my companion as my heart, black enough as it was, was torn in two.

I remember clutching it as my emotions and expressions turned to that of a violent shock which slowly progressed into a feeling of emptiness afterwards.

I don't remember crying nor did I have any spirit to.

Because… well, I knew it was pointless.

Immediately I wondered if the blankness, the absence was the result of me forgetting. That her song. Her dress… her face, and everything about her was real and I… and I simply forgot about her? Was it because of my station? My role in this artificial land?

I felt scared. For the other question in my mind, the dominant one to which I was denying on being the truth kept on knocking at the door of my conscious mind.

Titania was real. Yet she was also not.

She was as much of a fiction as my current form. An artificial creation that only existed in fantasies. In the imaginations of mortal men and women as they lull themselves to sleep with smiles on their faces.

I remember looking upon the artificial night sky, wondering why I was allowed to have this much pain and tragedy from merely just existing. From merely being lonely, knowing full well that my Queen, my Titania, lays beyond my grasp.

Beyond my reach… even if I were to dedicate the destruction of everything just for her, I would never reach her. Even if I were to wish for myself to never exist in the first place, I will never feel her touch again. Nor hear her voice and song.

I was forever alone, staring at the starry night sky, lamenting my entire existence as a nightmare.

It was sad.

Depressing.

Even the way how I tell this little story feels unabatedly defeated. All semblance of hope washed away knowing that the impossible dream could only manifest and be made reality within my fantasies.

Perhaps…

Perhaps that was the reason I latched onto the Child of Prophecy.

She was a pawn, an unideal, lost pawn, but her lamentations over her own dreams and hopes against the lonely star in the sky made me relate to her.

We never truly learned that our desires and hopes were impossible…

But she…

She found light despite it all.

And to find that the end of her story was bright even as the darkness in Britain prevailed, I believe respect was the best I could ever give.

For even now, I realize…

That I just fantasized about those last bits of the dream. My mind tried to erase those justifications in order to keep up what semblance of hope remained, yet there was no blankness.

No absence of any kind.

The face of the Titania I saw in the dream, was of myself, looking down at me with that vague, unknown smile.


-02:14

The blinding flash of light around us made me pause as I finally saw Artoria. Dear Artoria, now once more coming late into the finale. Wishing to turn the tide in the protagonist's favor. I mocked her name earlier when I was locked blades with her blessed human puppy.

Yet, as I hovered there before her, at the end of the world, I found myself at an impasse.

Conflicted emotions. The kind that I was sure she too was experiencing.

Once more, we were on opposite sides. Mine hellbent on destruction and hers, saving what goodness still remained in this awful, depressing world. Our stories were so close at the beginning, yet unraveling as we both spiraled towards our ends.

We already knew each other, quite well after our initial talk back in Britain. She carefully understood my intentions, my sorrow, and the truth of our little alliance. Yet she shouldered on with her merry friends, specifically that of Ritsuka Fujimaru which allowed her to believe and accept her ending even if her dream and wish were unfulfilled. Yet she became something more

And I was saddled with the losing side as I fell towards oblivion.

I do not pity her, no. Jealousy isn't even something I'm capable of given everything I've done, but simply watching her accept her fate despite everything that happened to her, knowing full well that she could not reach it, just makes me feel strange.

Strangeness with a sense of respect and that was perhaps the reason why the bumbling, depressed fool that called himself Eidolon had mine after his Midsummer's Dream had ended. I did not even expect him to go on despite all of the truths pressed down into his head. I fully expected him to go quietly out as a weak man who perished under his own insecurities and failings. Yet, he persisted, and beautiful as his little show of bravery and acceptance was, it only made my victory that much assured.

It was a pleasant, albeit surprising turn of events this near the finale, one that I had no expectations to begin with.

And now, here we were again at the precipice. The Child of Prophecy and the Final Gasp of Britain. Reunited, like old friends. It was painfully eerie how this journey and the last played out like an irony to our fates.

Dear Artoria, I wonder if we are destined to play this song and dance for the rest of time.

Or perhaps this was just fate's way of me having revenge for her and Fujimaru winning the first time?

No, even this late I don't feel hatred for her nor did the lust for vengeance come to the surface. This was just an acceptance. An acceptance of whichever side we chose, even at the end of time.

An acceptance over this second cycle that brought us to arms against each other again.

I don't have any sort of word to describe this mutualism of ours that exists. For neither are we truly friends nor enemies. Merely stage names to ascribe whichever archetype fits us best. In this cycle, I fully believed myself to be the protagonist, and she the unwilling obstacle, the deuteragonist in the most barest of senses.

My final goal was so close to fruition and the powers that be, who supply me the strength necessary to end this poor little excuse of a stage play, were subtly urging me forward to end it. To stop hesitating this close to the inevitable finish.

But I cannot, I don't know why this encounter meant so much to me, as I stare at that familiar face once more. I don't know why I needed to stop for a moment, as the world seemingly slowed down just for my feelings to arrive the way they were.

Maybe I just wanted to be proud of something. Maybe I'm just compensating for the loneliness I felt amidst this journey so far.

Maybe the presence of a familiar face just made me nostalgic.

I felt a genuine smile tickle my face as the swarm wraps around me. My Wyrm, the representation of the void that I currently was howls like the final horn in the Abrahamic tradition of the Revelation.

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUMMMMMM!

Great oceans and seas parted before me as the loud crash of my assault shook the world entirely. The earthquakes are tantamount and repulsive as the waters rise up high into the Troposphere, only to be sucked in by the void. My impact revealed a sheen, a dome completely reinforced by a light blue aura as the entire island remained unphased. Even as the bedrock and plates around it shuddered with magma, fire, and ash, it remained standing.

I watch her, her face similarly unphased. Her expression of defiance, of sadness, and determination flinched slightly, as the power I unleashed just with that action had been sufficient that she managed to flinch. That small little detail, a chink in the defense allowed me to confidently increase the width of my grin as the hopeful aura of every single person within that island, still living started to grow concern over their newly arrived savior.

Her puppy, the blessed human filled with guilt and sorrow who clashed with me earlier remained defiant and surprisingly headstrong. The sheen of defeat and failure completely gone as the rays of light that Artoria unveiled allowed nearly everyone to not succumb to the chaos of the end. She had no true control nor effect over each and every person involved under her shield, but the fact that the light persisted against the cataclysm, allowed their darkened souls to once more brighten.

The brightest amongst them, a little girl inspired by hope through the first heroine I had ever killed became a bright torch that allowed the hopes of these people to prosper.

With that amount of belief and hope, small as it was, Artoria looked at me with strength in her eyes. I smiled back acknowledging the challenge as the twelve constructs around her groan with power as her form brightens. The weapon in her puppy's hands similarly responds and one of the twelve constructs fire like a battering ram in full speed against me.

THRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUMMM!

A spear of light, or more akin to a beam burned through my form, my Wyrm, and my entire existence as its influence and trajectory would soar forward for miles, like a comet at speeds imperceptible even to the naked eye. I shouted in pain and celebration as the darkness around me was parted.

The shroud that I had covered the entire planet in was parted and those on the island were now able to see the stars and the clouds again, even for just mere moments. My enlarging void howls in pain as just the exposure to the hit had made reintegrating myself agonizing.

The mighty power of such an attack was so absurd, even to my own shock as it tore through this world's atmosphere and more in that singular attack. The breadth of such devastation refined and truly unleashed, was comparable only to some very few attacks I had encountered in my experience before.

And that was just one of the twelve.

She quickly reformed that lost construct within her presence again as I looked at her and understood that the action earlier was a warning shot.

Even the people behind her, watching in rapt attention found their souls brighten in hope once more at the simple act. Some cheering her on as even the slight visible strain on Artoria's face allowed her to continue being determined and defiant knowing that she had the means to completely harm me.

She was correct in assuming so and given that she was now preparing to fire all twelve of those consecutively at me, I finally feel glad that this was one of the last obstacles in my way. A true test of my journey as it neared the end.

I had no true power to completely negate or even defend myself against such an attack, yet I had something that Artoria never had…

Resilience.

I attack again, the swarm, the ashes, and death, all that came from my wake barrel down once more against the island as its blue sheen repulsed each attack that would send shockwaves that could crack mountains and pierce the sky in heavy sonic booms.

Relentlessly, those destroyed by the onslaught began falling down into my abyss as the fragile remains of this world, slowly fractured against my excessive power while it shuddered with each bated breath. The hopeful aura around the island slowly shifted as the world around their reinforced wake was breaking in the most chaotic and devastating fashion.

The heroes, the many volunteers, those who kept up the brave front started reorganizing as I heard and sensed them doing their best to keep everyone safe and secure as the hope that brewed in their hearts turned into action and a hard, steel-like drive.

Their dedications, their souls, whoever they once were…

Heroes, villains, or simple bystanders embraced that fear into finally standing up for themselves in what I could only describe as their final hour.

My malice, destruction, the type that now broke what remained of the world so that it would fall into my maw was now creating an opposite effect.

The fear remained, the sorrow and acceptance were at its peak, yet the burning aura of hope illuminated everyone from their own darkness in an act of defiance to my actions at this point. The blazing glory of such an emotion, ripe and powerful, even seeped through the mechanical one that I could not see prior. A soul so pure and bright was born out of Artoria's light…

And now they all turned their eyes to me.

Their perspective painted me as the villain of the story as my smile once more glistened.

Genuinely happy at this entire twist of fate. Genuine, without any trace of irony at all as I continue to attack while the waves of water and bedrock burst around me with each hit.

"It is never too late to accept that it's over," I say as Artoria's expression softens.

"You would be right." She says as the glowing weapon held by her puppy brightens with such intensity that my eyes narrow.

I formed another large mass within the collective and brought it down like a fist of the Gods in one stroke.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUMMMMMM!

The dome shuddered once more as the force rippled around me, its force strong enough that I was able to create enough power to shatter Fae Britain and all the landmasses close to it into nothing but debris.

I watch her, the people behind her remain steadfast, their hopes and the bright cinders in their souls fueling her power that was limited despite the excess she carried to injure me. Some of that power waned in my most recent strike, as I saw Artoria's serene face, allowing a trickle of sweat to fall from the side of her head.

"But the story would not feel complete this way."

I smiled, knowing full well she understood the same as I posed to attack again in the literal storm of my power surrounding me like a hurricane of the most epic proportions.

"I agree…" I whisper. Both our eyes, seeing our existences and emotions allowed me to convey a few words that only she would hear with my utmost heart. "… it is… it is nice seeing you once more, dear Child of Prophecy."

Both our eyes close at the same time

"I as well, Faerie King Oberon." I hear her say with emotion trickling in her voice as we both open our eyes to the cusp of power, overflowing the Earth around us as my attack begins to barrel down on them.

And Artoria bathes me in her light as all twelve constructs…

All imbued by the power of the Sword of Promised Victory, strike me like a sword right through my heart.

KRAKATHRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMM!

Our clash, if ever there was any chance, would sing through the ages as something legendary.

I smile even as the heat burns me to the core…


Oberon's essence burns as I watch a companion…

A face that was there in my journey was pushed back. My power, the manifestation of my being that had rendered the skies clear once more, allowed the sun to be seen again. Its image setting as the large Wyrm still looms overhead us.

Still, I felt the breaths behind me relax in relief, even if partly as Keith, his damaged, burning soul and body managed to look up to me with a smile despite his agony. Soft cheers were heard around me as the renewed hope within the people was resurrected albeit with wariness.

I found myself smiling in relief, but the strain…

Even with the bright rays of hope that bloomed around me, I felt myself losing some of my focus as I nearly fell from my position in the air. Sweat started manifesting in this, limited form I have summoned myself in as my connection to Avalon, and whatever power remained in this iteration of mine was so minimal. My act broke the Will of the World that wished for this world and many attached to it be erased completely.

I was alone this time, with only the burgeoning hope of those in Eden and through Keith and the few left here being my source as that one volley allowed me to make their spirits soar. To make them dream and hope again as they look at the natural beautiful sky. The star, the representation of my hopes and dreams twinkles despite my waning strength as I vow to do what I can…

Even if I were to fall.

However, before I can reach the ground, the dutiful and hopeful spirits around me, the most recent, born from the bright radiant glow of her dedication to humanity catch me in her mechanical arms.

They all scramble to help me, the closest one… a woman who was once a child born out of war tears in great happiness as she sees my sweating, strained expression that was hopefully making out a smile.

"Y-You saved us." She whispered as she squeezed my hand. I nodded as they flocked to me.

The soul within the mechanical being that caught me then looked towards the horizon.

"Is he gone?" her name, Theresa I reckon as I can finally see her memories, says as my expression becomes that of difficulty.

"N-No." I immediately try to help myself back up as the people around me assist me. The remaining defenders, their eyes filled with fear and concern over me, were quickly changed into horror towards my statement. The burgeoning hope that was bright within them was still there, but I felt the aura of exhaustion, of defeat blooming within them as the now clear skies, with the exception of the Wyrm being stalled, made it all feel like a pointless endeavor to fight back in any capacity.

"Can… we actually do anything to stop this? Or to get all of these people to safety?" one asked, Colin his name was, I nodded in his direction as the one named Hannah helped me stand.

"We can. My duty here is to make sure all of you that's left are safely transported to Eden."

"But how can we do that?" Theresa asks.

I turn my head towards Keith. The man no longer had any capacity to speak as every word burned when his lungs were already injured deeply. His entire being was and I painfully see his nod of affirmation as he helped himself up by standing with Marmyadose in his arms. Most of his limbs were already blackened, and the blood on his suit while some would argue was of the battle, was of his own. The man was one cast away from sharing the fate of Percival…

And even if I am a copy, a memory of the Artoria that once walked and enacted the Pilgrimage, the event was still scorched in my mind. All of the sacrifices, all of the pain, and it's happening again, just on a grander scale that I had no ability to stop in any fashion.

Yet, I see that same determination in his eyes. That same smile. Dear Keith reminded me too much of Percival and my shining knight, Gareth. Their smiles were dear to me, and their dedication to seeing everything to the end even if it meant their deaths still breaks my heart. However, I realize again that it was their choice, this was Keith's choice, and seeing how everyone looked upon him at this moment besides my own presence, it would be an insult to shed tears for them in mourning…

I had to act as well.

My face becomes firm as some of the strength returns to my legs. Willpower and the hopes of these people will be my crutch as Hannah, the woman holding onto me watched in shock.

"Oberon will return soon, and I cannot stop them, but this reprieve will serve as our opportunity." I turned towards Colin with a look that made him stand straighter. "Gather everyone in one concentrated place… I will use the last of my power to allow a bridge to get you all to Eden."

The man quickly nodded and the people around me, the defenders were about to do just that, only for the woman holding me, Hannah, started to sob.

"A-and what about you?" she asked me. Eyes filled with pain as tears trickled down her cheeks.

We all became silent at her words as I stared at her. Her memories, her life, clear to me in full detail. I could not help but feel my eyes begin to feel wet as she looked at me with pure devastation and sorrow. Guilt wrapped her entire being, to the point that her weapon shifted every second.

"I've lost people I love… people I cherished, and I've seen good men, women… and c-children perish around me while I couldn't do a damn thing. All of them… willing to sacrifice their lives just to save people they don't know just so we can all see another day."

She then squeezes my hand. "… and now I see you, no younger than I was when war destroyed my home… willing to do everything just to save us all. A child… someone so young that you would never see the light of day ever again…"

"Hannah…" Theresa whispers, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"… why does it always have to be you? The innocent ones. The pure ones. Those who have a brighter future ahead of them that choose the hardest choices. Why are we all so helpless that all of these sacrifices need to be made in the first place?"

I recognize that she does not fully tell those words specifically to me… but it was to herself. Her failure to do anything at all after all of the death and suffering that happened around her from the burning of her village in the past, and the destruction of her world now.

I realize too… that this was what everyone was feeling at that moment. The nearly same sentiment prevailed in the eyes and souls of each and every soul present. They all began asking why they, of all people, were still alive…

And why they were so powerless to help in any capacity at all… this far into the end.

They looked at me, the stranger, one whose face they were yet to know, going this far to save them amongst many others who have similarly given their lives to save them all, in mourning.

They were all tired. Beaten down and despite the hope clinging to their hearts, that hope only existed because they had someone to look up to. Someone who became a symbol in their darkest hour.

Me… and Keith.

They were all scared. Scared if they were to lose me as well.

"Hannah," I speak.

My only response to all of them was a pure, genuine smile of thanks. Of hope. Of tranquility.

Of trust for better days.

"Smile… if not for my sake, do it for the people that still believe in you."

She stops to my words as I lift her hand. The green projection of her power transformed into a beautiful flower. The first in her entire life. The symbol of the weapon was a part of her that never left, deep down she was still the mourning lost girl who found her innocence taken away so soon…

…And I wished to return some of that innocence back remaking the image of her haunted dreams into something more.

"You are a hero." I then turned to them. "All of you that stand here now. Defying all the odds to protect the people around you to safety. You may not have been one before, but you are now." I then turned towards the gathering of normal people that were nearby. "Right at this moment, these people still believe in you."

I then smile again as I turn to Keith. "…And if you believe in me, then I ask you all to trust my words. My decree and I guarantee that those tears, those trials, all meant something in the end."

The mood of the entire gathering changes to that of positivity. Even Hannah, whose tears still clung to the flower that was now in her hands, felt lighter. Some even cheered, childish and innocent as the act was, but some found the renewed hope in their hearts turned into action and determination.

Colin, being one of them stood up and already told orders to get everyone organized.

The people parted around me, Hannah and Theresa remained by my side as they helped me towards Keith. The poor man held Marmyadose like a crutch as he weakly smiled in my direction.

OOWOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

The howl of the Wyrm beckoned, my reinforcement over this last patch of land making the shockwaves hit the dome without issue, but I could feel the world around us shudder once more. Oberon was still not at their peak, but the sky was already darkening once more in his presence.

He was literally unstoppable now and it was only time before the warned sudden collapse that Avalon told me was to occur.

"Do we have enough time?" Theresa asked.

"We do." I looked at the two women by my sides as I nodded at each of them. "The reinforcement will hold, giving me enough time to enact my spell."

I then offered my hand to Keith and he quickly took it, even as weak as he currently was.

"And it's up to us to make the final push."

Hannah looked uncomfortable, and Theresa was as well, but they both nodded all the same.

Just in time for a scream to tear into the air.

A black mass of darkness congregated against the dome. The waters, the sea level I reckon was a good deal lower than it once was as more bedrock, debris, and much of oceans were funneled down into the Wyrm as Oberon struck the dome blow for blow.

Even the weather around him had thundered and crackled in lightning while people inside the dome scurried quickly under the guidance of their heroes.

An implosion that quickly turned into a powerful rupture was felt, as magma was launched high into the sky and the chaos outside slowly started to resemble the intensity and the power of the deity Cernunnos in his last moments.

Oberon kept screaming. It was almost animalistic. It seems they haven't reformed and recovered enough to be more functional in terms of thought. I could feel their emotions however as I nodded to Keith. My mind already starting the spell as a magical circle appears around us. Both our hands holding Marmyadose as the assembled people near us, the survivors also see a wide magical circle appearing around them in tandem with ours.

I felt my sweat drop with each consecutive exertion as Oberon continues to break the world around us. My pool of power that I drew upon dwindled considerably with each usage, but I continued on.

The spell moved to its final steps as the circles started to turn very bright between us.

Hannah and Theresa quickly joined the others as they put their faith and trust in me and Keith without fail.

"GIVE UP!" a voice finally ripples from the mass attacking us as Oberon's face finally forms from one of them.

We continued with the spell…

Only for me and Keith to widen our eyes as time seemingly slowed down.

He then immediately pulled Marmyadose from the ground and off our circle and raised the weapon towards a direction in the sky. My support kept him upright as he fired a beam of pure light upwards…

Which met an attack, in the form of pure energy clashing against it.

BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMM!

Yet, the clash was so great, oppressive, and alien that to my shock, the entire world shook and buckled under its aftereffects. Everything was blown away.

So much so that even the dome, the energy dispelled against it was so immense that it collapsed. I nearly lost my footing as I clung to Keith.

Both our eyes were then widened in horror as we stared at what was in the sky.

Those who were still alive looked up towards the newcomer. Fear blossomed in their wake as the silence stretched, their hearts beating slowly as the familiar face for the inhabitants of Bet was there. The new context given to them bearing the nature of this man, this entity led them to freeze in place.

Even Oberon, some of their mass of darkness pushed back had stopped completely as a Golden Man hovered in a fixed position in the sky. Like a messiah proclaiming a divine message.

Then, like one of those bards that proclaim the greatness of Faerie Queen Morgan, he sang.

The Golden Light around him, enveloping the world as I hastily raise both my arms. I feel some blood pooling within my throat as I erect another hasty reinforcement to delay and hold back this authority over this Earth.

Particles of this world's composition, even to the slim extent of what magical nature remained in this dead world, were erased and rearranged with simple ease in just one act. The powerful, golden sheen that it had just created by simply enlarging the radius of its brightness and casting it on a figure of miles on end had recontextualized Earth Bet entirely. The Oceans that once inhabited this part of the world were gone completely. What water level remained from the surface of the world was reduced to a capacity that I could not fathom, and what landmass was left was reduced to bubbling pieces of the world below the surface that were wrought with burning magma, lava, and ash.

Not even the air was spared, as what traces of clouds in the skies were no longer able to form as that one act had rendered the nature of this world uninhabitable in the most extreme of senses.

Even some of Oberon's mass was erased from that action, but they were unphased as they continued to look at the Golden Man and towards me.

My reinforcement, the dome that I set up had cracks within it as the people that trusted us screamed in panic and fear, but they remained in the circle that was still cast. The defenders, Hannah, Colin, Theresa, and the others, even that small sickly child, looked at us with trust in their eyes even with the overwhelming fear.

I dared not to fail that promise even as blood started to appear on my lips.

Keith did not fare better, his feet barely keeping him standing, but the burning will of his kept him up amidst the intense pain, the burns around his body now comprising most of his arms and legs as he held Marmyadose high in defense.

The Golden Man merely glared at us, narrowing his eyes as the once serene expression he held in the memories I have from Keith was replaced with a legitimate snarl and fury. He raised his hand, and I could feel the hum of energies so alien gathering again into his fingertips as he aimed at us.

A bloom of Golden Light once more appeared before the world as it hit the dome. The cracks manifested further as my reserves were rapidly being drained away. The people believing in us screamed in fright as I and Keith looked at each other again and placed both our hands on Marmyadose.

To finally end the spell.

The spell circle bloomed even against the golden light showering and breaking the dome, and the people within the circle watched as their forms started glowing…

And we both managed to turn our heads on the remaining people of Earth Bet, to give them one final smile. I could hear their mourning already, their thanks, their convictions, and sorrow as they watched us, bloodied and injured carrying them to safety for the last time.

I could feel Hannah holding the flower that was her power into her chest as she cried.

I watched Colin, re-evaluate everything he had ever thought of himself as he watched me, Keith, and many others who sacrificed so much to get them to this point.

I saw dear Theresa, still unaware of the soul that now resided within her raise a hand in goodbye as the rest of the defenders, from the blinded Vista, to the once villainous members of their society watched in mourning as the light enveloped them completely…

Never to see us again.

And… before they would vanish, I caught a glimpse of Clarissa thanking me, thinking of me as an angel. A far memory that she would never forget, even as she would pass into the veil of the next life.

The spell finishes.

It was now only I and Keith remaining. Our hands hold Marmyadose as the dome shatters. I see Keith stumble and lose his strength finally until I catch him before he falls. Within my arms, the dying man, his essence already fading away into dust and ash could only stare at me weakly as dried blood clogged his lips. I take his hand, his other already ashes as his essence flows into an unseen wind around us.

His grip was still strong despite his current state, and he tried to mouth some words to me as I understood them down to the very last punctuation and promise.

The dome around us shatters completely down to nothing as the aura of mine, the faint sheen of white light was what kept us from vanishing without sharing one single moment at the end.

His wish was simple for me…

Watch over his son, his beloved boy. May his starlight live… and remember him as he stares towards the faint star, both as the token and the symbol of his undying love.

I nodded at him before I reached out and kissed him gently on the forehead. His eyes close finally as I feel him whisper a thanks before he too vanishes into ash.

The golden light still bathed me as I looked up and saw Oberon fighting back with all his strength at the enemy. I felt my weak limbs gather pain as I stood up, the rest of the island around me being erased as I reached for Marmyadose.

The sash that I gave Keith. Cnoc na Riabh's scarf attached to its handle with his son's star attached to it. Their hopes remained. Their glowing essences, their souls shined truly. Their memories, dear to me as the weapon once held in pure honor and heroism by the great hero Heracles found its stride once more.

The weapon, forged by the Gods, for the good of humanity that was now passed to me, gleamed in light as the twelve essences of Excalibur formed around me.

I return my gaze to Oberon.

The hum of the Sword of Promised Victory's concept was clear to my ears as I let them loose.

I eventually faded into particles of starlight, with a smile on my face…

In a way, this was enough to help a dear old friend who had lost his way.

-0:01


THROOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMM!

I felt that energy, the holy gleam of Artoria's light and power striking the Golden Fool to the point that I was left blindsided. My shock was tenfold when those constructs, the ones she used to burn me and wound me to some extent that still stung had hit its target with true intent.

The world was once more bathed in blinding light as the entity's meat puppet screamed in agony.

Completely not expecting the constructs of Artoria's power to obliterate it or even harm it painfully in any sort of sense as the clash sent the already broken atmosphere close to nothing.

I was left to myself again, for a brief moment as I thought about what Artoria had done.

The world was no longer unrecognizable below me, even as the swarm lifted my current body high up in the heavens. Even then, there was no sign of life to sense anymore. No signals, no auras that were familiar or unknown to me.

The world was just reduced back to being quiet as my Wyrm continued to plunder the remains of this world, its influence now stripping parts of what humans called the mantle over the large opening the Golden Man had rendered.

I was… alone again.

In the expanse. In the idle silence.

Destruction was my goal from the start. Torturing, killing, and eliminating these people, these wastes, and making them suffer in the most painful way possible through their souls, their bodies, and minds. It was my goal after I was given this chance. This grace that my benefactor had given me.

And yet, I am here left unsure of what to do as my Wyrm finishes the job.

There was no great climax, no great final last stand, as the people, the many who were supposed to be there for me to finish off were no longer here. I had no idea where Artoria took them, I had no idea where to even start contemplating on how to follow them for I knew no breadcrumbs remained for me to track. Everything had disappeared once Artoria had faded.

Yet, she still helped me by driving back the Golden Man for a time.

I sigh. What destruction and hate I had with Britain was very much ingrained in my soul. In Vortigern's soul as well as the burning yield within me that wished to snuff out the people who broke entire worlds just to make sure theirs survived. Even as Britain was rendered empty from the fires of each calamity, I still relished in its destruction.

For it was a symbol of my torment, my jailors, to be exact.

I had an attachment to that land. A great big attachment that allowed me to find solace that I actually finished something for once.

This? This world they called Bet?

It had nothing. It just had people I loathed. People I was impressed by. People that were as uninteresting as pockets of dirt in the desert of time. I had no attachment to it. No goal in mind except for destruction and torture…

…and now I sit at its corpse. Contemplative, acknowledging a mistake in my first action that had rendered me lonely once more.

Why? What was my goal? What came after when I was expected to finish it?

What reward was there for me that lay at the end of the rainbow when the world is gone? Or when the benefactor of mine finally reached its just due?

I stewed in those thoughts for a moment until seconds later a glow persisted into the world once more. The Golden Man had returned.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!

It sang a most horrid tune. Its grand appearance was nothing more but an empty stage as I was the only one there to gaze at its form. The meat puppet it had was an imperfect attempt at being human. It was beautiful, wondrous, powerful, and held such weight with its presence, but it was imperfect in trying to be what humans were… the quirk that made them strange and complex in the first place.

Full-blown emotions and conscious thought.

Oh yes, I can feel this one's thoughts, his anger, his fury. In his less than stellar attempt at trying to create and simulate a human form in order to act as its avatar, the fool had enacted to copy and simulate emotions to an extent that to my eyes were that of a dull child.

A dull child that still in many ways knew what relationships were and it was currently mourning the loss and the pain of its mate. It was further brought forth when it sensed its mate's signal. Her power when I jumpstarted David with his wish. It was the reason he was so focused on something else during our clash as it was so excited knowing in full joy that its mate was alive and intact in some way or form.

That distraction while not initiated or expected by me caused him to find that signal, pinpoint it… only for him to realize that it was all a façade. A fake. A ruse that made him hope, that made him trust with full brevity that they would now finish their little cycle and leave this world altogether in a fiery haze across many Earths.

What it found was nothing. What it found was a corpse. What it found was silence and an underlying cry out into infinity knowing full well that it would never be able to see her again. That he would continue to lament and mourn the loss of his loved one, its mate for all eternity with no feasible way of getting her back.

It was why it was so enraged with its simple, barebones emotions and thoughts. It was angry, horribly so towards these people. These humans had tricked him for so long. It was angry in full stride against the entities that had caused it blindness, pain, and worst of all loneliness in the most horrid of ways.

Had it not been able to simulate these emotions, or attempted to create such a connection to humanity in the most basic of senses, this world would have been burned to dust just from the start of my invasion. He would have tried vehemently to kill me and end its cycle on Earth knowing that it had nothing to gain…

But its hubris and pain over being lonely had driven it to stay in these simulated thoughts. These simulated emotions.

And now, from that pain, it had enacted to take my idea at the very start.

To torture and relieve itself in destroying everything that humans and I were dear to. It was willing to transfer all of its frustrations, its pain, its outward hate across every world it latched onto in order to have some sort of satisfaction from having lost everything.

Had I not been an idiot, I would call it plagiarism, but all I see as the Golden Man sang its song and tried to erase me completely with his golden aura, all I see is my own lamentations. My own rage. My own mirror in the most barebones of circumstances.

I found myself frowning at those thoughts.

The idiot had no true vision in seeing me, but what congregation of blackness I had was centralized mostly in two places, the signature of those void centers being my current avatar and that of the Wyrm. With what resources of thought it still had in its trillions of shards that I could feel every emotion of like how the foolish Faerie Queen showed me, it was starting to get creative. It had pulled everything in enacting that one central plan that spanned with it destroying me in the most painful way possible.

Even if it cost it his lifetime, the Golden Man angrily screamed again into the local cosmos as it attacked me with everything in its wake.

My darkness fought against it, yet with every clash that thundered and rendered the planet into a waterless husk, it was still flailing around with its anger as I kept recreating myself through the swarm, making it miss, making it hit something other than I as it continued to fire esoteric energies and centralized singularities upon my Wyrm to little effect.

Compared to David and his quick ascension to being a Nascent Entity, the Golden Man was much more refined. Much more powerful, and much more united and versatile with its complete control over its powers and understanding of its limitations and potential.

I was overwhelmed in the most superlative of senses. Yet I persisted in reforming and fighting back even as the fruitless endeavor just threw this entire fight into a stalemate of epic proportions.

And… I simply had no heart in it anymore as even with this relative change in the silence, I was left with an idiot who was in a similar mindset as I at the start… and fighting against a mirror of yourself was just pointless.

It continued to attack me however, rendering the local solar system to see the light it cast, to the point that as I continued to harass it with my darkness, it reached forward and fired a beam towards the Moon and dragged it down into what remained of Earth.

The celestial body slammed into this world. Pieces of it broke the already corpse-like planet further into ruin as my Wyrm continued to roar in defiance. Its size enlarges with each part of this planet going down its gullet. The Golden Man continued to scream even as I stared in pure and utter indifference at it with each formation of my main body after he destroyed it over and over.

With each continuing second it grew further in fury and frustration as it poised all of its attacks at me in the limitations of its meat puppet in full stride against my rising darkness.

Even if I were not able to fight back in any meaningful fashion given I had nothing like Artoria's conceptual advantage, the bleed of my emotions, the intensive exposure of my aura, the negative chilling collection of emotions being spurned for the worst continued to rain down on the Golden Man like a storm. Its meat puppet overlaid with such negative thought had reached even its main, conscious core in the collective as he was steadily becoming more and more susceptible to Garden of Lost Will's machinations.

I could feel it too… even as he became so rabid to the point that he had reached the Planet's core and ruptured it, he still continued to sob and cry out in an unstoppable haze of fury that he had no bearing that he had just finished the job for me in destabilizing the world from the inside out.

THROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUMMMM!

The Wyrm continued to grow larger in size as more debris of this lost planet came funneling down into it while I gave up on doing anything as it continued to waylay its hate and anger at an entity that it had no real ability to harm or snuff out.

I allowed its Avatar to get close as it moved against me at speeds that exceeded even that of light on a cosmic scale and clenched my throat with its hands. It screamed at me that would make smaller planetoids blow up into dust but I stared right back with an exhausted expression.

It then did something that I did not expect it to do…

I felt my entire body and conscious mind being torn apart in every direction in a haze of golden color and light…

And I found myself on another Earth. Untouched and unhampered by any sort of power.

The Golden Man held me in its hands and threw me into a nearby city. Intact, and looking like nothing had happened to it as I crashed into many buildings that collapsed under my wake while people screamed. I felt this world was alive…

Wisps and souls were scattered around me like insects as I saw a weeping child crying for its dead parents who were crushed under my devastating impact. I watched impassively as the Golden Man energized his arms and fired another burst of its golden light upon me as the weeping child cried out before being reduced to atoms.

The Golden Man had fired this body of mine and made the entire coastline, ranging from miles upon end of this continent into nothing but ash as I kept reforming and as our devastation rendered the world uninhabitable within minutes of intense back and forth, my Wyrm was forced to come into existence again to suck up this world's aftermath as the cycle happened again…

That was exactly what happened in all earnest simplicity, as he had spread me across countless worlds. Both inhabited by humans and some that were just empty barren worlds across the cosmos of infinity as we were locked in a never-ending combat where we would simply reduce those worlds into nothing but ash and debris.

His intention was to torture me. Forced himself to get creative in destroying countless worlds across his reach and under his grasp to be destroyed into a literal melee to the death.

Many he had turned to living flesh, to decentralized atoms, to singularities that ended the world in seconds, to crystallized latices forced and stopped in time, and many space-time anomalies and esoteric effects that my mind across those countless worlds had trouble following it all.

Yet it all ended in the same way…

Even as he kept at it across infinity, in the end, I would still reform and had caused the manifestation of my Great Wyrm to suck what was left.

Thousands, if not trillions or billions of human lives and lifeforms were rendered to death in those space of moments across the worlds he had access to. As time passed, I was exhausted, and had no real heart in continuing this madness as I realized a harsh…

… stark truth in why I was chosen for this job in the first place.

I knew that worlds were pruned regularly across time and space by the will of the world. This world, and its many branches were like Britain. They needed to be destroyed single-handedly… and the entire reason I was given this job…

This chance that I thought was a reward for all my pain and sorrow, was actually purgatory in disguise. My benefactor knew this. It knew my mind. My intentions. My feelings.

And it played me in giving me my wish of destroying and torturing humanity.

Yet in reality, what I was… was merely a cleaner. I was a tool. I was a tool to force this Golden Man, this Entity to destroy these branch realities in one fell swoop so that they were now dislodged and completely locked away from the worlds that still had merit.

I was a janitor in the most extreme of cases. There to clean up what came after.

My Wyrm, my entire existence was to be the cleaner to get rid of the weeds in the garden filled with fruitful plants and flowers. I was the one that took out the garbage. The waste…

For I was as filthy and empty as these dead worlds.

"…" I could not help but mentally collapse from those late realizations.

I was a disposable, powerful tool that was perfect for this job… and I… I don't know what to feel about that.

My ego was crushed. My drive… shattered.

In the first world, in Earth Bet, my Wyrm had already nearly cleaned up what was left as I was cast in silence. My body that remained in this world was floating across the silent void of space as what time passed… I honestly could not tell anymore was enough when I felt the Golden Man across those many worlds continue to cry as even with his mental capacities, his Path to Victory, he only saw one outcome in this fight across worlds…

His inability to avenge his mate in any practical fashion.

Inevitably, his sadness would cause him to drift, like I was…

Having given up all measure of continuing to exist as one of his avatars voluntarily flew into the maw of my Wyrm. The Garden of Lost Will took them quickly, and it was enough to render the entire system, the entire network black and silent.

My Wyrm taking out the literal trash everywhere it had finished the job of destroying those Earths and collapsing them entirely.

I was alone again.

I had lost my own will to live. To exist.

To continue existing… but I knew… I knew I had no choice in that manner. I was already doomed for being to exist on the Throne. Doomed to be an immortal existence tied to humanity, to its many worlds. Doomed to be a pawn of the greater will for what use it had for me.

Perhaps… my wish at the end was to forget.

To forget this experience. This… hell.

For I knew I would never reach happiness.

Never reach loneliness as I would always be forced to exist without the one thing that made my heart, beat in genuine happiness.

"Titania" I whispered, knowing that no sound traveled in space.

I close my eyes.

I wish to see that dream again. That fantasy. Even if it was just that. Just let me…

Remember what made me smile.

I let the silence take me, knowing that the wish will not be fulfilled…

Until I hear someone sing. A tune.

It was… bad. Painfully and tonally inconsistent…

Her voice was not even terribly good…

Yet I let her sing. I let this tune, this song continue on into the end, even as I tag along in a sort of duet. Our blend was terrible, yet we continued on the same.

I open my eyes a second later, feeling warm and at the same time, cold hands taking me into their lap. Soft, hard… I couldn't tell. What was important was that I remember my dream and as I placed my gaze towards the person that was holding me in their lap, I saw her.

"Did thou get thine wish, Faerie King?" her terrible voice says.

Ciara?

How… how was she alive? How was I hearing her in the void of space? How were we resting on Blanca's hide when I was the only one alive at the time? I felt Ciara perish in Golden light hours, perhaps many years or eons ago.

I was lonely.

Perhaps this was just me fantasizing again, placing a face over my own in the original dream.

I did not wish to be lonely.

Perhaps this was all my imagination trying to make me comfortable before I rest.

I look up at her.

"Is this real?"

I only hear her soft, imperfect giggle.

Dream or not.

Fantasy or not… this is good.

At least I was not lonely.

At least it was not my reflection I was staring back at again.

END.