Hello everyone and welcome back to the start if chapter 101 of the story! Done with the week's rest and back to work! Now, about FGO's 9th anniversary...I think I won't even go there since I assume most of you are aware of the polemic surrounding it. BUT HEY! Ciel and "Summer" Eresh in the game! ERESH NATION FINALLY 'kinda' WON!
That and the fact part 2 was announced to end next year (which knowing our dear Lasengle and Type-Moon/Aniplex, they'll most surely push the ending to December of 2025). But still, the Lostbelt Arc is actually ending. We are really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. I wonder what will be of FGO after this arc that has been going for SEVEN YEARS ends. Will there be a Part 3? Will it end for real? Who knows?
But as that is still yet to happen, enjoy this story's chapter and the FSN remaster (who I hope someone decided to make a randomizer mode after all of those bugs from release day)
DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
Dark Souls OST- Nameless Song
"ºººººº, why are you praying?"
"I am wishing farewell, Peko."
"Farewell? Farewell to who, ºººººº?"
"To all of those who can no longer inhabit amidst us. That have long since departed or are now departing."
"Why does ºººººº, pray for them?"
"For a save travel of their souls, returning to the womb of the universe. That all suffering and pain was left behind with their mortal rests. I pray for their peace."
"Are you sure that they'll have peace?"
"I am not certain. As there is peace, there is damnation. Souls whose sins catched up to them, delivering consequences. Who deposited hurt and suffering onto others, contaminating those souls. Men lost in abhorrency and loathsomeness, unaware of peace. But even for those, I do pray."
"Eh? Why would ºººººº, pray for those people as well?"
"Because...maybe their sins will be cleansed and reedemed on a next life. Perhaps that person has suffered much on their own. No hand to guide them through the darkness within. A light that could help them find a path. I pray in hopes that such sinful people can one day atone."
"And can that really happen."
"As long as my faith remains, I want to believe so. Yet, prayers are not wishes. The bulk of ambition is not the same. What I wish, is different from what I pray."
"And what does ºººººº wishes of?"
"A new future. One where praying for peace won't be needed as there also won't be damnation. A reality where sin will never be birthed from the souls, the concept gone all-together. A true paradise."
The boy stared to the man's eyes. In those iris in the center, there was a determination residing inside. Every letter, every word spoken out from his mouth was stated in the truest of convictions. Serene but assured. Calm but strongheaded. The voice that had no hesitation in expressing the unclouded goals of his mind. The boy was impressed, knowing for certain that in that precise moment, his ººººº truly desired for what he had spoken.
"Can...Can a world like that exist?"
"Someday it will. Once a dream, it transforms into a prayer and then revamps to a wish. Lastly, that prudent wish shall convert into reality. And in that reality, Peko, you won't have to be afraid."
"Then, you can make it real, ºººººº?"
The man stared down to the boy. A smile of warm compassion that passed down a feeling of safety. Someone the boy could always trust on. Yet, the smile also felt melancholic in the child's eyes.
"I'll gladly do it. For your and your sister's sake as well as of everyone else's. But until that time comes, always pray for those who desperatly need peace and are about to depart. Remember of what is essential to this existence, Peko."
"...Hmm..Nghmmm..."
Waking up from another dream, Peko begun another day as the Lion King's captive, once again awakening on the bed of his cell. It had been almost a full week by now since he had became prisoner inside the Holy City of Camelot, having gotten no contact or news from the rest of his team so far. But that didn't made Peko believed they had abandoned him. He was hopeful that the group was still around somewhere in the Singularity, trying to find a way to rescue him from the stronghold. And altough he had spent majority the week locked in his room, it wasn't like Artoria Pendragon and her knights were treating him poorly.
Of course that due to being a valuable 'asset' for the Lion King, Peko would be treated at least with some decency. Not only because of the nice and sophisticated aspect of his cell, but also by the way his captors would check on him regularly. Each day, Peko would be allowed to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, never letting to be starved. The main meals would be delivered to him by Gawain, the Knight of the Sun, having prepared them himself.
Initially, due to having his hands restrained, it would be up to Gawain to feed Peko, which ceased to happen when Peko insisted to the knight of the Round Table he felt some embaressment over it, eventually having Gawain convince the Lion King to take out the shackles from Peko's hands, but with the condition that the boy's hands would only be free inside his own cell, having to wear the handcuffs again every time he got out of his cell as well as the security around his bedroom increasing as per Agravain's orders.
Peko at least felt lucky that out of all the knights of the Round Table, Gawain was the one that ended up with the duty of visiting his cell on a daily basis. It confirmed what Peko had already suspected of the knight being a gentle and kind one, compared with the rude agressiveness of Mordred, the emotionless indifference of Tristan and the stern authority of Agravain. Perhaps that was why out of the four of them, Gawain was the most suitable to regularly check on their prisoner. The way he nicely behaved with Peko as if the boy himself was his king despite the fact they fought each other as enemies some days ago highlighted how much Gawain seemed to follow the principles of a chivalrous knight through and through.
The only downside...was the food itself. Not that Peko thought Gawain's dishes were awful to the point of vomiting, but the Knight of the Sun apparently only knew how to cook with potatoes and other root vegetables, but mainly potatoes. The result would be bland and nausea inducing dishes that Gawain would try his best to look presentable despite looking like war food. However, everytime Peko would take a bite out of the food, he would see the happy and shinny smile of Gawain's face asking him: 'Does it taste well, Young Prince?' in the most sympathic tone ever, making unable for Peko to tell him the harsh truth and instead pretending to like it. It wasn't as if Gawain was trying to posion him or anything the like. The efforts of the Knight of the Sun in making the dishes were genuine alas poorly successful.
Walking torwards the curtains, Peko gave them a small push, having view to almost the entirity of Camelot below him, seeing the sun had already rise in the horizon. "It's already morning. Breakfast must be delivered to me in about half an hour." The boy thought, having spent time enough has prisoner of the Lion King to calculate and guess exactly at which hours the soldier knights and Gawain would give him the meals.
"Another day..." Peko sighed, seeing that his situation hadn't slightly changed in a week ever since he had the audition with Artoria Pendragon. The boy did thought about escaping on his own many times while kept captive. But he found it to be impossible pretty soon. There would always be a group of eight soldier knights guarding the door to his cell, not moving out of their positions for anything. And the door itself seemed to have been magically enhanced, with Peko testing it out by firing a single light bullet at it, discovering it made absolutely no damage.
He also thought of the window of the cell as a possible escape route. After all, Peko wouldn't have to deal with a group of soldier knight all by himself when bursting out. Or so he thought at first. Looking down, Peko saw that if he were to break and jump from the window, the fall from his cell to the ground below would be high enough to either kill him or leave him with serious injuries. And unless the boy knew how to fly or hover around, similar to his sister when using her armour, doing that would basically be suicide for Peko. And even at the slightest chance he could survive from such fall, Agravain and the Lion King were astute enough to put a whole batallion of soldier knight down there in the area Peko would land if he ever escaped from his cell through the window. They really weren't giving him any chances.
And despite the fact he had his hands free, Peko assumed that the motive the Lion King and Agravain accepted to remove them is because they knew Peko wouldn't be able to escape regardless. Of course the boy could just pour a good quantity of mana energy into his arm to perform a light blast and tesr down the door apart and take down all of the surveillant soldier knights with it. But after that, what could Peko do? He didn't knew nor was familiarized with the palace and its hallways as well as the streets of the Holy City. Peko would only lose himself inside Camelot as if it were a labyrinth if he tried to escape. Without taking into account that he would most likely have hundreads of soldier knight in his tail as well facing a knight of the Round Table if very unlucky.
Therefore, Peko's probabilities of escaping right now were almost null. A shame since from his window, Peko could observe the hole in the wall that was made by Artoria Pendragon when delivering her punishment to Gawain. The boy had decided since the start that would be his gateway to flee from Camelot. However, as the days passed and Peko was unable to find a way to exit from his cell without alerting the soldiers or knights of the Round Table, he saw the hole getting progressively smaller and fixed, the wall being almost repaired as of today.
"Now I really don't know how I'll escape here." Peko said defeatedly, dropping his body on the bed and staring aimlessly to the ceilling. "No, Peko! You can't think it like that! Don't give up yet!" The boy said, trying to cheer himself up as he mmediatly lifted his body from the bed and started to repeatedly slap his own face at an almost absurd speed. "Don'tgiveupDon'tgiveupDon'tgiveupDon'tgiveupDon'tgiveupDon'tgiveupDon'tgive- I know what to do now!" A smile clicked on his face as Peko had an idea to counter the sentiment of getting hopeless. Heading to the desk in front of him, Peko pulled the chair, sat on it, and opened up a book. "There's nothing like kill boredom and pass the time by reading a book." Peko happily said, about to start his reading.
And then some silent seconds passed. "...Why am I fooling myself here?" Peko frowned sadly as he laid his face on the book, not having any motivation to read it. "I've already been doing that for the past days." Peko grumbled, taking out his face from the book, proceeding to take out a small object that was in one of his pockets: the small silver and white disk dispositive. Peko had also spent plenty of his days trying to figure out how to activate it. Perhaps in doing so could help his escape become easier. "All these days and I still don't know how it works." Peko put his feet on the desk as he inclined the chair, putting the disk above him with his hand and looking up to it as if it were a complex puzzle, wondering what it could do and how it could be turned on.
*knock knock*
"Enghg!?" Hearing the sudden knocks from the door of his cell, Peko almost lost balance and fell from his chair, fortunately recuperating his equilibrium in time. "Breakfast now? I thought there was still some minutes left!" The boy was surprised by the earliness of the start of this day's routine. Before whoever was behind that door could opent it however, Peko immediatly hiddened the small disk between random pages of the book before closing it. He couldn't let the Lion King and the knights of the Round Table to discover it. It could be a wild card in this situation.
"Oh! I see that you are already fully awake." Gawain appeared from the door, being the one who knocked. "Good morning, Young Prince!" The knight greeted Peko with a generous smile as always.
It felt somewhat contageous. "G-Good morning, Gawain!" Peko greeted the knight back. "I also wasn't expecting to have visits this soon yet. Is there some reason behind it?" He asked to the Knight of the Sun, getting up from the chair.
"Actually, there is. Today is a 'special' day, so to speak." Gawain told him.
"A special day?" Peko repeated, curious. "The Lion King has something else in mind for me besides needing my 'light'?"
"His Majesty has indeed. The Young Prince is to meet up with him again, according to the king's orders." Gawain revealed to Peko, giving him insight of what today had in store for him as Artoria Pendragon's captive.
"Oh, really?" Peko said, a bit surprised. It would be the second time he'd be seeing the Lion King ever since he was made prisoner. "What made His Majesty desire that?"
"A week has almost gone by with the Young Prince being secluded on this cell. The king hopes it made the Young Prince more 'cooperative' with his demands." The Knight of the Sun explained to Peko. "Hence why His Majesty looks to be presented with you again."
"Hum, I see." Peko said. It could only make sense for Artoria Pendragon to have another audience with him again now that a week has passed, believing that the isolation and realization of how futile escaping her kingdom was, would make Peko more moldable into attending her plans. "So, no breakfast today?"
Gawain chuckled a bit. "By the contrary." Gesturing with his hand, Gawain commanded to a soldier knight to step into the cell, holding a plate with food in his hands. "Here you have it, Young Prince. I yearn that it is of your liking."
"Thanks Gawain!" Peko replied, grabbing the breakfast from the soldier knight's hands. "But do you really have to keep calling me 'Young Prince'? I'm just a prisoner. I think its rather pointless using such formality with me."
"Oh, my humblest apologies. Does it bother you?" Gawain's smile was quick to dissapear, now looking sad and shameful. "It wasn't my intention to bother you like that. I thought the Young Prince would feel more comfortable if adressed as-"
"Okay, okay! D-Don't need to be sorry about it!" Peko told to the Knight of the Sun, not liking to have made him feel kinda guilty. "Y-You can keep calling me that. I really don't care."
And just like that, Gawain's smile returned. "Good heavens to hear that! I'm glad the Young Prince is forgiving. Please, do enjoy the meal as I shall be waiting for you outside the cell." Finishing saying it, both Gawaina and the soldier knight that was with him exited Peko's cell, giving the boy some privacy to eat his breakfast.
"He's really way too nice." Peko sweated a bit while looking to the cell's door, thinking about how Gawain could act way too chivalrous sometimes. Taking five minutes to eat his breakfast, once Peko was done, he went torwards the door and knock on it, signaling to Gawain on the other side that he had already finished his meal, with the Knight of the Sun opening the door.
"I trust that the Young Prince must have liked it." Gawain told him before taking out Peko's special handcuffs. "Now, if you may..."
Obeying without complaints, Peko let his hands be restrained. With that done, Gawain and the small group of soldier knights guided the boy to the bathrooms of the palace. Exactly, the bathrooms. Everyday since he was captive, Peko would be escorted to that area in order to take a shower after breakfast, being one of the little amenities Agravain and the Lion King authorized him to have, emphasizing that Peko, for a prisoner, was treated decently.
It was also the only period where Peko would be outside his cell and 'allowed' to roam the palace, altough making always the same course and passing the same hallways everytime he was guided to the bathrooms. Sometimes he would even encounter the other knights of the Round Table on the way, managing to only get a few snarky words and replies from Tristan at most, a one minute conversation with Mordred and nothing but either a stoic glance or a single sentence from Agravain. He had also met with another knight of the Round Table, Lancelot, despite being only a time or two and with the Knight of the Lake just passing by in the hallways perpendicular to Peko's.
They'd mostly only talk with Gawain rather than Peko, but the boy still counted that as some being some sort of interactions. Reaching to the bathrooms, Gawain and the group of soldier knights would let Peko alone in a single shower room so that the boy could bath in peace. Once done with the shower, Peko would wear his clothes again and rejoin Gawain and the soldier knights to take him back to the cell. That would be the only period of the day that Peko was ever allowed to step out of his cell. But today was going to be different as already told by Gawain, starting with Peko reaching back to his bedroom while on the knight's company.
"Accept the offering of these clothes, Young Prince." Gawain introduced a folded custom to Peko, giving it to him at the entrance of the cell. "Wear them, at the behest of the king."
"Hum...sure?" Peko grabbed it, giving the clothes a weird look, wondering what they looked like. Once again, the door to his cell was closed after Gawain told the boy to knock on it once he was done wearing the new custom. Taking some good minutes, Peko changed clothes, replacing the ones he had wore before entering the Singularity with the new ones given to him. Once done, Peko went torwards the mirror on the wall and stood in front of it, checking his new visual.
The clothes given to him were that worthy of a royal prince. A deep blue garment of white patterns and golden buttons alongside a white royal strip on top of the inner grey silk shirt he was wearing benath the blue garnment. With it, Peko also was now wearing white pants with black boots. To complete the princely looks, the boy had also been provided with a pair of white gloves. Adjusting the collar of his new clothes, Peko gave quite the deep and analyzing look on the mirror, barely taking the sight away from himself and his new clothes. He was so mesmerized by how he looked that Peko took some steps back while still looking at his own image in the mirror, sitting on a chair right behind him.
Such attire made the boy felt...important, imposing. Peko admitted that he kinda liked how the royal clothes looked on him. Silently and still hypnotized by his own appearence, Peko striked a pose while on the chair, giving an extensive look to it through the mirror. And he did it for some good minutes.
Some good minutes really...
*knock knock*
"Is everything alright, Young Prince?" Gawain asked from the other side, finding strange the time Peko was taking to wear the clothes.
"H-Hum?! Y-Yeah, everything's fine!" Peko replied, being taken out from his own state of admiration, immediatly getting out of the chair. "What the hell am I doing?" He muttered to himself as he walked torwards the door and opened it, Gawain and the soldier knights waiting for him.
"O-Oh! Look at him! He's...He's cute!"
"Those clothes fit him rather well!"
"Is it just me who's desiring to pat that head of his?"
"How majestic! It really makes the prisoner look like a juvenile prince!"
The soldier knights all whispered and chattered between each other, fascinated with Peko's new look.
Even Gawain was a tad impressed. "I must confess that I was not expecting for His Majesty to have such exceptional taste when it came to clothes for the Young Prince."
Hearing all of those comments made Peko blush a bit. "Eh-ehehe, thanks I suppose." He rubbed the back of his own hand shyly.
"Well, follow me now. The king is eager to see you again, Young Prince." Gawain told to Peko, leading the boy to a new zone of the palace. So when Peko saw Gawain and his soldier knights brought Peko to a small arena in open air in the vicinity of the castle instead of the throne room that he had been previosuly, the boy was aware that something was about to happen. That this wouldn't be a normal 'audition' by any means. That became even clearer when Gawain ordered the soldiers to take off his handcuffs.
"Huh? Why are you taking it off?" Peko asked, puzzled. He wasn't in his cell, so it was odd seeing them being removed outside of it.
"You'll see it soon." Gawain replied to Peko, all of the soldier knights walking out of the arena, only Peko and the Knight of the Sun standing in it.
"Good morning, Young Prince Finsternis." A voice speaked from the arena's entrance. But it wasn't that of the Lion King.
"That's..." Peko was quick to deduce it, turning around to spot Agravain standing just on the arena's border.
"It is of good fortune that thou were able to attend this important training His Majesty and I had in store for you." The right hand of Artoria Pendragon greeted Peko.
Gawain found it strange that the king herself wasn't present. "What is of our king, Agravain? Since this was majorily his plan, I thought His Majesty would show up here."
"Our liege hath decided to be occupied with some 'personal things' to take care of at the time being." Agravain explained to his fellow knight. "But worry not. His Majesty assures us that he will still arrive in time to observe the trial of the Young Finsternis."
"A trial? What trial?" Peko questioned Agravain, wondering what he was talking about.
Giving a discreet smirk, Agravain proceeded to answer Peko. "I presume that became quite obvious at this point, Young Prince. Can thou not figure it out?" The knight moved his arm, his open hand signaling to someone behind the boy. "The trial lies right in front of thee."
"Huh?" Turning around, Peko saw Gawain with his sword, Galatine, summoned. The Knight of the Sun's body entering combat mode. "Don't tell me-"
"The Young Prince shall fight Gawain for a determined period of time." Agravain revealed, the rest of the knights of the Round Table appearing by his side, having also came to watch the trial. "Perceive this has nothing in particular but a training session to demonstrate us your skills."
"So this is what it's all about..." Peko muttered, now knowing why today would be 'special'.
"You better perform good brat!" Morte told Peko with an arrogant smirk. "Or else you might hold no value at all to us!"
"I vehemently hope that is not the case." Tristan replied. "Having our soldiers take such care of the Young Prince in this passing week, only for him to dissapoint and end up being disposed of, would be a sad closure to all our king's efforts with him." He remarked lamentably, deep down being kind of amused at such prospect.
"So this is the child fundamental to our king's plans..." Lancelot looked at Peko, this being the first time he was seeing Peko properly and up close. "I wonder what His Majesty sees in him. He seems like a regular kid to me."
"Do not let the nerves get the better of you, Young Prince." Gawain gave Peko a comforting smile. "I shall make it sure that our sparring will be an enjoyable one and serve as experience for you to grow."
"If you say so." Peko scratched a bit the left side of his forhead, looking up to see the sky. "And just as I suspected, nearly not a single cloud on it, the sun being fully visible." The boy went back to stare at Gawain. "That will surely make the things more complicated for me in this fight." Putting his hand forward, Peko brought forth his sword. It had been sometime since he had last summoned it, his mana being a bit rusty from not having used it during all week, but Peko still knew how to use it. "However, I really don0t have a choice here, do I?"
Seeing his opponent ready on the other side of the arena, Gawain smiled. "Time for the training session. Here I come!" As soon as he exclaimed that, the Knight of the Sun charged forward torwards Peko.
"!" Being on alert, Peko immediatly jumped out of the way as Gawain came crushing his sword on the ground of the arena, already leaving some destruction in it. "For someone with such stout structure he does move fast!" Peko noticed while staring at the knight, putting his feet back on the floor before doing a fingergun at Gawain and fire a round of light bullets at his enemy.
Gawain ended up deflecting them all. "You have to do better than that, Young Prince!"
Peko saw that as a challenge. "Since you're asking." Peko pointed at Gawain again, this time concentrating more mana energy into it.
"Luminary Route!"
Peko fired a more potent light bullet at the Knight of the Sun, heading straight at Gawain.
Preparing for the attack, Gawain powered up Galatine.
"Numeral of the Saint!"
Casting a skill, Gawain used the blessing of the sun to his advantage, easily slicing the incoming and more powerful light bullet in half, exploding it. "Still not enough!"
"I agree! Which is why it isn't quite done yet!" Peko exclaimed, with a movement of his hands, taking control of the fading light particules and transforming them into smaller light bullets, redirecting all of it torwards Gawain."
"Hm?" The Knight of the Sun was caught a bit off guard by the trick, forcing to dodge and parry the attacks in a very precise way, having no room for failure.
"Hmm, the boy made sure to still make use of the smallest amounts of mana of his failed attack and mold it into new ones before it could vanish. Not badly played at all." Agravain analyzed, interested by what he was seeing of Peko.
Peko himself felt a bit proud at seeing the result of his new attack doing decently, resulting in a nice surprise attack. "Great! I managed to fool Gawain! This move acted such as I suspected. I need to thank teacher Scáthach for that!"
North America Singularity
"Ah! Teacher has just been deflecting my bullets left and right! It's in a way that makes these attacks feel pointless."
"Not every attack is pointless, Peko."
"Huh? You sure?"
"Think about this: Even the most superficial attacks can be dangerous if they have something hidden in them, becoming unpredictable to the enemy."
"Like what exactly teacher?"
"Per exemple, instead of preparing for your next move when the previous one doesn't succeed, think rather to already make your second move at the same time of the first one."
"E-Eeh? How so?"
"You can always hide a smaller box inside a bigger one, can you not?"
"Thank you for teaching me such lesson, teacher Scáthach!" Peko smiled when remembering it, that tip of the celtic spearwoman becoming useful now.
As Gawain was still blocking and fending himself against the small rain of bullets, one managed to scratch his right cheek. "Tsk!"
"Ah? Gawain has been wounded? What kind of joke is that?" Mordred frowned, displeased. "Oi, wake up you stupid! You aren't going to let a kid beat you, are you?!"
Maintaining his concentration, Gawain ended up avoiding the remaining light bullets, now free to dash torwards Peko again. "Hehe, you got me there for a moment Young Prince! I must confess!" Gawain laughed a bit from joy, not feeling enraged for having been hit by Peko. Quite the contrary, he was feeling radiant. "But do not think that since this is a friendly duel match..." Quickly heading torwards his opponent, Gawain rised Galatine, about to descend it on the boy. "...I'll let you win!"
"Kkgh!" Gulping, Peko narrowly avoided the blade of Gawain's weapon, passing centimeters from his body. The boy had already experienced in first-hand the power and pain of taking a slash from Gawain's sword and it was better for him to avoid feeling that again. The fight then became a quick chase of cat and mouse, with Peko doing his best to dodge and escape Gawain's attacks while the Knight of the Sun chased him around tirelessly across the arena. It wasn't like Gawain was trying to seriously kill or fatally injure Peko, since this was nothing but a sparring match and he wouldn't go all out on such thing. But it was still true that he wouldn't let Peko have an easy time because of it.
"The child knows he can't beat Gawain on a duel of pure strenght alone, therefore he is trying to wear him down by using the advantage of being smaller in a way that makes it easier to dodge Gawain's attacks and move some decimals faster than him." Lancelot pointed out, watching the combat with great attention. "The child is trying to win this fight on a way other than direct confront."
"Indeed. The boy is not foolish." Agravain replied. "He is aware that doing a direct clash against someone with the raw strenght of Gawain would only result in fatigue and the sustainment of injuries. Hence why the Young Finsternis is mainly opting to evade the attacks by now and then counter-attack at the chance of any slight opening from the opponent." He analyzed, launching a strict glare to Peko. "So far, you have played this match with proper care and planning, not being rash. Quite the rare yet suitable characteristics of a prudent knight."
"That might be so. But anyhow, it takes more than discernment to beat Gawain in a fight." Tristan gave his own analysis, skeptical. "The boy's insight can only help him that far in this situation. In a duel between a lion and a hare, the lion might take sometime in catching up with the hare's speed, but it doesn't end up mattering in the greater picture." The red haired knight used a comparisson, taking some notes from his bow. "In the end, the lion still devours his prey."
At the arena, Peko was seeing Gawain gradually getting closer to land a hit on his body, keeping up with his movements and make some small clashes between their swords. "This isn't good! Gawain's will end up slashing me sooner or later!" Peko cleenched his teeth as he saw the Knight of the Sun, advancing torwards Peko non-stop, moving at an almost same speed as his. Unfortunately, Peko wasn't Nala nor had the same kind of agility and swiftness his sister had, making Gawain able to accompain him and slash the light bullets fired by Peko at the same time.
"This is as far as you can make it, Young Prince!" Declaring it, Gawain quickly stepped up, standing now to Peko's side and Galatine up in the air, about to come down.
"Here it comes!" Staring to his enemy's weapon, Peko braced for impact as he put his sword in front of him as shield, the blade vibrating and shrieking once it was hit by Galatine. Peko tried his best to hold his ground against the crushing strenght of the Knight of the Sun. He had already clashed against muscle strong enemies before like Spartacus and Cú Alter. But Gawain felt different. Being graced by the sun made a huge difference, Galatine gaining some extra tons under its light influence. "Ghnghghgghgrr!" For Peko it felt like trying to stop a truck moving at an high speed with a wall of cement. Even if he put all his energy and strenght on his arm muscles and sword, the boy sensed in that moment Galatine's mana far surpassed his own sword mana, giving up to the pressure and ultimately losing the clash.
"Aaaah!" Peko screamed as his defense was broken and the boy fell to the ground, Gawain's slash not having hit him but instead a wall of the small arena, delivering a huge cut to it.
"As predicted." Tristan threw a small smile, liking the fact he was right about Peko's limitations when faced against Gawain's mighty capacities.
"Hahaha! Finally! You showed that pipsqueak who's boss!" Mordred shouted in satisfaction to Gawain while Agravain and Lancelot kept mainly silent.
"Is the Young Prince alright? I hope I didn't exaggerated on my attack." Gawain said with some concern as the dust around them settled.
Altough a bit injured and dirty, Peko was mainly fine, slowly getting up from the ground. "I-I'm okay, Gawain. I'm still up." Peko smiled to the Knight of the Sun, making clear that he hadn't been severely hurt.
That gave some relief to Gawain. "I see. Then let's go back to our duel!"
"Nay. The demonstration of Young Finsternis prowess was admirable enough." A voice echoed through the arena catching everyone's attention.
And this one Peko was sure of who belonged to. "It's her!"
With the sound of steps making be heard as well, Gawain and all the knights of the Round Table immediatly changed their gazes to the arriving figure, bowing down from respect the moment their king's presence was felt.
"Thy service of displaying the child's capabilities to us was satisfying. Thou did a remarkable job this time, Gawain." Artoria Pendragon speaked stoically, her face devoid of emotion commending Gawain's work on the task it had been requested of him.
"It eases me as thy knight to know my work was suitably done at Your Majesty's vision." Gawain replied with gratefulness to the Lion King.
"Was she watching this entire time in secret?" Peko pondered as he stared to Artoria Pendragon.
"My king, it is with a broad pleasure that I inform Your Majesty of the positive result this trial had. We were able to test and descry the Young Finsternis abilities like planned." Agravain courteously informed his ruler of the trial he and the other knights of the Round Table watched as a fight between Peko and Gawain. "I deduce it was within Your Majesty's liking as well even if the king could not be present for the majority of it."
"It was fairly adequate. Young Finsternis does display some 'diverting' qualities." She made a signal with her hand, commanding Agravain to stop bowing in front of her but only him, the rest of the other knights still remaining in their bowing positions. Artoria Pendragon stood closer to them. "Nevertheless I do judge that way better results can be achieved by Young Finsternis."
"Forgive this disruption of mine, my king, but what does Your Majesty means by that?" Lancelot asked to the Lion King.
Artoria Pendragon replied. She kept her glare on Peko however. "The child still needs improvement. There are lacks that need to be ironed out. I believe when put in situations of higher peril, one is forced to give their best, presumably, their potential. As my dear loyal knights, you could help Young Finsternis reach his." She spoke that last part in a more serious and demanding tone despite sounding equally emotionless at first.
Peko did not liked the sound of that, his mind able to reach to a conclusion of those words. "The other knights to help me? No. She can't possibly mean..."
Tristan seemed to have also got the same conclusion. "Hm, so what the king is saying here is..."
"Heed this as your liege's command, my faithful knights of the Round Table." Artoria Pendragon announced, about to deliver another task to her subordinates. "I order to all of you spar with Young Finsternis."
"I knew it!" Peko shouted in alarm inside his own head.
Both Lancelot and Gawain were slightly taken by surprise.
"Heh. Finally, some action!" Mordred smiled, liking the sound of that order.
"My king, that is..." Wanting to protest against such dubious decision, Lancelot refrained himself from speaking up to it, specially with Agravain there to scold him. The Knight of the Lake still perceived Peko as a child despite the good skills he displayed in his fight against Gawain right now. "Isn't that going a bit extreme?"
Having thought of the same at the beggining, Gawain was quick to disperse it however, not wanting the Lion King to perceive him as a less loyal knight from the rest, even if a side of him did not desired for Peko to go through such hard trial, more than necessary. "It is the will of our king. As his knights, we have to obey." The Knight of the Sun justified to himself while staring to the ground, some sweat running down his face.
"It shall be fulfilled, my king." Tristan responded to his ruler, a roguish smile on his face. He, like Mordred, saw no problem in it.
"An even tougher fighting test. I see that the king wants to draw out the best of the Young Finsternis." Agravain crossed his arms, speaking to Artoria Pendragon while standing behind her.
"Whatever will grant us the desirable outcome." The Lion King replied to her second-in-command, watching all of the other knights stepping into the arena, about to face Peko.
"You better be ready for the upcoming beating, brat." Mordred smugged at Peko. "Because I won't be giving you any chances!"
"The king wants us to fight him, Mordred. Not kill him!" Lancelot shortly rebuked the Knight of Treachery.
"Hey, if at the end of this, he's still breathing, than everything's fine with it, right?" Mordred argued back.
"I'm in favour of not making this a huge ugly mess." Tristan replied, touching the strongs of his bow. "I will make sure that my arrows at least do not strike any vital points." He smiled with some malice torwards Peko.
Letting out some air from his nose, Peko hesitantly put himself ready to fight. Fighting Gawain alone was already difficult for the boy, but fighting four of the knights of the Round Table at the same time was cruel. "How will I even last against them?"
"Heads up, Young Prince!" Gawain called Peko out, his Galatine up for a second round. "Adversities cannot be met with nervousism!"
Even if it wasn't of that much help, Peko accepted the captivating words of the Knight of the Sun. "Right!" And proceeded to fight all the four knights of the Round Table.
What followed up, was the expectable. Peko could hardly manage to fend off and fight back against them. He was just like a small fish on a big pond, surrounded by sharks. Completely outleveled and outperformed. Peko would be given barely any time and space to react, always having to be on guard for the collective attacks of the knights of the Round Table.
Despite being a saber-servant, Mordred fought like she was a berserker, lashing out at the boy almost non-stop, being the most frontal and brutal of the four, the violent and agressive nature of hers making Peko alwasy trying to avoid her as best as possible. Tristan, altough not being a fighter to partake in direct confront, was equally as dangerous, the sound arrows he would fire from his bow giving Peko no chance to rest and recover, toying with him.
Both Gawain and Lancelot were most forgiving and tolerable so to speak, despite also giving their fair share of troubles to the boy. Gawain, as it was already known, was the physically strongest of the knights, the raw power of his attacks surpassing even Mordred's brutal ones. As for Lancelot himself, Peko was not sure on what to expect, but he quickly came to realize how the Knight of the Lake was a master when it came to swordsmanship, being grately skilled with the movements of his weapon, every swing feeling precise and exact, being not only good at attacking but also defending and doging while on the opponent's turn. Lancelot was perhaps the most complete knight of the four Peko was fighting.
And he really wished the battle to end right now, his body gaining even more injuries and fatigue than before. His reaction to the knights blows were becoming slow and out of time and his mana was running out as well as energy to try and attack his opponents in return. He was basically defeated, but the fight wasn't said to be over yet. At this rate, Peko wouldn't be able to last any longer.
"Gghg!" Peko grunted harshly as defended himself from one of Lancelot's attacks, his defense cracking up, hardly able to maintain his balance.
"Yaah!" Mordred then charged immediatly afterwards and it was over for Peko. The moment the Knight of Treachery's sword, Clarent, hit Peko's blade, the impact of the clash was enough to send the boy to the ground, his guard shattered. Mordred however wasn't slowing down. "Great! Now for-"
"Hold yourself, Mordred! He's down!" Gawain shouted to her, stepping in front of Mordred and telling her to stop, seeing his fellow knight already taking things too far.
"Pff! Since when you are my king to give me orders, moron!" Mordred shouted back, hungry for blood. "If the fight ain't finished, so am I-"
"That is enough from you, Mordred." Artoria Pendragon speaked up, interrupting the combat with her voice. "I declare this demonstration closed." She proclaimed, stepping into the arena, shortly followed by Agravain.
"Tsk!" Mordred hissed, reluctantly lying her weapon down, the other three knights doing the same.
"I cannot say this specific test was more effective than the previous one." The Lion King speaked, staring at the battered Peko on the ground, trying to get up. "It clearly conveyed to us that Young Finsternis is still far from his zenith."
"Ngh...ghn..." Panting and with the body aching, Peko did his best to get up from the ground while Artoria Pendragon speaked.
"Shall I order the soldier knights to send the captive back to his cell, Your Majesty?" Agravain asked to Artoria Pendragon who kept staring at Peko.
"Nay. There is yet one final test." She replied, extending out her arm. "Even if you are far from reaching your full potential at the moment..." Gathering mana energy on her hand, the Lion King quickly summoned a thing that catched everyone by surprise. Her weapon, the holy lance. "I shall aid thou take a step further."
"What?!" Peko's eyes widened in shock as he saw Artoria Pendragon calling forth her weapon. "She's planning to attack me with it?"
"Now that's way too far!" Lancelot said in his own head.
Even Gawain could hardly stand by and watch it. "My king, if you use that on the Young Prince he will-"
"I am aware of the risks by taking such action, Gawain." Artoria Pendragon told him, not having any hesitation about what she was about to do. "I do order you to stay in your place."
"What are you exactly planning here, my king?" Even Agravain wasn't sure what his liege hoped to accomplish with this.
"I-Is she going to kill me here?" Finally standing up, Peko saw Artoria Pendragon pointing her lance at him, magical energy concentrating at its tip. "Is it because...she expected more from me?" He thought, wondering if over the week, the Lion King had a dilemma on wether it would be more beneficial to her keeping Peko alive or not. And it seems this trainning session was the decider to that doubt. Now he was about to take the same blast Gawain had taken when he met the Lion King for the first time. The difference was, Peko wasn't sure if he would survive if Artoria Pendragon attacked him with that. Fear and apprehension were taking the boy's mind for a moment. "I don't wanna die here! I don't!" However, Peko quickly snapped out of it, transforming that fear of dying into a will to survive. "I can't die here! I won't allow that to happen! My sister and friends are waiting and hoping to see me again! I can't perish here!"
Since no one was stopping him either, Peko grabbed his sword from the ground and wield it, preparing to do his best in trying to parry the blast that would come out of the Lion King's holy lance. He knew that it would most surely be impossible and end up being evaporated, but the boy had no other better choice. So he let go off of his trapidation and faced the incoming attack of Artoria Pendragon.
"Hum?" Staring at him, the Lion King noticed something interesting. A small light glowing on Peko's chest. She could feel its power, the mana abundancy. The boy's soul. "That light..." Getting the result she wanted, Artoria Pendragon canceled out her attack all of a sudden, much to everyone else surprise. "This was a more fitting trial to my expectations. What I have seen satisfies me."
"Eh?" Peko looked at her confused. "She isn't going to attack me after all?"
"Agravain." Artoria Pendragon called her right hand.
"What is thy wish, Your Majesty?" Agravain asked her, being already by her side.
"Treat Young Finsternis wounds and give him a guided visit through Camelot. Teach him the fundamentals of what is being a sovereign." Artoria Pendragon ordered to the black armoured knight.
Initially a bit surprised by the request, Agravain accepted nontheless. "Understood, my king."
"Mordred." Artoria Pendragon called the Knight of Treachery next.
"Hm?"
"You shall begin the mission Agravain assigned you tomorrow. So it would be for the best to not be here in the Holy City before night yet arrives." Artoria Pendragon said as stoically as ever, altough the way she speaked this order felt way more emotionless and distant than normal.
"Got it...my king." Mordred replied, feeling a bit piss but containing herself, obeying her ruler.
"Now to all of you, my dear knights of the Round Table." Artoria Pendragon speaked to them before leaving the arena. "The Tower at the Ends of the World will soon be in complition. Just a final waiting for the passage of time until the bridge that will grant us heaven concludes. By maintaining those pure 'lights' however, we can speed up the final stages of the process. Make sure that nothing can be on our way at such crucial moment. Not even the ever approaching Blight."
"Yes, Your Majesty." All the knights of the Round Table bowed to her.
With all said, Artoria Pendragon was ready to go back to her living quarters. "I will be looking forward to our next meeting, Young Finsternis." The Lion King told the boy, giving him one last stare before exiting the arena.
With her gone, all of the knights went back on their feet.
"I do everything and you still despise me, eh?" Mordred stared to the ground with frustration and displeasure, tightening her fists. "Then just you wait when I prove you otherwise, father." She muttered to herself.
"Ah...it's over." Peko let out a tired breath of relief before falling to the ground, exhausted. "Thank goodness."
"Cheer up Young Prince. You did fought well." Lancelot speaked up, smilling down on Peko as he extended his hand to the boy.
"T-Thank you." Peko gave a light hearted smile to the knight in return, accepting his help to get up. "But you think so?"
"Normally, I think a child would not last as long as you lasted when facing four knights of the Round Table at the same time." Gawain speaked benevolently, approaching the two. "Specially when fighting someone as talented as Sir Lancelot here."
"Please Gawain. You yourself are not a small fry amongst our ranks either." Lancelot complimented his fellow knight in return.
"So I guess this means to go back to the same old tasks for me. How tedious." Tristan lamented, checking on his bow. "I do admit altough that seeing you flail around while trying to stay on the fight against us like a helpless puppy felt, how should I say it...cathartic."
Peko gave a rude stare to Tristan in response to that. Gawain and Lancelot just sadly frowned, seeing how changed their fellow companion was compared to the old days.
"Do not stir up Young Finsternis anylonger, Tristan." Agravain called the knight out.
"My apologies, Agravain. I shall be on my way back to those tasks then." Tristan said, passing through Agravain. "Feeling like this, isn't so bad at all." He said with a smile, walking out of the arena as well.
"I'm leaving to do my mission as well. This cleany, washy, prestigious city aesthetic bullshit becomes tired to look at." Mordred told Agravain and the rest, a face of unamusement and boredom. "Or are you gonna tell me something first, Mr Second-in-Command?" She stared to Agravain.
"Do not catch a cold." Agravain told her without even looking at the Knight of Treachery, his voice as serious as always. Or perhaps it was the knight's way to show care to others.
"Eh. Since when you started doing jokes?" Mordred replied with a smirk before walking out of the arena.
"This Mordred really feels different from the one I met in London despite basically looking the same." Peko thought.
"Now, about the rest of you." Agravain walked up to Gawain, Lancelot and Peko. "Gawain, the soldiers need you at the main gate of the Holy City. The refugees are doing another uproar and trying desparily to enter."
Without having to elaborate further, Gawain understood the assignment. "I shall calm the crowd down then. See you later, Young Prince!" Gawain smiled to Peko before going to do his duty.
"As for you Lancelot, go do some surveillance on the walls. Report to me the advancements of the Blight and if you found anything out of the ordinary." He tasked the Knight of the Lake by last, giving him a slight condescending look.
"I shall be on my way." Lancelot replied, not letting the glare Agravain was giving bother him, leaving the small arena.
Now, only Peko and Agravain remained.
"Young Finsternis."
"Hm?"
"Follow me. Your wounds need to be treated."
"And this is the small cathedral. As the Young Finsternis can observe, it is here where the pure souls come to gather and pray."
Agravain explained to Peko, guiding him through Camelot like it was some sort of 'tour' so far. Compared to the days he'd mostly spent isolated in his cell, this was very refreshing to the boy, who's wounds had been patched and cleaned, his royal clothes still in an impeccable state. However, Peko wasn't let to walk around freely with his hands, having them handcuffed again, taking some measures.
"Are those all of Camelot's inhabitants?" Peko asked while staring at a small group of about ten people, praying near the altar. "It's so few."
"Being of pure heart and soul is an onerous task that many fail in their first years of life. Finding a human who's soul is not tainted by sin is a tall order." Agravain explained to Peko. "These are all of the pure souls we managed to gather, unknown to sin. They are the only ones which the Holy Selection's judgement perceived as righteous to enter. "
"And the rest is simply killed because they are not deemed worhty? Just because they are flawed, therefore impure at His Majesty's eyes?" Peko questioned to Agravain, not liking the method applied to become a Holy City's resident.
"It is the law of this kingdom, young man. A paradise cannot consist of flaws, otherwise it would not be 'paradise'." Agravain replied with a calm but firm tone. "The king's objective needs to be reached. And as his dutiful knights, we shall aid him build that vision of a new world. One pure and bloodless."
"And do you see yourself as being of pure soul to be in that paradise? You or any of the other knights for that matter?" Peko asked him, wanting to see Agravain's answer to that.
Agravain stared down at Peko, who in return was staring up to him. A silence growing between the two during some seconds. The knight then went back to look at the altar ahead. "No." He simply said, turning his head around to look at the stained glass of the cathedral. "Neither my soul nor of my companions could be deemed pure. We are knights who killed people in order to protect our own people. To some, we might be heroes, and to others, we are vile, cold monsters. And the king is certainly no different. Howbeit, none of us worry about if we are granted permission to enter paradise or not once it is achieved. All that matters, is that there is a paradise for the future lives that will be birthed in there. I can solemnly die in peace knowing I helped the final order of my king become reality."
Peko was quite impressed with the response given by Agravain. It showed him how the knight by his side was very devoted to his liege while ironically also being aware that he himself and his companions would most likely not be worthy to live in the paradise they were trying to create. "He seems to be way more reflective than I initially thought."
"Let us proceed our trip, shall we, Young Finsternis?" Agravain speaked, putting the topic aside as he went back to stare at Peko, signaling for the boy to follow him. In no time, the two were outside of the cathedral and wandering around the almost empty streets of the Holy City, where its only occupants would be soldier knights walking around and transfering from positions.
"They all seemed very busy here." Peko remarked while looking at the soldier knights passing through.
"They have duties to follow. As a king or even higher up, it is one's job to administrate your soldiers and subordinates tasks and other factors and areas to your kingdom." Agravain's voice echoed as they walked. "Inspect the arsenal. Organize soldiers and troops. Status report of the general population. The overall economical situation of a kingdom and how it affects the market relations, nationaly and internationaly. Divide and plan in advancement the process of cultivating and harvest food. Diplomacy and alliance between kingdoms."
Peko was hearing all of it behind Agravain, his head getting overloaded with the talk, making Peko dizzy just from hearing it. "Eeeeh, this is too much information to get at once!"
"If you are prince from the land you came, it means you were expected to become king of there one day, is it not?" Agravain told to Peko. "If so, then I presume this were all points already previosuly discussed to you and that Young Finsternis must have received the proper teachings and education to one day become his kingdom's ruler."
"I...I do not know really. I can't remember a thing." Peko replied to the knight, a bit saddened. "I'm not even sure if I have that home you speak of anymore."
"Hmm, I see." Agravain gave an inquisitive stare to Peko. "Having a kingdom or not anymore, I am sure the Young Finsternis is aware of the responsability that comes with being a king and its burden." He said, noticing they were passing by the main gate. "How about we see hos Sir Gawain is faring on his task? It is important aspect to always supervise the works of your subordinates."
"Sure." Peko nodded, curiosity speaking. The two then took a wodden medieval elevator, going to the top of the walls. Once up there, they saw how was Gawain's work of 'calming down' the huge crowd at the entrance of the Holy City. When Peko saw it by himself, the boy's heart jumped a beat at the terror he was gazing at. "!"
"A loyal and valuable knight always carries on with the orders his ruler gives." Agravain speaked, crossing his arms as he also stared down to the same place as Peko. "No matter if they are immoral or not."
Between the two giant walls of the main gate, a sea of slained and dead bloodied corpses filled the enormous hall. All poor and desperate refugees who craved to have shelter from all the dangers of outside, only to find a bigger one at the city's entrance. Gawain stood on the sea of dead people, moveless, the bright radiance of his smile and eyes no longer there, instead a bleak and joyless face of having the job done, Galatine and his clothes drenched in blood. When revolts like this occured, it was always up to Gawain to smash the problem in the heartless and cruel way.
Such image made Peko remind to himself, that behind all that joy, polite, nice and gentle behaviour, Gawain was still a man who did not hesitate in killing hundreads of thousands of innocents when it came to follow the Lion King's orders. And the Knight of the Sun wasn't one to revel in such barbaric acts by any means. At this point, he had just conformed with the situation, maintaining his fidelity to his king.
"This is what it means to be a worthy knight. Now let's move on." Agravain instructed to Peko, starting to walk back to the elevator.
"Gawain..." Peko look down to the desolating scenario for a few more seconds, his heart feeling dejected by the actions Gawain did. It was hard to imagine that such gallant and positive man could be able to perform such terror without shedding a single tear. Peko wanted to believe Gawain was a good person after the daily visits he would have of the Knight of the Sun to his cell. But, would a good person do all of this slaughter?
Following Agravain, Peko and the knight re-entered the elevator, this time accompanied by a squad of soldier knights. As the elevator was going down, Peko gave a side glimpse to the hole in the wall that was on its final touches of being fixed. His window to escape was getting smaller and smaller. Now that he wasn't inside his cell anymore but on the streets of Camelot, perhaps Peko could give a try and risk it. He should at leat try now that it was more feasible. There was only one downside now.
"If it weren't for these stupid handcuffs!" Peko pouted at the restraints that were keeping his hands trapped and preventing him from using his magic. If it wasn't for that, he could surely try to escape now. The boy struggled a bit with them, trying to see if they would slip off or something.
"Is there something wrong?" A random soldier knight that was on the elevator asked to Peko.
It was there, that Peko's brain quickly thought of something. "Y-Yeah. My hands. They feel itchy and I can't scratch them. Could you take these handcuffs off so that I could scratch myself?" Peko invented the excuse in hopes that it would result in something. "Egh, who am I fooling? I doubt such obvoius lie could wo-"
"No problem. I have the type of key to those handcuffs. I can take them off." The soldier knight responded.
"How stupidly gullible!" Peko shouted to himself in shock, not wanting to believe his lie had worked.
"Here, approach your handcuffs please." The soldier knight said.
"S-Sure." Peko replied. Agravain seemed to be occupied speaking with other soldier knights at the elevator to even notice it.
"And done." The soldier knight unlocked the handcuffs, taking them off of Peko's hands. "You're free to scratch your hands now."
Peko smiled and chuckle a bit, looking at his now free hands. "Haha, thank you very mu-"
"Hey! What the hell you think you're doing?!" Agravain yelled, catching the soldier freeing Peko from the handcuffs. "Who gave you permission to take out his handcuffs?"
"...Oh." The soldier knight reacted in silent, realizing his mistake.
"Quick, all of you! Put the restraints back on the prisoner! Hold him if he struggles!" Agravain ordered to all the soldiers who where on the elevator, having finally reached to the ground.
"Eeeh...humm..." Seeing the soldiers slowly approaching him, Peko needed to act fast in order to run away. "Think Peko! Think!" And an idea popped up on his mind. "Oh! That's it!" Out of nowhere, the boy begun to ruffle his own hair, much to the soldier knights confusion.
"What is he doing?"
"Is he messing up his own hair?"
Finishing up the final touches, Peko was sure this was going to paralyze them for some seconds. "Get ready..." Lifting up his head, Peko stared at the group of soldiers in front of him, his hair spikes having been molded to resemble those of a cat's ears as Peko's mouth itself transformed into a cat-shaped one. "For Peko Neko! Nyaa!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
All of the soldier knights weren't expecting that at all, caught off guard. Paralyzed with no reaction. Even Agravain himself was slightly baffled and speechless by what he was seeing.
"So cute."
All of the soldiers aid in unison, startled and in awe of Peko's cuteness. The boy took this opportunity to jump out of the elevator and flee.
"YOU MORONS! WAKE UP! THE PRISONER IS TRYING TO ESCAPE!" Agravain shouted with rage and alarm at the group of bumbling soldier knights. "GO AFTER HIM!"
Running through the streets of Camelot and torwards the hole in the wall, Peko was giving his everything to reach there and escape, aware that he was now being chased down by Agravain and the soldier knights, with other soldiers joising on the chase progressively. Making some turns left and right and passing through some obstacles, Peko eventually managed to reach to the wall that had the hole in it. It was a bit high for Peko to reach it by just jumping. Luckily, there was a construction plataform that Peko could use it to reach the hole. Climbing it, Peko was near to the exit. "It's close! I'm getting out of here!" Peko said. However, he celebrated to soon as the plataform, fragile, broke up, beggining to send the boy back to the ground. "No no no no!"
Arriving to the place, Agravain and the soldier knights saw Peko crash into the group alongside the plataform.
"Ow ow ow! That hurt..." Peko rubbed the back of his head, getting up from the ground.
"Give up now, Young Finsternis!" Agravain demanded. "If you comply and come back here, I will accept overlooking this transgression!"
"Not happening! The hospitality here might have been nice but I'm leaving!" Peko replied back to Agravain, not obeying.
"Is that so?" Agravain replied with a cold, deep tone, not liking to get challenged. "Soldiers, bring that stubborn child to here." He ordered to the soldier knights, the one in front taking a step forwards.
Peko smirked at that. "Eh." He then launched a mischiveous glare at them. "Just like I predicted."
"Hm?"
"What?" Agravain replied.
"Please, can you not see? It is rather obvious. I have set a magical trap on the ground between me and all of you." Peko said, still with his presumptuous smug. "Take another step in front, and you will die." Peko said that last part menacingly, wanting to sell the idea.
Hearing that, the soldiers as well as Agravain took some caution, hesitating to advance.
"..."
The persuit getting on a stand-still. And it continue with nothing happening on the next seconds.
"..."
Nothing at all.
"..."
Just plain huge silence as nothing was happening.
"..."
"IMBECILES! ARE YOU CLOWNS?!" Agravain shouted again, his patience running out. "Can't you see he's doing an obvious bluff to gain time?! You wont die or anything!"
"Crap!" Peko cursed, seeing that Agravain was able to catch on to his lie.
"Now go and capture the prisoner for once dammit!" Agravain ordered his soldiers furiously. And as one of them advanced...a quick and sharp dagger came out of nowhere, hitting the soldier right in the skull, killing him in an instant, much to everyone else's sudden startlement.
"What was..." Agravain stared in disbilief.
Even Peko could not understand from where that came from. "E-Eh?! The soldier actually died? But I couldn't have thrown a knife! Who did th-" Catching a well concealed presence near him, Peko turned his head to the left, being greeted by a quick enemy that was about to attack him in the face. "!"
"Back off!" Thankfully to Peko, Agravain was quick to act, summoning chains to parry the mysterious attacker from hurting Peko.
The attacker landed on the ground after the failed killing attempt, revealing herself to the enemies. A young woman with short purple hair, smooth brown skin, soft and tight black pants with a little bit of equally dark clothing, leaving much of her skin exposed. And the most notorious of all, a skull mask.
"An Hassan?!" Peko exclaimed, recognizing the skull mask on the young assassin's face.
"One of them has infiltrated the Holy City!" Agravain exclaimed, outrageous by the fact. "Shit! How did we let this happend? Did she infiltrated by going through the hole in the wall?" Deciding to think about that later, Agravain put the most urgent priority first. "Soldiers! Get rid of this assassin and quick! We cannot allow her to cause disruption inside Camelot!" He commanded to every present soldier knight in there to fight off the intruder.
What they were not expecting however, was that would be their fatal mistake.
"Poisonous Dagger!"
Moving with the quick agility of a cat, the young assassin woman moved in the middle of the great group of enemies, swiftly killing them one by one. The most bizarre, is that she wasn't even killing most of them by using a dagger or other sharp objects. Just the mere small contact of her skin with their bodies was fatal enough to kill them, being of a deadly touch.
"What the hell is happening?" Agravain watched with concern and irritation, seeing the Hassan dashing through the soldiers and kill them with ease, no one being able to land a hit on her.
"They're...They're dropping like flies!" Peko commented, seeing how all of the soldier knights were being killed left and right by her, the Hassan clearing up the entire group with no problem, deadly moving torwards Agravain next.
"Kgh!" Taking out his sword, Agravain clashed with the assassin, this being the first time he was fighting in a long while, being forced to. With the sword in one hand and chains in the other, the knight attempted to fight back against the quick assassin, being cautious to not let her touch him. Not even her weapons. Because if so, Agravain would be as good as dead.
Peko stood in place, watching the fight going out. He could try and take this chance to flee. But a part of him wasn't sure if he was okay with letting Agravain fend off for himself against the opponent, specially if she might could come after him after killing the knight.
"Grr!" Swinging his chains, Agravain attempted to hit the assassin, only for her to dodge and instead hit the buildings nearby. In response, the Hassan threw some couple daggers at the knight, who expertly blocked them all with his sword. The two proceeded to clash again, but Agravain was taking caution to not get too close to her. Maybe way too cautious, letting the assassin to have room to figure out an open point to Agravain's body. As she saw the knight swinging his sword at her, the asassing parried it with her bare foot and threw a small knife at the chains to keep them away, exposing the knight. "Dammit!"
Agravain still tried to take a step back, but the Hassan quickly stretched her arm, about to touch his face. The knight could do nothing but observe as the beautiful and soft fingers of the assassin were about to feel his skin. Even the minimalistic of touches would be fatal, and there was no way for Agravain to avoid it. This was his demise, to be killed in the deadly assault of the assassin invader, taken by surprise.
And then an arrow descended from above and pierced the assassin's hand, saving Agravain from his doom. "Kghg!?"
"Not so fast." A knight speaked, sending more arrows raining down on the assassin. She tried to escape them, but her rythm and agility had been disrupted after the initial attack of the first arrow. The speed of the attacks surpassing her own, piercing the Hassan on both arms and legs, making her fall to the floor. "It appears I came in good time, Agravain." Tristan appeared, walking to the scene.
"There...There was no better hour indeed." Agravain replied, quickly making sure to compose himself in front of Tristan, going back to his authoritive self. He then sent his chains torwards the assassin, quickly restraining her with it.
"Kgh! Gnghgrr!" The Hassan tried her best to break free, struggling. But the chains proved to be well tight.
"All that absence of a fight made you sloppy." Tristan told to Agravain before looking at the assassin. "So we got an invader here, is it?" He said, approaching her. "How about we see what lies behind the lady's mask, shall we?" The knight played a single string on his bow.
"Agh!" An arrow came down torwards the Hassan's face, slashing and breaking her skull mask in half, revealing the assassin's pretty face and purple eyes.
"Oh oh. Aren't you such an alluring flower?" Tristan smiled down at her. "But you know what they say. Some flowers might be dangerous."
"Kkghghr!" The assassin threw an hostile glare at him, struggling even harder on Agravain's chains.
"A beauty like her invaded the Holy City all by herself?" Peko thought as he stared at the captured assassin.
"I heard some noises coming from here! What happened?" Lancelot exclaimed, arriving to the local after hearing a commotion inside the Holy City.
"An invader." Agravain replied with some disdain. Not at Lancelot but to the assassin. "She killed a good number of soldiers. This compromises the safety and security of not only the Holy City, but of its citizens and king! A foul error we let happen!"
"One of them was on the inside this entire time?" Lancelot asked, perplexed by the information.
"I am not sure. She could have infiltrated Camelot just now or some days ago." Tristan theorized. "Eitherway, we will only know her intentions here by hearing from her own mouth."
"Agreed. We need to interrogate her." Lancelot said, coruching down to pick up the assassin.
"Do not touch her." Agravain warned Lancelot, preventing his fellow knight from grabbing her. "I do not know what it is exactly, but her body seems to be 'intoxicated', able to kill a person by just the touch of her skin."
"That's extremely dangerous. But a very fitting attribute to an assassin as well." Lancelot replied.
"Do you think is for the best if the king does not know about this?" Tristan asked to the two other knights.
"Without any doubt. The king does not want any disturbances troubling him. His Majesty's focus needs to be on the construction of the bridge to paradise as we take care of the side problems." Agravain replied, being of the opinion to not let Artoria Pendragon discover this. "I myself will take charge of questioning her. And wether she choses to cooperate or not..." The knight gave a threatening look to the assassin. "I will make it a very harsh one."
"I deduce you will take her to our prison stronghold on the wastelands for questioning." Lancelot said, guessing where Agravain would take the captive assassin for the interrogation.
"Correct. And I do not intend to leave from there until I get the answers." Agravain replied before staring at Peko. "And either one of you make sure to restrain Young Finsternis as well and take him back to his cell. His...shenanigans were enough for today." He said, an expression that told Peko he would ignore the boy's escape attempt just this once, not having any pity next time he tried it.
"Well...it's...humm..." Looking a bit nervously, Peko tried to say something but ultimately decided to remain silent, knowing that he let his single opportunity to flee from Camelot go away, simply accepting the handcuffs as Lancelot put it on his hands, the boy about to go back to square one. But this sudden appearence from one of the Hassans inside the Holy City made Peko thought how it put its security in cause, wondering what was the invading assassin intentions in Camelot and how many days she had been hidden inside the city's buildings and walls.
"What the hell do you mean that bastard Saruhan isn't around here anymore?!"
Mordred yelled at a merchant in the middle of the town at night, indignated.
"T-That he was kicked out! P-Please understand that he wasn't a trusty person, Sir Mordred!"
"Uff! Whatever! I'll find another place to sleep." Mordred huffed, walking away from the merchant. "I knew that guy was a jackass but damn if he didn't gave me the best accommodations to pass the night."
As she was walking on the streets, a bunch of kids came running torwards her.
"Mordred! It's Mordred guys! She's back to town!"
"Big Sis Mordred, can you play with us?"
"Can you show us your sword?"
"I want to see your armour Big Sis!"
Mordred just ignored the kids with a bothered look. "Not today shorties. Not in the mood."
"But I thought you had sai-"
"Piss off!" Mordred yelled to them all of a sudden, making the scared kids to leave her alone. Not that she hated the adoration they had for her, but today she didn't want it. But apart from the kids, every other inhabitant of the town always looked at her with dread and fear, giving the Knight of Treachery reluctant and nervous look while opening way to her in their fearing silence.
But Mordred did not cared about how these people felt about her. Not at all. Reaching to the outskirts of the town, Mordred found an abandoned house that despite its deteriorating state was still in passable condition. Entering it, Mordred found an hammock and laid on it, staring to the moonlight that shinned from the hole on the house's ceilling. It was quiet, being alone. And the Knight of Treachery did appreciate some quietude despite her ferocious behaviour. It gave her time to think and reflect. Think on what she wanted the most.
It wasn't the goal of attaining and creating paradise. It was a different thing and that different thing only.
"Gonna make you proud, father. And then, you'll accept me."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 101!
Literally a Peko-centric chapter. Like, no scenes with Ritsuka, Mash, Nala and the others. Just Peko at Camelot with the knights of the Round Table. And I think it was only a matter of time until Peko had his own character focused chapter, much like Nala had one before, altough I do not know if it was as centric as this chapter.
But yeah, a chapter to essentialy give us an idea of what was happening to Peko for a week as prisoner as well as see him interact with the knights of the Round Table. That and to show us how Agravain is Prime-Minister material. Literally, if Artoria one day reunited all of the knights of the Round Table and gave them a task of 'You have to deliver me a report of the kingdom's overall status by detail in thirty pages and under two hours.' Agravain would be that guy to deliver a full analyzed report in half an hour. That's how 'goated' he is when it comes to administration. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for NPC jail.
And don't worry about the total absence of Ritsuka, Mash and Nala on this chapter. We also shall see what they've been up to and focus on them on the next chapter. Also Serenity appeared and I guess that makes her win the award of first servant to show up on the story after chapter 100!
And one last thing, enjoy the summer event that is currently running on JP (...Wait, that event is actually OC3 in disguise? What do you mean Nasu wrote it and mixed with this year's summer event? It will run for three months till October? The Hakunons are in it?)
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 102! Peace!
P.S:
Peko: Hey Ritsuka! Ritsuka! I finally got a job!
Ritsuka: That's great Peko! What did you got?
Peko: I'm gonna be a teacher at some place called...Kivotos, I think? Anyways, I'm sure it will be great!
*Six Months Later*
Ritsuka (Sees Peko back at Chaldea): Hphm? H-Hey Peko. Why are you back? Didn't enjoyed the job?
Peko (Depressed and remembering all of the events): It would be too soon...I would've peaked too soon, Ritsuka.