Magic, Baby! Magic! (FateNasu - Artoria Pendragon SI Chapter 10)
I think this might be the first time I felt angry in this life.
Frustrated, irritated, just pissed off, which I admit might have been for childish reasons, but angry? Genuinely angry?
Yeah, I think Mister Edgelord McOcto Skullhead here might be the first to have managed that.
There is an odd focus in rage though. Everything just melts away. There is only me...and my target.
Drust III started shouting about something or other but I could focus. I couldn't hear. Only my heartbeat was clear in my ear.
I looked down to see the black spear littering the ground, now just weapons without function, as they missed their targets.
I moved toward one. Using the nail of my thumb, I made a cut on the palm of my other hand.
"Arthur, you better not be thinking of doing what I think you're going to do! Interacting with another user's magecraft is not something that can be predicted." Merlin shouted something or other in panic.
But in my mind there was only clarity. I looked at the battlefield around us, seeing my men battle others that were once their comrades.
The answer was clear. I'm getting-No, I'm taking my men back!
I grabbed one of the black spears. It came to life in response to my wounded hand, wanting to act on what it saw as an opportunity.
"HAHAHAHA! Foolish! Pitiful! Have you lost hope, Arthur Pendragon? I told you your compassion would be your doom. Now come, join me and-"
"Merlin," I speak over Drust III's voice and ignore him, giving my wizard a look. "Do you think Dragons can get sick by disease?" I ask him, feeling the spear start melting into black blood that enters my hand, wishing to overtake me, as I feel it connect to my mind. I saw Merlin worried and about to answer. Although I didn't get why, it was a rhetorical question after all. "No." My Dragon Engine roar to life, as my mana pushed back against the black blood, the alien program ordering it.
Because that's it was in the end, following an admin user's orders. So simply...
"Dragons burn!"
The blood began heating up, vibrating from the heat and energy within my body, before fire started to over take it. The blood began turning to orange as more and more of it came under my control converting other nanobots to my authority. Changing their ownership to me, answering to my directives.
"...no. No! What are you doing?!" Shouted Drust III.
"Assuming direct control." The words just spilled out as I focused on the task at hand.
"Lunacy! You think you? Some king of a mole hill, from one island nation, on this primitive planet, can overcome the sophistication of our technology, molded by thousands of years of warfare and evolution? The arrogance! The sheer mad hubris! The ferocity of our black blood will eat away at your being. For you and your troops, once the conversion starts, it can not be stopped!" Drust III started laughing manically, assured of his victory.
"And who decided that?"
Merlin's illusions were far more complex than the programs of these nanomachines. Their supposed "ferocity" felt like mere ants bites to Siegfried's blows.
The black blood was eaten away by my blazing blood, now looking like heating magma in my hand. The dragon blooded nanites were mine now, and through them, a connection to the relay tower.
I could feel the blood cause a cosmitic change in my body, as it was clear under my skin, making it seem like a blood red tattoo extended from my arm, up to my shoulder and over one eye. I could see the magical links from me to the tower, and to every assimilated soldier. My soldiers.
The orange fire blood transformed in my hand from melting metal to a scepter.
"MEN OF BRITAIN!" I bellowed, my voice echoing everywhere. "YOUR KING COMMANDS YOU, STAND DOWN!" I ordered.
The sheer will and anger in my voice shocked my troops enough to stop, but what got them to fully carry on with the order was seeing all the Pict soldiers immediately kneel.
"No! NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Drust III shouted as he moved to the tower to try and fix it.
"No more games," I said as I stepped toward him. He turned to me, drawing his weapon for the first time, shouting again about retaking control, his ambition, whatever. "No more fancy tricks." Honestly? I just don't feel like having fun anymore. "I'm just going to break your face in." The dragon blood scepter transformed again into gauntlets covering both my arms. I am going to end this.
"I WON'T LET YOU-"
I dashed forward. My first step left a crater. The ground breaking under my feet. I think I was running a football field's length, gaining speed with every step I took.
All my strengthening spells coming on by instinct. Lightning and wind pushing me forward.
I reach Drust III with my punch already in motion. He brought his blade up, only for it to break on my fist. My knuckles smashed into his face, launching him off his feet.
We were both in motion, him flying back from the force of my attack, and I pursuing raining blow after blow on him as we moved.
He slammed into the tower, buried and indented into it. I staring to slide, and buring my feet into the ground to halt my motion, all the while pulling my arm back, letting the mana gather and burn into flames, dragging all that energy and momentum into it.
"RED DRAGON CLAW!"
I punched forward, my hand aflame blazing red like the hand of a dragon breaking out of a volcano.
An explosion rang out, as the loud cry of stone and metal rang out, overcoming Drust III's scream with my arm buried through him and into his tower.
The world seem to freeze. Everything was so quiet. Silence fell as the battling stopped.
Then slowly, bit by bit cheers rang out as the men of Britain saw their king victorious.
"You..." Drust III began talking before coughing up black blood and burned and evaporated on my superheated arm. "Think you have achieved victory here?" He gave out a shuddering laugh, even as it pained him. "How foolish, how short-sighted. This will not be the end, Arthur Pendragon. We shall return, again and again, for you see-"
"This isn't your real body." I said, feeling his shock before seeing his eyes widen. When I pierced the tower with my hand, I connected directly to it, feeling all the Picts on this island, and even beyond it on mainland Scotland. "You may have put all your combat power here for this battle, but you left a body in reserves as a back-up. Not only that but as long as the A.I. programing, as long as you, the Drust Program exist, you can reinvent and revive yourself multiple times, right?"
I drew on my Dragon Engine, sending my mana down through my arm, and into the tower in a torrent of blazing power with one command.
"W-What? How do you know those words!?"
"Your concepts aren't that difficult to understand and figure out."
Drust III was drowned in terror as he desperately fired off his own command, hoping to execute it before my own.
Reverse and shut down. I commanded.
Disconnect. He cried out.
"Know this, King of the Picts." I spoke, not to the Drust in front of me, but to the main one, far deep inland, letting my message be the last communication he sees from this station. "I am King Arthur and I am coming for you."
Veins of orange mana raced up the Pict Relay Tower, shaking and breaking it up from the inside, before reaching the top and exploding, sending fire down through the cracks, as the destruction moved downward.
Explosions of fire over took everything, devastating the Picts' equipment thoroughly.
I walked out of the flames to see all the converted Picts return to being humans. I walked toward Merlin and the wide-eyed Bedivere, thinking on what to do next.
First, Bedi needs a new arm. I focused on the nanomachine blood within me, pushing out now that it's job was over. It resist me oddly enough. Not because it resisted my control, but almost as if it didn't want to leave my command. Weird.
I wanted to regurgitate it, but thought better of it. It would make it gross if I did that, even if it would have been more efficient in removing it.
Slowly, I forced dragon metal blood out of the wound in my hand, making a ball of red water, that was self-contained. It looked like a ball of blood.
"Here," I gave it to Merlin, who made it float over his hand, so as not to directly touch it. "See what you can do with it, and if it can be used for his arm."
"There are...so many things that should not have worked." He looked to me with his usual tried but fond smile. "And so many things I want to scold you for." He sighed. "But I can not well do so to the hero that saved the day."
"Your majesty," Bedivere moved to kneel in front of me. "I know you dislike formality, but please," he looked at me with those wide eyes that looked more like a faithful puppy that wanted to be pet on and hugged. "Allow me to make my oath to you now."
"Sure," I sighed and smiled. I was tired but we won the day, and now all that was left was cleaning up the Picts, wiping them out for good, rather than let them build their technology again.
"I, Bedivere, hereby swear to loyally follow, obey and protect the One True King, Arthur Pendragon, as your knight and do my best to fulfill this duty for as long as I live." He smiled wholeheartedly to me.
I was moved. Really I was, but...
Merlin started chuckling.
"Wow, proposing right from the get go. Strong game, Sir Bedivere." Said my damn Wizard Bro.
"Gah? Wha, what? That's not what I-"
"I mean, that wording-"
"Merlin, stop ruining his moment." I laughed. Today was a good day after all.
For the next year I hunted down the Picts with the help of King Leodegrance and King Lot.
King Leodegrance wanted to aid me, saying for my valiant efforts he wishes to see me succeed and would swear his fealty to me when I draw Caliburn from the stone. I think he's being nice because he wants me to marry his daughter, once I'm "officially" recognized as King Arthur.
Except there is his other daughter who also looks like Guinevere, and I don't want to deal with an evil twin situation, so that should be a conversation to have.
King Lot's situation was a bit different. After my victory at the Isle of Man, the Picts almost instantly gathered and fled from the British Isles, going all the way to Norway, joining up with King Lot's enemy, King Riculf who usurp his rule of Norway.
Lot said he would ally and support me, swearing fealty even if I didn't draw Caliburn, if I help him get Norway back to him. Which given that all the Picts ran to there, just seemed like an easy choice.
The only thing that was...troubling was Morgan.
I was hosted in one of King Lot's castle while on the expedition to Norway. There was a calm in the war before we manage to corner them soon.
King Riculf and King Drust had naturally joined forces after meeting.
As in, there was no King Riculf anymore, just Drust IV.
Regardless, I pushed the thoughts of fighting aside to enjoy just sitting with my sister, but things felt awkward. Silent awkward.
Back in my castle when heard of my...admiration of her hot bod, she took it to maybe mean I'm open to some "fun" times. Then she apparently heard my talk with Merlin about respecting the sanctity of marriage...and ignored it.
She tried during her stay to flirt and proposition me a few times, but...I ignored it. As in I didn't even notice at the time, since I already made my decision not to sleep with her. Yay for dense shounen protagonist?
We were talking now, but it was mostly just empty stuff, like "oh how are things", "they're fine", but I could feel something boiling underneath all that.
"Morgan," I sighed, putting down my cup back on the tea set. "Sister, have I done something to upset you?"
"..." Morgan shut her mouth with a click, her smile melted into a frown, like it was never real.
"I don't want there to be enmity between us. So please, if there is something I can-"
"You could give me your throne."
The air was different. It felt like I wasn't talking to my sister, but to someone else. Merlin's warning about her came back to mind. The Witch of Britain, the Inheritor to the British Isle's Primeval Curse, Morgan Le Fay.
"I..." I blinked as my hand felt numb, rather my whole body did.
Morgan stood up and walked to me, almost like she was possessed by a phantom. There was something eerie about her, and hauntingly beautiful.
"When I heard your words, that you wanted me, that you, as you said Arthur, 'wanted to be so deep in me that who ever pulled you out of me would be crown king of all Britain'." She sat down on my lap, laughing to herself as she caressed my face. "And yet when I approached you, when I should I wanted to be with you, dear brother," she scratched my face, drawing blood that she licked from her fingers. "You rejected me." She growled and hissed at the same time with a demonic voice. Really impressive effort she's going for here. "And then you leave yourself before me, so alone, so vulnerable...what's a girl to do?"
I tried to draw on my Dragon Engine, trying to fight this paralysis, but my mana was coming in slowly.
"Oh? Feeling stiff, brother?" She chuckled, as she brought her face near mine, but the mana I could draw allowed me enough to do this! "HMM!"
I smashed my lips into her, breaking her focus, and then headbutted her, throwing her off me.
"You dirty little-"
"You know," I spoke over her, while forcing my body to stand, mana returning to my limbs with every second once again. "My rejecting your advances because you're a married woman is only half-No, a quarter of the reason why I did."
"Oh?" She stood up. "Let me guess, the rest of it, is because in truth you're actually afraid and disgusted by touching a filthy wit-"
I dashed to her. I don't think she thought I would manage to overcome her poison so quickly, or maybe she doubted my skill in magecraft, regardless, she didn't expect it. Thus before she could fired up her Magic Circuits, I grabbed her waist and hand and held her toward me.
"The rest of it," I said, hissing and drawing in close to her, like she did me. "Is because I don't share, sister." She stopped. A blush started to overtake her as the implication set in. "If there comes a day where I take you, Morgan," I closed in, nose to nose, almost lips to lips. "It will be when you're mine."
Then I stepped back, and walked away managing to leave her chamber before she could regain her bearings.
I didn't get to spend time with her for the rest of my stay.
King Drust IV's forces were cornered.
It was the final battle that would end the threat of the Picts once and for all.
Within the heart of the battle, Sir Bedivere approached the Pict King for some personal payback.
"King Drust the 4th, do you remember me?" Sir Bedivere declared.
"Am I meant to remember every rat I have stepped on, on my path? Who are you suppose to be? Some nameless knight I converted his loved one? You'll all join them soon enough." Drust IV said with a proud laugh.
"I suppose his majesty was right." Sir Bedivere grabbed his red metal arm which detached and transformed into a spear. "He said to say it like this..."
"Wait, that arm, I took it from you. No, that arm itself, the metal-"
"'I return from the depth of death's heart, to strike at yours'." The metal spear glowed till it looked like heated from the inside out. "Gwe-Dorwr!"
"NOO-" Drust IV tried to avoid it, run from it, but that arm turned spear was remade by Merlin from Arthur's dragon blood that overtook the original nanite black blood. He enchanted it to chase the enemy it targets, adding to Bedivere's skill, but more than that, the real ability was when it hit. "OOO-AAH-IDFDIHDFS_AAAA-01001001 01001110 01000011 01001111 01001110 01000011 01000101 01001001 01010110 01000001 01000010 01001100 01000101 00100001 00100001 00100001"
When the glowing metal spear hit, it would attack the main spirit body of the opponent, causing a shockwave to occur within any linked connection, disturbing and destroying those connections.
The hivemind link between all the Picts was broken, breaking their unity and coordination. Their united identity was what helped them push back against the World's effort to integrate them, and without that they were completely influenced by the World, fully making them a part of it.
From that victory, Arthur no longer hunted down the Picts, even if he met them again, they were no longer the enemies he first fought against.
And finally, Arthur could focus his efforts on Britain once more.
"Arthur Pendragon,"
King Lot spoke within his halls, his knights and people gathered to celebrate their victory, and reclaiming of their land of Norway. Morgan stood by Lot's side, a stoic expression on her face.
Since the last time we spoke, Morgan kept her distance. The only word she said to me was telling me to be rewarded by Lot in front of as many people as possible. Wisdom said that I should ignore Morgan's words after our last meeting, but...I wanted to trust my sister.
"For all your help and for your aid, you have my gratitude." People cheered and glasses were raised. "You will be paid handsomely for your services but I ask that you leave the moment your men are able to."
There were some cheers that immediately broken into confused voices.
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. Huh, so this is happening.
"What? Are you dissatisfied? As if I would swear my fealty to some boy that came out of nowhere, calling himself 'Arthur' and others played along with him." Lot cried out.
"Father! This is-" Sir Gawain began.
"Silence! I will not have defiance in my realm." He turned back to me. "I acknowledge your help, but that's it. I won't kneel to some brat with some freakish strength held up some by trickster wizard. Hell, we don't even know if you're the real Arthur. My own wife, Morgan Pendragon hasn't acknowledged you." He gestured to the quiet queen who said nothing, causing whispers to rang out in the hall. My men were started to steer nervously, only my calmness keeping them from panicking. "Actually no, even if you are the real Arthur, even if you pull that joke of a sword from the stone, I won't acknowledge you." He waved his hand, and a few of his men brought some chests filled with gold and threw them at my feet. "Now take your payment boy, and leave."
My knights started shouting, only to fall silence at a wave of my hand.
"Truly," I looked toward Gawain and Agravain, both frowning, but sensing me met my gaze. "I am thankful to have met honorable knights on this long expedition."
"Oh what, appealing to sophistry now-"
"So, I ask all the knights here-Nay, all of knights who would step up to fight for what is honorable, just and right!" I turned and began to walk away.
"How dare you speak over-"
"Does anyone want a job?" I called out and kept walking. No one touched the gold.
Lot shouted about his men grabbing and throwing me out.
We weren't harassed by anyone on our way out, and even on our travels back.
Looking around I had way more soldiers and knights than what I came with. I guess that's why we weren't attacked while leaving.
After leaving Norway and landing on Britain, I headed straight to Logres.
Time to start this epic prophesied king thing.