Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chaoter 109 of the story! ...Don't have really much to say this time around. It's just somedays there is nothing of note worthy to be talking or discussing about.
Anyways, with that said, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's, that belong to me, the author
"Ahh..."
"Do you feel better now?"
In the chambers of a quiet tent set in the middle of the wastelands, a young refugee boy was being cured of a terrible illness. Integrated in a small group of refugees that were fleeing from the area near the Holy City alongsode his parents, trying to find solace and shelter in the middle of such chaotic and apocalyptic environment, the boy and his group ended up being attacked by demonic humans whose souls had long since been swallowed by the corroding substance. And altough the group had managed to survive the situation without a single casualty, the boy ended up being injured by the monsters, therefore contaminated by the very same Blight that now slowly devastated and corrupted the child's body inch by inch.
Luckily, a mysterious man had appeared to save the group from the demonic humans, killing them off without any effort whatsoever. And now, the same saviour who had come to the group of refugees rescue, was also treating of the boy's illness as both his parents and every other refugee awaited anxiously outside the tent while recovering their energies and breath.
"I...don't know."
"Try moving your arm. How does it feel?"
The mysterious man instructed the boy who did it so. And the child's reaction was of pure amazement as he got up from the improvised bed and moved his limb. No itching, no pain, no fatigue. No more cold chills and ache running down his body or inflammatory sensation. Even his head was free from the sensation of nausea. He looked to himself, seeing that the blackness of the Blight no longer stenched his body, absolutely cured and rid of it.
"T-The pain! I don't feel sick anymore!"
"That is a relief to here. Now come. Let's give the good news to your parents."
Kindly putting a hand on the boy's back and helping him get up from the bed, both him and the mysterious man walked out of the tent and once outside, the entire refugee's group reaction was of astonishment and awe upon seeing the young boy cured.
"Here. Your child has been cleansed from the plague. His life is out of danger."
Being shown their kid in a healed state, both the mother and father went to hug him immediatly, glad that he was okay.
"My son! Oh my dear son! You're okay! You're okay! Mom was so worried!"
The mother let herself cry in the shoulders of her child as the father was also on the verge of tears, proceeding to stare at the man who had saved their son.
"Thank you! T-Thank you so much for your benignness, sir! Is there a way on how we can repay you?"
Very soon, the small crowd behind them begun to cheer and celebrate, amazed by the occurence.
"It's a miracle! A miracle! He cured the child from the Blight!"
"How was it possible? I thought it had no cure!"
"This person is a savior! An answer to our prayers!"
"Maybe he's an angel in disguise!"
"We need to bow in gratitude before him!"
The mysterious man, seeing the group of refugges about to do that stopped them however with a simple gest of his hand.
"Excuse yourselves of doing cerimony. I am not dignified of such respect."
He speaked, his entire body covered by a dark ragged cloth, the only piece of skin showing being his greyish hands that were a bit blamish by the presence of some dark stains in it, as if he was missing some skin in the hands.
"All that I do ask for, is that you have a rest of a safe travel and avoid encounters with other monsters. Make sure to head to the villages up in the mountains. There you shall find sanctuary from all this hostility."
Being given directions and a place to find refugee, the group begun to thank the man oncemore, shaking hands and patting him in the back as they all surrounded him with smiles and happy faces. Eventually, they all said their goodbyes to their mysterious saviour, about to leave. But not without the man telling something to the boy he cured first.
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories OST- Memories in Pieces
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"Smile and cheer up, no matter the tragedy. Remember, better days will come."
Being told that advice, the boy's face brightened up a bit as he smiled to the man, nodding his head.
"Hum, understood. Thank you for your help! I hope to see you again! Take care!"
The boy replied as he and the group of refugees waved all goodbye to the mysterious man who waved back at them, both going to opposite directions.
As they were already far away, the mysterious man also begun to go on his own path. Such moment made him think on how relieved the refugees were for having been saved. How their smiles and happiness during that period of tranquility and relief felt genuine. How survival and living for them was such a necessity. That innocent joy and sympathy on the boy's face. How all of it made the man think...
That they were still sinners condemned to perdition.
"Really, how flawed and impure can souls be just to survive."
Walking past a rock in the middle of the wastelands, the mysterious man's shadow morphed into something unnaturally demonic, the figure of a shadow with four horns and six white eyes with red tracing around its body glued on the rock's texture. The man's voice also got slowly more reverberating, as if more than one person was talking now.
"This existence hath been too erring for long enough."
Lifting up his left hand, the man enfolded it completely in darkness as all of the ground and his surroundings lost the brightness of day, claimed and plunged by a vast tenebrosity. He was not alone, accompanied by whatever abominations the dark of the void was hiding behind.
Looking up, the man who persued to eradicate all sin stared to the way of the egyptian desert, deeply, before gazing to the direction where the Holy City was located.
"It is time for us to act."
"Hum?"
"Is there anything the matter?"
A soldier knight asked to Peko as he and another one were surveilling him at the bathrooms entrance, the boy having finished dressing his royal clothes when he felt something in his chest, making him look to the far view outside the giant window of the hall.
"...Oh! It's nothing! Just got a bit distracted in my own thoughts, that's all." Peko replied immediatly to the duo, wanting to pass off the idea that there was nothing wrong at all. However, he couldn't really ignore that his heart had detected something. A kind of signal. As if his soul had connected to another one situated in a far place of this Singularity from where the boy currently was. "It was like...a calling."
"If the honored prisoner says so."
The soldier knight grabbed Peko's restraints in order to apply on him, much to Peko's silent frustration. Gawain couldn't be available this time as Agravain had requested his presence to inspect the city's defense for an upcoming event for what he seemed to have heard of. Not having the Knight of the Sun with him during one of the few times of the day were he was allowed to leave his room was a bit tedious. With Gawain, Peko and him could always start a chat between each other. Unlike the two soldier knights, who Peko never spoke too and looked like every other random soldier knight under the Lion King's orders, not seeking to interact much with him.
But just as the soldier knight had grabbed the restraint, he halted when seeing that his colleague wasn't near Peko but instead behind him.
"Why are you standing behind me?"
"What do you mean? I'm waiting for you to restrain him!"
"Then go to the prisoner and hold tight his arms in place so that the job can be done way easier, moron!"
"But I need to go to the bathroom as well!"
"Why didn't you said it sooner if that's the case, idiot!"
"Eeeeh..." Peko stared at the two soldier knights going into an argument with each other, wondering if out of all the soldier knights available, the Lion King and Agravain couldn't get more competent ones to do the job as he watched the two almost getting physical with the insults.
"Aff! Fine, you win dammit! Go and use the bathroom, but quick! We still need to deal with our captive here!"
The first soldier knight ended up giving in, letting the second one go into the bathroom to do his needs as fast as possible while watching over Peko until his return so that they could put the handcuffs on him.
"This...could change some things." Seeing that he was now alone with just a single soldier knight to supervise him while unrestrained, Peko knew very well this was forming into a tempting escape opportunity. One thing was being escorted by Gawain and the other, by two soldier knights, that while definetly, strong were nowhere near Gawain's level. And now Peko was just accompanied by a single one in the room. The chances were high, but the boy was reluctant on wether if he should risk it or not.
Altough Peko was confident he could take on a single soldier knight alone, he doubted the enemy would be defeated with a single hit of a surprise attack. The soldier knights were a bit more resilient than that. And if that was the case, the soldier knight would surely alert his colleague and many others inside the castle of Peko's attack on him and attempt to flee. So the boy had to think of at least something elaborate. Something to keep both knight soldiers occupied while going away without them noticing. Something that would seem like an accident.
"Hmm..." Checking everything of the area he was in, Peko saw the box where his handcuffs were temporarily put, next to the knight soldier's feet. And looking up, he saw a chandelier that was providing majority of the light in the hall they where in alongside the window. The chandelier and the box...Aware of those factors, Peko's mind begun to concoct a plan.
"Where are you looking at?"
The soldier knight questioned Peko, standing besides him, interrupting his thoughts for a moment.
"Just feeling tedious of waiting! I want to go back to my bedroom already!" Peko said a bit rudely to the soldier, pretending that he was getting impatient when he was just a tad annoyed by the soldier knight interfering with his toughts.
Sharing a bit of the 'same' feeling, the soldier knight gave a cautious look to Peko, making sure he wasn't up to something, before heading torwards the bathroom's door and knocking, his patience also running short.
"Why is this fool taking so long? Hey! I said to do it quickly! Are you over already?"
With the only person watching him now distracted, Peko took the chance to act. Putting his thumb up ,he stared at the box and then the chandelier. Pulling down his thumb down, the boy reduced the light source of it, making the room become gloomer, almost dark if it wasn't for the light coming out of the window. And just as he predicted, the sudden dissapearence of brightness caught the soldier knight off-guard.
"O-Oi! What the hell's happening?! Who turn the lights off!?"
The soldier knight exclaimed, trying to orient himself with the small visibility just as the door of the bathroom opened behind him, th second soldier knight having finally finished his business.
"I'm here already! Don't you know how to-eh? What happened to the light in here?!"
"No clue! Now help me to-uaah!?"
Stepping aimlessly, the soldier knight's foot ended up stumbling on the box he didn't saw that jad been placed in there, proceeding to fall backwards and bump into the colleague behind him, reslting in the duo to fall into the bathroom.
Peko didn't wasted time and immediatly closed and locked the door from the outside, having trapped and get rid of the two soldier knights that were surveilling him with just a simple plan he came up in seconds, using the scenario to his advantage.
"Like I had planned!" The boy smiled as he looked up to the dimly lighted chandelier and putting his thumb up, returned the light to it and the room.
"Watch your step next time fool!"
"Shut up! You should have hurried up instead! Let's hope that the pris-hm? Dammit! It's locked!"
"You can't be serious!"
Before the two could begin to shout and try to burst the door open, Peko giggled as he turned around, about to leave the trapped soldier knights behind. "Welp! Take this time to sort thins out with one another! Later!"
And now Peko was roaming around the halls of the castle, trying to get the way back to his room as he had left Árma Hermes there since his clothes were always inspected during the bath to make sure he wasn't hiding anything from the Lion King. Having his hands free and not being chased unlike the last time, the boy's mind went back to what he had witnessed yesterday while on the balcony with Gawain and Agravain.
The dooming and divine lance the descended from the golden skies, obliterating a huge chunk of the mountains once they got striked. Peko remembered how terrified and shocked he was when Agravain told him that his friends were located in there, meaning that they had most likely been reduced to ashes, wanting in that way to crush the boy's hopes on reuniting with the rest of his team ever again. Thankfully, they had also watched how the second Holy Judgement had seemingly dissipated in the distance. It never ended up making contact with its target unlike the first one, erasing into particles in the sky. It made Peko guess that could only be work of his team and their allies. That they weren't dead and had found a way to counter the Holy Judgement and survive, much to Peko's happiness and relief and Agravain slight discontent when that happened.
Peko's hopes did not end up being crushed by the display of the Lion King's might. Quite the contrary, they got renovated. His desire to go back to his friends were stronger than ever before!
Remembering th way back to his bedroom wasn't the hard part as by now, Peko already did the way between his bedroom and the bathrooms to memorize the path almost entirely. The hard part would be avoiding other soldier knights that would be on patrol of the halls. Peko had to be careful to not be spotted.
"It's clear!" Peko said to himself as he peeked around the corner to the perpendicular hall he was about to step in, finding no signs of soldier knights nearby. Walking out from the hidden corner, the boy was making his way torwards the end of the hall where he would then turn left and proceed on his way to the bedroom. All that before the two soldier knights that were watching him could alert everybody. However, as Peko thought he would be able to reach the end of the corridor without much trouble, he begun hearing footsteps coming from one of the hallways connected to this one. "Oh no!"
With the sound getting louder and the soldier knight about to appear, Peko thought and acted fast by instinct, noticing a door to his right, opening it and entering the chamber, avoiding being catched for the time being. "That was close!" As Peko was calming down his breath and awaiting for the soldier knight's footsteps to go away, he ended up hearing another noise. This time behind him. One of...a shower.
"Huh? Am I in another bathroom?" Finally taking notion of his new surroundings, Peko saw that by the white and blue tiles on tbe floor and walls, he was indeed in another bsthroom. The noise of water running down and the visible heaten air coming from an ajar door right in front of him. Not helping but to be curious, the sentiment took the better of Peko and the boy dared to peak behind the door, approaching it slowly and silently. "Hmm, who might could be taking a bath no-Ah?!"
Flabbergasted, Peko's eyes slightly widened in surprise as the one he saw taking a bath was none other but the Lion King herself. The woman sat on an empty wodden bucket, lying her naked back against the moisty walls as the shower above her rained hot water on her, the king with her head lifted up and her eyes closed as she let the warm rain pour her face.
"This is the king's own private bathroom? I thought she never even leaved the Throne Room!" Peko said to himself, thinking how unexpected it was to find the Lion King in any other place of the castle if not on her own throne. Looking like he was still unnoticed to Artoria Pendragon, Peko continue to hiddenly stare at her.
The Lion King appeared tranquilizing and peaceful, how solemn her entire face looked while her eyes were shut and relaxed, her beautiful body was in the comfort of the blistering rain drops of the shower, her long blond hair now free. It was as if Artoria Pendragon, accompanied by the soothing sound of the water drops, had entered a state of meditation and deep reflection.
One that Peko could only wonder...
"What is she imagining about?"
.
.
.
Six Months Ago
"For us...to pick a side?"
Gawain muttered in some disbilief as he and his fellow knights of the Round Table companions had heard what the person, that they presumed to be their king, had just said.
"I shall only repeat it one more time." Standing in front of her knights, Artoria Pendragon gave an emotionless glare to all of them, the sunset hitting her back and the knights of the Round Table's front as they were all positioned in line while staring to their king. All of their shadows illustrated on the floor. "The Camelot thoust once knew is long gone. We need to find and construct anew. Howbeit, this new Camelot shall only harbour the purest of souls. That way, an unblemished portion of humanity can be perserve and thrive from the tragic ending of this world, creating an utopia where sin does not exist. That is my ultimate goal and order to thee. To aid thy ruler to achieve paradise under a renovated Camelot."
Artoria Pendragon explained once again her plans to her subordinates, going clinically word by word, passing the clear message that she meant what she said. "Nevertheless, I do not coerce thee to obey me, as I do am aware of the possibility that there are some amongst the Table that will choose to oppose me." She gave a cold and apathetic stare to all of the knights as she uttered those words, expecting that the whole Round Table wouldn't be on her side. "Therefore, thou hast a decision to make until the end of the twilight's sunset. Thoust either continue to follow me as my loyal knights for the sake of my goal, or oppose me and be killed for my goal's sake as well. I entrust this decision on thee, not as the King of Knights thoust once knew, but as the Lion King. Bors and King Pellinore have already chosed. Select wisely."
A dreadful silence stood in the air as she finished repeating the explanation, the reaction of the knights ranging from perplexed to confused and thoughtful.
"Then it is true. Camelot and the kingdom have fallen..." Lancelot whispered with some resentment when he heard of the sad ending to the kingdom they all used to protect.
Agravain gave him a brief side glance, standing next to the Knight of the Lake. "So it would seem. These lands being foreign to us... I reckon we are not even in Britain anymore."
"Build a new Camelot in order to attain an utopia? What is the king talking about?" Gawain questioned, still puzzled with all of this situation he and his fellow knights had been recently summoned to. Hearing the faint sounds of trembling, the Knight of the Sun looked down on the knight next to him. "Gareth?"
"W-We...we'll end up killing each other?" The knight, a small young woman with green eyes and short bright brown hair with two black side bangs speaked nervously, visibly anxious and unwell with the situation.
"It won't come to that!" A knight next to Gareth told her, putting a hand on her shouler.
"Huh? Big Bro Gaheris?" Gareth looked up to the face of the knight comforting her.
Having a similar physique as Gawain, with a body as stout as the Knight of the Sun, Gaheris looked at his younger sister with his bright blue eyes, and light brown hair, having two black side bangs as well, being similar to those of Gareth. "I am sure that-hm?"
Hearing the sounds of metallic footsteps walking away, every knight of the Round Table focused their gaze at the lone knight that had decided to walk away from the line, giving his back to the king.
They all got mildly surprised as they saw that the knight that was abandoning the place was none other than Kay, the brother of their liege.
"Oi! Mind telling us where you going?" Mordred tried to talk with him.
"..." Alas, she received no answer as Kay ignored her, giving no explanation for why he was leaving. But the knight and even the Lion King herself knew why, Artoria Pendragon not looking shocked at the sight of him not pledging loyalty to her. It was a simple detail honestly that made Kay renounce his devotion to the person he had served ever since the early days of the Round Table, being its oldest member. It was not because his sister had reappeared with a no longer 'jovial' body. But because when he heard her speak, the bottomless stare of stoicism in her eyes. Her goals and conditions, it all made Kay see it clear the being that had took control of their liege's body.
In Kay's eyes, that thing could not be his king, much less so his beloved sister.
And so, they all gazed at Kay go away with no justification, dazed at such unannounced action.
"It appears he's the first to have already decided." Tristan commented with lament, seeing that not everyone of the Round Table would end up on the same side, an incoming conflict brewing between them.
Eventually, the knights that were still present begun to talk with each other, discussing if they should serve the Lion King or not, unsure if the woman that summoned them was truly their king.
"We shall still follow the king, independent of what appearence or title His Majesty goes by now." Agravain said in private to Gawain, Gaheris and Gareth. All of the four siblings reunited to discuss the decision that Agravain seemed fixated to pick for all of them. "It can only be the righteous choice to take while as knights that do bother to respect the codes of loyalty and devotion with their respective ruler. For such it is our obligatory commitment."
While both Gawain and Gareth didn't seemed to know what to say at the moment, the same could not be applied to Gaheris. "That's..."
"Hm? Is there any wrong in what I just said, Gaheris?" Agravain questioned his sibling, giving him a sharp glare, not daring his choice to be challenged.
"..." Gaheris stood silent for a second, the stare of Agravain telling him to shut up and accept his sibling's decision. However, the knight found the spark of courage to defy his brother's authority. "Yes, I do! I do think what you said is just plain wrong as we should not revere the Lion King!"
"Big Brother Gaheris!"
"!"
Gareth and Gawain were bewildered by the bold answer Gaheris had just given to Agravain, having no fear or reluctancy in arguing with the knight in black armor.
"Oh? Is that so? Does my ears not deceive me?" Agravain replied, sounding strangely calm and collected. "Have I heard it right or is my brother stating that he will be A KING'S TRAITOR?!" As his voice was actually progressively getting more agressive, Agravain ended up shouting at his sibling, hoping to put himback in place with that.
However, Gaheris did not backed down. "I know the shame that it is being a traitor to your own king as it is one of the things I most despise! But I do also know who is and who is not king of mine!" He replied back to Agravain. "And that person over there cannot be the King Arthur I swore my loyalty to! I do not know exactly how to describe it but, His Majesty feels and acts even less human than before! Don't you find it odd how Kay decided to just leave when he was one of the Round Table's oldest members? There is definetly something wrong with this Lion King!"
"You dimwit!" Agravain replied back to Gaheris. "Are you telling us you prefer to follow your own instincts than the sacred pledge you did to your king?"
"I follow what I think it's right rather than leaders who clearly lost all the remaining traces of their humanity!" Gaheris told him. "The King Arthur we knew might had regressing emotions, but he would never put us in a situation where we disagree and kill each other as that would only cause conflict!"
Agravain was having enough of Gaheris talking. "Yet here you are, slandering your very own liege with that impudent tongue of yours!"
"Please calm down!" Gareth pleaded, not wanting to see her brothers fighting with each other now. "I think we-"
"You think nothing!" Agravain exclaimed torwards Gareth, shutting her down. "If I say that you will follow our king, you will follow our king! Can you not see what am I trying to do here?" He gesticulated not only to Gaheris, but also to Gareth and Gawain. "I'm trying to keep us united! Together! Strong! Don't you get it? If we all row to the same direction, we will get to have a Camelot again! A kingdom to protect! An utopia to build! You're telling me you do not wish for that? To make such noble dream become true? To help your king on his final glorious deed?" He then gave a rude look to Gaheris. "No. Instead, you are only making the matters worse by dividing us." He accused Gaheris, wanting to make his sibling feel guilty.
"But the questions Sir Gaheris did are not divisive at all."
With a voice from behind, the four siblings all stared at the knight that entered into their conversation.
"If anything, inquiring is always fundamental to get to know more context of whatever scenario we deal with." The knight said. he wore a gray and black hood over his head, having a short wavy dark hair with a small braid tied in a ring hanging on the right side of his face. His brown eyes always looking mysterious and quizzful.
"Of all the things you are going to put in question, the veracity of our king will be one of them?" Agravain responded to the knight. "That habit of yours sometimes is of no good, Palamedes."
"And why would you consider it as such, Agravain?" Palamedes asked to the other knight with an insightful voice. "The questions made by Gaheris do sound pretty valid to me. Presumably, we're summoned here to aid our king built an utopia. Yet we must ask ourselves the 'why' for the many things in here. Such as: Why did we got summoned to this distant land instead of the Britain of this time? Why did His Majesty's appearence changed?" He poked his own chin with his thumb. "Why and what exactly made the king want to build an utopia? What exactly are the reasons and factors behind it. If you do not get the whole picture, you'll most than likely commit a mistake in your cluelessness. We should request more inquiry outof the Lion King just to be sure, no?""
"It matters little for me if the Lion King is truly our King Arthur or not." Tristan replied, also joining into the conversation all of a sudden. "This situation...is already in tragic dire as it is." The Knight of Lamentation stared down to the frozen fingers on his right hand, having been partially paralyzed in the sheer despair the knight had found himself in the final moments of his life. The way the poison had creeped into his body and for him to die all alone, no spouse or companions to make him company in his sad final moments. "If Camelot has truthfuly fallen alongside humanity, then we will need of someone capable enough to lead a reconstruction and salvation of those things. Even if it is a leader with no understanding of human emotion."
"Hm? Ever since I've known you, you always state how the king was deformed for lacking the comprehension of the heart of men, being the main reason you had decided to leave the Round Table, remember?" Palamedes reminded Tristan of what he had said to King Arthur and all the knights present when he announced to be leaving the Round Table.
"Yes. I do am aware of what I said at that time. That the king would never be perfect as he couldn't feel human emotion. Yet, in my final moments at death's door, I came to a conclusion..." Taking a grip of his freezed fingers, Tristan stared at them in slight sorrow. "That maybe the best kings to govern in hardships are those who emotions speaks the lowest."
"Then you are really willing to side with a king that fits such description of yours? You'll end up killing companions, Tristan. That in itself is a tragedy I thought you hated!" Palamedes told him, a bit staggered that the knight who he thought would most surely be against the Lion King, was actualy siding with her.
"Picking up either side, we will still end up killing each other." Tristan said, lamenting once again. "However, if such tragedy results in the completion of the utopis the Lion King talks about, and no one has to be sad anymore..." Looking at Palamedes, Tristan gave his fellow knight the coldest stare he ever saw the Knight of Lamentation give to someone. A stare that lacked feelings. "Then it will be the only tragedy I will gladly cast my emotions aside."
"..." Appaled by Tristan's declaration, Palamedes couldn't do anything but to conform with his companion's decision. "If you think so..."
"A wise decision you've made, Tristan." Agravain complimented the fellow knight, glad he had chosed to serve the Lion King. "It is good to see that there is still knights who know where and to who their priorities lay with."
Gaheris tried to protest. "If Bedivere and Gal-"
"But they aren't here!" Agravain cut him off, already guessing what his sibling was about to say. "You don't get to say what those two would end up picking. Do not dare put words in the mouth of people who are not present, Gaheris!" He told him, letting out a sigh. "You too also dissapoint me, Palamedes." Agravain said in a deep tone, not even looking directly to the other knight. "Are there going to be more 'traitors' pronouncing themselves here and now-"
"I'll also side with the Lion King!"
"..."
With a statement coming out of nowhere, the knight group immediatly shifted their attention to the knight who had said that: Lancelot.
Silently and with his back turned to the Knight of the Lake, Agravain only made a small turn with his head. "What did you said?"
"I am taking the Lion King's side!" Lancelot repeated. "If a better world and future for everyone is what our liege desires, then I shall aid His Majesty. We knights should help our king make his last desire come true indeed."
Hearing the justification, Agravain proceeded to turn around and walk torwards Lancelot without saying a word, his face fully serious. Reaching next to him, Agravain stared eye to eye with Lancelot. "Is that supposed to be a joke?" He asked to the Knight of the Lake, dubious about his loyalty to their king after everything that led to the downfall of the original Camelot. "If not, then I sure hope that you take this opportunity to atone. Those wounds you caused on me and my siblings...they're still fresh." Agravain said, menacingly. "So you better grab this second chance and make good use of it. Because if not I myself will deal with you."
"...Understood." Lancelot replied, aware of Agravain's distaste for him which honestly was accounted for. Still, the Knight of the Lake made sure to not show fear of Agravain in front of the knight himself, able to take his threat. "Apologies won't and will never do for the fatal mistakes I commited on my previous life. So I shall lend my sword to our king, the Lion King's cause, and make up for my flaws through my devotion with His Majesty's goal."
Feeling okay with Lancelot's answer, Agravain went back to the group. But in the middle of the way he stopped. "This goes for you as well. That treason and coup of yours are also to not be forgotten." He said to Mordred who was next to him, a bit more distant from everyone.
"Yeah, yeah. I've already decided what I'll gonna pick here." Mordred replied with an annoyed tone, not caring to what Agravain was telling her. "So excuse yourself from trying to manipulate me or something, jackass."
Narrowing his sight torwards her, Agravain decided to ignore his half-sister and walk back to the rest of his siblings.
Meanwhile, Gareth realized something. There was a knight so far that still hadn't pronounce themselves, not even looking to be present. "Hum? W-Where's Percival?"
With that said, all of the other knights also ended up noticing that he was not there with them. But it didn't take even a minute or half of it to find him.
"There!" Gawain exclaimed upon spotting Percival sitting on some rocks a few meters away in the distance. The tall knight of short white hair seemed quiet, deep in his own mind.
"Percival, what do you have to say about this? Certainly someone like you knows the right option here!" Gaheris called the other knight out, gaining his attention and pulling Percival out of his own thoughts.
"Oh? Me? Hehehe, well, this topic is quite debated, I have to say." Percival got up from the rock he was sat on, carrying a long spear in his hand. "But I am sure there will be a way to find a consensus in here, guys. " He smiled brightly to his fellow knights. If there was a thing the entire Round Table could agree on, was that Percival was the most ideal of a knight, both in strenght and heart, having a likeability that made impossible for anyone to dislike him. Everyone loved Percival and his companionship. "I...I think this is just one of those things were I think better when alone. So if you excuse me..." Still smilling, Percival turned around and walked away from the place, explaining to them how he preferred to make his decision alone.
"...Huh?" But Gawain ended up noticing something on his fellow comrade. Staring with precision to Percival's cheek, the Knight of the Sun saw a single tear fall from the other knight's face, dropping to the ground. "Percival is...weeping?" That made Gawain be sure of one thing: Percival was lying as he had already picked a side, and that despite his wishes, there wouldn't be a consensus here. He realized he would have to kill his fellow knights much to his own dismay.
As they all saw Percival walk away, Palamedes decided to do the same. "I've discussed enough to form my own opinion. It is obvious that we aren't all on the same side. A shame really. I thought some of you had better judgement."
"Then let's reunite with Kay and the rest." Gaheris speaked, joining Palamedes shortly after, much to Gareth's fright.
"W-Wait! Don't go Big Brother Gaheris! I don't want to fight you! Please, don't make me do it!" She begged, grabbing Gaheris by the arm.
"Sorry. But this was my choice to make. You also could have had your own, Gareth." Gaheris told her, deep down also not wishing to fight his own siblings, but knowing there was nothing that could be done about it. "See you all on the battlefield." He told them before taking his arm out from Gareth's grip and walking away with Palamedes, the two knights deciding to rebel against the Lion King.
"...Big Brother Gaheris...Palamedes..." Gareth murmured, feeling dispirited as she knew now she would have to fight and kill her own brother and oher long time companions.
"Leave them be. Those who turn their back on the king shall receive no pity from us." Agravain told to Gareth, wanting her to snap out of it. He then went to speak with Gawain. ""And what about you, Gawain? You will also serve your king, won't you?"
"Me?" Gawain replied, being a bit taken by surprise at the words directed at him.
"You have, Galatine, the twin sword of Excalibur that belonged to our king. You are an ideal model of a knight. On long missions you were the one who leaded the group majority of times and the knight people would deem to be the king's right hand, if not even a worthy successor." Agravain listed the importance and qualities Gawain had. "You are extremely fundamental to our king who trusts you like no other. One of if not His Majesty's most valuable knight. Having placed so much trust in you, you wouldn't dare to also betray the king now, would you?"
Taking those words into consideration, altough Gawain could understand, Kay, Gaheris and Palamedes motives to not want to join the Lion King, the Knight of the Sun ended up convinced by Agravain's words, dissipating any sign of doubt and indecision in his face as he stared to his sibling.
"I won't."
Some Hours Later
Fate Stay Night OST- Eien no Toga
At the end of the sunset, Artoria Pendragon, the Lion King, stood still as the last rays of sunlight and weak wind went against her back. The time for her knights to decide wether they would aid her or oppose her had ended. And so, she saw the ones who had opted to remain loyal to her cause appeared before her, all bowing down in respect to her figure.
Agravain, Lancelot, Tristan, Mordred, Gawain and Gareth. Those were the six knights whose pledge continued as strong as iron and that would aid the king in her construction of an holy city of Camelot as well as the 'tower' to paradise.
"I welcome thee, knights whose faith persisted." The Lion King opened up her arms, looking down to the six of them. "Now, I hereby dub you, as the Knights of the Lion King."
And so, they went to battle.
For as much courage, determination and resilience the knights opposing the Lion King tried to fight, they soon found they were no match against their ex-companions. The strenght, endurance, precision, speed, was everything that the Knights of the Lion King had in abundancy when compared to the ones who chosed to battle against her.
The Gifts, a magic spell delivered from the Lion King to her knights made the battle uneven, her subordinates crushing down what was once their dear friends and family. No enjoyment was taken out from such depressive conflict as all of the Knights of the Lion King could feel for their enemy was pity and hurt, watching them try to still keep on their feet and continue the battle.
But alas, their former companions couldn't go any longer. King Pellinore was the first to fall, Bors following shortly after. Palamedes succumbed to his demise. Gaheris closed his eyes in an unglorious attempt to fight his siblings. Percival passed away with extreme anguish on his face. And Kay...the Lion King personally dealt with him.
Bleeding out and on his knees, Kay weakly lifted up his head as he stared up to the imposing and expressionless face of the Lion King looking down at him, the sacred lance, Rhongomyniad, in her hand. Giving his last dying breaths as he barely could keep his vision focused, Kay gave a last effort to stare at the face of the being that he believed to be passing off as his sister. How cold and unfeeling the souless green eyes of the Lion King seemed when in contrast to the younger, lively ones of his dear little sister, Artoria.
Perhaps she had indeed lost any semblence of humanity she could have left deep inside her own soul like he was previosuly warned about by Merlin. So, maybe this Lion King was really his sister, but now only as an empty husk who could not even manage to express any feeling.
Thinking of that, Kay coughed as he gave a little smirk to the Lion King before the fatal blow arrived.
"You...idiot..."
.
.
.
"Hmm..."
Opening up her eyes, the Lion King felt a drop of water running down from her face in the middle of all the countless others. But this one was different from the rest as it came down from her eye. A tear. Touching it, Artoria Pendragon wondered why did it had appeared while looking directly at the shower raining on her. Could it be from the memories she was going through right now?
"But why did that made me shed a tear?"
On the other side of the door, Peko was still observing the Lion King, pondering on what she could be reflecting about...And maybe because of her beauty as well, one of Peko's hair spikes twitching a bit as he took more of a sneak peak. "She isn't even blinking while looking up!" The boy noted how immovable Artoria Pendragon's eyes were despite being constantly bombarded with water.
Eyes so still that Peko seemed mesmerizied by them...until they moved as the Lion King proceeded to stare at the door of her private bathroom, feeling a presence alongside her. "Who goes there?" She asked with a serious and scary voice.
"!" Frightened, Peko immediatly retreated from the door and went torwards the exit of the bathroom as quickly as possible, opening the door, leaving the room and then shutting it before he begun to walk at a fast pace, trying to get as far as possible from the place before Artoria Pendragon could exit the bathroom.
"What I was even thinking?! I should've got out of there the moment I entered!" Peko admonished himself for having wasted more than enough time observing the Lion King. Thankfully, he did not found any soldier knights nearby nor it seemed the Lion King had decided to chase him when looking behind. All in all, Peko should be out of trouble and back to his room before any suspicions or warning could be made.
But it was still too soon to count on victory. As the boy felt closer to his room, the moment turned around the corner, he ended up bumping into someone and falling to the ground. "Agh!" Looking up, the boy was already counting on the bad luck of having runned into a soldier knight or one member of the Round Table. Perhaps even the Lion King herself. Instead, the ones who appeared in front of him were the small group of pure souls that composed the population of the Holy City, much to Peko's surprise. "Eh? What are they doing here?"
Not even looking at him, the inhabitants past by Peko, ignoring the boy as they were heading to a place nearby.
"Hm? Where are they going?" Peko was curious, eventually getting up from the ground and seeing the pure inhabitants enter a small room to the left. Heading there, Peko stood by the entrance, seeing what the pure souls were doing. They were praying. Praying in the interior of a small, simple chapel. Nothing else.
Peko wondered if that was all the inhabitants inside the Holy City would do. Get up, pray for the entire day and go retire to go back to sleep. An endless cycle repeating over and over again, where the inhabitants couldn't go much outside, buy or cook food, talk with one another, visit the variety of buildings inside the Holy City. Nothing. Only kneel and implore for salvation for hours. Who would even want that kind of life?
"Beautiful, is it not?"
A voice sounded behind him, catching Peko off guard, letting out an audible gasp. Staring to the person behind him, Peko saw none other but the Lion King herself. "Now I'm really done for!" Peko exclaimed to himself. It seemed Artoria Pendragon had indeed went after him, appearing when he had less expected.
Despite that, the Lion King didn't proceed to do any harm to Peko immediatly, instead beggining a conversation with him, staring at the pure souls praying inside the chapel. "People who daily make sure to cleanse their souls, remaining pure and unstained by sin, practicing no evil."
"I do not get it. How can someone call the daily routine of a person where they do nothing but pray 'beautiful'? Doesn't that makes it become...wearisome?" Peko asked, thinking where was the beauty in having a life like that.
Artoria Pendragon didn't hesitated to explain it to him. "Because there is order. Harmony. To perform orations on a daily basis is to remain on the path of the virtuous and guiltless, the souls washed and unknown to sin. To not commit crime and respect the law and balance. The true definition of pure souls whose lights cannot be tarnished ny darkness. That is how I envision the paradise of my goals. A place where people pray to perserve their innocence and morality, respecting the limits, rules and concept of rectitude. We simply cannot risk to lose such possibility of an unalloyed glaring future."
"But they cannot live forever. They're still humans. They must want to do something else rather than praying, don't you think? These people shouldn't be imprisoned to have every action and step of their lives from here on out be dictated by someone. Why would someone be happy with a life like that?" Peko questioned, thinking that the Lion King was ignoring the personal feelings of her small group of citizens while claiming to be for their own good.
"True that a mortal's body does have a limit. That their corpses do end up brittled and crumbling until the point of only bones being left behind. However, the people's souls are eternal." Artoria Pendragon said, a sinister look in her eyes. "A human might lose forever their body, but their presence continues to live on in their undying souls. Through such method of perservation, they will live on forever in my utopian kingdom, even long after casting away their physical forms. A humanity that altough sparse, will remain benign, with its last 'living' individuals getting to enjoy a blissful and peaceful eternal life in a place where the fear and sadness of lose and destruction cannot reach. That is the way for salvation."
"..." Peko could barely believe on what the Lion King was telling him. He couldn't disagree more with her ultimate goal and idea for a paradise. To keep these small group of humans to live forever to the point where they would become just spiritual beings with no thoughts of their own, wandering aimlessly around her 'utopia' where the only thing they would do was praying...it sounded like a twisted idea of an utopia. One where Artoria Pendragon seemed to not act like a king who cared for her people, but instead as a goddess or scientist that would put her subjects in a confined space and control their every second, refusing to let them die or do anything else. "But..." Horrified of such thing, Peko gave a look to all the pure souls praying in the chapel. "That is just-"
"It's heaven." The Lion King put an hand on the boy's shoulder. "One free from sin and terror. Immaculate, where people won't have to worry about surviving or suffering anymore. It might sound repressive but it's for the greater good." She said, trying to be cordial with Peko. "Young Finsternis, can thou not grasp it? How reposeful a future like that could be?" Gently crouching, she brought her mouth close to Peko's ear, wanting to persuade him into accepting her view and idea. "So do aid me. With the Young Finsternis light, the stairway to paradise will shine brighter than any star. We can save humanity and guide it together."
"...No."
"?"
"I won't be helping you at anything!" Peko told it straight to the Lion King's face, resulting in her to back away her face from him, giving a seemingly normal look despite Peko being able to tell how unsatisfied her face must have been behind those eyes as he told her that. "What about free will? Letting people live their lives the way they want? How can you be okay with stripping those things away from them?" He argued, Artoria Pendragon being patient and polite enough to let him continue, hearing carefully to his words. "A peaceful utopic kingdom would surely be a great dream to see become true. But, would there be nothing else to it? No festivals? No markets? Pubs, food, animals, houses, society, anything at all? Just mindless souls in a gated space to pray forever until the end of time?" Closing his hands into fists, Peko gave a fuming look to the Lion King. "How can any of that be described as 'utopic'?"
"Compared to the terrors that lure in the world, it is paradise indeed." Artoria Pendragon replied. "I am only protecting them from those terrors." She proceeded to look at the chapel. "The Young Finsternis can go and ask them in what world they would prefer to live in."
"And have you asked them if they want to live forever as spirits with no thoughts or freedom?" Peko replied back.
The Lion King was quick to respond. "As a king, it is-"
"King? Of what kingdom? One where the population can be counted in one hand and do nothing but pray and exist?" Peko told her, not holding back in saying what was on his mind. "That is a king of nothing."
"..." Despite not visibly showing it, the Lion King felt her pride and status being pricked in that moment, a hidden displeasure torwards Peko growing inside. "I have shown the Young Finsternis the apex of my might yesterday. What I can be truly capable of. Creating a paradise is not beyond me and thoust knows it well." Artoria Pendragon speaked, looking down on the boy with a more menacing and fearsome glare, not going to tolerate Peko's criticism anylonger. "And yet, Young Finsternis chooses to deny cooperation with me still?"
"Yes. I don't care what you are capable of." Peko told despite the threatening gaze she was giving to him. "I will never help you!" Saying that, Peko decided to turn around and leave to his bedroom, not desiring to fight the Lion King as he knew it wouldn't be the wisest thing to do as he would probably lose to her. "See you later, Your Majesty."
Seeing Peko walking away, a thing snapped inside the Lion King. Despite how emotionless and composed she was looking, her right arm moved. "Then..."
She gave Peko a chance to understand her and help her side on attaining paradise. The Lion King made sure to treat him fairly as a honrable prisoner on her kingdom during almost two weeks. And still, the boy showed no signs of compliance, denying to accept the king that was gentle enough to let him live for now. Peko gave her no other option.
"Hu-Ack!?"
Having turned around the moment he felt a bright and heard a noise behind him, Peko ended up being caught by surprise as he saw the tip of Lion King's Rhogomyniad pierce Peko in the chest, much to the boy's shock.
"You gave me no other choice." Artoria Pendragon said, beggining to drain Peko's mana, his light, through the usage of Rhongomyniad.
The boy's heartbeats accelerated through the roof, his soul feeling unstable and at danger as the Lion King's weapon had invaded Peko's body, seeking to suck out his power and mana energy. "N-No! Stop!" Peko shouted in despair as he instinctively grabbed Rhongomyniad with his bare hands, trying to remove its tip from his chest as he felt more and more mana leaving him.
Unfortunately, the struggle wasn't being enough as the Lion King kept with a firm grasp on her weapon, seeking to absorve a huge amount of the light of the boy's soul. Maybe even to the last drop of it. However, she widened her eyes when seeing Peko's own soul materializing itself, its brightful light flickering intensely "What?"
"Gghnghgrrr! I told you to stop!" Peko screamed as he put more effort in trying to shove Rhongomyniad away from him, his soul stopping with the glint before progressively shinning more viciously, as if the soul itself was also struggling alongside Peko. The light was so potent that it reached to the point it was lightening the entire hall, almost blinding to stare at.
Fearing what could happen if she continued to provoke and drain power from the unstable soul, the Lion King immediatly removed Rhongomyniad from Peko's chest, resulting in all the light around them being cancelled out.
"Ah...You..." Putting a hand on his chest, Peko could barely feel his legs or any energy on his body, weak and fragile in that moment, his skin pale and his eyes struggling to remain open. Eventually, the boy collapsed, his body hitting the ground right in front of Artoria Pendragon.
The king had finally got what she wanted out of the boy, his light now stored within Rhongomyniad. The quantity should be enough. Taking some breaths and adjusting some bits of her hair, the Lion King took a closer look to Peko, noticing that he was breathing, meaning that she didn't killed him.
She could finish the job right now-
"No!" Artoria Pendragon said, holding back her own right hand as if she was speaking to someone else. "I...We are not like this."
Holding an impulse back, the Lion King instead picked up Peko's body gently, carrying the boy in bridal position. It was never for her intent to kill him, only drain his power. She didn't felt she would accomplish anything by finishing him off, perhaps thinking she could have more plans for him now that she got his light. Artoria Pendragon wondered what would her knights think and react to it if they had seen the way she proceeded to attack the boy. Certainly a thing that wouldn't exactly fit the labels of a 'righteous' king. But alas, it did not matter to what harm or pain she caused as long as it justified her end goal.
Still, the Lion King made the favour of carrying the unconscious Peko all the way to his bedroom, open the door, and carefuly lay him down on the bed, making some small adjusts on his hair and prince clothes, checking if everything was alright.
Before leaving, Artoria Pendragon gave a contemplative look to Peko's sleeping face, thinking on what he had told her. "Flawed or not, I will have my utopia. And Young Finsternis shall witness it. Maybe then, thoust will comprehend it."
.
.
.
"Hmmm...my head..."
"Hehe, enjoying the nap, Peko?"
"Hm? Someone's speaking next to me?"
Opening his eyes, the boy found himself in a different room, being very spacious. A circular room with a small swamp in it and a statue in its middle, resembling some sort of crystal. Before he could wander where he was, Peko spotted something moving in the waters in front of him, doing quacking noises.
"A-A duck?"
Peko looked at the small animal, fascinated. The view of the animal in the lake seemed awfully familiar to him.
"They are always the cutest of animals, no?"
Looking to his left, Peko saw a man sitting next to him, the brightness from the ceilling initially made it unable for the boy to see clearly the man's face. However, once his eyes adjusted to the light, Peko was able to see the details of the man's face, namely, his spiky white hair, going from right to left, eyes equals to Peko, leading him to believe that-
"Dad?"
"What was the dream you were having? I can only imagine it was a sweet one, no?"
The man, presumably Peko's dad, giggled.
"..." Peko was purely speechless, not knowing how to react. For the first time since he remembered, he was seeing his father's face, being extremely accurate to the portrait Da Vinci had done of him when Nala gave the description of his appearence.
The boy wished to hug him tightly and cry. Saying how much he had missed him and so many more things. However, Peko's subconsciousness could not move, seeming that what he was experiencing now was only a memory, therefore unable to act and move the way he wished to.
"Dad...it's really you..."
Peko saw the man kindly pat his head and smile to him.
"Well, we should go now. The cerimony will start anytime soon. It would not be nice for us to be the only ones absent."
Agreeing, the Peko from the memory got up from the ground at the same time as his dad, staring to the duck for a second before following his father.
"I can't believe this...I'm actually remembering dad's face and every-huh?"
However, something started feeling off. The moment Peko from the memory turned around, the subconscious Peko saw the clothes his dad was wearing. A priest's clothing with a red cloth tied around his waist. A familiar set of clothing...
"Wait! Those clothes are-"
"So..."
Stopping from walking, Peko's 'dad' remained still as his hair color changed from white to dark, the spiky hair now going from left to right. Thinking more deeply, Peko also came to realize his dad's voice didn't sound the same as of the previous memories he dreamed of with him. Instead, it sounded like of another character Peko had already met in his dreams.
"The painter!"
Out of nowhere, the room they were in begun to collapse and being violently teared apart, the memory of the dream now interfered and the Peko of the memory as well as the subconscious Peko becoming one in the same.
"Ghgh!" Peko protected his face from the agressive winds as he watched the entire room being destroyed and swallowed, uncovering a dark vast void around them. Still trying to get a look at the painter, Peko saw ten giant horns and other creatures shinning behind the dark curtains in front of the painter, forming a sinister and nightmarish view. "W-Who...are you?! Dad?"
The painter, or still the boy's father, proceeded to only give a glance at Peko and say:
"You still haven't figured out, Peko?"
"Ah!"
Falling from the bed, Peko woke up in fright, his body trembling as he felt chills through the nerves, almost having the need to throw up after the nightmarish dream he had.
"Scary! I was so scared! What was even that? Was it truly my father who I saw? Why did I then saw the painter? When did he appeared?"
Taking some deep breaths and calming his heartbeat, Peko found the energy enough to get his body up from the ground and lay it on the bed again, looking up to the ceilling. "What...was even all that about?"
Wanting to think more about it, Peko found himself way too weak and exhausted to even use his head straight, a discomfort coming from his chest, making him put a hand on it. "The Lion King...she got a part of my mana." Peko remembered, the fresh memory of Artoria Pendragon piercing him with Rhongomyniad flashing through his head, making his chest feel even more discomfort. "She actually did it. And without warning no less!"
Getting up from the bed and trying to stabilize his footing, Peko went torwards the bookshelf and took out the hidden silver disk, Árma Hermes, from it, putting on his pocket. Something told Peko he would need to be escaping soon as the Lion King had finally got what he wanted from him, doubtful if she would let him outlive his purpose.
Hearing knocks on the door, Peko was surprised as he saw none other than Gawain opening it. "Gawain?"
"Agravain requires your presence, Young Prince. Come with me."
"According to Lancelot's expeditions, Olgoi-Khorkhoi's territory is not an established one, the hours were it moves more around the desert being around midday. If we want to invade the Sun King's city, the travessy of his desert needs to be done at night when the sandworm presumably is less active."
In a conference, Agravain was explaining and discussing the details of an upcoming invasion and raid attack the Lion King and her army was planning on doing against Ozymandias and his kingdom. The two were looking at the map of the entire region of the Singularity with war board pieces to display and show the strategy they were chatting about. Around them, there was a handful of soldier knights also were watching and listening to the conference, with Mordred being in the middle of them.
Arriving to it but not interrupting the topic, Gawain and Peko entered the room, the Knight of the Sun quietly leading Peko to the front, the two standing next to Mordred as they also watched the invasion to the Sun Kingdom being discussed.
"Huh? An attack to the Sun Kingdom is being planned?" Peko murmured, seeing the board pieces and map on the table.
"Yep. Now that all those ants in the mountains have pratically been dealt with, we're moving to the bigger fish here." Mordred told to Peko. "We win this one and basically become unstoppable or whatever the king thinks."
"Quiet it, Mordred." Gawain told her, not wanting her to interrupt the discussion or her voice to be heard as either Agravain or Artoria Pendragon were talking.
"The ones we must have more caution with are the Sun King himself and his priestess, both believed to be Heroic Spirits as well." Agravain said as he move the pieces in the map. "I advise that the power of our army should be splited into two, each unit fighting each servant. While one attacks and raids the front of the city, the second one could ambush from behind and penetrate their defenses in surprise. We should begin to organize the preparations and train the troops for the battle still within today." Agravain told to his king, removing his hands from the table. "Does it sound like a proper strategy to Your Majesty? Is there anything the king would like to change about it?"
But before the Lion King could answer him, the door's to the conference room opened up, Lancelot entering the chamber. "Salutations, my king! My fellow companions! I come back with the reports of mine and Tristan's mission to eradicate the enemy on the mountains: despite the second Holy Judgement not having landed, we made sure to destroy and burn the remaining villages that escaped from the king's attack! Presumably, there isn't any single enemy left in the mountains. They won't ever be a bother to thee again, Your Majesty." The Knight of the Lake gave the report, bowing in front of Artoria Pendragon.
"It is a pleasure hearing that, Sir Lancelot. I commend you and Sir Tristan for the job well done." The Lion King congratulated him, the news of having one less enemy to deal with being great to her ears.
"I hope you made sure of that, Lancelot. But then again, a knight with honor wouldn't dare to lie." Agravain told him, a bit skeptic but choosing to believe in Lancelot's words. "Now, with that task done, I want you to remain in the city to protect it untilf further notice."
"Understood." Lancelot nodded, getting up from the ground. "But, there is something I would like to ask to Your Majesty, if I am allowed to." He requested to his king, gaining a puzzled look from Agravain.
Artoria Pendragon for her part accepted it. "Make the question then, Lancelot. What is it?"
Looking at his king's eyes, Lancelot had the courage enough to ask her. "The king's use of the Holy Judgement on the villages...was it truly necessary?"
"Hm?" Artoria Pendragon eyes slightly moved.
"What are you insinuating, Lancelot?" Agravain stepped up, not liking the question.
"That using such destructive power to get rid of the enemy, when the king stated previosuly its power would only be used to intimidate them originally, doesn't Your Majesty thinks that was way overboardingly cruel? To nuke even innocents in the middle to simple dust?" Lancelot questioned her. "Not even taking into account how sadistic Tristan's actions were when attacking the villages. Such ruthlessness being released on them...the king could have not done it out of his own free will, could it? Your Majesty does not see himself in such brutal acts, right?" As he speaked more and more, the entire room was silent while hearing the words of the knight, all of the soldier knights amazed by the audacity of Lancelot in questioning his own king in such topic.
Even Peko, Gawain and Mordred were a bit surprised by the way the Knight of the Lake was directly confronting his king about the matter. Meanwhile, Agravain was looking silently displeased and annoyed.
"Altough the king could never understand human emotions, I'm sure Your Majesty would never do such atrocity in his own accordance! Someone instigated Your Majesty to do it, right? Someone must have instigated thee to do it, my liege!" Lancelot expressed, giving a glance at Agravain at the Lion King's side. "Someone who likes to control everything from behind."
"!" Irked at such accusation, Agravain was about to berate Lancelot. "Who are you to be accus-"
"Nay. I did it on my own volition." Artoria Pendragon speaked, putting her arm in front of Agravain, signaling him to stay where he was. "I consciously used the Holy Judgement to wipe out the enemy. No persuasion envolved."
Lancelot was slightly baffled. "But my king...why?"
"She totally lost all basic compassion and understanding for others." Peko said to himself, remembering of how she speaked of the pure souls to him and her intentions with them.
"Simple. With our goal being near to its complition, we could not take any chances in having to worry about more rebellions erupting across the land. We would have too many problems to deal at the same time." She explained to Lancelot. "Furthermore, with the tower to paradise in its final stages, any future opposition to us would be a waste of the time to the enemies themselves."
"But then, that would make all the more unnecessary." Lancelot looked in grief to the ground, thinking the Lion King justification did not helped her case at all. "There was still no need to have destroyed all those villages!"
"And that's because one of them was left standing!"
Entering the room and interrupting the conversation, Tristan appeared, having arrived shortly after from the same mission.
"S-Sir Tristan has also showed up!"
"And his face does not seem friendly at all!"
"What's even happening here?" Peko asked in reaction to the unpredictability he was witnessing in the conference.
"Eh. If it is to get chaotic then I'm all for it!" Mordred smirked.
"Tristan, you're here" Lancelot said, seeing Tristan walk torwards him.
"Yes, I am here indeed. Here to say the Eastern Village survive because of your incompetence, Lancelot!" He replied to his companion, resulting in the room to be filled with murmurs between soldier knights, wondering what could have been.
"Hush! Order now!" Agravain demanded to the soldiers before looking at Tristan. "Now, Tristan, care to explain how Lancelot is responsible for that?"
"By now, I'm sure you are all aware of the fact the second Holy Judgement didn't striked down on its supposed target. And the reason for it was because of a single arrow fired at it that canceled out our king's attack. It was the Noble Phantasm of a servant." Tristan gave an angry look at Lancelot. "The servant that Lancelot should have dealt with!"
Lancelot was perplexed. "You're telling me-"
"Yes! That archer servant you quickly dispatched wasn't dead at all! Being the one who stopped the attack! All because you didn't made sure he was dead, Lancelot!" Tristan accused Lancelot of incompetence, now having revealed the news of the Eastern Village and its inhabitants having escaped the fate of every other village.
An information that made Peko happy. "I knew it! They're still alive!"
"I..." Lancelot decided to stay silent, taking in the blame regretfully.
"Once again you lie, Lancelot." Agravain told him with disdain. "I should have already expected that from you. What else are you hiding or lying more to your king?"
"Definetly the information that Bedivere is also here, fighting by our enemy's side." Tristan revealed, gaining entire looks of surprise in the room.
"Hm?" Agravain raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Lancelot asked, also caught by surprise.
"Bedivere?" Even the Lion King's eyes gained a bit of life as she heard that name.
"Yes. Unfortunate to say, but he is a traitor now." Tristan informed them. "Did you knew about that, Lancelot?"
"Not at all! I wasn't even aware Bedivere was here this entire time as well!" Lancelot responded legitematly, never having runned into the Knight of Loyalty before.
Agravain, still in shock, just gave a glance to both Mordred and Gawain amongst the soldier knights. "You knew all along?"
"..."
"..."
Both the two knights kept silence, avoiding eye contact with Agravain, ending up confirming it in a way that they indeed knew Bedivere was working with the enemy.
More annoyed than anything, Agravain ended up punching the table agressively, resulting in a loud sound that scared and dazed everyone in the room except for the Lion King. "You knew this entire time and kept such information away from me?" Agravain shouted, protesting it. "Is keeping secrets from others a trait of the Round Table now?"
"Bedivere is of no consequence, Agravain!" Gawain speaked immediatly, trying to calm down the other knight's anger. "His fighting skills and capabilities stayed mostly the same!"
"Yeah. All dude has of new is only some metal magic arm that forms light beams and stuff." Mordred corroboded Gawain's argument. "Bedivere is basically just a one trick pony now!"
"And a bad one at that." Tristan smiled. "When fighting him, he tried to use all out on me only to end up screaming in agony on the ground, struggling to even get up. I say that we should pay him no mind as he will only end up destryoing himself in desperate attempts to stop us."
Even with all that justification, Agravain didn't seemed more happy. "Bedivere is still a knight! You can laugh and mock him but never understimate an adversary! Who knows what he can be up to? He might not be strong, but he certainly isn't stupid unlike some of you by the way you act!" Agravain admonished, not willing to overlook any enemy, even if they were former friends or 'weaklings'. "But first..." Heading torwards Lancelot, he was about to make him pay for having failed his mission. "Lancelot, you shall be-"
"End the mission, Lancelot." Artoria Pendragon speaked over Agravain, interrupting him.
"What?!" Agravain looked at her in disbilief.
"Go after the survivors and end them for good this time. We cannot allow them to live anylonger as the chances of them wanting revenge and possibly making an alliance with the Sun King to attack us are way too high to be ignored" The Lion King ordered Lancelot, giving him one more chance, sparing him of any punishment.
Surprised but greatly relieved, Lancelot bowed down to her. "Blessed be thy mercy, Your Majesty. I shall not dissapoint the king this time around." Saying that, Lancelot was quick to get up and leave the room, but not before giving a fast smirk to the ired Agravain who was absolutly against the king's decision.
"But Yout Majesty! He failed the mission and lied, breaking the king's trust!" Agravain told her, about to lose his posture with all of this. "He should be punished! Restricted to just an area and not going out in more-" However, Agravain immediatly shut up the moment Artoria Pendragon gave a stare at him. One that should not be defied, teeling Agravain he would accep her choice.
"..."
Calming down and taking a moment to keep his head cold, Agravain for a moment did not lose his composure, reminding himself of the importance he had as the right hand of his king. "Very well then. Gawain!"
"Yes?" Gawain looked at Agravain, having been called.
"Continue guarding the main entrance of the Holy City! I don't want to see not a single invader in this place! Clear?" Agravain ordred him.
"Understood!" Gawain nodded before leaving the room.
"Tristan! Mordred!" Agravain called the other two. "I want you both to surveil and patrol the streets of the city!"
"It shall be done so." Tristan made a bow, exiting the room as well.
"What about shortie here?" Mordred asked, pointing at Peko.
"Leave him here. There is a thing I want to discuss with Young Finsternis." Agravain told her with seriousness on his voice.
Peko gulped. "Please don't be about what happened earlier today!" He wished, dreading if Agravain knew of the fact Peko strolled around the halls freely with no restraint, and worse yet, entered on the Lion King's private bathroom.
"Aye! See ya around then!" Mordred said, also leaving the conference.
"All of you are dispersed as well!" Agravain exclaimed to all of the soldier knights present. "Go back to your previous functions!"
And so, the room became almost empty in a second, with only the Lion King, Agravain and Peko left in it.
Walking torwards the boy, Agravain gave him a cold glare, with Peko smilling nervously at him. In the end, Agravain just sighed, bringing his finers to his forhead. "This day just likes to keep getting worse."
"Bedivere..."
"Yes, my king. I'm sure the fact Bedivere has also decided to become traitor must pain thee." Agravain responded, turning around to look at Artoria Pendragon. "After all, he was supposedly the Knight of-?!"
However, Agravain's eyes suddenly widden in absolute shock as he saw the face of oblivion from his king. So far, he had never seen her showing any traces of emotions during their time in this Singularity. So witnessing the mighty Lion King for once break out of her stoicism with an expression that demonstrated her being clueless, made Agravain speechless to it. Even Peko was baffled by Artoria Pendragon showing an emotion.
But more shocking, was what she said.
"Who...is Bedivere?"
"Glad to see all of you from the Western Village ended up escaping in time, Hundred Personas." Ritsuka speaked to the Hassan, she and the inhabitants from her village having arrived to the Eastern Village, partially destroyed but still salvageable after the brutal assault made by the Lion King's knights and their troops, the population trying to find and recover items of value in the wreckage after the attack. In the meantime, where the party was heling with that, they got the pleasent reveal that Hundred Personas and her people had survived the Holy Judgement's blow.
"How exactly did you escaped? The entire village and surrounding area was completly nuked to ashes." Mash asked, wondering how the assassin and the others were alive if they saw the first Holy Judgement striking down the Western Village.
"A mysterious guy had showed up and warned us in advance yesterday's morning." Hundred Personas told them. "So by the time that giant lance came from the sky, we were already miles away from the village."
"A mysterious guy?" Nala asked, curious.
"Yeah. A dude in some kind of yellow coat." Hundred Personas told them. "Initially we didn't really listened and were kinda suspicious of him. But when he started talking about the Lion King and the previous attacked our village had suffered, we ended up following his advice and evacuate. It seems it was the right choice."
"A yellow coat?" Bedivere muttered, thinking he had seen someone with that description before in this Singularity.
"Is everything alright, Bedivere-san?" Mash asked him, hearing the knight's murmur.
"Yes. I am Mash." Bedivere replied to her.
"How's your arm doing?" Nala asked him, staring to Airgetlám.
"Feeling much better now." Bedivere answered the younger girl.
"Speaking of that, is your body feeling better, Nala?" Ritsuka asked to his teammate, remembering how exhausted she was at the end of the battle by the long time usage of her armour.
"Yeah. My mana energy is almost entirely back after the rest. No longer that fatigued." Nala responded to him.
"But from what I saw, a giant spear was supposed to erase this village as well but ended up dissapearing." Hundred Personas told them. "How did that exactly happened?"
As she asked them that, the party's entire mood went a bit down with sorrow.
"We were saved by him..." Serenity told to Hundred Personas who looked confused.
"Huh? Saved by who ex-..." Upon seeing everyone of the party, she noticed the one person who was missing, soon realizing the why for their sadness. "Oh. I see...Who knew Arash could pull it off?"
"Arash Kamangir went out as a true and honrable hero in his final moments." Touta speaked up. "His sacrifice won't be in vain!"
Sanzang agreed with her disciple. "Now it is up to us to defeat the Lion King for him and everyone else who lost their lives in this!"
"Arash gave his life for us..." Bedivere gripped Airgetlám, looking at the magical artifact, remembering of what the archer told to him in his final moments. "We will make sure to repay that favour!"
Seeing the group having mourned the lose of their dear companion, Ritsuka looked behind to see Cursed Arm alone, having improvised a tombstone with the debris of the wreckage, praying silently for the fallen and most importantly, his now deceased friend.
"Hm? You want me to join your cause? Well, I don't know if I'll be of much help since I'm basically a nobody. I mean, I do have a Noble Phantasm that might be useful but even then it costs a lot of me. But hey! If it's for a good reason, then you can count on me anyways! Hahaha!"
"Grrr..." Cursed Arm was in grief for him and all the others. The destruction of his village he protected so much. The pain it was brought to them. The twisted smile of the red haired knight that was the main cause for this in the assassin's eyes. Cursed Arm wouldn't forget the knight. Not until he payed. "Sir Tristan...Your days are counted." He said, vowing revenge on the person who brought such disgrace to them.
As the entire group was silently watching Cursed Arm on his ritual for the deceased, a villager approached them.
"Guys! I spotted another group of refugees arriving here!"
"What?" Ritsuka exclaimed in surprise.
"Did they come with you?" Bedivere asked to Hundred Personas.
"No. Only me and the people from my village." The assassin responded, not being aware of other group of refugees.
"Let's see what is it about then." Cursed Arm told to everyone, with them heading to the village's entrance.
Going there, they all saw the small group of refugees that had arrived to the village, much to Cursed Arm's mild surprise. "Hm? Already here?"
"Do you know who these people are?" Ritsuka asked to the assassin.
"They're a small group of refugees that was fleeing from the Lion King's troops a few days ago. When I received the message of their situation by some of my assassins, I was planning on sending them help to escort the group to the village. They should have only arrived by tomorrow." Cursed Arm explained. "Didn't expected to see them here today already!"
"Then they've arrived earlier than expected?" Nala asked. "How so?"
Stepping up from the refugee group, a familiar merchant chuckled. "Allow me to explain, my dear friends."
Ritsuka, alongside Mash and Nala, found the voice to be weirdly familiar. "Isn't that-"
"During our precarious situation, we ended up being saved!" The merchant was none other but the swindler thief they had met at the town that one time, Saruhan.
"SARUHAN!?" All three of them exclaimed in shock.
"Oh oh! I see we meet again, dear friends! How have you been?" Saruhan replied with a friendly smile.
"Cut with that 'friend' crap! We know you are up to no good!" Nala told him, knowing well what type of man he was.
"Is he a bad person?" Serenity asked to Mash.
"A very bad one that takes chance to steal and trick others to get all the wealth for himself." Mash told the assassin. "He must have infiltrated in the refugee group to go to somewhere save in order to safe his own skin."
"Aww, please, accusing me of such things is very cruel." Saruhan replied, sounding truly sad. "I am aware of the sins I commited in the past. My old ways...how wrong they were. That I was nothing but a despicable person who bullied others! That's why..." Making a majestic posture, the ex-merchant looked up gracefully to the sky that shinned down on him. "I have reformed as a better man!"
"That sounds highly improbable." Ritsuka replied with an embaressed face.
"Guys, I know you don't like him but...it appears Saruhan is telling the truth!" Romani told them, much to their surprise.
"Eh? How exactly?" Nala asled to Romani.
"Well, I don't know how to put it into words but my monitors are sensing a bright energy within him! As if he's soul was kind of 'cleansed' or something that changed his overall psyche into becoming a better person!" Romani explained.
"Eeh, how does that even happens?" Ritsuka asked to Romani.
Saruhan intervened giving a cheerful chuckle. "Hm hm, that is what I was about to explain, my dear friends!"
"We are not your friends..." Ritsuka told him.
"Fou fou!"
"You see, during our travel across the wastelands, in seek of shelter, we ended up being attacked by the awful creatures of the Blight! There, we all thought everything was doomed!" Saruhan told them, sounding a bit dramatic. "But it was right there, our savior appeared to rescue us, answering our pleas and screams for help!"
"Your savior?" Mash asked.
Saruhan nodded. "Indeed! He expelled the demonic creatures away from us and tended to our precarious situation! If it wasn't for such affecionate man, we would be all dead by now!"
"Did that savior of yours wore a yellow coat or anything similar?" Hundred Personas asked, trying to see if he was talking of the same person that had visited her village.
"No. Our savior was wearing a dark, ragged coath instead! I admit he seemed spooky at first but was actually a person of such great soul! It felt like being in the presence of a messiah!" Saruhan told the assassin, seeming to have a huge liking for the person who saved the refugee group.
"He even cured our child from the Blight disease, saving his life!" A man, next to his wife and son told them, a huge smile on the parents faces.
The wife nodded. "Yes! We owe eternal gratitude to him! A man like that, could as well have been a saint!"
"A saint?" Ritsuka replied, wondering if such person could be another servant.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!*
"Eh?! What was that sound?!" Ritsuka exclaimed in startlement as he, the party, and everyone in the village heard a loud, piercing sound of an explosion that even made the earth itself shake for a bit.
"Cursed Arm! Everyone!"
Running from behind, a worried and terrified recruiter reached to the party, extremly nervous and pale.
"I-it came from the desert! It's horrible!"
"Calm down a bit and breath easy there!" Hundred Personas told to the poor man, seeing how panicked he look.
"The huge sound came from the desert?" Mash replied.
"Let's go to the outlook post!" Cursed Arm told them. "From there, we shall see the egyptian desert!" And everyone ended up following him to the mentioned place.
Reaching there, the party could see what was the cause from the terryfying sound. And when they gazed at the desert from far away, they soon realized why the recreuiter looked so frightened, every single one of them paralyzed, staring in dreadful consternation to the desert.
Even Cursed Arm was petrified by what he was gazing at. "Ya'iilhi..."
Attack on Titan OST- XL-TT Ending Chants
Quoting T.E Lawrence famous short poem:
'All men dream
but not equally.'
In the balcony of the castle of the Holy City, Peko, alongside the Lion King and Agravain also stood freezed as they gazed to the desert, having heard the large sound that echoed through the entire Singularity.
Peko noticed the right hand of the Lion King, trembling. "She...She's scared?"
'Those who dream by night, in the dusty reccess of their minds,
wake in the day to find it was vanity.'
"KING OZYMANDIAS! KING OZYMANDIAS! COME HERE QUICK! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
"Easy! What is all of this commotion, Nitocris?"
"T-The sandworm..."
"Hum?...No. It cannot be..."
'But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men,
From the middle of the desert, two men watched to the terryfing scene a few miles away from them, one simply smoking from his pipe while the other hold a tight grasp on his sword.
for they may act on their dreams with open eyes,
Looking to the distant desert from his shrine, the First Hassan gazed at it meticulosuly. "So that is thy solution, Man of Sin."
In a certain area of the desert, a hellish landscape of giant black flames painted the view, giving the sky a greyish look, as a lonely dark star stood up there, shinning down on the enormous dilacerated corpse of Olgoi-Khorkhoi, having been brutally ravished and killed by creatures more monstrouous than the sandworm itself, sticking its dead body way up high for everyone in the Singularity to see, impaled in a pair of gigantic scorpion tails.
It was an announcement of a bad omen. That a great evil was present, in the form of a man who strived to vanquish all sin.
to make them possible.'
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 109!
Phew, this was quite a lengthy chapter with many things to talk about. And what I'm gonna do? End it here and don't say anything because this chapter is already long enough and I don't wanna make it any longer! (Also with an interest in watching DanDaDan that released only a few hours ago)
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 110! Peace!
P.S:
Nala (Wakes up, feeling strange and small): Hmmm... Eh? Why is my bed over the- (Realizes she has been transformed into a fumo plush) Waaah?! Why am I a plush all of a sudden?
Kama (appears in front of Nala, giggling) Well, well, liking your new body, airhead? I made sure to give you one with my magic potion hehe.
Nala: Grrr! So it was you! Transform me back to my origi- (Gets grabbed by Kama): H-Hey, what are you doing?
Kama (Opens an empty trash can): I think we all could benefict if you end up staying inside here for just a day, don't you agree, airhead?
Nala: NO! DON'T PUT ME IN THERE! I-
Kama (Drops plushie Nala inside the trashcan and closes it): Ups! Slippery hands! Anyways, enjoy your stay in there!
*A Few Hours Later*
Kama (Lying on her bed): Hmm, I wonder if airhead is already sobbing and muttering to herself inside that trashcan. Hehehe, can't wait to see the results tomorrow! (Turns off the lights and goes to sleep)
Nala (Hanging on the ceilling of Kama's bedroom, a knife in her plushi hand): You underestimate the willpower and need of revenge from a fumo!
(IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE WON'T BE CHAPTER NEXT WEEK)
