Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 118 of the story! December is here, and you know what that means! LB7 for Christmas baby! Hope you have enough materials and max level servants to take on Ort, because I sure as hell will have nightmares with it on gameplay terms. (But Ort itself is also very terrorizing)
And with that said, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
"Ah..." Looking up in absolute and speechless awe, Nala's eyes stared in a tenebrous astonishment at the grandeur that was the giant pillar of light that had covered the tallest tower of the Lion King's castle, going all the way up high until it pierced the skies. "Are we too late?" She pondered, a bit timorous that the others failed to reach the Lion King in time. That all of this planning, preparation, fighting...was all for nothing.
"No! It can't be it!" Nala shouted to herself, not wanting to believe everything was lost yet. "Just because it has been activated it doesn't mean it's all over! We still can do it!" She said with determination while still staring at the tower of light. "Hang in there everyone! I'll soon be there to help you!"
But before she could do that, Nala had to take care of another problem first and she knew it. The problem named the Knight of Treachery she fell alongside with, Mordred.
Like Nala, Mordred too had her attention temporarily caught by the enormous light pillar at the top of the Holy City's center. "Already, father?" She questioned, a bit addled on why the final stage of her father's plan had been activated a bit earlier than scheduled. But then her mind came to the conclusion. "I see." She proceeded to lower her gaze and stare at Nala who was still observing the tower. "You can't afford more time..." She murmured beggining to walk torwards the enemy, positioning Clarent. "Honestly, can you even plan properly anymore? But that's okay. I'll buy the remaining time..."
"!" Sensing Mordred approaching her from behind, Nala quickly turned around and blocked the knight's sword right on time, the strenght of the clash damaging the ground around the two.
"By not letting scums like you get in father's utopia!" Mordred shouted, putting enough raw power to push Nala some meters back.
"Ggh!" Stiffening her feet in order to not lose balance or get thrown from the ground, Nala managed to maintain her equilibrium right as Mordred charged torwards her again, swinging her sword at the girl for her to block a second time, the blocked hit from the Knight of Treachery this time cutting a building behind Nala in half, such was her raw strenght.
"You cretins think you're tough for having invaded our kingdom with the help of traitors and an imposter?" Mordred said angrily as her and Nala's blade created sparks. "That a stupid shortie brat fantasized as princess like you can handle me? All of the blows that you managed to land on me on our previous duel was sheer luck!" She shouted, putting more pressure in her sword, trying to break Nala's defense. "This time, I'll tear your little body to pieces!"
"Hm!" Not giving in to Mordred's spiteful comments, Nala managed to fool the knight with a nimble and brief movement of her body and legs to the right, immediatly letting the pressure on her sword go, making Mordred inadvertently create some openings on herself as the excessiveness of her strenght in the confront made her stumble forwards a bit, giving the girl a chance to attack, slicing the knight in the left part of her abdomen and then thrust kicking her right in the stomach.
"Arghgh!" Mordred flinched her face in slight pain as she was pushed away by Nala after those two blows, also making the ache of the wound Arthur gave her reactivate. "Ghgrrr! You little..." Mordred looked to her own arm stenched in blood after touching her own wounds.
"What? Did it hurt?" Nala replied back to the knight. "Good! Because the next ones will hurt more!" She said, responding with the same hostility Mordred was giving her.
"I'll have your fucking head cut off for that!" Mordred said enraged as reaction to the girl's offense. "And I'm gonna make sure the face it will be wearing, is one of your last ending terror and despair!"
Nala didn't get thrown off by that remark. By this time, she got used to hearing her enemies say equally bad things. Against a raging and savage bull like Mordred, she knew she would need to fight this battle with a head more cool and composed than of the Knight of Treachery, which wasn't that much of an hard task. "Eh. And last time I heard, the Knight of Treachery hated Arthur Pendragon's guts! So why are you serving her now? Did the Lion King promised to let you sit on her lap as a reward?" Nala risked dangerously by provoking Mordred, wanting to see if by stirring her, she would get more openings and cance to attack the unbridled knight.
"SHUT UP!" Mordred yelled, her face and eyes in ire as the opponent brought up the delicate subject of her relationship with her father, resulting in the knight to bolt agressively torwards Nala, being so sudden that the girl didn't almost had time to block, the sheer force of Mordred's swing making Nala be thrown away into the air before landing her body in the roof of one of the Holy City's buildings in the lower layer. "YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT ME AND MY FATHER!"
"Kgh!" Looking up, Nala didn't had much time to recover as she saw Mordred coming from above, all ready to smash the girl by crushing her foot onto her skull, forcing Nala to quickly move her body out of the way, avoiding Mordred's violent landing that cracked the building's roof. On the other side of the roof, Nala got on her feet as she breathed a bit to regain stamina and energy. If she wasn't in her armoured state, Mordred would have much likely squeezed her there. "She was a bit of an hot head when we first met her but she's outright wrathful here!" Nala noted, once again comparing the Mordred that was an ally in London to this one. How much more brutal and bloodthirsty this Mordred was.
"Now I'm also going to cut your tongue off for daring to speak about things you don't know a shit about!" Mordred told to Nala while standing on the other end of the roof, her desire to kill the girl only expanding further. "As a knight of the Round Table, I won't let you mock my king freely!"
Nala however continued, altough also doing it out of some puzzlement, wanting to understand why this Mordred followed the person she expressed to distaste during their time as allies. The two Mordred's looked and sounded the same, so why this Knight of Treachery behaved differently from the other one? "Yeah, right. 'Your king'. The Mordred I once heard about would rather eat a bullet and drink acid than to be Arthur Pendragon's knight again! That she would do whatever the hell she wanted from here on out without being under someone's thumb!" She exclaimed, remembering of all the things the Mordred she used to know telling her. "And yet, here you are, fighting for someone that as far as I know, does not care about you!"
"Haven't you learn to shut the fuck up yet!" Mordred threw her sword at Nala in fury, finding her utterly annoying, not wanting to admit that deep down, Nala was confronting her with the truth.
"Air Step!"
Nala was fast to jump up high and out of the way, with Clarent going all the way until it pierced the tall walls that separated the lower layer they were in from the upper layer, creating a huge crater in it.
But Mordred wasn't done yet as she surprised Nala by jumping as high as her, reaching near the girl in a second before delivering an axe handle move on her face, sending Nala back down and crashing on the roof. The Knight of Treachery then proceeded to land back on the roof and call back Clarent, rushing torwards Nala. The girl in return was able to react in time to block Mordred's attack, ensuing a sequence of clashes and traded blows between the two as they moved frenetically and in adrenaline while on the roof, making sure to have a good footwork in order to not slip by accident as it could be fatal.
However, fueled by her incessant anger and persistance, Mordred took the upperhand over Nala, a decisive quick clash with the Knight of Treachery finding a small breach on Nala's posture, hitting her just below the armpit area.
"Khg!" Nala recoiled a bit in pain as Mordred then swinged Clarent at her again, the impact between the blades dragging Nala's feet all the way to the other end of the building's roof, the tip of her feet standing on the edge as she almost fell down. "Her fury gives almost no room to breath! What a pain in the ass!" Nala noted as she tried to ignore the pain on her recent wound, getting back on her feet, sword still with firm grip.
"What? Did it hurt?" Mordred said in an almost mockery tone, sending back the small provokation Nala had thrown at her a minute ago. "Hope you don't start crying like a fragile pathetic baby!" She insulted Nala, having ceased her assault for a brief moment.
"Tsk! Why the hell are you even doing this? What happened to the Knight of 'Rebellion'?!" Nala asked all of a sudden, wanting to confront Mordred on that topic until getting an answer.
"..." Mordred stopped in her tracks, a bit irked as well as puzzled by her opponent's question. "Why the hell does she talk as if she knew me before?"
"What do you seek by helping the Lion King? Some sort of redemption?" Nala interrogated the knight. Even if this Mordred was different, there had to be a reason why she decided to serve her king again instead of being free and do the things her own way like the other Mordred she sympathized with was.
Mordred replied with an hostile grunt, spatting to the ground. "You will not understand!" The knight eyed the girl with a mix of rage but also resentment and chagrin. The tip of her fingers softly passing on her facial scars as they begun to itch, being a painful reminder to her. "You'll never will."
A week ago
"Sir Mordred, thoust mind to vocalize to thy liege the report of thy mission?"
The Lion King ordered to the battered Knight of Treachery, having recently returned from the failed mission her king had attributed to her.
Bowing down, her body in clear state of defeat, Mordred responded. "An utter failure...my king." She said reluctantly. "I was unable to carry out the liege's commands. The enemies thoust send me to dispatch of ended up defeating me and kill majority of my battalion. Hence why I apologize for coming back empty handed and without the missing pure soul." The Knight of Treachery was ashamed of herself for having to share such humiliating defeat to her king, feeling that she couldn't stare at the Lion King in the face due to her failure. But Mordred wouldn't give up because it. "Nontheless, I promise to thee that I will make up for this mishap, even if it costs me greatly!"
"..." Artoria Pendragon didn't gave any verbal nor physical response, her voice continuing silent behind her lips as the Lion King continued to stare emotionlessly to Mordred's oath to make up an extra effort to her objective. She couldn't care less whether the Knight of Treachery would amend for her failure or not.
"But now..." Piercing Clarent on the ground ner her feet, Mordred put herself on her knees and arms behind her back, fully facing her king now, aware of what was about to happen. Funny, considering she made fun of Gawain in the same situation before."I'm ready for the punishment the liege has in store for me!"
Yet the king did not respond, continuing to look down on Mordred with a phlegmatic face as someone else speaked in her place.
"Hehehe, despite being a stubborn buffoon, it is cathartic to see you won't try to to deny or protest your way out of this." Coming from the left of the throne, the steps of Tristan echoed as the Knight of Lamentation appeared in the room, much to Mordred's surprise.
"Tristan? What are you doing here?" She asked him, thinking that the Lion King had only requested for a private meeting with her, meaning that Tristan should in no way be present.
"His Majesty hath also demanded for my presence here at the same hour." Tristan explained, showing the same annoying composed and calm smile before frowning to Mordred. "I heard you suffered a pretty bad defeat to the enemy during your mission."
"Pff! And? What the hell do you have to do with it?" Mordred responded rudely. "Just tell me why did the king called you here."
Tristan's smile enlarged a bit. "You'll see." And then, he played a single note on the strings of his bow.
"Huh?" Altough Mordred didn't understood, she soon did as three sound arrows bolted torwards her face, scratching the skin as quick as thunder. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mordred let out an infernal scream of agony as she dropped on the ground, hands on her face. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! DAMMMIT!" Mordred cursed repeatedly as she felt the burning pain of the fresh wound throughout her entire face. "TRISTAN YOU FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" She yelled, taking out the hands from her face, revealing her utter livid expression as well as the blood spilling from her recent made scars. She was this close to tackle Tristan, her impulses wanting to kill him right there.
"I was just following orders and did my task. Nothing more." Tristan responded with all the tranquility in the world, the smile remaining on his face.
"!" Mordred's mind was boiling in fervent water, the restraint to not attack gone. "You-"
"Stay put in thy place, Sir Mordred." The Lion King ordered immediatly, raising her voice and lifting her hand, much to Mordred's confusion.
"Huh? B-Buy why?" Mordred asked, addled beyond comprehension.
"Because His Majesty ordered me in specific to carry out your punishment, Mordred." Tristan gave a sly smirk upon telling the other knight the truth.
"What?!" Mordred reacted wit eve more beffudlement. "But it isn't Your Majesty who usually delivers the punishment?"
Tristan cackled maliciously to that. "Oh dear, it seems you can't get it, can you?" He said before gazing coldly to her. "You simply mean nothing to His Majesty."
"..." That statement fell deeply into Mordred's ears and into her soul, echoing inside her mind. "Nothing...?" The Knight of Treachery's eyes stood immobilized in shock as she fell to her knees, the drops of blood falling onto the ground she now was staring at, looking even more defeated than when she arrived.
"Yes. Nothing." Tristan continue with his taunt as Lion King did nothing but observe. "Or have you forgotten what you did to our previous Camelot and our king already? Get this inside your hollow head, Mordred: to His Majesty, you are nothing more but an aberration! A freak and failure never meant to exist and who's existence ruined everything the liege and us of the Round Table fought and dedicate so hard to built!"
"..." Mordred stood painfully silent. Frustrated, irritated but silent. For she knew it was all true what Tristan had spoke. That the Lion King, Artoria Pendragon, his father, saw her as nothing more but a nuisance that ruined everything she had built, unfit to be heir and never giving her son any recognition. A scorn Mordred hated so much but by this point, she couldn't help but feel to be deserved.
"The king abhors so much your existence that you aren't even worthy of having His Majesty's anger directed at you! Not even a slap in the wrist!" Tristan continued, destroying even more of the almost non existent self-esteem Mordred had. "To the king, the attention you deserve is as high as of an ant! If we knights are all tools for the king's objective, then you are what His Majesty considers to be the biggest tool of all and nothing more!"
Mordred's teeth cleenched and her veins stiffed as she continued to listen to Tristan's unmerciful bashing. "Just...a tool?"
"Yes."
Having talked all out to Mordred, Tristan then turned around to speak to the Lion King. "Pardon for this...'display' of brash words, my king. I hope I performed the task thou bestowed me to thy satisfaction." The Knight of Lamentation bowed down respectfully to the Lion King while Mordred still stood in a profound lose for words.
"I'm just a tool."
"Thoust did thy task well, Sir Tristan." The Lion King responded with the same level of emotion as usual. "Now, I heed thee to carry on with the other task I presented."
Tristan nodded his head, getting back up. "Understood, Your Majesty. Thy orders are absolute duty. I shall be on my way right now." Having got the permission to leave the throne room and perform is next mission, Tristan descended the stairs and walked past the defeated Mordred, giving a brief glance and sadistic smirk.
"A freakish aberration that was never meant to be born. A screw up."
As Tristan walked out of the room, Mordred finally moved up her head, staring to the Lion King's face. Indifferance written all over it, a cruel and distant deity that couldn't care less about the face of suffering and injustice on the Knight of Treachery. "Truly..."
Present
"I should never have existed."
Finishing from rubbing the scars on her face, Mordred kept her head focused in the fight as her mind reminded her of that painful moment. Tha no matter what she did to atone, the knight would never get her father's forgiveness, much less so a redemption. She knew from there on, any possibility of being loved by the king were non-existent and nothing would chance the Lion King's views on that. Therefore, there was only one thing the Knight of Treachery could do now. "I don't owe you an explanation! You aren't a failure so you will never comprehend it!" She told to Nala.
"Eh?" Nala raised an eyebrow in reaction.
"You were never looked down, were you? Unprovided of love and affection?" Mordred tightened the grip on her sword, small red electricity jolting out. "With a father that doesn't give two shits about you? That sees you as nothing more but a deformed tool? If not..."
"Knight of Crimson Thunder!"
Sprinting, Mordred's Clarent went off with the red electricity, the knight approaching Nala in no time. "THEN DON'T ASK ME TO BE UNDERSTOOD!"
"!"
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
Unleashing her Noble Phantasm from the get go, Mordred released the beam torwards Nala, catching the girl by surprise, the destructive attack obliterating huge part of the buildings that were on its path, creating a huge cut on the lower and upper layer of the Holy City.
Having avoided with light speed right at the last second, Nala landed on a more open area a bit far from where they were fighting. "Her Gift is giving her loads of mana to burn!" She pointed out, being aware on how Mordred's rage could then be channelized into mana due to her Gift. That would give the knight the opportunity to spam her Noble Phantasm as many times she wanted until reaching her limit. Nala was sure that Mordred would be hellbent in killing her no matter the cost. "I better put what I learned with Lancelot to good use!"
"OI!"
Hearing quick footsteps approaching, Nala's senses felt Mordred's presence reaching nearby, the alarm inside her firing. "Hm!"
"Are you running away now?!" Mordred appeared from behind, sword up high and ready to slash down on Nala who quickly parried it with her own sword, causing another building behind her to gelt sliced and destroyed. And so, Mordred started another assault, swinging and hitting Nala's blade with fury as many times as possible, pushing Nala a bit back with each clash, trying to wear her down to eventually break her defense and fatally wound her. "Are you just going to stay on defense, shortie? Do you happen to be all just talk? C'mon! Try and fight back, pussy!"
Nala knew she couldn't lose her cool like Mordred's, otherwise she would only make herself open for the knight's attacks. "Kgh! Don't give in! Wait for the right moment!" She continued to endure Mordred's brutal assault even if every swing of Mordred's sword felt like stopping an incoming train for Nala, the nerves in her muscles and bones trying to hold it as much as her. Nala could be a bit hot-headed, but it was in times like this fight, she couldn't let herself be rash or careless. And it ended up being worth it. "There!" Spotting a small opening under Mordred's chest the moment the knight prepared to attack once more, Nala acted quicker.
"Precise Stroke!"
"Wha-?!" Mordred was caught in surprise as Nala moved unexpectedly and slashed her right on the stomach, getting a clean hit on her.
"My turn!" Nala pointed her sword and pierced her blade on Mordred's abdomen, dashing all the way through buildings at high speed while Mordred's body would consistently hit the walls that Nala would run into.
"Tsk! This shit again?!" Mordred shouted indignated before her back hit against the pillar of a building they had entered, with Nala trying to deepend the blade inside Mordred's stomach, the knight grunting in annoyance and pain. "You damn BRAT!" Mordred obviosuly fought back, headbutting Nala in the head.
"Gah!" It was enough for Nala to get a bit stunned and back out, removing the sword from Mordred's.
"Taste this!" Mordred exclaimed, ready to counter-attack Nala. The girl however anticipated to it and fastly moved out of the way, starting to sprint across the entire room at an high velocity, trying to confuse the opponent while going from many different points of the chamber in a short time.
"It should do!" Moving like thunder, Nala begun to attack Mordred while not stopping her own speed, landing some cuts and hits on the knights body as she runned past her.
In result, Mordred's anger only grew. "Grrrr, stop it already!" Having sensed where Nala would attack from next, the knight turned her body around and landed a punch right on the girl's face, sending her crashing onto a wall.
"Hunf!" Getting up, Nala passed her hand on the blood on her face, running down from her head and mouth. "Not only you are a brickhead but you also hit like a brick!"
"Next one will smash your face!" Mordred replied, moving her shoulders and arms, the sound of bones cracking as she picked up Clarent. "But only after I tear you down and ear your cries for mercy!"
"Let's see it then!" Nala responded, positioning her sword and taking a stance, ready to continue with her fight against Mordred.
The Knight of Treachery however recognized the position Nala had adopted. "Huh? That's..." Seeing and comparing the similarities, Mordred's eyes narrowed as she got more upset. She was imitating Lancelot's stance. "Oi, why are you using that pose exactly? Do you think having the same fight style as that pathetic loser will help you somehow?"
"I learn some few things with him, believe it or not." Nala replied. "So you better be prepared!"
"Lancelot...teaching things?" Mordred raised an eyebrow as for a small moment her anger has been overwhelmed by a feeling of laughter. "Pfffhahahahahahaha! That's great, great! Tell me another one!"
"..." Nala continued with a serious expression. No matter how she and the other knight could perceive the Knight of the Lake, for the girl, Lancelot was truly a skillful knight.
Finishing from laughing, Mordred's rage came right on. "I'm about to demolish you, bastard!"
Up on the now tower of light, Agravain smiled in satisfaction and pleasure as he saw that the Lion King heed to his pleas and activated the spell of her sacred lance in the form of the castle's tower, Rhongomyniad now compassing its outer texture. Very soon, the Holy City would ascend to utopia and leave all this hellish Singularity to be erased, behind.
"I am grateful my king. Your Majesty as decided correctly." Agravain bowed to her from behind. "I acknowledge that such action is hurried, but in this situation, it is nothing more but the right thing to do."
"Is Sir Agravain implying thoust would not agree with his king decision if I were to refuse?" Artoria Pendragon launched a cold and threatening glare to her knight, not taking well what Agravain said.
Sensing the accusation, Agravain immediatly explained himself. "Far from that, my liége! Whether thoust decided to wait patiently for the final hour of the tower's complition or not, I would humbly accept thy decision, Your Majesty! As a knight, I will never constest my king's final verdict as part of my duties with thee!"
Eyeing Agravain, the Lion King accepted his justification, giving a more neutral glare. "Very well then. Thoust dismissed, Sir Agravain. Continue to surveil the events of the war occurring down there. Make sure that there won't be any unforessen interruptions coming up here." She ordered to Agravain, wanting to be all alone to contemplate the land around her kingdom being erased bit by bit.
"As thou wishes, Your Majesty. Thy utopia shall flourish without intruders." Agravain replied politely and obediently, walking down from the stairs that connected the floors below to the throne room of the tower, leaving the Lion King to hserself.
Looking up to the golden skies that were illuminated by her sacred lance, the deity couldn't help but feel how close she was to the objective she coveted for so long. "Humanity shall prevail. Under my domain."
"Are we...too late?" Ritsuka asked in a horrific awe as he, Mash, Bedivere and Arthur all stared at the tower of light standing tall and shinning up above and ahead of them.
"The soil of the Singularity is disappearing!" Romani exclaimed, bringing them the bad news.
"What?" Mash replied in shock. "Is the tower the cause of it?"
"Precisely!" Romani confirmed. "From the readings I'm getting, the tower you're staring at now has become the physical manifestation of Rhongomyniad's outer shell, covering the tower with its golden light! Such divine spell requires huge amounts of mana to be pulled!"
"That must have been the reason behind the Holy Selections then!" Ritsuka speaked. "That huge lance is not only being powered by the Lion King's mana itself, but also of all the pure souls she gathered to make up more fuel!"
"And at its expense, this Singularity's land is being eaten by it." Arthur added, looking to the apex of the tower of light on the sky. "In order to guide the Holy City to the outer layers of time and space, or in other words, Lion King's utopia, it must consume all of this territory first."
"And once it does, the Lion King will certinly become nigh unstoppable, vanquish us from taking this war to her utopia." Bedivere concluded, a face of some apprehension and hurry. "She liberated the tower sooner than we expected! It will still take us a good time to reach to the top of the castle and the Lion King from where we are currently standing!"
"With also having to take account that more enemies will be on our to halt our progress." Mash replied a bit dispirited. "Can we no longer stop the Lion King in time?"
"..." A question that Ritsuka also dreaded to hear. Yet, he didn't want to believe that was the case.
"Not quite! We still got a chance!" Arthur speaked up, putting his hand on Mash's shoulder. "Until the last chunk of this Singularity's territory isn't deleted, the Holy City cannot start its travel! Therefore, we haven't lost yet!"
"Brilliantly spoken, king Arthur!" Bedivere told him. " And if the Lion King had to activate the tower earlier than anticipated, than it means the process could also take some longer time!"
"And would you know? You're factually correct on that one!" Romani replied, checking on the visual map of the Singularity. "Altough powerful, its early awakening affected the tower's mana slightly in a way that some parts of it are still dormant. In consequence, it is taking a bit more time to devour the land and morph it into pure magical energy that it can be fed to the tower before it transports the Holy City to the skies above! In short, it will take some more time before the Lion King gets her objective! Not everything is doomed yet!" Romani explained the good news after analyzing the data and critical information of the huge sacred lance that bathed the tower alongside the help of the staff in Chaldea.
Getting her hopes renewed with that, Mash's morale went up again. "That's great to hear! So enough of talking and let's pick up the pace again!"
"Couldn't agree more!" Ritsuka replied, with he and the other three going back to run torwards their destination now that they knew there was still time to stop the Lion King, going up a long staircase out in the open as they were going higher into the Holy City and closer to the castle.
As they were on their way, the sounds and visuals of explosions on the layers above continued to catch a bit of their attention.
"Looks like things are still brutal down there." Romani commented while looking at the general chaotic war view of the Holy City.
"I hope everyone is doing well." Mash replied, wishing good luck to her friends and companions.
"I'm sure they are! We must keep focusing on reaching the Lion King in the meantime!" Bedivere reminded to the shielder.
"Sure!" Mash replied.
Ritsuka wondered how the others were doing, also a bit worried for their well-being. "Peko, Nala, Da Vinci, everyone. Stay strong! We won't fail this!"
"Hum, the shakening as stopped." Peko said as both he and Gawain felt no longer the quakes.
"It has already started then." Gawain looked up to the hole in the ceilling, guessing that his king had activated the tower.
"Huh? What has already started?" Peko questioned the Knight of the Sun before he himself drew the conclusion, gasping. "It can't be that-"
"And now, Young Prince, altough it pains me..." Taking a fighting position with Galatine, Gawain was ready to get rid of Peko. "You will be slained, for the greater good that is the fruition of my king's wish!"
"Not without a fight!" Peko replied, making sure to have a stable grip on his own sword as he watched Gawain ready to approach him and start their fight. The boy would be fighting alone for now. No help of allies. Just him against what everyone considered to be the most physical strongest knight of the Round Table. And altough such reputation of Gawain could be intimidating to Peko, he had already fought many strong adversaries before, namely Spartacus, Heracles and Cú Alter. "Gawain is clearly stronger than me, but I still remember some of his movements from the time of our training! If I can memorize his pattern correctly, it msut give me a slight chance!" Peko's nostrils took a deep breath, fully concentrated. "And as long as we remain inside this chamber with no direct sunlight to enchance him, it will also help!"
"Here I come." Gawain announced to Peko, likely wanting to see how the boy would fare again in an actual battle to the death. And in the next second, the Knight of the Sun tackled Peko, the golden shine of Galatine lightning up the room as its blade swinged torwards the enemie's body.
"!" Not having expected for Gawain to move this fast, Peko half-haphazardly defended himself with his sword, his body however not having prepared for the strong magnitude that was the impact of the clash, the bones inside his arms and shoulders fracturing a bit as the bow was violently thrown to one the room's walls.
Gawain seemed rather a bit dissapointed and unamused by it as he saw Peko getting up from the ground with some effort.
"Ghg! B-Barely saw that one coming!" He said, brushing his hand a bit on his chin, his body now sustaining some small scratches and bruises.
"Has the Young Prince forgot what had been teached to him already?" Gawain asked Peko with some lament. "If so, it is a shame in one hand. I truly wanted to see how much of what you have learned from our sessions would be put to use here. But also, it will make my job of killing you easier." The Knight of the Sun begun approaching Peko again. "I promise it will be swift and painless, Young Prince. Such is the mercy I am willing to show you."
Peko gave a defiant stare to Gawain, showing that he had no intention of letting the knight kill him without a fight first.
"Luminary Route!"
Powering up his mana, Peko fired a light bullet from his finger torwards Gawain, the knight parrying it despite the speed of the projectile and blocking a blow from Peko's sword afterwards as the boy tried to attack him in sequence. But Gawain easily pushed him back without much effort, beggining to swing Galatine's slashes in Peko's direction, with him either having to dodge or block them, the chamber they were in getting damaged.
Advancing while cutting through some of the Gawain's attacks, Peko started to charge up his arm. "Here goes!" Shinning brightly, Peko aimed his hand om Gawain, releasing the light beam on the Knight of the Sun.
A bit surprised, having never seen Peko pull that move, Gawain however reacted with experience and maestry, a good movement of his sword clashing with Peko's light beam, the blade slicing the attack in half as Gawain fought it back, much to Peko's shock.
"He's ovepowering it?! I-It can't be!" Peko stared in shock as Gawain slowly made progress while his sword continued to split his beam, the Knight of the Sun pulling some effort until he eventually reached near Peko and with a quick manuver of his sword, finished off his beam and broke Peko's defense, making the boy lose some balance.
"That trump card of yours wasn't so bad, Young Prince." Gawain said before grabbing Peko by the neck.
"Hugh!?" Peko grunted in surprise, Gawain's grab being fast and rough, his throat feeling suffocated with the knight's hand around it.
"It's just that I cannot allow you to win!" Gawain exclaimed, abruptly throwing Peko into a wall, tearing through it.
"Gah!" Peko's body hit the ground as it then roll all the way to the edge of a platform, almost falling down to the layer below if it wasn't for the quick reacting and resistant grip of his hands to push his own body up. "That was close!" Peko bite his lips as he felt the agony inside his body having increased after that. Noticing the golden sky, his eyes expanded as he ended up catiching sight of the giant tower of light piercing the skies. "Oh no! The tower is..." The boy didn't liked the imagery of that, but before his thoughts could dwelve further, Gawain's voice speaked.
"As the Young Prince can see, all of your efforts are but a pointless confrontation." Gawain walked out of the hole in the wall, stepping to the outside. To the sunlight. "You are now fighting a lost battle."
Standing up, Peko refused to believe in his statement. "As if you knew...if this battle is over or not!" He exclaimed. "As far as I know, people are still fighting, which means it ain't lost yet! Not if we can still stop your king's utopia!" The boy took his fighting stance again.
It caused Gawain to sigh. "Why protect such terror of a world with all your heart?" Getting the blessings of the sun, the knight's Galatine begun to shine in bright golden flames
"Ah! The sun!" Peko exclaimed in dread as he realized that in no time, Gawain was now on the outside and receiving the boost in strenght and power because of the sun. Certainly, the battle would get harder because of it.
"Since the stubborn Young Prince refuses to surrender nor acknowledge the situation." Gawain put his sword upwards and in front of his face. "I will enable Galatine's light to do the talking from here on!"
Sensing the menace in that phrase, Peko prepared himself to fight what was about to come from the mighty Knight of the Sun, aware that this was unlike their sparring sessions. That unlike those, Gawain wouldn't go easy on Peko here, aiming to kill him. Therefore, Peko would need to give his all to survive. Against Gawain, any error could be fatal. "We'll see about that!"
"Throwing/Retrieval!"
On the bridge of the more upper layers of the Holy City, the Hassan trio were continuing their fight against Tristan that was still on its initial minutes.
In an attempt to corner the Knight of Lamentation, Cursed Arm threw a hanful of daggers at an high speed torwards him, teleporting from a place to another while launching the weapons in order for Tristan to be surrounded by all sides.
Nontheless, the knight played the strings on Failnaught, his arrows easily obliterating the Hassan's daggers. But it wasn't over yet.
"Expert of Many Specializations!"
Popping from the shadows, Hundred Personas and her other versions all jumped on Tristan, trying to gang on him. Howbeit, the Knight of Lamentation proved to be extremely agile and capable, playing the notes of his bow while dodging the countless Hassans that occupied the bridge, gunning each of them down as he avoided the attacks with a smug on his face. "Heh. Is that the best you can do?"
"Poisonous Dagger!"
Sprinting and moving nimbly through the small crowd of Hassans, Serenity aimed her dagger to Tristan's body, with steps as quick as wind, reaching near the knight as she was prepared to deal the finishing blow. Even if it was with a single touch of her body, it would be over for the knight. But Tristan was smart to have already foreseen that possibility, firing an arrow that came from the sky and directed at Serenity.
"!" The Hassan was forced to dodge and retreat so as Tristan killed all of the Hundred Personas copies in his vacinity upon playing a more agressive note. The bridge went back to have only him and the Hassan trio.
"Nice little show you tried to set up." Tristan said in his usual passive and gentle but clearly snobbish voice. "A shame that I was already predicting the ending."
"Tsk! Bastard." Hundred Personas grunted as she saw their combined planned hadn't work. "You had to be an arrogant who can actually put up a fight!"
"Composure, Hundred Personas!" Cursed Arm adviced to his companion. "He's cunning! We must stay alert to whatever trick he might pull on us!"
"He has a good defense with his guard always up!" Serenity noted. "And the way he has perception of the area and surroundings, it's almost as if he has no blind spot from where we could execute a surprise attack!"
"Oh? You took notice of that?" Tristan chuckled. "Not only you're deadly, buy you are also a very attentive flower. A dangerous beauty." Tristan played a bit with Failnaught's strings. "Perhaps the prettiest of the bunch that I killed so far."
"Kgh!" Serenity gave him a rude glare, not taking well his 'compliment'.
"Continue running your tongue like that and you'll see what happens!" Hundred Personas exclaimed angrily, already having enough of Tristan's provokations.
Even Cursed Arm demonstrated displeasure. "For a knight, you show to be nothing but scum!"
Tristan gave a puzzled look. "Me? Scum?" The Knight of Lamentation than cackled as he smirked. "And since when does a knight have to be courteous with the enemy? I'm already doing the principle trait of a knight which is fulfilling his kings orders. Do not blame me if my orders dictate that I must get rid of lowly scum like your kind!"
Behind the skull mask, it was still obvious that Cursed Arm's face went more hostile with the knight's delcaration. "You..!"
"Our people don't exist for you to torment them!" Serenity shouted. "They are also human beings with their own dreams, lairs, families and more!"
"Really? A pity that I do not care then." Tristan replied coldly. "But if it makes you happy, I'll make sure all of you will be reunited in death."
"You're the one who kicks the bucked here, asshole!" Hundred Personas replied back.
"Eh! Then come!" Tristan's smirk grew more sly as he prepared the trio of Hassans on the other side of the bridge to attack him once more. "And be sure to not miss again."
"Precise Stroke!"
"Cigarette Lion!"
Meanwhile, the fight between Nala and Mordred continued as frenetic as ever, the two not having stopped from trying to clash with each other and push their limits, the area they were standing in all destroyed and in shambles as side effects from their fight.
"For a little girl, you sure have the persistance of a damn cockroach!" Mordred growled to Nala's face as the two were in the middle of another disputed clash. "How many times do I have to hit you until you stay dead?!"
"That won't be necessary!" With her feet well put on the ground and a solid grip on her sword, Nala lifted up her left leg and sharp kicked Mordred in the hip, making the knight's posture fold a bit as it was enough for Nala to then make a superficial cut on the knight's torso. "I'll finish you first!" She yelled, pointing her sword to Mordred who stumbled a bit backwards.
"Heh! Is that a challenge?" Mordred took a deep breath as she recovered from the soft wound. The knight had to admit that Nala fought pretty well. But her seething rage of finding her annoying speaked louder. "You will regret it!" Being powered up by her fury, Mordred charged up Clarent, turbulent red thunders coming out of the blade.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Air Step!"
Activating her skill, Nala managed to dodge Mordred's Noble Phantasm. But the Knight of Treachery wasn't done there.
"Clarent..."
"A second one!?" Nala was in shock as in shock as Mordred was about to unleash her Noble Phantasm without cooldown.
"Blood Arthur!"
Once again, Nala managed to dodge it. But Mordred was truly obsessed in wanting to vaporize the enemy.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Wha-!?"
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Ngh!"
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Really?!"
"CLARENT...BLOOD ARTHUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRR!"
Having spammed her Noble Phantasm non-stop, Mordred had much likely destroyed a huge percent of the Holy City's layer their fight was occurring.
"Blerghgh!?" Having used her Noble Phantasm mindlessly and due to her Gift's nature, it was obvious that Mordred then felt an unberable amount of pain jolting through her body, coughing and vomiting blood. This would only end up auto-destroying her. "But at least...this must have finished that brat, right?" Looking tired and on the ground, Mordred then felt some pebbles falling into her head, gaining her attention to look up. "Huh?"
Staring to a destroyed tilted building on top of her, Mordred caught sight of Nala, unharmed, holding to the building's structure for her dear life, not having wanted the knight to have noticed her, trying to make as less noise as possible.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Eh."
Nala just have a sheepish smile to Mordred before having the Knight of Treachery charge at her violently once again. "C'mon! You're only spamming your Noble Phantasm non-stop! This is far from a fair fight!" Nala protested as she and Mordred begun clashing and trading blows again.
"Screw the fair fight! I want to fucking kill you!" Mordred shouted, the strenght on her swing sending Nala crashing to the inside of a building nearby.
"Gngh! That moron..." Nala muttured while getting up. "She truly...has air for brains!"
"I heard that!" Mordred shouted, having entered the builting shortly after Nala. "Let's speed up the process!" She then, with her sword, took out a chunk from the broken wall in the ground and threw it at Nala with all her strenght.
Fortunately, Nala anticipated well to those attacks. "Just like Lancelot teached me." And upon taking her sword in the same stance as the Knight of the Lake and a deep breath as time slowed a bit down for her and with her glimming white blade, the girl proceeded to then slash the huge chunk of wall perfectly in half as well as the room. Her slice having almost hit Mordred as well.
"Tsk!" Angered by seeing that her attack had failed, Mordred begun kicking stones torwards Nala. "Try to overcome this!"
But Nala remained calm with the things Mordred kicked at her, perfectly dodging or slicing the stones without much trouble, doing it so graceously. And at every turn she would slice the stones, she would also slice the room, forcing Mordred to block her counter attacks attacks.
"Grrr! This shortie..!" Fed up of throwing things, Mordred decided to went sprint towards Nala herself, seeing her sword attacks mimic those of Lancelot now. "Don't think that copying a technique will save you!" She yelled, charging up Clarent again.
"Here she comes!" Nala noticed Mordred approaching fastly. This could be it, the opportunity to end the fight. "It's now! I have to pull it off!" Positioning her shinning sword, Nala put enough amount of mana into the blade. "It has to result!"
"Drop dead!" Yelling, Mordred's feet made an incredibly last dash torwards the enemy as she moved her sword, ready to deliver a critical hit with it.
And the moment the knight got incredibly close to her, that was the signal for Nala, her sword powered up and ready unleash it. "It ends he-" However, to the girl's unfortunate terror, once her blade touched Mordred's sword, the two clashed again instead of Nala's weapon slashing right through Mordred. "What?!"
A thing that the girl couldn't focus too much on as she then was overpowered quickly by Mordred who hit her sword on Nala's stomach. "GET LOST!" Yelling, Mordred slashed Nala greatly, sending the girl flying through the roof and all the way up in the air before falling helplessly on the ground of the Holy City's layer above the one their fight wa happening.
With the body trembling a bit from the pain, Nala coguhed some blood as she tried to pick up her sword in front of her amidst the dust, a bit dazzy from the blow she suffered. "H-How...did it not worked..?" Nala pondered appaled as her fingers touched her sword's hilt.
But upon hearing footsteps behind, Nala quickly grabbed her weapon to then turn around and deflect Mordred's Clarent from giving a finishing blow from behind. Nala, a bit weakened, still managed to make Mordred temporarily drop her sword by giving a minor slash around the knight's wrist.
"Tsk! You little...!" In retalliation, Mordred punched Nala in the face, halting the girl from getting up and dropping her sword. "Time to end this!" Kicking Nala in the stomach, Mordred turned her body around to then proceed to put her hands around the enemy's throat and beggining to choke her.
"Gahrghgrrh!" Feeling the squeezing around her throat, Nala struggled and tried to fight back, weakly swinging her hands on Mordred's face to punch her and even trying to poke the knight's eyes altough it didn't result, Mordred's grip around her neck getting stronger.
"Enough!" Mordred said annoyed in reaction to Nala's attempt, tightening the grip to the point that if she was doing it on a normal human, their neck would much likely snap. "Say goodbye now, shortie." The knight said as she stared to Nala in the eyes as the girl's body contorted beneath her, her legs desperatly trying to kick Mordred away from her. But in vain.
Nala could barely get any breathing as her struggles became weaker and her eyes beggining to fade. "N..o!...It...can't...end..." Her vision was getting blurry and her movements more slow and tired. There was no escape. Nala was about to perish by Mordred's ruthless hands.
"Hands off!" But out of nowhere, a strong kick was directed to Mordred's head, backing off the knight from the girl, freeing Nala from the choke as she breathed and coughed, having been saved at the last minute.
"Chocking young girls so violently and coldly like that?" Sanzang gave to the knight an unfriendly glare as she arrived to the area. "Looks like someone needs an harsh lesson of mine!"
"Sanzang!" Nala exclaimed, grateful that the monk lady's appearence had saved her.
"Needing a helping hand?" Sanzang asked nicely to Nala with a smile.
"Great! The annoying and pathetic monk had also to show up here!" Mordred grumbled in distaste upon seeing Sanzang. "This fight was meant to be only me and her! No one else! Go take your stupid teachings to somewhere else!"
"Then see this as a last minute change in your 'rules'!" Sanzang replied back, manuvering her staff in hand while standing in front of Nala. "I won't stand by and watch a disciple of mine, even if it was for a short period, get ruthlessly beaten!"
"I had the situation pretty much under control until this moment, thank you!" Nala complained behind Sanzang, thinking there was no need for the monk to have said that.
"So what do you say, Knight of Treachery? Can you handle the two of us at once?" Sanzang positioned her staff and hands. "I hope you give me more of an opposition than your men at that garden were!"
"Pff! Either be one or two, it changes little to me." Mordred replied, overall accepting the fact she would also have to fight Sanzang as well. "The more enemies I can get to kill in order to preserve father's plans the better!" Mordred exclaimed, picking up Clarent, her seemingly endless mana returning. This battle had now turned into a one versus two.
"Nala, are you ready for the lesson we're about to teach this knight?" Sanzang talked to Nala, her eyes however locked on Mordred in front of them, sensing a negative energy within the knight.
"What type of lesson?" Nala asked, her sword now back in her hands and prepared to go back to fight Mordred, now with the monk's help.
"Purification of the chakras!" Sanzang answered.
Sitting on her throne now at the open sky and at the top of her domain, the Lion king would close her eyes and rest, awaiting for all the land to be consumed by Rhongomyniad and then, the fated travel to the heavens of her promised utopia would follow up. Now, all that she would do in the meantime was resting, conserving her mana energy and body in case a final 'headache' appeared to bother her and her plans right before the finishing line.
But the Lion King was still confident. Confident that her dear, obedient and loyal knights down there were doing their very best to frustrate her enemies goal of stopping the whole process. Opening her eyes, she looked up to the sacred lance penetrating the golden skies above.
Lifting her arm, the Lion King tried to metaphoricaly grab that sky with her hand. But very soon, she would reach and go beyond those clouds. Her and her whole kingdom. The knights would be left behind, but she would make sure to be grateful for their services to her cause. How loyal, duteous and willingly usable they were to the goddess, wearing the skin and body of their dear deceased king. Whether they knew about her true identity, that she wasn't their true king Arthur Pendragon, it didn't seemed to matter the moment they killed the other fellow knights of the table who were more wary of her facade.
But now, that she was roughly some minutes away from having her goal completed, and with the risks of third parties appearing taken into account like Solomon or the Man of Sin, who could possibly stop her?
"!" An internal question that got a quick answer as the Lion King felt the entire tower she was standing on rumble and tremble after hearing a huge explosion targetted to it. "Gngh!" Managing to stay on her throne, Artoria Pendragon tried to understand what cause the explosion. "What is-"
"Thinking you could execute your plans while under my presence, Lion King?"
Widening her eyes, the Lion King got up from her seat as she looked up to something in the sky, coming at the distance. The voice being recognizable to her. "Of course!"
Running on their way to the castle's entrance, Ritsuka and the small group noticed a giant shadow passing above them, blocking the lights of the golden skies on them.
"Huh? What's this?" Ritsuka asked, confused.
Bedivere looked up. "Something's flying above us-..!" The Knight of Loyalty stared in awe as he spotted the object flying up in the sky, approaching the giant tower of light.
Arthur smiled as he was seeing the same. "So you came after all."
"Is Lady Da Vinci seeing the same I'm seeing?" Lancelot asked to the italian inventor as the two took a break from fighting enemies to glaze at the flying object way up high above the Holy City.
Da Vinci giggled. "Now if that ain't worthy of one of the seven wonders of the world."
"Nitocris! How is the communication and propagation of my voice?" Ozymandias asked to his advisor as the giant temple pyramid, Ramesseum Tentyris, was being piloted in the skies, having its objective the sacred lance thar was piercing the clouds.
"Loud and clear, my king!" Nitocris responded to him, both in the throne room of the pyramid. "The Lion King can hear you!"
"Perfect!" Ozymandias smile as he then went on to speak to the Lion King again, is voice echoing like a megaphone. "If so, then you planned it wrong, Lion King! Altough I may not leave the temple, the temple can certainly leave the desert!"
"Sun King..." The Lion King showed a face of slight annoyance as she saw the pyramid trying to approach her tower. "And I thought you honored truces. My mistake for thinking you would be respectable in the end!" Charging up Rhongomyniad, the lance in her hands, she aimed a blast to Ozymandias pyramid. "Howbeit, only one of our kingdoms will continue to live on!" She shouted, releasing the beam from her weapon.
"Nitocris! Activate the temple's defenses!" Ozymandias commanded to his fellow egyptian servant upon seeing the attack directed at them.
"Temple's Defensive System and Spells: On!" Nitocris complied, hitting her staff on the floor.
From the outside, two big magecraft circles were summoned by her as they shot down the Lion King's beam in defense, the pyramid getting out unscathed, much to the Lion King's mild frustration.
"Don't think because a target its big that it is easy to hit it!" Ozymandias smirked. "You'll have to do more than that, Lion King!"
Seeing that taking down Ramesseum Tentryis wouldn't be an easy task, the Lion King charged up Rhongomyniad again, aiming to protect her tower. "Then come forward and witness thy downfall, Sun King!"
"Ozymandias and Nitocris! They're up there!" Nala exclaimed in joy as she saw the giant pyramid fighting off what seemed the tower of light in an exchange of beams and blows in the skies of the Holy City.
"They're planning to destroy the sacred lance's connection to the utopia!" Sanzang explained. "If they succeed, it will buy us a whole lot of time until the Lion King manages to do the same spell again!" The monk and the girl then had to dodge from a slash of Mordred.
"As if that will happen!" Mordred said, anger on her face. "My father's utopia won't be denied! It will take more than a stupid pyramid to bring months and months of work down! I won't let my efforts be thrown in the trash!" Mordred closed her fist powering up Clarent. "My desire shall not be taken from me!"
"High-Speed Sutra Chanting!"
Casting a spell, Sanzang deflected the blast with her staff, rotating it. "Nala! With me!"
"Got it!" Nala exclaimed, accompanying the monk as both the two charged torwards Mordred.
What happened next, was a well defined combo of the two against the Knight of Treachery, attacking the enemy in great synchrony, forcing Mordred to be mainly on defense now that she had to fight two opponents. Even when she would try to attack, either Nala or Sanzang would deflect it, allowing for the other one to hit the knight right after. Mordred was slowly losing the upper hand, Nala nimly dodging her sword, cutting the knight on her thigh and back while Sanzang delivered a strong blow with the palm of her hand to Mordred's chest, sending the knight flying a few meters away.
"Kghgrrr! Damn you..." Fastly getting up, Mordred went back to unleash her Noble Phantasm once more.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
But her Noble Phantasm proved to not be much effective as both Nala and Sanzang dodged it.
"That knight is easily drowning herself in fury to even attack us correctly at this point!" Sanzang pointed. "Time to attack!"
"Ay!" Nala responded, both sprinting torwards the Knight of Treachery from both flanks, looking to deliver the final strike.
Yet, both ended up surprised as Mordred tanked the two's attack by using her sword to block Nala's blade and her hand on Sanzang's staff, getting bloody. "Hey now..." Mordred said lowly as she put strenght in both of her arms. "Don't think this will be a walk in the park for you!" She yelled, able to push Nala away and in a swift moment, push Sanzang's staff, bringing her closer and then piercing her in the stomach with Clarent.
"Sanzang!" Nala shouted, worried.
"Grghg..!" Coughing blood from the fatal wound, Sanzang still remained her ground, kicking Mordred away, having the blade pulled out from her wound. "I-It's okay! I can still fight, don't worry!" Sanzang told to Nala, still up on her feet despite the now serious injury.
"But for how long, eh?" Mordred speaked as she took some blood out of Clarent. "This ain't enough! My blade will only be satisfied when I slice open both of you!" She then jumped torwards Sanzang.
"In your dreams!" Nala came to the monk's rescue, getting in Mordred's way and clashing with her sword, making the knight retreat some feet behind. "Sanzang, can you keep up?" Nala asked to the servant behind her, her eyes still focused on Mordred.
Sanzang smiled to that, seeing her own arm drenched in blood from the gaping wound. "Without a doubt!" She replied.
Rotating her neck, Mordred was getting fed up. "What a pain in the ass you are..." She gave a threatening and spiteful look to the two, but specially Nala. "We better end this now!"
"Sir Mordred! We're also here to help!"
"Crap! Reinforcements!" Nala cursed as they saw soldier knights arriving to aid the Knight of Treachery.
"Keep fighting, Nala! My cloud clones will deal with them!" Sanzang told to her ally, quickly summoning a handful of her clones with her staff to fight against the recent group of soldier knights as Nala went to battle Mordred.
Despite getting some of the soldier knights in the way, Nala easily killed and past by them like they were butter, graceously moving and slicing down the soldiers while on her way to Mordred, a perk of agility that her armour gave to her.
"Move, jackasses!" Mordred herself decided to run torwards Nala, not having liked very much of the soldier knights interfering on their duel.
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
Both Nala and Mordred shouted as they once again brought their blades against one another in a violent impact, causing some huge debris of a tall chapel behind them to crumble and begin falling down.
Taking chance of the clash, Sanzang quickly approached Mordred and hit her on the chin with the tip of her staff, sending the knight crashing torwards the falling debris above. Both Nala and Sanzang decided to jump and leap onto those debris as well as they knew Mordred was still up.
A corrected guess as the Knight of Treachery tried to cut them down the moment they stepped on the bigger falling boulder plataform. "Just fucking die already!" She yelled, the three's fight now happening mid-fall. Mordred was attacking and slicing with her sword on every angle possible in brainless attempts to cut down Nala and Sanzang who both were dodging them while hopping from stone to stone, leading Mordred to only hit the falling debris.
Coordinating the time to attack, the two stepped back to the main falling boulder, with Sanzang quickly throwing her staff at Mordred, hitting the knight on the right shoulder, giving the opening for Nala to land the possibly finishing blow as she rushed to Mordred. "Your plans will end in failure!"
Failure. A word that in that moment, echoed through Mordred's mind.
"A failure...?"
And so, amidst the raging storm in her mind, she remembered. She remembered on how she was created. Her original goal and concept. Her delusions and dissapointments. Her frustration and agony. The contempt and suffering others would give her. What her king and father would give her. No care, love, warmth, or even acknowledgement. Only a tool. An accidental failed tool.
"Failure...Failure...Failure...FailureFailureFailureFailureFAILUREAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFaiLUrEFaiLurEfAILUReFAilUREfaILuReFailurE"
And Mordred's mind snapped.
"!" Out of nowhere, bringing up a revitalized energy from the bottom of her fury, Mordred did the unthinkable and stopped Nala's attack with her bare teeth, holding the blade, much to Nala'as and Sanzang's shock.
"W-What?!"
"Failure? FAILURE?!" Mordred wailed, an expression of ire. "I know very well what that word means..." Throwing her head back as she freed Nala's blade from her teeth, Mordred had gone berserk. "AND IT ISN'T MY FATHER'S PLANS!" She roared, slicing Nala right in the hip.
"Ngh!" Having been caught by surprise, Nala fell down as Mordred, now only seeing rage in front of her, charged up her Noble Phantasm.
"Clarent..."
"Crap!" With the knight right next to her and seemingly about to unleash her Noble Phantasm upon Nala with no second of waiting, the girl would most likely take the blunt force of Clarent's beam.
"Nala!" However, Sanzang, acting on pure adrenaline, jumped in and pushed Nala out of the way right in time.
"BLOOD ARTHUR!"
Mordred released her power, being more devastated than before, completly hitting Sanzang's entire body.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The monk screamed in pain as her whole body felt burned and electrocuted by Mordred's intense Noble Phantasm.
"SANZANG!" Nala yelled in terror as she saw an obliterated Sanzang, fall off from the plataform.
"Your turn now!" Mordred speaked menacingly behind Nala, scaring the girl who still got to block the attack but was abruptly thrown torwards another falling boulder. Huffing Mordred was on total hunt mode, wanting to tear Nala apart. "Father's utopia will be perfect! No low scum around in it! A place where no one will be looked down and misreated!"
Nala tried to run and avoid Mordred attacks as the knight was violently going after her, ensuing a frenetic chase as the debris were all being destroyed by Mordred. "What makes it so good if you yourself won't even be alive to live in it?" The girl questioned Mordred, knowing that only the Lion King and the pure souls of the Holy Selection would go to that utopia, with Mordred and the knights left behind to die.
"Because a world with no failures like me is a better one!" Mordred exclaimed. "I'll be glad that such world will flourish with screw-ups like me unable to inhabit it!"
"..." Nala was speechless to such answer. How much self-depriciation Mordred had within. More than doing this for her father, the knight was doing this for herself, no longer wanting to carry the burden of a failure.
"And you will never get it why, will you?" Mordred quickly neared Nala, surprising her as the enraged knight begun her assault on Nala, relentlessly clashing her sword with the girl, each hit feeling more exhausting for Nala to defend.
"To never feel loved or wanted!"
*Clink!*
"To be despised by everyone!"
*Clink!*
"Having no friends and family to count on!"
*Clink!*
"TO BE HATED BY YOUR OWN FATHER!"
With a brutal swing, Mordred broke Nala's defense, the girl absolutely terrified, Mordred seeming more like a monster than knight in her eyes. And in the next second, a powerful punch to her face, sending the girl flying all the way back to the ground in a huge crash, raising a big cloud of dust. Mordred was simply a beast feeding on her own nurtured anger.
"G..ghng..gh..."
On the ground, panting faintly, Nala's entire body was aching and out of energy, the girl barely able to move, her peripheral view noticing a flower to her left. She thought. "What a beautiful flower." Having fallen onto that garden from where she dropped off alongside Mordred at the beggining, the girl took deeply into thought what Mordred said.
"I may not remember my whole life but...how pitiful. How pitiful your life is, Mordred. And how lucky am I...to have a brother, best friend and leader that love me alongside others. Even if not my real family, I really am lucky to have them."
Continuing to stare at the flower, the girl's mind reminded her of Peko, Mash, Ritsuka and everybody else in Chaldea.
"And yet...I punched my own brother, insulted my best friend and even disobeyed my leader."
Weakly, Nala's fist cleenched onto the grass, remembering those moments.
"I don't deserve them! I don't deserve them at all! And still, they never abandoned me! Even after all that, they're still here for me..."
Nala's eyes looked up to the golden sky, invaded by the tower of light.
"Maybe that's why we fight."
Yesterday
"Oh! Very good Lady Nala! Splendid execution of the movement!"
In the middle of the night, Lancelot had just witnessed Nala pull brilliantly a slash, having cut a huge rock in half with a single swing from her sword.
"Hehehe, thank you, Lancelot!" Nala giggled happily. "I don't know why Mash hates you. You do seem kinda a nice guy after all."
The Knight of the Lake fumbled a bit at the mention of Mash and 'hate' in the same phrase. "P-Please, let's not talk about that." Composing himself, Lancelot smiled to the girl. "With that, the final training ends."
"Huh? Already?" Nala raised an eyebrow. "But I've only trained with you for two hours today! I still need to practice more!"
Lancelot chuckled happily. "So full of energy, ain't you?" He patted her pouty head. "But rest now. Tomorrow will be the day of the war, so it's for the best if you take a good sleep before we march to the Holy City."
"But I still haven't unlocked my Noble Phantasm!" Nala replied. "Without it, having to fight the knights and the Lion King will be more difficult!"
"Well, a Noble Phantasm isn't exactly a thing us Heroic Spirits can teach to alive people." Lancelot told her, telling Nala to not be anxious. "A Noble Phantasm doesn't just appear with trainning. It is also a concept deeply rooted to our beings core." The knight put a hand to his chest. "Once you realize what is central to your life, the salient aspect, you'll have the power of the Noble Phantasm in your hands. That, alongside some patience and courage as well."
"Ugh! You sound exactly like the guy who previously trained me." Nala said, starting to immitate Li Shuwen again. " 'Haste is the enemy of prefection. It is through moderate steps that we travel far.' "
"Well, he does sound wise if that's what he told you." Lancelot commented. "Did his training ended up being useful?"
Nala smiled faintly, remembering of getting her ascencion and armour that was determinent in their victory against Cú Alter. "Sur was."
"Then I hope mine can be as useful." Lancelot kneeled, getting on Nala's level, staring her in the eyes. "Your sword technique and precision got well sharpened with precise cuts. But remember..." The knight put a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't until you discover what is focal to you, that you'll get the missing piece."
Present
Staring at the dazzling and glistening flower to her side, moving ever so softly and peacefully amongst the breeze, its pristine shine reflected on Nala's eyes. So alluring that she could stare at it for days.
"Because..."
Staring below to where Nala had fallen from a building's rooftop, Mordred's wrath wasn't satisfied enough. Her sword needed to make sure. Make sure that she would be dead for good.
"Clarent-"
"We crave to spent one more day with our beloved ones!"
Having appeared next to Mordred in lightspeed, Nala slashed the knight horizontaly in the abdomen, surprising Mordred as she brought her down to the ground.
Mordred immediatly got up "How do you...!"
"Prepare to be purged, Knight of Treachery!" Nala exclaimed, the blade of her sword shinning brightly as she stood in front of the enemy.
Elden Ring OST- Godskin Apostles
With bloodshot eyes, Mordred's vexation sky rocketed, the knight having completly lost herself in fury. "YOU DAMN BRAT!" Yelling from the top of her lungs, Mordred blasted Clarent against Nala who swiftly sliced it in half.
"Useless." Nala said calmly as she then bolted to Mordred's right and then torwards the knight herself, getting another clean cut.
"Ghg!" Annoyed, Mordred tried to hit Nala back, only to have her attack parried as the girl dodged acrobatically and kicked Mordred in the hand holding Clarent, leaving the knight exposed as she then pressed her blade againt Mordred's waist and jumped up high with her into the sky.
"Ah. I think I finally got it." Going upwards at an incredible speed, Nala proceeded to then slash deeply the knight, sending her all the way down, crashing onto numerous rooftops and buildings. "The missing piece."
"ANNOYING INSECT!" Mordred shouted, eyeing Nala in the distance as she managed to cling onto a rooftop after the powerful blow she suffered. "I WON'T LET MY FINAL MOMENTS BE OF FAILURE AGAIN!" Amplifying her sword's mana by the use of her Gift, Mordred begun firing beam after beam non-stop with every swing, aiming all of them torwards Nala.
Hovering in the air in a way that resembled flying, Nala travelled across entire city blocks at high speed to reach Mordred, slidding, dodging and cutting the incoming beams with spectacular maestry and composure, as if she was dancing to the tune of an harmonious song, in contrast with Mordred's violent outrage and lack of calmness. Getting closer, Nala evaded Mordred's last beam by jumping above, causing Mordred to look above at her.
The knight looked briefly in awe at the imagery of Nala standing in the air. The eloquent shine of her silver armour, the glamorous tissues of her skirt, the embellished blue ribbon on her irradiant white hair. The perfect juvenile features of her face while the golden skies stood behind her body.
It was as if Mordred was staring at an angel in all its splendor.
"Precise Stroke!"
Blasting torwards Mordred at a comet speed, Nala sliced the knight once again, bringing her down from the rooftop and torwards an open square of the Holy City.
"Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity!"
"I'M SO FUCKING DONE WITH YOU!" Rejecting her own knight armour, Mordred was now free from its retstraints, letting the uncontrolled mana run wild through her body. "DIE!" She screamed, releasing one more beam torwards Nala.
"Air Step!"
But Nala's mana in that moment also felt boundless, the girl zig-zagging at light speed through the entire square, getting several hits on Mordred who was barely able to accompany the girl's fast movements with her eyes alone.
"ENOUGH!" Mordred shouted, taking a desperate guess and moving her sword where she tought Nala would attack from next, ending up piercing the girl in the head.
"Uh?!"
"Eh!" Mordred gave a crazed smile to the fact she got her, she killed her enemy. Even if by sheer luck, she had finally took care of this nuisance.
Except, she actually didn't, being a matter of perspective as her sword had actually only scratched the side of Nala's head.
"Ghg!?" With the smile gone from her face, Mordred got again sliced by Nala, the knight body rolling on the ground until it stopped, covered in lots and lots of cuts and injuries. "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!" Mordred yelled, her mind going borderline insane. "I'LL VAPORIZE YOU TILL NOTHING IS LEFT OF YOU!"
Exclaiming, Mordred decided that her next attack would have to kill Nala, putting majority of her mana into Clarent, hostile winds and red thunders occupied the entire area, being the epithome of Mordred's fury.
"Clarent..."
Nala however, was about to do the same: unleash her Noble Phantasm.
"The echoes of a regal spring...
Putting her sword perfectly straight and in front of her face, Nala closed her eyes and in the vast darkness, she imagined lines. Four symmetrical blue lines, crossing each other at a center point. The core of the fundamental aspect of her being.
...have floruished."
In translucent silver crystal, a flower of seven petals emerged within those lines, perfect aligned with them, just as Nala envisioned. The flower appearing right behind Mordred, its light mirrorring Nala's glowing blade as reflexion.
"Blood..."
"We shall now...
Opening her celestial blue eyes, the white fire inside them symbolized not only her determination but everything else. It was all alligned. Her mana, her mind, soul, body, magic crest and sword. All so perfect and beautiful, like the blooming of a flower in a green garden.
...witness its opulence!"
"ARTHU-"
Amongst the red carnage fury of Mordred, the white angelical light from Nala's blade stood out, the girl anticipating to the knight. For every petal, a stroke from her sword.
"Seven Whispers Of The Palatial Flower: Trientalis Borealis!"
"Wha-"
And in a single millisecond, Nala struck the blow seven times on Mordred's body all at once, the slashes being of an absurd magnitude.
"Kgh!?" Feeling her tower of light get hit again, but not by Ozymandias pyramid, the Lion King tried to see who was attacking her sacred lance now, only to see powerful lights shinning from below down on the Holy City.
"This light...It's almost liek the sun itself!" Gawain said while protecting its face from the potent white light shinning across the entire Holy City.
Peko on the other hand was in awe, his eyes not even feeling ached by the light, totally mesmerized. "How beautiful..."
"Ngh! Master! Are you seeing this light as well?" Mash asked to Ritsuka as the small party got almost flashbanged by the giant lights even if they were on the most upper layer of the Holy City.
"Fouuuu!"
"I am! But just the sight of it feels like my eyes could go blind! Ritsuka responded, protecting his own face alongside anyone else. "What or where did they came from?"
From the huge slashes created by Nala's Noble Phantasm, seven grand bright slashes that scarred the entire Holy City's area, opening huge abysses that extended beyond the city's walls and into the wastelands, emanating light from within until they eventually died out, the brightness dissapearing while leaving behind the huge trails of destruction. Such power that came from Nala.
The girl now down in her knees, panting in exhaustion for how consuming her Noble Phantasm. Despite that, she did it. She pulled it off. And looking ahead in the middle of the eradicated square, Mordred's defeated body laid on the ground. Victory was hers.
"...Eh. I can finally say I beat a knight, Mordred." Nala smiled weakly before the emotion of the win overfilled her body. "YEEEEAH!" She screamed loudly and effusively, this hard victory tasting well for her. Now, with her body in the limit, Nala thought that she should just lay down and relax for some min-
"I..m...no...t...a fail...ure..."
"!" With a sudden stop in her heatbeat, Nala saw in terror as Mordred wasn't seemingly dead yet, red electricity sparking out of her body as the moribund Knight of Treachery still tried to get up an fight. "I will not...be a failure...again!"
"I...I't can't be." Nala murmured in dread.
"Father...allow your mistake of a son..." Not being in a lucid state of mind, Mordred was still thinking about killing Nala, her rage, even if brought down, still speaking. The knight weakly crawling as her body was looking to start being overtaken by a black substance on her skin. "To not fail you for once!" Shouting, Mordred grabbed Clarent and tried to get up despite the terrible injuries and difficulties.
Nala stared in disbilief. Even with the sheer power of her Noble Phantasm, Mordred seemingly hadn't gone down yet. "H-How can I defeat her? What else can I do?"
"Sanzang's Teachings!"
"Nothing. You already defeated her."
Hearing a voice from behind as her body got some buff, Nala turned around to see Sanzang, beaten but alive. "Sanzang!"
"She just needs a peaceful resting." Sanzang told to Nala with tranquility as she walked over to Mordred but not before putting a hand on Nala's shoulder. "I saw your Noble Phantasm." Sanzang smiled cheerfuly to the girl. "It sure is an awsome power, no?"
Nala smiled back, nodding. "Yes. But also with huge responsability to." She said deeply, feeling the soft vibrance in her soul. "I feel more complete now."
"That's the purposes of a journey!" Sanzang said. "Now, continue on and help your friends, got it?"
"And what about you?" Nala asked the monk.
"I'll take care of the rest with this knight here. I'l catch you up soon!" Sanzang winked to Nala.
"..." But despite the attempt of the monk to sound and appear fine to Nala, the girl could tell by her wounds and state that Sanzang probably wouldn't be able to continue further than this. A sad fact that however, she didn't let occupy much of her head. "Okay! See ya later then, Sanzang!" Waving at the monk, Nala got out of the square, leaving Sanzang alone with Mordred.
"Failure...I'm a failure...Failure...Failure..! I need a world...without me..!" Mordred said, barely even keeping her speech coherent, being so deep in wrath to even think straight.
Sanzang could only sigh out of pity. "This is no way for a knight to die. Let me give you solace."
Putting her staff upright in the ground, Sanzang positioned her hands in a buddhist prayer.
"This is, because that is."
A magecraft circle appeared in the ground.
"This comes to be, because that comes to be."
The magecraft circle begun to levitate, bringing up both Sanzang and Mordred to the skies, the monk continuing her praying.
"This is not, because that is not."
Everything felt enlightened, quiet and peaceful as Sanzang's words transformed the whole view around them into tall mountains amidst the clouds.
"This ceases to be, because that ceases to be."
A Noble Phantasm that ascended Sanzang, even if briefly, to the status as high as that of her adored Buddha. Or in other words, Shakyamuni. His prophetic image manifesting behind his loyal follower. A power that could cancel and purify any ill or form of attack, the chakras in unison.
"Vyākaraṇa: The Sandalwood Merit"
With a simple touch of her palm on Mordred's body, Sanzang bloomed a giant pink lotus, blooming and transforming the entire scenario into a vast and endless garden of peaceful and falling pink petals.
"...Eh?..." Waking up, Mordred saw that her head was now lying on Sanzang's lap.
"It was an hard life that you had. How do you feel now?" Sanzang asked nicely to the knight.
"I..." Taking a moment to take in her feelings, Mordred felt her body and mind soft, without any burning feeling inside. Completly relaxed and in peace with herself. "I no longer feel anger."
"That's good." Sanzang replied with a warm smile. "What would you like to do now?"
Taking that question in deep consideration, Mordred looked to the countless petals falling from the sky. How free and relaxed they were. How she didn't had any more burden weighing on her. No one to piss her off or to deny her existence. Her facial scars gone. It felt good. "I think, to just appreciate the quietude for now." She smiled softly. "That and...a good slumber."
.
.
.
"...Sanzang..."
"..Sanzang..!"
"Sanzang!"
"Eeh...Touta?"
Opening her eyes, Sanzang found herself to be now in the hands of her disciple. "Where am I?"
"In the area near the Holy City's main gates." Touta told her, the two armies fighting a bit far from their location as Touta got a more isolated place for him and Sanzang. "You fell from the skies, mentor. I ended up catching you."
"Ah...I see." Sanzang smiled. "That must be why I didn't felt any pain." She said as her body begun to vanish.
"You did it, didn't you?" Touta said in a sorrowful voice, guessing what his mentor had done.
Sanzang smiled faintly to him. "I had nothing more to add to this specific journey. It was time...for a fitting end." She explained to the bowman.
"I see." Touta said with some grief inside him. "Then, can this disciple make you a final question, mentor?"
"Do tell." Sanzang replied, giving permission, her body halfway through to vanishing.
"This one journey, compared to the others the mentor had during her life..." Touta looked Sanzang in the eyes, a clear sadness in not wanting to see her go. "Was it has memorable?"
Sanzang giggled faintly. "Every journey is for me. As long as we have people who we can share its moments with. And you Touta..." The monk reached out for him, grabbing his hand. "You were one of the best companions to have the luck of running into. Thank you...for everything we've been through here. Every single memoy of it...I shall not forget."
"It is a joy to hear that...mentor." Touta said, his voice with some agony. "I'm truly glad to hear it."
"Heh, silly..." Sanzang said as she could still be sure, even if about to dissapear, that Touta was doing his best to not cry. "As my final lesson: Keep fighting and aid the chaldeans on this war."
"Understood!" Touta replied, not even thinking twice.
"And...speaking about the chaldeans..." Sanzang closed her eyes, accepting her final moments as her mind gave idea to a possibility. "I wish to see that place of theirs one day...What type of people...all the corners of the world has..."
And so, the buddhist monk and closest follower of Buddha, was gone, being the end of another of her adventures.
Seeing the golden particles of hers fly away, Touta sat down and did a prayer. "Thank you for everything as well, mentor. Now leave the rest up to us."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 118!
So first fight out of the way: Nala (ft Sanzang) vs Mordred! Another essential chapter for Nala's evolution as she finally obtains her Noble Phantasm: Trientalis Borealis! Which for those of you who don't know it is really a flower. Located in North America, has seven petals, blooms in late spring to early summer, its normal name is Starflower, it can symbolize, simplicity, purity, harmony and yada yada, go check it out if you're interested in knowing more about flowers.
Chapter mainly focused on Nala vs Mordred, which, of course it would, why else would the chapter's name be: The Knight of Treachery, duh. And yes, Mordred here goes beyond rageful. She goes lunatic! Like let's be real, there are actual Berserkers in the game that have less of a violent and agressive behaviour than Mordred. But honestly, wouldn't want it the other way. We all love our tomboy the way she is even with the daddy issues. But now, she has been the first knight to be put down on the list! Who will be the next one?
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 119! Peace!
P.S:
Nala (smug, teasing the fact she is higher than Kama): So, how's it going down there?
Kama (Ascends to her 2nd ascnesion): I dunno. Do tell me.
Nala (puts herself in tip-toes, trying to be as tall as Kama): I-I don't think so!
Kama (Smirks and goes to her 3th ascension, with Nala's face ending up fallinf on her chest): Sorry airhead, But you'll never wing against me.
Nala (Pouts): Oh yeah?! (Jumps up and bashes her head into Kama's skull)
Kama (Immediatly contorts in pain and goes back to 1st ascension): Owowowowowow! What the hell was that for?
Nala (crossing her arms): Checking if your head is truly hollow. I'm afaid we have to confirm this veracity.