Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 122 of the story as well as the first one of 2025!
Richard is the New Years Servant of 2025 which like, of course that he would be giving the Strange Fake anime campaign as of late. And while it's great to finally have him in the game, that 3rd Ascension of his...the artist really wanted a Dark Souls/Elden Ring boss as a servant, didn't they? But hell, I admit, it's cool as fuck, that's what I think!
And I can finally watch the 1st episode of Strange Fake at last! (With the 2nd one being announced to release on 2025...I'd probably laugh and then die if the anime releases one episode per year)
But anyways, this chapter will be an important one! So get in a comfortable position to read, and without further ado, let's go!
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
SoulCalibur III OST- Gaze From Hell
The tension at the top of the watch-tower was palpable in the air, the strong winds blowing hard against the flags as a terrific confrontation was brewing in the area. A Beast against a candidate to the Grand Saber status. In other words, a clash of the necessity to destroy humanity against the necessity to preserve it. Such battle about the occur under the dark endless veil that covered the skies of the Singularity. Its presence was a bad advent, accompanying the figure that carried sins heavier than any human.
"You can't always hide in your shadows forever, Man of Sin." Arthur Pendragon, the mythical King of Knights, legendary ruler and veteran of the holy sword, Excalibur, wielded his mighty blade against the foe he was about to face, aware of the terrible calamities that such fiendish enemy of humanity was by nature. "Being a Beast, you will inevitable be on Alaya's and the Counter-Force's radar! It ends up being a question of time until your foul kind is revealed to light!"
Listening to such comment, the left arm of Man of Sin squirmed and writhed to the very bones, seeming to have taken Arthur's words as provocations, before the Man of Sin himself softly calmed his limb down with the right arm, remaining his overall steady posture.
"Ah, King of Knights and Britons, Arthur Pendragon. A 'pleasurable' surprise most certainly."
The Man of Sin's multiple voices speaked, reveberating. Some louders and more present than others. Ever so with a solemn and mysterious tone. For he was in the presence of a great enemy and Heroic Spirit.
"Gallant attitude as always, befitting of thee. We were already counting on thy interference the moment King Arthur's presence became acknowledge to us."
"Good. Then you already know what I am here for." Arthur replied with an unfriendly glare, not taking the Man of Sin's flattery. "While you don't appear to be exactly the Beast that I've been hunting across many timelines, I can sense its putrid smell nearby in this Singularity. You know who I'm referring to, don't you?" Pointing Excalibur to his enemy, the King of Knights was about to make him an important question. "Lately, I've got intel that there has been three Beasts in here simultaneously. One of them must be the one that I've been searching through all this time, doesn't it?"
"..."
Man of Sin did not replied, remaining eerily silent and observant of Arthur's words, not appearing frightned or threatned by having one of the most legendary swords in history pointed at him.
"So while I am here to stop you, I need you to tell me something before my blade eradicates your sordid body and soul!" Arthur put Excalibur up right and near his left shoulder, the bright blade covering half of his face, reflecting the atrocious Man of Sin's image on its metal. "Which one of the three Beasts are you?"
"..."
"..."
At first, silence stood between them for a few seconds, only being interrupted by the blow of the anticipating wind at the top of the watch-tower. Arthur himself could even listen to the sound of his own heartbeats, his brave glare always gazing at the enemy up front, swearing to not take the sight out of him for even a second. His guard, senses, mind and body, were all on high caution, ready to react at even the smallest motion of the Man of Sin's body.
On the other side, the Beast, of identity yet unknown, remained still, almost paralyzed, gazing back at Arthur Pendragon behind the ragged tissue of his dark cloak. Man of Sin had long became aware that a confrontation with the King of Knights would be impossible to avoid the very moment he and the others stepped in the Holy City and darkened the skies, their presence soon to be revealed once that was done. It was decided therefore, that a battle would it be.
"All three."
"What?!" Arthur replied in startlement, his eyes enlarged. He thought he had heard it wrong from the Man of Sin's mouth.
The tension increased.
From the Man of Sin's left arm, having been engulfed in shadows, a draconic creature appeared, standing on his shoulder, being the size of a large iguana. Ten vibrant red horns sticking out alongside its dragon head, with two red blood eyes so deep and hostile that could terrify and send shivers down on anybody. The sharp spikes sticking out from its shoulders and hips being as dark as pitch. Black tattoo patterns across its greyish skin, shattered shackles around its reptilian wrists.
"Lucifer."
The tension grew, Arthur standing speechless.
From the Man of Sin's right arm, the same happened, altough what appeared this time was a fly, as big as a small dog. Two, deformed black horns standings up. A pair of circular wide grotesque amber fisheyes, on each side of its face. An open vertical mouth that travelled across the fly's face, with sharp insect teeths, showing the dark abyss that was the demonic creature's mouth through the gaps. A total black as petroleum skin, with its large six insectoid legs standing on its owner's other shoulder. A pure nightmare fuel.
"Beelzebub."
By now, Arthur's heart had lost its calmness, beating with apprehension and dread, feeling an enormous infernal aura comming from the Man of Sin and his two 'pets'. "How is this-"
And now, the tension had blown up.
"Devour him."
Shadow of the Colossus OST- A Messenger From Behind
INexoraBILITY
IMpuritY
DeSpAIr
SiN
LaPSe/CollAPse
RuPTuRe/DiSruPTure
ReBirTH
GenESIs
COrruPTION
JudGEmENT
SALVaTION
[EVIL OF HUmAnItY?]
BEAST OF THE UNHOLY VOID: BEAST 0/XIII
And with the command, both Beasts launched from Man of Sin's body, heading torwards Arthur like two black projectiles.
"Dazzling Journey-gh!"
Having casted a spell on himself, Arthur barely reacted in time with Excalibur to block the attacks from Lucifer and Beelzebub, both travelling at the speed of a bullet train. Once they hit the blade, entire buildings and structures behind Arthur were consumed and broken by a destructive darkness. The King of Knights hold his own ground with the light of Excalibur against the pitiless duo of projectiles that shrouded the entire surroundings in dark void, having went upwards the moment the sword slice them in half.
Managing to withstand the brutal charge with great effort, Arthur fell to his knees, panting heavily while trying to recover back his stamina, barely resisting to the two Beasts initial attack. "The three Beasts are all here in a sinlge place? How can this be?!" With some drops of sweat falling from his face, Arthur stared at Man of Sin at the other end of the watch-tower. "Does he control the other two? Are they all one in the same?"
"What's wrong, King of Knights? Feeling perhaps, a snippet of overwhelmness?"
As Man of Sin speaked, the taunting overlayed by his always stately voice, Lucifer and Beelzebub descended down, back to their Beasts forms, except this time, they were ten times larger than they were before, occupying majority of the rooftop area. The beastly and monstruous duo eyed down to the small Heroic Spirit that was Arthur in their perspective, ready to rip his body apart.
Clasping his teeth, Arthur went back to stand up on his feet, a firm grasp on Excalibur. Despite the awful surprise that he got of having to fight two Beasts instead of one, three with the possibility of Man of Sin stepping in, he wouldn't cower and flee. Even if he wasn't a Grand Servant himself, the King of Knights already had his fair share of challenges and arduous enemies throughout his entire life. This could may be his very most streneous challenge so far, however, being the great fabled king that he was, Arthur Pendragon would refuse to go down so easily. "No! I shall not go down! For as long as I have Excalibur, triumph will always be the goal!"
"Hmm, we descry a resolute monarch in thy unyielding glare. Can thoust persist against the terrors with thy heroic sword?"
Man of Sin speaked with some amusement altough not visible. He was sure that an Heroic Spirit like Arthur Pendragon would be able to put up a worthy fight even if alone against two Beasts.
"Come and do your worst! You and your compeers, Man of Sin!" Arthur exclaimed, sighting both Lucifer and Beelzebub heading torwards him, the former running on the ground and the latter flying in the air. Facing them head on, Arthur dodged out of the way from Lucifer's violent head thrust and all of his effervescent ten horns. But that wasn't all from the draconic Beast, who proceeded to continue his attacks on the King of Knights, swinging his gnarly claws at him, draped in dark flames.
Arthur kept up with the speed of Lucifer's attacks, blocking them despite the creature's sharp talons being larger than his frame, each strong impact damaging more the improvised arena at the top of the watch-tower with the dark flames and fissures created by Lucifer's claws being everywhere. Going for a more ferocious approach, the dragon Beast launched his head torwards Arthur, about to bite him off with the teeth. Arthur acted in time, parrying Lucifer's bite with Excalibur, the blade doing intense sparkles against the dragon's fangs.
However, Lucifer, with the all so powerful Excalibur stuck in the middle of his teeth, decided to then throw Arthur's entire body upwards and above alongside Excalibur after doing an abrupt movement with his head.
"Woah!" Not having expected that and now in midair, Arthur accidentaly let go off Excalibur from his grasp briefly, being on a free fall back to the watch-tower. With the swort yet within reach, he struggle a bit, stretching his arm and eventually being able to grab Excalibur back. But the danger was far from over. Hearing a loud buzzing noise, the King of Knights looked ahead to see the giant demon fly, Beelzebub, approaching him, ready to attack Arthur with one of its pointy limbs. Thankfully, Arthur dealt with the attack by blocking it with Excalibur the moment Beelzebub tried to pierce him.
Regaining control of his motion while continue to fall, Arthur swiftly glanced down at Lucifer below. "I can attack him from here!" Pointing his sword downwards, Arthur prepared to descend and impale Excalibur's blade right into Lucifer's skull, the Beast dragon about to lift up the head at the same time. As Arthur was about to land on the demonic creature's head and deliver a fatal blow, Lucifer ended up outwitting him, whipping Arthur with the swing of his tail, cathing him off guard.
"Gah!" Thrown away and hit, Arthur fell into the ground all the way across the area, almost exiting the watch-tower's rooftop. Getting up, the wound Lucifer had made on Arthur was visible, having shattered good part of the right side of his armour, blood oozing out from his shoulder and head. And the King of knights had barely gotten up as a giant shadow darkened in the ground he was standing in "!"
Looking up, Arthur spotted Beelzebub about to stamp him, the fly bringing down his entire body. The King of Knights jumped out of the way, evading the frenzied landing of Beelzebub, making a crater on the arena. On the ground, the enormous fly glued his mouth onto the floor and begun to expell some kind of dark mist from within its mouth and body, spreading across the area as if it were spores.
"Huh? What's this?" Asking to himself, Arthur could only assume that the substance of dark fog couldn't be good news, dispersing it away with a wing of Excalibur. Unfortunately, Beelzebub's seemingly rotten mist was now occupying large part of the rooftop, cornering Arthur.
Almost with his back on one of the four corners of the rooftop, Arthur so far was having trouble, which was to be expected when fighting a Beast. But to battle with two at the same time was a thing that even a Grand Servant would struggle immensily with. He had to find a way to at least damage Lucifer and Beelzebub that could point him to a clue on how to defeat the duo, even if it was the slimmest chances of that happening. Yet, he was aware that time was running short to him as both the dragon and fly Beasts were preying on him, wandering on the dark fog. At least the mist wasn't awfully thick, allowing Arthur to gaze at his two enemies.
On the other end of the area, Man of Sin continued to observe the fight the King of Knights was putting against his familiars, speculating what could Arthur Pendragon do in order to overcome the peril he was currently in.
As Lucifer and Beelzebub were getting nearer, Arthur cleaned the blood off his face. Dying here without halting Man of Sin and the other two Beasts was not an option. If his enemies utilized the darkness in order to attack, then Arthur would repel it away with the sacred light of Excalibur and win against the trio with it. After all, it was a matter of the light of his sword being powerful enough to overcome the darkness of his opponents. With his next attack in mind, Arthur powered up Excalibur "This will have to work!"
Grasping at what their opponent was about to do, both Lucifer and Beelzebub saw it as the perfect time to strike, the two Beasts sprinting torwards Arthur on the bright corner thanks to the golden luminescence flowing from his sword.
"Ex-"
"Numeral of the Saint!"
Unexpectedly and from behind, vibrant flames invaded the fight, stopping Lucifer and Beelzebub, both stepping back as the gleaming fire stood on their way torwards Arthur.
And the King of Knights immediatly recognized those flames, having seen them before somewhere else in the past. "These are..."
"Apologies for my tardiness, king Arthur!" Appearing from Arthur's left, the still persistent and tenacious Knight of the Sun, Gawain, joined the fray, standing by the King of Knight's side, with Galatine's blade ablaze. "Allow this knight to wield his sword in your aid!"
"Sir Gawain?!" Arthur exclaimed in bewilderment, haven't foreseen Gawain to step into this battle as an ally without notice.
"..."
Man of Sin remained silent and calm despite of the Knight of the Sun's suddenly appearence. If anything, he found it more interesting than anything.
"I don't get it. You do know that I am one of your king's enemies, standing by the chaldeans side!" Arthur told him, finding Gawain's help to him odd. "So why come in assistance?"
Gawain was willing to respond, looking at Arthur with a smile. "Well. It was a said 'acquaintance' of king Arthur that urged me to go lookout for the sire."
Few Hours Ago
"In lieu of attempting to slay the young child, I lodge thee with another request."
"A...request?" Bruised and beaten, Gawain stared at First Hassan with some incredulity and disbilief in his eyes. After the ferocious fight with Peko, he had luckily been able to survive to the boy's grandious attack and was on his short way to kill the unconscious child if it wasn't for the mysterious man of menacing build to appear right in front of Gawain. "I don't take...any requests from strangers! Even more if they're enemies!" The prideful Knight of the Sun exclaimed in the face of First Hassan, unwilling to cooperate at first.
"Withdrawing a request of such caliber would also spell doom to thy liege, O conceited Knight of the Sun." First Hassan continued to speak in his deep and imposing voice tone, warning Gawain of the consequence if he rejected the offer of the Old Man of the Mountain.
Yet, Gawain remained stubborn. "What are you even saying? Are those fatuous words meant to be a trick to lower my guard? Don't spit such nonsense about my king!" Shouting, Gawain attacked First Hassan with Galatine, swinging his sword down. Only for the blade to miss the target, First Hassan no longer being in front of Gawain. "What is-"
"Do not let the vehemence of this war to cloud thy judgement, knight." First Hassan speaked, now behind Gawain. "Heed to the valuable words of the old man and thoust might avoid impending destruction of thy king's kingdom for the time being."
"Stop persuading me! It won't work!" Gawain said, about to attack First Hassan again. "I shall never do my enemy's bidding!"
"Thou art loyal, knight." First Hassan once again evaded Gawain's attack with ease, dissapearing into thin air. "Howbeit, this is a topic that broadens further beyond the normal fringes of loyalty."
Seeing him at his back once again, Gawain proceeded to still attack. "And what do you know about my loyalty?" Bringing his sword down, the blade of Galatine finally gashed something. But it wasn't the First Hassan's flesh. Quite the contrary. "Ah...! G...Ga..." Standing almost petrified in shock, Gawain gazed at the dead corpse of his young sister, Gareth, slained by none other but Gawain himself, Galatine pierced into her chest.
"That it hath led thee to many indescribable acts." First Hassan talked, the twilight horizon of the day the Lion King and her knights were able to overthrow Richard the Lionheart and his Crusaders from the Holy Land, standing behind him and Gawain. It was however, a victory that wasn't made without sacrifices, and Gawain remember it well out of anyone else that fought that day. He remembered well how Gareth, in a valiant act of selflessness, used her own body to hold back a powerful Richard Lionheart that was bringing many difficulties to the Lion King and her knights. And aware that the opportunity couldn't be wasted, Gawain at the time didn't hesitate, killing her alongside the enemy.
"..." Looking back to that moment to this day, Gawain always felt a sort of regret. He knew that Gareth made a sacrificed honrable of a knight. And yet, he wished she hadn't died that day. That he hadn't lost another sibling. Gaheris was opposition. His death was fated to happen the moment he picked the opposite path from the rest of his siblings. Despite also being a moment that hurt, Gawain took a mental preparation before it had happen. But Gareth's death was never expected. It happen so fast, so suddenly and with the heat of the battle, that the Knight of the Sun had only really realized what he had done once Galatine had gone through Gareth's body.
A death so fleeting and brief that with the construction of the Lion King's Holy City coming right after victory, they barely had even time to mourn Gareths's death properly. But in his own mind, Gawain justified it to himself that Gareth sacrificed for their king's cause. That she died a loyal knight. That her death wasn't his fault. But no matter in which way his mind would chose to cope, Gawain would always think that he failed in that fight to guarantee Gareth's survival. That neither she nor Gaheris would stand by his side, watching the Holy City be built. The Knight of the Sun would have to grief in silence, alone, all by himself.
"If thoust desires that all those acts be answered through the goal of thy king succeeding, then the Knight of the Sun will do the following." First Hassan's shadow covered Gawain. "Thus, do not deny this salient supplication furthermore."
Gently picking Gareth's head, Gawain brought his dead sister close to his chest shortly before she vanished and the scenery came back to normal, with the Holy City in the middle of the war. Gawain then stared over at the unconscious Peko some meters away, making him remember of the times they interacted with one another during the boy's time as the Lion King's prisoner. Gawain always made sure to treat him well, altough a part of him believed that it wasn't because of the fact he was an important captive nor due to his king's orders, but because the boy reminded Gawain so much of Gareth. His joy, smile, dissapointment, frustration and ambition.
That he desired so much to continue living with his friends and family, like Gareth with the other knights of the Round Table. Maybe that's why Gawain liked to spend the time with Peko. Because it was the only time were the Knight of the Sun could taste that same happiness of the past again. It was a sentiment so strong that almost rivaled his loyalty to the Lion King. So much so that thinking better about it, Gawain gave up on killing Peko and open up his ears to First Hassan. "If doing what you say, means that my king's wish gets to live one..." He paused briefly, looking over at Peko. "Then I shall listen."
Being now eye to eye with the Knight of the Sun, First Hassan was ready to instruct him on what his task now should be. "Here is what thou shalt do."
Present
"He told me that if the skies darkened and a light shinned, to go to the source of that light, where I would find king Arthur, fighting against a dangerous enemy that threatens my king's kingdom and all of the Singularity." Gawain finished answering to Arthur, giving him a brief explanation on how and why he was here.
"Ah, I see." Arthur replied, now having the context for the arrival of Gawain in the middle of the battle. "So the Grand Assassin was the one to send him here."
"These monsters are king Arthur's enemies, right? As well as that person over there?" Gawain eyed to the demonic duo of Lucifer and Beelzebub, towering frighteningly in front of them, with the Man of Sin further behind, also watching. "Then they must be the threats he was referring to! Beings that endanger humanity! So, as a knight that vowed to aid my king preserve humanity, I shall help king Arthur even if the sire is no king of mine!"
"Hm. Well put, Sir Gawain." Arthur replied, a bit satisfied to see he would have the Knight of the Sun's support even if he wasn't exactly aiding Arthur because of his and Chaldea's goal. "If both of us want to see humanity live from both our points of view, we must bring these Beasts to justice!"
"The Knight of the Sun also here...A staggering surprise to be sure."
Man of Sin commented on Gawain's turn up for the battle, understanding that it would get more fierce with his presence.
"Thoust hath arrived in good hour, Sir Gawain. Now, both Beast VI/L and Beast VI/R can evaluate and derust their abilities against thy sunful blazes in addition to King Arthur's Excalibur."
Doing a movement with his hand, Man of Sin molded the shadows behind him, creating a detailed throne of dark stone and spikes, taking a seat. He and his associates had still time to intervene in the Lion King's plans after all.
"May the king and 'his knight' put up a worthy trial."
Watching from his seat on the other side, Man of Sin prepared to watch the battle continuing, now with the participation of Gawain.
Gazing back at him through the existing gap between Lucifer and Beelzebub, Arthur and Gawain were ready to fight against the two Beasts side by side.
"Is he the one controlling the two demons, king Arthur?" Gawain asked to Arthur.
"I theorize as such, altough I'm not sure." Arthur replied, still eyeing Man of Sin on his throne, with a pose of both elbows resting on the throne's armchairs. "Therefore, is is true that you shall fight by my side, Sir Gawain?"
"I told the sire that my sword would be brandished for you solely in this battle, did I not?" Gawain reassured to Arthur. "For a better future and Camelot, I will fight alongside king Arthur even if I perish here!"
Letting out a small smile, Arthur felt nostalgic. Now this Knight of the Sun was acting more like the one he used to know in his own timeline despite the first impressions of the first meeting. "Then onward, Gawain!"
Together, both the King of Knights and the Knight of the Sun moved forwards, slicing down the dark mist with the lights of both Excalibur and Galatine, back to confronting Lucifer and Beelzebub.
Taking flight, the fly demon let his companion deal with the two for the time being. A smoldering heat started to vaporize inside Lucifer's mouth, the dragon Beast igniting a fire, ready to release a breath of flames. Doing it quickly, instead of firing the fiery blazes to the two enemies, Lucifer aimed his mouth to the ground right beneath him, releasing the dark fire breath on it. A choice that was instantly understood as dark purple magecraft circles begun to appear across the arena while Arthur and Gawain were heading torwards him.
"Avoid the circles!" Arthur told to Gawain, seeing one of the magecraft circles combusting and erupting into powerul flames.
"Understood!" Gawain replied, both still running across the area while avoiding and dodging the magical fire attacks from Lucifer, the circles fading and materializing on the ground fast.
And to turn things difficulter to the duo, Beelzebub, flying in the air, put his grotesque mouth wide open, beggining to fire sharp projectiles from it, aiming them at Arthur and Gawain on the ground.
"From above!" Gawain exclaimed, quickly taking notice of the incoming projectiles from Beelzebub to rain down on them. With a nimble swing, the Knight of the Sun parried the first one, with Arthur blocking the second one. Very soon, the entire arena took a turn for the chaotic, with Lucifer's attack coming from the ground and Beelzebub's attacks from the air, forcing Arthur and Gawain to be at the maximum of their reflexes and reactive capabilities, dodging and blocking non-stop, very well coordinated with each other, staying close.
But eventually, it came to a point where the attacks from both Beasts stopped, giving some time to breath to Arthur and Gawain. Or so they thought, as Lucifer fastly sprinted torwards them, hurling and rotating his body torwards the two, almost hitting them as he left a trace of destruction behind. And to end it off, Beelzebub came crashing down on the ground again, Arthur and Gawain having barely avoided being squeezed.
"They really aren't giving us any inch!" Arthur commented, both he and Gawain staring to Beelzebub who this time decided to stay on the ground, craving his mouth to the floor and with his six legs, crawling torwards the two at a speed of a locomotive, planting a trace of dark liquid behind.
Taking them both by surprise, Arthur and Gawain jumped out of the way before Beelzebub's could pierce them with his sharp legs that he brought down to the ground
Initially thinking to have avoided the attack unscathed, Arthur noticed a slight feeling of dormancy and discomfort on his right hand, giving a look at it. "!" Gasping, he saw that some of the dark substance expelled from Beelzebub had partially infected two of his fingers, now wrapped in that same liquid dark subatance. A burning sensation, as if Arthur had touched acid. "Ghg!"
"King Arthur!" Checking on him, Gawain brought Galatine's blade close to Arthur's fingers. "This might help." Setting his sword in golden flames, Gawain tried to extinguish the subtance in Arthur's fingers with the source of light, but to little avail. "Damn it! I'm sorry, king Arthur. Being in a complete dark space like this, the light of the sun cannot reach me as well as the wounds from my previous battle possibly wearing me down. Pardon for not being as useful as the sire wished me to be!"
"It's alright, Gawain. The light of Galatine is at least enough to soothe some of the ache." Arthur told otherwise to the Knight of the Sun, fond of his help. "These type of enemy are just a league above from many Heroic Spirits. Maybe myself included." He said, glaring at both Lucifer and Beelzebub, Man of Sin still sitting on his throne so far, regardful to the fight. There had to be a way to reach him, and Arthur had been thinking on it. "I have a plain, Gawain. Will you follow?"
"For the survival of the kingdom, I shall comply with any instructions of the sire!" Gawain replied, willing to go along with whatever strategy Arthur had in mind.
"Holy Swordsman (Planet)!"
Casting a skill spell on himself and Gawain, Arthur gave a look back to the knight, a confident smile on his face. "With me then!"
Fate Prototype OST- Sacred Sword
"Hm?"
Observing the battle, Man of Sin slightly moved up his head, watching Arthur run torwards Lucifer and Beelzebub while Gawain followed him from behind, wondering what were they planning.
"On my signal, Gawain!" Arthur exclaimed, staring at Lucifer in the eyes, the draconic Beast preparing for their approaching.
"Aye!" Gawain responded, both hands on Galatine.
As Beelzebub spread his wings and flied, Lucifer started to charge his breath once more inside the mouth.
That was the sign.
"Now!" Shouting, Arthur immediatly made a slash torwards Lucifer, catching the Beast off guard, forcing him to breath out a dark fireball instead, cancelling the demon original startegy. Almost simultaneously, Gawain helped Arthur jumped forward and above, throwing the King of Knights with his arm.
Sighting Arthur in the air, about to past above him, Lucifer lifted up his head, ready to fire his breath torwards the King of Knights. At the same time, Beelzebub hovered above Gawain, ready to drop his large body onto the knight and crash him. But that's what both Gawain and Arthur were counting for.
"Sword of Revolving Victory:
Loading up the mana on his weapon, bathing the blade in glorious fiery light, Gawain threw his Noble Phantasm into the air, dazzing Beelzebub as the irritating light got too close to the demonic fly.
Excalibur Galatine!"
Descending down, Gawain perfectly grabbed back Galatine, the magecraft circle covering large part of the rooftop, triggering at that moment, the powerful sunful flames of his sword, quickly spreading them across the arena. It was enough of a good bait to also thwart Lucifer, making the Beast defend himself from the flames, giving up on Arthur for a moment.
"It worked!" Landing on Lucifer's body, the King of Knights dashed through the demon dragon's back, heading all the way to his tail, jumping off the body at the same time Gawain's flames from the Noble Phantasm passed through Lucifer, dying down. It gave Arthur enough time for a chance to now head torwards his real target without Lucifer and Beelzebub getting in the way: Man of Sin.
"Impressive."
Was all that Man of Sin said as gazed at Arthur, sprinting all the way torwards him with Excalibur. Obviously, he wouldn't make it easy for the King of Knights. Doing some short but nimble hand gestures and signs, four purple lights blinked on the vast dark veil behind Man of Sin, having summoned shadowy projectiles to target down Arthur.
Still on adrenaline and highly concentrated, Arthur continued to run forward, slashing, blocking and dodging from all the four projectiles. "You have to do better than that!"
"Shadows!"
Accepting the challenge, Man of Sin slammed his hands together and pointed his fingers down, making the shadows on the floor move and head torwards Arthur at high speed, spikes sprouting from them as they tried to impale Arthur who cut them off and dodged with the light of Excalibur, getting nearer to Man of Sin. On the defensive, the Man of Sin's fingers cracked unnaturaly as he made another hand sign, conjuring small dark balls to appear on Arthur's path, imploding into a ball of shapr spikes, akin to sea urchins. Yet, Arthur continued, only getting some scratches on his body from those attacks.
As last line of defense, Man of Sin rised his entire arm, putting a barrier of shadows as a way to separate Arthur from him. But even that ended up in failure, as from the other side of the wall, Arthur completly shattered it, bursting it open with the golden light of the sacred Excalibur, now being right in front of the throne. "Man of Sin!" Shouting, Arthur swinged his sword, slashing it down onto the enemy.
Nevertheless, Man of Sin was agile, his body dissipating into dark fog and shadows alongside the throne right before the bright blade of Excalibur could cut him.
"The King of Knights frankly makes justice to thy own legend."
From behind, Arthur quickly realized that the Man of Sin's body reappered , fastly turning around, Excalibur clashing with the weapon of the Beast, entirely enfolded in darkness, seemingly the shape of a sword.
"The Counter Force did a rightly decision in sending Arthur Pendragon here of all the heroes."
"You thought you'd be only watching this fight in your seat the entire time?" Arthur replied back, he and Man of Sin starting a close and intense match, both swinging and clashing their weapons onto one another, moving and dodging with great talent. Even if Man of Sin preferred the other two Beasts to do the job, he didn't felt bothered in Arthur bringing the fight to him as well, showing great maestry and composure when attacking and defending with his own 'sword'.
"Even if I'm not a Grand Servant myself, my desire to put a stop to anyone who threatens the world is enough to push me through against foes like you!" Arthur continued to speak, his battle with Man of Sin proceeding. "Since young, I learned the values of life and what it means to the people of the kingdom you rule! What makes a person want to live and survive so much despite all the terrors and cruelty in the planet! The people's joy has no price for you to destroy the world they live in!" Taking strenght, Arthur clashed once again with Man of Sin, ending up creating some distance between the two.
"I won't let humanity come to end simply because of selfish desires or evil acts from demons like you! Your plot ends here!" Putting Excalibur straight, Arthur put huge loads of mana into the blade, the golden light flowing from within. The King of Knights was prepared to unleash his Noble Phantasm.
"EX-CALIBUR!"
Without much ceremony, Arthur released the beam of light all the way torwards Man of Sin. Such potent and mighty attack from the legendary sword should put the Beast in panic. But quite the contrary.
Staying in place, Man of Sin just uttered one word:
"Dunkelheit"
From the enormous dark void the watchtower was currently in, many shadows came to the calling of their master, spreading across the field, engulfing the light beam of Excalibur in a dark void, beggining to lose power, unable to reach to Man of Sin.
"Tsk! Grgrrraaaaaaah!" Putting in more effort and mana, Arthur tried his best in fighting off the relentless darkness that was slowing down his Noble Phantasm. "Why isn't the light advancing? How are these shado-"
"Darkness over reigns the light. Its element being more ancient, predating origin itself."
Speaking, Man of Sin's shadows slowly encompassed the beam of light from Excalibur, staining and eroding it.
Arthur watch it happening in dismay. "The mana of Excalibur...the darkness are erasing it away?"
"The light's creation was but an answer to counter balance the darkness naturally."
The light slowly faded, all the mana of Arthur's Excalibur, his Noble Phantasm, engulfed by the darkness.
"Darkness exists past the beggining and will exist past the end. And through it, rebirth will occur."
Decreasing the mana, Man of Sin's darkness completly shatters and expired Excalibur's light, the shadows proceeding to storm Arthur.
"Ghg!" Protecting his face from the strong winds, Arthur immediatly saw Man of Sin teleporting right in front of him. Swiftly, Arthur parried Man of Sin's weapon with his sword, about to step back. "Agh!?" But unfortunately, the King of Knights did not forseen the Beast's next attack. Impaled from behind, Arthur's own shadow had betrayed him, the attacks having appeared from there, piercing him on the back.
"What a shame. The king was faring splendidly until now."
"King Arthur!" From across the arena, Gawain immediatly tried to rush in aid to Arthur, ending up being hit by Lucifer's claw, throwing him to the ground. "Gah!"
"But alas, many fights end up being decided by minute details or a second of surprise. Would thoust not agree, King of Knights?"
Groaning in pain as the blood would come out from his mouth, Arthur, trying to ignore the pain on his abdomen with all his strenght, gripped strongly Excalibur's hilt and swinged the sword at Man of Sin...only for the Beast to simply stop it with his bare hand.
"Ah, Excalibur."
Man of Sin passed his greyish and slightly fissured finger softly on its blade, doing some natural friction of the contact between light and darkness.
"Ever so radiant since the last time these eyes were gazed on thee. Such a distant time that was."
"W-What..?" Arthur reacted, surprised in seeing Man of Sin talking with Excalibur in specific, as if it had met the sword before in the past.
"Alas, thy power of today does not rivals yet the one thoust demonstrated at that bygone era. The King of Knights seems to not have still unlocked thy true vigor."
"What...are you talking about?" Arthur questioned Man of Sin as he felt the spike being thrust deeper into his organs, causing him to caugh more blood.
"That as of now, King Arthur's Excalibur lacks enough of a potent light to surpress our darkness. Hmm, giving it thought, maybe this one is not the same as the one used on that day."
Meanwhile, Gawain was trying to fend off against Lucifer and Beelzebub all by himself, having little success. "Stay back! Aghg! Grahgh!" Trying to get some space, the Knight of the Sun ended up being pinned to the ground by the claw of the dragon Beast while the fly begun tearing his armour apart with the legs. Gawain was struggling and kicking almost desperatly, trying to keep Beelzebub's leg and Lucifer's teeth away from tearing his body apart.
It seemed that all the planning and combined forces of both Arthur and Gawain would be in vain.
"In case Your Majesty hath not comprehended by now, we have been inside something analagous to a Bounded Field. In it, no matter the quantities of mana and magic, it all gets swallowed away by the huge dark void that we are at the moment. In this obscure space similar to a capsule, everything is to be consumed away like a black hole."
Man of Sin explained, revealing to always having field advantage since the very beggining.
"Simply, no light can prosper in here, nor can enter. Not even the sun itself. It is terrible, isn't it? Equal to the reality humanity and this whole world lives in. Far from perfect, ugly, riddled with flaws and sins. Your Majesty honestly believes that an individual isn't tired of such miasma? That they will think it is a life and world worth living?"
Lifting his right hand, Man of Sin approached it to Arthur's chest.
"Now, what sins may thy soul possess-hm?"
Feeling his hand being grabbed, Man of Sin saw Arthur defiantly try to push his hand back with his own left hand.
The King of Knights gave him an obstinate glare. "Over my...dead body!"
Quietly impressed with Arthur's determination to keep resisting, Man of Sin let out a simple 'hm' and from within the palm of his hand, a branch sprouted like a bullet and pierced Arthur right in the heart.
"Aah...aa..a..h..." Having his heart wounded and perforated, Arthur felt his entire body losing vital energy, his hand slidding off from the Man of Sin's hand, getting limp and his eyes starting to lose soul. The King of Knights didn't even had energy enough to keep his head tall, lowering it, staring with his blurry vision to the ground as the darkness would start to slowly spread to his body.
"A potent light...to surpress the darkness..."
.
.
.
A Month Ago
"Before Arthur Pendragon can leave, I would like to bestow the King of Knights this humble gift. Take it as courtesy from the great pharaoh and Sun King."
"My gratitude, O glorious Sun King. Altough...it does have a peculiar format. What is it for?"
"Treat it and keep it well, King of Knights. For it is an object of high adoration and veneration within our culture. And in times of need and peril, the light that can pull you out of the tunnel."
"Then I assume the Sun King is saying that it has the power of a deity from your own pantheon in here?"
"Eh, it is the very own deity itself."
"Really? Why would the Sun King trust me with this? What makes the great pharaoh display such generosity to a foreigner like me? Is it because of my title has a king? Something that I said?"
"Hmm, nay. It is simple mutual respect between two great kings. The King of Knights quest is...alluring. And it would entertain me greatly to one day hear from Arthur Pendragon's own mouth how did it end. Thus, this 'gift' is nothing more than my request for the King of Knights to successfuly complete his mission as well as an helping device. Howbeit, use it wisely, for it can only be activated once."
"I see. Many thanks then, Sun King. I will preserve this gift as my life can one day depend of it. Altough...does it means the great pharaoh Ozymandias, also cares about humanity somewhat?"
"...I would just hate to have unwelcome guests sullying my desert. Head forward now, King of Knights! Go and seek out for the Beast meant to be slained out there!"
.
.
.
Fate Prototype OST- Knight of Sky Silver
"...That's right..."
"..."
"I still have...Ozymandias gift..." With life coming back to Arthur's eyes, the King of Knights moved his head, staring to Man of Sin. "You want to know what sins I may have? Many of them, I tell you..! Of course this world is very far from perfect and it will never be no matter how much humanity tries!...But as a king who sought out to be a perfect ruler, there is nothing 'perfect' about perfection!" Resisting, Arthur grabbed the branch that had pierced his heart, trying to break it with his bare hand as the dark infection was growing more in his body, Arthur attempting to fight it. "I was and still am a king with flaws! I failed to save my kingdom even though I was hailed as flawless!"
"..."
"You can't erase a world's failures! Even if you create a new one...they are always bond to appear! You simply cannot live with that fact and try to erase any 'sins' instead of learning through them, Man of Sin!" Arthur exclaimed, finding strenght back, moving his other hand to the behind of his back, seeing that his talking was getting his enemy's attention. "You don't want to talk about them! You don't want to correct them! You only want to conceal and throw them into a dark pit to be forgotten! And that is precisely your flaw!" Grabbing the object, Arthur kept his intense stare to the Man of Sin as he then showed him a golden disk with egyptian hieroglyphs. "It's time to expose it to light!"
"What?"
For the first time ever, Man of Sin got caught off guard, seeing Arthur in front of him quickly throwing the disk, Ozymandias gift, into the air.
"Reaching Rays of the Divine Solar Disk: Aten!"
Upon activation, the solar golden disk emmanated light amidst the dark void, shinning as brightly as the sun itself. A thousand golden hands of light rained down from the egyptian sun, bombarding the entire rooftop of the watchtower.
It was enough to feel the threat of the Divine Construct by Lucifer and Beelzebub's part, as they were hit by the hands of Aten. Feeling the two Beasts pressure and grip on him go away, Gawain took the opportunity and freed himself from the grasp of the two, making both Beasts step back. "This light, my body...! The sun's rays are back to bless me!"
"Ghg!"
Avoiding the powerful light, Man of Sin retreated away from Arthur, shielding himself from the hands of the solar disk.
Free and with the enemy under attack, Arthur decided to give another try, this time sure that it would be effective now with the light power of Aten backing him up. "Gawain, with me!"
"Yes, king Arthur!" Also enchanced by the light of the sun, Gawain went back to feel more powerful and more capable, huge part of his mana restored. "For the glory of Camelot, you will be eradicated by the might of the sun!"
In synthony, the twin swords, Excalibur and Galatine, powered up, both their owners about to release their Noble Phantasms. Gawain at Lucifer and Beelzebub and Arthur at Man of Sin.
"Face your defeat, Man of Sin!" Arthur exclaim, Excalibur radiantly in position.
"EX-
"EXCALIBUR...
CALIBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
GALATIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE!"
From the outside, the enormous black capsule shattered into million pieces, not resisting to the sheer power of both Arthur and Gawain's Noble Phantasms, the light of the two swords and the solar disk breaching through the dark void, expelling all the brightness and light to the outside once it burst open.
The Noble Phantasms range went so absurd that they even hit the towers of the Lion King's castle, knocking some down and making other tremble and shake.
"W-Wooah! Is it just me or the whole tower's shaking?" Ritsuka said in disbilief as he, Mash and Bedivere were caught off guard while on their way up to the top of the main tower, the entire surroundings around trembling.
"Fouuuu?!"
"You're not, master! The entire building is losing balance!" Mash said, trying her best to remain on her feet.
Thinking fast, Bedivere put Airgetlám around a marble pillar of the room they were crossing and stretched his other arm to both Mash and Ritsuka. "Grab my hand!"
"Got it!" Mash exclaimed, grabbing Bedivere's hand and then give her other hand to Ritsuka. "Master! Your hand!"
Immediatly graabing the shielder's hand, Ritsuka did his best to not stay on foot as the rumbling continued for a few more seconds before dying down.
Aware that the danger had passed, Bedivere took his arm away from the pillar. "It's over. I guess we're safe."
"What was that just now?" Ritsuka asked, addled. "With all the crazy explosions and things we've been seeing on this war, I wonder if the others are alright."
"They've certainly been intense. Majority of the Holy City must be in ruins by now. I hope they are all okay." Mash expressed her concerns for the rest of the party.
"Let's assume they are. But for their sake, we must continue!" Bedivere reminded to the other two, looking to the gates ahead. "The Lion King's throne room must be very close now."
On the barely standing watch-tower that served as stage for the battle of Arthur Pendragon and Gawain against the trio of Beasts, Arthur took heavy breaths, doing his very best to keep his body up after the brutal discharge of mana energy he utilized against Man of Sin. Neither Lucifer nor Beelzebub were seen in the destroyed arena.
As the dust and smoke settled in front of the exhausted King of Knights, it revealed a pair of dark dragon wings, folded onto one another, creating a sort of protective cocoon. Once the wings felt the danger extinct, they unfolded and decreased in size, slowly going back to just shadows, dissapearing behing six tall insectoid legs that were all erected, forming a small circle, as if they were protecting someone. And once they lowered down and also went back to being mere shadows, they revealed the figure that they shielded from Arthur's Noble Phantasm:
Man of Sin, alive but not totally unscathed. Letting out some faint pants, the humanoid Beast looked at his own left arm, disfigured and teared into pieces, with bits of light glimmers emmanating from his wounds. A bothersome injury altough non-fatal.
"Nålstygn"
Spelling out a sort of spell, Man of Sin's wounds were immediatly treated as some small shadows branches penetrated his skin and begun sewing the wounds until they closed, regenerating back his arm, fully healed.
Arthur gazed in dread. "He's...still standing?"
"Wait a minute now! I recognized that sort of spell! It's usually from witches! How did he learned it?"
Hearing a voice inside his head, Arthur instantly recognized who it was. "Merlin? You're in there?"
"I am! Think you can hold your ground for a few more minutes, Arthur? I'll go right there to give you backup!"
Arthur sighed at that, eyeing Man of Sin in front of him. "You better be fast then."
Yet, when Arthur was led to believe that the battle was far from over, Man of Sin had seen enough, letting out a short, brief and satisfied chuckle.
"Very well. King Arthur and Sir Gawain were indeed formidable foes. We tip our hats to thee."
Man of Sin said, clapping, much to Arthur's surprise.
"What?"
"It surely was a good ordeal. We needed to explore and test our capabilities in a proper and desirable trial to meet expectations. And while not yet at full power, we can feel we are close to it. Just a few more 'sins' and this body will be fully back to its zenith."
With the fingers moving and cracking sinisterly, Man of Sin placed his hands close to the chest.
"Then, the power to liberate Armageddon will be reached."
Arthur gave him a belligerant glare. "You won't obtain it. And even if you do, I or others, will be on your way to stop you."
"We shall see for when that moment comes. For now..."
Looking at the top of the Lion King's castle, Man of Sin smiled underneath the hood, some strains of dark hair sticking out as his lips and chin became visible, with two black lines coming out from each corner of the mouth. Both Lucifer and Beelzebub had reverted back to their 'pet' forms, resting once more on his shoulders.
"I will continue looking forward for when we truthfully meet at last."
And so, Man of Sin dissapeared amongst the dark, his body nor of his associated in the Singularity anymore. The dark skied cleansed themselves, having gone away with the man who had summoned them, uncovering the twilight sky of the end of the day, the sun already setting on the horizon, the night almost arriving in total.
Seeing that the menace and great evil of humanity went away, Arthur could finally rest, dematerializing Excalibur now that the job was done. "Ah! Gawain." However, he remembered of the knight that had fought alongside him. Turning around, he saw the Knight of the Sun lying on the ground, completly exhausted. Having enough strenght left, Arthur walked torwards Gawain. "Are you fine?"
"...It was just like...the good old days...right, king Arthur?" Gawain said weakly but with a tender smile on his face.
Arthur smiled back, knowing he was referring to the great battle he and Gawain fought together against Vortigern. "Yeah. It sure was..." Wanting to make company to the knight's last moments, even if it wasn't his Gawain, Arthur sat down next to him, now both admiring the view of the castle in front of them.
A silence that it didn't took too long as from the skies, some flower petals descended, flying all their way to the rooftop of the watch-tower. She had arrived.
"Hey hey! I'm finally here!" The moment the petals touched the ground, the petals joined onto each other and created a figure, manifesting into a woman, dressed in a white wizard's cloak, wielding a large wodden stuff of many ribbons on her hand. A white hood covering her face. "Did I came in great hour?"
"No, Merlin. The Beasts already went away." Arthur sighed, displeased at the Mage of Flowers presence. "Couldn't you arrive sooner?"
"M-Merlin?" Gawain said in pure shock, thinking he had heard it wrong.
"Aaah, you know Big Sis always tries her best in aiding you, Arthur." Merlin giggled, speaking all clumsly. "But look. You survived! That means you didn't my helped at all, did you?"
"Did you knew I was heading to fight three Beasts instead of one?" Arthur asked her, not having patience for her shennanigans.
Putting a finger under her chin, Merlin took some time to respond. "Hmmmm, well, I 'might' have gotten that intel in advance."
"I sometimes wish to have never met you." Arthur replied with an emotionless voice and face before taking a breath, keeping his head in place. "Honestly, that now and the whole thing of spreading my true name to everyone while I was travelling and wanting to keep my identity a secret...Are you my advisor or a trickster?"
"Maybe both, it depends of the day." Merlin joked, looking at Arthur, showing her white hair and pink eyes beneath the hood. "Altough, unpredictable and difficult challenges aren't an foreign concept to the mighty Arthur Pendragon, are they? Plus, now we do know more about the identity, or rather, identities that are scheming alongside Solomon. Beast VI/L: Lucifer, Beast VI/R: Beelzebub and Beast 0/XIII: Man of Sin...Or perhaps, Man of Sin is Beast 0 and all three of them together are Beast XIII? Whatever the possibility, it truly feels like an anomaly from your usual Beasts. What is thy opinion on this, my liege?"
"I can't be quite sure myself." Arthur responded. "All three of them are Beasts, altough it seems Man of Sin has a kind of control over the other two. I wonder who even is he. What kind of correlation he has for having demons such as Lucifer and Beelzebub as seemingly his familiars. And while none of them were the Beast I've been hunting down, I couldn't help but feel some sort of resemblance coming from one of them."
"You and me both, my king." Merlin said, looking up to the towers of the Lion King's castle. "I deduce there is more to that man than what was revealed here today. That there might be others with him."
Staring to the same place as the mage, Arthur had an idea. "Oi, Merlin."
"Yeah."
"Could you go up there and help-"
"No, sorry. Can't do that right now." Merlin immediatly cut down her king's request, not even letting him finish.
"You're cruel!" Arthur said comically.
"No no no! You got it wrong, Arthur. I won't help them not because I want to, but because the other me wants to be the first one meeting up with the chaldeans, eagerly awaiting them on the remaining Singularity." Merlin explained to her king. "So it's really more a matter of respecting another one's request."
Arthur sighed again, being too exhausted to keep putting up with Merlin. "Fine. If you say so..."
"I see that the battle left you quite in the rough shape, my king." Merlin observed the wounds Arthur sustained on his body. "Better pull you out of this Singularity and back at Avalon before you die. Hold still while I configure things up!" Doing a farewell sign with her hands, Merlin faded out from the Singularity, now working to bring Arthur back to the garden.
"Ah...finally." Arthur lowered his head, having some peace back.
"So that's Merlin...from king Arthur's world?" Having listened to the entire conversation while laid on the floor, Gawain begun to speak after the Mage of Flowers went away. "She's very...peculiar."
Arthur chuckled. "You wouldn't want to spent a day with her. Trust me."
"We never known until we give a try..." Gawain replied, not feeling any less discouraged by that comment. "But...if Merlin from king Arthur's world is a woman, then...does it mean.."
"No. The Knight of the Sun from my Camelot is also a man. Similar to you." Arthur answered to the predictable question of Gawain.
"Aww, what a shame then..." Gawain lamented despite continue smilling, his body beggining to fade, having done the final request. "Now, I hope my king can achieve his utopia...for everyone's sake..." Looking to the top of the main tower of the castle, Gawain's mind went back to the cheerful memories with Peko, their time spent together, the Knight of the Sun making sure to treasure them.
"Hello, Young Prince! How are you today?"
"Whaaaat!? Didn't you got blasted out of the castle yesterday?! How can you be all fine and up already?!"
"Aahaha! I got it, Gawain!"
"Well done, Young Prince! Your trainning well! Let's move onto the next excercise."
"How can you even be okay with serving the Lion King if your companions do not care about you dying?"
"That's irrelevant on a knight's duty, Young Prince. I also do not care about dying if it is in the name of my king."
"But are you really willing to throw your life away like that? To make an utopia that you won't even make part of it?"
"I won't because I'm a despicable knight..."
"That's not true! You're a good knight, Gawain! I can see it in you! I can see that you used to be many people's hero!"
"But to be sincere with myself..." Closing his eyes, Gawain's smile never faltered, almost his entire body gone by now. "I wouldn't mind...if the chaldeans won..." And the ever so strong, radiant and mighty Knight of the Sun went away, able to leave his duty in peace.
"If you say so..." Arthur said to the now empty space Gawain left behind. All alone, the King of Knights got up from the ground one last time, staring to the place where the destiny of this Singularity would be settled and the fucral point of the war decided. Soon, his body also begun to dissapear, about to return to Avalon. Arthur Pendragon wished he could go a little bit further to help them out on the final stretch, but he felt like what he had done here against the Man of Sin was already good enough. Now, he wished for that knight to complete the end of his journey.
"Bedivere...Chaldea...Is all up to you now."
Arriving to the middle point of a staircase, the trio of Ritsuka, Mash and Bedivere took a few seconds to rest.
"That must be it." Bedivere spoken, eyeing torwards the giant white gates in waiting at the top of the staircase. "The throne room must be on the other side of those gates."
"Doctor, can you confirm it?" Mash called on Romani, wanting to verify if it was true.
"Yep! Checks out. The map on my monitor does not visualize any other chamber past those gates if not for the throne room." Romani confirmed to the party. "Your destination is right there."
"So we will finally reach the Lion King. After all this time..." Ritsuka eyed to the omnious gates. "Once we go past them, our battle with the Lion King will start. And so will the last one of this Singularity. The decisive moment. Let's go-"
"RITSUKA! MASH! BEDIVERE!"
"GUYS!"
"Eh? These voic-ah!" About to turn around to see who was talking, Ritsuka got immediatly tackled and sent to the ground as someone collided with him.
"FOU?!"
"M-Master! Are you alright?" Looking to Ritsuka on the ground, Mash and Bedivere saw a knocked out and dizzy eyed Ritsuka on the ground with a dizzy eyed and also knocked out Nala on top of him, not having been careful on her approach. "Nala? You're here?"
"And me!" Peko exclaimed, reaching to the same level of the staircase the others were in, taking some breaths. "Uff! What a climb that was! Even with the power of these armours, it felt forever to reach here."
"You also came, Peko?" Mash shoted her gaze to the boy. "Does that mean..."
"Yes. Gawain and Mordred have been defeated." Peko gave the news to the shielder and the other two.
"Is it true?" Bedivere said with some astonishment. "For veteran knights of the Round Table to have been defeated...You really must have pushed through your limits."
Peko smiled, chuckling a bit. "That and some more, I tell you."
"I see that you're wearing an armour similar to Nala's as well." Mash noticed the knight armour Peko appeared in. "Was it against Gawain?"
"Yeah. But I feel like now it wouldn't be the appropriate time to tell the details about that." Peko replied, saving the explanation for another time.
"I knew it! He can unlock it too!" Romani smiled with proudness behind Peko, not wanting the boy to see his smile.
"Fou! Fou!" Happy to see the twins back, Fou jumped onto Peko's shoulder.
"Like my armour as well, Fou?" Peko asked to the fluffy creature, patting him a bit before Fou proceeded to jump from his shoulder to Nala's back on the ground, her and Ritsuka still knocked out.
"Fou fou fou! Fou!"
"A-Already going Fou...Just gimme a minute or two." Nala replied, barely conscious.
"Y-Yeah...My brain feels like a rotating toy right now." Ritsuka also speaked, trying to recover from the dizziness, both of them gainning looks and smiles of shame from the rest.
Eventually, both of them got up from the ground.
"Wow! Peko! You got an armour now?" Ritsuka said in awe, amazed at the achivement of his friend.
"Yes I have!" Peko replied with joy. "It really makes me feel on an entire new level altogether."
"But he had to be a copycat, ripping off almost my own armour." Nala murmured behind Ritsuka, hidding a smirk.
"I heard that..." Peko said in displeasure.
"That's great! At least we have now more people to go against the Lion King personally!" Ritsuka said, happy to see Peko and Nala joining back.
"Well, you didn't think we would miss out the chance of helping you fight against the Lion King, did you?" Nala told to the master of humanity.
"And by the looks of it, it seems we arrived right before the finishing line." Peko added, seeing the gates up ahead. "If I remember well, the throne room is just on the other side."
"I hope you two came ready. Once we step in the throne room, there is no going back." Mash told them.
"The same goes for all of you." Romani speaked up. "Remember: the 'Lion King' is the very own cornerstone that is holding this Singularity. The moment she's defeated, it will begun correcting itself. Hm? Wait a sec, Da Vinci's calling!" Accepting the call, Romani exhibited Da Vinci's hologram, showing her to the party. "Is it still about what's happening down there, Da Vinci? Don't tell me that things got worse."
"Quite the opposite! The Blight has totally dissapear and the skies went back to normal!" Da Vinci gave them the good news. "It seems it was only a scare."
"Huh? Really?" Romani said in surprise.
"The Blight had invaded the Holy City again?" Peko said confused, neither he nor Nala having been aware of that.
Checking on his computer, Romani saw the situation on the Holy City. "Oh! It really is! The Blight is nowhere to be seen as well as the dark sky completly went away!"
"Just like that? That sounds odd." Ritsuka pointed out how fast those things had appeared and went away.
"I also find it weird." Mash said. "We came to suspect a Beast could be behind that, being present in the Holy City. But if it already went away..."
"Then king Arthur must have definetly dealt with it." Bedivere said, having an hunch. "If so, then his own quest has came to an end I believe." The Knight of Loyalty closed his eyes briefly, implicating that Arthur Pendragon probably wasn't anymore in this Singularity. "He gave us a chance to fight the Lion King without a third party interfering. Let's not throw that effort to waste!"
"You said it!" Ritsuka replied, agreeing with the knight.
"So you're already at the Lion King's doorstep by the looks of it." Da Vinci commented. "Then I can only wish you good luck! I'll continue to surveil the entrance area of the Holy City in the meantime! Go with everything, everyone!" With that said, Da Vinci disconnected.
"I make her words mine." Romani told to the party. "Whatever last minute breaks you wanted to have, I hope you already used them. From here onwards, a great enemy awaits you. Are you all ready to proceed?"
"Absolutely!" Ritsuka responded without thinking twice, giving a glance at every member of his team, they all nodding in accordance, ready like he was.
"..." Behind them, Bedivere was with his eyes closed, deep in a prayer, Airgetlám with closed fist and next to his chest. "This is it. The final stage of my journey." And the Knight of Loyalty knew he could not falter at such determinant moment like this one. His entire journey that span across centuries...it would all end here and now.
"Bedivere-san."
Feeling the gentle touch of Mash, Bedivere open his eyes, looking to the maiden of the shield by his side, giving him a glare of reassurance next to everyone else. They all felt that it was about to end as well, the weight of such eventful and upcoming battle. The one that would remedy his sins. With both body, mind and soul in place and prepared, Bedivere looked to all of them before taking the first step torwards the gates.
"Time for the endpoint."
To be continued...
And that was all for chapter 122!
Like I said, important chapter, crazy stuff and fundamental to the story, perhaps the most so far. Not one you'd wanna skip over.
Like yeah, you read all of that right. Man of Sin is indeed a Beast, with Lucifer and Beelzebub being other two, and all three of them 'potentially' being all one in the same. It's crazy. It's bananas. It's absurd. It's Fate. Like, tell me if Nasu or other writers on Type-Moon wouldn't be insane enough to create such concept as this one. This would be the type of shit the Nasuverse is into.
Which I find it funny how a demon and famous biblical figure such as freaking Lucifer a.k.a the Fallen Angel, never once appeared and was even mentioned save from those few times in Shimousa with Douman controlling Amakusa Shiro, in a game that is about to turn 10 this year. Like, with all the type of mythological and religious stuff that has come out in this game, you'd think Lucifer, or even Beelzebub, would have been characters/antagonists by now. Yet, nothing. I don't know if it was simply the writers at the time going. 'Nah, it would be too obvious making the bible big bad guy into the big bad guy of FGO first part. Maybe even of the second part.' So they're either doing nothing with him or guarding him for a future event/story/chapter whatever.
But here? Screw it! Lucifer shows up, being a Beast (like, is there any more obvious choice?) alongside his sunday walk pal, Beelzebub. Type-Moon won't do anything with them? THEN I WILL!
What I also like is that this chapter will probably make some of you theorize even more about certain topics of the story. It really was a long chapter that I had in the making, eagerly being a story point I wanted to reach eventually. Glad that I managed to reach that point today and as the first chapter of the year no less! Uh, what a way to start 2025.
And don't worry, Camelot is yes ending very soon (two more chapters to be exact).
That's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 123! Peace!
P.S:
Nala: Here we have it! The last member of our girl band! (drags Mash in)
Mash: Uhm, didn't you said you would take me to a place to hear some music, Nala?
Nala: And? I basically didn't lied, did I?
Jalter: Tsk! Wow, great kiddo. Of all the unstable, edgy, crazy, emo, psycothic girls you could get in Chaldea, you go and pick Master's secretary.
Salter (plucking out a lolipop from her mouth): Does it makes you angstier seeing other people happier than you?
Jalter: You shut up!...Ugh, okay fine, we now got a band or whatever. But if we really wanna make some bank and be famous, we're gonna need a very good age-
Miss Crane (Storms into the room, full of merchandising): Did someone said they want an agent for their girl idol band?!