It was maybe not the most dramatic entrance in the world, despite the attempt. But, nine figures standing on a wall overlooking a ruined campus, many of them looking resplendent as literal knights in shining armour. The only exceptions being one young blonde girl in mage robes, another rosy-cheeked girl in light armour, and a bespectacled blond young man in a suit, his hand resting on the hilt of one of the two swords he carried.
One of the armoured knights whistled loudly. "Looks like somebody's had a bad day!" the blonde woman said with a grin.
"Sir Mordred, please," the familiar figure of Bedivere spoke.
In the same moment, the one that must have been Arthur jumped down into the courtyard. His figure unmistakable for the pair of blades he carried. He looked at Lelouch, at the horrifically injured woman he was fussing over, at the flashes of light in the distance, then at the pile of scrap metal. "It seems proper introductions will have to wait." His gaze turned to the blue-haired girl standing over the fragments, as well as the sword in her hand. "You."
"Those are... Excaliburs!" Xenovia gasped. "Excalibur Blessing and Ruler! How—?!"
"The other fragments," he interrupted, nodding down at the ruined blades. "You broke them with that weapon?"
The exorcist quaked. "Yes! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me O' Lord, it was only so I could protect others from harm! I—!"
He drew one of his two blades, one with a pattern on the blade resembling a budding flower. "I need you to break this one as well." The poor girl made a strangled sound. "It's your compatriot up there? Fighting a fallen angel? Do this, and I'll be more able to help him."
The answer to her confusion seemed to slide into place within her mind. How exactly he carried the one Excalibur that hadn't been in the hands of the church. "You're—"
"I am. And time is not on our side."
Irina shot her a pleading look. If anyone had the right to ask this of her it was the young man in front of her, but that didn't make it any easier. "Please forgive me, Lord." Raising Durandal, she waited for him to present the blade while holding it in a firm grip. Then swung down.
Yet another Excalibur shattered. Xenovia Quarta, Excalibreaker.
"Thank you." The fragments, all of the fragments, gathered around him with a wave of the glimmering blade, Excalibur Ruler. His eyes returned to the dark-haired devil, ready to tell his sister to attend the severely wounded woman, only for the white-haired woman at his side to disappear in teleportation. They were handling it themselves. That was good. "Le Fay! We're going!"
"Coming, big brother!"
Hopping onto a broom, the girl in mage robes floated after her brother as he ascended to the skies in the direction of the ongoing battle.
Sara's blood still on his hands, Lelouch stood. Still struggling to look away from the red pool where his Rook had previously lain. Squeezing his eyes shut, he coated his hands in the power of destruction, removed the blood, even if it felt as though it was still there. "Bedivere. I'm glad you could make it."
"Lelouch?" Rias asked.
"You say that like you asked us to come rather than simply informing me of the Excalibur situation and leaving it at that," the silver-haired and soft-spoken knight responded with a wry smile.
"Will the one I assume to be Arthur be alright?"
The steadfast and most loyal among Arthur's knights smiled as his eyes followed his king. "I imagine he is the happiest he has been in quite some time."
Not quite what Lelouch had asked. But an answer all the same. "Then introductions are in order. Rias, Sona, these are Arthur Pendragon's Knights of the Round Table."
"You did something audacious again," Sona accused without much heat. "Though I won't complain this time."
"And Bedivere, the exorcists Xenovia and Irina, and my fiancees, Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, heiress to the House of Sitri."
"Fiancees," Bedivere echoed. "Well. Devils will do as they do I suppose." In the distance, a second sun seemed to appear in the sky. "If you'll permit, I would hold off on introducing my compatriots. I would witness the birth of a new king."
-(-)-
Father Issei watched in confusion as the blond stranger stood before one of the most powerful fallen angels to ever live. One of the originals, a Throne, a direct servant to God. It had been audacious for Issei himself, even with the blessings of the Archangels. But for this one, perhaps it was less audacious.
"Do you know how long I have waited for this day, Kokabiel of the Grigori?" Arthur asked. "It seemed an impossibility to—" Excalibur Ruler twisted, sending the light spear aimed for his heart directly upward into the upper atmosphere. "To achieve something like this. I took wretched actions, to further my goals, to save my own skin. Every one of them was wrong. But now I know better. I have learned better."
"I DON'T CARE!"
"I know," Arthur answered, deflecting each and every spear as they rained down on him with only the power of Ruler. "But I'm not giving you a choice but to listen. I was on the wrong path. A king does not have his path dictated to him. Not by a god that would demand disgrace. The will of God is more than a simple command to obey. It is a guiding hand, pushing us all toward righteous cause. To face evil, to pursue good. It was that simple. Even if my mistakes are unforgivable, that doesn't allow me to stop pursuing justice and righteousness as a king should. And now." he smiled widely, proudly, yet humbly. "Now I am here. He has guided me to what I was always meant to do."
"GOD IS DEAD YOU BABBLING IDIOT!"
Arthur frowned. "But of course he is. Haven't you read the bible?"
"Everything you believe, everything you just said, it's a bunch of bullshit! None of it matters because my oh so holy Father had his guts ripped out! You can talk as much as you want about love and righteousness but it isn't worth a gallon of my piss and it never was!"
The once and future king sighed in disappointment. "That may be how you see it. But I can't see it that way. Certainly, even if what you say is true... He gave us everything. Whether He truly guides me or not, He gave everything for us. Twice by your words."
The metal fragments of the broken Excaliburs began to spin, to form into larger and more solid pieces. "And so I'll honour Him now, by doing what He would wish me to do. Restore a symbol of hope for a brighter future. A sword that will carve the path to tomorrow."
"Oh... He's good at the speeches too," Issei said, hovering in close behind the small girl.
"Of course he is! He's my big— Why are you hiding behind me!"
"Eheh, the uh, my blessings are about to run out. Sorry about this." His wings disappeared, leaving him to drop heavily onto Le Fay's broom.
"Oof, don't just suddenly dump your weight on me! I'm trying to watch and HEY DON'T GRAB ME THERE!" she yelped as his arms circled around her waist.
"Hmph," Kokabiel snorted, smirking at what appeared to be a futile effort. "So you have the archbishop's broken toys. What good will they do now that they've been broken even further beyond repair?"
"I might have thought the same, which is why I'm glad while I spent these past three years seeking out knights and doing what good I was able, I also researched the Excaliburs. How they were forged. When the weapon broke, it didn't happen to fragment into seven perfectly intact swords. Each one had to be forged anew. Enhanced with the power most intact within the fragments. And so, while one Excalibur became seven, they could not become one again." Several fragments snapped together, forming a segment of metal shining with inner power. "Not while they were each intact."
"... No..."
"And the key," Excalibur Ruler shone brightly, the crimson red flat of the sword shimmering as the new segment snapped into place on the full blade. Mimic. "Excalibur Ruler." Another segment formed. Another segment taking its place. Rapdily. "The power of the king." Another. Nightmare. "For it is the power of the king to be an instrument of God's will on the world." Another. Transparency. "To perform miracles." Another. Blessing. "To create a future for his people."
And one final piece, covering the pointed end of Excalibur Ruler. Destruction.
"To dispense justice."
The six segments each glowed as they melded to the greater blade, and in a rainbow of light, coalesced into one singular sword. The most powerful holy sword to ever exist, by letting go of fragments of power, it was reforged once again in its full glory.
Kokabiel did nothing. During the full forging process, he simply hung in the air, watching. And as Arthur twisted the sword in front of him, observing the shimmering golden blade of his ancestor, as he swung it to one side in preparation for what was to come...
Kokabiel smiled.
Kokabiel grinned.
Kokabiel laughed.
"Ahahaha, AHAHAHA! You idiot! You complete idiot! Do you have any idea what you just did?!" the fallen angel cackled. "You just forged the most powerful weapon Heaven ever gave to humanity! A weapon capable of carving through devils like they were nothing at all! The only thing I wanted when I came here was to reignite the great war! WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DEVILS WILL DO WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT EXISTS?!"
"Come for me, I imagine?" Arthur speculated. "Attempt to destroy it all over again. I've had someone far scarier than devils hunting me for a long time."
"You think anyone cares about you?! You're a threat, and Heaven is a greater threat! The devils will attack! The heavens will tremble! War! War! Glorious war the likes of which haven't been seen in seven hundred years! The devils will—!"
Suddenly, where there had been one Arthur, there were suddenly fifty surrounding the Fallen leader. "Is that what you think?" they asked, moving around him in erratic patterns at high speed. "Did you forget who I arrived just in time to save from you? The heir to the House of Bael. You achieved nothing."
Kokabiel continued to laugh, even as he searched for what must be the real one somewhere within the frantic movements of the duplicates. He was still human. He was still weak aside from that sword! "Idiot boy! You—! AHHH!"
That same golden sword had carved off the dark-feathered wings of one side then the other. Jagged bone stumps were all that remained of the ten wings. And in the same rapid movements of the invisible Arthur, he followed up with a lunge. The legendary blade carving through Kokabiel's flesh, bones and organs. "Hurk!"
"This sword isn't a weapon in some pointless war," Arthur spoke into the former warrior of Heaven's pointed ear. "It's a tool of justice, meant to put an end to remorseless monsters like you."
Blood spurting from his mouth, Kokabiel grinned. As Arthur attempted to withdraw the sword, the fallen grabbed hold of it, keeping it right where it was. "If that's so..." His body began to glow. "THEN LET'S DIE MONSTERS TOGETHER!"
"Arthur!" Le Fay called out, unable to do much with them in such close contact, even if she knew what Kokabiel had planned.
"Vicious until the end." The sword, rapid and destructive, swept up with a blast of power, carving through Kokabiel's neck and head with a vertical cut.
And in the same moment, a storm of holy lightning... Accomplished absolutely nothing as it was gathered into Excalibur, then tossed away with a dismissive swing. The partially divided fallen, leader among the Grigori, veteran of the great war, was left to fall to the Earth below. Unimpeded and discarded.
Issei continued to watch the corpse fall while Le Fay flew them closer to Arthur. "He must have really loved God."
Arthur, completely untouched by the gruesome scene by the power of Ruler, looked at him. "What makes you say that?"
"To be this lost without Him, that's the only way I can explain it."
"It's perhaps a generous and naive read," Arthur supposed. "It's just as likely he was always like that. If you meet another of the Grigori leadership, perhaps you can ask them. Assuming they don't hold a grudge, of course." The blond smiled. "Still, I'm glad there are people like you who believe in others' better angels. Even for fallen angels."
"It's nice you like him, Brother," Le Fay said sweetly, "But if he doesn't let go of me right this second I'm going to BOIL HIS ORGANS WHILE THEY'RE STILL INSIDE HIM—!"
"Sorry, sorry! Wow, girls usually like it when I hold them like that..." Having been thoroughly rejected, the priest completely let go, instead grabbing hold of the broom and clinging to it for dear life.
Arthur let out a breath. "Time for a hero's wel—" Two devils had flown beneath them, seeking out the body of Kokabiel. "—come?"
-(-)-
"It looks like the situation is resolved," Lelouch observed, having watched the light show with the rest of them. He kept his sigh of relief inside. It was on the leader to seem in control as much as possible, and he wasn't among only confirmed allies. He and the Knights had been on cordial terms. Or at least he and Bedivere had. But that didn't suggest they were true allies.
Ana had yet to inform him of Sara's prognosis.
Bedivere nodded. "It would appear that way." The knights had come down from their perch, sticking together rather than making any attempt to mingle among the mixed crowd. Mash had dithered a moderate distance from a figure in white and gold armour. A very different man than he was the last time she had seen him and yet somehow she knew him on sight.
Lelouch could say he was very different the last time he had seen him too. Both times.
"Introductions then!" Sir Kay declared, nodding at the approaching trio. "Then I would be honoured to introduce his majesty, King Arthur Pendragon!"
Arthur had apparently heard him as he floated down. "Sir Kay, please."
"I apologise, my liege," Bedivere continued, "But your protests ring hollow as you stand there wielding the most holy relic of the British monarchy. The sword of the once and future king, or, perhaps, the once and present king."
The blond 'king' sighed fondly. Lelouch assumed it was a running in-joke for all of them.
"You can't go on about doing kingly things and what it takes to be king if you aren't a king, Brother!" the younger blonde girl piped up. Her passenger rolled off her broom to be hugged to the chestnut-haired exorcist's chest.
"Well said, Princess Le Fay!" another of the knights cheered.
"Then if all they intend to do is pull my leg," Arthur continued, cutting off whatever Bedivere was about to say. "Introductions."
"Ah! Allow me, my liege," Bedivere joined in, before giving the same introductions he had just received moments before.
"I see," Arthur said with a nod. "Not one but three great devil houses, alongside members of the clergy. I can't imagine what inspired this kind of cooperation but I'm glad to see it. And even more so as it spits in the face of that fallen's goal. This sort of peaceful coexistence will be needed for what's to come. Then," as a show of good will, the descendent of Pendragon drove Excalibur through the stones of the courtyard that he couldn't use it quite as easily. "My knights. You have already met Sirs Bedivere and Kay."
Bedivere bowed. Kay frowned. "That woman who was taken away. Was she the one I fought when you assaulted New Camelot?"
Lelouch fought not to clench his fists. "Yes."
"Will she survive?"
He failed. "I don't know yet."
"Then I'll pray, er, hope for her recovery. I'm sure a terrifyingly fierce woman like that couldn't fall so easily."
"... Thank you."
"Sir Tristan." An uncomfortably familiar face for Lelouch offered a jaunty salute. Luckily, he didn't particularly care one way or the other about seeing Gino Weinberg again. "Sir Gareth."
"Hello! Nice to meet you!" a sprightly younger girl with rosy cheeks and sandy blond hair greeted.
"Sir Mordred."
"Sup." A blonde woman in red-crested plate armour answered. Her eyes a challenge, her expression a smirk.
Not Anya Alstreim. At least there was that. If it were, that would be another too many stresses on a day absolutely overflowing with them.
"Sir Percival." A white-haired knight wielding a spear gave an awkward and half-hearted greeting. "He's new. He was the one assigned to guard Excalibur Blessing."
The two exorcists stared at him in accusation. "Was it really necessary to confide that?" Percival asked in utter futility.
"And..." Arthur hesitated on the last one. For good reason.
"I'll introduce myself," a painfully familiar face said. A brunet Asian teen bowed in his shining white and gold armour. "I am Sir Lancelot. And... I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've done for me. I didn't deserve it. And," he turned toward the girl who had been awkwardly shuffling, not confident enough to approach him. "Even if I still don't deserve it, I have to apologise for everything I did, everything that caused you pain, Galahad."
Yes. That was Suzaku alright. It wasn't. But it was.
"Ah, I'm called Mash now?" the devil Knight began. "No, that's not important—!"
"Mash?" Lancelot asked. "You called yourself...? Why would you...? Oh... Oh no..."
"But it's fine! And, you don't have to apologise to me for anything. I'm just, I'm glad you're doing better now. You are, right?"
"I am. Arondight was... Thank you for taking it away."
In a flash, the cursed sword disappeared, as though Mash had just realised the peril it represented even being in close proximity. "I'm glad. And, even if you weren't in your right mind, thank you for trying to protect me. It... It means a lot that even someone who knew exactly how I was made, who saw it happen, still treated me like I was worth protecting. Thank you."
"Ah." If his armour let him reach that way, he would have been scratching his cheek or rubbing his hair awkwardly. "You're welcome."
"Well," said Arthur. "Now that introductions are out of the way... We have a great deal to discuss."
"Yes," Lelouch agreed. A lot of things had changed because of all of this. Excalibur. A member of the Grigori leadership dead. Subversive elements in the church. An attempt on the lives of the most prominent pillar heirs. And more as yet unknown, that being unknown would have unforeseen consequences.
-(-)-
A/N: This chapter seen very early by my generous supporters on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!