Chapter 73

CHAPTER 6 One Choice Misha was sure she had died. With Sir Palamedes, she had been trampled by the Questing Beast, blown up into pieces. That’s what she’d believed from the bottom of her heart. “ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!” Her head snapped up when she heard the monster fighting death, and she saw the Questing Beast howling in agony, thrashing. Its enormous form gouged the ground, and the monster thrashed into nearby buildings that collapsed under its weight. It looked as if a storm had ravaged the scene… The Questing Beast—invincible, it seemed—was weakening, slowly but surely. Black mist was being released from its body, its existence fading. The Questing Beast was meeting its end. “What…happened? What’s going on?” “I’m not sure…but the Questing Beast is dying. That’s the only thing I know.” “But…why…?” Misha was in a daze, unbelieving. “But the Questing Beast is death and ruin incarnate. How could it die…? That should be impossible…” “Yeah. A human can never win against a concept incarnate. That’s the truth,” Sir Palamedes explained. “But…what if there was someone beyond human? Like someone who came from the side that created these concepts?” “An entity who creates death and destruction…? Well, they’d have to be a god or a demon lord or something…” The Questing Beast collapsed, the ground quaking on impact, and stopped moving, like it couldn’t continue any longer. Something strange was sticking out of its forehead. Two blades caught the eye, even in the dark. A red and white pair of swords. Familiar weapons. “Th-those are…?!” Misha was stunned. As if struggling for a final time or searching for a place to die, the Questing Beast started to trudge off somewhere in front of her eyes, staggering with each step… — “…Ah… Aaaah…” “…Merlin…?” “Th-this can’t be real…” No one managed to say much of anything when Rintarou suddenly appeared. Rintarou was the only one who talked in a joking manner. “Man, Balor really tried to drag me deep into Fomorian territory as his last attack. I had a hell of a time trying to get back.” “…” “I could see how it would spell the end for anything, but I never lost hope… After all…” Rintarou held the hawthorn Celtic cross and showed it to Luna. “In that never-ending darkness, I saw your light, like a king guiding the way for me… I knew I’d be able to get back if I followed it.” “…” “So… It’s all because of you. Because you’re a sore loser until the very, very, very end, I could get back to the real world without losing sight of the path—” As she was being held from the side in Rintarou’s arms, Luna felt her right knee swing up… GWOOSH! …She kicked Rintarou right in the forehead. “Yoooow?!” he screamed, unable to bear it. “You! Idiot! What do you think you’re doing?!” Rintarou protested, teary-eyed. “You’re the idiot…! You were so late…!” Luna smiled, happy tears streaming down her face. “Aren’t you my vassal…?! Then you should be racing over to me faster…! You’re so stupid…! It’s capital punishment for you…!” “…Yeah, sorry.” He stopped resisting immediately. “Well…” Rintarou faced King Arthur again, still holding Luna. King Arthur looked straight at him with a somewhat complicated expression. “I suppose this isn’t going to be an emotional reunion for either of us…” “Seems that way…” Merlin and King Arthur… It was a strange atmosphere. “…I can’t believe you’ve come… Merlin… Rintarou Magami…!” Morgan wedged herself between the two. “How vexatious…! You escaped fate to appear at the eleventh hour… Just who are you…?! You’re supposed to be on our side… You’re only with Luna Artur because of our little trick of fate…! So why aren’t you with us at the end of the world?! Why are you still with Luna?!” “The hell if I know, cretin. I’m an ally for womankind…especially cute girls. Why should I go along with your plan, you detestable hag?” “Grr!” Morgan was only exasperated for a moment. She immediately recovered her composure. “Most of it has already been settled… It doesn’t matter if you’re back at this point.” “Oh?” “Your friends have already been defeated by our underlings. Your return doesn’t change the fact that we’re stronger than you all. Do you understand?” Rintarou’s eyes went wide. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” He burst out in a fit of laughter. “Wh-what’s so funny?!” “Do you even hear yourself?!” He keeled over before fixing a tiny smile on her. “I saw them fighting. But you know what…? My friends would never lose to your lackeys!” “…Excuse me?” Morgan was stunned. “Other than the Russian. Her enemy would be hard to fight as a human, so I lent her a helping hand, but…my friends are more than capable of handling their opponents. I can’t imagine why they’d lose. They don’t need my help.” “Wh-wh-what are you saying…?!” “How about you get your eyes checked? Take a good look.” From the windswept throne room, Rintarou looked down at Avalonia, which was sinking into darkness. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to settle things soon.” — “…I-is that…?!” Sir Balin stood still in astonishment. “The fight could change course when you were distracted by the bell marking the beginning of the Wild Hunt…” Sir Mordred was on her knees, daringly holding a dagger in her hand. She scowled. “Those seconds when I was unconscious…spelled your defeat!” “—Huh?!” Sir Balin looked up above his head, aggravated. Daggers crowded the sky. The situation didn’t appear any different from before. Sir Balin would have continued to use his lightning-quick swordsmanship to smack them down. He was floored, however, because something was strange about them. There were nearly infinite blades above him, these points turned on Sir Balin. “Impossible… Your sword can’t summon that many daggers at once…!” “Looks like you’ve fundamentally misunderstood my Sword of Destruction… I’m in control of my daggers until they touch my opponent. In other words, they never disappeared in the first place…!” “…?!” “These are the daggers that you’ve deflected until now…!” Sir Mordred swiped the blood from her mouth. “I know you’re confident in your speed and attacks, but…how’s this for you?! There’s no space for you to dodge, since they’re packed so densely… Can you get away?! Can you strike them down this time?!” This was the final tactic imagined by Sir Dinadan, who was collapsed by Sir Mordred… She trusted his plan, continuing to bear through for this moment. That was why they had devoted their time to defending themselves for all this time. Even though Sir Balin had smashed some daggers with his sword, those were the minority. Sir Mordred had been waiting patiently to collect enough daggers in the sky during their fight. “…Cowards…! You tricked me…!” “You’re calling me a coward? You call this a trick? Hah… Have you been living under a rock? Who do you think you’re talking to?” Sir Mordred replied. “I have something I have to do, even if people assume me of being cowardly or sly! …That’s the only thing that hasn’t changed from the distant past!” “Erk…” “This wouldn’t have worked if you could use magic…but I confirmed something through our fight…! You have no magic! You’re just a jock! You’ll rely on your lightning speed that you honed for most of your life—and that’s it!” Gshk. Sir Balin ground his teeth and readied his two swords. “Fine, I’ll dispose of them…! Fear the power of my lightning speed!” “Let’s go, Sir Balin! Royal Road—Sword of Destruction!” The wall of swords closed in on Sir Balin from all sides, blotting him out. “Oops! I shouldn’t be looking away during a fight!” King Pellinore dropped his gaze, turning away from the bell of destruction. “…” With empty eyes, Emma seemed almost unconscious, limply dangling her sword in both hands, lowering her head and stooping forward. She didn’t reply to King Pellinore in any way. “Hmph…! How pathetic…! You had a chance to attack me just then…!” King Pellinore fixed his large sword’s aim on her once again. From his sword spilled a sublime Aura. “Miss Emma! You must run…! Dammit! It’s no use… Can’t you hear me…?!” Sir Percival’s voice didn’t reach her, either. “…” Emma remained silent. It seemed all life had been sapped from her. She didn’t so much as quiver. It seemed she had already used up her strength long ago. “Though it pains me, I’ll give you one last gift as a warrior: a final blow dealt by my own sword! I’ll send you over to the next world!” King Pellinore placed the last of his strength into his sword. “Diiiiieee!” He brought it down over Emma’s head. His ridiculously strong attack might have been enough to break the earth right in half, and it hummed as it approached to smash her to nothing. “…I was waiting for you to show me your strength…!” The light suddenly returned to Emma’s eyes as she flung her lowered sword up abruptly. “You were conscious?! That’s absurd!” Of course, her swing—which she used all her weight to strike up—didn’t stop King Pellinore’s sword. He bore it down, trying to crush her to death, but…as they made contact, she parried it with a flick of her wrist, redirecting his power by using her right leg as an axis. She didn’t seem to put up any resistance to King Pellinore’s sword and its meteoric fall as she rotated like a top. It was an unforgiving feat that wouldn’t have allowed for a split second’s delay…not a fraction of a second, a millisecond, a nanosecond, a moment. She’d cultivated her swordplay for most of her life…which let her fight with the featherlike blade that King Pellinore mocked her for. It was a miracle that she’d accomplished this at the eleventh hour. “No! Not a counterattack charged with all my poooower?!” “Even my delicate sword…has a will!” Emma went right into it. “Royal Road—” She weaponized King Pellinore’s sublime power… “—Slashing Excalibuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur!” She put all the power of the borrowed Excalibur into one last attack that she unleashed on King Pellinore, ripping into him diagonally. “Hah…?!” Suddenly, Mr. Kujou was coughing up blood. “I-impossible…?! Wh-what’s happening…?!” He staggered backward one step, then another. Felicia stood up, unsteady on her feet, from her own pool of blood and supported herself with her sword. “…I had one hypothesis…” “A hypothesis…?!” “Yes, I had a theory about your blade…the Military Conquest Steel Sword… It always makes you stronger than your opponent and creates a fixed power difference between us… That means…the weaker your opponent becomes…the weaker the sword will make you…right?” “…?!” Mr. Kujou turned around to look behind him out of astonishment. Something was sticking out of his back. Felicia’s Messenger Pixie. The tiny fairy had driven a dagger into Mr. Kujou’s back. It wasn’t a fatal wound…but it certainly wasn’t an optimal place to sustain an injury. “Impossible…! That’s the lowest class of fairies…?! H-how could it wound someone like me?! Cough?!” “…It was a gamble, but…I was right…!” “No…!” Mr. Kujou glared at Felicia. “Don’t tell me you were waiting for this moment?! Don’t tell me you let yourself get weaker and wait until my power would be inferior to some stupid fairy…?!” “Heh. Ha-ha-ha… Sorry for using such a sly method, Mr. Kujou.” She seemed to be strangely sophisticated, though she looked far from graceful. “You let down your guard because you thought I was less than you…! If you wanted to defeat me…you could have…!” Mr. Kujou had relied too much on his Excalibur. When he had his Military Conquest Steel Sword activated in a one-on-one fight, it basically meant that his opponent would never win against him. His mistake had been keeping it activated during their entire fight to make them feel like it was impossible to win. What he should have done was kept his guard up, limited his sword’s power, and finished her off. “Dammit… Sh-shrew…!” Mr. Kujou raised his Excalibur in his shaking hands… “I won’t let youuuuu!” VWOOM! Felicia threw her own sword that she had been using in place of a cane, which took his blade out of his hands. “What—?!” “Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Felicia used the last of her strength to vault off the ground and charge at Mr. Kujou. With a hand balled into a fist, she punched him square in the face. “Gah—?!” “I imagine you’ve never had a close fight before, huh?! But this is what fighting always looks like to me!” Mr. Kujou bent backward, unable to withstand the blow. As he staggered, he was punched by Felicia again. “I never lose when it comes to playing dirty!” “…I’ve finally caught you, Sir Lancelot…” “…You…!” As Sir Lancelot’s sword punctured Sir Gawain’s chest, Sir Gawain grabbed his foe’s arm that was gripping the blade. “Nghh?!” Sir Lancelot tried to yank his sword out of Sir Gawain, but…he failed. “Gah… Why won’t you die…?! That should have been fatal…!” “I can only outdo you in natural-born toughness…” Pinned by brawn like an ogre’s, Sir Lancelot couldn’t budge his sword. Sir Gawain hacked up blood as he kept a hold on Sir Lancelot’s arm. Aiming for the restrained knight…Sir Gawain raised the sword in his right hand. “…” When Sir Lancelot realized what was happening, he stopped resisting. “…Of course it’d end like this.” “…? What makes you say that? What do you mean?” Sir Gawain tilted his head. “I hate to say this…but you’ve always had the upper hand. In swordsmanship and speed, you excel me… If you hadn’t been so impatient to take my life…you would have won. Like in our three-day battle.” “Hah,” Sir Lancelot spat. “You don’t understand. Didn’t I tell you that things are different now…?” “Different in what way…?” “I wouldn’t last three days against you, now that you’ve found your real strength as a knight…and seeing as how I’m so pathetic…” “…” “…” For a while, the two of them stared at each other. “Heh… Ha-ha-ha… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…” “Ha-ha-ha…” They chuckled together for the briefest of moments. “Hey, Sir Lancelot… I’ve always wanted to apologize to you about something…” “…Words aren’t necessary, Sir Gawain. We’ve been through hell and back… And that’s why we parted ways… But I suppose that’s all in the past…” “…You’re right.” “I did not care as long as I served as the king’s sword. I thought I didn’t need anything if I could work for the sake of my king… That’s what I thought, at least…” “That’s right… I was the same way… That’s normal for a knight…” “But weak hearts have trouble sticking to things, it seems…” “…I think so, too.” They remembered the legendary era, back when they were so immersed in all there was to experience. Everything was so emotional back then: more fury, more sadness, more joy, more pain, more love, more tears. They could never return to their adolescent days, which they thought back to nostalgically and fondly. “Good match.” “…I suppose the next time we meet…” “We’ll cross swords again. I won’t lose next time.” “Ditto.” Everything that needed to be said was communicated through their tense smiles. Sir Gawain’s raised sword came crashing down. Sir Lancelot looked peaceful, almost as if he was relieved. “B-but…that’s impossible…?!” Morgan stared at the image projected before her eyes. She watched with round eyes as Sir Balin, King Pellinore, and Sir Lancelot became puffs of mana. “…See?” Rintarou was the only one who looked like he understood what was going on. He seemed smug, like he knew this would happen. “Grr…” “Let’s see… All that’s left is defeating the evil leader and his flunky.” Rintarou put on a ferocious smile, heading toward King Arthur and Morgan. Morgan was beginning to panic. This was all so unexpected. King Arthur stepped in front of her, barely looking at her, not even from the corners of his eyes. “Merlin…” “Arthur…” King Arthur and Rintarou faced each other straight on. “It’s been a long time… I’ve wanted to see you…” “…Yeah, me too.” Merlin and Arthur. Their encounter was where the legend started. And their separation had ended the tale. Their story had been bolstered by knights of the era and their motivations, but at the core of the legend were Merlin and Arthur, and it always would be that way. “Fate can be so strange… To think we’d reunite under these circumstances,” Arthur said. “I agree.” “You know… I couldn’t have cared less about kingly glory or world peace or the loyalty of my knights… All I wanted was to be with you… That’s what made me happy…” “Me too. I had the time of my life… Gone was boredom when I was with you…” They spoke as they reminisced on the distant past, thinking of memories of a prior life… “Hey, Merlin? I want to walk down the same path as you again. I want you to follow me. What do you say?” King Arthur asked, almost appealing to him. “…” Rintarou remained silent. King Arthur considered Rintarou’s silence and saw the way he held Luna. Eventually, he smiled, coming to terms with something and looking a little forlorn. “I see… So you found someone you want to serve more than me…” “Yeah, that’s right. Sorry for cheating on you.” Rintarou lowered his eyes, seeming a bit sad. “I hate looking at you like this. More than that…I want to go down a path with her. I want to watch over her becoming king.” “Ah-ha-ha. I can’t believe I’m hearing that from Merlin—corrupt as you are… You must be so blessed, Luna Artur. That’s nice… I’m jealous.” He seemed like he meant those words. King Arthur flashed a smile. “How about we start this thing?” “Yeah.” King Arthur readied his sword. Rintarou gently put down Luna. “… Hit him with all you got, Luna.” “Rintarou.” “Hit him with everything that’s in you. I’ll clear the path… Think you can do it?” “…?!” Luna’s face broke into a bold smile. She stood on her own two feet. “Of course! Who do you think you’re talking to?!” She seemed so energetic and brave, no one could guess she was in excruciating pain. “You’re a crafty one, Merlin! But I won’t let you obstruct the Wild Hunt! As if I would let you overturn this Grand Guignol that I’ve planned for eons!” Morgan held up her two spears, enraged. “Heh! I demand a new stage director! I can’t even watch it, the writing is so bad!” Rintarou instantly summoned his red and white swords to his hands. “…I’m going to win! I’ll win! Since I’m the true king!” Luna equipped herself with her broken sword. It wasn’t clear if someone timed this. Rintarou, Luna, King Arthur, Morgan…all moved at the same time. “Hraaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Luna swung her sword up and charged. But King Arthur moved even faster than she did. “Royal Road—Slashing Fate Sword!” His sword started to burn bright, but…in the shadows of his illuminated blade…appeared another Rintarou, who stabbed at King Arthur from behind. It was Rintarou’s dark magic, Shadow Burrow, which allowed him to instantly teleport anywhere. SHIING! Rintarou’s two swords and King Arthur’s Excalibur collided as the king turned to face him. “I always fight the same way.” “… Merlin…?!” “Who cares if someone has an invincible power? I just have to stop it before it’s activated! It’s not impossible—when you’re me!” “Meeeeeerliiiiiiiiiin!” Morgan slashed at Rintarou from behind. Rintarou leaped away from King Arthur and turned again toward Morgan. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Luna swung at the king, taking Rintarou’s place. SHIIIIIIIIING! Luna’s strength was on another dimension, compared to their previous battles. It might have been stronger than at the start of this fight. King Arthur stumbled. “Gah…! Where did this power come from…?!” “Isn’t it obvious? From the return of my best vassal! Wouldn’t any king be ecstatic about that?!” King Arthur leaped backward, unable to handle it, but Luna hounded him, using her momentum to strike a second time, then a third. “There’s no way—?!” Morgan was the one panicking, gritting her teeth as she exchanged blows with Rintarou using her spears. “Is Luna pushing back on Arthur…?! Gah!” Morgan managed to contain her distress and deal with the opponent in front of her. She spun her pair of spears like a whirlwind to knock down Rintarou’s storm of attacks. Shing, shing, shing. With each collision came an immense shock wave. “This isn’t a problem… Not at all…!” “Yeah? How’s this not a problem?!” Rintarou deflected her successive lunges as he jeered at her. “Your treachery ends here! I think you’re dealing with plenty of problems!” “Hmph! How silly! You don’t even realize you’re seeing only the surface!” Morgan released eddying flames from her spears. Rintarou discharged black flames from the sword he swept to the side and offset her fire. “I’ll finish you off and help King Arthur deal with Luna…,” Morgan shouted. “Then everything will be happily ever after!” “Yeah? You think you can beat me? Some sick joke! I dare you to try!” “Obviously! I’m one of the Three Goddesses of Fate…! It’s not hard to defeat you, since I can see the near future—,” she gloated, parring his reckless swings. Morgan took a peek at the future to see what he would do next. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!” Morgan saw the future…when she’d be killed by his sword, 148 blows later. “Eek?!” Morgan involuntarily squeaked and shrank away. Rintarou instantly approached. She barely evaded a flash of his sword from the side. Face pale, Morgan was on the receiving end of the onslaught. “Seems you saw a rosy future for yourself, huh?!” “Why…? How?!” Was it the fault of her fighting style or stance? Morgan changed tactics, looking into the future over and over, trying to get a read on his next moves to get the jump on him. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!” “Eeeeeek?!” …Every possible future converged into a moment in time when she was killed by Rintarou. “It can’t be! Lies…! Why would that happen…?!” Morgan had officially lost her cool, half frantic in handling Rintarou’s attacks. It seemed like he might overwhelm her at any moment. Morgan found no sign that the future would change. “No! No! No…!” They were cruelly approaching the number of blows that would fulfill the prophecy. “Why?! Why?!” “It’s simple! I’m too strong for you to go up against me! That’s why!” “But…! Is this Merlin…Balor’s bastard child…!” That couldn’t be the whole story. It simply couldn’t be. The power that started to awaken in Merlin was stronger than in Balor. What was its source…? How and why had the wheels of fate changed? Morgan didn’t have time to mull it over. Not now. Her movements were restricted to deflecting the swipes that came near her eyes and nose. Her spear swung in desperation… But there was nothing more left to do… “No…! No…! I was so close…! I was this close to seeing him! This… This…isn’t what I wanted…!”