Around the time a commotion was brewing in North Wales.
A girl was walking alone across a harsh, desolate wilderness.
She wore a blue baseball cap pulled low over her head, a light jersey, and a red muffler around her neck—a strangely anachronistic outfit that seemed utterly out of place in this era of Britain.
But the magical energy radiating from the twin scabbards at her waist proved she truly bore the Pendragon bloodline.
Her name was Artoria X.
After Kay disappeared, she, unlike her sisters, neither rallied forces nor led armies.
She traveled entirely alone, earning her living as a bounty hunter, raiding vicious bandit gangs and Saxon outposts—roaming all across Britain solely in search of any trace of Kay.
"Haah... another dead end today."
X let out a small sigh as she recalled the information spat out by the bandit leader she’d just smashed to pieces.
"It’s been five years already, and you’ve managed to vanish without leaving so much as a footprint. Did you hijack a spaceship and really head off to Andromeda or something?"
Still grumbling, X refused to halt her stride.
Then one day, she came upon a small village after crossing the wilderness.
The atmosphere in the settlement was dire and ominous. People bolted their doors shut, and a few souls sprawled in the streets stared blankly at nothing, as if their spirits had been drained away.
When X stepped into the inn and ordered a meal, the innkeeper—a desperate look in his eyes as he surveyed her formidable armament—spoke in a pleading tone.
"Um, traveler... might you... help us?"
"Help you? Have bandits shown up? I charge a silver coin per ten men."
"They’re not bandits. In the small city beyond those hills—what they call the Fortress of Suffering—a demon has taken root."
"A demon?"
X paused mid-bite and tilted her head.
It wasn’t unusual to encounter phantasmal species or magical beasts in Britain during these final days of the Age of Gods, but the concept of a demon—an entity formed from human souls and remnants of hatred—had been nearly impossible to manifest since the beginning of the Common Era.
"Yes. About a month ago, a sorcerer in red robes appeared in the city and used people’s blood as a sacrifice to summon a demon. And... he’s been dragging every young maiden in our village back to that castle. None of the girls he took have ever returned. Please, slay that demon and save our children!"
The innkeeper collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
'A demon... forcibly manifested in the Common Era? That sorcerer must possess forbidden arcane knowledge. Perhaps he might even hold clues to my brother’s whereabouts in another world.'
X swallowed a mouthful of meat and rose from her seat.
"Fine. I’ll take the job. No advance payment. I’ll just skewer that demon and loot its treasure vault in lieu of coins."
Pulling her cap down low, she headed for the Fortress of Suffering.
Before long, a grotesque castle surrounded by dark, fleshy organs came into view.
The gates stood wide open, and the city lay in ruins, devoid of any sign of life. The air reeked of sickening blood and decay.
"Seriously, just how much of a wasteland is Britain? Stray even a little off the beaten path, and these monsters are running rampant."
The moment X stepped into the deepest corridor of the fortress—
Bang!
The heavy gates behind her slammed shut on their own.
"...So you’ve come, hunter."
From the pitch-black depths of the corridor, a man in crimson robes emerged, laughter twisted into something unholy.
His face was no longer human: his skin hung like melted wax, and his pupils were burned coal-black, the whites of his eyes completely gone.
He was a fallen sorcerer who had gathered humanity’s malice to manifest a demon, then bound that demon to his own flesh to become a monster himself.
"The scent of a noble knight... no, this scent... is it the dragon’s blood of Britain’s king?!"
The sorcerer cried out with ecstatic delight.
"Marvelous! If I feast on your pure blood and soul as tribute to this demon, I shall gain the ultimate magical power necessary to challenge that arrogant White Dragon himself!!"
"Tch. You talk too much. I wanted to ask where my brother went, but you clearly aren't in any state for a conversation."
X clicked her tongue and laid her hands on the twin hilts at her waist.
With a clear metallic ring, she drew a radiant golden holy sword and a pitch-black blade coursing with dark mana.
"Devour her!!"
At the sorcerer’s shout, his body swelled like a balloon and warped into a hideous form.
Human bones and flesh twisted at unnatural angles, his robes shredding as he expanded into a massive, oozing green mass of muscle and slime.
And across the surface of that writhing flesh lay dozens of faces—those of the maidens sacrificed by the village—each wearing a rapturous, sweet expression as they whispered in unison.
"Ahh... it feels so good..."
"Come join us, knight... become one with us..."
"Melting pleasure... I feel my brain melting..."
Even X’s hair stood on end at the chilling chorus.
It wasn’t fear—it was pure, intense revulsion from a girl who adored cleanliness.
"Touching this slimy mess is the absolute worst!!"
X expressed her disgust with her entire being as she crossed her two holy swords in an X.
She sprang off the floor, a blur of untraceable movement.
Her body spun, scattering waves of golden sword-light and obsidian slashes in every direction.
Slice! Clang! Crash!!
The tendrils meeting the trajectories of the two holy swords were sliced apart like tofu.
Toxic purple ichor sprayed from the severed ends, but X whipped up a gust of wind to fling the fluid away and plunged toward the demon’s core.
But the true horror of the demonized sorcerer lay in his terrible regenerative power.
Squelch, rip!
The severed ends of the tendrils writhed grotesquely and, in less than a second, split into two or three new tendrils.
The more she attacked, the more the tendrils multiplied exponentially, soon coating the walls and ceiling in a choking mire of green slime.
"Regeneration this fast? You're more like a swarm of leeches than a demon! What kind of demon is this? You're just a failed experiment turned monster!"
Just as X clicked her tongue and prepared to retreat—
"You let your guard down!! Dragon’s blood!!"
Amid the tidal wave of tendrils, a thick vine erupted from the shadows of the floor in her blind spot, coiling around her ankle like a serpent.
"Ack...!"
Before she could swing her blades, dozens of tendrils lashed in like starving beasts, binding her waist, thighs, and wrists, hoisting her high into the air.
The sticky, viscous slime soaked into her jersey, and countless suction cups latched onto her skin, draining her mana and strength at a ferocious pace.
"Ugh... my mana!"
Beyond the tangle of vines, the faces of the sacrificed girls pressed close to X’s ear, their voices dripping with slime as they whispered.
"Just let go..."
"Come with us... to a warm, pleasant place..."
"Offer your mighty power to the demon and claim eternal bliss..."
At the cloying, sinister murmurs, X’s skin crawled.
It wasn’t fear. It was the pure, extreme hatred of a girl who loved things clean.
"Touching... this slimy thing... is the absolute worst!!"
X glared, rotating the core deep within her body to its absolute limit.
KRAAAAASH!!!!
An explosive storm of golden and black lightning erupted from her entire body.
The thick tendrils, unable to withstand the torrent of magical energy, literally disintegrated into nothing, scattering in every direction.
"GRAAAH?! My tendrils!!"
"Time to stop wasting my time."
Brushing off the slime as she landed, X pressed the brim of her blue cap firmly and lowered her stance.
The golden holy sword and the black holy sword in her hands resonated, emitting blinding arcs of light and darkness.
She prepared a single, overwhelming strike that would leave no room for regeneration.
The moment X pushed off, the marble floor shattered like a spiderweb, and her body became a streak of light shooting forward.
"[Secret Caliber (Nameless Sword of Victory)]!!!"
A blinding, X-shaped flash of light.
Using a high-speed flurry of dual-wielding strikes, X pierced the demon’s massive core. In less than a second, dozens of slashes minced the monster's mass of flesh.
It was a perfect collapse at the cellular level, one that even the demon’s abnormal regeneration could not keep up with.
Then, the mana of the two holy swords that had seeped into the deep cross-shaped wounds erupted from within, creating a towering pillar of light that exploded with ferocity.
"GRAAAAAAH!!!"
The sorcerer’s final scream echoed through the castle before he was completely erased by the light.
The faces of the women absorbed into the demon—lost in their ecstasy—also dissolved. Having been completely assimilated in soul and body, they vanished with a brief shriek, turning into handfuls of white ash that drifted into the air.
"Hoo... ..."
When the battle ended, X sheathed her swords and quietly bowed her head toward the scattering ash.
It was a moment of mourning for the maidens who had been sacrificed and turned into parts of a monster through no fault of their own.
"In the end, that monster had no clues about my brother either. What a waste."
X lamented softly and began to search the castle's interior.
Though there were no treasures of great monetary value, the deep library held piles of grim grimoires on black magic and the other world collected by the sorcerer.
'Maybe one of these books holds knowledge or a gateway to the other world.'
As X focused on leafing through the dusty tomes—
Creak~
She heard the corridor door, which had been firmly shut, slide open.
X immediately placed her hands on her sword hilts and hid behind the bookshelves. It could be surviving remnants.
There were two sets of footsteps.
One was the heavy clank of massive armor thudding against the floor; the other, the soft, light patter of steps.
Soon, the library door opened, revealing two silhouettes.
A knight in full heavy armor wielding a massive sword—Britomart.
And behind her, a beautiful mage girl walking in leisurely with a staff—Artoria Caster.
"Oh my? I sensed a foul demon aura here and came to exterminate it, but it seems someone has already finished the cleaning?"
Artoria Caster surveyed the ruin of the library and smiled with interest.
Her clear gaze locked onto X, who remained hidden behind the shelves, warily keeping her guard up.
"...You."
Just as X was about to ask sharply, her eyes widened as she recognized the face. The tension drained from her grip on the swords.
"Caster? What are you doing here?"
X asked politely, though her voice held a trace of bewilderment. Caster’s eyes lit up, and she beamed a bright, cheerful smile, waving one hand enthusiastically.
"Oh! It's X! My goodness, what a coincidence to meet you here! I heard you were wandering Britain solo as a bounty hunter—are you still pushing yourself too hard?"
She spoke with her characteristic manner, mixing polite speech with casual friendliness.
It was indeed Caster.
Confronted by a familiar face in this unexpected ruin, X sighed softly and pressed her cap's brim down. Her guard was now completely gone.
"Well, as you can see, I've been doing just fine hunting villains. But how did you end up traveling with a knight like that?"
At X's flat question, Caster twirled her staff and gave a cryptic, mysterious smile.
"It's a long story. Say, X, if you have the time, want to come with us?"
"? Where to?"
"There's a tyrant in Ireland that needs to be dealt with. On the way, how about we swing by North Wales?"
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