Alice Louise of Navarre, the Chairman of the Greenwich Assembly of Sages, led us to a secluded location far from the bustling heart of London. We climbed into a black sedan she had prepared, and the vehicle slipped silently out of the city, traversing the ancient rural roads of England. Inside the car, the scent of leather mixed with a faint herbal aroma clinging to Alice, all enveloped in a heavy silence. It was Alice who eventually broke it.
"My King, have you perhaps heard the tales regarding the 'King of the End'?"
"The King of the End? Never heard of him. Is it just one of those cliché prophecies about a hero appearing at the end of the world?"
At my nonchalant response, Alice shook her head with a grim expression.
"It is no simple prophecy. It is a record of a hideous catastrophe—a conclusion we managed to reach only by piecing together fragments of forbidden grimoires and ancient manuscripts collected by our Assembly over centuries. The explanation I gave you earlier... in truth, it didn't even cover half of it."
She looked at me and Alessandro in turn. Her sapphire-colored eyes no longer held the poise of an elegant diplomat; they were the eyes of a sage who had spent a lifetime guarding primordial secrets.
"And you, Diabolosso. You are now the sole knight serving the Seventh King. It is your duty to understand this tale clearly as well."
Alessandro straightened his posture, pulling away from the backrest. Alice gazed out at the green fields streaking past the window and began the true narrative in a low, weighty voice.
"The 'King of the End' is not the specific name of a hero. He is a Steel God who manifests solely to correct the 'error' in the world known as the 'Devil King'—beings who have slain gods and usurped their Authorities. The Exterminator of all Campiones. That is the essence of the King of the End. Guinevere intends to bring about his advent to obliterate every single Campione currently walking this earth."
I let out a dry, mocking laugh.
"Summoning a god capable of overturning the world just because of seven guys like me? That woman has quite the delusions of grandeur."
Despite my mockery, Alice's expression didn't waver. Instead, she met my gaze with even deeper sincerity.
"It is not a delusion, my King. It is an inevitable obsession stemming from the very nature of a Divine Ancestor. Furthermore, you are taking the existence of the 'King of the End' far too lightly."
"Taking him lightly? I’ve killed more than enough gods to be sick of them. What makes this one so special?"
"Everything."
Alice cut me off decisively.
"The gods you have faced until now possessed Authorities that exist within the 'Laws' of this world—storms, flames, curses, and the like. However, the King of the End is different. That god possesses only one Authority: 'To negate and annihilate the very existence of a Campione.' He is not a god created to protect the laws of this world, but a Divine Authority of Steel forged specifically to punish those of you who have violated those laws. He isn't merely a god; he is the very 'Concept' of slaying Devil Kings.”
'The concept of slaying Devil Kings'... An antithesis to our existence, then. So, the world couldn't handle the variables we represent, so it manufactured a failsafe? I contemplated the implications of her words coldly.
Taking my silence as comprehension, Alessandro, sitting beside me, spoke in a low tone.
"My King... Though my memory is faint, I recall seeing fragments of similar records within the forbidden archives of the Bronze-Black Cross. The 'Last Judgment' upon the Godslayers... I dismissed it as an absurdity back then, but it aligns perfectly with her words."
Alessandro's testimony added weight to what felt like a ghost story. My knight isn't the type to confuse me with uncertain information. Between a witch's warning and a knight's confirmation, the outlines of this crisis finally took shape. I began to recalibrate the danger level of the situation.
Seeing the seriousness settle on my face, Alice finally brought out the core of the matter.
"And to bring such an absolute entity into this world requires a staggering amount of power. It is impossible for her to achieve alone. Thus, she requires a vessel to contain that power—the secret treasure in her possession, the 'Holy Grail of Magecraft.'"
Alice's voice dropped an octave lower.
"The Grail is both the 'vessel' to call the King to this realm and the power source. For the past several decades, Guinevere has moved secretly across all of Europe to fill that Grail with power. Thirty years ago, she stole the lingering dregs of divine curses from ruined temples in Greece to fuel it. Fifteen years ago, she twisted the leylines of the Black Forest in Germany to drain the life force of rampaging Divine Beasts. And a few years ago... she stole the 'Prophecies of Avalon' stored in a hidden fortress in the Swiss Alps, finally determining the optimal time and place for the King's advent."
As her explanation drew to a close, the car reached its destination. Through the window, I saw the familiar landscape of massive stone pillars arranged in a circle.
"Stonehenge?"
"Yes. This is likely the exact location recorded in the prophecy. Within my Spirit Vision, the Divine Ancestor was already beginning the ritual to bring disaster upon Britain from this very spot."
We stepped out of the car and walked into the center of Stonehenge. As we passed between the colossal stones, the very quality of the air felt different. It wasn't just a physical chill; it was a crushing pressure unique to a space where time had stopped—as if a silence thousands of years old was settling on my skin. Alice looked up at the sky.
"Nothing has happened yet. It seems we have arrived slightly ahead of my vision."
True to her word, we remained on high alert for the next few days, staying in a temporary shelter provided by the Assembly near Stonehenge. Alessandro maintained a barrier spanning several kilometers to monitor any external approach, while Alice spent every night observing the subtle shifts in magical power and atmospheric flow, searching for signs of the ritual. Time trickled by amidst a taut tension, and finally, the fateful day arrived. In the predawn hours, what woke me was a minute vibration in the earth. Almost simultaneously, Alessandro pounded on my door.
"My King! From the direction of Stonehenge...!"
Before he could even finish, the world outside the window became as bright as high noon. From the center of Stonehenge, a massive pillar of divine power was surging toward the heavens. That power was so overwhelming and primal that it made the advent of the Fire Goddess Pele in Hawaii look like child's play.
"Damn it!"
We immediately rushed to the scene. At the heart of Stonehenge, atop the altar surrounded by megaliths, two figures stood. One of them completely defied my expectations.
"That... is Guinevere?"
Alessandro swallowed hard at my murmur. Standing on the altar was a girl who looked no older than thirteen—far too young for someone called an immortal witch. She had golden hair that seemed forged from the melted stars of the night sky and large, innocent eyes. This small girl was the source of all the encroaching calamity: the Divine Ancestor, Guinevere. In her hands, she held a golden cup emitting a blinding light—the 'Holy Grail of Magecraft.'
And beside her stood a single knight, like a shadow.
He wore elegant silver armor that looked like it was made of liquid moonlight. His face was hidden by a helm, but in his hand, he held not a sword, but a beautifully radiant silver spear. He was undeniably a god. Yet, his power was strangely suppressed, making it impossible to even guess his identity. He possessed an inscrutable divinity fundamentally different from a 'Heretic God.' It was as if he were deliberately regulating the scale of his own manifestation.
Alice cried out in a voice thick with despair.
"The Divine Ancestor... and her Guardian Knight! And the power surging from that Grail is...!"
Guinevere spotted us and broke into an ecstatic smile, as if a thousand years of waiting had finally come to an end.
"You are too late, witch of the Assembly. And you... Foreign King."
Alice screamed toward me in desperation.
"My King! You must stop them now! Before the ritual is complete!"
I also sensed that the situation was spiraling toward the worst possible conclusion. Reaching my hand toward the sky, I unleashed the Authority of the storm god, Tāwhirimātea.
"Hear me, Father of the Heavens! Send your wrath upon the lightning, and deliver judgment unto these profaners!"
As if responding to my Incantation, dark clouds instantly choked the sky, and dozens of lightning bolts converged to strike the heart of Stonehenge!
CRACK-BOOM—!
However, the lightning never reached them. The silver knight standing by Guinevere took a single step forward and lightly swung the spear in his hand. A single movement. It was so concise and elegant that it looked more like a dance step. A wave of pure power radiated from the spear's tip, obliterating the heavenly judgment in mid-air without a trace.
It was then. Guinevere held the Grail high and began to laugh maniacally. The light from the Grail expanded explosively, completing the pillar of divine power.
"It is already too late! Behold! And welcome him! The true Master who returns to judge all arrogant and profane kings of this world and herald the end!"
Along with a titanic flash, the pillar of light swallowed all of Stonehenge.
"At last! At last, he has been resurrected! The King of Guinevere! Hohohoho!"
Guinevere's high-pitched laughter echoed across the stones.
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