All noise on the battlefield ceased. Only the heartbeats of two kings preparing for the end echoed across the silent ruins.
Barely a minute remained. I could feel the sensation of the 'Grace of the Three Lords' flickering out against my skin. King Arthur’s Pridwen was also trembling, its holy light precarious. Each of us had only one chance left. Everything had to be staked on this single strike.
I channeled every last drop of my remaining divine power into the Pāoa in my right hand. The pure white spear glowed with a brilliance that didn't belong to this world, warping the surrounding space as if it were melting the very fabric of reality. King Arthur also concentrated all his remaining divine essence into Excalibur. His sword no longer emitted rays of light; instead, a golden condensation of energy wrapped around the blade, looking as if it might swallow all light whole.
Simultaneously, the two kings chanted their final incantations.
“My Hearth is the furnace that melts all things to return them to the beginning. At the end of every myth, I shall begin my pure creation!”
“Bearing all the sorrows and hopes of this land, I shall become the solitary light that severs all evil. Final victory into these hands—Excalibur!”
King Arthur moved first. Casting aside his shield, he charged toward me holding only his single sword. It wasn't the dignity of a king or the finesse of a knight. It was the pure rush of a lone warrior intending to swing a final blow containing his entire being.
I kicked off the ground and surged toward him as well. There was no assistance from the storm. Kicking off the earth with my own two feet, I put everything I had into the spear in my hand.
Amidst the illusion of time slowing down, we crossed paths at the center of the battlefield.
K-RRRRR-RRRIIIING—!
The moment the golden sword strike and the pure white spear thrust collided, sound died first. The friction of the Holy Sword’s will to destroy and purify all things clashing with the Law of the Hearth to return all things to primordial nothingness tore through the air, their very existences attempting to erase each other. Soon, a blinding flash capable of deleting the world swallowed everything. A dizzying silence followed, as if the beginning and the end of the world had met at a single point of impact.
When the light cleared, we were standing with our backs to each other.
The Pāoa I had held in my hand was already scattered as a handful of ash. The 'Grace of the Three Lords' had also burned its final spark and vanished completely. Along with a terrible exhaustion weighing down my entire body, the countless wounds sustained from that final clash began to scream in pain.
I slowly turned around.
King Arthur still stood in that spot, motionless. Fine cracks ran through the Excalibur held in his hand, and its radiant light was nowhere to be found. In his chest, where his heart should have been, was a small, scorched hole.
He turned his head toward me slowly—very slowly. There was no longer any anger or caution in his green eyes. Only a faint, nostalgic smile remained, the look of someone who had finished a very long journey.
“……It was a magnificent… battle.”
With those final words, his body began to dissolve into golden particles starting from his feet. It was the moment the myth of the Great King of Knights finally drew its curtain. He vanished without a trace into the winds of this land that had once been his kingdom.
“……Hah.”
Only then did I let out the breath I had been holding and collapsed right there. It wasn't a loss of consciousness. It was simply total exhaustion that came after burning everything to the ground. I didn't have the strength left to twitch a finger.
“My King!”
“Lord!”
The urgent voices of Alessandro and Alice faded away. Amidst the surging fatigue, I slowly sank into a deep, dark abyss.
The place where my consciousness settled wasn't a grey battlefield. It was an endless, pure white space. There, a familiar voice greeted me.
「Wow! That was amazing again, Seventh! To even bring down King Arthur, you’re truly incredible!」
A girl with bright pink hair tied in twin-tails, Pandora, stood there clapping. Floating in the empty space, I recalled the battle just now and asked her.
“Pandora, I have one question.”
“What is it? Tell me, Seventh.”
“The 'Arthur' I fought was just a hero who became a Heretic God. In that case, who is the original god of that legend, the true 'Hero of Steel' who is said to appear at the end of the world?”
At my question, the playful smile momentarily faded from Pandora’s face. She looked into the distance for a moment before answering with a bitter smile.
「Hehe, you’re curious about that already? Don’t be in such a hurry, Seventh. Everything has its time. One day, when you’re fully prepared, you’ll find out naturally.」
She approached me and lightly tapped my forehead with her finger, whispering in a voice more serious than before.
「Just remember this. If you ever meet that person… this fight today will feel like mere child's play. So please, don't die before then. Got it?」
With those words, the pure white space shattered like glass, and my vision was once again plunged into darkness.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a bed inside a stately mansion. Since that day, I had been invited by the Greenwich Council and received lavish treatment as the victorious King. Before the new Devil King who had struck down the ancient King they served, they displayed extreme courtesy mixed with equal parts fear and awe.
Magnificent banquets were held every night. The finest champagne flowed like a river, and rare delicacies brought from all corners of the world were piled like mountains. The mages and nobles of the Council lined up before me to swear their loyalty, desperate for a chance to introduce their daughters. I let their exaggerated flattery flow in one ear and out the other, watching it all boredly from a chair styled like a throne. My shabby studio apartment bed was many times more comfortable than this noisy hospitality.
That night, when I returned to my room after the banquet ended, there was a knock, and Alice entered. Dressed in an elegant gown, she knelt on one knee before me according to the etiquette of a knight and lowered her head.
“Are you resting comfortably, My King? Please forgive my rudeness in visiting so late at night.”
“What is it?”
“I have come to express my gratitude once more for saving my country.”
She slowly raised her head. Instead of her usual strategist’s look, her eyes held a sincere awe reserved for looking up at one's King.
“And… I have come to request the opportunity to serve you with everything I have. I, Alice Louise of Navarre, swear as of this day to enter your service and become your sword and your wisdom.”
I stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were sincere. Giving a bitter smile, I rose from the bed and called for her and Alessandro, who was waiting outside the door.
“Both of you, come before me.”
As they knelt side by side, I drew upon the new Authority I had usurped from King Arthur. Golden particles began to gather in the empty air near my right hand. Soon, the particles took a perfect shape. It was the radiant and holy golden sword, Excalibur.
Holding the manifested Holy Sword, I drove it straight into the marble floor.
CLANG!
With a clear ring, Excalibur was embedded in the floor. As the holy energy flowing from the blade filled the entire room, Alessandro and Alice gasped. The symbol of a defeated king had now become a token of new authority in the hands of the victor.
“I shall ask you.”
I looked down at them like a king on his throne, my hand resting on the hilt of the embedded sword.
“Who is the King you shall serve?”
Without a moment's hesitation, Alessandro and Alice answered in unison.
“It is you alone, my Lord.”
“It is you alone, My King.”
“What can you offer for your King?”
“I offer my everything—my life and my soul.”
“I offer my everything—my wisdom and my future.”
I wore a satisfied smile and reached out my hand over their heads. The light flowing from Excalibur and the myth of King Arthur were restructured by my will and flowed into the two of them.
“Very well. I accept those oaths.”
“Then under my name, receive a new blessing. ── Come, my 『Knights of the Round Table』.”
They were the first Knights of the Round Table to be incorporated into the new King’s mythos.
“Command us as you wish.”
“I shall follow your decree.”
At that moment, a faint golden aura rose from their bodies before vanishing. They were no longer merely a knight and a mage belonging to the mortal realm. They had become beings elevated to the level of myth, sharing in the King’s divine Authority.
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