Fate often feels like a cruel joke. There are those who fight desperately, shedding their blood, yet never receive a fitting end. On the contrary, there are also the golden children of the universe—those who are always favored by fate, blessed with epic stages and countless tales. Meanwhile, a figure of no less majesty is merely left to sink into the silence of history, with an existence that is barely ever told.
"Hah... Hah... Hah..."
The sound of heavy panting broke the silence over the completely ruined land. The island was now nothing more than a monument to post-war devastation. Trees had fallen to ash, and the ground was torn apart, forming giant craters scattered like gaping wounds.
At the bottom of one such crater stood a young man clad in cracked armor. He leaned heavily on the hilt of his sword. His chest heaved up and down, enduring the exhaustion. Most of his face was hidden beneath a worn hood, but a few strands of golden-blonde hair managed to escape, framing his face. Slowly, he looked up. A pair of emerald-green eyes stared intently at the blue sky that contrasted with the destruction below.
"That... should have been enough to defeat her," he muttered in a hoarse voice.
His gaze then shifted forward, staring at the terrifying existence he had just slashed. The form of his enemy was now half-destroyed, leaving behind a bizarre sight. The figure took the form of a little blonde girl, possessing facial contours that, paradoxically, closely resembled the young man's. However, that resemblance was ruined by horrifying bestial attributes—blood-red scales spread across her cheeks and arms, while a red tail was planted into the ground. A pair of ruby-red eyes blazed with pure hatred from behind her dragon-like eyelids.
Despite her tiny body being on the verge of destruction, the little girl lifted her chin. She opened her mouth, hissing with a tone of absolute arrogance that had not faded in the slightest.
"You are truly an annoying insect," she scoffed while pointing at the young man with her scaly hand. "Just how many times have you dared to destroy the fragments of this King? Do you think, just because you managed to steal all of 'Mother's' love, you can do whatever you please to this king? Don't even dream about it... I will never forgive you!"
The young man glared sharply, unwavering in the slightest by the mockery.
"I do not care," he said with an ice-cold tone. "I will continue to hunt you. I will not leave a single tiny fragment of your existence. Remember this, O Beast born from the sin of human greed."
He forcefully pulled his sword that was stabbed into the ground, then raised and pointed the tip of the holy blade straight at the monster.
"As the wielder of the Holy Sword, I will stop and destroy you. You exist because of my mistake... because of my weakness and my blindness in the past," the young man's voice trembled slightly, holding back the weight of an invisible sin. "Therefore, I myself will bear that responsibility. I will strike down every single one of your manifestations."
Hearing that sorrow-laden declaration, the red-scaled girl instead burst into laughter. Her laughter was shrill, radiating pure malice.
"Hahaha! You seem to still harbor such immense guilt, don't you? Of course, because you killed my 'Mother', who was also your own former Master!" The monster waved her scaly hand with a dismissive and mocking gesture. "You betrayed her! You stabbed her in the back right when she gave all of her love to you! May you continue to be haunted by that nightmare forever, ARTHUR PENDRAGON!"
That hatred-filled scream served as the closing before the monster's form shattered completely, fading into shards of dark light that vanished in the wind.
The young man called Arthur merely stood in silence, watching the remains of his enemy disappear. Slowly, the tension locking his shoulders began to ease. He lowered his sword, turned around, and with a single light leap, jumped out from the bottom of the crater.
Arthur landed on a large boulder. He walked with heavy steps and dropped himself there, letting his tense muscles rest. For a few moments, the Holy Knight only sat in silence. He closed his eyes, letting the sea breeze sweep across his face, trying to find a sliver of peace amidst the chaos.
Suddenly, a sweet, teasing, and overly cheerful voice echoed in his head.
"My King~ Is your hunt finished?" Arthur opened his eyes slowly. He let out a long sigh, a habit that always surfaced whenever he dealt with this particular female mage.
"Merlin..." he called softly. "How long have you been watching this fight?"
"Hehe~ perhaps since you started swinging your sword," the voice chuckled with a playful tone on the other end.
"Your answer is too ambiguous. I've had my sword drawn since the very beginning," Arthur replied while slowly massaging his temples. "Just admit that you were watching from the start. Never mind, whatever you say. So... do you already know where the next Beast fragment will appear?"
"As for that, don't worry! This reliable big sister of yours will find it for you right away~" Merlin replied with a proud tone.
"Alright, I'll wait to hear from you—" Arthur's words were cut off when the telepathic connection with Merlin was unilaterally severed.
The young man who had been leaning back relaxed on the boulder immediately straightened his posture. "Hello? Merlin? What is it?" he called out, trying to weave their magic connection back together, but there was only silence.
"Strange... It's not like her to cut the connection so suddenly like this," Arthur muttered while scratching the back of his head.
However, in the very next second, he realized something highly peculiar. The sea breeze that had been caressing his face suddenly stopped completely. The sound of the crashing waves hitting the rocks vanished without a trace. The world seemed to freeze in a single frame of time.
Arthur looked up, his brow furrowed sharply. In an instant, particles of golden light gathered in his right hand, calling the holy sword Excalibur back into his grasp.
"Something is not right," Arthur hissed cautiously.
He immediately jumped down from the boulder. Both of his hands now gripped the hilt of Excalibur tightly, pointing it forward in a perfect fighting stance. His emerald eyes quickly swept the surroundings to the left and right. Even though this island had indeed been utterly destroyed by his battle, the silence enveloping it right now felt incredibly unnatural.
The Armored Knight stood rigid, maintaining his vigilance, waiting for something to happen. One second... two seconds... time felt as if it were moving incredibly slowly. Then, suddenly—
Thump!
An excruciating pain suddenly struck his head like a sledgehammer. His left hand, which had been supporting his sword, let go, shifting to grip his own head tightly.
His vision spun violently, and the world around him suddenly blurred.
"W-what is happening...?" he let out a stifled groan.
His imposing frame faltered. Before he had the chance to put up any resistance or think of an answer, his consciousness was forcefully pulled away, plunging him into an abyss of darkness.
Would you like me to translate the next section featuring Lady Avalon and Merlin?
(Transition)
Far from the remnants of the island's destruction, in an eternal realm flooded by a sea of flowers blooming regardless of the season, stood a towering ivory-white spire piercing the clouds.
Inside one of the highest rooms of that tower, sat a woman whose beauty seemed to defy common sense. Her long white hair cascaded beautifully, framing her face adorned with a teasing smile. Clad in an elegant magus robe, that woman was Lady Avalon—an entity also known in another universe by the name Merlin.
"As for that, don't worry! This reliable big sister of yours will find it for you right away~" Lady Avalon said in a cheerful tone, gently patting her chest with pride as she spoke through telepathy.
"Alright, I'll wait to hear from you—"
Arthur's voice was heard in her head, but the sentence was cut off. Like a thread forcibly snipped in the middle, the magical connection binding them vanished without a trace.
"Huh? What?" Lady Avalon blinked in confusion. "Hello? Arthur? Are you still there?"
She tilted her head, trying to weave the telepathic thread back together, but to no avail. The smile on her beautiful face slowly faded, replaced by a sharp frown on her forehead.
"Who dares to disconnect my call? This is clearly not Arthur's doing. Could this be the work of Brother—"
Before she could finish her muttering, a familiar wave forced its way into her mind.
"Hey! Little Devil! Are you feeling it too?!" shouted a male voice with an unusual tone.
Lady Avalon immediately recognized the owner of the voice. Her lips curved up again, forming a cynical smile. "Ah, my dearest Brother~ How rare of you to contact me. I thought you had already forgotten this sweet little sister of yours in your own Avalon."
The figure on the other end was Merlin—the Magus of Flowers from the history of the other Arthur.
"Enough with the pleasantries, Devil! This is not the time for jokes!" Merlin snapped with a tense tone that he very rarely showed. "This is highly important! Did you not realize the crazy anomaly that just occurred?!"
"Hmm~ It's very rare to see you this panicked, Brother," Lady Avalon teased casually.
However, shortly after those words slipped out, her high-level Clairvoyance instincts caught 'something'. Something incredibly massive, ancient, and foreign was moving.
Lady Avalon's eyes widened. She suddenly looked up.
"W-what... what in the world is this?!" she shrieked unconsciously.
She immediately jumped from her chair and ran toward the tower's window. Her jaw dropped slightly as her eyes, capable of seeing across dimensions, caught an absurd phenomenon. A massive-scale distortion of space and time had opened, as if the fabric of the universe was being forcibly torn apart by the will of an unknown outer entity.
"H-how could such a crazy thing happen?! T-this isn't because of the Outer Gods, right?" she muttered in panic, gripping the edge of the window.
"I don't know either! This is truly baffling!" Merlin's voice echoed in her head again, equally frustrated. "An anomaly of this scale... Is there interference from that Deceitful Old Geezer? A dimensional hole this large could only be created if someone is manipulating the Second Magic like crazy!"
Lady Avalon fell silent for a moment. Her eyes remained fixated on the distortion. Her panic slowly subsided, replaced by a gleam of childish intrigue. The fundamental nature of a 'Merlin'—the observer who is always thirsty for an interesting story—began to take over.
A subtle and mysterious smile once again adorned her beautiful face.
"Hehe~ I suppose this is fine too," Lady Avalon whispered softly. "There's no harm in letting my overly stiff King take a little 'vacation' in a new place."
She turned around, walking away from the window with light, cheerful steps.
"Alright, I'll play along. Wait for me, Arthur... This big sister of yours will catch up to you soon~"
(Transition)
Darkness. That was the only sight that greeted Arthur when he slowly opened his eyes.
His body felt as light as a feather, floating aimlessly in the middle of an endless void. "Where is this...?" he muttered softly. He tried to move his arms and legs, but failed. An invisible force seemed to restrain his entire being, locking him in place.
Suddenly, the young man's brow furrowed sharply. His eyes hardened as his knightly instincts caught a majestic presence slowly surrounding him. He was very familiar with this aura.
"Alaya... What is it that you desire?" Arthur greeted, breaking the silence. His tone remained calm and respectful, befitting a knight. "If you have a task or a threat that must be eliminated, you simply need to send me directly to the battlefield. There is no need to go through the trouble of pulling my consciousness to a place like this."
However, only a long silence answered his question. There were no instructions, no voice echoing in his head.
Amidst that confusion, Arthur once again felt something else. His spiritual body trembled slightly in response to a new anomaly.
"Gaia...?" he guessed hesitantly.
Even though it had no physical form, Arthur could clearly feel that this second entity was a World Consciousness. It was only natural for his first assumption to fall on Gaia. However, there was something very peculiar. The presence that had just appeared felt exceedingly fragile, small, and weak—no different from the soul of a baby who had just taken its first breath in the world.
"Are you... truly Gaia? But, why does your existence feel so weak?" Arthur asked, confusion now clearly coloring his voice. The Holy Knight harbored no suspicion or malice, but rather genuine concern.
Before he could process the strange situation, Arthur felt a slow pull. It was not a harsh, forced pull or an absolute command from the Counter Force, but rather a remarkably warm and gentle embrace of energy, carefully guiding his soul toward that fragile consciousness.
"What is this...?" Arthur muttered in surprise.
Little by little, his vision began to blur. A sense of drowsiness pulled his consciousness toward the edge of slumber. However, amidst his fading consciousness, his emerald eyes caught the silhouette of a glowing object floating toward him through the darkness.
The object radiated a blinding holy white glow. Its shape was elongated and strangely spiraled, resembling a giant pillar or drill that tapered at the end, complete with a sturdy hilt to grip.
The weapon seemed to call out to him, becoming the last sight Arthur saw before he was completely swallowed by the light, losing his consciousness to a new world.