Am I Solomon? (Continued)

"I just got lost at a crossroads in my life."

After this half-joking response, Rovey leaped to the city gate of Camelot. Looking down from the city wall, it was still a vast, endless desert, but the dark clouds in the distance seemed ominous.

"You stay here quietly and leave the rest to me."

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Gawain abandoned his previous playful attitude. He drew his holy sword, pointed it at the sky, called for his guards to assemble, and then leaped off the city wall.

Below the pristine white city, amidst the endless expanse of yellow sand, stood rows of tall, silver-white knights with sun patterns etched on their arms, all raising their lances and marching out in perfect unison.

They were Gawain's personal guard, the Purification Knights of the Sun Knights, specifically responsible for the defense of the city.

"Count me in too."

"You're something else..."

Gawain was somewhat dissatisfied, but when he saw Rovey land steadily on the wind, he secretly took back his words.

The main reason was that he felt the other party wouldn't go back so easily. Rather than letting him continue to run around, he thought it better to keep him by his side so he could keep an eye on him.

"Alright, I acknowledge your strength since you're on par with Tristan, but you should still be careful."

"I see."

Gawain led the Purification Knights and Rovey to a hill a few kilometers away from Camelot.

This is a wasteland, but they appeared on the hilltop, occupying a high position.

As long as the demons continue their raids as usual, they can take advantage of their superior position to gain the upper hand, which is a Gawain tactic Gawain uses to deal with the demons.

However, this time the situation seems to be a little different—

"Gawain, look! What... what is that?" The Purification Knights in charge of observing asked in astonishment.

Upon hearing this, everyone looked in the direction of the voice and felt a sinking feeling in their hearts as well.

In the distance, endless abyssal black mist accompanied by crimson lightning appeared on the horizon, like a colossal abyss beast swallowing the entire sky.

"—BOOM!!"

Like a thunderclap, it exploded from the ground, and a huge, twisted vortex, or rather a fissure, appeared above the land.

The distant wasteland was quickly covered by mud and turned pitch black, revealing a unique coastline that belonged to the black.

In that black soil, nurtured by endless malice, one after another terrifying monster soon appeared.

"This is the Demon?"

When he saw this thing appear, Rovey was also somewhat surprised.

In his vision, those pitch-black demons were as dark as the night, their faces obscured, yet they were extremely terrifying. They were a twisted life form that completely defied human common sense, like an army that brought about the end of the world.

And that's not all; these things themselves have an extremely high capacity to pollute the world.

As they continued to move forward, dark waves naturally formed at their feet, covering the entire desert. Wherever they passed, they turned into dark mud tides that spread outwards, as if to transform this desert into a chaotic swamp, further polluting it with their malice.

Upon seeing these demons, Rovey was completely astonished.

—The All the World's Evil.

Upon seeing this black wave formed from curses and vengeful spirits, he immediately thought of Angra Mainyu, the endless malice that once resided within the Holy Grail.

Yes, these demons are Heroic Spirit; their human forms are long dead. What remains now are nothing but obsession, resentment, and malice—the very essence of All the World's Evil.

As for why he was so familiar with it, it's because Rovey had personally come into contact with and purified Angra Mainyu, so he naturally knew it very well.

However, compared to the guy in the Fourth Holy Grail War who was weakened by his own actions, the level of malice emanating from these demons is beyond what can be purified simply by entering them.

The malice of the demons, or rather, the malice of this land, has accumulated to an unimaginable degree.

It's truly hard to imagine how many people have died on this land. How much resentment and death have been gathered by the Leyline, transforming into this unstoppable human calamity before us?

Upon seeing this, his heart ached inexplicably, and the cries of vengeful spirits echoed in his ears. For a moment, Rovey covered his eyes and shed a clear tear.

"We can't stand idly by; you have a duty to change this."

"Go, my son, this is your karma, the test you must bear."

An invisible call, seemingly from nowhere, echoed in his heart.

Not only Rovey, but even Gawain, who had fought against demons countless times, was somewhat shocked by the scale of the demons this time.

In the past, although there were sporadic demons harassing Camelot, I have never seen anything like the overwhelming scale of today's attacks.

Thinking of this, Gawain couldn't help but feel nervous.

Seemingly sensing Gawain and his companions' presence, the demons immediately stopped in their tracks.

Then—

"Heresy!"

"Kill them!"

"Give me back my life!!"

"I must get my revenge!!"

"The Glory of the Crusaders!!"

All sorts of soul roars echoed, and the previously dazed demons, as if sensing fresh blood, rushed towards them like madmen.

Upon seeing this, Gawain's expression changed. "Oh no! Those demons have discovered us!"

On the other side, inside the Grand Temple of the pyramid.

Artoria, who had gotten separated from Percival, along with Ritsuka and Mash, did not find the so-called Mountain Village. Instead, they wandered around and ended up in the desert Grand Temple that Rovey had mentioned.

At this moment, the Golden King of Knights was extremely depressed.

If it weren't for her momentary anger, which led her to blast the gates of the Holy City three times with the Holy Lance, but Camelot remained unmoved and was eventually driven back by the Lion King's Holy Punishment, Ritsuka felt that Artoria would really have fought to the death there today.

After all, they had finally reunited, and before they could even express their feelings, they were interrupted by something like this. This was something that Artoria could not tolerate no matter what.

And what thwarted her plans wasn't someone else, but another version of herself.

Looking at the Lion King's cold and ruthless demeanor, Artoria felt annoyed. However, she had to admit that the Lion King was far stronger than her.

If we must compare the differences, she merely treated the Holy Lance as a substitute for the Holy Sword, a dispensable tool whose power was severely limited due to the seal on it. The Lion King, on the other hand, made the Holy Lance an integral part of her body, unleashing its full potential; she was a ruthless transmitter of the Holy Lance.

Because she didn't fully fuse with the Holy Lance like the Lion King, and then said, "I'm not human anymore!", she couldn't defeat that version of herself, which made Artoria very upset.

Even if you really want to explode at your other self, with over a thousand years of accumulated experience, as long as you're not a pig, you can possess a lot of wisdom and judgment.

At this point, even if she charged in, at most she would just be arrested along with Rovey, which would be pointless. The other side might not even lock her up with Rovey.

And...

There was no time to delay any longer; after all, she vividly remembered what her other self had said back then.

That guy beat his man to the ground and then wanted to take him back and "train" him...

It's possible that the other version of myself has already succeeded.

After all, it was still me. Thinking about it carefully, I was the one who got it, so it wasn't too much of a loss.

However, she still felt like she was being cuckolded, and she felt very uncomfortable, with a strange feeling that she had cheated on herself.

After much deliberation, realizing that continuing to fight head-on was not a solution, Artoria decided to seek outside help.

She's no longer the rigid King of Knights; her moral compass has become extremely flexible.

Only--

"Kuhahahahahahahahahaha! You people without light, you really make me laugh out loud. Is it the same side view of The Lion King? Interesting, interesting."

"It's truly unbelievable that you, as the counterpart of the Lion King, would actually go and fight against the Lion King. This is the funniest joke ever!"

Ozymandias sat on his throne and began to laugh heartily, completely disregarding his image. He laughed even harder when he saw Artoria.

"..."

For some reason, when Artoria saw this guy, she would hallucinate that he was a Gilgamesh, arrogant King of Heroes who had proposed to her. These two guys were strangely similar, and both were the type she hated the most.

If it weren't for the fact that she needed him right now, Artoria really wanted to turn around and leave, or shoot this guy in the chest first.

"Sun King, we..."

Seeing this guy laughing uncontrollably, Ritsuka was about to speak, but was interrupted.

"Shut up. As the Sun King, the omnipotent Pharaoh, I already know that you are messengers from Chaldea and that you are the ones who repaired the five Singularity."

"And now we've finally arrived at the beginning of the sixth one, no, I should say it's almost over... In short, you've been far too slow, Chaldea!"

Osmandis rubbed his head, making sure that as long as he didn't move too much, he wouldn't fall again, and continued, "Because the Holy Grail of the Magic King that you've been searching for is already in my hands."

"The Holy Grail...!!"

When Ozymandias casually took a golden cup from the throne, even Artoria's expression turned serious.

"Please calm down. I am neither the Magic King's lackey nor an accomplice to the Humanity Incineration."

"I found this cup in the desert after a lot of effort. I originally intended to give it to my best friend as a surprise, but he is not here right now."

"A close friend...?"

Upon hearing this word from Rameses II, Ritsuka and Mash couldn't help but become curious.

"Hmph, my best friend is quite an amazing person. He is brave, strong, noble, and kind, just like my Nefertari and Moses. It is precisely because of his existence that this Singularity has not developed to an irreversible degree, Chaldea's!"

His tone was filled with pride when he mentioned his close friend Ozymandias. Then, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at Ritsuka Fujimaru and the others, and he said in a high-spirited voice, "In short, Masters from Chaldea! And the Red Dragon from Britannia! Too slow, too slow! Before you even arrived here, the Human Order in this era had already collapsed!"

'[I'm devastated...? What is this...?] '

Realizing something was amiss, Dr. Roman also sent his own Projection, preparing to inquire about the specifics of Rameses II's situation.

"Oh? You are..."

Upon seeing Roman's Projection, Rameses II seemed to have discovered something interesting and couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

'Um... what's wrong?'

Rameses II was about to ask Roman what kind of king he was, but seeing his cold sweat and cowardly appearance, he quickly lost interest and turned his attention to the people below the temple.

"It means exactly what it says. This era should have been a time of multiple forces fighting for the Holy Land. But the Lion King destroyed the Holy Land ahead of time and built the Tower of the End. The Lionheart King became a curse and a calamity. Now the whole world is on the verge of collapse and is about to be cut off by Human History. Even the Magic King has given up on this Singularity."

"If you had come earlier, it wouldn't have been so troublesome."

At this point, Ozymandias seemed somewhat resentful about Chaldea's late arrival.

"However, even without you, my dearest friend and I were prepared to handle everything! Now, just when everything is about to settle down, you bunch of strangers have the audacity to show up here, seeking my help. How arrogant! Utterly arrogant!!"

"I only respect the brave. If you want my help, then come and prove it to me!"

"You mean... all I need to do is beat you down?"

Hearing Ozymandias's incredibly self-centered words, regardless of what happened to Ritsuka and Mash, Artoria definitely couldn't hold back anymore.

She asked Rameses II.

"Hmph! What a boastful tone! If you can do it, then come on! As expected of the Red Dragon of Britannia, you are indeed exceptionally arrogant. But I like heroes like you. So let's begin, shall we?"

Suddenly, Ozymandias, who was laughing loudly, frowned slightly.

The perceptive Ritsuka sensed something was wrong and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Pharaoh?"

Ozymandias did not answer, but simply frowned and gazed at the distant sky.

At this moment, not only Camelot, but the entire territory of Egypt was shrouded in this strange curse.

"Seriously... this is getting more and more troublesome. It really isn't just that Lion King. But... humph!"

Ozymandias crossed his arms, a disdainful look on his face, and said, "To actually attempt to swallow the sun, what audacity!"

"What exactly happened?"

Seeing that Ozymandias had Ritsuka still politely asked, "What happened this time?"

"[Ritsuka, Artoria, something terrible has happened! This Singularity has suddenly emitted an extremely terrifying energy. Even from a great distance, Chaldea can still detect its scale! It feels like... an aggregation of hundreds of thousands of souls?! How... how is this possible?! Why is there such a near-divine magical reaction besides the Lion King?!]"

'Now, the entire Singularity is undergoing even more severe distortion!'

Roman, far away in Chaldea, stared in disbelief at the off-the-charts numerical results on the instrument.

"Don't make a fuss. The one without light is just a demon who doesn't know the sun's brilliance and tries to stand shoulder to shoulder with it! He just wants to be on par with the sun. Hahaha—there's just one more clueless person in the world. But... Chaldea's Singularity is really doomed."

Ozymandias laughed heartily on his throne as always, and then ruthlessly swung his scepter at Ritsuka and the others.