Ex-Machina on Dimensional Travel

Only after actually clashing with her did he realize that he had been wrong—spectacularly wrong.

From the very beginning, he had taken the wrong approach. He had faced an enemy like her in the wrong way, leaving him in his current state, beaten down before he could fully unleash his strength.

"That sword..."

Refused an answer by Xiu Er, Gawain finally shifted his gaze downward, toward the crimson sword at her waist.

Only then did he understand where that familiar feeling had come from.

Without a doubt, the sword at her waist belonged to someone Gawain knew well—one of his fellow Knights of the Round Table, Mordred.

Naturally, he recognized that weapon. Earlier, it had only been because of Xiu Er's replication trait: most of each piece of equipment's energy had been mixed with her own, heavily suppressing the original item's "aura."

Put simply, anything created by Xiu Er carried the "golden" characteristics of Dimensional Energy.

That was why Gawain had found it familiar but failed to recognize it.

"Have you encountered other Knights of the Round Table before this?"

Slowly tightening his grip around his sword, the knight's breathing gradually steadied, and his voice regained its previous composure.

"A question: would an upright knight still support a king who has strayed from the path?"

She finally answered, but the first words she spoke before him were a challenge to his actions.

Xiu Er stood with her arms folded, her face full of indifference as she watched Gawain.

Seeing that expression on his own face made him deeply uncomfortable, but what troubled him even more was her question.

Yet unexpectedly, Xiu Er's casual question seemed to strike a nerve, making him lower his head.

There was no anger, no shame—only a trace of regret.

"I am the King's knight. I