Conflict

"Stop fooling around, Artoria! When I'm here, do you really need to go out and launch an attack?! Don't be so stubborn, you little girl!"

"You're the one who's being unreasonable, Xia! I'm not the weak woman I was in the Fairy Forest anymore! I'm the king of Britannia! A king who's survived twelve battles to the death! Why can't I?!"

"Not this. You're not fighting while I'm standing right here! And I'm supposed to sit off to the side?! Fine! Kill me, and then go ahead! No one will stop you!"

"Damn it!! You're so stubborn, Xia! Even you can't be this rude!"

"That's only natural! You're my top priority, above everything else! I'll say it again: as long as I'm here, you're not allowed to do anything even slightly dangerous, let alone get hurt!

Don't use your responsibilities as a 'king' to pressure me! Otherwise, I'll tie you up if I have to, and I still won't let you go!"

"Are you restricting my freedom, Xia?!"

"That's right! Until you give up that stupid idea of charging into battle! Yes!"

"You!! You're going too far, Xia! I...I hate you! Hmph!"

BANG!!!

With a tremendous slam of the door, the argument that had been echoing through the enormous castle finally came to an end...

The guards outside finally breathed a sigh of relief. The argument, which had been going on since yesterday, was finally over.

They had no idea where that golden-haired girl had come from, but she had somehow managed to make their king furious and helpless at the same time.

Well...she must have been someone very special to the king...right?

After all, if anyone else had tried that, they wouldn't have gotten as far as an argument. Even the slightest hint of disagreement would have earned them an immediate dismemberment at the king's hands!

"A king's decisions are none of a bunch of nobodies' business!"

Those were the first words the king had said to them when they met him.

After Artoria angrily slammed the door and stormed off, Xia punched the wall in frustration.

Thud! The broad stone wall was instantly covered in cracks!

"Damn it! Why is Artoria even more stubborn now than she was in the Fairy Forest?! Goddamn it!" Xia panted, his eyes bloodshot with anger.

He stood up and took several deep breaths before finally forcing down the inexplicable anger burning inside him.

"Loyal Guards! Come out!"

At Xia's call, twenty mysterious guards in golden cloaks appeared in the spacious conference room. They were his personal guards, and had followed him ever since he comprehended his Reality Marble in his third life. There was no question about either their loyalty or their strength!

"Keep a close watch on Artoria! Do not let her go more than ten meters beyond this military fortress! Kill anyone who approaches with suspicious intent on sight! And eliminate everyone connected to them as well! Understood?!"

"Eternal Overlord!" x20

After their united cry rang out, the twenty guards vanished from where they stood, as if they had never been there at all...

Creak...!

Only after sending the Loyal Guards to protect that stubborn little lion did Xia finally let out a breath and sink limply into a sofa.

Then he gave a helpless, wry smile.

Xia knew that what he had done would only make Artoria resent him, and might even make her hate him.

But...

"If you get hurt right in front of me for some ridiculous reason like this, I'll tear myself apart!"

The threat he uttered softly only made Xia feel more troubled.

"Your Majesty, as instructed, we eliminated two of the six intruders who entered the Eternal Throne. The other four are scattered throughout the Underworld... One is currently a guest in your castle, so only three of the 'Heroic Spirits' you mentioned are in the Underworld."

Xia waved the scout away and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose...

"Artoria..."

Step...step...

The boots crunching across the snow made a sound all their own.

The bone-chilling wind howled straight into his face.

He stood in the snowy wilderness.

Berserker, clad in black armor, searched the area, trying to find the "weak point" in the barrier so he could shatter it with a single blow.

But after several hours of fruitless searching, Berserker gave up.

He began walking aimlessly toward the center of the snowy plain.

As Berserker saw it, since he couldn't find a flaw in the barrier, the only option was to find its master and defeat him directly.

Unfortunately, Lancer and Assassin had both been killed by Xia's "guards" precisely because they had the same idea.

"You're next, Berserker. You followed the first two Heroic Spirits."

A voice suddenly sounded behind him. Berserker spun around without a moment's hesitation and charged with a roar at the figure behind him!

"ROAR!!!"

Facing Berserker's headlong charge, the figure merely smirked and slowly raised his right hand toward the sky.

Snap!

A sharp finger snap.

BOOM!!!

A massive explosion suddenly erupted, shaking the entire snowy plain.

When the smoke cleared, the flat snowfield had been blasted into a crater two or three meters deep. Berserker lay at its bottom, his limbs pierced by four crimson, dragon-patterned pillars that had appeared out of nowhere, pinning him firmly to the ground. A fifth pillar, pure white as jade, held his head down.

Bright red blood, mixed with bits of white matter, slowly seeped through the crater, staining the pristine snow crimson.

"To kill you with the Fivefold Restraint Pillars, which were used to suppress the phantasmal creatures of the mythic age... I suppose that befits a Heroic Spirit like you.

Farewell... Hm?

Heh, I almost forgot. Heroic Spirits who die within the Eternal Throne are erased completely. So...farewell forever, Lancelot, First Knight."

As the mysterious man's voice faded, the third Heroic Spirit met his end.

The snow stopped falling from the sky, and the blizzard gradually calmed. The white earth shuddered violently, then slowly vanished beyond the horizon like a continent sinking beneath the ocean.

Only a bloodstained reef remained, the sole proof that a life had just been lost there...

Hooo~~~!!

Hooo, hooo~~~!!

The war horn echoed across the horizon.

At the sound of the horn, a vast mass of black-armored knights appeared along the horizon.

Their powerful steeds wore layer upon layer of thick silver armor. The knights astride them gripped their steel lances tightly, leaning forward to keep themselves ready to charge at full speed at any moment.

Beneath the sunlight, their black armor looked even darker and glossier, while the lances in their hands seemed all the more savage and bloodthirsty.

As the figures drew closer, it became possible to see a sticky red glow slowly gathering around them.

It was proof of slaughter, a testament to countless battlefields.

Every knight here had claimed at least a hundred lives!

Though only several hundred knights were charging, they carried the force of a hundred thousand troops!

They were brave, fearless, and seemingly devoid of emotion.

Perhaps the only proof that they were still "human" was their unwavering loyalty.

"What a mighty army of veterans! What a shame I can't make them mine! Hahahahaha!!!"

Hearing the Conqueror King's hearty declaration, the Hero King curled his lip in disdain.

"Before that, you'd better make sure you don't get killed by the very thing you want to conquer! Honestly, how unpleasant to have ended up with you!"

The Conqueror King chose to ignore the Hero King's last remark. He had already learned the proud king's temperament back at the wine table.

But...this was no time for squabbling.

The knights charged toward them in a frenzied, fearless assault, their murderous aura practically tangible and their determination to face death unmistakable.

"Hahahaha!! What a first-rate army! But what a pity that I can't conquer them! Gordias Wheel!"

Facing the oncoming knights, the Conqueror King laughed heartily as he activated his Noble Phantasm!

Two blue-black bulls instantly turned blood-red in the eyes, thick white steam pouring from their nostrils.

They pulled a chariot crackling with electricity, then charged toward the army before them.

As the blue bulls' chariot accelerated, it gradually became a streak of lightning. Arcs of electricity coiled densely around it, glowing white-hot. Even an ordinary Heroic Spirit would have been reduced to ash by the heat the moment it touched them!

Faced with the lightning bolt rushing toward them, the knights swiftly formed a triangular wedge and charged head-on!

"MOOO!!!!!" x2

"For glory!" x600

In just a few breaths, the blue lightning and the black tide crashed together!

BOOM~~~!!!

In the first collision, dozens of black-armored knights were tossed into the air by the bulls. But the gaps they left were quickly filled by those charging behind them, who pressed on and attacked the bulls again!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!

Knocked aside, then replaced! Replaced, then knocked aside again!

The blue lightning was like a wild horse, rampaging through the black tide.

And the black tide was like a turbulent sea, charging at the Conqueror King again and again!

RUMBLE!!!

Another earth-shaking crash. When the smoke cleared—

The blue lightning had been stopped by the fifty or so knights who remained. Their icy lances held the bulls' sharp horns firmly at bay, while dozens of black-armored knights clung to the bulls' legs, weighing them down.

"MOOO!!!!"

Furious at being stopped by a mere group of mortals, the bulls released the lightning crackling around them, trying to electrocute every last knight. But the black-armored knights seemed entirely unaffected. Whenever a bolt struck their iron armor, the black metal rippled gently, as if absorbing the lightning's energy, protecting the knights from harm.

The Conqueror King's pupils narrowed slightly at the sight.

"Could that be...a great spell from the mythic age?"

While the Conqueror King was momentarily distracted by the black armor's strange property, the fifty or so remaining knights suddenly cried out in unison!

"Loyal to the death! Blindly loyal! We swear our allegiance to the death!"

At their cry, all six hundred black-armored knights instantly turned into black mist and surged toward the knights holding back the bulls, swiftly enveloping them!

Then, an ominous black light shot into the sky!

The Conqueror King's Gordius Wheel was violently flung into the air the moment it touched the black light. The black beam surged skyward and instantly transformed into a black battle-axe, which swung viciously at the Conqueror King as he flew through the air!

"Damn...!!"

The Conqueror King's heart lurched!

"Tch! You wretches! Gates of Babylon!!!"

Just as the Conqueror King watched helplessly, about to be cleaved in two by the black battle-axe, the Hero King's voice suddenly rang out! A rain of golden arrows collided violently in the sky with the ominous black axe!

Golden light and black light clashed fiercely overhead. One moment, the black light gained the upper hand; the next, the golden light suppressed it.

The once-clear blue sky had been replaced by gold and black.

The two fiercely clashing colors struggled to paint the entire sky in their own hues, each trying to drive the other from the heavens!

"Tch! You've gotten carried away, you mongrel! I'll finish you in one blow!"

Watching the golden and black lights coil around each other in the sky like two giant dragons, the Hero King felt as if his pride had been slapped. He couldn't believe he had to work this hard against a bunch of corpses turned into deathly energy!

Enraged, the Hero King pulled a tube-shaped weapon from the Gates of Babylon.

He bent forward slightly.

"Enuma...!!"

Vast magical energy burst forth! The violent, chaotic power pressed against the air itself, making it hard to breathe.

As EA gathered the crimson energy, it grew larger and larger, its already devastating force intensifying as it compressed.

"Disappear!!! Enuma Elish!!"

With the Hero King's True Name Release, a fierce crimson torrent surged into the sky and collided with the golden and black lights!

The sky, already thrown into chaos by the golden and black torrents, finally gave way under the added force of the crimson torrent.

A blinding flash of white light suddenly erupted where the three torrents clashed!

Then came a deafening roar!

The violent shock wave hurled the Conqueror King, who had just stood up on his chariot, into the air again. Even the Hero King, still gripping EA, was swept away with him!