Leon's Way to Turn the Tide

"Did Morgan actually manage to decipher the Holy Spear's spell formula?"

Merlin watched the turbulent magical energy in the sky gather like a tornado, forming an enormous magic mirror that reflected every inch of Britain.

This was Morgan's Magecraft—Water Mirror.

Within the Water Mirror, tremendous magical energy surged, converging on dozens of different locations.

Golden light flashed, tearing through the clouds to reveal spearheads shaped like spirals.

The beams from the mainland swept past, blasting the island without restraint. Waves of heat washed over him, but Merlin remained unmoved, simply watching the attacks fall upon the land.

"The industrialization His Majesty was so determined to bring to Britain is as good as finished..."

Merlin had excellent eyesight. He easily made out the targets of those Holy Spears: the factories, railways, and other facilities built over the past two years.

Unfortunately, his main body was in Europa at the moment, and only a mere phantom remained on the island. Otherwise, he could have stopped most of Morgan's attacks.

"I hope the King won't get too angry when he hears this bad news."

In Merlin's eyes, the Lion King was arrogant, looking down equally on everything in the world, as if it were all part of a game played on a sand table.

The King's lofty attitude also gave him an air of detached calm and stability. Even if he flew into a rage for a moment, he would soon settle down again.

After all, to the King, a game was only a game. In that respect, Merlin thought the Lion King was rather like himself.

The situation from here could go in only two directions: Rome or Britain. What would the King do?

Merlin guessed that, given the King's temperament, he was more likely to deal with Rome first.

"Now that the King himself has entered the fray, I'll have to step up my efforts too."

Merlin had seen the mages on the mainland assisting Lucius. They had even dug deep into their own resources to help him, hoping to overthrow the Lion King. They had gone so far as to cobble together a god and equip it with a secret weapon.

A god of that caliber couldn't defeat the Lion King, but Merlin couldn't see the true nature of that secret weapon with his Clairvoyance. That made things interesting.

Whether to gather intelligence for the Lion King or simply satisfy his own curiosity, he had to go and take a look.

Before that, he should tell the Lion King about the situation in Britain.

"Morgan!"

After hearing Merlin's account, Leon stood atop the dragon and gritted his teeth, growling through heavy breaths. His plate-armored chest rose and fell.

The thin air and freezing temperatures at high altitude, along with the howling wind, should have made Leon feel cold, but he didn't feel the slightest chill. Instead, blood surged through his chest, and a burning restlessness coursed through his veins and limbs.

He felt as if he were about to lose his mind.

How dare Morgan?

How could she be so brazen, so audacious?

Not only had she betrayed him, she had also destroyed all the technology and industry he had worked so hard to build over the years.

It was utterly incomprehensible!

Kill!

Kill her!

"Neltharion, head for the capital."

Leon gave the order at once. The dragon beneath his feet seemed to sense its master's fury and didn't dare roar. Without a sound, it beat its wings, turned around, and flew downward as if plunging toward the ground.

The icy air swept across Leon's cheeks and brow, carrying away some of his agitation. The bitter wind rushing past drained his body heat, but it also helped clear his head a little.

He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

"Whew. Calm down. Don't panic. This is only a minor loss... It's not a big deal."

A ruler should not wage war out of anger, nor should a general provoke battle out of wrath.

It was only Britain's industry that had been ruined. If he could spark an industrial revolution once, he could do it again. It would simply take more time.

Leon prided himself on having excellent composure. With the poise to remain impassive even as Mount Tai collapsed before him, he forced his emotions back under control.

At his command, the dragon beneath him stopped above the clouds.

Leon knew that the more dire the situation, the more important it was to stay calm. Only by calming down could he avoid mistakes, see through the current situation, and find a chance to turn things around.

Lowering the Holy Spear, Leon sat down. With each even breath, the anger in his lungs faded, turning into cold mist that drifted away.

Britain's situation was clear. Morgan had rebelled at home and destroyed the island's industrial facilities, while the Roman army waited outside, eager to swallow the island whole.

As for Britain's forces, the navy's warships had all been destroyed. The sailors had emergency lifeboats aboard, so at best, half of them might have survived. The army had suffered relatively few casualties because Leon had ordered it to disperse in advance. At least nine-tenths of it remained.

But at this point, the number of soldiers was useless. Only a handful of people could make a difference.

Scathach had gone to the royal palace to deal with Morgan. Merlin was watching Rome's movements for him. Lancelot and the other knights, including Leon's father and brothers, should have gone to quell the unrest and stabilize the country as soon as the turmoil began.

In other words, he was the only one who could play a decisive role!

Leon realized that he had a serious shortage of capable people who could handle matters on their own.

"No matter. I'm enough to handle this alone!"

To turn the situation around, he needed the strength to secure victory—the power to flip the table.

And Leon had plenty of power.

With Britain's industry destroyed, Leon had fewer scruples. He no longer needed to cautiously defend the island and could finally throw himself into action without restraint.

To maximize his gains, Leon would not only have to put down Morgan's rebellion, but also crush Rome, which was already at war with him.

Between the two, one had to come first.

After a moment's thought, Leon made his decision: outside first, then inside.

He would kill Lucius first. Once he had crushed Rome, he could come back and deal with Morgan.

As for Britain... its industry was gone, and Leon no longer cared about it as much. He would let Morgan have her way with the island for now.

He could switch tactics at a moment's notice.

He didn't need to build Britain's strength until it could stand against Rome. He only needed to cripple Rome until it was weaker than Britain.

That was precisely what he excelled at.

Slaughter!

Afterward, he would land in Europa and unify the mainland. It would be a piece of cake.

With a change of perspective, the horizon opened up.

Only then did Leon's emotions truly settle.

As he faced the Rome he was about to slaughter, Leon suddenly felt a peculiar rush of pleasure.

It was like joining a game with the privileges of an MG, or the mocking satisfaction Frieza felt when he revealed his 530,000 battle power.

In short, it all came down to one sentence.

"Rome, your emperor is coming!"

He picked up the Holy Spear and stood. He gave the dragon beneath him a slight nudge with his foot. Neltharion let out a knowing roar, as if responding to his thoughts.

Leon glanced at Rhongomyniad in his hand. As for the dozens of Holy Spears Merlin said had fallen from the sky, he wasn't particularly surprised.

This was Morgan, after all.

You could call Morgan wicked, but you couldn't call her incompetent.

If Morgan in the Lostbelt could do something, the Morgan in reality could do it too.

She was Britain's rarest genius mage, and her mastery of Magecraft was every bit as exceptional as his own prominence among the crowd.

Ever since acquiring Rhongomyniad, Leon had kept it close at hand. Whenever he had a spare moment from his official duties, he would swing it around a few times. During the two years since they had married, Morgan had even had more chances to touch Rhongomyniad than she had his Holy Spear.

With so much time, if Morgan couldn't reproduce the Holy Spear's spell formula, Leon would have looked down on her. He would have thought her talent was nothing special.

"My child, Artorius."

Morgan held her son close. He was still too young to speak, so all he could do was babble and smile at his mother.

Seeing his smile filled Morgan with boundless affection. She affectionately rubbed her cheek against his plump little face, making him laugh even more. The sight warmed Morgan's heart as well.

She was seated on the Golden Throne in the palace, the one that belonged to Leon. Looking down from above at the factories belching black smoke on the right side of the royal city, she felt satisfied with her handiwork.

After all, she had spent a great deal of time deciphering the Holy Spear's spell formula. Over the past few days, she had also used Water Mirror to gather an enormous amount of magical energy, destroying all of Britain's industrial facilities in one fell swoop.

"Hmm, you couldn't find Mordred?"

She had sent out several of her clones. They had found Artorius, but despite searching everywhere, they still couldn't find her daughter Mordred.

One of the clones had even been blown apart by a single spear thrust while searching. Morgan hadn't even seen the enemy.

"Leon must have hidden Mordred in advance..."

Morgan knew rationally that she didn't need to worry too much about Mordred's safety. She was Leon's daughter and Britain's princess; no one would dare harm her.

But having her daughter away from her still made Morgan worry despite herself.

When the consciousness inhabiting her clone saw the crimson spear shaft thrust into its body, Morgan immediately recognized the enemy.

"So Leon really did send Scathach back. Does he intend to use that old woman against me?"

Morgan's lips curled downward as she mentioned Scathach, her expression darkening as murderous intent rose in her heart.

"Fine. I'll kill Scathach first."

She hated Scathach!

No, to be precise, she hated every woman—every female—who appeared by her husband's side.

Scathach had been brought back by Leon to teach him Rune Script. Leon went to study Runes with her every single day without fail, which only deepened Morgan's dislike of her.

If she hadn't always been sure Scathach and her husband were innocent, she would have poisoned Scathach herself long ago.

Still, she had Leon to thank for it. From the occasional things he said before bed, she had learned Rune Script early. Now, before Leon had even mastered it, she had already learned it all and studied it to even greater depths. She believed her skill was nearly equal to Scathach's.

This was the perfect opportunity to use Rune Script to send Scathach to her grave.

Scathach was no longer a concern. Merlin's skill in Magecraft was only mediocre; he even bit his tongue when reciting spells. He was no match for her either. Most of the soldiers were probably suppressing unrest at home and guarding against foreign invasion.

The most troublesome person now was Leon.

Morgan knew her husband's nature very well. In the current state of Britain, he would likely find an unexpected way to turn the situation around.

"It's Rome, isn't it?"

Morgan was certain of her guess.

"If Leon goes to the mainland, the mages there and Lucius won't be able to defeat him, but they can keep him occupied for a while. That will be enough for me."

Morgan wanted to reclaim Britain and return it to the Age of Gods, turning it into a paradise of Mystery. She still needed time to put the rest of her plans in place.

And with her husband caught up on the Roman battlefield, she would have all the time she needed to prepare.

Once she had completed the plan she had been carefully working on, not even her husband would be able to defeat her when he returned.

"Haha, how should I deal with you then, my husband?"

Morgan was confident of victory. When she imagined her all-conquering husband being defeated by a weak woman like herself, then trampled beneath her feet, a smug smile spread across her face.

She would cut out her husband's brain and imprison his soul. She would remove his internal organs, preserve them as specimens, and hang them on the wall to admire. She would turn his body into a doll to stay by her side forever, never to be parted again...

No, she would leave his reproductive system inside him. When she got lonely, she could take it out and enjoy herself.

Morgan unconsciously stroked her belly. She and Leon had been together for so long that she had long since grown used to her husband's size, going from the searing pain at the beginning to becoming perfectly accustomed to him. No one else could satisfy her.

"Hmm?"

Morgan gave a puzzled little hum. She sensed that someone had suddenly entered the royal palace.

She had laid layers of barriers around the entire palace, turning it into her Magecraft workshop.

The barriers within the palace worked in concert, and with the various concepts she had imposed upon them, the place had become a demonic realm in another dimension. It had broken free from the physical constraints of the real world, left the planet's surface, and become a detached palace caught between several worlds.

Someone had managed to break in. As far as Morgan could tell, only Scathach was capable of that.

"I didn't come looking for you, yet you've delivered yourself right to my door."

How foolish.

Someone had dared trespass into the workshop of a great mage. Morgan didn't know whether Scathach was simply talented and confident in her strength, or whether she was deliberately seeking death to fulfill Morgan's wish.

The moment she sensed the intruder, Morgan reached out. Magical energy surged as an intricate spell formula appeared in midair. A dark blue void formed in front of her, and she sent Artorius inside.

It was her most important Magecraft workshop, a separate space where she conducted all her magical research. She had also placed several autonomous puppets there to look after Artorius while he was still an infant.

After settling her son, Morgan took up a massive, black-iron-like staff. Seated on the throne with one leg crossed over the other, she curled her lips into a mocking smile and looked at the purple figure entering the hall.

"I knew it. It really is you, Scathach."

Scathach still wore her usual purple outfit. The instant she entered the hall and saw Morgan, her eyes turned murderous. She gripped her spear and charged.

First, she threw a spear at her target on the throne. Then she took up the opening stance of a killing blow and lunged forward. Her figure vanished in an instant, so fast she became a purple blur, her spearpoint aimed at Morgan's heart.

Faced with Scathach's deadly attack, Morgan sensed the precision of her murderous intent. Though she couldn't make out Scathach's figure, she showed not the slightest hint of panic. She didn't even raise a hand.

A blue vortex of magical energy, like a waterspout, appeared before the throne. It shattered the incoming spear and Scathach's follow-up attack in quick succession.

When the thrown spear entered the vortex, Scathach's expression changed. She immediately abandoned the ambush and leapt backward, landing more than twenty meters away. Clutching her spear, she watched Morgan warily, fully alert.

She couldn't sense the spear that had entered the vortex.

"Water Mirror Magecraft..."

Scathach had heard about Morgan's spell. If her guess was right, this had to be it.

Morgan heard Scathach's mutter and smiled dangerously. "It seems you know what I'm capable of. You've looked into me quite thoroughly. Are you trying to take my place?"

"?"

Scathach was taken aback, but she immediately understood what Morgan meant.

"No, I have no intention of taking your husband from you."

"It doesn't matter. Whether you do or not, I won't let you go." Morgan spoke calmly. When she finished, she turned her head toward the entrance to the hall. "How long are the two of you going to hide? You sons who betrayed your mother."

Scathach glanced at Morgan in surprise, then flicked her spear. Crimson Runes appeared, reflected across the wide-open doorway.

Space rippled. The transparent concealment barrier shattered like an illusion, and crystalline magical energy drifted through the air. Two figures, one blue and one black, appeared in the hall.

Agravain and Gawain.

Morgan raised an eyebrow, studying her two sons with an interested look and an expression that said she had expected this all along.

"Mother, you really have betrayed the King."

Agravain's deep voice rang through the empty hall. His calm tone held absolute certainty.

Gawain rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. Without a word or any expression, he watched his mother on the throne.