Vortigern laughed when he heard that:
"Very well, very well. Consider it a little indulgence from your father.
Of course, I'll give your little sweetheart only five minutes to leave. All she needs is to get clear of the fight.
How about it?"
"Agreed."
Sovell agreed without hesitation.
Securing a chance for Lia to escape was already more than he could have hoped for. If he pushed his luck and his father refused to let her leave at all, he would be in trouble.
He had to quit while he was ahead.
"Five minutes. The countdown begins."
Vortigern began counting down.
Artoria grabbed Knight Kay's hand beside her and, before he could react, threw him bodily onto his horse.
She took the reins, turned the horse toward the North, and slapped its rump. The startled horse immediately broke into a gallop.
"Sovell, be careful. Staying alive comes first.
I'll wait for you to return."
With those final words, the girl turned and left.
"Four minutes."
"Three minutes."
"Two minutes."
"Sixty seconds."
"Three."
Sovell's hands were trembling uncontrollably, not from physical exhaustion, but from an instinctive fear of a mature member of his own species.
"Two."
With his other hand, the boy drew the Wind King Scabbard from his waist, transformed it into a round shield, and held it before him.
"One."
As the countdown neared its end, Vortigern's aura surged, spilling out around his body.
Sovell had no choice but to force the magic in his blood to erupt once more, making his body stop trembling.
"Zero."
The instant the countdown ended...
Bam!
A white figure hurtled backward.
Another figure, as black as a shadow beneath the blazing sun, now stood where Sovell had been, half a flower petal beneath his foot.
Watching the boy in the distant sky, the man wore an utterly unrestrained grin. His vigor gave no hint that he was nearing sixty.
Indeed, Sovell had been sent flying the moment he engaged Vortigern, without the slightest chance to fight back.
Even if Sovell was certainly more skilled in martial combat than Vortigern, a commander, that meant nothing against the sheer brute force of Vortigern's punch.
All technique was meaningless before absolute strength!
Vortigern had simply used brute force to shatter the Wind King Shield Sovell had formed, scattering it.
Sovell struggled to control his posture in midair, calling back the dispersed Invisible Air and placing it beneath his feet to soften his landing.
Then he charged at Vortigern again, turning Invisible Air into a scabbard at his waist and gripping his sword with both hands for a full-force horizontal slash!
But Vortigern easily caught Rhongomyniad's blade in a firm, one-handed grip.
The wild grin vanished from his face, replaced by boundless fury.
Vortigern spoke with bitter regret:
"If he hadn't done that back then!
If he hadn't underestimated the power of our dragon kind!
You, a mere weapon, could never have escaped eight years ago!"
Sovell's pupils contracted sharply at those words, and he murmured:
"I'm... a weapon..."
"That's right. A weapon!"
Looking at the downcast Sovell, Vortigern smiled again.
But this time, it was a sneer.
"A hybrid of a primate and our noble dragon kind, with a dragon's blood flowing within a human body.
Human agility and draconic strength united as one!
Look at yourself!
What perfect iron you are! With just a little tempering, you could shine as brightly as the sun and moon! You could become a divine weapon without equal!"
Vortigern's expression was rapturous as he spoke, but then he continued in a tone of regret:
"What a pity, though..."
"A pity? What is?"
"Heh. Such a pity-
Now that you refuse to obey, you no longer even qualify to be a weapon."
Vortigern's aura surged again, and dragon scales appeared on his forehead and cheeks.
The wrinkles left by age disappeared.
The white dragon's horns emerged atop his head, while a dragon's tail and wings unfurled behind him.
Vortigern's immense strength traveled through the sword, lifting Sovell into the air along with it.
"A disobedient weapon...
Can only be treated as scrap!!!"
With that roar, Vortigern slammed Sovell into the ground and kicked him away.
"Come! Let me send you back into the furnace and forge you anew!
I'll use your flesh and blood to create another, more perfect weapon!!! Hahahahahaha!"
Sovell's body crashed into the base of the distant cliff, embedding him in its face and leaving him unable to move.
The boy felt as though every bone in his body had shattered into countless fragments. The tremendous impact against the cliff had blurred his vision as well.
His delicate features contorted. As though heaven and earth had turned upside down, overwhelming dizziness and nausea consumed his mind.
Mustering what little willpower he had left, Sovell unleashed his magic to shake Merlin's seal and open his human magic circuits.
"Aah!!!"
Veins bulged in the boy's neck, his eyes became bloodshot, and his face flushed crimson.
The agonizing pain of the wavering seal successfully overwhelmed his body's discomfort, but it also made him scream.
Three minutes at most!
Just hold on for three more minutes!
"Gale, Forge, Blade, Million, Strengthen!"
In the instant the seal wavered, Sovell recited the most powerful incantation he could utter.
The next moment, over a million strengthened wind blades appeared out of thin air overhead, raining down to slash at Vortigern in the distance!
Vortigern lacked Merlin's ability to render magic harmless, but even in a head-on clash, he had nothing to fear.
After all, in his eyes, Sovell was now nothing more than scrap ruined in the forge. At most, he might prick his hand.
"Oh? Fairy magecraft? You've learned quite a few things in eight years, scrap."
Sovell finally realized something was wrong. While the million wind blades attacked Vortigern, he rested for a moment inside the cliff, then pulled his body free of the rock face.
He pointed his sword at Vortigern, who had spread his wings and was flying through the sky.
The boy shouted angrily, demanding:
"No matter how my father's temperament might change, he would never allow anyone to belittle his child!
Even if! Even if I really failed at something countless times, no matter how disappointed he was in me!
He would never make me a weapon without a will of my own instead of his child!
My real father would never call me scrap, either!
And unlike Uther, my father doesn't have a Court Mage as accomplished as Merlin. He couldn't possibly recognize fairy magecraft.
Who are you really? Why are you impersonating him?"
"Haha...
Hahahahahahahaha!"
Hearing this, "Vortigern" clutched his stomach and laughed wildly in the sky, then spoke to Sovell below:
"Who am I? I'm your dear father, of course.
Scrap."
"Bullshit!"
Overcome with fury, Sovell cursed, placed Invisible Air beneath his feet, and unleashed it, launching himself into the sky with a slash!
"Vortigern" did not grow angry at Sovell's abuse. His expression remained calm.
He knocked the incoming blade aside with one hand and seized Sovell by the throat with the other.
The instant their eyes met, a metallic clang rang out from somewhere.
Clang-
Sovell's eyes instantly became like blood-red gemstones. Caught off guard and subjected to mental interference, "Vortigern" froze for a moment.
He shook his head. Once he recovered, he was about to crush Sovell's throat when he saw a triumphant smile on the boy's lips.
The next moment, a voice carrying the fragrance of flowers rang out:
"Garden of Avalon."
Before you continue