When a pure white, immaculate city appeared overnight on the war-torn land, those who had suffered through endless conflict saw it as a heaven on earth.
To enter that city, one had to undergo the "Holy Selection"—and the ones performing the ceremony were none other than the legendary Knights of the Round Table.
The refugees, unaware of the truth, didn't realize that the "Holy Selection" was a ritual where only a select few would be chosen and allowed inside.
The rest? They would face "Holy Punishnt."
That was why, every ti the Knights finished selecting a few, the remaining refugees were massacred. No one was left alive to spread the truth.
In this age of isolation and scarce information, people could only na??vely believe that everyone had been welcod into the chalk-white city. Nothing more.
Morgan, Scáthach, and Caren arrived at Calot after nightfall. Cloaked and hooded to conceal their faces, they mingled among the refugees, pretending to await the "Holy Selection."
The fully armored Knights of the Round Table, along with the Enforcent Knights standing ready, made one thing clear: the people at the gates could be wiped out at any mont.
So when Gawain declared "Holy Punishnt," arrows rained from the walls. Morgan, having anticipated this, imdiately moved with Caren and Scáthach, dodging the barrage while fighting off the advancing Enforcent Knights, planning a swift retreat.
She had at least expected the gates to open, but the ceremony was shockingly brief. With just a few words, the Lion King sentenced all but a handful to death.
"We need to fall back. I didn't think we wouldn't even get the chance to sneak in and find him," Morgan sighed, lowering her head, refusing to look at the refugees slain by arrow and blade.
Though she had long grown tired of such sights, being in the middle of it all brought a different kind of clarity.
Beneath her hood, she saw one of the chosen—a mother nad Salia holding her child—trying to escape the arrows, only to be knocked down by an Enforcent Knight.
The knight grabbed her without hesitation.
"You have been chosen. Co into the city."
"Rushd!" Salia, lifted to her feet, showed no joy—only panic as she looked back at the boy lying on the ground.
"That child was not chosen. Your life no longer belongs to you."
"I've obeyed everything Her Majesty the Lion King has said—please, let my son co with ! Rushd!" She reached out, trying to lift the unconscious child.
"There are no exceptions. Ideal souls cannot be compromised—"
As Salia pleaded, Morgan had already prepared her Magecraft.
Just a flick of the hand—simple enough. A small act of empathy from one mother to another, or so she told herself.
But before the knight could swing his sword at Rushd, the ground at the city gates cracked open. From the fissures, countless vines and branches erupted.
They intercepted the next volley of arrows with perfect timing and entangled the charging Enforcent Knights, halting their advance.
"What is this...?" Caren stopped and turned, but couldn't trace the source of the magical energy.
Who was using Magecraft?
Scáthach moved to her side and whispered, "It's the power of my disciple."
Morgan's head shot up. Through the branches now obscuring her view, she looked toward the gate tower.
A white figure stood there, arm outstretched, blood dripping from his hand as he controlled the vegetation with unyielding resolve.
"I'll go to him. You stay and protect Caren," Morgan said.
This ti, Scáthach offered no argunt. She simply nodded.
Caren, anwhile, maneuvered around the vines—which made no move to hinder the refugees—and rushed to help Salia, who was cradling Rushd in her arms.
"If you don't want to enter the city, then run while you still can," said Caren.
Behind her, an Enforcent Knight broke free from the vines. His massive sword ca down, but a crimson spear pierced through him, sending him crashing to the side, no longer a threat.
"Honestly… you and Morgan both have been led astray by him," Scáthach said, turning her head.
More Enforcent Knights had noticed the disturbance and were converging on their position.
"We're pulling back. Fall back to a safe zone and prepare for extraction—"
Before Scáthach could finish, sunlight suddenly tore through the night.
Gawain, raising the Holy Sword of the Sun, blocked Morgan, who was leaping across the treetops, trying to rush into the main tower of the city.
"So you've shown yourself, Morgan!"
With a thunderous shout, Gawain swung the blazing sword down.
Morgan dodged swiftly, and the surrounding vines and trees erupted in flas. But in the next instant, more vegetation sprouted from the ground and rapidly climbed upward, blocking the path of Gawain and the Enforcent Knights.
"I don't have ti to play with children. Stand down, Sir Gawain!"
With a sharp rebuke, Morgan unleashed her Mana, shaping it into countless spears that surged toward Gawain from all directions.
"Calot is my king's ideal city, a millennial kingdom. You will not take a single step inside!"
Spinning to deflect the magical onslaught, Gawain's flaming sword clashed with the spears. A fierce explosion shattered the thick tree branches under his feet, and he dropped back to the ground.
Morgan let out a cold laugh as she stepped lightly across the treetops, quickly closing in on the gate of the Holy City.
"This sword is a replica of the sun. Its fla shall cleanse all the impurity of this world." Gawain imdiately invoked his Noble Phantasm.
The Enforcent Knights, summoned by the Lion King, were tools of divine judgnt. Slaying them along with the condemned refugees posed no issue.
"Take my soul and go forth! Switch On…"
From the refugees, a slender knight in silver armor burst forth. His right arm shimred with golden light as he lunged directly at Gawain.
"Agaterám!"
"You're—"
Gawain recognized him. He was one of the two knights who had refused the Lion King's summons—Bedivere.
He hadn't expected to find him hidden among the refugees.
But this wasn't the ti for reminiscing. Though surprised by the sudden ally, Scáthach didn't stop to ask questions. She imdiately joined the fray, fighting alongside Bedivere to pin down the Sun Knight and buy Morgan ti to retrieve Shiomi.
"If it's the Gift from 'Nightless,' then I'll use the sa trick again!"
Seizing the opening created by Bedivere's charge, Scáthach activated her Magecraft. Dark clouds gathered, eclipsing the sun.
She thrust her spear forward, forcing the now-weakened Gawain to retreat.
It was just like the battle in the desert three days ago. Gawain might have claid he suffered no losses, but Scáthach had seen it—her magic could indeed disrupt the Lion King's Gift.
From above, Morgan seized the mont. She dodged the arrows fired by Enforcent Knights on the battlents, annihilated them with Magecraft, and in the blink of an eye landed atop the front tower.
Shiomi, his Mana sealed and forced to draw on his blood to grow trees and vines, had just noticed the sun shrouded in cloud when another figure landed beside him.
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