Calot was already in turmoil.
They hadn’t even begun the work to restore the half-ruined castle, and now, a massive fortress had appeared above them; there was no way they could stay calm.
Calot's citizens trembled in fear, unsure of what to do, and the knights looked up at the fortress with bleak expressions.
The Knights of the Round Table and the senior knights, recognizing the nature of the shrine, wore grim looks.
“The Genesis Shrine's fortress, why has it appeared over Calot…?”
“What on earth is about to happen now?”
As everyone murmured these thoughts, Gawain, the Knight of the Sun, noticed a man standing atop the still-intact spire of Calot’s castle.
“King Arthur?”
Hearing Gawain’s muttering, the knights all turned their gazes toward Arthur, standing atop the spire.
“Look, it's the King!”
“The King has returned!”
“But why is he wearing black armor?”
While the fact that Arthur was alive brought hope to Calot, the knights who recognized the black armor he wore turned pale.
They were not voicing it, but in their minds, they were already imagining the worst scenario.
Their king had abandoned his nation.
Arthur, who was ant to protect Calot, was now, with his own hands, going to destroy it.
Arthur Pendragon was not unaware of the anxious stares directed at him. He also wasn’t trying to ignore them.
“It was a stage I had been eagerly awaiting, but to think they would make the first move.”
If the Genesis Shrine had acted first, it ant his ti was nearly up.
rlin, Lancelot, Kay, and Gareth also looked up at the shrine with heavy faces.
The sudden appearance of the shrine could only an they had detected the strange events unfolding in Calot.
The shrine uses the "Scales" as an excuse to intervene whenever a major event shakes the Mixed Realm.
If the Scales tipped beyond a certain point, the shrine would act on the imbalance. The Salio Empire incident had occurred precisely because the Scales had tipped.
And now, the sa was true for Calot.
Arthur's gaze turned toward a distant place beyond Calot.
‘Most of the guests I invited have arrived.’
The Divine Spirits of the Mabinogion's Great Army.
Nuada Airgetlám, of the Silver Arm.
Ohad Bres, the Fomorian Half-Blood.
Lu Lávada, of the Supre Light.
Balor of the Evil Eye.
And besides them, the Great Milesians, the fae of the Issi, and even the druids of the ancient forest.
‘Morgan.’
Morgan Le Fay, the woman he once loved, was also watching Calot from afar.
Their gazes t across the air. As transcendental beings, they could recognize each other even from afar.
Arthur gave a faint smile and waved at Morgan. Morgan’s eyes trembled slightly.
Arthur imdiately turned away from Morgan and addressed his companions.
“Even so, we cannot stop what we must do.”
He had staked everything on this very mont.
The shrine hadn’t yet made a move. However, he knew better than anyone that the mont he opened his mouth to utter the tale of true rebellion, the shrine would act imdiately.
The shrine was issuing a warning. It was saying, ‘We know what you’re trying to do, so stop here. Otherwise, irreversible events will unfold.’
The shrine’s erasure of the Salio Empire was already well-known throughout the Mixed Realm. All the great armies had etched into their minds the horror of what happened once the shrine acted.
Calot was no exception.
This was, without a doubt, madness. A desperate outcry, an act of recklessness by a single being staking their life.
Yet it had to be done.
Soone had to let the truth be known.
“Listen, everyone.”
That’s why he did not run.
Arthur publicly revealed his identity before everyone’s eyes.
“Citizens! And brave knights! I, Arthur Pendragon, have abandoned all honor and glory and taken up my sword as a rebel!”
“What? What does that an?”
“Your Majesty! What are you saying?!”
Calot’s citizens shook their heads in disbelief at the claim that their king had betrayed them. Especially Gawain, whose loyalty to the king was exceptional, felt as if the sky itself was collapsing upon him.
Arthur was unconcerned with their reactions. He didn’t have enough ti to convince each of them individually.
Koo-goo-goong!
The shrine began to rumble with a deafening roar, as if the shrine itself was expressing its anger at Arthur’s actions.
“Everyone must be wondering why I’m doing this. But I cannot explain it with words. Instead, keep your eyes wide open and watch closely. The final banner I raise is not only against our Calot.”
Arthur drew his sword from his waist.
A brilliant golden radiance enveloped the sword, dispelling the shadows cast over Calot.
“Rember! That thing hovering above us is the true enemy we must be most wary of and defeat! The ones who mock and look down upon us, always forcing us to repeat the sa fate—those are the true foes we must vanquish!”
His voice spread across all of Calot, reaching even those beyond who were watching the situation unfold.
“Arthur, you can’t be…!”
Morgan finally realized what Arthur was about to do.
She couldn’t help but understand.
As she attempted to move toward Calot, the nine druids who had co with her from Avalon stopped her.
“Morgan! You mustn’t go!”
“It’s dangerous there! The shrine’s actions seem unusual! Calot is going to suffer the sa fate as the Salio Empire!”
“No matter who you are, even if you’re Lady Morgan…”
“Let go of !”
While Morgan struggled against the druids, Arthur’s speech continued without pause.
As he spoke, the shrine’s tremors grew even more intense, reaching a level that seed to shake the world itself.
Arthur raised Excalibur toward the shrine.
“Calot! Mabinogion! And the stars above! Today, we face a new opportunity! You all must choose! Will you submit? Or will you stand and fight?!”
With unwavering eyes, he glared at the shrine.
“Rember this one thing, Logos! He is the root of all this!!!”
And he stood firm.
The shrine’s movents abruptly stopped, as if the intense shaking from just monts ago had been a lie.
A dense, dark silence settled over all of Calot.
Rather than feeling relief, the citizens of Calot felt only fear at the sight.
Their anxiety, that sothing enormous was about to descend upon them, soon beca reality.
Clang.
With a thunderous sound, the lower part of the Genesis Fortress split open on both sides.
No one needed to guess what this ant. Dark shadows began to erge one by one, silhouetted against the light spilling from within the shrine.
“It’s… Elohim! Elohim are here!”
“The Apostles of Destruction have appeared!”
White beings casting black shadows.
These paradoxical figures were apostles of destruction and despair, loyal servants to the mastermind behind all this chaos.
“Arthur! The citizens are in panic!”
“Are you planning to fight the Elohim?”
Kay and Gareth asked, but Arthur gave no reply.
“Arthur!”
“Kay. Gareth. And everyone else.”
Without taking his eyes off the Elohim slowly descending in their direction, Arthur spoke.
“There is sothing you all must do.”
“Do you an to fight those things?”
“No. No fight is necessary. That’s my task.”
“…Then?”
“Spread the truth. Tell this story to the entire Mixed Realm. The truth, the path we must walk, and the possibility that lies ahead.”
A complex mix of joy and sorrow appeared on Arthur’s face.
But finally, he gave a crooked smile and raised his voice.
“That is my last command as king.”
“What? What are you…?”
“That’s enough talk. The Elohim have appeared, so soon their punishnt will fall upon Calot. The shrine will attempt to erase Calot to punish for revealing the truth to the world.”
“This is exactly why we need to fight back!”
“Kay, I understand your heart, but as Calot stands now, we cannot oppose the shrine. Even with all of Mabinogion, it’s the sa.”
The shrine was powerful. There was a reason the great armies bowed their heads to it.
The great armies were mighty organizations within the Mixed Realm, but the shrine was far stronger than even they were.
To oppose the shrine, cooperation was essential among all the great armies that had, until now, drawn lines and divided territories.
“After all, one person is enough to fight here.”
“Don’t be absurd! Do you think I’d leave you behind?”
“rlin.”
At the sound of Arthur’s quiet voice, rlin, who had worn a somber expression throughout, nodded heavily.
“I’ll leave it to you.”
“Understood.”
At the sa ti, an imnse magic power flowed from rlin’s body, enveloping the group. His magic particularly focused on Kay, who struggled fiercely.
“Sir rlin! What are you doing?! Are you saying you’ll abandon our lord, our king, and run away?! How could you…!”
“It is the king’s order. And… do you think this is easy for ?”
“…”
Seeing rlin’s face, almost on the verge of tears, Kay fell silent.
The others felt the sa. Arthur had made his decision, and now, no one could prevent his end.
Kay clenched his teeth and glared at Arthur.
“You reckless younger brother.”
“And who are you to talk, you troubleso elder brother?”
Arthur responded with a smirk to Kay’s outburst.
Though they were half-brothers, this farewell was enough between them.
Suddenly, rlin’s magic burst forth, forming a vast magic circle. The circle quickly spread over Calot, beginning to transport citizens and knights beyond Calot’s borders.
Columns of blinding light shot up throughout Calot, as citizens were transported out one by one.
At that mont, the Elohim began to move.
“They’re coming!”
“The transfer isn’t complete yet!”
rlin shouted urgently. With so many citizens still within Calot, even he couldn’t transport them all in such a short ti.
anwhile, an Elohim raised its spear, aiming it toward the ground.
The faces of the citizens and knights who had yet to be transferred turned pale.
At that mont, a wave of golden light surged over the Elohim. The citizens who hadn’t yet evacuated cheered.
“It’s Excalibur!”
“The king is protecting us!”
The Elohim struck by Excalibur dissolved into particles of light.
However, Arthur’s expression, after swinging his sword, was far from pleased.
There were many Elohim left unhard, and the shrine continued to send forth Elohim in real-ti.
‘Even with Excalibur near its maximum power, this is all it did.’
The Elohim’s gaze eventually turned toward Arthur.
They realized that if they didn’t take down Arthur, he would continue to interfere with their mission to erase Calot. Their target imdiately shifted.
Yu-hyun approached Arthur’s side, issuing a warning.
“King Arthur, drawing attention like this is good, but it seems far from enough to buy sufficient ti.”
“That’s nothing to worry about.”
Arthur replied, sensing an approaching presence speeding toward them from afar.
“Just in case, I called for a fixer in advance.”
“A… fixer?”
This was Yu-hyun’s first ti hearing the term ‘fixer’ in the Mixed Realm.
“There are such people. Those who take requests and resolve them in the Mixed Realm. They’re commonly referred to as rcenaries, but while rcenaries lack organization and tend to leave a ss, fixers handle everything neatly and professionally.”
The fixer Arthur spoke of had just arrived on the scene.
A distant flash of yellow light reached right next to Arthur, stopping abruptly.
‘A carriage?’
It was a massive golden carriage radiating a brilliant light.
Soon, the carriage door opened, revealing a figure.
“Are you the client, Arthur Pendragon?”
“Yes, that’s .”
The one who erged from the carriage was a small, blond child. Yet he spoke down to Arthur naturally, and Arthur responded respectfully.
Yu-hyun recognized the figure stepping out of the carriage, his eyes widening.
“Oello?”
“Huh?”
The one erging from the golden carriage was none other than Oello, one of the five Kings of Story in existence.
Yu-hyun had never imagined encountering Oello here, and Oello himself looked just as surprised to see Yu-hyun.
Several familiar figures peeked out from inside the carriage behind Oello.
Yu-hyun imdiately recognized them as well.
“Celine? Alisha? And even Deputy Celestina?”
These were his forr colleagues from the now-defunct Celestial Corporation.
They, too, recognized Yu-hyun and widened their eyes.
An unexpected, sudden reunion.
However, the current situation was far from one where they could indulge in the joy of seeing each other again after so long.
“Everyone, stay focused. Don’t forget why we ca here.”
Oello frowned, his words bringing imdiate seriousness back to the faces of the fixers.
They reaffird their duty.
Oello glared at the Elohim floating in the sky, then declared the purpose of his arrival.
“Oello, the fixer, here to assist with the evacuation of Calot’s citizens.”
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