The massive iron gate of Camelot's inner wall tore apart like tissue paper from a single swing of Kay's axe.
Kay let out a beast-like roar as he sprinted up the spiral staircase toward the highest levels of the castle.
Countless royal guards tried to block his path, but they fell like autumn leaves before Kay's sheer breaking power—or, recognizing his face, lowered their weapons and opened the way.
But at the entrance to the final corridor leading to the king's private chamber—
Two people stood blocking the path.
The Knight of the Sun, Gawain.
And the niece he had once raised, Gareth.
"...I've been waiting for you, intruder."
Gawain stepped forward, his heavy boots thudding.
In his hand gleamed the holy sword of the Sun, Excalibur Galatine.
Blessed by the power of sunlight, he was nothing more than a knight faithful to his oath to protect his king; he had no idea who the man before him really was.
Gareth's eyes, by contrast, trembled with conflicting emotion. Having already learned of Kay's survival and news from North Wales through Merlin's messenger, she forced a smile to appear calm.
"You there, stop! I, Gawain, will not forgive the crime of staining holy Camelot with blood! If you call yourself a knight, show your name and raise your sword!"
Gawain thundered as he leveled Galatine's tip at Kay.
Amused by his rigid, blind zeal, Kay halted and let out a low, mocking chuckle.
"You're the one who forgot the proper greeting. I'm your uncle, remember?"
"...What? Uncle?"
Gawain's eyebrows twitched at the unpleasant jest from the burly stranger he'd never met, just as he prepared to tighten his grip on his sword.
Kay's figure blurred as he darted toward Gawain with animal-like speed.
Keeping his torso bent low, Kay hauled his right arm back in a wide arc, gathering all his strength—a clear trajectory of a powerful uppercut aimed at the chin.
"Foolish! Trying to shatter my sword with your fist head-on?"
Gawain had timed his strike to bring Galatine crashing down vertically, intending to cleave Kay's arm in two. But it was a grave miscalculation.
As Kay drew back for the uppercut, his body suddenly dipped toward the ground, twisting the strike's path 180 degrees.
Thwack!!
"...Hrak?!"
The blow Kay had thrown, expecting to strike a jaw or breastplate, instead slammed into Gawain's most vulnerable point—his knee joint.
A bone-shattering crack echoed as Gawain's massive frame wavered and lost its balance. Even a Knight of the Sun was powerless when both legs gave out.
And, of all times, no sunlight filtered in. The cheat-grade blessing known as the Saint's Number remained dormant without the sun's rays.
As Gawain collapsed, Gareth at his side gasped out in panic.
"Uncle Kay! It's me, Gare—"
She intended to tug at Kay's heart with familial affection, then thrust her spear into his back—a twisted, psychopathic cheap trick.
But.
Before her treacherous lips could close—
Crack!
"—Ah, ugh—?!"
Kay's left fist cut short her words, mercilessly crushing her ribs.
Gareth let out a scream of agony that threatened to tear her lungs as she crumpled backward.
In that moment, Kay spun his body and drove his elbow down into the nape of her neck as she arced through the air.
Crraaaack!!
Gareth's small body slammed into the marble floor of the corridor, then rebounded and fell.
The stone cracked like shattered glass; she coughed up blood and collapsed into unconsciousness.
"...I held back. She won't die."
Kay bit his lip until it bled as he gazed down at his fallen niece.
"I'm sorry, Gareth. Five years ago, when I was driven into the Demonic Realm... I should have taken you with me at any cost. I'm sorry I let you rot like this until you broke."
His voice carried bone-scraping guilt and sorrow.
"GARETH!!"
Gawain, his balance gone, rolled onto his back and saw his sister trampled so cruelly, eyes rolling as he roared.
"You bastard! How dare you harm my sister!!"
Gawain unleashed a blast of solar heat and swung Galatine with all his fury, but Kay simply stepped back and easily dodged the enraged blow.
"Protect your sister? Don't make me laugh."
Kay's gaze turned as cold as if staring at an insect.
"What did you do while your so-called brother watched his sister twist into this wreck? You worshipped your king with blind devotion and never saw your own blood used as tools of the Demon King."
"Shut up! Who do you think you are—"
"Who do I think I am? While you mashed potatoes in the kitchen into dirt-laced slop, I was tearing my hair out wondering how to keep these children from starving. You're worthless—a garbage potato gorilla."
Before Kay's tirade ended, the giant stained-glass window in the corridor shattered, and two ominous silhouettes charged in.
One bore the black flame banner of Jeanne d'Arc Alter; the other, a dark holy sword slung over her shoulder—Artoria Alter.
"Haah!!"
Their attacks struck Gawain at once. Jeanne d'Arc Alter's black flames clouded his vision, and in the blink of an eye Artoria Alter's heavy blow knocked Galatine aside, sending him crashing ten meters down the hall.
"Tch, what a stubborn gorilla tough as nails."
Jeanne d'Arc Alter clicked her tongue.
"Don't get in my way, charger—watch my back. I'll crack that idiot brat's skull myself."
"Watch your own back! Don't get roasted by my flames!"
Though it was their first time fighting side by side, they fell into a perfect rhythm and pressured Gawain relentlessly.
Kay didn't spare Gawain even a glance. He surged through the path they'd opened and finally arrived before the king's inner chamber at the very top of the fortress.
Bang!!
Kay kicked open the king's door without a second thought.
The moment he stepped inside, Kay's brow twisted in disgust.
In this windowless, sealed room, the air was thick with the sickly sweet, acrid smoke of marijuana.
"This scent... It's the same aroma I smelled researching medicinal cuisine in the Demonic Realm. Marijuana? And those white powders scattered on the floor... [Osekisan]?"
A lethal drug that induces extreme alertness and hallucinations.
Kay's fist shook with rage as he stared at the figure slumped on the ornate throne in the room's depths.
"...Artoria."
At his summons, the silhouette on the throne slowly lifted her head.
The great prophesied king, Britain's savior Artoria Pendragon. But she wasn't the kind, valiant younger sister Kay once knew.
Her green eyes were dead and unfocused. Smoke poured from her pale lips as she stared blankly. She had become a hollow shell, utterly ruined by drugs.
"...Who are you?"
Artoria lurched to her feet. The drugs' hallucinatory and cognitive effects prevented her from recognizing the man she'd longed for so dearly.
"Ah, I see. An intruder. I felt a disturbance."
She drew the holy sword Excalibur with trembling hands and leveled it at Kay.
"Throw down that damned plant and lower your sword."
Kay tried to approach, swallowing his fury, but Artoria's eyes flared with sudden madness.
"Don't lie!! Brother... you died five years ago!! You abandoned me!! All my sisters, they abandoned me too! Are you another phantom come to deceive me?!"
She screamed as if coughing up blood, clutching Excalibur with both hands and charging at Kay with ferocious intent.
The drug's awakening effect had imbued her sword strikes with terrifying magical power.
But Kay did not flinch. He walked straight through Excalibur's golden arc and into her embrace.
Then Kay's merciless knee drove into Artoria's solar plexus with pinpoint accuracy.
"Ugh...hnh...!!"
A breath-stopping blow, and Artoria's eyes rolled back. Excalibur clattered to the floor as her frail body collapsed into Kay's arms, unconscious.
But Kay felt his own chest warm with blood.
In piercing her with his knee to knock her out, Excalibur's blade had carved deep into his chest.
"...So broken you can't even defend against an attack you can see coming in a straight line."
Ignoring the wound in his chest, Kay cradled the unconscious Artoria to his heart.
As he ran his hand down her emaciated back, his face darkened with despair, grief that tasted of blood, and a shadow black enough to burn everything away.
"..."
Kay gently laid Artoria on the throne, then crushed every drug bottle strewn across the floor with his boot until they were nothing but powder.
He stared at the empty space and muttered in a voice so cold it could freeze.
"Stop hiding and crawl out, Merlin."
Flap.
Responding to Kay's deadly summons, a ragged parrot, missing feathers, swooped in through the window and landed precariously on the throne's backrest.
"…Long time no see, Kay."
The source of all evil, the familiar of the Demon King Merlin.
"Honestly~ You're such a problem child. I shouldn't have entrusted the children to you that day. You're still a thorn in my side. If you hadn't been there, none of this would've happened~"
"…Why? Why would you hide something this obvious from her?"
Kay, trying to remain calm, asked about the drugs.
"Ah~ It's simple. I'm healing Artoria's mind. She's Pendragon blood, a dragon. Her body won't break that easily. When state business calls, I'll use my illusions to bring her back to normal."
"That's not what I mean..."
"Oh~ Is that it? You think I'm evil for ruining Artoria like this? But in the grand scheme, am I really? I'm doing a great job. The process might differ, but the result matters, right? Artoria will act as Britain's perfect king and oversee its doom. Even if the steps change a bit, the outcome remains. If the world avoids true annihilation, the end justifies the means."
"I'm not asking that."
"Hmm, then what? Why drugs? Well, it's the easiest method, right? Artoria stays happy and performs well as king. Perfect, isn't it? Even if it's all a dream or illusion, she can be happy. That's luxury~ Uther had no emotions, so he died without knowing happiness. But Artoria can be happy until the moment she dies. It's sad, of course. A perfect king is too much of a puppet. But there's no choice~ You ruined the children too badly. I should've raised her from the start."
"...Merlin. What do you consider Artoria? A disciple? A daughter?"
Merlin, after pausing, answered.
"A king. A perfect, ideal king. One who can lead Britain."
A device called a king.
Nothing more.
If Artoria failed, I would've swapped in Lily. Anyone would do.
The Pendragon sisters are sacrifices for Britain.
They're martyrs who die for Britain in name only as kings.
Nothing more.
Uther, and Merlin too.
When they forged them with a dragon's heart, they thought this from the beginning.
They must become perfect kings. For Britain, for the world... they must be perfect. This world needs them sacrificed.
Sacrifice cattle for dynasty. That's humanity's history and truth. It's how this world's human history endures.
"She's not some king."
Of course, some cannot accept that.
"She just loves to eat. She laughs and talks with joy and loves adventure... she's my precious family."
Even if the world turns against me... he's a man willing to give up everything for his family.