Parts of Grimhild began to phase.
Her hands, face, wings, all fractured between the monstrous silhouette of the Endpoint and the woman she used to be.
Her eyes showed the first hints of red.
"No..." She said through gritted teeth.
"This is what I am... I am destruction! I am the End!"
"I don't care!" Arthur shouted, stepping forward, Excalibur low in his hand. "I still believe that you can change!"
With blazing eyes of destruction, Grimhild raised her arm, summoning forth an Apocryphal Spear of Nullity; a weapon forged from the absence of all things.
It blended into existence as she hurled it forward.
Instead of flying, it erased the space between them.
Arthur had only one chance.
With a cry of raw defiance, he raised Excalibur and channeled everything he had; power, memory, will, love, sorrow, and hope!
The sword burst into a flame of golden light that spiraled into infinity, forming a conceptual shield woven from everything mortals had ever believed in.
The spear struck—
KRRRRRAAAASH!!
An explosion of paradox ripped through reality, flattening mountaintops and splitting seas across the continents.
The clouds vanished, and Tellus was on the verge of collapse.
But Arthur stood with his knees buckled, armor shattered, and blood painting the ground in crimson from the strain on his human body.
"You can destroy everything, Grimhild." He said. "But you can't destroy the truth!"
Grimhild trembled with a scowl.
"There is no truth. What you believe in is a delusion."
"That's a lie!" Shouted Arthur. "Resist your other side and return to the light! Raise your head from the darkness and follow the path to good!"
His blade rose again.
"Come back to your senses, Grimhild. Fight me if you have to. Hurt me, hate me, but don't lie to yourself! You were never made to be just destruction!"
Grimhild, angry at his words, manifested multiple other spears of annihilation as they dove forward, striking his conceptual shield of divinity.
Excalibur was protecting him with all its might, and guiding Arthur to the path of victory.
The spears collided with his shield as they both canceled each other out. He now had no means of protection, but that gave him the opening he needed.
"Hyaaaaaaaghhhh!!"
Lunging forward, the Champion of Yggdrasil wasted no time plunging the Blade of Legend deep into Grimhild's body.
The Endpoint and all were penetrated.
Grimhild tumbled backward, grasping her chest as he pulled out, watching black blood of absence spill from her wound.
From within her, light was leaking and Grimhild was panting.
"Why... why does it hurt?"
"The pain you feel only proves that you're alive and with purpose!"
The black blood on Excalibur vanished.
"Any sort of feeling means you're alive. That you matter. That this world matters."
Grimhild's wings began to falter.
"No..." She said. "Stop speaking... I wasn't meant to be saved."
Arthur pressed the hilt of Excalibur to the ground and knelt.
"Then let me carry the burden with you."
Grimhild collapsed to her knees across from him as the area around them warped.
"...What?"
"Mm." He nodded, lowering his head into a smile.
"That's what it means to be good. I'll stand by your side, and carry the pain you tried burying for so long." Arthur extended his hand.
"...I've done things I regret. All of my actions were irredeemable. What's the point of doing good if I'm a fool who cannot be saved? The only choice I see is to embrace my past."
Arthur smiled through the pain of her words.
"Grimhild. You think you're beyond saving because of what you've done... but that's not true. You think redemption is something you earn by being perfect. But it isn't. It's something you choose, even when you think you don't deserve it."
She didn't respond with distant eyes, lost in pain.
Arthur's voice emanated his deep feelings.
"Do you know what I see when I look at you?"
Her red gaze turned slightly toward him.
"I see the woman who wanted to learn about the world and stray away from her evil ways, but memory, regret, and hatred caught up to her."
He leaned closer—Excalibur saw the truth of the matter and relayed it to King Arthur.
"What you're doing right now isn't about Chroliosa. The rage you're feeling right now is from years of holding all of that pain in. You're simply carrying a heavy burden, and now it's taken its toll on you."
Arthur smiled heartwarmingly.
"You just snapped. You were tired of yourself, and tired of trying to do what is right when you believe none of it matters. Chroliosa was your breaking point."
Grimhild's eyes widened and glistened with tears.
Arthur's voice trembled, but he didn't lower it.
"But your effort to be good matters, Grimhild. It always mattered. You matter."
She turned her face away.
"I don't deserve to be loved..."
"You don't need to deserve it." Arthur muttered. "You just need to let it in."
Those words pierced her—deeper than Excalibur ever had.
Her body jolted as if something inside her cracked open.
"I'm tired, Arthur..." She whispered. "So tired of being something I hate..."
Tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks.
Her pure white eyes vanished, though she only had one eye remaining as Excalibur cut it in their battle, and now it began to show.
Arthur witnessed her body change as her wings folded inward and dissolved like snow melting in spring.
"I'm sorry..." She said with a broken voice. "I'm so... sorry...!"
Grimhild gently took his hand, and in that moment, she collapsed into him, crying.
"Your reactions, your emotions, and your tears just show that you're deserving of love and support, just like everyone else. Even if you're the end, this just proves you're more human than naught."
He held her tight.
"It's okay." Arthur whispered. "You're free now. You let that old side of you go. It won't come back, I assure you."
+
And so the battle ended with Grimhild Yorgana finally expressing her emotions.
She kept them bottled up and regretted every moment of her life, but never have she talked to someone about them, until now.
Arthur listened to every word and accepted Grimhild as human.
She could cry, feel, and love.
Despite being an Atamon, that was more human to King Arthur than anything else.
The skies, now nonexistent, hung still while the ground beneath them remained shattered.
Arthur stood back up and looked down at Excalibur—the blade that had been born from the three primordials.
It had chosen him.
It had chosen hope.
Gently, almost reverently, Arthur placed his hand on the hilt and whispered.
"Let it all begin again."
Then, with steady breath, he drove Excalibur into the earth as it emanated a brilliant light.
A peaceful sound passed through the blade as Tellus, and everything else quaked.
Almost immediately, a warm light spread outward, like the slow bloom of dawn after the longest night.
The world began to breathe again.
Where the end had swallowed time, moments were stitched back together, like memories rewound.
Trees grew whole.
Rivers began to flow again.
Kingdoms manifested back into reality, brick by brick.
And people could move again.
Kyto looked up at the sky, blinking.
"Huh? What the hell just happened?"
Obsidia fell to her knees in the tavern that seemingly wasn't there a second ago.
Elizabeth clutched her chest as the rhythm of her heart returned.
Fhiron laughed and smiled next to Jean as they both were unaware of how long they had been trapped in eternal stagnation.
The Endpoint that consumed everything had it all replaced by Excalibur.
And far away, beyond the physical and spiritual, even Merlin came back to her senses.
"What... was I doing a moment ago?"
Vrunemir who had been defeated with Lilith's power would lie there.
The Idea of Evil left his body long ago during the battle between Grimhild and Arthur; escaping back into Oblivion.
Grimhild, with dry tears, stood and picked up her staff, approaching the Bandit King.
He seemed just as confused, unbeknownst to the fact that existence was about to crumble. But despite his confusion, he expressed no fear, even in the presence of King Arthur.
"Vrunemir." Grimhild talked in her usual, deep monotone voice before stepping on his chest.
"Ghnnn! Aaaaghh!" He clenched his teeth together, wincing his eye.
"I've learned quite a lot during our fight. Tell me, why are you working for Merlin? What is her plan?"
"T-To hell… with you!"
Grimhild sank her foot deeper into his injured body, making him yelp.
Arthur looked slightly disgusted.
"I'm not one for torture… but sometimes it gets the job done."
"King of Camelot… tell me, why are you here?! How have you broken free from the cocoon of darkness!?" Asked Vrunemir.
Arthur frowned.
"So you know about that? You and Dracula must've planned this together. Grimhild was the one who set me free." He said, furrowing his brows.
"Grimhild? I see." He muttered before frowning. "And I have nothing to do with that, you fool! My job is to handle the Witch of Destruction! That's what was ordered by Merlin."
"I know many Merlins." Said Arthur, crossing his arms. "Which are you referring to?"
Grimhild turned to face him with droopy, questioning eyes.
"Your Court Wizard, Arthur."
"Ah, I see- WAIT MY COURT WIZARD?!"
"You haven't figured it out yet? Well, this is also partially my fault." Mumbled Grimhild.
"H-How can that be true? Merlin has always helped Camelot… It's not like her to betray me!"
Grimhild closed her one eye, turning away.
"You're a gullible man. She took advantage of your naivety."
King Arthur was still baffled by all of this, now narrowing his eyes.
"That simply cannot be true…" He told himself in disbelief. "Why? Why would she do this?"
Vrunemir laughed violently, choking on most of his blood.
"Pwa ha ha! For the sake of Chaos, of course! Why else?"