Mordred's magical energy burst forth like an eruption, the ground splitting beneath her feet. Clarent glowed a crimson red, ready to tear through anything in her path.
Arthur smirked with disdain, spinning the golden axe he carried. His eyes gleamed with the hunger for a worthy fight.
"So this is what you call strength?" he taunted, raising his free hand.
Behind him, dozens of golden portals opened in the air, each one spitting out the menacing glint of swords, spears, and countless other blades.
"I'll show you the weight of a collection worthy of a true sovereign."
Mordred roared and charged. Her first strike was devastating, a crimson arc that sliced through the air and made the ground explode. Arthur intercepted with a spear launched from one of his portals, deflecting the blow with almost lazy elegance.
"Well, well… as noisy as a rabid dog. Do you always bark like this before you bite?"
"Shut up! Bastard Goldie!"
The mockery only ignited Mordred's fury further. She spun her sword, releasing a beam of magical energy straight at Arthur. The impact unleashed a wave of destruction across the battlefield, sending rocks and dust flying.
But when the smoke cleared, Arthur still stood there—unscathed, unmoving on the cracked earth.
"Really, did you think I'd be hit by something so childish?"
Two portals opened beside him, releasing chains that slithered like serpents through the air, seeking to bind Mordred. She shattered them with a violent swing of Clarent.
Arthur laughed, genuinely entertained.
"That's it! Show me your fangs! I want to see how far this tantrum of a rejected child can go!"
Mordred roared in rage, her eyes blazing.
"I'll wipe that damned smile off your face, you arrogant bastard!"
She lunged again, her strikes growing faster and heavier, each thrust and slash carrying the force of thunder. Arthur blocked, deflected, and at times simply let his portals spit out weapons to intercept her, always wearing the same mocking grin.
"You strike with ferocity, but not with purpose," he said, stopping Clarent with his axe in a clash that shook the ground. "That is exactly why your father never recognized you as his successor."
The words cut Mordred deeper than any blade. She screamed, unleashing even more energy, Clarent blazing like an erupting sun.
Arthur only laughed, stepping back and raising his hand.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of weapons emerged in the sky behind him, blotting out the moon in an overwhelming golden radiance.
"Now, show me, Mordred…" Arthur roared, his eyes burning with supreme arrogance. "Can you survive this?"
The sky itself collapsed into blades raining down upon the rebellious child of the King of Knights.
Mordred's energy exploded like a storm, each swing of Clarent charged with sheer obstinacy. She pressed forward without hesitation, even as dozens of blades slashed toward her. With each block, each strike, each wound carved into her flesh, she roared louder, as if pain itself was fuel.
For an instant, Arthur ceased his laughter. His eyes followed her movements, and for the first time since the battle began, there was no mockery in his gaze—only focus.
The golden axe clashed against Clarent in a sequence of devastating impacts, sparks lighting up the night like lightning.
This girl… no matter how many times she falls, she rises again. The flame she carries… it's real.
Mordred swung Clarent in a devastating arc, splitting the ground beneath her feet and forcing Arthur a few steps back.
Arthur smiled—not with derision this time, but with genuine admiration.
"So that's it… it isn't just fury. You truly are the embodiment of a will to fight to the bitter end, no matter the cost."
Mordred panted, her body covered in wounds, her armor shattered, yet her eyes still burned with determination.
"I don't fight to prove anything to you! I fight because this damned life is the only thing I was given!"
Silence lingered for a second, broken only by the wind carrying dust through the air. Then Arthur chuckled—not with scorn, but with recognition.
"Hah… I see. You've surprised me, Mordred, so I'll say this clearly: you've earned my respect."
He took a few steps back and slowly began to rise into the air.
Mordred gritted her teeth, raising Clarent, her body screaming with exhaustion but refusing to yield.
Arthur spread his arms, a smile on his face.
"And because I acknowledge your strength, rebellious knight… I won't end this battle with anything less than my greatest treasure. Let this be a worthy conclusion—for someone who has proven herself deserving of my respect."
Arthur extended his left hand to his side. The golden portal before him gleamed brighter than all the others, and from within it, a black hilt slowly emerged. It was no ordinary sword, no blade forged by human hands.
The air itself grew heavy, suffocating, as if the world sensed what was about to be unleashed.
Arthur grasped the hilt of Ea and drew the weapon from the Gate. The drill-like blade, composed of three red-and-black cylinders, rotated with a slow, menacing hum. When he raised it to the sky, the cylinders began to spin faster.
The clouds above answered, swirling in the same direction as the blade, forming a colossal vortex that consumed the night sky over Trifas.
Arthur looked at Mordred, his voice solemn:
"This is my strongest Noble Phantasm—Ea, the Sword of Rupture."
Mordred, bloodied and breathless, lifted her gaze to the impossible spectacle. Yet instead of fear, her lips curled into a feral grin.
"Hah! That's perfect!"
She screamed in her mind, her voice overflowing with desperation and pride:
{Master! Use the last two Command Spells at once! Strengthen me to the utmost, now!}
Sisigou's heart raced, but he did not hesitate.
{…Understood, Mordred. I'll entrust everything to you!}
Two Command Seals burned away at once on his hand, glowing red like living embers. The energy coursed through Mordred's body, reinforcing muscle, bone, and soul. An overwhelming force surged within her, almost unbearable—yet she seized it with clenched teeth.
"I HEAR YOUR WILL, MASTER! NOW I SHALL SHOW YOU MY POWER!!!"
Clarent shone like a bloody sun. Crimson energy overflowed from the blade, corrupting the air around it, until the sword became a crimson beacon, ready to consume the world.
But in the heavens, Arthur raised Ea. The sword's cylinders spun at impossible speed, distorting the very fabric of space.
"I'll deliver this final strike as a parting gift to you, Mordred…"
"I shall recount the beginning."
"Heaven and Earth were split, nothingness praised creation, and my Sword of Rupture cleaved the world."
"Mortar of the stars, heavenly hell—the eve of creation's celebration."
"Now you shall fall silent in death…"
"ENUMA ELISH!!!"
A rift tore open in reality itself. The blade did not cut air—it cut the concept of existence. Space split apart in a line of absolute destruction, surging toward Mordred.
With a deafening roar, Mordred raised her weapon:
"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!!!"
A colossal crimson beam surged against Arthur, annihilating everything in its path.
The clash was apocalyptic. Mordred's crimson energy collided with Arthur's cosmic rupture, and in an instant, it was shattered, ripped apart, obliterated like glass struck by a hammer. The crimson wave consumed Clarent, consumed Mordred, consumed the land itself.
When the dust and light finally settled, the battlefield had become a crater.
Mordred lay on the ground. Her body was destroyed, nearly half of it already dissolving into spirit particles. Her armor was in ruins, her helmet shattered, but her eyes still burned with defiance.
Arthur descended slowly from the sky, still holding Ea, now silent. He approached her, stopping a few steps away. For a moment, he simply gazed at the fallen knight. Then he closed his eyes, inclined his head slightly, and spoke with a sincerity he rarely revealed:
"You weren't a spoiled child, nor just a shadow. You fought until the very end, with everything you had. And for that, Mordred…"
He turned Ea, its glow illuminating the face of the defeated knight.
"…you have earned my respect."
Mordred managed, with great effort, to twist her lips into a fierce, proud smile, even at the end.
"Why… why didn't you finish me off with that attack…?" Mordred asked.
"I know that if you had truly wished, I would have been erased completely when it struck me," she murmured.
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(End of Chapter)