Flames swallowed Camelot's royal palace. The once immaculate, resplendent halls turned into a sea of fire in an instant after the explosion, their carved beams and painted rafters becoming perfect fuel.
Morgan collapsed before the throne, gasping as she tried to stabilize her Magic Circuits.
After barely recovering from performing the Third Magic, she had immediately pushed the Rhongomyniad: Spirit Vein Closing Armament to full output again. Even for a top-tier genius, Morgan knew she had overdone it. Her Magic Circuits were completely overheated now, and any attempt to use Magecraft would bring unbearable pain.
"Can you still stand?" Shiomi held her, asking gently.
"I want to, but I can't. My husband will have to manage it," Morgan whispered.
Flames crept deeper into the palace, even the council chamber now blazing, yet she acted as though she didn't notice, answering him with unhurried calm.
Shiomi understood. He lifted a hand and dispelled the flames creeping toward them.
Through the communicator, Romani's and the Director's voices overlapped in a rush, both trying to confirm their condition. From the Storm Border, the palace was clearly ablaze.
"We're coming over right now."
Shiomi answered steadily, then moved to lift Morgan—only to pause for a moment.
"No hurry to leave?" Morgan asked with a faint, knowing smile.
He wrapped his arms around her. She lowered her head and kissed the pale blue lips beneath his parted veil. Morgan's hands rose to gently circle his neck, as if holding the dream she had chased her whole life.
A burning pillar crashed into the chamber with a low rumble, but nothing could disturb their long, lingering kiss.
Only when Shiomi's lips had stolen the color from Morgan's, tinting both their mouths blue, did he release her slightly and whisper in her ear:
"I'm home. I'm sorry I made you wait so long."
"More than that… if we don't leave now, we'll just become a pair of doomed lovers buried with the palace and the city." Morgan didn't feel the need to say more.
Her feelings were the same as his.
Shiomi nodded and lifted her into his arms, carrying her toward the exit. Flames, falling debris, collapsing stones—none of it slowed them.
"When you sent me six thousand years into the past, you said you'd wait for me in the 'future,'" Shiomi said as they walked through the inferno without even glancing at it.
"You remember? I thought after six thousand years, you would've forgotten something so small." Morgan leaned into him with a soft smile.
"What I mean is… today is that 'future,' right?" he asked.
"Mhm."
"To be honest, I thought you would only come to find my past self after you finished everything in the Fairy Kingdom, after entrusting Britannia's future to some reliable successor," Shiomi said, sounding a bit wounded. "But it turns out… you did it to save me…"
"What else would it be?" Morgan pouted, acting spoiled the way she once did.
She no longer needed to pretend to be the cold, merciless queen. She could finally be the witch who belonged only to him.
Even after oceans dried and eras changed, even if the future was uncertain, Morgan felt her heart filled with strength and hope.
"It feels like neither of us is very bright," Shiomi said, half helpless, half amused. "I resolved to sacrifice my soul for your dream, and you threw away a dream within arm's reach to save mine."
"Before being a queen or a savior, I am your wife," Morgan said, shaking her head. "If ambition alone could make me abandon the husband who stayed by my side… then I would've become someone you wouldn't even recognize."
"Like the Morgan from Proper Human History?" Shiomi asked.
"Something like that…" Morgan admitted. It fit her far too well.
Holding her like a princess, Shiomi moved quickly—despite seeming unhurried—through the ruined palace and out past its gates.
The Londinium army had already broken through the encirclement.
The aftershocks from destroying the Beast God's remains swept across all of Britannia. Flames engulfed not only the royal palace, but Camelot itself and the lands beyond its walls.
"The Scourge of Flames…" Shiomi murmured.
"Britannia… this time it may truly be…" A wave of sorrow rose in Morgan's chest.
She loved Britannia, and she loved the ancestral lands of the Rain Clan even more.
Yet all of it would now vanish, dissolving entirely into a pruned event. Only she would remain as the proof that these precious things had ever existed, walking alone toward the future.
Inside the burning city, the temperature had risen to levels lethal for humans. Without Shiomi's Magecraft, even escaping safely would have been nearly impossible for the two of them.
"Your Majesty… and also…"
As they descended the steps, searching for a path out of Camelot, a voice called out.
Both Shiomi and Morgan halted, surprised that someone else was still here.
Melusine sat on the landing of the palace steps, hugging her knees like a child abandoned in the wild.
Unlike Barghest, she had no personal ambitions. She had served under Morgan as a Fairy Knight only to follow Shiomi's will.
"Melusine?" Shiomi frowned. "Didn't you see the city burning? This isn't an ordinary fire. Even you could die."
"But I…" Melusine looked at the blazing ruins around her, slowly comprehending. "I don't know where to go…"
She understood—Britannia had been abandoned. More completely than two thousand years ago.
Morgan frowned and looked at Shiomi, speaking in a voice only he could hear. "This is the consequence of your actions. You should be the one to give her an answer."
"Then from now on, live for yourself, Melusine, not for anyone else." Shiomi already knew what Morgan meant. He spoke seriously to Melusine. "It's fine if you don't know yet. If you wish, you can come with us. If you want to throw away the life you fought so hard to obtain, that is your freedom too."
"Go… with you?" Melusine's eyes lit up again.
These were the words she had waited two thousand years to hear.
She had wanted to serve as his Fairy Knight, to wage war on the fairies, even if it meant taking on the sin of slaughter.
"Not follow me—come with us. You don't belong to anyone. You belong to yourself." Shiomi shook his head. "Even if your nature instinctively makes you obey me, that doesn't mean you can't surpass it."
"I…"
Melusine's face brightened with joy. She barely heard anything after the first part—she only wanted to be with them.
But before she could speak, Barghest came flying in from the western street, crashing hard onto the road outside the palace.
"Barghest?"
Melusine gasped.