It's over!
Britain is definitely doomed this time!
Gawain looked at the King, and the first thing that popped into his mind was the final scene of the video.
Snow drifted down gently, the north wind howled, and the world was a vast expanse of desolation.
The King sat alone on a hill.
Beneath her feet were endless corpses, dyeing the entire land red.
The falling snow buried all of Britain's future...
No!
A future without a future is not the future I want!
Gawain took a deep breath.
As the Sun Knight who wielded the Sister Sword to Excalibur, Galatine, he had to step forward at this critical juncture of Britain's life and death—to save the country!
Right now,
The video titled The Perfect King had finished playing.
Countless people around the world were waiting for Britain's response.
More accurately, they were waiting for the reactions of the two central figures in the video—
King Artoria and Mordred.
From what was shown in the video, the two had fought with everything they had.
The nameless Heroic Spirit tried to stop them and paid with his life—a tragedy of the highest degree.
After the nameless one's death...
One wielded a troublesome sword, the other wielded the spear that anchors the layers of the World, and the two perished together.
The destruction of Britain, the death of the nameless one... These were the ultimate blood grudges, a matter of life and death.
Now that it was all exposed by the mysterious [Alaya], no one knew how the two Heroic Spirits would react.
Still, Gawain couldn't help but think—Mordred really did get the short end of the stick.
Raised from birth by Morgan as a tool to kill her father.
Along the way, she met the nameless one and mistook his careful, familial care for sweet love.
She worshipped Artoria to the extreme, only to be rejected outright by her, who didn't even acknowledge her right to inherit the throne.
Then, in the Battle at Camlann, she fought alongside Artoria, resulting to the death of the nameless one, and only to be killed by her father with a single thrust.
It was just too tragic!
So Gawain didn't hesitate to step in between them,
"Hey, Mordred, remember the bet you made? You said if the nameless one in the video turned out to be real, you'd eat my mashed potatoes for a whole year. Time to pay up!"
???
Mordred's jumbled thoughts froze in an instant, and she looked up at the Sun Knight.
When I raise a question mark, it's not because I'm confused—it's because you have problems!
Given the situation, shouldn't you be trying to stop a life-or-death battle between father and child?
Why are you bringing up some completely irrelevant side bet!?
"Don't worry, I'll make all kinds of potato dishes for you—sweet, spicy, anything you like! I'm not some kind of devil, after all~"
Gawain's smile was as bright as the sunshine outside.
His gleaming presence and perfect English gentleman aura were on full display in that moment.
...You destroyed my Britain, dragged my King to mutual ruin, and still expect me to play nice with you?
...If it weren't for Britain's current stability, I'd want to deliver justice even if we were half-siblings!
"You damn potato freak!"
Mordred blinked, then couldn't help but shout the nickname the nameless one had given him.
This guy was obsessed with using potatoes to make every kind of dish imaginable.
He was always shouting about how potatoes were the best, and forced the entire Round Table to eat them constantly.
Everyone suspected he had been a potato in a past life—hence the insane obsession!
"Humility, honor, sacrifice, courage, compassion, spirituality, honesty, justice—these are the eight virtues of a knight."
Artoria spoke calmly from the side, her holy blue eyes fixed on Mordred."Mordred, you continue to disappoint me."
"You are unfit to be King. You are nothing more than a self-absorbed idealist, parading your noble stance while completely indifferent to others!"
Mordred sprang to her feet, tilting her head up to face her father, who was taller than in the past.
After watching the video, countless forgotten memories had flooded back into her mind, finally reviving the aura of the rebellious knight.
"That's why people believed you couldn't be human—that you didn't understand the human heart—and they were willing to follow me in rebellion!" She clenched her teeth tightly and shouted in fury. "I personally destroyed the Britain you held most dear, just to make you regret, to force you to open your eyes and see me!"
Her emotions surged wildly and uncontrollably.
Even though she'd been killed by a single thrust from the other, the boundless hatred remained undiminished.
"Mordred, you..."
Gawain stood to the side, gazing at her with a complicated expression.
Back in the day, Lancelot had killed his most beloved sister, Gareth, leading to a fierce duel in which Gawain was seriously injured.
Later, during the Battle of Camlann, he refused to let Lancelot come to the King's aid.
As a result, he died from an old injury.
Because of his personal grudge, the King died too—that was his greatest lifelong regret.
Now, seeing the still utterly unrepentant Mordred reborn in the 21st century as a Heroic Spirit, he felt the urge to give her a serious lesson.
Kids being mischievous is fine.
But learn your lesson in the next life!
Facing Mordred's accusations, Artoria responded indifferently,
"I never denied you. And I never regretted anything."
"You still don't feel any regret!?"
Mordred's pointing hand trembled slightly.
"When I pulled the sword from the stone, Nameless had already told me everything. I knew Britain was destined for ruin, but I pulled the sword without hesitation."
Artoria turned to look out the window, at the brilliant and bustling modern city outside.
Before she drew the sword, Nameless had told her everything.
Hatred, betrayal, destruction... She had known it all.
And because she knew, she had still chosen to draw the sword, willing to give everything to extend Britain's future.
On her always calm face, a faint sorrow appeared.
"The only thing I regret... is failing to repay Nameless for all his help."
That person had helped her silently from the very beginning.
When she drew the sword, he stood up and suppressed all opposition, aiding her in becoming King smoothly.
When she faced Vortigern, he stood before her and fought alongside her to slay the white dragon.
In the face of countless hidden threats, he was the one who became an assassin in the shadows, suppressing every rebellion.
At the final Battle of Camlann—
He had once again placed himself between her and Mordred.
Just to spare her from bearing the guilt of slaying her own child, he chose to sacrifice himself.
Artoria vaguely sensed that some terrifying catastrophe had occurred even after her death.
And once again, he had stepped in to resolve it all.
All of it.
She owed him too much—so much that she could never repay it.
Artoria calmly looked at the young girl before her, "So, if you dare lay a hand on him, I won't show mercy."
Had she not killed him with her own hand once before, she would have already drawn the Holy Lance.
"I—won't accept this!"
Mordred's eyes shimmered with tears as she glared at her.
"You two are just messing with me, treating me like a puppet to be toyed with!"
"That thing Nameless said to Merlin—about two kinds of birds. One works hard to fly on its own, the other lays eggs and forces its children to fly—we chose the former."
Artoria looked at her and spoke with solemn sincerity.
She had given Mordred the greatest freedom, unwilling to let her walk the same path of destruction she had.
She sighed softly.
"I gave you too much freedom... That must have made you feel even more alone. That's probably why you fell into betrayal. Nameless is extraordinary. That's why there's no way I'm giving him to you."
Mordred stared coldly at her. "You want to repay him—but can you even find him?"
That person, who clung to justice and embraced obscurity.
Had it not been for [Alaya] exposing the truth, the whole world would never have known what he did.
A Heroic Spirit shrouded in the utmost mystery.
Under her questioning—
Artoria's gaze pierced through the mass of human emotion before her and looked down upon Mordred.
"It's normal that you can't find him. But I can."