"So you wish to die with your lord? So be it!" Ulrich yelled defiantly as he pulled the yellow warrior's spear from his left arm's shoulder guard. The piece of armor was completely destroyed, the runes managed to take the brunt of the impact. The indestructible rune met an unstoppable spear throw, resulting in a magical explosion that pushed Leanna back against the opposite wall. The warrior drew his black sword and stepped back in a battle stance. Claremont had not moved from his position, somehow, the force of the explosion did not effect him. Ulrich jumped back and readied his sword stance in return.
"You are wrong King Ulrich, the only person to lose his life here will be you. After that, Lord Claremont will use your companions to finish his grand plan. That red haired knight seems to possess the blood we require, the others will just be a nice bonus." The yellow knight's voice was deep and authoritative. His armor was completely black, much like his sword. The hood of his cloak obscured his face, however, it seemed like shadows were actually covering it instead.
"You're a madman if you believe what you just spoke. Demigod rank or not, I will kill you, then I'm going to kill Claremont. You would do well not to overestimate yourself yellow knight." Ulrich's eyes narrowed and his breathing became calm. The yellow knight began to laugh boisterously.
"My name is Aresh, otherwise known as the Northern God of War." Ulrich's eyes widened in disbelief for a moment before regaining his composure. It was impossible, why would a deity be serving this lesser lord? It was an obvious lie. The two began to size each other up, each looking for an opening.
"Some god of war you are. Serving this pathetic lord. If you really were a god, you'd be in heaven right now, not here wandering around." Ulrich couldn't use his face to read him, he had to rely on his voice to find out the truth. If it was true, then he would have to send Alicia and Maria back to Camelot to warn them.
"That blood knight of yours recently battled a beast that belongs in the lowest reaches of the underworld." Aresh's voice was calm, he was speaking in a matter of fact tone. "So, what makes you think a god can't come to the middle ground? I'm sure you are familiar with why the continent is united, correct?" Ulrich offered no reply, however, Aresh already knew the answer. Ulrich was more concerned about how he knew about Maria's battle with the demon. "Gods can take human form here, if they know the proper route." He boasted. "Also, I don't serve this man, he serves me. I crave war, so naturally, his goal aligns with mine."
"His goal? His goal is that of a madman. He would turn this world into land of human husks with no mind of their own." Ulrich began to sweat. What was he missing? There had to be something that he had missed.
"Claremont, fetch those two outside. I will deal with these two." Claremont began to walk towards the entrance. "It isn't important, you won't live long enough to figure it out anyway." The voice then became more aggressive and distorted. A massive amount of golden magical energy began to erupt from Aresh. Ulrich then realized that he was indeed a god. There was no way to plan for this. No one could have guessed that a god would be the power behind Claremont. His thought's were confused, did his mother know? She would have left information if she did. Claremont was getting closer to the door, he had no time to think of such things. He had to fight.
"Leanna! Stop Claremont from..." before he could finish, Aresh took advantage of his distracted state of mind and charged forward. Ulrich managed to block Aresh's sword swing, but was still pushed back a bit. Such strength was definitely not human. Leanna quickly charged towards Claremont, who had managed to reach the door, and aimed her blade at his neck. Claremont turned calmly and stretched out his right arm, generating a magic barrier that deflected her blow. He then opened his other hand, causing a black shadow to materialize in it, which then formed a sword of shadows. He swung the sword of magic towards Leanna, who quickly used her other sword to block it.
"I've been waiting for this ever since I saw your disgustin' face!" Leanna screamed with a fiery rage. "I'll cut that perverse smile of yours into pieces!" Claremont's smile then became twisted once again. The two began to swing their weapons at each other furiously, Claremont using his barrier as his only means of defense. Leanna knew that he couldn't keep up with her furious eastern sword style. Unlike Leanna, Claremont didn't know how to use breathing or footwork to make his strikes faster and more powerful.
"So you can use the far East's fighting style, you must have met a Kensei. Those sword saints are very stingy with their teachings. I can't wait to extract all of it from your soul!" Claremont's sickening laugh then filled the hall. Outside of the castle, Maria had managed to stop Alicia from entering. Unbeknownst to them, more soldiers had begun to make their way to the castle.
"Princess Alicia, you must calm yourself. The king can take care of himself, he would never lose to a fool like that lord." Alicia slowly gathered herself, however, her sword was still reacting to the massive amount of magical energy coming from the throne room. She could then feel the soldiers making their way to the castle.
"Maria, more soldiers are coming. We have to make sure that they don't interfere with my brother and cousin." Alicia then began to think of a way to buy more time without killing all the soldiers. "I have an idea. You have to buy me a few minutes though. Can you do that?" Alicia began to make draw some patterns onto the ground with Caladbolg. She then noticed that the moon had begun to become visible. Caladbolg seemed to calm, almost as if Excalibur was beginning to grow in strength and was no longer in distress.
"Of course, Princess. Even if it costs me my life, I will hold them off." Maria then made her way to the gate that separated the town from the castle. She pulled out her rapier and readied herself. The soldiers grew closer and closer, Maria took in a deep breath. "May the gods have mercy on your souls." Maria then charged forward with her blade.
Inside of the castle, Leanna's battle with Claremont was moving quickly, she was far more skilled than he was. Though she was managing to press him, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about his calm demeanor. Her strikes and footwork were impressive, she appeared to be floating and dancing with her opponent. Ulrich and Aresh on the other hand were fighting with heavy strikes that seemed to make the ground around them shake with fear. Ulrich was barely managing to hold his own against the war god. Ulrich was beginning to lose ground at a rapid pace, until Aresh managed to slice Ulrich's exposed arm. Ulrich let out a pained grunt. "King Ulrich, you disappoint me. I thought that a wielder of Excalibur would manage to, at least, be on par with a lesser god. However, you only have the strength of a demigod ranked knight." Aresh sighed heavily as he released even more magical energy. "I'll just finish this quickly, then I can deal with those pests that you brought with you."
Ulrich dropped his head down, he then began to remember all the memories he had shared with them. He began to feel a power inside of him begin to well up from inside of his soul. He hadn't felt this way since he was forced to train in the forest of fairies. Only once before did he feel this way. His wound began to heal itself. He looked back towards Aresh. His eyes seemed to become brighter than before. He began to release an intense aura of energy. Aresh took note of Ulrich's aura, the blue aura that normally accompanied Ulrich now had silver entwined in it. "Finish me quickly? Pests?" Ulrich's voice seemed to change, it sounded a bit more harmonious. "Aresh, I don't care if you are a god. No one threatens me or the people under my protection and lives to talk about it. Prepare yourself, even if means taking your sword head on, I will kill you." Ulrich then disappeared, Aresh's eyes widened, he quickly spun around and blocked a strike from Ulrich, who was able to make his way behind him.
"Very interesting Pendragon! Your aura seems to have a slight hint of divinity in it! Come then, fight this war god with all you have! Entertain me some more!" Aresh then began to match Ulrich's speed, the two seemed to be a blur compared to Leanna and Claremont. Each strike echoed throughout the castle, the foundations seemed to crack with each exchange. Excalibur's runes began to glow silver, creating silvery streaks with each swing. This time, it seemed as though both Aresh and Ulrich were on even ground. Ulrich's anger began to fuel his strikes, until he finally landed a strike on Aresh, sending him flying through the throne and into the wall.
Leanna and Claremont's battle had already spilled into the hall leading to the throne room. Leanna had multiple injuries on her body, her armor had been rendered useless because of the magic blade. Not even the runes that Ulrich had placed on her armor was enough to guard against such magic, however, Claremont had been wounded multiple times in return. His magic shield had become cracked and was on the verge of shattering. His face no longer wore a smile, it was instead an inhuman frown. His eyes and cheek bones had become sunken in. "Well, I must commend you for making me use most of my magical reserves. What is your name lady knight?" Claremont's voice was ragged and he was breathing heavily. Leanna, though injured, showed no signs of fatigue and seemed to be able to ignore any pain or blood loss.
"My name is Leanna, I'm in charge of King Ulrich's expeditionary forces and his main ambassador." Leanna's silvery blue eyes began to shine brightly the more the battle continued. She could feel her blood begin to resonate with her kin. All who shared the Pendragon bloodline had the ability to discern the condition of their family members when they were in need. Leanna could tell that something was amiss with Alicia. "I'm afraid I no longer have any time to waste with you. I have somewhere I must be." Leanna's voice was now cold and her face exuded a ruthlessness that was seldom seen with Leanna.
"Strange, I was about to say the same to you Lady Leanna. It was a gift to be able to analyze you during our battle, but it must now come to an end." Claremont then let the sword of magic dissipate, before raising his hand towards the sky. Leanna quickly charged forward to stop whatever he was planning. The magic shield that Claremont was using, suddenly surrounded him. A surge of a heavy, dark energy began to gather around Claremont. His sunken features and his frown were quickly returned to their original state, the magic shield's cracks were soon filled in. The magic shield itself seemed to grow even stronger and began to radiate a sickening fog from it. Leanna barely inhaled a small amount and was immediately wracked with pain.
"You're a necromancer?!" Leanna managed to speak those words before she began to cough up blood. "What'd you do to me?!" Leanna then dropped to one knee.
"I simply drew all of the dead energy from the city to me. Now, everyone will begin to charge towards this area." Claremont let out a sickening laugh. "All the people in the city all crave that tainted magic, they may as well be ghouls at this point. As for you, you breathed in that tainted magic. Essentially, you've been poisoned from the inside." He began to walk towards Leanna slowly. "Soon, this whole place will be overrun with people trying to rip you apart for that magic inside of you. Now, you stay there and choke on your own blood, I'm going to deal with those two pests outside."
Leanna began to lose feeling in her hands and her body was beginning to feel cold. "I won't allow you to be the death of me!" She began to gather all of her magical energy around herself. It began to swirl around her like a vortex. She wasn't able to use elemental magic, but she could manipulate the properties of it. She brought her swords together and struck them against each other, generating sparks which lit the magical energy on fire. With this technique, she was able to control the magic infused flames. The Round Table called it, pyrokinesis. She mustered up all of her strength and rose to her feet. "My true name is, Leanna Mordred Pendragon! I am she who rules over flames!" Some of the flames began to coat one of her swords. Claremont turned and was awestruck by the sight he beheld. Leanna stood inside of a vortex of flames, her sword itself engulfed with the that very fire. Not many people could master the fire elemental magic and, even if they did, none had the power to freely manipulate fire to the same extent as she did.
"I knew I could feel a powerful magic within you! You are a very valuable test subject! I'll just let those ghouls kill the other two. I can always revive their corpses anyway, but I'll capture you alive for my research. Now, be a good dead..." before Claremont had the chance to finish his sentence, he could feel a burning pain in his chest. He looked down and saw only a burning blade. "You think this will kill me?"
Leanna began to slowly walk towards Claremont. A tsunami of flames spreading all around her, the hallway itself becoming a fiery inferno that rivaled hell itself. The inferno caused a terrible fear to overcome Claremont himself. A second blade of fire then struck Claremont's chest. "Even if you manage to bring yourself back to life and refuse to die like the cockroach I know you are, I'll simply use my flames to burn your entire existence away! I'll make sure you remember my flames even while you roast in hell itself!" Leanna spoke in a cold, emotionless voice. Her eyes had no light in them, even the silvery blue tint was gone, they were replaced with the cold blackness of a void. She raised her hand towards Claremont, who began screaming in agony. Liquid flames began to pour out of every opening of Claremont's body. The flames that came out then began to spread across his entire body. A twisted smile emerged on Leanna's face.
"Princess, how much more time do you need? That wave of magical energy is causing these people to turn into feral beasts!" Maria then noticed that townspeople had now begun to venture towards the castle. Twenty soldiers now lay dead in the gateway, Maria's sword was now caked with blood. She couldn't understand why it seemed like her sword was benefiting from it. Caladbolg was then stuck into the center of a massive rune that Alicia carved into the ground.
"Alright brother, this should buy you some more time. You taught me how to use these runes but I'm still not so great at it. This shield rune should create a barrier to hold off anyone coming in, but this amount of magic would be insane for a normal person." Alicia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With both of her hands on her sword, she began to channel magical energy into the rune. "But I am no normal person! I am a Pendragon!" A magical blue aura then began to emanate from her body. The rune on the ground then lit up brightly before her. A barrier then began to encircle the castle. Alicia then fell backwards onto the ground. Blood began to slowly drip down her nose.
"Princess!" Maria quickly rushed to Alicia's side. "You used up to much magical energy, you hurt yourself." She helped her to her feet. "You need to rest, just leave these people to me." Maria began to head back towards the gate, where more soldiers were appearing. Alicia grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.
"Don't underestimate me Maria, that amount of magic is nothing." Alicia pulled out her two short swords and began to say a small chant. "May the heavens bless this body of mine, allow me to continue fighting with a divine heart." A warm, bright light could be seen coming from her chest. It soothed Alicia's body and began to replenish her magical energy, while also healing the internal damage done to her by using to much of it. "Let me show you what my training with Saint Elizabeth has accomplished." Maria was astonished at the power of faith that Alicia had shown. She almost seemed like a different person than the physically weak princess that she knew.
"Alright Princess, then shall we deal with these people while they finish up?" Alicia nodded and smiled, they then made their way to the gate, not noticing the wave of fire that began to erupt from the castle hallway. Meanwhile, Ulrich was still fighting Aresh in the main throne room. Aresh had picked up the spear he threw at Ulrich when their battle had begun. He began to use them in tandem, so as to keep up with Ulrich's increasing strength. Ulrich's aura began to gain an increasing amount of divine energy as time passed. His reflexes began to get sharper and his eyesight was able to pick up even the smallest details of Aresh's movements.
"I can't understand why you continue to gain divine energy! It makes no since! You aren't a god and your not the son of a god! What are you?!" Aresh yelled emphatically and his nerves were now beginning to eat away at his composure. Ulrich continued with his onslaught, he hadn't been able to land a blow before, but now he was able to land a few hits on the deity. He noticed that his attacks would only wound him slightly, despite the attacks fully connecting.
"What am I? I'm your executioner!" Ulrich decided to put all of his strength into one blow. He lured Aresh into the middle of the room and locked their swords together. "Let me show you what I learned from my ancestor Leon." Ulrich pulled on hand from his sword and gathered all of his magical energy into it, before throwing a punch at lightning quick speed that landed right in the middle of Aresh's face. The impact made a magical explosion that threw Aresh's body into the castle hallway. Ulrich stood in place, his breathing was heavy after expending so much energy. He then noticed smoke coming from the hallway that Aresh had landed in. A gust of energy came from the hallway, causing the flames and smoke to completely extinguish. In the hallway stood Aresh, gripping Leanna's unconscious body by the throat.
"That was an impressive attack Ulrich. A lower level god would have surely lost his life, however, you face a war god. I intended to kill you in a fair duel, but it seems I must resort to using this girl as a hostage. Now, offer me your life and I will allow this girl to live as my slave. A good deal considering she killed the man who gave me a city full of followers." Aresh's face was heavily injured, but he continued to boast as if nothing was wrong. He had won, now that he had Ulrich's companion. He began to think of all of the things he would do to torture the girl. His plans could now come to fruition. She had very potent magical energy after all. He began to laugh hysterically until he noticed that Ulrich had not replied. He looked towards him and his eyes began to widen. Ulrich's aura was now half blue, half silver, and had begun to generate electricity. He could feel a intense amount of hatred and bloodlust coming from it, almost like a dragon's.
"You dare lay your filthy hands on my cousin?! For your sin of touching her, I will wipe out any trace of you or any that worship you. All of their blood will now be on your hands. I am going to wipe out your entire existence from this world. Be they man, devil, or god, any who touch my family will be exterminated like the bugs they are!" Ulrich's Excalibur was now a black katana, the runes were completely silver, and the sword was generating electricity. The newest shard appeared to need a large amount of energy to function and, now, Ulrich was in the perfect form to use two shards at the same time. Aresh's grip weakened and he began to fear the immense power of the one who stood before him. He then noticed Ulrich's eyes had changed from blue to silver.
"Those eyes! Those are the eyes of Artem..." before he could finish, a lightning bolt rushed forward and struck Aresh sending him flying out of the castle and hitting the magical wall Alicia had erected. Before Leanna's body hit the ground, Ulrich caught her. He laid her gently on the ground before walking outside. Aresh had no time to react to the strike and was stunned. He looked at where he was hit and noticed the arm that was holding Leanna was gone. He looked back to the one who struck him, in Ulrich's hand was Aresh's arm. The pain then hit him causing him to let out a pained scream.
Maria and Alicia, who had been fighting for awhile, had sustained minor injuries from the overwhelming number of enemies they were facing. Many lay dead at their feet, though the number was still overwhelming. Rain began to fall from the sky as they noticed that it had become night. Maria began to feel her power becoming restless, just as it did on the mountain. They then head a crack of thunder come from behind them, causing them and their enemies to stop dead in their tracks. They all looked toward the sound, before hearing a pained yell come from the direction. "Princess, that's the yellow knight!" Maria exclaimed. Alicia couldn't hear the words Maria spoke, her eyes were transfixed on her brother. She could feel intense pressure and malice coming from his aura. She was frozen in place at the sheer might of her brother. Never in her life had she seen him like this. He was no longer the kind, loving brother she remembered. The one before her was like a death god. She wanted to call out to him, however, even though her mouth opened, no words came out.
The people of the city all looked on in fear, some even died outright at the immense power before them. Ulrich slowly walked towards Aresh, who had risen up to his feet. "I am a god of war! I will not lose to a mere human!" Aresh raised his sword and began to increase his magical energy to max. Ulrich then shot forward and kicked him with such force that he broke through the shield, landing at the feet of Maria and Alicia. Ulrich then noticed Caladbolg in the ground. He pulled the sword and began to make his way closer to the crowd. He stopped and noticed the wounds on Maria and Alicia. His magical energy then surged massively, causing more of the citizens to fall outright. Aresh rose up defiantly before he began to cough up blood. His divine power slowly began to be drained away from body. "My divine power?"
"All of you ants dare to harm my little sister? All of you will join your master in being wiped off the face of this earth. Don't think your false god will save you, he's already been reduced to being a mortal being by me. If he's a mortal, then all of you are mere ants in my presence." Ulrich walked closer, raised his Excalibur, and cut off the head of a confused Aresh. Some people gained the will to run after his head hit the ground. Those that ran didn't see Ulrich raise his sword in the air to command the rain clouds to gather their lightning together for him. "Even if you run to the ends of the earth, my lightning shall strike you down!" Ulrich then brought his sword down to the ground, the thunder from the sky then rained down on the ones who ran. Maria seemed to be the only one who could move during this massacre, however, she didn't dare interfere with Ulrich in his current state. Ulrich sheathed Excalibur and proceeded to ready Caladbolg to kill the rest of the survivors.
Alicia then used her shadow to bind Ulrich in place to stop him. She used the light generated from Ulrich's aura to find his shadow. Ulrich didn't move for a moment until he easily turned his head towards Alicia. "Alicia, Leanna is in the hall. She's been poisoned and needs to be healed." He then swung Caladbolg in a horizontal arc, causing the rest of the enemies to fall and causing a magical explosion in the town that destroyed most it. After the swing, Ulrich's aura disappeared, followed by Ulrich coughing up blood and passing out from unbearable pain. The last words he heard were from Alicia and Maria.
"Brother!" And "My king!"