Ulrich grabbed Excalibur and strapped it onto his belt. He took in a deep breath from underneath his sakura tree, admiring the scent coming from it and the many flowers that filled the garden. The smell offered him a moment of peace and clarity, he felt as if the garden itself was offering him a reprieve from his troubles. He grabbed the crown from the table that was placed next to him. He then began to walk towards the main throne room, putting the crown on top of his head as he walked. Inside of the throne room was a door in the very back, the door led to a long staircase leading up to a tower. This tower was used by the former rulers to issue declarations to the people of Camelot. Ulrich began to head towards the door leading to the staircase.
"Brother! Wait, we have something we want to ask you." Alicia and Leanna ran through the throne room doors. The two of them then walked up to Ulrich as he turned around. The look in his eyes had returned to their normal blue color, however, the intensity was still there. "We just wanted to know what caused this sudden decision. I mean, I thought the plan was to tell the people a week from now." Leanna looked at Ulrich and could tell there was a resentment in his eyes, not for anyone present, it seemed like a resentment that was aimed towards someone distant. She chose not to speak, she didn't necessarily disagree with his decision to make an announcement now, but most importantly, she wanted to accompany him to the underworld.
"What caused the sudden change? The love I hold for my people and my family. The gods and demons want to take that from me, that isn't anything new. What changed is that two human armies are going to attempt the same thing. If they want to go to war with me, then I will show them the might of the Pendragon bloodline. I have tried to be peaceful with the other nations, but now they bow down to the whims of their gods, the same ones who think nothing of us. I guess that fool Claremont had something right, we no longer need their assistance if all they want to do is slaughter their children and faithful followers. We have charms, runes, and fairies, that means we won't become corrupted by using magic. I will be awaiting the responses of those gods who love us on Earth. The rest of the details you will hear in my speech. Leanna, tell the Dagonet representative to meet me in the tower." Ulrich's gaze became emboldened, his spirit seemed to grow, his words had a certain weight to them that they couldn't understand. Ulrich looked at Alicia. "Give me Caladbolg."
Alicia was shocked at Ulrich's commanding tone, he never wanted Caladbolg. He knew that it worried her since it put such a strain on his body. Yet, the way he spoke, Alicia's body just began to move on its own as she handed him the sword. Suddenly, Saint Elizabeth ran into the room and whispered into Ulrich's ear. He nodded and Elizabeth departed quickly with a smile on her face. Ulrich then leaned over and whispered something into Leanna's ear. She nodded before quickly running to fetch Dagonet. Alicia could only stand in place as she saw her brother disappear up the stairs. Her brother had given up on the gods, but she couldn't understand why. There was bound to be gods that would come to their rescue. She knew that Ulrich knew that, but yet he seemed to resent them nonetheless. Alicia clasped her hands together in prayer and, for a moment, heard a childlike voice call out to her. As a saint, she simply listened to the words that were spoken.
At the throne room gates stood nine of the twelve knights of the Round Council, Leanna, Richard, and Dagonet were the only ones missing, as they had a mission given to them by King Ulrich. The ten standing in front of the throne room were all heroes of Camelot, each dressed in a unique style of armor, yet they all proudly wore the symbol of Camelot and a blue sash with gold trim. To the people gathered in the city, they seemed like titans or even gods, especially Artorius of House Gawain, widely considered the mightiest warrior in Camelot. The people all stood in the streets, on the city walls, shops, rooftops, and some had even climbed various trees to hear what their King was going to say. Succubi, incubi, fairies, dryads, demon kin, demi-humans, and humans all gathered in one single place. There was nowhere on the entire united continent that had such a diverse population, not even Babylon. A loud roar that shook the very foundations of buildings was heard as King Ulrich emerged from the shadows of his balcony.
Ulrich raised his hand to the people and the noise died down. Suddenly, horns could be heard approaching, a smile emerged on Ulrich's face as some new visitors arrived in Camelot. Normally, these visitors would have been shot down, however, a flag with Camelot's sigil was seen. The crowd looked up into the skies in awe at the sight they were witnessing. Winged woman wearing armor had flown into Camelot. They numbered around 500, but each were well equipped and were all well trained. They all wore blue sashes with gold trim with the emblem of Camelot on them. Even the knights of the Council stood in awe of the 500 winged women. Why were they here? One wearing a small crown gently flew down to the balcony beside Ulrich and stood at attention. Her cheeks were visibly red. Ulrich looked over at her and smiled, the first smile since Lucifer's visit. He looked back out at the crowd and began to observe each of the faces of his citizens, before finally speaking.
"I must say, that looking upon all of your faces now, makes this harder for me to announce. I see a lot of you now, most of you I know by name and most of you have known me since I was a child. I know you have a lot of questions, number one being why I have called you all here. Before I get to that, I just want to say what an honor it is to serve as your king. I doubt any of our ancestors would have foretold a gathering of this magnitude. A gathering of so many races living together peacefully. It hasn't always been easy, I know that, but we got through it. We have become a bastion of hope for many lost souls and weary travelers. Some of you had lost hope and had resigned yourselves to death. Under the same circumstances, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. We have had many people come to take what is ours, to destroy the unions we have made with each other." The people began to shake their heads in agreement and some even began to tear up at the thoughts of what horrors had awaited them had it not been for Camelot.
"Our people have been bound together by a bond far stronger than any magical blade that I, myself wield. I am but one man, I myself am not responsible for all of this. However, I am the one who pushed for it more than any other before me. I gave all I could give to make sure all of you could have peaceful lives for those you love, whatever race that may be. I, myself, have fairy blood running through my veins. It has been my continued wish to make our kingdom a safe haven for all. That is why it is hard for me to tell you all that we are now going to be at war with the Western Federation and Holy Empire." As those words left Ulrich's mouth, an audible gasp from the crowd was heard. People then began to clamor and a slight panic began to take over before Ulrich pulled out Excalibur while exerting his blue aura, which was now beginning to have silver streaks. The fairies of Camelot all looked upon in astonishment. The crowd then all hushed and continued listening.
"It is not only that, the worse news is that the gods themselves have decided to side with demons to annihilate any threat in their upcoming war. That will be two years from now, but I will tell you this now, and I want you all to trust me with this. I will not let a single civilian fall at the hands of anyone, be they human, demon, or even a god. I will sooner give my life than see any of you die. Camelot is far more than a city. We represent something that the gods want no part of. I am sure you know of the war in heaven and the prophecy of the heavens battling the underworld. They cannot achieve any of that without war. Yet, here we all stand, all different races united together in peace. We are all family. My life is no more important than any of yours. I may not have wanted to be king, as I found myself unworthy, but I still became the king regardless. Ever since that day, I have devoted myself to you all, as you have devoted yourselves to me. No one here can ever claim they work harder than any other for the betterment of Camelot, because I know that all of you share the same wish as I do, a wish for a world of peace." The crowd was quiet and the people were murmuring. The sound began to grow steadily louder, the sound was words of agreement.
"I have already made up my mind that I will stand up to whatever threat comes to Camelot, and I will be the first person to face the gods head on. For those of you who may have any doubts about us going to war with them." The winged woman handed Ulrich a rucksack. Ulrich then pulled out Aresh's head from the bag and revealed it to the people. The people all stood shocked, they could see the golden energy emanating from the corpse. Ulrich himself was surprised when he found out that it was glowing gold, even after he killed him. "To assuage your fears, I show you the head of a Northern god of war. I killed him myself, so do not fear these heavenly beings. They are killable and I swear to you now, I will cut down as many as it takes until I know all of you are safe. Now, I make this announcement to you because I want you all to think about this carefully. No one will look down upon you for leaving for another city, or to find a safe place to hide. No one will stop you from leaving. However, I do have something I'd like to profess to." Ulrich then unclipped his cloak and held it in front of the balcony. Immediately, the dryads and fairies all fell to their knees in reverence.
"The year I became king, before I had the crown, I was sent into the fairy forest to be trained by the fairy queen. It was their that I killed a Fenrir wolf and..." Ulrich paused and swallowed. "proceeded to hunt down the unseelied fairies responsible for hurting my dearest friend. The Fairy Princess granted me this cloak and insignia while dubbing me, the Hero of the Moonlight Goddess. I say this, because the Fairy Princess has just sent word to me that they will be offering us aid in wars to come." The crowd once again began to clamor, but this time the clamoring was positive. The Twelve all looked towards each other with confused looks, none knowing of this story. Princess Alicia stood shocked, while she heard minor details, it didn't explain why he refused to talk about it. Maybe it was the title, to be favored by a moon goddess is something that all fairies and hunters wish for. What was the full truth?
"That isn't all, I'm sure you know by now that I have successfully wiped out the slave rings within our kingdom, and we are steadily patrolling to make sure no more happens. Well, during a raid, I saved the Princess of Babylon from bondage. The Princess will be traveling here soon with a number of troops to also aid us. All of this may seem to have happened fast, considering I just returned home yesterday. However, that is where the Princess of the Valkyries, Brynhildr, comes in. She has informed Babylon and the Fairy Forest of our plight. While it may come as a surprise to all of you, the two of us share a close relationship and she has formally joined Camelot with 500 of her best warriors. " Brynhildr's cheeks once again reddened at Ulrich's statement. Maria, who was with the rest of the Council gritted her teeth.
"I share this with you because I want you all to rest assured that I will do whatever is necessary to ensure your safety. You are my family, we are mortals here on Earth, this is our home. I refuse to give up my home just because the gods believe we are lesser than they are. The All-father was said to have made us in his image, that we all share an essence of his divinity. Why is it that we can perform miracles that is said to be the magic of the gods? Because we have the power! Fairies, succubi, incubi, dryads, demon kin, demi-humans, why is it that we can all fall in love with each other? Why do you all have human traits? Because you share the same creator. We are all one and even when we all perish from this Earth one day, that fact will never change." The clamoring grew louder and cheers began to be heard.
"Let them come for us my King!", "We know you will keep us safe!", "You have given us everything you have to live happy lives.", "You gave us hope when there was none.", "You took us in when no one else would!", "You freed us slaves from bondage, we will never abandon you!", "We will give you our all my King!", "You are the hero of the fairies, we will follow you wherever you go!", "The dryads from the western forest were dying out, you gave us a new forest within the walls of Camelot, this is our home now, we will protect it with you our King!", "You have carried our burdens for so long, this time we'll carry them with you!", "The gods didn't save us, you did. If they all abandoned us, then we will fight them with you!". The words of the people all began to make Ulrich's spirit lift. Even the valkyries bowed to Ulrich.
"There is still two things I have yet to show you my brave people. Look up!" A shadow then loomed above them, it was in the shape of a dragon, but made of flames. Ulrich then took Caladbolg from his back and thrust it into the air, the magic it emitted was now pure silver. It exploded into the sky as the dragon of flames spread it's wings in front of it. From behind the dragon, a figure appeared, it was Richard of House Ector, riding a Pegasus. Behind him, emerged his cavalry, all riding gryphons. The Council all smiled as they all had noticed Leanna whisper something to Richard previously. Obviously, it was about this. "These mounts are gifts from the gods of our Church of the Faiths. So, Saints of the Church, do not fear, the gods we serve are still with us!" Brynhildr looked at Ulrich and noticed that some blood had begun to leak from the corner of his mouth and that the sword was shaking. It was minor, so she knew that the citizens wouldn't be able to notice, especially with them watching the spectacle.
Ulrich put Caladbolg to the side and grunted slightly before standing upright once again. "The dragon of fire, combined with the blast from Caladbolg is a signal to a dragon. The dragon whom one of my ancestors had saved. Shortly, we will be joined by a great red arch dragon. I have mustered all of this for you all. I have done this because I want to guide us into a future where we decide our own destinies. We will no longer be bound by fate or destiny, we will all choose. From this day onward, we aren't dryads, fairies, humans, demon kin, demi-humans, succubi, or incubi. On this day, I proclaim that we people of Camelot will no longer be bound by those conventions of race or category. From this day forward, in the name of my great ancestor who united this land, I proclaim the people of Camelot will now be known collectively as Arthurians!"
The crowd all erupted in cheers and joyous screaming. Every race looked towards each other and embraced one another. Ulrich lifted his Excalibur into the air, followed by the Council all lifting their weapons into the sky. Magic was then shot into the air, filling the darkening sky with dazzling lights. Ulrich's aura was now half silver and half blue, he looked at the moon and confirmed that his silver aura emerged and grew stronger with the moon. He sheathed Excalibur and grabbed Caladbolg as he made his way back into the castle, all while hearing the people chant his name. Brynhildr motioned to her soldiers who flew down to the throne room doors. Artorius stood firm when the captain of the valkyries approached. "My name is Hilda, I am the captain of Princess Brynhildr's personal unit. We have come to relieve you of your duties so that you may speak with King Ulrich." Hilda was a tall, beautiful, and well muscled valkyrie who's blonde hair was braided and wielded an ornate spear. Most would be intimidated by Artorius, however, Hilda seemed unfazed by the man's size.
"Hm, since your princess has a close relationship with our king, we'll leave it to you." Hilda then giggled at Artorius's words. He looked back towards the warrior and gave a small laugh in return, "Why do you laugh at my words?"
"It's just a bit curious is all. A lot of us thought that the King's einherjar would know of their relationship." She had a sweet smile, rivaled only by Brynhildr's.
"Well, he seems to keep such things private, he is still pretty young, but so is your princess. It seems their demeanors are quite different since you know more than I." Artorius then let out a boisterous laugh. The helmet he wore made the laugh boom even louder. "It does make me glad that he has a positive relationship with your princess, actually, it makes me proud since I practically raised the boy as my own son." Hilda laughed and replied quickly.
"Well, once you meet the princess, you'll see that she is quite shy herself. We just have ways of finding out her secrets. While I may look young, it is actually quite the same between the princess and I. I taught her since she was little, but I guess that must mean I lost to you since your king bested her in combat." Artorius huffed in response.
"That boy still has a ways to go. Hopefully, with her here, he'll be able to get past all that has happened recently." Artorius began to walk into the throne room before stopping. "What is an einherjar?" Hilda's expression seemed shocked before she let out a big smile.
"It has two meanings, though in your case, it means 'army of one' in the old language of our people. I know all about your exploits Sir Artorius, so it's a sign of respect. Hopefully, we can get to know each other better through the coming years." Hilda then turned and began to give orders to her troops. It seemed that a big celebration was being held in honor of Ulrich's speech, so they were accounting for that. Artorius stood still for a moment, contemplating her words before once again letting out a huff and walking into the throne room to see King Ulrich.
Ulrich saw the new Dagonet and Leanna descending the stairs that led to the roof. Richard then soon followed suit. They all stopped and looked at Ulrich, but soon noticed Brynhildr behind him and quickly descended the stairs to the main throne room. Ulrich began to cough into his hand and quickly noticed the blood on it. His body was weak and his vision was beginning to get weak. Suddenly, a hand then grabbed his. He leaned against the wall and saw Brynhildr wiping his bloodied hand with a white cloth before moving onto the corners of his mouth. His skin had begun to grow slightly paler. "Look at you. You give that big speech and you can barely make your way to the stairs. Come on, sit down for a moment, I'll fix you up." Her words were domineering but had a gentle sincerity in them. Ulrich looked at her and every time she looked up at him she quickly looked away.
"Still having trouble with that Bryn?" Ulrich joked. "Come on, just look at me, it's been forever." He reached out his hand and lifted her chin up until she looked him in the eyes. A small smile emerged on Bryn's face before shaking his hand away.
"Okay, stop it. This is serious, you can't let your subordinates see you like this. Especially since you're going to take me out to that celebration after your talk with your Council." Her cheeks were now bright red. Ulrich admired her purple eyes, they reminded him of his lilies, and her braided sandy blonde hair made her look like a real warrior princess. To everyone else, that's what she was, but not to him. No one else got to see this loving and caring side to her. Well, maybe her valkyries.
"I didn't know you cared about my appearance so much, because I seem to remember you always trying to injure me all the time." Ulrich could fill his magical energy replenishing. The pain he was feeling was slowly subsiding and his color was returning to normal.
"You be quiet. You were just a prince at that time, plus I seem to remember you trying to injure me as well." Ulrich felt a sharp pinch on his hand, as he winced, he noticed a smile on Bryn's face. "Almost done, though, this whole thing is going to cost you."
"Oh, yeah? I thought I was still paying for that one time..." She quickly covered his mouth with her hand while looking at him with a menacing stare, though it was very weak considering her blushing face
"You said you wouldn't bring that up again, so now, you owe me twice as much as before. Since you know so much about me, you know the best way to make me happy." She smiled as she stood up and offered her hand. Ulrich smiled as he took her hand and stood up.
"Thanks Bryn, for everything. You've been able to help me out a lot just by being here. I was beginning to lose hope in the heavens. While, I still intend to stand by my words, I won't forget the help Freyja and the others gave us. It's just good to know that some of the gods still believe in humanity and haven't turned their backs on us. Though, if I'm being honest, you being here does bring me some worry" Ulrich looked down with a sullen look. He planned on fighting until the end, with little to no help. Elizabeth managed to get to him before he spoke some words that may have turned everyone against him. He then began to remember how his heart was burning with such fire and hate that it nearly consumed him. He began to clench his fists in anger but it suddenly dissipated, as he then felt a soft, warm, and pleasant feeling on his cheek before looking up to see Bryn hurriedly walking down the stairs. Ulrich then felt an involuntary smile emerge on his face. "You still run away after, huh?"