At the same time, in another part of the desert far from the battlefield...
Having just arrived at the Singularity and unfamiliar with the terrain, Morgan had used her Water Mirror Magecraft to transport them in a direction opposite to that of the Knights of the Round Table.
Fortunately, her millennia of wandering had made her well-versed in navigating the wilderness and finding places fit for survival.
So even though it was a hasty emergency transfer, the Water Mirror's destination ended up near an oasis. It gave those who had just endured a brutal battle a chance to find fresh water and wash away the desert sand.
After a brief rest and adjustment, Sakura carried a water jug up the slope to where Morgan stood at the oasis's edge. As she handed the jug to her, she asked:
"Mother, what are you looking at?"
Morgan accepted the jug from her hands. "I'm observing what happened after the Holy Lance fell."
"Is... is Father okay?" Sakura asked, worried.
"It may sound cold, but I doubt a mere Holy Lance could kill him," Morgan said, frowning slightly as she sipped from the jug, her expression troubled.
In that seemingly endless war, she'd been forced to unleash the "Tower" more than once just to counter him.
But she had never managed to injure him. Only the fairies caught in the battlefield were turned to dust beneath the Holy Lance's light.
Looking back now...
"How about you? Are you hurt?" Morgan looked down to check Sakura's condition.
"I'm fine. Mordred... I think he deliberately struck first. And Mash protected me," Sakura said after a moment of thought. "So if it weren't for the Enforcement Knights who flanked us, the fight behind us might've just fizzled out."
As she spoke, her gaze drifted to Gray. The gravekeeper looked in decent shape and was quietly holding Add in his arms, staring at his silent companion with a somber expression.
"But this at least confirms that the one who ordered the Knights of the Round Table to attack us... was King Arthur—the wielder of the Holy Lance."
Morgan and Sakura descended from the dunes and returned to the woods near the oasis. Leaning against a tree, Scáthach spoke to them.
"Still, doesn't this seem strange? Why would the King of Knights attack us—and how was the timing so precise? We'd just completed our Spiritron Transfer when they struck," Ritsuka said, sitting on the grass with her head tilted. "It's like they were waiting for us."
The others nodded in agreement.
From the moment the Spiritron Transfer ended to when Scáthach noticed the ambush, no more than ten minutes had passed.
Whether they'd set out from the white chalk city in the distance or were patrolling the desert, the response was impossibly fast.
"Prophecy," Scáthach said. "The king who ordered the knights must've had some way to foresee where we'd appear."
Only by moving out in advance could they have arrived so quickly.
That was the only plausible explanation.
"So... what do we do now?" Olga Marie looked seriously at Morgan.
When the team for this Singularity was assembled, she finally learned that the "Aesc" everyone spoke of was none other than the legendary Witch of Britain—Morgan le Fay.
At first, her identity made it difficult to trust her.
But Morgan wasn't just Sakura and Caren's mother. She was also someone Gray deeply respected.
More importantly, Shiomi hadn't kept her identity secret because he doubted her, but because he needed to conceal the truth—that she was a Servant from the Fourth Holy Grail War who had remained in the world as a familiar, even entering Chaldea.
When everyone Olga Marie trusted accepted Morgan, she gradually lowered her guard.
Especially now, with Shiomi's fate uncertain, Morgan was the only one who could take the lead.
"First, we need to go retrieve my unlucky apprentice," Scáthach said, shaking her head. "He took a direct hit from the Holy Lance. Even I would've needed to retreat to the Land of Shadows after that."
Of course, Scáthach was here too, Olga Marie silently added in her heart.
Caren nodded. "I remember—when the Holy Lance was blocked by Dad's Magecraft, all the Knights of the Round Table withdrew into spirit form."
"Which means..." Mash suddenly realized, "he was probably taken prisoner!"
She voiced the conclusion they'd all been thinking.
When they arrived at the oasis, both Morgan and Scáthach had checked and confirmed that the mana connection with Shiomi was still intact—which meant he was alive.
Though frankly, Morgan couldn't imagine what kind of existence would be capable of killing him.
"But that means my dear disciple was likely taken back by the Knights of the Round Table," Scáthach said.
Morgan's expression turned complex. "To think the day would come when I'd have to launch an assault on Camelot myself... Fate really is full of irony."
"But with just us... isn't that a bit too risky?" Olga Marie asked.
She wasn't doubting Morgan or Scáthach's strength, but rather the unknown scale of Camelot's forces. No one knew how many soldiers they had.
Given the disparity in numbers, the Knights of the Round Table could simply pin down Morgan and Scáthach while the rest of their forces overwhelmed the others.
Especially with King Arthur watching them like a hawk.
"No need to rush. We should investigate this Singularity first," Morgan replied. She was deeply uneasy, but she had to stay calm—for everyone's sake, and to reunite with him safely. "My husband mentioned there are three major branches within the Mage's Association. The Atlas Institute should be—"
Before she could finish, a sudden jolt of dread struck her heart. Her legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed.
"Mother?" Sakura quickly rushed to support her.
Scáthach, still leaning against a tree, wasn't affected physically, but she raised her hand in surprise.
"The mana link..." Morgan's face, usually composed, now showed rare shock.
"...It's been severed," Scáthach confirmed, equally shaken.
Everyone froze.
"Don't tell me... Shiomi-sensei—" Ritsuka's voice trembled with worry.
"No. That's not it," Morgan said, clenching her fist and closing her eyes to focus. "The contract's been forcibly overwritten... Someone interfered with the contract I made with him. They've taken my place."
The contract itself hadn't been broken. But the flow of mana that had sustained Morgan's presence in the world was no longer coming to her.
To put it simply—it was like water that once flowed to a lake had been redirected to another. The river still existed, but the original lake would gradually dry up.
In other words, Morgan had lost her mana source and wouldn't be able to remain in the world for much longer.
Shiomi had clearly tried to resist, but it hadn't worked.
And yet, in that moment, Morgan caught a fleeting glimpse—of something.
"...So you've really done it, Artoria."
The ever-composed and regal Morgan now stood trembling, fists clenched, fury barely held in check.
At that moment, the sound of synchronized footsteps echoed from the desert outside the oasis.