Carrying the radiance of holy light, and the chilling intent to kill, the golden phantom of the holy sword fell from the sky.
The sword came down so swiftly, so violently, and so chillingly.
Lancelot didn't even have time to react before the huge phantom of the holy sword smashed into the ground, and a large amount of blood sprayed from her mouth. Just one strike, and it brought her, who was already in a poor state, to the brink of death.
However, after completing this strike, Bagster also exhausted her last bit of strength. After swaying for a moment, her tall body collapsed with a loud crash, once again falling unconscious.
Nevertheless, even so, this desperate strike completely extinguished Lancelot's will to continue fighting. After a reluctant glance at the faintly breathing Guiniweil, though she didn't understand why he hadn't died after receiving such a blow, she knew she no longer had the strength to continue the fight. With the last of her energy, she leapt up abruptly, and with a burst of intense magical power from her back, her body was propelled swiftly, disappearing into the horizon.
She didn't even hesitate to run away.
"You bastard! Don't think you can escape!"
Seeing Guiniweil pierced through the chest by the spear, Bavanzi's eyes immediately turned red. She quickly chased after Lancelot, desperately controlling the surrounding lake water in an attempt to catch up, but despite her efforts, she couldn't even catch a glimpse of Lancelot's shadow. She could only angrily shout at her disappearing figure:
"Damn dragon! Smelly dragon! If you're so brave, don't run! Don't run away, you bastard!"
As she cursed, two streams of tears suddenly flowed from her eyes, and she dropped to her knees, crying uncontrollably.
She hated it—she hated herself. It was all her fault. If she had completed the task that Guiniweil gave her, and restrained Lancelot herself, there would have been no need for Bagster to sacrifice herself.
In that case, Guiniweil's plan would have been a complete success, and Bagster wouldn't have had to be buried underground. They wouldn't have had to dig up the ruins, Lancelot wouldn't have been released, and Guiniweil—Guiniweil wouldn't...
The more she thought about it, the heavier the pain in her heart became, and soon she was sobbing uncontrollably.
But at that moment, she suddenly heard Guiniweil's voice coming from behind her:
"Alright, stop crying. I'm not dead yet. You can cry like this when I really die."
"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Bavanzi was stunned and turned around in disbelief. She saw Guiniweil clutching his chest, supported by Artoria, helplessly looking toward her:
"What are you standing there for? Come help carry Bagster. We need to leave here quickly."
"Huh? But... but..." Bavanzi stuttered, "Didn't you just get pierced by Lancelot..."
Didn't Lancelot just pierce your heart with a spear?
As a human, wasn't that supposed to be a fatal wound?
Cough cough, it's fine. Just a fatal wound. Am I a normal person?
Guiniweil waved his hand with some difficulty:
"Carry Bagster, we should retreat—by the way, I should have called them out earlier."
With that, Guiniweil took out several Palu Balls from his chest, tossed them to the ground, and then Gareth, Redra, and Oberon, all of whom appeared weak, tumbled out of the Palu Balls.
[After the battle, you called your exhausted companions out and decided to immediately return to Edinburgh together.]
[However, due to having exhausted her energy in the previous battle at the prison tower, Redra is unable to help pull the cart.]
[You asked Oberon if there were any leftover magical beasts in the Palu Balls that could carry you back.]
"This... unfortunately, I used all the magical beasts on the ones you gave me to distract them earlier," Oberon shook his head, but quickly changed the subject, "However, I do have one more Palu Ball here."
With that, he tossed a purple Palu Ball to Guiniweil:
"This one was also from the pile of balls you gave me earlier. But for some reason, I can't use it. It says it must be used by the owner and cannot transfer control without a password... Could you check if there's a magical beast inside this one?"
When Guiniweil saw the purple Palu Ball, he froze for a moment.
This... wasn't this the legendary Palu Ball that Nocknare showed him before?
If Guiniweil wasn't mistaken, this so-called legendary Palu Ball was a relic left by the previous Queen Mab. This Palu Ball was given to Mab by his predecessor, the last human knight, Yuser... Nocknare secretly gave it to him through the quartermaster.
Guiniweil took the purple Palu Ball and smiled helplessly.
Nocknare... Could Nocknare really be expecting him to use this ball to capture Lancelot?
Thinking about this, he lowered his head to examine the Palu Ball, and at the same time, the description of the ball appeared in his eyes:
[Magical Item: Legendary Palu Ball]
[Rarity: ???]
[This is the highest level of Palu Ball. Throwing this ball can capture Palu, and almost no Palu can escape this ball, even legendary-level Palu.]
[Although there are no Palu in this world, who can say that fantasy creatures aren't a type of Palu?]
[—"Ah? The legendary Palu Ball only just came out? But I've already caught all the legendary bosses!"]
[This Palu Ball has special restrictions. Please refer to the Palu Ball's own instructions for details.]
In addition, there was a small note stuck to the ball:
"If you can figure out how to open it, use this to capture Lancelot!"
At the end of the note, there was a Q-version drawing of Nocknare giving a thumbs-up.
Meanwhile, as Guiniweil touched the Palu Ball, another line of small text appeared on the outer wall of the legendary Palu Ball, right below the note:
"This Palu Ball already has a captured target. After entering your preset password, you can release it."
Seeing this, Guiniweil couldn't help but smile helplessly.
Although he understood Nocknare's desire to help him, why give him a used Palu Ball? He didn't even know the password. Even if there was a legendary Palu inside, he couldn't use it... Wait?
Guiniweil suddenly froze.
—If he knew that this Palu Ball had been used, Nocknare wouldn't have left such a message, even if she gave it to him for help, right?
In that case...
Guiniweil suddenly raised his head:
"Oberon, when you got the Palu Ball just now, what did the ball show?"
"Huh?" Oberon froze, then answered truthfully, "It said that this Palu Ball can only be used by its owner. Unless there's a password, the ownership can't be transferred... Oh, right, I remember it also showed the owner of the Palu Ball... I think it was Mab, Ash, and Yuser?"
"Mab... Ash... and Yuser?"
Guiniweil murmured to himself, then furrowed his brow in confusion.
Judging by Nocknare's reaction, it was clear she didn't know about this setting on the ball either. But since she was Mab's successor, it made sense for the ball to recognize her as Mab... But why did it recognize him too?
Could it be...
Guiniweil suddenly thought of something, then turned to look at Artoria:
"Artoria, don't you have that notebook that can reveal true names? Is it still around? Give it to me now!"
"Oh, oh!" Hearing this, though not knowing why Guiniweil suddenly wanted it, Artoria immediately took the notebook out of her system space and handed it over, not forgetting to flip open a page for him.
Guiniweil took the notebook and pen, and immediately wrote:
[The Last Human Knight – Yuser]
After writing that, he waited for two seconds, and soon saw the ink in the notebook rapidly changing, merging into a blob before forming new words:
[—Guiniweil—]
Then, as if completing its mission, before anyone else could come over to check what he wrote, a flash of fire suddenly erupted from the notebook, and within the blink of an eye, it turned to ashes.
"—"
Though he had already vaguely guessed the answer in his heart, the moment it was confirmed, Guiniweil's expression completely froze.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
"So this is how it is..."
There had never been any predecessor who crossed over. From the very beginning, in this fairy kingdom, there was only one traveler—he himself. Yuser, in fact, was also him... Perhaps it was his past self, or maybe his future self, but the answer no longer mattered. After all, this was Type-Moon, where things like "I kill myself" frequently happen. What's the big deal about time travel?
The most important thing was that now, he had found a way to completely eliminate Lancelot, his deadly enemy.
"Oberon, I have a favor to ask. Even though
you don't have the energy to fight anymore, you can still ride Blanka, right?"
Guiniweil said:
"Since that's the case, please capture me with the Palu Ball and then take me to a place."
Then, he turned to Artoria and Bavanzi:
"Artoria, Bavanzi, you two escort Redra, Gareth, and Gawain back to Edinburgh. Nocknare and Woodworth haven't decided the outcome yet. With you two there, her chances of winning will probably increase greatly—then, please spread the word."
Saying this, Guiniweil paused for a moment before continuing:
"Just say that Guiniweil is waiting for her in the far north of Britain, in the end of Orkney, to settle the final battle with her."
"I've had enough of fighting her for so long."
"Let me settle it once and for all."
"This time, I won't try to run away. I'll face her head-on, and we'll determine the winner, life or death."
"I'll wait for her for three days."
Guiniweil said slowly.
Just as he finished speaking, Artoria immediately protested:
"No! How can you face Lancelot alone? That's suicide! I'm going with you."
"Yeah!" Bavanzi also quickly nodded, "No matter where you go, we'll go with you!"
"No, this time, you have to listen to me." Guiniweil shook his head, "I don't want to say hurtful things, but when facing Lancelot, you two won't be able to help much, will you?"
"When Bavanzi faces Lancelot, she can't even protect herself, and your attacks won't be effective against her. As for Artoria, you've already used all the useful items, right? Right now, you two can't offer any substantial help."
"Three days, that's enough for me to recover to my best state. In the previous battle, I had a breakthrough. After three days, I'm confident I can defeat Lancelot, but if you two come along and slow me down, I won't be so sure."
"But…"
Seeing that Artoria still wanted to say something, Guiniweil interrupted her:
"Do you think I'm someone who'd go looking for enemies to die for no reason?"
"...Alright."
After staring at Guiniweil for a long time, in the end, Artoria and Bavanzi relented under his determined gaze.
They understood that even though Guiniweil usually indulged them, once he made up his mind, neither of them could change his decision... That's just the kind of person he was.
"Then you have to promise us, no matter what happens, you'll come back to see us."
In the end, that's all they said.
"Yeah, I promise."
Guiniweil nodded without hesitation.
After Artoria and Bavanzi received his promise and walked away reluctantly, before Guiniweil could speak to Oberon, Oberon spoke up first:
"Alright, you don't have to pretend with me."
"Tell me honestly, just how bad is your condition right now?"