Faced with Noknare's southward advance, this time Woodworth made a decision that surprised everyone.
He chose to stay inside the city and not sally forth.
Of course, this was the rational choice any sane person would make. After all, Woodworth had repeatedly lost in previous clashes, rarely gaining any advantage. Retreating to defend the city was quite reasonable... But considering it was Woodworth, for him to make such a decision caught everyone off guard.
That said, although he often seemed emotional, easily used as a pawn, prone to rushing into battle impulsively and then slaughtering indiscriminately in a blood frenzy... in a rational state, Woodworth was no fool. They had underestimated him.
Artoria couldn't help but sigh.
"No, what you just said sounded like you were calling Woodworth dumb, didn't it?" Noknare couldn't help but tease.
"Well, you can't blame me. After all, he's almost become a legend for never winning, right? In all these simulations, despite his great strength, Woodworth rarely shines. It's like he just keeps losing."
Recalling Woodworth's performance in previous simulations, Artoria scratched her head.
Noknare had a completely different perspective:
"You think that because in the simulations you remember, Woodworth almost always clashed head-on with Guinevere. You don't know that in the earlier simulations before I became the Eternal Queen...
In those early simulations, Guinevere was always taken out early by the fairy Lancelot, followed shortly by Bavanzi and Artoria themselves disappearing early on. So they weren't very familiar with how the later stages unfolded.
After Lancelot took out Guinevere and stopped making any moves, and Baugust was trapped in Glasgow, the only ones left active in later simulations were Noknare and Gareth. Gareth's Round Table forces were mediocre, and he wasn't a strong fighter or tactician, so he couldn't grow the army rapidly like Guinevere. Before long, his forces would be wiped out by Woodworth.
If Spriggan hadn't died in the disaster at Norwich, he would likely have sided with Woodworth as well. Aurora was in a similar situation, while Murien, driven by hatred for Woodworth, consistently sided with Noknare. Among the fairy lords, Bogart showed varied loyalties—sometimes allied with Woodworth, other times siding with Noknare.
But no matter who Bogart finally sided with, it didn't affect the final outcome. Noknare's allied forces were always crushed by Woodworth. Initially, Noknare would carefully review each defeat and improve her strategy for the next simulation. In one simulation, she even managed to annihilate Woodworth's entire army while losing less than 10% of her forces.
Yet Woodworth still managed to dominate her single-handedly.
In the simulation where she became the Eternal Queen, it was thanks to the support of Artoria, Bavanzi, and especially Baugust, whose joining gave her a main force to directly confront Woodworth and gradually wear him down.
So this time, it surprised Noknare all the more that Woodworth, known for his brute strength, actually started thinking strategically and chose to hunker down defensively.
However, after thinking it over, Noknare decided not to voice these thoughts, lest she sound inexperienced.
"No matter what, my side is now filled with talented people, a strong, luxurious lineup. I have the clear advantage!"
Then she hit a bottleneck.
"So... Guinevere, do you have any good ideas?"
Noknare finally turned her hopeful gaze to Guinevere.
"Even if you look at me like that, I'm at a loss." Guinevere scratched her head helplessly.
"You've developed the magical virtual guns into automatic firearms, but Woodworth has deployed them all along the city walls. We simply can't charge forward under the fire of dozens of magical machine guns to break the siege."
It was laughable—although Noknare's forces were unprecedentedly strong, the reason she was stuck was because of Guinevere's own creation: the magical virtual guns. When she first developed them, they gave her an unbeatable edge on the battlefield. But after Woodworth managed to capture some of these guns, their presence became a double-edged sword for Noknare.
At this moment, Woodworth's troops were defending Oxford's city walls, taking advantage of the height and cover. Especially after reinforcing the walls with magical runes, his army held a huge advantage in the shooting duel against Noknare's forces. Noknare was truly at a loss.
Even strong fighters like Baugust, Guinevere, and Bogart found it tough facing that dense hail of bullets. Trying to force them to storm the walls and clear Woodworth's magical gunners would be extremely difficult—Woodworth was no pushover.
Of course, Guinevere wasn't truly without ideas. Looking at human history, walls were abandoned long ago, replaced by cannons.
Fairies lacked creativity. Although Noknare had recreated automatic guns and sniper rifles based on Guinevere's manuals, no one thought to improve the caliber or develop cannons. Even if they just scaled up magical virtual guns into magical cannons, smashing Woodworth's walls would be easy.
But Guinevere dared not suggest it.
Honestly, when she first made the magical virtual guns, she never imagined that after a few simulations, British firearms would develop into automatic guns. If she pushed for magical cannons now, she feared what the battlefield would look like after a few more simulations.
She was scared she'd just finished leveling all her stats to maximum and was about to unleash a rampage, only to get blasted by a magical cannonball on her first move. The thought was too horrifying.
So Guinevere decided to try other ways to break the siege.
"If all else fails, let Artoria become the Queen's Avatar, then use her Noble Phantasm to bombard from a distance. Although the copies she summons are weaker, with enough strikes, they can eventually break the walls."
As Guinevere was still thinking, she noticed Noknare's expression suddenly change.
"Guinevere, look! Isn't that Lancelot?"
Following Noknare's pointed finger, Guinevere saw a shooting star streaking through the sky, crashing onto the city wall and knocking dozens of soldiers flying.
The soldiers, caught off guard by the aerial assault, were unable to react and were swiftly cut down by the charging fairy Lancelot.
Then a roar came from inside the city:
"Lancelot! You bastard! Damn traitor! Are you dead set on opposing me?!"
Woodworth's figure shot out like a cannonball, leaping onto the city walls and intercepting Lancelot. The two soon locked in a deadly duel.
But no matter how hard he fought, it was already too late.
"What perfect timing..." Noknare's eyes sparkled as she waved her hand and ordered:
"Send the command! Full army charge! Begin the siege!"
After that, the battle's outcome was no longer in doubt.
Once Lancelot cleared the magical gunners on the walls, Woodworth lost the chance to hold the defense. Noknare's troops surged forward, swiftly reaching outside the city. Even if Woodworth tried to redeploy gunners from other walls, it was too late, and Lancelot would quickly deal with any reinforcements.
At this point, even if Woodworth wanted to flee, it was impossible. Fairy Lancelot seemed to hold a deep grudge against him, willing to get injured herself just to hold him back, not allowing him to take a single step away.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Woodworth yelled furiously. "You should be loyal to the Queen! Why help the rebels? Fighting for them to this extent? You think the rebels will appreciate you?!"
Facing Woodworth's accusations, Lancelot answered calmly:
"That doesn't matter at all. Even if no one appreciates me later, as long as what I do can ease my beloved's troubles even a little, my efforts are worthwhile."
"Ridiculous! You fool! Lunatic!" Woodworth cursed wildly.
But his struggle ended there.
As Baugust's sword broke through the gate and Artoria, now in Queen's Avatar form, climbed onto the walls to join the battle, there was no need to say more about the ensuing fight.
With the help of the fairy knight Lancelot, you finally found your chance, launched a fierce assault, and quickly breached Oxford's main gate.
After Woodworth's subordinates were taken down one by one, Noknare, Guinevere, Bavanzi, Gareth, and others joined the fight. Alongside Lancelot, who kept Woodworth occupied, it wasn't long before Woodworth was thoroughly defeated.
In the Queen's Calendar, March 2018, after defeating Woodworth and capturing Oxford, the last obstacle blocking the Child of Prophecy and the Northern Allied Forces was cleared. From then on, all remaining lands of Britain fell under Noknare's control. The Northern Queen once again ruled the entire realm of Britain.
On the throne of Camelot's royal court, the long-missing queen crossed her legs, lightly tapping her delicate fingers on her lips as she absorbed the words that just appeared on the simulator's screen:
"Oh? In the end, it was Mab's successor who completed the unification? Quite capable. If that Melusine fellow had been a bit smarter, he could have done it too."
She suddenly chuckled softly:
"In that case, if the final trial's opponent is him, you all should be able to pass, right?"