In front of the port on Sardinia, facing the two King Arthurs on his left and right, Gawain was momentarily unsure which one to believe.
"You say you are King Arthur?"
"You are this world's King Arthur?"
The two King Arthurs stared at each other from a distance, both with a look of curiosity.
At first, the Heretic Arthur thought someone was impersonating him, but after getting closer, he realized he was wrong.
Through his Spirit Origin perception, he could sense that the other's Red Dragon bloodline, faerie blessings, and even the Sword of Promised Victory all seemed to be genuine.
Even he couldn't detect any issue with her Spirit Origin's fluctuation, let alone anyone else.
Gawain, standing to the side, keenly picked up on the phrasing of Artoria's statement.
"My King, did you just say, 'this world'?"
"That's right."
Artoria nodded, finally having the chance to introduce herself.
"Although I am King Arthur, I am not the King Arthur of this world."
"A parallel world, I see," the Heretic Arthur and Gawain nodded, a look of understanding on their faces. The Campione! world also possessed a vast number of parallel worlds. The Divine Realm was located outside the world, so to the gods, the existence of parallel worlds was no secret.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, Gawain suddenly looked at the Heretic Arthur.
"My King! I know it's unlikely, but I'll ask anyway. Are you also a woman dressing as a man?"
"Of course not!" the Heretic Arthur replied, slightly speechless.
"What a pity," Gawain shook his head.
"?"
A large question mark appeared above the Heretic Arthur's head.
You want to make a move on your uncle?!
"My apologies, King from another world. The god before me is my true lord," Gawain said. After confirming both their identities, he made his choice without the slightest hesitation.
"It matters not. We each serve our own master," Artoria shook her head, looking at Su Mo. She had no intention of recruiting the Gawain from another world.
To her, the Knights of the Round Table had been completely destroyed along with the fall of Britain.
Hearing her words, the Heretic Arthur finally turned his gaze to Su Mo. After a brief explanation from Gawain, he understood that the Godslayer before him was the lord whom his other-worldly self served.
Thus, the Heretic Arthur raised his longsword, pointing its tip at Su Mo, a sharp smile on his lips.
"To be acknowledged by the King Arthur of another world, to become the master of the King of Knights, you must be a brave warrior who would not shy away from a fight, correct?"
In the blink of an eye, the atmosphere shifted from reunion to a tense standoff.
"Is my lord's fighting spirit that strong? But I don't really want to fight a king, even one from another world," Gawain sighed, but still followed behind the Heretic Arthur, drawing the holy sword from his waist.
"What foolishness are you spouting!"
Faced with his subordinate's pedantic thoughts, the Heretic Arthur immediately reprimanded him. "When a god meets a Godslayer, do you really expect to retreat unscathed?"
"Besides, the one who truly wants to fight might not be me... Rakshasa King, am I right?"
As he said that last sentence, he stared intently at Su Mo. For some reason, seeing the other's calm demeanor, he felt an instinctual unease.
To the Heretic Arthur's question, Su Mo immediately nodded.
"Although your appearance was an accident, I indeed have no intention of letting you go."
The reason he had stayed in the Nasuverse, the reason he wanted to obtain their Heroic Spirit summoning technology and upgrade it to a god summoning technology, was precisely to obtain enough Divinities to support his analytical research.
Now, thanks to Artoria, two wild Heretic Gods had appeared. It would be a waste not to take advantage of this.
And aside from their research value, as a counterpart, the Heretic Arthur's Divinity might just be transferable to Saber.
"Hahaha! As expected of the lord my other self acknowledges! Truly straightforward!"
The Heretic Arthur was very satisfied with the attitude Su Mo displayed. Godslayers and Heretic Gods were meant to be mortal enemies.
Therefore—
"Let us fight! Show me your strength as a warrior! Show me if you are worthy of being King Arthur's master!"
With a battle cry full of fighting spirit, the Heretic Arthur and the Heretic Gawain assumed offensive stances.
"Master!"
Seeing the two god-level enemies before them, Artoria immediately stepped in front of Su Mo, gripping the hilt of the Sword of Promised Victory, her entire body tensed.
"Sir Gawain's combat power triples under the sun. His sword, Galatine, has power on par with the Sword of Promised Victory under the sun."
"As for my power, besides the Sword of Promised Victory, the Red Dragon bloodline, and the faeries' blessings, you must also be wary of the Sword of Selection, which I have already lost, and the scabbard, Avalon."
"Although I don't know how much stronger they have become as gods, if the myths are the same, the nature of their powers shouldn't be any different!"
Faced with god-level versions of herself and Gawain, Artoria didn't dare to be careless. She rattled off her and Gawain's combat characteristics and power traits as if she were reciting from memory.
"To defeat Sir Gawain, we cannot rush. We just need to drag the fight out until night. Without his buffs, he won't be difficult to deal with. This task can be left to me."
"To defeat the me from another world, we need to find a way to break through the scabbard's properties. If Master possesses any dragon-slaying skills, it should be able to deal considerable damage to me!"
"Furthermore, a battle with me cannot be dragged into the night. Although I do not possess this power now, I once had the blessing of the night when I was born."
After stating their characteristics, she also explained the methods to deal with "herself" and the Knights of the Round Table.
"If that's still not enough, we can consider temporarily releasing that Godslayer!"
In the end, she even factored in Doni. Compared to the internal conflicts between Godslayers, the conflict between Godslayers and Heretic Gods was much more acute.
Even just to save his own life, the King of Swords' first priority after being freed would still be to deal with the Heretic Gods.
It had to be said, Artoria's combat instincts were very strong. Despite her usual dazed appearance, when a real fight broke out, her grasp of timing and resource management were top-notch.
In her view, if they fought according to this strategy, even if their side was slightly weaker than the opponent, the chances of victory were very high.
As she thought this, she clearly failed to notice one thing.
Behind her, facing the attack of two Heretic Gods—an offensive that could easily sink Sardinia into the Mediterranean—Erica, holding Sakura's hand, didn't waver in the slightest. Instead, she seemed calm and composed.
Therefore, she had clearly misjudged a crucial fact.
"No need for all that trouble. You can step back for now."
After listening to Artoria's strategy, Su Mo placed a hand on her shoulder, guiding her behind him.
At the same time, an orange-red longsword appeared beside him, floating in the air.
"Master, be careful!"
Seeing the two holy swords in the distance operating at maximum power simultaneously, Artoria grew anxious.
The power of the divine instrument versions of Excalibur and Galatine was something even she couldn't fathom. It was noon now. If one were hit head-on by these two holy swords, not even a god could survive.
Artoria had thought her reminder would make Su Mo vigilant, but to her surprise, her Master not only paid no heed to the opponent's attack but, as if completely unaware of the danger, turned his head to look at her.
In that instant, the orange-red sword of light flashed and then disappeared.
The next second.
THUD!
The sound of heavy objects falling came from the distance. It was the two Heretic Gods.
Without having had the chance to use any of their trump cards, the two Heretic Gods had completely lost their ability to fight. Even the holy swords, halfway through charging up, fell to the ground with them.
What should have been a battle of mythical proportions was over in less than a second.
It was only then that Su Mo's question belatedly arrived.
"Be careful of what?"
"..."
Artoria was completely silent.
Looking at the two completely exhausted Heretic Gods before her, she finally realized what she had misjudged.
So, even against two Heretic Gods, our side holds an absolute advantage! Just who in the world is my Master?