Silence instantly occupied the sky over Mount Enzou.
Even Artoria, as the King of Knights, found it completely impossible to believe everything she had just heard.
She had already engaged several enemies here.
And he was the only one to say this.
"You... want me to rest?" Artoria confirmed once again.
"Yes, King of Knights."
Ian lowered the blade of the "Sword of Slaanesh" toward the ground.
"Just as you have always looked forward to absolutely fair combat, I also scoff at that kind of unfair victory."
"Of course, I don't think you can recover to your peak condition in this short rest, but at least..."
"Do not look so bedraggled from the fatigue of battle."
After saying this, the man threw the "Sword of Slaanesh" onto the ground.
Clang.
The purple-black blade hit the ground, emitting a crisp echo.
"This is my sincerity—"
Voluntarily disarming in battle is tantamount to suicide.
If facing Artoria [Alter], his life would likely have ended the moment the blade touched the ground.
But...
This was Artoria, the King of Britain who persisted in the way of the knight until death.
This battlefield she had swept clean was the best proof.
Therefore, the probability of him being attacked at this moment...
Was absolutely zero!
"..."
Artoria did not answer the man immediately.
Her breathing adjusted at a subtle frequency; it no longer held such intense hostility, but gained a few measures of friendliness.
"I understand."
"In that case—"
A clear breeze gently blew past Artoria's cheeks.
The Invisible Air that tightly sealed Excalibur was voluntarily dismissed by her.
Thrusting the blade in her hand back into the ground once again, the King of Knights grasped Ian's hand.
"Then let us have a truce for a while."
"Mn, okay."
A simple and clear declaration of armistice.
Temporary peace was obtained on Mount Enzou.
The two who agreed to rest just looked at each other like this, and for a time, the atmosphere appeared somewhat desolate.
However, Artoria soon broke this silence.
"Artoria Pendragon."
"This is my name—"
"Although exchanging names before engaging in battle is dangerous behavior, I..."
"Ian."
Before Artoria could finish her subsequent words, the man had already spoken up proactively.
"I was just waiting for you to ask me."
"..."
Artoria froze for a moment.
She had thought she would need more rhetoric to learn the other party's name, but she didn't expect everything to be so simple.
"I thought too much."
"Ian, you really don't guard against me at all."
"If one has to guard against a person even after seeing that sword, then there's something wrong with them."
Ian's gaze shifted to Excalibur standing erect beside Artoria.
"The King of Knights of the Round Table wouldn't use underhanded tricks—"
"It seems you understand me very well."
The man's figure was reflected in Artoria's eyes.
"If you had come a bit earlier, perhaps more slaughter could have been avoided."
"It is not too late now."
Ian did not avoid the sharp gaze coming from Artoria.
"To tell you frankly—"
"I am here to end this Singularity."
"Artoria, you should have also sensed that this is not the normal Fuyuki City, right?"
As an absolute inversion, Artoria [Alter]'s thoughts were hard to guess;
But if it was Artoria, that household legend had long since made this King of Knights' secrets no longer secrets.
She was easy to understand, but also hard to understand.
"..."
Artoria's eyes showed a reaction diametrically opposite to just now.
She avoided the man's line of sight.
"So what?"
"This will not affect the duel's progression."
"I do not care about anything other than this."
"Do you really not care?" the man asked back with conviction.
"If you simply wanted to issue a duel, you just had to release the information of the Grail completely."
"But you restored everything around here."
Ian scrutinized everything in the surroundings that was out of place with the hellish scene at the foot of the mountain.
"This shows that you have guilt in your heart—but what exactly could make you, who are so upright and aboveboard, feel guilty?"
A sliver of a bad thought arose in Artoria's mind.
This man who rushed here on his own understood the truth far more than she imagined!
What does he intend to do?!
"Enough, say no more!"
However, such obstruction did not have the slightest effect.
The man's statement continued.
Only, within it, there were already a few more measures of heartache unrelated to battle.
"You would not do those insidious and treacherous acts, so what makes you feel guilty must be something outside of battle, yet something that makes you feel powerless."
"Artoria, that is an 'attachment to the past', right?"
"The Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City is a scam through and through; the clock hands can be dialed back to the origin, but that time lost in Britain can never return."
"You witnessed the destruction you brought, and realized that all evil originated from a sliver of your own obsession."
"You wanted to salvage all this, yet were powerless—so you began to escape reality, began to organize an unending Holy Grail War."
"As long as you indulge in the dream of battle, all futures will still exist in the hope on the other shore."
He, who understood her too well, spoke all the truths at this moment.
Crack—
Crack—
The sky where birds flew began to collapse.
Crimson blood dyed the earth beneath the two's feet in moments.
The young girl's seemingly calm eyes also burst out with a devastated black like cracked glass.
The past scenes were thoroughly shattered, and the duel arena of the sweet dream revealed its fangs at this moment.
"Enough!"
"Stop talking!"
Artoria's figure was flickering; having her scars unveiled, she was already in an extremely unstable state.
Perhaps, the difference between her and the her that should have been here was merely this instant of thought.
"Duel me, at once!"
"..."
The man did not speak, simply picking up his purple blade.
Battle was triggered at the touch of a button.
Artoria, who hadn't completely recovered, launched an attack without warning, her eyes listless.
Go back to sleep, return to that unending Holy Grail War.
In this way—
There will be no difference between dream and reality.
However...
When the blade pierced the man's chest, Artoria realized he had no intention of dodging at all.
"Let me finish speaking."
The man's hand, which should have wielded the blade to attack, rested on the King of Knights' hair at this moment.
His fingers brushed gently.
A moment.
The girl's long golden hair rose with the wind, scattering in the air.
"I understand you."
"I have experienced the same pain as you."
"But, a dream is a dream, and reality is reality... no matter how much you resist, you should not indulge in illusions."
"There is definitely a way to change it."
"So, wake up from the dream, Sleeping Beauty of Britain."
"Let me bear those sins that have fallen because of this together with you."
The man lowered his head.
A warm sensation came from the girl's lips.
Those hands holding Excalibur gained freedom for the first time.
________________________________________
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