Mordred's body was lifeless yet again.
Collapsed, coughing blood, Morgonna knelt beside him—tears brimming in her furious golden eyes.
"I'm sorry, my son," she whispered, brushing the blood from his face. "Mother will kill them all—."
Before anyone could react, Morgonna reached into Mordred's chest—and ripped out the glowing crimson shard of his heart.
Ronan's voice shattered through the rising chaos:
"MORGONNA, STOP! That heart—does not belong in a human!"
She ignored him, clutching the pulsing shard in her hands. Her expression twisted—not with grief, but hunger.
"If I can't have the Avalon Core…" she snarled, raising the heart above her head, "then NO ONE CAN!"
With a vicious spell—spoken in an ancient, forbidden tongue—she pressed the shard into her own chest.
The chamber exploded with violent, magenta light.
The earth cracked. The air bent.
Morgonna's body convulsed—and then it began to change.
Her limbs elongated, warped—her hair burst into writhing coils of flame, and her eyes turned pitch black with glowing golden irises.
Her skin shimmered like obsidian glass, and her cloak flared behind her like jagged wings.
Something monstrous, no longer quite human, took her place.
A scream ripped from her throat—half pain, half triumph—as an uncontrollable surge of raw, chaotic power burst outward.
Ronan moved instantly, standing between her and the royal family. His magic flared, a golden sphere surrounding them.
"Stay behind me!" he yelled, coughing as the shield formed. "It's the other half of my heart… I can hold her off—just—don't let her win—"
But they could all see the toll. His light flickered. His skin paled.
The longer she unleashed power, the weaker he became.
Morgonna's voice echoed like thunder:
"FOR MORDRED!"
She raised her hands and unleashed a storm of destructive energy, the throne room shattering in pieces as the Pendragonsbraced behind Ronan's shield.
But From high above,
Elaine stood on a broken statue, wind whipping through her hair, eyes narrowed at the chaos below.
She raised her voice, loud and clear:
"HEY, WICKED AUNT!"
Morgonna turned, magic snarling around her.
"You want the Avalon Core so bad?" Elaine grinned, pulling a gleaming arrow from her quiver. "Come get it!"
And she ran—zig-zagging through the debris, deflecting Morgonna's magic blasts with precise flicks of her blades, leaving streaks of white lightning behind her with every step.
Her body blurred with speed, feet barely touching the ground. Morgonna fired again, but Elaine rolled, ducked, and leapt—reaching full sprint.
She fired a single arrow, and it seemed to miss—flying wide, embedding into the far wall.
Morgonna laughed, catching Elaine midair with her magic and lifting her like a doll.
"Stupid girl," she sneered. "You missed."
Elaine smiled.
"I never miss."
Behind Morgonna, the arrow glowed, then spun back—homing like a phoenix returning to its master—and pierced the epicenter of Morgonna's spell, striking the shard of magic that shielded her.
There was a shatter, like glass cracking through time itself.
The magenta barrier surrounding the Pendragons crumbled—and Ronan collapsed, the strain finally overwhelming him.
But now—
It was fair game again.
Gilgamesh's eyes snapped open.
Arturia raised her blade.
Julian snarled, shifting his stance beside Eugene.
And Elaine, still suspended in Morgonna's grip, raised her dagger with a smirk of victory .
"Brat—" Morgonna hissed, fury and panic mixing.
"Yeah," Elaine said. "But I'm Dad's brat."
Elaine, suspended in Morgonna's grip, gritted her teeth. With a flick of her wrist, she raked her dagger across Morgonna'smonstrous hand, slicing deep.
"AGHHH!" Morgonna shrieked, reeling back in pain, dropping Elaine.
Elaine hit the ground hard—but she rolled instinctively, blades ready, eyes wild.
Across the battlefield, Eugene's voice cut through the chaos:
"JULIAN!"
Julian didn't hesitate. In a blink, he shifted into his beast form—that massive, snow-white direwolf, ten times the size of a normal wolf, magenta eyes glowing.
Eugene opened a portal, the swirling blue gateway hovering midair by the edge of the throne hall ruins.
Julian ran. And leapt through.
On the other side: a jagged cliff overlooking the war-torn field. Elaine sprinted to meet him, grabbed a tuft of his fur, and climbed onto his back.
"Hold on tight, savior," Julian said with a low growl.
And then—
They leapt.
Soaring through the air like a shooting star, they plummeted toward the battlefield below, Julian landing with a powerful thud as his claws dug into the earth.
Elaine, already in position, aimed her bow. Her arrow flared with white-hot light.
thwip!
The arrow flew fast, slamming into Morgonna's shoulder just as she prepared to cast another blast at Julian and Elaine.
Rhysand raised a hand, his own energy flaring violet, and conjured a swirling shield of shadows and runes to absorb the shockwave meant for his brother and sister.
"Stay behind me!" he snapped.
In the chaos, Arturia's voice rang out like a battle cry:
"Gil—give me a bridge!"
Without a word, Gilgamesh summoned his chains, launching them like spears.
They embedded into the cliffside above, taut and steady.
Arturia's boots hit the chains, and she ran—perfectly balanced, her body glowing with mana as she sprinted across the golden bridge of steel.
Morgonna looked up just as Arturia closed in—blade gleaming like morning light.
"THIS—IS FOR EVERYTHING!"
Arturia SLASHED—cleaving Morgonna's wings clean off.
Both women plummeted.
"GIL—NOW!"
Gilgamesh thrust his hands forward. The chains coiled and snapped like serpents, forming a cage below.
Arturia twisted midair, using the force of her fall to shove Morgonna down into the trap.
The chains snapped closed, binding Morgonna in place as she crashed to the earth.
Arturia landed with elegance, knees bending, cape fluttering as she rose—barely winded.
Morgonna gasped, coughing blood. Her form flickered—half-woman, half-monster.
"It's not over yet…"
Her hand found the Avalon shard—Mordred's heart—still pulsing in her chest.
She grasped it tight.
"You won't win…"
And she began pouring every last drop of her magic into it.
Too much.
Far too much.
A low hum began to vibrate through the air.
Ronan's eyes went wide. His knees buckled.
"—she's trying to make it explode." His voice cracked.
"She's going to take us all with her."
The battlefield steamed with magic and blood. The air was thick with smoke, firelight flickering against broken banners and shattered stone.
Elaine stood at the edge, her golden bow trembling in her hands.
One arrow left. One shot.
And across the field—
Ronan.
Fallen. Exposed. A shadow blade arcing toward his heart.
Without thinking—
Ronan struggling to rise, calls out to her. "Elara! Don't!"
Her heart aches as she looks at him, knowing what she must do.
Flash back
"It is said , The archer constellation would only manifest in moments of great need, fueled by her resolve to protect others. Their use drained her physically and emotionally, requiring careful balance.
But if you must.
I trust the sacrifice was necessary
"You are not alone. The stars are yours to command."
"Some things are worth dying for."
the battlefield was chaos—a clash of fae magic and mortal resilience.
Morgonna loomed at its center, her dark magic siphoning life from the land, her laughter echoing like a death knell.
The sky above was fractured, a sickly green hue as the magic tore the heavens apart.
Elara stood amidst it all, her bow trembling in her grip, the last of her strength pooling into her next move.
Blood streaked her temple, and her breaths came shallow and uneven, but her gaze was unwavering.
: "How hard is it to kill one girl?"
Elaine, battered but resolute, stood her ground.
Her emerald eyes burned with defiance, her bow raised with the last arrow she had painstakingly prepared for this moment.
"By the blood of kings, by the strength of heroes,
O gates of eternity, unleash the wrath of the heavens.
From the earth beneath her feet, golden chains erupted, shimmering with an otherworldly light.
They surged forward like living entities, snaking through the air toward their targets.
These were no ordinary chains—they were Enkidu, the divine restraints that could bind even the gods themselves.
The queen's soldiers froze in terror as the chains wrapped around them, neutralizing their magic and dragging them to the ground.
Even the queen herself staggered, her dark aura flickering under the chains' relentless pull.
Ronan called out to her from the edge of the field, his voice desperate. "Elaine, stop! You'll burn yourself out!"
She turned to him, her lips curving into a faint, sad smile. she whispers something, 3 words.
He froze, the weight of her words hitting him like a blow.
Elaine raised her bow to the sky, her voice ringing out over the chaos:
The air around her shimmered as her magic surged, drawing power not just from within but from the very essence of the dying land.
Her constellation—the Archer—lit up in the darkened sky, each star burning brighter than it had in centuries.
She loses her arrow.
As her first arrow shot upward, the heavens roared in response.
A second arrow, forged of starlight and divine energy, descended from the constellation.
The two arrows met midair in a blinding explosion of light. The sky seemed to fracture, sending shockwaves rippling across the battlefield.
The light carved through Mordred's dark magic, momentarily dispelling her barrier.
Elaine advanced, her voice steady, her bow still drawn.
Her knees buckled, but she forced herself upright. Her bow glowed brighter, responding to her determination.
"One more… I just need one more."
Channeling her last of her strength, she teleported into the sky, appearing just above the battlefield.
Blood trickled from her lips as the strain of the magic threatened to consume her.
Gilgamesh turned, Frozen unable to speak.
Elaine's focus singular. With trembling hands, she drew her final arrow, every ounce of her life force pouring into its creation.
She smiled faintly
She loosed her arrow, the shaft glowing with the same golden energy as the chains.
It flew true.
The third arrow streaked downward, joining the first two as they converged.
The collision created a massive, spiraling vortex of light and energy, ripping through the battlefield and striking with an earth-shaking force.
Mordred screamed, her form disintegrating as the combined power of the arrows obliterated her.
The darkness she had spread across the land began to recede, her magic undone.
The witch shrieks as the dark magic surrounding her explodes, consuming her and leaving Morgonna exposed.
Then—
A scream.
Not hers.
Arturia's.
"ELAINE—!"