An hour had passed since the commencement of their final struggle.
Lucius Tiberius was now in a wretched state. Jagged lacerations from Elius‘s blade crisscrossed her body, and her breathing had grown shallow and erratic, a sign of utter exhaustion.
In truth, her wounds should have been far more grievous; the gloaming radiance of Excalibur Twilight had earlier scorched the flesh of her arm to the bone.
Yet, through some arcane means or Empress‘s privilege, the charred limb had knit itself back together in a mere heartbeat. The sheer speed of that regeneration had been a chilling sight to behold.
However, even the miraculous has its bounds. The Empress‘s healing had slowed to a crawl, as if the very source of her vitality had been drained to its dregs.
I was in no better condition. Lucius's martial prowess was formidable; the combination of her exquisite swordsmanship and serpentine, sinuous movements made her strikes nearly impossible to predict or parry.
The synergy between her technique and those erratic bodily contortions was more overwhelming than I had anticipated.
Furthermore, she possessed a method of striking that ignored external durability. Even as my body hardened through the process of Dragonification, her blows bypassed my skin to rupture the organs and vessels within. To bypass defense and strike the core—it was an utter absurdity.
Ah, though perhaps I am the last person who should speak of 'absurdities.' Regardless, the result was a shattered collarbone and several fractured ribs. The agony radiating from my shoulder was particularly excruciating. Of all the bones to break, it had to be the clavicle...
Under normal circumstances, such a wound would have rendered a man combat-ineffective immediately, but I forced myself to endure, grit teeth held firm by sheer willpower.
In truth, I was only able to move my arm at all by flooding it with a constant Prana Burst. Without that magical reinforcement, it would have hung uselessly at my side.
I was well aware this was madness. But what choice did I have? At this stage, I could only place my absolute faith in the output of my Magic Core.
Lucius, catching her breath, let out a joyous, hollow laugh.
"Hahaha! Look at us! Two rulers reduced to the state of common beggars wallowing in the gutter!"
"To be frank, this Rome has reached its limit. To push me to such a brink... it is truly magnificent. You, Sir Knight, have earned the right to witness this."
As the Empress spoke, crimson lightning began to coalesce around the blade of her sword, Florent.
Recognizing the buildup for a True Name Release, I poured my own prana into my blade. Excalibur Twilight drank the energy hungrily, beginning to pulse with a brilliant, twilight hue.
One True Name Release deserved another. Seeing my response, Lucius wore a wide, radiant smile.
"This is the mightiest blow Rome can muster—a tribute to Romulus, our Great Ancestor and Divine Founder! Behold this strike and try to survive it!"
"And this blade is the light of protection that guards our home. The final, lingering fragment of Mystery."
The Demonic Sword and the Holy Sword both reached their zenith of luminescence. At that peak, we swung simultaneously.
"Glory of the Empress, Shine Forth! [Florent]!"
"Holy Sword of the Stars, Shield Our Ideals! [Excalibur Twilight]!"
The released torrents of crimson lightning and twilight radiance surged forward, each seeking to devour the other. The two energies collided in the center of the clearing with a deafening roar.
For a fleeting moment, a clash from the Age of Gods was manifest here. Crimson bolts and twilight mists tore at one another, a violent struggle for dominance.
It was a strange thought, but the sight was hauntingly beautiful—two equal powers locked in a terminal embrace.
Yet, the equilibrium eventually began to tilt. The twilight glow began to push through the screen of red lightning.
Bit by bit, the lightning buckled until it was completely overtaken. The light of the setting sun pierced through the Empress‘s final defense.
The beam reached its mark.
Squelch.
"—Cough!"
Though the light had been weakened by the clash, it remained potent enough to punch through her heart.
Lucius staggered, a hole the size of a fist having been bored into her chest where her heart once beat. I moved quickly, catching her collapsing form before she hit the cold earth.
The Empress coughed violently, dark blood staining her lips. She struggled to lift her head, her gaze eventually meeting mine.
She forced a faint smile. Her face had grown deathly pale from the sudden and catastrophic loss of blood.
"Ha... haha... So, Rome has fallen... cough. I concede... Elius, the victory is yours."
Lucius reached out a trembling hand, resting it against my cheek. The palm that had wielded a world-conquering blade just moments ago was now impossibly frail.
I felt the fading warmth of her hand and looked back at her in silence. Her eyes were filled with a profound sense of regret.
"And yet... it is so very tragic... I finally... finally found one who could surpass Rome... I only just met you..."
As she spoke through labored breaths, I saw a terrible, haunting loneliness deep within her eyes.
I began to wonder what that look meant, until a realization struck me—a memory of Artoria‘s words from the Grail Dialogue in the original timeline.
—A King is destined to be solitary.
...I see. So that was it.
She was as lonely as Artoria was. And for some reason, she saw me as a savior who could pull her from that isolation.
Much like how Gilgamesh, the Tyrant of Uruk, had viewed Enkidu as his sole understanding peer and friend.
Lucius‘s breath grew fainter. I knew then that her time had reached its end.
"If... if there is ever another... opportunity... then... let this Rome... stay by your side..."
Faced with a plea so heavy with longing and desperation, I found it impossible to refuse.
I gave her a small, gentle smile and a firm nod.
"...Very well. If there is a next time, let us meet not as enemies, but as friends."
"Fri... end."
She whispered the word softly. The tension left her face, replaced by a peaceful expression as her eyes slowly drifted shut.
"...Ah... Then... then I shall... wait for that day..."
"...I will be there."
Her eyes did not open again. I stared down at her, my mind a swirling vortex of complicated emotions.
A bitter taste lingered in my heart.