Lily frowned as she watched King Arthur easily block Mordred's Noble Phantasm with avalon. She raised her hand to stop Mordred, who was preparing to attack again.
In Lily's perception, although the person opposite her calling himself King Arthur also possessed the bloodline of the Red Dragon and could use the holy sword and avalon, Lily could not sense at all that the King Arthur across from her was the same individual as herself.
'If he is King Arthur, then who am I?'
Such a question couldn't help but bubble up in Lily's mind, but she quickly dispelled it. Although the Heroic Spirit Lily had not yet become the King Arthur of history and was a special individual training to become a king, Lily was very certain that she was indeed King Arthur.
"Who exactly are you!"
King Arthur frowned, looking at Lily. He glanced at the avalon at his waist, then thrust the holy sword into the sand, standing tall while leaning on it, and proudly answered Lily.
"I am the King of Britain, Arthur Pendragon!"
"Fake! How could Father possibly be a man! The one beside me is the true King Arthur. You don't have the slightest scent of King Arthur on you; don't you dare think you can fool me!"
Mordred pointed at her own nose while loudly refuting him, even twitching her nostrils to emphasize her sense of smell.
At this moment, the King of Conquerors, who had been watching from the sidelines, rubbed his chin and walked between the two parties, saying loudly.
"Lily, Mordred, wait a moment. This person truly might be King Arthur; likely a special individual from some parallel dimension."
"Even a special individual won't do! King Arthur can only be Father! Any other so-called King Arthur can only be a fake!"
By now, King Arthur had also realized something. He looked at Lily with an expression of disbelief, then pointed at Mordred.
"Me? A woman? And Mordred is a woman too?"
"Are you looking down on me! I'll kill you!"
Hearing King Arthur call her a woman, Mordred brandished her greatsword and prepared to charge and hack at him, but she was forcibly held back by the White Princess and Lily, leaving her only able to shout and scream while being restrained.
"Alright, Mo-chan, he was holding back just now."
Hearing Lily's words, Mo-chan turned her head away dismissively.
"Hmph, isn't it just because he has a good Master and a good enough spirit foundation to exert his full strength! It's all that useless Master's fault; the spirit foundation she gave me barely lets me use half my power!"
The King of Conquerors looked at Mordred and shrugged helplessly. One must know that during the fourth and fifth Holy Grail Wars, the King of Conquerors had experienced the kind of spirit foundations provided by the typical greater holy grail—those restricted heavily by Class were the truly miserable ones. The spirit foundations they were using now had been modified by Rin, based on the Fuyuki Servant spirit foundations but strengthened and with Class restrictions removed. Although they didn't allow the Heroic Spirits to exert their full power, they were far superior to those Servant spirit foundations.
At this point, the skeletal Six Authorities, clutching his left arm possessed by Roa, staggered over to the White Princess and looked at her respectfully, asking.
"My King, is it you?"
At that moment, the White Princess revealed a smile that Arcueid would never show. Then, her clothes instantly transformed, and her hair grew longer. True Moon had descended.
True Moon looked down haughtily at the skeletal Six Authorities and spoke languidly.
"So you saw through it after all!"
Then True Moon turned her head, and a flash of light from her Mystic Eyes immediately paralyzed the Heroic Spirits present, pinning them in place—even King Arthur with his avalon was no exception.
Seeing True Moon manifest, the Six Authorities immediately knelt on the ground.
"My King, I apologize. I have lost your power."
True Moon waved her hand dismissively, then took the crown from atop the Six Authorities' head and examined it closely.
"It is but a part of the Moon's concept; if it is lost, so be it. It's just that the little girl connected to the Root actually wanted to create such a thing..."
True Moon stared blankly at the crown in her hand, then raised her own hand and looked at it carefully.
"My King, they likely intended to use this concept to steal all of your power..."
True Moon waved her hand to interrupt the Six Authorities and casually tossed the crown into the sand.
"Do you still remember the last command I gave you?"
"I shall never forget it as long as I live!"
"Then I told you to live on. Is this the state in which you live?"
"But My King! If I didn't do this, then once they used the Black-Winged Duke and the Black Princess to summon your descent directly, then..."
The Six Authorities' voice grew smaller and smaller, the latter half of his sentence catching in his throat, not daring to speak further.
"Are you trying to say that I would be sucked dry by this crown just like you? Hah!"
"I wouldn't dare!"
"Hmph!"
True Moon looked up at the blazing sun in the desert and said with her back to the Six Authorities.
"Six Authorities, no one can escape this game of chess, not even I! Everything you've done is in vain; we are all already chess pieces. Wouldn't you say so, Goetia! Or should I say, the Beast of Pity!"
Just as True Moon finished speaking, Roa, who was possessing the Six Authorities' left hand, let out a cry of agony. Then, the ring on the Six Authorities' left hand emitted a brilliant light, and a plume of black smoke drifted out from it.
The black smoke then coalesced into Goetia, the mastermind behind the Incineration of Humanity, appearing within this desert formed by the Reality Marble.
"Indeed, True Moon, we are all chess pieces! But I am different from you! I am on the path to becoming a player, while you are destined to remain only a piece!"
A look of contempt appeared on True Moon's face as she glanced at Goetia, who dared to mock her to her face.
"If this were the past, you would already be a corpse!"
"True Moon, you said it yourself—that was the past!"
"Yes, it was the past..."
With that, True Moon walked over to the King of Conquerors and waved her hand to dispel the paralysis on him.
"Deactivate the Reality Marble!"
While the King of Conquerors frowned, considering whether to follow True Moon's words and deactivate the Reality Marble, Goetia bent down to pick up the crown from the ground and tossed it into True Moon's hands.
"Put it on! This is your destiny!"
"Destiny, is it? Then let us wait and see!"
With those words, True Moon put on the crown and then transformed into several afterimages, instantly smashing this manifestation of Goetia to pieces. Then, she made a grasping motion with her right hand and tore Roa right out of the Six Authorities' left hand.
A flash of blood-red magical energy erupted from her hand, and Roa was completely erased from existence.
True Moon picked up the ring from the ground and tossed it casually into the King of Conquerors' hand.
"Give this to Rin later!"
The King of Conquerors looked at the ring in his hand and nodded solemnly to True Moon.
He then walked over to the immobile King Arthur and drew the dagger at his waist.
"Apologies, but I think once I deactivate the Reality Marble, you will be controlled again. I imagine that as a king, you wouldn't want to be manipulated like that either!"
The King of Conquerors thrust the dagger, piercing King Arthur's chest.
As his body began to dissolve into spirit origins, King Arthur smiled at the King of Conquerors. He unbuckled avalon and Excalibur from his waist and dropped them to the ground.
"Actually, I was planning to find a way to break free of the control, but never mind. Please give the holy sword and the scabbard to that lady; I hope they can be of some help to her."
The King of Conquerors nodded to King Arthur as he dissipated into spirit origins within the Reality Marble. He bent down to pick up the holy sword and scabbard, then waved his hand to deactivate the Reality Marble.
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