Fairy Round Table Realm, Poem of Eternal Mist

The girl pressed her hand to her chest, countless scars hidden beneath her uniform. 'His Majesty Morgan saved me; I will forever remember that kindness. But when the fate of two worlds rests on opposite ends of the scales…' she gazed at the burning sunrise outside the window, 'I choose to bear this sin.'

The wind tousled her orange hair, and her eyes, always brimming with tenderness, now gleamed like tempered steel. At an age when she should be sipping milk tea and laughing with friends, she carried the weight of the entire world on her slender shoulders. This is Fujimaru Ritsuka—the last Master who used her resilient spine to support the future of humanity.

When Artoria finally appeared, the morning sunlight swept across her transformed figure. Her once plain gray uniform had been replaced by a navy blue coat, and her cream-colored shirt collar was tied with a ribbon adorned with sapphires. The golden hair flowing beneath her beret seemed to have absorbed the essence of the dawn.

"Wow!" Qianzicun raised an eyebrow, observing the change. "When did you prepare this outfit, little girl? It saves me the trouble of sewing you new clothes."

"Mr. Muramasa!" Artoria stomped her foot angrily. "Shouldn't girls be praised when they wear new clothes?"

The old swordsman couldn't help but chuckle: "Very well, why is our little princess suddenly dressed up so formally today? Surely it's not for a special pilgrimage?"

'This attire carries a special promise.' Artoria gently stroked the silver thread embroidery on the cuffs. 'It is both the battle robe of the pilgrimage and a testament to our mission.'

Da Vinci thoughtfully adjusted his glasses: "It seems there's a story behind this. Ritsuka, what's the plan?"

"We're ready to go at any time." The orange-haired girl tightened her belt, her black uniform fluttering in the wind. Despite losing Chaldea's support, her straight back still exuded the air of a leader.

"Listen to my command, everyone!" Ritsuka's voice was clear and sharp, like the ringing of a sword. "Percival will lead the reinforcements to support us. Our priority is to reach the Royal Clan to find Artoria's old friends. Leonardo da Vinci, Sei Shonagon, Gareth, and Caria will accompany us as guards—" She surveyed her fully armed companions, her eyes blazing with determination, "Even if the road ahead is fraught with thorns, we will forge a path to the future!"

'Set off!'

Amidst a deafening roar of responses, the carriages rolled across the dew-kissed road. Percival watched the convoy disappear into the morning mist, and a soldier beside him couldn't help but sigh, 'Such a young girl, to devise such a meticulous plan...'

'That's precisely what makes her extraordinary.' The Holy Lance Knight gazed at the churning clouds on the horizon, 'Only those who have weathered life' can possess such unwavering eyes. May the stars protect these pioneers...'

The rebel fortress was located on the eastern side of Autumn Forest, while the royal clan's territory lay far in the northern border of Britain. The long journey slowly unfolded beneath the wheels of the carriage. Ritsuka bent down to carefully mark the route on the map, her pen tracing the winding path across the hills and valleys.

'What an amazing growth...' Leonardo da Vinci gazed at the girl's focused profile, recalling her youthful appearance when she first arrived at Chaldea.

As the convoy entered the western plains, dusk had spread across the sky like a violet silk ribbon. The flickering campfire illuminated Ritsuka's contemplative face in the deepening night, her notebook filled with notes for tomorrow's itinerary. Suddenly, a gale arose, sparks flew, and a figure, imbued with the scent of thunder and rain, descended at the edge of the camp.

"It saves me the trouble of searching everywhere." The fairy knight Mordred brushed aside his wind-blown red hair. "It seems you're all resting here?"

Kalia stood up in surprise: 'Lord Mordred? The mission in Manchester is complete?'

Tiny sparks of electricity danced at the Weather Fairy's fingertips: 'His Majesty has issued a new decree—to lead you to the remains of the last dragon in the Lake Lands.'

'The Last Dragon?!' Kalia's voice suddenly rose, 'That's a forbidden area that even Lord Lancelot is unwilling to set foot in easily...'

'So you're going to disobey His Majesty's orders?' The air around the fairy knight Mordred began to distort. 'This isn't the reaction of a loyal dog.'

Kalia gripped the hilt of her sword tightly: 'At least let me confirm with His Majesty first! We must not rashly go to such a cursed place!' Ice crystals began to condense at her feet, forming a delicate standoff with the thunderclouds summoned by the other party.

The instant Kalia retrieved the communication crystal, no one noticed—the imposter claiming to be the fairy knight Mordred was silently conjuring a dagger made of twisted magic in his right hand. A dark purple energy flowed at the blade's tip, aimed like a viper's tongue at the unsuspecting Kalia's back!

Don't believe that woman!

A real, fierce shout ripped through the night sky, and a bolt of lightning struck the imposter precisely in the shoulder. The fake Mordred let out a groan, staggering to his knees. Everyone turned in astonishment to see another Mordred, a fairy knight wreathed in lightning, emerge from the storm, his hair crackling with blue-white electricity.

"Two Mordreds?!" Ritsuka exclaimed in surprise.

Da Vinci's detection instruments emitted a piercing alarm, while the true fairy knight closed in on the fallen imposter like a whirlwind. Lightning bolts erupted from her fingertips, pinning her to the ground, her voice icy cold: 'Playing shapeshifting tricks in front of me? Utterly foolish... Reveal your true form, you damned succubus Merlin!'

The imposter, exposed, let out a silvery laugh, her figure contorting amidst the pink petals: 'Miscalculation~ I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, Sylph—'

As the petals fell, a woman in white robes and with white hair stood serenely, staff in hand. Her amethyst eyes gleamed with a cunning light, and her pink ribbon trembled gently in the night breeze. Ritsuka and Da Vinci gasped simultaneously—this was clearly Merlin's unique magical fluctuation, yet it carried an unsettling sense of distortion.

"I just wanted to play a game with this cute little foreigner," the woman called Meryl said, tapping her chin lightly with the tip of her cane, "but that clueless thundercloud ruined my fun."

The lightning surrounding the fairy knight Mordred grew even more violent: 'Stop pretending! You're clearly trying to lure Ritsuka into a trap with illusions!'

Senjimura's sword was already three inches from its sheath: 'It seems we're definitely enemies.'

Da Vinci rapidly analyzed the detection data, his expression suddenly changing: 'Although the magical characteristics closely match Merlin's, the spirit origin composition is full of contradictions... This is simply some kind of anomaly disguised as a human!'

"No! She is not the Merlin we know!" Leonardo da Vinci exclaimed, his voice tinged with rare panic. "Could it be a distorted reflection of this Lostbelt?"

The woman in white chuckled softly, covering her mouth as her staff traced an eerie arc in the moonlight. "You think this is the limit? What a pity~" She tilted her head, surveying the prepared crowd, a predatory glint in her pink eyes. "But for creatures about to die like fledglings, this kind of performance is rather endearing. How about we hand that orange-haired girl over to me?"

"Don't even think about it!" Ritsuka stepped forward, her eyes burning with an indomitable flame. "I'll let you high and mighty beings witness firsthand the true power that humanity can unleash!"

With a snap, Senji Muramasa's katana was drawn, its blade reflecting his stern face: "If you want to take this child away, you'll have to ask the edge of my blade first!"

Sei Shonagon's screen and Gareth's ice shield unfolded simultaneously, while Mordred's lightning storm churned within the clouds. Faced with this overwhelming encirclement, Merry let out a silvery laugh: "I was going to use a gentler approach... but since you've all chosen a head-on confrontation..." She lightly twirled her staff, and a massive magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground. "Let me teach you what a truly devastating gap in strength looks like."

The moment the scepter struck the ground, a surge of violent magic erupted like a tsunami. The earth groaned and cracked, sending debris raining down. Ritsuka was violently thrown back by the blast, crashing against a broken wall and coughing up a mouthful of sand. When she struggled to look up, she saw Meryl's white robes fluttering in the dust, like a pure white demon bringing calamity.

Ritsuka rubbed her aching shoulder as she scrambled to her feet from the rubble; the shock of the explosion still made her ears ring. 'Just the staff touching the ground had this much power?'

The hum of flapping wings echoed through the night sky as the fairy knight Mordred hovered in the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach, her transparent wings blending seamlessly with the night. Meanwhile, Merlin on the ground had already launched a new offensive—hundreds of pink magic circles bloomed around her, each circle radiating a breathtaking magical glow at its center.

Come and receive your older sister's love~

With a cloying declaration, a torrent of magic poured forth like a galaxy. Light cannons tore through the night, shattering the earth and turning vegetation to charred remains. Senji Muramasa, enduring excruciating abdominal pain, leaped to the front lines, his azure magic circuits scorching dazzling marks on his skin.

'A Tomb of Ten Thousand Swords!'

Countless swords burst from the ground, weaving together to form a ring-shaped barrier. The sword wall trembled violently under the bombardment of magic, and sparks rained down like a storm. Kalia's ice crystals and Sei Shonagon's screen reinforced the defense in time, but cracks still spread across the surface of the barrier at a visible speed.

"At this rate, we won't last three minutes!" Da Vinci exclaimed in alarm as he monitored the rate of magic decay.

The fairy knight Mordred suddenly swooped down: 'Kalia! Freeze her footing!'

The ice fairy immediately understood and slammed her palms into the ground. A chilling aura, like silver snakes, darted across the scorched earth, leaving frost-like trails in its wake. Merlin was about to move when he discovered that frost had already wrapped around his ankles—an instantaneous burst of extreme cold magic sealed his lower body into a crystalline ice coffin.

'A mere trick~' Merlin chuckled, the gem at the tip of her staff beginning to overheat and glow red. But as she tried to break free, crimson patterns suddenly bloomed within the ice—Kalia had mixed 'Crimson Extreme Cold' into the ice-sealing spell, and countless ice spikes, like venomous fangs, bit into their prey.

The invisible thorns tightened, and Ritsuka felt her ribs groaning. Her veins throbbed under the pressure, and dark spots began to appear at the edges of her vision. Merlin, so different from the one she remembered, approached slowly, his fingertips lightly touching her cheek—the touch wasn't human warmth, but the stinging pain of poisonous vines crawling across her skin.

'You should have given in long ago~' Mary's breath carried a poppy-like sweetness. 'You're our most crucial pawn.'

Artoria struggled to lift her head, bound by the illusion, her golden hair soaked with cold sweat and plastered to her forehead: 'Shouldn't your target... be me, the child of prophecy? Why target Ritsuka?'

'The Child of Prophecy?' Meryl curled her lip in disdain. 'That's just an outdated script. What's truly captivating...' Her nails suddenly lengthened, pressing against Ritsuka's carotid artery like rose thorns, 'is this key that unlocks a new world. Don't you think so, Sylph?'

***

On the terrace of the Flower Tower in the Starry Sea, the real Merlin put down his teacup. The battle reflected in the crystal ball made him raise an eyebrow slightly.

'Using illusions against defenseless children is indeed clever.' He tapped his fingertip, and petals gathered in a ring around the rim of the cup. 'But exposing weaknesses to an unknown enemy...' A meaningful smile played on his lips. 'That could be a huge loss.'

-

On the battlefield, unexpected changes occurred.

Mordred, the fairy knight who should have been bound by the illusion, suddenly sprang into action, his lightning-wrapped wrist gripping Meryl's wrist like an iron clamp. A cracking sound rang out as ice shattered in the air, and the illusion barrier collapsed.

"Have you finished your nonsense?" The fairy knight's eyes gleamed with a true storm of anger. "It's time to shut your foul mouth forever."

Merlin's pupils contracted sharply. The lightning gathered on the fairy knight Mordred's fist tore through the night sky and slammed heavily into the pink shield. Spiderweb-like cracks immediately appeared on the shield's surface, but more fatally—her wrists were still firmly held in her opponent's grasp.

'Hurricane Cut!'

With that cold shout, a high-speed air blade instantly took shape. The air, compressed to its extreme, emitted a piercing shriek, and Merlin's arm snapped off, his blood splattering like ink into the night sky.

'Ugh—!'

Before the excruciating pain subsided, a hailstorm descended. Basketball-sized ice crystals rained down like a meteor shower, instantly turning the unprotected Merlin into a bloody mess. The fairy knight Mordred pressed her advantage, her golden cloud bow materializing in her hand, the nocked arrows imbued with both lightning and fire elements.

'【Crimson Flame - A Melody of Magnificent Bloom】!'

The moment the crimson arrow left the bowstring, Caria's ice wall rose in time to protect everyone. The instant the arrow pierced Merlin's chest, a blazing white sphere rapidly expanded, turning the surrounding hundred meters into a molten lava hell. Even through the ice wall, Ritsuka could still smell the burnt odor emanating from the ends of her curly hair.

When the smoke cleared, only craters remained on the scorched earth. Ritsuka rubbed her aching shoulders as she got up: 'Is it over?'

"It's far from over." The fairy knight Mordred said gravely.

As if to confirm her words, pink petals swept across the battlefield once more. Merlin gracefully brushed the dust from her shoulder; her severed arm had miraculously regenerated. She lightly touched the tattered hem of her garment, pouting reproachfully, "How crude of you~"

The fairy knight Mordred crackled with lightning once more: 'Next time, I'll blast you into atoms!'

Merry's figure gradually became transparent amidst the falling petals, her sweet voice carrying an unsettling intimacy: 'Still so murderous~ But I'm tired of playing with it.' She deliberately blew a kiss towards Ritsuka, 'My little orange-haired cutie, next time we meet, I hope you'll understand—birds that escape the snake's den often end up in the eagle's nest~'

As the last petal dissipated in the night breeze, the tense atmosphere finally eased. Sei Shonagon, clutching her still-trembling wrist, asked in a voice tinged with lingering fear, "That woman... was she immortal?"

Senjimura was wiping the scorch marks off his katana, blood seeping from the bandages on his abdomen: 'Looks like we've been targeted by something troublesome.'

Leonardo da Vinci squatted beside the ruins, rubbing his temples. Smoke was still rising from the wreckage of his toolbox. "A devastating loss... the wagons and supplies are all destroyed."

The fairy knight Mordred surveyed the disheveled group, lightning flashing in her eyes: 'Gloucester isn't far to the north; let's go there to rest first.'

Ritsuka smiled wryly, brushing off the ashes from her clothes: 'Now we're truly penniless.'

"Wait." Kalia suddenly gripped the hilt of his sword, alert. "You should be in Manchester. How did you get here on time?"

The weather fairy's wings fluttered slightly: 'We'll talk about that later.' She suddenly noticed Artoria looking around. 'Looking for that insect master?'

"That Oberon guy!" Artoria stomped her foot angrily, "He always disappears without a trace when there's danger!"

The moment that name was mentioned, the fairy knight Mordred's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly. Senji Muramasa silently took in this small movement, his knuckles tightening their grip on his sword hilt. In the night, the unburnt ashes of the burning grass and wood swirled like black butterflies, as if foreshadowing more clandestine clashes.

Anxiety and Restlessness (Part 1) - Fairy Round Table Realm, Poem of Eternal Mist

The hustle and bustle of Gloucester acted as an invisible barrier, temporarily separating the Chaldean group from the dangers of the outside world. This pink city of the fairy kingdom was perpetually immersed in a festive atmosphere, its lights burning all night, painting the sky an ambiguous peach-pink hue. The sounds of taverns, the laughter of fairies, and the playing of unknown instruments mingled together, providing perfect cover for their secret conversation.

In the luxurious suite Mordred had arranged, a tense and weary atmosphere hung in the air. Neon lights streaming in from the windows danced on the gilded wallpaper, and crystal chandeliers refracted dappled light onto the delicate silverware. Artoria Caster sat uneasily in a velvet armchair, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her dress.

“I’ve made all the arrangements,” Mordred’s voice broke the silence. “Tomorrow morning, the boss will prepare new carriages and supplies for you. His Majesty has decreed that Camelot will not obstruct the Prophet’s pilgrimage.”

Ritsuka paused slightly, then nodded as if understanding: 'I see... Was all of this within the Queen's expectations?'

"Wait!" Artoria suddenly stood up, her voice trembling slightly with excitement, "Why is that guy who calls himself Merlin targeting Ritsuka? If they want the power of the Child of Prophecy, why attack Ritsuka, who has nothing to do with any of this?"

Mordred didn't answer immediately. She slowly took a roll of parchment from her bosom and spread it out on the pearl-inlaid wooden table. Several portraits were meticulously drawn on the parchment, among which the enigmatic smile of a female Merlin stood out. But when Ritsuka and Leonardo da Vinci's gaze fell upon the familiar figure in the corner, they both gasped simultaneously.

'Belial Gath…' Leonardo da Vinci practically spat out the name, 'that persistent villain!'

Ritsuka's fist clenched unconsciously, her knuckles turning white from the force: 'He really was involved too.'

"That scumbag." Mordred scoffed. "Ever since he made a contract with the princess, all he's done is squander the palace's wealth and incite her to all sorts of vices. His Majesty has wanted to banish him from Britain for a long time." She gave Ritsuka a meaningful look. "As far as I know, he once conspired with Kelby to create a magical trap for you, but that was a long time ago."

Senji, who had been silent all along, suddenly looked up, his sharp gaze fixed on Mordred: 'I don't understand. Since this third-party force is independent of the Queen and the various clans, what exactly is their true purpose?'

Outside the window, the night in Gloucester was deep, but the mystery inside the room, like the gradually spreading darkness, grew ever more intricate.

The fairy knight Mordred lightly tapped the portrait of Sekel Mephistopheles on the parchment with his fingertip, his voice remarkably calm against the clamor: 'Good question. This so-called third-party force is essentially an organization that tramples law and morality underfoot. In your pan-human history terms, it's like a rampant shadow, specifically absorbing those outlaws dissatisfied with the Queen's rule and clan rules.'

She moved her finger, tracing the portraits of Mary, Diana, and Kelby in turn: 'Seckler, being of noble birth, certainly has a steady stream of funds to keep this organization running. But we still haven't found out his true purpose.' Her fingertip lingered on Mary's smiling lips, 'This elusive woman probably joined just for fun.'

'As for Diana and Kelby…' the fairy knight Mordred scoffed, 'their motives are obvious. The most worrying thing now is just how many royal secrets that traitor has leaked. But it's too late to say that now…'

'I don't even need to think to know...' Gareth muttered, his fist clenching unconsciously.

The fairy knight Mordred turned to Ritsuka, his gaze sharp: 'Their reason for targeting you is simple. Your survival after being "killed" by Kelby in the Misty Sea is considered a "miracle" in the Fairy Kingdom. As a foreigner, you carry a secret they desperately want to unravel.'