Chapter 532 The Spiral of Fate
For the hero of charity, Karna, his life can be simply summarized in three sentences,
Do what you can do within your ability.
Give as much as possible of what is asked.
And then seriously accept all the consequences of doing so.
Contrary to his luxurious armor and colorful guns, Karna experienced such a simple life.
-No, not all.
It's just that sometimes, Karna would think of things that contradict his experience so far. In this world, there is only one hero who constantly disturbs Karna's heart.
His name is Arjuna, a man with various nicknames such as "Shining Crown", "Victor", "Rich Man", etc., and he is loved by everyone.
As the price of receiving armor and guns, the man took away everything from Karna.
Is the feeling that Karna has for Arjuna jealousy? Or is it something else?
Karna never figured this out until his death, because he had never felt jealous of any existence, and he could not give a specific name to this feeling that had been disturbing his heart.
...At the beginning of this Holy Grail War, he had a chance to understand this feeling.
Black Saber - there seemed to be a shadow of Arjuna in him. When he heard his real name later, Karna suddenly realized it.
Siegfried, the tragic hero who inherited the blood of the royal family, gained wealth, fame and everything else. But unlike Arjuna, his end was extremely tragic, that is, "being assassinated and killed". He didn't even have time to swing the dragon-slaying sword, and was killed by the only weakness of his invincible body.
For the Heroic Spirits participating in this Holy Grail War, Karna believed that they were all rare existences. As his own people, they were comrades who should help each other, and as enemies, they were rare strong men. In this sense, Karna can be said to "understand" the existence of Heroic Spirits better than anyone else.
However, the only one that interested him was Black Saber. Even if they didn't exchange much dialogue, if their weapons had crossed each other hundreds or thousands of times, they would naturally understand something.
Although he was a very similar existence to Arjuna, he was always craving for something.
He had no regrets about the fact that he died a violent death, but was pursuing something new.
And then - no matter who saw him, he was a true hero.
It was that kind of man who wanted to fight with him again and regarded him as an enemy that must be defeated. As a warrior, this could be said to be the highest honor and also a joy.
That battle, that promise, how exciting it was, even though he was grateful for the livelihood and warm conversation of humans. However, it was far away from "selfish desires", there was no desire of his own in it, and no joy that made his blood boil.
But this existed on the battlefield. Thinking back carefully, for Karna, joy could only be encountered on the battlefield. That was a brief moment when he put his entire existence on the tip of the spear and let his "real self" run wild without any worries.
The sparks of swords and spears were like twinkling stars to Karna. He was a good opponent who fought back effortlessly and urged him to use all his strength. Although it was a bit inferior, it was enough to make him feel that "his life existed for the joy of that moment".
At the moment of distance, the gem of the Dragon Slayer's magic sword flashed, and Karna suddenly felt a shudder similar to joy passing through his back.
"Fantasy Great Sword·Demon Lost!"
"Brahma, cover the earth!"
The blazing sun and dusk collided again, mixing together like wine poured into the same glass. With the sky as the background, the vast twilight and the blazing fire mixed together to create an indescribable magnificent wine that was enough to drive the old customers of the bar crazy, and then poured into the blue sky without any scruples.
In the subconsciously created stunning scene, the two heroes roared with abandon. One was the son of the sun god who had abandoned defense but was more dangerous, and the other was a steady and rock-hard dragon slayer. The spear and sword intertwined, and the sparks that burst out made the two people's minds blank. Only at this moment, they threw the Holy Grail War and the identity of servants behind their minds.
There was only the purest competition between heroes!
————
The cursed spear shining at the end called for a storm, and the abundant power was like a red dragon colliding, knocking the fully armed knight away.
"Gu...!" The visor cracked, shattered because of resisting an invisible blow, revealing the girl's unruly face. She looked up at the mighty King of the Wild Hunt riding a skeleton horse, her eyes full of unwillingness.
The rebellious knight Mordred, the "Sword of the Brilliant King" she usurped was originally a sword that only the king could hold, rejecting everything other than the king. However, Mordred held it in his hand forcefully, and said with his chest held high, "It is not the sword that chooses the king, but the king that chooses the sword."
Because of this, its sharpness is slightly inferior to when the king holds it. However, the true value of this sword does not lie in its power at all - the function of this king's sword is "amplification", which can enhance the king's prestige and bless the king's battle.
Using this weapon, Mordred's "magic release" skill was strengthened several times, achieving super-large jumps and movements, and was able to turn the owner into a comet, a human-shaped bullet that ignored others, denied and broke all pretense.
However, even with this degree of impact and destructive power, it was still resisted by the overwhelming storm blown by the end, as if she was not fighting against the enemy, but against nature, against the anger of the world itself.
"Is this you after giving up the power of restraint, father..." Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Mordred stood up and staggered to raise the sword in his hand, but the sound of horse hooves was loud. While Mordred's eyes widened, Altria Alter, holding a gun, passed by her with an expressionless face on her horse, leaving the girl with only an indifferent back.
"You are not my opponent." Stating the facts, the black knight king looked at another battlefield, where Shuoyue was playing with Achilles with ease, but her intuition told Artoria that the Greek demigod was accumulating the power of a fatal blow. Although that blow might not kill Shuoyue, she thought it was better to clear the threat.
Emalamulai snorted psychically and started running with the king, but the next moment arrows fell like rain, and the storm was torn apart. Artoria silently waved the holy spear and once again set off the waves gathered by the wind. The blow made by the muscle strength and the weapon itself completely offset Atalanta's treasure attack.
"It's too outrageous, is this the last king who is watching in the Age of Gods..." Sensing the king's gaze, Atalanta, who was on the top of the palace not far away, tensed his body and whispered to himself quietly, and then disappeared from Artoria's sight before the angry wind rushed up.
"...The threat has been temporarily eliminated." After confirming that Atalanta had temporarily retreated, Artoria Alter did not choose to pursue, but continued to move forward in the direction of the new moon. Under the extremely obvious gap in status, let alone Mordred and Atalanta, even if seven first-class servants worked together, it would be difficult to surpass Artoria Alter and defeat the planetary anchor in her hand.
However, some people did not think so - they never thought so from the beginning.
Red thunder burst out, and the passionate color broke through the heavy lead clouds and penetrated the thick storm, like a signal of provocation, breaking through the back of the black knight king and slowly dissipating.
So, Artoria Alter slowly turned around, and what came into view was the red thunder tempered by endless hatred, the rebellious knight who stubbornly occupied a space in the storm field.
"——Sir Mordred."
"Don't take your eyes away, King Arthur!" The brilliant and shining royal sword pointed at the master he was supposed to obey. In the hands of the knight with similar appearance, it burst out with unparalleled colors. "You can hate me and punish me, but look at me carefully. Treat my name as a taboo and harsh figure, let hatred fill your expression, and shout loudly, but don't take your eyes off me!"
The skeleton horse slowly turned around and faced the petite but violent knight, and began to dig the ground restlessly, but its reins But he was held back by his master until the girl who was hostile to him shouted the last words:
"Acknowledge my existence, King Arthur! I am Mordred, the cursed son born by Morgan, a rebellious knight who will be your enemy and destroy everything you have!"
At this moment, she was not in the sword fence. The king named "Arthur" had nothing behind him, and Mordred was not the first target she wanted to attack. But even so, the black holy sword had appeared in her hand. Sitting on a horse, holding a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, the Storm King was so majestic and ready for battle.
"——You said something that cannot be ignored, Lord Mordred. Since you are challenging the king, you are prepared for the tragic outcome, right?"
"... Humph, stop talking nonsense!"
Inexplicable excitement roamed in her bones. Her father's gaze was icy cold, but it made Mordred so excited that she almost burned. She roared forward like a lion, and waved the king's sword covered with red thunder unremittingly:
"Come on, your enemy is only me, King Arthur, I will not allow you to ignore my existence again!"
The tone was so passionate, and it sounded hateful to others, but Mordred had a soft heart in his heart that no one knew.
If the person fighting her was herself, then even if she died, her father would not be too sad.
No one knows how she calmed down from her crazy anger and murderous intent like a volcanic eruption after seeing Shuoyue use the command seal to forcibly reverse her father's existence.
Moreover, this is not the father she wants. The woman in front of her is the embodiment of royal power, the aggregation of everything that her father has to bear in that country and that era, and the embodiment of sin with only the title of "king".
It is also the reason why her father is forced to stand in a lofty position and is arbitrarily placed on her by everyone without any consideration for his dreams, hopes and wishes.
And she, Mordred, hated this and wanted to correct her, so she chose the path of rebellion and collapse.
So that's it. At this point, after gaining and losing, the girl finally woke up -
What she hated was not her father's smile, nor her behavior and reasons, but all of this was her misunderstanding.
…I seem to have misunderstood my own dream. In the final analysis, I actually want to cure my father's loneliness. I just want to pick up everything she gave up to become king.
The hazy thought was just a flash of thought, but at the moment when the blades touched, Mordred couldn't help but shout out the words that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time:
"Give back my favorite father——!"
Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, the dark sword of victory flew into the sky, like a bird spreading its wings and flying, and dissipated beyond the stars.