57)The cruelty of the Lion King

(Author's Note: Give me powerstones, baby!)

...

3rd Pov

In the middle of the vast desert, a wooden vehicle never seen in this era was moving rapidly towards the Holy City, the vehicle was driven by none other than Da Vinci, and Ritsuka alongside Mash, Kiyohime, and Hektor was sitting in the back. " I can't believe that you made this out of scraps", said Ritsuka enjoying the air brushing against his skin.

Da Vinci giggled and said proudly," Never underestimate this Universal Genius! Your lovely Da Vinci chan can do almost anything!", they smiled wearily, Kiyohime snorted as she still disliked Da Vinci who had two amazing huge breasts, and Hektor remained silent though he was indeed grateful to Da Vinci who made this so-called modern vehicle after it worked like a magical ship, moving on its own.

" We should be near the Holy Citadel by now according to the coordinates, but it's not here", said Mash, " Are our coordinates wrong?", asked Ritsuka, Da Vinci replied," I don't think so, instead it should be caused by what had turned this place into desert, which should be Holy Grail", they nodded hearing that and understood everything at once, just like the third singularity in which the world was almost covered in the ocean, this singularity was covered by sand.

Suddenly a view of a grand tower appeared in front of them after the car traveled above a sand dune, Da Vinci stopped the vehicle and they got to see a grand city, with huge towers clearly not belonging to this era, the city was surrounded by huge walls, and on the outskirts, the remains of a city could be seen.

" So this is the Holy City?", asked Mash, uncertain what to make out of this scene, Kiyohime said," According to the people we met on the way, there are three cities that remain in this barren world, the last hope of humanity, first is this Holy City, second is the city of the Sun King, and lastly is the newly appeared haven made by a God".

The words 'God ' made everyone silent, to be honest, they already had a guess who it might be, although there were chances that it might be another God, but other than two Gorgon sisters, Artemis they have only met Poseidon in previous singularities, not to mention his intervention in three of the singularities was really suspicious.

Thus it was obvious who it might be, after a bit of talking Romani decided it was better for them to visit the Holy City as it was not only nearest to them, but also to avoid meeting Poseidon for now. If they can understand the situation in the Holy City only then they should decide on how to approach Poseidon.

" Senpai", Mash said glancing at Ritsuka who nodded, after that Da Vinci drove the vehicle to the Holy City, stopping it before the city's gate. They got inside the city to inspect the situation from the people but most of the people denied them to tell anything in anger. One even tried to kill Ritsuka only to be beaten down by Kiyohime. They sighed and continued investigating when Da Vinci's and Hektor's eyes fell on two people talking to each other.

" I wonder if I could listen in as well?", Da Vinci said approaching them, she smiled beautifully keeping her gauntlet on the table, Hektor silently followed her and then glanced at the two servants out of which, one had already exposed his identity as the Great Persian Hero, Arash, and the other servant who gave out his fake name Lucius. He glanced at both of them assessing their danger level.

"Oh, who you might be Miss?", asked Arash, with his signature smile, Da Vinci waved her hair and said, "The Great Genius, Leonardo Da Vinci, a member of the organization for the preservation of Human Order, Chaldea", hearing her words Hektor couldn't help but face-palm,' Who the heck gives out their identity so casually? ', he thought glancing at the gender-bended beauty with a sigh, wondering if her EQ went to her two big breasts.

"Chaldea?", Arash asked glancing at them skeptically, she said," That's the organization that's here to restore this destroyed place", then she leaned a bit towards them and said in a low voice," I am the same as you, a servant", Hektor again had the urge to facepalm himself,' What is the use of leaning and telling it in a low voice when is everyone gonna hear it anyway? '.

" Woah, sounds like a big deal", said Arash, then he glanced at Hektor and asked," And who you might be?", Hektor shrugged not wishing to tell anything about himself, but Da Vinci quickly replied with a smile," He is Hektor, and he is one of the servants of my stalwart master, alongside other two who are here", Hektor hearing that wanted to ask Leonardo is she is really normal, alas, he didn't knew how abnormal this gender-bended beauty was.

" Um, Master? I guess I would like to meet him", he said, she nodded and then asked him," We suspect that the key to this incident lies within the Holy City, so how do we get in there?", he sighed and started explaining her everything he knew, from how the Holy City was formed to how the gates opened on the full moon night, and it happened that the gates of the holy city will open tonight as well after that Lucius left two of them, and soon Arash left as well.

Meanwhile, Ritsuka, Mash, and Kiyohime met a mother and child who were extremely hungry and he helped them, then they reunited with Hektor and Da Vinci and got to know about the Holy Selection, finally, they waited till midnight before the entrance of the Holy City, finally, the gates of the city opened and they entered with other refugees.

Ritsuka, Da Vinci, Mash, and Kiyohime entered the Holy City while Hektor remained outside as the situation was very suspicious and thus he was there to give them help to retreat if the situation arises. Thus, the group entered, and Bedivere disguised in a robe too entered with them, all of them glanced at the soldiers stationed near the wall fully claded in metal. It didn't take a second for Da Vinci to recognize them as Golems.

Once all of the refugees have entered the gates closed, and then all of them looked forward to see a blonde man claded in armor standing in front of them, he said," Welcome candidates of the Holy Section, I am one of the Knights of the Round Table, Gawain... Our Holy City, Camelot is the perfect utopia, a Millennial kingdom filled with pure white, beyond these gates behind me, a Paradise awaits, let's appeal to the King's magnanimity!".

He raised his hands, and people gasped in joy hearing his words, suddenly he turned backwards and knelt on the ground. Then above him on the fortress, fires lit up on torches as a person fully claded in metal armor appeared in front of everyone, she said in a clear feminine voice," Those who can be led to the farthest end are few. Humans are bound by the chain of fate, thus I will make this selection", she raised her hand, and her palm shone brightly in golden color, and four beams of light appeared on four people present below.

She continued her speech," Souls that have not been tainted, free of any wickedness and corruption. Humans are born of eternal and immutable purity, I extend an invitation to only these four, Go forth and collect them, Sir Gawain", then she left. Gawain stood up from his position and turned around to face the crowd, then he said," Everyone, I am afraid of the decision that I am about to make, but this is also necessary to ensure the continuity of mankind, right now, the Holy Selection starts!".

As he finished his words, the Golems quickly took a battle stance and started approaching the scared crowd, a barrage of arrows from all sides rained upon the crowd, piercing their mortal bodies and harvesting their lives. People started panicking and running to save their life, but it was futile as Golems started swinging their weapons, harvesting the lives of people who managed to survive the rain of arrows.

" This is bad, we have to retreat! Mash, Kiyohime I leave Fujimaru to you", said Da Vinci understanding the situation, although they had Kiyohime and Hector together with them it was no way near to facing the legendary knights of the Round Table, thankfully it was enough for them to make a safe retreat. They nodded and started getting back suddenly their eyes fell on the pair of mother and son who they had helped earlier, a Golem was approaching them and was about to swing it's axe down on her.

The breathing of Fujimaru's group stopped for a second, as they helplessly watched the heavy axe fall on them, the mother took her son in a hug, covering him with her body in a futile attempt to save him, this also fell under the eyes of Bedivere who clenched his fists. He closed his eyes not being able to bear the scene of their death, but suddenly a huge sound rang through the place.

*Clang!*

Everyone glanced to find the Golem being cut in half by a person standing in front of the mother and son pair, it was a person of small stature wearing a slightly feminine armor, her pink hair waved through the air, and he announced himself," I am Astolfo, one of the twelve Paladins of Charlemagne!!", then he turned towards Gawain and threw his lance with his full strength.

*Boom*

His lance pierced through the air like a cannon and flew beside the Gawain's cheek striking the wall behind him. Suddenly silence filled the place, as the arrows stopped pouring down and the metal knight golems stopped, it was Gawain's doing who stopped it with a signal of his hand, then he glanced at the pink-haired Paladin. Astolfo said," To commit such atrocities, I wonder, if this is chivalry you Knight of the Round Table speak of? There was a time I admired you, I grew up hearing the story of the Legendary King Arthur, and his brave Knights, but now that I meet you and see this, all I can say, is you have strayed from the path you used to walk on".

Gawain grunted and asked him," Let's stop this nonsense, Astolfo, you are a servant belonging to the newly appeared third faction right? So let me ask you, what's that King desires?", that's the real reason he stopped this chaos, he wanted to talk with a person that he had suspicions about belonging to the third faction, where the another King Arthur was present.

Astolfo said," King? You mean by Miss Artoria?", Gawain's eyes narrowed on Astolfo's casual use of their King's true name, Bedivere who heard their words was confused and his eyes narrowed hearing the true name of his King. Astolfo continued," I belong to Neos Argonauts! The group of servants led by the Lord Poseidon, King of Storms, and the Dragon Witch! I was here to meet the legendary Knights of the Round Table and to say I would be disappointed will be an understatement! To raise your sword against innocent, you have tarnished the names of all the Knights!!".

Gawain frowned and raised his hand in anger," I won't take this nonsense anymore, I just want to know what that King desires, if you don't wish to talk then I will finish you", Astolfo paused and said," The King of Storms, Lady Artoria is fed up with the atrocities you all have committed tarnishing the name of Knights of the Round Table, thus alongside her son, Mordred, and us! She will destroy you all, and that person, who is pretending to be the King".

Gawain's expression froze upon hearing his words, the fact that Astolfo implied that the King Arthur they are following is a pretender, hit him greatly. Although his loyalty is firm, the weirdness of King Arthur, who has a complete change in her personality really made him suspect that Astolfo's words were really right, how should he choose? A King that has changed so much that she had become almost unrecognizable, or a King who he has yet to meet yes, she is supposedly closer to the one he knew about.

He put his sword down and took a deep breath, the memories of him slaying his younger siblings flashed through his mind, and his grip on his sword became tighter,' No matter how she has become, it's our, my fault that King has become like this, so I will follow her till the end ', he thought with the guilt, then he glanced at Astolfo and said in a resolute voice," Kill Them!!".

*Boom*

The gates busted open as Hektor used his weaker Noble Phantasm Durindana Spada to destroy the metal gates. The rain of arrows again started pouring down on the refugees who quickly started escaping from the front gate, Ritsuka, and his team quickly shielded the mother and son and tried to escape together when the flying body of Astolfo passed near them.

They glanced at saw Gawain's sword shining brightly as he glanced at Astolfo who had crashed on the wall just near the entrance, Ritsuka glanced at Mash, who nodded and quickly came in front of Gawain, who just casually grabbed her shield, and then threw her away along with her shield. Then he glanced at Ritsuka and others with the intent to kill them".

He raised his sword wanting to finish them all at once, " I won't let you harm them!", said Beidever as he blocked Gawain's sword with his own sword, the eyes Gawain widened in shock," Impossible? Why are you here?!", he quickly got back and asked," Are you with the other king?!", Bedivere replied," It doesn't matters on whose side I am, all that I know that the Knights of the Round Table have strayed from the path of Justice and humanity, so-".

Gawain didn't listen any longer and started swinging his sword, Bedivere also started deflecting his blows and attacking him back," Trap of Argalia!", chanted Astolfo as his lance started shining brightly, Bedivere quickly moved out of the way, and the shot of condensed mana hit Gawain vaporizing a huge part of his stomach, and making him fall on the ground.

Astolfo glanced at him pointing his lance at his fallen body, Gawain looked at his adversity with clenched fists," I can kill you now, and end your path of teacher now, but I am sure that Lady Artoria would want to kill you herself, or at least see you die in front of her", he said, and then unsummoned his lance, he glanced at Bedivere who after eyeing Gawain from the corner of eyes, nodded at them.

Astolfo summoned his Hippogriff and got on top of it, after that all of them quickly escaped from the place. Gawain looked at the scene helpless, as under his very eyes, the enemies he had sworn to kill escaped.

To be continued..