Prelude 2

Vortigern -"Agggh!!!"

Vortigern also releases his mana to counteract Artoria's, but he couldn't match the sheer amount of mana Artoria was releasing. Then Morgan also released her mana together with Vortigern and their combined mana output was able to even out with Artoria's output.

Artoria -"At last uncle, you are taking some action."

As Artoria giggles, Vortigern increases his mana output to the maximum. The dark aura/mana released from Vortigern immediately covers half of the throne room challenges Artoria's golden aura. The pressure was felt by the knights of the round table standing between the incarnation of the red and the white dragons. It was the time of high noon, while Artoria's aura pressured everyone in front of her equally the aura of Vortigern made the knight Gawain feel scared. It was suppressing his very existence and eating away his morale. Excalibur Galatine is the shining sword that Gawain possesses. It is the sister-sword of Excalibur, also originally owned by the Lady of the Lake. While Excalibur collects the lights from the planet, this holy sword is said to represent the rays of heat from the sun with a Pseudo-Sun contained in the hilt. Even this holy sword's light was taken away and was flickering with weak light in presence of Vortigern. Other knights were not fairing better either.

Among the knights, Agravain begins to contemplate his decision of allying with Vortigern and Morgan. He wanted to stop their Queen, as he was sure the removal of mysteries from this plane meant the world will not tolerate the presence of Britain's empress. To stop Artoria, Agravain took advantage of Lancelot's love for Guinevere, with the meddling of Morgan the entire situation spiralled into chaos. To begin with, the relationship between the knights of the round table is chaotic, to say the least with only their loyalty bringing them together.

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Agravain is the son of Morgan, making him the brother of Gawain, Gareth and Gaheris, and half-brother of Mordred. He was also an assassin employed by Morgan le Fay to serve as one of the knights.

Also, Lancelot was originally born and raised in France. Having lost his parents as a child, he was raised by the Lady of the Lake Vivian and thus gained the alias "Knight of the Lake". He first met Artoria when he first arrived in Britain in the midst of battle. It carved a deep impression of her when he saw the sight of a young girl riding on her horse, gallantly swinging her sword in a horde of invaders. It proved how wrong he was, the requirement to battle day and night was not physical attributes, but it was one who holds unwavering convictions. Lancelot had fought together with Artoria in that battle, and for his accomplishments, he was granted the honour of speaking with her as a friend and invited to Camelot as a guest. Before long, he began desiring a seat on the Round Table. He became a knight among the round table.

Kay is the son of Sir Ector and the foster brother of Artoria with whom Artoria shared a very close relationship. And Palamedes is a splendid knight that Artoria comes to recognize for showing amazing swordsmanship in a one on one battle. Galahad is the son of Lancelot that liked to wield his sword or shield for protection. Percival and Bors also like Galahad were more naive or to say had a very pure soul. Guinevere was Artoria's closest friend except for the flower wizard whom Artoria cared for like a little sister.

Each knight of the round table had a little problem. Lancelot and Galahad never liked each other but tolerated each other due to their liege. Tristan suffers from severe depression, Kay blamed himself for the change in Artoria's personality after taking the queenship.

Everything was going okay for others, but Artoria's decision to exclude the mysteries led the embers of revolt to spread. The first step began with the house arrest of Royal Accountant Guinevere and due to Morgan's meddling Lancelot thought that his lover was being executed, so he attacked Gareth and Gaheris who was in charge of Guinevere. And this angered Gawain as Gareth was unarmed during that time. Though Lancelot didn't kill them, he did mortally wound them. If not for Merlin both of them would have died. This led to in Round Table Knights split into two factions one with Lancelot, Tristan, Kay, Galahad, and Percival and the other faction Gawain, Gareth, Gaheris and Agravain. While Modred, Bors and Palamedes didn't join both factions.

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Artoria -"Let's end it now what do you say, Uncle."

As Artoria finished saying this she leapt at Vortigern and punched directly in his face. Vortigern dodges and replies.

Vortigern -"Unsheathe your sword."

Artoria -"Not needed."

Not waiting for a reply Artoria punches again but Vortigern guards himself with his left arm. But Vortigern is pushed back with cracks in his left-hand gauntlet. Morgan's sings a spell using the archaic fairy language while Vortigern uses a basic mana enchantment. Lancelot tries to approach Artoria, but she releases a burst of pure mana from her body, and the sheer ferocity of her mana shoves the knights away from her.

Artoria -"Don't jump in between monkeys."

As Morgan's mana begins to shape a spell, Artoria reveals a charming smile.

Morgan -"Here take it."

A dark ray is released from Morgan's wand but just as it was about to hit Artoria, a magic circle activates that covered the entirety of the floor of the throne room.

Artoria -"Finally, some progress."

Morgan -"What did you do?"

Artoria -"Nothing just a special spatial transportation circle that requires very special catalysts."

A translucent energy column rose from the circle and captured Morgan and Vortigern. They were unable to even move their fingers.

Artoria -"With this the problem duo handled, what can I do for you, my knights?"

Galahad -"You need to stop this and think this through, my liege. There can be alternate ways than just abandoning half of the population of Britain."

Artoria -"I am not abandoning them. With such a short amount of time, there is no time to find your so-called alternative."

Tristan -"My liege you don't understand your own people. They may want a perfect king, but they need is a human king."

Artoria -"*giggles* All this talk is good and all but you just keep saying I need to do but do what. Never a clear solution from the bunch of you. Galahad and you Tristan were first to criticize me when I took a hard stand with the noble and the kingdom's knights. Well you know it is not an easy feat reigning in men as they felt that it was beneath them to work under a female. Some even thought that I need to first marry a king and pass rulership over Britain to him. Need I say about the Nobles, these sons of bitches had the audacity to ask about my purity. I may chug it all up to 'age-old tradition' but insubordination and putting the security of the entire state at risk, some heads were needed to roll."

Artoria -'Cool, Cool'

Artoria -"Well you all never involved yourself in the administrative matters but you alls noble knight act didn't help me at all in these situations, so I had to come up with a plan that is to show everyone the place where they belong."

Lancelot -"We may have failed you but why harm Guinevere, she considered you her bigger sister. And what are your plans for my mother who disappeared suddenly, Vivian whom you learned magic from."

Artoria -"Well, my plan was to never hurt Guinevere in the first place. All I wanted was a way to gather Morgan and Vortigern together. You may not know, but Morgan is a fairy of the lake and known as the evil polar opposite of Vivian, the Lady of the Lake, a "Great Mother" class fairy born from in the inner sea of the planet. It is thought that Morgan inherited Vivian's authority, but!!! Oi Morgan, what do you say should I reveal your secret to your children?"

Morgan -" "

Artoria -"OK, never mind you can't speak. So, in truth, Vivian is an alternate good personality of Morgan's who Morgan developed as a way to cope with the conflicting roles given to her by her supernatural birth. She would have become the ruler if not for my interference. My ultimate 'evil' plan as you all speak of is to use them and teleport all the phantasmal species to the other side. I gave you a choice, you can also go with them if you want."

Gawain -"Do the fay have any option in this?"

Artoria -"No"

Galahad -"What do you plan to do after moving the fay out of here? Are you sure no will get hurt in this plan of yours?"

Artoria -"Well with your mother and grand-uncle here, no one will get hurt. I even plan to set them free on the other side. Well, Morgan is literally the spawn of the isle of Britain and Vortigern is the incarnation of the will of Britain that tried to reject the Age of Man. So there you have two beings birthed by Britain itself. There you have it, now go choose to whether stay or leave."

Morgan -"mhh!!!"

Artoria -"OK, you may speak sister."

Morgan -"You conniving bastard, it seems my own student is hell-bent on removing me. You may have won this battle but not the war. One day I shall return and reclaim what is rightfully mine."

Artoria -"Why are you so fixated on becoming the ruler of Britain, that means becoming ruler of humans? You have definitely seen how they opposed my rule, are you sure you can do better?"

Vortigern -"It's not about doing better, but this world will be destroyed in the hands of humans."

Artoria laughs loudly at her uncle's proclamation.

Artoria -"*HA! HA! HA!* You know right I have clairvoyance and I can see the future and I have also changed it multiple times. Whether a fay, a human or any other race of phantasmal beasts the outcome is all the same."

Artoria looks at the reaction of people see can clearly see unconvincing looks.

Artoria -"You will know one day, see you real soon sister."

With a flick of Artoria's hand, both Morgan and Vortigern vanish in front of them. Then, the magic circle releases a huge beam of light breaking the roof of the throne room. This beam slowly expands and engulfs everyone in the throne room. As everyone covers their eyes due to the bright flash of light.

Artoria -"My work is done here. Oh! before I forget if anyone of you one to go to the other side, there is a crest in the left hand just pour your mana and voila reverse side. BYE!"

Artoria begins to leave the throne and exit through the main entrance.

Modred -"You will just leave like that Father!"

Artoria -"Yes"

Modred got tongue-tied by hearing Artoria's reply. Seeing Modred and the other knights in this situation Artoria sighs.

Artoria -"Leave all your petty tricks behind Modred and make a judgement about this world yourself. Whether I or any other person recognize you or not doesn't matter. I never had or never will hate you for you are my daughter that neither I nor you can erase it."

A small smile blossomed in Modred face listening to Artoria. Artoria then proceeds to give her last sermon as the First Empress of the United British Isles.

Artoria -"Now at my last sermon, to all my knights in the round table, I decree as your ruler you all roam this lands, form a changed outlook whether positive or negative."

Every knight present in the throne room -"Yes, your leige."

Even if they all replied, knights were about to engage her in combat again. Seeing this the wrath that she had hidden inside herself felt like spilling out.

Artoria -"Futile!!!! Each and every one of you has disappointed me. From taking arms against each other to fatally wounding your fellow knight to insubordination. Opposition from the subjects, the nobles and you all, for a better word you buffoons, have grown attached to a war-ridden society. Pillaging in the name of victory, sacrificing the innocents to spill more blood of whatever is left after a war. These retarded subjects instead of working on the land themselves, discriminate against the 'losers' and buy them as slaves, forcing their women and children and do all this from the money they pillaged from these 'losers' as the right as a 'victor'. Then there is corruption from the Nobles whose confidence only grew because they have the support from the strongest knights in Britain. *sigh* I once had a dream. But I failed and gloriously at that. And to top it all off the main nexus of the downfall of my empire is me. This makes me remember a quote."

As Artoria says this her aura as a God, no more than that the aura of ultimate one of Earth is released. Artoria then immediate controls herself. As she reveals a smile she says-

Artoria -"Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that the only things that truly exist in this reality are merely pain. suffering and futility. Listen, everywhere you look in this world, wherever there is light, there will always be shadows to be found as well. As long as there is a concept of victors, the vanquished will also exist. The selfish intent of wanting to preserve peace initiates war. and hatred is born in order to protect love. There are nexuses causal relationships that cannot be separated.

Quite a solid argument don't you see. In all of history, it always was the ruler that was rejected by their regimes but I will renounce my own rulership here and right now for I am disappointed with my subjects. I abhor you all more than you all hate me. Hear me well, either in this life or other don't show yourself in front of me or flaunt your identity as Knight of Round Table, from today onwards you all are excommunicated."

After saying this Artoria leaves through the front door none of the people present has any courage to stop her.

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The news of a ruler abdicating the throne not under anyone's coercion but under own's volition and the reason being the ruler was disappointed by the subjects and when the name of Empress of whole British Isles is joined, it took the entire continent of Europe by a storm. The nearby rulers were happy at free territory for taking as now the nobles under the Empress were vying for power while others were happy that there is a power vacuum in the western half and no strong deterrent for their ambitions. Everyone either of her period or far future thought of her as a foolish little girl that wanted to be an ideal king with innovative ideas for her time until in the 20th century when her records of the court in Camalot was found that showed the disappointment and pride which led one of the world's greatest rulers to abandon an entire Empire.