Vol 2. Chapter 24. Confrontations.

I don't know whether to feel incredibly proud of my son's talent, or to feel incredibly bitter about what I am looking at right now…

Alistair looked like he had run a few marathons, as his shirt and trousers stuck to his skin, while he panted like a dog. His face, arms, and the few parts of his chest that were visible were dotted with red marks from being hit with a shinai.

Admittedly, it was to be expected that he looked terrible, as he hadn't had a break for three hours… not that he hadn't begged for it, but Arthur wouldn't have it.

Arthur herself looked relatively fine, but she had a light sheen of sweat on her face… which was really impressive on Alistair's part, if I were being honest.

Naturally she hadn't been hit, but Alistair was doing far better than he had any right to… and I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have taught him the spear, if he was capable of learning so much from a spar.

…Ugh! Arthur will totally give me a disappointed look after this spar… Not that I didn't deserve it, but I never knew that he was this talented with a sword!

Focusing back on the spar, I watched as Arthur effortlessly sidestepped a thrust, only to take a step backwards, at Alistair's sudden aggression, using the handle of his shinai to preemptively block her next attack, by slamming it into her own blade.

The action was near flawless… scratch that… it was the exact same move Arthur pulled off half an hour ago, so it was probably flawless…

Alistair went for a low sweep of his foot to mess up Arthur's stride, only for her to raise her leg, and stomp on his foot.

"You overextend," she commented briskly, before letting one hand go from her shinai, and grabbed onto Alistair's wrist, pulling him forwards.

Quickly checking my watch, I counted twenty minutes… this had been the first time in twenty minutes that she had something to critique about his swordsmanship…

How? The longest I had lasted was six minutes without her giving me a helpful critique… How was this possible?

With his stance broken, and his center of mass being pulled too far forward, Alistair was unable to stop himself from falling forwards.

In a desperate attempt at not completely losing, he managed to exert enough force to free his 'nailed' foot and grasped arm, quickly roll forward, passing Arthur and barely getting out of sword reach.

As he rolled to his feet, he lunged forwards, not bothering to look back, dodging Arthur's preemptive slash by mere inches.

Smoothly turning around, Alistair barely had time to intercept the shinai thrusting towards his chest, with an instinctive parry, smacking it aside.

Taking a step backwards, Alistair eyed Arthur while panting, not willing to take the opening she had made by having her sword parried.

He quietly readjusted his stance, and in a blink it perfectly mirrored Arthur's own stance, to the extent where I couldn't spot a clear difference in the two's style.

But Alistair was clearly running on fumes, his legs shook, his breathing was uneven, and I was genuinely starting to feel bad for him, as he had not had any food, and he had barely rested after the clash with Lancer…

Maybe I shouldn't have offered Arthur all of his pancakes… that might have been a bit much…

Squaring his shoulders, Alistair moved both of his arms up, letting them rest right above his right shoulder, in a clear move for a slash.

Arthur gave a slight frown at the clear signaling, but didn't comment… for now.

Taking in a deep breath, Alistair took a large step forwards, putting him smack dab in the middle of Arthur's strike range.

In the blink of an eye, Alistair had already swung his shinai, followed by a resounding boom.

His sword had moved faster than my reinforced eyes could perceive, and he had knocked Arthur's shinai far to the side in a wide single-handed slash… wait? Single-handed?

Alistair had clearly used Mana Burst, which surprised me, but what surprised me more, was that he had let his right hand stay in the same position above his shoulder.

Alistair's wide slash might have knocked Arthur's shinai aside, but his own swing had left him in a worse position, as Arthur would certainly have a much easier time repositioning her blade for an attack.

Arthur's eyes were wide in surprise at the sudden use of Mana Burst, causing Alistair to have an extra fraction of a second, thanks to the surprise she was experiencing.

But even then, Arthur smoothly moved her shinai into a slash from the position Alistair had knocked it to. However Alistair didn't stop his swing, as he allowed it to continue behind him, his arm moving with it.

As his shinai's tip pointed straight behind him, Alistair moved his wrist, causing the bamboo sword to flick upwards, causing the tip of it to land square in Alistair's open palm, resting over his shoulder.

Curling his fingers around the tip, his other hand let go, and now he was suddenly holding the shinai ready for an unconventional overhead slash.

I could see the muscles in Alistair's right arm bulging, and the wood around the blade portion of the shinai started splintering under his grip.

Another resounding boom echoed, and I watched as Alistair had moved the shinai in an overhead slash.

Before Alistair could connect with Arthur's head, another boom resounded, and Arthur's own blade moved to the spot over her head, allowing her to enter an Ox Guard.

As the guard portion of Alistair's shinai made contact with Arthur's horizontal blade, a snapping sound was heard, and the handle of Alistair's shinai snapped off at the point of contact, causing it to be launched at Arthur's chest.

He had stopped reinforcing his sword, allowing it to break on contact… Brilliant.

But thanks to the bamboo sword being broken, Alistair had practically 'missed' Arthur's guard, bypassing it thanks to his own blade snapping off that part that would have stopped him.

So as his blade reached past her guard, he lunged forwards.

As he was about to make contact, another boom was heard, and Arthur had swung down her own blade with blinding speed, smacking the broken shinai out of Alistair's grip, thanks to him only using a single hand.

As the broken shinai clattered to the floor, the sound of wood hitting flesh was heard, as the broken off handle struck true.

A small mark could be seen on her collarbone, where the broken shinai had landed, before clattering to the floor.

Alistair wore an incredibly satisfied smile, before falling backwards and starting to pant like a dog.

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

HOLY SHIT!

Alistair had technically… TECHNICALLY, landed a hit.

Was it a clean hit? No. Was it even a valid hit? Probably not. Was it even a viable strategy in real life? Definitely not, but God damn it, if it wasn't a stroke of genius on his part.

Pushing myself up from my seat, I scrambled over to Alistair, who was smiling like a lunatic, while greedily taking in as much air as he physically could, and knelt down.

As he saw me, he shot me the smuggest look I think I had ever seen on his face… I'd usually try to rub it off his face, but this time he had more than a good enough reason to be so smug.

Alistair's smile somehow turned even more smug, as if reading my mind. "I am… ha…" he spoke through ragged breaths. "Totally ho… holding this over… you…"

Of course he is.

Raising an arm, I moved my hand and started to pinch his cheek.

He didn't flinch, but at least a smidge of my dissatisfaction should have been conveyed.

Arthur's footsteps caused me to stop my impromptu punishment of Alistair, and I turned to look up at her.

She looked a mix of impressed and unamused, probably due to Alistair's somewhat unsportsmanlike tactics.

As she looked down at Alistair, Arthur raised a lone brow. "Since when were you capable of using Mana Burst?" She asked with a hint of intrigue.

Calming his breathing, Alistair gave Arthur a smile. "Since I saw you perform it at the docks," he said with a hint of pride.

"And you didn't inform me of this, why?"

Alistair became a bit sheepish, and moved his head so as to not meet her eyes. "Well… I wasn't sure how you'd take it, and I was unsure of how to even bring it up…"

Arthur fixed him with a somewhat unimpressed look, before releasing a sigh. "Please Alistair, do not think so little of me," she replied in a tired tone, while slightly shaking her head. "I believe that I have already informed you to use your full capabilities in our spars, so that you can learn as effectively as possible," she admonished gently.

The twitch in Alistair's mouth was telling, but he slowly turned to face Arthur's gaze. "Well… I thought that since you noticed the similarity in our blood that you'd come to the conclusion that we shared… something else as well."

Arthur hummed, and closed her eyes, while subtly nodding. "I was unsure if you had a Mana Core as well, but your flawless execution of Mana Burst dispelled any doubts I had."

Well… the cat was officially out of the bag.

Truthfully, I agree with Arthur, as Alistair would have probably improved even more, if that is even possible, but at least she didn't seem angry with him.

Though to be perfectly fair, it was his secret to keep, so it was not up to me to judge… but I still stand by my opinion. God knows he can learn a thing or two from Arthur, at least in regards to his Magic Core, as I suspect that this will be the only time he can ask someone for advice.

Maybe it was my fault that he didn't reach out, as I gave him quite the fright when explaining what others would do to him, should they learn of his constitution.

…Might need to explain that to Arthur, though I'm sure she wouldn't tell anyone of it, but it would be for the best that she understood that Alistair did not mean it as a slight to her character. As he is forced to be careful due to circumstance.

"Regardless," Arthur's voice caused me to disregard my musings. "You've shown truly remarkable growth in this session," she said with clear pride in her tone.

"You may consider this the end of the day's training, but I shan't be as merciful tomorrow with your training," she said with a small smile on her face.

Alistair's expression turned sour in an instant. Not that I could blame him; if what I just saw could be considered merciful, then I shudder to imagine the beatdown he'll receive tomorrow.

The slight echo of footsteps caused me to turn toward the destroyed entrance of the dojo. After a second of waiting, I watched as Vivian and Sakura entered the room.

The older of the two held the younger's hand, as she guided her into the room.

As Vivian spotted Alistair's collapsed form, she gave a light sigh, before fixing Arthur with a gaze full of disapproval, one that an older sibling gives their younger one when catching them in the midst of mischief.

"Why does Al look like he's in desperate need of the ER?" She asked dryly, and even Arthur seemed to feel a smidge of shame, as she averted her gaze.

Vivian's brow twitched at the sight, before sighing. "Why are you looking away? Isn't cowardice one of those enemies you keep harping on about?"

The slight stiffening of Arthur's body was as clear as day, before she slowly turned her head to meet Vivian's eyes.

"I did nothing of the sort, I was merely loosening some of the tension in my neck," she clearly lied without a hint of shame.

Vivian looked unimpressed by the terrible excuse. "It would seem honesty is the enemy as well, eh?" She remarked with amusement, causing Arthur to splutter.

Pointing at me, she knelt to Sakura, allowing her to meet her eyes. "Rosalind to issho ni ite kudasai."

I could only catch her saying my name… God I need to learn Japanese faster…

Sakura looked back and forth, between the two of us, before letting go of Vivian's hand, and walking over to me.

As she got close, I stood up to my full height, cueing the little girl to look up at me. Smiling reassuringly, I extended a hand, which she quickly latched onto.

Vivian walked over to Alistair, who gave her an amused smile, but as she got close, Vivian pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh! You reek… never mind, you can pick yourself back up, I'd rather not get your stench on me," she remarked with a hint of disgust, but the smile on her face proved that she wasn't too serious.

Alistair groaned, sloppily flopping to the side, ending up on his stomach, revealing an outline of his body made of his sweat, from where he had earlier laid.

Okay, that's kind of disgusting…

I watched as he performed the world's most wobbly pushup, almost slumping for a moment, before barely placing a foot forward, allowing him to push himself off the ground.

Shakily getting to his feet, Alistair gave Vivian a sly look, before slumping on her, draping himself onto her, causing the girl to let out a groan.

"Help me~," he grumbled in a spoiled tone, causing Vivian's mouth to twitch.

Turning her head to look at me, she pointedly glanced at Alistair, before turning back to look at me. "I'll throw him into the shower, and I'll go home and get another set of clothing for him," she explained with mild exasperation, before swinging her arm over Alistair. 

Turning around, she started hobbling away with my barely responsive son. "Stop leaning all your weight on me, you have legs, you know?" She grouched, as she moved out of the room while supporting him.

Smiling, I turned to fully face Arthur, who looked a bit miffed after her verbal spar with Vivian, if it could be called that.

As our gazes met, she subtly glanced at Sakura, before returning her gaze to meet my own. "Would it be possible to have a talk in private?"

Pursing my lips, I glanced down at Sakura, before moving my other hand, and ruffling her hair a bit. "Only if Sakura can stay, as I'd rather not leave her alone, or at least more than I need to, and she doesn't speak English, so we'll be fine," I explained.

Turning up to look at Arthur, I watched as she slowly nodded her head, before gesturing at one of the few benches that were still in usable condition.

Following her, I walked with Sakura in hand, and sat myself down, with the purple haired girl sitting in my lap. 

Arthur sat herself down next to me, but kept her gaze fixed on the adjacent wall on the other side of the room.

"Do you have a desire for the Grail?" She questioned gently, causing me to raise my brows.

That was… not the question I was expecting…

But this seemed more like a bridge question, something to start a topic, and I suspect that she wishes to speak on her own desire. So I needed to tread somewhat lightly, as she wishes to confide in me, she probably has a few misgivings about her own wish, so outright denying her wish would do more damage than it would do good.

Turning my head, I fixed my eyes on the same wall Arthur's eyes were glued on. "I myself would probably have wished for your sheath, Avalon, or at least its location, as it has been a family dream to return it to you…"

Wetting my lips, I continued in a somewhat wry tone. "But seeing as you are here, it means that you either died before you could enter Avalon, or that you somehow passed on while being there, so the wish would be rather moot."

Arthur slightly shifted in her seat, and I was sure that she was looking at me. "Then do you have another wish?"

Putting on a small smile, I gave the best answer I could. "This one is a bit less altruistic, but I'd love to have Caliburn, or a faithful copy, as while we have a few shards, it practically marks the start of our family, so I'd love to have it for its historical value."

"What about Alistair?" She continued, causing my smile to turn wry. "Alistair is more of a Magus than myself, so I wouldn't be surprised if he would wish for the Third True Magic, if only to hold it over his friend's head, if nothing else," I explained with a hint of amusement.

As I could one hundred percent see Alistair rubbing it into Lorelei's face, as while she is all for reaching the Root, Alistair has never shown too much interest in it, but he'd love to hold it over her, much like he is going to hold the fact that he landed a hit on Arthur over me for the foreseeable future.

Arthur paused, and didn't speak for a few moments.

Feeling the silence stretch, I knew that she wanted me to ask her what her own wish was.

Sighing, I bit the bullet. "What will you wish for?"

Arthur didn't speak for a moment, and that hesitation raised a few red flags for me, as she had been confident for the entire time I had known her.

"I… I wish for someone more worthy to have pulled out the Sword in the Stone."

The following silence was deafening.

Her wish had a lot, and by that I mean a literal mountain of negative connotations, and I now could understand why she was so hesitant at explaining her wish.

After all, in practicality, she would wish both me and Alistair 'away', everything her family had achieved, only for someone else to become king over her.

It was… unacceptable…

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down from what she had just said.

"Could you explain to me how you came to the conclusion that this would be your ideal wish?" I asked in a neutral tone.

Arthur paused for a moment, before she released a tired sigh. "I– I… I can't sleep, I hate closing my eyes, I–I keep seeing them," she whispered out, her voice sounding so raw.

"My people burning, my men slaughtered, my knights dying, my ideals crumbling… all of it accumulating atop that accursed hill, the physical manifestation of my failures… all thrown straight at my face, each time I close my eyes."

Her voice was shaking.

"The signs were always there… my knights leaving me, my people spurning me, yet I was blind to the root cause, allowing it to fester and crumble under my own supervision…"

Arthur, no, Arthur was perfect, what her people needed her to be, this was Artoria, the little girl that died when Arthur pulled the sword, the imperfect girl, whoes heart ached for what could have been, what should have been.

And she was crying.

"Is it wrong, is it wrong for me to wish to save them? Is it wrong for me to wish for the tragedy atop that hill to never have happened? Is it wrong for me to wish for them to have a happy ending?"

She sounded so pleading… no, she was begging, begging for her wish not to be seen as wrong.

Raising my free arm, I snaked it over her shoulders, and gently pulled her towards me. Artoria didn't resist, and her head landed on my shoulder, dampening it with tears.

Sighing, I started to thread a few fingers through her hair, and gave her a few moments to herself to gather her thoughts before I spoke.

"I know this isn't what you'd like to hear, but your wish is fundamentally wrong," I explained slowly, causing Artoria to stiffen in my embrace. "Not because it isn't noble and well-intentioned, but rather on the basis of worthiness."

Artoria didn't react verbally, but her body became less stiff. "While I cannot speak on qualifications, as I didn't live during your time, but given the fact that you were the only practical heir to the throne, I could only imagine one other Pendragon that would have taken over."

The sharp intake of her breath caused me to feel a bit unimpressed, as she had clearly not thought out the implications on who would take over in her absence, but I can understand it, as she was clearly not in the right state of mind when coming up with the wish.

"Morgan would have likely taken over, through either being the heir apparent, thanks to you not 'existing' or taking up your right, or she'd have put some puppet noble as the king, allowing her to control the realm in the shadows."

Threading a few more fingers through her hair, I continued. "But without even taking that into account, you fail to understand that even in your failures, even in your worst moments, that you alone were the king your people needed in their time of need."

"To put it in a roundabout way, your rule was like a lone shooting star—beautiful, something everyone, be they kings or peasants, could find beauty and meaning in, something to wish for, yet fading all too soon…"

Patting Artoria's head, I gave a soft smile. "Your wish isn't wrong because you regret, your wish is wrong due to you failing to see beauty, the change, the progress you, and you alone made, and robbing the world of such a thing, is not something I could condone, even while knowing the tragic ending of the shooting star that was your life."

"So please, for all that you have done and sacrificed, I beg of you to be selfish for once, I don't care what you wish for, just please try to wish for something that would bring you happiness, as you deserve as much for what you've done," I explained gently.

Artoria didn't respond, but I could at least feel that she had stopped crying, which was a good change of pace. I was thankful I didn't need to pull the 'Alaya wouldn't allow such a wish to be performed' card, as that would probably have crushed her.

The silence had become tranquil, only the sound of the odd sniffle from Artoria breaking it from time to time.

"I… I think I should leave, I have a lot I need to think about," Artoria whispered, while slightly adjusting her position, trying to sit back up.

I naturally did not give her the chance, and strengthened my grip on her, stopping her in her tracks.

…Not that she couldn't break my grip, but her not doing so was much appreciated.

"I think it would do you some good to stay around family," I explained, while still combing my hand through her hair in a soothing way. "You've been alone for too long, I think this would do you some good."

Artoria didn't resist, and I felt what I assumed to be a nod from the movement of her head.

Of course, her staying here would serve the dual purpose of stopping her from even thinking of 'eliminating' our family, albeit indirectly. So this was just as important, and would hopefully ensure that she changed her wish for the better.

"Could we stay like this for a while?" She asked in a whisper.

Humming, I slightly leaned my head to the side, causing it to lean atop hers. "As long as you need."

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62 Hours, 23 Minutes And 38 Seconds Until Zero 

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A/N

Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and Reviews, as it would be much appreciated.

Ass-kissing done, now I can move on to more important stuff.

Any impressions? Any thing you guys wish to see in the next chapter, as it is still in the works, so things can be added.

Sorry for the late drop, but I have been infected by my father, and have barley been out of bed the past few days... So my writing had tanked, as I didn't feel up to it.

Though, I hope the chapter was alright, and the next one will be more action-packed, as I thought now was a good moment for Artoria and Rosalind to have a proper heart to heart.

Btw, I have made a Discord server for the fic, come on and chat with me!

https://discord.gg/y9HdZ9WN

Now I'm tired and have a fuck ton of Uni stuff to do, so have a nice day, and send me some stones or some shit, I need motivation, or some shit like that.