The Great Battle of Pendragons (III)

"Let's team up! Mothers from the Order of Avalon!"

While Space Lion King calculated the best way to maximize her interests, Artorius spoke to another fifty or so Artoria Species from the Order of Avalon.

"Let's form an alliance first and defeat the strongest ones. That way, we can maximize our chances of winning!"

"???"

Space Lion King was surprised as she miscalculated and underestimated Artorius's intention.

"Yes, by driving out all the powerful ones, those of us who started a bit slower and haven't reached the standard strength yet, have a chance."

"Artorius is right."

In fact, it wasn't just Artorius who thought of this when he brought up the topic. They all understood this.

But there was no commander. Nobody from the Dark Rounds wanted to follow anyone else. Even the Order of Avalon was the same.

In normal times, Space Lion King established a strict military system. Below the Grand Master, there were Division Commanders, followed by Flag Captains and Branch Captains.

But now, with the battle at this stage, who cared about all that? Even the Grand Master had become their enemy, so why should they obey the orders of other superiors?

—You're an Artoria, I'm an Artoria, and everyone has a chance to become the new leader of Artoria Species, to become the head of the Pendragon. Even if your strength is lacking, it doesn't matter.

Once in power, there was plenty of time with Artorius, and with the sub-element from him, Artorium could be produced at an extremely fast rate.

In normal times, Artorium was ten times more abundant, and in moments of excitement, dozens of times more. The happier Artoria Species are, the more they secrete.

After making up their mind, they were determined to improve their strength as Artoria Species as fast as possible after winning the battle, spending time with Artorius, and constantly increasing their Artorium.

The Artorias from the Dark Rounds thought like that. But how about the Artorias from the Order of Avalon? Don't be fooled by their usual upright appearance, deep down, they hid their darker sides.

In this situation, anyone who was similar to oneself could be a temporary ally, while those stronger than oneself had to be eliminated first.

The only exception was Artorius.

He wasn't an Artoria Species. Although he was also a contender for the 'family head and leader' position, among everyone present, he had the lowest hostility and the highest goodwill. Any Artoria Species wanted to improve their relationship with him after winning.

Since they thought that way, it was fine to fight with him together in battles, but it had to be done stylishly, with finesse. They must not lose face in front of him.

In this leaderless situation, supporting Artorius as the temporary alliance commander was not a problem.

'After all, Artorius is my son.' (x100+)

'Let Artorius take advantage first and increase my favorability in his heart.' (x100+)

After Artorius spoke a few words, more than 100 Artorias from both the Dark Rounds and the Order of Avalon thought like that simultaneously. Finally, the two organizations of Artoria Species were mobilized by him.

If Artorius were to ally himself with only a group of 50 Artorias from the Dark Rounds, there would indeed be a risk of others targeting and eliminating them as soon as possible. Even though that number was still manageable for the strongest Artorias present, it was still too threatening to be ignored.

However, if he were to ally with two groups of 50 Artorias each from both the Dark Rounds and the Order of Avalon, totaling more than 100 Artorias was a different matter.

"Let's ally!"

Space Lion King exclaimed while looking at X and Ex, now only another alliance could counter the other side's alliance!

"..."

Both Mysterious Heroines fell silent, and after just a little thought, the two of them nodded.

"Let's temporarily join forces. It's best to recruit some more people." Space Lion King added.

"More people? My subordinates and yours have already defected..." Ex said calmly. "There are also some outside—oh, I see."

Ex immediately understood Space Lion King's meaning. There were a dozen Heroines who remained independent.

If they could bring these dozen Heroines into their alliance, they would gain more advantage.

However—

"Heroines, join our alliance too! Let's first defeat the strongest enemies! Otherwise, you'll be at a disadvantage!

Before they could put their plans into action, Artorius once again took the lead.

"Don't be fooled!"

Seeing that the Heroines seemed to be swayed by Artorius, Space Lion King started to panic and shouted anxiously toward the Heroines.

"Their strength is already very strong, and continuing to strengthen now will..."

At this point, she hesitated, because she didn't know what should she say and what would happen next.

Of course, she could choose the worst-case scenario and exaggerate the reason to not join Artorius's alliance, but they were all Artoria Species. Most of them had high intelligence and wisdom, and how could one Artoria Species deceive another? Only Artorius could do that.

"Let's wait until we defeat these tough enemies before deciding anything!" Artorius declared without hesitation, raising his voice. "Think about it, how much chance do we have if we don't drive these powerhouses away first?"

As Artorius spoke his reason, the Heroines became more intrigued, seemingly completely convinced by his words.

A massive alliance was gradually forming against Ex, X, XX, and Space Lion King. At this moment, it was unclear where Z had disappeared, but Artorius didn't seem to mind.

As long as the alliance was established, everything would develop in the direction he expected.

Eliminate half of them first, then another half. Repeat this three or five times and only two or three Artorias would remain. That way, Artorius could easily gain control of the Pendragon's power.

'I am a genius—this way, it will be easier to handle.' Artorius thought happily.

At the same time, the Dark Rounds, the Order of Avalon, and the Heroines had successfully merged with Artorius and formed an alliance army with more than 100 Artorias.

During this process, X, XX, Ex, and Space Lion King seemed to want to intervene, but in the end, they didn't dare to act. The probability of failure was too high, and they were not united internally either.

"Um... Can I join this alliance?" X suddenly declared, as if she had completely lost her sense of shame.

Her behavior drew the attention of her three temporary teammates, who stared at her with anger.

"X-san, you are shameless as always." Ex used her usual flat and sarcastic tone.

"What's the big deal?! As long as the result is just!" X retorted strongly.

Unfortunately, Artorius had no intention of letting her join the fun.

"Sorry, X, not this time. You'll be eliminated along with everyone on your side!"

"Why?! Why I can't join, Artorius?!"

When X was wailing, Ex, XX, and Space Lion King exchanged glances and confirmed.

'When it comes to the fight start, let X be the cannon fodder.'

As if sensing her teammates' intentions, X involuntarily shuddered and then put on a cheerful expression.

"Well, negotiation failed it seems! Everyone! Let's work together to fight against the evil alliance led by Artorius!"

"..."

"X-san is shameless." Ex continued to criticize.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and tapped on Ex and X's shoulders.

"Z? When did you get here? Are you here to join our alliance too?"

Ex's question was quite normal because Ultimate Heroine Z was the most threatening among all Artoria Species. So, it was only natural for her to join the minority alliance.

"Don't scare me, you jerk! I almost swung my sword at you." X, who instantly drew her sword in surprise, complained after Z appeared out of nowhere.

With a confident look, Z ignored Ex and X as she gazed at Artorius.

"Artorius, what you're saying makes sense, but there's a significant flaw here, y'know~"

"Attack!"

Seeing that Z was about to expose something, Artorius didn't want to give her any chance to speak further. He didn't wait for her next line, nor did he directly respond. Instead, he gave the command.

As Artorius gave the order, the alliance army raised their weapons and fired a coordinated light beam toward the opposing side.

However—

"Dodge!"

"Spread out!"

Realizing that they couldn't withstand this attack, Space Lion King and Z made a decision and evaded the coordinated light beam attack by over a hundred Artorias.

Such a coordinated light beam attack could easily kill gods, let alone the fragile Earth. Fortunately, this was a bounded field set up specifically for the Artoria Species, or else this coordinated light beam attack would have brought disaster to the poor Gaia.

"Priority target, Ultimate Heroine Z!"

Seeing the five strongest Artorias on the opposing side rapidly dispersing and hesitating, Artorius continued to give orders without hesitation.

But, in this short period, some Artorias on Artorius's side had already started to hesitate.

When he commanded them to attack while Z was speaking, it seemed like he was trying to silence her.

Did Z figure out his weakness? What was it?

The smartest Artorias had already figured out the crucial points, so they held back.

The average Artorias also hesitated, and their attacks were not as strong, so the second coordinated light beam attack was far less powerful than the first. Its accuracy was also much lower.

In this situation, Z could naturally complete her sentence and thwart Artorius's scheme.

"Artorius, you're also a god-level being and one of the strongest ones! After defeating us, you'll be the most powerful one here!"

As his scheme get exposed, Artorius's expression changed and his eyes filled with determination.

"Artorius?!"

"I'm sorry..." Artorius said with an apologetic tone as he effortlessly eliminated two Artorias closest to him and then teleported out of the alliance army.

"Hey, does your alliance still need people? I want to join; let's team up to eliminate the regular Artorias first!" Artorius said with a straight face toward the five strongest Artorias who had been his enemy before.

"..."

Watching Artorius's shamelessness, who looked righteous and confident, Ex silently looked at X.

"X-san."

"What?" X asked with a clueless face.

"Stay away from Artorius from now on. Don't corrupt him."

"Huh...? Wait! What do you mean by that?! Who's corrupting him?!"

Amid X's loud protest, the third coordinated light beam attack from the alliance army struck again.