"How… how is this possible?!"
Artoria stared at Mordred, who remained completely unharmed, and for the first time in a very long while, began questioning reality itself.
That rebellious child had truly taken a direct hit from Excalibur… and was still acting as though nothing had happened!
Were troublesome children from the modern era naturally resistant to beatings?
Or perhaps…
Perhaps Excalibur simply wasn't the correct weapon for disciplining rebellious children.
Mordred herself was also incredibly shocked internally.
The person standing before her was none other than the legendary King of Knights.
And yet…
She had faced the legendary Excalibur head-on.
It was simply absurd.
But naturally, Mordred would never show insecurity at a moment like this.
She immediately placed her hands on her waist, puffed out her chest arrogantly, and made an openly provocative expression, as though declaring that Artoria was simply too weak.
"That wild girl…"
Leon, who was watching the battle from atop the wall as though enjoying a particularly entertaining opera, was also momentarily speechless.
If it weren't for the fact that the heavy armor worn by Mordred was the most advanced technology developed by him and Anis…
She never would have survived that attack.
The armor was the result of combining liquid Orihalcum metal with a high-density slime suit.
On top of that, multiple layers of defensive enchantments had been engraved directly into the armor's internal structure.
The final result was a defensive monstrosity.
Even Excalibur had difficulty piercing through it.
After all, although Excalibur was an absurdly powerful Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm…
The durability of Orihalcum was already approaching the concept of "indestructible."
The hardness of that material easily surpassed the walls of entire cities.
As for the impact…
With Mordred's monstrous physical strength, enduring that much wasn't impossible.
Leon rested his face against his hand while observing the battlefield.
"Artoria Pendragon… I admit that the ideals you carry are heavy enough."
"The miraculous radiance of your sword truly is dazzling."
"But… the thing capable of crushing such noble ideals will always be cruel reality."
Unfortunately…
Ideals were fragile in the face of reality.
Leon slowly lowered his gaze toward the chessboard beside him.
Then picked up the black knight piece.
And pushed it directly toward the white king.
"Check."
---xXx---
"Clarent Blood Arthur!!"
"What?! Again?!"
Mordred immediately realized that Excalibur wouldn't be enough to bring her down.
So she arrogantly grinned and raised Clarent once again.
That frightened Artoria all over again.
She simply couldn't understand it.
Did Mordred seriously not conserve mana?!
Even with the Heart of the Red Dragon and absurd magical energy regeneration, there should still be a limit to consecutive Noble Phantasm usage.
But this girl…
Was simply irrational.
A creature so reckless that impossible things seemed natural around her.
However, Artoria's shock had only just begun.
This time, she held Rhongomyniad in her right hand and Excalibur in her left.
After finally blocking Clarent Blood Arthur…
Artoria used the brief opening to try regaining her footing.
"Guh…"
She could feel her arms violently throbbing.
"It feels like my hands are going to break…"
Artoria took a deep breath.
But it was fine… look on the bright side.
Mordred's magical energy should already be nearly exhausted.
The advantage is still mine.
As long as there was sufficient mana, physical injuries and fatigue could be quickly controlled.
But then—
"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!!"
"…What the hell?!"
Artoria nearly lost her composure completely.
Was this reasonable?!
She immediately wanted to report Mordred for cheating.
Clarent Blood Arthur was a high-ranking Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.
How could someone spam that repeatedly without any cooldown?!
However…
Artoria had made a mistake.
Mordred not only appeared to have completely removed the cooldown from her ultimate attack…
She also apparently activated infinite mana.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
The battlefield was utterly destroyed.
The ground had been plowed apart so many times by the explosions that no trace of the original landscape remained.
Everything had transformed into a scorched wasteland ravaged by crimson lightning.
It looked like a desert destroyed by divine calamity.
Crimson electrical arcs stretched across kilometers of land.
Even decades later, perhaps that residual energy would still remain there.
Artoria became completely expressionless.
Meanwhile, Leon watched the situation with a strange look.
"…Although I'm the one who armed Mordred to the teeth… this is honestly becoming a little excessive."
He rested his chin against his hand while casually calculating.
"Let's see how much magical energy she's already used…"
"Hmm."
"There's still over ninety percent remaining."
"Then everything's fine."
Among the countless magical artifacts given to Mordred, there was a special mana storage accessory.
But what it stored wasn't items.
It was pure magical energy.
If Leon's mana were compared to the Pacific Ocean…
Then the amount stored for Mordred would be equivalent to scooping out a single bucket of water from the sea.
Even if it was only an insignificant fraction…
It was still enough mana to use Noble Phantasms like ordinary attacks.
In fact…
Only Leon and Anis had mastered that technology.
After all, the two wanted to develop magical tools that even ordinary people could use.
And the greatest problem was exactly this:
Ordinary people couldn't use magic.
So Leon came up with an extremely simple idea.
Batteries.
If they created devices capable of storing magical energy…
Then nobles or magicians could simply charge them before selling them.
That way, even civilians could freely use magical tools.
In the current Magical Kingdom of Palettia…
Magic had completely replaced electricity.
Except in a much better way.
It was cheap.
Renewable.
Extremely efficient.
And completely pollution-free.
Both nobles and commoners profited from the system.
Of course…
The nobles were strictly monitored.
Illegally raising prices resulted in exile, expulsion, or severe punishment.
Such a policy would never work in other kingdoms.
But in Palettia…
No one dared oppose Leon.
Every word spoken by him was an absolute order.
Disobeying Leon was equivalent to becoming an enemy of the entire kingdom.
Without a doubt…
He was a dictator, but one loved by everyone.
Ahem.
The subject had drifted way too far.
Meanwhile—
"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!!"
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
Mordred continued firing Noble Phantasms nonstop.
At this point…
People weren't even surprised anymore.
They had become emotionally numb.
Instead, everyone began looking at Artoria with absurd admiration and respect.
What kind of monstrous strength was that?
What kind of absurd willpower was that?
She was literally enduring consecutive high-level Anti-Army Noble Phantasms.
If anyone else had been in her position…
Not even ashes would remain.
"The King of Knights truly is the King of Knights…"
"Even though Mordred's magical energy is clearly bugged… Artoria is still fighting!"
"She's been hit so many times and she's still alive?!"
"WOOOOO! LET'S GO, MY KING!!"
"My king is incredible!!"
"Serious question… is there some cultivator here trying to overcome a heavenly tribulation in the middle of this lightning storm?!"
Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm?"
"That sentence sounded like it came from someone reincarnated."
He casually pointed toward a man hidden within the crowd.
"Fellow transmigrator detected."
"Capture him and kill him."
Unexpectedly, while watching a family drama between a loving father and his rebellious daughter…
Leon had still managed to find a random transmigrator.
After casually ordering some subordinates to deal with the guy, he returned his attention to the battlefield.
Leon was also curious.
He wanted to discover how long Artoria could continue enduring this.
Or perhaps…
What hidden card she still possessed to turn the situation around.
"MOOOOORDEEEEEED!!!"
After being struck repeatedly by Noble Phantasms…
Even Artoria's patience had begun reaching its limit.
Her anger meter was completely full.
Within her mind, an extremely dangerous idea slowly began taking shape.
I swear to God…
If this brat keeps this up...
I'm ripping this limiter off my head right now, turning into Artoria Alter…
And then I'm going to bombard you with consecutive Excaliburs!!
(End of Chapter)