Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 122: Trapped
Ahead of him was a door. It was larger than the ones he had encountered previously and appeared to be heavily reinforced.
He pointed his wand at the gate and forced it open.
The metallic door shrieked as it moved aside, revealing a familiar sight.
Harry's eyes narrowed when he saw it. A circular chamber with stone pillars filling the space. Each pillar was covered in runes that seemed to glow with a faint red light.
It was almost identical to the one where he had left Morgan to deal with Galahad.
At the center stood a middle-aged man. Tall, strongly built, with short white hair and a long scar on his cheek.
He wore the signature uniform of the Argent Flame agents, but this one was slightly different, and he carried several medals on his chest. It was immediately obvious that this was some high-ranking officer.
"Welcome, Mister Potter." Before Harry even set foot in the chamber, the man had already spoken his name.
"You are the one in charge." Harry could feel another presence in the chamber, but was unable to see them at the moment.
The man smiled faintly. "I am. Inside this base, they simply call me Admiral." He spoke in English with a heavy French accent.
"If you know who I am, then you must also know why I'm here," said Harry as he took a few steps into the chamber.
The Admiral grinned. "I know exactly who you are. But I also know who you were in the past… Mister Merlin. It is an honor to meet a legendary figure such as yourself."
Harry's expression remained unchanged, but he had not expected them to figure out his identity so soon.
"And I do know why you are here," the Admiral continued. "You are looking for our Great Leader. I will have to disappoint you on that one… he is not in this base. However…" He pulled something from his jacket. It was a transparent container, and inside it there was a piece of metal.
Even from a long distance, Harry could recognize what it was: a fragment of Excalibur. One of the two remaining ones.
"You want this too, right?" The Admiral's eyes moved to the sword resting on Harry's back. "I'm sorry to say that I cannot give this to you." He stored the fragment. "And I'm also sorry to say that I will need to retrieve that sword you are carrying. It belongs to our Leader, and he wants it back."
The Admiral snapped his fingers, and the large metallic gate behind Harry closed shut in an instant.
He was now trapped in here. He could feel the many layers of protection woven into this chamber's walls. Teleporting outside of it was going to be impossible unless he disabled the protections first.
However, he also noticed that the enchantments on the columns served a different purpose.
"I see," Harry spoke in a calm tone. "So to get what I want, I will have to take it from you, Mister Admiral." He aimed his wand at the man and wasted no time firing a deadly curse.
The soldier did not move from his spot, and the grin on his face never left.
Something heavy fell from the ceiling and intercepted his spell.
Harry saw his magic dissipate the moment it made contact.
"That's…" Harry sighed. "Of course, another one." The 'thing' that fell from above was a heavily armored man carrying a massive weapon in his hand.
He turned to Harry and looked at him with a pair of red glowing eyes.
It took him a moment to analyze this large individual and his intricate, heavy armor to realize who he was supposed to be. What gave it away was his weapon.
From all the Knights of the Round Table, there was only one who used such a heavy weapon to fight.
It was a massive great axe, larger than Harry himself and likely four or five times heavier.
"Gawain…" Harry muttered his old name.
The knight seemed to respond to this. His eyes flickered for a moment, and he opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but no words came out...just a sound that resembled an animal growl.
"He can't answer you," the Admiral pointed out the obvious. "But I'm sure he is happy to see you, Mister Merlin."
Harry got ready. He stored his wand and immediately replaced it with his staff. He focused his magic and prepared himself to deal with another undead knight.
"Go on, Gawain. Go say hi to Merlin, and also… kill him."
The instant the Admiral gave the order, Gawain charged at him with his massive axe.
A single touch of that weapon would be enough to split him in half with little resistance.
Harry tapped his staff on the floor.
Gawain was merely a few feet away now.
'Something is wrong.' Harry frowned. His magic should have produced a reaction by now.
It was then that he heard the Admiral speak again. "By the way, the floor and walls have some powerful magic woven into them. This chamber is completely isolated from the outside world. That means that you will not be able to call on your beloved spirits for assistance."
Gawain jumped into the air with tremendous agility and brought the axe down in a vertical arc.
"Tsk!" He could have guessed that much without the explanation. "Obice!" He raised a magical shield to block the attack.
Sparks flew everywhere as the great axe collided with his shield.
Cracks appeared almost immediately, and Harry had to move away to avoid the hit before his protections collapsed.
He took several steps back and composed himself.
'I'm going to need another plan for this.' Harry considered as he watched the colossal knight approaching once more.