Inner Sea of the Planet, Avalon
"Hey, Merlin, you old pervert, are you really just watching?"
"I could intervene, guiding all futures toward a favorable outcome, but where's the fun in that? Besides, the future of this battle I foresaw before meeting Guinevere has become hazy in my eyes. Now, even the outcome of this battle is shrouded in ambiguity in my eyes."
At this moment, Avalon remained a desolate wasteland, nothing like the paradisal realm described in legends.
The only structure in this desolate wasteland was a colossal tower that pierced the sky. Merlin was in a room within this tower, observing the battlefield in the company of Nimue, a Faerie and one of the Lady of the Lake's maidens he had recently entangled himself with.
As Merlin had claimed, he could no longer clearly foresee the future of this battle. Yet he remembered why, in his past glimpses of the future, he had chosen to remain passive. It wasn't out of fear of the knights' resentment, as the King of Knights assumed.
His sole purpose was to see if Guinevere could truly alter fate—if she could create new pathways through the misty future he had foreseen. He wanted to witness her gradually accumulating changes, rewriting the one predetermined outcome he could still discern.
"Merlin, you old pervert," Nimue said, "if the future truly changes because of her..."
"Then I still won't do anything," Merlin replied.
"You'd better think this through. If she succeeds, the world's governing laws might descend to prune her."
"Eh, eh, don't be so dramatic. Changing the future alone isn't enough to warrant the Counter Force sending down its puppets."
Gaia and Alaya—the two great Counter Forces of the Fate universe, as Merlin referred to them. Gaia was the planet's subconscious, a safety mechanism born to ensure its survival, while Alaya was humanity's collective subconscious, a safety mechanism designed to avert annihilation.
As Merlin had said, to compel them to dispatch the Sweepers, Guinevere would need to pose a genuine threat to the survival of the entire planet or all of humanity.
"Well, think about it carefully," Merlin said. "Even if Guinevere were to alter the future I foresee, it wouldn't reach the point of endangering the planet or humanity. At most—at absolute most—it would simply add a new chapter to the legend of King Arthur in human history."
Merlin's vision of the future seemed to extend far beyond the King of Knights' end. He smiled, as if all that mattered was that the story be interesting.
Meanwhile, the faerie Nimue had frozen in place. A small creature darted from behind her and delivered a flying kick to Merlin's head, screeching:
"Fou! Fou!"
After the kick, it bit Merlin—who understood nothing of human emotions—before scurrying away.
Ignoring Merlin's attempt to pinch Nimue's cheek while she was frozen in Avalon, his gaze returned to the battlefield outside Hamburgh.
The Coalition of the Five Kings, daring to challenge the King of Knights, was no mere rabble. As soon as the King of Knights led her drunken, exhausted forces out of Camelot City, the spies planted within the city during the wedding festivities relayed news of the knights' departure.
Upon receiving this news, the coalition dispatched scouts far and wide. Shortly after the King of Knights' forces made camp, the main tent of the Coalition of the Five Kings, located twenty miles away, received intelligence confirming that the King of Knights had ordered her knights to disarm and rest. This intelligence had been repeatedly verified by multiple scouts.
"King of Ireland, you're closest to the King of Knights. Is she truly such an arrogant and overconfident ruler?"
"No."
"Then this must be a bluff, meant to make us hesitate and miss our best opportunity to strike their camp out of fear?"
Unfortunately, no one in Great Britain at the time had ever heard of the "Empty City Stratagem." Otherwise, the King of Denmark would have used that term instead of the less accurate "bluff."
As his words fell, silence descended upon the tent where the Five Kings and their most trusted knights had gathered.
Yet the bait proved too tempting to resist. After over an hour of heated debate, the Five Kings chose to devour it greedily.
"Multiple servants witnessed it—the King of Knights is right there! I can't sleep until he's dead! Only then can the prophecy of him ruling all of Great Britain be shattered!"
In later centuries, Great Britain would primarily consist of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the northern region of the island of Ireland.
But in the eyes of the assembled leaders, Great Britain referred to the entire British Isles, including Ireland.
With this understanding, coupled with the prophecy that the King of Knights would rule all of Great Britain, how could the King of Ireland possibly rest easy?
He had been preparing for this invasion for a long time. Simply concealing his invitations to overseas kings from the King of Knights and secretly amassing troops across the sea had cost him dearly.
If he failed to crush the King of Knights in this battle and seize the promised spoils, his Kingdom of Ireland would be doomed forever.
"King of Denmark, King of the Vale, King of Soleise, King Lontes," he declared, "my knights will lead the initial assault. Observe the outcome of our attack and decide whether to press the offensive, withdraw to defensive positions, or await a more opportune moment."
"King of Ireland," the King of Denmark countered, "we are allies. How can we stand aside and watch you gamble everything? Besides, whatever traps the King of Knights might have laid, she can only muster about a hundred knights. Didn't your spy in Camelot report via pigeon last night that even the knights Guinevere brought with her didn't accompany the King of Knights on this campaign?"
The King of Denmark continued:
"Even if the King of Knights has traps prepared, it's still just over a hundred knights against more than seven hundred. The advantage is ours!"
Thus, the King of Denmark's only remaining concern was that if they hesitated now and refused to advance, he'd be too embarrassed to claim his share of the spoils after the battle.
Besides, as kings from across the sea who had never truly clashed with the King of Knights, their fear of him was minimal.
"Very well, let each of us contribute a hundred knights, leaving over two hundred to guard the main camp as a precaution. We don't need to wait for nightfall; as soon as we're prepared, we'll launch an immediate all-out assault."
The Coalition of the Five Kings' strategy meeting on whether to strike the King of Knights ended abruptly. While somewhat hasty, in an era where literacy was low and warfare relied primarily on knightly charges, it was remarkable that the five kings had even deliberated this much before making their decision.
After the orders were issued, the knights under their command swiftly prepared for battle. As skilled warriors, they had been ready for action since receiving news of the King of Knights' rapid advance the previous night.
Their preparations mainly involved determining who would remain to defend the camp and who would participate in the assault.
"Brother, I envy you so much! You'll have the chance to take the King of Knights' head!"
"Enough chatter," one of them sneered. "It's your own fault for being weaker than us. After we win this battle, our goal is to sweep across all the kingdoms of England. The King of Knights' puny Kingdom of Camelot won't satisfy our King's appetite."
"Exactly! The King who rules all of Great Britain should be the one with the strongest army. What does a Great Mage's prophecy matter anyway?"
Throughout Great Britain, many sought to defy fate, but this time, Guinevere had no choice but to force them to submit.
Let's rewind to midday. After confirming the King of Knights' chosen battlefield and the condition of the King's forces from Agravain, Guinevere realized the King wouldn't be so foolish. She suspected the King was fighting with her back against the wall.
Of course, Guinevere also sensed that the King likely had hopes for her, otherwise, she wouldn't have been ordered to remain behind to serve as bait.
Thus, Guinevere asked only one question...
"Have you secured all the foreigners in the city overnight?"
Upon receiving an affirmative reply, Guinevere turned her gaze toward Tristan and the other knights, who stood ready, their armor gleaming, awaiting her command to charge.
"Let's go. Slaughter them all."
"Agravain, I'm entrusting Camelot City to you."