At several times the speed of sound, Emrys crossed the sky in the direction of the Fairy King's Forest.
The distance separating him from his destination was rapidly shrinking. He did not slow down. Each impulse of his feet against the air solidified by Pridwen propelled him forward, while Blink allowed him to instantly cross the last few meters standing in his path.
His Observation Haki already covered a huge portion of the region.
He could perceive the powerful presences clashing at the heart of the forest. The different magical energies were mixing together in an area where the battle seemed to have reached considerable intensity.
But something was wrong.
Emrys slightly furrowed his brows.
He knew the presences he had come looking for.
He had known them for more than twenty years.
He could have recognized every single one of them without the slightest difficulty.
Yet, as he drew closer, several of them seemed to have simply disappeared.
He extended his Haki further.
Farel.
Nothing.
Adrian.
Nothing.
Grey.
Nothing.
Heim.
Nothing.
Nono.
Nothing.
Lonni.
Nothing.
Emrys remained silent.
His movement did not slow down, however.
He continued forward while scanning the area with his Haki once again, as if he refused to accept what his own senses were telling him.
Maybe they were too far away.
Maybe they had left the area.
Maybe their presences were simply being masked by the numerous powerful magical energies in the surroundings.
He searched.
Again.
And again.
But there was nothing.
No presence.
No magical energy corresponding to the six people he knew.
The conclusion eventually imposed itself.
They were dead.
Emrys felt his mind go blank.
For an instant, he thought of nothing at all.
Yet he continued moving, carried forward by the momentum he had accumulated.
Those six... he had lived with them for more than twenty years. He had never stayed with anyone for that long, neither in this world nor in his old one. And now they had disappeared.
He had trained them.
He had watched them grow stronger throughout the years.
He had learned to know their flaws, their qualities, their habits, and their quirks.
He had watched them go through the ups and downs of adolescence and the turmoil of young adulthood. They had practically become members of his family—his little brothers.
Stubborn and stupid little brothers, but his little brothers nonetheless.
A dull pain spread through his chest.
Emrys clenched his teeth.
He could have stopped.
He could have taken a few seconds to accept what had just happened.
But there was still one presence.
The last one.
Rou.
He was still alive.
And his situation was bad.
Very bad.
Emrys focused all his attention on his aura, completely ignoring those participating in the battle whose shockwaves he could feel from here.
The sadness remained buried deep within his mind.
He would have time to think about it later.
For now, Rou was still alive.
And as long as he was, Emrys had to save him.
He accelerated.
The wind raged around him.
Emrys eventually arrived in the forest.
Wanting to prepare himself for what awaited him, he stopped focusing solely on Rou's presence.
As he did so, he detected two other presences—one in extremely poor condition, and the other incredibly powerful, consumed by a fury unlike anything Emrys had ever felt before.
Who did that idiot go and provoke? Even I'm not sure I could win against him.
Despite this uncertainty, Emrys did not hesitate to enter the fight. On the contrary, he accelerated even further.
Because he immediately sensed what was happening.
An immense amount of energy was being concentrated into an attack.
That energy was moving rapidly.
In a precise direction.
Toward Rou.
Emrys's heart tightened.
There was no doubt. If Rou were struck by that amount of magical energy, he had a hundred-and-fifty-percent chance of dying.
"No..."
The word escaped his mouth weakly.
Emrys immediately pushed his body forward.
But he was too far away.
Even at this speed, he would not reach Rou before the impact.
The attacker was inexorably approaching.
Closer.
Then closer.
Rou was unable to avoid it, and judging from what Emrys sensed of Rou's emotions, he had no intention of doing so.
Emrys felt fear invade his mind.
Only a few moments earlier, he had already understood that he had lost six members of his family.
And now, he was about to witness the death of a seventh without being able to do anything about it.
His mind refused to accept that possibility.
That won't happen as long as I'm alive.
A gigantic pressure suddenly exploded around Emrys.
He had spoken no words.
He had not consciously used his power.
His mind had reacted to his panic.
A wave of mental energy burst forth from him.
---
As he was about to exterminate Rou with his spear, 'Gloxinia' had a flashback of one particular person.
A man who strangely resembled Rou. His shared past with this man caused him to pull back and choose to spare Rou, but before he even had time to stop the spiritual spear of Basquias, a wave of energy spread throughout the surroundings.
The pressure swept through the forest.
The trees were violently shaken.
The ground trembled.
Even the air itself seemed to become heavy beneath the released power.
The wave directly reached the three people present in the area.
Rou was struck head-on.
His mind, already extremely weakened, could not resist.
His consciousness immediately went out.
And his body began to fall.
Gerhard suffered the same fate.
She lost consciousness as well.
'Gloxinia', however, staggered.
For several moments, his concentration was completely disrupted.
His mind immediately reacted.
This power.
This sensation.
He knew this force.
There was no doubt.
The Conqueror's Haki?
'Gloxinia' remained stunned.
He had not expected to feel something like this here.
In this era.
And even less in this manner.
His mind tried to understand what had just happened.
Then he sensed a presence—a presence he knew very well.
A presence he would never have expected to encounter in this place.
'Gloxinia' struggled to turn his head.
His mind immediately recognized that armored silhouette.
What is he doing here?
But he had no time to do anything more.
Something changed.
The consciousness controlling the body was suddenly ripped away.
'Gloxinia' had no time to react.
His control disappeared.
His mind was rejected from this era.
And the true owner of the body immediately regained control.
His expression changed completely.
The surprise disappeared.
And hatred took its place.
His face gradually twisted beneath that emotion.
His attention returned to Rou.
The movement he had begun before Emrys's intervention resumed.
But this time, there was no hesitation.
The spear flew.
Gloxinia launched it with all the strength he possessed.
Emrys immediately sensed the change.
He had no idea what had happened.
He did not know that another consciousness had controlled this body moments earlier.
He did not know that a change had just taken place.
All he knew was that the attack had resumed.
And that it was going to strike Rou.
His Haki revealed the trajectory.
The speed.
The distance.
The time remaining before impact.
Too little.
Emrys could not reach Rou in time.
He had to find another solution.
He extended his hand.
Swords appeared around Rou's still-falling body.
They all appeared simultaneously and plunged into the ground at the same time, forming a circle around Rou.
The spear continued its course.
It was getting closer.
Closer and closer.
Emrys had no more time to think.
He had to act immediately.
"I am the bone of my sword."
The circle of swords activated.
The space around Rou distorted.
His body disappeared.
A few milliseconds later, the spear came crashing down.
The impact was violent.
BOOM!
The ground trembled beneath the power of the attack.
But Rou was no longer there.
He had disappeared moments before Basquias reached him.
He was now inside Unlimited Blade Works.
He had been saved.
By the narrowest of margins.
A single half-second of hesitation, and Rou would have died.
Emrys remained silent.
Gloxinia, however, did not understand what had just happened.
His rage had completely clouded his perception of the situation.
He had felt his attack reach its destination.
He had not noticed that Rou had disappeared before the impact.
As far as he was concerned, the spear had struck Rou.
He therefore believed that he had killed him.
His breathing became heavy.
He breathed loudly, as if all his anger were trying to escape from his body.
His fingers clenched.
He remained motionless for several moments.
No satisfaction seemed to accompany his action.
Only that rage that refused to disappear.
Emrys could sense his unquenchable rage from where he was and decided that he had no reason to remain.
Now that Rou was safe.
He could think about the other six.
He scanned the area with Structural Grasp and managed to find their remains.
He was on the verge of vomiting from how much his heart hurt, but he held it back. This was not the time for that.
He made several swords appear around their bodies as well and transported them into Unlimited Blade Works.
It was only then that Gloxinia noticed that there was another 'human' nearby.
He turned around furiously, ready to offer death to another member of that clan of dogs, but when he did, he found no one.
Emrys had dematerialized the moment he sensed Gloxinia's attention turn toward him.
He did not try to fight.
He had saved Rou, and they had recovered the bodies of his little brothers. That was enough for today.
He began moving away from the scene of all those horrors, walking slowly with an empty expression.
After making sure he was far enough away, he rematerialized and made swords appear around himself as well.
"I am the bone of my sword."
He disappeared as well, returning to his kingdom.
Leaving Gloxinia alone, his anger and hatred still far from exhausted.
---
Far away from this era.
In that same forest.
Three thousand years later.
A fairy king who had not yet reached adulthood returned violently to his era, waking up abruptly and screaming:
"Emrys?!"