"Saber, should we retreat here first?" Shishigou Kairi suggested in a low voice, "After all, it's daytime, and there are many 'innocent civilians' around."
"Y-you're right." Mordred had finally managed to escape from the awkward atmosphere just now and was racking her brain for a way to escape this 'hell'.
Shishigou Kairi's suggestion was exactly what she needed to back down.
It's not that I'm afraid of you, but I'm worried that if you and I were to fight, it would affect the innocent civilians, which is why I'm retreating here!
"If you have the heart, tonight, we shall decide who is superior, and we shall also decide life and death!" After Mordred stubbornly said this to Artoria, she turned into spirit form and vanished from the spot.
"You probably don't want to drag irrelevant people into this, Ruler." Shishigou Kairi asked Artoria while holding his hands high.
He was in close contact with Father Kotomine.
Although he did not trust that person, he could still obtain certain information from the priest.
After all, they were nominally in the same camp for now, so he had long known from the intelligence he obtained that Ruler was the former King of Britain, King Arthur.
It was just that he never knew how to tell Mordred, and as it happened, they ran into each other today.
He was very helpless as well.
"Isn't this a bit of an anticlimax?" Sanzang asked, looking at Daniel with a frown.
"I think so too. Mo Zai hid too quickly, so fast that I didn't even have time to say anything." Daniel also scratched his ears in confusion with a frown. "I imagined scenes where she would charge over with her sword without a word, shouting 'Arthur' at the top of her lungs, and I imagined scenes where she would turn around and run away with a blushing face, but I never imagined she would make a harsh threat and then just go invisible."
Shishigou Kairi was sweating bullets listening to this.
He was terrified that after Mordred heard that young man's words, she would recklessly charge at him and slash.
However, contrary to Shishigou Kairi's expectations, Mordred did reappear, but she didn't raise her sword to slash at Daniel; instead, she frowned and scrutinized Daniel.
"Father, what is up with this guy? Why can I sense traces of Gareth's existence on him?" Mordred pointed at Daniel and asked Artoria.
Come to think of it, did this girl cleverly pick the right moment to change the address from 'King Arthur' back to 'Father'?
"Oh, that's because..." Before Daniel could finish his sentence, he was threatened by Mordred's glare.
I am asking my Father!
Why are you running your mouth!
It wasn't that Daniel shut up because he was forced by Mordred's threat.
It was really just that her possessive behavior was so damn funny that Daniel gave up on talking and switched to focusing on recording with his camera instead.
"...During the previous New Knights of the Round Table incident, he inherited Gareth's spirit core." Artoria answered with a bit of emotion.
"Huh? Inherited Gareth's spirit core? What, that stupid dog didn't obey Father's orders and stand behind Father again?" Veins popped on Mordred's forehead.
"She came, and she went against her own heart to stand behind me." There was a hint of sorrow in Artoria's eyes. "But in the end, she broke down, wanting to risk her own life to perish together with the enemy, and then Gawain fulfilled her tragic wish."
Mordred's eyes went blank.
She understood what Artoria meant.
But it was precisely because she understood that she was even more stunned.
She knew very well that among all the brothers and sisters, the one Gawain loved the most was his frank and loyal younger sister, Gareth.
For this personal grudge, he even blocked Lancelot, who wanted to assist King Arthur, at Calamity Hill.
But in the end, the one who fulfilled Gareth's wish for death was Gawain.
"It sounds like a lot of things happened." In those few short sentences just now, the amount of information was so great that Mordred couldn't process it all at once.
Against her heart?
In other words, Gareth at that time did not intend to continue serving the King... No, it should be said that she believed the object of her loyalty was no longer the original King.
But in the end, she still went against her heart and chose to continue serving.
But this state of mind kept torturing her, to the point that she couldn't bear it anymore and chose the path of death.
And after Gareth died in battle, her spirit core chose that person carrying the camera.
The purpose... should be for the King?
"Is it... because of the Holy Lance?" Mordred didn't quite dare to look at Artoria's face.
"Yes, partially." Artoria answered. "And partly because of me."
Pushing all the blame onto the Holy Lance was not Artoria's style.
"So, are you Gareth now?" Mordred asked, scrutinizing Daniel with suspicious eyes.
"No, Gareth's spirit core was returned when the incident ended, so I am just an ordinary person now, no longer the pseudo-Servant Gareth." Daniel waved his hand and explained. "However, before she left, Gareth did leave me a little bit of power."
"Eh—that sounds really interesting." Mordred clenched her fists, and her gauntlets slammed together. "Come and spar with me with your bare hands."
"I refuse!" Daniel hid behind Sanzang without hesitation. "Not to mention that I only have a little bit of power left by Gareth, even if she hadn't left me any, I wouldn't want to fight you again."
Seeing Daniel stroke his stomach with his free hand as if recalling something, Mordred couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Looks like you received quite a bit of hospitality from that version of me! Hahahaha!"
"If you could stop kicking people in the stomach when sparring, we could talk about anything, but your habit of lifting your foot to kick people in the stomach whenever there's an opening is really intolerable." Daniel retorted. "Besides, I am a master now. If you want to fight, go fight a Servant!"
"Although the King is not my Servant, she is my partner now. If you want to beat me up, you'll have to get past her first!"
As he said this, Daniel even pulled Artoria over to use as a human shield.
"You actually used Father... You guy are really despicable! Why did Gareth choose someone like you!" Mordred was so angry her face turned red.
"Eh? Mordred actually has a time when she calls others despicable." Daniel said in a sarcastic tone. "Even though you were always using despicable tactics before, and everyone told you 'don't use those moves that have nothing to do with chivalry'."
This time, Mordred even raised her sword.
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