No one stopped them from entering the fortress – in fact the gate was opened for them when they approached it.
Just like Tharion predicted, Arthur was waiting for them on the central plaza, along with the seven remaining members of the round table.
"The traitors came back." Arthur hissed as he pointed his sword at them. "Beg for your lives and I may kill you quickly-"
"The seven of you have one chance to surrender." Tharion completely ignored him and addressed the others. "Walk away and your lives will be spared."
Arthur looked like he was about to explode.
"YOU DARE TO MOCK ME BASTARD!? I WILL CHOP OFF ALL YOUR LIMBS AND MAKE YOU WATCH AS I SLAUGHTER THE OTHERS!"
Tharion ignored him again and instead observed the remaining seven knights – none of them moved to retreat.
"Let it be so – may you find forgiveness in death."
Arthur screamed and rushed at Tharion, fully intending to hack him to pieces for the disrespect he displayed.
At the same time everyone else jumped to action and the battle truly began.
The cursed sword fell like a thunder and-
It stopped mid-swing.
The Guardian simply caught the blade with two fingers, not even bothering to move – Arthur immediately tried to retract the weapon, but it didn’t budge.
"How did someone as pathetic as you even managed to take over?"
"SHUT UP!" Arthur finally freed his sword and instantly dished out a long series of attacks.
Tharion didn’t even take out his sword, opting to parry each blow with his palm.
"You’re neither smart nor strong enough to do that by yourself, so logic dictates someone helped you come up with a plan – the same person who gave you that sword I reckon."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
The angrier Arthur became the faster his attacks became, but his technique was slowly slipping.
"Why would they choose you? Even a rouge Serakhiin rebel group would have little use for someone like you."
"I AM THE CHOSEN ONE! THEY TOLD ME I AM! THIS SWORD IS THE PROOF!"
They picked a weak youngling with a superiority complex and fed him lies about being special – why do that? To test the sword of course, judging by the effects it had on Arthur it couldn’t have been anything else than an early prototype.
"I’ve heard enough." Tharion dodged one more blow and finally attacked for the first time, aiming his fist at the accursed weapon’s blade.
Nickolas was surprised to find out that he had absolutely no issue dueling two people at the same time – Rudolph and David were supposed to be among the strongest in the order but somehow they were barely keeping up with him.
Did he overestimate his opponents?
No, that couldn’t be; he fought both of them hundreds of times and they definitely used to be stronger and faster.
Were they holding back?
That didn’t make sense either, for better or for worse this was a fight to the death, they should be giving it their all.
If they were plotting something then maybe he could learn something by provoking them – they were never the brightest after all.
"Are you guys even trying? You’re fighting worse than half of the Order."
There was no answer; in fact there was no reaction at all.
That was when Nickolas realised something was wrong – it wasn’t that the two of them suddenly developed a serious and stoic personality, but more like they weren’t really there in the first place.
Only puppets that looked like them...
Nickolas suddenly charged Rudolph and locked him in a clinch to confirm something.
His pupils were almost completely gone and painted in vivid crimson.
It seemed like the remaining members of the round table allowed themselves to be completely influenced by the magic from Arthur’s sword, something he probably did to avoid any further betrayals.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t consider that the mind control would severely debilitate their combat abilities.
Not that he considered his actions before, but still.
Armed with the new knowledge he resolved himself to quickly knock out the two – he wasn’t going to just kill them after all.
Death would be too easy for traitors.
Calen and the others were doing relatively well against the last knight, mostly thanks to Albert’s expert swordsmanship.
However he did notice there was something clearly wrong about their enemy.
There was no reaction to Albert’s suspicious skill, nor to the dramatic face reveal he did afterwards. It didn’t take Calen long to deduce that the reason was a complete mind control cast on all their enemies by Arthur.
"Isn’t that good?" Morgan asked while searching for an opening. "It means he’s actually easier to deal with, and not just pretending while scheming something."
"Yes and no." Calen responded as he chucked a fireball at the enemy. "It does mean the fight is easier, but it also means we can’t kill him – under spells the lifeforce of the dead doesn’t dissipate but instead is collected to strengthen the caster."
"So if he dies, Arthur gets stronger?" Alfred asked, his sword repeatedly clashing with the enemy’s.
"If any of them die, yes. I just hope the others don’t go on a murderous rampage – Arthur enchanced by seven souls might be actually problematic."
"I don’t know about that" Isara chuckled. "It kinda seems like Tharion is toying with him."
Just as Calen was about to look at the mentioned duo, a terrible explosion sounded from their direction.
When Tharion’s fist connected with the blade, the onyx surface cracked and instantly shattered into thousands of pieces, leaving Arthur holding only a handle with a small piece of metal connected.
As the sword was destroyed the seven knights accompanying Arthur suddenly fell limp to the ground, unconscious but breathing.
"No, no, no, no..." Arthur’s hands trembled. "YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"
"You’ve done it yourself long time ago."
There was pure hatred in Arthur’s eyes.
"No, now I will truly ruin everything."
Arthur did something no one expected – he took his broken sword and plunged the cracked blade into his own heart.
In that moment everything froze, as if the world itself held a breath.
And then it all exploded with darkness.