"Your mother told me to stay by your side until the jet arrives to take you back," Kay said.
Our horse mechanimas trudged through the snow as the forest west of the Shield slowly rose ahead of us.
The soft whir of actuators and the quiet click of gears periodically broke the pristine silence of the snow-covered landscape between us and the woods.
I couldn't help but give him a skeptical look.
"Commander-"
"I'm here as your uncle, Mordred," he interrupted.
I sighed. "Uncle. I am an S-ranker like you, and I have an Incarnus as my familiar. I'm probably the safest guy in the world."
"That's what I told Queen Guinevere," he replied, giving me a knowing look. "But she was quite adamant. She lost you once. She's afraid to lose you again."
Guinevere's worried face flashed through my mind, and a pang of guilt followed.
I should apologize to her the next time we meet, which would probably be today.
Not even Kay knows who will escort me back to Camelot.
As we trudged through the snow, my gaze went to Phoebe, far ahead of us.
Unlike Kay and me, she had chosen to walk instead. Her bare feet didn't sink into the snow as she advanced.
She walked across its surface as if she weighed less than the falling flakes.
"So, Uncle," I said, glancing back at him. "Now that you're here with me, I want to introduce you to the one who helped me in the Abyss."
"Alisax," Kay said. "The daemon you befriended."
I nodded. I had only told Kay about Alisax. He was the only rational person I trusted with that information, even if we weren't particularly close.
His sharp blue eyes gazed toward the forest.
"Minerva detected a powerful ardor signature moving in this direction for a brief moment before it slipped out of her range," he said.
Glancing at me, he added. "However, it seems to have been a friendly daemon, according to you, that is."
I understood his skepticism. A friendly daemon was about as believable as me coming out alive from the Tear.
"Trust me, Uncle," I smiled. "Her hatred for daemons may earn her a place as a Deathwalker."
"No, thank you," Kay replied immediately. "Just thinking about the workload of something like that is giving me a headache."
His gaze went over to Phoebe, who occasionally looked back at our mounts. Her blank eyes regarded them with faint curiosity.
Kay watched her for a moment before speaking again.
"So," he said, "what do you plan to do from now on?"
"Hm?" I looked at him, slightly taken aback by his question.
Kay gave me a knowing look.
"You are now an S-ranker and are the master of the most powerful Incarnus," he said. "You even have a claim to the throne."
I frowned. "I have?"
He nodded.
"Every child of the High King has a rightful claim to the Black Throne, even the little High Princess Trinity."
"Isn't Morgan the Crown Princess?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"For the moment," Kay replied. "She has defended her position against Gawain for years."
"Gawain?" I was surprised. "I didn't realize he had an interest in the throne."
"He doesn't," Kay confirmed. "But he has all the qualities of an excellent ruler, even rivaling Morgan."
He paused before continuing.
"Morgan became heir by default because she was the oldest. However, her position is not guaranteed, and she must maintain it until the succession."
"Gawain believes Morgan shouldn't become complacent as the Crown Princess. If necessary, he will challenge her for the title. There have been many instances where Morgan almost lost her position to him."
I thought about what Kay said.
Perhaps it was because I had only met him briefly, but even in the memories I inherited, I never imagined that Gawain would harbor such ambitions.
I suppose this was his way of ensuring Morgan became a good ruler. If he ever deemed her not up to the standard he expected, then he would take the throne himself.
My thoughts raced.
So does that mean Morgan and Gawain are at odds with each other?
Kay glanced at my face and spoke before I could ask.
"You're mistaken, Mordred," he said. "Morgan and Gawain love each other as siblings. They're just very competitive."
He stroked his salt-and-pepper beard before continuing. "Think of it as a rather intense sibling rivalry."
"Not your typical sibling rivalry," I muttered. "But I understand."
I looked at him with a calm smile.
"Now that I'm back from the dead, I assume there's a new player in this succession game?"
Kay shrugged before returning the gaze. "It depends on you, Mordred."
"So, who do you support?" I asked him. "Morgan or Gawain?"
"I am already swamped with my responsibilities as the Shield's Commander and a Knight of the Round," he replied. "I have neither the time nor the interest for court politics."
"However, my lack of support would not hinder them," he added, nodding slightly with the rhythm of the mechanima's movements. "Both of them receive immense support from many influential families."
A small smile formed on his face.
"Little Trinity is too young for this succession drama. Yet many families are already flocking around her."
His smile turned into a frown. "Much to my distaste."
I had to agree with him.
Involving a four-year-old in something like this…
Some people are just the worst.
He looked at me again.
"Even you had one family supporting you."
I blinked. "What?"
Kay nodded. "They are a small noble family who were huge admirers of High Queen Morgause."
"Admirers of Mum?" I frowned, unsure how to process that information. "They chose to support me over Gawain? Why?"
"I don't know," he shook his head. "Perhaps you ask them. I am curious about how they would react to seeing you back from the dead."
"Uncle. I did not die," I protested. "I was dragged into a horrible place."
"You were dead to this world, Mordred," he reminded me. "To everyone here, you might as well have crawled back from the grave."
Just then, I realized Kay had failed to mention one particular royal child.
"And Elaine?" I asked. "Where does she stand in this succession game?"
Kay's expression changed when I mentioned Elaine.
He looked almost sympathetic.
"Elaine…" he sighed. "She's withdrawn these days. She has shown no drive, no interest towards her family, much less the throne."
"And she currently has no supporters. Even the ones she had abandoned her."
His face darkened.
"Understandable, considering what she went through."
His words piqued my curiosity. "Oh? What happened to her?"
Kay looked at me.
"It's best if you ask her yourself."
I frowned.
Well, that was unhelpful.
"So that brings me back to my original question." Kay looked at me. "Now, with the power of an S-ranker and an Incarnus as your familiar, what do you plan to do?"
I shifted my gaze to Phoebe, who had stopped ahead of us. Her head was turned in a particular direction as she silently gazed at something far away.
"I…," my voice trailed off before I shrugged. "I don't know, Uncle."
The rhythmic movement of our mechanimas filled the silence between us before Kay spoke again.
"Just think of this as a suggestion," he said after a moment. "The Saintess will be arriving in a few hours."
He paused.
"You should tell her about Lady Phoebe."
I glanced back at Phoebe, at the goddess gazing silently into the distance, not paying us any mind, as if lost in her own world.
With the snowy landscape around her, she looked… ethereally beautiful.
"Should I tell the Saintess?" I looked back at Kay. "She would probably know, right? She is a Crown after all, a human on par with the gods."
Kay, too, seemed entranced by the sight of the Incarnus gazing into the distance.
"It is wise not to hide things from her," he said, breaking his gaze. "And besides, the Order of Lux has been waiting millennia for their goddess. They have a right to know."
I considered his words, but uncertainty still lingered.
It was the reverence from the Lumini and her own selflessness that led to Phoebe's imprisonment and millennia of suffering.
Is it wise, then, to reveal her existence to those who revere her the same way?
But what Kay said was also right. The Order has been waiting for a sign for so long.
My thoughts went to the Saintess, to the one who came to my funeral even though we had no prior connection.
Perhaps I will leave it to her.
"I'll do what I can," I told him with a reassuring smile.
We soon reached Phoebe, who snapped out of her trance as we got closer. Giving me a knowing look, she walked across the snow toward the forest ahead.
Kay's gaze shifted from her to me, particularly to my right sleeve, which fluttered in the frigid wind of the mountains.
"Looks like you have a lot of things to do," he remarked.
I nodded. "Yeah. It's a growing list."
"Then add the restoration of your arm to that list," he said, spurring his mechanima forward.
I blinked. "Restoring my arm?"
He nodded. "Lady Phoebe is the goddess of Restoration. It would be idiotic not to ask her to restore your right arm. She could do it quite easily."
"It will not be that easy," Phoebe's emotionless voice drifted over to us.
Goodness, her hearing and attention are scary.
"Mordred's arm was reduced to ashes, and ten years have passed since then," she explained as if it were a diagnosis. "It would be a little inconvenient, but it's pretty much doable."
She turned around, her vacant eyes boring into me.
"That is, if he wants it done."
Before I could respond, Kay looked at me. His voice turned the most serious it had ever been.
"Mordred. Just do it."
*******
We finally reached the forest.
I wasn't ready for what I saw next.
"Wait a minute. Who are you?"
I asked, staring dumbfounded at the woman emerging from the forest.
She looked to be in her mid-twenties and was tall, about Kay's height. Her lithe figure was clad in a black outfit that resembled an assassin's.
A sleek combat suit with trailing fabric that resembled writhing shadows, black leather gauntlets tipped with metallic claws, and a hood draped over silver hair cut at her jaw.
Her fair skin glowed faintly, like Phoebe's, making her beautiful face an ethereal masterpiece.
My senses went on high alert when her piercing silver eyes, glowing with a cold inner light, met my gaze.
It was as if she immediately saw all my weak points.
It was familiar. The same eyeless gaze that once peered from beneath fathomless darkness, now given eyes.
And that presence…
There was no doubt about it.
She opened her mouth, and a familiar voice addressed me. No longer distorted but clear as the glacial streams that flow down the slopes of the mountains.
"Hello, Mordred."
I stared, my brain still processing the stunning figure standing before me.
"Alisax?" I asked slowly.
She nodded, a smile adorning her pale lips.
"In the flesh, apparently."
"How?" I blurted out.
Alisax's silver gaze went over to Phoebe, who was curiously examining Kay's mechanima with a blank expression.
"Her Majesty made it possible."
As if in response, Phoebe looked at me.
"Alisax has the soul of a Luminus and the body of a daemon," she explained.
"I simply recalled her appearance when she was a Luminus, and with the help of her original soul, I was able to teach her how to change her outward appearance."
She tilted her head and continued in her monotonous tone.
"I believe this is called blending into human society?"
"Yeah," I replied drily. "Glowing skin and eyes. She will blend in quite nicely."
Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "Why, thank you."
"I was being sarcastic."
"Oh."
She returned to examining the mechanima, much to the mount's visible discomfort.
"So this is Alisax," Kay said. He had previously dismounted and now walked toward Alisax.
Despite his relaxed demeanor, I could see he was ready to strike if things went awry.
Alisax shifted her gaze to meet his.
"Sir Kay, I presume?"
"Indeed," his eyes narrowed slightly. "So a daemon can take on the appearance of a human."
"Only I can do it, since I am still a Luminus inside," Alisax replied calmly.
"What you are seeing now was my original appearance, before my flesh was corrupted by Lilith."
"It is indeed her original appearance, even the height," Phoebe remarked absent-mindedly. "She was quite short for a Luminus."
"Your Majesty!" Alisax protested, her cheeks glowing silver with embarrassment.
Clearing her throat, she placed a hand over her heart.
"I had long forgotten about this form until my queen reminded me. But it will be discourteous not to show you my true form."
Her body suddenly flickered.
The next second, Alisax's true form towered over Kay.
Black, jagged armor of shadow trailed behind her like smoke, and an ever-shifting hood of billowing darkness concealed a void where her face should have been.
The light that shone from the gaps in her armor now glowed brighter, probably a blessing from Phoebe.
The daemon bowed her head to Kay, her distorted voice crackling through the air as she spoke.
"I am Alisax, the Ranger Commander of Her Majesty, Phoebe of the Restoration. The Incarnus of Lux and Queen of the Lumini."
Kay's gaze lifted to her towering figure. His expression remained calm, unfazed by the monstrous yet elegant appearance of the daemon before him.
He then introduced himself.
"I am Sir Kay. Commander of the Deathwalkers, Warden of the Shield, and Knight of the Round Table of his Majesty, High King Arthur Pendragon."
As I watched, he lowered his head. "Thank you for helping my nephew."
"Do not lower your head, Sir Kay," Alisax replied. "Mordred saved my queen from her despair and even freed me from the clutches of Lilith. My gratitude towards him is eternal."
Her daemonic form flickered, and she returned to her human-Luminus form
"I would very much like to aid you in your fight against Lilith's daemons with the information I possess," she said, her voice crisp and clear again.
Kay nodded.
"Mordred trusts you. So I will trust you as well."
As the two of them shook hands, I noticed Phoebe had stopped examining the mechanima and was now staring at Alisax.
"Alisax," she said.
The daemon flinched slightly in surprise before looking at the Incarnus.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"You have something to report."
Phoebe suddenly appeared between Kay and Alisax like a ghost, much to their surprise.
Alisax quickly composed herself and nodded.
"Indeed."
Her expression turned serious, though I caught a flicker of nervousness in her silver eyes.
"While you were visiting Mordred, I scouted the forest and the nearby mountains."
She paused.
"Unfortunately, I was found."
"You were found?" I immediately asked.
"By whom?" Kay inquired.
Phoebe did not speak.
She simply looked at Alisax.
And the air began to grow warm.
Even before Alisax said it, we felt it.
A rise in the surrounding temperature, the subtle hiss of snow melting beneath an unseen heat, and the faint crackle of flames surrounded us.
Alisax closed her eyes and took a slow breath before speaking.
"The Incarnus of Ignis."
Opening her eyes, she looked at Phoebe, concern and certainty written across her face.
"It is she, Your Majesty," Alisax said.
"The Malakh with wings of pure fire."