King Arthur's noble phantasm was wielded by an outsider.
Any of the Knights of the Round Table would feel their worldview gradually collapsing at that fact.
"To be able to wield the Golden Sword, of course there must be some faint connection between me and King Arthur."
Swift, fierce slashes, the twin swords continuously cooperating with the noble phantasms' assault, each strike stabbing straight for the vital points.
Shirou said, "If you insist on that, then I should be allowed to meet the Lion King!"
"You could have always met the King."
The music of steel weaving with steel.
Gawain, temporarily suppressed by Shirou's swordsmanship and the overwhelming rain of blades, nevertheless declared without reducing his momentum, "You yourself have betrayed the King!"
Irresistible blades struck at the sturdiest parts of armor to be defended.
The only thing needing attention was the pair of swords in the youth's hands.
One splendid, its edge flashing boldly.
One ominous, filled with a curse.
Whichever pierced would bring mortal injury.
"Still deceiving yourself?"
Footsteps pressed forward relentlessly, suppressing, leaving the other no room to breathe, "That is not King Arthur, but a deity corrupted by the Holy Spear, Rhongomyniad!"
"ENOUGH!"
Gawain intercepted the downpour of attacks with his sword, "What do you know?"
He had acted from his pride, and it had led to the King's death.
In the abyss of that death he had begged: If there were a second life, if there were a chance for atonement, he would give everything, even his life, without reserve to the King.
It was this oath, to correct regrets and mistakes of his former life, that caused him to appear as a heroic spirit.
Power grew stronger at this moment, the earth beneath their feet shattered.
The two were surrounded by a crimson ring of fire.
The setting sun hastened its fall.
At the edge of stained clouds, the boundless horizon faded.
"I am Gawain, knight to King Arthur, the one who served to found the Holy City in order to protect human order, both King of Knights and the pure Lion King's knight!"
"What we pursue is to complete an ideal land impervious to outside invasion."
"Only a pure millennial kingdom is the sole way for human order to survive."
"For that, to select the pure and eliminate the impure… that is my justice!"
"...That is correct!"
At that moment belief seemed about to surpass the sun's radiance, "All my deeds are based on my own justice, and you reject all of this, denying the Lion King's sanctification."
"Even if only a momentary impulse, it is a betrayal of the King, what right do you have to meet our King?"
Gawain spoke with the authority of judgment in a loud voice, "Prepare yourself! You are now enemy to the Lion King and the Knights of the Round Table. I will defeat you here and present my grievance to the King."
The Sword of Revolving Victory burned again, the sun's flames radiating.
Gawain swung the sword in a sweeping, army-cleaving motion.
Everything in its path was scorched by the searing rays and pushed aside.
Just as he thought Shirou would be forced back as before, the other changed his fighting style, meeting the blade that devours everything with bare hands.
"!!!"
Clang!
Instead of the holy sword sweeping invincibly over the enemy, there was a crisp ring of hard iron.
Immediately after, the holy sword was firmly grasped by Shirou; flames burned on his hand yet could not harm him at all.
"!"
There was no time even for shock; Shirou already said in an unusually restrained tone, "Sun Knight Gawain?"
"Invincible under the sun?"
"My name is Shirou, EMIYA SHIROU!"
Shirou spoke with calm yet furious voice, "I am angry, not at the Lion King's killings, but at you."
"As King Arthur's right hand, the Round Table knights you were proud of, what are you doing?"
"Saints are not born perfectly holy; the good have wavering thoughts, and even the wisest king may make mistakes."
"You appeared when the King needed you most, yet you failed to do what knights proud of their lord ought to do. You aided tyranny… error upon error, thinking this affirms and helps the King!"
"Blindly following, even abandoning the beliefs and virtues you should have as knights, and forgiving the ugliness you are committing with false righteousness!"
"Haven't you considered that such actions cast a shadow over the King's radiance?"
Shirou's words reminded Gawain of the fratricidal scenes half a year ago when he was summoned.
Some died to uphold their own path and the knightly creed.
Some, ridden by guilt, could not even grip a sword, and stabbed out their eyes so their ten fingers could not play the strings, yet they still served at the King's side.
Was that wrong too?
He had only wanted to follow the King's light and, as a more "perfect" knight, serve his master.
What is wrong, what is right?
The Bounded Field vanished.
Night was reversed back into day.
Gawain's momentum surged; the saintly numbers took effect, under the sun the Sun Knight became invincible.
"This is my long-cherished vow!"
Indeed, choice itself is neither wrong nor absolutely right, "I simply want, at the last moment, to swing my sword for the King!"
Like a sun-heated resolve, Gawain shouted from the depths of his soul, "Draw your sword, Emiya Shirou!"
"I know very well that the King is not the King of old; the King knows it too, even more clearly than any of us! Britain has fallen, the concept world too faces destruction! Even so, the King still declared to protect the concept world, loving humanity in her own way."
"What fault is there in such a King?"
"?"
The fierce momentum stumbled; the exalted emotion was seized by a tremendous fear.
Cold sweat dripped from the brow.
Though standing under the sun, Gawain felt his soul trembling.
What on earth was this…
"Yes, you are not wrong, you fight for your ideals, what's wrong with that?"
Shirou asked himself and the concept world, and at last reached an answer.
"That is why I am angry."
"Angry because you cannot change just a little, because you cannot achieve the ending you wish, because you cannot make everyone satisfied!"
"Angry for that King who from beginning to end loved humanity and Britain in her own way, yet is fated to a tragic end!"
"Let me show you."
Golden-brown eyes lit with divine light, armor slowly clothed his body.
"Though not the genuine article, even one ten-thousandth of it is a manifestation of the solar path… see clearly what the true sun is!"
Gawain's pupils widened.
Shadows cloaked what stood before him.
The Emperor slowly bowed his head, eyes without any emotion, staring straight at Gawain.
The next instant, the ground was shaken and split into four.
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