Daytime was filled with the scent of spring sunshine and summer air, night covered by autumn breezes and winter stars.
The ground was carpeted with green vegetation, flowers swayed in the breeze, and beautiful beings called "fairies" lingered by the lake.
In this realm ordinary people could not reach, a "tower" stood quietly beneath the sky.
It was called Avalon, sitting outside of time until the end of humanity.
A white-haired mage sat cross-legged in the tower, leisurely watching the world outside.
Merlin had once been the court mage and Artoria's tutor.
After Alvin's death, a huge rift opened between Artoria and Merlin, and that nightmare simply built a prison tower in Avalon. Since then he often stayed in the tower, watching the scenery outside just like now.
Because Merlin possessed clairvoyance that could see the present, even in the tower he could observe anything he wished.
Though he claimed it was a mostly useless clairvoyance, it was actually quite convenient.
He used to send avatars to check on Artoria because he could not fully trust the situation there.
Now that Alvin had returned, with him around Merlin could afford to loaf and watch the show.
Thinking this, Merlin's eyes turned deep as he looked toward a spot outside the tower.
Then his expression changed violently.
The instant Morgan snapped her fingers, black clouds covered the sky, as if a corner of heaven had collapsed. Hundreds of feet of dense mana shot up, the wind and clouds shifted color.
One moment it had been bright sun; the next a terrifying storm descended.
An Age of Gods domain.
Merlin rubbed his eyes in disbelief, staring at the palace gates, cold sweat running down his spine.
"Has that woman gone mad?"
'To cover the entire empire with an Age of Gods domain...'
'What Vortigern could not accomplish, would Morgan achieve?'
'If the Age of Gods returns, Britain, no, even the traversers would probably slowly suffocate in that intense mana.'
Merlin sobered, his casual expression gone. He realized his true body needed to leave Avalon in person.
———
[Meanwhile, Camelot Palace]
BOOM!
A sudden crash of thunder erupted. A terrifying mana pressure shrouded the whole palace. Not only the knights, but even Gawain, training on the field, abruptly looked up, unsettled, toward the palace gate.
Nearby Gawain's side stood Bedivere, one of the Round Table knights who had been sparring with him.
Also present was Kay, Artoria's sworn brother and fellow Round Table knight.
"Is an enemy attacking the palace?", Kay asked as he detected the awful aura outside, his face showing hesitation.
Camelot Palace now concentrated the empire's strongest forces. In all this time, aside from the White Dragon, no enemy had threatened the palace.
With so many traversers appearing recently, could one of them have come looking for death?
But if it were only a traverser, it shouldn't force the king to draw the holy sword.
Bedivere noticed something odd about Gawain's expression.
From the so-called invincible sun knight's eyes, he saw a trace of fear.
"It's her," Gawain murmured.
"You know who is fighting the king?", Bedivere asked.
"This aura, there's no mistake," Gawain spoke in a low, grave voice as if restraining his emotion, "Mother has returned."
'Mother?'
Bedivere and Kay exchanged a look, puzzlement in both eyes.
After a moment, Bedivere seemed to recall something and, with a stunned tone, said, "Morgan le Fay?"
———
Morgan le Fay, at this moment, seemed truly like a witch. The dense mana under her skirts was black as ink. Under her control it opened like a sleeping beast's maw. That endless darkness completely swallowed the light radiating from the holy sword.
Just like when the demonic dragon once descended, when Morgan unfolded her domain even the holy sword dimmed.
Artoria stared at Morgan coldly, "So you really can use a portion of the White Dragon's authority."
Morgan had spent years experimenting with the White Dragon's powers. When she released an ability capable of bringing the Age of Gods back, Artoria had already suspected this possibility.
Only the White Dragon possesses mana-devouring power.
"Compared to him in the past, what I control is nothing," Morgan gave an exquisitely beautiful smile, "But combined with my own authority, swallowing the holy sword's radiance isn't difficult."
"The holy sword is powerful, but it has weaknesses. Of course, if its scabbard were present I might be cautious."
"Too bad. As for where the scabbard is now, I suspect even you don't know."
Artoria's face remained expressionless.
She tightened her grip on the holy sword. Anger burned in those holy turquoise eyes.
Rolling black clouds slowly drifted in; suffocating mana descended and spread outward.
"Your Majesty…"
In the distance Gawain and the others had just arrived. When they saw the scene their pupils constricted.
Indeed, it was the "true aether" that only existed in the early Age of Gods.
Morgan raised the staff in her hand.
"It's time to end this, Lily."
An unbelievably dense mana gathered crazily into Morgan's staff. Layer upon layer of black clouds like descending darkness threatened to devour all light.
Gawain instinctively tightened his grasp on the sun sword, his body trembling slightly.
After so many years, Morgan's presence again stirred memories of the fear once held by Vortigern.
A darkness that even the holy sword could not penetrate. That was Vortigern the demonic dragon.
Now Morgan was even more powerful than Vortigern once had been.
But the king stood before them.
If Artoria failed to protect again, Gawain would feel shame remembering it later.
He ground his teeth and stepped to Artoria's side, raising the sun sword.
However, just as in the past when confronting Vortigern, the darkness devoured the sun sword's light.
Artoria tightened her grip and prepared to swing, but suddenly the dense mana around them vanished.
Along with it, Morgan's Age of Gods domain dissipated.
A shaft of sunlight pierced the clouds.
'What happened? The true aether vanished?', The knights felt a chill and looked up.
"That was close, if we had been any later it might have been uncontrollable," Then they heard a young man's voice, trembling with lingering fear.
At the sound, the Round Table knights all froze.
Morgan's expression hardened.
Then, as if recognizing something, she slowly looked up.
In that beam of sunlight breaking through the crack stood a young man, smiling gently at her. Alvin.
Silence!
An eerie quiet filled the air.
When they saw the young man's figure, everyone's mind was struck as if by a thunderclap. They were stunned.
Present were Morgan and Artoria, the sisters, and members of the Round Table.
Gawain's eyes showed disbelief. Bedivere still seemed bewildered.
"Is it really him?", Kay lowered his voice but could not hide his astonishment.
He had clearly been killed by the king's holy sword in the past, how could he be alive and strolling in the palace?
"Is that Alvin?", Gareth was stunned, looking between the young man and Morgan as if at a loss.
In Gareth's memory the Watchman should have been a grim figure with two scars across his face.
Mordred nodded slightly in confirmation, "It really is him. The last time I got dragged into the palace it was because he and Artoria moved together."
Though Mordred's words declared Alvin's identity, the subtext was, 'I wasn't captured because I was weak; facing both the Red Dragon and the White Dragon at once was impossible.'
Gareth had no mind to parse Mordred's little cues. After a brief shock her face paled and her lips trembled.
"This is trouble."
Over the years Morgan le Fay had pursued the White Dragon revival. She had never openly stated her relationship with Alvin, but Gareth had a rough idea.
Now Alvin stood in the palace itself. What about their mother?
Gareth and Mordred suddenly realized something and an inexplicable tension rose in them. Both instinctively glanced at the stunning woman.
The true aether that had been filling the air quietly vanished. It seemed to surge like a tide into Alvin's body.
Although his black robes were a bit bulky and hid much of his face, seeing that silhouette alone brought a hint of obsession to Morgan's eyes.
She reined that emotion in quickly.
"I didn't expect you to still be alive, Alvin."
Her tone was calm, as if greeting an ordinary person.
"Some things happened. In any case, it's good to see you again."
Alvin smiled and raised a hand in greeting.
Anyone who knew him would sense his inner tension. He had avoided appearing precisely because he did not want to face things he had done in the past.
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