The Ark Of End Of Vanoss

After the dust cleared, the Marksman was panting as he kept the shield and scanned the area. The whole place was unrecognizable, with all the stone walls disintegrated into dust. Even the green moss was gone, done away by both spells. Was this the actual destruction of Magecraft?

Ashley walked around, trying to find the imposter but eventually got tired and stood still. A faint Elemental Aura came out from the further side, which prompted the Marksman to go and check. When he arrived at the scene, all Ashley could see was the top half of Minwoo.

The Marksman took in a deep breath and exhaled while smiling. Minwoo glanced up at the smiling Marksman and mustered a frail smile before weakly raising his hand. Ashley grabbed the extended hand with two hands to certify that he wasn't hostile.

Even if the enemy wanted to spring an attack, he couldn't do much since his sword was gone. The imposter could no longer get up since his legs were blown away. There was no threat other than his verbal abuse, so Ashley felt safe enough to touch the enemy.

"I... Remember now. My true name..." said the imposter, running out of breath.

"What is it? What was your true name?" whispered Ashley.

"Why do you want to know in the first place?"

"Because I want to know the true name of the opponent I faced throughout my time as a Mage. Whenever I see a worthy fighter, I ask for their name to remember how they fought or how our battle went. You were an incredible opponent despite using my brother's memories against me."

"I see... My name was Vanoss... I can't remember my family name, sorry. Brookes hired me to take down the Arks and lead... Some cult... But I turned him down, so I began to fly solo until I found King Arthur in a woman's body. She is clad in black, bulky armor, similar to a dragon."

"The King is far from normal as she wants to change the entire Five Domains into something impossible; a Utopian Paradise without sin. Actually, with that fancy tongue, you could convert the King back to normal and work against Fabian..."

"What do you mean? I should strike up a conversation with the Black Knight instead of fighting her?"

"You would have to be born at the wrong side of the bed to have such a suicidal thought. That King is far from anything I've seen... I am a Mage, mostly using the Chaos Element... The destruction branch of the Darkness Element. And yet, I still view the King as the leader of Chaos."

"Why do you think the revived Knights of the Round Table pledge allegiance to her so much? It's not because she is the King... It's because of fear and madness. Her Aura is potent enough to bring the guards to their knees, forcing rampage on the nobles in the area."

Ashley's eyes widened as the imposter spoke that last sentence, realizing that Charisma might be in trouble. But Minwoo quickly shook his head.

"Don't worry... I may be chaotic, but I'm not heartless. I saw that the leader of the Domain was weak and a human, so I gave her instructions to get to safety. She was unafraid as she wanted to stay and fight against the intruders, but I told her off... Eventually, she went underground."

"Thanks... I never thought I would rely on the enemy to help out with the civilians..." replied Ashley, sighing.

"No problem, even I have my limits regarding being an enemy. By the way, it wasn't only five Knights that got revived... It was all of them. The Black Knight requested an army, but Fabian had none, so she used the dolls from the workshop to recreate the Knights."

"The King embedded her memories of each Knight into different dolls. However, to make them all come alive, they needed human parts. Thus, Fabian used a nearby experiment center to harvest freshly deceased human organs. Sometimes, they aren't dead ones."

"That's the most I've got to give you..."

"That's alright. And thanks for the information; at least I've some things to look out for when finding Brookes. However, dropping so much information about yourself to the enemy should be taboo to you... Are you sure that you aren't afraid of the consequences?"

"Look at me, dear boy... I'm already knocking on Death's door... The last good thing I should do is to reward the victor, though the prize isn't as good as gold."

"It might as well be... Anyways, what was the question you wanted to ask me?"

"Why do you serve the Mages? From what I've seen in your brother's memories, you hated the Mages with everything you had... Yet, you are serving one."