Defenders of the Crown Jewels

Many years ago in Ireland, there were two orphans called Douglas and Catherine who were practically social outcasts in their orphanage, bullied both by their fellow dorm mates, berated by their nuns for sneaking out, and were never adopted. They were eccentric in behavior and claimed to see things others could not, making them freaky to the others. Being rejects, they found solace and companionship in each other's friendship, and often sneaked out of the orphanage every full moon to avoid contact with their dorm mates to avoid being bullied because of their behavior that's usually affected by what they would see. Spirits, witches, UFOs et cetera. Few nights ago, a UFO was "accidentally" shot down during some laser weapons tests nearby during a secret UK Air Force exercise jointly conducted together with the US Air Force. The air force personnel went to the site of the crash which was a certain distance away from the orphanage, retrieved everything, and nothing remained at the site. No one saw or knew what it was.

A few days later during the full moon night, Douglas and Catherine sneaked out of the orphanage as usual to the usual spot. As usual they were speaking to fairies and other enchanted invisible creatures only they could see. However, the duo was attacked by a mysterious armoured person who fired laser beams at them, extinguishing their "invisible" friends. Douglas and Catherine ran for their lives, but Catherine stumbled upon a rock and fell down. Catherine started crying over the "death" of their invisible friends, but Douglas had to push her to keep running from that "monster that's after their lives for no reason". When they got up, they realized something was amiss with that rock (it was too sharp to be a rock), and thus they dug deeper, and they found a metallic object with a sapphire gem on it. It was oval shaped, and easy to hold in the hand. The object spoke to them, calling itself the Eye of Metatron. That one "eye" of Metatron told them to look for the other eye, since there were supposed to be "two" eyes of Metatron, and the armoured enemy who was chasing them was after the Eye of Metatron. Catherine held it in her hand, and the jewel on it glowed, revealing to them a past and a story never known to any other human being but them. The Metatron were a fleet of extra-terrestrial beings watching over humanity even before the Great Deluge, and they travelled round the Earth in flying saucer-like ships with the purpose of studying the earth and protecting it from external space invaders while remaining invisible in the sky, using a technology called "Biomechanical Technology" which is another word for "mechanical lifeforms" or "life in machines". An enemy had allied himself with UK and US Air Force to shoot down one of the saucers "by accident" though staged by him, and made use of the army logistics to gain access to the Metatron technology on the pretext of studying it.

The Eye of Metatron glowed strongly in yellow, creating a yellow suit around Catherine which was designed based on a "cat" motif. As recommended by the "voice" in her suit, Catherine named herself "Meteora Sheba".

The enemy had caught up with them, so Catherine had no choice but to fight him head on. The voice coming from the suit guided her on how to use her new powers. The enemy introduced himself as Crusader, a robot created by a scientist called Dr. Bellfigure, who was looking for the two Eyes of Metatron to provide an endless power source for his robot creations. However, Catherine struggled despite being equipped to fight. Catherine then called out to Douglas to find the other Eye of Metatron. Douglas kept running, but fell into a hole where he found the other eye. Douglas emerged in a similar suit which was blue in colour and had a "wolf" or "dog" motif for its design, and called himself "Meteora Nightwolf". Meteora Nightwolf and Meteora Sheba fought with Crusader, and destroyed it. After that incident, the both of them reverted to their original human appearances, but were able to transform into their superhero forms at will, since the Eyes of Metatron had become part of their body. They continued their lives in the orphanage as usual and only sneaked out when news of trouble reached their minds telepathically. However, the creator of the robot that attacked them, Dr Bellfigure, had disappeared from the royal research facility set up in Scotland, and everything related to the technology obtained from that spaceship had gone missing. However, this news was kept top secret although both US and UK armies were conducting a worldwide search.

Dr Horatio Bellfigure was a brilliant British scientist who excelled in robotics research and invented many weapons (including unmanned ones) for the UK and US Army, and also contributed to the US side during the cold war. However, he became disillusioned along the way as he felt that he was not getting enough credit for the work he had put in. Eventually, he made a pact with a demon called "Belphegor", a demon of inventions, who actually enhanced his scientific knowledge, capabilities, and intelligence many-fold. Eventually, he took advantage of the UFO hovering over the sea that separated Scotland and Ireland, shot it down, and seized the UFO's technology, and went missing together with the technology after that. After that, he was branded as a terrorist and was marked for death by the British and US government.

After he went missing, he joined forces with the New World Order and funded his terrorist operations by building cyborgs and weapons for them. He invaded islands all over the world and built bases on them, and built robots of all shapes and sizes to terrorize cities by causing widespread damage and threatening the city leaders to make him their leader if they did not want their city destroyed. In a short while, he became one of the senior leaders in the New World Order council and held a lot of power because of his connection with the demon "Belphegor" and his amazing technical expertise. He would lead his robotic army searching for magical or scientifically developed energy sources that can provide his machines unlimited power, especially the legendary Bridestones that went missing in the history of mankind. Some of these energy sources were owned by rich and powerful families or organizations. However, Meteora Nightwolf and Meteora Sheba always stepped in with the support of the Novamos Squad to foil his plans, and the energy sources always ended up back in the Novamos hands for safekeeping or destruction, especially if it was unstable.

Eventually Dr Bellfigure became mad enough to create a very large spaceship called "Metal Lucifer" which was supposed to be three times the size of the moon. Eventually he succeeded by turning the moon into the Metal Lucifer, and used it as a base to launch a mass invasion on Earth and control all natural calamities on Earth. Douglas, Catherine, and the rest of the Novagels of Novamos had to board the Metal Lucifer to destroy it from within. Eventually, Douglas and Catherine also perished in the showdown with Dr Bellfigure. The leader of the Novamos, Hina, used the Grand Retour to destroy Dr Bellfigure, suck his soul into hell, and erase the devastating effects of Bellfigure's deeds from history, erasing the events that arose from Dr Bellfigure's misdeeds from history. The UFO was never shot down, so Meteora Nightwolf and Meteora Sheba never existed. Lives lost were resurrected, and buildings destroyed were restored. However, Douglas and Catherine also ceased to exist, and the orphanage had no records of them. It turned out that Douglas and Catherine were marionettes of Zoner and Annabelle. The spirit of Douglas was reborn as Zoner (the reincarnated Akira), and the spirit of Catherine was reborn as Annabelle (the reincarnated Yumeko).

All this happened after the defeat of a ferocious monster called Ruby Dragon. Akira and Yumeko were reborn as Zoner and Annabelle in Asia, but a part of them was reborn as Douglas and Catherine in Ireland. After Douglas and Catherine perished at age 10, they were reborn as Don Juan and Cait Sith. After Don Juan and Cait Sith were defeated, their entities reunited with their hosts Zoner and Annabelle. However, Don Juan and Cait Sith were only entities slumbering within the bodies of their hosts, Zoner and Annabelle. Cait Sith was momentarily awakened as Yumeko before she reunited with Annabelle again. After that, Cait Sith finally awakened as Yumeko the novagel, and Annabelle was now just her marionette. Yumeko remembered all these as she walked across the bridge looking at the River Thames where one of the biggest battles took place with Dr Bellfigure's hydra-like robot that stretched out its tentacles from the water and wrecked the Tower Bridge. Yumeko was in London together with Hina, Naomi and Hideaki while meeting with other exorcists and wizards in training at the Palace of Westminister.

Naomi told Yumeko that nobody remembered what happened when Dr Bellfigure attacked London. However, in spite of them, they still had to train local British Citizens to protect their Crown Jewels. In fact, most British Citizens were not aware of the supernatural power the Crown Jewels possessed. It was the power of a certain jewel that gave the country the power to expand its colonial territory around the globe. In fact, "The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire", boasted the Englishmen of that time. English became the lingua franca of today's world. However, nobody knew the connection of the success of the British Empire to the crown jewels, except those who studied magic and sorcery. In fact, one of the head lecturers, Mrs Weasley after she got married, actually shared with Novamos that there were plans by other unlawful groups to steal the crown jewels using magical means that could not be prevented even by modern technology or armed forces. These groups actually planned to use the crown jewels' power to overthrow the present governments in their own countries, and make their language the lingua franca. In fact, the countries also included many European countries, Asian countries, Middle Eastern countries, Indian Subcontinent countries, Africa, and even the two Americas. Every country in the world was after the crown jewels, not because of the price it fetched, but the power it held.

During the lecture conducted by Mrs Weasley, many students raised their hands to ask questions about the Crown Jewels. Most of them were foreign students from countries that didn't teach English as their first language, and were curious about how the jewels could influence the widespread use of the user's country's language. A very passionate student was a petite Korean student called Adeline Han Gugyeong. Everyone took interest in the questions she asked, especially when she drew references to Napoleon's defeat by Horatio Nelson, who has a statue dedicated to him at Trafalgar Square, which was also where Nelson defeated Napoleon. However, Hina observed her. There was something not quite right about her. Yumeko, Naomi, and Hideaki were totally oblivious. That wasn't surprising. Hina was a sharp observer and was also personally involved in Korea's dark post war history. However, she couldn't put a finger to it. This cute and harmless looking Korean teenybopper had a certain scent. It was something that she would only sense in soldiers that had fought in a war. Hina had lived long enough, remained young looking long enough, and slept with more than enough North and South Korean high ranking officers to recognize that scent. She was the Matahari of the two Koreas, code named Non Gae. This young 15 year old girl carried that smell, which was unusual for someone of her age, generation, and also gender. She also smelt something else, which was also the smell of death. Smell of death coming from that sunshine personality of hers? That's weird.

The next day came and they were supposed to bring the students to the Tower of London for an excursion to view the crown jewels. This was necessary especially for students who aspired to be part of the elite squad called "Defenders of the Crown". Senna played the role of the tour guide for that excursion to explain the jewels to the students, so they would know what they were protecting and this would probably inspire them to join the squad.

Hina was observing the students, including Adeline, whose mind seemed to be wandering off judging from her lack of eye contact and body language. Wasn't she interested in the crown jewels? Why was it that her heart didn't seem to be here?

Adeline stepped out of her group and went over to Hina who was watching over them from a corner. "Sonsaengnim, nan hwajangsil kagoshipo (Teacher, I want to go to the bathroom)", Adeline said to Hina.

Hina was pissed. Senna was in the midst of explaining the crown jewels to them and here this young girl was asking to go to the bathroom. How rude. Didn't she have any borut (manners), for a Korean? "Solmyung I kkunamyon kagi mothae? Ije kamanhi isso jal duroyaji! Oraedweji annulkoya (Can't you go after the presentation? Just stay here and listen! It won't take long)"

Adeline sulked. "Shiro! Nan jiruhae! Sonsaengnimyi yepposo mot chamgesso! (No! I'm bored! Teacher, you're so pretty that I can't take it anymore)"

"Mwo (What)?" Hina gritted her teeth. She couldn't make too much noise since a presentation to the students was going on. She almost wanted to snap and scold Adeline in front of everybody, "Ya, yi saekkiya (Hey, you little brat)! Have you no respect for your teacher? Don't you know Miss Senna is speaking and it is rude to just disappear halfway through her explanation? The toilet break is coming very soon so can't you just wait? Where are your manners? What did your parents teach you at home?" However, the situation was not right and furthermore, Hina wasn't their real teacher. The Novamos team was here more as an undercover to lure out the thief who, the tipoff said, would be stealing the crown jewels and launching a terrorist attack on London on that very day. It didn't make sense to bring these young teenagers here especially knowing that they are likely to be killed. However, the schedule was already made public, so any sudden changes would put the attackers on high alert.

If it was not this girl, then who?

"Okay, it's quiz time!" Senna announced. "I need to test you guys to see if you have been listening. There's a prize for those who get the correct answers," she said teasingly, emphasizing on the word "prize".

"Can the winner, if he's a guy, go on a date with you?" asked one of the boys teasingly. "Are you single", asked another.

"Naughty boys!" Senna smiled in response to their boisterousness. She loved a lively crowd, but had to be serious. "The winner will get to go home with these crown jewel key chains…"

"Booooooooo…." reacted the boys, but the girls were going "hey I want that".

"Okay, here it goes" responded Senna. And she proceeded with her questions. "What did we install in the Tower of London so as to protect the Crown Jewels from magical threats?"

The answer was very simple. The chamber was retrofitted with magic jammers that prevent the use of magic within this room. This meant that nobody in this room, even though they were trained in magic or possessed strong magical powers in their body, would be able to steal the crown jewels through magical means. Other than that, there were other traps that guarded the crown jewels, such as infra-red sensors, thumbprint recorders, reinforced glass display, and CCTV cameras. How could anyone steal the crown jewels so easily?

Unless he or she was aware of the weakness of this security layout…or a loophole of it which could be exploited.

Ordinary jewels thieves were only interested in the jewels and how much they could make from breaking up the crown and selling the jewels that formed the crown. However, thieves that knew about the magical secret of the crown jewels were only interested in two items: The Sovereign's Scepter and St Edward's Crown. The source of the crown jewels' power was the diamonds that were blessed by a powerful angel before they were used to make the crown jewels.

There was only one way. Destroy the magic jammers. But how?

Unless there was a way to remotely invoke the power of the Crown Jewels to break itself free from the inside.

Adeline started whispering something to a silver ring on her finger.

The diamonds on the scepter and the crown started glowing, which caught everybody by surprise.

All of a sudden, the glass walls encasing the jewels shattered instantly despite being tempered glass. The surge of energy coming from the crown jewels was like a bomb blast, throwing everybody backwards, including Adeline and Hina who were closest to the sovereign scepter.

Hina tried to shield Adeline from the blast but Adeline pushed her away. Adeline was thrown off by the blast against the wall with her head taking the full brunt of the impact.

Adeline was bleeding from the head after hitting the wall. After Hina got up from hitting the wall, she cried out when she saw her student bleeding. "Adeline!!!!!!!" However, the blood didn't look right. This looked like the blood of a dead person. It was as if she was dead for many days, or months. All of a sudden, she found herself trapped in a force-field. The bubble-like force-field which she was trapped in seemed to have a voice which spoke to her, saying, "Don't bother calling her. She was already dead, long ago. I possessed her body so I could infiltrate London using the fake identity of a South Korean student and get closer to the crown jewels."

That voice. Hina recognized it.

It was one of her ex lovers from the North Korean military, General Shin Cheolsoo. However, she thought it was not possible for him to be alive. He was supposed to be executed by Kim Il Sung long ago. "What happened? Is he alive? Is that his ghost?"

"How are you, my lovely Non Gae?" said the voice.

"Shut up!" she snapped. "What's going on?"

"I'm taking you and the crown jewels with me. With this I shall reunite the two Koreas, and Korea shall conquer the world. Everyone will speak Korean and I will be the ruler of this new empire!"

"Michin nom! (Korean: Crazy fella)" Hina scolded as the round force-field transported her out of the Tower of London.

"Very soon everyone in that chamber will be dissolved, including your novagel friends, thanks to Adeline's blood?"

"What, you spiked her blood so that you could petrify our students there?"

Adeline (not her real name) was a citizen of North Korea who was executed because her sister, who was a military officer in the North Korean army, failed in her mission. Adeline was spiked with a substance called "Devil's Blood". It was once used by Vampire Hunters to disguise corpses as sleeping people to lure vampires to drink their blood and cause vampires to vaporize. Adeline was dead all along, but her body was used as a host for General Shin so that they could infiltrate London without being suspected, since it would arouse suspicion from the rest of the world if a high ranking general in the North Korean army were to visit London just like that and visit a random school. General Shin was a North Korean wizard who had the ability to transform himself into a non physical state to possess the bodies of dead people for spying purposes. Such an ability required a pact with the spirit of Morgana Lafayette, an elven woman who was once the enemy of King Arthur and was defeated by him.

Hina started to worry. The rest of the Novagels were there. Yumeko especially. All of them would be turned to stone. No one will be able to save her except Garaya. However, Master Garaya is not on Earth right now. "Oh no! What should I do now?" One thousand and one questions kept running in her head but none gave her a solution.

"Hold it right there!" shouted a familiar voice!

Yumeko was running after the force-field that was carrying Hina, from the Tower of London all the way to the Jubilee Gardens behind the London Eye and along the River Thames. What was Yumeko doing here? How did she get out alive?

The invisible man finally became visible. He was a man donning a black hood that covered him from head to toe, and also hiding the two items he had stolen from the British Monarchy. He rendered himself and the force-field carrying Hina invisible to escape detection. However, that was not enough to hide from Yumeko, since she could sense their energy.

"You evil man! Where are you taking Hina and the Crown Jewels?" shouted Yumeko.

"You? Why weren't you turned to stone?" asked a very stunned General Shin.

"I don't know what you were talking about. I wasn't there at all. I accidentally drank a sleeping potion which I thought was Lucozade. Mrs Weasley gave it to me when I went to her office to ask her questions about magical cloning."

"What? How come I don't know?" Hina asked herself.

What Yumeko drank was a potion that put her to sleep and created a clone of her who followed the group of students to the Tower of London. The clone was turned to stone, but Yumeko was safe. Mrs Weasley foretold the future through the crystal ball that something would happen to the whole Novamos team, and the advice given to her by the "Forces of Wisdom" was to offer Yumeko a drink spiked with the "Slumber Doppelganger". Yumeko fell asleep in her room and woke up only after the clone was destroyed.

"This woman has lived a long life and has remained young for a long time. I'm going to make her my queen once I start a new dynasty of Korea!" declared the General.

Hina struggled inside the force-field. "Cheolsu! You're mad! Let me go!" Hina tried to use the power of wind to break free from the force-field, but the force-field kept draining her power. She became exhausted and lost her consciousness just after one futile attempt.

"Tell me this is not happening! Tell me this is not happening! Tell me this is not happening!" Yumeko wanted to cry. She lost all her new friends in one day, her only surviving friend was being kidnapped and she couldn't do a thing.

Consumed by rage, she involuntarily fired a "Piece de Resistance" at Cheolsu, but Cheolsu deflected it towards the London Eye using his hand and destroyed the large Ferris wheel.

"See, it's your fault that London's iconic tourist attraction got destroyed, not me," taunted the cloaked North Korean general. "This is proof, that with the crown jewels, I am invincible!"

"YI NOM! JUGOBORYEO! (FUCKER, I'LL KILL YOU)!" Yumeko shouted.

"Hahaha! So you want to die, girl? Very well, I'll grant you your wish! You shall die here together with the rest of London!"

General Shin pointed at the force-field that was carrying the unconscious Hina, transformed it into a ball of energy that travelled to his hood where his hidden head was to be consumed and absorbed.

"Hina-onni!" cried out Yumeko. "HINA-ONNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!"

The cloaked General Shin laughed triumphantly. He then said, "This bitch has finally been melted and has become a part of me, my revenge on her for destroying me last time. Her soul is mine!" Then he continued laughing. While laughing, his voice suddenly changed from man's voice to a woman's voice. "And his soul, is mine too."

"A woman?" Yumeko automatically asked.

Yumeko couldn't believe her ears. Did some greater evil just absorb General Shin's soul? Yumeko had the ability to sense such things. "Let me give you an introduction about myself. I am not this old general from North Korea who is bent on ruling the world. I am Morgana Lafayette, the mistress of sorcery and once an elven queen. This old fool summoned me to help him to unite his country. Now that I have fulfilled his desire for revenge, his soul is mine as per my promise with him. Now with the power of the Crown Jewels, I don't need to unite his country. I have already taken over his mind and consumed his soul, making use of his memories and desires to fool you. I have satisfied my summoner's desire for revenge on the person who destroyed him. Your friend whom I've just absorbed, is along with the rest of the novagels. Thus, the contract has been fulfilled, and I shall be entitled to regaining my own body. I will unite the whole world under one leader, which shall be me! After that, I will unite Earth and Hell."

Morgana took off her cloak, and revealed to Yumeko a tall woman in a white blouse, a white short skirt that accentuated her long legs, and an external corset-like armour. "I have…returned to England, my homeland! After absorbing the crown jewels, I am not only indestructible. I am immortal!"

"So what? I'll fight you anyway!" Yumeko cried out to her. "Piece de…"

"The outcome will still be the same, novagel! Or should I say, Wonderwall!" Morgana then disappeared into thin air, and reappeared behind her. Morgana then grabbed Yumeko's two hands, startling Yumeko, and absorbed the energy that was being accumulated in her hands to shoot the fireball.

"Fuck!" Yumeko cursed.

"You need to relax girl, you're too tense". Morgana teased, and continued to absorb Yumeko's energy.

Yumeko tried to struggle, but was getting weaker. "I…will…"

"Will what? What are you going to do to me? Weakling! I'll weaken you and absorb you, then my body and powers will be complete."

"What should I do? What should I do?" were the only questions running through Yumeko's mind. There was nothing she could do. No countermeasure that she could think of. Then suddenly, a word appeared in her head, prompting her to say it, except that she didn't have the strength to say it.

But she had to. Either say it, or die.

Either say it, or die...

"Ex…"

"What's that? I can't hear you?"

"Ca…"

"Pleading for mercy already? Sorry, but I'm not done having fun yet."

"Li…"

"I will drain you until nothing but your skeleton remains…"

"Bur…"

"After that, your bones will…"

What?

What did she just say?

WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?

"Ex…ca…li...bur…"

"Ex..ca…li…bur…"

"Excalibur…"

Memories of a very tragic and unpleasant defeat centuries ago came flooding back in her mind.

Morgana suddenly let go of Yumeko's hands, and punched Yumeko in the face, and started screaming.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Yumeko's cheek was smarting from the punch, she felt two of her teeth break and she spat them out along with some blood, and then muttered some profanities. "Why can't you just die, and return my friends to me?"

Her punch really hurt. It took someone with extraordinary strength to actually break the teeth of a novagel. None of the enemies of the novagels were able to do so successfully. Simply put, every victory was a landslide so far, until this one.

All of her friends were killed and absorbed, by this bitch.

"I should be asking you the same thing", replied Morgana. "Why I couldn't absorb you back then at the Tower of London? Why can't I absorb you even now? One touch from me you should be inside me by now. Did you mention "Excalibur" just now, you wretched lass?" Morgana bent down, grabbed Yumeko's hair, and yanked her to the ground. Yumeko's chin collided to the ground. After suffering the pain of being punched in her cheek which caused her to lose her two back teeth (which would grow back because she's a novagel), her chin had to suffer a similar impact. Yumeko screamed, and tears streamed down her swollen cheeks. Still, Morgana was not going to show any mercy. She poked Yumeko's rib with the sharp heel of her white shiny high heel shoe. "Let me ask you, for the first and last time. Where is the Excalibur?"

Yumeko cried out, but Morgana poked harder.

"WHERE IS IT? I thought I heard you mentioning the Excalibur just now. So you SHOULD know about it. TELL ME!"

Morgana kicked Yumeko again. Yumeko screamed, and coughed out blood. Again and again.

"TELL ME! So I can find it and destroy it!"

Morgana kicked Yumeko again. Yumeko screamed, and coughed out blood. Again and again.

"ARRRRRRRGHGHHHHH!!!!!!"

Suddenly Yumeko's body glowed, and melted, turning into foam bubbles. It was very obvious that she was teleported.

Morgana stamped her high-heels on the floor. "Damn! I will absorb you once and for all, Lady of the Lake, Vivianne! I will destroy the sword and there will be no one to stop me!"

"Do not panic, Morgana," came a voice. It was a voice only she could hear.

It was the thin, low, sonorous, and sinister voice of Dongfang Bumieh. He was communicating with her through her mind.

Morgana knelt down, and prostrated in the middle of Jubilee Gardens. "Thank you for reviving me from the dead, my son, Mordred. You can't imagine how grateful I am after being in hell for seven hundred years," she mentally responded to him.

"Please get up my mother, I should be the one prostrating, since you were the pioneer of our New World Order. After I was revived from the dead, my name is no longer Mordred. In Europe I am called Woldaemal, and in the East I am called "Dongfang Bumieh". I brought you back so that you could restore power to our organization and lead us to conquer the world again."

"Is that so? But you are still my Mordred so I will continue to call you so. I've been away from this world for so many years, so I'm very out of touch. So many new things. Now that the world is so different I need to relearn everything."

"If you're so powerful yourself, why do you need to know about the new changes in the world? It won't matter anyway with the power you have, right?" asked Dongfang Bumieh.

"Of course I need to know, so that I can put the new knowledge to our advantage. Just magical destructive power alone is enough to destroy the world but not enough to rule the world. Oh wait, why did that novagel managed to escape? What teleported her away?"

"Have you forgotten something?" asked Dongfang Bumieh. "What if I tell you someone's soul is missing among those you have absorbed? Does it ring a bell?"

"Other than the Lady of the Lake…wait…" Morgana hammered her left palm with her right fist.

"Merlin! The cause of all this!"

She now had not one, but two souls to absorb before she can achieve full victory, and restore her body completely.

"Anyway, King Arthur's soul is already mine! Even if she finds the Excalibur, the Lady of the Lake won't be able to harness it to its full capacity. It will only be a matter of time before I get the Excalibur, and destroy it, once I get to Avalon." Having said that, she teleported away in the form of a lightning flash.

How many of us are familiar with the story of King Arthur, and the legendary wizard Merlin who helped him. Everyone sees King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, including Merlin the magician, as mythological heroes of Britain's history.

Merlin, the legendary wizard who was a powerful wizard and advisor to the great King Arthur of Britain, was actually fathered by an Incubus who visited the king's daughter and impregnating her. Inheriting his father's incubus lust, he was also suspected of charming other women into willingly letting him physically "having" them, leaving them with no memories of what happened, resulting in the birth of children who inherited his blood. His downfall was his unfulfilled lust for the Lady of the Lake, Vivianne, who was immune to his charms and tricked him into being trapped in a magic tomb where he eventually died.

Before he died, he used the last of his magic to form a duplicate twin of Vivianne, his unrequited lust from his imagination, and copulated with it with the last of his energy, the release of all his life force and all his magic through the release of his pent up lust (a suffering that's foreign to the lecherous magician who charmed almost every beautiful woman he met into allowing him the luxury of blissful gratification) crystallized in the womb of the Lady of the Lake's artificially created twin, forming a beautiful shining stone. Both their bodies turned to stone, turning them into the statues of a man and a woman joined by the groin and lips.

One day, in the middle ages, the magical tomb was broken into and the two statues were broken apart, and the beautiful gem was discovered. On the wall of the tomb, there were inscriptions by the late Merlin himself about how to create a "Bride", which was actually a living doll (or marionette) created out of nothing except one's own breath and thoughts to serve as a substitute for the woman that one craved but couldn't have. This was an alternative to prostitution, rape, or reproduction through sex with a real woman.

The gem was discovered to be created through Merlin's desire for Vivianne, formed inside the womb of the Vivianne Bride. He referred to this version of Vivianne as his bride, because she was the woman who he considered himself really married to.

What everyone didn't know was the Vivianne Bride was actually Vivianne's twin, which she magically removed from herself and locked inside the same magical tomb where she trapped Merlin. Vivianne was aware of her growing attraction towards Merlin and wanted to nip it in the bud by removing her feelings (and her soul) from herself so that she could focus on her role of being the Lady of the Lake (a very noble assignment that was taught to her since birth by her mentor, who was a nun who spoke against men and love). Merlin was attracted to Vivianne not because of her, but because of the remnants of magic that remained in her after her "twin" was separated from her. He identified with Vivianne's "twin" when he looked at her, but the woman he craved wasn't really Vivianne herself, but her "twin" which was a doppelganger of her, whom Merlin did not meet until he was locked in the cave. However, Vivianne's twin didn't have a body because the original Vivianne handicapped her with magic, preventing her from forming a body. She appeared in his sleep and taught him the technique to revive her body, by using his imagination to project his imagination of her into reality over a magic circle, while draining the magical power from the magical seal that sealed the cave, and draining the minerals from the mineral-rich cave for the elements needed to form a human body. After the body was formed, the spirit of Vivianne's "twin" possessed the body, and he had sex with this "clone' of Vivianne.

The clone of Vivianne contained Vivianne's true soul. Meanwhile, the original Vivianne returned to resume her role of being "Lady of the Lake", occupied by a "mechanical soul" that lacked a personality and knew nothing except to carry out her role (just like all other marionette's), and became the advisor to the King in Merlin's place. She was no longer Vivianne. She was the Lady of the Lake, without any other name. Vivianne had died and went to Asgardia with Merlin.

However, what the rest of the world did not know, was that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, were Merlin's creation. To create the ideal heroes to protect England, Merlin offered aspects of his personality and strengths, and magically added many other positive character traits that he didn't have to create the ideal King and the ideal Knights.

Similarly, Vivianne, who was his apprentice, also did the same thing to create wives for the Knights. That was how the first artificially engineered novagels were formed on Earth, by personifying their personalities. Merlin became the advisor in principle, though he was their actual leader, and Vivianne played the role of being the Lady of the Lake who guards the Excalibur which was created by Merlin in the legendary island of Avalon together with some elven friends to grant humanity an ultimate leverage against evil.

After the death of Merlin and his lover (Vivianne), King Arthur defeated Morgana Lafayette and her son Mordred Lafayette in battle. After that, they were all laid to rest in Avalon, and joined Merlin and Vivianne in Asgardia, where they merged with Merlin once again to form Liondor and Monaphrodiva. Till today, the Lady of the Lake continued to guard the Excalibur, in case the evil one shall rise again.

Yumeko woke up.

She had this long dream again about the birth of King Arthur, her relationship with Merlin, the Lady of the Lake, and the Excalibur.

However, she found herself at a different place. She was no longer in Jubilee Garden. Her wounds were healed. She was lying under the shade of a tree, and a gentle breeze blew through her hair. It felt very comfortable.

"Where am I?" Yumeko asked.

"Welcome to Avalon. This is the island where the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur were laid to rest after the final battle with Mordred. Morgana, the mother of Mordred, is back for her revenge, and you're our last hope against the return of such evil. You must come to Never Lake now."

"Who are you?" Yumeko asked.

"There's no time. You're our only hope. Come now."

Yumeko followed the source of the voice, without hesitation, until she found herself in front of a large lake.

There, Yumeko met the Lady of the Lake, who was in many ways, her doppelganger.

Yumeko was stunned when she looked at the Lady of the Lake. She was the splitting image of Yumeko, except that her hair was blonde. The Lady was wearing a long Tiffany-blue evening gown, and a sapphire blue hair band, a pair of star-shaped sapphire earrings. Her eyes were sapphire blue. Wow, everything on her was blue, except her hair. Yumeko loved her hair, and was already jealous of her beauty, even she was Yumeko's splitting image in terms of facial features. Imagine looking at your twin and feeling jealous about her looks. "Okay, these will be good ideas for my next photoshoot," thought Yumeko. "I'll set my hair colour to blonde and eye colour to blue."

"You don't have to do that. You look marvelous already. True beauty is skin deep, and radiates from within," responded the Lady of the Lake.

"You can read my mind?" Yumeko asked.

"You and I were one in the first place, although you probably don't remember", responded the Lady. "But now, I'll make you."

The Lady's eyes glowed, and so did Yumeko's. Yumeko's eyes turned blue, and glowed in blue light. Her hair turned blonde, and glowed in golden light.

"Yumeko, you and I used to be one. You used to be part of me. The role of the Lady of the Lake was a sacred one. It required one to be devoid of selfish desires and emotions so that she can perform her duty to Avalon, and the whole kingdom. Our sacred mission was to protect the mighty Excalibur from falling into the wrong hands. Apart from King Arthur whom I entrusted the sword to, the Lady of the Lake is the other person who is entitled to use it, and able to unleash its full power. In order to fully become the Lady of the Lake after my predecessor's demise, I had to cast away my desires and needs. I accomplished that with magic, and those desires and needs became you. As a result, I became immortal. I am the first immortal Lady of the Lake, thanks to Merlin's magic. I tried to avoid Merlin so that I could remain chaste, but you were my desire for him, and thus you consummated your desire with him in that cave before the both of you died. I believe you already met Merlin in your present life."

"Merlin? Are you suggesting?"

"You think I don't know your affections towards the boy named Zoner, and the stranger named Cowboy Daybreak?"

"How did you know?"

"They are the same person, just in different forms and different bodies. You'll understand eventually. But they are still one."

"..."

"From now on, the Lady of the Lake is no more. Her role in Avalon has ended. You are the guardian of the all-powerful Excalibur. Protect it, and use it wisely for the good of the world. Never let the devil triumph."

"But why are you doing this? Why relinquish the role you have been performing for so many years?"

"I realized that the role of protecting the Excalibur is useless since times have changed and there is no need for a separate protector of the sword. For many years, I have been performing a role mechanically but without a heart. This sword needs to be protected with the heart I cast away long ago. You are that heart. You are the rightful owner and user of this sword. Go, and defeat Morgana."

Yumeko's eyes and hair stopped glowing, but now her eyes remained perpetually blue and her eyes remained perpetually blonde. She was holding it in her hands. A golden sword called the Excalibur. She was donning a golden armour from neck to toe. "Morgana, I'm coming to slay you," Yumeko said, and a golden helmet appeared magically, covering her head and golden hair.

Back in London, the city was being stained red by an aggressor in a red armour and helmet. This aggressor held a long and large mighty sword with jagged edges like that of a saw. Victims had been chopped to pieces with it. This attacker had a signature killing move, which was to slash the person in the stomach to expose his intestines. Once the intestines were exposed, the sword would slash the intestines and consume them as if it were a hungry beast slurping up red coloured noodles. As the victim screamed, the rest of his body would get absorbed into the sword, until only his bloodied skeleton remained.

The person in the armour was Morgana, and the sword was given to her by her son (in her past life while fighting with King Arthur), Mordred, otherwise known in this era as Woldaemal (in Europe) or Dongfang Bumieh (In Asia).

He told her, "This was once called Setan Kober, a kris with demonic powers from Java of Indonesia. The owner of the sword was a mighty warrior (called Arya Penangsang) who still continued to fight even with an open wounded stomach with his intestines hanging on his kris hilt. He eventually died when he cut his own intestines accidentally with the sword. This sword was already a demonic sword, and became even more cursed with the thirst for blood and intestines. The True Knights of Asia had taken the sword, re-forged it to make it larger and redesigned it to make it look more hideous, and was cursed further to increase its evil power. It is now renamed "Satan Calibur", and should be powerful enough to make you more powerful than, if not evenly matched, with the Excalibur. You may infuse the souls of all the novagels into the sword in order to further enhance its powers."

Just as she proceeded to destroy Westminster Cathedral, she was stopped by policemen. They pointed their guns at her, but their bullets bounced off her armour. Without hesitation, she slashed them apart, used the "Satan Calibur" to absorb their flesh and blood starting with their intestines, and then slashed their police cars into pieces. With nothing to stop her, she proceeded towards the cathedral to destroy it. All places of holy worship would be destroyed in order to unleash the forces of the Underworld upon England, the rest of the United Kingdom, then Europe, and then followed by Asia and America.

"Stop!" came a voice.

Morgana looked back. It was a knight in shining golden armour. It was the voice of Yumeko, that girl. And she was holding the…EXCALIBUR!

Beholding the mighty sword that once slew her and her son still stirred up fear from within her heart. But now, empowered by the Satan Calibur, she was more than ready to accept the challenge from the wielder of the mighty sword, and destroy the sword once and for all.

"Knight of evil who spills the blood of the innocents of London, I am Yumeko, knight of Novamos from Hokkaido. You may call me the "Excalibur Knight". State your name and your master, Sir!" called out the knight in Gold.

"I am Morgana, knight and queen of the New World Order and commander of the legions of hell! You may call me the "Satan Knight". With my sword, Satan Calibur, your blood shall be used to paint the United Kingdom red, and your soul offered to the prince of darkness Satan himself, and your bones will become the cornerstone of a new United Kingdom with the devil crowned as its new king. Fight me, or die! Fight me, and die!"

"Either way, I shall fight, I shall live, and everyone you killed shall come back to life! いざ尋常に勝負!("Iza jinjou ni shoubu!" or just "En garde!")".

This was not a fight between two women. There was no gender differentiation in a battle between knights. There was only one thing: either victory, or death. It was simply a death match that decided the fate of the world, which was taking place right outside the Westminster Cathedral.

Metal and metal clashed, and sparks of fury flew. Every clash was a clashing of sides. The conflict of good and evil. The hard resolve of two individuals being put to the test, pushing the other to give in first.

The stalemate lasted four hours. Neither party was scratched, except the buildings in London that surrounded them. They kept changing battle locations, from Westminster Cathedral to Buckingham Palace, from Buckingham Palace to Jubilee Garden, from Jubilee Garden to Piccadilly Circus, from Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square. That was when they were both exhausted, and were panting.

"Not bad, elven queen," said Yumeko.

"You're not too bad yourself, Lady of the Lake", replied Morgana. "Just by sword skills alone, you have beaten me…" Morgana placed the sword on the ground with the tip of the sword poking a hole in the pavement, crouched while holding the hilt apparently due to weakened leg strength. "But…" she continued. "Sword skills alone aren't enough to defeat me. I have the forces of hell as my backing…." Her sword, "Satan Calibur", started glowing in bright red. "Once I unleash the full power of Satan Calibur, the world will end."

"Not if I can help it", said Yumeko, and charged forward to slash the sword, but a red forcefield shielded both Morgana and the Satan Calibur. Morgana saw this and laughed mockingly and triumphantly, and started chanting, "Evil spirits sleeping in the earth, Satan of Hell, grant me your power!"

The sword started to glow more brightly, and the earth started shaking violently. The sword also sent out waves of energy that threw everything backwards, including Yumeko.

The blade of the sword grew in size, only to form the tail of a wyvern. The hilt of the sword grew into the body of a large winged wyvern. The wyvern flew vertically upwards, releasing its long tail from the hole it was "stuck" in. It flew a certain distance into the air, and its swinging tail whipped off the head of the statue of Horatio Nelson. Morgana leapt into the air to join her dragon. Once the dragon reached a certain height in the air, it stopped its ascent in mid air and stayed at that position while supporting itself with its pair of wings. Morgana then dived onto the belly of the dragon, and then disappeared into it. The dragon then glowed bright red, and grew larger, till it was as long as a 20 storey building, and big enough to occupy half of Jubilee Garden.

Upon looking at the dragon, Yumeko uttered a prayer. "God, please help me".

Yumeko followed the dragon and noticed something. She found 18 gems on the chest of the dragon where Morgana dived in. Those were probably the souls of her 18 comrades who are supplying the dragon with unlimited power. She had to destroy the gems and free their souls. To do so, Yumeko had to leap to the top of any building in the London skyline that's near the dragon to leap towards the dragon, deal as much damage as possible with the Excalibur to weaken the dragon and free as many souls of her comrade as possible. So that was what she did.

This was a monotonous, but tedious process. She would leap from the top of the building to strike the dragon's belly with her Excalibur. Every time she dealt damage to the front portion of the dragon, only one gem cracked and released a soul of her novagel comrade. She would absorb his/her soul to recharge her powers. After damaging the dragon in mid air, she would have lost stamina and would have to find a place to land, and the dragon would have flown off. She would have to jump to another building to jump towards the dragon and damage its chest again. By then, many buildings in London would have already been destroyed. This was bad. Le Grand Retour would be able to repair the damages and revive the people who have died, but the more damages there were, more magical power would have been needed. This would have been easy if all 18 novagels were present, even if the whole world was destroyed. However, she would be dependent on her magic alone. What if the energy from her soul was not enough? She would die. Even if she had the souls of 18 novagels in her, how much magical power would they have since they are already in their "spiritual" formless state? Anyway, fighting for justice always carried its risks. It was an educated risk, but it was better than letting the whole world get destroyed by the devil's forces, right?

Eventually, she got to her 18th soul, and just as expected, more than half of London was already gone. Big Ben didn't exist anymore. The Tower Bridge had fallen down. Yumeko wondered what happened to the remaining students at the school in the Palace of Westminster which was already destroyed. Were they taken to shelter? What happened to Mrs Weasley, the kind soul who gave her a spiked bottle of Lucozade that saved her life?

The dragon became desperate. It started to fly higher into the air, beyond the reach of Yumeko. Yumeko was not in time to jump onto the dragon to grab it so that she could use the Grand Retour to slash it. It was flying as high as possible into the sky, so that it could dive down at maximum velocity to crash into the ground whereby the impact would be so strong that the whole of United Kingdom would be destroyed.

It was now or never. If Yumeko were not careful, she would perish in the crash. She needed a strategy.

She needed wings. How to get wings?

All of a sudden, a pair of golden "jet plane" wings appeared on the back of her golden armour, and between the wings was a jet booster that allowed her to fly at high speeds.

"Thanks, just what I needed!"

God heard her prayers. Okay, it's now or never!

Like a descending meteor, the dragon was nose-diving at an accelerated rate, as if it was trying to commit suicide. Of course, the dragon's body would be strong enough to withstand it, so it would not constitute a suicide in the first place.

"The nose!" Yumeko was already in the stratosphere.

This job was extremely risky. Collide into it when it is falling and you'll risk being smashed to pieces in mid air, even for a novagel whose body was supposed to be superior to humans. She needed something to reach the dragon's nose at long distance. But how? Excalibur will be too short despite its size and length. But she could try wishing for it to be longer.

She did, and the sword did.

Yumeko dashed towards the nose of the nose-diving dragon, stabbed it right in the middle, and continued to saw her way up its neck to its body. Upon reaching its body, she also used the Grand Retour at the same time to scrape the flesh of the dragon exposed after she had cut open the dragon's body.

She recited the usual chant to end the life of her opponent and submit its soul through the hole in the chakram. The chakram glowed, and so did the body of the dragon.

By the time she released her sword from the body of the dragon, the dragon's body was already in two perfect halves, releasing fountains of blood from both sides. It wasn't long before the dragon's body disintegrated into shining dust, the Grand Retour chakram absorbed the soul of Morgana Lafayatte, everything that was destroyed by Morgana was restored, and everyone killed by Morgana was revived.

Yumeko's armour disappeared, leaving only her Grand Retour chakram in her hand. She continued to fall from the clouds, exhausted from the battle.

"Why is nobody saving meeeeeeeeeeee?" she screamed as she continued to fall.

She ran out of magic and could not stop herself from falling.

At this rate…at this rate.

Pomp! She landed on something soft.

She groped around. Hmm, what was it that she landed on?

She opened her eyes, got up, and found herself sitting on a giant flying pillow that was flying high above the London skyline, giving her a bird's eye view of London. She was everything. River Thames. Swiss Re tower. Tower Bridge. Big Ben. Westminster Cathedral. London Eye. All back, as if the battle just now did not happen. Suddenly, the pillow disappeared in a whiff of smoke, to be replaced by a guy in a black suit and a pair of sunglasses who grabbed her to prevent her from falling. The guy looked like...Zoner. Isn't this Cowboy Daybreak, but in a different outfit?

"Oppa!" she squealed and embraced him by his shoulders.

Mission accomplished. It was time to go home.