Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King [141]
Credits: Joseph Sepulveda
When Gawain's gaze met those gem-like Mystic Eyes, his heart tightened instantly. Fully aware of the immense threat they posed, Gawain instinctively swung his sword to counter.
He tried to intercept Alaric's broken sword!
"Miscalculation, Sir Gawain!"
Even though his only chance had slipped away, the charred Alaric smiled—
A skill inherited from King Hassan. Although it wasn't a technique capable of reaching the divine realm, it was still close to the standards of all Hassans, a lethal art of assassination.
A single sword swing, aimed solely at the target—
Unavoidable!
The death line Alaric had been focusing on was never Gawain himself, but the approaching—
Holy Sword-Excalibur Galatine!
The greatest gap between Alaric and Gawain lay in this holy sword. If Alaric wanted to win, he had to make Gawain abandon or lose the sword!
Under Gawain's astonished gaze, the broken sword, now devoid of the Lion King's blessing, easily slashed his wrist. Blood gushed like a fountain in an instant!
And at the cost of his severed wrist, the Excalibur Galatine fell to the ground!
But before Gawain could retrieve the holy sword, Alaric's next wave of attacks had already arrived!
Alaric moved without pause. Before Gawain could react, Alaric stomped down heavily and delivered a side-body slam, crashing into Gawain with tremendous force!
Boom!
Already stunned by the loss of his hand, Gawain couldn't dodge and was sent directly crashing into the ruins of the shattered Holy City!
Almost simultaneously—
"Ramesseum Tentyris!!!"
The torrent of magical energy from beneath the Grand Temple struck the dazzling wall of light directly!
The resulting shockwave caused the fragmented outer city of Camelot to shake violently as if an earthquake had erupted.
But none of this concerned Alaric. At this moment, his eyes were fixed solely on Gawain!
As the Lion King raised the Holy Lance, the outer city of Camelot, where Alaric and Gawain fought, began to float skyward, as though freed from gravity's constraints.
Alaric and Gawain stood on two of the larger chunks of rock, facing each other.
At this moment, they were like souls unbound by gravity, their will and thirst for battle surging to new heights!
"Sir Gawain!!!"
"Sir Alaric!!!"
Both roared as they struck each other with heavy fists to the face!
Boom!
No longer a matter of knightly swordsmanship, this was the purest form of physical combat—a clash of beliefs.
The shockwaves from their punches swept outward like raging waves, scattering debris all around.
Despite his injuries, Gawain, still empowered by the Lion King's Blessing, easily overpowered the severely wounded Alaric. Even with just one hand, every punch from Gawain was more than Alaric could bear.
No matter how Alaric enhanced his body with magical energy, he couldn't block any of Gawain's attacks. Each strike left Alaric more battered, his body pushed closer to collapse.
The battle mastery Gawain inherited from Lancelot was on full display!
Smack!
With overwhelming strength, Gawain grabbed Alaric's face and slammed him into the ground with such force that the massive chunk of rock beneath them shattered instantly!
Boom! Boom!
The two knights clashed across a hundred meters, leaping and moving between the rising debris. The chaos of their battle was visible even from a distance, where Fujimaru Ritsuka and others watched from the outer edge of Camelot.
Unable to breach the Holy Lance's barrier, Fujimaru Ritsuka could only witness the fight between Alaric and Gawain.
Even though it was a one-sided beating.
Boom! Boom!
But even physical combat has its limits. Alaric could no longer withstand Gawain's relentless, sun-like assaults, and blood stained the sky.
Both fighters crashed into one of the larger chunks of rock, surrounded by the remnants of the Enforcement Knights' armor and weapons, a testament to the ferocity of past battles.
Standing opposite each other, Alaric and Gawain panted heavily.
Both were pushed to their limits. Even with the Blessing's enhancements, Gawain was visibly fatigued. The strain of avoiding Alaric's deadly strikes had taken a significant toll.
In contrast, Alaric was on the brink of collapse. His bones were fractured in many places, his muscles reduced to pulp, and his body had almost lost all functionality. Yet, he stubbornly forced his dragon heart to extract magical energy to heal his injuries.
The effort, however, was minimal.
Neither spoke. Both stared each other down, motionless, as if sharing an unspoken agreement to let the other make the first move.
Alaric knew all too well that after destroying the Excalibur Galatine, his only chance of killing Gawain, who was still at full strength, relied entirely on the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
But forcing himself to destroy Gawain's Noble Phantasm had already pushed his body to its limits, making it impossible to engage in prolonged high-intensity combat.
Destroying the holy sword was the greatest achievement Alaric could claim in this battle. Now, he needed a single, decisive strike to end it.
Just seeing the death lines wasn't enough—it wasn't enough.
Alaric needed to perceive a deeper death, a truer sense of—
[Death].
His brain surged with heat, his body temperature spiked, and the blood coursing through his veins roared like a raging river.
Even his dragon heart let out a mournful cry, and scalding dragon blood burst through the charred layers of his skin, turning Alaric into a figure drenched in blood.
But Alaric ignored it all, his gaze fixed solely on Gawain. "I'll kill you, Sir Gawain."
The firmness of his will, his understanding of death, his resolve to discard his very humanity—
To approach [Death], he had to abandon all that made him a living being.
Cognition, awareness, reason—
Even after experiencing death three times and returning, in this moment, as he faced the sun, Alaric finally saw the countless lines of death that made up all things.
The sky seemed ready to collapse, the blue heavens appearing fragile in Alaric's vision.
From Alaric's perspective, starting with himself and extending outward, darkness constructed from the concept of [Death of All Things] enveloped Gawain.
"?!"
A bone-deep chill ran through Gawain. As a Heroic Spirit, he recognized the source of this dread—it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience—
Death!
Gawain didn't understand what was happening, but he knew he couldn't let Alaric continue!
Bang!
With a muffled sound, Gawain grabbed a sword from the ground and charged at Alaric!
But Alaric moved even faster!
He too picked up a longsword from the remnants of the Enforcement Knights. However, instead of aiming to counter Gawain, he casually thrust it downward.
Easily piercing a death line.
Alaric didn't target Gawain directly. Instead, he chose to kill the very ground, the very space beneath Gawain, taking Gawain's lower body with it!
The instant the blade pierced the death line, the massive chunk of rock beneath them crumbled. Gawain's expression changed drastically as he fell uncontrollably downwards!
Alaric, now bleeding from all seven orifices, his gem-like eyes glowing faintly red, followed the shattered debris into freefall.
Along with them descended a golden pyramid, radiant like the sun, plummeting straight toward the brilliant wall of light!
A world-shaking impact erupted!
The shockwave sent both Alaric and Gawain flying hundreds of meters, nearly throwing them out of the Holy City's bounds!
Massive cracks spread rapidly across the ground as if threatening to swallow both knights whole.
Rustle.
When Alaric next saw Gawain, the knight was half-buried in rubble, staring blankly at the sky.
With his lower body completely dead, Gawain had lost all ability to fight.
Even though he couldn't understand how Alaric had accomplished this, Gawain had no desire to ask.
"Farewell, Sir Gawain."
Alaric's chest heaved violently as he forced a smile through his charred face—a smile Gawain knew all too well. "This dream should end here. I hope you'll have a better one next time."
"Ah... Goodbye, Sir Alaric."
Gawain's dimming eyes watched as Alaric calmly drove the sword into Gawain's chest, piercing his spirit core.
Death descended once more.
Neither Alaric nor Gawain had anything more they wanted to say.
As Alaric said, the dream had to end.
"I truly hope you'll live on, Sir Alaric."
In his final moments, Gawain offered this successor knight a smile as radiant as the sun.