UWTD 370: Unification (V)

Today, a war god and merciful ruler would be born on this battlefield. And no one in the land would dare challenge that person.

The unfortunate soul who became the stepping stone for this person came out in the open, too. “So, it is you, huh? The one who is helping that brat.” Vortigern approached Adam without a sound.

“Well, you can say that,” Adam answered the middle-aged man with white hair.

“…Why don’t you stop this? You know it is futile.” Vortigern narrowed his blue eyes.

“Is that what they told you?” Adam glanced at the holy grail in front of him.

“Yes, unless I become the ruler of this land, they will keep trying to destroy it.” Vortigern extended his hand towards Adam. “I don’t know what Artoria has promised you or what you want. But if you join me, I can help you get it all and more.”

Adam sighed. “Why do you think they are using you as a proxy for this attack?” ignoring the offer and cut the unnecessary chatter.

“What do you mean?” Vortigern frowned.

“Are you really unaware, or is your pride that high?” Adam looked at the man in regal robes. “They are simply using you as a pawn to check the boundaries.” The counter force couldn’t break in themselves, so they tried to get in Artoria’s way by using people in the world, “They can’t stop me, so they are trying to stall for time till maintaining this place becomes too much for me.”

Adam looked at the sky and the seven beings waiting outside this timeline’s scope. Seven mighty warriors of the counter force attacked to destroy the barrier, but couldn’t leave a scratch. It took a negligible toll on him to maintain this world and the barrier, unlike what the counter force expected. Because he had signed a contract with the acknowledgment of the administrator, he had no real limitations in this place.

“They are wasting their time.” He looked Vortigern dead in the eyes. “And so are you.”

A set of footsteps approached them. Clad in silver armour over the blue dress, Artoria walked down the grassland with the heads of the Saxon generals. Her golden sword, stained with blood, left mountains of corpses behind her. She threw the heads at Vortigern’s feet, her face as solid as a monolith.

“It’s the end, Vortigern.” Icy words left her lips.

“Think again.” The elder man scowled. He had pressed the grail against his chest and shouted. “Holy Grail, hear my wish. Give me power to destroy this land!” If he can’t have it, no one could.

A burst of mana pulsed from the grail and rushed into Vortigern’s body. The man felt an immeasurable strength and spirit flowing through him. A sense of power that transcended humanity. His body changed to contain that power. His hair turned to horns, his body enlarged, his hands and legs elongated with his fingers turning into claws, his skin turned scaly, and his neck extended along with a snot for a mouth.

In a matter of seconds, Vortigern had become a white dragon. A beast with only one equal on the land, the Red Dragon. However, the red dragon wouldn’t come out.

“Fool… you should’ve stayed dead.” Artoria felt the corruption from the grail, a different type of corruption from what she knew from the war. Counterforce planned to use the grail to corrode the land of Britain and wipe it out. That would stop her goal.

So, she could only do one thing. Destroy the grail.

Artoria raised her sword above her head. Mana from the surrounding halted. Golden light rose from the land. Every blooming flower, blade of grass, and insect emitted the golden light. The light of life, the light of victory.

The golden light converged on Artoria’s blade.

“Do you think that attack will do something to me?!” Vortigern roared, his confidence sky high in his beast form. He lunged forward with bravado to crush Artoria and rule the land as an immortal king.

However, Artoria showed no fear in the face of the gigantic claw. “Sheathed in the breath of this land, a torrent of shining life. Feel its wrath. EX—” She slashed the sword downwards with every bit of her strength, “—CALIBUUUURRRRRRRR!”

The torrential attack of mana was more than a simple slash. Like a rage filled tornado, it tore into Vortigern’s body. Chunks of his flesh torn off, his scales peeled off, and crushed like cloth. No matter how much he tried to regenerate with the grail, it couldn’t keep up with the continuous damage.

“N…No this can’t be…” He felt the flow of mana from the grail weakening with every moment. However, Artoria’s attack showed no sign of slowing down. The grail in his chest cracked under the pressure, “Damn you… This wasn’t supposed to…” no matter what he tried, he couldn’t shield the grail from Artoria’s noble phantasm.

When the dust settled, nothing of Vortigern remained in the world. The grail didn’t survive either. Artoria felt the power leave her as the last nod of its destruction. But she had no problems with it.

“We have won!!! You bastards, we won!” Kay’s joyful cries made it to them from the faraway battlefield. The soldiers they saved joined them to attack the Saxons.

And after their opponents lost their generals, commanding officers, and the grail that powered them, they became a bunch of ragtag barbarians that could brave the relentless attack from Artoria’s army.

Now, the entire army shouted in joy and exhilaration. They had won an impossible battle. And, as the one who led the charge, Artoria stood at the center. The very first order after Saxon’s surrender was to round up the remnants.

She gathered all the lords and knights who joined the Saxons for their hearing. “All your wealth and honour are stripped. Your family will become commoners from this day on, and you will spend the rest of your lives working like slaves to atone for your betrayal.”

The punishment wasn’t light, but it wasn’t as harsh as others expected it to be. Artoria thought killing them would be too easy. They had caused a lot of damage, and now they will have to fix it with their own hands. They started by rebuilding the port towns they had destroyed with the wealth confiscated from them.

She used the defeated Saxons, the former lords, and their armies for manual labour. Meanwhile, her army trained in the grounds near the city and helped the remaining citizens with resettling in their lives. Even after going through the terrible occupation, the city showed signs of recovery after 6 months.

Living so near the one supposed to become the king, the people of the city came to adore Artoria. She never stayed in the lord’s house but came down to the city and helped with anything she could. When the city reconstruction started, she also helped in carrying heavy materials, doing the job of ten grown men alone. Even helping the widowed women tending to children while they work, and opened care homes for kids that lost their parents.

Even now, she was in a house near the market playing with a child born two months ago. She held the child so dearly with that soft smile that one might think it was her own.

“There you are.” Adam found her on the porch of a small house. “I know I told you to get more involved with the people, but that doesn’t mean you can forget about work.”

“Well…” At first, Artoria didn’t want to leave her office and wanted to plan while keeping a close eye on the happenings.

But Adam kicked her out of the office and told her to go out and relax for a time. Instead of relaxing, Artoria found more work outside and left the office work behind.

“It is good that you are following my advice, but look at this first.” Adam showed her the letters that had arrived today.

Artoria handed the kid back to its mother and read the names on the yellowish envelopes. “It’s the lords who opposed my coronation.” Her eyes went wider with each letter.

“It is a collective surrender,” Adam smiled.

...

Sorry for the delay. I thought I scheduled these but they were still left in my draft somehow. my bad.

See you all tomorrow with a new chapter.