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"King Arthur doesn't understand people's hearts."

The same words from countless different voices filled her ears, as if they wanted to fill the space around her without giving her any room to breathe.

He wanted to raise his hands to cover his ears, but found that he couldn't move as if he was imprisoned.Wanted to refute but could not make any sound.

No, it is more accurate than being imprisoned, or without the functions of hands, feet, lips and tongue.

This is [fate] that cannot be given a choice, she realized this, and immediately calmed down.

Light appeared in front of her eyes without warning, she narrowed her eyes reflexively, feeling the stinging wind passing over her skin, mixed with the strong smell of rust and the almost substantive smell of blood, which made her frown involuntarily, and her heart soared Feel uneasy.

After her eyes got used to the intensity of the light, she looked around. The dim yellow sky involved a few streaks of blood-colored setting sun, corpses rising one after another dyed the ground red and black, and flags that were damaged to varying degrees were scattered and slanted among the corpses and sent out with the wind. "哗啦" sound.

Suddenly there was the sound of metal rubbing against the ground, and the sound of metal rubbing came from the same direction after a long interval.She looked in the direction of the voice, and instantly showed a painful expression.

On the corpses piled up like a hill, Artoria supported her body with the holy sword and half-kneeled, looking into the distance with pained and confused eyes, and the bright red blood soaked the golden hair, flowing down the arc of the forehead and scratching the injured body. The tightly closed single eye, just like the life she was losing, kept flowing until it left her body, passed through the cold corpses, and finally melted into the black red soil.

When had she seen her in such a mess?For a long time, even though there was pain in her heart, Arturia's eyes had never been confused. As the pioneer of Britain's future, she had always had a clear goal and moved forward. The situation did not allow her to hesitate, and she also firmly believed that hope for future existence.

And Arturia in front of her, her young body exuded an aura of twilight and despair.

"...I started countless wars and took countless lives. So I will die more miserable than anyone else - I will die hated by everyone, and I clearly and accept it"

Different from the usual decisive and confident voice, it became dry and thin, and was divided into intermittent words by sobbing.Crystal tears flowed down the cheeks, spending a little face that was already scarred and messy.

Arturia was crying.

This recognition made her heart tingle, but the confession of her guilt made her even more worried.

She never thought that Artoria knew herself in this way.Doing everything for the future of Britain, blocking her human part to be an ideal king, rejoicing for the joy of the people, and mourning for the pain of the people, so she thinks she is guilty and is ready to accept her own murder at any time punishment.

Arturia has done a good job.

Her king was too upright and kind, so he walked into the misunderstanding of people's hearts.

And as her mentor and chief assistant, as someone who loved her deeply, she didn't realize it at all.

"...It's not like this. It shouldn't be like this. What I'm after is not this kind of result...! I know that Britain will end one day. But I believe it should be more stable, like sleeping ——!”

Yes, that was what she knew, the goal Arturia had told her from the beginning.And in fact Arturia would have such an idea is not unrelated to her.Britain will eventually perish, which she revealed to her from the beginning, and the idea that "the known future does not necessarily mean that it cannot be changed" is also influenced by her.

So is the scene in front of me the future of Artoria?

Britain will be destroyed in the hands of Artoria, which is no different from the future foreseen at the beginning.But the problem is Arturia in front of her, she is crying, unwilling, and...remorseful.

Aware of this situation, she suddenly felt fear.

Bad things will happen!On Arturia!

"—that's wrong. Absolutely wrong."

No... I can't say any more...!

Without thinking, she ran over and hugged Artoria's neck from behind. The coldness of the armor and the warmth of her body were transmitted to her skin. She could feel the touch of her cheek touching Arturia's cheek, and even feel Artoria's touch. Ya's hair brushed against the slight itching of her cheeks.

Stop talking!please!

Her eyes were blurred, and tears flowed down her cheeks. It was the first time she cried out so hard.

Artoria!don't want……!If this goes on you will...!

Hugging Arturia hard, she tried to stop her.

This won't work...!

But can't make any sound.She can touch Artoria, but these things don't exist for Artoria.

This is [Fate] that cannot be chosen.

She is just an [observer] and does not have the ability to interfere.

"I, even if I can allow my own death, I will never allow such a situation."

Impossible Arturia...

Time is...forbidden...for mortals to regret...

"No! Arturia!"

Suddenly woke up from the dream, the heartbeat was so violent that the body was trembling with every beat.

Merlin's eyes were out of focus, and his mind went blank for a moment.

"What's the matter?" Hearing Merlin's voice, Artoria put down the official document in her hand and walked quickly to the bed.

The person who was sleeping soundly on the bed was sweating coldly with fear at this time, and the tear stains extending to the temples could be clearly seen from the corner of his eyes, which made Artoria feel a little distressed.

"It's okay, I'm here." She leaned over to wipe the sweat off her face, and patted her chest to calm her down.

It took Merlin a moment to recover, eyes still full of mist looked at Arturia, and his exhausted hands tried to caress her cheek.

"Al?" There was a weak trill in the voice.

"I'm here." Holding the hand touching her cheek, Arturia smiled reassuringly, "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Ah."

Confirming that the intact Artoria in front of him is real, Merlin vaguely recalled the dream just now.

Is that what happened during this expedition?Or is it the result of a certain war in the future?

In any case, she must prevent Artoria's future from coming.

Slightly shaking his weak hand, Merlin distractedly looked around and found himself lying on the bed in Artoria's bedroom.

"Why am I lying here?" She was clearly dealing with official documents with Artoria before, at the desk not far away.

"You must be too tired recently." Artoria smiled helplessly, and looked at the expression of the person on the bed carefully, and felt relieved when she felt that she had eased up, "You just fell asleep while sitting like that gone."

I can't tell whether I fell asleep because I had to dream or dreamed because I fell asleep, but that was an opportunity for the magician's dream to appear.But she didn't plan to let Artoria know about this dream, so as not to worry her.

A ray of light penetrated into the bedroom from outside the window, and the candlelight on the wall gradually faded under the early morning sunlight.

"Is it dawn already?" Merlin propped up his body and prepared to get up.

"Don't you want to rest for a while?" Artoria was worried, and Merlin's face was not very good.

"No." Shaking his head slightly, his silver-white hair took the opportunity to hang down to his chest to cover half of his slightly pale side face, "Al is going to go to war today, right?"

Before she goes, there is still work to be done.

Merlin finished washing quickly, walked to the sword stand where the holy sword was placed, and easily raised the holy sword with both hands with seemingly slender arms.

"Al."

While talking, she turned around and saw that Arturia was already kneeling in front of her.

This was a ritual they had to do before Arturia set out every time. There was no other witness, only the blessings that the two of them knew.

It's just that she won't be by her side this time, and with the warning from the dream, Merlin is extremely serious.

——as if she wanted to pour all her power into Arturia.

He raised the holy sword horizontally and lightly placed the tip of the sword on Artoria's shoulder.

The weak voice was low and even trembling due to tension, as if it came from the sky.

From the feet of the two to the whole body, the emerald green light gradually changed from thin to thicker than before, as if it was about to solidify.

[In the name of the Earth Dragon God, you will be invincible. 】

"In the name of the dragon god of the earth, my king, you will surely win in peace."