Chapter 191. King of Knights (2)
“King Arthur... the S-rank Constellation ‘King of Knights’ is trying to create a new order of knights in the Material Realm.”
“An order of knights? You mean Round?”
“Strictly speaking, no.”
“Just as Round selects members from its lower organizations, King Arthur intends to select the truly exceptional members of Round and form a new knightly order from them.”
“You could call them... a new generation of the Knights of the Round Table.”
Before the Count and me, the A-rank Constellation ‘Knight of Ruin,’ Mordred, began explaining.
“The leader of Round, Codename ‘Arthur,’ will stand at the top and form this new Round Table.”
“And what does he intend to do with them? Prepare for that final battle or war they keep mentioning?”
“That’s right.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“Armageddon.”
"...!"
Armageddon.
A term from the Book of Revelation, also known by the pronunciation Har-Magedon.
It was believed to refer to the hill of Megiddo, a strategically important military location in Palestine.
In the Book of Revelation, the final battle was said to take place there.
Because of that, the word Armageddon itself eventually became synonymous with the final war.
“Does it mean a decisive battle against Pandemonium?”
“Strictly speaking, no.”
“Why not? Isn’t Armageddon supposed to be a battle between good and evil?”
“More precisely, it is a battle between the armies of the kings who rule the earth and the army of the Lord.”
"..."
Kings who ruled the earth.
That concept had something in common with the ‘Beast’ Cheon Sangwoon had once summoned.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Pandemonium or humanity.”
“There are wicked beings who seek to rule the world, and the holy army defeats them.”
“That’s the idea.”
“Then King Arthur wants to organize that holy army in the Material Realm?”
“And Round exists for that purpose?”
“Yes. In the end, everything they do is for that.”
Mordred nodded.
“Ordinary Contractor organizations try to expand their own forces.”
“They seize wider territories and increase their influence.”
“But Round doesn’t.”
“They believe there’s little point in expanding their power right now.”
“Because once they win Armageddon, they believe the world will naturally fall into their hands.”
I roughly understood.
So in the end, King Arthur was raising Contractors who would win the final war and then rule the world.
Looking at that alone, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it.
Other Constellations also trained Contractors.
The difference was that King Arthur had dragged even his former subordinates into the process and was raising Contractors through extremely radical methods.
“Right now, Round uses its Contractors almost like disposable supplies.”
“They deny their individuality and treat them solely as candidates for becoming the ‘new Knights of the Round Table.’”
"..."
“They don’t hesitate to act like invaders either, just like they’re doing in Korea now.”
“They’ll use any means necessary to accomplish their objective.”
Mordred’s voice was serious.
“I can’t just stand by and watch that.”
“So you’re going to betray King Arthur?”
“That’s right.”
Mordred looked pained.
“To be honest, I don’t want to do this.”
“I already... betrayed King Arthur once before.”
"..."
Mordred had been King Arthur’s vassal.
And his biological son.
Yet despite that, Mordred betrayed Arthur and raised a rebellion.
Because of that story, Mordred became an icon of betrayal throughout medieval Europe.
In Dante’s Divine Comedy, those guilty of betrayal were cast into Cocytus, the frozen lake at the deepest part of Hell.
Mordred was described as one of the most famous sinners imprisoned there.
“But... perhaps this means I can never escape the fate of betrayal.”
Mordred smiled bitterly.
“Mordred, why did you betray King Arthur while you were alive?”
“From the way you talk, I doubt it was simply because you wanted power.”
“I can’t say I had no desire for power.”
“But that wasn’t the only reason.”
“Was it perhaps because of conflict between the native powers and the Christian faction?”
The moment I said it, Mordred looked genuinely shocked.
“How did you...?”
“So that really was part of it.”
The possibility had occurred to me ever since the conversation about the conflict between King Arthur and Merlin.
Merlin and Morgan represented Celtic magic and the worldview of fairies.
Meanwhile, Galahad and the Quest for the Holy Grail had much stronger Christian elements.
The legends of King Arthur emerged from Celtic traditions mixed with Christian elements.
If you followed the stories, Merlin disappeared midway through, while the Quest for the Holy Grail became increasingly important.
The legends grew progressively more Christian.
Perhaps, in the history of the Fantasy Realm, that represented the weakening influence of the native faction and the growing power of Christianity.
“Toward the end of his reign... King Arthur became far too obsessed with the Holy Grail.”
Mordred sighed.
“During an already chaotic period, he sent countless knights all over the land to search for it.”
“I don’t even know whether the Holy Grail truly existed.”
“I never saw it myself.”
“Galahad supposedly found it, but in the end, it did nothing for the kingdom.”
"..."
“For the people of Britain at the time, magic and fairies were mysterious powers they could actually encounter in everyday life.”
“Of course, many people believed in Christianity, which had spread through Rome.”
“But experiencing its miracles firsthand was difficult.”
“So they couldn’t understand Arthur’s actions.”
That made sense.
From the perspective of the Celts, it must have seemed absurd for their king to suddenly send military forces everywhere because he wanted to find a sacred cup.
“Then the native powers resented Arthur for becoming obsessed with Christian mysteries?”
“Yes.”
“We had to stop King Arthur’s recklessness.”
Only now did I understand why King Arthur’s kingdom had fallen in the history of the Fantasy Realm.
It wasn’t merely Mordred’s obsession with seizing power.
The native faction’s resentment toward Arthur’s governance had also played a major role.
“So even now, King Arthur is obsessed with Christian mysteries and preparing for Armageddon...”
“That’s essentially it.”
“Then the true nature of this Armageddon becomes important.”
Mordred’s explanation had given me a rough understanding of the background.
But Armageddon itself mattered more.
“Will that final war truly happen?”
“And if he wins it, will King Arthur actually gain control of the Material Realm the way he believes?”
“King Arthur is convinced of it, at least.”
“He seems to possess some basis that only he knows.”
“And you don’t know what that basis is?”
“Unfortunately... no.”
“I was never told that much.”
Mordred lowered his head apologetically.
"..."
I thought for a moment.
At this point, I found it difficult to believe that the Biblical Armageddon would simply occur exactly as written.
If it was a record of historical events that had already happened in the Fantasy Realm, that was one thing.
But there was no reason to believe a prophecy about ‘future events’ with absolute certainty.
However...
someone deliberately causing an Armageddon-like event was entirely possible.
Whether King Arthur himself causes it, or someone else does... deliberately starting such a war to reorganize the power structure of the Material Realm is entirely plausible.
Cheon Sangwoon had focused on the prophecy in the Book of Daniel and summoned the Beast.
If the scale was increased...
perhaps it would be possible to recreate Armageddon from the Book of Revelation as well.
“So, Mordred.”
I looked directly at him.
“What exactly do you want me to do?”
“First, I want you to defeat Round’s ‘Arthur.’”
“That was already going to happen.”
Kang Yujin’s group would defeat him.
“And... after that, you need to strike directly at the Constellation ‘King of Knights.’”
“So he can’t keep doing this?”
“Yes.”
“If you only defeat Round’s ‘Arthur,’ King Arthur will simply find another Contractor and create a new Arthur and a new Round.”
"..."
