Chapter 193. King of Knights (4)
“I never imagined I would speak with you like this.”
Inside the enlarged communication window, a bearded old man spoke slowly.
Despite his age, his gaze was clear and sharp.
Every word he spoke carried authority.
“But this is the Count’s request. I suppose it cannot be helped.”
“Pleasure to meet you, King Arthur.”
“The pleasure is mine, Nameless King.”
The S-rank Constellation ‘King of Knights,’ Arthur Pendragon, answered calmly.
Then his gaze immediately shifted elsewhere.
“Have you turned your back on me yet again, Mordred?”
“K-King Arthur, I can no longer tolerate your recklessness!”
Mordred raised his voice at the father inside the communication window.
“You must stop sacrificing the humans of the Material Realm!”
“Foolish words, Mordred.”
King Arthur answered his son coldly.
“Everything is for victory at Armageddon.”
“Such sacrifices are insignificant.”
“Sacrifice should be noble and honorable!”
Mordred shouted.
“What honor is there for people who die after being treated like disposable tools or practice targets?!”
“That is merely a difference in perspective, Mordred.”
“I consider their deaths honorable as well.”
“Is sacrificing the few for the sake of the many not honorable?”
“But...!”
“You are still small-minded and weak, Mordred.”
"...!"
Humiliation appeared on Mordred’s face.
I felt like I was beginning to understand why King Arthur had never acknowledged Mordred as his successor.
And why Mordred had rebelled against him in the first place.
Their father-son conflict is none of my business...
Still, thanks to that conflict, I now had an opportunity to directly confront King Arthur.
From that perspective, their strained relationship was certainly beneficial to me.
“Then, Nameless King.”
Apparently no longer interested in speaking with Mordred, King Arthur looked back at me.
“What did you summon me to discuss?”
“The battle currently taking place in the Material Realm.”
I looked toward the Observer screen.
Constellation Tube was broadcasting the battle inside Avalon.
“I would like you to stop the fighting once your Contractor is defeated.”
“What?”
“The leader of Round.”
“That young man using the codename Arthur.”
“If Kang Yujin defeats him, order everyone else to withdraw.”
At that moment, ‘Arthur’ in the Material Realm was engaged in a fierce battle with Kang Yujin and his flails.
Arthur repeatedly tried to cut through the chains with Excalibur’s sword aura.
But Kang Yujin freely manipulated the flails, changing the chain lengths and making it difficult.
Whenever Arthur succeeded in severing one of the chains, Kang Yujin immediately pulled another flail from his Inventory and replaced it.
“Absurd.”
King Arthur snorted.
“Every member of Round is prepared to fight with their lives until the very end.”
“But if you order the knights to stop fighting, they will surrender.”
“Surrender?”
“Did you just say surrender?”
“Yes.”
“If they surrender, I will order them to be treated respectfully as prisoners.”
"..."
King Arthur’s expression darkened.
“My Contractor losing is itself impossible.”
“But even if such a thing happens, we will never submit to you.”
“Do not harbor such foolish expectations.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
King Arthur nodded.
“Even if Round is completely annihilated, I will raise new Contractors and oppose you again.”
“New Contractors?”
“Round is not the only organization under my influence.”
“And besides Round’s leader, there are several other Contractors I have carefully cultivated.”
"..."
“Even if your Contractor wins here, I will create an organization greater than Round and challenge you again.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so determined to make us your enemies.”
“If you dislike it, execute Kang Yujin immediately.”
Execute Kang Yujin.
I frowned.
“Why exactly should I do that?”
“You already know.”
“Kang Yujin is a seed of the Demon King.”
A seed of the Demon King.
In other words...
a Vessel intended to resurrect Lucifer.
“Such an evil existence cannot be tolerated.”
“Kang Yujin is not evil.”
“That is incorrect.”
“He has protected people by playing a major role in the war against Pandemonium.”
“He has killed three Demon God-class demons.”
“How does that make him evil?”
“That was merely evil fighting evil.”
“It was not a righteous battle.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
“I do.”
“Most people would disagree.”
“In both the Material Realm and the Spirit Realm, many people consider Kang Yujin a hero.”
“The opinions of the masses are not necessarily correct.”
“You really are self-righteous.”
“Do you know the Book of Revelation?”
“What?”
“In that prophecy, there appears a ‘False Prophet.’”
"..."
The False Prophet.
A name referring to the second Beast in the Book of Revelation.
“The False Prophet performs many miracles and deceives the people.”
"..."
“But in truth, he is an evil being.”
“An enemy of the Lord.”
“Are you saying Kang Yujin is deceiving people in that way?”
“That is correct.”
The second Beast was often interpreted as the so-called Antichrist.
A wicked existence who pretended to be a savior, led people astray, and ultimately dragged the world into evil.
King Arthur was saying that Kang Yujin was such a being.
“Then the first Beast, which grants authority to the second Beast and throws the world into chaos... could be said to be you.”
"..."
“If you wish to prove otherwise, execute Kang Yujin with your own hands.”
I was almost speechless at King Arthur’s self-righteous thinking.
He viewed the world through an extreme binary framework rooted in Christian concepts.
He probably wasn’t like this from the beginning while he was alive.
If this tendency grew stronger after he became king, it’s no wonder the native Celtic faction became disillusioned with him.
With that thought, I spoke again.
“We captured Ha Mina.”
“Does that not prove anything?”
“You may have merely pretended to capture her while actually ‘protecting’ her.”
“You certainly interpret everything in the worst possible way.”
“Is that why you tried to take Ha Mina from us?”
“Yes.”
“Hand Ha Mina over to us as well.”
“We will eliminate the remaining Vessels.”
King Arthur refused to yield even an inch.
I hadn’t expected much...
but apparently, a peaceful solution was impossible.
No choice.
I turned toward the Count.
He sat in his chair with his fingers interlocked, watching me intently.
His eyes seemed to say,
What entertaining scene are you going to show me this time?
I decided to live up to those expectations.
