Crazy Britain:They’re All Raising Me

"...You asked for this."

Fairy Lancelot had already been quite irritated that Artoria took Guinevere's place, robbing her of the chance to reconcile with Guinevere. Now, being taunted so directly by Artoria, she completely snapped.

Fine. Decision made. She'd beat the hell out of this annoying Child of Prophecy first, then hand the legendary blade, Destiny, over to Yser to prove she held no hostility.

With that thought, Fairy Lancelot flipped both hands, and the bracers on her wrists spun, transforming under the flow of mana into twin blades.

"Hmph, I don't know what the hell you're trying to pull, but if you think that ugly transfor—"

She was about to call Artoria's new Grand Saber form hideous, but just then a shout came from the VIP booth above:

"Holy crap! Sovereign Form is here?! Damn, that looks awesome!"

"...Even if that form looks flashy, don't think that makes you stronger than me," Fairy Lancelot corrected herself without missing a beat.

No way she'd insult something Yser found cool—doing that would mean she didn't understand him at all.

No, to be the wise and loving partner Yser deserved, she had to understand him deeply... and like the things he liked.

Convincing herself that this new Artoria actually looked kind of badass, Fairy Lancelot raised her blades:

"Bring it on, Child of Prophecy!"

In the next instant, vivid blue mana burst from her back, propelling her like a comet straight at Artoria.

She was so fast that Artoria barely had time to register her transformed form's capabilities, let alone analyze them. Reflexively, she tapped one of the gold-engraved metal plates on her body.

Just as Fairy Lancelot's blades were about to land, a flash of light crossed Artoria's armor. Her radiant gold armor instantly darkened into an ominous black.

At the same time, dark crimson mana surged before her, forming a massive sword that slashed straight toward Lancelot. Sensing the overwhelming power behind it, Lancelot crossed her blades defensively.

Boom!

The dark red sword collided with her blue twin blades, and a violent blast of mana erupted. In that contest of raw magical power, Fairy Lancelot was clearly overpowered and sent flying.

"What... the hell?"

Using her own mana burst to stabilize midair, Lancelot stared at Artoria in disbelief. How could her mana release surpass her own?

"Hmph. Just because you're powered by a Dragon Reactor, don't think you're the only one with tricks."

A teasing voice replied, but unlike Artoria's usual lively tone, this one was lazy and composed.

Artoria strode calmly from the swirling mana turbulence. Her armor was now pitch-black. As she walked, the black armor slowly dissipated, revealing a sleek black evening gown. Portions of her skin were bare to the air—her subtly rising chest and pronounced collarbones were especially eye-catching.

From the VIP booth above, Guinevere was stunned.

"Huh? She went full Alter?"

He had thought Artoria's Sovereign Form would mimic the real Sovereign and act like a summoner. But she had straight-up transformed into the form itself?

Meanwhile, Lancelot narrowed her eyes.

"Tch... Something's wrong. Her aura's completely different from before... Is she borrowing a power that doesn't belong to her?"

"Still, don't think this means you've won! I haven't even gotten serious yet!"

She burst forward again, and Artoria raised her sword, now charged with wild mana. The blade extended into a massive sword over ten meters long, slamming down toward Lancelot.

This kind of mana-spamming, beam-slinging fighting style reminded Guinevere of the near-unlimited mana Black Alter had used in Singularity F.

But this time, just as the oversized mana blade was about to strike, Lancelot crossed her swords and shouted:

"Seya!"

She had decided to stop holding back. Time to give Artoria a proper display of her true strength.

Lancelot emerged from the mana storm unscathed, glowing with golden light and charging straight at Artoria. Alarmed, Artoria quickly retreated while slashing out another mana wave.

But Lancelot didn't flinch. She launched into a flurry of seya slashes—seya, seya, seya, seya—plowing right through the barrage to strike at Artoria.

Even though Lancelot was careful to hit with the flat of her blades—wanting to avoid being seen as hostile by Guinevere—the blow still packed serious force. The impact sent Artoria flying.

She was knocked out of her Black Alter form, reverting to the golden, radiant Sovereign form.

Seeing Lancelot charging again, Artoria panicked. Unlike during the simulations, where Guinevere had always tanked Lancelot's aggression, this was the first time she'd had to face Lancelot head-on.

What do I do?! The pressure of fighting her head-on is insane! Is this what Guinevere dealt with the whole time?!

Just then, her eyes caught a line of system text:

"Sovereign Form can do that?!"

She didn't hesitate. Tapping rapidly on the engraved talismans across her armor, Artoria summoned a golden card. It flipped, revealing a Lancer.

A horse whinnied.

A gleaming white spear pierced through the card. A white-armored figure in a lion-faced helmet burst through on a white steed, charging at Lancelot.

Another Lancer card appeared behind Lancelot, followed by a dark spear thrusting through. A second Artoria, horned and armored in black, charged forward on a black horse.

Just as Lancelot saw the white spear incoming and raised her blades for a seya slash to dodge, the white lancer Artoria pulled back her spear and canceled the attack.

"!"

Lancelot's pupils shrank. She instantly realized the trick, but it was too late. Her blades hit nothing, and the dodge frames failed to activate.

The black lancer's spear struck her from behind, launching her.

In the direction she was flying, another golden card flipped. A Christmas-dressed Artoria leapt out, swinging her dark Excalibur like a baseball bat and sent Lancelot crashing into the ground, shattering tiles everywhere.

"Woohoo! Just as expected of me! Crushed her signature move with ease!"

Artoria cheered, watching Lancelot climb out of the crater, dazed and filthy.

Indeed, Lancelot's seya slash combo was nearly invincible in one-on-one combat if the enemy lacked special abilities like pierce or sure-hit. But when facing multiple coordinated opponents...

If one attacker canceled their hit during her invincibility window and another struck during the vulnerability gap, even her twin-blade dance could be broken.

—Not that Artoria had thought it through. She just summoned a bunch of alternate Artorias and got lucky with the coordination.

All she knew was that she won. And that this trick was really effective.

So, when Fairy Lancelot saw Artoria spamming those talismans again and more gold card portals opened with yet more variant Artorias jumping out, she completely broke down.

A flurry of Excaliburs and Endbringer lances rained toward her—some wielding water guns, some with sniper rifles. This wasn't a duel; it was a damn festival.

But just as Lancelot was about to be hit full-force in the face, a sharp "ding-dong" chimed. Then a synthetic voice announced:

"Ding-dong. Energy depleted. Sovereign Artoria transformation ending."

In an instant, all the alternate Artorias vanished. The blade about to smack Lancelot's face disappeared, leaving only a gust of wind to lift her bangs.

"Uh... hahaha... um..."

Seeing the red-eyed Lancelot glaring at her, Artoria frantically fiddled with her transformer device, but it remained unresponsive.

After a few awkward seconds, Artoria sheepishly raised both hands with an uneasy grin.

"Soooo... how about we call it even?"