Fate: How About a New Savior?

While Mordred was holding Gawain back, the siege began.

Refugees, mountain folk, and the Enforcement Knights loyal to Mordred broke through the outer defenses and reached the base of Camelot's walls. There, they started raising ladders and launching their assault.

"Fools! The sun is at its peak! Mordred, even you cannot withstand me now!"

As Gawain declared, bearing the Numeral of the Saint, all his abilities had surged the moment battle broke out under the full light of day.

Their locked blades pushed back against one another, but Gawain was slowly gaining ground. Even with Mana Burst reinforcing her, Mordred was being overpowered by sheer strength.

"Do you really have time to waste fighting me here, Gawain?"

Despite the pressure, Mordred showed no sign of concern—only a sly grin as she threw the question at him.

"Gawain! Third unit on the right flank is requesting reinforcements! They're being torn apart by a woman wielding a crimson spear!"

"Gawain! First unit on the left flank is in critical condition—on the verge of collapse!"

As battle cries rang out across the battlefield, Camelot's soldiers fended off the attackers while relaying urgent updates.

"The first unit? That's impossible! Those were elite troops, handpicked for this defense! Who could it be?!"

Gawain, still holding his ground, was visibly shaken.

"It's Morgan! It's the witch Morgan!" a frantic messenger shouted.

The tide was turning sharply—and now even Gawain felt the weight of it. To stop the enemy from storming the city, he had taken half of the defending forces out with him to intercept them—a bold move, but tactically unsound.

He'd relied on the power of his Holy Sword, confident that he could wipe out the enemy's vanguard before they posed a threat.

But he'd overlooked one thing—what tricks Morgan's army might have prepared.

Beyond Morgan, Scáthach, and the recently captured Shiomi, Camelot knew next to nothing about the rest of Chaldea's fighting strength.

Which was why, the moment the battle began, they were blindsided by devastating astromantic Magecraft. Gawain's outer forces took massive losses—second and fourth units were nearly annihilated.

Fortunately, these weren't ordinary soldiers. Even after their units were destroyed, they didn't rout. They quickly regrouped with nearby squads and continued fighting.

Then it got worse.

Out on the plains beyond the walls, trees began sprouting from the ground—rapidly, unnaturally. In mere moments, dense growth had spread overhead, shielding the attackers.

Now, the archers stationed in Camelot's towers found their shots deflected or blocked entirely by the thick, wild canopy. Their arrows couldn't hit the enemy soldiers climbing the ladders.

Even the base of the walls was being overtaken by trees that grew right up against the stone.

It was the same Magecraft from the "Holy Punishment"...

Gawain remembered that chaos vividly. He frowned deeply.

Despite being called Magecraft, the trees were real. After that previous incident, he'd spent days clearing the land outside the main gate, uprooting every last tree and cleansing the soil. It had been an ordeal.

But now, seeing life bloom so easily from barren ground, he began to understand why the Lion King had gone to such lengths to capture Shiomi.

"They're just trees!"

The pseudo-sun within Gawain's Holy Sword ignited once more, solar flames spiraling down the blade. The intense heat forced Mordred to retreat.

He unleashed a sweeping slash imbued with the sun's might. Wherever the blade passed, the trees burst into flames.

But his strike didn't land.

Another knight charged forward and blocked it—Bedivere.

Mordred, who was about to charge in and resume her fight with Gawain, froze.

"What the hell are you doing, idiot! I can handle this ape myself! Hurry up and get into the city already!"

"Not just you, Mordred... even a knight as trusted by the King as you has turned to Morgan?" Gawain's eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger rising in them.

"I haven't turned to Morgan. I came back to Camelot to defeat you, defeat the Lion King, and right the wrongs of this land!" Bedivere pressed his sword forward with all his strength, but Gawain was still able to hold it back effortlessly with one hand. "This is my mission. And to fulfill it, I'll borrow any power—Morgan's, or even the Usurper King's!"

Gawain's frown deepened. The flames from his Holy Sword couldn't outpace the rapidly spreading trees, and the sunlight above was now reduced to scattered beams through the thick foliage.

That wasn't the problem.

The problem was the Sphinx flying overhead.

Once the feint at the side gate had been detected, Camelot's defenders had tightened their formation, and Nitocris had quickly ordered a detachment of Divine Beast handlers to reinforce the main gate.

The Sphinx had torn through the defense line with ease and was now heading straight for the city gate.

"Tch..." Mordred clicked her tongue.

"You should know—without the Lion King's permission, no one can enter this city."

That was precisely why Gawain could keep fighting his two former comrades without worrying about the Sphinx trying to break through. It was also the second reason he could afford to violate the cardinal rule of leaving the city to face the enemy head-on.

The gate was unbreachable. That allowed him to fight without fear of being flanked.

...

On a low rise behind the battlefield, Shiomi watched as the fighting reached a deadlock.

He had used the foresting Magecraft to disrupt the Camelot soldiers' counterattacks and conceal the joint forces' advance. Now, more Enforcement Knights were dropping from the walls into the fray.

Unlike the regular soldiers, the Enforcement Knights were far more powerful. Casualties on Shiomi's side were mounting.

"If you need assistance, you need only ask, Master of Chaldea."

A deep, unreadable voice spoke from beside him. As always, the figure had appeared silently—bringing with it a creeping sense of death.

"The battle outside the city is in our favor. But Camelot is resorting to trickling in stronger Enforcement Knights. It won't be long before only Chaldea and the Divine Beasts are left on the field."

Shiomi clenched his fists as he stared at the city gate.

"But I won't ask for your help, Old Man of the Mountain. You don't belong to either side—and the future should be in humanity's hands."

"You hold the authority over life, yet still cling to your humanity. Your refusal to forsake that identity is worthy of respect."

With that, the Old Man's silhouette vanished—and a massive sandstorm suddenly swept over the battlefield outside Camelot.

Shiomi had no idea what that old assassin was watching or waiting for. He shook his head. Then, softly, he murmured a word of thanks to the empty air—and ran.

...

Mordred had said the city gate couldn't be opened.

That was why they had drawn up a siege plan—to storm the walls and search for a way to open the gate from inside.

But though the attackers had taken control of the arrow towers atop the walls, they were now surrounded. Blood flowed along the white outer walls, painting the city red.

Shiomi, like a gust of wind, raced across the battlefield, leaping over the canopies of the now-stilled trees. He landed right in front of the gate.

And standing there, he finally understood why.

The gate wasn't just a physical structure—it was a conceptual defense. Something like Morgan's "Garden of the Innocent." Only those deemed pure could pass through.

"A soul unstained. A soul unshaken by the evil of the world. A soul that has never lost its purity since the day it was born. You are, indeed, worthy."

He could still hear the Lion King's words from their first meeting echo in his ears.

That was the standard of the Holy Lance. Among the thousands of refugees, only three had met it.

Shiomi had never understood how he could possibly be one of them.

All he'd done was follow what he believed was right. Do what he wanted to do—what he would never regret.

He had no past, so he had taken the Land of Shadows as his starting point. Looking back, he felt no shame in the path he had walked—but he also didn't think he deserved the Lion King's recognition.

It wasn't about good or evil. Not about right or wrong.

He had come all this way to save humanity's future.

But more than that... it was selfishness. For Sakura, for Caren, for Gray—for their world to still have a tomorrow.

A small, foolish wish from an immature adult.

"This is my dream... my hope... my path... the fate of one who is both man and not..."

With Gungnir as his staff, Shiomi spoke quietly toward the gate.

"Roadless Camelot! (Reaching the Ultimate Utopia)"

As the True Name was declared, the gate—which not even the Sphinx could dent—collapsed with a thunderous roar.