Morgan le Fay really came into my room in the middle of the night, but this time it wasn't just the two of us. With me was the pink-haired loli vampire queen herself, Krul Tepes.
"Who is she, King Arthur?" Morgan glared at me, clearly offended by the presence of a third person. She had expected a private meeting, just me and her, and instead found herself staring down a new face.
But well, she was me, so I didn't see her as a stranger at all.
Morgan didn't understand that part, though, so I figured I'd be nice enough to explain. "Just treat her as me."
She rolled her eyes, clearly unconvinced, but she didn't waste time arguing.
Instead, she cut straight to the point. "My time is limited, King Arthur. Tell me what you want and why we're having this meeting. Merlin told me that as long as we meet, and I agree to your terms, Britannia will be mine by right."
"In the previous plan, I might have compromised, sister," I said, almost playfully. "Honestly, I even had a plan for us, you as my queen, me as your king. How beautiful would that have been, don't you think?"
She shot me a glare sharp enough to cut through steel. "That's impossible. Equal cooperation will never happen between us, King Arthur. Either you surrender your throne, or we fight."
"That sounds dumb. Why would I fight you just because you're too prideful to accept sincere cooperation?" I rolled my eyes, already bored with her stubbornness. "Since you don't want to cooperate, fine. Krul, now."
Morgan's lips parted in realization, but far too late.
She had believed in the illusion of my righteousness, that I was bound by chivalry and honor. It was that belief which left her unguarded.
Krul's power had already been creeping into her body from the moment she entered, her crimson gaze silently weakening her veins, her vitality ebbing away as we conversed.
And then, in an instant, Krul was upon her.
The sorceress let out a strangled gasp as Krul's small, delicate frame pressed against her, lips parting to reveal sharp fangs.
With a predator's grace, Krul bit deep into Morgan's neck.
The proud witch's eyes widened, her voice breaking into a moan of shock and fury as her blood poured freely into Krul's mouth.
She tried to resist, but her body betrayed her, the longer Krul drank, the weaker Morgan became.
Her hands trembled, her legs faltered, her magical power slipping away with every swallow.
The sounds of feeding filled the chamber, mingled with Morgan's ragged breathing and the faint, unwilling shudders of her body. Her pride was bleeding out alongside her strength.
Within moments, Morgan's fierce gaze dulled, her eyelids fluttering shut.
She collapsed into Krul's arms, unconscious, reduced to nothing more than a helpless, drained figure.
With that, Morgan affair is over and I decided to trap her in Avalon where Merlin already brought it to me and imprisoned her inside.
Now, it's time to speedrun Arthurian Era and knocked down Vortigern, King Lot and any others at fastest speed.
With that, I began preparing for war against the coalition of nobles, while Merlin set up his grand formation, trapping them inside so they couldn't scatter or run. Once they were sealed, I unleashed Caliburn upon them.
Meanwhile, Krul had her own part to play. She took every member of the church within Camelot; priests, nuns, bishops, even the lowly attendants and twisted them into vampires, their humanity stripped away in an instant.
She didn't stop there. The wives, husbands, sons, and daughters of the noble houses who still lingered in Camelot, families of those same treacherous lords rebelling against me were transformed as well.
A righteous king normally wouldn't resort to such a dirty tactic, taking hostages and using family members against their own blood.
But this wasn't my doing, it was Krul Tepes.
And what does Krul Tepes have to do with me, Artoria Pendragon?
With that move, the church lost its backbone. That pesky religious institution would never again dare to interfere with Camelot. And I wouldn't stop at them. The old gods, the pagan cults, every useless fanatic screaming for their false gods while refusing to pay their taxes or swear loyalty to Camelot, they were all fair game.
Krul's gift turned them into puppet vampires, fodder to be thrown into the rear lines, the front lines, anywhere I pleased. Better they serve as tools of war than leech off my kingdom while contributing nothing.
The nobles watched in horror as their sons, daughters, wives, and husbands were twisted into these lowly creatures, stripped of their dignity, reduced to mindless soldiers. Their outrage burned hotter than their reason, and in their fury they charged recklessly at my front lines.
And this was where the fun began.
I grinned as Merlin's formation closed in around them, the shining walls of sorcery ensuring none could teleport, none could flee. They were trapped like cattle in a cage, waiting for slaughter.
Slowly, deliberately, I raised my holy sword high above my head. Its radiance split the skies, a weapon of divine authority that no mortal army could withstand.
"Caliburn."
The word rang like a death sentence.
The coalition realized what was coming, but by then it was already far too late. My sword came down, and in that instant they were erased from existence, their armies, their banners, their bloodlines, all wiped clean from the map.
The coalition of nobles ceased to exist.
I had won.
That's when I saw Morgan again.
This time, there was no playful smirk, no sly remark, no attempt at seduction or mockery. Her face was twisted with pure rage, eyes burning with a desire to tear me apart.
"I regret ever trusting you, King Arthur. Release me this instant, or I will kill you. Don't test me." She spat, her voice filled with venom.
I blinked at her words and smirked. "Why so serious?"
That only made her snap harder. In an instant, she unleashed a barrage of ice magic, sharp shards hurtling at me with murderous intent. But I merely sidestepped, weaving through them as if her power was nothing more than a passing breeze.
I raised my hand lightly, trying to comfort her. "Alright, alright, I apologize, sister. I was the one in the wrong too. I shouldn't have imprisoned you or stripped away your freedom just because of one or two arguments. But I couldn't hold back… because you're so dumb."
"You said I was dumb?" My sister, who should have softened at my earlier apology, had her blood boiling again, her rage spiked tenfold.
Ice spears flew at me in a storm, sharper and faster, forcing me to slice through them with my holy sword in one clean motion and glared at her sternly.
"Am I wrong? Tell me, am I wrong, sister? I offered the best solution for all of us, but you refused because of a dumb reason, your pride, your spite for our father. You want to prove he was wrong for choosing me over you, and you'd even start a war over something so meaningless."
"You know nothing about me, King Arthur! How dare you judge me? Do you think I acted out of some shallow need for Father's approval?!" Her magic flared violently, the ground beneath us cracking as vines of thorns erupted and coiled around me. "You don't know how they treated me! Just because I was different, because I wasn't like them, they hated me. They treated me like dirt, like I was never one of them! But I'll prove them wrong. I'll prove them all wrong! They'll choke on their arrogance when I show them that they are nothing without me!"
Her wrath took form in the prison of thorns. Thick, barbed vines surged up, lashing around my body, binding my arms, legs, and chest.
Their tips dug into my flesh, aiming to crush and tear me apart while she watched, a cruel smirk beginning to form on her lips.
Morgan thought she had won. She thought she would finally break free of Avalon.
But she was wrong.
In that moment, a sudden gust of wind tore through the air.
Blood mist swirled, and from it, a loli form appeared. She moved faster than Morgan's eyes could follow and kicked her squarely in the side, breaking her concentration.
The vines binding me dissolved instantly.
It was another me, Krul Tepes. She mocked Morgan with a devilish grin. "Humph, how does it taste to be kicked at the speed of light, witch?"
Morgan staggered, wiping the blood from her lips, her eyes blazing with fury and disbelief. "Since when... were you here?"
"Since the beginning." Krul said smugly as she appeared at my side.
Of course. She had been hiding in the void where we met earlier, waiting for the perfect moment. The instant I released her, I had positioned her right behind Morgan.
She moved unseen, delivering that kick straight to Morgan's head and breaking her concentration, shattering her spell.
That's why Morgan never saw her coming.
"I have to admit, you're more cunning than I thought, despite being Merlin and Uther's puppet, King Arthur. How about you abandon Camelot and serve me instead?" Morgan arrogantly asked.
"Another me, and she's so dumb," Krul whispered under her breath.
"I know. That's why this world sucks," I lamented, wanting to get this over with.
I took a deep breath and looked at Morgan. "Sister… I know you're mad at Father, at Camelot, and at everyone else who wronged you. After all, you did nothing wrong, yet Father stripped you of your title as heir and gave it to me, the youngest one, to take this kingdom. Even this island, the people who once loved you, they treated you like a freak, a witch, just because you were different. If I were you, I would've burned it all down in revenge. But you didn't. You wanted to prove them wrong. You wanted to protect this island, even if you didn't know how."
I sighed, then spoke firmly. "You're an admirable person, Morgan. That's why I'll never become you. But my offer still stands. Since you want to prove them wrong, then do it, be my queen. Shape Camelot into whatever you want it to be. Prove to everyone you're better than me. I won't intervene with how you rule this kingdom. How about it?"
Morgan was silent for a moment, her sharp gaze shifting toward Krul Tepes. "She's more suitable as a queen for you than me, humph. I know what she did with you outside. If I were your queen, I'd never be as supportive as her. I'm selfish, King Arthur."
I stepped closer and patted her shoulder gently. "I know. But you're still my sister. I don't want bloodshed between us."
Morgan's eyes softened, just for a moment, before she replied awkwardly, "Alright, alright, I get it. I'll be your queen. Not that I care about you or anything, don't get me wrong, King Arthur. I just want to prove Father was wrong, and that everyone else was wrong for trusting you."
I smiled and encouraged her further. "Then prove them wrong, sister. I believe you'll be a better queen than me."
"Uhm… You're not bad either, King Arthur," she murmured, then lifted her head proudly. "But I'm still better."
"Then, are we good, sister?" I offered my hand to her.
She hesitated, then finally took it firmly. "Yes. We're good."
And with that, the first step of our cooperation began to take shape, as we slowly started to understand each other.
Maybe this life isn't so bad after all.
At least, it's a good start.
...
Note: It's kind of late, yeah. I had my own reasons for disappearing and not updating. My book was sabotaged by an admin, moderator, or whoever was responsible for pressing the red button on this fic due to a false accusation.
I don't like my book being banned for something I didn't do.
At the time, I had just uploaded this fic, and the next day it was suddenly banned.
This made me wonder if someone higher up in Webnovel was maliciously targeting me.
So, yeah, I'm going to update this again. It has been almost four or five months since I went into self-exile.
If anyone is still that restless even after such a long hiatus, I'm gonna say: fuck them. I will post this story on another site.