Chapter 462

"What's wrong?"

"Are you feeling conflicted?"

Xia Zhi smiled with a touch of mischief, his eyes full of a smile born of bad taste.

It was the kind of deliberate feigned ignorance, as if he simply liked seeing people flustered and helpless, making the Regent Princess feel a bit itchy with annoyance for a moment.

However...

She ultimately understood her Master's bad taste.

So she changed her mind and, without much disguise, straightforwardly nodded in admission——

"A little conflicted... I, I don't know how to face her."

"..."

"..."

"Actually, it's not just her..."

Xia Zhi looked at the Regent Princess's state, a trace of amusement flashing in his eyes, then walked over and gently patted her shoulder in comfort.

But his mouth didn't stop, continuing quite knowingly:

"More precisely, you don't know how to face all the Round Table Knights, and the whole of Camelot, right?"

That's right, if it were truly just facing Mordred, Artoria would presumably not have the slightest timidity.

After all, even without mentioning the advantage of bloodline suppression——

Just speaking purely of stance, Artoria also never felt she had done anything wrong.

Her non-recognition did not stem from prejudice against Mordred's origin.

Nor was it out of any worldly consideration, to deliberately exclude or suppress this "bastard child"... or "bastard daughter"?

Artoria's refusal was purely based on a simple fact——

Mordred lacks the capacity of a king...

Only this.

So, whether emotionally or logically, Artoria has no reason to feel guilty.

Even at the final moment when blades clashed and they killed each other, she could calmly answer Mordred's angry questioning.

Therefore, what truly troubled the Knight King's inner heart was not Mordred alone, but those people who had surrounded the king in the past——

Those Round Table Knights, those subjects, and... the whole of Camelot.

"It's not a big problem, then let's just have everything restart."

The Nascent Soul Cultivator overlooked the distant stagnant setting sun, speaking leisurely.

The sky is red.

The wind blowing in mid-air is curses and groans, like wails, reverberating in this silent heaven and earth.

"I remember you said, if you had obtained the Holy Grail back then, the wish you wanted to make was to return to the day of the King Selection..."

"Let everything start over... right?"

"..."

"..."

"... Right."

Artoria slowly chewed on those heavy words, a hint of hard-to-detect hesitation showing in her hesitant gaze, slowly nodding.

This was indeed her initial thought.

She felt she should not have ascended the throne from the very beginning.

This is standard self-denial, a manifestation of self-pity, believing everything is her own fault, attributing all problems to herself.

Just at this moment——

Listening to Master's decisive words, she instead seemed a bit hesitant.

"Then it's settled, I will reverse all time, erase everyone's memories..."

The youth stood atop the hill, pointing at the entire blood-stained battlefield——

"Things that happened, those experienced stories, the formed memories and emotions, all will cease to exist..."

"Everything, all of it, will restart anew."

The moment the words fell.

Like a god's decree judging the world.

An inexpressible brilliance burst forth at his fingertip, as if a singularity had appeared.

Where the brilliance reached, spacetime seemed to distort, reorganize, everything alternating and transforming in a way beyond imagination.

That vast will and strength, seeming to want to crush everything...

Then, reshape this world anew.

Everything around seemed to be denied along with his words, fate completely solidifying at this moment.

Only leaving the low whispers in the wind and the distant setting sun's afterglow, witnessing this decisive moment.

"Wait! Master, no, don't——"

Artoria stood frozen on the spot, she indeed had some hesitation.

But never expected Master to be so decisive, the world's destruction and restart about to become reality in a turn of an instant.

Immediately after, she suddenly came to her senses, the fear and worry in her heart instantly turning into an impulse to act.

Almost without thinking, she lunged forward, hands forcefully grabbing the youth's arm.

Unexpectedly smooth...

The girl very easily hugged Master's arm, pressing down his directional movement.

Xia Zhi seemed to be waiting for her reaction, giving the girl ample time and opportunity to act, to stop this transformation that might bring about the Destruction of All.

—The radiance swiftly dimmed, like a candle flame extinguished.

—The distorted Spacetime gradually returned to its original state, the successive Gravitational Lensing phenomena also faded away, everything Returned to Calm once more.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Xia Zhi was Calm, a trace of Playfulness Flashing in his eyes, his Tone Subtle as he asked.

"..."

"..."

"I regret it..."

The girl clung tightly to his arm, as if only this could give her a shred of Peace of Mind.

Simultaneously she was also panting in small gasps, as if the action Just Now had consumed a tremendous amount of her mental strength, looking like she was still shaken with lingering fear.

"That's right, I regret it. I've changed my mind, I... I don't want this..."

She Of Course knew the Master was still asking despite knowing the answer.

But...

Artoria could no longer care about that much; in that instant, she finally understood her Inner Heart's true thoughts.

Just like Just Now, every word from the Master was like a heavy hammer blow, striking at her spirit.

If she didn't stop it...

Those past laughter and tears, successes and failures, love and hate, would all be completely erased in that moment Just Now.

In that instant turning to ash and smoke, leaving Not in the Least a trace.

Such Cognition made her Intolerable.

Artoria longed to reverse this predetermined final chapter, but this absolutely did not mean discarding everything of the past, erasing the memories, emotions, and wills of everyone along the way.

Their efforts, their bonds, their glory...

All of this, how could it be treated with Contempt, labeled Meaningless, and thus suffer total Denial just because of a failed ending?

—This is wrong.

—This is Absolutely wrong.

"Good that you understand, this is your story, and also the life you've experienced, it cannot possibly be Meaningless."

Xia Zhi pointedly said: "It's just that often only at the moment the coin is tossed does a person understand what their Inner Heart truly wants."

He Of Course knew Artoria was actually drilling into a dead end.

Just Compared To slowly doing ideological work with her, he had a faster-acting therapy here, even worthy of being called immediate effect.

That was to not say much, directly act to restart the World—

At the moment the action began, she would understand on her own.

"Got it, got it..."

The girl Lowered her Head, looking embarrassed and Discouraged: "Replace with a Method... anyway, Replace with a Method, Master."

"Then acknowledge this ending, and continue writing a new chapter for it—"

The Nascent Soul Cultivator obviously had a Contingency Plan for this long ago: "You've heard of Vivian's plan, right?"

"..."

"..."

"Allow the Great Calamity's Arrival, acknowledge that ending..."

Artoria slightly Raised her Head, looking straight at him, recalling for a few seconds before saying uncertainly.

"Then use the Fantasy Tree's power to Summon all Fairies who died in the Calamity, letting the whole of Britain revive?"

This is actually what happened in the Second Playthrough.

After Discovering the Fairies were Hopeless, Vivian decided that no matter how the Calamity proceeded afterwards, she would choose to hide, first let the Fairies go extinct, reducing the Kang Li of the plan.

Wait until after the Calamity ended, then use the Fantasy Tree's full Mors Strength to Summon all Fairies.

Causing the Fairies to not give birth to a "next generation", but instead Awaken as "this generation" still, the whole of Britain revived.

Only...

—Matters of the Second Playthrough, besides Xia Zhi and Vivian, only Bawan Xi knows clearly.

—So the account of this matter was also packaged as a plan originally prepared for use.

"Correct."

Xia Zhi Calmly nodded: "I think this line of thinking can be Referenced, Considered."

"Anyway it's already the end of the Battle of Camlann now, your Kingdom has also already fallen..."

—These words sting a bit.

"So the Premise Conditions are already satisfied, the rest is just needing the Mors Strength to revive the whole of Britain, this is even more not a problem..."

He spoke so confidently, indicating the preliminary steps were already complete.

Next just follow the established procedure, copy the existing Tactics and Strategy directly.

"This..."

The Knight King was clearly somewhat moved.

Just thinking this is that bad woman Morgan's Method, she felt something was off again.

"Trust me, this is already the best Method, you're not Willing to Deny all this and restart, then you can only continue writing a new chapter."

Xia Zhi Blinked, spread his hands to indicate this.

"Otherwise what better choice could there be? Or Consider letting Vivian take over this side, anyway it's also Britain, she'd surely be willing..."

"No! I won't!"

In the other option given by the Master, Artoria chose to answer immediately without any hesitation.

How could it possibly be handed over to Morgan!

Don't even think about it, her Britain absolutely cannot be contaminated by that hateful witch.

"Then that settles it……"

The Nascent Soul Cultivator spread his hands, then casually snapped his fingers.

The frozen time was forcibly released, the second hand moved forward once more, and the entire world began to turn again.

In the unknown depths, the Counter Force let out an unwilling wail.

"Did you see it?"

He pointed toward the direction of the forest beneath the hill.

Artoria pursed her lips, looked over, and Clairvoyance A activated with her thought.

She saw the anxious one-armed knight riding a steed, crossing the mountains and forests, rushing toward Camlan Hill……

On the battlefield farther away, another war had not ended either, and a knight was also desperately leading soldiers in a charge, equally anxious to reach Camlan Hill……

——The line of sight shifted slightly upward.

——The King looked toward an even more distant direction.

Beyond the end of the horizon, on that distant sea surface.

Fleet after fleet was galloping toward Britain, on the flagship at the forefront, a knight stared fixedly at the direction of Britain, fists clenched tight, nervous and restless.

"They're all watching, too bad they're all destined to not make it in time……"

Xia Zhi clicked his tongue, shaking his head with a face full of regret.

Just immediately after, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, as if he thought of something——

"Wait, speaking of at this time……"

"Wouldn't it be possible to catch Merlin?"

He remembered the SSR he had always wanted to summon long ago, but could not obtain despite seeking.

Although he no longer needs Thousand Mile Eye EX now……

It no longer holds much meaning or value for him……

But, this is ultimately a small obsession, even if just to complete the full compendium, he must catch the other party.

(Chapter End)