"Lord Sartana, you are declaring war."
Lion's voice was as calm as a frozen lake.
A mocking smile curled across Sartana's lips.
"I was under the impression we'd already been at war for quite some time, Lord Jonson."
He deliberately dragged out the final words, making them drip with sarcasm.
Inside the Circular Hall, every knight of the Order glared at him.
'How dare he be so arrogant?'
Sartana casually swept his gaze across the crowd.
He wasn't worried that Lion would do anything to him.
Even at war, one did not kill an envoy.
If Lion really killed him before everyone's eyes, the Order of the Wolf would instead gain the moral high ground.
"Then," Lion said, "I accept your declaration of war, Lord Sartana."
Sartana stared coldly at him.
"Lion El'Jonson, your ambition is dragging Caliban into the abyss of destruction!"
"I merely wish to spare the people of Caliban from being slaughtered by the Great Beasts."
"We are already standing in the abyss."
"You simply wish to keep us there."
"I suppose there is nothing left to discuss."
With a cold snort, Lord Sartana departed the Circular Hall with his knights.
They would return to the fortress of the Order of the Wolf and prepare for war.
A war they were destined to lose.
"They're trying to stop a chariot with a praying mantis's arms," Nemiel muttered under his breath.
The Order of the Wolf had at most a little over a hundred knights remaining.
There was no way they could stand against the combined knightly orders of Caliban.
If so, why did they still refuse to surrender?
"They're throwing their lives away," Zahariel said.
He simply couldn't understand.
Was protecting the Great Beasts truly worth fighting their own people to the death?
If they had already resolved to fight to the bitter end, why had they bothered coming to the Order in the first place?
Surely they hadn't come all this way just to declare war?
Even if the Order of the Wolf had some hidden difficulty, or was bound by ancient traditions to protect the Great Beasts, they should have spoken openly with the other knightly orders.
They were all Calibanites.
What was there that couldn't be discussed?
Lord Lion had personally invited them to negotiate.
He had clearly offered them a graceful way to back down.
Yet they had insisted on acting superior and utterly arrogant.
This had never been a negotiation.
They had come solely to provoke.
The knights burned with indignation.
Yet throughout it all, Lion's expression never changed.
He wasn't surprised in the slightest.
The Order of the Wolf's reaction had been exactly what he expected.
He had invited Lord Sartana partly to satisfy Luther and partly to show every other knightly order just how determined Sartana truly was.
It was Sartana who refused to admit his mistake.
Not the Order that insisted on destroying the Order of the Wolf.
With that, the Order occupied the moral high ground completely.
Besides, Lion had another objective.
Completely unaffected by Sartana's provocation, Lion turned toward the assembled representatives.
"I have one more matter to discuss with all of you."
"Please follow me to the square."
With that, he strode out of the Circular Hall.
Though confused, the other knights rose and followed.
"Hurry!" Zahariel urged, shoving his companions impatiently.
By the time they arrived, hundreds of knights had packed the once-empty square.
Suddenly, a shrill scream tore through the sky.
Instinctively, the knights gripped their weapons and looked upward.
A meteor was plummeting toward them, dragging behind it a terrifying trail of fire.
"A meteor! Get clear!"
Someone shouted a warning.
Every knight tensed.
Even wearing power armor, they would be no more than paper before the impact of a falling meteor.
Nothing could save them.
A meteor that size would devastate an area well over a kilometer wide.
Where could they possibly run?
Just as many knights resigned themselves to death, the meteor abruptly stopped.
It hovered eerily above their heads.
Only the scorching air currents generated by its descent continued to whip their cloaks.
A heavy rumble shook the earth.
The massive object gently settled into the center of the square.
The panicked knights gradually regained their composure and examined it carefully.
It was an enormous wedge-shaped black stone.
Embedded within it was an ancient greatsword that gleamed with an icy light, its blade buried deep inside the stone.
Amadis asked, "Sir Lion th-this what exactly is it?"
"I know nothing of its origin," Lion answered.
"I know only that it is deeply connected to the Watchers."
"I call it, the Sword in the Stone."
His words sent shockwaves through the crowd.
Every knight instinctively straightened.
Though they did not worship the Watchers, witnessing genuine supernatural power with their own eyes naturally inspired reverence.
Since Lion dared claim the sword was connected to the Watchers, that alone proved it was no ordinary weapon.
The revelation overwhelmed them so completely that no one even stopped to wonder why the enormous stone had fallen from the sky.
Luther's voice trembled, "Sir Lion is this your sword?"
Lion shook his head regretfully.
"I first discovered this sword in the forest when I was ten years old."
"I tried countless times."
"But I could never draw it."
The surrounding knights found it impossible to believe.
Many knightly orders considered the Order's acceptance of commoners to be utter heresy.
Yet no one questioned Lion's strength.
He was universally acknowledged as Caliban's greatest knight.
Even an entire knightly order hunting Great Beasts together could not match Lion's efficiency alone.
Whether in stature or glory, he stood beyond compare.
If even he could not draw the sword, who possibly could?
Lion's gaze swept over every knight.
"This divine sword possesses a will of its own."
"It cannot be drawn through brute strength."
"It must recognize the one who wields it."
"I invited all of you here so that you may attempt to draw it."
"From this day onward, any knight may come and try."
"Whoever draws this sword and earns its recognition may claim it."
The crowd immediately erupted.
Even knights who ordinarily maintained strict discipline could not suppress their excited whispers.
It was simply unbelievable.
It was as though someone had placed half a ton of gold in the middle of the road and declared that whoever could carry it away could keep it.
Difficult? Certainly. Yet everyone would still want to try.
What if they succeeded?
Amadis stepped through the crowd.
"Brother Lion are you serious?"
Every knight fixed their eyes upon Lion. Within those eyes burned desire, ambition, and eager anticipation.
There was no doubt this was a peerless divine sword.
If even Lion had failed to draw it, then whoever succeeded would prove themselves superior even to him.
Meeting every burning gaze, Lion answered calmly,
"I swear upon my honor as a knight."
"There is no falsehood in my words."
"Good."
"Then I'll be the first."
Amadis removed his helmet and handed it to Luther, revealing a strikingly handsome face weathered by years of war.
He strode toward the stone.
Hundreds of eyes watched expectantly as both hands wrapped around the hilt.
"Haah!"
With a low roar, every muscle in his body tightened.
Veins bulged across his forehead.
His face flushed crimson.
Yet the greatsword remained buried firmly within the stone.
It did not move in the slightest.
A trace of struggle flashed through Amadis's eyes.
Finally, he sighed deeply, released the hilt, and shook his head with a bitter smile.
"It seems I am not worthy."
"I am not the one chosen by destiny."
Though he appeared to have accepted defeat his eyes were filled with regret and unwillingness.
The failure of two legendary knights did not dampen anyone's enthusiasm.
Instead, it only poured fuel upon the fire.
Countless eyes locked onto the Sword in the Stone.
Their burning eagerness seemed almost capable of melting the rock itself.
"As expected of a divine sword! Let me try!"
"My turn!"
"I was here first! Don't cut in line!"
"I'm your Grand Master!"
"I don't care if you're my father!"
The normally dignified knights shoved one another as they surged toward the stone.
Everyone desperately wanted to prove that they alone had been chosen by the divine sword.
Hidden amid the chaos and without anyone noticing Lion quietly slipped away from the crowd.
Luther smiled.
"Brother Amadis, your performance was a little over the top."
Amadis laughed bitterly.
"I really did use all my strength."
Although the performance had been planned beforehand he had genuinely wanted to try drawing the sword.
He had never envied Lion's achievements.
Nor did he desire the position of Grand Master.
But everyone possessed a competitive spirit.
He wanted to measure himself against Lion.
What if he actually succeeded?
He hadn't expected to pull the sword free completely.
But even moving it an inch would have been recognition enough.
Unfortunately, he truly wasn't qualified.
Turning to another young knight, Amadis asked,
"Brother Caelan, will this really work?"
Caelan answered with absolute confidence.
"Of course."
"We simply need time for public opinion to ferment."
"Right now, it's merely a peerless divine sword that even Lion cannot draw."
"Every knight will come here to test themselves."
"And when the time is right."
"We'll declare that this is the Sword of Choosing the King."
"Only the true King of Caliban can draw it."
"We can even carve a one-eyed stone giant and bury it in a river for someone to 'discover.'"
"On it will be engraved"
[He who draws the Sword in the Stone shall be King.]
"And then we'll spread stories that around the night bonfires, the Watchers proclaimed."
['Great Caliban shall rise. Lion shall be King!']
Amadis blinked, "They'll actually believe that?"
"The leaders of the knightly orders won't."
"But the common people will."
"And the lower and middle-ranking knights will half-believe it."
"He who wins the hearts of the people wins the realm."
"If both sides are evenly matched, then whoever possesses popular support becomes the one favored by destiny."
"And once the people of Caliban all believe that whoever draws the Sword in the Stone is king the leaders of the other knightly orders will have no choice but to believe as well."
Amadis asked, "Won't they see through the scheme?"
His own performance had indeed been rather exaggerated.
Although everyone had been too shocked to notice at the time.
Once they thought it over later, the inconsistencies would become obvious.
How could such a coincidence exist?
"Of course they'll know it's our plan."
"But they'll still believe."
"Because they also want to become king."
If they managed to draw the sword they would proclaim the lie as truth themselves.
The very act of attempting to draw it amounted to publicly admitting they believed the legend.
Otherwise, why bother trying?
Knights also had reputations to uphold. Once they joined the attempts, none of them could openly claim they didn't believe.
If you don't believe it, then why are you trying to pull the sword?
Lowering his voice, Luther asked, "But what if someone actually succeeds in drawing it?"
"Then it has betrayed me," Lion replied.
"A sword like that isn't worth having."
He believed the sword had been prepared for him and only for him.
If he couldn't draw it, no one else could.
If someone else managed to do so, then the sword itself had betrayed him.
Such a sword was unworthy of his hand.
Just as Caelan was his father.
Lion never denied that Caelan was the shared father of himself and his brothers.
But first Caelan was his father. Only afterward was he anyone else's.
No matter which Primarch returned first, he was still the First Primarch.
The order of rediscovery meant nothing.
The Primarch numbering was what truly mattered.
That was Lion's confidence.
And only he possessed such confidence.
Because only he was the First Primarch.
Luther said, "Lion, Lord Sartana has already left."
"He's requested a secret meeting."
Lion's eyes darkened.
"Lead the way."
Amadis was about to excuse himself when Lion spoke.
"You too, Brother Amadis."
Amadis said nothing more and silently followed.
They proceeded through underground passageways lit by flickering torchlight before entering a dim chamber deep within the catacombs.
A young knight draped in a wolf pelt had already been waiting.
The moment Lion entered, he dropped to one knee.
"Sir Lion."
Lion made no move to help him up.
Instead, he looked down at him.
"Knight of the Wolf."
"State your name."
The knight raised his head.
"I abandoned that cursed name long ago, Sir."
"You may simply call me... Knight."
"Very well."
"What have you brought me, Knight?"
"The truth."
The knight's gaze swept over the three men beside Lion, silently signaling that he wished to speak privately.
"Speak."
"I trust them."
"There is no need for secrecy."
The knight remained silent for a long while.
Finally, after taking a deep breath, he steeled himself.
"We are protecting... the Ancient One."
Having come this far, there was no turning back.
Luther frowned, "The Ancient One?"
"What is that?"
A bitter smile crossed the knight's face.
"The Ancient One exists within all things, Sir Luther."
"It exists within the Great Beasts."
"Within the forests."
"Within Caliban."
"And within you and me."
"Every form of life born upon this land carries Its seed from birth."
"The moment you and I learn of Its existence..."
"It already exists within us."
"We are It."
Amadis frowned.
"Are you describing a god?"
The knight did not deny it.
"Perhaps It is a god."
"It transcends all logic."
"All reality."
"It exists simultaneously across every time, every space, and every dimension."
"It is present within all things and may become all things..."
"Or replace all things."
Lion suddenly interrupted.
"What is a dimension?"
The knight visibly froze.
"I don't know."
Lion understood what a dimension was.
The knight had spoken of dimension, yet had absolutely no understanding of what the word meant.
He was merely repeating what he had been taught.