Infinite Multiverse—
Seeing Agravain's actions, many viewers across the infinite multiverse developed a sliver of respect for him.
Though he was an enemy, it had to be said that this Agravain truly had the Lion King's best interests at heart in all that he did.
Even though he harbored his own selfish motives—such as his complete distrust of Lancelot and Mordred from beginning to end, and his desire to kill Guinaifen—it did not change the fact that he was a loyal retainer. A man willing to die to clear the path for his king. People with such resolve were a rarity across the entire infinite multiverse.
King of Heroes: "Hmph, a loyal retainer indeed. A pity. Even for a loyal retainer, hiding things from the king is still an unforgivable sin."
In the Type-Moon world, Artoria's attitude towards Agravain shifted slightly, but only slightly. After all… Agravain had previously defied the Lion King's order to delay Lancelot's return to the city, which was the very picture of a treacherous courtier.
King Arthur: "Sir Agravain always likes to consider every possibility and bear the weight of everything himself. This is his strength, and also his weakness."
Agravain: "My apologies, my King. Regardless of your approval, I will only ever do what is beneficial to you."
Utaha Kasumigaoka: "Only doing what he thinks is beneficial to the king? Is… is that considered a loyal retainer or a treacherous one?"
Detective Conan: "Agravain is truly a man of contradictions. It's no wonder that almost no one at the Round Table likes him. A maverick like that would indeed have a hard time fitting in."
---o---
[On the light curtain, a torrential rain of arrows poured down, as impossible to guard against as a downpour.]
As products of magical energy, in theory, as long as there was enough mana, the number of Purified Knights could be infinite.
Hence, this astonishing scene.
And at this critical moment, Li Sushang made her move.
She held a sword seal with one hand and a sword in the other, her body emanating an azure aura.
Then… an ancient and mysterious pattern from the East materialized beneath her feet.
A Taiji Diagram… or rather, a Yin-Yang Fish.
Though it was an extremely simple pattern, it exuded a deep and ancient feeling. All of her sword qi converged at the point where yin and yang met.
Li Sushang simply stood there silently, her eyes closed, holding her posture without moving.
Seeing this, Monk Xuanzang also retracted her own magical energy. She could now be certain: Li Sushang was definitely not a native of this world's Shenzhou. Because… throughout the entire history of Shenzhou, a figure like Li Sushang could absolutely not have been a nameless nobody.
"Here it comes…"
As the Yin-Yang Diagram began to rotate, Xuanzang's pupils constricted. She widened her eyes, afraid of missing the next moment.
Swords… it was swords!
Countless blades manifested from within the Taiji Diagram, their numbers… even greater than the arrows of the Purified Knights!
This ability reminded the viewers outside the screen of a certain man, one who could similarly summon tens of thousands of swords.
However, compared to Unlimited Blade Works, Li Sushang's swords were much more monotonous; most were cast from the same mold. After all, these were simply swords created from Honkai Energy, not the traced blades of heroes replicated by Heroic Spirit EMIYA.
But, in terms of hardness alone, these swords were in no way inferior to a standard Noble Phantasm. At the very least, they were far more powerful than the knights' arrows.
"That woman…"
The sea of flying swords and the Taiji Diagram, which pulsed with terrifying Honkai Energy, made the Agravain who had just caught his breath turn incredibly grim.
The same conclusion as Xuanzang's surfaced in his mind: Li Sushang was by no means a figure from human history. It was highly likely she was a human from another world.
But why would she appear here?
Xuanzang and Guinaifen could be explained by the Holy Grail, since they were both Servants. But what about Li Sushang? As a human, why would she appear in this world on the brink of destruction?
"Sir Agravain… Is that the woman who defeated Mordred?"
Just then, the strongest Knight of the Round Table, Lancelot, arrived, not a moment of sorrow on his face for Agravain's defeat.
As the strongest martial artist among the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot had a unique understanding of the sword. Though he could use and was proficient with other weapons, his specialty was, of course, the longsword in his hand.
It was the same principle as the purple-haired old woman from next door who, despite being proficient in all manner of weapons, was still best with a spear.
Therefore, upon seeing Li Sushang's sword, Lancelot's expression filled with gravity.
"So this is the sword art from the ancient East? If we were to compete on the sword alone, I have already lost."
Western sword arts and Eastern sword arts were fundamentally different. The West focused on form, while the East focused on intent. Though each had its merits, both were ultimately paths to the pinnacle of swordsmanship, different roads leading to the same destination.
One could see the difference by comparing the Sword Saint of the Type-Moon world, Miyamoto Musashi, with Merlin, who had instructed King Arthur in swordsmanship.
Miyamoto Musashi pursued the ultimate expression of sword intent, breaking through the infinite to reach zero. Merlin, on the other hand, though a magus, had swordsmanship superior even to Artoria's and could be considered a representative of Western sword arts. But even with his unique understanding of the sword, he still viewed it as just one type of weapon. In terms of sword intent, he was far inferior to Miyamoto Musashi.
However, as a natural-born Sword Embryo, Li Sushang stood at the pinnacle of the Way of the Sword in both form and intent.
One could only say that talent was something to be envied. In less than five hundred years, Li Sushang had already achieved enlightenment in the Way of the Sword, becoming a grandmaster second only to, or even on par with or surpassing, the Herrscher of Sentience.
And the enemy Lancelot had to face was a person like this.
To be honest, after seeing Li Sushang's sword qi, while Lancelot wasn't exactly afraid, his heart was filled with the feeling of certain defeat. Among all the people Lancelot had ever met, aside from the King and Merlin, no one could defeat Li Sushang.
"Adju… Adjutant, that woman broke our arrows. Should we continue to fire?" a nearby Purified Knight asked, coming to Agravain's side. Even he, with no self-awareness to speak of, could see that Li Sushang was not an existence that could be defeated simply through numbers.
"Continue firing. Your target is not Li Sushang, but the other foreigners, especially the two orange-haired women, Guini… Guinaifen and Ritsuka Fujimaru."
Agravain ordered the Purified Knight beside him. He had intended to call Guinaifen by her full name, Guinevere, but upon seeing Lancelot nearby, he immediately changed his wording.
Lancelot still didn't know that Guinaifen was Guinevere. This was a stroke of luck in a dire situation. If Lancelot were to defect now, the consequences would be unthinkable.
With this in mind, Agravain turned to Lancelot and said, "Sir Lancelot, I remember you said before that you would give everything for the King."
"Hmm?" Lancelot looked at Agravain beside him, his brow furrowed. His intuition told him that Agravain was up to no good.
Nevertheless, Lancelot nodded in reply. "That's right. This time, I will follow the King's command, no matter the cost."
Agravain had tested Lancelot's loyalty more than once. To be honest, Lancelot was getting used to it.
"Very good…" Agravain nodded, then looked towards Li Sushang at the center of the Taiji Diagram. "Sir Mordred will be here soon, and I have also sent a Purified Knight to inform Sir Tristan. As long as we can hold her here, we can clear this obstacle for the King."
Agravain's expression was cold, his face impassive as he spoke. And without a doubt, he was lying.
Mordred was indeed on her way, but she likely wouldn't arrive before Lancelot was defeated. As for Tristan… he had more important work to do, such as cleaning up the escaped refugees and dealing with the mountain people who opposed the King.
In short, no one was coming to inform Tristan, and no one was coming to help Lancelot right now. Of course, that was excluding himself.
Old schemer…
Across the infinite multiverse, the viewers couldn't help but curse in their hearts.
Agravain's move was a masterful stroke of "borrowing a knife to kill someone." Whether Li Sushang killed Lancelot, or Lancelot won against Li Sushang after a bloody battle, it was all to his advantage.
After all, Agravain had never truly trusted Lancelot. He believed that the Lancelot who had betrayed King Arthur in life could not possibly change his ways. But he hadn't said much due to Lancelot's abilities and the King's trust.
But now was different. He knew that Guinaifen was Guinevere, and it was because of Guinevere that Lancelot had betrayed the King back then. History had a startling way of repeating itself, so Agravain had no doubt that Lancelot would betray King Arthur once again for Guinaifen.
Therefore, he made a decision on his own, setting Lancelot up to fight Li Sushang. No matter how it turned out, he would be the one to benefit.
---o---
[On the light curtain, Lancelot, though not stupid, never imagined that he had just saved Agravain, only for Agravain to sell him out immediately after.]
He mulled it over for a moment, then nodded. "Indeed. Three blessed Knights of the Round Table, plus an endless supply of Purified Knights. With such a lineup, even the Sun King would probably have to turtle up in his pyramid and not dare to come out."
To be frank, in Lancelot's heart, the mountain people were never a major concern. Compared to their great enemy Ozymandias, they were as laughable as a group of infants.
Although he was wary of the legendary First Hassan, since the man had not yet made a move, it meant he didn't care much about the life or death of the mountain people and would not become an enemy of the Holy City.
But with Li Sushang's appearance, the existence of the mountain people had to be taken seriously. Because of their proximity to the Holy City compared to the Sun King's territory, they could even become a more dangerous enemy than the Sun King.
After all, besides the Sun King himself, the other pharaohs were just a swarm of ants, no match for the blessed Knights of the Round Table.
"Alright. Though it is not the King's command, since it is to clear an obstacle for the King, then I will listen to you one more time, Agravain."
With these words, Lancelot mounted his horse and rode towards Li Sushang at the center of the Taiji Diagram.
"So you're here? The one Ritsuka mentioned, the strongest martial artist among the Knights of the Round Table, and the main culprit who kidnapped Guinaifen."
Li Sushang, though she didn't know Lancelot, had been briefed by Ritsuka and Mash about him. They had naturally informed her of Lancelot's dangerous nature. This, of course, made Li Sushang a bit curious about him. After all, for a knight to be called the strongest martial artist, he must be worth a proper fight.
"Woman… no, my lady. I never expected such a figure to be hiding among the mountain people. It was truly unexpected."
At this moment, the sword in Lancelot's hand had been recalled. He held it with one hand, pointing it at Li Sushang, his expression uncharacteristically solemn.
Li Sushang, however, let out a breath. She lowered her finger-sword seal, and the Taiji Diagram vanished along with it.
"A knight of the West, is it? I have heard from Ritsuka of your past deeds." Li Sushang looked at Lancelot. To be honest, whether it was Lancelot, Agravain, or Tristan, none of them could be considered truly evil. They were not Orderly Good, but they should have been Neutral Good. Yet now, for the sake of saving the world, they had become so twisted. In a sense, this was the tragedy of the world.
"Perhaps you believe you are correct, but… for whatever reason, the moment you slaughtered those refugees, you were already standing on the opposite side of this young lady."
"Is that so…" Lancelot took a deep breath, his entire body erupting with astonishing magical power.
In an instant, the air around them began to tremble under this immense magical power. Seeing this, Li Sushang's eyes lit up. As expected of the strongest Knight of the Round Table. This magical power alone was far stronger than Mordred's.
"Swordsman of the East, enough talk. Though this body can no longer be called a knight, please allow me to make a knight's request of you… Let us have a duel between knights, Li Sushang…"]
---o---