Long, long ago, after the Battle of Camlann, what did Mordred—living under a new name—do?
First, she continued Guinevere's policies, establishing new academies and actively replacing unprofessional knights with professionally trained scholars. This cleared the kingdom's politics, unified its laws, and further centralized power.
Second, she deepened her collaboration with mages, who developed new high-yield crops. Building on this, she lowered taxes and reduced labor levies, allowing the people to accumulate wealth.
Through these and other gradual reforms—such as expanding the number of participants in the Round Table Deliberations and allowing civil officials to join—the rebranded Camelot, with the support of knights like Agravain who had also adopted new names, stumbled into a twenty-year golden age.
During this period, the kingdom's agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, and commerce flourished. However, when war again broke out with the European continent, the kingdom could only achieve a pyrrhic victory.
Britain no longer benefited from its fading Age of Mystery. The number of knights who could wield mana dwindled, and twenty years of systematically reducing the knightly class's authority further weakened their strength.
After the golden age, Mordred's kingdom began its decline. The catalyst was the ambition of her nominal adopted sons and daughters—in reality, new "brothers" and "sisters" created by Morgan. It was as if the fate originally meant for Mordred had fallen upon these children instead.
Their ambition, combined with the rebellious sentiments of the overly suppressed knightly class, ignited a civil war.
By the time Mordred crushed the rebellion, leaving her with no more "brothers" or "sisters," few of the new knights remained loyal to her.
Time, as they say, is a butcher's knife, and it swiftly claimed the lives of the already aging Agravain and his peers.
Meanwhile, with Lancelot's death in Gaul, the Gallic royal family reclaimed their authority, severing the Mordred kingdom's greatest external support.
In the end, the kingdom fractured into warring factions. The "Round Table Council," now bloated with hundreds of members, descended into mutual accusations. Another civil war erupted over Mordred's lack of an heir. It was then that Mordred finally accepted a harsh truth: she truly lacked the talent to rule a nation.
Yet her greatest failure lay in the rebellion of her "brothers" and "sisters." After losing faith in her mother Morgan's homunculus technology, she had begun to believe in the power of ideals to ensure her legacy. She overlooked the fact that every one of her knights considered themselves the true inheritor of her ideals.
In the kingdom's final days, if Mordred had only had a child, there would have been a legitimate heir to sustain the kingdom. The war that broke out as she lay dying would never have happened.
Her ideals, born from Guinevere's influence, were far ahead of their time.
"It's precisely because I failed that my wish is no longer to be a king," Mordred murmured to herself on the city wall. "I just want to apologize to my Father and Queen Mother for failing their expectations."
The knights had long known she was not the Knight of Rebellion they were familiar with.
So, when Mordred made her judgment about the newcomer and uttered her audacious words to the Lion King, the Lion King remained unfazed. Tristan, who had just reached the wall, wore an expression that said, Just as I thought.
Only Lancelot stared in disbelief at the "King of Knights" battling Gawain at the city gate.
"Incredible... To be able to overpower Gawain at high noon... Sir Mordred, is she truly the Queen Mother you spoke of—the Guinevere from another world?"
Complex emotions laced Lancelot's voice, his gaze distant as his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
It was a sword he had never seen before—one that could effortlessly exploit Gawain's openings and overwhelm him despite possessing weaker stats.
Just by looking at the sword, it was clear its master must be exceptionally familiar with Gawain.
"My King, shall we intervene?"
"No need. Gawain will not lose."
After the Battle of Camlann, the Lion King had wandered the world for seven hundred years. During this time, she continuously wielded the Holy Lance and even lost her memories. The human radiance that once belonged to Artoria had long since vanished, replaced by the selfless Divinity of a Storm Goddess, a nature shaped by the Holy Lance's influence.
In the FGO universe, the Human Order has already been incinerated. Chaldea conducts "time travel" within this incinerated present.
They journey to the past to correct the anchors the Demon God King set for the Incineration of Human Order, changing the past from the present to reclaim the future from the past.
During this process, the Singularities serving as anchors are actually the last Pure Lands to be incinerated—but these Pure Lands are doomed to destruction.
What was the Lion King's goal? She sought to preserve the finest human specimens to the greatest extent possible, creating a gene pool for a humanity destined for annihilation.
Her mistake lay in believing that everything was already beyond saving.
CLANG!
Guinevere's and Gawain's swords met in a direct clash. Whether it was Mordred's strange behavior on the city walls or the Lion King's departure, the two combatants were too focused to be distracted.
Gawain was indeed formidable at noon. His Strength easily overwhelmed Guinevere's, and his swordsmanship—already among the top five of the Round Table Knights—was far from weak.
In life, when Guinevere fought Gawain, she either had to unleash her full power for a swift victory or drag the fight out until nightfall.
But as a Ruler-class Servant, without activating her Second Noble Phantasm—which would greatly enhance her abilities—Guinevere could only rely on her sword skills to wear him down. She aimed to accumulate minor wounds into a major one, hoping to exhaust him even while he was still under the Sun's Blessing.
"Just as Tristan said," Gawain taunted, "you're familiar with his music, so you must be familiar with my sword. But have you forgotten? I once defeated a Green Knight and obtained a Green Belt from him that makes me invulnerable."
In life, Guinevere rarely participated in the individual adventures of the other Knights. However, during the Round Table's feasts, the Knights would always boast about their exploits.
So, Guinevere naturally knew about the Green Belt. What she didn't know was that Gawain, in his Sword Class, could possess this Noble Phantasm. And in her memories of this Singularity, she couldn't recall this detail.
Sheathing her sword, she retreated several steps, her gaze fixed on Gawain's magnificent silver helmet. She watched as this archetypal "prince on a white horse" broke into a satisfied, battle-hungry smile...
Guinevere pursed her lips and prepared to attack again.
"So what if you have the Green Belt? My objective remains unchanged."
With the Blessing of the Sun, Gawain could fight indefinitely.
Guinevere's Mana, meanwhile, was sustained by the Rainbow Gem. Though its output was a steady, gentle stream, it was also inexhaustible.
"Flames, burn the sinner with me."
Holding her sword horizontally with one hand, she ignited its blade with roaring golden flames.
At this moment, Guinevere still hadn't used her Judgment skill on Gawain. She couldn't bring herself to condemn him as a sinner.
But the flames of Execution were pure power. Even if the target was innocent, she could still "execute" them with fire.
As the flames blazed on the Replica Holy Sword, Gawain took a deep breath and activated his Numeral of the Saint skill, boosting his strength.
The next instant, their figures blurred and clashed once more, the intensity of their battle escalating.
The area outside New Camelot City gradually transformed into a high-temperature hell, where the scorching sun blazed and flames carpeted the ground.
Slowly, Gawain began to struggle for breath. Guinevere, however, grew stronger with each passing moment, the Holy Shroud covering her face shielding her from the intense heat.
But Gawain was, after all, a knight blessed by the sun. The superheated air couldn't completely scorch his vulnerable insides.
Clang! Clang!
The battle raged on, continuing through the night—when his Nightlessness blessing activated—and into the dawn and noon of the second day.