=== Godrick ===
Jeanne and Godrick raced through the forest, weaving between ancient trees as branches whipped past them.
Neither of them knew exactly where they were headed, only that Jeanne’s instincts were pulling her in a single direction.
She had followed countless faint traces of magical energy throughout the day, but this one was different.
It was overwhelming, growing stronger with every stride until it felt as though the very air itself was saturated with mana.
“Just over here, Godrick! I can feel it!” Jeanne shouted over her shoulder without slowing.
Godrick lengthened his stride, the ground trembling beneath each footfall as he effortlessly kept pace beside her.
Moments later Jeanne began to slow, her expression growing more serious until she finally came to a complete stop.
Then, the earth beneath them began to rumble.
At first it was only a faint vibration beneath their boots, but within seconds the tremor became violent enough to shake the surrounding forest.
Birds exploded from the treetops while cracks raced across the ground in every direction.
Then the earth split apart as an enormous mass of stone began to rise from beneath the forest floor, forcing entire hillsides apart as countless tons of rock lifted into the air.
Trees and boulders toppled from its surface, and waterfalls of dirt cascaded from its edges as the colossal fortress continued its ascent.
Higher and higher it climbed until its true scale became apparent.
Jeanne could only stare in stunned silence as The Hanging Gardens floated toward the heavens.
She thrust her finger toward the floating citadel.
“Godrick! Bring it down!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Godrick lowered his center of gravity before launching himself skyward.
The force of his leap shattered the ground beneath his feet, sending fractured stone and soil exploding outward as he rocketed toward the rising fortress.
Before he could reach it, however, an enormous violet magic circle materialized directly in his path.
A beam of condensed magical energy erupted from its center, and the world disappeared beneath a torrent of violet light as the spell struck him, driving him backward through the air before hurling him into the earth with catastrophic force.
The impact excavated a massive crater, burying the armored knight beneath shattered stone and uprooted trees.
“Godrick!” Jeanne cried as she sprinted toward the smoking crater.
A gauntleted hand emerged first, followed by the towering knight pulling himself free from the wreckage.
Wisps of heat shimmered from his breastplate, which glowed a brilliant white as it absorbed the magical energy that had struck him.
The metal radiated such intense heat that the surrounding air warped around his body, yet he appeared completely unfazed.
‘I’ll tear you from the sky…
one way or another.’ He thought to himself.
Planting his feet firmly into the broken earth, Godrick summoned his halberd, holding it like an enormous spear.
He took only a single moment to judge the distance before drawing the weapon back.
Then he threw it.
The massive halberd vanished into the sky with a thunderous crack, propelled with such force that it punched through the sound barrier.
It soared upward, completely shattering the massive magical array before burying itself deep into one of the enormous stone platforms orbiting the Hanging Gardens.
Godrick bent his knees, and the earth shattered beneath him as he leaped again.
He crossed the impossible distance in a single bound, hurtling through the open sky until his outstretched hand seized the edge of the floating platform.
His momentum carried him briefly beneath it, but his fingers dug into solid stone before he swung himself upward and climbed onto its surface.
Standing atop the floating slab, he glanced over its edge toward the distant forest below.
The ground seemed impossibly far away, and even for someone of his durability, the fall would last many long seconds.
Stretching out one hand, he recalled his halberd.
The weapon tore free from the stone with a shrill whistle before flying back into his grasp.
His attention shifted toward the ring of floating platforms surrounding the central fortress.
They were acting as part of its magical defenses.
Then they would be destroyed.
Godrick planted one foot firmly against the stone and swung his halberd with all the force his enormous frame could muster.
The hammer face struck the platform like the judgment of a god, reducing the slab to a web of fractures before it exploded apart into dozens of tumbling fragments.
Before the remains had even begun to fall, he launched himself toward the next platform.
Each floating slab met exactly the same fate.
One overwhelming strike from his halberd reduced its centuries-old magical stone into rubble before he hurled himself onward toward the next target.
Finally only a single platform remained.
The last one.
He raised his halberd overhead and brought it down with earth-shaking force.
The platform burst apart beneath him, its magical structure collapsing as the massive slab tilted sharply and began plummeting toward the earth.
Godrick sprinted across the falling rock.
Reaching its edge, he drove the spike of his halberd into the stone to steady himself until the slab had rotated almost vertically beneath him.
He ripped the weapon free and launched himself once more.
The force of his leap blasted the enormous chunk of rock downward like a meteor, sending it hurtling toward the forest while he himself rocketed toward the heart of the Hanging Gardens.
Another gigantic magic circle appeared directly in his path, and another second violet beam engulfed him.
Unlike before, however, he never slowed.
His armor blazed white-hot once again as he absorbed the torrent of magical energy, forcing his way straight through the beam by sheer strength alone.
As he reached the center of the spell, he drew back his halberd and drove its axe head through the glowing circle.
The magical construct shattered like fragile glass, and its beam vanished instantly.
Godrick continued his descent uninterrupted before crashing onto the main island with enough force to crack the stone beneath his boots.
Dust rolled across the courtyard as he slowly straightened, his armor hissing with heat while the brilliant white glow gradually faded back to polished silver steel.
He scanned the fortress in silence, already weighing whether it would be faster to destroy the citadel from within or simply bring the entire floating island crashing back to earth.
His thoughts were interrupted by a mocking voice.
“So… you’re the one who’s got the Master so worked up.”
Godrick turned.
Three Servants were approaching him across the stone courtyard.
He recognized Karna immediately.
The other two, a man and a woman, were strangers.
The man who had spoken stepped forward with an easy grin, twirling his spear across his shoulders as though they had met on a quiet road instead of a battlefield.
“My name is Achilles,” he said confidently, gesturing toward the others.
“This is Atalanta… and this is Karna.”
Godrick offered no reply.
His grip merely shifted along the haft of his halberd as he lowered into a ready stance, the axe head resting just above the stone beneath his feet.
The silence lingered long enough for Achilles to raise an amused eyebrow.
“Too proud to tell us your name?” he asked, glancing at his companions.
“The arrogance of this brute…” Atalanta muttered through clenched teeth as she nocked an arrow.
“It makes no difference,” Karna said calmly, leveling his spear toward the towering knight.
“Our task remains the same.”
The three Servants attacked at once.
Achilles and Karna rushed him from opposite sides while Atalanta remained at range, her bowstring singing as enchanted arrows streaked through the air.
Godrick planted his feet and met both spearmen head-on.
The axe blade of his halberd intercepted Karna’s thrust while the iron-shod butt caught Achilles’ spear, the collision ringing across the Hanging Gardens like a cathedral bell.
Rather than forcing them back immediately, Godrick twisted the haft sharply to his right.
The motion dragged Achilles several steps sideways, directly into the path of one of Atalanta’s arrows.
The magical projectile exploded against the Greek hero’s back.
“What?!”
Achilles stumbled forward with a pained grunt, giving Godrick the opening he needed.
Releasing his right hand from the halberd, the giant drove an armored hook into Achilles’ stomach.
The blow folded the hero over his fist.
For a brief instant Achilles’ feet actually left the ground before the punch launched him across the courtyard.
He skipped once across the stone before crashing through a crumbling wall, disappearing into a cloud of dust.
Karna’s crimson spear flashed toward his side, but the giant pivoted smoothly, allowing the blade to scrape harmlessly along the shaft of his halberd.
As the spear passed, Godrick reversed his grip and drove the spike of the weapon into Karna’s abdomen.
Karna’s divine armor absorbed the lethal thrust, though the force still pushed him several steps backward.
Another volley of arrows descended from the sky as Atalanta fired another volley.
Godrick spun his halberd in a tight circle around himself, the broad axe head and hammer smashing arrow after arrow from the sky.
One slipped through the spinning defense, only for him to casually knock it aside with the back of his gauntleted hand before returning his attention to the melee.
Achilles came charging back almost immediately.
His spear lunged toward Godrick’s chest with incredible speed, but the giant simply angled his halberd, allowing the weapon to slide harmlessly down the polished haft.
Achilles committed too much of his weight to the thrust and found himself stepping directly inside the halberd’s reach.
Exactly where Godrick wanted him.
The giant shifted his weight, and brought the butt end down directly into Achilles’ exposed back, throwing him into the ground at Godrick’s feet.
With a contemptuous kick, the Juggernaut sent him flying though the air for a second time, rolling across the stone before finally digging his spear into the ground to stop himself.
Karna attacked again without hesitation.
Godrick met the incoming thrust by stepping back and slamming the spike of his halberd straight downward.
The weapon caught his opponent’s spear before pinning it firmly into the stone floor beneath its weight.
The son of Surya instinctively pulled against it, but his weapon refused to move.
Before Karna could react further, Godrick simply let go of his own weapon, and his armored right hand whipped across Karna’s face in a brutal backhand.
The strike cracked against Karna’s jaw with enough force to send the heroic spirit stumbling several paces away, forcing him to release his spear entirely as golden armor fragments shimmered from the impact.
Leaving both weapons locked together in the stone, Godrick turned just in time to see Achilles descending from above with his spear raised high.
The giant caught the shaft with both hands.
Using Achilles’ own momentum against him, he swung the Greek hero around in a wide arc before hurling him directly toward one of the massive violet magic circles suspended above the battlefield.
The trap activated instantly.
A pillar of condensed magical energy shot forward and engulfed Achilles.
“Wait—!”
His protest vanished beneath the roar of the beam.
Realizing too late that it had targeted one of its own defenders, the fortress quickly weakened the spell before it could inflict serious damage.
The moment the beam faded, Godrick caught the dazed hero out of the air and slammed him into the courtyard hard enough to fracture the stone beneath them.
Without wasting another second, he charged Atalanta.
The huntress clicked her tongue and vaulted gracefully over the towering knight, expecting him to lumber beneath her.
Instead, one of his massive gauntleted hands closed around her ankle.
With a single violent pull, Godrick ripped her from the air and drove her into the ground.
Cracks spread through the stone beneath her before she rolled away just as one of his boots crashed into the spot where she had been lying, reducing the paving stones to rubble.
She retreated rapidly, loosing arrow after arrow as she created distance.
Each magical projectile exploded against Godrick’s armor, fire and smoke swallowing his massive frame.
When the haze finally dispersed, he emerged without slowing.
Only a single patch of his breastplate glowed white-hot before gradually cooling back to polished steel.
“…Impossible,” Atalanta whispered.
Across the courtyard, Karna had finally reached his spear once more.
Achilles staggered over beside him, and together the two heroes strained against the halberd buried in the stone.
Only by combining their strength were they finally able to wrench Karna’s spear free.
Achilles rolled one aching shoulder.
“What kind of monster did we pick a fight with?”
Karna’s eyes never left the silent knight.
“I do not know. But if we intend to drive him from the Hanging Gardens, we must stop restraining ourselves.”
“You know we can’t,” Achilles replied.
“Master ordered us not to use anything that could damage the fortress.”
Karna tightened his grip.
“If we continue fighting like this… there may not be a fortress left to protect.”
Before either could move again, Godrick extended one gauntleted hand.
His halberd tore free from the shattered stone and flew back into his grasp with a thunderous crack.
The instant his fingers wrapped around the familiar weapon, he stepped toward Atalanta and brought the halberd crashing down in a devastating overhead strike.
The blow never landed as two spears intercepted it simultaneously.
Achilles and Karna had thrown themselves between the Juggernaut and the huntress, both heroes straining with every ounce of strength they possessed just to halt the descending weapon.
Even together they could barely stop it.
Inch by inch, the massive halberd continued forcing their spears downward toward Atalanta.
Then a cheerful voice echoed across the battlefield.
“Hello, gentlemen… and my lady!”
All four Servants glanced toward the newcomer.
A man dressed in an extravagant green suit stood nearby with an ornate grimoire tucked beneath one arm.
Smiling as though he had wandered into a dinner party rather than a battlefield, he flipped the book open with a flourish.
“I’ve come to offer my assistance.”
At once, countless pages burst from the grimoire, swirling through the air in a magical storm as enchanted sheets encircled the four combatants.
Without warning, the battlefield completely disappeared, and Godrick found himself standing once more within the great hall of Camelot, the castle he had once called home. Get faster updates on novelping dot com.
Towering pillars of pale marble stretched toward a vaulted ceiling high above, their polished surfaces gleaming beneath shafts of warm light that filtered through stained-glass windows.
A blood-red carpet ran the length of the chamber, leading to the raised dais where the throne of Britain sat in solemn silence.
At the foot of those steps stood a lone figure.
A silver sword adorned with crimson accents rested embedded within the stone beside her.
“You left me.”
The quiet words froze him where he stood.
He had begun walking toward the throne, but now he ceased as he recognized the voice.
His heart lurched painfully inside his chest.
The young woman wrapped her slender fingers around the hilt of the sword and slowly drew it free.
“You left me to rot in the north,” she said, her voice trembling with restrained anger as she turned to face him.
“You let her take me… and you never came.”
“Mordred…” He tried to say, but no sound escaped his lips.
Godrick tore his helmet from his head and let it crash against the stone floor.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the sister he had mourned for years, desperately shaking his head as though denying her words could somehow make them untrue.
She didn’t stop walking.
“You abandoned me!” she screamed before lunging at him.
The sword flashed downward, and instinctively, Godrick raised both hands, refusing to defend himself with force.
The blade carved deep across his left palm, splitting steel and flesh alike, yet he made no attempt to retaliate.
Instead, he reached toward her again, silently begging her to listen.
She answered with another strike.
Then another.
Every swing landed upon the hands he used to shield himself, until his gauntlets were split apart and his fingers became little more than bloodied ruin.
“I needed you!” she cried, tears streaming freely down her face as she continued her relentless assault.
“Where were you, Godrick? Where were you when I needed you the most?”
He stumbled backward beneath each blow, retreating one step at a time.
Not because he feared her, but because he could not bear to hurt her.
Soon his back struck the cold stone of the back of the hall.
He stared at her with shattered eyes, not understanding her anger.
He had searched for her, he had crossed Britain from one end to the other as he fought the Warlord for years.
He had bled for her.
He had sacrificed everything for her.
He had even died trying to bring her home.
His lips moved desperately as tears blurred his vision, but no sound came.
No explanation.
No apology.
No reassurance.
Only silence.
His curse had followed him even here.
All he could do was watch as the sister he loved looked upon him with nothing but hatred and betrayal.
Those eyes wounded him far more deeply than any sword ever could.
“I needed you…”
The sword slipped from Mordred’s fingers and clattered onto the stone.
She collapsed to her knees, burying her face in her hands as heart-wrenching sobs echoed throughout the empty hall.
Godrick fell with her.
Ignoring the agony in his mangled hands, he reached toward her, desperate to comfort her in whatever small way he could.
The instant his ruined fingers were about to touch her shoulder, the world shattered.
The marble hall vanished like broken glass, and Godrick found himself standing once more upon the edge of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the wind howling around him as reality returned with brutal suddenness.
His breathing was ragged, his thoughts still trapped inside the nightmare.
“Now!” Achilles shouted as he, Karna, and Atalanta attacked simultaneously.
Achilles’ spear struck first, followed instantly by Karna’s overwhelming thrust and Atalanta’s enchanted arrow.
Three devastating attacks crashed into his chest in perfect unison.
He barely had enough time to cross his arms before the combined impact hurled him backward off the edge of the floating fortress.
Then he was falling.
William Shakespeare watched the giant knight disappear into the clouds before suddenly pointing toward the abandoned weapon embedded in the courtyard.
“His halberd!” he shouted.
The three Servants hurried toward it.
Even Achilles grunted as he wrapped both hands around the massive weapon.
“How does he swing something this heavy?”
Together, the three of them strained against its impossible weight before finally dragging it to the edge of the fortress.
With one final shove, the enormous halberd toppled over the side and disappeared after its master.
Far below, Godrick crashed into the earth with enough force to shake the countryside.
Stone exploded outward as an enormous crater blossomed beneath him.
The impact itself meant nothing.
He remained exactly where he had landed, lying motionless in the center of the crater as the dust slowly settled around him.
His halberd crashed into the crater moments later, embedding itself only a few paces away with a thunderous impact.
Godrick ignored it.
He stared silently at his right hand.
No trace remained of the wounds the illusion had inflicted, yet it trembled uncontrollably.
Not from fear, or from pain, or even from grief.
It shook with a fury so profound that the plates of his gauntlet groaned beneath the pressure of his clenched fist.
His icy blue eyes slowly lifted toward the floating fortress high above.
The illusion had shown him exactly where to direct his anger.
He bent down, ripped his halberd free from the earth, and began walking.
To him, this battle was no longer merely a duty.
It had become personal.
And when he saw that damn mage again, he would rip him limb from limb for showing him such a nightmare.
===
I promise I’ll take good care of them:)