The scouts camp was well hidden using the natural aspects of the forests thick density and magical hex's to make them near invisible. It was so good that had Marzhin not dispersed the magical field Chris would not have seen or suspected that anything lay where the tents where now.
"Welcome your majesty" the voice of his twin called out as the party of scouts approached them from the camp.
"Princess Joan, I hope all was well?" king Artorias asked her as he dismounted from his horse with Ishtar.
"Sister." Ishtar enveloped Joan into a hug and Chris couldn't help but chuckle as he watched his twin struggle against the metallic vice grip that was Ishtar's hug. "I brought someone for you."
He advanced his horse towards them because it was clear who Ishtar meant to bring for Joan.
"Hey." he saluted his twin with a smile before he descended off the horse. " Did you miss me."
"About time you showed up, I was worried that I would need to beat in the Lunar Empires rear on my own." Joan said with a cheeky smile and a hug.
"Don't worry, I won't let you have all the fun. So that's it, the den of our enemy."
The structure still awed him in its strange and eldritch design, it seemed to alien than anything else. "I have seen many crazy things in my life, but this thing is something else."
"It's made out of hundreds of other Camelot's, some kind of weird trophy. It's magical defenses are what matter the most though, not it's manpower" Joan replied as she pointed at it " We have been scouting this thing high and low and I will tell you that it is almost impenetrable."
"But you found a way in?" he asked her seeing a familiar spark in her eye's.
"It's protected by a multi dimensional fields, meaning teleporting inside is next to impossible. The physical shield's are also extremely powerful and we could hit it all day with our Alpha-Spells before it begins to crack" Joan smiled almost smugly as she explained the challenge before she explained her solution.
"Since when did you become this good with quantum mechanics?" he asked.
"I trained in divine power idiot it's a step up everything" she answered before sticking out her tongue like a child.
"How mature sister."
"Anyway, let's say that a friend of ours..." he followed Joan's eyes and he saw Pierce Dolton hidden as some scout and the Paladin of secrets tipped his hat at him. "Has through some thorough investigation found a hole in their defenses."
"What do think about the whole king Arthur thing?" he asked her.
"I honestly don't know what to think." Joan sighed as she rubbed the bridge to her nose. " I am a bit mad that she kept this from us but I am not sure how you tell your kids this of all things, so I will give her that."
"Do you think that those stories she used to tell us about king Arthur were hers because when I researched them on earth, sixty percent of them were made up and the others heavily abridged." as soon as they had arrived here this had bothered him.
"Maybe, I have tried to speak to uncle Cai about it." Ishtar finally joined the conversation. "but it feels too... "
"Awkward?" Joan finished for her.
"Yes." Ishtar nervously interjected.
"Well, we can ask her about the rest of our family history after we rescue her." Joan said.
"We are going to get her back you know." Ishtar said looking at the structure and Chris could see a great determination in her eyes.
"I know." he could feel the sword strapped to his hip grow heavy as he thought about storming this place. It was both exciting and terrifying feeling as he thought. "Nimue is a problem though, if everything I have been told is accurate she could murder us on her own just fine. We need a distraction, a sort of way to keep her occupied as we free the captives."
"I have a plan" he could feel the wheels of thought turning in his head.
And right on schedule as he had predicted in his mind, Hamanymu and Ursa appeared by his side as if they had just been summoned by his declaration of a plan.
"What kind of plan?" Ursa ever the cautious one inquired.
"The insanely dangerous kind that might get us killed." well the plan was more likely to kill him but it would give them a chance.
"So the usual then" Hamanymu stated a smile gracing his face.
"Wouldn't have it any other way, but first we need to find Cai and a certain friend. I want too more about Nimue."
XXXXXXX
Natalia Ddraig wasn't a stranger to being captured or held prisoner. It had happened multiple times during her reign as Arthur, her time as a knight of Avalon and as Queen by oddly enough a black pallet swapped version of herself.
So nothing about her current predicament caused her to panic in the slightest bit. She had spent whatever number of days she was here studying this cell looking to escape. That had unfortunately proved challenging by the many magical bindings that kept her in.
She had tried to use her magic to aid an escape before but this cell appeared designed to drain her of her power in a very slow and labours manner that had left her weaker than even normal.
Her ears easily picked the sound of a female voice whistling the familiar tune that would have fill the banquet halls of Gamalaot, the song of Arthur and the Lady of the lake.
"Nimue, show yourself." she wasn't in the mood to play any of the water spirits games.
"Behold the once and future king... or is it queen. It has been a long time my friend." the woman finally came into view as she stepped out of the shadows holding Natalia's Excalibur in hand like it belonged to her.
"We are are not friend's, traitor" Natalia spat back at Nimue.
"But we used to be friends, didn't we my king." Nimue looked at her with a mocking pout like a slighted child. " You were a king amongst king's, with me the lady in the lake who granted you this sword at your side."
Nimue was inspecting Excalibur with an almost obsessive interest "Speaking of Excalibur, you don't mind me asking but what exactly did you do to it, it is stronger, stranger. I can't read what it has become but it feels positively divine?"
"Aren't you the swords maker, you figure it out" it wasn't Natalia's best taunting but she needed something to throw at Nimue since her fists couldn't work right now.
"Oh, i plan to." Nimue placed it back in its scabbard. "Tell me, how has family life been to you and Roland?"
"It was fine until a certain watery tart came and brought a war to my home" Natalia was fighting to stop herself from racing to the cell bars and trying to strangle Nimue through them.
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"Oh Natty, you wound me."
"Why are you doing this Nimue?"
Natalia remembered leaving Gamalaot in the hands of her heir Gwalchmei and the rest of the knights. She remembered that everyone even Nimue was happy so nothing of this behaviour from the water spirit was explainable to her.
"You see Natalia, after you abandoned the realm for Roland and your old home, I too decided to travel the multiverse to see what wonders it held. I realized that for all its size and diversity the Nexus was small to what is out there."
"You got to leave the stinky damp swamp for once, good for you" Natalia answered as sarcastically as one possibly could with a slow clap.
"In my travels i came across many world's and do you know what they all had in common?"
"They lacked murderous psychopaths like you."
"The years truly have changed you, or maybe it's perhaps the fact that you are not quite literally yourself." those words cut into Natalia's skin like a sword.
It had always been a sore subject that she was only half what she had originally been. She knew that she was no better than a crappy consolation prize for those who lost the true Natalia.
A fake trying to pass itself as the real thing and that filled her with anger, an anger that called for her to kill Nimue, a dark rage that she remembered feeling only for her dark counterpart.
But she was a smart woman and had long learned to temper the darkness within her, for now she remained silent. Not granting Nimue the satisfaction of watching her break in anger or sulk in despair.
"Now, where was I my half friend? " the spirits taunting continued.
"Oh right... war and chaos. Each world was filled to brim with it and I thought, why must this continue. It was Gamalaot all over again with foolish infighting between you, the fairy court, Morgana, the Saxons, you're own knights and a lot and all the other Arthur's. It was all the same petty childish nonsense just with different players."
Natalia could concede that to Nimue, while a vast majority of Camelots were as close to utopias as one could get, unfortunately war and infighting was a very common fact of life. In the four yeary of her kingship had ended with her fighting at least two hundred great battles.
"So I continued traveling until I came across a little world called Egnar. It was engulfed in a world war, a war many hundreds of years old. I joined the side of a rather idealistic queen and with the new magic graciously gifted to me by you're former king and queen, thank you for that by the way. I turned them into the most dominant faction in the war. But then I thought why must this war go on like this, the victor would most likely be a corrupt and foolish mortal, I could rule better but I would also be opposed, that would create strife, strife would create war and the cycle would continue all over again."
"But where to get such power alluded me, until i remembered the power this place held." Nimue dramatically raised her hands into the air like an actor delivering a the dramatic performance of their life.
"Even in my most distance memories, I never remembered you being this needlessly melodramatic." she told the water spirit.
"Oh, don't be that way fake, you are caring about things someone else held a connection to. You never knew or experienced it, I would care if the true Nature said it, but you... what are you but some poor copy." Nimue spoke with a false sympathy that stung.
"I will kill you with my bare hands." Natalia thought as bloody rage boiled within her.
"Do you know what happens when all the power of the Arthur's in condensed into one living entity?"
Natalia went wide eyed trying to imagine just how powerful such a being would be. " That's why you have been attacking and capturing Camelots."
"I see you haven't lost the other half of your intelligence. But then again I once theorized this to your original so it isn't exactly quick thinking on your part." Nimue was now smirking with viscous intent.
"I unfortunately could not capture all the others Arthurs, but Knights, Merlins and a couple million civilians will make up for it. And when I i become the Archetype-king, after which I shall fuse both the Nexus and Jord while I integrate my very being into the tapestry of the universe and become our little corner of creation and force the rules of reality to bring eternal peace!" Nimue spoke with such passion that spit escaped her mouth.
Natalia didn't know just how much Nimue had thought through her plan because it had a major and obvious flaw. "Nimue, that's insane. Even if you do succeed, forcefully smashing reality like that will have disastrous results. You could damage or this layer of the Nexus and at worst you could kill all of us."
"Of course." Nimue didn't seem at all bothered by this in the slightest, instead she just shrugged her shoulders. "A necessary sacrifice for world peace. You don't build something without tearing something else down, sacrifices must be made."
"Is that what Gamalaot was as well !" Natalia demanded feeling some brief mana flair within her before it was repressed by the cell. " A damn sacrifice for your god and messiah complex !"
"Gamalaot was my home you brat !" Nimue shockingly lost the cool collected mask and got second, Natalia saw black in her eyes.
"Was that Darkness, it can't be."
"Unlike you, I was born there, I never just took its blessings and abandoned it when I grew bored with it. All of us sought to bring peace before you stumbled in and took the true Arthur's place. But maybe that is a theme with you, a fake stealing the place of the original. Just as you stole the position of a daughter, a wife, a queen and a mother, you parasite!"
Any sorts of restraints that Natalia held vanished into a wave of anger that propelled her to punch the cell bars denting them while the confident expression returned to grace Nimue's features.
"Maybe today I shall show you some mercy, after I save the world. Your husband and children shall live on remembering you as what you truly are." Nimue leaned close to the cell bars. " A coward, a fraud, a thief, a fake and hell maybe if I am feeling generous, I might follow in your foot steps and become their mommy, plus your husband isn't such a bad catch."
"When I get out of here, I shall skin you alive." Natalia had never felt such hate, such anger and such loathing for another in her life.
She could already picture her hands around Nimue's neck and she longed to feel the sensation of chocking the life out of the woman.
"Oh, I am sure that you will."
This woman wasn't the Nimue that she remembered. She knew the kind and wise mentor who aided her in leading with a firm and caring hand. This woman on the other hand seemed to hate her with such a passion that it honestly scared her.
"What levels shall she truly drop to, in order to just hurt me?" The thought wasn't pretty, it reminded Natalia too much of her other half.
"No response?" the smug expression on Nimue's face seemed to only increase.
" Then you have no objections. So tell me should the kids call me mommy or should that one only be reserved for Roland."
Another threat would have flown from Natalia's mouth had the cells alarms not blared loud like chickens attacked by a fox in the dead of night.
"What?" Nimue looked around in confusion also startled by the alarms.
The door leading to the cells exploded open sending flying hot piece's shrapnel every where like a shot guns pellets.
From the smoke where the door once stood a violet knight with a red scarf entered the room. Upon closer inspection from the armor to the helmet she knew that it was hers or maybe it was another Arthur's, she didn't know.
The knight lifted their visor showing a face that was much more welcome after spending time with Nimue.
"Sorry about the door, but I suppose you won't be needing it anymore." her son said with a giant smile.
"Christian," she whispered as the feeling of relief from his arrival was replaced by fear for his safety as Nimue's eye's were digging holes into him with a predatory sadism.
"Stay here Natalia." Nimue drew Excalibur from its scabbard and the blade was engulfed in white holy flame. "I plan to add your spawns sword to my collection and maybe murder it on the way."
"Christian ran !" she shouted trying to warn the fool but he just lowered his visor and gotten into a battle stance.
"For once listen to me !" She shouted at him hopping that he would obey her word.
"I am not leaving this place without you." he answered before he attacked the lady of the lake.
And was soon getting stomped to the curb by her. His skill and technique was that befitting of an Avalonian knight and it filled Natalia with a swelling pride, that was immediately dashed by Nimue's brutal and far better physical attributes prevailed.
Nimue wasn't a skilled fighter, even less so than her son from how she fought in Natalia's opinion. But Nimue's greater speed and strength was enough to render the skill gap between them nearly obsolete.
She watched in horror as her son was rag dolled under the multiple strikes of Excalibur that constantly overpowered it's child sword Lucius-aurora in all the contest's of strength.
He summoned his wings and tried to fly overhead, but he was slow and poorly coordinated enough for Nimue to grab one of his wings and use it to slam his thrice Into the concrete floor, cracking it.
"Enough, Nimue !" she yelled, cursed and pulled at the cell bars with all her might but it was not enough to halt the lady of the lake's brutal beating of her son.
She could tell that Nimue was enjoying this by how she dragged out the fight with the sole intent of punishing her son with a slow agonizing death whilst her punishment was to watch this until it's bitter end.
It was agony to watch as Christian tried desperately to use every skill he knew to outfight his amateurish albeit physically superior opponent, but it was all dashed by Nimue's strength and speed.
Within minutes chunks of his armour were dented and his helmet was soon ripped off his head and exposing his hair which was in a wide disarray while he had a few bruises and scratches upon his face. His once fluid movements were now sluggish and less coordinated.
She watched him try to swing his sword at Nimue in desperation, and Nimue responded by swinging Excalibur hard enough to send him crashing to the ground one last time.
"Was that it?" Nimue mocked him with slight chuckle before she delivered a powerful stomp onto his head that echoed a sickening thud.
Natalia could barely keep the gasp of horror in her mouth as the sound that was more akin to something cracking or breaking flew into her ears. All her son could do gasp for air and grasp his injured head as he lay defeated at Nimue's feet.
"Was this the gallant knight who would come to rescue you?" the mocking grin on Nimue's face grew more and more. " Oh Nat, you've been a bad mother if this is the best your heirs could accomplish."
Chris in some sense of both bravery and stupidity started getting back up to his feet even though she kept shouting at him to stay down. He slowly got up, his knees wobbled a bit with a trickle of blood adding a red patch to his blue hair where Nimue had kicked him.
"You must bethe famed Nimue everyone was talking about." he was struggling to remain standing. "Not as intimidating as I would have imagined."
" You have spirit... " Nimue backhanded him in the face hard enough to send him flying into Natalia's cell bars. "... I like that."
"Son, please stay down." she pushed both of her hands through the bars and pinned him down to the best of her limited strength. " I know that you can still fight and I am very proud of you, but please just stop this. I don't want to lose you".
"It's okay, it's okay." Chris kept whispering this mantra over and over again while he sank into the ground allowing his fatigue to lay him down.
"Will you look at that, you actually have maternal instincts." Nimue began approaching them. "I guess you inherited something from the original other than stupidity."
"You win, Nimue. I yield to you, just let my son live."
"Do hear you that boy... or nephew... or future son. Do you truly love this thing, this worthless copy?" Nimue spoke as her eyes became milky as did Chris.
"She is hypnotizing him" Natalia knew well of Nimue's hypnotic abilities, she had fallen prey to them once before.
But what truly made her blood go cold was Nimue's question. Did Christian truly love her even with their constant arguing and also with what her dark self did to him, did he even see her as his mother.
"My mom..." his answer was sluggish as a result of his addled mind. " I have issues with her... but... but it love her. And she is going to kick you to hell and back."
"That's so sickeningly sweet" Nimue gagged cutting the moment short.
"You shouldn't be so smug." Chris looked defiant in the face of the water spirit. "Besides you have bigger problems than me."
Nimue's eyes lit up as if she had finally remembered that her enemy's son had just breached into the facility.
"I wonder what's taking them so damn long?" he said with a satisfied smile.
"This was a distraction?" Natalia couldn't believe that he took that beating for any reason apart from childish bravado. The answer was the cell bars opening wide and leading the way to Natalia's freedom.
"I asked Cai about you, and he told me about how you tend get so caught up in a moment that you'd failed to notice anything else around you. And what better distraction than the son of your most hated enemy for you beat down Infront of her." Chris spoke with a chuckle.
The plan was rather brilliant if not too risky and stupid but that didn't matter now. She slowly walked out of the box that had confined her and as she did, she could feel her strength return to her like a jolt of electricity running across her nerves.
"No" Nimue whispered in dread as beads of sweat rolled off her head.
"Oh yes, old friend." Natalia raised her hand and Excalibur as if called by and invisible magnet flew from Nimue's hand and back into it's master's.
"That sword is mine." Nimue yelled in anger. " I gave it to you, I hold ultimate authority over it!"
"Maybe you did once." she could feel the divine power in the sword that was sim
ilar to the heat created by a great fire burning in her chest " But in my time I have altered the sword of kings into the sword of divine judgement. It is no longer yours witch. But worry not, for I shall use your corpse as it's scabbard soon enough."