Arthur sat in the throne at the helm of the great ship. The spirits of Entropy never spoke such a concept was alien to them as they were to every other creature in existence. They had continued to use their strange energies to reverse the process of time restoring the ship, at least in part, to what it had been. There were systems on the ship Arthur didn’t understand but they hand changed, the heart of the ship when repaired had changed from the burning fire like that of the hell-dragon Exar’kun to the entropy energy. That energy twisted and warped the ship changing it obey the will and thoughts of Arthur.
His mind was not as it was. Arthur knew he was not as he was but it was getting harder to remember things, the taste of food, the feeling of the wind, the passage of time. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t dream, couldn’t taste all of that had been taken him leaving only a burning…hatred.
Mordred
The name burned in his mind stoking the ember of that rage until it grew and grew. He had though he had known rage but he hadn’t, not truly, not until now. The ship stirred as rocks cracked as it broke free from its earthen mooring. Slowly the colossal warship moved forwards towards the distant spec of light on the horizon.
“I am coming Mordred.” Arthur promised.
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I held Guinevere in my arms as she shook as her body went through the process of ranking up. She was one of the strongest people I knew but I’d never met anyone besides monsters and myself who could go through ranking up without taking different methods of dulling or removing the pain. I reviewed the notification that I’d received again.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 351 the Veteran limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attribute from killing you.
Might, Speed, Toughness, Endurance, Might and Power all of them had increased. My body had evolved destroying many previous evolutions as my body became more part of the Void and less material matter, thought contained by a physical cage. I felt the Void now, not just the moving pieces within but the ebb and flow of its energy.
You have raised all your Attributes beyond three-hundred-and-fifty, the Hierophant limit, you have reached Demigod rank. All damage done to you by creatures of a lower ranking than you is reduced by one damage stage for every stage you are above them, damage dealt to a creature of a lower ranking than you is increased by one damage stage for every stage you are above them. You will only get a quarter of rank points from creatures of a lower ranking than you.
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Through the darkness of the Void, I saw a distant light of a red star approaching.
“I see you Arthur.”
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Lancelot slammed his fist down and the nobles quieted as the thunderclap of his fist resounded. Only the strength of the artifact table let it withstand the strike of a demigod rank human.
“Arthur is gone, we have no reason to suspect he is still alive either,” Lancelot said.
“So we should make you King?” a Barron challenged.
“I am the only one here of Demigod rank,” Lancelot said. “My holdings are all still in tact, my armies are the only ones not decimated by the plague, I share the lineage of Arthur the First. I am the ONLY choice for the king.”
There was silence as Lancelot’s threat hung in the air.
“What about Lady Guinevere?” another Baron said stepping forwards.
The tension in the air grew.
“What about her?” Lancelot asked, his voice tight as a vice.
“None of us like talking about it but Lord Merlin isn’t here today for some reason, so I’ll just say it,” the Barron said leaning forwards meeting Lancelot’s stare. “We all know she is the illegitimate daughter of our Late King Arthur, with her brother dead she actually has a claim to the throne.”
“Are you suggesting we give the crown of Camelot to the wife of the man who devastated our world?” another Duke said, getting in the Baron’s face.
“Yes,” the Barron said unflinching. “What better way to protect our people than to stop being a target of the man who has shown himself able and willing to destroy the entire world. I do not like this man but I do not share your irrational hatred for him either.”
“He is…was the Warlord,” Lancelot said.
“And now he isn’t and last king took the blessing of almost every single god of Chaos, we clearly left the realm of reason long ago,” he said.
Many of the other nobles began nodding at that and Lancelot offered no defense for Arthur’s character.
“So we just ignore the thousands of Camelot Knights she’s killed?” Lancelot asked instead.
“Does Camelot even still exist?” a minor Lord asked. “Does Lunara, Dracon, Ishentar? The world is broken, rebellions have sprung up across the world, entire noble families wiped out, armies eradicated. Do we even still have a country?”
“As long as there are still knights of the round table, Camelot continues,” Lancelot said. “I will assume power as regent of Camelot and we will reconvene in one week to determine finalize that, if you choose another or Guinevere then it will be decided at that time. Until then there are thousands of refugees and we need to work on undoing the damage to the land done by Mordred.”