*BOOM!*
After an unknown number of deafening crashes, the destruction of the buildings finally came to a halt.
At this moment, the thick dust stirred up by the collapse of an entire row of buildings began to rise into the air, forming a dragon of smoke that lingered for a long time.
At the end of this smoke and the line of collapsed buildings, Woodwose, his entire body radiating heat, held Riezel up with one hand, clutching his neck.
"It’s over, Child of Prophecy."
While gasping for breath, Woodwose bared his teeth and spoke with a vicious snarl.
Riezel, suspended in Woodwose’s grip, was soaked in blood and covered in wounds—it was clear at a glance that he was on the verge of death, barely hanging on.
*Pu-chi!*
Without a hint of hesitation, Woodwose crushed the neck he was holding, then swung his claws, slamming them into Riezel’s body with overwhelming force, severing his upper torso in an instant.
A torrent of blood splattered onto the ground, dyeing it red, while the lower half of the corpse dropped like garbage to the floor, completely devoid of any aura.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
Woodwose panted as he stared at the severed body at his feet, then suddenly began to laugh.
"Haha... Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA—!"
"I WON! I’M THE ONE WHO WON!"
"I FINALLY KILLED HIM!"
Woodwose laughed toward the sky.
"AS EXPECTED, I AM THE STRONGEST WARRIOR IN FAERIE BRITAIN!"
"GAWAIN? LANCELOT? THE GUY YOU ALL COULDN’T DEFEAT HAS NOW BEEN KILLED BY ME!"
"I’M THE ONLY ONE TRULY WORTHY OF HER MAJESTY! I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BECOME KING OF BRITAIN!"
"I, WOODWOSE, AM THE STRONGEST!"
It was as if all the frustration that had built up over the years had finally been swept away.
At this moment, Woodwose felt utterly exhilarated, his spirits soaring as his emotions ran wild.
As for what might happen after killing Morgan’s husband—whether he would face her wrath when he returned—such things were no longer on Woodwose’s mind.
Even though Morgan’s order had always been to capture Riezel alive, Woodwose never intended to comply.
From the very start, he had come here to kill Riezel.
Now, he had finally succeeded.
Just as Woodwose was laughing nonstop at his victory, an anomaly occurred.
*Pu-chi!*
Along with the strange sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, a wave of intense pain shot up from Woodwose’s back, turning his laughter into a howl of agony.
"Wha...t...?"
Woodwose’s eyes widened in disbelief, his mind going blank.
There were two reasons for his disbelief.
One was the sudden, unexpected attack, while the other was the fact that his divine protection had been broken.
Soon, a voice Woodwose knew all too well—and hated—sounded calmly from behind him.
"Confidence is a good thing, but when you have too much of it, it becomes an undeniable flaw."
"Don’t you think so?"
"Oh, self-proclaimed King of Britain?"
Upon hearing these words, Woodwose’s widened eyes grew even wider before fury exploded within him.
"AAAAAARRRGGGH—!!!"
*BOOM!*
With a furious shout, Woodwose spun around and swung his claws at whoever was behind him—the force of his strike smashed the ground, sending a massive shockwave surging through the air.
But before Woodwose’s attack could land, the assailant darted back at lightning speed, easily dodging the blow.
"RIEZEL BRYNHART!"
Feeling the searing pain in his back, Woodwose roared in rage.
He was both enraged and confused.
’Why?’
’Why is he still alive?’
’Haven’t I just killed him?’
With this thought, Woodwose instinctively glanced at the pool of blood behind him, and in that instant, his pupils shrank.
Before his eyes was nothing at all.
Whether it was the blood or the severed corpse, everything had vanished as if it had never existed.
Standing before him, Riezel was not only completely unharmed, but a pendant on his neck was glowing with light.
Needless to say, the pendant was none other than Divine Meloe.
Clearly, at the moment Woodwose launched his attack, Riezel had activated Divine Meloe’s first ability, completely isolating himself from the outside world and entering an invincible state.
As a result, while Woodwose’s attack appeared overwhelming and terrifying, it ultimately failed to harm Riezel.
"It’s just an illusion. What’s there to be so surprised about?"
Faced with Woodwose’s shock and suspicion, Riezel’s voice rang out, utterly calm.
"Your divine protection is indeed very powerful—almost made my magic useless. But as long as the magic’s target isn’t you, my magic still works."
"And the illusion just now was a kind of magic that deceived vision and senses. It didn’t act directly on you, but created a hallucination right in front of you."
"So, everything you saw was just an illusion."
"How is it? Surprised, aren’t you?"
Riezel’s calm words, without the slightest hint of mockery, still gave Woodwose the greatest shock.
"BASTAAAAAARD—!!!"
Woodwose flew into a rage and took a step, ready to charge at Riezel right away.
However, just as he took his first step, Woodwose felt a wave of intense pain all over his body, as if he had lost all his strength, and he dropped to his knees uncontrollably.
"Wh-What is this?!"
Only then did Woodwose realize that at some point, a wave of darkness had appeared on his body.
It was...
"Moss’s curse!"
Woodwose’s expression changed drastically.
Yes.
What appeared on his body was Moss’s curse—he had been infected by the curse of the Moss.
"D-Don’t tell me?!"
As if realizing something, Woodwose jerked his head up and looked at Riezel, his voice filled with shock and anger.
"Seems like you already know what that is?" Riezel replied calmly. "Yeah, I collected Moss’s curse, just for you."
Looking closely, there was a short dagger stabbed into Woodwose’s back.
If Artoria were here, she would have recognized the dagger immediately.
It was the short dagger Riezel had obtained in the village of Tintagel—or more precisely, from the blacksmith Ector, who lived on the coast near Tintagel.
Back then, Riezel had taken Artoria to Ector’s workshop, where he had received the dagger and kept it ever since.
Of course, what broke through Woodwose’s divine protection was not the dagger itself, but the power of the curse gathered on the dagger.
"Did you think all this time, I never considered how to break through your divine protection?"
Riezel’s voice remained calm, still unruffled.
"Magic doesn’t work on you. Physical attacks can hardly hurt you. In that situation, if I didn’t find a way to break your divine protection, then no matter how strong I became, I would never be able to defeat you."
Ever since the battle in Salisbury, Riezel understood that another battle with Woodwose was inevitable.
Riezel knew well that Woodwose could never not resent him, could never not want to kill him.
Honestly, just by looking at Woodwose’s past actions, anyone could see that clearly.
Of course, Riezel himself also wanted to defeat Woodwose, so during that month in Camelot, he always kept thinking about how to break through Woodwose’s divine protection.
As a result, Riezel set his sights on something, and that was the curse from the Moss.
"Moss is the natural enemy of fairies."
"Even though the Fang Clan has higher resistance to Moss’s curse than other fairies, as a hero who once defeated the King of the Moss, you probably wouldn’t be infected by ordinary Moss."
"However, the Moss’s restraint against fairies is still an undeniable fact, so I wondered, if I gathered a huge amount of Moss’s curse, would I be able to break through a fairy’s divine protection?"
"No matter what, Moss’s curse should be able to pierce through a fairy’s divine protection. Even the divine protection of a great fairy is no exception."
Riezel fixed his gaze on Woodwose, and finally, a smile appeared on his face.
"And your current condition proved my theory was correct."
"Even the great fairy divine protection possessed by a Returned A-Rei can be broken, as long as the Moss’s curse is strong and plentiful enough."
"I mean, the source of this curse resents no one more than the original six A-Rei of Faerie Britain, so how could it not work against a Returned A-Rei like you?"
Riezel ignored the secrets he had just let slip and walked toward Woodwose.
"Surprised? Someone who once defeated the King of the Moss ends up being defeated by Moss’s curse."
"In a way, you could call it karma."
"You really can’t say you died for nothing."
As Riezel spoke, Woodwose could barely hear any of it now.
At this moment, the curse flooding into his body from the wound in his back had already begun to erode his flesh, infecting his magical energy, plunging his vision into total darkness.
"Urgh... AAAAAARRRGGGHHH—!!!"
Endless darkness and agony flooded over Woodwose in that instant, making him let out a miserable scream.
However, even his scream had changed.
It was no longer the ferocious roar of a beast, but a formless, resentful wail.
It was the sound of the Moss.
Now, the hero of Faerie Britain, the head of the Fang Clan, the one called the Archduke of Exhaust Heat, was slowly transforming into a Moss.
He was undergoing Moss’s infection.
He was undergoing Moss’s assimilation.
Soon enough, the curse-laden magical energy erupted from Woodwose’s body like a tidal wave, twisting his werewolf form until he seemed about to become some kind of soft-bodied creature.
It was easy to imagine, with Woodwose’s strength, if he became a Moss, this Moss would be immensely powerful.
Perhaps Woodwose would even become the next King of the Moss, which was not impossible.
Unfortunately, he never got the chance.
*Splurt!*
A flash of fire flickered beside Woodwose, and a blazing slash tore through the air, severing his neck.
"..."
Woodwose’s scream was cut off instantly.
*Click—*
Riezel, who had appeared behind Woodwose at some unknown moment, slowly sheathed his sword.
Soon after, Woodwose’s head tumbled to the ground.
"Your... Majesty..."
Amidst faint sobbing, Faerie Britain’s former hero turned to ashes and scattered, disappearing without a trace.