IBHJ 1304

"CLANG—CLANG—!"

Inside the Machine God-Camelot, the sound of clashing swords echoed continuously. Bedivere swung his blade again and again, desperately engaging with Agravain while outside, the automated Machine-Camelot kept up its relentless battle against Zeus and Adam.

"You can't beat me, Hope!" Agravain taunted. "Your fighting patterns are all stored in my database. I've completely analyzed your every move from the beginning!"

Bedivere gritted his teeth, striking repeatedly with his sword, but Agravain parried each blow with ease.

He knew he couldn't win against this Agravain. The being before him wasn't even the real Agravain anymore—he was more like a super-advanced AI. He had loaded all of Bedivere's combat data into his brain for analysis. In other words, this artificial intelligence had already predicted every move Bedivere might make.

With a single powerful stroke, Agravain sent Bedivere flying backward.

"I've analyzed all your data, Bedivere."

"Have you really?" Bedivere locked eyes with him, his jaw clenched tight. "You don't know Bedivere at all! Release—!"

He sprang to his feet and charged directly at Agravain, sword in hand.

"Such predictable tricks. I've already calculated your every possible move!"

Agravain thrust his sword toward Bedivere's heart. According to his calculations, Bedivere would dodge left, giving him the perfect opportunity to twist his wrist and slice off Bedivere's right arm. But when his sword shot forward, Bedivere didn't dodge at all—he lunged straight ahead. Agravain adjusted, flicking his wrist to slice through Bedivere's right arm with a sickening sound.

Fresh blood sprayed between them.

"You planned to lunge into my sword and then stab your blade into my power core, didn't you? Too bad—I calculated that desperate move as well." Agravain's voice was emotionless, cold as a machine analyzing data.

But then—

Bedivere gritted his teeth and crashed directly into Agravain. In the same moment, a flash of cold steel appeared from his left wrist. A hidden dagger slid from his sleeve with a soft "slice," plunging deep into Agravain's energy core through the third vertebra from behind.

"You—"

The light in Agravain's eyes dimmed, his body going limp like a puppet with cut strings as he collapsed to the ground.

Blood poured from Bedivere's severed arm, staining Agravain's silver-white mechanical body. He looked down at Agravain beneath him and asked, "Was this also within your calculations?"

"How did you manage to break free from my predictions?" Agravain seemed genuinely surprised.

"I didn't. What your calculations couldn't predict was that sword strike of yours just now, which didn't cut off my head."

Agravain froze at these words, the data streams in his brain falling into chaos.

Bedivere stepped past Agravain toward the Machine God-Camelot's control panel, plugging the neural conduits into his own body one by one.

"Without [eternity], connecting your flesh to 'Camelot' will kill you," Agravain said coldly.

"I designed him. Besides you, I'm the only one who knows how to connect to him and control him. This is something only I can do," Bedivere replied.

"I don't understand," Agravain said. "You're a citizen of the Eternal Empire. Why help Pan-Human History? Why willingly watch the Eternal Empire crumble?"

"Because I want to set you free."

"What? That makes no sense."

"Our bodies might live forever, but our spirits and souls died long ago. I've read Morgan's diary. You can't hide the truth anymore. [Eternity] is actually just the divinity of the barbarians, isn't it? After achieving Pan-Historical status, people with eternity all reincarnate as barbarians—or as Pan-Human History would call them, Fomoire spirits who've lost their humanity. And the Divine Soldiers... they're just people on the verge of transforming into Fomoire spirits."

"So what?" Agravain challenged. "This way, the empire can last forever. Nobody's body will ever die!"

"But is that still us? Our bodies might not die, but our souls and minds will be completely destroyed. What lives on isn't human anymore—just empty shells wandering forever in the abyss, like Fomoire spirits with no consciousness left," Bedivere said firmly. "You've become too cold. Your so-called eternity is just creating a massive Fomoire abyss, trapping us forever inside a cage! I won't let that happen!"

"How foolish," Agravain replied. "Being alive, existing in any form, is better than nothing at all. That's exactly why I say emotions and consciousness are obstacles to the empire's eternal survival. The previous Emperor was like this, and the current one is no different. What frustrates me most is... I couldn't even eliminate your heart!"

"You say all this, but don't you still have a heart yourself?" Bedivere asked quietly.

"What did you say—!?"

He ignored Agravain's outburst.

He closed his eyes. Those memories from a hundred million years ago—he'd forgotten everything. Completely forgotten. What kind of person was the original Agravain, his old friend? He couldn't remember...

No. Actually, fragments were coming back now. That perpetually gloomy person with the stern expression. That quiet man who always seemed troubled, annoyed by everyone around him. But beneath it all, he was the most caring person, the most sensitive to others' feelings, like a protective older brother.

—Your smile will become hope for others.

The Emperor's words echoed in his mind again, and Bedivere smiled. Your Majesty, I finally understand what you meant!

"What are you smiling about?" Agravain demanded.

"I'm smiling because I've finally found myself again! It's been too long... I've been lost for so long." He picked up the neural conduits of the Machine God-Camelot.

"Wait, Bedivere—!" Agravain shouted.

"I'm glad you finally stopped calling me Hope, brother," he said softly. "I'm not an Apostle. I'm just a traveler—Bedivere." He smiled as he connected all of the Machine God-Camelot's neural conduits to his body.

In an instant, the massive energy of the Machine God-Camelot surged through Bedivere, and his body immediately burst into flames.

In that final moment, he managed to stop the Machine God-Camelot's movements, and the reflective barrier surrounding the machine instantly disappeared.

Adam and Zeus locked eyes for a split second, then immediately launched their counterattack.

"Disappear, false god!" they shouted in unison as thunder and white light merged into a single devastating beam that crashed into the Machine God-Camelot. The massive mechanical entity collapsed, engulfed in blinding light.

As his consciousness faded, Bedivere's thoughts drifted.

—Thank you, Arthur, Eternal King, and King Mordred. I only wish I could have seen the version of myself who served the Eternal King and Sir Agravain. I hope they were close friends, not enemies pointing swords at each other like us.

—And... I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I... am late.

Bedivere closed his eyes for the final time. In the brilliant light, his broken body dissolved into tiny particles that caught the free wind and floated away.

Free at last.