After making sure that Mordred was somewhere safe, I decided to check on Artoria and her battle against Vortigern to see when she's coming back.

They were right in the middle of battle.

Vortigern's castle looked quite different from Morgan's or Artoria's. It looked more... primal. It looked less of a castle and more like a mountain carved to look like a castle.

Outside the cast was a huge on going battle. Artoria's forces against Vortigern's, obviously. I can see the Knights of the Round Table leading the charge, with Bedivere and Lancelot at the very front.

Artoria and Gawain, however, were nowhere to be seen. Most likely going to handle Vortigern himself. Also, I can't see him, but I can tell Merlin is around.

I was contemplating whether or not I should check on the inside of the castle... when the castle itself burst open.

The entire front of the castle was destroyed as two people were sent flying out. Artoria flipped through the air and landed with grace, while Gawain simply rolled harshly on the ground before jumping straight to his feet.

What came after them was a large black dragon with metal looking like it was welded on most of its scales. Other than the shadows covering its body, another notable feature was the pulsing red core on its chest.

Vortigern roared, causing the battle to actually stop. However, the other Round Table knights began barking orders to their soldiers, telling them to steer clear from Vortigern and focus on the troops.

Artoria held Excalibur tightly while Rhongomyniad rested on her back. Gawain did the same for Galatine and the sword ignited with white flames.

Taking a deep a deep breath, Vortigern unleashed a breath of black flames. Gawain was the first to react, swinging Galatine and sending a wall of white flames that stopped Vortigern's black ones.

From the clash of flames, Excalibur broke through as Artoria unleashed it at her uncle. The shadows around Vortigern intensified, and they started absorbing Excalibur's light as soon as it got close, but Vortigern couldn't eat ALL of it away because a small part managed to gaze his shoulder.

Vortigern glared. Spreading his metallic wings, he flew over the ground and took a spin, swinging his tail on the ground and sending a large pile of dirt and debris at Artoria and Gawain, who were enveloped with the attack.

Gawain turned his gaze then at Artoria's forces. I guess he wants her to suffer as much as possible by taking out the soldiers he CAN take out at the moment.

I could help her, but I really shouldn't. This is HER fight.

I really... shouldn't...

Sigh.

Third POV:

Artoria swept the dust and rocks away from her face. One quick glance to her side was all it took to make sure Gawain was still standing before she immediately looked at her uncle, who was now flying in the air.

Reaching her uncle now would be hard, and he was undoubtedly fast enough to dodge their attacks midair, not to mention she needed him rooted in place for what she had planned.

"Man, you're in quite the trouble," a familiar voice broke through the dust as Zack appeared in the Green Knight armor.

Artoria didn't look away from her uncle as he was obviously getting ready to unleash another sea of black flames on her entire army, not just her and Gawain.

"If you're not here to help, then leave!" Artoria didn't mean for her words to come off as too harsh. After all, she knew it wasn't Zack's position to help her in anyway.

"I'm just here to check up on you," Zack reached up and took off the Green Knight helmet. He hummed with an easy going smile. "Things are quite the mess, huh?"

Suddenly, the whole world stopped.

Vortigern ceased whatever he was doing and his body went completely still. The smoke and building flames in his jaws all vanished as he lowered his head.

"That voice..." Even with her uncle's size and the distance, Artoria can tell that Vortigern was ignoring everything to look directly at Zack. "YOU!?" The King of Knights can safely say she had never heard such rage in her uncle's voice. "YOU TOOK THIS WORLD FROM US!"

Vortigern's wings moved and he immediately flew towards them with his claws raised. Artoria and Gawain jumped away to avoid the dragon's claws coming in and crashing on them.

"I 'took this world from you'? Really?" Zack appeared on the other side of the field, looking at Vortigern with a mixture of annoyance and exasperation. "That implies the world was ever yours to begin with. It never belonged to you, or any other Mystic."

"YOU GAVE IT TO HUMANS!" Swinging around, Vortigern brought down his other hand's claws, attempting to crush Zack, only for him to vanish.

Appeared in front of Vortigern, Zack looked less exasperated, and more fed up. "Oh, GROW UP. You had the choice and chance to leave like everyone else, Albion, you just didn't out of your own arrogance. I'm not responsible for your choices. What were you even digging for? Were you so full of yourself that you ignored my statement that there's nothing down there anymore? You're the one who literally and figuratively dug his own grave. And then, like a toddler, you decided to throw a tantrum and blame everyone BUT yourself."

Vortigern roared in rage and was about to charge at Zack again. However, before he could, Artoria moved it into one of his claws and stabbed Excalibur through it, effectively rooting it in the ground.

The Black Dragon glared at his niece and was about to attack her with his other claw, only for Gawain to come in from the other side and stab Excalibur Galatine into it, the same way Artoria did, getting the same results.

Vortigern's darkness slowly went away as it desperately attempted to eat away at the two swords, but it couldn't handle both. Artoria saw this as her chance to end things.

Pulling Rhongomyniad from her back, her Dragon Core pulsed with energy, sending magical energy across her body and cracking the ground beneath her.

Moving in front of her uncle, Artoria pointed the lance directly at Vortigern's chest, where his heart and core should be, before unleashing it's power and jumping forward.

Magical energy swirled through the air, forming a powerful spiral of light that pierced through Vortigern, who had nothing to defend himself, as his darkness was completely used up because of the Holy Swords keeping his arms in place.

There was a blinding flash of light that made the entire battle stop.

When the light subsided, there was no Dragon. Instead, there was a defeated, wounded, weak looking old man in black armor, laying on the ground, just barely alive.

Looking over her shoulder, Artoria saw that Zack was no longer there. A part of her suspected that would happen, so she simply sighed and decided to question him later.

Meanwhile, Zack stood at a good distance from the now-stopping battle like he did before, and watched as Artoria declared Vortigern's defeat.

"What happened to 'I won't get involved'?" Merlin asked, as he suddenly appeared besides Zack.

Zack looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Merlin chuckled. "Well, you made it clear that you won't be assisting Artoria personally in any of her endeavours, yet you still walked in there, took off the helmet for Vortigern to recognise you, and gave her a distraction to use to her advantage."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Zack denied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I felt hot in the helmet, so I took it off. I just had a few choice words for Vortigern."

"Sure, I'm sure that's it," Merlin didn't seem convinced in the slightest by his expression and how his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"By the way, I hope you taught Artoria some fathering advice because she'll need it after this," Zack suddenly announced.

Merlin blinked in surprise. "A what advice?"