In Britain, the Noble Phantasm: Divine Key

Of course, it's unrealistic to keep Merlin in the dark with just an illusion. Even with Nidhogg and Melusin distracting him, Merlin might discover the truth soon enough.

We must hurry.

Upon entering the empty palace, Anan immediately released a tracking rune to search for Nero's whereabouts.

Following the runes, he soon found Nero trapped in the center of a magic circle in a dark basement.

However, he did not rush in, because there was a detection-type magic in the basement, and Merlin would immediately detect any stranger who entered.

Even in a spirit form, it won't work. Besides biological signals, this magic can also detect unfamiliar magical signals, which Merlin will discover in the same way.

As expected of a seasoned thief, his defenses against base raids are impeccable... Yanan sighed softly, frowning as he pondered how to break the deadlock.

After an unknown amount of time, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind. He flipped his palm over, and a small, dark blue ball with symmetrical concave patterns on both sides appeared in his palm.

The Ninth Divine Key, Star of Eden, has the primary ability to manipulate gravity, and can even use it to distort spacetime and create black holes.

Anan infused Eden's Star with magic, carefully manipulating the power of the Divine Key to weaken the gravity in the basement.

Freed from the constraints of gravity, everything in the basement seemed to float in space, including the sleeping Nero.

Then Anaen manipulated gravity again, making Nero float like a feather towards the door... Throughout, the detection magic in the basement did not react at all.

Anan reached out and embraced Nero as she slowly descended in a princess carry. Looking at her sweet and delicate sleeping face, he breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart.

"Well......"

Nero let out a low groan, his brows furrowing slightly, and his emerald green eyes, like new leaves, slowly opened, still holding a hint of bewilderment within.

However, since there was a heroic spirit bearing the name of the emperor, Nero quickly realized what was happening. His eyes cleared instantly, and he glanced around before looking up at the handsome face. He hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, "Anan?"

“It’s me.” Yanan nodded. “How are you feeling now?”

"Hmm... to be honest, it's not very good." Nero assessed the situation and responded with a wry smile.

Nearly half of the magic power in her body had disappeared, and what remained was barely enough to sustain her existence. Now she felt weak and powerless all over, and she could hardly lift a sword or even walk.

"Is that so?" Although he said that, Yanan's face showed no surprise, because he had expected this situation long ago.

"Are you here to rescue me?" The previous experience was still vivid in her mind, so Nero quickly realized her current situation. Her beautiful eyes stared at Anaen, her inner light shining brightly.

Going deep into enemy territory alone to rescue himself from being trapped in enemy territory was a first for Nero as well. Even as the emperor, Nero felt his heart pounding like a deer's, and a blush involuntarily crept onto his face.

Her sexual orientation has always been very open; she is open to anyone who is beautiful, regardless of gender. From this point of view, Yanan undoubtedly suits her taste, which is why she was so frank in inviting Yanan to bathe with her.

Previously, she wanted to conquer Yanan with her charm, but now she finds herself being conquered instead.

Not only was her opponent an emperor like her, but he was also exceptionally handsome, powerful, incredibly lucky, and, most importantly, loyal and righteous, willing to risk his life to rescue her... This kind of offensive would be a sure-fire kill on any woman, and even Nero, who always considered himself a man, was finding it hard to handle.

Speaking of which, her magic power is currently severely depleted, so wouldn't that be perfect...?

Although the basement was dimly lit, Ananen, who inherited Nidhogg's bloodline, had unaffected vision and naturally noticed Nero's unusual behavior.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it, taking it as a side effect of insufficient magic power.

After summoning two heroic spirit soldiers, he said to Nero, "They will take you to the side gate of Camelot. Ritsuka and Da Vinci will meet you there. Just have them replenish your mana."

"Huh? Ritsuka too?" Nero, lost in thought, subconsciously replied.

However, Yanan did not understand her meaning correctly and said indifferently, "Don't worry, Ritsuka still has Command Seals. After you sign a contract with her, she can use Command Seals to help you restore your magic power."

Nero, realizing she had misunderstood, blushed even more, but then she noticed the real key point: "Aren't you coming out with me?"

“I have more important things to do.” Anaen placed Nero on the ground, and two heroic soldiers immediately came forward to help him up.

"You want to... deal with the Lion King!?" Perhaps it was the emperor's intuition, but Nero immediately realized Anaen's purpose.

“This is the best opportunity, and also the last opportunity,” Yanan said calmly.

Although he didn't quite understand the meaning of the sentence, Nero still keenly sensed the unwavering determination in Anaen's tone.

She was no stranger to this – when an emperor makes up his mind, no one can stop him.

Therefore, after a moment of silence, she nodded quietly.

However, she also made up her mind that once her magic was restored, she would rush over to help Yanan.

Anan led Nero out of the basement, watching as the heroic soldiers led the latter toward the side door, then turned to look into the depths of the palace.

To prevent Nero from overthinking, there was something he hadn't actually said—ever since he entered the palace, a gaze had been fixed on him.

However, the owner of the gaze did not pay attention to his actions. Even when he rescued Nero, the other party did not make any move, but just watched quietly.

Ananun wasn’t sure whether it was the king’s reserve or the god’s arrogance—but he would soon find out.

For any question, asking the person directly is the fastest way to get an answer.

With his dark, deep eyes meeting that calm gaze, Yanan strode forward.

......

Upon entering this divinely created land known as the end of the world, Anan felt first and foremost an endless desolation and...loneliness.

The ground was piled with chalk stones, with no other decorations. There was no dome above, only a gray cloud that pressed heavily overhead, as if you could reach out and touch it.

Everything here is so monotonous, as if nothing will change even after millions of years. This is because the master here deliberately stopped the flow of time, just like His attitude towards the future of mankind—to freeze everything and then endlessly watch over it in eternity.

There was nothing here that would inspire any desire to explore, so Yanan quickly withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the figure sitting on the throne.

“We have finally met, Lion King,” he said casually, without the humility of an audience with a king or the reverence of worshipping a god.

“I smell a familiar scent on you.” The Lion King’s gaze fell on Anahn through his helmet. “Britain, the Holy Sword, Vortigern… So that’s it. No wonder you were able to get here. So, you are ‘me’.”

After a moment of silence, he shook his head again: "No, you are not me, we have... gone down different paths."

“Now that you know you’ve taken the wrong path, are you still going to stubbornly continue down this road?” Yanan said.

“Wrong? I have indeed made many unforgivable mistakes in the past, but at least for now, I am still fulfilling my responsibilities,” the Lion King said, his tone unchanged.

"If that's the case, why don't you end Saint Ba?"

"..." The Lion King fell silent.

“Since you have already abandoned the future, then those remaining idealistic souls should be insignificant to you, right? What difference does it make to you whether you abandon one or a thousand? Even if only one remains, in your eyes, it should still be considered as preserving the traces left by the existence of 'humanity'.” A glint of light appeared in Yanan’s eyes. “But until now, you haven’t ended the Holy Expedition. Why is that?”

"..." The Lion King remained silent.

"You delayed the end of the Holy War, tolerated the mortals' rebellion, and ignored Nero's escape, simply because you still harbor confusion in your heart." Anan stepped forward, his tone aggressive. "Admit it, Lion King, you are never truly prepared to face that future! You are still hoping that someone will stand up and, as before, completely negate you!"

"Shut up!" the Lion King roared, his terrifying aura spreading out like a storm, and thunder rumbled from the low clouds, a manifestation of divine wrath.

Yanan stood there without changing his expression, his body as straight as a javelin, never taking a single step back from beginning to end.

"Your words are indeed sharp enough, but words alone are not enough to change my mind."

The Lion King gripped the Holy Lance, and with a deafening roar, the end of the world began to advance, and the Tower of Radiance began to be constructed.

"I am Arthur Pendragon, Lord of the Storms, King of the Dead, the Lion King." The Lion King stood up, revealing a handsome, cold, and hard face like a marble statue beneath his shattered helmet. His holy blue eyes were like frozen ice, devoid of any emotion. "Challenger, if you wish to deny the will of the gods, then prove it to me with your power!"

Chapter Fifty-Three: The War to Slay Gods

Something doesn't seem right...

After waving his staff and unleashing a magic missile the size of a meteor to repel two oncoming dragons, Merlin, dressed in a white mage's robe, turned his gaze to Anan, who was riding on the back of an eight-legged winged horse on a distant hillside, his handsome willow-leaf eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Because she also had to maintain the defensive spells inside the City of Chalk to prevent enemies from sneaking in, her activity area was completely restricted to the vicinity of the city walls. Therefore, when faced with the attacks of the two pure-blooded dragons, Melusin and Nidhogg, she could only choose to passively defend. Once the opponents created distance, she could only watch helplessly and could do nothing.

In this situation, she even had to spare some attention to keep an eye on this powerful outsider—compared to these two, that man was the real threat.

The latter seemed to have noticed her gaze as well, and never left his spot, his eyes fixed on her, as if he was ready to find an opening to strike at any moment.

This is a very clever approach, putting pressure on the enemy while maximizing their own strength. Merlin agrees with this, since their enemy, besides themselves, is the Lion King sitting in the palace. For the sake of the real battle to come, the other side is certainly unwilling to spend too much energy on them.

This is actually what Merlin is willing to see. As long as the outsider does not enter the royal city, she can accept it.

That man is the only one who can pose a threat to the king.

She had devoted countless hours to bringing the plan to this point, and now that success was within reach, she was determined not to allow any accidents or risks to occur.

But beneath this calm and seemingly normal surface, a strange sense of unease began to linger in Merlin's heart, like an annoying mosquito that wouldn't go away.

She didn't know where this feeling of unease came from, and even risked looking back at the royal city behind her, but still found nothing unusual.

But a premonition told her... something was definitely wrong.

Nidhogg's deathly black flames and Melusin's magical light cannon hurtled towards them. Merlin slammed his staff into the ground, and a golden shield unfolded, blocking the black flames and the light cannon.

Seeing the two guys preparing to launch their next attack, Merlin's pale purple eyes finally showed annoyance.

It was because of the two guys' continuous attacks that she was unable to concentrate on figuring out what was wrong. This feeling of frustration made her impatient for the first time.

A cold glint appeared on her delicate face, and a vast and unparalleled magical power suddenly erupted from her body, sweeping across the entire battlefield like a tidal wave, even suppressing the two pure-blooded dragons in the sky!

All the heroic spirits froze abruptly, turning to look at the slender figure on the city wall, their eyes filled with intense horror.

This level of magical fluctuation... is almost on par with most of the main gods!

Merlin... was he really that powerful?

"This boring little game is over." Merlin stepped forward, as if walking on invisible steps in mid-air. The figures of two pureblood dragons were reflected in his pale purple eyes, and killing intent filled the air. "You two annoying little insects, it's time for you to die!"

.......

Camelot, side door.

When that incredibly powerful magical energy swept over, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was secretly hiding there, and Da Vinci, who was responsible for protection, both shuddered at the same time.

Looking towards the main gate, Leonardo da Vinci said to Fujimaru Ritsuka with a wry smile, "It seems that the great sage is finally getting impatient."

Fujimaru Ritsuka bit her lip, her brow furrowed with persistent irritation.

She had always strongly opposed Yanan's crazy plan because it was far too risky.

If Merlin discovers the truth beforehand, then Anaen will immediately be caught in a pincer movement, and it will be too late for them to come to their rescue.

However, since things have come to this, there's no point in saying anything now.

Now, all they can do is complete their tasks and not add any extra burden to Yanan...

Just as Fujimaru Ritsuka was lost in thought, Leonardo da Vinci's delighted voice suddenly rang out from beside her: "They're out!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka subconsciously looked up. At the top of the Wailing Wall, two Heroic Spirit soldiers were helping a blonde woman in a red dress appear. The woman also saw them and waved in their direction.

"It's Prince Nero!" Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes were filled with intense surprise.

"It seems he really succeeded," Leonardo da Vinci said with a smile.