We returned to Britain shortly after, but returning to my previous routines proved impossible due to a certain 'golden retriever' following me everywhere. Despite only meeting Arcueid two weeks ago, I got to understand her quite well due to her being close at every possible moment. She was a little contradictory, carefree and innocent, yet she could be cruel and emotionless at the same time. She found almost everything around interesting, but would lose said interest quickly.
The only thing that remained constant was that she would try everything I did, though she would fail at it more often than not. She tried working like I did and fell asleep after less than five minutes. She tried baking with me and had quite a fun time with the ingredients, though her cookies came out as burnt cardboard. The only thing that stuck was fighting.
During one of my usual training spars with my Knights, she decided to join us before proceeding to beat everyone black and blue. She was strong, strong in a way not like Scáthach, a perfect warrior with unmatched skill, but rather a monster who was far stronger, faster, and harder. She, of course, was also a skilled warrior, but she really needed to use any real techniques. No matter how hard my knights and I tried, we couldn't defeat her; even when I used all but my power of Night, she was still able to overpower me.
But those fights proved productive, allowing me to learn how to better control my power, especially how to adapt to the change from one to a multi-dimensional being. I understood how to draw power from Azure Dream, Garden of Eden, and even the End of the World through Rhongomyniad, allowing me to utilize their properties without manifesting them as Reality Marbles.
Multidimensionality is often hard to grasp for those who don't possess this characteristic, but generally, this refers to three properties: the ability to exist in multiple planes of existence at the same time, the ability to observe and communicate across time, and the power to directly affect reality.
The first property is rather easy to understand; it refers to situations like Merlin's or Artorias, where both are technically in Avalon, yet can appear in reality either directly, like Artoria, who exists in both due to her Avalon, or through illusions and avatars like Merlin, who is bound to Avalon. Most gods possess this property, manifesting in reality as incarnations or avatars, meaning that only destroying those manifestations won't kill them, only making them unable to appear for some time. I also share this characteristic; my existence is linked to Azure Dream and Originium Glintstone, while my body is nothing more than a manifestation.
The second characteristic is often mistaken for divination, but it's important to differentiate them. Divination makes predictions and prophecies, but it is restricted to one's understanding and comprehension, while observation is not; everything can be observed, even if someone doesn't know what it was. To illustrate that, one can make a divination about their future, but can't do the same for a person that they don't know, while when observing the future, one is not bound by that, can see people they haven't yet met, or places that are not connected to them.
Lastly, the power to affect reality. Here, there is an easy example to show when considering this ability: magic. Magic is multidimensional power, drawing from one's magical energy and psyche to change reality. So while mages themselves aren't multidimensional as they need magic as intermediatory, gods with Authorities that can achieve similar effects directly are.
Thanks to Arcueid's advice and example, I started to learn how to use the realms connected to me, not as Reality Marbles, but as Marble Phantasms. Despite the similarity between those terms, they stand for something far from the same. Reality Marble is a pinnacle of Magecraft, this world's name for magic, the ability to manifest an inner world into reality, a marvelous power that can turn the tides of battle by itself. But it was but a poor imitation of the Marble Phantasm.
If Reality Marble is like creating a bubble on the surface of the water, representing the real world, then Marble Phantasm is dyeing the water in your color. The power to change reality into what you desire, accurately called the Fantasy Manifestation. It offers the same, if not greater, powers as Reality Marble, but without the frailty of the 'bubble' and the difficulty of bringing the opponent in.
This technique wasn't easy to control, but I was slowly able to use it in some simple ways. I was far from being able to use it in combat, but it was a solid first step. As more time passed, I should be able to showcase its true potential.
And the time did indeed start to pass rather quickly. With no pressure of the battlefield, a solid plan preventing any accidents, not to mention all the people supporting me, the days in Gloucester were quiet and boring, blurring together as they passed by. The only thing that changed was the improving relationship with the girls around me.
The still growing in numbers Valkyries had fully integrated into our and the Lateran circle, the Vampire sisters officially moved into Azure Dream, and all our plans progressed smoothly, be it rebuilding Britain or constructing the flying fleet for Laterano. Some might consider everything going too smoothly, but in my eyes, it was as smooth as we had prepared everything to be.
So before I could truly register that, more than two years passed, bringing the end of my five-year agreement closer. One day, when I was reviewing the final report about the progress of Britain's development, Artoria appeared by my side, reading the documents from over my shoulder.
-"Another three times increase in the expected harvest?"-She was genuinely shocked.
-"In the past four years, we managed to increase the harvest size by a total of twenty times. The increase should continue up to thirty times the past harvest size, where it would plateau due to oversaturation of the local market and the limit of current land. Next year, all available siloes and storage will be full, you should start working on exporting our grain to the mainland."
-"Will do."-She nodded, bringing a chair close and sitting next to me.-"You're about to return to the front, right?"
-"Yes. It's the last month. I'll go to meet you in your main camp before winter fully sets in."
She nodded, leaning on my shoulder.
-"It's finally about to end."
-"Almost ten years of war. You must be tired."
-"No. I'm relieved. With you and Morgan by my side, I know that everything will go smoothly."
-"You should stop attributing so many things to us. You are the heart of everything."
-"Heart alone is not enough, both of us know that."-She smiled softly.
-"Maybe. But without heart, nothing can begin."-I kissed her head.-"What brings you here today?"
-"I wanted to spend some time with you as I heard that you received some worrying message from Terra."
-"Right… Sigh."-I looked at the ceiling, thinking how to phrase my next sentence.-"I suspected something was happening to one of my friends, but now, it's all but confirmed. Artoria, what should I do when my friend is about to commit a sin so great that the whole world will condemn her?"
-"Save her."
-"But… What if she is no longer herself?"
-"Then you should rescue her even more. In the same way, how you defended me in that Singularity, not caring about what was right or who was wrong. Save her."
I closed my eyes, but she was right; there was only one path forward for me.
-"I'm going to deceive, murder, maybe even start a war, just to save her."
-"But will you regret it?"
-"I don't know."-I shook my head.-"But I know that I will regret not saving her."
-"Then I'll stand by your side, even if your road leads to hell."
-"Don't worry, I won't go to hell, after all, I'm an angel."-I stood up and walked to the window from which I could see three flying fortresses made of white stone.
Those were the results of our work, flying fleet for Pontifica Cohors Lateran. Each was the size of a small mobile city segment and could easy held ~20,000 people. In a magic energy or Originium-rich environment, they could float endlessly, only requiring an external energy source for attack and defense. Modeled after Semiramis' flying fortress from the Holy Grail War, created by Terra technology and magic from both here and my dreams, a culmination of our current capabilities. A weapon that could redraw the power dynamic on Terra.
-"Two years."-I glanced at Artoria, who was still sitting.-"In two years, we will end this war, and I'll return to Terra to deal with everything there.
-"I know. Morgan told me what I needed to know. We will use next year to push Vortigern's forces back to Londinium, sieging his capital for winter and most of the next year."
I nodded, smiling slightly.
-"I can't wait to see your official coronation."
-"Then you'll need to wait a little longer."
I handed my responsibilities to officials from the Tribunals and departed from Gloucester exactly a month later, traveling with all my knights and army of 3,000 strong, including 100 of Mageknights, 100 Margaret's cavalry, 100 Shining's healers, and ~50 Valkyries. It took us two weeks to arrive at Artoria's main army camp, where we set up our tents before joining their ranks and structures.
Artoria was the main commander, but below her were two, now three, deputies. Agravain was in charge of logistics and the camp, Lancelot of the regimen and patrols, and I have taken over the strategic command and governance of captured regions. So despite changing locations, I still had to stay in the office most days, ensuring that the destruction caused by war was minimal and dealt with shortly after.
At the moment, the main camp was located near the city of Winchester, the biggest city captured by Artoria during her campaign. It was only 100 km from Londinium, far enough not to be in constant danger, close enough to put pressure, even though from what I knew, Vortigern was in a state so bad that I doubt he could even feel such a thing.
The war was basically done, already. The North front under Morgan has fully encircled the remaining enemies, putting the remaining few cities under siege. She assured that by the winter next year, there won't be any opposition remaining. On this front, Artoria's army grew to almost 20,000, though the number of knights barely climbed to ~700, still less than before the grand battle that happened years ago.
Vortigern's forces also climbed back to about 10,000 people, with at most 400 knights in his ranks, but this only showed how great an advantage we now held. But with the end of this war approaching, it became obvious to Artoria and me that it won't be soldiers or knights who decide the final outcome, but rather if we could defeat Vortigern without too much destruction to Britain itself.
This whole winter, Artoria would often gaze in the direction of Londinium, her face showing nothing, but I could feel how she got more and more concerned. When I asked her about it one day, she explained without hiding anything.
-"I can feel his anguish, how the world is trying to erase him. Through my Dragon Core, my heart, I can somewhat distinguish what is going on with him."
-"Need me to help you block it?"
-"No. I'll manage."
The winter passed in such an atmosphere, not exactly tense, but the uneasiness couldn't be concealed. When the snow melted, it was time to push forward. The army got divided into three, each heading in a slightly different direction.
The core army, one led by Artoria and me, counting ~10,000 people, headed straight toward Londinium, passing through the old city of Calleva, where a small contingent of enemies was located. They amounted to about 1,000 troops, quickly getting overrun by us, despite the town defenses.
Half of our remaining force, led by Agravain, headed north, acting as our left flank. These past five years, most of the northern part of Logres, the region held by Vortigern. His task was to secure the city of Verulamium, the previously largest roman city in Britain, mostly abandoned in favor of Londinium. After securing it as a logistical hub and securing our backline, he would rejoin the main army in sieging Londinium.
The remaining ~5,000 troops were given to Lancelot, who traveled south-east, becoming our right flank. He was given the job to secure the port cities of Chichester and Pevensey, watching over the coast in case some mainland power tried to act after all.
In just a month, Artoria and I arrived on the fields surrounding Londinium, looking at the gray city on the horizon. From this distance, I could clearly feel the enormous magical power gathered there, a proof of the stakes of this war. We didn't waste much time, dividing our force to set up eight camps in cardinal and ordinal directions around the city.
Artoria took charge of preparing the siege weaponry, mostly trebuchets, but she also ordered preparations of siege towers just in case. Meanwhile, I got to work on setting up a formation to protect us from attack coming from the city, but more importantly, confining the Vortigern inside, ensuring that he didn't flip the board of this war.
So, by the time summer fully arrived, the eight caps were fully completed, each filled with magical formations. Each camp had a leader: Gawain for North, Kay for Northeast, Viviana for East, Shining for Southeast, Margaret for South, Cellinia for Southwest, Tristan for West, and Bedivere for Northwest. Artoria and I stayed mostly in the Northern camp, but we focused on the overall situation.
But we, of course, weren't here for a picnic, regularly launching attacks at the city, trying to chip its defenses while ensuring we didn't suffer much losses. Londinium, fortified by Vortigern's magic and presence, was not an easy place to enter. Noble Phantasms and magic couldn't even scratch the walls most of the time, even Artoria's Excalibur did little to no damage if used in its sealed state.
As for why I didn't act, it was because I could see that if I were to make any direct move, Vortigern would respond in kind. In all those futures, Artoria and I always emerged victorious, but the whole Logres turned into a purgatory, with tens if not hundreds of thousands of people gone due to its destruction. Neither Artoria nor I wished for such an outcome, so I decided to remain passive.
But this was our plan from the very beginning; after all, we still needed to wait for Vortigern's replacement. And it arrived only in the early days of November, Morgan herself bringing them to the camp. But after seeing them arrive, I couldn't stop my brow from twitching.