The rugged wilderness of central Britain lay shrouded in deep darkness.
On that silent road, with only the moonlight as her lone guide, Lily, the princess knight in pure white, rode alone on her white steed.
"Haa… haa…"
Her breaths were ragged, and her steed, foam flecking its muzzle, looked every bit as exhausted.
It was the [Geass] contract she had forged with Merlin.
Ever since slipping away from the Arthurian army's camp, Lily had ridden day and night for several days on end.
She would have preferred to ride straight to North Wales, even if it meant collapsing from exhaustion the moment she arrived, but Lily drew on the reins and slowed her mount's pace.
Since she couldn't arrive and immediately become a burden to Kay, she paced herself and managed her strength.
Patting her weary steed, she decided to take a short break in a small clearing beside the forest lining the road.
She gave her horse water, then eased her own hunger with the tough jerky and hard bread she carried.
Compared to those days in Arthur's army, when one bloody battle followed another, this arduous journey—undertaken simply to reunite with Kay—felt positively like a sweet little outing.
Just as she had replenished her strength and prepared to mount her saddle once more…
Wiiiiiing~!!
"…?!"
A surge of intuition struck Lily's mind hard. A wave of magical energy so alien and intense it sent chills down her spine.
Instinctively, she drew Caliburn from her waist and looked up at the night sky.
"What on earth is that…?"
But the shape tearing through the clouds and slashing across the night sky was nothing short of grotesque—something one would never see under the heavens of Britain.
A humanoid steel robot, its armor flickering with neon lime-green and crimson hues, blasting flames as it flew.
Lily thought it might be some new Saxon war contraption or even a monstrous lifeform, and she drew upon Caliburn's magical energy.
But moments later, her keen senses picked up a power signature emanating from beneath that steel shell—one she knew all too well, and was deeply longing for.
"Wait. That power signature… could it be X Alter?!"
Lily shouted into the void, her voice a mixture of surprise and joy.
As if it had caught her call, the steel suit that had been slicing through the sky abruptly halted in midair, then throttled back its booster flames and began to descend slowly toward Lily's clearing.
Kwoom!Chiiiiik!!
The [Armored Suit] landed with a heavy mechanical thud, emitted a pale glow, and then dematerialized.
"Phew. I was just starting to feel lonely, so I'm glad to hear a familiar voice."
Artoria X Alter pushed her glasses up and greeted her in her usual nonchalant tone.
"X Alter!! It's been so long! The last time we saw each other was… in Orkney, five years ago, right?"
Lily sheathed Caliburn, dashed forward, and grabbed Artoria X Alter's hand. X Alter offered a slight smile and nodded in return.
"Indeed, Lily. I never expected we'd meet like this, in the middle of a wilderness after five years."
"Yeah! But what was that just now?"
"It's a secret weapon that Morgan developed based on my abilities: the [Armored Suit]."
"Morgan? You mean you've been with her this whole time?"
"Yes. I figured that if I wanted to find our brother and kill Merlin—the source of all evil—I'd need Morgan's help and her surveillance network spanning all of Britain."
Artoria X Alter clicked her tongue and began gossiping.
"But in the end, she wasn't any help at all in finding our brother. She stayed holed up in her own domain doing useless experiments. Still, thanks to her network, we did learn that he safely returned and is now in North Wales, so that was something."
"Ah…! You were also headed to see brother, weren't you?!"
"Of course. I too had just severed ties with Morgan and was flying to North Wales."
She glanced around and asked:
"But Lily, what about Artoria? Why are you wandering this wilderness alone?"
At her sharp question, Lily's expression darkened. With a sigh, she laid bare the full story: Merlin's deception, how she had fled from Arthur's army, and the circumstances that had led her to use the [Geass Scroll].
When Artoria X Alter finished listening to Lily's tale, she held her forehead in disbelief.
"Haah. Lily, are you stupid? Or has crawling around battlefields for five years scrambled your brain?"
"St-Stupid?!"
"No matter how urgent brother is, why would you do the stupid thing of signing a [Geass] that could tear your heart apart? Wouldn't it make more sense to tell Artoria herself—rather than play along with that con artist Merlin?"
Rather than reacting, Lily offered an oddly serene, almost unhinged smile at the scolding.
"It's not such a loss, X Alter. Merlin told me to conceal the current dire state of Arthur's army. [Geass] is a word game—you see, because the word 'current' is in there, once time passes and the situation changes, its power will fizzle out. There's a loophole: I can still talk about how Gawain has grown, or anything from the past."
Lily's eyes dulled as she sank into thought.
"Besides… if I can meet our brother without Merlin's persistent meddling and illusions by just accepting such minor restrictions, that's a bargain. I refuse to be the one who wipes the blood from a sword at my sister's back anymore."
"…I'm starting to wonder whether you're stupid or just outright insane."
Artoria X Alter shook her head as if appalled. At that moment, Lily's eyes sparkled and she grasped X Alter's hand tightly.
"So X Alter! Me passing you information, and you revealing it to brother—none of that violates the [Geass]!"
Lily's intuition screamed that her logic was flawless. Indeed, the [Geass] affecting Lily showed no sign of reaction.
"…Hoho."
Artoria X Alter glinted her glasses and gave a thumbs-up.
"Even with a few screws loose, a Pendragon is still a Pendragon. Very well. I'll tattle to brother about every last detail of that damn Merlin's schemes and the pitiful state of Arthur's army."
"Hehe, thanks, X Alter. I feel bad for Artoria, but if I stay with her, who knows what Merlin might do. He might banish me to another world like he did brother, labeling me 'interference'. Since he won't do that to her, he'll push me aside instead."
"I admit that Merlin is exactly that kind of trash who would do such a thing. This choice is for the best. Even if it takes time, it's only a matter of days. Stalling won't last that long. And our brother—no matter what tricks Merlin plays on Artoria—will ultimately crush him anyway."
Artoria X Alter believed that even if anything happened to Artoria, everything would be resolved as long as Kay joined them.
After all, just his return would unleash a storm of monumental change across Britain.
With their interests perfectly aligned and the warm blast of camaraderie just released...
Lily's gaze drifted toward the thickly wrapped bundle tucked inside X Alter's clothes.
"Um, X Alter, I've been curious… what's that bundle you're holding against your chest? I just saw something wiggle in it."
"Oh, this?"
Artoria X Alter cleared her throat and carefully opened the bundle. Inside, a tiny, adorable newborn baby—bearing the same hair color as Lily—was soundly asleep.
"Whose… whose baby is that?!"
Lily recoiled in shock, taking a step back.
Artoria X Alter pushed up her glasses with one hand and, in a grave, deliberate tone, dropped a bombshell.
"Don't be alarmed, Lily. This is… our baby."
"…What?!"
Lily's brain ground to a halt.
Lily's face, frozen for a few seconds, turned bright red like a tomato.
"W-Wh-wh-wh-what nonsense is this!! Our baby?! How does a woman give birth to a baby with another woman!! You mean to tell me Merlin cast some kind of bizarre penile-creation magic on us without our knowledge…?!"
"I'm joking, joking. Admittedly, it's not completely impossible for two women to do it with sorcery."
Artoria X Alter closed the bundle back up.
"It's half a joke, half the truth. The real identity of this child is a pureblood Pendragon [Homunculus]—carrying the combined genes of you, me, and all our Pendragon sisters, merged with Morgan's DNA."
"A-Homunculus…?"
Lily was dumbstruck, unable to find her voice.
"You mean Morgan was conducting such inhuman experiments while brother was away? And you helped her?!"
"Yes. I won't make excuses—I feel a heavy guilt about that, too."
She patted the baby's cheek sadly.
"But I desperately needed Morgan's power to find clues about our brother's whereabouts. I trust you can understand that desperation, at least a little."
"…I understand. So you stole this child from Morgan's workshop. Now what do you intend to do with it?"
In response to Lily's question, Artoria X Alter looked up, met Lily's eyes, and answered with a determined expression.
"It's simple. Lily, we're going to co-parent this child. And then… we'll register this child as brother's own offspring."
"W-What?! You're going to force brother to take on someone else's burden with not a drop of his blood in them?!"
Lily straightened her expression, anger flashing in her eyes.
"Have you forgotten how brother toiled for decades because of us sisters?! He cooked our meals every day, raised us until he was eventually exiled to another world! And now you want to saddle him with someone else's child? That's completely shameless!"
Lily's retort hung in the air, but Artoria X Alter shook her head firmly.
"I know. But Lily, you also know that even if we searched all of Britain, there's no one warmer who could raise this child properly than brother. If we'd left it in Morgan's hands, it would have grown up either as a monster or merely a pawn."
Artoria X Alter clasped Lily's hand tightly.
"And unlike before, we're stronger now. Brother won't have to cook meals and wash diapers all alone. We'll help him, be this child's real family. Besides, they truly are of his blood."
At that compelling appeal, a face flashed through Lily's mind.
It was Gawain—a complete rogue who had fallen so far off the path, killing a messenger without a shred of remorse.
Recalling the horrific consequences of Kay's absence, Lily had no choice but to bow her head in agreement.
"…Indeed, brother is the only hope who can save this child. Understood, X Alter. I'll help."
"Good choice. Now, let's grab something to eat first and then depart."
And so, the two of them headed once more toward North Wales.
And there, at that place...
"What?! Sex?! Already?!?!"
"X Alter, you're too loud…."
"You went and did it with my sisters behind my back! You were playing me the whole time!"
"Why are you saying that…? Well, whatever you say, it'll just be an excuse, I guess."
"You know me well! So hurry up and take your clothes off!"
"Wha…?!"
"Are you really that clueless about what we're going to do?! Sex! Sex!"
"S-Sex?! Here?!"
"Yes!!!"
"What the hell?! This is a conference room!!!"
"There's no one here anyway! Come on, over here! You've already been with this woman and that woman, so hurry up and become my personal… sex partner!"
"What are you talking about, kid?! Where did you learn stuff like that?!"
"Have you not heard that slums crawling with bounty hunters are overflowing with brothels? Of course, I've only seen and heard about it—I've never been inside! I'm still a pure maiden!"
"Because of you, I've never set foot in one! W-Wait! Don't rip my clothes!"
It is said that Kay was almost raped by X.