There was no doubt—Morgan le Fay was a woman of breathtaking beauty,
to the point where it was no exaggeration to call her the very embodiment of beauty itself.
The pure elegance of a young maiden, the mature allure of a grown woman...
it was as if, one could glimpse the finest traits of every age, upon her figure.
She possessed a unique charm that perfectly blended innocence and seduction into one irresistible existence.
Even in the dim alleyway, when she lifted her head, her stunningly beautiful face shone with radiant allure.
However, the moment he clearly saw the woman's appearance,
Kenneth's pupils shrank violently, because...
"Gray?!"
Beside him, Reines almost blurted out in shock.
There was no mistake, the woman before them looked exactly like Gray.
No..not merely resembling her, but perfectly identical.
However..
"Get back, Reines!"
Just as Reines was about to step forward, Kenneth suddenly turned his head and barked at her harshly.
Facing her confused gaze, he said coldly,
"I've already told you before, mages are deceivers.
You don't judge someone's identity by their face.*
As he spoke, he turned his gaze back to the woman standing in front of him.
"Her magic circuits are completely different from Gray's."
Indeed, from the very moment the woman had activated her magical energy,
Kenneth had sensed it.
This woman...
Her magic circuits were nothing that a modern magus could ever hope to possess.
There was no doubt...
This unbelievably bewitching woman was, in fact, a monster.
Too Powerful..
Hearing his words, Reines, regaining some of her composure, also narrowed her eyes in wary examination of the woman at the mouth of the alley.
And then, as if realizing something,
a slight tremor ran through her body.
Normally, a magus forms circuits within their body,using them to draw mana from the world,
functioning as a substitute for nerves dedicated solely to magic.
The number of magic circuits a magus possesses is determined at birth.
But the woman in front them, Reines couldn't even begin to fathom the vastness of her circuits.
There was no doubt.
This woman was a magus from the Age of Gods, and not merely that,
her magic circuits had already transcended into the realm of the monstrous.
But...
Who is she?
And why did she bear Gray's exact same face?
Reines's mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
"Looks like you have no intention of yielding, do you?"
Morgan le Fay raised her head and looked toward Kenneth, her tone gentle and calm.
"Should I say you possess a sense of dignity... or rather, you are blindly ignorant of your own strength?"
Kenneth had already regained his composure.
Hearing her words, he gazed silently at the woman before him, then slowly, arrogantly smiled.
"You will pay the price for your arrogance, magus of the Age of Gods."
"Oh?"
Morgan le Fay narrowed her eyes slightly.
"You—"
Boom!
Before her words could even finish,
countless mercury bullets surged forth!
In an instant, the mercury wrapped tightly around Morgan le Fay's ankles.
Although Kenneth was a Lord, he was no fool.
He knew very well that the moment this woman blocked their way, she was their enemy.
And against an enemy, there was no need for notions of fairness or honor.
Their earlier conversation had merely been a distraction—
Kenneth had been quietly directing the Moon Cell's mercury to creep toward the woman in secret.
"Your greatest mistake was arrogance.
Even if you're a magus of the Age of Gods, in the end, your body is still nothing more than the fragile shell of a human being."
As he spoke, Kenneth let out a cold snort and slowly raised his hand.
"Now, regret your arrogance—
magus of the Age of Gods."
This time, the mercury behind him was no longer a scattering of bullets,
but a densely packed barrage covering nearly half the alley.
The ambient mana began to fluctuate slightly, as magical energy condensed into every single mercury bullet.
Then, all at once, they were unleashed,
screaming through the air toward Morgan le Fay!
"Arrogance, is it?"
However, Morgan merely lowered her eyes slightly, gazing at the mercury tightly binding her ankles.
Soon after, her lips curved into an irresistibly bewitching smile.
For some reason, a sudden sense of foreboding gripped Kenneth's heart.
Facing the incoming bullets, Morgan neither dodged nor flinched.
Instead, she simply raised her right hand, forming it into the shape of a gun.
Her soft red lips parted, and with an unbelievably sweet voice, she spoke.
"Bang."
At her fingertip, a tiny, delicate sphere of water floated outward, meeting the barrage of mercury bullets head-on.
The instant the water sphere made contact with the first mercury bullet,
for a fleeting moment, the entire world seemed to turn gray.
It was as if time itself had frozen.
Then—
Mana from the air around them surged wildly into the water sphere,
and detonated with violent force!
The greatest difference between the Age of Gods and the modern era lay in the density of magical energy.
The denser the mana, the harder it was for ordinary people to survive,
but in turn, the greater the power that magi from the Age of Gods could wield.
What seemed to be a simple water sphere, under Morgan le Fay's control,
became a terrifying magic beyond the reach of modern mages.
Buzz—!
The water sphere enveloped all the mercury bullets, then exploded in a deafening blast.
A sharp, piercing hum rang out,
and the mercury bullets shattered into countless fragments.
However, like living silver slimes,
the fragments writhed and crawled back toward Kenneth's feet, slowly reforming.
"Indestructible mercury, is it?
Though you're still young, among modern magi, you certainly qualify to be called a genius."
Morgan le Fay watched the scene calmly, speaking in a voice full of detached admiration.
Standing beside her, Gareth cautiously glanced toward the alley entrance, then whispered nervously,
"Mother, if we make this much noise... what if the Knights of the Round Table hear it?"
After all, not long ago, Gawain and Agravain had just passed through a nearby street on patrol.
If they heard this commotion...
"If they hear, they hear."
Morgan le Fay continued to gaze serenely ahead.
"Either way, we'll have to deal with them sooner or later.
It's been years since I last saw them."
Mother...?
Hearing the conversation between the two, Kenneth couldn't help but frown deeply,
scrutinizing the woman before him with growing suspicion.
That girl called "Gareth"... if he recalled correctly, was indeed one of the Knights of the Round Table from the legends of King Arthur.
And for her to call someone "mother"...
As that thought surfaced in his mind,
Kenneth's throat tightened,
his face growing visibly pale.
"No way..."
He stared blankly at the woman before him, involuntarily taking a half-step backward.
"Morgan le Fay?!"