The other three did not even budge an inch the moment the king declared that he wanted to subjugate the entire multiverse. It was as if the goal was so normal and obvious that it wasn’t even worth a reaction. To keep up with them, Arthur also tried his best not to look too worried. It was probably for the best if they believed in him.

  Still, a bit of worry would be natural, so he stuttered a little and spoke up, “Multiversal…domination? Isn’t that bit…ambitious?”

  “It is, yes. It very much is.” King Arthur shook his head, “But that is why we must do it. Because otherwise, nobody else will try. It would be such a waste, wouldn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged, “The multiverse is right there. It is now open to us, and we can cross between universes as we please. But…nobody is trying to take it all. We have become so boring and neutered. And so, I decided I would be the one who tries to rule over everyone. If not me, then who? Do you understand?”

  Arthur hated that he actually had a justification behind his actions. More than that, he hated the fact that this justification involved a bastardization of Celia’s lesson to him. Sure, he wasn’t wrong about the fact that you didn’t need a great reason to complete a herculean task. Just the fact that you could was enough. That, however, didn’t mean that you just went and did it anyway.

  Not when it involved making everyone in the multiverse your subjects and taking away their freedom. That went a little bit too far.

  “Sure. I understand. It is quite an undertaking, though. I mean, there are infinite universes as far as I am aware.”

  “Oh, that is not what my friends claim. All of these Arthurs have done extensive research on the topic. What they found out is fascinating! Tell him, Knight Arthur!”

  He looked at the man sitting directly to the right of him. That one straightened his position, but then put his legs on the table and slightly turned his cap upwards. His eyes met Arthur’s – one naturally brown, and another a marble blue. Around that second one, disfigured and wrinkled skin.

  “There are indeed infinite universes. You’re not wrong about that, kid.” He spoke up, “But the power of the collapse did not spread very far. The barriers are only weak between one thousand seven-hundred and eighty-two universes until now. Beyond that, the Laws of the Multiverse stop you from crossing over.”

  Kid? Did he just call Arthur a kid? How old was this variant?

  But even beyond that, what he had just learnt was insane. There was only a limited number of universes that were available to them, which meant that two things were suddenly possible. One was King Arthur’s goal. It would take him long, but he could actually pull it off with good planning. Second…was the goal of the person who was after them all.

  Right. The one who was after them all. King Arthur was completely disregarding the existence of the assassins who could be trying to kill him at every corner.

  “What about the assassins, though? You do know that there are assassins after all of us, right?”

  “Yes, I am aware.” King Arthur nodded.

  The man with the marble eye added after he stopped, “We are not concerned with that at all. The assassins are highly amateurish and can be dealt with quite easily, which means we can focus on our goal. Nothing can or will stop the wave of multiversal subjugation that we shall carry with us. So, you know what the question is, don’t you?”

  Arthur gulped, “Whether I’m in or whether I’m out?”

  “Precisely.” The king smiled, putting his arms on the table, “Your powers are fascinating. To reverse damage is something we do not always see, so it is exciting. I also noticed you have two powers, and not just one. This is true, isn’t it?”

  Was it a good idea to reveal that to him? Arthur considered hiding the fact for a moment, but then realized that would only lead to more mistrust. If the king had already seen it somehow, then there was no point in covering it up. So, he came clean and told them that he did.

  “How did you get two?” The man to the king’s left leaned in.

  As his cap moved, his long brown hair came into view. It went all the way to his shoulder, which was something Arthur hadn’t seen before. Other than that, the man did not have any stand-out features other than his golden irises.

  “I have…not decided if I am joining the rest of you just yet. If I do, then I’ll tell you. And if I don’t, then I won’t. Do you see how that works?”

  The king laughed, “You negotiate? Good. That is perfect. That is the energy we need in our Round Table and its Knights. You are an ideal fit. So, tell me. I will send for an attendant and immediately set up your own room in the palace.”

  “But I haven’t decided yet.”

  “That’s what I am telling you to do.” Midway through the sentence, King Arthur’s voice turned gruff as he moved up and slammed his hands on the table out of frustration.

  Arthur did not even flinch. When kids tried to act like adults, they usually tried aggression and forced authority as the first way to do it. They wanted to feel powerful by proving that they could also stand up for themselves instead of crying all the time. Reacting right now would give the king the power once more. He kept himself and looked at the other three.

  They had absolutely no reaction at all. Instead, the man with the marble eye had pulled his cap back down and was resting on the chair as if he were asleep. Actually, he might have indeed gone to sleep already.

  “You can’t just take me from my friends and ask me if I want to conquer the entire multiverse. I’ll take some time to think, won’t I? It’s only fair that I get some.”

  “No. You will sit here, and you will decide. Right now!”

  As soon as the king’s voice lost all composure and his dramatics increased, the man with the long hair leaned towards his ear. He whispered something, which the king heard with a begrudging expression. Then, with a sigh and nod, the man withdrew and gave Arthur a slight nod too before pulling his cap back down.

  “It is almost time to sleep. You can withdraw to a room that an attendant will assign to you. There, you can stay until the Round Table meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. In that meeting, we will be looking forward to your answer. You either join us…or you die.”

  The man with the long hair recoiled a bit with that sentence and leaned in once more. He whispered something, the king sighed, and he went back. He gave Arthur a nod like before and pulled the cap down once more.

  “Fine. You will not die. We will not kill you, and that is a promise. But we will put you in prison for the rest of your life.”

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  The man with the long hair shook his head, and a groan almost escaped him. The same routine followed all the way until the man pulled his cap back down and finally calmed down.

  “Fine!” This time, the ‘fine’ was much more aggressive and forced, “We will not put you in prison for the rest of your life either. You may go regardless. But you shall be an enemy of the Round Table for the rest of existence. That comes with a relentless pursuit and a promise of death and destruction for all around you. You shall regret your decision!”

  Arthur looked at the long-haired man once more, wondering if he wasn’t going to interrupt that, too. And sure enough, it looked like he didn’t appreciate this version of the threat either. But he let it slide, lest they start looking like a comedy duo. So, the king stood up with his hands on the table.

  “Get out. Go to the first attendant you find and tell them that King Arthur ordered that you be given a room. Take this ring as proof of my authority.”

  The king removed a ring from his left finger and threw it on the stone table. It slowly rolled over and stopped right around the middle. Arthur moved up and tried to reach for it, but his hand did not get all the way over there. The table was far too big. Since the other four did not move, he leaned in a bit more. Still, he could not get to it.

  He pushed himself on the table until he was all the way on his stomach, and finally picked it up. Arthur was basically lying down on the king’s sacred Round Table now, but it was for a good reason, so he hoped for forgiveness. Moving back, he tightened his grip around the ring and gave a short bow before turning.

  Before he could leave, though, he did himself a favor and asked, “King Arthur, I had various things with me when I was…brought in. Can you tell me where I might find those?”

  The king shook his head, “You had nothing on you, and no, I cannot tell you anything about it. Leave this instant unless you want to be killed.”

  Controlling his anger and reminding himself that he was better than fighting a literal child, Arthur opened the door and left the room.

  _____________

  The room that the attendant eventually led him into was grand. It was one of those massive rooms that was as big as his entire apartment, and had a single bed that was almost ten times bigger than the one he was used to. The entire place was lined with a soft brown fur carpet and had multiple furniture pieces lying around merely for decoration and vanity.

  He wondered who used to live here before him, or if anyone even did live here before him. Why did they need so many rooms in a palace anyway? Since he did not have too much time, though, he ignored the questions in his mind and went to the bed and sat down. The softness almost melted his heart for some time, but then he reminded himself that he was in enemy territory.

  Making sure that the door leading to the balcony outside was locked, he lay down on the bed and wondered what the others were doing. They had surely noticed his absence by now and were working on a rescue. They would have to know where he was for that, though. And they didn’t know that.

  As he kept thinking, the fatigue from the entire day caught up to him. It hadn’t been as chaotic as the very first day he had met everyone, but it had still been quite a lot, and he still needed sleep to keep up with it all. Arthur did not even know when he drifted off and closed his eyes, but he eventually did.

  “…in there?”

  The next moment, he opened his eyes to a sudden voice.

  To his surprise, there was no more natural light in the room. Time had passed, but it did not feel like it at all. That meant he might have only slept for a couple of hours at best. Now, someone was knocking on the door to his balcony and asking if he was in there. Who was disturbing him right now?

  “Sy, are you in there? Last time I’m checking this room!”

  It was Elle!

  “Yes! Yes, it’s me!”

  Arthur jumped out of bed and ran to the door. Quickly opening it, he noticed Elle sitting on top of a massive, massive eagle. They weren’t really supposed to be big enough to ride on, but here he was. The teacher was about to question how that was even possible, but he got his answer quite easily when Elle jumped down from the bird, and it vanished into thin air.

  It was a creature just like Knuckleduster Joe. Right. The horse had been from this universe, so it made sense that it also had other animals and birds that could do the same thing.

  “Holy shit. Do you know how long it took to find this? This place is, like, massive. Thank God I know where the king’s room is, or else imagine me knocking on his door instead. Would’ve been a disaster.” Elle calmed himself down, “Is it actually that brat Arthur?”

  Arthur nodded, “Yeah, and he is…planning multiversal domination.”

  “What the fuck? That little bitch Arthur?”

  “Yeah. And he’s just as grown as Celia, so…”

  “Holy…what the hell is going on here, man?”

  Holding his head, he walked deeper into the room and sat down on the bed as if he had a bad headache.

  “Also, he has a Round Table, complete with Knights who are other Arthurs.”

  “Other Arthurs? You’re telling me there are more Arthur Crosses roaming around the infinity of the multiverse and crossing barriers, and they are not affiliated with us yet?”

  “Yeah.” Arthur nodded, “Also, the multiverse is not infinite. Not the parts which we can access, at least.”

  “What the fuck?” Elle pushed himself down with confusion, “We left you for a grand total of, almost, what was it? Eight or so hours? How much did you find out?”

  “It’s a kid. Kids share things without realizing. So, you know…”

  “Shit, man. Anyway, we should get out before you get into more trouble.”

  “No, no. I can’t.” Arthur shook his head, “I mean, I can, but I don’t want to. They are planning some very dangerous things here, and the king seems to trust me for now. To a certain extent, at least. He has given me an offer to join the Round Table. If I accept, I may be able to find out more information. Maybe I could even dismantle them from the inside.”

  “What? No. That is not our job, man. Especially not yours. You’re not some super spy who will be able to maintain his cover forever. We’re fucking idiots. We’ll probably be caught and get into trouble, like, maybe ten minutes from now. Ten to one, someone’s gonna knock on the door right now!”

  Someone knocked on the door.

  Arthur and Elle looked at each other, and then at the door. Someone knocked again. They looked at each other once more, and then at the door once more. Someone knocked for a third time.

  “Arthur Cross? I need to talk to you.”

  Arthur recognized the voice from the meeting earlier. It definitely belonged to the long-haired man. His gruff, hoarse voice was difficult to forget. So, he looked back at Elle and raised his eyebrow. Without a word, the suited man hopped down from the bed and rolled under it.

  “That’s not what-”

  Before Arthur could continue speaking, the door slowly started to open. Arthur hurriedly sat on the bed, and it swung open completely. It was indeed the long-haired man, who was still in his complete military getup.

  “Hello.” Arthur tried his best to moderate his voice.

  “Arthur Cross.” The man closed the door behind him and raised his hands.

  Surprisingly, he was holding Arthur’s katana in one hand, and the pink vial Arcadia had given him in the other. He shrugged and slowly started walking closer to him. Arthur stood up in shock and thought of walking forward, too, but decided not to. It was best not to agitate him or be too forward right now.

  “I am not Arthur Cross.” The long-haired man declared.

  “What?”

  “Yeah. I am not Arthur Cross, and I need to tell you about something important.” He tossed the katana on the floor, and it slid all the way over to Arthur’s feet. “You can keep that as insurance of mutual peace. I’ll give you this vial as soon as I am done, alright?”

  “Sure.” Arthur picked the sword up and put the scabbard on his back as it should have been, “Who are you, then? I am guessing you are from somewhere military-adjacent. Or is that just a costume the kid gave you?”

  “No. These are ours. King Arthur didn’t give us these.” The man put his hands back down, “For now, though, let’s focus on the important details. Introductions are in order. I am Lieutenant General Dean Farland. I am part of the Cosmic Anomaly Investigation Bureau from Universe A.”