Standing on a rock, I looked out across the battlefield the Ancient One had prepared for us, and it was relatively simple: a large, open plain with very few features.
Perfectly suited for a direct clash of two forces, with neither having much of an advantage.
Though I would have loved it if she had given us some fortifications, maybe some walls, a castle?
But I guessed that was too much to ask for; she hadn't had much time to set things up, which was a strange thing to think about, since she had the Time Stone, so she should really have all the time in the universe.
Still, using such an artifact wasn't easy, and it would easily attract attention, just like SHIELD had caused with the Tesseract, and the universe didn't need to know where the Time Stone was if it could be avoided.
Earth already had the Mind Stone locked up under Camelot, and having another one would only draw even more eyes to this lonely rock.
"This is..." the shocked voice of the sorcerer in charge came from beside me.
"It is what I could muster, I just hope it is enough," I replied without taking my eyes off the far distance.
Wong, one of the Ancient One's most trusted followers, looked up at me with disbelief in his eyes. He was beyond shocked at the sight before him.
He was in charge of coordinating the Order of Mystic Arts detachment sent to help me transport my forces into this special dimension. It was simple enough work, just arrange for a few others to open some portals and hold them open while my forces walked through.
What shocked him was the sheer scale of the tide of steel that was gathering down before us.
"How many are there?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.
"One hundred thousand," I answered without missing a beat.
In return, he drew in a sharp breath of air. "So many," he muttered under his breath, a sliver of fear slipping into his voice.
And indeed, it wasn't hard to understand his current emotions; he knew well what kind of battle this would be, how important it was, and that for days he and the other sorcerers of Kamar Taj had been preparing.
This would be a war like nothing else he had ever experienced, like nothing recorded in the great library. A war that would decide the very future of the Earth, either they would win, or the forces of Hell would cause endless suffering, even the protections around Earth would likely not be able to hold.
Making it a world of pure suffering, or at least, that was the worst-case scenario. And something they wanted to avoid, and the biggest key to avoiding that, would be the battle here.
A battle between the forces of the Hell Dimensions and the forces of Camelot.
Wong knew the forces of Camelot were strong, those Knights of the Round Table? Monsters in human skin. Walking magical nuclear weapons, that was one way to describe them.
Still, they were few in numbers, a handful of powerful elites.
He had imagined how the war would go, how it would look — each knight would be surrounded, fighting desperately through endless numbers, using those massive attacks Mordred had demonstrated.
A test of stamina, keeping an eye out for the truly powerful demons, all while Arthuria herself duelled demon lords.
A handful of noble knights, standing against the tide.
But this?
This was nothing like that. Before him stood a vast army of steel, knights in shining armor, each identical to the others, and every single one of them clearly magical and powerful.
Enforcement Knights.
Legions of them.
Wong wasn't a stranger to them; while he hadn't seen them himself, he had heard about them. London did have a Sanctum after all. And thanks to the agreements between Arthuria and the Ancient One, they were fully able to operate openly within Albion.
Nothing much had changed; people knew the order was a thing, but other than that? Nothing much.
Still, with the Sanctum there, news also flowed with it; many curious sorcerers had taken the chance to explore Albion, and see how magical it was.
And while most things hadn't changed much, one thing that had changed was the existence of Enforcement Knights.
The special knights could be found everywhere across the land of Albion, in every city and every village; they were as much a part of it as pubs and fish and chip shops.
As sorcerers, they had naturally been interested in these beings because they were constructs of pure magic.
Their nature was both known and utterly mysterious, because how does one go about conjuring a knight of steel and magic, and imbue them with enough intelligence to act as police and enforce the law?
Entire lectures had taken place back in Kamar Taj, as people discussed this and tried to figure out how it might be possible to do so with the Mystic Arts.
One thing all of Kamar Taj agreed upon was that those magical constructs were monstrously powerful; while weaker than the Knights of the Round Table themselves, they were still superhuman.
Seemingly invincible to firearms, strong enough to lift cars, and fast enough to catch up with a speeding car. That, combined with the fact that they never grew tired, made them the perfect guards and soldiers.
But Wong had never considered how many there were; he knew that they were everywhere, but without seeing this many at once, he had never realized how many would be needed to have them stationed all around Albion.
The reason he never put two and two together was that he always felt that something this powerful should be rare; they should be elite.
But as he beheld the army before him, he was shocked and scared, because a force like this? Who could stop them?
I could feel the wheels turn in Wong's head as he stood there silently beside me.
And I didn't judge him for it, because this army was indeed an impressive sight, even in my time as the King of Knights, I couldn't call up an army like this.
Knights were elite warriors; to be a Knight was to be noble.
Yes, it was the lowest of noble ranks, but it was still a noble rank.
Not to mention, in life, the Round Table knights themselves weren't as strong as these Enforcement Knights, with very few exceptions.
We were still humans back then, even I, with the heart of a dragon, was still a mortal.
But these?
These one hundred thousand Enforcement Knights? They were based on the spirit origin of a heroic spirit. They weren't full heroic spirits, weren't servants, but their strength wasn't far from it.
It was like having a full army of one hundred thousand heroic spirits, who couldn't use their Noble Phantasms. Well, and who have limited mental capacity.
But the facts stand, this was my strongest army, one that wouldn't flinch in a battle against horrors, one that wouldn't be broken beneath a demon charge.
This was the might of Camelot!
"I never realized you had such a force. Is this all the knights of Albion?" Wong finally asked.
"No," I shook my head, "While parts of them are gathered from around Albion, I could hardly take them all, after all, without them, Albion would be nearly defenseless, the four who remain behind can't protect everything."
Wong looked at me, then back at the army, clearly trying to imagine what else I could be hiding away, the sheer resources I commanded must be unimaginable to him.
He took a deep breath, "I see," he said after a long pause.
"It will have to do," I said, trying to reassure him, but at the same time, my thoughts were elsewhere.
One hundred thousand knights was a lot, but would it be enough against the endless hordes of the Hell Dimensions? I didn't know.
I had to trust that the Ancient One had done her research, that she knew what she was doing, that she wasn't leading me into a trap. I had to trust her, because I had no other choice.
The demons were coming, and they would not stop. They would tear through this world and leave nothing but ashes in their wake. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't.
This was my world. My people. My responsibility.
My army stood ready.
I had my best knights with me.
That had to be enough, it had to. Earth had little more to offer than this; the Avengers would do little against this enemy. They hadn't had the time to learn how to deal with magical foes yet.
Even if someone like Hulk and Magneto could still kill many, the problem lay in their inability to defend themselves against magic.
As the Scarlet Witch, Wanda once showed, the Hulk is easily manipulated, and the Avengers were powerless before her magic.
So while most demons likely were unable to use much magic, any of the more powerful, more intelligent ones could. And they would be able to make their lives beyond miserable.
No, my Enforcement Knights were the only real force Earth could gather; they could fight demons while resisting magic.
It was not without reason that the Ancient One came to me for help. She likely knew what I could field, and knew it was needed.
I trusted her.
And it was time to show the enemy why I had earned that trust.
(End of chapter)
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