FATE/OUTSIDE EXPERIENCE

Part I: Blood Thread

Chapter 2: Draconic Remnants

Connla and Gilles continued south along the Gironde for about half an hour. As Da Vinci suggested to her, she kept a fair distance behind him as he rode on his horse. He kept shifting his eyes back and forth between what was in front of him and the apprehensive look in his unusual companion's expression.

He wanted to try talking to her, so he wondered, "What seems to be the matter?"

"Hm?" Connla looked up at him.

"You've been averting your gaze from me for some time. Was there something I said that offended you?"

"No, not at all. I appreciate you showing me the way."

"Then is there something else on your mind? I'd be happy to listen, if you so wish."

"Well… I'm often thinking about one thing or another. I guess you could say I always look like this."

"Oh, my. That's not good for you," Gilles frowned. "A young lady like you shouldn't be so pensive all the time. It would ruin your complexion."

Da Vinci whispered under her breath, "You're one to talk…"

"Ahem!" Connla coughed to drown out the insult. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about me, Sir Gilles. I might not look it to you, but I'm perfectly fine."

"Is that so? Then I shall not pry any further," the knight replied and returned his attention to the road.

She sighed lightly and thought, It's so weird, knowing how a good person like him will eventually change into one of history's most despicable criminals. But there's nothing I can do about it. One of the most important rules in Chaldea is to never influence how the locals will live out their lives. Our job is to correct external threats to humanity's overall timeline while preserving the proper foundations, even if it means allowing history's worst villains to be born.

It was a conundrum that she didn't like at all, but she understood the dangers of trying to warp the world's history into something of her own fashioning. Such efforts would inevitably turn her down a path of evil that she never wanted to tread. It went against common sense, yet the wisdom behind leaving things well alone was perfectly sound in the long run. That was why Connla made no attempt to tell Gilles anything about what was in store for him in the future.

As the pair continued along the river's edge, that was when they noticed something unusual happening up ahead. Gilles commanded his horse to stop with a yell, and Connla asked, "What's wrong?"

He dismounted and glared ahead with a fierce look in his narrow eyes. "There appears to be a caravan that is under attack."

Just as he claimed, about 300 meters ahead was a skirmish between merchants and their families versus a gang of thugs wearing leather and fur pelts. The bandits were especially merciless as they struck down the unarmed men with their swords, and restrained the women and children to force them inside cages with wheels.

"Damn them!" Gilles seethed, his tired eyes suddenly bulging wide like saucers. "Miss Connla, please remain here! I shall dispatch of these fiends immediately!"

"W-Wait!" the little girl protested, but he was already out of earshot.

"This isn't good," Da Vinci frowned hard. "He may be strong, but I don't think he is able to fend off an entire horde of brigands by himself."

"But didn't you say he was a Servant earlier?"

"Technically speaking, he is a human who belongs to this time period, but can be summoned as a Servant. As he is right now, he doesn't have the strength of a Heroic Spirit like you and I do. If he is killed right now, France's history will not proceed as it should, and we could wind up with another Singularity on our hands."

"So even if it means that should he survive this, Sir Gilles will still become a madman in the future…?"

"No one ever said that human history was pretty."

Connla placed a hand over her chest to settle the uneasy feeling growing inside her.

Ms. Da Vinci's right, she thought. It is Chaldea's sworn duty to preserve the foundation of humanity. As a Servant of the organization, I have to do my best to meet that vision.

Da Vinci smiled lightly and said, "You know what you need to do, right?"

"Mm. First I'll get the civilians out, then provide support for Sir Gilles."

With that, the young Lancer hurried toward the assaulted caravan to see if she could protect anyone.

While Connla and Da Vinci were busy talking with each other, Gilles raced at the attackers with a deadly angry expression on his pallid face.

"Halt, villains!" he shouted, unsheathing his sword and rushing toward the commotion.

"What the-?" one of the bandits exclaimed.

"It's De Rais, one of that witch's supporters!" another one yelled, seemingly undeterred about facing a national hero.

"You mean one of Jeanne D'Arc's followers? Oh, perfect! I heard this guy is stupidly rich! If we can bag him, we can hold him ransom for more money than those peasants!"

Gilles' already furious appearance grew even more twisted as he heard those selfish words. The moment he got into his battle stance, the leader of the thieves commanded his subordinates to attack him all at once. They charged at him with enthusiastic battle cries, excited at the prospect of taking down a famous French hero and threatening the government with his safety. However, what they didn't expect was how vicious the marshal would be – when the first assailant reached him, he rushed in low and jammed his long sword through his abdomen, then sliced clean through the first victim's torso and cleaved diagonally across another bandit's chest.

This wasn't a 'fight' so much as it was a one-sided slaughter on Gilles' part. One by one, the men fell to his piercing blade, and the knight's green clothes were gradually stained red with splatters of blood. The thieves' leader started to realize that his opponent was actually enjoying the unpleasant killing, judging by the gleeful grin plastered over his face and the frenzied look in his dark eyes.

"Heh heh! Wonderful!" Gilles exclaimed. "It is usurpers like you that should be cleansed from this nation without a trace!"

"Holy shit!" one of the brigands shouted in panic and dropped his axe. "Forget this! I'm not throwing my life away to fight this freak!"

"Freak…? Did I hear you call me a freak just now…?" the crazed knight demanded.

He took chase after the now unarmed man and coldly slashed down his back, killing him instantly. He stamped his boot over the corpse and raved, "That's right! That's exactly where you belong, maggot! While my beloved Jeanne has returned to Heaven where she rightfully belongs, your fate is to be nothing but worm food! Disappear from my sight and besmirch France's honor no longer, wastrel!"

The bandit leader cursed beneath his breath, livid that his men were too weak to stand up against one man. He told one of his men, "Go back to the hideout and let it loose!"

"What!? But boss, that thing is-!"

"Shut up! Do you want to be another bloodstain on that monster's blade!?"

"Uuh…"

"Just go! It's only natural that we'd have to take down the most fervent follower of a bona fide witch with our own secret weapon!"

The subordinate reluctantly nodded and escaped from the foray. Gilles heard the leader's insults and exclaimed, "Are you the boss of this mess of riff-raff?"

"And what if I am?" the ragged man retorted, holding a broadsword in both hands.

"Scum… Trash… Scoundrels… All of you are the same… Whether it's a lowly outlaw like you or an 'esteemed' bishop like Cauchon, you're all the goddamn same… None of you understand the gift that Jeanne D'Arc blessed this godforsaken land of reprobates with! You all had one chance to redeem your sins under her guidance, and you all threw it away!"

"So what? That God of hers won't fill our stomachs and clothe our backs, right? However pretty her ideals were, the fact that we live under the heels of rich bastards like you will never change!"

The knight was astounded to hear such a brutal opinion of the deity he believed in. "No, you're wrong… God is… God is good… H-He is…"

"What a joke! God doesn't exist! He's just a fictional character created for people in the Church to extort money!"

Gilles seethed so hard that his body shook.

God… doesn't exist…?

"Hah! Looks like I found your Achilles heel!" the bandit leader laughed. "If you believe in something that doesn't exist, then you'll die without salvation! Bring it on, you self-righteous piece of shit!"

The man let out a fierce war cry and raced toward the dumbfounded knight.

Connla hurried past Gilles' battle with the thieves, taking a quick glance to notice how brutally he was taking the men out. As she reached the wheeled cages filled with captured women and children, the three remaining kidnappers who were struggling to get ready for their escape wielded their weapons when they saw the unusual child warrior equipping her spear.

"Not so fast!" she shouted and slid low beneath the first man's legs to completely knock him off his feet. He sailed headfirst into the dirt and lost consciousness. Just as Connla was about to use an Ansuz Rune to burn the last two enemies' weapons, Da Vinci suddenly cut in, "Don't use your magic!"

"What!? Why not!?"

"Remember what I told you about Jeanne D'Arc being executed for witchcraft and heresy? If those people see you flinging spells around, they'll think you're a witch as well!"

"Ugh… Guess I'll have to handle this the old-fashioned way then."

The young Servant spun her spear in her hand and rushed in to confront the thieves head-on. Since they were ordinary humans, it was extremely easy for her to just focus on disarming them rather than killing them like Gilles was. All it took was a short scuffle consisting of lithe twirls and precise spear swings to knock their swords out of their hands, followed by her jabbing the non-bladed end of her weapon against their stomachs to knock the wind out of them. Once the enemies were dispatched, Connla broke the cage trolley's lock with a mighty stab and freed the women and children.

"Thank you so much!" one lady exclaimed, then took her crying child back to the caravan.

"I second that!" another woman sobbed. "They were going to sell us women to brothels and our children to slave dealers! Such horror! What in the world has happened to this country!?"

"Everything's okay now," Connla assured. "Hurry on to Bordeaux. You should be safe there."

"Mom?" a little girl whimpered, then pointed towards Gilles. "Is that man one of the bad guys…?"

Her mother gazed at the carnage, then immediately covered her daughter's eyes and shouted angrily, "Oh, the humanity!"

"That's Sir Gilles, isn't it?" the first lady wondered.

"That can't be… I thought he was a man of nobility and honor…"

Connla grit her teeth, realizing that the former captives were being traumatized by the French marshal's savage murdering. She shouted as loudly as she could, "Just go! I'll make sure you all escape safely!"

The women and children gasped and reacted to her command by sprinting back to the surviving male merchants in a horde. Not only did they witness enough brutality to scar their souls for life, they also had to deal with bringing their dead to Bordeaux. As much as she wanted to help them, Connla still had a battle to focus on. She first tied up the unconscious thieves so they wouldn't escape, then hurried towards Gilles' fight with the surprisingly experienced bandit leader.

"HRAGH!" the thug shouted and swung over Gilles when he was caught wide open.

"Mmph!" the confounded knight managed to parry, and they continued dueling for another agonizing minute. He was still struggling to come to terms with what his opponent said, not so much because it was an insult to the Holy Maiden's mission. Rather, there seemed to be a hint of understanding, or perhaps it could be called an epiphany.

God doesn't exist… If it did, it would have saved Jeanne. No, more than that… It would have saved France from the vices of corruption and violence before Jeanne ever even needed to rise in rebellion. If it had done anything, Jeanne would never have been called a heretic and burned at the stake. She died for a god… who did nothing for her… because it didn't exist…

Gilles' anguished expression immediately turned into sinister glee.

I see… I see how it is! Why did I not realize this sooner!?

With unexpected agility, he spun around the brigand's sword slash, then jammed his blade through the man's exposed midsection.

"If there is no god to offer salvation," the crazed knight ranted, "then it stands to reason that there is also no god to punish us for our sins!"

"Gwah!? Agh! Urgh!" the stricken bandit yelped with each piercing hot strike Gilles made into his skin. He lost count of how many times he carved his fury into him, and he didn't care. His moment of menacing self-discovery made him lose his mind to the carnage.

"Looks like you were right, scum! There really is no god! We are beasts of anarchy with no guiding hand to lead us! I have the freedom to tear you limb to limb just as much as you have the freedom to terrorize France with your vile ways!"

The frenzy only lasted a few seconds, so when he came to his senses, he found the cut up outlaw lying on his back, covered in probably dozens of bleeding wounds and looking more like a fresh chunk of butcher meat than an actual human. By some miracle though, he was still breathing. Gilles wouldn't accept anything except a brutal death, so he readied his saber in a stabbing motion and shouted, "Remember your maker, refuse of society! When you wind up in Hell and wonder who sent you there, remember the name Bluebeard!"

"STOP!"

Before Gilles could lower his blade into the fallen man's heart, he suddenly came face-to-face with the polished head of a spear. The astonished knight looked over and found Connla near him, pointing her weapon straight at his eyes. Her severe, strict expression threw him off, considering that it was coming from a child that wasn't even a decade old yet.

"That's enough," she demanded quietly.

The adrenaline rushed out of Gilles' head, and he gasped heavily for air. "M-Miss Connla… I… I apologize…"

She lowered her polearm. She wanted to say something about his brutal killing, but she was afraid it would be a waste of her breath. Instead she reported, "I got the civilians out of there. They're on their way to Bordeaux to send help."

"Is that so? To think that a stranger would go out of her way for France's people… You don't know how much that means to me."

She wasn't impressed with his flattery. "Even if you were defending innocent people, that doesn't excuse what you did to those men. You should've been more considerate."

"Of those criminals? Preposterous. It is my sworn duty to-"

"Not them. I meant of the civilians."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any idea how terrified they were of you as you slew those men? If you were once considered the paragon of French heroism in their eyes before, that image must have all but vanished by now."

"…"

Connla sighed after venting her harsh feelings upon the weary soldier, then said, "I'm sorry. It's not my place to lecture anyone, least of all you. I just thought it would be best for you to think of the people you're saving next time."

"Yes, of course. I shall take note of your counsel in the future."

As they spoke, that was when they heard the cry of something inhuman in the far distance. They reached for their weapons again, and Gilles snapped, "What in the devil's name was that!?"

Connla panned her eyes across the sky, then caught some kind of movement over the trees. Rising from the swaying leaves was something terrifyingly large and olive green. The beast flapped its massive wings about while circling over its prey. Its beady red eyes glowed as it suddenly swooped down and bore straight for the pair. They kneeled low and steadied themselves as the wind picked up for a moment. It flipped upside-down, then flew perfectly vertical above them before uprighting itself at the last possible chance and hovering in front of them. Connla was astonished to find herself confronting this creature in such a place.

A wyvern!?

The winged beast let out a bloodcurdling roar before fixing its gaze upon her.

"What's going on? You've suddenly become very quiet," Da Vinci asked.

"The bandits have let loose a wyvern that they tamed!" the young Lancer reported. "What's going on here? How can there be a dragon in a Singularity that's already been corrected?"

Just then, the dying bandit leader chuckled and moaned between blood-choked gurgles, "Heh… 'Bout time… they let it loose…"

"What is the meaning of this!?" Gilles demanded.

"Dunno… We just found the thing… when it was wounded… and tied it up…"

"I get it," Da Vinci replied. "It must be a small leftover from the First Singularity."

"Well, whatever. I may be dead… but my 'partner' will… cause the disturbance… I have always sought…"

With one last deep breath, the brigand finally expired. The wyvern howled angrily and reached its talons toward Connla as she was busy watching the man die.

"Watch out!" Gilles screamed and pushed her aside. He tried to fight against the claws, but the dragon was too powerful for an ordinary knight like him to stand against. It caught his arm and flew around with him in its grasp before barreling straight for a large tree and releasing him. He crashed back-first against the trunk and lost consciousness. With him out of the way, the wyvern turned its attention back to Connla and screeched at her.

"Ms. Da Vinci, it seems intent on fighting me first," she reported.

"It must recognize that you're a Servant, so it wants to eliminate any higher level threats first before going on a rampage across France."

"So it would seem."

"You think you can fight it?"

"I've dealt with wyverns before in other worlds. I guess I just wasn't expecting one here."

"Then go show that thing who's boss! If left alone, it could destroy Bordeaux no problem!"

"Of course! Does that mean I'm able to use my Runes again?"

Da Vinci used the scanners to search for any other signs of life, then said, "There's no one else around, and Gilles is unconscious. You're free to fling spells around without anyone witnessing you."

"Got it. Commencing battle!"

With nothing to constrain her from using her full abilities, Connla rushed headlong towards the wyvern. It snarled and tried to scratch her to pieces with its sharp talons, but it missed her as she rolled beneath it and shot a small fireball at the back of its neck. Its scales were thick enough to absorb the brunt of it, although some burning flesh could be seen. The disoriented dragon landed on its feet and whirled around, thrusting its long neck toward her and baring its teeth. She sidestepped before it could eat her alive and deftly slashed at one of its eyes, destroying its sight on that side.

"GYAAAHH!"

The wyvern unleashed such a hideous scream that Connla thought she would go deaf. While it was recovering from its devastating injury, she finally went on the offensive by flipping backwards toward a tall tree, then vaulting up to the branches high above so she could leap above the wyvern. She raised her spear and enchanted it with several Ansuz Runes before readying it in a throwing position. The beast glared up at her and roared again.

Now!

Connla hurled her polearm straight into the dragon's open mouth, getting swallowed whole through its long neck. It suddenly lost the ability to howl as the blade cleaved its esophagus and pierced its vocal chords. As if that wasn't enough, she readied her hands in a conjuring stance and shouted, "Ansuz!"

As she landed back on her feet, the Runes on the spear detonated right inside the wyvern's neck. Its skin bulged unnaturally before the head was cleanly separated from the rest of the body due to a fiery explosion. The sight would be sickening and terrifying if anyone else was around to see it, but it didn't bother her much as she watched the decapitated head plop onto the grass. The creature's body soon lost its rigidity and collapsed onto its side. She raised her hand, and her spear floated out of the corpse and returned to her.

"Phew… Threat eliminated," Connla told Da Vinci.

"Good work. I knew I could count on you," the inventor smiled.

"Did you have any idea that this was going to happen?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean did SHEBA detect this disturbance, and you sent me here to resolve it?"

"Of course not. I already told you that I wanted to test my Bloodstone invention out, and you just happened to be there. I had no idea that there were still wyverns in that former Singularity."

"Are you sure?"

"Come now, don't go insinuating things without evidence. If it'll make you feel better, I'll send Siegfried there later to see if he can clean up any other dragons left behind."

"Hmm…" Connla wasn't entirely convinced, but since she had no proof that Da Vinci was lying to her, she had to make do with her word.

"Besides," Da Vinci said, "shouldn't you be checking up on Gilles?"

"Oh, that's right."

The young Servant hurried over to the knocked out knight and shook his shoulder. After a few moments, the man stirred awake with a labored groan and muttered, "Ah… Miss Connla…"

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I will be fine."

He eventually got back up and gasped from the piercing headache. She helped him up while urging, "Don't push yourself. Help should be on its way from Bordeaux. I also left some of the bandits alive for you to interrogate."

"That is good to know. Perhaps I can force them to reveal everything they know about their benefactors so that I finally have probable cause to execute them."

"Y-You're not going to torture those men, are you?" Connla yelped.

"Anything to expose those cretins who betrayed my Jeanne…"

She sighed forlornly. "I… um… I wish I could say something, but…"

"Say no more. You are a humble visitor to France, and a treasured savior as well. Jeanne would have been most proud of your service. That being said, you must leave internal affairs to enforcers such as myself. I shall do my utmost to make sure such a disaster does not occur again."

"Hmm… I mean, I won't question your methods. It's just that… are you really going to continue doing such horrible things in the Holy Maiden's name? Isn't that just going to be revenge in the end?"

"Of course it will be," Gilles scowled. "If those backstabbers had the nerve to discard Jeanne for their own selfish purposes, then I have every right to show them the folly of their indulgent egotism. Why must you ask such questions, young lady? You seem determined to oppose my idea of justice."

"Well, I can't be specific, but something terrible happened to me in the past. My father became enraged over it and killed a lot of people in my name."

Gilles fell silent.

"I didn't want him to suffer anymore because of me," Connla continued. "Because he anguished over the cruelty I faced, he took it out on so many innocent people. That only made me feel more responsible for everything, and it became a vicious cycle until I finally killed him. Even though I resolved everything, it still feels tragic to me."

"I see… Was your misfortune brought upon by your own deeds?"

"I don't think so. I do everything I can to make sure I don't cause trouble for anyone."

"Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that about you. You have the same purity that Jeanne embodied. But she was wrong to devote herself to a nonexistent deity. The god she believed in did nothing to save her, and she was unable to save herself the way you did. Young lady, I implore you – do not believe in any kind of god. If they do exist, they will never come to help you."

"I don't know if I can call myself a believer of any religion to begin with. I think I've come this far because of my own skills."

"That's good. No, perfect even. We humans are alone in this vast world. No matter what good or evil we do in our lifetimes, we have no fear of any higher being delivering their grace or punishment upon us. If it doesn't exist, it shouldn't be acknowledged."

"Hmm…" Connla frowned somberly, sensing Gilles' darker side that Da Vinci warned her about. It felt unusual for her to be told not to believe in gods when she was the granddaughter of the Celtic sun god Lugh, and the daughter of the demi-god Cuchulainn.

"My goodness. I'm sorry for troubling you," the knight quickly apologized after noticing her fatigued look.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just not sure of what to say to help you."

"You don't need to. I appreciate your concern for me. All this while, I've done nothing but complain in your presence."

"But even so… Maybe you don't believe that the god that Ms. Jeanne followed exists… But it's definitely true that Ms. Jeanne's soul is still out there. If you can't believe in a god, why not believe in the souls of those who once lived among you? You want to believe in what exists, and Ms. Jeanne's spirit is very real, isn't it? Why not believe in that instead?"

"Me having faith in her soul?" Gilles murmured.

"Um… I mean… I'm not really sure if my wording is right… It's just that even though my father is no longer with me, I want to believe he's watching over me… or something like that."

He smiled lightly. "That's fine. There's no need to console me further. I will think about what you said whenever I feel lost."

Connla looked away abashedly, not sure if she wanted to keep this conversation going. She felt like she was sounding more and more awkward as she rambled on.

"Pardon me for interrupting, Sir Gilles," Da Vinci interjected. "I know we haven't reached Bordeaux yet, but I'm afraid this is where we will be parting ways."

"Oh? You do not have any business in the city?" he wondered curiously.

"That's right. We appreciate your help with getting us this far though. We'll take it from here no problem."

"I see. Very well, then. Please be careful in your travels, young lady," Gilles said to Connla, then bade her farewell with a wave and continued onward to the city.

"Phew," the girl sighed as she watched the knight disappear into the distance. "That was rather tense there for a second."

"You handled yourself pretty well there," Da Vinci said.

"You think so?"

"Definitely. Maybe the course of his life won't change, but at least he'll have something to think about thanks to you."

"I wonder…"

"Well, what are you going to do? You have a job to finish, so let's put this gloomy business behind us and find that Leyline. What do you say?"

"Yes, that's a good idea. I can sense some strong magical energy near the coast."

Connla left the battle site behind and continued along the Gironde estuary, using a magic-seeking Rune to aid her in finding the highest concentration of mana emanating from the earth. After about an hour of searching, her dowsing spell finally reacted as strongly as it could.

"Here it is," she murmured to herself and placed her spear vertically upon the ground. She concentrated on casting her Runes to create a magic circle around her. The symbols didn't look the same as when Mash created a summoning field – this one possessed a three-leaf Celtic Knot dotted with various Runic letters around the circumference.

"Mm. It's finished," Connla reported.

"Good. Close your eyes now. I'm going to try bringing you home."