I am falling, falling through an empty void, a world of unending nothingness.

Except this time there is something other than nothing.

Light. Countless glimmering lights. Like stars in the night sky. Seeing those stars makes me want to reach for them, to rise and become one of them. To a star that can shine in this world.

But that is an impossibility, for those stars are far beyond my grasp, and I am falling farther from them with every passing moment.

That is until I hit something, a barrier of sorts that shatters apart as I crash through it. Beyond that barrier is a sea that consumes the world and rises up to meet me. Yet the sea does not stop my fall, instead I sink into it, deeper and deeper until I've sunk deep enough that no light reaches me.

Then I stop thinking and my mind unravels.

I'm me again, my mind has brought itself back together and I can think again. But whilst my mind has returned the body is a separate story.

My body will not respond to my commands and I can barely feel it, it is as if I am separate from it, like I have a bad connection. It feels as if I am a ghost.

Yet I feel no nothing at this, my mind is too numb to truly feel emotion.

I exist in this state for an unknown amount of time, my mind too far away to perceive time. The only marker of it is that I slowly start to feel the world around me.

I feel something coarse beneath me… sand, I'm lying upon a bed of sand. The next thing to return is my hearing, and with it I hear the sound of waves washing upon a shore.

A beach? Why am I here?

Gradually I hear a new sound, one that the waves had masked. The sound of footsteps upon the sand that grows closer before stopping near me. There's someone else here.

"Oh, you've arrived earlier than I expected" the person says, surprise evident in their voice "much too early in fact. We shouldn't be meeting yet."

There's the sound of flipping pages "yes you shouldn't be here yet. So then how…?" The voice trails off and suddenly I can feel their gaze upon me.

"Ah I see, we're not truly here are we? This is all but a dream" the voice chuckles and pauses for a moment. "A dream like this won't last long unfortunately, so I can't help you as much as I would like to. You'll have to do with my advice only."

There's a pull at my gut as I feel the distance between me and this world grow.

"See? You've already started to awaken, don't worry I'll be quick" there's another pause, as if to clear it's thoughts. "There are two pieces of advice I have to offer, one to guide you and one to warn you, so be sure to listen and remember these words when you awaken."

Another pause, but this one feels more meaningful.

"First to guide; trust not your mind for it lies to you, trust not your eyes for they will deceive you, have faith and seek the truth."

The pull grows stronger and I lose my sense of touch, my hearing slowly following it.

"Second to warn; you are unlike any other, your story has only just begun and is far from finished. You must stay true to who you are, or you may be swept aside and find your story is no longer your own."

The voice has grown distant now, the pull has grown strong enough to drag my presence away from this world.

"It seems that this impossible meeting has come to an end. Do not worry, we shall meet again once you have sailed the sealed sea."

As soon as the voice finishes I lose all connection to this dream and I am sent crashing back to the waking world.

My mind slams back into my body and I am forced awake in just seconds. Though it doesn't mean much as my body erupts with sensations, as each of my senses are reactivated at once, overloading me with information and blinding my mind. It's as if I've been hit with whiplash from being torn out of my dreams.

I can barely think through the sensory overload and my body fails to respond to me. I can do nothing but ride out this wave of sensation. Luckily for me the sensory overload dies out rather quickly and I'm able to think clearly again, though there's a sort of staticky feeling leftover throughout my body.

'God, do all my wake ups have to be shit?' I groan out in my mind as I open my eyes to blurrily look around at wherever I've woken up.

It's not familiar at all, which doesn't mean much seeing as my vision is so blurry that everything is just a mess of colours. I let out a groan and try to rub the blurriness away, only to fail as my arm doesn't move.

'Damnit, are both my arms cursed now?' A brief spike of dread lodges itself in my mind, the thought of the curse taking both of my arms terrifying me. Fortunately I prove myself wrong almost immediately as I try to move it again and find I can actually move my arm, it's just been restrained to my side. From the feel of it I've been tied up to something, probably with a rope due to how coarse it is.

'Great, I'm tied up. Wait. Why the hell am I tied up?!' I struggle against my bindings, futilely trying to break free. Unfortunately I just don't have enough strength to break through the rope, or at least not in my current state. That doesn't stop me from trying some more though, a veil of panic drifting into my mind.

'Shit! This is bad, very bad, what the hell am I supposed to do?!' I take some ragged breaths. 'Damnit, panicking wont get me anywhere, I need to calm down' something easier said than done, it's really hard to just calm yourself down once you've started panicking. Luck for me though, I've got a cheat code.

I frantically reach out for that constant buzz in the back of my mind and draw forth a few wisps of madness from it, activating Madness Enhancement just enough to force me to focus and ignore my panic.

The effect takes place and almost instantly I feel my panic be swept to the side where it'll eventually fade to nothing.

'There we go, nothing like madness to clear your mind. Now, why the hell am I tied up?' I can't quite remember what happened before I woke up. Like my vision it's all a bit of a blur, the last thing I remember was getting into a fight with that shield girl and losing…

'Oh right, she knocked me out' man that was just straight up unfair, how come she gets a last second power up and I don't? And she broke my sword too, that's just a dick move. 'But why did they tie me up? Wouldn't it be easier to just kill me? Unless… no they wouldn't hand me over to the Witch would they? Oh who am I kidding of course they would, they're evil.' Despite the protection of madness enhancement the simple thought of being before that witch again brings a tinge of fear and panic into my mind.

'Okay, so this is a very shitty situation I've got myself into, but I should be fine. All I have to do is break free from these ropes and get away from these villains before the Witch arrives. Should be possible right?' Unless of course they are fully aware of my awakening, keeping watch over me, and prepared to beat me down again.

So what is the first thing I see when my vision finally clears up?

Shield girl staring me down with her shield at the ready and the 'senpai' standing by her side. There's also another girl wearing a kimono who's glaring at me, and the Idol girl who apparently is evil too, I can't believe I complimented her singing.

There's about a minute of silence as they all stare me down whilst I alternate who I look at, eventually deciding to just glare at the sole male.

"Ah, I guess you're fully awake now, do you think you're able to talk?" The 'senpai' asks, eyes full of false sincerity.

'Gah who do they think they are looking down on me and pulling that good cop bullshit? They're the ones that knocked me out and tied me up!' I don't bother responding to him and just glare harder.

"I guess we'll take that as a yes…" he says trailing off in the face of my silence, he glances at the shield girl before continuing "alright, who are you?"

'Why the hell do they care about that?' Again I refuse to answer his question, instead continuing to glare at him. With the madness clouding my mind any fear or anxiety I should be feeling about being interrogated like this are non-existent, meaning there's nothing to stop me from making this as difficult as I can for them.

"Okay… do you need any help? You were really out of it when you woke up and that arm doesn't look too good…" His gaze drifts over to my left arm, a look of fake concern on his face.

'Really? What is that? Some sort of threat? Saying that I can only use one arm or something? And why the hell is he pretending to be nice!?' Yet again I give no response other than an intensified glare, I don't care if answering him would get me better treatment, I'm doing this out of spite more than anything else. Besides, once that witch arrives none of this will matter.

"Senpai, I don't think he's going to answer you" the shield girl speaks up.

He sighs "seems so, I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to get him to speak"

'Is it really wise to discuss interrogation tactics in front of the one being interrogated?' I think as I watch them talk to each other.

"Master, leave this to me" This time it is the kimono girl who speaks up, the only person of this group that I haven't met and also seems to be the only one not trying to fake being friendly, if the way she looks at me is of any note.

'Huh, guess this is the bad cop part of the routine huh?' I should be fine right? It's not like they're going to torture me or anything, oh wait, they're evil, they totally will. 'This is… actually kinda bad.'

She doesn't even wait for a response as she steps forward and stares me down with eyes that don't look quite human, with the pupils seeming to be slit like the eyes of a dragon. "If you don't start answering Master's questions, then I will burn you until you do" she says with a smile, fire dancing around her.

For a moment as I look into her golden eyes, a pressure forms on my chest as a different set of eyes overlays them. A cold spike of fear pierces through my madness and plunges into my mind as I stare into the eyes of the witch. I can feel the curse in my arm start to awaken, hatred crawling out of it and gnawing on the edges of my mind. Then that moment passes and the image of the witch disappears, but that brief moment was enough to wipe away any conviction I had to keep up my silence. "Alright I'll talk and answer his questions" I wrench my eyes away from those eyes, doing my best to stop my hands from trembling and my heart from beating so fast.

I barely even notice her stepping back from me as I take deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I can't show weakness to them, I don't know much about interrogations or hostage situations, but staying calm and appearing strong is important right? Thankfully they seem occupied with reprimanding the kimono girl, giving me enough time to reassert myself and let the madness deal with my fear. Just in time too, as they've just returned their attention to me. Sadly nothing I do will stop the curse from trying to devour me.

"Sorry about that, I can't really-"

"Could you just stop with the good cop bullshit and get to the point?" I cut him off before he can finish. If I'm not going to be silent I may as well get this moving a bit faster, besides I just can't stand this whole tactic of theirs, it's starting to piss me off.

It seems he didn't expect me to interrupt him and is taken aback by it. There are a few moments of silence as he almost seems to be listening to something before letting out a sigh. "We don't want to be your enemy, we mean you no harm."

"Really? Then why am I tied up? If we're allies then shouldn't you release me?" I reply somewhat mockingly 'Why are they so damn committed to this act?'

"Ah well we restrained you for our protection" The shield girl is the one to answer my question "You did attack first."

"Of course I did! You're with the Witch!"

"We're not! we're fighting against her!"

"Oh come on, we've been through this before, next you're going to tell me that there are two Jeanne's and that one of them is actually good, do you think I'm an idiot!" I'll admit that it may not be wise to get angry with my captors, but I just can't help it when confronted with the girl who broke my sword.

"Of course we do" This time it's the more familiar voice of the idol girl who responds "this Jeanne looks nothing like that other one, besides there can easily be two of the same servant."

"You can't fool me with such a lie, I've seen her with my own eyes, I know what she looks like!"

"Then maybe you should get your eyes tested, anyone with half a brain could notice the differences."

I don't bother giving a response to that, I know what I saw, so I just glare at her instead. To which she gives a smirk back, seemingly thinking that she won the argument.

"He really does think they're the same. I guess we do need to wait for Jeanne to finish with Siegfried" 'Senpai' says this openly to the group and even though I'm barely listening I do still pick up on one part.

"Finish with Siegfried? You don't mean she's already here do you?" A cold tendril of dread wraps itself around my mind as I look at him.

"Huh? Yeah, we met up with her before you awoke" he continues on to say something else, but I can no longer give any of my attention to him.

'Fuck! She's been here the whole time!? Shit! The hell do I do? I won't let myself be at her mercy again! I won't let her kill me! But… what can I do?' Even if I manage to get out of the rope, do I run or fight? Fighting is pointless, she'll just mop the floor with me again. Running is just as pointless, I can feel how little mana I have, if I try to run I won't get far and they'll simply catch me again, or the curse will kill me. 'I can't do anything to escape this time, no matter what my story will come to an end here.'

Oddly enough, despite this grim realisation I don't feel afraid. I don't know if it's because of the madness or some sort of acceptance, but I don't fear my death this time. 'If this is the end either way, then I may as well make it hurt for them.'

A smirk forms on my face as I let the madness enhancement cloud my mind further and grow stronger. With no more inhibitions and a completely focused mind, I return my attention to my captors. "You know, I was little more than a bug to that witch" I say, catching their attention "When I fought her the most I could do was scratch her, whilst she barely even had to try to break me."

I pause for a moment to draw what little mana I have into my cursed arm. "Which was to be expected of course, she's the end boss of the campaign and I'm just an idiot with a sword" I let out a dry laugh as my mana is tainted by the curse, "I was just a bug to be crushed under her heel."

"Somehow though I survived, but she scarred me with this curse" I barely hold back a hiss of pain as I feel the tainted mana hunger for destruction and burn within my arm. My audience seem to grow wary of me, probably detecting the spread of the curse.

"Hell, I don't even think she intended to curse me" the curse in my arm pulses and ignites into dark flame, burning through my rope bindings. "This is just fragments of her hatred that clung onto me" I slowly rise to my feet and look up at the sky, ignoring how my captors take a ready stance. "And those mere fragments are enough to slowly kill me" I grin as I look back down at them.

"Weak as I am, It's been a struggle to simply survive up to this point, yet somehow I've made it this far, and I don't want it to end yet" the cursed fire of my left arm steadily grows in strength, slowly spreading up my body. "So, even if it's pointless, I'm going to keep struggling until the end" I look forward at my captors with a burning determination and raise my cursed arm, preparing to unleash all the built up flame at once. But before I can release it, a shout interrupts me.

"Stop! There's need to fight" A familiar voice, one that sends a shock of fear through me, even with the madness protecting my mind. A simple turn of my head confirms what I already knew, Jeanne d'Arc the Dragon Witch has arrived.

"Ah, so you've finally shown yourself, this won't end like last time!" I declare as I stare her in the eyes, somehow managing to face her despite the fear that has begun polluting my mind. Or perhaps it's because of the fear that I feel I have no choice but to face her? "This time I won't run away!" I declare, directing my burning arm at her now.

"Good, then we can clear this up and help you now" she says smiling at me, probably happy that she doesn't have to chase me down. One of the two men standing behind her goes to step forward, a guy with some sort of dragon shaped pauldron, but steps back after a brief word from the Witch.

'Eh? Who are these guys?' I think confused as I appraise the two new additions to the situation. First is the dragon pauldron guy, he doesn't seem like he poses much of a danger, though he does give off a bit of a calm vibe. Next is the sword guy with the glowing chest mark. 'Oh right, I guess that guy was missing. Though, there's something different about him' last time he was practically dead on his feet, but now he's standing tall and looking the exact opposite, what changed? 'The curse! I can't feel that super curse on him anymore! But… how'd he get rid of it? Did the witch remove it for him? But why would she do that?'

Healing someone she cursed… that doesn't seem like something she'd do, if she even can do it. It doesn't fit with her character. 'It doesn't make sense…' I think as I turn my gaze back to the witch.

However as my focus returns to her my vision flickers for a brief moment I don't see the Witch. Instead I see someone far more bright, with blonde hair and lighter skin to replace the original pale, her eyes blue instead of yellow, and armor with a brighter colour scheme. In this moment I see Jeanne d'Arc the saint and not the witch. 'What the…?'

Before I can get a proper look my vision flickers again and the moment passes, the image of the saint is replaced once more with that of the witch. Who is now approaching me, likely having called for the others to stand down and let her deal with me. "Stay back! Don't you dare come any closer!" the fire burning my arm flickers and I try to step back, but the tree I was tied to prevents me from doing so. Luckily she seems to have listened and stops approaching me.

"You need to understand, I am not the Dragon Witch and I will not harm you. I only want to help you" she says with kindness, but I know it to be false. Her yellow eyes full of scorn give it away. Then why do they look so kind?

"Are you really still trying to convince me of that? It's pointless! I won't believe a lie like that!" Like hell I'll ever trust someone that tried to kill me! Especially when it's so obviously not true. But wouldn't they have killed me already if it weren't true?

"It is not a lie, it is the truth. I am not the witch" she says stepping forward, an act I barely notice as she stares at me with such conviction that I almost believe her, were it not for the deceit in her eyes. There's nothing but honesty.

I don't respond this time instead I glare back into her eyes, matching her conviction with my own. However as I match her stare my vision flickers again, her yellow eyes turning blue once again. This time however, they don't change back.

'What is happening? Is this some sort of trick? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?' I let out a hiss as a pain starts to build up behind my eyes, but I don't dare take my eyes off of the witch. 'Wait… my eyes… that voice said something about them, that they'd deceive me…' is this why my vision keeps flickering? Is the witch casting an illusion? But then what about its other words? That my mind will lie to me? How do you know if your mind is lying? And what is the truth I need to seek?

As these questions bounce around my mind the pain behind my eyes steadily increases. Growing from a slight annoyance to feeling like my head is going to split open. I can't help but let out a hiss of pain and bring a hand up to rub at my eyes.

"Are you-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" I interrupt whoever spoke before they can say anymore. 'Damnit, why can't they just give it up already!' It can't be because it's the truth… right?

'No of course not! I can feel her hatred.' I haven't been focusing on it, but that familiar feeling of hatred that crashes against me has been present ever since Jeanne arrived. 'Wait, no. This hatred started with my arm' the curse in my arm has already tricked me into thinking the witch was with me, Maybe it's tricking me again.

"I don't know what you experienced with that other me, but I am not her" Jeanne speaks up again and takes a step forward. "Please you have to understand, I mean you no harm, I only want to help you" she pleads with such an earnest emotion in her voice that I can't deny it.

'Are they… telling the truth?' For the first time, I let myself truly consider this option and despite how wrong it feels, it easily solves almost every question I have.

The cross survived the fire and saved me from that hatred because it belonged to a saint. They saved me because I'm an enemy of their enemy, and they didn't kill me for the same reason.

'But why does she look the same as the witch?' I refocus on the Jeanne in front of me and my vision flickers yet again. 'Ah, its because my eyes aren't showing the truth' so is this what that voice meant? My eyes are showing the witch instead of the saint?

But, even with this proof, I just can't let myself accept it. Something within me is telling me that it's all a lie, that they're just waiting for the moment when I think I'm safe, when I think they are my allies, that they're waiting for the moment they can betray me and drink in my despair.

'Fuck! Why can't this be easy? What am I supposed to do?' I think desperately, wracking my mind for anything that can help me. But I just can't focus, the undercurrent of fear in my mind makes it hard to think.

'Damnit, how do I know if they're lying? If my eyes can't be trusted, how do I know if she's the witch?' I have no way of proving her identity… wait, there is something. The witch is consumed with hatred, her fire is made of the stuff and it's strong enough to be felt in the air. Even if the curse is strong enough to mask her hatred, I don't believe someone like her is capable of hiding an emotion like that. 'That's it! I can find the truth with this.'

A small blossom of hope forms in my chest as I take a deep breath and look Jeanne in the eyes, forcing every bit of my mind to focus on them.

"If you really are speaking the truth then tell me, what did you feel on that day in Rouen. What did you feel when you were burnt at the stake?" Her eyes flash back to those of the witch, and despite my fear of those eyes I manage to keep looking into them, searching for any sign of hatred.

She stares back into my eyes and answers without hesitation "I didn't feel much at all, I knew that I'd meet a fate such as that from the beginning, I had accepted it as the end." Her eyes barely change as she speaks, only softening a bit from that firm gaze she had. But with the hatred I know that witch has, it's more than enough. I can see no sign of any hatred within this Jeanne, she cannot be the witch

"Y-you're really not her…" I say as my vision settles on the image of the saint and a wave of relief flows through me. "You're not her" a tension I hadn't noticed in my mind fades away and I can think clearly again. "I'm… safe" I release my hold on the madness enhancement, immediately feeling a weakness throughout my body as the flames in my arm die out and I collapse to the ground.

I can feel my consciousness start to slip away. The stunt I pulled with the fire drained too much of the little mana I have to keep me going and now that I can see I'm not in danger I simply don't have the will to force myself to continue. So I simply let myself fall into unconsciousness again.

AN: Well chapter 11 is done now, chapter 12 should hopefully not take as long. In which we can look forward to Adam actually learning what a servant is and healing the curse.

Now to answer some reviews:

ignacionicolasdiaz109 - It certainly would be, it's just that until now Adam hasn't interacted with enough people to warrant it.

WhaMrSlaMr - I'll admit I have been putting him through the wringer, though now that he's with the protagonists he should stop losing fights as much.

zahiddreux - She can indeed be a good singer if she sings for another, but that rarely happens

Caldon - That wasn't actually command seals, just a tactical use of the mystic code. And unfortunately Mash is one of the worst matchups for Adam, he doesn't really have enough firepower to get through her defense

Saint-Leiker - Well now that he isn't running away from Jeanne help is only a matter of time.

AxelLord20 - Funnily enough the curse isn't as debilitating in a fight as it could, seeing as with it he's able to add some more damaging curse attacks to his repertoire at the cost of using up most of his mana.