Fate Grand Order: Blessing of the Fortuity Shard

by FGO-BoFS

Meetings are something that most people experience often. They can be either frivolous or life-changing. Or anything in between. But there is a type of meeting that is rarer than any other. The type that has occurred scarcely more than a few times throughout Human History. A meeting between two people that could decide the future of Humanity itself.

11. Chapter 11

Summary:

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Sooner than expected, Chaldea and Jeanne come across the perpetrator of France's devastation: A far more familiar face than any of them had thought possible. Severely outnumbered, especially in reptiles, their way out comes from a surprising source. But before they can begin their quest in earnest, they must face the test of a particularly Punch-happy Saint.

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Chapter 11: The Saint of the Iron Fist

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Jeanne could only stare in disbelief and horror as her double descended on her wyvern, cackling all the while. The two Servants accompanying her, both looking equally as dreadful, also landed behind her. Their stares were both hungry and curious, but the Ruler could barely acknowledge them as the other Jeanne continued laughing.

'

But the thing that did manage to catch her attention was Lemminkäinen suddenly rubbing his chin in intrigue, letting out a preposterous comment. "Looks like they even have stronger wyverns serving as their mounts. I killed a red one over there, and it was a bit stronger than the green ones, but not by much. Hopefully the black ones are a bigger step up."

'

"Stop fantasizing about our enemies! Especially when their leader is right in front of us!" Ritsuka hissed, sounding almost ready to smack the man for his ludicrous priorities, but still wisely stayed behind Mash in anticipation for the coming battle.

'

It was then that the Dragon Witch finally got her laughter under control, looking at Jeanne with the wicked sneer still on her face. "Could someone please pour some water on me. This is bad. It's awful. I think I'm really going to lose it. It's so funny I might die from laughter! Take a look Gilles! Look at that pathetic girl! What is she, a wimp? A mouse? A worm? Either way, they're all the same! So puny, I can't even muster any sympathy!" Despite the degrading words, the Ruler was far more concerned with the name she'd just heard. Gilles. Her friend had been summoned as a Servant and was working together with this... being in causing all this mindless destruction? That detail alone hurt her more than the insults hurled at her, even as her double kept cackling. "Ah... truly, a country that could only cling to 'me' ...comparing them to mice is an insult to mice. Hey, Gilles, don't you think so-" The smile suddenly vanished from the other Jeanne's face as she kept looking around, until she finally sighed with annoyance. "Oh, I see. We didn't bring Gilles along."

'

Jeanne had genuinely believed in the possibility that the other Jeanne d'Arc was a fake, like Dio had suggested, but the chances of that had diminished to near non-existent by this point. Still, deciding to give it one last chance, she spoke to her double, unable to keep her voice from slightly shaking. "You... Who are you?"

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"I could ask the same of you..." the other Jeanne muttered, clearly displeased with the question, until a mocking smile returned to her face. "Right, as a leader, let me answer that. I am Jeanne d'Arc, the saint devoted to France... the other 'me'."

'

Now there was something the Ruler couldn't ignore, rebuking the absurd alias posthaste. "What? That's nonsense. You are no saint. Just as I am no saint." Shaking her head, she did her best to calm down in this unthinkable situation. There was a far more pressing question she should be asking. "But, that is already a thing of the past. More importantly: Why did you attack this town?"

'

Jeanne withheld herself from flinching as her double glared at her as if she had asked the most obvious of questions. "...Why, you ask? As we're both Jeanne d'Arc, I thought you would understand. Are you stupid now that your alignment has changed?" The glare then faded from the other Jeanne's face as her earlier mocking sneer returned. "The reason I attacked this city? What a foolish question. It's obvious, isn't it? It is for the sole purpose of destroying France." Jeanne could only gape at the sheer audacity of her double, but she just continued speaking without so much as changing her tone, as if she were explaining something as simple as a recipe for baking. "I am, after all, a Servant. Politically, economically, these methods take too long. Is it not better to simply physically crush everything?"

'

"Such foolishness!" Jeanne finally snapped, disbelief filling her entire being. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing reasonable with what the woman in front of her was saying. "...Are you really me? I don't understand why you would destroy France. I can't even imagine it!"

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The glare returned to the double's face, clear anger present in it. "'Such foolishness?' ...I'm shocked. I didn't think you were this slow." The rage practically emitted off of her body in waves as she started raving. "The foolish ones are us, Jeanne d'Arc. Why do you want to save this country? Why did you ever want to bring salvation to these people? This country betrayed us and spat on us, that's why I'm destroying it." Letting out a huff, she looked at Jeanne with pure annoyance. "Seriously. Even a child would understand that's what's normal, right?"

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"That is-" Jeanne could only feel conflicted and confused at the statement. Was feeling like that truly normal? Surely not. Something like this couldn't possibly be right...

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But before she could contemplate the matter any further, her double's fury grew once more. "I will be fooled no longer. I will be betrayed no longer." And then, as the two were looking directly at each other's eyes, came the most severe statement. "...I no longer hear the voice of the Lord. The fact that I cannot hear His voice, means the Lord no longer blesses this country." A statement that struck Jeanne even harder than any of the previous points. It was true that she couldn't hear Him either, ever since she manifested here. But... surely that wouldn't mean... "So, I will destroy it, in accordance with the Lord's grief. I will cut away all the bad seeds at the roots. As long as the human race exists, so will my hatred. I will remake this France into a land of silent corpses. That's how I will save this country. By the hands of the new Jeanne d'Arc, reborn through death." No! That was too much! Far too much! Jeanne didn't know which of their feelings were correct, but that was going much too far. Even destroying a single village was out of the question, but destroying the entirety of France? Clearly, it was time to sweep her doubts aside and confront this Dragon Witch. "But I suppose you could never understand. Always playing the saint. That's just impossible for a pretty little holy virgin who pretends not to see hatred and joy and is incapable of human growth!"

'

And with that, the doubts she had tried to sweep aside only solidified. "I..." Nearly every part of her mind wanted to deny the words, yet a tiny but insistent portion was plagued by doubt. The other Jeanne seemed so convinced, so determined that what she was saying was nothing less than the absolute truth... So was it really possible...? "Are you really...?"

'

The Dragon Witch's rage died down slightly, only to make way for an annoyed sigh. "...I have played my part for you so clearly, yet you still have doubts? This rage is an ugly justice. It's not that you cannot understand it, you do not even have the will to try." Another blow that struck hesitation into Jeanne. Was that really what she was doing? She couldn't deny that she didn't understand all this destruction and death, but was truly why. Seeing her doubt, the other Jeanne's frustration was replaced by a sneer of mocking pity. "But, I understand. Seeing you, I have realized all there is to the Heroic Spirit that is myself. You are neither Ruler nor Jeanne d'Arc. You are nothing but some leftover residue that I threw away."

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"!" Jeanne found herself unable to even gasp. Any sound that might try to enter her mouth was locked into her throat, unable to escape. That couldn't possibly be true. She knew herself, and the statement was simply impossible. ...And yet, it would explain quite a few things, like her weakness, and the lack of knowledge she received upon materialization.

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But she didn't have time to contemplate her doubts as the Dragon Witch just kept pushing. "If you were the same existence and Class as I, then I should have felt something. But you are worthless. Nothing but a ghost with a misguided effort to recreate history." She then started approaching her double, holding her hand upwards as flames emerged onto it. "I suppose that's enough talking. Now that you have your answers, you can disappear for good."

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Bringing her hand down without hesitation, the Dragon Witch launched the fireball right towards thoroughly overwhelmed Jeanne, trying and failing to fully understand what was happening. She could tell she was being attacked, so she should obviously defend herself. But, if what the other her was saying was true, was there any point in doing so...?

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"Jeanne!" But then, along with a shout, Mash's shield moved to disperse the flames, Ritsuka right behind her.

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The Master, despite clearly being disturbed by the words as well, placed a hand on the Ruler's shoulder. "Keep it together! We still don't fully understand the situation, so don't just go believing her right away!"

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"I... Yes, you're right, Ritsuka." Jeanne felt slight relief running through her. She had to remember that she wasn't fighting alone. Even if what the other Jeanne d'Arc was saying was true, that still didn't change the Chaldeans' mission of saving human history. Just because her own goal might have been uncertain, theirs certainly wasn't.

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"Hm?" The Dragon Witch cocked an eyebrow in surprise at the act, only to start grinning once more, letting out a short cackle. "Oh, right. I forgot that those little rodents were also there. How tiny and pathetic. You were already miserable enough, so these two fit right in with you. You all get to enjoy hell together."

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Then, Lemminkäinen also stepped to Jeanne's side, yawning and stretching his arms audaciously. "So are you finally done? If I knew it was gonna take this long, I might as well have taken a nap."

'

Not paying the words much attention, aside from a slight faint to her smile, the Dragon Witch motioned at the two behind her. "Berserk Lancer, Berserk Assassin. Finish off that country girl and her little helpers. You're getting tired of small prey, aren't you? They might be a bunch of little girls, but they're still more fun to play with than regular humans." Receiving their orders, the two Servants that had remained unmoving until now rose from their wyverns, hunger gleaming in their eyes. But more than that, Jeanne was concerned with the way the Dragon Witch addressed them. She'd added Berserker in front of their names? Then, she wasn't just seeing things, and it was just as she'd feared. The Lancer and Assassin had been altered, Madness Enhancement added into their Spirit Origins to strengthen them, while also making them insane. While it was somewhat relieving that her double didn't seem intent on fighting them herself, both of the Servants on her side were powerful thanks to the alteration. "And you should rejoice, because even if he's surrounded by mice, that Saber at least doesn't seem to be completely worthless. Among all the Servants I summoned, your thirst for blood is the strongest. You exist to crush the brave, so devour them to your heart's content."

'

The Lancer, a tall, pale man with a strange spear, was the first to approach, raising his hand towards them. An act so filled with bloodlust, that it made both Mash and Jeanne raise their armaments in anticipation. "Very well. Now, I will have your blood." And yet, despite his monstrous presence and words, he still held a notable sense of regality to him. He must have been a high ranking noble before being twisted into this... thing.

'

But before he could make any move, the woman by his side raised her staff, stopping him in his tracks. "Not so fast, 'my King.' I would like to partake of her flesh and blood, as well as her insides." Words that were instantly followed by her piercing eyes locking in on Jeanne, as well as a slight lick of her lips. The Ruler felt a chill running down her spine.

'

The Lancer shook his head. "So greedy," he sighed, focusing his own gaze upon Lemminkäinen before giving an approving nod. "But very well. Follow your preferences. I shall take on the man."

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A suggestion that got the Saber to grin widely. "One-on-one, huh? Fine with me." Materializing his sword, he started senselessly leaning against it as he turned to Ritsuka. "Think you three can handle the lady while I keep this guy busy, Pomo?"

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The Master was quick to nod, slight relief appearing on her face. "Yes. Thanks, Saber. This is actually a big help."

'

"No need. This is just my preferred way of doing things."

'

Seeing his suggestion accepted, the Lancer rose to his full height, his magical energy spiking. "Now, 'tis the time for impalement." As he raised his spear, the strange weapon started spinning around the handle until he stabbed it into the ground, where black stakes began erupting from, heading straight towards Lemminkäinen.

'

Both Mash and Jeanne immediately jumped away from the attack, the former holding Ritsuka who shouted at the Saber, still standing there. "Saber!"

'

Yet the man didn't make the slightest effort to move, and just kept leaning on his sword unperturbed as the stakes approached. But, just as the stakes burst out of the ground right in front of him, the Saber's sword flared to life, its blade unleashing a blast of fire that instantly incinerated the deadly spikes, leaving the ground in front him burned clear of even dust. The Lancer's eyes widened in shock, having obviously not expected his foe to escape the attack unscathed, let alone with such little effort. The stones in front of him glowed red with the sheer heat of the flames as Lemminkäinen scratched his chin, clearly intrigued by the attack. "Stakes, huh? And you can just make them pop out of the ground like that? Handy looking things." It was then that he finally raised his sword and took on a battle stance, a wild grin splitting his face. "But, don't you go getting cocky and thinking something like that will work against me!" Holding his sword behind him, Lemminkäinen blasted forward with astounding speed through a blast of fire it emitted, swinging the blade towards his opponent. While the surprised Lancer blocked the blow, the force still pushed the two of them some distance away, effectively separating the groups.

'

Although, instead of viewing it as losing an ally, the Assassin seemed quite pleased with the turn of events, moving her attention back to the remaining women. "Now that the men are out playing, it's time for me to have my treat." Licking her lips once more as her gaze focused on Jeanne, the woman waved her staff, causing a large metal... coffin? depicting a praying woman to appear behind her, floating there ominously. The two Servants opposing her tensed. That was almost certainly her Noble Phantasm. "I will not forgive anything more beautiful than me. No, more than that... The blood of those more beautiful than me, can only elevate my beauty!" Her fanaticism reached its peak as she placed a hand on her cheek, mouth visibly watering as she looked at them. It was as if she was a starving person seeing any kind of food in days. But, she wasn't looking at a meal, but living, breathing people. "Ah, how fun it is to crush such fresh fruit. I'll throw away the skin and just enjoy the juice. This is the privilege of being a Noble of the Night. I'll squeeze every last drop out of you."

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"Ugh!" Jeanne couldn't help but shiver in the face of this woman's unbelievable bloodlust, even surpassing Lancer's. It was practically sickening.

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Mash, while obviously disturbed as well, carefully glanced at the girl behind her. "...Master."

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As Jeanne also turned to look, Ritsuka, appearing more repulsed by the Assassin's words than anything, gave them a confirming nod. "Yeah, this sicko lady is going down. Let's do this!"

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"Right!" Receiving her orders, Mash's mood seemed to improve considerably, much to the Ruler's surprise. This girl really trusted her Master. "Jeanne! Get ready, she's coming!"

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"U-Understood!" Raising her flag, Jeanne moved to the Shielder's side as their opponent calmly walked closer, heels clacking loudly with each step. And yet, even when facing a terrifying opponent like this, Jeanne still couldn't shake the Dragon Witch's words from her mind, especially the part about her existence.

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As Vlad III clashed against his opponent, he found himself intrigued, particularly by his sword. No matter how many stakes he produced, either the blade cut them to pieces or the flames incinerated them. It was quite a magnificent sight, one that brought to mind some tales from his now lost faith. Although, despite their similar weapons, this man hardly seemed like Auriel, the great archangel of wisdom. Still, even if he was not a divine figure, his strength was very much worthy of praise. "Magnificent. To do this well against a monster like me, you must be a hero of great renown." After all, the greater the hero, the more substantial their soul would be to devour.

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"Hell yeah, I am," the Saber grinned proudly, though his smile lost a hint of its brightness as he added. "Too bad I can't introduce myself by my True Name, though. Master's orders, you know?"

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But the Lancer could only shake his head at the statement. "To follow your Master's command despite your personal feelings is another sign of greatness." At least as far as he was concerned. He certainly could've used more vassals like that during his life.

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"Still, this was a nice turn of events. I thought we were just gonna end up fighting against a witch and some wyverns, so a weird monster-man like you coming into the mix is more than welcome."

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A comment that earned a chuckle out of the vampire. Oh, the arrogance of youth. "We'll see if you still appreciate it after I've impaled every part of your body with my stakes and devoured your soul." Sending in another row of stakes, he prepared for another assault.

'

This, however, only seemed to excite his opponent. "You're more than welcome to try, old man!" Once again, the Saber dashed forward with incredible speed, swinging his weapon forward in a long, upwards arch that burned away every stake between them as he closed the gap in an instant. Vlad could only blink in surprise as he did his best to block the coming assault. Cut on the left upper arm, slice more than halfway through the right thigh, and a chunk carved off his right flank, accompanied by a burst of flame that proceeded to burn his stomach. His opponent was suddenly noticeably faster and stronger, to the point that he managed to get several hits on the surprised Lancer. That faint glow around his body... Strengthening magecraft? But was it his own doing, or his Master's? Quickly turning into mist to put some distance between the Saber and himself, Vlad's trick worked as his foe's face took on a look of surprised caution, jumping away himself to better assess the situation, which was all the Lancer needed. In just a few seconds, all of the accumulated damage was effectively gone. Even during accursed daytime, his healing was strong enough to keep up with this level of damage, a fact clearly frustrating his opponent based on his expression. "Tch! So you heal fast too, on top of that mist bullshit. Talk about annoying. Guess I'll need to fire up a bit more to put you down for good."

'

True to his words, the Saber charged once more, this time, however, his blade took on a different form. Up until this point, the sword had released its flames in bursts, but now, it was constantly emitting them, less like a torch and more like a concentrated wildfire, covering the blade completely. Pointing his open palm towards the man, Vlad released several stakes from it, firing them in rapid succession at high speed, only for them to get incinerated almost instantly with a single swing from Saber's sword. Cursing wordlessly, he raised his other armament to defend himself. He truly couldn't count on his greatest weapon, his stakes, while fighting this man, leaving him with no choice but to rely on his spear. That sword his foe held was a truly troublesome match for them, as well as him in general. He held the advantage in physical strength, but the Saber's slight edge in speed as well as his weapon of choice helped him close that gap. Against most other foes, he wouldn't have cared too much about being cut, seeing how quickly the wounds healed, but that sword of flame was another thing entirely. It was quite clearly this Saber's Noble Phantasm, and if it could do this much without its True Name being released, it was necessary to be approached with caution. Should it be stabbed into his body and allowed to unleash its full firepower, it might even be able to burn away his monstrous Spirit Core.

'

As they clashed around the ruins, Vlad kept growing more cautious of his opponent. There was no discernible pattern to the Saber's attacks, at least not one that he could spot, which put him squarely on the defensive. Those blasts of fire from the blade made it that much more difficult to fight him, as it was nearly impossible to guess the speed of his strikes, seeing how he could change it mid-swing. Transforming into mist and circling his opponent to get a hit from behind, the Lancer let out a growl as his attack was blocked without much difficulty and quickly followed by a counter. This Saber might've been young, but he was without question a seasoned warrior. No. He shouldn't judge his opponent based on that. The apparent age of a Servant was irrelevant in the first place, meaning that this currently young man could've very well lived a longer life than him. Still, the young vessel was all the more pleasant to devour-

'

SKKRRCH

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Barely able to twist his spear in time, Vlad redirected Saber's sword to miss his neck, resulting in an ear splitting screech as the weapons scraped at each other. He cursed under his breath. The damned neverending hunger had distracted him for the blink of an eye and his opponent had immediately capitalized on it. But, even if he had managed to block the initial attack, Saber was already coming in for a second shot, his blade erupting with greater heat than before. Gritting his teeth, the Lancer realized he wouldn't be able to fully block it, so he did the next best thing. As he raised his spear defensively, both his body and the ground in front of him began sprouting stakes with astounding speed, effectively creating a solid wall. Of course, he knew from experience that they wouldn't stop that sword, but they would at least reduce the damage a bit... Hopefully...

'

SHHUUUMMM

'

The explosion of flame blasted Vlad away, burns covering his arms and face, but relatively undamaged. The makeshift wall had done its job as it would only take him a few seconds to heal, yet his opponent would no doubt also be capitalizing on that small window, so he would need to keep his guard up. Feet scraping against the ground as he halted his momentum, the Lancer raised his spear and-

'

"Back already?" Blinking in surprise at the familiar voice, Vlad turned in disbelief to spot Assassin only a short distance behind him, looking quite displeased. Her displeasure only seemed to grow as Saber landed close to them, prompting her to huff in annoyance. "I can't believe you still couldn't finish off a single Servant, while I have to deal with two." As he turned to look at the said maidens, they appeared fairly exhausted, but neither had any noticeable injuries, nor their Master. Seemed like her battle was going just about as well as his. But then, the arrogant countess let out a most irritating comment. "I wonder if you're holding back against him? Kindness doesn't suit you. It's not very monster-like, Dracul."

'

The young girl holding a large shield let out a gasp, making it more than clear that she'd realized his identity. "Dracul... no way."

'

"Vlad III... Romania's greatest hero. Also known as the Lord Impaler," another voice, a man, said from somewhere. The Lancer was confused by this sudden, new commentator, but given how properly he had been referred to, chose to put him aside to reprimand his 'ally'.

'

"Who knew that you'd reveal my True Name in front of others. I'm extremely displeased," he huffed before pointing at his opponent. "Besides, that Saber is easily as strong as those other two combined, if not even more so."

'

Completely ignoring his last point, the Assassin continued on with a twisted smile growing on her lips. "What's wrong? I would rather be remembered by a bad name than not at all. Besides... I prefer to be called by my True Name. Dread and despair, faintly spiced with hope. The ones with the best cries are the little squirrels who think 'I can escape'."

'

The Lancer could only sigh. This woman truly was hopeless to her core. His next words were quite inelegant, but with this madness consuming him and the Assassin's infuriating attitude, he simply didn't care enough. "But in the end, you were driven to ruin by the hands of those who actually escaped. Elisabeth Báthory. Otherwise known as Carmilla. How humorous your tragic end was."

'

His reveal got some more murmur from their foes, but Vlad's attention was solely on the Assassin, who was now scowling at him. "How boring. That's why I don't like your kind. Even as you're damned as a vampire, you still cling to your noble 'heart'."

'

Now that was a statement he couldn't ignore, disbelief and outrage slipping into his voice. "You mean to say that I cling to my faith even now?" The King tightened his grip on his spear. It seemed that this woman was truly intent on making an enemy of him.

'

But before they could go any further, a blast of fire erupted between the two. For a second, Vlad thought that Saber had continued his attack, only for his Master's annoyed voice to sweep those thoughts aside. "Stop this instant. I told you that you could devour freely, but do not forget who is friend and foe. Turn your animosity to those little girls now. Save your petty squabbles for later."

'

"Ah, you misunderstand, Master. Secretly, I idolize Count Vlad as a leader," Carmilla revealed before starting to walk towards her opponents once more, much to the Lancer's disbelief.

'

"That's the first I've heard of it. Comparing idolizing with plotting assassination," he sighed while shaking his head. Truly, even when they were the same type of creature, he couldn't fully understand her thought process. At the very least she was actually doing what their Master told her to.

'

Saber, who had been patiently waiting this whole time, was once more leaning against his sword as his eyes awkwardly shifted between the king and his associates. "Damn. Seems like you haven't exactly been blessed with great allies."

'

"A great understatement, I assure you." His circumstances were about as far from ideal as possible, to the point that his normal self would have more than likely committed suicide to avoid getting mixed up into all of this. And yet, fortunately or unfortunately, due to the high of madness, he didn't care too much. "But, since I have been summoned in this manner, I shall simply follow my Master's orders."

'

"You know, that conversation got me thinking..." Saber suddenly noted, looking at the Lancer questioningly. "Vlad III, according to what the summoning system told me, was supposed to be a king who fought and scared off tons of invaders. But while you were a king, you were just a normal human. There was nothing about you being a weird monster like this."

'

For a second, Vlad genuinely didn't know how to react, only standing there in silence. And then, he started laughing outrageously loudly, with more volume than he could ever before remember. Even in his current, abhorrent state, the words brought immense joy to the Lancer's demonic heart. "Aahhahahaa! Indeed, that is right! That is exactly right! This monstrous form you see before you is nothing more than the cultivation of slander and lies poured upon my heroic legend."

'

The red haired man's confusion only seemed to grow, his brows furrowing considerably. "...Huh? The hell is that supposed to mean?"

'

"Exactly what it sounds like," Vlad huffed. The exchange had improved his mood considerably, but the hunger bothering him kept growing by the minute, which meant that it was time to get back to the task at hand. "But enough words! I hunger for the soul of a hero!"

'

As the Lancer charged forward, the contemplating expression faded from his opponent's face, being replaced by the usual grin as his blade ignited. "Too bad that you'll be going hungry, then." Starting his assault more ferociously than ever before, Vlad's spear collided with his enemy's sword with tremendous force. But before either could do a follow-up attack, he turned into mist, moving slightly to the side before changing back to deliver a single strike which was blocked. He'd expected nothing less. Again, before time came for a second attack, he changed back into mist and moved out of the Saber's immediate sight before delivering another blow, only to get it blocked once more. The battle continued as such for another dozen blows, with Vlad at times changing his timing to confuse his foe by moving in different directions and spinning around him a few times. And yet, each time he did, his foe always managed to turn in time to deflect his strike by releasing a blast of fire from his blade. Although it was getting mildly annoying, the king realized that it was only a matter of time before he would deliver a successful hit. With each strike, he was getting closer and closer to exhausting his opponent. At the rate their battle was going, victory would be his sooner or later. And, seeing a slight opening in the young man's stance after a particularly close deflect, he believed the time to have come. Slipping behind him in his mist form, the Lancer prepared to stab his-

'

Except, his foe had an even wider grin on his face as he pointed an open hand towards his incorporeal form, magical energy spiking on the extended limb. "Gotcha!"

'

"Puheltelee tuulen puuska,

Täältä lähtee kaikki usva,

Lentää tuonne toisialle,

Silmän siintämättömähän,

Sitte vielä kauemmaksi,

Korvan kuulemattomahan!

Kuningas katoavapi,

pois meiän rajusta tappelusta,

Toisen kerran hakattavaksi,

Ensi kerran tuhottavaksi!"

'

The next instant was filled with an unbelievably bizarre sensation. The entire poem, at least that's what Vlad believed Saber had said, was spoken in a fraction of a second, yet he could comprehend it perfectly, as if he had spent several seconds listening to it. Even if it weren't for the immediate effects, the experience was strange enough that it could only have been magecraft. But, as soon as he noticed said events, it was already too late. His entire being was surrounded by a sphere composed of wind. The astoundingly harsh current was preventing him from returning to his material form, whirling his mist body around ceaselessly. And before he could even think of any retaliation from his astonishment, Saber was waving at him with a cheeky grin.

'

"See ya! We'll finish this another time!"

'

And then he blasted away. In a second, Vlad had passed the boundaries of the commune. In another, he was too far to even see the rubble from the buildings. The sheer speed of travel was astounding. Even if he could feel the spell weakening every moment, by the time he could get free, he would be much too far to participate in the battle. The realization filled the Lancer with rage. Had his opponent truly been so underhanded!? Had their entire duel up to this point been a trick!? Just a set-up for this trap!? No, that couldn't be! Even though he was foolish for doing so, Saber had clearly enjoyed their battle, so why would he-

'

And then it hit him. Thinking back, his allies battling Carmilla had appeared exhausted. In particular, the girl, his Master, also appeared quite drained, despite not doing any fighting. Ah, so that was it. As he managed to restore his physical form, a smile spread on Vlad's lips. Indeed, all those bursts of flame would rack up quite a hefty toll on his Master's magical energy stores, meaning that Saber wouldn't have been able to fight with his full strength for much longer. So, he prioritized his Master and allies over attempting to defeat him.

'
Letting out his second boisterous laugh of the day, Vlad shattered the weakened wind sphere with a burst of magical energy, landing on the ground while still howling. The entire situation with this twisted France had just grown far more interesting. "Hah! 'We'll finish this another time', you say!?" Oh, he would most certainly take the young hero on his promise.

'

'

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'

'

As the battle around her raged on, Ritsuka grit her teeth in frustration. After Lemminkäinen and Vlad III had bumped in earlier, Carmilla had brought her personal wyvern in the battle as well, turning the tables to her side. Seeing how they weren't Servants, the Master couldn't know their exact strength, but from just a short interaction, it was clear that these black ones were several times stronger than their regular, green counterparts. Jeanne didn't have too much trouble dealing with the other ones, but this extra-evil looking one was putting up a real fight.

'

The Assassin herself was even more troublesome. She wasn't much stronger physically when compared to Mash or Jeanne, but she was very fast. It seemed that the A+ Agility ranking she was seeing when looking at her was very much real after all. Those fingernails of hers, more like claws given how long they were, seemed really nasty to deal with, but thankfully they couldn't cut through the Servants' armaments. On the other hand, her weird blood-powers which seemed to come from her apparently being a vampire, were way more dangerous. Especially that blood-wave-cutter-thing that had nearly hit Ritsuka the first time she'd used it. Then there was that iron maiden of hers, which was most likely the scariest of them all, doubly so since it was clearly her Noble Phantasm. Leaving out the detail that a damn iron maiden seemed to actually be an effective weapon, the fact that she could make it move on its own like that made it really threatening. Luckily, since there were three of them, they could keep an eye on the wyvern, the maiden and Carmilla herself at the same time to make sure that none of them got flanked by the torture tool, but in a one-on-one fight, it would definitely be a fearsome weapon to watch out for.

'

And it really didn't help Ritsuka's nerves that this whole situation was way worse than they'd imagined. This Dragon Witch Jeanne didn't just want to rule France, she was going for a straight up genocide on a country level. Obviously they had to stop her, which at least made their goal clear, but reaching that goal was one hell of a hurdle to say the least. Not only were she and her Servants strong, but who knew how many wyverns she still had in store. Even now that they were battling her Servants, she just sat on her wyvern, looking at them with utmost glee. She was like a kid watching ants scuffle, and it made Ritsuka sick. If she'd just joined in, given how strong she was, the Dragon Witch could have ended this all in minutes. Ugh... At least they could use that overconfidence to their advantage. Once they escaped the current battle, they'd need to do some serious strategizing on how to handle the whole situation.

'

And to make the awful situation worse, her magical energy was rapidly depleting. If it was just Mash she would have been fine, but with two Servants fighting as hard as they could, she could last maybe ten to fifteen minutes more, at best. Lemminkäinen was more than likely going all out without using his Noble Phantasm, so the weak supply from Chaldea just couldn't keep up, leaving Ritsuka to pick up the slack. Damn it! If only they'd gotten linked to a leyline before this battle started.

'

But, her personal problems were hardly important, given that she couldn't even begin to imagine what Jeanne was feeling at the moment. She looked as if she was going through an existential crisis, which to be fair, she couldn't exactly be blamed for. It didn't help that in a way, Ritsuka understood the other Jeanne's point. Sure, destroying France in its entirety was going way too far, but after everything she had to endure prior to her death, the Master wouldn't have blamed her if she decided to massacre the king and a good portion of the clergy in revenge. It just seemed far more human than their Jeanne's way of completely accepting her end and not holding a grudge at all...

'

And yet, when Ritsuka looked at the young woman fighting as hard as she could despite what had been said to her, she couldn't help but to think that that same acceptance only made her seem so much more saint-like and beautiful...

'

A sudden beep from her Multi-Appliance brought the redhead's focus back to the struggle, quickly pressing a button to let a familiar voice pour out. "Keep your wrist close to your ear, Ritsuka. We don't want the others to hear about this."

'

For Roman to want to talk to her in the middle of a rough battle like this... There was no way this could possibly be anything good. "...What's up now?" she asked cautiously after doing as she was told.

'

Roman remained quiet for a moment before dropping one hell of a bomb. "We've... detected two more Servant readings close to you." A reveal that nearly caused Ritsuka's heart to stop. There was no way they could handle two more Servants as things were. Lemminkäinen was already going all in on Vlad, while Mash and Jeanne had their hands full with Carmilla and her wyvern. Victory would be absolutely impossible if even more enemies jumped in. Was that why the Dragon Witch hadn't joined the fray herself? Because she knew that they wouldn't be able to win no matter what? Was she just-

'

...Wait. A sudden realization hit the Master's mind. Why was Roman telling this to her so secretively? Shouldn't he have warned them well in advance? Unless... It wasn't their allied Servants he didn't want hearing this, but their enemies. With a faint flame of hope lighting in her heart, she carefully continued while keeping an eye on the fight. "Is there something strange about them?"

'

"Yes, two things," the Doctor confirmed. "First, they're not rushing towards you in a hurry, but slowly moving closer despite not having Presence Concealment. And second, they're pretty weak. These two are easily the weakest Servants currently in the area."

'

The tiny flame in Ritsuka's chest grew stronger. Both of those acts were good. The duo were able to sneak in because everyone was too focused on the fighting to notice two more Servants. And in this case, their weakness was also useful since it made them all the more undetectable. And if they were weak without Presence Concealment, both of them were probably Casters. Then there was the big question: Could they be allies like Cú in Fuyuki? Honestly, she really hoped so. No matter how weak they were, in their current situation, any help was appreciated. "Give me their general direction and I'll see where this goes."

'

"Southwest. Good luck."

'

With that, the audio was cut, leaving the Master alone with her thoughts. In their current situation, no matter the allegiance of the two new Servants, they had to reduce the enemy rankings at least a little, so she began forming a quick, simple plan. It would require good timing, which the Servants could definitely handle, but the redhead was more worried about herself. If she screwed up, either Mash or Jeanne could end up seriously injured. Still, if she did nothing, that was guaranteed to happen, so she didn't exactly have a choice. Linking her senses with the Shielder, Ritsuka whispered out: "Mash. I'm going to explain my plan to you. It's simple, so share it with Jeanne as soon as you can and wait for my mark."

'

"(Yes, Senpai,)" Mash answered as promptly as ever, doing her best to fight while listening to the explanation. As soon as the redhead was finished, the Shielder moved in front of Jeanne, as if to block an attack, and quietly filled her in behind her shield. With a confirming nod from the Ruler, the plan was a go, prompting Ritsuka to focus her magical energy on the Combat Mystic Code. She'd need careful aim for the first part, so she did her best to steady her breathing as she pointed her right index finger towards the wyvern occupied with the Servants.

'

ZZHASH

'

Firing Gandr at the reptile, Ritsuka was relieved both with her accuracy and the beast's reaction upon being hit. Despite being stronger, its reaction was quite similar to its green brethren, convulsing in pain as the disease spread through its body. As a look of shock spread on the Assassin's face, the second part was a go, prompting the Master to fire up another spell, this one aimed at her allies. With the strengthening spell of the Combat Mystic Code boosting them, Mash smashed her shield against surprised Carmilla, pushing her back with effort, while Jeanne charged at the wyvern, thrusting her flag into its chest to kill it near instantly. As the Assassin growled in annoyance, Ritsuka let out a sigh of relief. It was a tiny victory, but at least the fight would be the slightest bit easier no-

'

Crumble

'

The redhead's attention was drawn to a sudden noise from the side, spotting a mostly broken brick wall that had now fully fallen apart in her peripheral. Certainly an odd timing. Did a shockwave from the fight-

'

Ritsuka's heart nearly stopped as she noticed the object hovering a short distance away from the crumbled wall: Carmilla's iron maiden! While they'd taken care of the wyvern, it had snuck out of sight and judging by its position, aiming for Mash. The Shielder, still preoccupied with the Assassin, hadn't realized anything yet. And then, as its doors opened to reveal the chamber of death inside, the torture device dashed forward. "Mash!" Ritsuka quickly called out while using Emergency Evasion, granting the girl a much needed boost to her reaction time. In an instant, Mash's head snapped around in a blur before her entire body moved several meters to the side, allowing her to slip out of the iron maiden's reach unharmed.

'

Carmilla clicked her tongue in annoyance as Jeanne dashed at her, the battle engaging once more as Mash gave Ritsuka an appreciative smile before joining the Ruler. The redhead let out a relieved sigh. Damn that was lucky. If that wall hadn't crumbled right then, she might not have noticed the iron maiden in time. A thought that brought her mind to a pause. Wait... Lucky...? Looking down at her chest, Ritsuka focused on the pendant between her clothes. She could swear it was slightly warmer now than just a moment before. A small smile spread on her lips. Well, Lemminkäinen hadn't exaggerated in this case. The great smith Ilmarinen certainly built things to last.

'

WHOOOOOSSHH

'

It was then that a powerful burst of wind shook the area. As Ritsuka turned towards the source, she managed to spot what appeared to be black mist in a sphere of air as it disappeared into the horizon. All present looked after it in confusion. Even the Dragon Witch seemed genuinely shocked. "...Lancer? What the hell just happened?" The first word in particular caught the Master's attention. That was king Vlad that just blasted off? How in the world did that happen? Only when she saw Lemminkäinen standing by himself did Ritsuka realize what the sphere was. It had definitely been the spell she had wanted to use for escaping.

'

The Saber then approached her, an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry it took a while to get rid of him. That old man was pretty damn strong. Tricky too."

'

Ah. Now things got a bit clearer to Ritsuka. He'd probably realized that she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long and got rid of Vlad because of that. In light of this development, she gave him a smile with a thumbs-up. "No worries. Well done, Saber."

'

"Hmph. Well, no matter," the Dragon Witch suddenly huffed, the evil smile returning on her lips in a way that gave Ritsuka chills. Oh, that was a really bad sign. "At this point, you're already too late," she cackled. An even worse sign. Something absolutely catastrophic was about to happen.

'

Suddenly Dio's voice called from the Multi-Appliance, astonishment clear in his voice. "Holy shit! Something completely absurd is heading towards you fast, accompanied by two more Servants and a horde of wyverns close behind!" Yup, something like that. Ritsuka withheld a shiver as Mash cast an extremely worried look towards her. "You see this shit, Da Vinci!?"

'

"...Are you serious?" the Caster asked in a tone that managed to make the Master feel even worse. "No wonder she was so confident with a trump card like that."

'

But before anyone could even ask them to reiterate, they saw the cause of the fuss with their own eyes, causing Ritsuka's jaw to drop.

'

An enormous, black figure blocked out the sun as it flew over them before landing behind the other Jeanne. Standing on its four legs, the beast briefly showed off the glowing, blue symbol on its chest as it folded its wings and laid down, like a dog beside its owner. Said owner was grinning wider than ever before.

'

It was a dragon. An actual dragon, the real deal, unlike the wyverns, which seemed at best like residue next to it. To even compare the two felt wrong, like making a kitten sit next to a full grown tiger. The sheer magical energy radiating off of it was suffocating, to the point that Ritsuka might have fainted if it weren't for her charm keeping her mind calm. But it was also thanks to that calmness that she could come into a horrifying conclusion. No one, not one of her Servants, could hope to match that thing. Even it must have been aware of it, considering that it didn't even bother looking at their group. It was just way too strong. By her side, Mash and Jeanne were sharing her exact reaction, horror and disbelief filling their faces.

'

"Ah, what a perfect, appropriate reaction," the Dragon Witch cackled, appearing extremely pleased with what she was seeing. "That's just the sort of face humans should make before Fafnir."

'

"Fafnir the Evil Dragon!?" Ritsuka practically screamed, even her charm struggling to keep her fear at bay. That explained why it seemed so threatening even when lying down like that. This was among the strongest dragons in European myth, arguably the most famous.

'

Mash gaped by her side, slowly moving in front of her Master. "No way... She even summoned something like that?"

'

Even Lemminkäinen seemed impressed, letting out a loud whistle. "Damn. That is one big bastard. I'd say it's the second largest beast I've ever seen."

'

"Exactly! So you should know just how futile it is to-!" In an instant, the satisfied glee disappeared from the other Jeanne's face, quickly replaced by disbelief and exasperation. "...Wait. What do you mean second largest?"

'

"Well, there was this one sea monster I ended up crossing paths with. Real big. Like a damn living island," Lemminkäinen explained merrily, as if he were describing a fish he'd caught. Guessing by the description, he must've been talking about Iku-Turso. Ritsuka was... caught off guard by this whole exchange to say the least. A reaction shared by the other women present, including Carmilla. Man, leave it to this guy to pull off something like this in their current, abysmal situation. "But don't feel too bad. That bastard was a Divine Beast summoned by a Witch Queen. No shame in losing to something like that." Ritsuka just shook her head. Yup. Definitely Iku-Turso. But considering that Lemminkäinen wasn't the one who repelled him in the first place, she wasn't exactly filled with confidence in their success.

'

The Dragon Witch continued staring at the Saber in disbelief for a few seconds before grunting. "Ugh! No matter! You still know just how futile it is for you to fight against Fafnir." Apparently working off her frustration, the earlier smirk returned on her face. "Now then, any last words before you're reduced to cinders? I suppose I can grant you that much for putting on such an entertaining show."

'

And, not surprising Ritsuka in the least, Lemminkäinen seemed more than happy to take up that offer. "Well, to be honest, I'm real curious. I get how you summon these guys, but how do you control that many of those wyverns? Not to mention the big guy. Must be one hell of a magecraft that lets you do something like that."

'

The Dragon Witch proceeded to let out one of her ear grating cackles, seeming pleased with the choice of words. "Hah! As if I'd need something like that! Dragons obey me without the need to do anything. It is a gift I received upon my resurrection."

'

"Wait. Stop," Lemminkäinen called out, both his voice and expression suddenly being so bizarrely serious that even the other Jeanne stopped laughing instantly. "You can just do it? That's it? It's not magecraft or a witch art of some kind?"

'

The Dragon Witch blinked in disbelief, now appearing more confused than annoyed. "Yes, but so wha-"

'

"Oh, for fucks sake." The Saber let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I thought you seemed kinda off, but this is just..." Emotions whirled across his face. Anger, annoyance, disappointment. That last one intensifying greatly thanks to the confirming answer. To Ritsuka, and anyone sane for that matter, being able to control hordes of dragons naturally was way more terrifying than achieving it via magecraft, but this dumbass didn't seem to agree. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he turned back towards the Dragon Witch, the expression on his face more serious than his Master had ever seen. "Can you observe people on the other side of the country?"

'

Caught completely off guard by the sudden inquiry, she let out a dumbfounded mutter. "I... what?"

'

"Just answer the damn question."

'

The other Jeanne fell silent in the face of this bizarre, yet demanding sincerity, to the point where she seemed genuinely lost. Exchanging a quick glance with both Mash and Jeanne, Ritsuka could see that they were just as confused as her with this current development. Hell, even Carmilla looked completely dumbfounded. But the fact that Lemminkäinen managed to cause a distraction like this was a serious blessing, at least giving the Master enough time to plan. Or, she would have done that, if the conversation between them wasn't seriously distracting. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, the Dragon Witch finally muttered. "...Well, no, I-"

'

"Can you transform yourself into a Demonic Beast?" the Saber pushed on, his eyes practically drilling holes into the befuddled Ruler with their intensity.

'

"Huh? I summon them, but I can't-"

'

"Can you freeze an entire sea in an instant?" Oh? Ooooooh... Now Ritsuka got it. He was totally comparing the Dragon Witch to Louhi right now.

'

But said Witch's confusion only grew, along with the others' watching. "What? I don't even-"

'

"Can you capture the sun and the moon out of the sky and lock them away?"

'

And that seemed to be the last straw, seeing how the other Jeanne's confusion was almost completely overshadowed by her frustration. "Are you just screwing with me right now!?"

'

But the Saber completely ignored the outburst, just letting out a disappointed sigh. "That's a no, then?" Pinching the bridge of his nose a second time, Lemminkäinen somehow looked even more frustrated than the Dragon Witch as he unleashed his final question, which nearly sounded like begging at this point. "...Can you even use any actual magecraft?"

'

An absolutely victorious grin spread on the Dragon Witch's face. It seemed that this was finally something she could actually do. "Hah! My curses can render-"

'

"Nah! Doesn't count!" Lemminkäinen shot the other Jeanne's ship down so quickly that it didn't even make it out of the harbor. The smile practically melted off of her lips in the face of such absolute rejection. "Seriously. Anyone pissed off and vengeful enough can do curses. Even a literal dead child can do them, so they don't count." Ritsuka was pretty sure she could hear some of the Servants back at Chaldea laughing over the commline. Not that she could blame them. This was basically a comedy routine at this point. Letting a deep sigh escape his mouth, the Saber placed his hands on his hips as he gave the Dragon Witch one final look of disappointment. "...So that's seriously it? Damn, what a letdown. You're not even an actual witch."

'

And that was the true last straw. Faced with such an unapologetic statement, the other Jeanne's anger finally erupted like a volcano. Literally. Flames were very literally erupting around her as she screamed with pure, unabashed rage. "You dare!? I bend dragons to my will! My flames of resentment burn everything to-!"

'

"I don't give a shit what kind of abilities you have! Don't go calling yourself a witch if you can't even use any magecraft, you damn fraud!" the Saber roared back with just as much passion in his voice, getting even the other Jeanne to quell. Even if anyone sensible would have known to just stop talking at this point, this man, Lemminkäinen, was far too committed to his own insensibility to even consider it. Honestly, at this point Ritsuka was just impressed at how far he could actually take his nonsense. And yet, the next thing he said somehow managed to be even more outrageous. "You ain't worth that name! You haven't earned it, so from now on, I'm just calling you 'Dragon Rider'!"

'

The flames around evil Jeanne died down from sheer disbelief as her expression went blank. To some, it might have looked like she calmed back down, but to anyone present, the truth was far too obvious. Fists clenched and shaking with rage, her gauntlets were digging into her palms, droplets of blood dripping down on the stone below where they were instantly vaporized by the intense heat still present in them. She no longer looked like she was about to literally explode with anger. Oh, no. This was much worse. The Dragon Witch's face was completely calm, only her eyes emanating the unequaled fury raging within her as she pointed her index finger at Lemminkäinen, her voice terrifyingly composed. "...I won't leave even the ashes remaining of your corpse."

'

But Lemminkäinen just huffed with a small smile, satisfied that he'd managed to say what he wanted. Now it was Ritsuka's turn to release some steam, the only thing stopping her from smacking the man being the distance between them. "What the hell were you even trying to achieve with all that!?" Sure, this allowed them to gauge out their enemy's abilities a bit, but it sure as hell wasn't worth the tradeoff. Because in the meantime, the Dragon Witch's two other Servants had gotten to visual range, allowing Ritsuka to confirm that, yup, they were also really strong. What were they even supposed to do at this point?

'

But, even if those present, with the exception of Lemminkäinen, were haunted by uncertainty, that was nothing compared to the man on the projected screen. "Oh, crap. She's seriously pissed now," Roman yelled, sounding even more freaked out as Ritsuka felt. "What do we do? Any ideas? Any ideas?"

'

Mash, while doing her best to stay right by Ritsuka's side, was clearly affected by his tone. "Doctor, please calm down. You're starting to make me panic, too!" In response, the Master could only rub her shoulder calmingly, yet it seemed to work all the same as the Shielder's breathing calmed somewhat.

'

Too bad that the Doctor managed to undo the results in the next few seconds. "B-But this is really bad, right! Okay, where's my email? I need the internet's help!"

'

As Roman started hastily searching for something from his pockets, only to pull out his phone, the redhead unconsciously let out a shout, putting voice to what they were all thinking. "Is this man serious right now!?" Was this some kind of nervous breakdown? Or a panic attack? It better have been, or Ritsuka would seriously need to talk about the chain of command to Da Vinci and Dio when or if they ever got back to Chaldea.

'

Typing furiously on the device, the Doctor just continued on with his nonsense. "Off to the internet idol page! Help me Magi Mari! Help me Magi Mari!" Alright, breakdown it was. That was the only justification the Master could think of that allowed her to keep even a shred of respect towards this man. "'We're being attacked by four Servants, a giant dragon and an army of wyverns. What should we do?' Okay, sent." With his message apparently having passed through, he started impatiently tapping the side of the phone while waiting for a reply. Thinking about it, how the hell was a net idol page even working? Nothing about this made any sense! Was Roman just hallucinating at this point?

'

"Jesucristo, Roman..." Dio muttered in a tone that allowed Ritsuka to practically see the facepalm even though he wasn't on the screen. At this point, everyone present in the Singularity was looking at the screen with varying reactions, ranging from confusion and doubt to pity. Even the Dragon Witch was just staring at the show in disbelief.

'

As a ping came out of the device he held, Roman's face lit up as if he had just received an answer to all life's problems. "Ah! She answered! 'I guess you'll have to just die and be reborn! ' ...Huh?" His face went plank upon reading the message, appearing heartbroken. Like: Just as soon as he'd received his salvation, it was taken from him. Ritsuka really didn't even know what to think at this point. Although, the Doctor was so focused on his phone at this point that he failed to see Da Vinci approaching him from behind. "Wow, internet idols are HARSH! She doesn't know how I feel! Does anyo-slap-ow!"

'

Putting everyone's thoughts into action, the Caster slapped Roman's cheek hard enough that he fell off his chair and went quiet. With a short applause, Dio gave his approval. "Nice job, Da Vinci. He definitely needed that, like... holy shit."

'

"Is this comedy routine of yours over?" the Dragon Witch growled, seeming even more annoyed than before. The Master was honestly shocked she'd even waited this long. Raising her flag, the flames erupted from its tip. She was now fully ready to fight. "Then, it's about time that- Eh?" Until another interruption appeared right by her feet.

'

"Huh?" Mash and Ritsuka simultaneously blinked in surprise as they stared at the suddenly appeared object. Right there, in front of the Dragon Witch's feet, impaled in the stone was a... glass rose?

'

And then: "It's not elegant. Neither is this city. Neither is that combat style. I don't like your philosophy or principles either. You're so beautiful, yet you shroud yourself in blood and hatred. For good or for evil, shouldn't a human try to be more free?" A voice suddenly spoke out. An extremely beautiful voice. It sounded like it was coming from every direction at once, leaving Ritsuka unable to pinpoint its source, more than likely due to some type of sound based magecraft.

'

"What is... There's another Servant?" Along with everyone else, the Dragon Witch started gazing around the area with frustrated confusion. Thankfully, Ritsuka knew that the source of this voice was most likely one of the mystery Servants who were sneaking closer. Well, if nothing else, this distraction gave her some time to sort out her thoughts. The other Jeanne's two remaining Servants were just landing a short distance behind her, looking just as confused as the others present. They really were frustratingly strong... Still, their group could use this chance to begin preparations for escaping. Although the enemy forces had already seen the spell Lemminkäinen used earlier, it wouldn't do them much good if they weren't its target. As the mysterious voice continued speaking, Ritsuka used their connection to instruct the Saber to start preparations for a quick escape.

'

"Yes, that's right. I'm so happy. This is what it means to announce oneself as a hero of justice!" A childlike cheerfulness took over the voice, only for it to revert back to seriousness by the next sentence. "Ahem. I know who you are. I also know how powerful and terrifying you are. To be honest, I have to confess that I've never trembled in fear more before anyone else. Yet still- If you intend to invade this nation, then I shall face you even if I have to tear apart my dress. Why? Because that's who I am..." Suddenly, a figure hopped into the air from one of the larger piles of rubble, gaining everyone's attention. Landing atop the pile, she striked a pose that looked more cute than impressive, accentuated further by her excited smile. "The girl called the Flower of Versailles! I am- Marie Antoinette!"

'

Upon hearing the name, everyone appeared equally dumbfounded. The first thought in Ritsuka's head was: 'Wow, that's a big hat.' This girl, Marie, was admittedly very cute, though quite young, reminding the redhead of middle schooler idols more than anything. With long silver hair that had been tied into twintails, along with her red dress and... gigantic hat, she certainly would've fit the part more than an 18th century queen. Finally breaking the silence that had fallen, Mash managed to utter. "Queen Marie Antoinette?"

'

The girl's smile broadened at the mention of her name, giving Mash a friendly wave. "That's right! And as long as that name exists, I will play my role, no matter how foolish it may be." Her expression then hardened, though still looked quite adorable, as she pointed at the evil Jeanne. "You! Dragon Witch who's torching my country. It might be pointless, but I will ask you anyway. Are you evil enough to perform your wicked deeds in my very presence? Will you declare yourself a greater fool than I, the queen who failed to stop the revolution?" Well, with that Ritsuka had to admit, if nothing else, this girl certainly had guts to declare such a thing.

'

A sentiment the Dragon Witch clearly didn't share. A vein was clearly visible on her forehead at this point, meaning that she was more than likely done with all this nonsense. "Silence! You lack the right to participate in this battle."

'

Marie tilted her head, appearing genuinely confused. "Oh, and why is that?"

'

"You led a life of luxury in a palace, and died without even knowing what happened. Are you saying you can understand our hatred?"

'

In response to the acquisition, the girl tapped her chin contemplatively before smiling. "Hmm... I suppose I can't. But that just makes me want to know more, Dragon Witch."

'

The evil Jeanne's face went blank, yet the vein on her forehead persisted. "...What?"

'

"What I don't know, I learn. That's my policy," Marie nodded happily. Honestly not a bad policy by Ritsuka's standards, but the way she said it made it seem a bit... ditzy. Though her expression then hardened along with the following words. "That's why I can't bear to look at you like this. Oh, Jeanne d'Arc, beloved saint! All I know is that you're taking your rage out on the innocent. And I've not the slightest idea why. Everything's disappearing into a haze, like a girl going for a Sunday walk. I've no words for you. What I do know is this." She then proceeded to point towards the increasingly irate Jeanne before shifting her finger towards the one that stood by the Chaldeans' side and declared loudly: "Along with the Jeanne d'Arc over there, I am going to make your heart and body mine!"

'

Silence took over the ravaged town once more, this one even deeper than the last. No one had any idea what to say in response to the queen's words. Even the two newly arrived Servants just stared in confusion, likely even more lost than anyone present, seeing how they were missing the minor context that actually mattered in the situation. It was ultimately Mash who broke the silence, with a single, confused: "...What?"

'

But the most bewildered of them all was Jeanne, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she stared at the queen. "Uh... huh?" It seemed that everyone was equally confused by the outrageous declaration, with one exception:

'

Lemminkäinen rubbed his chin while looking at the young queen, seeming genuinely impressed. "Woah... She just made a dynamic entrance and now she already confessed? A seriously bold strategy. This young lady is a real pro. I might have some competition."

'

With the sheer stupidity of this man's statement, Ritsuka snapped out of her bewilderment and hissed at him. "Are you freaking serious right now?" She legitimately felt like she was going to go insane.

'

But, it seemed like Marie herself finally understood just what she had said, a slight blush rising to her cheeks as she tapped her fingers together. "Oh, my. Oh dear, oh dear. Um, don't misunderstand me. I just meant that as a Queen, I'm going to bring you to your knees."

'

As her allies and enemies exchanged disbelieving looks, Ritsuka withheld from slapping herself in the face. The queen might've genuinely won the award for 'the Worst Wording Imaginable' when she'd given her declaration. Even Roman, who had crawled up from the floor, seemed to be grieving. "...It's falling apart... My image of Marie Antoinette is falling apart..." Although, his words might've held more impact if it wasn't for the bright red handprint on his cheek.

'

"Calm down, Roman, and you too, Meuniere!" Dio shouted to the Doctor, while also yelling to someone else in the background. "While this is a twist from hell, we still need you to focus on your jobs!"

'

But, no one seemed more fed up with the situation than the Dragon Witch herself. "...Enough of this farce. This whole damn encounter has given me the worst headache imaginable," she growled while rubbing her forehead, before turning towards Marie with an extremely dissatisfied look. "Very well then, you are my enemy." Moving her gaze to her awaiting troops, she signaled towards the girl. "Servants, first take care of that annoying princess! Then the others!"

'

As the three Servants began approaching the queen, the three by Ritsuka's side all prepared their weapons as well. It had taken a while, but the time to talk seemed to finally be over. The Master wasn't entirely sure what Marie's plan had been with her appearance, if she even had one, but the girl seemed to be a Rider from what she could see, meaning that she must've had a mount of some kind. And in that case, it could be efficient in their escape as long as she was their ally. The big questions were: Was she really their ally just because the Dragon Witch was their enemy? And was her mount fast enough to outrace wyverns?

'

But, despite the fact that everyone else was preparing for battle, it seemed that Marie herself wasn't done quite yet.

'

"Yes, that's right. This is a battlefield, after all. That's enough talk." Despite the obvious disadvantage she held, the young queen brazenly pointed at the unimpressed Dragon Witch. "You're the enemy of the world, aren't you? So first- We must appease the souls of all those you murdered." And with that, the Rider raised her hands above her head, a pink sphere of energy containing a flower growing above them. The opposing Servants raised their guard in anticipation for the attack, only for Marie to launch the sphere up in the air, where it exploded like a firework into pink sparkles and petals. "Thank you for waiting, Amadeus. Crush them like bugs!"

'

Upon receiving the dramatic signal, the second Servant made his appearance, appearing around another pile of rubble not too far from Marie's location. "Leave it to me!" The blond man in a strange purple and black outfit raised a conductor baton of all things, pointing it in the air as if he were directing an orchestra and his magical energy spiked. "Listen, to this bewitching sound! Requiem for Death! [A Funeral March For the Grim Reaper]"

'

Upon the Noble Phantasm's activation came the appearance of most unexpected creatures: A group of headless, legless angels wearing tuxedos, all playing what looked like violins or cellos that filled the area with a wondrous melody. Despite the bizarre appearance though, it seemed to pack a serious punch, seeing how the sound managed to blow away not only the wyverns, but the enemy Servants as well.

'

"Another one!?" Carmilla cried as she was blown back and fell on her knees. Yet, immediately afterwards, a creepily elated smile grew on her face. "Oh, but what a glorious, evil sound!"

'

Her allies however, were far less ecstatic, especially the Dragon Witch, who growled in frustration at the surprise attack, glaring daggers at the newly appeared Servant. "Damn!"

'

"And here I go!" Marie cheered as she hopped towards the Chaldeans. As she landed, a construct appeared behind her that made Ritsuka blink in disbelief. A carriage made of... glass? Or maybe it was crystal? Whatever it was, the Rider was motioning the group towards it. "Now's the time for our dramatic getaway! Come on, everyone!"

'

Immediately, all the Servants turned to Ritsuka for confirmation, and for a second, she wondered if this might all be an extremely elaborate trap of some kind, but quickly brushed the thought away. The enemy had no use for a ruse like this. They already had an overwhelming advantage in terms of fighting power, so there was no need for them to go this far. ...Besides, the Dragon Witch's annoyance was way too legit to be an act. "We're retreating, guys!" she motioned towards the others and started running towards the vehicle.

'

"Yes, Senpai!" Mash responded, not wasting a moment in heading for the carriage, Jeanne, Lemminkäinen and Fou right on her tail while the man called Amadeus entered from the other side as his angels continued their playing. As Ritsuka got through the door, thankfully the inside wasn't glass, but fully furnished with very comfortable seats. Although, given its size, there was enough room on the seats for maybe six people, meaning that it'd be quite snug. Seeing that, or maybe he just preferred the alternative, the Saber hopped on the roof.

'

Seeing how everyone was either in or on the carriage, Marie waved at their foes cheerfully. "Now then, good day everyone. Au revoir!" And then, the carriage blasted off with honestly shocking speed. Had Ritsuka not been seated with her back against the rear end, she more than likely would've fallen on the floor.

'

But, seeing the distance put between them, Amadeus' Noble Phantasm had lost its effect, letting the enraged Dragon Witch begin her chase. "Like hell I'm letting you get away after this! Assassin, Saber, Rider, with me!"

'

Even with the distance already between them, Ritsuka could still hear the Ruler's shouts frighteningly clearly. She was packing some serious lungs. Watching the situation through the carriage's back windows, she saw how the enemy Servants hopped on their black wyverns to give chase, the swarm following right behind them. Her heart sank for a moment, knowing that the dragons would be hard to lose even with their vehicle, but then noticed that Fafnir was still just resting, uncaring over the situation. Whatever the reason, that could be their chance. "Saber, shoot down their wyverns!"

'

"Already on it!" And so he was, as Ritsuka witnessed Carmilla's wyvern getting struck in the wing by an arrow, leaving it spiraling out of the sky. And although the other Servants were quick to block and deflect some of the arrows shot at them, with the beasts' large wingspan the riders couldn't effectively protect both sides at once, only buying time until their mounts began losing altitude one by one. She had to admit that the bow Lemminkäinen had made was really coming in clutch. And he was clearly enjoying using it as well. "And down they go! No wings for you, Dragon Rider!" he hollered, and the other Jeanne's screams of absolute outrage could more than likely be heard several kilometers away. Still, the Master couldn't help but to let out a relieved sigh. This whole thing had gone way better than she'd imagined.

'

Seeing the results of the quick battle, Marie started joyfully clapping her hands. "Oh, that was so exciting! Our daring rescue mission was a remarkable success." An act that got the others inside to smile as well. While the sheer level of the queen's cheerfulness was kind of overwhelming, Ritsuka couldn't deny that it was strangely encouraging.

'

But, someone had to be the necessary buzzkill, and in this situation it was Amadeus. "Maria, while it's great to see you enjoying yourself so much, maybe we should save the celebrations until we know for certain that we're safe."

'

The Rider gave him a slight pout but nothing more, given that his point was perfectly valid. Ritsuka definitely wasn't going to disagree. It was still way too early for them to relax. Even Lemminkäinen agreed, shouting from the roof: "Yeah, they might try something sneaky, so just keep the ride going and I'll keep watch up here."

'

Not to be discouraged by something like that, Marie proceeded to keep her eyes on the outside as the carriage entered onto a forest road. Meanwhile, Ritsuka took Mash's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze which the Shielder reciprocated with a grateful smile. With that, and seeing how she had nothing particular to do at the moment, the redhead allowed herself to relax a little and leaned against the soft seating. If nothing else, this carriage was a way more comfortable method of travel than being flung across the air by a wild burst of wind.

'

'

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---

'

'

Her rage burning hotter than it had in days, Jeanne the Dragon Witch let out one last growl before taking a look at her forces. While that Caster's Noble Phantasm had been annoying, it didn't cause too much damage. All of her Servants and most of the wyvern swarm were fine, with the exception of some of the weaker, green ones. But who cared, given how many of them she had. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for those the Saber had targeted. Ignoring why a damn Saber used a bow in the first place, the shots had managed to cripple even some of the more powerful black wyverns, which was infuriating to say the least. Fafnir on the other hand seemed completely uninterested in the whole situation, which made sense, considering that none of the enemies posed even the slightest threat to it. Of course, she could have just sent it after the rodents that ran away and that would have been it for them, but that was far too good of an end for those eyesores. Especially that insolent Saber. A single blast of fire from Fafnir would kill them all, yet it would be over in an instant. Oh, she wouldn't let them get off that easy, not after the farce that just went down.

'

"Ahh, that awful noise is gone... What a shame," Assassin sighed, seeming genuinely disappointed for some reason. Seriously... The Ruler would never understand the weird tastes of nobility. "I wonder if I can make that Servant my pet. I'd stick his head on a phonograph and have him scream all night."

'

While that last part did admittedly sound amusing, Jeanne didn't have time for this countess' nonsense now. Turning towards one of her more capable underlings, she yelled out. "Rider!"

'

Appearing completely unbothered by everything thus far, the purple haired woman approached her, her face as blank as ever. "...What is it?"

'

"Go after them. There's no need to fight. Just tell me where they are, and I'll crush them." She felt her rage boiling up once again as she saw the infuriating, smirking face of that insufferable man in her mind. "Especially that insolent Saber! I'll keep burning him until even his ashes have turned to nothing!"

'

Without as much as a twitch to her expression, Rider gave her a slight bow. "...Understood. I assure you I'll catch them." And without another word, she mounted one of the wyverns and headed towards the direction the rodents had escaped to, a small flock of other wyverns on her tail. Jeanne let out a relieved sigh. This was exactly why she liked Rider. She got shit done. No stupid questions or quirks, just heading straight to work after receiving her orders.

'

And on the other side of the spectrum, there was Carmilla. "And what of us, Ruler?"

'

Taking a second to consider the options, the Dragon Witch fell back on her original plan. "Go ahead and cause as much trouble as you like. If you're lucky enough to find them, slay them with the exception of Saber. Leave him just barely alive." As the two Servants nodded obediently, Jeanne focused on imagining that insolent man's death. Oh, how she would enjoy tearing him apart before burning him to nothing. Still... That last battle got her thinking about the countess' performance. Even if she was a vampire, she could still do far better. A smirk grew on her lips. A little motivation would hardly hurt her. "Now get going. You're not going to be beaten by a queen who never left her castle, are you Assassin?"

'

"How harsh. I stayed in a castle too," Carmilla sighed, feigning distress, only to start smiling wickedly almost immediately. "But... Heh. My talents are a match for any of the others. That enemy Rider is the person I wish to slaughter most in this world. It will be that woman Marie who kneels before me." Well, that was at least a bit better. Jeanne would take what she could with this woman.

'

"..." Saber on the other hand, stood there silently, only fixing their eyes on the Assassin after the last sentence. There was no change in their expression, but a whirlwind of emotion was swirling right under their calm exterior. Ugh, Jeanne had a really annoying feeling about this.

'

Noticing the change as well, Carmilla raised a brow while smiling at the knight. "Oh, Saber. Is there something you'd like to add?"

'

Shaking their head, the tiniest hints of a smile formed on Chevalier d'Eon's lips as they looked Carmilla straight in the eyes. "You're right. There's no point in me worrying about your sense of inferiority towards her." And that feeling had been spot on. Jeanne could only sigh in frustration. Even if it was accurate, some things were just better left unsaid. Well, given her Saber's True Name, they used to serve that idiot queen, so obviously there was going to be some bias towards her.

'

The Assassin sneered at the words, obviously insulted given the truth of the statement. "...What did you say?"

'

But before either could do anything more, Jeanne raised her flag, bringing them to a complete halt. She really had neither the time or patience to deal with this. "...Stop. I don't care. It doesn't matter who beats who, the result doesn't change. I leave this in your hands." As her two Servants gave her one last bow, the Dragon Witch began walking towards Fafnir, only to stop after a few steps and turn back around. She felt that she needed to give them, especially Carmilla, one last reminder. "Don't get too out of control. Even Anti-Heroes have their dignity. Make sure you don't become mere murderers."

'

"I suppose I'll go and find Lancer first," the Assassin chuckled, calling one of the wyverns down to her. "As vampires, who must drink the blood of the living, finding our next meal is a matter of life and death." An action Jeanne was thankfully in agreement with. Somehow, having those two together was better for them. Maybe the countess really did look up to the Impaler, like she said.

'

Commanding Fafnir to rise, the Dragon Witch gave one last look at her Servants before they disappeared from sight, down on the ground below as the ultimate dragon rose to the skies. Truly, flying in the air like this, she became more and more certain of the black dragon's absolute supremacy. It didn't matter how many weaklings came together, it was all equally meaningless. Although, considering how that strange group had shown up out of nowhere, who knew just how many more were lying in wait. After all, rodents always showed up in large numbers. Even if they couldn't do anything to Fafnir, they could still cause all manner of headaches. For now, she'd better return to Orleans and prepare to summon additional Servants, just in case. That, and she just really needed a moment to calm down, away from all this nonsense. Even if her other Servants were troublesome, at least she could always count on Gilles to get her in a good mood.

'

'

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---

'

'

"Phew. All right, are we safe now?" Marie asked as she brought her carriage to a stop in a clearing. They'd been riding for roughly ten minutes by Ritsuka's estimation, and more than half of that time had been completely quiet as far as enemy activity was concerned, making the Master hope for the best.

'

Still, it was far safer to actually check, which is why Mash turned towards the Multi-Appliance. "Doctor?"

'

"Yes. I'm not detecting them anymore. You should be safe to take a break from running, at least for now."

'

"I don't see anything either," Lemminkäinen confirmed as he hopped down from the roof with a victorious grin. "They must've realized that I'd just keep shooting their wyverns down and decided to give up on chasing us."

'

"Seems like it." Though the Master was relieved that they'd escaped for now. This whole thing didn't sit right with her. Best they'd be ready for a surprise attack at any moment.

'

With a complete opposite reaction, as soon as she got the confirmation, Marie proceeded to exit first, happily stretching her arms in the open space. "Ahh... The air feels great, doesn't it?"

'

"Yes, it does," Ritsuka agreed. While she hadn't paid it much attention due to everything else going on, the air in the ruins had been quite foul. Not as bad as Fuyuki, but it still felt really great to breathe in the clean air of a forest. And so, after taking a few deep breaths, she turned to Marie with a smile, offering her hand to the Rider. "I can't thank you enough for the rescue. While it wasn't impossible for us to escape, it would've been way more difficult and arduous without your carriage."

'

An act she very happily reciprocated with both hands. "Oh, the pleasure was all mine. I never got a chance to participate in a daring rescue like that when I was alive. It was absolutely exhilarating!" She then gave a little spin of excitement as the others watched. Though as the young queen twirled closer to the front of her carriage, Ritsuka noticed for the first time what manner of creatures were pulling it. Ugh... Crystal horses... They at least weren't hyper realistic, meaning that they lacked certain repulsing details, but she still wasn't going to take a closer look.

'

To try and take her mind off the creatures, she turned back to their new allies, mostly for the man just exciting the carriage. "So, we have Marie Antoinette and... Amadeus, I think she called you?" A name which, along with the earlier Noble Phantasm, got the gears spinning in the Master's head. She didn't have time to fully process all this due to the chaos from before, but now... "Amadeus... and that Noble Phantasm you used was called 'Requiem for Death'... So you must be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the musical genius."

'

"Ah, that's right, Senpai!" Mash gasped, while the Caster's expression brightened instantly.

'

"Exactly. Are you a fan of mine?"

'

Ritsuka blinked in surprise. That was a question she hadn't really expected, but it certainly made sense in hindsight. "Oh, um... I'm not sure 'fan' is the right word for it, but I do admire your work."

'

"Well he's definitely a welcome ally in my book," Lemminkäinen cut in. "Did you hear the raw power in that music of his? This man definitely lives up to his reputation."

'

"I'm... honestly shocked you know about him."

'

"This guy is one of the greatest musicians in history. Hell yeah I know who he is." A remark the Caster seemed extremely pleased with. "Where I'm from, any mage who's not in touch with the musical arts is a third-rate at best."

'

Ritsuka nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." Music and songs definitely played a large part in her homeland's mythology, so it wasn't too unbelievable. In fact, Lemminkäinen personally knew the greatest musician in said mythology. Although in this case, his own singing wasn't exactly described as... good, in the legends. She hadn't even heard him singing yet, but if the stories were accurate, she kinda wished that she'd never have to. "But anyway, since we know your names, it's only fair that we return the favor." Turning fully towards their new allies, she gave a light bow as she pointed towards Mash and Lemminkäinen. "I'm Ritsuka Repo, the Master of these two Servants here."

'

The Shielder was the first to walk to her side, giving a bow of her own. "I am Mash Kyrielight, a Shielder Class Demi-Servant, and I don't know what my True Name is. Thank you very much for rescuing us, Amadeus and Marie."

'

Immediately, the Rider's expression hardened as her eyes focused on Mash. "Marie, did you say?" The sudden change in the situation's tension caused Ritsuka to give Mash a concerned look.

'

The Demi-Servant flinched at the sudden shift in tone and was quick to begin apologizing. "F-Forgive me. Um-"

'

But all that tension instantly unraveled as the bright smile returned to Marie's lips. "You weren't being rude! You made me so happy! The way you addressed me was so adorable!" Clapping her hands, she gave disbelieving Mash an approving nod as the redhead let out a bated breath. "Please, splendid foreigner! Would you mind calling me that from now on?"

'

Mash appeared lost for a proper response. She tried looking at Ritsuka for help but she just motioned her to go along with it. "Uh, yes... Miss Marie, or Mademoiselle Marie, perhaps?"

'

"Nope, that won't work at all," Marie giggled, crossing her arms. "Just Marie! Like the sheep!"

'

Ritsuka was pretty sure that the sheep was actually 'Mary', but withheld from mentioning it and just gave the Rider a friendly wave with a smile. "Well, in that case, it's nice to meet you, Marie."

'

A reaction she seemed extremely pleased with. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Nice to meet you! I'm Marie!" After a spirited handshake, she gave the Master a wink. "I love understanding ladies. Let me guess. You're very popular with the opposite sex, right?"

'

"Ahhahhahhaaa..." A question Ritsuka could only laugh at awkwardly... Yeah, absolutely no comment on that. Thankfully, a distraction made itself known with a cough from her side, so she was quick to move on. "Ah, but let's not forget the one who would have been our original means of escape, Saber."

'

With those words, the man stepped forth, hands proudly on his hips. "Of course. I'm Lemminkäinen, the greatest Saber of Northern Europe!"

'

Oh, there was no way Ritsuka wouldn't shoot that ship down immediately. "Pretty sure that's Sigurd, but cute try," she added with a smirk, getting a slight frown from him.

'

"Fou! Kyuu!"

'

Almost everyone in the group flinched at the sudden cry at their feet, and Ritsuka's eyes shot down, seeing an unhappy looking fluffball waving his tail. Right, obviously he couldn't just introduce himself, so she went ahead as Marie stared at him with wide eyes. "Sorry about that. And this little guy is Fou, our... uhh..." After contemplating for a second, Ritsuka decided on her best description, giving the critter an apologetic shrug. "Companion, I guess? Sorry, I really don't know what else to call you."

'

But before Fou could be even slightly displeased, another subject took his full attention. "Oh my goodness!" Marie suddenly squealed and snatched the fluffball to her arms almost instantly, cradling him lovingly. "What an absolutely precious creature you are!" Mash looked at the cutesy scene in disbelief and Ritsuka let out a tiny giggle, while Mozart just rolled his eyes in amusement. As the Rider kept snuggling him against her cheek, Fou at least seemed to really enjoy the attention. Though after about thirty seconds, Marie herself realized that they'd been in the middle of something rather important. "Ah! Apologies, I got too caught up in admiring this little cutie."

'

"No need to apologize. He is quite adorable," Jeanne agreed, giving the critter a pet herself as the young queen let him down. "As you seem to already know, I am a Ruler."

'

"Jeanne," Marie finished for her, growing more serious. "Jeanne d'Arc, yes? The saint who saved France. One of the people I wished to meet in my life."

'

In response, a faint blush grew to Jeanne's cheeks. "...I'm, not a saint." A reaction that Ritsuka definitely took note of. With the conversation they'd had upon meeting, and now this, she realized something. The Ruler seemed quite weak to praise, something she could definitely relate to. She'd need to remember that for the future.

'

But, to her surprise, Marie's response was equally understanding. "Yes, everyone knows that's how you saw yourself. But the way you lead your life was true, and we all know the results. That's why everyone will always remember and admire the name Jeanne d'Arc, and the miracle of Orleans."

'

Faced with such praise, Jeanne went quiet, looking troubled as if searching for proper words to respond with. After a few seconds, her expression hardened as she faced the Rider directly. "...Marie Antoinette. Your words honor me, but that's why I must confess. In life, I was no saint. I held the flag high for what I believed in, and as a result, I stained my hands with blood. ...Of course, I don't regret that. Nor do I regret the Inquisition- Or my own death. But I shed too much blood. I believed in the dreams of a little country girl, but..." Growing quiet, the Ruler's eyes moved away from Marie, as if she were looking at something far, far away. "At the time, I never imagined how high the price of that dream was. I never regretted it, but never did I feel fear. ...And that is my greatest sin." Her gaze falling to the ground, a slight flush grew to her cheeks. "Only the outcome of my actions made me a saint. I do not think it's the right word for a country girl like me."

'

Ritsuka could only stare at Jeanne in disbelief. The explanation for her sins and faults... hadn't done a thing to lower her opinion of her. In fact, it was the opposite. The explanation had only managed to make Ritsuka more convinced as to why she was called a saint. Having done extensive research on the Ruler as preparation for the mission, she was well aware of the events she was doing her best to downplay. Even after achieving all that, she was still so humble... Jeanne was like the polar opposite of Lemminkäinen. And the part of her not feeling any fear, even during the most desperate circumstances? It was nearly enough to make the redhead swoon.

'

While Ritsuka was trying to recover from her captivation shock, Marie tapped her chin with an understanding smile. "...I see. So you're not a saint, right?" As Jeanne gave a confirming nod, her smile just widened. "Then, may I call you Jeanne?"

'

"...Y-Yes. Of course," the Ruler nodded, a smile spreading on her lips as well. "It feels honestly a bit nostalgic having everyone refer to me by my name like this."

'

"Wonderful. Call me Marie, then. If you're simply Jeanne, and not a saint, then I want to be Marie, and not a queen." Offering her hand towards Jeanne, Marie shot out her most brilliant smile yet. "Please Jeanne, will you call me Marie?"

'

"All right... Thank you, Marie."

'

As the two shook hands, the Rider's smile seemed more beaming than ever. "Thank you too. I am happy, Jeanne!" In front of a scene like this, Ritsuka wouldn't have been able to stop herself from smiling even if she wanted to. The whole interaction had been super adorable. ...Which meant that it was certain someone's time to inevitably butt in.

'

"Now then, that was a pretty nice speech there, lass," Lemminkäinen grinned, patting the Ruler on the back. "You might not like being called a saint, but with all that, you're definitely someone worthy of being called a hero."

'

Ritsuka was admittedly... surprised by the reaction. In any other case, she would've figured this was just the Saber's usual flirting, but at the moment, his words seemed especially... genuine. A detail Jeanne appeared to have noticed as well, judging by the slightly embarrassed smile on her face. "Oh, um... I see. Thank you as well, Lemminkäinen."

'

It was then that Roman's screen popped up once more. "Sorry to interrupt your discussion, but I just wanted to let you know that one of the leylines Dio informed us about is rather close by." Although he acted perfectly normal, the slap mark from earlier was still very much visible on his face, even under the ice pack he held to his cheek. But, given that the situation had been pretty insane at the moment, Ritsuka decided that she would never bring the debacle up again. "I'd suggest you head there right away so that we can establish our anchor and form a camp of some kind."

'

"Thank you for letting us know, Doctor," Mash noted in her usual tone, without a hint of pretense. Yeah... Maybe it really was better that they all pretended that Roman's earlier freakout never happened. "Is that suggestion all right, everyone?"

'

After Lemminkäinen and Jeanne both nodded, Marie was quick to follow suit. "Of course, that's fine. Is that all right with you, Amadeus?"

'

In contrast, the Caster just shrugged. "There's no point in asking for my opinion. Do what you want, Maria."

'

"In that case, let's head there and rest, and then we can each talk about our circumstances and next move," Ritsuka noted, beginning to lead the group since she had the map on her Multi-Appliance. And judging by it, their target was only a few hundred meters away. Certainly lucky given the way they had to escape. And as an added bonus, the forest itself wasn't too thickly grown around these parts, making it pleasant to walk through.

'

But as soon as they arrived at the suggested location, the group came under attack by a group of hostile creatures. Though that by itself was hardly an issue, seeing how easily the Servants took care of them, the appearance of said creatures was unexpected to say the least. As soon as the battle ended, Mash turned towards Ritsuka questioningly. "Senpai, those creatures..."

'

"Yeah, those were Hands of Dawn, just like in Fuyuki. Although, one of them was a bit different." Its shape was identical, but the glow coming from its body was stronger and closer to pink coloration than the orange of the others. The crystal was also different, being larger and more diamond shaped as opposed to the spheres of others, while sharing the coloration of the hand. It also seemed to be slightly stronger than the other hands, but not enough to give Servants any trouble.

'

"So they're here too, and close to a leyline as well? Curious," Dio chuckled while typing something on a console, his expression only growing more intrigued. "And we still couldn't get a proper reading on them with the scanners. It's like they're begging for us to try and figure them out."

'

"Be a dear and send those embers over when we send you some supplies, Ritsuka. Especially the big one," Da Vinci noted, appearing just as curious. "Maybe they'll help us get to the bottom of these peculiar beings." The redhead just nodded while gathering the gems. There really wasn't much use in her pondering over these things if those two geniuses couldn't figure them out easily.

'

Meanwhile, Mash walked over to the spot designated by the Multi-Appliance. "I will now establish a magic circle." As soon as she laid her shield on the leyline, the familiar magic circle appeared on top of it. "Circle complete. Connection to Chaldea established." Upon the announcement, Ritsuka braced herself for the shock coming in the next few seconds. Just like in Fuyuki, her magic circuits lit up as soon as the connection was stable, the powerful flow of energy starting. Though the glow was gone after just a few seconds, Mash still looked at her with slight worry. "How are you feeling, Senpai."

'

"Fine. I'll get used to this in a minute or two." As Mash smiled with relief, Ritsuka withheld herself from flinching. While it was just a small white lie to keep her from worrying, she really didn't like lying to Mash. While it was true that she'd get used to the feeling soon, she wasn't exactly fine. The feeling she received from the magical energy flow was a bit like getting hit by a mild static shock, but all over her body for an extended period of time. Like in Fuyuki, she knew that it would ease up considerably soon, but the next few minutes would be rough for her. Obviously it was really unpleasant, but if that was all she had to endure to keep the magical energy flow for her Servants going, it was definitely a small price to pay.

'

"Oh, yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!" Lemminkäinen laughed while stretching out his arms. "I should get back to full in a few hours with a magical energy flow like this." His Master on the other hand was hardly as amused. While the fast flow was good without a doubt, did he have to be that happy? A wry smile spread on her lips at the thought. If he really liked the feeling that much, maybe she could help him a bit with it. Pointing a finger at him, Ritsuka released a blast of magical energy that was immediately absorbed into the Saber's body, causing him to jump and twist towards her. "Whoa!? The hell!"

'

"Just thought I'd boost the process a bit," she shrugged with a smirk.

'

Though Lemminkäinen shot back with one of his own, it did appear slightly disingenuous. "Give a damn warning next time," he muttered, voice lowering as he rubbed his back. "...Not a lot of good memories getting hit in the back without warning."

'

Oh... Ritsuka realized immediately what he meant, a pang of guilt running through her. Alright, that was definitely her bad. "Yeah... Sorry about that..." Even if Lemminkäinen could be a pain, she shouldn't get used to taking out her frustration on others. Given that they were here to help her, enduring minor pains like this without whining was the least she could do.

'

Thankfully before the situation could get any more awkward, Roman cut in with the business. "Everything is looking good on our end. Should we begin sending supplies now or later?"

'

Thinking on it for a moment, Ritsuka shook her head and turned towards Marie and Amadeus. "Let's hold it for a bit. I think we've kept these two waiting for an explanation long enough." In response, the Rider shot her an appreciative smile which the redhead was more than happy to return. "While the fight earlier was pretty damn hectic, we did learn quite a bit about our enemy, so we can at least hold a proper strategy meeting now."

'

Jeanne nodded, her expression growing serious. "Indeed. The sooner we're all on the same page, the better."

'

"Another one of these, huh?" Lemminkäinen sighed, already looking bored. "Well, guess I can get us something to sit on." With a quick mumble and a twist of his hand, the Saber raised some stones from the earth, each a perfect height for seating, before flopping down on one of them. He really was handy for stuff like this.

'

"Thank you very much." After giving a curtsy to the Saber, Marie took a seat on the stone as if it were a fine chair in a mansion. With a bright smile, she began addressing the others. "To begin, I'd like to introduce myself again. My True Name is Marie Antoinette. I'm from the Rider Class. As for who I am, I'd be happy if you could examine me closely with your eyes and ears." Rising from her seat, she did a little twirl to give everyone a better look, but after reseating her smile faded a touch. "As for why I was summoned, unfortunately, I have no idea. After all, I have no Master."

'

As the Master took note of the final part in particular, the man sitting next to Marie continued. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Caster. I'm the same as her. As for why I was summoned, first of all, it just doesn't feel like I'm a hero. Yes I'm great, but even so, I'm still just one of many artists... Well, I did apply magecraft in my music, but that was only because I was drawn to the sounds played by demons."

'

...Ignoring that last part for now, Ritsuka was very curious over a particular point Marie had mentioned. "So neither of you have Masters?" As the two shook their heads, her mind wandered back to the first Singularity. This was all starting to sound quite similar. "It's like Cú was in Fuyuki."

'

The Caster raised a brow at her words. "Hm? Has something this unusual really happened before?"

'

"Oh, right. You obviously don't know about our situation," Ritsuka muttered and Marie and Amadeus shared a questioning look. They'd need to explain the whole thing to them eventually, but it would take a while. Pondering for a moment if she could just share things about Chaldea partially to move the topic forward, she ultimately decided against it. Clearing the whole thing up at once would prevent further interruptions. "Maybe it's easiest if we just get our little exposition out of the way first. That'll get us all up on the same page and hopefully saves us some time," she suggested, ignoring the way Lemminkäinen groaned loudly by her side. "Roman, can we get some visuals from you guys?"

'

After the second long explanation of the day on the nature of Chaldea and their mission, (making Ritsuka legitimately wonder if they should just make a video for this sort of thing considering how they'd probably need to do this several more times in the future,) Marie's expression had grown considerably more serious. "Now I understand. The whole world, never mind France, is in danger. Although it's in a different form, this too, is a Holy Grail War?"

'

"I knew it was dangerous when I learned it was a Master-less summoning, but I didn't expect this," Amadeus muttered, contemplating the situation. "Now, there were five Servants in opposition. Ten total including Mash, but isn't that too much?"

'

"The rule of seven Servants has been completely wrecked at this point," Dio agreed. "Now, that by itself wouldn't be too weird when the possibility of a Great Holy Grail War exists, but considering that there are two Rulers present, this Grail War has gone completely off the rails."

'

It was then that Marie's face brightened up astonishingly. "Oh, I get it! I've figured it out, everyone!" she shouted, getting surprised looks from all around. In all honesty, she was the last person of their group Ritsuka had expected to come up with the answer. "We were summoned so that..." the Rider continued, holding a dramatic pause to gather tension as she rose to her full height on top of the stone, making an inspiring pose. "We could defeat them, like heroes!"

'

The tension dropped like a sack of bricks. As the redhead shared an awkward look with Mash and Jeanne, Amadeus just shook his head with a smile. Lemminkäinen was the only one that actually agreed with the reasoning, giving the queen a small applause. Ritsuka started going over the possible details of the situation in her head, but couldn't come up with anything concrete. Seemed like they had another mystery in their hands, since that reasoning was just- "Yeah, I'd say that's the most likely explanation," Dio noted, almost causing Ritsuka to fall off her seat in shock.

'

"It is?"

'

Marie on the other hand, was overjoyed with the approval. "Yes, yes! I finally feel like I've found my job in life!"

'

"To elaborate a bit, there are two likely possibilities: First is that despite the fact that the Holy Grail War hasn't begun, someone already has the Grail. This is a reversal of causality. Kinda like a bug in the system, and perhaps the Grail is resisting it by summoning Servants to fight against the ones already possessing it. And the second is that the Counter Force is trying to summon Servants as a last ditch effort to combat these Singularities that have caused the human order to collapse."

'

Well, when put like that, Ritsuka could definitely see some logic in it, especially what followed. "But whichever the case, there are most likely more Servants being summoned in France, like Marie and Amadeus."

'

"Exactly," the Spaniard nodded as Marie just kept growing more excited.

'

"Oh my! That means I can meet even more people, right?"

'

But before the group could get too hopeful, Amadeus cut in. "That's not necessarily a good thing. It may just mean more enemies." A comment that was fantastic for lowering morale. Of course Ritsuka knew that the possibility existed, but really hoped it wouldn't come to that. They had enough enemies as it was. Noticing the slight frown on Marie's face, the Caster was quick to continue. "But whichever it is, we should start searching for them as soon as we can. Before the other Jeanne finds them."

'

Jeanne nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I've lost my ability to detect Servants, so we'll have to depend on those from Chaldea for that."

'

"No problem with that. We'll set up Sky Eye once we transfer the supplies to you, and it'll be able to find Servants easily," Roman informed, giving Ritsuka some hope for their success. That thing had been really useful in Fuyuki, so it'd more than likely end up helping them again.

'

"Good, because it will be absolutely crucial that we collect more fighting power. While it'd definitely be preferable that they're strong as well, I wouldn't say no to any allies who wish to join us."

'

"Well that's obvious, considering that you let Maria and I join," Mozart chuckled, getting a jab from the pouting Rider next to him. But even if Ritsuka couldn't deny that neither of the two were strong Servants in the traditional sense, they were far from dead weight. From just the single battle they'd participated in, both had demonstrated their usefulness. Still...

'

"Allies are something we desperately need at the moment," Jeanne muttered, her expression growing serious once more. "Despite the fact that our numbers are even in terms of combat ready Servants, our enemies are generally stronger."

'

Yes, that. A problem Ritsuka was painfully aware of. "Yeah. That's the real issue. If it was any of them individually, even Fafnir, it would technically be possible for us to win, but since they work as a group, we don't stand a chance. Ideally, we could go with the good old 'divide and conquer' approach, but it doesn't seem likely to work against Fafnir, with it being so closely connected to the other Jeanne and all." Defeating one before the other could reach them just wasn't possible with their current forces. And for that, there was only one solution: "Which means that we need more strong allies to keep her busy for that."

'

"So you'd want one group to hold back the other Jeanne, while the other takes down Fafnir," Amadeus recited, nodding with approval. "Seems reasonable enough."

'

"Exactly. Which makes bolstering our forces the only realistic strategy in this situation." Ritsuka thought about the situation for a moment before sharing the second part, deeming it essentially vital for their success. "Although ideally, I'd like to recruit a Servant who's at least strong enough to actually do some damage against that dragon. While I said that it's possible for us to take down Fafnir as we are now, it would still be a ridiculous uphill battle. I would most likely need to use all of my Command Spells as fuel to give our Servants the firepower they need to put it down." It was a harsh reality, but there was no reason to honey her words on the subject. Most of the Servants present were more than likely aware of it already.

'

Da Vinci also seemed to agree. "Yes, that's the most likely result. While it's possible, the chances of victory aren't high enough that I'd recommend it, so you should definitely go and recruit at least one powerful Servant before trying to confront Fafnir."

'

"Yup," Ritsuka nodded, before asking the dreaded question. "Although, what are the chances we even end up finding such a strong ally?"

'

"Percentally? Not very high," Dio said, dashing her hopes splendidly before continuing. "But then again, if you're lucky, you could just meet a Servant that can take down Fafnir all by themselves."

'

The redhead could only stare at the man in pure confusion, joined by the others present. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Did he seriously think such a convenient chance could happen?

'

But then, the Spaniard dropped the bomb. "Think about it. If Fafnir was summoned on the other side of this Grail War, who would be the perfect opposition against it?"

'

Realization hit Ritsuka like a bolt of lightning, a small flame of hope lighting in her chest. "Sigurd!"

'

"Him or Siegfried, yeah," Dio confirmed, though Amadeus stared at him skeptically.

'

"Didn't you just say that our chances of coming across a strong hero weren't very high? In that case, just how small are the chances that either Sigurd or Siegfried show up?"

'

But the mage just grinned in response. "Hilariously enough, it's actually more likely that one of them ends up getting summoned instead of some other Servant who's just strong."

'

"Never underestimate the power of connections. Especially when it comes to Servant summoning," Da Vinci continued. "If the evil dragon Fafnir has appeared in this world, it's quite likely that a hero known for slaying it would follow."

'

Listening to the explanation, Ritsuka's brain was gathering up the relevant parts. It was all starting to fit into place. "...I get it. So Fafnir itself is a catalyst," she muttered hopefully. And as she got confirming thumbs-ups from both of the Inventors. The small flame of hope in the Master's chest lit up like a bonfire and spread to the others around, hopeful smiles spreading on their faces as well. Grinning at this amazing development, she slapped her hands together. "Then it's settled. Our first priority will be securing allies and finding ourselves a Dragon Slayer. If we come across someone else, they're also more than welcome to join us, of course."

'

"Then that's great!" Marie cheered, rising on top of her stone once more and summoning her carriage. "We should begin our tour of France immediately and search for this Dragon Slayer."

'

But before the queen could get too excited, Jeanne reached her hand to pull her back down. "This truly has been a hopeful discovery, but I still think we should discuss further strategy, Marie. While this single ally might help us defeat Fafnir, we still have a group of Servants to defeat, and each of them are formidable."

'

A point Ritsuka very much agreed with. "Exactly. While we didn't see the other Jeanne's or the approaching Servants' combat abilities, we did learn quite a bit about the two we fought, so I'd like to go over the details so that everyone is on the same page regarding them."

'

"Well, alright," Marie sighed, clearly disappointed as she sat back down.

'

With the agreement, Da Vinci typed on her console, projecting clear three dimensional images of their two foes for all to see. "Now then, let's get this started. Elisabeth Báthory, aka Carmilla, and Vlad III, Assassin and Lancer respectively. Both of them appear to be greatly altered by the legends created after their deaths, turning them into vampires."

'

"Between the two, Vlad is definitely stronger, but we shouldn't underestimate Carmilla," Dio continued. "We never saw her release her Noble Phantasm's true name, but given her reputation, it's more than likely extremely effective against a particular group of people."

'

"...Young, virgin women," Ritsuka muttered, sharing an awkward glance with Mash. Looking at their group, that'd be at least half of them, but with Marie's apparent age, she most likely qualified too, raising that number to three quarters. "Yeah, that's definitely something we should watch out for."

'

"But given that she's an Assassin, even with Madness Enhancement, she's not absurdly strong. She was very quick and lethal, but that's about it. In a direct contest of strength, you should have no trouble beating her with your current forces," the Caster continued before adding. "Although, you should keep an eye on that iron maiden of hers. She can move it around as she likes, so if you just focus on her, it might catch you off guard."

'

As the Servants around her gave confirming nods, Ritsuka pondered on their foes. The section on Carmilla was fine, since that was everything she would've said herself. But, that countess wasn't the one she was so worried about. "Vlad on the other hand..." From what little she saw of him, he was far more dangerous than the Assassin. Still, in this case it was better to turn to the guy with the most info on the Lancer. "Lemminkäinen, I was mostly focused on Carmilla, and only caught glimpses of your fight, so I think it'd be best if you told us about him yourself."

'

Though at first he cocked a brow at her suggestion, the Saber soon shrugged as he rose to his feet. "Yeah, sure." Walking in front of the projection of the Lancer, Lemminkäinen took on a serious expression as he turned towards the group. "In terms of pure physical ability, this guy surpasses me. I used magecraft to strengthen myself during the fight to reduce that gap, but that's not the only thing he's got. He heals really fast, so any light damage won't be doing shit either." As soon as he'd said that, Ritsuka exchanged knowing looks with the others. From the returned gazes, it was obvious that everyone clearly understood their situation: None of the other Servants present had the firepower to take him down. Hell, they wouldn't even be able to fight him properly. Lemminkäinen clearly knew this, but was sharing the information solely to avoid any casualties. "Be seriously careful about those stakes of his. He can raise them from the ground or just throw them from his body. My sword is a good match for them, but they're really dangerous for the others. He can also turn into mist, which is really damn annoying. You can't really hurt him when he's like that, but he also needs to change back to hurt you."

'

Letting out a deep sigh, Ritsuka rubbed her temple. "We'll need to come up with a strategy of some kind for him. And I doubt that the stunt you pulled earlier is gonna work on him again now that he knows about it." Vlad seriously was a ridiculously dangerous enemy. For all they knew, he could be more troublesome than the Dragon Witch herself in a straight up fight. Turning to Lemminkäinen once more, she asked the most pressing question in her mind: "Do you think you could kill him with your Noble Phantasm, Lemminkäinen?"

'

Thankfully, the Saber answered with his usual, confident grin. "If I really cut loose, yeah. He might heal quickly, but if I hit him with my maximum firepower, I can burn his Spirit Core to dust." An answer that seriously relieved Ritsuka down. Even if it did sound rough, they at least could take this monster down. But it was then that Lemminkäinen grew more serious once again. "And with that said, I want to be the one to finish him off. I kinda did promise him that we'd get a rematch."

'

A request the Master could only chuckle at. None of the other Servants present would last more than a few blows against him. The Saber was clearly only asking her as a courtesy. "No problems here. You are currently our strongest frontliner."

'

As Lemminkäinen gave Ritsuka a satisfied nod, Da Vinci continued with the discussion. "Vlad III... It's clear that his manifestation is affected by the Legend of Dracula, which would explain his monstrous strength and other abilities. But that means he most likely also shares its weaknesses."

'

A topic the Master was more than a bit curious over. "Like sunlight and holy symbols?" she asked, getting a confirming nod. It was true that Dracula's weaknesses were famous, and they would definitely help in fighting the Lancer, and yet... "But he seemed completely fine fighting in the sun earlier. Maybe a bit annoyed. Shouldn't he have been burned to ash?"

'

But much to Ritsuka's surprise, Dio just shook his head while clicking his tongue. "And that's where you're wrong, Ritsuka. You've never actually read the original novel, have you?"

'

A blush rose to her cheeks at being called out like that. "I, uh... No, I haven't."

'

"Surprisingly few have, so don't worry about it," Da Vinci consoled, easing the redhead's shame somewhat. "But to elaborate: While Dracula in the book is not harmed by sunlight directly, he is much weaker during daytime. Meaning that the Lancer you faced was more than likely also weakened."

'

"Weakened? Even when he's that strong?" Mash asked in disbelief before Ritsuka could. Just how strong would this monster be at his best?

'

"Scary, isn't it?" the Spaniard laughed. "Vlad III would normally be a decently strong Servant, but he's currently strengthened by both the Legend of Dracula and Madness Enhancement, which means he's roided to hell and back. We should think on those possible weaknesses and select the ones that seem most promising in taking him out."

'

Before the Master could even think of the possibilities, the Caster continued. "But we also can't rely on those weaknesses too much, considering the lack of accuracy on other aspects. One of Dracula's original flaws for example is that he cannot enter buildings without being invited first, which is highly unlikely to hold true for this Servant." Ritsuka could only blink in disbelief at the absurd weakness. The main thing she'd learned from this discussion was that she actually knew very little about Dracula.

'

"Absolutely. Though that'd be the funniest shit if it was true. You could just hide inside a house and he couldn't do anything to get you," Dio chuckled before adding: "Oh, and I doubt that I need to mention this, but avoid fighting him at all costs during the night. He might become too strong for you to beat even in a group."

'

"Noted," Ritsuka sighed. The whole discussion on Dracula had just given her a migraine. And it didn't help that he was only one of the opposing Servants, "...Ugh. We've got so many powerful enemies..."

'

"Awesome, isn't it!" Lemminkäinen grinned. "We're in for one hell of a campaign."

'

Ignoring him for her mental wellbeing, Ritsuka began to distract herself by going over the usable strategies against Vlad. Fighting during the day was a definitive must, but what else could they do? Did Jeanne have some sort of advantage over him due to her devotion to the Lord? There were just too many uncertainties to properly plan, so for now she should just focus on the most likely ones. While she did promise that the Saber would be the one to take him down, she had to consider other possibilities as well. Could Emiya have a weapon effective against him, or would Medusa's Mystic Eyes hold the answer for putting him down despite his hardiness? She would need to consult them both on these matters later, but as for their current meeting, it was about time to move on. "Well, putting Vlad aside for now... I think it's time we discussed the Dragon Witch."

'

Jeanne's expression shifted just the slightest bit, to the point that Ritsuka just barely noticed it. To say that this was a difficult subject to her was an understatement. "...Yes, her."

'

"She's clearly another aspect of Jeanne d'Arc, given her appearance and voice," Mozart agreed skeptically as his eyes shifted towards the Ruler. "But her disposition seemed like the complete opposite. Is that big of a difference even possible?"

'

"She's more than likely an Alter Servant, similar to the King Arthur you encountered in Fuyuki," Roman informed, getting Ritsuka to return to an earlier thought she'd had during the start of the battle.

'

"It helps that they look alike." The paleness of their skin put together with the eye and hair color was hard to miss. But that also raised another question: "But what exactly are 'Alter Servants'? I didn't see anything about them in any of my materials."

'

As the other Servants present also looked at the Doctor expectantly, Da Vinci saw her chance to cut in. "Yes, they're such a rare, to the point of being mostly theoretical, case, that basic materials on Servants wouldn't have any information on them." It was then that the Caster once again put on her classes. "Well, to make it simple: As heroes hold within them the capacity to have been merciless in their pursuits and those who were known to be cold-blooded could display virtuousness, Alter Servants can bring such hidden aspects to the forefront, but, differing from two aspects of a Servant being able to be summoned independently, Alters have been 'mutated' somewhat so they no longer completely represent just another side of the Heroic Spirit."

'

Well, that answered that. Ritsuka had to admit that Da Vinci's 'teacher mode' was really effective. "So they represent a minor aspect of a Servant, but that aspect has been brought out to become the main aspect and over-expanded to a ridiculous degree?" No wonder she seemed so different from Jeanne. The redhead could've never expected the girl to act like that, but if even a small part of her felt wronged over her death, a perfectly natural feeling considering how it happened, that would instantly justify the Dragon Witch's existence. And with that feeling being magnified to a ludicrous extent, the resulting Servant was like some kind of twisted funhouse mirror of the real Jeanne.

'

"That's a nice interpretation," Dio agreed. "Also, from now on, let's just call her Jeanne Alter. Makes talking a lot less confusing."

'

Lemminkäinen nodded with a satisfied smirk. "Fine with me. Sure beats calling her something she's not." Yeah, he was never letting that one go, was he?

'

Still, he had a point, one that Da Vinci also agreed with. "That's right. Thanks to Lemminkäinen there, we now know that she's not actually a witch. She can only summon those wyverns thanks to the Grail, which answers our biggest question about this Singularity."

'

"Yeah." A satisfied smile spreading on his lips, the Saber moved his gaze towards the horizon. "At least I also get it now."

'

Ritsuka blinked in confusion. What was he going about now? "Get what?"

'

"Why these wyverns are so pissed," he revealed, much to the others' surprise. "They're like Hiiden Hirvi."

'

The Master's eyes widened at the realization. It was like she'd found the missing piece of a puzzle she'd been looking for for a good while. "Of course... That's it."

'

The others in their group looked at the pair in confusion, with Mash being the sole exception. "The demonic elk Lemminkäinen captured in the Kalevala?" she asked, confirming that she at least knew the context. Not that Ritsuka would expect anything less from her. "I remember reading that it was wreaking havoc in human settlements, but I have no recollection as to why it did it."

'

Lemminkäinen was quick to explain. "The reason it was rampaging around wrecking shit was simple: It was created for that purpose."

'

"A Demonic Beast specifically created for something like that, huh?" Cú muttered from Chaldea while rubbing his chin. "Yeah, I'd say that fits."

'

Kintoki nodded by his side. "I remember you mentioning these hiisi things before. They're a bit like oni, right?"

'

"Yeah, but from what you've told me about oni, hiisi are not as outright hostile towards humans. Plenty of mages even make deals with them for some benefits, myself included." As Lemminkäinen kept explaining, Ritsuka was careful to store as much info as possible about the hiisi in her memory. While it was shameful to admit as a Finnish mage, she herself only knew about them from stories. To say that the hiisi were rare in the modern day was an understatement. There were supposedly a few still around, much like the tomte, but those were just rumors. "Problem is, if you slight 'em, there'll be hell to pay."

'

Letting out an annoyed huff, the druid nodded. "Yeah. They sound like nature spirits alright. Any clues on that creation process?" he asked, but Lemminkäinen just shook his head.

'

"Nah, but it's not relevant anyway. While Hiisi are skilled at creating things, even Demonic Beasts, that self proclaimed witch is a different story. The Dragon Rider used the Grail to make these wyverns specifically to destroy France, which is what they're doing." Turning to Ritsuka, his grin seemed to almost reach his ears. "Which means..."

'

A far more composed smile spread on the Master's lips. "No Grail, no more wyverns."

'

"Exactly."

'

While the others appeared pleased with the statement, Jeanne still seemed concerned. "That is good news, but then there's Fafnir, among the most famous dragons in the world. He already was a pre-existing being, who was summoned like a Servant, so I doubt he was born purely for destruction like the wyverns. I can only wonder if he's wreaking havoc just because of the Dragon Witch's command."

'

"I seriously doubt that," Dio interjected. "Fafnir is known as an evil dragon for a reason, so it's more than likely just a dick like that." A crude but most likely remark, one that at least seemed to calm Jeanne down slightly.

'

"Quite likely," Emiya agreed before turning to the woman standing by his side. "Then again, we have someone at least slightly connected to the beast right here. Do you have any input, Lancer?"

'

"...Ah!" Brynhildr visibly shook upon being called, as if she had been in a trance up till now. Most likely she actually had been ever since Sigurd's name was mentioned earlier. This seriously worried Ritsuka. She didn't know which of the dragonslaying heroes was summoned, but she was honestly hoping it would be Siegfried. Given everything else about her, if Brynhildr were to actually see Sigurd, the Master didn't know how she would react. She might even end up going on a rampage. "Ahem. No, no I do not," the Lancer muttered, gripping her arm much like she used to. It had gotten much rarer over the two weeks she'd spent in Chaldea, so seeing it resurface so suddenly was sad over anything else. "Sigurd... rarely spoke of Fafnir. The topic itself came up only a few times during our lives, and even those talks were brief. It seemed to be an experience he didn't wish to recall much. A most terrifying opponent."

'

"After seeing that beast, even through this monitor, I don't blame him," Cú agreed, but it didn't help Brynhildr from looking any less troubled, her gaze still on the ground.

'

"...I apologize for my lack of information, Master."

'

Ritsuka just shook her head with a smile. "Don't worry if you don't know anything more about that dragon. It's not your fault by any measure." Faced with such a reaction, the Lancer seemed to feel at least somewhat better, which was what the redhead had been going for. While she did truly mean what she said, even if it had been otherwise, she still would've said it. With the possibility of Sigurd being here, she didn't want Brynhildr to feel any worse than she already did. Still, it was about time they moved along. "Well, that's all that we know about our enemies at the moment. It's not ideal, but definitely better than nothing." She then turned towards the newcomers of their group. "Now, Marie, Amadeus, if you don't mind I'd like to hear a bit about what you're both capable of." A request that got surprised looks from the duo, but Ritsuka still continued. This was vital information. "If we're going to be fighting together, it's important to know these things. If you don't want to tell everything, that's fine, but knowing at least a little would be helpful."

'

Thankfully, Marie smiled in her usual fashion. "I don't mind. Hmm... Where to start?"

'

Seeing the Rider go first, Mozart was quick to follow after she was done, and after a few minutes of explaining, Ritsuka nodded with satisfaction. "I think that covers the most important parts. Thank you both very much." The whole thing had gone far smoother than she'd expected, given that she'd learned almost everything about their capabilities. Both Marie and Amadeus were more of a supporting type instead of frontliners, which was perfectly fine with her. The rest of the Servants already filled that position, so some variety was more than welcome. Although, she really wished they'd get an effective ranged attacker. Sure, Lemminkäinen had his bow, but he would still fall short of a strong Archer. She thought about switching the Saber to Emiya to make their team more well rounded, but ultimately decided against it. He was still their strongest frontliner, and the only one who could fight Jeanne Alter's Servants one-on-one. The exchange just wasn't worth it for now. Still, they had done about as much as they could have for this meeting. Rising from her seat and stretching her arms a bit, Ritsuka gave her final suggestion. "Now, so that everyone can properly rest and recover their magical energy, I believe we should rest here for the night and head out early tomorrow morning."

'

Jeanne was the first to respond, nodding with a smile. "Agreed. Since we now know how strong our enemies are, trying to fight them while exhausted is out of the question, unless we simply can't avoid it."

'

"Oh, we're going to be sleeping here in the woods?" Marie asked, her eyes positively sparkling. "How exciting! Isn't it wonderful, Amadeus?" Ritsuka could only do her best to hide her giggling at the sheer enthusiasm the Rider showed. From what she knew about Marie Antoinette from history, the only places she had slept in during her life were a palace and a cell. This would definitely be an... experience to her.

'

"Truly riveting, Maria," Mozart sighed by her side. Yeah, this man had definitely slept outside at least once. He knew what to expect. The difference in attitude between the two was quite comical.

'

Well, at least Marie wasn't alone in her excitement, considering that Lemminkäinen seemed quite pleased as well. "True that. Chaldea ain't a bad place, but I haven't spent a night in the woods in a good while." With that, he stood up energetically with a slap to the knees, his eyes scanning the area. "Now, if we're gonna spend the night here, I might as well go and set up a bounded field around the campsite."

'

Ritsuka stared at him in surprise. "A bounded field? Really?" He was seriously setting up something like that for their one night stay?

'

"Just a simple one. All it'll do is warn us if something sneaks a bit too close to our camp," he nodded while pointing at the magic circle. "Having a leyline right here for a center makes setting it up a lot easier too."

'

"That's still way better than nothing." Made worrying about security a lot less taxing as well.

'

A point Roman seemed to agree with. "It's a good idea, seeing how it'll take some time to properly set up Sky Eye. With Lemminkäinen setting up his bounded field, it can wait until tomorrow morning."

'

Mash too nodded in agreement before turning to Ritsuka. "On that subject, should we begin by bringing the rest of our supplies from Chaldea, Senpai?"

'

"I'd say that's a good idea. Any problem over there, Roman?"

'

The Doctor shook his head with a smile. "None. We packed all the supplies in advance, so we can send them anytime. Just say the word and we'll begin." With that, they walked back to the leyline and set Mash's shield down on it while quite a bit of typing started happening in Chaldea. "Now, are you ready to receive the supplies?"

'

"Everything ready on our end," Ritsuka answered with a thumbs up.

'

"Starting Rayshift. Aaand... sent." As soon as Roman finished his sentence, the magic circle lit up brightly, getting everyone around to shield their eyes. After the familiar lightshow, two white, rectangular crates were left on the shield. "I trust everything's there?"

'

Walking closer, Ritsuka took a good look at the boxes. The Conveyance Containers were as pristine as ever, without so much as a scratch on either of their surfaces. Opening one of the lids, she began checking the contents. Some more food and water, a ridiculously named tent, two sleeping bags, and another backpack to take everything with them. "Yeah. Looks like it." As Mash started checking the other container, Ritsuka moved on to her next task and began looking around the area. Taking note of a fairly flat surface without any rocks, she walked to it and gave the ground a few experimental thumps before nodding with satisfaction. "Let's set up our tent first. This right here looks like a good spot."

'

"Yes, Senpai. I have the tent right here," Mash nodded as she lifted something from the crate. A small, blue cube tiny enough to be held on one's palm.

'

"Huh? That tiny cube is a tent?" Jeanne asked, joined by the others as they all stared at the cube. Ritsuka could hardly blame them for the confusion, but in this case, showing was just way faster than telling.

'

A point Dio very much agreed with, given the anticipation in his eyes. "You bet it is. Better watch real close, guys." Once he was sure that all eyes were on his invention, the Spaniard gave Mash a thumbs up. "Hit it, Mash."

'

"Yes." Walking to the spot Ritsuka had specified, Mash set the cube down. "Please stand back everyone. I'm opening up the Foldy Cover." Then, pressing a button on one of the sides, she took a quick step back.

'

Mozart just blanked at the words. A proper reaction for the stupid name. "The Foldy wha-"

'

But the Caster was stunned into speechlessness as the tiny cube suddenly began unfolding itself with absurd speed. Ritsuka wasn't really sure what would be the best description for the procedure, but it sort of reminded her of watching a giant cardboard box being folded into a tiny slab, only sped up in reverse. In just five seconds, where there once had been a tiny box, now stood a really nice tent. Its smooth, sky blue covering faintly glistening in the slowly setting sun. The ridiculous name aside, it really was absurd just how convenient this thing was.

'

Jeanne seemed to agree judging by the astonished look on her face as she walked over to the newly formed tent. Giving it a light push to test its durability, the Ruler turned towards Dio with an impressed smile. "Remarkable... It's so solid as well, despite fitting into such a small, compact package. If we'd had anything close to this convenient during campaigns, sleeping outdoors would have been far less strenuous." Ritsuka could only nod in agreement. She'd gone camping more than once, and having something like this was just an absolute gamechanger. "Are all the tents where you're from this impressive?"

'

"Not all, but it's just natural that it's impressive, since it's my personally created extremely foldable tent: Foldy Cover." Ritsuka withheld a sigh. The fact that this man could say the name with such confidence just made it worse. "With just a press of a button, this baby unfolds itself into a tent large enough to fit two, or three if necessary, but it'll get pretty snug. Then with another press of the button, it'll return to how it was. And, because we don't live in the stone age, it keeps the temperature inside even as long as the flaps are closed, and its very presence repels insects, so you don't have to worry about any nightly visitors." That last one by itself was a miracle to the Master.

'

Marie appeared very impressed, giving the Spaniard an excited applause. "Ooh! How convenient. Can I try sleeping in one?"

'

"Sure. We sent two, just in case, so knock yourself out." As the Rider clapped with anticipation, it seemed that nobody was going to even bother trying to tell her that Servants don't need to sleep. Still, having someone this cheerful around was pretty refreshing.

'

With that done, Ritsuka started looking for a good spot to make a fire. "Alright. The tent was the easiest part for a change. Jeanne, do you mind helping us set up camp?" she asked, getting a happy nod from the Ruler.

'

"Of course not. In fact, I quite enjoy doing familiar, everyday tasks like that."

'

"Oh, we'll help as well," Marie chimed in as she turned towards Mozart. "Come on, Amadeus."

'

The Caster just blinked in confusion. "Wha-? Why do I...?" But upon seeing the Rider start to pout, he let out a defeated sigh, more than likely realizing that it was easier to just go along with it. "...Very well, Maria. At least this type of work isn't tiring for a Servant."

'

"Then, I'll get my alarm going," the Saber noted.

'

With that, as Lemminkäinen began setting up his bounded field, the rest of the group moved on to working with the camp itself. While Ritsuka and Mash went to gather rocks for the campfire, Jeanne, Marie and Amadeus started gathering the actual wood. It really was helpful that the Ruler was already familiar with camping outside, meaning that the Master was saved from the trouble of explaining literally everything that needed to be done to set up a competent campsite. Thankfully Mash was already familiar with basic procedures, more than likely from rigorous studying, so that she didn't need much guidance on what type of rocks were suitable. On the other hand, the redhead did notice how at one point Marie came from the forest carrying an armful of greenery for their fire, though Jeanne appeared to be more amused with it than anything.

'

Soon after they'd built the base for the fire and piled up some dry branches, Lemminkäinen, finishing up his preparations shockingly fast, returned to the clearing and lit up the wood with a snap of his fingers, causing a surge of warmth around it. Ritsuka was still having trouble getting used to how casually he wielded magecraft. It might've been normal in his day, but if any average modern mage saw him doing these things, they'd probably be pulling their hair out. ...Although seeing that go down did sound quite amusing.

'

Still, with the supplies sent from Chaldea, they had a chance to prepare some actual food. The pre prepared wraps were tasty, but the redhead definitely enjoyed variety in her meals. The Saber had even had time to go catch some fish from a nearby river, bringing even more variety to their dinner. Man Southern France had a lot of rivers. And during the meal preparations, Marie seemed very curious about 'commoner food', nearly causing Ritsuka to snort out loud over hearing the term. Afterwards, the group also came to learn that Mozart had a... juvenile sense of humor, but it did little to spoil the good mood. All and all, it was a very pleasant evening, especially after everything they had gone through over the course of the day.

'

After the meal, Lemminkäinen started digging through one of their containers, and before Ritsuka could even ask, an excited grin spread on his face. "Oh, hell yeah. They sent what I wanted." Reaching into the crate, he picked up a tiny packet and opened it, slipping out a deck of cards that he showed to the other Servants. "While the living catch some shut-eye, how about we Servants get to know each other?"

'

A smile immediately spread on Mozart's lips as well. "Oh? Playing cards? Count me in. I love to gamble, even if I don't have anything to bet at the moment."

'

The Master gave the two a thumbs up. "Sure, have fun. We'll be going to bed early so that we can head out at dawn." The sun was still just barely setting, but given the early leave, it was perfectly fine. Besides, after everything they had gone through today, Ritsuka was feeling quite tired already, moreso mentally than physically. Offering a hand to the Demi-Servant sitting by the fire, she motioned towards their tent. "Come on, Mash."

'

But to her surprise, Mash didn't take her hand, and instead started digging her feet to the ground awkwardly. "I, um... Since I don't need to sleep as much, I thought it would be better for me to keep watch and-"

'

"Nope." Ritsuka shot the excuse down immediately, much to Mash's surprise. Leaning down, she stopped right in front of the Shielder's face. This really wasn't up to discussion. "You don't need as much sleep, but you still need it. Resting whenever you have a chance is important, especially on a mission like this, so you're getting some rest right now."

'

Mash fell silent, trying to look for some assistance from the others, but found nothing. In the end, her gaze just fell to the ground. "But-"

'

"No buts. Master's orders," Ritsuka interjected, putting on the sternest expression she could. "Think about it, Mash. If you decided to skip sleep now, and later, we ended up in a situation where you couldn't sleep for a while, wouldn't you regret not resting when you had the chance?"

'

For a short while, the Shielder contemplated the words, obviously realizing them to be logical even if she wanted to argue. Giving up on finding a convincing argument, Mash pouted lightly while taking the offered hand, but all that managed to do was make her appear even cuter to Ritsuka. "...Alright, you win, Senpai."

'

"That's what I like to hear," the redhead grinned while leading Mash to their tent. "Now come one. I want to talk a bit before going to sleep, and now's the perfect chance."

'

"Good night," Marie waved with Jeanne joining in as well.

'

Roman, having been quiet for a good while, also showed up on the screen. "Have a good rest, you two. We're also going to do a staff shift so that the current operators can get some rest."

'

"That also includes you, Roman," Dio said, getting a surprised look from the Doctor.

'

"Huh? But I have to stay here in case-" Before Ritsuka could hear any more, someone, most likely Da Vinci, cut off the transmission. It seemed that something similar was happening in France and Chaldea simultaneously. Still, she didn't mind too much, considering that this gave her and Mash a chance for some privacy.

'

'

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'

'

Mash wordlessly entered the tent and dematerialized her armor as she sat down, Ritsuka right behind her. As soon as she got in, the redhead crawled to the panel at the back wall and clicked on one of the buttons on it, activating the soundproofing built into the material. An act the Demi-Servant was extremely grateful for. If she had to bother Senpai with her problems, at least the others couldn't hear and be burdened with them as well. In truth, she had been doing her best to avoid this topic ever since the battle at Vaucouleurs, hoping that Ritsuka would just forget about it. But, of course her kind and attentive Senpai wouldn't let something like this just slip by...

'

"Well, Mash..." Ritsuka started while taking off her boots and black robe, carefully folding the Mystic Code and placing it into a corner. "Now that we're alone, can you explain what was bothering you during our first fight with the wyverns?"

'

"...Yes." For a moment, Mash wondered if she could make up something believable to solve this issue quickly, but one look at her Senpai's encouraging smile put an end to that thought. No... She deserved to know. The truth was without a doubt the best option here. "I... U-um..." But even if it was so, how would she explain it? To accurately put her feelings into understandable terms... That wasn't something Mash had ever had to do before meeting Ritsuka. It wasn't something required of her. All she'd had to do was follow instructions given to her. And yet, Ritsuka was anticipating an answer from her, and she just couldn't produce anything cohesive. Looking at the redhead apologetically, Mash hugged her legs to her chest. "I... I'm sorry, Senpai. It-it's just difficult to find the right words..."

'

But thankfully Ritsuka just smiled, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "There's no rush. Just take your time and explain as well as you can."

'

Mash gratefully returned the smile, leaning her cheek against the hand. "Thank you, Senpai." And then began the hard part. She decided that if she was going to do this, she had to do it properly. So Mash started going over everything relevant to her current issue, all the while Ritsuka patiently waited in silence. After nearly a minute of organizing her thoughts into understandable sentences, she began explaining. "As... As you're already aware of, I'm not the most capable when it comes to battle. Unlike the more experienced Servants, I'm... I'm just not used to it..."

'

"You're afraid of fighting, yes," the redhead nodded. "I can understand that. The wyverns are pretty terrifying, so it's-"

'

"Th-that's not it!" Mash interjected, slapping a hand over her mouth as Ritsuka flinched. She hadn't meant to be that loud. "I-uh... I'm sorry, I mean..." Great. Now she was losing the words again. Focus. She had to focus! Falling silent for a few seconds to recollect her thoughts, Mash turned back towards Ritsuka. "Yes, they are terrifying, but that wasn't the main issue..."

'

"Then what was?" the Master asked after she had trailed off, forcing Mash to instinctively move her gaze towards the ground. This was the part she had been most afraid of admitting. She was honestly afraid of how Ritsuka would react to her confession. But, she had already come this far, and nothing would change if she couldn't even explain what was wrong.

'

"During the battle against the wyverns, I came to realize something..." The words locked into her throat for a moment, forcing the Demi-Servant to nearly spit them out. "It wasn't like fighting the skeletons, or Servants, or anything in the Simulator. I hit them, and their bones broke. I hit them again, and they gushed blood. I hit them again, and then they were dead. They didn't disappear, just laid there, dead. Because I killed them..." Squeezing her eyes shut, she was unable to even look at Ritsuka as she continued, afraid of seeing disappointment. "I realize that they would have killed me if I hadn't fought... I understand that, but... Killing them still made me feel awful..." Just remembering the details made Mash uneasy, but more than anything, she felt ashamed. Ashamed of the fact that she was struggling so much with this while the other Servants had no issues with the act. Ashamed of her inferiority. For the last two weeks she'd felt like she was improving, but even if she had in some areas, this experience had made it painfully clear just how far behind the other Servants she truly was. Frustration and embarrassment made her cheeks heat up like she was in a sauna, which made her all the more happy that Ritsuka couldn't see her face. She dreaded to even imagine what kind of look she was being given at the moment. Disappointment? Regret? Pity? She honestly didn't want to know, and even considered just running right out of the tent that very instant, but...

'

"Oh, Mash." Instead, Ritsuka's voice was as compassionate as it had been when she held her hand in the burning Command Room. As she raised her face, the first thing entering her field of vision was the most sympathetic look imaginable as Ritsuka held her arms open invitingly. "Come here." And Mash immediately accepted the offer, nearly jumping to the redhead's chest as her arms wrapped around her, gently rubbing her back. As always, Senpai's hug was warm, comfortable, and safe. Even if she admittedly felt excited whenever it happened, there were few things Mash could think of that were as relaxing to her. Laying her head on Ritsuka's shoulder, she leaned against the soft, orange locks smelling faintly of sitrus. As seconds ticked by, Mash could feel all tension just washing off of her body. She would've been perfectly fine if they just stopped talking right there, so that she could just let this warmth and comfort soothe over her fears and doubts. But, Ritsuka was too kind to just leave the subject here. As Mash felt the arms around her loosen, she let herself be lightly pushed back, leaving her staring right into those gentle, yellow eyes. "Mash, there's nothing wrong with feeling bad over harming and killing others, even if they're not humans. Those feelings of compassion just prove what a kind person you are."

'

And yet, despite the well meaning of the words, Mash couldn't just accept them. "But because of my hesitation, you almost got hurt!" she yelled, getting Ritsuka to slightly flinch. Letting her Master get in danger certainly wasn't something that could be ignored. In fact, it was the greatest failure imaginable to a Servant like her. And to make it worse... "And even when that was about to happen, the feelings still haunted me..."

'

"And I feel the same way about killing," Ritsuka replied, her gaze falling to the ground as a bitter smile grew on her lips. "Honestly, me feeling the same just makes me an awful mage. Sure I can temporarily push those feelings aside if need be, but I can't rid myself of them completely."

'

The way she said that... It got the Demi-Servant thinking. "Have... Have you ever killed anyone or anything, Senpai?" It was without a question improper to ask under normal circumstances, but given the current situation, Mash couldn't help but to indulge her curiosity a little.

'

Ritsuka fell quiet, staring at the ground for a few seconds before turning back towards Mash with a stiff nod. "...Yes." Not exactly a surprising answer, considering that she was still a mage. "I've gone fishing with my grandparents before, which meant that I had to kill the fish to eat them." That... really wasn't a correlation she had expected, and Ritsuka seemed to agree given the way she shook her head. "But those aren't really a good comparison to your situation." But, after a few more seconds of silence, she added: "...On the other hand, I once killed a bear."

'

"Huh?" Mash's mouth fell agape from sheer disbelief. No matter how many guesses she got, this possibility would've never even crossed her mind. "...You... killed a bear, Senpai?"

'

"Yeah. Around two years ago. I was out skiing on a forest trail when I came across it. It rushed straight at me, so I responded with the strongest strike my muscles and magic circuits allowed, by stabbing one of my ski poles through its throat. It died almost instantly."

'

She wasn't entirely sure how to process the short tale. It was like she wanted to ask a dozen questions but couldn't put them into words, so in the end she just asked the most obvious one. "...It just attacked you out of nowhere?"

'

Ritsuka nodded stiffly. "I could only tell after it was over, but it was really skinny for a brown bear. It must have woken early from hibernation and been desperate for food, being that close to a city. It had to kill me to survive, and I had to kill it to survive. That was it." Now the situation made a bit more sense to Mash. Certainly, a starving animal attacking humans wasn't unheard of from what she'd read. Still, she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about her Senpai explaining the situation with so little emotion. And for a moment it genuinely seemed like she meant it, until a deep sigh escaped her lips as she leaned on her arm. "...I can rationalize it like that, but I still feel guilty. It just looked so sad, lying motionless in the snow like that. And the fact that it was because of me only made it worse." Mash felt... strange over this sudden shift in tone. It was strange seeing Ritsuka like this. So sad. ...She didn't like seeing her like this. But as she pondered for a way to try and console her, the redhead suddenly fell on her back, laying an arm in front of her eyes as she mumbled: "...I really am a trashy mage, aren't I? Feeling guilty over killing a random animal that was trying to eat me..."

'

"N-not at all!" Mash hurriedly replied, only for Ritsuka to move her arm just enough to give her a dull look. The Demi-Servant blushed and her gaze fell to the ground. Yes, that certainly wasn't a proper, convincing response for something like this. So, after a few seconds of pondering, she turned back towards the girl lying on the floor, smiling as best she could as she laid her hand on top of hers. "Well... maybe it is undesirable for a mage, but it also makes you good as a person, Senpai."

'

In the following, silent seconds, Mash waited nervously as Ritsuka stared at her wide-eyed. That is, until a small smile formed on her lips as well and she grasped the offered hand. "...Thank you, Mash. It honestly means a lot to me to hear you say that." The Demi-Servant could only smile in return. She still wasn't entirely sure what it was, but making Senpai smile always gave her this wonderful warmth in her body. But, as Ritsuka sat back up, her smile took on a hint of seriousness. "But, back to my original point, I also hope that you understand the difference between that bear and these wyverns."

'

"Huh?" She could only tilt her head in surprise. There had been a deeper meaning to the story?

'

"You didn't catch on, then?" Ritsuka asked, forcing Mash to shamefully shake her head in admittance. "That bear tried to kill me because it was hungry. It desperately needed food to survive. These wyverns, on the other hand, don't have any reason like that. They only kill and destroy because that's what Jeanne Alter made them for."

'

"Ah..." A soft gasp escaped her mouth. That was a perspective she hadn't looked at their existence from. "Yes, that is certainly true."

'

"They are magical beings created only to destroy, worse than any invasive species. If we don't kill them, they will kill literally everything in France," Ritsuka continued. "It's a difficult, messed up situation, but that's the only solution to it."

'

The Demi-Servant gave her a nod. "...Yes, Senpai. I understand." Even if the very act of killing them still didn't feel right to Mash, at least the reasoning helped ease her heart a little. Unfortunately, that wasn't her only issue on the matter. Eyes low, she admitted the other one to Ritsuka. "...Although, even without my feelings on the matter, my ability to kill the wyverns is far lower than the other Servants we've fought with."

'

"To be fair, compared to both Jeanne and Lemminkäinen, you lack a weapon meant to harm others." A point that... had honestly slipped Mash's mind. Thinking about it, tools really mattered in a battle like this. While the Demi-Servant was without question still weaker than the two, Ritsuka's point did help make her feel a bit better, to the point that a grateful smile spread on her lips. Although after a moment of thinking, the redhead added with a slight smirk: "Well, technically Jeanne uses a flagpole, but it has a sharp tip, so the point still stands."

'

"Yes, that is certainly true, Senpai," Mash giggled, with Ritsuka joining in. Though after that short moment of amusement, the Shielder's smile turned apologetic. "I'm just sorry. I want to do better."

'

A gesture Ritsuka returned as she reached over to pat Mash's head. "I'm sorry too... All I can do for you is tell you to try your best. That's everything I can ask of you."

'

Mash leaned against the warm hand as it slipped to the side of her head. "...Yes." To her, her Senpai just listening to her worries and consoling her like this was more than enough. Frankly, there still was something bothering her, but she'd already said enough for tonight, so she was more than happy to just leave that part all to herself...

'

But as if she'd read her thoughts, Ritsuka spoke up. "Let me guess, you're also feeling sad that we couldn't save Domrémy or La Charite?"

'

Mash gave her a surprised glance, but she just smiled encouragingly. It seemed like she had to go through with all of this. "...That's right," she admitted, her gaze falling once more. "I obviously realize that there was nothing we could have done, but I can't get the sights out of my mind."

'

Ritsuka shuffled right next to Mash and pulled her closer, letting her lean on her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around her back. "That's just how things go, as sad as it is. Not everything can be saved. That's the limit of being human, even when they become Servants," the redhead said while gently stroking Mash's arm. Of course this was something that the Shielder was well aware of. Even if the Servant within her had possessed their true power, it was unlikely anything could've been done to save those settlements. And yet, that only made her feel all the more powerless... Then, without warning, Mash felt a hand under her chin raising her head, leaving her to look Ritsuka straight in the eyes, her expression stern, yet kind. "But don't forget, even if we were late for the other two, we saved Vaucouleurs from the wyverns. That's at least something to celebrate. We can't do anything about things that have already happened, so now we just need to make sure that we save the next towns we come across."

'

For a moment, Mash didn't know how to respond to Ritsuka's current outlook. It was optimistic to say the least, yet that optimism was also very comforting, much like her touch. That was right. They just had to do their best to save the next town they came across. That was all they could do. Thus, when faced with such an outlook, it was no wonder that a soft smile spread Mash's lips. "...Right. You're exactly right, Senpai." After a satisfied nod, Ritsuka let go of her chin, letting the Shielder lean her head against the comforting shoulder once more.

'

For the next few minutes, they just sat there in silence. Calm, comfortable silence. For a moment, Mash even felt like she might fall asleep, until Ritsuka tapped her shoulder and moved slightly to let them properly look at each other. "Thank you for telling me all this, Mash. Do you feel any better now?"

'

Mash blinked in surprise. She... really did feel better. It truly did feel as if a large weight had been removed off of her chest. It seemed that that particular proverb was far more accurate than she had realized until now. Even if she still had some doubts and fears in her heart, the particular ones that had bothered her this evening had diminished significantly. Gratefully, she turned to Ritsuka with a smile. "Y-yes. I believe I do. Thank you so much for listening, Senpai."

'

An equally bright smile spread on her lips as well. "Hey, it's the least I can do to help you." As she reached over to gently pat Mash's head, Ritsuka gave her quite an unexpected proposal. "Now, in the future, if you ever feel something like that again, feel free to come talk to me, Mash."

'

Mash was at a complete loss for words for the following seconds. Hadn't she been striving specifically not to burden her Senpai with these thoughts. Thus, she was hesitant to say the least when it came to accepting such an offer. "I... Are you sure? It won't trouble you when I speak about my doubts and fears to you?"

'

But Ritsuka just shook her head, her smile not fading in the least. "Not at all. It's honestly relieving to know that I can help you with your burdens like this." And then, to seal the deal, she spread her arms open. "And, that free offer also includes hugs, even if you don't feel like talking."

'

"..." Mash fell silent as she contemplated the words. Had her efforts to keep these types of thoughts to herself been mistaken? She obviously didn't want to burden Ritsuka, but if it could prevent the resurfacing of her earlier worries and keep her focus from falling during battle... maybe it truly was for the better to share her thoughts about these things. Especially since she seemed so willful to hear about them. So, with her mind made up, Mash turned back to the redhead waiting there with open arms and gladly took the offered hug. "...Thank you, Senpai."

'

"You're very welcome." Ritsuka happily patted her back until they separated, her smile brightening a touch. "Now then, we still have some time left before we need to get to sleep. What do you say we move on to a more pleasant topic?" Mash was a bit taken aback by the sudden suggestion as the redhead looked at her, eyes filled with curiosity. "So, how has your first time seeing actual nature been?"

'

A relieved smile spread on her lips. "Ah, that." In this case, she was more than happy to share her honest thoughts. "It has been wonderful. I'm not entirely sure how it differs from the Simulator, but there's just... something about knowing that I'm walking in a real forest. All the sounds and smells just feel so... powerful."

'

Ritsuka nodded, though her smile grew apologetic. "I get how you feel... about the real thing, anyway. Sorry, but I really can't imagine being in a forest for the first time. It's just such a mundane thing basically everywhere else in the world."

'

Mash just shook her head. "No need to apologize. I'm well aware of that."

'

"Well... anything else you're really looking forward to?"

'

A question that got her thinking, only to arrive at the obvious conclusion. There was so much she wanted to see, to experience, but the most important of them all was... "The sky. I want to see the sky."

'

Ritsuka tilted her head in confusion. "The sky? But haven't you been looking at it during our day here?"

'

A question that Mash hadn't expected, but really should've. Of course Senpai wouldn't understand it without context. "Well... That is certainly true, and it's wonderful, but..." Her voice died out searching for words, but she had to explain her first desire as best as she could. It was incredible for her to see the sky for the first time outside of the Simulator, but... "But... I still want to see our sky. The one in our own time period," she clarified adamantly and the redhead's eyes widened. "After this is all over, I hope I'll be able to see the sky we saved with my own two eyes."

'

"Aww... Mash..." Ritsuka cooed. And with that nonexistent warning, she suddenly grabbed the Demi-Servant into another hug, energetically petting her head all the while. Mash was left speechless from the sheer suddenness of the act, completely unable to protest the affectionate assault even if she'd wanted to. This went on for a while before the redhead eventually offered her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but that's just so sweet."

'

"S-Senpai..." Mash muttered, her cheeks bright red at this point. She really wasn't sure what to even think of her Senpai's reasoning. Was her desire truly that cute?

'

"Again, sorry," she chuckled while letting the Shielder go. "But, that's a good desire all the same. Let's both do our best so that we'll be able to watch that bright, blue sky together once this is all over."

'

Mash let out an excited gasp, forgetting the sudden embrace in the face of this unexpected proposal. A chance to look at the clear, blue sky together with her Senpai? She didn't even need to consider the answer. "Y-yes!"

'

BE BEEP

'

It was then that a loud beep rang from the Multi-Appliance. The two girls looked at each other before Ritsuka groaned. "Oh, for..." Clicking a button, she turned on a screen where the Doctor already looked at them apologetically. "What's up, Roman?"

'

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but I have some bad news."

'

The two shared another look as the redhead sighed. It was quite obvious what was happening. "Don't tell me..."

'

"Hey, Pomo! We've got an enemy Servant and a bunch of wyverns incoming!" Lemminkäinen called from the outside, getting the Master to roll her eyes.

'

"Of course..." Unfolding her cloak and putting it on, Ritsuka turned to Mash as she reached for her boots. "Mash, are you ready to head out?"

'

In response, the Demi-Servant stood up and materialized her armor. "Yes, Master! Mash Kyrielight, ready for battle!" While she still had her issues with battling wyverns, there was no way she was going to just stay here while Senpai was in possible danger.

'

With a smile, Ritsuka gave her an approving nod as she opened the tent flaps. "Good. Let's be ready for anything."

'

'

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'

'

"How many are there?" Ritsuka asked as the group gathered a short distance away from the camp to keep it from harm.

'

"Just one Servant, but quite a few wyverns," Roman confirmed.

'

"One?" The Master shared disbelieving looks with both Mash and Jeanne. Could they possibly be this fortunate? "...Either they're ridiculously confident, or something is wrong here."

'

Jeanne nodded before turning to the Doctor. "Are you sure that there is just one Servant? There is a possibility that an Assassin could be waiting to ambush us."

'

That was the most likely guess on Ritsuka's mind as well, but Roman just scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Well, it's not impossible, but we're not picking up anything else."

'

"My bounded field hasn't noticed anyone else either," Lemminkäinen confirmed, getting Mozart to nod by his side.

'

"I've detected it, too. Having good hearing isn't always a good thing." A comment that earned him surprised looks from everyone but Marie. "In fact, I hate this sound so much it makes me want to scream. The sound of an enemy's footsteps combined with the flapping of wyvern wings is worse than a high-pitched trumpet."

'

"You can hear them at this distance?" Mash asked in disbelief, and the Caster smiled proudly.

'

"Of course. I became a Servant because of my music. I can detect any sound wave in the air."

'

That... actually made sense when put like that, which got Ritsuka thinking. "...It can't be Carmilla at the very least, since her Presence Concealment is only D rank." While yes, it wasn't impossible that Jeanne Alter had another Assassin on her side, the possibility that she had one with Presence Concealment high enough to avoid all three of their detection methods was quite low. The chances became even lower once the Madness Enhancement came to play, making it harder to pull a successful sneak attack off. And if there really was only one Servant, this was a prime opportunity for them to whittle down enemy forces. An opportunity they couldn't miss. "Alright, let's approach carefully while keeping an eye out for the possible sneak attack."

'

"Yes, Master," Mash nodded and moved right by her side. With Lemminkäinen in the lead, the other Servants all surrounded Ritsuka in the case that there really was a skilled Assassin around. After a short while of moving through the woods, they arrived at another clearing that had formed by a river, the spot she had chosen for this fight. The trees would impede the wyverns' movements, but could be dangerous if they were to be lit on fire, making this the optimal battleground in their situation.

'

As they exited the woods, Lemminkäinen raised his hand to stop the group. "...They're here," he confirmed right before their foe entered the clearing as well, emerging from the darkness to reveal her form.

'

A short, red cloak with golden crosses and some chainmail draped over her shoulders, connected to a red collar. Her main piece of clothing was a bizarre one-piece, white dress with red trimmings and wide sleeves, revealing its interior gray colors and rose-vine pattern. The dress, if it could even be called that, was low cut, with an exposed trim-like section down the middle all the way down to her navel. The skirt was split apart in two points, exposing her legs. Two black belts were tied around her waist, connected to golden ornaments by her hips, which draped over the remainder of the belt all the way down to her ankles. On her limbs, she wore blue stockings, a set of green and golden braces on her arms and metallic grieves with golden decorations on her legs. To say that such clothing didn't exactly belong in this era was an understatement. Perhaps most surprisingly, she held a staff: a golden pole with pink strips tied around it and with a silver and purple cross at the very top. With it in her hand, one could have rightfully believed her to be a holy woman of some kind, but that went completely out of the window upon seeing her face. Blue eyes and long purple hair, reaching below her waist, with a set of long, white ribbons tied to both sides of her head, and a pair of blue earrings on each ear, their color matching her eyes. Under normal circumstances she would have been a very beautiful woman, but her expression, or more like her lack of one, combined with the terrifyingly empty eyes only managed to strike a sense of unease into Ritsuka. "...Hello, everybody. What a lonely night," she spoke in a stoic tone, perfectly matching her face. Behind her, the group of wyverns started circling above the trees. Their bloodlust was as clear as ever, meaning that they most likely stayed put only due to this woman's control.

'

Jeanne was the first to step forth, keeping her guard up as she approached the Servant. "Who are you?"

'

"Who?" she tilted her head, starting to tap her chin as if she were genuinely looking for an answer. "Let's see, I wonder who I am. I forced myself to be a righteous saint, but in this world I'm a slave to a broken one."

'

"A broken saint..." An answer that clearly disturbed Jeanne. She already disliked being called a saint in the first place, so Ritsuka couldn't even begin to guess what it felt like to hear her evil twin being called something like that while controlling someone who claimed to be an actual Saint.

'

"Yes, thanks to her, my reason has left and I've gone mad. I am doing everything I can to hold myself back. What a mess this is." As the self proclaimed Saint shook her head in something resembling sorrow, Ritsuka started racking her brain. The Servant in front of them didn't really seem mad, so much as she appeared like a psychopath. While she did seem inhuman in similar fashion to the rest of the Dragon Witch's Servants, hers was only due to how subdued she appeared, instead of bloodlust dripping off her entire being. And, if she had managed to resist the madness to such an extent, maybe they could- "So while I appreciate your hopes, I cannot join you. You don't want a Servant who'll stab you from behind at every single opportunity, do you?"

'

Faced with the statement, Ritsuka, Mash, Jeanne and Marie all looked at each other in surprise, clearly having shared the same thought. The Servant was perceptive enough that she had even managed to pick up on that faint hope some of them had held? The Ruler took another step forward, appearing more and more curious over this person with each word she spoke. "Then why did you come here?"

'

The woman fell silent, her emotionless eyes scanning the group before finally stopping on Jeanne. "...My task was to observe you, but my waning reason whispers that I should test you." Yet another surprising statement, but before anyone could question it, she pointed her staff at Jeanne. "You face the Dragon Witch. Disaster incarnate, riding on the 'ultimate dragon.' If you cannot surpass me, you will never defeat her."

'

Surprising no one, Lemminkäinen seemed the most excited with the proposal. "Hoh? This just took an interesting turn," he grinned while rubbing his chin. "So this is a gauntlet of might to see what we're made of, huh?"

'

For just a blink of an eye, the Master could've sworn that a smile flashed on the woman's lips as she nodded, laying a hand on her chest. "Exactly. Defeat me. Plunge your blade into my heart without hesitation." Following the announcement, as the Servants each prepared for battle, Ritsuka took another look at her stats. The Servant was just about equal with Lemminkäinen, with her Strength being a bit lower and Mana a bit higher. She would no doubt be a tough opponent, especially with those wyverns around, but victory was far from impossible. But then, as if she'd read her thoughts, the woman raised her staff in the air and her magical energy spiked. "My True Name is Martha! Violated by madness, my class is Berserker Rider! Now come to me, Iron Dragon Tarasque!" In a flash of light, an enormous creature appeared behind the Rider with a deafening roar. While not as large as Fafninr, it wasn't far behind as it towered over the group. The beast possessed a gigantic head with four horns and a white mane covering it, a shell with numerous spikes on it, six legs, and a long tail with a spiked end. Seeing its appearance, only one creature popped into Ritsuka's head: A lion turtle... That was totally a lion turtle. But jokes aside, given that she was a Rider, this fella was without a doubt her mount, and a strong one at that. It surpassed even Medusa's Pegasus. This duo would make for one hell of an opponent.

'

"Martha... Saint Martha!?" Roman uttered in disbelief. "Watch out, everyone! She once defeated a dragon with nothing but prayers!" Ritsuka bit the inside of her cheek. Figured their enemy just had to be one of the most famous saints around. And as if she alone wasn't bad enough, Tarasque was really strong as well. It wouldn't be wrong to say that it had effectively doubled the enemy team's fighting power just by appearing. By her side, the redhead also took note of how horrified Jeanne looked suddenly. Not that it was exactly surprising. Saint Martha must've been effectively an idol to her.

'

Lemminkäinen on the other hand, surprising no one, observed the dragon with great intrigue. "Now that is a wild looking beast, with an impressive shell to boot." Raising his sword and grabbing the handle with both hands, his excited grin made its comeback. "Let's put that toughness to a test, shall we?"

'

Martha then twirled her staff and the awaiting wyverns grew even more excited. Before the situation could get too chaotic, Ritsuka quickly turned towards the two newcomer Servants. "Marie, Amadeus! Can you two handle the wyverns while we take care of this duo?"

'

"Leave it to us!" Marie cheered before summoning one of her glass horses and hopping on its back, all the while Mozart just shook his head with a sigh.

'

"Well, while I said that I'm not really a fighter, these wyverns are still something I can handle." A small smile growing on his lips, the Caster hopped on the back of the glass mount as well. "Then, let's put on a show, Maria." With a flick of his baton, Mozart summoned angels once again, though these ones were different, but just as bizarre. While just as headless and legless as the other ones, their arms had fused with their wings, making them even larger, and they possessed golden decorations on both upper and lower parts of their bodies. But, most bizarrely of all, they had exchanged the tuxedos, which honestly looked normal by comparison, to having something that looked like speakers in their torsos. Granted, the last part kind of made sense for a musician Servant, but just... What?

'

"Don't go getting distracted now, Pomo!" Lemminkäinen shouted, snapping Ritsuka out of her confusion. "We're being tested here, so let's show the lady and her beast the best we've got."

'

The Master moved her focus back to the Servants standing ready in front of her, while giving a glance towards the duo riding towards the reptile group. She would need to trust them with handling it. Considering the danger Martha and Tarasque presented, she couldn't allow for her focus to waver. "Right. Get ready, everyone!"

'

As Lemminkäinen, Mash and Jeanne all raised their armaments in preparation, the giant dragon let out a deafening roar as it charged at them like a living house.

'

'

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---

'

'

Within the first few seconds of the battle, Jeanne came to a troublesome realization: The beast was tremendously fast for its size. The way it spun around to attack all three of the Servants opposing it, and with its six legs, head, and a tail, there was much to keep in mind while avoiding its strikes. Another alarming detail soon made itself known. As Lemminkäinen dashed to strike at the beast's head, it turned directly towards him before unleashing a torrent of fire from its fanged maw. Luckily the Saber managed to counter the flames with the ones from his blade, leaving him unharmed, but if either Mash or herself had been in the same position, Jeanne was quite sure they would've taken a good deal of damage.

'

"Wooh, that was close! Almost got me there, big gu-" The Saber's eyes widened and he jumped to the side, barely avoiding a blast of blue light erupting by his feet. With a grin on his face he turned towards Martha, the Rider pointing her staff towards him. "And even closer! Quite the merciless assault, miss Saint."

'

Ritsuka clicked her tongue in frustration. "So Martha doesn't just leave the fighting to Tarasque... Figures." And there lied the main issue bothering Jeanne about this battle: Their main opponent, Martha. It was just... This was Martha. The Martha. Martha who had journeyed together with the Lord. Martha who had pacified a ferocious dragon with her prayers alone. Martha she had learned of when hearing the Bible read to her. Jeanne had dreamed more than once of getting a chance to meet with her. And yet, here they were, fighting to the death. All because another Jeanne d'Arc had summoned her and driven her to madness, forcing her to destroy France along with her other Servants. The thought alone made Jeanne feel... indescribable, complicated feelings. Ones that she would've preferred to just attempt to sort by sitting alone in silence, no matter how long it took. And yet... "Alright! Keep gauging out the enemy! I'll give you a signal soon, so be ready!"

'

Ritsuka's instructions brought Jeanne's full focus back to the conflict at hand. That's right. She wasn't the only one who would suffer if she made a mistake in this battle. She had allies depending on her, as much as France's- no, the world's history depended on them all. She couldn't afford to let them down after they so graciously accepted her as an ally, as a friend. And, almost equally as pressingly... 'My waning reason whispers that I should test you.' This battle was a test. Saint Martha's test. A test to see if they had the strength to stand against Jeanne d'Arc, the Dragon Witch. Even while trapped in the grips of madness, she was still providing them with a path forward, like a true, proper saint. For her sake as well, Jeanne couldn't afford to fail.

'

As she charged forth with Mash by her side, Tarasque whipped its tail towards them. Raising their armaments, they barely managed to stop it by digging their feet into the ground, but the blow had been enormous, nearly knocking them off balance. And even as her arms throbbed from the attack, Jeanne was allowed no rest as the beast threw one of its clawed feet towards her, forcing her to jump back. But, that had all given Lemminkäinen a chance to approach the dragon from behind. Jumping high into the air, the Saber's blade roared to life as flames erupted from it, blasting him towards the ground and his enemy with extraordinary speed as he spun to aim his sword downwards. The resulting blow would've been enough to cleanly cleave through a number of wyverns without issue. But unfortunately, this enemy was in a far higher league. A loud sound similar to steel colliding with stone rang through the air as Lemminkäinen struck his sword down onto Tarasque's back. As he clicked his tongue with annoyance, it was quite clear how much damage the Saber's strike had just dealt. The dragon then twisted its spiked tail to strike, forcing him to hop off of its back just before the sting collided with the hard shell. With such incredible speed, strength and durability, Tarasque truly lived up to its legend. Still, Jeanne couldn't help but to be impressed with the Saber's sword as well. With an impact like that, most blades would have shattered, but his weapon didn't appear even the slightest bit chipped or bent as he landed by her side. "Damn that is tough. Not sure even my released Noble Phantasm could break through that shell." Though unlike one would expect after such a failed attack, Lemminkäinen started grinning, looking far more excited than disheartened. "Well, since we can't go for the heart, we'll just cut off the head."

'

"You don't need to do either," Ritsuka called out, getting confused looks from her Servants.

'

"Senpai?" Mash asked, but the Master just pointed at the woman standing some distance behind the dragon.

'

"We don't need to kill Tarasque. We just need to take down Martha herself, and this fight is over."

'

That was certainly true. Seeing how Tarasque was Martha's Noble Phantasm, defeating her would mean that the beast disappeared as well. Jeanne had to agree that it was without a doubt their wisest course of action, and could lead to victory with the least amount of casualties. An opinion that clearly wasn't shared by Lemminkäinen, seeing how he glared at the redhead, looking extraordinarily disappointed. "Well, that's the boring option, but if you say so, Pomo."

'

"Jeanne!" the Master yelled, motioning her towards her while appearing to somehow give different instructions to the other Servants, seeing how they both began engaging Tarasque.

'

"What is it, Ritsuka?" she asked and Ritsuka pulled her even closer, speaking directly into her ear in a way that nearly made Jeanne jump back from surprise.

'

"Since we're not linked as a Servant and Master, I can't communicate with you quietly from range, so I'm going to explain the plan to you like this while making sure Mash and Lemminkäinen hear me too."

'

The Ruler nodded, staying close to Ritsuka while keeping careful watch over their two opponents as well. "Understood. What do you need me to do?"

'

"Our strategy is simple, and hopefully also effective. First, I reposition you all behind Tarasque. Using the immediate confusion following it, you and Mash ram him with all your might as I boost you with a spell while he turns around. Using that small window, Lemminkäinen will rush Martha with everything he has and hopefully take her down. Any objections?"

'

Like she'd said, it really was a simple plan, but with the element of surprise from the repositioning spell Ritsuka had described to them during their strategy meeting, its effectiveness could be tremendous. And even if it didn't go exactly as planned, they were hardly out of options. Even if they failed to reach Martha with it, they would at least learn more about her fighting abilities through the method she used to avoid defeat, thus allowing them to make a new plan of attack. With all that in mind, Jeanne shook her head with a smile. "None from me."

'

The Master gave her a confident smile. "Good. We'll go ahead with it on my mark, so spread out and be ready." With that, Mash moved back in front of Ritsuka to cover her as Jeanne and Lemminkäinen spread themselves out around Tarasque, with the Ruler standing in front of the beast. The great dragon growled, eyeing its opponents to choose which of them to attack. Finally its eyes locked on to Jeanne, letting out a roar as it jumped towards her. The perfect opportunity. "Go time!"

'

As Jeanne felt Ritsuka's spell activate, a truly bizarre sensation took over her body, slightly comparable to standing on a moving cart, but that cart was both very small and moving very fast. She truly had to focus on not falling over as she slid across the ground behind the confused dragon. As soon as she and the others came to a halt, Jeanne could feel a powerful rush of energy flowing into her, filling her with strength. Taking a quick glance at Mash by her side, she received a confirming nod, prompting her to put as much of her newfound strength into her legs as she could muster before blasting off the ground. Holding her flag in front of her with both hands as Mash did the same with her shield the duo crashed into the giant beast's back, knocking it off balance as it flew a good distance before crashing into the trees, crushing them with its sheer bulk. Given the opportunity, Jeanne dared to take a quick look at the clash between Martha and Lemminkäinen, and the sight was thankfully relieving.

'

Having not wasted the opportunity given to him, the Saber had gone ahead with full on offense, with promising results. As the two exchanged blows with speed great enough to cause Jeanne trouble following it all, the Rider was clearly struggling fending him off with just her staff. Lemminkäinen kept pushing and pushing, each of his strikes forcing Martha back. And finally, the decisive moment came. With a swift kick, he knocked the staff out of her grasp while raising his sword high in the air, clearly intent on finishing her off with a powerful overhead strike. But as the approaching sword was just above her head, Martha swiftly sidestepped out of the way, the blade scraping her shoulder as she... slugged Lemminkäinen in the face with all her might...

'

Jeanne's mouth fell agape from sheer shock, the girls close to her sharing the exact reaction while the Saber was blasted away. Martha... Saint Martha just punched someone so viciously...? And even seemed happy with it, judging by the smile spreading to her lips...? In fact, this was the first clear emotion she had shown during all this time. "Ah, now I've done it," the Rider muttered, cracking the knuckles on the fist she'd just used before moving on to the other. "I've done my best to uphold my image as a saint, even when forced to slaughter innocents..." Raising her clenched fists close to her face, an exhilarated smile completely overtook Martha's lips. "But when faced with an opponent like this, I can't hold back any longer." A quick flash then enveloped her arms, and when the light faded, Jeanne was at a complete loss for words. Gauntlets... Saint Martha had gauntlets covering her arms as she started lightly hopping on her feet, throwing out a few experimental punches. She was wearing actual, metal gauntlets like they were boxing gloves. Just how badly did the Madness Enhancement distort her mind!? At this point, even Tarasque had recovered, but it just watched the scene unfolding in front of it like the rest of them. The Rider kept grinning at her opponent, motioning the Saber to approach her as he started getting up. "Now come at me! I will smash your pretty face into a pulp before Tarasque kills you for good!" A statement that nearly caused the Ruler's brain to shut down. The sheer brutality in her being... Surely this too must have been because of the madness binding her? Yes, obviously. There was no other explanation for Saint Martha to act like this. Although when she gazed to her side, Jeanne could have sworn that, just for a second, even the mighty dragon appeared genuinely frightened when seeing Martha's wild excitement.

'

Lemminkäinen rose from the ground, the damage to his face obvious without a second look. His nose had been both crushed by the punch and twisted sideways by the impact. For him to receive a surprise attack like that without the slightest hints of a warning, from a famous Saint no less. Any sensible person would have been shocked to their core by the experience. But from the very short time she had known him, Jeanne had learned that Lemminkäinen was hardly a sensible person. "Whohhohhooo! What a lady!" he cackled madly. With a sickeningly loud crunch he twisted his broken nose into place, a faint glow covering it leaving it without a trace of the earlier damage. The man then took his blood covered hand and wiped it in his hair in a single smooth motion, a streak of crimson now decorating his fiery locks. In that same instant, a grin spread on his lips, its intensity matching Martha's own perfectly. "Now this is getting fun! Show me what ya got, Saint!" As his sword erupted into a blaze, the pair charged each other once more, their brawl continuing even more intensely than before. The Rider proceeded to attack with countless jabs and hooks, each unbelievably fast and precise. But even when faced with such an onslaught, the Saber didn't falter in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to grow more excited than ever, his grin threatening to split his face as his eyes glowed like embers. With renewed gusto, his blade released a burst of flames and he started an onslaught of his own, trading blows with Martha at blinding speed. And it wasn't just his sword. He had also started mixing in punches and kicks of his own, resulting in such a rapid exchange of blows that Jeanne was sure that she would've been overwhelmed in seconds, no matter which of them she'd been fighting. It was only thanks to being able to see the clash from the side that she could even properly follow it.

'

But with this, she was also starting to understand just how Lemminkäinen fought. With just quick glances, his swordplay seemed extremely confusing, but getting to observe it properly from the side, Jeanne was able to catch the trick in it. Some strikes were having their speed and power increased mid-swing by bursts of flame, making reacting to them that much more difficult. It was like small explosions originating from the edges of the blade made it able to instantly accelerate a strike or change direction in the middle of one. A terrifyingly effective technique. But what made it truly troublesome was guessing when and if he would use it, with a wrong guess resulting in his opponent getting sliced by the sword. It was no wonder that Martha had equipped gauntlets, seeing how they gave her far more options for blocking when compared to just her staff.

'

As Martha attempted to knee him, Lemminkäinen raised one of his legs to block it, the armor on his shin stopping the blow. Blowing himself back with a burst of flame, he was quick to charge again before the Rider could follow, delivering a wide swing with both hands at explosive speed, only to have her dodge it. But, using the momentum of the swing to its fullest, Lemminkäinen twisted his body and delivered a powerful kick to the side of his opponent's head, one that Martha just barely managed to block with one arm. And before she could grapple the limb, he used another burst of fire to slip away, getting a frustrated growl from the Rider. "Argh! That sword is so annoying! How does it blast fire so damn precisely!?"

'

It was then that Jeanne came to a terrifying realization, one that she had completely overlooked as she had been so focused on the fight: Mash was approaching Martha from behind. And before either her or Ritsuka could yell at her to stop, she had already jumped towards her opponent, ready to strike. She had most likely wished to exploit the slight opening in the Rider's defenses. In theory, it was not a bad strategy, but unfortunately in reality... "Haaa-mphh!?" Jeanne couldn't help but cringe at the sight. Martha had most likely known Mash was there the whole time, seeing how she snapped around near instantly to intercept the attack. Slipping past the shield, she delivered a dynamic punch to Mash's stomach, knocking the wind out of the Shielder mid-battlecry.

'

"Out of the way, lightweight! I'm having a great time!" Then, with a devastating uppercut straight to her chin, Martha sent Mash flying away high in the air before turning back to her original opponent.

'

"Mash!" Ritsuka screamed in horror as she watched the Shielder crash into the ground some distance away, the impact forming an actual crater into the ground. Without wasting a second, the redhead dashed over with shocking speed for a living human and crouched by her side. As Jeanne also rushed to take a look, she let out a gasp at the sight. Mash's chin had been effectively squashed, forcing her lips into a permanent pucker as blood flowed from her mouth. But despite the awful state of her face, she still attempted to rise on her shaky limbs, prompting the Master to hurriedly place a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get up! Just a sec and I'll heal you."

'

But the Shielder just shook her head while attempting to shake the hand off. "Ah-ahm fhaim, Mafftahh..." Jeanne very much doubted even a blind person would've been fooled, and Ritsuka certainly wasn't seeing how she sternly pushed the girl back down.

'

"No you're not. Don't even try to speak before I heal your jaw." She then placed her hand on Mash's chin, causing the Shielder to slightly flinch from the pain before a greenish light started flowing around the area. In a few seconds, her face returned to normal as both the swelling and bleeding were healed, only leaving some blood around her mouth. Removing her hand, Ritsuka observed her for a second before giving a relieved nod. "There. Better?"

'

Mash gently rubbed the area around her mouth, looking incredibly embarrassed. "...Yes. Thank you very much, Senpai."

'

"Good," Ritsuka sighed, relief briefly taking over her face until sternness returned to it as she looked at both of the Servants. "From now on, avoid approaching Martha unless absolutely necessary." It was frustrating but Jeanne had to admit that Ritsuka was absolutely right. Neither she or Mash could approach Martha or Lemminkäinen while they were fighting. They'd just end up getting in his way.

'

And it seemed that Mash understood that as well, given the way she weakly nodded. "V-very well."

'

A growl and a stomp suddenly caught Jeanne's attention, alerting her to turn towards the source right on time. Tarasque had finally snapped out of its trance and gotten back to the fight, charging the trio. "Incoming!" Trusting Mash to handle herself, she quickly picked up the Master and dashed away as the dragon's mighty blow expanded the crater on the ground.

'

As soon as Jeanne landed, Ritsuka hopped out of her arms and turned towards their enemy. "Thanks, Jeanne. That was a close one." As Jeanne nodded wordlessly, she too began to observe Tarasque as it chased Mash around. She was just about to rush to help, only to have Ritsuka raise her hand to stop her. "Doesn't Tarasque seem strange to you compared to earlier?" She could only stare at the Master in shock. She was going to let Mash fight Tarasque on her own while they just watched? Granted, the Shielder was currently doing a great job in avoiding its attacks, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to observe for just a moment. But, the moment she saw even a hint of danger, she would charge in. Giving a reluctant nod, Jeanne moved her attention fully to the giant reptile. A slash with its claws, firebreath, tail sweep, all avoided by the Shielder. The dragon seemed to act just like before. Although... As Mash kept circling it, a detail became quickly clear to Jeanne: Tarasque almost seemed afraid of even approaching Martha while she was fighting like this, throwing nervous glances towards her every now and then. Well, given that it knew her better than any of them, it must've been terrified to see such a gentle, righteous person acting so uncharacteristically violently. For a moment, Jeanne even felt bad for the beast.

'

Still, this must've been what Ritsuka meant. Turning to her, Jeanne pointed at the beast's eyes. "I see it now. Tarasque must be worried over Martha's violent behavior, but doesn't know what to do about it."

'

The Master nodded in agreement, rubbing her chin. "Likely so, which gives us some leeway to form a plan. We should still be gunning for Martha, but that became a lot harder due to the other plan..."

'

"Anyone got any ideas on how to weaken her?" Doctor Romani suddenly called through the tiny device on Ritsuka's wrist. Jeanne had forgotten them for a moment, but it really was comforting to know that they had allies able to assist them, even if they couldn't fight. "Do you think you could stun her, Ritsuka? That would let one of the Servants deal the final blow."

'

Ritsuka fell silent for a moment, contemplating the suggestion, but ultimately just shook her head. "I doubt it. She has A rank Magic Resistance, and Tarasque, being a powerful dragon, is the same. That also rules out Saber's magecraft, so we're definitely running low on tricks."

'

Suddenly, a screen appeared right beside them, nearly causing Jeanne to jump. On it was the man she remembered being called Dio, smiling at them. "Hi. I'd just like to cut in and say that the Super Gandr will definitely work, but against Magic Resistance that high, the effect will only last for a fraction of a second. Tarasque, being the son of Leviathan, is also pretty damn old, increasing the effectiveness, but his sheer size helps in mitigating that too. All and all, I'd say it's about equally as effective on both of them, so you'll likely get a single shot with it."

'

"That's rough, but it's at least something..." Ritsuka muttered and Jeanne agreed. If coordinated perfectly, it would buy them enough time to deal a single blow, but the window was truly miniscule. Clearly too small for Romani as he continued looking for suggestions.

'

"Anything else? We'll take basically any idea at this point."

'

The Master stared at Martha very intensely for a moment and then snapped her fingers. "The river," she noted while pointing at the stream flowing on one side of the clearing. "I'm pretty sure that Martha has a Skill that makes her stronger as she fights close to water."

'

Dio nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's probably it. Martha's most famous feat, subjugating Tarasque, went down on Rhône's riverbank, making it a likely candidate for a strengthening Skill like that."

'

"But we can't really use it to our advantage," Ritsuka muttered, clearly having trouble finding an effective strategy judging by her furrowed brow. "We could technically destroy a portion of the river with Saber's Noble Phantasm, but I'm not sure if it's enough to weaken her, nor am I sure if it's even worth the magical energy cost. And running away is not really an option either, with the speed those two can move at."

'

"Could you swap Saber for one of us? Someone better suited for fighting that duo?" one of the Servants from Chaldea suggested, but Dio just shook his head.

'

"Not possible. We would need Mash's shield to act as the exchange circle and Lemminkäinen to stand on it for the switch. That would leave only Jeanne to fend off both Martha and Tarasque, which just isn't happening."

'

As similar suggestions continued, Jeanne kept her eyes on the battle itself. Mash was still holding out well enough, and Lemminkäinen seemed more happy than anything. As for Marie and Amadeus, there were flashes of light and beautiful sounds emerging from the forest from time to time, meaning that they were both still doing their best. While the two weren't especially powerful, they would likely emerge victorious against the wyverns. No, it was Jeanne's own group that worried her. While they were in an effective stalemate at the moment, their situation was truly troublesome. Martha and Lemminkäinen were evenly matched, but the same couldn't be said for her, Mash and Tarasque. The two of them had no hope of defeating the dragon, quite simply lacking the strength required for a final blow, or even causing any notable damage. And yet, as much as it frustrated Jeanne, it didn't necessarily have to be so. Their current situation was far worse than it could have been due to her weakness. "...If only I were at my full strength as a Servant," she muttered quietly, not even realizing she had actually vocalized the thought. "Then at least, our chances of victory would be far greater." Even if she wasn't powerful enough to kill Tarasque, she would have at least been able to keep it busy for a while, allowing her allies to fully focus on Martha. Or alternatively, she could at least keep up with the clashing duo, allowing her to slip in and aid Lemminkäinen in grasping victory. But while going through such thoughts, Jeanne suddenly noticed that the girl next to her had begun staring at her intently. "Ritsuka?"

'

"...I'm not sure about full strength, but I can make you stronger," the Master revealed, getting Jeanne's eyes to widen from surprise. She then held her hand towards the Ruler, Command Spell shining at the top. "Jeanne, would you be willing to make a contract with me?"

'

That... was a possibility Jeanne hadn't actually considered viable. With two Servants already with her, she had assumed Ritsuka to be at her full just keeping them around, but if she herself was suggesting this... And yet, before she could answer, Roman firmly cut in. "No way! That's way too dangerous!"

'

"Why?" a Servant from Chaldea, a blonde man with some strange, black glass in front of his eyes asked. "Is it really that different from her already having contracts with Saber and Mash while in the Singularity? What's one more Servant going to do?"

'

"But Jeanne is not linked to our FATE summoning system in any way, meaning that 100% of the magical energy she consumes comes from Ritsuka!" Roman explained, looking at the Master with worry. "Can you really bear that burden?"

'

Ritsuka nodded. "Most likely. And while I'm not 100 percent sure, we don't really have any better options, do we?" As the Doctor began contemplating the last part, she turned towards the Ruler intently. "So, what's your opinion on this, Jeanne?"

'

Jeanne fell silent as she weighed their options. While it was true that there were risks, their chances seemed to be fairly low, and the reward would be tremendous. And it was true that they really didn't have any alternatives. Still, the key to her approval laid elsewhere. A smile grew on her lips as she held out her hand. Perhaps if Ritsuka herself would have been unsure, Jeanne would've chosen otherwise, but: "If you believe it to be possible, Ritsuka, I would be happy to entrust my current self to that resolve of yours."

'

An appreciative smile grew on Ritsuka's face as well. "Then let's do it." Placing a hand on her right temple she quickly addressed her battling Servants. "Mash, Lemminkäinen. Keep Martha and Tarasque busy for just a bit longer while we take care of business." Jeanne also moved her attention back to the raging battle, but not much had changed. Lemminkäinen and Martha were still going at it, while the Shielder was still doing admirably, but she was starting to look quite tired. If it weren't for Tarasque being so distracted by the Rider, she likely would've lost a while ago. They really didn't have time to spare.

'

But that didn't help ease off Romani's worry. "Are we sure this is going to work? This could possibly kill her."

'

"It won't, unless she really screws up her magical energy flow. And given that she's a mage, that's pretty unlikely," Dio confirmed, greatly easing off the nerves of effectively everyone listening, especially the Doctor. "Though her passing out from the drain is decently likely, that's the worst we should expect."

'

That was certainly worrying, but Ritsuka remained calm while asking: "How likely?"

'

"Roughly a twenty seven percent chance of that happening."

'

"Those are odds I'm definitely willing to bet," the redhead nodded, appearing satisfied. Jeanne, as shameful as it was, actually wasn't sure how likely the odds were. She couldn't even read, so math wasn't in her skill set either, but if Ritsuka was fine with it, that was good enough for her. With the matter settled, the Master held her hand towards the Ruler. "In that case, let's start."

'

'

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'

'

In all honesty, Ritsuka didn't want to do this given the risks, no matter how unlikely, but they were really out of options. Martha by herself was about equal to Lemminkäinen when it came to fighting power, which would have been troublesome enough on its own, but then there was Tarasque, who just tipped the scales completely in the Rider's favor. They were basically fighting someone who was as powerful as their strongest fighter, plus a monster who was even more powerful, making their chances at victory pathetically low. Although, Ritsuka was quite sure that if he got a clean hit in, the Saber's Noble Phantasm could definitely kill Martha. The problem was Tarasque, since it could likely block it with its shell. Lemminkäinen had a strong Noble Phantasm, but that also meant that it used a ton of magical energy. If he used it and it wouldn't get the killing blow, Martha would know its characteristics and wouldn't fall for it a second time, which meant that their defeat was basically guaranteed. No matter how she reasoned it, this contract was the safest option they had at the moment.

'

As Jeanne took her offered hand and covered it with both of hers, she started. "Hear me. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Human Order's beckoning, if you abide by this will, this reason, then answer."

'

Even though they were already active thanks to all the fighting, her magic circuits pushed themselves even further as her Command Spell started to shine, reaching out to form a connection with the Servant in front of her. Unfortunately, with the rise in magical energy, their enemies also became aware of the situation. Martha's eyes locked in on the pair, and soon afterwards Tarasque charged, with Mash unable to stop it. As it dashed towards the pair, its large maw opened to unleash a fiery attack, and the Rider was close behind. "You think we'll just stand here and let you do that!?" she shouted, a swing of her staff bringing forth an immediate explosion of blue light right by the focusing pair.

'

Thankfully Ritsuka had guessed this would happen and taken some repercussions. With the shuffling spell, she moved Mash right in front of her and Jeanne, allowing her to stop the attack with her shield, while Lemminkäinen slid right in front of Tarasque. "And you think that we won't stop you!?" he shouted, dropkicking the beast straight in the jaw, forcing its mouth shut to prevent the flames from escaping. Though as a result, the fire that had lost its exit route was forced out of another, leading to them bursting out of the dragon's nostrils in what appeared to be the world's most uncomfortable sneeze. With the way Tarasque started coughing immediately afterwards, it honestly looked like something had gone into the wrong pipe. Still, if nothing else, it proved to be an incredibly effective distraction, much like they had hoped.

'

And that distraction was more than enough for Ritsuka to finish her role. "Then, with this choice, I shall entrust my fate to your sword!" There! She felt the connection! Now all that was needed for the contract to finish was the approval of the Servant.

'

And Jeanne, judging by her expression, was more than happy to give it. "Under the name of Ruler I accept your oath. I shall recognize you as my Master, Ritsuka Repo." And with that, the contract was completed.

'

And the suffering began.

'

"Gnnnah!" Ritsuka fell to her knees with a barely muffled shout, frantically clutching her arms around her torso as if that did anything to ease the pain. Her magic circuits were desperately dangling on the verge of burning up. It felt like her veins had been lit on fire, and her heart and lungs were being grasped by something to keep them from fully expanding. This was the true strain that befell her upon making a contract with a powerful Servant without Chaldea's assistance. She knew that this suffering was just temporary, a giant drain of od, basically a jumpstart to get Jeanne fully going, but it was still one hell of an experience.

'

"Senpai!" She heard Mash call, sounding more afraid than she had during this entire fight. That alone gave Ritsuka the moxie she needed to attempt standing back up. Even if it hurt like hell, she couldn't let Mash be so worried about her in such a dangerous situation. Even as pain surged through them, she dug her hands into the ground, trying to stand back up, lifting her head just enough to see Jeanne's worried expression.

'

"Are you alright, Ritsuka?"

'

But, even with all of her suffering, the price of that pain was well worth it. With even a single glance, Ritsuka could tell that the Ruler's parameters had jumped up tremendously. A few seconds ago, her fighting power had been around the same level as Mash's, but now she was far more comparable to Lemminkäinen and Martha. And it wasn't just parameters, as unusable Skills and Noble Phantasms were released as well. A grin spread on the Master's lips, even as she did her best to stop herself from falling into a coughing fit. With a boost like that, they could definitely beat Martha.

'

'

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---

'

'

As Jeanne moved her hands to get a feel of her newfound strength, she felt... incredible to say the least. Having a Master truly made a difference, even to a Ruler like her, who wasn't supposed to have one in the first place. To say she was stronger was an understatement of the greatest degree. While she didn't like to brag, it was clear to Jeanne that she could have swatted aside her self from a minute ago without much difficulty. And of course, she couldn't forget the one that had granted her this strength. Crouching slightly, she offered her hand to Ritsuka, still kneeling on the ground. "Here, let me help you up... Master."

'

The redhead, thankfully looking already much better than a few seconds ago, gratefully accepted. "Thanks, Jeanne. Wow, am I glad that worked."

'

The Ruler very much agreed, helping the taller woman to her feet. "Yes. The power is swelling throughout my body." With a twist of her hand she fully unfurled her flag, letting it freely wave in the breeze. The familiar sight helped her feel both calm and confident. "With this strength you have granted me, I will not lose!" In response, Ritsuka flashed her a hopeful smile, Mash following right behind her. The exact reaction Jeanne had hoped for. Even if it was useful in battle, her flag granting courage to her allies had always been its most useful feature in her opinion.

'

Martha as well seemed extremely pleased with the declaration, a faint smile gracing her lips before she roared. "Then show me, Jeanne d'Arc! Tarasque!"

'

As the dragon charged, Jeanne took it upon herself to mirror it, even if Lemminkäinen was closer to it than her. But in response, he just motioned her to go ahead with a smirk that practically screamed: 'Let's see what you can do.' And with the expectations of so many people behind her, the Ruler knew she had to answer them. As Tarasque swiped at her with two of its massive, clawed feet, she couldn't help but notice how much slower they seemed in comparison to earlier. A small smile spread on her lips. Before the contract, this would've been impossible, but now... As the slicing claws approached from both sides, Jeanne burst forward, nimbly slipping between them before jumping straight up. Focusing as much power into her arms as she could, she slammed her flag into the dragon's jaw, sending it flying backwards a good distance.

'

"Nice!" Ritsuka cheered from behind her, flashing her a bright smile together with Mash. It seemed that Jeanne's demonstration had possessed the desired effect on them as well, much to her relief. She now felt more confident than ever that they could win this fight.

'

"Now that's more like it!" Lemminkäinen grinned, but Martha seemed hardly as impressed as Tarasque landed beside her.

'

"Better, but still not enough." A choice of words that stunned Jeanne for a moment. Had she interpreted the desired outcome wrong? Was there something she missed? But before she could think any further, Martha began to act. Stepping in front of the dragon, both the Rider and her mount started glowing with tremendous power. "If this is as far as you go, I'll end this with a single blow!"

'

"A great surge of magical energy! It's her Noble Phantasm, Master!" Mash shouted, giving voice to all of their thoughts. As the Servants gathered around their Master in anticipation, Martha began to speak.

'

"On the fifth day the Lord had created the Leviathan. Its child would display its ferocity through the slaughter of innumerable heroes." Jeanne raised her flag, ready to use it at a moment's notice. It seemed that they would get to witness the dragon's full power at this very instant. "Now, together with me, Tarasque! To these noble ones who would resist destruction! Grant them the test of this one strike!" Simultaneously as Martha raised her hand towards the sky, so too did Tarasque blast off the ground to the heavens, glowing ever brighter as it lit up the entire area. Jeanne's mouth fell agape as she followed the astounding ascend. Then, after pulling its limbs into its body, the dragon started emitting flames while rapidly spinning until even the individual details became blurred, appearing like a burning disk. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more it almost appeared like the sun had risen to the sky in the middle of the night. Such was the legendary beast's true might.

'

"That thing can fly!?" Lemminkäinen shouted in disbelief. A reaction Jeanne very much shared. If she hadn't seen it herself, such an act would be difficult to believe with Tarasque's body, but it had indeed risen towards the heavens.

'

But Ritsuka was hardly as shocked as she hurriedly turned to Mash. "Never mind that! Mash, we're counting on you!"

'

The Shielder nodded firmly, moving right in front of the redhead. "Yes, Master! Everyone, please get behind me!" Mash shouted and Lemminkäinen and Jeanne quickly obeyed, though with the tiniest wink of disappointment in her heart. She had hoped to use her flag to block Tarasque, but since both Ritsuka and the Shielder placed such faith in her, she would simply follow suit. Holding her shield firmly in front of her, Mash began gathering magical energy into it. "True Name, Pseudo Register."

'

Right on time as well, since it was then that Martha lowered her raised hand, pointing right towards the group as she spoke. "Become a meteor! Tarasque! [O' Tragic Drake Who Knew Naught of Love]"

'

And in response, Mash's shield shined brightly as she slammed it down. "Deploying Noble Phantasm! Lord Chaldeas! [Human Order Foundation]"

'

SSHHOOOOOMMM

'

As the plunging dragon crashed down onto the shield, a blast of scorching heat descended with it, completely incinerating all foliage in the immediate area, from the tiniest blade of grass to the largest tree. The sound alone was deafening, louder than any storm Jeanne had ever heard. Without the shield in the way, they would've all been blown away. Thankfully, both Marie and Amadeus were out of the destruction's range, but... "Nnnnnaaaahhh!" Mash was clearly struggling to hold back Tarasque's assault, her arms threatening to give out as her boots dug into the dirt, slowly but surely being pushed backwards.

'

Something Ritsuka was greatly dismayed by. "Mash!" Immediately, she pointed a hand towards the Shielder, a blast of magical energy flying out of it and entering her body. But, all it did was help her regain her footing a bit as her struggle continued. It was obvious that the Mystic Code's spell was only a temporary help, and wouldn't let Mash fully stop the Noble Phantasm at this rate. Seeing this, the Master turned to the floating screen in search of an answer. "What's going on!? Lord Chaldeas even held up against Excalibur!"

'

But the answer Dio gave her wasn't the one she'd hoped. "True, but unlike a swing of the holy sword, this isn't just a torrent of magical energy. With its descend and rotation, Tarasque is also packing absurd amounts of raw, physical force. While it would lose in overall firepower, this focused attack allows it to deal more damage to a singular area." And as if to further rub it all in, he let out an impressed whistle. "Damn. When Martha said 'Become a meteor!' she wasn't kidding. This is a hell of a technique."

'

As Ritsuka kept searching for a solution, a strained voice suddenly called out to her. "I-I'm fine, Master! I can... I can still hold on!"

'

As the redhead only appeared more desperate, Jeanne's expression hardened. While Mash truly was holding on valiantly, it was clear that she couldn't keep this up for long. It seemed that she would be needed after all. After a moment of hesitation, she placed her hand on Ritsuka's shoulder to gain her attention. "...Master, allow me to use my Noble Phantasm."

'

"Huh?" The redhead blinked in confusion, only for her eyes to widen as they locked onto the Ruler's armament a second later. "Ah! That's right, your flag! Are you sure it can stop Tarasque?"

'

Definitely. That went without saying. If there was one thing she trusted about her current self without fail, it was her flag. But, that wasn't what Jeanne was worried about. "Yes, but Ritsuka..." Locking her worried eyes with Ritsuka's own, she asked the pressing question. "Can you handle it?"

'

A point doctor Romani clearly agreed with. "Tha-that's right! Your body is already-"

'

"None of that!" Ritsuka cut him off without hesitation, her face resolute as she turned towards the screen. "First, every second we spend talking, Mash is using Lord Chaldeas, which is using more and more of my magical energy! Second, we don't have any other choice! Tarasque will turn us into burned pancakes!" Fair points. There was nothing Jeanne could say in argument. Not that she even wanted to, especially as Ritsuka turned towards her hopefully, smiling brightly through the pain that was no doubt still permeating her body. "Go for it, Jeanne. Show us your flag. And now that we have a connection, I'll even give the three of you my followup plan while you stop Tarasque."

'

As Jeanne nodded, she noticed Lemminkäinen next to her flashing a confident thumbs up. A smile spread on her lips. "Then, let me answer the trust you have given me." Walking to Mash's side, she placed a hand on her shoulder while holding her flag resolutely. "Here is the work of our Lord."

'

"Jeanne?" The Shielder turned towards her in surprise, but Jeanne just smiled.

'

"Mash, from this point on, I will proudly stand by your side." Even if she wasn't the most powerful Servant in terms of raw firepower, this was something she could, and was more than happy to, do. "In order to defend France- no, all of human history from this calamity."

'

A hopeful smile spread on Mash's lips as well. A smile identical to those she had seen on the faces of the soldiers fighting by her side countless times. "Yes!"

'

Flipping her flag and letting it wave to its full length, Jeanne felt the blessing of the Lord permeate her being as she raised it towards the heavens, golden light fully enveloping it. "My flag, defend my brethren. Luminosité Eternelle! [God is Here With Me]"

'

The blue light of Mash's shield quickly faded as Jeanne's golden barrier replaced it, pushing against Tarasque. After a few more seconds of rampage, during which Ritsuka filled the Servants in on her strategy, the mighty dragon could no longer keep up its ferocious assault, its flames dying down as the Ruler pushed it back, causing it to land next to awestruck Martha. "Ah... That light..." she muttered, as if in a world of her own at the moment. It looked like the maddened Rider had completely lost her touch with reality. Which also made it a prime opportunity to be exploited.

'

"Now go!" Ritsuka screamed, with the trio of Servants dashing forward on her command, each ready to perform their part of the plan.

'

Mash, despite her obvious exhaustion, quickly circled the dazed beast and rammed one of its legs with her shield, while Lemminkäinen further increased his striking force with a blast from his sword, delivering another devastating dropkick into its jaw. With the two-directional strike, the iron dragon fell off balance, giving Jeanne the chance she had waited for. With both her speed and strength momentarily increased by Ritsuka's spells, she dashed under the toppling beast with astounding momentum, the tip of her flag aimed at Martha's chest.

'

But even with all of that, this was still Martha. As quickly as she had fallen into her daze, she snapped out, her fierce gaze locking onto Jeanne. "Not yet!" Using both her gauntlets and her staff, the Rider took on Jeanne's mighty thrust, redirecting it from her stabbing her chest to going over her shoulder. To say that the Ruler was shocked would be an understatement. Even with the boost she'd received and all of her strength behind it, she was unable to break through Martha's guard with her strike. The distance had been just too great, allowing her to properly react. "Pretty good, but like I said: Not enough!" Martha roared while delivering a mighty knee into Jeanne's abdomen. As air was forced out of her lungs, the Ruler barely had time to react as her opponent's fists were freed, allowing her only just enough time to block the punch that still sent her flying in the air. As she struggled to collect her breath in midair, only one thought permeated Jeanne's mind: Those fists were truly devastating. This had been a possibility their plan accounted for, but it was still a shock. Her respect for Lemminkäinen only grew from having clashed with so many of their strikes during his battle. And speaking of:

'

"Another round? Don't mind if I do!" the Saber roared as he charged at Martha, not giving her even a second to catch her breath. His first slash blasted towards the Rider's neck, only to change course mid-swing for her abdomen. Twisting her staff, she barely managed to block the strike, but got disarmed of it in the process. Seeing a supposed opening, she launched a right straight, yet Lemminkäinen let himself fall backwards to avoid it before using a blast from his sword to spin around, aiming for a deadly two-handed slash for her neck. Jeanne bent her legs in anticipation for the possible finale, only for Martha to crouch under the decapitating strike, helping her pick up momentum for an absolutely devastating uppercut to the chin that sent Lemminkäinen flying even higher than the Ruler. But at the same time, with her arm extended high in the air the attack had left her completely defenseless, allowing for another Servant to exploit it. And yet, the only one in a position to do so was Mash, quickly approaching with a nervous look on her face. That was the only reason Martha had taken the shot against the Saber. If it had been the Ruler who was so close to her, she would have been in danger, but not with this one. She knew from experience that the Shielder had no chance of successfully landing a powerful hit, or causing severe damage to her, meaning she had no reason to worry about such an obviously desperate attack.

'

Which was exactly what Ritsuka had hoped she would think, should it come to this.

'

Shhingg

'

In an instant, a flash of light, as sudden as a bolt of lightning, covered Mash completely. And as it faded as quickly as it had appeared, Jeanne stood in her place, already crouching in anticipation for this possibility before dashing forward with identical speed to when she had moved under Tarasque, flagpole ready to stab at the Rider's defenseless torso. The Combat Mystic Code's Order Change had worked perfectly. Martha's eyes shot wide, her mouth falling agape in shock as a gasp escaped from it. A fitting reaction, seeing how she had no way of knowing they were capable of such a thing, making its usage in surprise attacks unsurpassed, like Ritsuka had explained. And with that on top of her uppercut against Lemminkäinen breaking her guard, there was absolutely no way for the Rider to stop the tip of Jeanne's flag from piercing straight through her chest.

'

Shnk

'

The area fell completely silent. Even the giant dragon stood completely still as it turned around to look upon its defeated master with sorrow. As it let out a mourning growl, Jeanne couldn't bear to raise her gaze from the Rider's torso. She'd just killed Saint Martha, one of her idols. While she was obviously their enemy, and this had been necessary, it was a painful experience. She didn't want to see her face at the moment. But she wasn't given a choice as without warning, the Ruler felt her head being raised, a smiling face filling her sight. Even with the pole piercing through her, Martha had still gently moved her hand under Jeanne's chin to lock eyes with her. The Ruler withheld a gasp. Even though she was mortally wounded, even as blood was slowly flowing from her mouth, Martha's smile seemed far more gentle and beautiful than ever. No. It was more than likely because of her current state that she could do so, being released from the cage of madness binding her as her spirit core collapsed. "Well done, Jeanne d'Arc. Your flag truly shines with a light blessed by the Lord. With this, you have shown me that there is still hope for this country," she spoke, her voice faint but happy as she moved her hand on the Ruler's cheek. "Don't make a face like that. This is what's right."

'

A slight flush rose to Jeanne's cheeks. Of course she understood it as necessary. "But even so..." she muttered, but found herself unable to finish. While it was quite embarrassing, after receiving visions from both Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine, she had always dreamed of properly meeting saints while she was alive, and Saint Martha had been relatively high on that list. ...And now she was forced to run her through with her flagpole. Fate could truly be a cruel thing.

'

As the others walked closer, Mash noticeably crouching somewhat while holding her stomach, Martha gave them a glance before back to Jeanne. "...Listen, let me tell you one last thing. You'll never beat the dragon controlled by the Dragon Witch. There's only one way to surpass that type of dragon. Go to Lyon... the city once known as Lyon." Jeanne let out a soft gasp. Was she truly...? "It won't be a saint who defeats the dragon, nor a princess. Ever since ancient times, only a 'Dragon Slayer' is capable of killing a dragon."

'

She did. Martha truly gave them the key to victory they'd been hoping for. Dozens of thoughts were racing through her mind at the moment, so Jeanne chose to act on the most pressing one. Dematerializing her flagpole, she caught Martha before she could collapse and gently laid her down on the ground. "Thank you, Martha. You've given us a great gift with your words. Even when bound by madness, you acted like a true Saint till the end."

'

As the Rider offered her a grateful, smiling nod, loud footsteps began approaching them, which Jeanne took as her cue to back away. As she did, Tarasque walked closer, but neither she or the Saint showed the slightest bit of concern. With a sad growl, the monstrous dragon carefully lowered itself down next to Martha like a loving puppy and she reached out to pet its snout, an apologetic smile covering her lips as golden light began radiating from them. "Tarasque, I'm sorry. ...Next time, I hope I'll be summoned properly." And then, the two were gone, leaving behind only a single rainbow jewel.

'

As Ritsuka silently walked closer to pick the stone up, Jeanne moved her thoughts onto the Dragon Witch, her... other self. "...Even Saint Martha can't resist her," she muttered. At this point, there was no telling what further atrocities she could unleash unless they stopped her.

'

"She'd undergone Madness Enhancement, in addition to being summoned. Perhaps it can't be helped. Normally it would be impossible to even talk to her," Mash noted, even as she was holding her stomach painfully. "The only reason we were able to communicate was because of her incredible self-control."

'

The Master nodded in agreement before flashing a hopeful smile. "Yeah. She really was something. If we ever meet her again, let's hope it's as allies." A hope Jeanne was more than happy to support. For a chance to meet Martha properly... It was effectively a dream of hers.

'

But on the other side of the reaction spectrum: "Hell yeah! Maybe we'll even get to finish our duel properly!" Lemminkäinen laughed while healing his chin. Jeanne withheld a sigh. This Saber wasn't the most compatible ally with her, as far as personalities were concerned. And yet, he had willingly taken that devastating uppercut right in the chin just to create an opening for his allies. That at the very least was something she would need to properly thank him for later.

'

It was then that Jeanne felt a rapidly approaching Servant reaction, nearly telling the others to prepare themselves before she heard the familiar voice. "Is everyone fine!" Marie's question rang through the clearing as she and Mozart rode closer on her horse. A relieved sigh escaped the Ruler's mouth. The two of them looked fine, though amusingly there were some burn marks on the Caster's hat.

'

"Yes. We're all fine," Ritsuka confirmed before shifting her gaze at Lemminkäinen and then to Mash, a dash of guilt in her eyes. "Well, mostly."

'

Mash offered her a weak smile while the Saber just rubbed his chin, appearing more impressed than hurt. "Damn that lady can punch. Nearly blew my entire jaw off with that last hit."

'

"Thanks for taking one for the team. I'm sorry it had to come to that," the Master apologized, but he shook his head with a grin.

'

"Nah, I don't mind. It was a good plan."

'

"Still, Martha did leave us with some excellent news," Romani cut in, flashing a map of France next to him. "Now that we know there's a Dragon Slayer Servant in Lyon, you don't just have to wander around France, hoping to get lucky." That was certainly a point they could all agree on. Martha's contribution couldn't be overlooked.

'

"True. We'll head there straight away in the morning," Ritsuka nodded, only to let out a long yawn immediately afterwards. "But first, sleep."

'

A smile spread on the Doctor's face as she looked at both of the girls. "Ah, of course. The contract with Jeanne and the following Noble Phantasm uses drained you terribly. You two should head to get some rest straight away. We'll worry about the battle's aftermath and explain everything that happened to Queen Marie and Mozart."

'

The redhead gave him a thankful nod. "Thanks, guys." Then, growing slightly concerned, she turned to Mash. "By the way, Mash? You don't feel too bad, do you? I know Order Change makes you feel sick, so don't hesitate to tell me if something feels off."

'

Mash, still holding onto her stomach while crouching slightly, gave her a faint smile. "It's alright, Senpai. My stomach feels... awful, to be honest, but I should be fine if I just get to lie down and sleep."

'

The concern faded somewhat as Ritsuka returned the smile. "That's good. We'll see you in the morning, everybody." Placing her hand on the Shielder's shoulder, they both headed towards the tent, with Mash dematerializing her armor on the way.

'

But before they could get too far, Da Vinci called out. "Hang on. Before you go, please leave your shield here, Mash. We'll be transporting some things, and it just makes the process a lot easier."

'

The girl blinked in surprise, but was quick to comply. "Oh? Well, alright." Summoning her shield, she handed it to Lemminkäinen before giving them all a tired smile and a wave. "Good night, everyone."

'

As the others returned the gesture, Jeanne gave them a slight bow. "Please get some rest, you two. Especially you, Master," she said, and the redhead gave her a tired nod before they continued on their way. These two had truly earned their rest. While the others were Servants and could handle it, Mash and Ritsuka were still humans, and young ones at that, meaning they would need proper time to recover their strength. And Jeanne was determined to let them have it, no matter what.

'

"So, what're we gonna be transporting this late at night?" Lemminkäinen asked after the two had gone.

'

"Yeah, about that," Dio chuckled awkwardly as he turned to Marie and Amadeus. "You know how you took down those wyverns while the others were busy with Martha?"

'

The two shared a confused glance before the Caster asked: "What about them?"

'

Da Vinci then popped up to conveniently reveal the disturbing reason. "We'll need you to chop their corpses up and ship them to Chaldea."

'

"Huh!?" Jeanne and Marie simultaneously gasped, and even Mozart appeared disturbed. The Ruler was... confused to say the least. It'd be one thing if they were giving proper burials to fallen enemies, but this? She was simply aghast. As both Dio and Da Vinci just kept smiling expectantly at them, the Servants could only stare back at the two in disbelief, with one exception.

'

"Ah. Materials, I get ya." Lemminkäinen snapped his fingers while smiling at the geniuses. "You want us to get their organs, teeth and stuff to use for magecraft, right?"

'

While the others continued gawking, Da Vinci clapped her hands together happily. "Exactly. It's so helpful to have some brawn on site that also knows about these things." Then, with a click of some button, a... disturbingly detailed graph of a wyverns anatomy popped up next to her. "Now, we especially want the hearts. Even if they're minor ones, wyverns are still dragons, which means that their hearts are practically tiny mana generators. While they might be already dead, they still make for some excellent material for Saint Graph Ascension."

'

Lemminkäinen carefully observed the graph while nodding from time to time. "Cool, cool. Anything else?" Jeanne really wasn't even surprised at this point. While she was sure it wouldn't have disturbed him anyway, this Saber was a mage as well.

'

"The claws, fangs and scales are not as rich, but they're also some extremely fine materials to have, so feel free to send them over as well," Dio noted. "Too bad we don't have large enough containers for a whole wyvern. Imagine how much magical energy we could squeeze out of a whole corpse."

'

Da Vinci let out a depressed sigh. "I'll just put the bigger containers on a list of future improvements."

'

"It's a long... long list," the Spaniard agreed, looking just as depressed.

'

Finally, after listening to the mages talk their craft, Marie was the first of the three to speak up again. "...Oh, my. I'm not really sure I'm cut out for something like that."

'

Mozart was quick to agree. "Count me out as well."

'

"...While I won't say no if I'm needed, I'd prefer to take on some other task," Jeanne followed. She didn't have an issue with dirtying her hands with the blood of their enemies if it was truly necessary, but digging through their corpses was just... revolting.

'

"Pfft. Fine hems," Lemminkäinen scoffed. "I can take care of it on my own. It ain't that different from gutting other animals." But just before he was about to head off, an idea seemed to pop into his head. "Although, we've really got our work cut out for us in future battles. You mind if I keep the jaw of one of these lizards? I could increase my firepower a bit."

'

"Oh? Oooohh, I get it. You're doing that thing," Dio grinned like a child before giving him a nod. "Go right ahead. This should be interesting." Jeanne shared a questioning look with Marie, but she just shrugged, clearly as confused as she was. Well, whatever. The Ruler didn't have even the faintest idea what that was about, but if it helped them in future battles, she had some hope.

'

"Cool. Later, ladies." The Saber flashed them a grin before walking off with the large shield. He was awfully cheerful for someone on their way to do some butchering, but Jeanne wasn't too surprised, since everything she had seen uptil now pointed to him being the type that could find enjoyment in just about anything.

'

Still, she did feel a bit bad for letting him do all the following work, and decided to at least do something to help. "Perhaps we should stay up and keep watch in case someone else from the Dragon Witch's camp shows up."

'

An absolutely blinding smile spread on Marie's lips. "I know! Why don't we take this time to talk?" she suggested, hopping to Jeanne and linking arms with her while looking like she could barely contain her excitement. "Girls' night out!"

'

In response, Jeanne could only let out a confused: "Huh?"

'

'

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'

After helping Mash in and setting her down on her sleeping bag, Ritsuka closed the tent flaps before collapsing on top of her own padding. "Man, what a day... " She still felt sick, like she was having the worst muscle pain ever in every part of her body, but at the very least she didn't feel like she was constantly about to die, so that was definitely an improvement. Still, even if she knew what awaited her afterwards, she'd have made the exact same choice with Jeanne again. Her personal suffering was a small price to pay for their mission's success. Even if everything hurt at the moment, there would almost definitely be no lasting damage to her body or magic circuits, so this was without a doubt a win in her book. Though if there was anything good about the situation, it was that with how exhausted she was, she would most likely be able to fall asleep even with the pain. Turning towards Mash, she gave her a tired smile while patting her sleeping bag. "At least we've got our extra comfy camping supplies here waiting for us."

'

Mash returned the smile. "Yes, they are quite wonderful," she nodded while slipping inside the comfy covers, careful with her abdomen. It was obvious that she was just as tired as her, if not even more so.

'

"You can say that again," Ritsuka muttered as she started undressing. Of their camping supplies, these ones were made by Da Vinci, and they were amazing. The sleeping bags were specifically made to adjust to the temperature of the wearer and the environment, getting warmer in colder environments and cooler in hotter ones, ensuring comfort anywhere. Along with the tent and some of the other stuff, these supplies were like the five-star hotel experience of camping, and she couldn't be more thankful for them. Slipping into her own bag, she reached over and gently patted Mash's head, giving her the brightest smile she could muster. "You did real good today. Good night, Mash."

'

Mash, clearly enjoying the affection, gave the hand a soft squeeze of her own. "Thank you. Good night, Senpai." It was then that a certain fluffball hopped out from behind one of their bags. The redhead could only wonder what he got up to when they weren't around. "Oh, and you too, Fou."

'

"Kyu," Fou barked before settling on the redhead's stomach. But, given that this wasn't the first time he'd spent a night like that, she just gave him a quick pet before zipping up the rest of her bag. Already barely able to keep her eyes open, the unbelievably comfortable sleeping bag struck the final blow, causing Ritsuka to fall asleep almost immediately. And thanks to that, she was blissfully unaware of how the Demi-Servant fully enclosed herself into her own sleeping bag before sheepishly huddling up right to her side.

---

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Notes:

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Well, it wasn't quite as long as the Chaldea chapters, but it's still pretty close. Just glad I finally got this one out.

'

Now onto some Servant things, first of being Marie's carriage. Although we never see it in the game, it comes from the turas réalta manga adaptation, and much like in the manga, Chaldea crew will be mostly using it as a means of transportation around France, instead of just, you know, walking across a damn country. Thinking about it, Marie having a carriage makes a lot more sense than her just riding on a horse.

'

Next up is Mozart. Not much about him except that his angels are fucking rad. Just look at their models in the Accursed Arcade. Animation update + NP buff when, Lasagna!?

'

As for Mash, like it was alluded to during the Mystic Code introduction, Order Change has a bit different effects on Mash when compared to other Servants. It will be discussed a bit more in the future, but since it was a part of one of the cut sections from the Chaldea chapters, I thought here would be the most natural place to talk about it. Basically, to describe the effect it has on her: You know how in some amusement park rides that drop fast, you feel like your stomach is falling into a pit or something? It's effectively that times ten. And obviously it's worse if she has eaten recently. It's not dangerous, but Mash's stomach feels absolutely awful afterwards, which is why Ritsuka doesn't like using it on her unless it's completely necessary.

'

Now, to clear some things about Lemminkäinen. First off, don't even try to decipher his magecraft chants with a translator or something. Those things are written in "ye olde Finnish" which is tough enough on its own, but further making them Kalevala-style poetry makes them hard to crack even to some native speakers. With that, you can probably guess how fun it is to write them. And yeah, those that know about Lemminkäinen know that this man has never eaten even a single crumb of humble pie all throughout his life, and even when someone's tried, he'd just spit it right out. That put together with his experience with witches meant that his little critique of Jalter was bound to happen sooner or later. In all honesty, it was one of the first scenes I had written for him during the planning stages, so I was glad to finally write it all down. I'll be updating his profile with either the next chapter or the one after that, so look forward to it, I guess. And lastly, Hiiden Hirvi. To avoid any confusion, it's a wood-demon-thingy that looks like what the Americans call a moose. But, to everyone else on Earth, that animal is commonly known as an elk. America's weird habit of giving new things the names of old things and just renaming the old things strikes again. So from now on, remember that elk in this story doesn't refer to a big deer, but to a steroid horse with antlers.

'

Vlad is cool. He doesn't get his moment in the spotlight just yet, but you better believe it's coming. But yeah, OG Dracula had some hilarious weaknesses. Aside from the ones mentioned in the story, another famous one is running water, but it's different in the modern adaptations as well. Like, he can only cross running water at low or high tide. Also because of that, he can't even fly across a river as a bat or mist, and straight up can't board a boat or step off a boat onto a dock unless he's physically carried over with assistance. It's just ridiculously limiting.

'

And there's the whole thing with Martha. Needless to say, I really like her. And while I'm sad that she has to just vanish from the story for now, you can count on her appearing in the future, and having a bigger role in some of the coming Singularities. The whole thing about her being stronger near water is something a lot of people forget, since it isn't in her gameplay kit, but normal Martha has the Skill "Waterfront Saintess" like her swimsuit self, albeit at a lower rank. And fun fact: unaware Jeanne mistaking Tarasque's PTSD for worry was another idea that randomly came to my head, but was so funny that I just had to add it. Also, an extremely important detail is that I always listened to Kakusei while writing the part where Martha started using her fists all the way till the end of her fight. God, I love Blade. Easily has my favorite ED in the series.

'

I'll put an update about the next chapter on my profile on the 20th, so look forward to that.

'

Next time: [Two Dragons and a Slayer]