89: …Also a tool to be used.

I knew the Count had switched sides, but it's still a huge relief when Marie's carriage crests the hills just outside Lyon. [Guillotine Breaker] trots to a stop, and the Queen rises from her seat. "Hello everyone! Vive la France!"

"Yo, Marie." I wave. "Glad to see you guys made it here safely. By the way, this is Siegfried, Gareth, and Merry."

"Oh, someone with the same name as me? Okay, let's be friends!" Marie hops down from the carriage, grabbing the already thoroughly overwhelmed girl by the hands as she opens her mouth to deliver the finishing blow. "I'm Marie Antoinette, I'll be the queen of France a few hundred years from now. Nice to meet you!"

Anyone watching could pinpoint the exact moment Merry's internal monologue just gave way to screaming. She starts to move to curtsy or bow, but Marie has a firm grip on her hands, so she's just left bending her legs a little bit and trying to stammer out a greeting. "M-merry d'Lyon, y-y-y-your highness- um, no, s-s-sorry! I meant your majesty!"

"Okay, Maria, stop terrifying the peasantry please." Mozart says as he disembarks. "Nice to meet you all, Amadeus Mozart, a perfectly normal musician, at your service." Yeah, he's a perfectly normal magical musician who also happens to be a Demon Pillar.

"...I wasn't very interested in music in life, but I seem to have developed a talent for Opera as of late." Siegfried says - oi, did he actually sing the director to sleep? I really can't read this guy at all… "So, pleased to meet you, I suppose."

"Likewise!" Mozart says with a smile. "If you've snagged some talent via Wagner, then I might-"

"Hey, did I just hear Gareth is here!?" Mordred shouts over him, emerging from the carriage. "Hey, idiot, stop taking up all the mana from the generators!"

"The one that calls people idiots is the idiot, idiot!" Gareth shouts, pointing back at her sister - oh, so we're doing this exchange again, huh?

"Hey, Master, why don't you send this airhead back to Chaldea?" Mordred asks. "I bet that the moment she sees Mash, she's gonna just blurt out Ga-"

"Don't say his name!" I shout, command spell blazing. Seriously, these two really are siblings, huh!?

"Hah, you thought I was going to say his name, but you were the one who almost said it!" Gareth says, pointing and laughing.

"Um, did I miss something?" Mash asks, emerging from the carriage.

"Nothing important, Mash-tan!" I say, flashing a thumbs up. "How are your injuries doing?"

"O-oh, they're healed, thanks to Marie's horse. But, um, Senpai… about earlier…" She starts to mumble, face growing redder and redder. Wait, what happened earlier again? We were running from Tarrasque, and then we entered the illusion…

Oh, right, I totally hugged her when I returned from Paris, didn't I? That's got to be a bit much, especially for a girl as pure as Mash. That's… a bit embarrassing. "Right, that was-" I start to say.

"I-I'm sorry! I don't know how to respond to your feelings right now, so-!" She stammers out, bowing her head in apology - and then a white blur launches out of her shield.

"Murder Subar-fouuuu!" Fou shouts as he latches onto my face.

"Hey! Hey, get off, stop clawing my face!" I shout. "Sorry, I was just too glad to be alive! I won't touch your daughter again, so get off me!"

"I lost my place to an animal…?" I hear Romani mutter through my earpiece.

"Alright, so that's the plan." I conclude, as our carriage races towards Paris. Merry and Siegfried have, of course, already left in order to secure the southern coast for Napoleon's arrival. Mordred has been rayshifted back to Chaldea. And so I gaze, in turn, at each of my remaining allies. Marie, Mozart, Jeanne, Mash, and Gareth. "Any questions?"

When no one else responds, I address one more thing.

{"Gareth, are you okay with your part?"} I ask telepathically. The precise details of our plan to bring down Batenkaitos and Lancelot had to be communicated this way, to make sure Batenkaitos couldn't overhear just yet.

{"To be honest… it makes me feel a little dirty."} She says. {"B-but if it has to be that way, then I'll deal with it!"}

{"...Thanks. I'm counting on you."} I respond.

Moving the curtains aside, I gaze out of the carriage window. There's that hill again, same as last time. "Okay, stop the carriage for now."

We step outside. Gareth, of course, stays in the carriage to emerge when the time is right. To one side of the road, a field of grain dances in the wind. To the other side, the hill where the professor, the count, and I planned all of this while Satella swallowed the world lies silently, like a signpost to show me the proper position.

With a grin, I call out to the enemy I know is watching me. "Why don't you come out so we can end this?" I'm sweating. I know this place, right now, is our best shot, but I'm still so tense I feel like my head is going to burst. "You won't reject an invitation to a meal - right, Ley Batenkaitos!?"

(In the distance, I can already hear the screaming. Lancelot is right on cue, so come on Ley. Take the bait. How could you possibly do anything else?)

A sonic boom. Fafnir appears above us.

"[Lord Chaldeas]!" Mash shouts, and the white wall of Camelot is bathed in fire.

"AAAAAARRRRTHUUUUR!" Lancelot's cry resounds as he finally arrives, head twitching wildly.

Batenkaitos-as-Fafnir plunges to the ground, and the seismic force of his impact launches Mash into the air, ending her Noble Phantasm.

{"Now, Gareth!"} I shout as Lancelot tenses, preparing to leap upon us.

Fafnir swings his left claw at the airborne shielder, meeting her weapon.

Three things happen, in the instant that follows.

Lancelot begins his pounce, howling Arthur's name.

Mash's shield slips from her grasp, due to an unfortunate tear in her glove at the worst possible time.

And a beautiful woman with reddish-brown hair steps forth from the carriage. I don't recognize her, of course.

This is, after all, my first time seeing Queen Guinevere.

Lancelot's helmet dissolves into spiritrons and Arondight appears in his hand as he catches Mash's shield in the other one, leaping past her and towards the dragon.

"There are several requirements to defeat Ley Batenkaitos. We need a Servant who can carve through Fafnir's impenetrable armor. We need a Servant who can keep up with him once he's shed Fafnir's form and defeat him despite his ability to pull out hundreds of unique techniques. And we need a Servant who can trap him, preventing his [Leaper's Talent] from allowing him to escape." The Professor says.

"Yeah. I get all of that." I say. "But what do any of those conditions have to do with Gareth? Sure, she might be able to fight him if he didn't have Fafnir's form, but she hasn't got anything to trap him into a fight. And her lance almost definitely won't pierce his hide as Fafnir! I said you might be overestimating her when we talked about Lancelot, and I'll say it again now-"

"Heh." The Professor chuckles. "Come on, Subaru. I already said it earlier, wehen we were talking about d'Eon - Gareth's spear is powerful… but her most versatile tool is her [Ring of Transformation]."

"Wait, you mean-!?" I shout.

"Gareth doesn't need to meet any of those criteria. That's what Lancelot is for."

"[DOLOROUS GAAAAARD]!" Chains catch Ley-as-Fafnir and Gareth-as-Guinevere, dragging them towards Lancelot - and then the Steel Trap Castle snaps shut, swallowing all three and landing with a crash amidst the golden wheat.

"Are you sure he'll use the castle?" I asked. I only saw him use it that one time, after all. "And that he'll pick Gareth and Batenkaitos?"

"He must. The Fallen Lancelot brings Guinevere to Dolorous Gard - he will have no choice but to do so, his madness demands it of him." Dantes said. "As for the other one-"

"His priority will be to eliminate the one threatening his lady's life." The Professor said. "And beyond that, he'll want to target the most dangerous foe present, so he doesn't fight Fafnir while exhausted. Of course, I can't totally predict who will win between the two, but-"

"The survivor will be weak enough for Gareth to clean up, especially with the element of surprise." I concluded. I didn't like it, of course. I kind of hated this plan. "Is that really… the only way?"

"Is there something wrong with it?" Professor Velvet asked. "I thought it was pretty foolproof, myself."

It was. I couldn't see any real way for it to fail. But, even so, something about it…!

"...You ask your master to forgive the two of them, El-Melloi." The Count said.

"Hm?" He asked. "They're both still going to die, though?"

But… something about that sounded true. The same chest melting hatred that made me stay to see Ley's end, was compelling me to not let Gareth be the one to kill him. Not with Lancelot's help. Not where I can't see it.

…How gross.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Natsuki Subaru." The Count said. "Though I do not encourage it - my path, beyond love and hate, is-!"

"...Let's use the disguise plan, then." I sighed. "No offense, but if I start saying lines like that with a straight face, Ram will ruin me when I go back home."

My heart ached. My gums tingled. But I had to step past it, no matter how much I wanted to kill him myself. Because even more than that, I wanted to return to Emilia as the same person she knew.