91: Some mysteries have stupid answers.
I still have a lingering feeling of unease as we leave Prelati in the dust - but eventually, it fades. Turning my attention away from the road behind us, I say, "Alright, that's the urgent stuff dealt with. From here, we're going to be flying blind for a little bit - but I wouldn't expect to run into anyone else important until… tomorrow, probably."
That's when Martha attacked the last time we had Gareth; with Dantes switching sides, we can pretty much expect the berserk servants' response time to be the same as the time we killed him.
"That's all well and good, but what's the plan after you guys reach Paris?" Romani asks. "Or are you just going to stall another four days for Napoleon to arrive and hope he'll be able to stomp what's left of Jeanne Alter's army?"
"That's pretty much it, yeah." I say with a shrug. "The current lineup of servants - here and in Paris - is super biased in favor of defense. We need someone like Napoleon to actually go on the offensive. Otherwise we're just gonna get flooded with wyverns and
be unable to do anything. That being said, we should be able to handle anyone that tries to invade Paris prior to that point."
"What can we expect tomorrow, then?" Jeanne asks.
"Ideally, nobody." I say. This time around, we don't have the servant Prelati feeding our location to his living self, after all. "But if we do run into someone, it'll probably be Saint Martha."
A complicated look appears on her face. "I still can't believe someone as holy as her could become Berserk, let alone wreak havoc like this…"
"Regarding that," a second display appears on my communicator, and Siegfried's face appears. "She does seem to have resisted her madness to some degree. At the very least, she did so in Lyon."
"Huh?" This is the first I'm hearing of this. "How so?"
"She… hid Lord Siegfried and myself." Merry explains. "After he was wounded, she cornered us in the town prison, and I thought she was going to kill us - but she did something else instead, and for the rest of the day none of the enemies could perceive us."
"...Saints can perform [Miracles], after all." Jeanne mutters, a small smile on her face.
"That's…" I mutter, remembering the furiously punching Dio-impersonator I encountered before. "...probably not something we can count on. Don't worry, though, I've got a plan."
We defeated her easily the first two times, after all. What could go wrong?
"-And that's what we'll need to handle the sea monster, so get our Casters to work." I conclude between bites of trail mix. Not stopping for dinner hurts, but getting places late hurts more!
"Ugh, you're a real slave driver, Master." Cu Chulainn's voice emanates from behind Doctor Romani.
"I knew you were still watching!" The Doctor shouts.
"Speaking of other people in the command room, how are those irregular Singularities looking?" I ask. "Is the Director still keeping an eye on them?"
"Nope." He shakes his head. "Marcus is handling it right now. The Director is looking through Chaldea's records at the moment, though I've got no clue why."
"Why?" Wasn't the reason she went through them last time because of Ley? What's she looking for now?
"No clue. She just said it was important and dragged Elron off to help her page through them." He sighs. "As far as the irregularities go, It's looking like we're going to have to put the Roman singularity off. We were planning to do it second since it was the second most stable, but…"
Yeah, that's obviously not the case anymore. "So where are we aiming at next?"
"We haven't got the order yet, but I can go ask which one is the next most stable…" He says, walking off camera.
"Senpai, shouldn't you focus on this singularity first…?" Mash asks.
She's right. "Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm just anxious for this one to be over…"
"Alright, looks like the next one is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!" Romani says, returning to view.
"That one's no good! Pick another!" I shout. "The ocean and I are enemies for life! Not just the ocean - lakes, rivers, canals - none of them are any good!"
"A-another hidden trauma…?" He asks.
"Ugh, I'm just going to go to sleep and pretend seasickness isn't rea-" I start to say, and then it hits me.
"I'll teach you the Feng Shui arrangement you need, but you've got to remember to order some kind of sleep aid mystic code from Chaldea when you get the chance." Professor Velvet said. "You won't always get a room to yourself."
"Um, senpai…?" Mash asks.
It's all my fault. I'm the one who forgot such a crucial detail. It's my fault, but touching the spot on my wrist where my [Dream Catcher] should be, I shout his name anyway.
"Prelatiiii!"
The gentle sound of Mozart's music is still dancing through the carriage when I wake up. After a few moments, he draws his performance to a close. "Did that do the trick?"
"...Yeah. Better than the dream catcher, to be honest." I say. The cold sweats I usually get even with it present are nowhere to be found.
"Wonderful." He replies. "I'm glad a perfectly normal musician like myself could be of some use!"
"I already know you're a magus, so who are you trying to fool!?" I know you're a Demon Pillar too!
"Hmm, I guess - oh dear, incoming!" Mozart shouts.
"[Luminosite Eternelle]!" Comes a cry from atop the carriage, and an instant later, the sound of lightning and fire as the Tarasque smashes into the barrier.
"She's here already!?" Scrambling, I poke my head out of the carriage, and see the enormous spiked shell spinning in front of us. "Alright, in this case, the next step is [Murak]!"
The instant the spell leaves my hand, I realize my mistake. 'It worked both times before' - isn't quite the truth. Because both of those times-
"Dragons have magic resistance, so I'll give you a boost!" Prelati said.
But this time, he's not here. And so-
The spell passes right through the Tarasque's Magic Resistance as if it wasn't there.
"...Eh?"
"Hm, that shouldn't have worked… is this a [Miracle] perhaps?" Mozart asks.
"[Ira Lupus]!" Shouts Gareth as Jeanne's shield drops, and a rapid series of lance strikes start to drive the now weightless beast back.
"Wait, hang on…" I mumble. I thought I needed Prelati for-
Oh.
Oh, I get it now.
He wasn't even enhancing my spell at all, was he!? As if that piece of shit would have such a useful ability! It was Martha's [Miracle] skill working things in our favor, because she wants to lose!
I let out a low groan as Saint Martha starts punching the opposite side of the dragon turtle from Gareth again.
"Is something wrong, Senpai?" Mash asks.
"I'm just cursing Prelati again, don't mind me…" I mumble.
"Take this, and this, and this-!" Gareth continues to shout, even as Berserk Rider lays blow after blow into the dragon's shell.
"Come to think of it, we never really heard what her madness was about…" I mutter.
"Lazaruuuuus!" She screams - oh that's her brother, right? I wonder- "Do the disheeees!" A comedy relief motivation!?
"Something like Arondight overloaaaad!" Blue light erupts from Gareth's spear in a final thrust, breaking through the exact spot Martha was punching, tearing through dragon and saint alike.
The broken body of Saint Martha falls to the ground as Guillotine Breaker gallops past. We don't have any time to stop, but I hear her final words this time.
"...Thank you, Chaldeans. God be with you all." She mumbles, and I think I can see a serene smile on her face.
Then she vanishes in the distance as we tear down the road towards Paris.
A/N:
Martha is a really difficult character for me to work with. All of her memorable traits are basically comic relief elements. I guess I could have included a scene where she kills someone with ridiculous wrestling moves to give a different spin on that, but... Well, there just wasn't any room for it. By this point, she's jobbed to Murak twice, and already done a Dio impression. There's not really an easy way to turn this final showing for her into a serious event.
The other part is... her madness in canon is basically nonexistent? She just kind of shows up, gives boring exposition, Ritsuka assumes she's a wrestler with no real justification, and then she dies to Jeanne for free. I could have rewrote her insanity more like I did d'Eon's but... I don't really have time for that, and I'm a bit too religious to put blasphemy into the mouth of a saint.
