They really were preparing to charge a castle. At least in time.
The words of Jesus Christ had earned the immediate agreement of all the other Servants, sparing Sasaki who needed to hear Longinus and George profess that the Lord was just and right. He was prepared to go as well, if only because he wished to match blades with the Servants that they would be facing. The two mentioned Saints, however, were more prepared to jump for their Lord, as he said an awaited time was coming.
Ritsuka was the same as them. At least, he hoped he was. He was no warrior, hardly even worth the merit of legend in any book, let alone the caretaker of the admiration of kingdoms across the world over. At the moment, he was, in the eyes and words of his Lord, a Mystic of Chaldea, though one that the 'head' of the Mystics was ashamed to admit was.
He was a poor boy of Japan who watched the, in the present, ancient people of France hurry about a ruined town to collect goods for the Lord who had saved them, and showed the fruits of the eternity to follow. He watched them work among the destruction of homes, finding what was needed in the forms of clothing, food, flasks, and even bags to carry them in.
When they had started to move, Olga had denoted the lack of necessity of it, but Ritsuka had not paid her any mind. They were working in a way to satisfy the Lord, and she, who only criticized him, did not understand.
Then again, sitting on a broken wall, he wasn't sure he did either.
His heel patted the ground as if to stamp the stone himself, already ruined by the machinations of some beast or vile Servant before him. He couldn't even make already shattered stone rumble. He held a few bags meant for his Lord, honestly unable tell Olga directly how she was wrong, but feeling the weight of the admittedly meager items.
He did this as Longinus carried troughs over both arms, Sasaki hummed peacefully in the breeze not far away, and George spoke to men about the monsters to come. Ritsuka hadn't the strength of body, mind, or word to do as they did, and all paled to his Lord.
It was not something he caried shame for. He was not made in their time or their image. He was made for a part in his Lord's plan, one that he did not yet know, and had not yet been told. At the moment, that meant waiting until Jesus was prepared to travel, and they would march to the castle of the fake Jeanne.
The one who commanded fires, flames, monsters, demons, and the rest that resulted in the burning burning burning burning burning-
"Boo!"
Ritsuka almost hopped on the broken wall he sat. It earned the bubbly laughter of the wisest king of men, though Ritsuka only returned to him a confused blinking expression. "Sorry, my apologies. I shouldn't jest when you are focused like that. It just seemed too… appropriate."
"To scare me?"
"A little. Enough to shake off whatever was holding onto your heart." Golden eyes twisted as his face bent. "Though I suspect that wasn't enough of a jolt. Would you care for me to try again?" He held up his hand, rattling the five rings on it. Ritsuka had genuinely no idea what he was referring to.
"I'm okay," he replied perhaps a bit too hastily. "I was just thinking. Waiting, actually, but still thinking."
"I won't insult you by asking what you're waiting for," the man returned. "But what could you be thinking on? I thought you processed that was to be left to the Lord."
"Plans, yes, but I'm still thinking. On what's going to happen, what he'll ask of me." His knuckles ran together. He thought for a moment he saw a spark between them, imagining a demon's long nail carving down his hand. Something trying to burn him. "What could have happened to me."
"The fears of Fuyuki have marred you." He looked back up at the man, a kind smile returning to him. "No need to act surprised. I have seen men trained for war return from battles weeping. You were thrown into what many would call hell, and perhaps it was a land at the Gates to it, but you still returned with little word or worry."
"I was worried. I am worried." He licked his lips. That felt wrong to say. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound pointed."
"I have a mind to reprimand you before the Lord!"
Ritsuka reeled, hands on the wall, pushing on it until the bricks fell off, legs kicking out until he fell back, hitting the cured earth behind him. Wide eyes and with panicked breath, he looked up at the robed king, expecting a gaze to match the red of his robe.
And found only the same brilliant smile looking back down on him.
"Too much?"
"W-Why did you say that?!" He didn't mean to shout, or he didn't mean to look frightened. He was shocked though. So shocked.
"To scare you. It worked." He nodding approvingly. "Buuut I'm sorry to say that you still have that look of unease about you."
"That is… because I'm terrified of what you said."
"You're afraid of the Lord's judgement?"
"Yes!" He got to his feet, still having to look up at the Wise King. That was more a title than descriptive now in his mind. "I-If you reprimand me in front of him, that would make me look poor before him! I've spent… I've done all that I can to make myself kind in the eyes of the Lord, but if the King of Israel, the man who preceded him in bringing peace to Earth, were to call me poor in spirit… I-I don't know what that would do!"
"Very little." The words made him spin. There stood the Lord, hands folded before him, and eyes cast down on him. "Do you believe I need the consult of another to judge the worth of one's soul?
"No! My Lord, no-"
"Solomon, leave us." Jesus spoke to the robed king. He did so, with a nod of his head. He was lost in the moving crowd in a moment, eyes still gazing at them, few following him. It was hard to say what that meant. "Mystic of Chaldea, Ritsuka, I would have you speak to me."
"My Lord, there is no need." He quickly pushed on. "There is a grander threat than my unease at the moment, and I would not wish to burden you with-"
Clap. "Do you believe yourself so far beneath me that I would not care to listen to you?"
He swallowed looking up at his Lord and Savior, unable to think of the proper words to say. It made his mouth move uselessly, staring at the man who did the same down to him. One with shaking eyes, and the other with a calm cast.
"Will you sit with me?" His hand motioned towards another broken wall, one that was curved up more like a collapsed hole. "There is time for us to talk, for I have a desire to speak with you." He would not deny the Lord's request. They were both quick to sit down, though it still felt surreal to sit next to the man who was nailed to a cross for the sins of others. It kept his admiration high, and it left Ritsuka staring at him waiting.
"Young Mystic, will you tell me what ails you? If not of body, then what of mind?" there was no more need to hide it.
"I am afraid, my Lord. I have fears."
"That is because you live of this earth." The reply was so clear, and yet, Ritsuka felt he had to clarify.
"No. You are correct, but I mean I fear what I have seen." His Lord cast a careful gaze upon him. Still, loving, but patient. "When I first met you, as you are now, it was in a city of fire, with monsters chasing us and beings who hated your name trying to kill us." He felt that little about that had changed here. "There… I saw death."
"It was not the first time you have seen it." Ritsuka held no surprise that his Lord was aware.
"No, but it was the first time I was made to judge it." His Lord's head rose and fell. "To see people fighting in a duel of life and death, and freely speaking of their desire to take the life of another, both opposed and in favor of us. It was… haunting."
"You hold my father's gift as sacred. Just as I have asked."
"But the others didn't, and those people wish to take mine." He finally turned from his Lord. "Mine, the Director's, and now here, anyone they can lay eyes on. They just want to… destroy it all." Ruin it, turn it to crumbled dirt and stone.
Like what they were sitting on, the remaining vestiges of what was once likely a vibrant home, now just a ruin of stone and dirt. Worthy sitting on and little else. It was only a spark away from being a blaze, to being turned to ash as well, ash in the claws of fires that burned and scorched the earth with whipping cries that cackled as they crackled. It swallowed the faces of all those near and left him gasping through smoke as it was burning burning burning burning burning burning-
CLAP! The fires were blown away.
The imaginations, the dreams, were blown apart by the loud noise and strong presence on his shoulder. He didn't feel the weight and gasping remains of the fire. Instead, he saw a placid emptiness, one that had him taking a slow breath as he looked up, seeing the crowd of French men and women working for their shared Lord.
And then Jesus, his Lord, smiling down as the sun cast its brilliant halo about him. His arm was strong on his shoulder, sturdier than any wall or post he could lean on.
"Your fears are not your own, just as my grace belongs to all. You are among my flock and are blessed with my peace for it." He commanded, hand strong on his shoulder. "The weight of the world is taken upon you, for all those in your time that wish to carry my name are no more. It is a heavy burden, and one you never wished for."
Ritsuka watched the man, taking a slow breath, as if thinking on his next words. They were words that he was sure he could never come up with for a thousand life times, but his creator had them at the ready with patience and thought.
"But the burdens of this life are meant to be a source of joy, but a reminder of the paradise to follow. You have moved through those fires, that which have burned and scorned many, and rather than succumb, you ask instead how to rise. You have taken heed that I have conquered this world."
"I did. I do."
"Then you must remember that those fires and torments you see are little more than the desperate and destitute wishing to make you like them." Them? "Do not think on them, and do not dwell on them. Rest on me, lay your fears upon my yoke, and allow yourself to rise." The weight on his shoulder was constant, and the flames that flickered in his mind were gone, leaving the vacancy to breath.
In the first time in so many days, Ritsuka took that long breath, and he savored the air he drank. It felt fresh, whole, clean. It was good.
"Thank you, my Lord." He so nearly wept before Jesus. "Thank you for saving me."
"I will always save you, young Mystic." He believed the words with all his soul. "Just as I will save the souls of all who believe in me." Jesus pushed himself up, and rose to face the crowd. More eyes turned to him, among them the devout Saints. "For that is why we must soon depart."
"Yes, of course," Ritsuka agreed. "If we want to reach the castle, we'll have to be fast. I-I don't know if Solomon can use that same magic as before to get us there. It would be stressful, but I-"
"Peace, young Ritsuka." He was at peace. "You have no need to lay burdens on yourself. Soon we will be approached with the method of travel, and aid for battle."
"We are?" Solomon was at a loss, approaching again from the crowd with… was there a woman blushing behind him? She was one of the few to stare at him over his Lord, and with red cheeks… "Did you call upon a Servant while I was away?"
"No others were called by the Thrones of Heaven or Powers to be. Those that approach are of this Earth, and will ally with us upon sight alone."
"How vague," Sasaki joined Solomon, purple and red next to one another, in compliment before the pure alabaster robe of the Lord. "Perhaps that is a cryptic tale of how they have always been here, but have not yet seen them?"
"We would have hard about them by now then," Solomon countered. "Meaning… my Lord are you sure?" The surprise in his eyes showed a level of understanding neither Ritsuka nor Solomon possessed. "I do not mean to question you, but it seems rather… dangerous."
"Would you think challenging the opponents of heaven a more or less dangerous endeavor?" The question had the Wise King screwing his lips, and Sasaki nodding approvingly. "There is no need to be hesitant. Banish the unease from your hearts, for I say that when they lay eyes upon us and give ear to our words, they will be a force to save those who have fallen from my Father's light."
Save? He wasn't the only one to catch the word, Solomon turning a curious gaze upon him. Ritsuka did not question his Lord, but that did not mean he understood. Likely no different from how Olga felt when Jesus did not answer her pointed questions. Different in feel, but clearly different in action. She was upset, but he was patient.
Patiently waiting, as the Lord turned his hand towards the nearby field and open hills. Ritsuka turned to them as well, watching as the light of the sun began to illuminate the tops like a portrait's borders. That was the wrong way to imagine it. For something began to breach the horizon of hills, and it was large and wide enough to attract the attention of all in town.
"We have been blessed by my father, and I am here to see that faith is fulfilled."
When Jesus spoke of a force to assist them, that the time was upon them, he expected many things.
What he saw breach the horizon was both entirely possible, by the measurements of man, and yet, still a miracle all unto itself.
"How sure are you this will work?"
"That what will work? The positioning of the troops, or the manner in which we will topple the Order of Humanity? The latter is already guaranteed, as the slave in the corner is a testament to."
"The former, obviously. I'm not about to question the conclusions already reached." Saber mused the question aloud, marching with heavy foot falls. Practiced, sturdy, as if he was taught to step in such a manner whether he was carrying a sword, bucket, or the hopes of another. "The defense of a castle seems a poor decision when we can hide the treasures within."
"One treasure will doubtlessly make trouble for us." The dark Jeanne's golden eyes fell on the same boy in the corner. He grinned up at her through grimy hair and bruised features. "And the other is doubtlessly able to be found by one of the lowly Servants opposing us. A pair of Servants next to the proclaimed Son of God."
"My father was the son of a God," Saber returned again, eyes vicious. "And he was able to do much with the power he had. Not even comparable to the man that has wronged everyone else here."
"He has wronged you as well." Her words carried no forced ill will. She smiled cruelly regardless. "Enough so that all who followed him valued his words more than those of your kingdom. Turning your favored Tuatha into mere Angels at best, to be seen as far beneath him. Subservient even."
"I am aware. The fall of my country is not forgotten." Saber easily replied. His steps did not waver. "Knowing that the Relic you have is likely to be seen by them makes sense, but then should we not use it as bait?"
"I don't care to think that Jesus Christ would need to find his own chalice. The motely man can find another pewter cup if he wishes to sip."
"Do not mock me while the enemy approaches."
"I'm answering your questions with the same contempt you ask them with." His red eyes bore on her. "Stare until your eyes fall out, I can dry them as well." Embers fell from her sheathed blade, forcing the Saber to turn with a click of his tongue. "Better. Now, do you have fears over us losing?"
"I do not. I only wish to be sure we are not positioning ourselves poorly. Victory is obvious, but not assured." He finally altered his course, marching until he faced the freshly carved wall. The beast above him did little to earn fear in him. The blade glowing at his back more a shield than a weapon. "I don't want you to make simple mistakes and cost us an easy win."
"If you had a better suggestion, I would have heard it."
"Your cohort would not have." She hummed in understanding.
"I suppose not, but Gilles knows better than to challenge me." That he could only grunt in response to. "You spoke little against the others."
"They have their posts, but I'm just as curious where the Servants will come. Longinus and George, so named by our own beloved Master." Saber had a cruel eye on the boy in the corner. The returned gesture was a rude one worthy of cutting a finger, but he only had so many digits left to play with. "I wonder if they will be able to goad anything from our allies."
"They have their Lord to strengthen their reserves, but little more. Even at the peak of his powers, Jesus did little for those who worship him aside from some base encouragement." She laughed as she ran her hand over the pole of her standard. "They will pray to him, and receive a kind smile, before they are skewered, electrocuted, and eventually, devoured."
The beast above her let out a long hum. With the size of its chest, it rattled the castle, spilling dust and loosening the few pictures that remained hanging on the walls. The Jeanne on the throne paid them little mind, even if the boy cowered at the idea of being crushed. That amused her and the Saber.
"I am to wonder where your beloved Servant is though. Was Gilles not placed here?" Red eyes beheld her again. "Can you trust a man who would leave his station so easily, on the eve of an enemy's march?"
"He is at the base of the castle, layering the few crests he knows in the ground." Jeanne did not rise to the barb. "Unless you claim to be as learned as your father and can assist him. I did hear the that legendary Cu was able to caste many runes."
She did not rise to his barb. The Saber did to hers.
"Do not speak his name. I told you not to."
"And I told you to adhere to my wishes for victory, yet you question me." She was unperturbed by his feral grin. "Do not think you can test the boundaries of my patience without me doing the same."
"I am being careful." He pushed back. "I wasn't before, and it allowed my father to commit filicide." How appropriate. "Victory is close, so we need to be careful."
"We are as careful as we can be without being cowardly." She returned. "If we were to send out Servants to chase them down, then whomever chased them would be killed. If we all chase them, then we'd have to bring the boy with us, and that would be a larger risk than most other actions." Saber didn't respond, showing his understanding. When he did answer, it was on a different subject all together.
"Do you think you'll be challenged?"
"I believe we already discussed how I am waiting for it."
"I meant by the people here. The humans, the non-legendary sort." He waved past the beast that hung over the hall. "You've made short work of small armies and villages, but what will be said for when the greater population rises. I've yet to see anyone worship your-"
"If they try to, I'll kill them." The words were vehement, so fast the Saber and Master in the corner stared. "If they spend one word trying to turn me into a higher being or queen, I'll turn them to ash."
"Just like that?"
"Faster, if they make a show." The scowl on her face marred the gold of her eyes. "They are weak, pathetic, mewling creatures that turned to a false God with only cruelty on his mind because a 'son' promised good fortune once they die. Nothing could be so vile as that, and I will not be seen the same."
"Not the same?" The Master finally spoke, voice weak and quieter, with the echo of the hall lost under the gaze and belly of the beast. "Hee hee hee, that's rich. Rich as that throne of yours."
"Do you need me to remove your tongue? I wish to learn more of your home still, but I'm for making you dance for speeches instead."
"And let me get on my feet again?" He laughed again, kicking out his worn and ratty pants ,the legs beneath scarred, burned, or generally mauled. Nothing worthy putting weight or sight on. "Oh you are too kind. Makes me want to bow down and graciously thank you."
"Speak on, and I will inform Gilles when he returns. For all the horrors I could do to you, he at least will force your body to heal in the wrong way."
"Sounds like an act of God to me." Kadoc spoke on. The words finally earned the draw of a blade.
Just not Jeanne's.
Instead, the tire-eyed Master looked down the long glowing steel of Saber, his blade hued blue with the luminescent light, trailing up to matching hair. Red eyes bore in between the pair, harsh as blood in water. And no more kind in implication.
"Your words bother her, but they piss me off, too." The sentence was a growl. "If you keep speaking, I'll take of your arms, and deal with the fallout afterwards."
"How sharp that blade is, I think it'd just annoy me, too." He laughed at the point of the sword. "I'm not in a position to think I'm gonna be walking out of here. I bet that once the Chaldea group is dealt with, you'll decapitate me to really seal the deal."
"It's a tempting thought."
"But not one I'll entertain." The dark witch spoke with authority. "You may be a human, and the humans of this land are not to be feared, but you are a source of power to us. Power that we will use to stamp out the weak, those who cling to God because they are unable to dig their trench or sow their own field. The lame who think the faith of the divine relics is a greater sense of self than the appreciation of their own craft."
"You have a lot of praise for these lowly people."
"We used to be them, and we are legends for we saw more to ourselves!" The beast rumbled with her words as embers dripped from her blade once more. "Those who do not make a name for themselves are the worthless. Foolish I may have been to listen to a voice in the sky, I have strength to inform others. Saber can claim a title of no other, holding a blade that no walls in these lands can resist."
Said blade slowly took itself off of Kadoc's neck. Not without nicking the dirty skin, letting blood mix with the grime. He didn't bother to whip at it, letting it run with his ruined uniform.
"The other Servants have much the same, and those who follow the false Son of God have only their faith to hold them. Faith easily broken, unwilling to stand even basic tests."
"Have you conducted a study?" He laughed, even as the Saber kicked him, making him slide until he impacted the wall. He laughed through the pain.
"I have seen the men run, I have seen the woman pray as they were burned, I have seen nothing but misery from those who beg God for aid, and those more when he does show." She snarled beautifully. "Jesus Christ could not but defend them from me, and he could not turn me from them. He had to run. Run! What strength of God is there in that?"
The wyverns and great beast above leaned back and let loose a roar. It deafened the occupants of the castle, and momentarily made Kadoc wonder if the place was coming down.
"Those men are weak, and the weak cannot hope to stop the strong. We will burn this nation of God down, and let the strong remake it. Free of God, free of his lies. For no army of God can stop us!"
The castle shook again, but the roar was not of beasts. It was too far away, and too human.
"What?" The Saber found himself muttering, looking away from Kadoc and to the hole in the wall. Panic did not take his features, but an aspect of rage did. "I don't believe it. After everything you said."
"What? What is it!?" The witch stomped more than walked across the ruined hall, the ground beneath her charring. She stopped at the edges of the ruins, and saw for herself. The same as Saber, fires burned in her eyes. "That's impossible. It must be a trick. An illusion of one of the others."
"Name for me who and I will slay them." Saber pushed back. "If not, tell me how your plan will fare against this?" That was too much for Kadoc to ignore. Spying on the 'unnerving' sight was worth the loss of limb.
Pulling himself over, he looked past the blasted wall to see the same scorched fields he been dined to see so far. The same ruins of the wyverns and Jeanne, laying waste to the land she had defended in life, and the bestial monsters found joy in ruining. That wasn't what he was focusing on.
It wasn't what made him laugh.
"Stop laughing!" The end of her banner hit him, pushing him like a puck over ice. He hit the wall in fits. "Silence!"
"How!?" He almost screamed back. "You might mistake me for them!" He pounded at the walls. "All those weak men getting ready to storm the castle! HAHAHA! You couldn't have timed that speech any worse!"
Kadoc cackled with laughter, even as the witch put embers to his feet and burned his legs. He hollered on, uncaring for the pain of his body.
Seeing an army of 'pathetic humans' challenge them was too hilarious to ignore.
"Offer no bounty to the witch!" A man roared in silver armor, blade raised and a feral scowl to match his words. "For she who disgraces our beloved Jeanne, offer NO QUARTER!"
HORAAAAAAAA!
The cries of a French army, built of men stronger than any Ritsuka had seen barring the literal legends themselves, cried in approval. They roared like the beasts had before, and it deafened his ears with a chorus he had to smile with. With blades and halberds, wearing dirtied armor from extended combat, they still shouted as if this was the first call to arms they had received.
Ritsuka had never been among an army like this, but he could feel the power in their conviction.
"They are sure in their stance in this battle." Solomon spoke form behind him. Ritsuka looked over his shoulder, seeing the wise king holding the reigns of the horse they shared. He was nestled between the man and the horse's man, and felt sure of where he sat for it. "I wager many kingdoms would adopt the laws and traditions that would produce such staunch men."
"Ha ha, they have a set of lungs on them!" Sasaki congratulated next to them, riding a horse of his own. He had no difficulties in maneuvering it. Neither him, nor Longinus or George beside him.
It was of no surprise that Jesus Christ rode his with effortless perfection. Next to the man who held up his blade and shouted of the routing of the witch. He would not think that his Lord would hold the head of an army like this, too many images of the lying Apostle, but his lord did not raise blade nor ask for the destruction of the helm. Not here and not before.
"Our Lord does know how to prepare for times such as these," Solomon spoke on. "Preparing food he said was for our travels, only to show it was for the remnants of the French Army." The Wise King laughed. "I would have suggested the same, had I known that the French would rise as they have."
"Their lands are threatened, and by a woman wearing the face of their former leader." Longinus returned. A Roman Soldier as he once was, he held the reigns of the horse with ease. "Any man of conviction for their faith would have rage building."
"But not many men would act on it." Solomon continued. "And yet, the Word of our Lord spurned them to challenge those who challenge heaven." He laughed. "I would need so much more to have asked the kingdom of Israel to work in such a way."
"The Lord has the truth, and that is all that is needed."
Ritsuka knew it was true, even as he gazed at the fort before them. He stared at it as the men cried out around him, and he realized the courage that faith in God could give a man.
They looked at fort that he had only heard of described by children unable to pay attention in mass. A dark structure that had beasts and monsters roaming about it, guarding it like a mote. Wyverns that clung to spires and hovered high in the sky, while the ground and hills around it were charred brown, gray and black. Spires from Vlad, the Lancer littered the Earth all the same. That all only served to emphasize the imposing physique of the grand castle, stretching up with charred walls, broken pillars, and looking ready to swallow any who entered. It was a desolate sight, but the beast atop the castle was something else.
It was a thing that seemed to encompass the entirety of the hall itself, laying atop it like a bird would perch on a branch, with eyes visible from even such a far distance away. That was hardly the most ferocious thing of the beast. With a wing span folded that would be larger than most cathedrals, claws that dug into the walls like anchors, and a jaw that looked fit to swallow him and the horse whole, it was a monster that made all the others about him look like gnats.
"I suppose that is the 'higher order' wyvern we were speaking of," Sasaki posed. "It certainly looks the part."
"Larger, yes, but it is no wyvern," George guided his horse forward. SHING! Before his blade held itself high, and the soldiers around him dipped in volume to stare. "That is a monster that I must slay."
"You must…" Ritsuka realized what he meant. "That's a dragon, isn't it?"
"It is." The confirmation was cold. "One even I have heard tales about, but thought never to face."
"You recognize it?"
"I do." It was Solomon who answered. "A beast that is famed in German tales, one that was indestructible, felled only by a great hero that then bathed in its blood, and became invulnerable for it. The infamous beast, Fafnir." The name wrung no bell in Ritsuka's mind.
"Do not care for the monsters!" The soldier at the head of the army cried again. "They are weak things that follow a dark witch's word! We are here to liberate her from the stench of lies! To do that, we will fight and we will win! We will slay the monsters of hell's embrace so that her Lady may rest! Let NONE who mock her name stand!"
HORAAAAAAAA!
The roars rose up again, and Ritsuka almost dipped his head with the volume. Solomon and Sasaki laughed. His Lord, still visible with an immaculate garb, did not. He found it difficult to turn his gaze away from his savior, but in this moment he could, because who he stood beside cast many questions upon his mind. Not doubts, not trepidations, but worries.
How cold he not worry seeing Jesus Christ riding beside the infamous Blue Beard.
"Peace, Master," he looked to Solomon again. "Know that Jesus called to them to follow and they answered his call. Though what the man becomes is known, he is not yet lost." Not yet.
"And better if he is still in the midst of a fall," Sasaki added. "He will have no love for the enemies that besmirch the name of Jeanne. You were rather clear that the woman who attacked us was not her." His smile was clear even as the men howled. "He was quick to agree."
Ritsuka took a long breath through his nose. It felt difficult, with air shaking as it was, but that wasn't a concern. Not a major one. No, he had to stay focused, he had to remember where he was, and with who. Though there was a man here he knew would fall, he would fall for a reason of his own choosing. But before he did, he would follow the Saint Jeanne D'Arc faithfully and with piety. That was to be rewarded.
Jesus was offering him that grace now. Ritsuka knew he had no place to question it.
"Now we have the army to stave off their forces. Now we only have to see how they will react." Solomon's words were more a warning than a prediction. Nevertheless, it took little time for that action to be taken. Just not in any way Ritsuka could imagine.
He couldn't have imagined a new beast to emerge near the gates of the castle. No one could have.
"That is… unnatural." Sasaki's words were proof of it.
How could anyone have predicted a monster that had to come from the ocean. It looked too much like an octopus, the few times he had seen them being purchased at the market. This looked to be rotten and discarded, letting drool and maggots run over it, and then the waste of the world take it. And yet, it was beyond worse than that.
From still such a distance, the squelch of its release was horrendous, with eyes layered over sections that couldn't belong, and slithered on the cracked Earth with a sense of entitlement. It did not roar, for it could not without a mouth, but it made the sounds of flesh being forced through a tube. It was all he could imagine, from what he was told when he was in the market once more. But it did his stomach little good.
"Take heed, you who suffer the miseries of Jeanne," his Lord spoke. "Ahead is a man who saw her above God, and remade her to fit his image." Remade her? How? Who?
"Infidels!" A voice shouted above the retching of the monstrosity. Ritsuka strained his vision to see who had spoken, so far away. Be it an enhancement of his eyes from the Director or the clash of colors, it was hard to say, but he could see the figure standing aloft one of the writhing tentacles. A robe of color to match the rotten fixtures and with protruding spikes like the underside of an octopus.
But with bulging eyes and snarling features that fit more the perilous description of demons.
"You dare to call her greatness a fraud! You dare to mock the true Jeanne D'Arc by proclaiming her to die! Name her witch and hail her name!" He lifted his hand up holding something. He wasn't sure but… it looked like a book.
"This is bad!" Solomon suddenly spoke behind him, spooking the horse. "He's going to send that thing at us!" The words did little for the men, who's boisterous shouts devolved into questioning murmurs. Their horses beat the ground, as Ritsuka had seen the curious staring up at a Church's walls, debating about entry.
"Gilles De Raise," his Lord spoke again, amidst a growing panic. "Do you recognize the man? Does he bare resemblance for you?"
"Lord my beloved Jeanne worshipped, I believe I do." The silver haired man, future child murderer, spoke resolutely to Jesus Christ. "I know of him… for he is me. The me that fell without my beloved Jeanne."
That man… standing atop the beast? That was another Gilles de Rais?
"Doubtlessly a Servant, Master. The one that did all the horrors this man will commit." Solomon whispered to his ear. "The one our Lord speaks to is before those crimes." It didn't help a great deal.
"You who saw the horrors done to her and lost faith in me. He who put a saint above my father." Clap. His lord put hands on the sinner. Future sinner. Ritsuka still swallowed. "Will you deny me to be next to Jeanne?"
Gilles did not answer. He was silent, even as the creature labored forward, carrying the man high above. The book almost looked to be casting a shadow in the air, spewing darkness like the Count's claws, and dripping like the fake Jeanne's fiery sword. The horses around them trembled at the sight.
"The men will lose faith soon." George spoke. "My blade and legend calls for Fafnir, but I will slay another beast of hell's gates if I must."
"And I will join!" Longinus was quick to flank the knight, raising the infamous spear ahead. "The blood of Christ will banish this wicked spirit."
"No… it will not." Gilles spoke again, the silver armored man with a haunted expression. "The blood of Christ will touch no ground nor unworthy hands this day." Ritsuka watched the man take in a great breath, whipping his horses reins, and forcing the beast ahead. It neighed lowly, but followed on. "For the one who fell before he could embrace the Maid of Orleans in the Kingdom of God, I will have your head!"
"You will die as you were meant to!" The man, the other Gilles, according to his lord. "And all the sooner for daring to step upon the name of our beloved Jeanne! You who would turn from her are only fit to be slaughtered with the rest of this cruel world!" His cackle was like a monster's high and shrill.
It came as one of the monstrous tentacles fell down, aiming to bat away the man who charged his corrupted future. Ritsuka could see him being thrown away, battered, laying in a pool of blood some miles away from the blow. He saw it as if it would be.
But light emanated from the man's blade, raised and crying like his voice. A dozen feet before it reached him, and the tentacle above started to bleed as his blade fell.
"I will face my judgement as Jeanne did hers!" Gilles of silver cried again. "I will be so happy to burn as she did! But I will NOT be made a monster she would hate!" His cry was like a man who saw the church burning, and he threw down a glowing sword to match.
"NO!" The creature reeled under the strike, pulling the true, corrupted, Gilles away. "How dare you!? How dare you! My lowly poorly deluded self, you do not know what you do! You strike out against me as I worship Jeanne! I have returned her, I have made her dream reality! I have brought all that should be to this world!" A gaunt hand aimed down, accusing like the reaper's own. "And one day, you shall do the same! You only delay your assured epiphany!"
The words and accusations were made as the monster retreated, and it gave time for the knight to look back at Jesus. Ritsuka did the same.
"You have no sins yet to be forgiven for," Jesus spoke. "Fight the temptation with your blade, and my word." He lifted his hand forward.
Gilles De Rais, the follower of Jeanne, lifted a sword Ritsuka did not know the worth of, and let it carry the Word of the Lord.
"I will do so. I will do so!" He cheered. "For Jeanne, for the Lord! Praise be to God!" He turned back towards the monster and roared.
HORAAAAAAAA! HORAAAAAAAA!
The men of the French Army joined him. The charge began.
The horses beat with all the speed they had approached with, but now dust was kicked up as the men raced past them. The sound of swords being freed and horses crying with their Masters rocked the air, and it was meet in time.
In time with the wyverns and beasts above starting to take flight and charge, their own shrieks and talons fighting for dominance before the fronts had even met. It outdid any fires he saw in Fuyuki, and filled him with the sense of power he knew belonged to war.
And yet, all he could pay attention to was a pure man's past against his vile future, under the eyes of Jesus Christ.
"Well, that settles one Servant." Sasaki interjected. "Shall we begin to lure out the others?"
"I believe George has already started." Ritsuka hadn't realized the man had joined the charge until Longinus had pointed out his absence. It was difficulty to find him in the soon to be clashing line of men and monsters, but he knew where he was heading.
That thought was confirmed as a new cry ripped the air, and the beast of the castle's top spread its wings. Ritsuka was right upon first sight. It's span could have swallowed the entire structure, and it hung like the demonic entity it was. Not a wyvern. A dragon. George was the only among them famed for killing it, and it, perhaps, knew.
"I best join him then." Sasaki spoke again, his horse rising to its hind legs. He flashed a brilliant and confident smile as he looked at them from his aloft position. "I'm sure there will be a new bird aiming to perch on his blade."
"Will you be able to support him? In this?" The question from Solomon earned laughter from the Samurai.
"I may be a Ronin, but I am under the leadership of your Lord for now. Therefore, all will be well." His horse's hooves hit the ground. "Besides, these beasts are just larger swallows." His hair whipped as he took off, rounding the clashing line of fighters.
And the clash had come. Ritsuka was forced to watch from the front of Solomon as he saw many of the men being lifted and beaten into the air, wings and claws dragging or spurring them up, and tearing apar the horses they rode on. They were no Servants of Legend in this.
But they fought as if they were. Just as many of the beasts fell to them as they fell to it. Clipped wings sending them sprawling down with cries of pain, before the lances and blades gutted and pierced hide and hide. They were effective as they were brutal, and they were brutal as they were determined.
A Saint that they followed was being mocked by a witch. There was little more to make a man more determined than that.
"I shall do my part now." Longinus spoke. "My Lord, will you be alright?"
"Call the man who blames me for his horrors, Longinus," the Lord replied. "Speak to him as you would any that would deny me." The man was off past the storm of clashing steel after that. It left Ritsuka with Solomon and his Lord. The eyes of his Lord did not befit a battle. They were took kind, no different than when he stood about the fires of Fuyuki. Clashing, but brighter all the same. "We should make for the halls."
"We'll lead," Solomon replied. "This is the one time I'd ask you to follow us, Lord."
"The only time?" Jesus poked, laughed, even amidst the battle. He did not argue, however, and soon they were running forward. Ritsuka kept his hands tight on the reigns, waiting for what was to come. It could be one of three things.
Either another Servant, the Assassin or Archer, could come at them, and then Solomon would use the current limitations of his power to remove them, turning Ritsuka into a mess of pain, but freeing a path for their Lord. Longinus could call out the Impaler successfully, and then the already numerous spikes among the field would grow in number. Or, and finally, the fires around them could bloom again, as the fake Jeanne would start to turn her attention to them.
All of them were bound to happen, but he just wasn't sure which one would come first.
George was unused to fighting amidst a war, but it did little but force him to focus.
The hooves of an unfamiliar mount beat the ground, and his eyes remained trained forward on the dragon that loomed ahead. It cast a shadow, long with the slowly descending sun, and cool as he entered its embrace. It did not give him pause, as the chill of his steel would do far more to the monster. He was sure.
Even as that monster beat its wings and took to the air. Such a force that the wyverns that still scurried around it were beat like flies amidst a horse's tail. He did not shirk at the size, or quiver. The monster had eyes only for him, and he for it.
A wyvern unaware of the approaching clash tried to make for his neck, but he gave it little more than a swipe of Ascalon. The torso of the beast was forced up and over as its haunches buried themselves in the ground. His mount lost no speed. Two more beasts came down upon him, but they slowed him all the same. That appeared enough to earn the monster's ire.
HRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIII!
It was a cry loud enough to mute the clashing steel and beasts around and behind him. To force some men to still, and other wyverns to ascend for fear they would be devoured. They stalled, but Saint George did not.
"Louder than the beast I slew, and with a frame to match." He whispered into the trembling wind. "Fafnir, you will faster than the dragon from before."
He knew the monster could not hear him, but its neck fell as it began to descend towards him all the same. He raised his blade to heaven as his steed kept charge, and his glare beat at the ominous fire in the monster's eyes.
The glow of heaven followed his Holy Blade, stained before with the blood of the devil's monsters.
It would drench itself again today.
"Be you dragon, your greed is endless. Let me show you!" Fire billowed between the razor teeth of the dragon, each tooth large as his steed and the embers of its maw fit to roast flesh. He did not waver. "This is the truth of Ascalon! Though dragon with sin!"
HRYAAAAAAAAAA! The beast roared at him, fire spewing forth.
"ASCALON!" George, with a descending blade, roared back.
They clashed in an explosion.
"No room to join that fray," Sasaki mused, his horse still in full gallop but keeping distance from the dragon and clashing saint. "It'd be too much of a challenge to try and destroy a swallow in the midst of a typhoon."
A typhoon made of the fires and dust of the clashing warriors, and him from the distance watching. His blade was long in his hand already, nearly scratching the scorched earth his mount was racing on, but not yet touching. His eyes beheld the sword of the Saint, shorter than his, but cleaving the fires of the beast's maw with a grand cry.
The boom as the blade rend into the monster, beating off of it as it would any armor, was still a blow that had the dragon sprawling with effort. It brought a sharp grin to Sasaki's lips as the monster spun under the assault of the man.
"A pity we didn't have a chance to duel. He'd be a wonder to challenge." His eyes left the fires and saint shortly after, looking instead for a superior target. "But there are many others here I should be looking to clash with. If only I could find a pair to slice~. If only there was one who seemed to make himself known." He already had his eyes on one.
A figure that slipped over the field as a shadow, but without a steed of its own. In the small moments it stopped to turn, the figure of a brimmed hatted man appeared, with flames of fire and claws of shadow. Lightning, deluded under the light of fire and Ascalon, crackled about him. He did not approach Sasaki.
No, as the samurai suspected, it made launch for the mounted knight. Or at least he tried to.
The Saint of their professed Lord was still surrounded in dragon's flames, and not even the Count could approach with ease. It made move to attack, but each time it jumped into the openings of the blade, the dragon's great claw or the follow through of the weapon pushed him back.
It would have made Sasaki laugh, if not for the sight of the man grinning with each failed approach.
It reminded him too much of the capable swordsmen, putting themselves in disadvantage to find joy in a skirmish. It was just as Solomon and the woman across the blue screen had said. He'd be attacked while he assaulted the dragons.
"A fine prediction to be proven true" the Samurai noted. "Then let us see how swift this aspect of 'Revenge' is." A pull on the reins and his horse turned, his blade lifting up for the charge. It was good he lifted his blade.
He was forced to twist it to block the claws of the very man he was about to give chase to. Purple eyes had to stare up at the flaming gold of the Count above him, cackling as he hung like a raven eyeing dead meat.
"AHAHAH! You thought you'd best me in speed, didn't you?" The mad noble lorded over the man. "Your blade may be fast, but my vengeance is unmatched." His foot rose to take off the samurai's head. He dodged, leaning back until he was resting atop the horse. That was the poor move.
"PHWA!" He let out in an empty gasp as the man's fist drove into his stomach. The force crippled the back of the steed he rose, sending the creature barreling over itself as the pair were thrown from it. The Assassin was momentarily thrown off balance, unable to find perch. Instincts told him to raise his blade. The same told him to swing.
TWANG! He managed to beat off one of the Avenger's hands, seeing lightning follow the arc of his blade. His feet found perch just as he did. Just in time for him to duck as the other hand swiped over head. It sheared a few hairs from his head, and had the man glaring down at him, smile broad.
Sasaki matched it.
"You're quick on you feet. Would you be able to out pace me?"
"I'll have to. I promise my Lord I would." He swung up with the blade, forcing the man to zip back. "You'll be a challenge, but hardly the worst of my life."
"AHAHAH! I'll be more than even your killer."
"I doubt it." Sasaki countered. "Musashi was a man I'd share a drink with before we dueled. You?" He leveled his blade and posture. "You're just a larger, faster, swallow."
"Fools… all of them. Fools."
"Foolish that your beloved Servant has already abandoned you?"
"Foolish that he thinks he can beat himself like that. He's a fool for not listening to me!" The woman howled as she drew her blade. Fire bloomed from it, forcing the Master in the corner to finally skirt away, or else lose his life. "Saber, stay here. If Gilles will be foolish enough to abandon his post, then you will have to make up for it."
"I'm no guard."
"Not, but you are also no assassin. You charge in there, you'll die as your father killed you." He growled at her. "Let your fury reign, I do not care. Cut the heads off of any who approach the man." She raised her banner. "I have bastards to deal with!"
Fires bloomed around her, coating the halls until the few scraps of paper and paintings began to burn. Saber stared on, hair billowing under the force.
"What bastard are you to deal with?" He motioned towards the battle below. "You intend to face off against any of the distracted Servants?"
"No," she growled. "Peter needs his target, and I will be the bait for the fish." Jeanne lowered her standard until the point of it was aimed at the men below. The pair of horses that charged them, with a boy, king, and Lord atop them.
"I will a King of Israel or Heaven above. One will die." She raised her blade. "So says the Dragon Witch!"
Fires and flames, hot enough to make steel wilt, spewed from her.
Longinus's horse was reduced to a trot, but he had no reason to increase its speed. He was meant to remain on this battlefield and lure out the monster that blamed Jesus. Blamed the Lord for his trials even as he roasted the living.
The same roast and fire that flew from the high ruined castle, challenging the sun for glow. Few were looking upon it, the men all focused on their own fights. The dragon, the wyverns, the Servants, all of them. And he had his own. Raising the lance of a hated name, his name, he shouted it.
"Vlad!" He shouted. "I am Longinus! Legionnaire of the old Roman Empire! The Slayer of Christ!" His call did not shake the battle ground, but it still echoed above. "You who mock the sacrifice of Christ, face me and be judged!" He needed not to wait long.
Before him, like a rolling tide, spires began to appear. Mockeries further of the crucifixions that he and his empire had done. They jutted from the land with ferocity and malice, stopping dozens of feet in the air. In the time it took to approach, Longinus dismounted his horse and slapped its rear, sending it charging away. He stared on through a bronze helm.
The spires stopped a short distance from him, and then bent as if struck. The visage of the ruler from before, long silver hair and demanding blue eyes gazed back upon him. In his hand was a long spear of his own, dark and twisted as the madness that doubtlessly took him.
"You dare to say I mocked Christ with my brutality?" The man asked. "Fool, it was Christ that denied me, and I acted upon the cruelty needed to save my nation."
"You acted to save yourself and grow your fame." Longinus replied, the same words he'd said to many of his fellow soldiers that saw little in his descent from the empire. "You would let the many plunder your nation if they promised you gold and title."
"I would not!" Spires came at him.
They were broken with a single swing of his spear. His eyes, gaze concealed under the old him, never left the Impaler.
"You would." His voice was stern. "And your legend is clear. Cruelty is akin to your name." The man's growl was feral, and the fangs in his mouth shined like the tip of a lance. "Only the Lord knows my true name, and that is enough."
"And none shall! None shall know of the damned soldier such as you! So many of your kind fell to me in Latvia, between Ottomans and other misguided zealots! They looked upon my land as a harvest, and I showed God did not exist to me. They fear no man, but they recognize I am greater."
"You will never be greater than what you were made to be." He took stance before the mad Lancer. "You set your gaze lower for strength, and for it, have made yourself akin to the monsters. My name is not remembered, but you are more known for the horrors you inspired." Remembering the title from Solomon, Longinus cast the first stone.
"Dracula."
It wasn't a cry that Lancer charged with, but a howl. A mad one that had Longinus raising his stance to block the first blow. A blow that had him scrapping back against the scorched Earth. He rode it as he would the tides.
Kadoc cackled against the wall, playing with his working fingers as he listened to the madness unfold. His eyes scrapped over the Saber, who stared down like a judge without a gavel. It was only all the more humorous.
To him, and knowing what was to come. He raised a broken finger to the saber, blood dripping from where the nail was ripped. The Master's finger waved in the air, as if ink and quill to paper.
"Ready or not... here they come…"