Section 16

"I released all that info, curse that Altrouge! I'm so sorry, everyone…! I'll make up for this by killing her, I have to!" I tearfully say as I bow down with my head to the ground in front of everyone.

Alice crouches down and places her hand on my head. "It's alright, Serena. We don't blame you. This would've happened eventually. We couldn't have stayed hidden forever."

But Jeanne interjects and starts to yell. "Hell no, it's not okay! What's the matter with you, hanging out with the enemy, and leaking information? Are you stupid!?"

But then Arcueid holds her hand out to shut up Jeanne Alter. "Serena. When you ran into Altrouge, what was the first thing you did?"

I raise my head and recall what happened. "I was eating breakfast and she asked if anyone was sitting there, I looked up at her and realized it was her."

Arcueid then asks another question. "Did you look her in her eyes by chance?"

"Yes. I did."

Arcueid nods and looks around. "This is not her fault then. Vampires have the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment most of the time, and Altrouge seems to have them as well. I think she used them on Serena to get her to go along with her and over time she would naturally leak information and whatnot. It was not her own free will in control, but closer to how one would act in an intoxicated state, minus the intoxication."

Olga grits her teeth. "Well, as said before, this was going to happen eventually, so now we need a plan. All of Paris is in ruins and those fuckers heading this way!" The Director now wears a new outfit rather than her old one, a orange fancy shirt with a black coat cape on top, along with black shorts and black stockings. She wears black and orange boots now too.

A portal opens up next to us in the office and Zelretch steps out. "I have secured a perimeter around the building and the Bounded Field has been strengthened by myself and the others here. We will be safe enough in this building as long as Altrouge or her guards do not attack directly. I can not say the same about everyone outside though. Fortunately, this will be enough of a divergence of the timeline so the deaths here will not affect your world."

Mash gets concerned and tilts her head. "What are you talking about?"

"What you all are doing in Chaldea is time travel to a fixed point. This means that people who die while you travel should stay dead in the future, albeit with different means of death. For example someone dies from a magical spell, history will correct that into being a simple animal attack once the Singularity is repaired. One death means nothing. But an entire city falling like this? The world line will be pruned and you will not have to worry. Paris never fell like this in, or around 2001, so it will not stick. If this was something like Camelot near Mordred's revolt, then those deaths of a city would stick and just be classified as casualties from the revolt, but this will not stick due to too much of a change in the overall timeline."

I have no clue what he said, but it seems to me that he means that the deaths that happen here won't stick when we get back, but during other times they may stick depending on the quantity or time.

The others seem to come to the same conclusion as me and agree with him.

Zelretch then sits at his desk and places his hand on the table. "So, we need a plan of attack. We cannot stay here, not all of us. Our main goal is to defeat and/or kill Altrouge, this would theoretically take care of the Dead Apostle Problem. Easier said than done, however."

Arcueid poofs into her normal dress we saw when we first met her. "I will go out there as the dead will pose no threat to me."

The Servants also agree to go with for similar reasons. But Zelretch shakes his head.

"No, this'll not be enough. If it were just Corpses or Ghouls, I would say you could do it, but there are bound to be Superiors besides just her guards. Each Superior is equal to multiple Servants, as you have seen already, so if one of you is attacked by one, you will die. We need more firepower."

"What about you? You're a Magician, can't you do a lot?" Ritsuka asks.

"Unfortunately, no, as I said, most of my power is gone, I must remain here if you wish for the shield to stay steady. I am focusing most of my power on it, so even if I were to fight Altrouge, I would lose."

Ritsuka looks defeated, but then he perks up, grabbing his right arm. Despite there being no Mystic Code yet, what he's thinking is obvious. "Senpai, no! You can't!" Mash pleads but Ritsuka shakes his head.

"No, Mash. There's no choice. It would give us many Servants to fight the army with. If I wind up dying, if I can at least be of help, then I'll do it."

Edmond looks his way. "Master. I admire your boldness, but as said before. If you run out of mana due to this, you'll die, and us Servants will vanish leaving everyone more open than before. Think carefully, Master."

Zelretch interjects. "If it is mana you need to keep up this strategy, I can provide some. Not all of my power is on the shield, just most. I can divert some into you, so tell me, what is this plan?"

Ritsuka explains how he will summon an infinite amount of Servants to help. The Servants from Chaldea over and over and over again until the battle is won by sheer force. Normally, his body wouldn't hold up, but with a battery like Zelretch supplying him, maybe it could just work.

"I will warn you, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Despite my support, it will still be unimaginably painful for you. Your nerves and circuits will burn and be reborn over and over. You may even wish to just die, but that is not an option here. Are you still up to the task, hero?", Zelretch smirks, already knowing his answer and anticipating the battle.

A fire has been lit in Ritsuka's eyes. All his life, he wanted to play a hero. He wanted to save people and help them, just like his dad. This was his chance to truly make a difference and be the hero we all needed. A hero that would doom us all if he was not around. He may not have magecraft or special powers on his own, but he can still be just as useful as anyone else!

"I am!", he turns determined and responds without hesitation, looking the Grandmaster in the eyes.

Zelretch nods his head and then turns around to look out of the big window. "As for formations…we have plenty of magi here who will attack from the roof and around so the dead cannot get close. If we are to have an army of Servants, then there's no need for us to leave either. As our main person, Fujimaru will stay here with me, along with his Servant and Mirai, who will use her eyes to warn of upcoming events."

My eyes widen at his callout, but it makes sense. I have no nerve or time to try and argue against using my eyes, so I agree with him and don't resist.

"Animusphere and Narukami will stand outside the building and keep the dead away like the others. I trust that wand will help you?"

Olga nods and looks at the dagger drawn from her belt. "Yes, I'll use it to its full effect."

"And what about us?", Edmond asks, extending his hand and gesturing to the other Servants.

"You will go out into the field and try and hunt down Strout, Svelten, and Altrouge specifically. You have experience fighting them, so you should fight them now, especially with the help of other Servants, and my Granddaughter."

Arcueid nods. "I will hunt down Altrouge specifically and take out any who stand in my way before that. Oh, and one more thing. Olga Marie, keep his sword with you. You might need it.", Arcueid gestures to the Real of the World, leaning on the wall near Olga's body and wrapped up in gauze.

Olga touches its blade and strokes it gently. "Yes, I will NEVER let him leave me."

Frantic footsteps run past the hallway, many of them as people rush out to defend the base.

"Is there anything else to ask or know before the operation starts?", Zelretch stands up and faces us.

Olga faces Zelretch and gestures her hand toward Ritsuka, looking his way.

"Don't let him die, Grandmaster."

Zelretch smiles and nods. "Of course. You have my word."

With that, the Servants, Arcueid, Olga, and Alice go to leave, but I stop Alice by grabbing her hand.

"Please stay safe, Alice."

Alice smiles and pats my head. "I won't, I promise."

Without allowing me to respond, she leaves, leaving the room with just myself, Ritsuka, Mash, and Zelretch in it. Ritsuka and I put on our combat outfits and Mash dons her armor and shield, then places it on the ground.

"Da Vinci, Doctor, I assume you heard everything?", Mash asks as the hologram pops up with the two from Chaldea.

"Yes. Ritsuka, if you're being backed by Zelretch, you should be fine…but still, don't overdo it, got it?"

Ritsuka grabs his armored right arm and nods. "Yeah."

Da Vinci nods and then asks: "Run us through your plan."

"Summon all the Servants we have available at Chaldea as Shadow Servants, just as I have been this far, and do this continuously until we win. I'll spread them as far through the city as I can to deal with areas equally, and if they die, re-summon them right away. Obviously, they can go all out."

"Good plan! I have no issues with it myself, but as Romani said, don't overdo it. If all the Servants are out and not dead, don't summon anymore, take a break."

Ritsuka nods his head and gets ready. The shield will remain on the ground to project the hologram and will be picked up if needed by Mash to protect Ritsuka.

"Mirai, how far can you see into the future?", Zelretch asks, knowing about my eyes since I told everyone earlier after the incident with Altrouge.

"30 minutes. But I can't use them for too long continuously, so I'll need breaks."

Zelretch nods and understands perfectly. "You are free to use them, but don't overdo it. You may go blind if you do."

I might go blind, huh? Well, it's not like I could bear the pain of overuse anyway, so that is fine.

Ritsuka speaks through the comms. "Alice, Director, how are you two?"

"We just reached the perimeter and there are a lot of Dead Apostles. We, along with the others have begun shooting them down as much as we can." The Director says as clearly as she can, the firing of spells can be heard in the distance.

Ritsuka then talks to his Servants. "How are all of you doing?"

"Edmond and I have taken the left side of Paris while Jeanne Alter has taken the right. Everything is smooth this far as they are not that strong. But we are awaiting backup." Haydée responds. It seems now all I'm that is needed is for Ritsuka to begin.

"I have connected a path to you, Fujimaru. You may start when you please, I'm sure you can feel my mana?"

Ritsuka nods and gets ready to touch a button. His body grows cold and his breathing grows rapid, breaking into a sweat. The pure reality has set in and he's scared, but he has to do this, and he knows. Mash grabs his hand to calm him and it seems to work, then he presses the buttons on his arm to begin the mass summon. His body recoils in slight pain as he blows past the three remaining Servants, but he's fine for now.

Meanwhile, out in the city, tens of Servants appear on the battlefield and understand what needs to be done with a glance. No holding back, they begin the all-out war Altrouge has set.

Vampires run toward the new, fresh bodies, only to be evaporated a moment later by the Noble Phantasms of the offensive Servants.

"Ruler!", Sieg gets Jeanne's attention who whacks a Dead Apostle with her flagpole.

"Yes, Sieg-kun?",Sieg also cuts one down.

"I'm going to transform, so get clear of me for a moment!"

Jeanne nods and jumps back, watching as more vampires surround the brown-haired boy, only for an explosion to kill all of them as Fafnir is born, roaring into the artificial night. He flies up and torches a street with his breath, killing all the undead who are lined up. Sieg flies back down and allows Jeanne to jump onto his back, and the two take off to cover Paris from the sky, doing what they can with the time manifested to help their Master.

In another part of the city, near the Arc de Triomphe, a lone king stands with her sword planted in the ground in front of her, both hands patiently resting on the guard. An army of about 200 Dead Apostles varying in rank shambles over to her, some fast and some slow, but neither matter as their fates have been sealed.

She grips her sword's handle with both hands and readies it, charging her Noble Phantasm.

"Excalibur…"

They get closer and closer, unable to realize just the danger they're in.

"MOOOOORGAAAAN!"

The blast with the heat of the sun is unleashed and incinerates the dead with ease! Despite being a corrupted Excalibur, its firepower is still deadly all the same to most.

"As merciless as ever, Saber.", a familiar bowman jumps down from a nearby perch and next to the Alter.

"Archer…", Saber Alter says as if it's the first time in a while that they've spoken to one another. She smiles at him. "To think we would work together yet again since Singularity F, this task is more difficult than before."

"Yes, but with the two of us, we should be fine."

The air charges with green electricity and blades embed themselves into the ground like a graveyard. "Allow me to help you out, Saber."

A partial Reality Marble deployment to ward off more Dead Apostles, or perhaps it is a warning to the smarter ones that death is imminent this way. Regardless, every Dead Apostle was demolished who dared to come toward the king and her guard.

At The Louvre…

"Semiramis, how are the preparations going?", Amakusa asks while throwing black keys at the incoming undead. Achilles flies past on his chariot, green lighting streaking through the sky and mowing down zombies.

"Things are going well. There is no shortage of materials so the Hanging Gardens will not take long."

The ground glows and consumes the rubble around the area. Truth be told, the Louvre, the place where the Mona Lisa is displayed, has been destroyed leaving nothing but rubble.

Amakusa holds off as much as he can, and when it's too much for him, he unleashes his Twin Arm - Big Crunch on the mass of the dead, sucking them in and obliterating them from existence. It pains Amakusa to do but it's the best outcome for them as they are already dead and gone.

Achilles jumps down from his mount and turns toward Amakusa after clearing out more dead.

"Damn, these guys have no end to them…but they can't reach someone as fast as me, either! How are you holding up?"

Amakusa has more Black Keys in hand and throws them to his left. "I'm doing fine thanks to my time as a priest. I'm a perfect match for all of them like this. You?"

The man with green hair laughs. "No issue at all. They can't even touch me since they're too stupid to know about my weakness, or more like they literally cannot figure it out due to a lack of thinking."

He quickly spins around and thrusts his spear, causing a green light to streak through the hoard and blow them to bits limb from limb. In the distance, hundreds of green arrows fall from the sky, Atalanta's Noble Phantasm. It's obvious the outcome of that too and the army was destroyed as expected from the green archer.

"At this rate, we'll have no issue winning.", Achilles says overconfident.

"Do not be so sure, Rider. These are all lesser Dead Apostles, but if a Superior shows up, that'll be an issue for even you since they have the same thinking abilities as humans. If they happen to know about you, then your weakness will not be a secret to them."

Achilles gives what Amakusa said some thought and considers it a possibility. "Yeah, you're right. But it'll be a hell of a fight, plus I'll be resummoned right away anyway.", he looks up into the dark sky full of smoke. "We'll keep fighting no matter what happens as it's what Master wants. For now, we need to get that Hanging Gardens up in the air."

Semiramis chants some more, gathering more materials. "I am almost done here. Luckily as you said, we'll be resummoned right away, so even if my time does run out as a Shadow Servant, as long as I come back right away, the Gardens will not crumble."

With a few more minutes of stalling, the Hanging Gardens lift into the air and begin to rain down hell from above with blasts of magical energy. They cannot be reached from the height of a skyscraper so they're safe. The Gardens are not as big as they normally would be, only about as big as 100 meters, due to the hasty job of chanting. Normally, it would take 72 hours for the full-scale flying fortress, but she managed it in only a few minutes at the cost of basically all the rooms and structures on it, it only being an open garden and a structure for the needed throne room to operate it.

A dragon roars in the distance and lands on the Gardens, Sieg transforming back into his normal self and Jeanne falling next to him.

"Sieg, is everything alright?", Amakusa asks the boy as if they hadn't tried to kill each other before.

Sieg nods his head and looks at his hand. "Yeah, I just need a breather. How are things going for all of you?"

Amakusa reassures the two that things are going fine and that he can rest as long as needed. Jeanne looks over the edge and the city is in complete chaos. She can of course see where we all are due to the rainbow barrier around the Hôtel de Ville, and all over the city are explosions from Noble Phantasm releases such as Karna's, Siegfried's, and Artoria Alter's.

"If only I had my Command Spells still. I could help everyone with them.", Jeanne laments but nothing can be done as she no longer is the adjudicator of a Holy Grail War and there are no red angelic wings on her back.

"Don't worry, Ruler. As long as we're around, we can still help. Let's use this to lessen Master's burden."

"Sieg-kun…yes, let's keep on fighting here."

Sieg waves toward Amakusa and jumps off the ledge, transforming into Fafnir once more followed by Jeanne jumping onto his back, and the two return to lay waste to the army below.


Edmond Dantès and Haydée fly through the city and the man incinerates all in his path while the woman continues to boost his power.

"With my ascension, I feel very light but double the power. KEHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is great! No one stands in our way!"

He appears in physical form, burns a few Dead Apostles to ash, then returns to a nonphysical form to continue flying like a ghost, though not quite in Spirit Form.

Edmond smirks to himself. "I never thought Paris would end up like this. It's much different than it was in my life, even before all this."

"Correct. Society has advanced quite a bit since the 1800s. Impressive is it not?"

"I will give them merit on that part. I'm glad I was able to see it while it was still intact."

The two stop near a mostly okay building and turn physical. "We should probably head back toward the base, if we stay too far, we may not make it back if something happens.", Haydée suggests and Edmond agrees, thinking the same thing. The two are about 500 meters from where they started and they can see the kaleidoscope shield, but not the building itself very well, so they go to turn around and head back when something catches both of their attention. The sound of rubble moving naturally as if a human knocked it over.

"Two Ghost Liners, eh?"

A man of the church walks out from some shadows and it takes no time at all for Edmond to recognize the man. Long, dark blond hair and red eyes, a black and red outfit like that of a priest or an executioner along with a cross around his neck.

In the past, Edmond Dantès lost his companion, Concetta, to a bloodsucking monster, a Dead Apostle who he promptly killed not long after, but it seems as if Altrouge managed to bring him back just like she did with Vlov.

"Tarantella…no, Michael Roa Valdamjong!", Edmond yells and the dark blond man recognizes Edmond from a long time ago.

"You…and you have a companion?", he smiles, baring his fangs. "How fun! You cannot catch me by surprise this time, Count. I will have my revenge on this fateful meeting!"

His body surges with white lighting, it audibly crackling all around him. Edmond charges up his black flames around himself. Haydée cannot fight, so she takes a supportive role for the Count and boosts his parameters, looming over his shoulder as the fight is about to begin with no one else around.

The air stays still for just a moment, and when a piece of rubble falls to the ground, the two collide! A bolt of lightning flashes past and a blast of fire scorches the earth. The Avenger's body is covered in black flame as it wraps around his arms forming claws. He leaps forward and swings at the vampire like a rabid animal, Roa is able to block or dodge the attacks. In his new state, he's no longer immortal and cannot revive, so it's not like Edmond needs to burn his soul, but killing him will still be tricky.

Roa, faster than light, shoots lighting at the Servant, but Edmond isn't slow either and dodges it soon enough for it to only graze his cape. Haydée flies around and outstretches her arms as a Noble Phantasm is released.

『"End of Vengeance!"』

Roa's body freezes and his expression goes blank, almost peaceful as a spell is cast over him. Edmond takes this chance to blow him to absolute bits with his flames, laughing the whole way! But, this doesn't put him down as he snaps back to himself and regenerates his body due to the full moon above. Edmond had neglected his feet and due to that, he could regenerate his body.

"A power that can remove hate and essentially make a target go from hostile to neutral, huh? How interesting, but it depends on mental weakness, and since I have plenty of resistance to such a thing, it only lasted an instant.", Roa smirks and gets ready to fight again. "I think I've found a new target."

He eyes Haydée with lustful eyes, but not in a sexual way, but instead like how a predator eyes its next meal before pouncing.

Edmond's eyes shrink as Roa is already right next to Haydée. She tries to fly back to no use, his claws out and in the motion of slashing and will make contact. Edmond consumes his whole body in fire, burning Haydée in the process but keeping Roa away from killing her by burning Roa to make him retreat.

The battle starts all over except with Haydée now further away from the two, holding her left wrist as it's been burned.

"Haydée, my love. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Edmond. Don't worry about me!"

Haydée back in life was something akin to a ghost. A person only Edmond could see and guided him through his streak of vengeance. No matter what anyone did, nothing would be able to hurt her due to this fact. But now as a physical Servant, Edmond didn't even think about the fact that his flames would injure her. He stares daggers at Roa, for making him unintentionally hurt his beloved.

The vampire smiles and mocks Edmond on his blunder. "You would even go so far as to hurt your companion to kill me again? You are a surprising person, Count."

"Shut up!"

Edmond's arms are wrapped in flame once more and he swings repeatedly at the vampire to kill, the vampire using his claws to counter and block. One swing misses and destroys the wall of a building, and a lightning bolt misses and blows up a small nearby car.

A battle between fire and electricity, as quick as the eye can see throughout the city of Paris.

This Dead Apostle can keep up with Servants just fine, and due to his previous knowledge of Edmond Dantès, he can counter him pretty well, his flames no longer a surprise.

Haydée flies over and heals Edmond's wounds for him, her left wrist and hand still black from the burn. "Thanks. Please support me the best that you can."

The fight starts one more time. The sound of thunder clapping can be heard for kilometers and the glow of the fire can be seen by those nearby. Buildings crumble as Edmond is slammed into them, and structures fall as Edmond drops them onto Roa. The anger from Concetta's death has all come back to him, fueling his power as he is an Avenger.

He latches onto Roa's head and scorches it clean off, but of course, that's not enough to kill as shown to Edmond before. Instead, he uses it as a chance to try and burn the rest of him while he's stationary, but is obstructed by a barrier.

"OUT OF MY WAY!", he screams as he torches it, but it's too late and a claw comes his way toward his torso, possibly about to puncture it. With Edmond also being mid-attack, he can't dodge very well. At the very least his side will be injured and limit mobility, then it's over. His lightning-fast slash would kill him in the next move. He cannot enter Spirit Form fast enough either, so there's nothing he can do. Haydée can't even use her Noble Phantasm fast enough to "change his mind."

But she isn't useless as she throws herself in front of Edmond and takes the attack through her right side, the jab going through her arms as she tries to block. She falls to the ground heavily injured and Edmond uses this one chance he has. Thanking Haydée in his head, he pushes Roa away from Haydée as fast as he can, then lights himself and the vampire up in as many flames as he can, forming a pillar of flame.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, ROA!"

He screams so loud that it wouldn't be surprising if the whole city could hear him.

"YOU COULDN'T BEAT ME THEN, YOU STILL CAN'T BEAT ME NOW!"

The heat intensifies and Roa begins to turn to ash. As he can't revive from complete death, if nothing remains, it doesn't matter if the Moon is fully out. The vampires Altrouge creates through copying past dead ones like she did with Vlov are weaker than their alive counterparts, so this aria was weaker anyway than the one Edmond fought in life.

Roa tries to say something but is burned to ash with no way to come back. The fight's over and Edmond returns to his lover's side.

"Haydée?", he asks and makes sure she's okay.

"I'm fine, Edmond. I'm a Servant after all. I'm going to go into Spirit Form to heal for a bit, so be careful as I won't be around to support you, but I will still follow you. Stay safe."

Haydée vanishes into Spirit Form and Edmond is left alone standing in the burning rubble of several buildings alone.

"It wouldn't hurt to heal myself.", he says out loud and returns to Spirit Form for the time being. He and Haydée headed back toward the home base.


The altered saint walks through the rubble with her sword in hand, torching every vampire that crosses her path. It's not hard for her, considering that her flames are a perfect counter for them, so she walks through the rubble with no effort. Her main goal right now is to just clear out the area, and she's traveled a few kilometers from the Hôtel de Ville so far. The dead never stop, and this brings back some bitter memories from her time in the war.

She's an alter of Jeanne d'Arc. She has the same life experiences as her, along with the same death. Her reason for being an alter is unknown even to her, but somehow she feels a lot more used to seeing people burn and die than she did back then. Is it because of her previous summonings? No one can tell, not even her.

That was a lie, she does remember one thing about her previous summonings. She feels like she's seen Chaldea's Master before. She can't place it, but she feels strangely at ease around him and feels like he's someone who can be trusted. That's why she goes so out of her way like this to protect him, and those he cares about.

A feeling like she's known him for years, a sense of something new to her, like her heart beating fast around him, or random thoughts popping into her head, but she's hidden all of this from him as she doesn't understand it herself.

"This is a pain…"

Not the mission itself, but her existence she feels is a pain. No memories of how she came to be this way, her mood is strange, and her existence is something that shouldn't be. Her mind flashes back to Altrouge saying she killed her before, and she still can't wrap her head around that. But there's no way to get solid answers right now.

And as she makes her way through the ruined, once-beautiful city, she sees herself. The one looking back at her looks just like her, but not her. The one in front of Jeanne d'Arc Alter is her normal, non-altered self, Jeanne d'Arc, along with the boy she's seen before, Sieg.

"You're…"

Jeanne starts to say, and Sieg takes the chance to introduce them.

"Ruler, this is Jeanne d'Arc Alter. She's you…but not? Think of Atalanta that one time with the boar pelt."

Jeanne nods. "I already know what an Alter is. No need to inform me, but still, seeing yourself like this is strange."

Jeanne Alter doesn't know what to say. Of course, one would be at a loss for words when seeing a living breathing version of oneself on the street. "You're me…"

"Correct. This must be a miracle from the Lord to finally meet you like this.", Jeanne lights up and approaches Jalter, but she only steps back repulsed.

"Don't mention the Lord around me. I want nothing to do with any of that!", she speaks up, breaking the somewhat peaceful atmosphere between them.

Ruler looks surprised and doesn't know what to say. She's not the type to force her beliefs on others, she hasn't even done so to Sieg, but hearing a version of herself say such a thing shocks her.

"What are you saying?", Jeanne tries to reason with the other her, but Jeanne Alter gets angry.

"How can you still believe in the Lord when we died for our beliefs? If he truly cared, why would we have been murdered so young by people we were protecting!? Those innocent civilians lined up on the streets, calling us a witch and throwing stones at us even if we did nothing wrong! In prison, we were— for all the time spent 'serving' the Lord, nothing good came from it! And you still put your faith in Him!?", her laments pour out. And she's not wrong either. She dedicated her life to the Lord after hearing his voice call to her on several occasions. She led an army to fight wars on his behalf, and eventually, she was killed for this reason by burning at the stake as people cheered at her charred corpse. What more of a reason could there be to not believe in a God? There's no afterlife, no salvation for anyone, just nothing.

Jeanne averts her eyes as she recognizes the Alter's points. She's not wrong, but even still.

"I am not mad about any of that. I fulfilled my role and did what was needed. If all it took was my life to end the war and aid the French, then I am fine with that. Besides, if that had not happened, I wouldn't have made so many great memories as a Servant."

"Cut the crap! We did what was right and we were killed for it. If even the best of us are killed and the evil gets to live, then what's the point!? If what you said is true about 'fulfilling your role,' then that makes you no more than God's tool. Once your job is done you're thrown out. That's no God at all, not the one we were supposed to worship."

Jeanne puts her hand on Alter's trembling shoulder and then caresses her cheek.

"I do not know what happened to you to make you turn out like this, and I will not try to change your mind about the Lord, but at the very least I believe everything happens for a reason, and that fate is very really and guides us in our lives, even post death as a Servant. I like to think we died so that we could serve as a symbol to the future people, and aid humanity both back then, and now as a Servant. Our death, although cruel, became a means to save many. You are free to resent those who did it and resent the Lord for allowing it, but I believe it was for this very reason, you standing here aiding Chaldea, that you…that we, were killed. I mean, if you did not believe at least that, then why do you still hold La Pucelle?"

The sword she holds is a Noble Phantasm which can use the manifestation of burning at the stake to burn what she deems to be something that must be destroyed, in most cases being for the cause of saving others. This very blade, which did not exist in her lifetime, not as it is now anyway, manifests by her side for the purpose of saving, not simply destroying what's an enemy.

Jeanne Alter having this sword, and actively using it must mean that in some way, she's fighting to save humanity and therefore giving her death in life a purpose now. Without that death, she may have never even become a Heroic Spirit and therefore she wouldn't be here to help.

"Unfortunately, you will not be able to help humanity."

A masculine voice seems to appear out of thin air from their side, and a knight walks toward them as calmly as ever. His presence couldn't be sensed by any of them, and he'd been there a while from the sound of things. Rizo-Waal Strout has arrived on the scene.

"Sieg-kun!", Jeanne cries out, readying her banner and Sieg jumps ahead to fight the knight with green sparks flying out of his body.

"No, wait!", Alter cries out but it's no use.

"Too slow."

Sieg is cut down in a single slash through the torso, splitting him in half. He then swings his sword once more toward Jeanne which cuts her horizontally over her breasts and arms. After she's knocked back from that, he, in a single motion, lops her head off and sends the two to an early grave.

Strout stops and watches as the two vanish from the world, inevitably to be summoned again soon, but it's no use as it'll take time for them to get back. Strout makes eye contact with Jeanne Alter and begins to talk.

"Your reason for differing from that one is simple. When we were taking down the original Singularity here, you were the one holding the Grail, meaning you were the enemy. A spellcaster created you as a wish, and that wish went wrong. You were a Servant created as a means to get back at the ones who killed you. Whether your feelings about the Lord are artificial or genuine is not something I can say, but it seems that since then, you have changed. You fight for humanity now, rather than fighting to destroy it. So if you wish to save humanity, then you will have to first save yourself from my blade, unlike our fight in the Singularity."

Strout raises his blade and points it at Alter as if challenging her to a duel.

"I am quite similar to you. I lost people close to me, my family. This was before Christianity was a thing though, but even so, I kept wondering why they had to die. They did nothing wrong, yet died anyway. I hated a being I didn't know existed, and came to the conclusion that there was no higher power, none that was good anyway. But…I found a purpose through that tragedy and that was becoming Altrouge's knight. It seems as if you have not found the purpose for your tragedy yet."

Strout begins to circle her. Jeanne Alter's heart rate skyrockets as this is a foe who cannot be beaten.

"After dealing with you, I will tear down that barrier, and then kill Chaldea. If you wish to stop me, then find your purpose and win.", he says and gestures to the sword. "But if you cannot find your purpose for living again, the reason for your demise…"

Strout closes the gap between them, barely giving Alter time to block his sword from cutting her head clean off.

"Then you will die."