49: And back into the frying pan.
A moment of stunned silence follows Dark Jeanne's words, only broken by her cold laughter.
"Hah. Hahaha! Ah, someone pour water on me, I think I'm gonna be sick." Dark Jeanne says, Covering her face with a hand. "Shit, this is so messed up. Who would have thought something like this could happen, huh? I feel like I swallowed a live eel and it's trying to get out. Hey, 'Me', are you feeling this too?"
"-No. I don't feel anything at all like that." Jeanne replies, and her counterpart scowls. "But you're the one trying to destroy my country, right? The so-called Dragon Witch?"
"Our country!? Don't make me laugh! This country, which betrayed us and allowed us to be burned alive!? France already lost any claim it had on us at that point!" The Dragon Witch spits.
Jeanne opens her mouth to say something, but Marie speaks first, pointing at "Then it's up to me to reclaim you! That's right, Dragon Witch - as a monarch of France, I'm going to make you mine!"
A moment of shocked silence follows. On Dark Jeanne's cheeks I see a faint dusting of red, mirrored by a much more pronounced blush on our Jeanne's.
"Another conquest so soon, Maria? Goodness you're insatiable." Amadeus says, shaking his head.
"Um, no! That came out wrong, what I meant is, I'm going to steal back your heart! I-in the name of France! That's right, for France! Vive la France!" The queen hastily "corrects" her sentence. "Oh, um, not-evil Saint Jeanne d'Arc, don't worry, I'll also make sure to claim your heart and body."
"She let her true intentions slip…" I mutter, awestruck. Okay, good news, the yuri readings are off the charts. Safe! That means I'm safe, right?
"Ah, a war on two fronts. How bold." Mozart continues to tease the Queen.
"God, are all French rulers like this…?" Dark Jeanne mumbles, and then she coughs into her fist. "Ahem! Th-that's pointless. You can't change my mind. It's impossible. You'd need to claim the grail to even have a chance in hell of turning me to your side - and even then, I'm me. I am the Jeanne d'Arc who avenges herself upon France. The pain of those flames, the pain of that betrayal will never fade-"
"Then I'll cover them up with love!" Marie exclaims.
Dark Jeanne's eye twitches and her face turns even more red. "Shut up! Come to my side, Evil Dragon - and kill them all!"
In an instant, the sun is blotted out. Soundlessly, the Evil Dragon Fafnir arrives, mouth already sparking with blue fire. It's only as he starts to release his attack that the noise finally catches up, the sonic boom generated by his motion ripping through what remains of the nearby foliage. Immediately afterwards, a condensed jet of flame carves its way through the road, turning dust to glass, certain death billowing out from that point of impact-!
"[Luminosité Éternelle]!" Jeanne's banner slams into the ground, a shimmering golden field spreading around our group as the sea of fire crashes over us. One second, two seconds, three seconds go by as seemingly endless fire pours from the evil Dragon's jaws. Slowly, almost invisibly, the banner starts to fray. Staring after string, one by one, it's unmade by Fafnir's attack.
"Hey, 'Me', I know as well as you do that we don't want to burn to death again. So if you give up now, I'll have Berserk Avenger here put you out of your misery." The Dragon Witch calls through the roaring flames, mocking laughter filling her voice.
-Avenger. I've never heard of that class before. I've learned at least that about the Shadow behind her, and I know now that the Black Knight is someone who knew Arthur. So if I die here, I'll have at least that going for me. If I dodge La Charite, and pick up Mozart and Marie on the other road, it might save us some pain too.
Yeah. If I die here, it won't be a total loss. For an instant I contemplate killing myself, to spare everyone the pain of burning alive - but I'll stick it out. I can't give up so easily. I need to see it through.
Jeanne, similarly, levels a glare full of resolve at her counterpart.
"I refuse. If it's my destiny to die like this once more, then so be it - but until that point, I won't give up!"
"Kuhaha!" The shadow standing behind Dark Jeanne - "Berserk Avenger", I guess? - finally speaks. "Such a shame! I'd have loved to have the chance to kill a saint - but even if it's for the wrong reason, she's found the right answer!"
The downpour of flames continues, stretching on and on with no sign of ending. Every so often, he pauses to take a breath, but there's no time for us to do anything before he starts up again. An entire five minutes passes like that, Jeanne's banner continuing to fray under the strain.
"...There's no helping it. We're gonna have to try for a Hail Mary." I mutter through gritted teeth, glancing at my final Command Spell. Between it and the two or so spells worth of mana I've got in my Mystic Code, there are a few options. "Mordred, how are your injuries? Can you still fight?"
"I'll manage. Sword's pretty messed up, though." She says through gritted teeth.
...Translation: her wounds are pretty damn crippling, even with Jeanne's barrier providing some passive healing. Normally she'd say something like "who the hell do you think I am?"
"Mash, what about you?" I ask the Shielder.
"Before worrying about other people's injuries, shouldn't you heal your own, Senpai?" She responds, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"...Sorry, but I'm just gonna be counting on Jeanne's Noble Phantasm for that for now. We're in too tight a spot for me to be blowing mana on healing myself." As long as I don't move too much, it's not that bad anyway. In any case, I guess I can just approximate Mash's wounds from my own. She already set her own shoulder, so all things considered, she's not doing too bad. Still, Mash doesn't have any Noble Phantasms we know of that can do anything to Fafnir, so…
"Marie, Mozart said your Noble Phantasm was pretty strong, right?"
She nods. "But it's a big commitment. If I use [Guillotine Breaker] at its full power, I won't be able to summon it again at all for an hour or so."
"So if it doesn't work, we won't have our getaway option either, huh?" I cringe. That's a serious downside. And so, turning to the last offensive option we've got...
"Amadeus, your Noble Phantasm isn't capable of holding back that fire, right? So even if I use my magecraft to get rid of our senses and protect from your music, we'll just get fried."
"It's just a debuff, I'm afraid. Two ranks down to all parameters is nothing to sneeze at, but…" He sighs.
"Not anything that'll turn this mess around. Damn it, just how long can he keep this up-?"
"Ah, but back up a second." Mozart says. "You said you've got a curse that obstructs the targets' senses, right?"
"...Well, it's not strictly a curse, but-" I start. What's he getting at? It's not like Shamak is any use here.
"It's no good if it's not a curse. Listen, if this is going to work, you absolutely have to be thinking of the spell as a 'curse'. Are you good enough of a magus to pull that off?" He interrupts.
"With a command spell, I could maybe pull it off, but what good is it gonna do? In case you forgot, that's a dragon up there! Nothing I cast is going to punch through his innate magic resistance. And even if I did, he already knows where we are." I mutter, scowling. It feels bad to be so defeatist, but…
"I take it you haven't read the Volsunga Saga, then? You see, it doesn't matter if he knows where we are, so long as we hit Fafnir 'from below, in the left shoulder, with an attack he does not see coming', it ought to be close enough - you can manage that, right Sir Mordred?" Amadeus says, prompting a nod from the Saber.
"Alright, so we recreate his legend. That's fine. That makes sense. But did you forget the part where he resists magic?" I protest.
"Not curses. As long as it's a curse, it should work." The composer says, a grin on his face. "In life, Fafnir was cursed twice over - the [Evil Dragon Phenomenon], which turned him into a dragon, and the curse of [Das Rhinegold], which condemned him to a violent death. Really, you could probably make an argument that his entire life was defined by curses. Naturally, that ought to give him a crippling conceptual weakness to them!"
"...If you say so. Fine, we'll give it a try. Jeanne, the next time he takes a breath, drop the barrier and we'll take a shot at him. Mash, get ready to shield us if he manages to counterattack."
"Got it."
"Understood, Senpai."
A moment later, the plan is executed. Jeanne's barrier drops, and my last command spell flares to life. Smoke billows out of my hand as I do my best to twist the spell into a proper 'curse'.
"[Shamak]!"
Since it's my own spell, I can still make out the general gist of where everything is - I feel Mordred rocket off the ground with a Mana Burst, sword awash in scarlet light. I sense Fafnir recoiling, attempting to dodge the strike.
And I hear the footsteps as Berserk Avenger suddenly appears behind me, hands crackling with indigo fire.
"You couldn't possibly think I'd be so merciful as to simply let you plot amongst yourselves right in front of me, could you?" He asks, cruel laughter filling his voice. And faster than I can turn around, he thrusts his hand at my back-!
Only to freeze as the sound of a piano fills the air. Beautiful music, mixed with tones of darkness and hope, penetrates the noise of the battlefield - and visible pain wracks the Avenger's body, driving him to his knees.
"W-what-!?" He hisses, head whipping towards Mozart, who had apparently materialized the instrument while we couldn't see him.
Above us, Fafnir roars in agony as [Azoth Blood Arthur] pierces his left shoulder, oceans of noxious-smelling purple blood pouring from the wound.
"You know, I mentioned earlier that I'm basically useless. But one thing that I have got going for me is my [Aesthetic Appreciation] skill." Mozart says, smirking as his fingers dance across the keyboard. "Simply put, it allows me to identify art. It's limited in its application, but a living work of art like you… well, pardon my pun, but you're an open book to me."
"Y-you…!" The avenger tries to stand, hands sputtering with fire - but as he does so, his body seems to smear across space, leaving another image of him still doubled over in pain. "What have you inflicted upon me!?"
"It's funny, you know. A different soundtrack can change so much about a story. My musical magecraft isn't good for much, but this is something it can do. Drawing out different aspects of the same story - I can manage that." Mozart says in a mocking tone. "I've titled this piece [The Redemption of Edmond Dantès] - I wonder, Monsieur Avenger, can your spirit origin survive it?"
"Hah. Hahaha! Kuhahaha! So that's what this is! I won't forget this, composer!" The man cackles madly as his body's edges start to fray. "To steal the kind ending that man gave me, and brandish it against me - you must be one of the most vile men I've ever met."
Fafnir smashes into the ground, absent his left arm, spasming and roaring as he bleeds out. To the side, Marie and Mash use some basic magecraft to repair our carriage's wheels. Mordred lands somewhere nearby, panting heavily.
The Avenger narrows his eyes, silencing his laughter. "I'll kill you for this."
Mozart laughs and prepares to respond, but I cut him off. "No, you won't. [Minya]."
Purple crystal covers his body, breaking away in chunks, tearing him apart until all that remains is a nondescript mess of spiritual waste matter, faintly sparkling with gold light.
Letting out a breath, I turn to join the others in our retreat as Dark Jeanne looks on. Why is she just watching? It actually takes me until I'm standing in the door of the carriage before it clicks.
"Wait, we outnumber her five to one. Shouldn't we just-?"
"Fou!" An almost-forgotten white dog springs from somewhere and roundhouse kicks me into the carriage.
"Can't we-?" Another conflagration fills the area as the Tarrasque impacts the ground behind us. "Okay, nevermind, let's leave."
"-[Attendre, Espérer]."
A/N:
Should have double-tapped, Baru.
Was strongly considering having Tarrasque outta nowhere just kill Subaru, but frankly there's just no good point for a reset in the past few chapters lol
Like I could reset to before la charite but then why have that scene with carmilla bathing in dragon blood? Also I'd have to rewrite like five different introduction scenes and eff that.
Fafnir's really been jobbing pretty hard, huh? I'll make up for that eventually. Edmond too.