Chapter 31
Charles Flynn
I trust you know where the happy button is?
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2018
- Messages
- 565
- Likes received
- 19,424
The villagers make it halfway before the Wyverns (and dragon) reach them.
Fortunately, Rider, Berserker, and Ruler are all quite adept at holding the line. Georgios' Interfectum Dracones cutting a swathe through the dragons as he channels it through Ascalon. Already, I'm feeling the pinch from my circuits. There's something particularly disturbing about the feeling of your nerves starting to overheat, as I'm swiftly discovering.
Tamamo, for her part, is much less singularly deadly, but considering that she isn't THE dragonslayer, that's hardly surprising. Still, she's holding her own, her immense strength coming in handy. I watch dispassionately as she begins to beat a wyvern to death with another wyvern.
'Caster, is the bounded field up?'
"Yep!" she calls back. She seems happy that she doesn't have to fight directly in this one. I suppose I can hardly begrudge a pacifist for not wanting to fight.
'Good. Lancer, Assassin, are your defenses ready?'
'My spears thirst for the blood of the unclean!' I'll take that as a yes.
'I, too, am ready.'
Right. I turn back to watch the fleeing townsfolk. They've already made it another quarter of the way to our bounded field, although their numbers are still dropping as, every once in a while, in spite of Georgios, Tamamo, and Jeanne's best efforts, a wyvern get lucky.
Up above, the dragon still hasn't joined the fight, circling like a great vulture. She's up there. The Dragon Witch. It's mostly a gut feeling, but it makes sense. The elite flying unit makes for an excellent mobile command center. You can see the entire battle, and your command center is also a flying, firebreathing incarnation of pure destruction. The dragon's behavior bears my theory out as well. Normally, it would have joined right in, ravaging the land to its little lizard heart's content. But it's remaining airborne, and not engaging.
Jeanne was an exceptional tactician. Most likely, the Dragon Witch won't engage us in direct combat. Just toss her minions at us.
The villagers are almost here. The three Servants guarding them are managing an excellent fighting retreat. Now. Dragon Witch. What's your counterblow?
They wyverns throw themselves at the Bounded Field, bouncing off of it and then being promptly slaughtered by Vlad and Kojirou, as the river of new refugees starts to flee into Xuanzang's sanctuary.
First quarter, half, three-quarters, all surviving villagers safe. Good. They keep their distance from Xuanzang and I, huddling together. Their clothes are stained with ash and blood and sweat, and their eyes are wide. I can hear them start whenever a wyvern slams against the barrier. They won't ever be the same after this. But they'll live.
In the skies, the dragon begins to descend. It lands about two hundred yards away from the Bound Field's edge, and stepping off of it-
Well, color scheme aside, she's a dead ringer for Jeanne.
'Cursed Arm. Strategy Two.'
'Yes, Master.'
I turn my attention back to the other Jeanne, checking her stats.
'Xuanzang. Can you use a curse to disrupt and lower her mana stat?'
'Yes. Why, though? If she's hooked up to this era's grail, then-'
'It only needs to last for a minute at most.'
'Alright then.'
Hm. She has six Servants with her. I could match those numbers, but victory would be far from assured.
Nonetheless, I can work with this.
"Well now, what's this?" she swaggers up closer to the barrier, her mouth upturned in an irritatingly self-assured smirk. "Someone dares to interfere with my rightful vengeance?"
All the Servants save Xuanzang and Cursed Arm have stood themselves between her and the barrier. She pays them no heed, further reinforcing my impression that she's an idiot. How the hell did she get this far? Oh, right, army of dragons. I suppose that air and troop superiority, along with six servants, really do tend to weigh out any and all tactical blunders when your opponents are regular humans.
"Not you, not you, not you, not you, and most certainly not you," She dismisses Jeanne last with an ugly sneer. "What fool even made such a cheap knockoff? No, no, no, who's the one behind this?" Her eyes settle on me. "You."
"I have been so called, yes." I reply mildly. ' Xuanzang, start the curse while I keep her distracted.'
"You're a Master, aren't you? What, do you plan to save the world? They'll burn you, you know, once you're done saving them. Ungrateful little bastards, humans are. And that's if I don't burn you first!" She breaks out into a fit of hysterical giggling, apparently amused to no end by her own wit.
"And your proposed alternative is...."
"They betrayed me! My country, my king, my God! So I'll burn them. I'll burn them all. And they'll know their sins as they beg for mercy. And I'll give them none!" she seems quite enthused at the prospect.
"How can you do this?" Jeanne breaks in, horror clear on her face. "Our country! Our people! Everything we gave our lives to defend, and you're tearing it down!"
"They didn't save me! SO I'LL SHOW THEM MY PAIN!"
"Including your family?" I ask mildly. 'Xuanzang, how's that curse coming along?'
"What?" Evil Jeanne looks like someone just punched her in the gut, while Good Jeanne's face is paling.
"Your family. They're still alive, mourning their daughter, the hero. Supposedly your father actually died of grief two months after your execution." Evil Jeanne looks confused, while Good Jeanne is looking utterly devastated. "You plan on burning everyone in France, yes? That includes them."
'Curse has taken effect, Master.'
"How could you?" Good Jeanne is looking at her twin with naked loathing in her eyes. "Our mother! Our father! Our brothers and sisters!" She's actually crying, now. "How can you threaten our family and call yourself me?"
"I-" Evil Jeanne's lost her footing. "They never bothered to save me! Just coasted off of their saintly daughter, who-"
"Actually, your mother, Isabelle, was the one who got your heresy conviction overturned. She lived every day of her life proud of what her daughter had done." Good Jeanne is crying at this point. "And you planned on killing her." 'Cursed Arm. Now.'
"I- You're making that up! I don't remember-"
"Delusional Heartbeat: Zabaniya."
She doesn't even have time to react before Cursed Arm crushes her heart. She simply stares in shock, caught dead in mid-sentence. And then she falls flat on her face and dissolves.
For a moment, all is silence. And then her Caster servant breaks that silence with a heartbroken scream of rage.
And with their summoner dead, her Servants vanish. All except...
"Gilles?" Good Jeanne (now Only Jeanne) mouths in shock. "But... Why didn't you-"
"MY WISH! MY DREAM!" he's frothing at the mouth with rage. "YOU KILLED IT! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY JEANNE!" He begins to chant. Something low, and guttural, in a language unknown to human ears. Deep in my heart, a primordial dread rises, as the shadows seem to deepen, and the angles broaden-
"KEZLIKI BEY!"
-and three stakes impale him straight through his chest, leaving him choking on his own blood mid-spell. I turn to look at Vlad.
"What? He was creeping me out."
"Fair enough. Good work, Lancer."
Real Jeanne has moved over to stand by the dying Gilles, tears brimming in her eyes. "Why, Gilles? Why?"
"They betrayed you. Just... went on with their lives. The world without you, it was..." he's struggling to speak. I'm actually surprised he can talk at all with those stakes through his lungs. "I couldn't stand it. I just wanted... to make them pay for it. Make them pay for it all."
"By creating an evil copy of the person you were avenging, who would then proceed to destroy everything she dedicated her life to saving, including her own family?" I point out. Jeanne glares at me. "I'll be quiet."
"I'm glad." Gilles smiles. "I got to see you again." And with that, he dissolves, leaving Jeanne alone, still crying.
"Right. Somebody grab the Grail!" Tamamo holds it up. "Thank you, Tamamo."
"I-" Jeanne turns to me. "The Lord was right. You do work fast."
"Please. I had excellent assistance." I smile. "It was an honor to work with you, Saint Jeanne."
"Oh, please, I'm hardly a Saint."
"You are, actually. You were canonized in 1920." I smile. The world is breaking down around us, and Jeanne herself is starting to dissolve. "Beam us up, Roman."
As the light takes us away, I imagine that I saw the Saint smile.
Fortunately, Rider, Berserker, and Ruler are all quite adept at holding the line. Georgios' Interfectum Dracones cutting a swathe through the dragons as he channels it through Ascalon. Already, I'm feeling the pinch from my circuits. There's something particularly disturbing about the feeling of your nerves starting to overheat, as I'm swiftly discovering.
Tamamo, for her part, is much less singularly deadly, but considering that she isn't THE dragonslayer, that's hardly surprising. Still, she's holding her own, her immense strength coming in handy. I watch dispassionately as she begins to beat a wyvern to death with another wyvern.
'Caster, is the bounded field up?'
"Yep!" she calls back. She seems happy that she doesn't have to fight directly in this one. I suppose I can hardly begrudge a pacifist for not wanting to fight.
'Good. Lancer, Assassin, are your defenses ready?'
'My spears thirst for the blood of the unclean!' I'll take that as a yes.
'I, too, am ready.'
Right. I turn back to watch the fleeing townsfolk. They've already made it another quarter of the way to our bounded field, although their numbers are still dropping as, every once in a while, in spite of Georgios, Tamamo, and Jeanne's best efforts, a wyvern get lucky.
Up above, the dragon still hasn't joined the fight, circling like a great vulture. She's up there. The Dragon Witch. It's mostly a gut feeling, but it makes sense. The elite flying unit makes for an excellent mobile command center. You can see the entire battle, and your command center is also a flying, firebreathing incarnation of pure destruction. The dragon's behavior bears my theory out as well. Normally, it would have joined right in, ravaging the land to its little lizard heart's content. But it's remaining airborne, and not engaging.
Jeanne was an exceptional tactician. Most likely, the Dragon Witch won't engage us in direct combat. Just toss her minions at us.
The villagers are almost here. The three Servants guarding them are managing an excellent fighting retreat. Now. Dragon Witch. What's your counterblow?
They wyverns throw themselves at the Bounded Field, bouncing off of it and then being promptly slaughtered by Vlad and Kojirou, as the river of new refugees starts to flee into Xuanzang's sanctuary.
First quarter, half, three-quarters, all surviving villagers safe. Good. They keep their distance from Xuanzang and I, huddling together. Their clothes are stained with ash and blood and sweat, and their eyes are wide. I can hear them start whenever a wyvern slams against the barrier. They won't ever be the same after this. But they'll live.
In the skies, the dragon begins to descend. It lands about two hundred yards away from the Bound Field's edge, and stepping off of it-
Well, color scheme aside, she's a dead ringer for Jeanne.
'Cursed Arm. Strategy Two.'
'Yes, Master.'
I turn my attention back to the other Jeanne, checking her stats.
'Xuanzang. Can you use a curse to disrupt and lower her mana stat?'
'Yes. Why, though? If she's hooked up to this era's grail, then-'
'It only needs to last for a minute at most.'
'Alright then.'
Hm. She has six Servants with her. I could match those numbers, but victory would be far from assured.
Nonetheless, I can work with this.
"Well now, what's this?" she swaggers up closer to the barrier, her mouth upturned in an irritatingly self-assured smirk. "Someone dares to interfere with my rightful vengeance?"
All the Servants save Xuanzang and Cursed Arm have stood themselves between her and the barrier. She pays them no heed, further reinforcing my impression that she's an idiot. How the hell did she get this far? Oh, right, army of dragons. I suppose that air and troop superiority, along with six servants, really do tend to weigh out any and all tactical blunders when your opponents are regular humans.
"Not you, not you, not you, not you, and most certainly not you," She dismisses Jeanne last with an ugly sneer. "What fool even made such a cheap knockoff? No, no, no, who's the one behind this?" Her eyes settle on me. "You."
"I have been so called, yes." I reply mildly. ' Xuanzang, start the curse while I keep her distracted.'
"You're a Master, aren't you? What, do you plan to save the world? They'll burn you, you know, once you're done saving them. Ungrateful little bastards, humans are. And that's if I don't burn you first!" She breaks out into a fit of hysterical giggling, apparently amused to no end by her own wit.
"And your proposed alternative is...."
"They betrayed me! My country, my king, my God! So I'll burn them. I'll burn them all. And they'll know their sins as they beg for mercy. And I'll give them none!" she seems quite enthused at the prospect.
"How can you do this?" Jeanne breaks in, horror clear on her face. "Our country! Our people! Everything we gave our lives to defend, and you're tearing it down!"
"They didn't save me! SO I'LL SHOW THEM MY PAIN!"
"Including your family?" I ask mildly. 'Xuanzang, how's that curse coming along?'
"What?" Evil Jeanne looks like someone just punched her in the gut, while Good Jeanne's face is paling.
"Your family. They're still alive, mourning their daughter, the hero. Supposedly your father actually died of grief two months after your execution." Evil Jeanne looks confused, while Good Jeanne is looking utterly devastated. "You plan on burning everyone in France, yes? That includes them."
'Curse has taken effect, Master.'
"How could you?" Good Jeanne is looking at her twin with naked loathing in her eyes. "Our mother! Our father! Our brothers and sisters!" She's actually crying, now. "How can you threaten our family and call yourself me?"
"I-" Evil Jeanne's lost her footing. "They never bothered to save me! Just coasted off of their saintly daughter, who-"
"Actually, your mother, Isabelle, was the one who got your heresy conviction overturned. She lived every day of her life proud of what her daughter had done." Good Jeanne is crying at this point. "And you planned on killing her." 'Cursed Arm. Now.'
"I- You're making that up! I don't remember-"
"Delusional Heartbeat: Zabaniya."
She doesn't even have time to react before Cursed Arm crushes her heart. She simply stares in shock, caught dead in mid-sentence. And then she falls flat on her face and dissolves.
For a moment, all is silence. And then her Caster servant breaks that silence with a heartbroken scream of rage.
And with their summoner dead, her Servants vanish. All except...
"Gilles?" Good Jeanne (now Only Jeanne) mouths in shock. "But... Why didn't you-"
"MY WISH! MY DREAM!" he's frothing at the mouth with rage. "YOU KILLED IT! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY JEANNE!" He begins to chant. Something low, and guttural, in a language unknown to human ears. Deep in my heart, a primordial dread rises, as the shadows seem to deepen, and the angles broaden-
"KEZLIKI BEY!"
-and three stakes impale him straight through his chest, leaving him choking on his own blood mid-spell. I turn to look at Vlad.
"What? He was creeping me out."
"Fair enough. Good work, Lancer."
Real Jeanne has moved over to stand by the dying Gilles, tears brimming in her eyes. "Why, Gilles? Why?"
"They betrayed you. Just... went on with their lives. The world without you, it was..." he's struggling to speak. I'm actually surprised he can talk at all with those stakes through his lungs. "I couldn't stand it. I just wanted... to make them pay for it. Make them pay for it all."
"By creating an evil copy of the person you were avenging, who would then proceed to destroy everything she dedicated her life to saving, including her own family?" I point out. Jeanne glares at me. "I'll be quiet."
"I'm glad." Gilles smiles. "I got to see you again." And with that, he dissolves, leaving Jeanne alone, still crying.
"Right. Somebody grab the Grail!" Tamamo holds it up. "Thank you, Tamamo."
"I-" Jeanne turns to me. "The Lord was right. You do work fast."
"Please. I had excellent assistance." I smile. "It was an honor to work with you, Saint Jeanne."
"Oh, please, I'm hardly a Saint."
"You are, actually. You were canonized in 1920." I smile. The world is breaking down around us, and Jeanne herself is starting to dissolve. "Beam us up, Roman."
As the light takes us away, I imagine that I saw the Saint smile.
Last edited: