At the moment, everyone was discussing their situation a little more in-depth. The blue sky had already faded to give way to an orange one, signaling the end of the day in only a few more hours.
Luckily for Seth, after eating some food he could now stand up, something he did at the first chance. He had to conserve the little dignity he had left if there was any, to begin with.
"Well, let's review what we know so far. There seem to be Servants being summoned without a Master and now the number exceeds seven, meaning this is not a normal Holy Grail War anymore." Dr. Roman analyzed, gaining a nod from everyone.
"The other Jeanne is the one commanding the enemy Servants even if she is one herself. The rules were broken long ago." He said once more.
"Yeah...Although I'm not a complete Ruler, I noticed they were under Madness Enhancement." It was hard not to notice. Their abnormal strength which seemed fake; the discrepancies between their true thoughts and actions, as well as the words Saber had said when he had recognized Rider... There were not many ways to explain all of that, so it was a logical conclusion the one Jeanne arrived at.
"Regardless if they are right in the head or not... They are powerful. To top it off, they have a powerful Dragon with them, our best possibility would be to take them one by one." Seth said after thinking for a bit, he was strong against serpents, not dragons. As much as he hated it.
"Yes...Vlad III and Elizabeth Bathory. They are certainly powerful foes, sadly we don't know much about the rest. The only clue we have is that Saber recognized Marie." Mash felt a little relieved that at least they had something to work with, but it was not enough if they wanted to guarantee everyone's safety, especially her Master's.
"I think she was Chevalier d'Eon. Unfortunately, I have no proof. She was born a couple of years before me and I only met her when she was an adult. I'm not really familiar with her younger version to say with certainty." Marie's voice carried a certain reminiscence. Seeing a familiar face on the opposite side was not how she hoped things would go.
"The woman with blue hair was a Saint and by the look in her eyes, she kept her sanity even if not by much. That's the only information I could get in the little time our gazes met." His interaction with the other Servants was minimum, so Seth couldn't exactly gain much in terms of identity findings. Although even if he did, he wasn't sure he would be of help. Medusa in the last Singularity was a clear example that things here weren't exactly the same as in his old world.
"You knew she was a Saint with just a glance?" Jeanne said surprised causing him to roll his eyes.
"She was fighting with a cross and had a holy aura surrounding her even if it was a little...rough. If she wasn't a Saint then I would just give up on guessing from now on." It was ideal not to judge a book by its cover, but even that had limits.
"I didn't know you could detect the presence of the Lord in humans, Master! Could it be you are his envoy?" The Egyptian God almost choked on his own saliva when he heard what she said. It was just a simple question on Ruler's part, but it almost made him shiver.
'Don't lump me with him please, I don't have the fondest of memories about him.' He looked away from her with an expression as if he had just eaten the worst thing in the world.
"Master? What's the matter? Are you still not feeling well?" She asked in concern... just to be totally ignored.
"We need to be careful, by the looks of it they already have the Grail. For all we know, the other Jeanne might be summoning more Servants now." Deciding to move from the topic before he became the first God to die from a stroke, he decided to change the topic. The black-haired man then looked at Saber. "You once held the Grail, any ideas of what the black Jeanne might do with it?"
"I don't know. As I told you before, I only used the Grail for one thing and I doubt that mad dog would use it for the same reason I did." There was one thing that she failed to mention, and that was if the other Jeanne used the power of the Holy Cup to boost her own strength, they would be in for a lot of trouble.
"Right... She seemed to be the type to want as much power as she can to crush her enemies. So the option of her summoning more Servants is the most viable and troublesome one." Romani knew that whatever she used it for, it would only bring disaster.
"There is also the possibility of other Servants being summoned like Marie and Amadeus were at least," Jeanne said entering the conversation once more.
"I appreciate the optimism but we can't rule out the possibility of those Servants being hostile." Amadeus' expression was unsure. Unfortunately, just because they wished 'good' Servants would come, that didn't make the other possibility any less plausible.
"I agree with him but we still have to find them. We are going to need as much help as possible if we want to stand a chance in case we have to face all enemies at the same time. Jeanne is incapable of finding them at the moment so we are going to need your help, Romani." The black-haired man would prefer to rely on his own strength, but he understood he had to play the cards given to him.
"B-But what happens if they turned to be enemies?" Mash asked.
"We kill them." Seth replied without hesitation. It was better to get rid of them when they were alone than wait for them to join their enemy's side. If that happened, their chances of succeeding would only go down.
"It seems being beaten up by the mad dog put you in a bad mood." Saber's sarcastic remark earned a shake of the head from him. It might look that way, but it couldn't be further from the truth.
"It's not like that. You saw what happened when we fought earlier. Do you want to bet that things will change for the better if she boosts her forces?" It was simple math; nothing hard to understand. In fact, he felt stupid having to explain his thought process.
"We can talk more tomorrow, it's getting pretty dark so it would be best if you could rest a bit," Romani said and no one had any objections. They already had too much 'fun' for the day.
After the majority of them decided to sleep, Seth separated from the group to take a little walk. In the midst of it, he found a lake and decided to take a bath to clean off the dried blood he still had on his body.
Dematerializing his arm pads and lower garments he dived into it. He started swimming and cleaning the parts of his body that were dirty with blood. Finishing, he decided to sit on top of a big rock at the side of the lake. With water drops falling from his head he looked at the sky, a beautiful full moon present on it.
'How long has it been since the last time I lost? To think I was defeated this early. Truly, don't flaunt what you don't have...' He thought with a self-mocking smile. As much as he hated it, it was a humbling experience. To really show him that he couldn't continue thinking that everything could be resolved with a strength he didn't have anymore.
As he gazed upon the bright moon, three figures appeared one by one and disappeared as fast as they came. Two men and one 'monster'. Seeing those vivid images, Seth allowed a serene smile to adorn his face. "Did you guys know? What you wished me to see grow so that they could provide the ultimate battle, what you wished for me to protect as they were the future of the planet, and what you believed were the key to bringing down the Gods... Humans... They are an interesting bunch."
"I do not know what is that bird planning but... I will keep my promise. Just once, until they can stand against everything on their own... I will protect them. After that... maybe it will be my time to leave this world as well."
At that moment, a God-turned-man found a new determination to keep going, if only for a little while longer.
While Seth was in the lake, Fujimaru, as well as Artoria and Amadeus, were sleeping. Artoria needed to rest after exhausting a good chunk of her magical energy in the last battle and Amadeus was just lazy. Mash decided to patrol the area for possible enemy sightings.
Seeing as Jeanne was acting strange, Marie decided to chat with her. "What's wrong, Jeanne? You seem down. Are you perhaps tired? She asked a little concerned.
"No, I'm not tired. Thanks for your concern, Marie." Jeanne thanked her with a little smile.
"Oh? Then, what's the matter?" She asked again.
"It's just...seeing all the destruction caused by the hands of the other me saddens me." She said looking at the ground.
"I understand. As a Queen seeing this France makes my heart hurt. For you it might be even worse as you were from this era, right?" She said in a sympathetic tone.
"Yeah..." She affirmed, a little dispirited.
Seeing Jeanne this depressed, Marie suddenly got an idea. "That's right! We can have a little girl's talk." She said with a bright smile.
"...Sorry?" She asked for confirmation.
"Oh? Didn't girls in your time have chats like this?" Marie asked a little confused.
"No, it's not that—" She clarified just to be interrupted just as quickly. "Then it's fine! We got summoned as our young selves, well, you got summoned at the age you died, but that's not important! Girls our age should be talking about love and romance!" She happily exclaimed.
Seeing Marie's enthusiasm, she couldn't help but awkwardly say. "I'm sorry Marie, I don't have any experience with those."
"Hm? You've never fallen in love? You don't have to be shy about it." Marie's little giggles did nothing but embarrass the girl further. She really didn't know how to deal with the Rider Servant. She was too... open? for her comfort.
"P-please don't tease me like that. To begin with, I am just a farmer girl who took arms to liberate France once I heard the voice of the Lord. The only love I know is his and my family's." Jeanne embarrassingly tried to explain with a blush on her face. It was not a topic she was familiar with, so she didn't know how to properly convey it to her.
Seeing her like that, Marie chuckled a bit. "That's a good form of love too. You are young, so you can experience many types of it in the future."
With a fake cough, Jeanne decided to change the subject of the conversation, lest she got embarrassed even more. "What about you, Marie? Have you ever fallen in love?"
Deciding to play along, for now. She replied. "Of course! Two times, first with a boy who proposed to me when I was seven and then when I was fourteen with the King I married."
"Fourteen? At that age, all that was in my mind was working on the fields and playing with the other children." Her voice couldn't sound more surprised even if she tried. For her, marrying at fourteen was kind of...
"For nobility, marrying at that age was not uncommon. Besides, I loved my husband so I didn't mind marrying that early." Marie explained. Naturally, she understood her concerns, so she didn't take her misgivings to heart.
"Ahaha...It's still difficult for me to understand." Ruler's laugh was hesitant. She didn't want to sound rude, but her ignorance in matters of nobles was showing a bit too much for her liking.
The Queen just smiled. "It's simple really. You can consider it as a little girl's innocence, but when you truly do love someone; something like marriage becomes secondary. What's important is that you want to be with that person. In that case, your age just becomes meaningless. Of course, it is important to know what you are doing and not throw everything away for it."
Just as she finished talking, they noticed multiple presences around them. Mash soon came from the foliage. "It's an enemy attack, I would go wake up Master. Jeanne, do you have any idea where Kuro-san is?" Mash asked and was answered sooner than she expected.
"I'm here." Seth's voice came from behind them, he rushed here as soon as he noticed signs of an enemy attack, barely giving him any time to dry himself with his Fire Authority.
"Let Fujimaru rest, he must be tired. It will be enough with us four." He continued.
"But who will give the orders if we all fight?" Mash asked, still unsure.
Seth raised an eyebrow at Mash's question. "Do you need someone telling you what to do just to fight? What's so difficult about making your own decisions?" He asked back, a little perplexed at the girl's question. The Desert God thought that she was trying too hard to get into her new Servant role.
"I-It's not like that..." Her voice was low and embarrassed, and the blush on her face clearly told the world how she was dying of shame inside.
"Sigh... Fight. Attack. Defend if you are attacked. Evade if possible. Are these orders okay for you?" He rolled his eyes at the little girl. Maybe he should talk with Romani after this to make the Doctor give some much-needed advice on how to adapt to situations to Shielder.
"Yes..." She timidly said, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone present.
Seth blinked and the next second he had Marie's face centimeters away from his. "You should encourage her and stop being so gloomy!" She said with a stern face.
"And you should respect personal space, Rider. But whatever, you saved my life so I at least should humor you." His eyebrows twitched with vexation, but he still complied. At least he got something out of this. Now he was ninety percent convinced he could distinguish friend from foe regarding Servants. If it was a weirdo, there was a big chance for that Servant to become an ally.
Turning to look at Mash, this time he spoke less harshly. "You are worried about Fujimaru, right? Then you should let him have as much sleep as possible. They are not strong enemies so there's no need to wake him up, he will need all the energy he can for tomorrow."
"Y-Yes! I understand!" She exclaimed, this time surer than before. It was a bit of welcoming progress, so he wouldn't look at it negatively.
"Let's take the fight a little further from the camp," Jeanne suggested and the rest approved. It would be useless to try and let the other Master rest only for him to be woken up by the sound of battle, after all.
They immediately went to fight while slowly leading the werewolves away. Compared to the Servants, they weren't something that would pose trouble to them, so it didn't take long to finish them all off. Besides, they were already used to how they fought, so the fight was made even easier because of that.
"That was the last of them. Battle finished." Mash said in her usual robot-like fashion.
"...No, it's not over. A Servant is approaching." Seth said looking at the sky through the branches of the trees.
"He is right, I'm detecting the presence of a Servant. This time I fear we will have to wake up Fujimaru we like it or not." The hologram of Dr. Roman confirmed it.
"How much time until they get here?" Marie asked. She didn't look worried if her smiley face was anything to go by. Although nobody knew what went inside her head or her heart, so nobody commented on it.
"She is already here." True to Seth's words, a woman with blue hair and a white cross now stood before them.