After a short-lived battle, the bandit group was tied up and handed to the French soldiers guarding the little town. Of course, this was done by Seth as he was the one who had the most soldier-like appearance not taking into account Jeanne who for obvious reasons didn't get near them. He did get questioned but a hole in the wall by a punch gave the soldier the answers he needed.
Once that was over, they departed toward the city of Lyon. They didn't find any enemies along the way so the group decided to chat to pass time. Seth didn't join them as he was going a bit ahead of the group to detect if a Servant appeared seeing as Romani was being a little more on the unreliable side.
Looking at the Ring of Light in the sky, he couldn't help but find it familiar, yet the answer seemed to elude him. 'This is getting annoying... Whatever it is, the repulsive feeling it is bringing me is outstanding. But there is also some familiarity. Hm...'
Shaking his head, he decided to stop thinking about it for now. As much as he wanted to know, pondering until an imaginary light bulb lit inside of him was not going to work. It was best to concentrate on regaining his strength so that he didn't have to go from place to place trying to find the right Servant for the job in the future.
'Well, I learned my lesson. If worse comes to worst, I will remove my limiters of my own volition, and go all out even at the cost of my body breaking. I know I can beat the other Jeanne with that so it's a plus I guess...' While it was true that it was possible, he preferred not to do it. His vessel breaking would be really bad news if he wanted to continue fighting in the future.
"I can see the city in the distance!" Seth was brought out of his thoughts by Mash's voice, looking ahead he indeed noticed a city, or what it was a city. Now what was left was just ruins. It was something that had become a common sight the more they explored French territory. The other Jeanne was not idle in the slightest.
Getting closer, they could see a lot better the state Lyon was in. There was not even a single intact building. They were either totally destroyed or half burned down. It looked like a city that had been raided by a whole army. This, though, was something that was common among all the places where Jeanne's clutches had gotten a hold onto.
"So it was true, Lyon was destroyed..." Even though she had already expected it, Ruler could do nothing about the sadness coursing through her heart. It seemed as if she was cursed to always be late to help the citizens when it mattered the most.
"My detection range doesn't cover the whole city, but at least where it does I am not noticing anything alive." Seth's words shattered the little hope Jeanne had left. It was not like the chance was zero. After all, as he said, he wasn't able to cover the entirety of Lyon, but she would lie if she said it wasn't disheartening.
"What about you, Doctor?" Even after a few seconds passed, she got no answer. "It seems the connection was cut off, we will need to split up to cover more space."
"Okay, Amadeus and I will go to the west side. Saber, do you want to come with us." Marie decided for both her and Amadeus and then asked Artoria.
"I don't mind." More than not minding it, it was a matter of them being literally useless in a direct confrontation, so someone decent at close combat was needed for the group if they didn't want to lessen their forces.
"Then Master, Fujimaru, Mash, and I will go to the east side." Jeanne's decision was met with a negative answer from Seth.
"No, you go to the east side with the kids. I'm going north in case one side needs help so I can get there faster." He didn't like the idea of splitting up but the city was big so they didn't have many alternatives if they wanted to find the Dragon Slayer quickly. There was the chance of that crazy kid coming to the city, so it was best to be prepared for the worst outcome.
"..." Jeanne looked at him for a second before nodding. "I understand. Please be careful, if you need my help just use a Command Spell."
'At least she doesn't disobey anymore.' That was a decent improvement—one that was fine not to say out loud. Now it was a matter of seeing if she went back to her old habits or not.
Having decided their next course of action they separated in their respective directions. Once he saw all of them go, Seth materialized his spear and started walking north while putting its tip on the ground to make screeching noises. He didn't lie when he said he didn't detect any people who were alive, but that didn't include the dead ones.
The noise would make them gather toward him and make the others have an easy time searching for that Dragon Slayer. True to his words, undead soldiers appeared from inside the buildings, some even sprouted from the ground.
Seth extended his left hand forward and black fire materialized around it, said fire morphed into the shape of a serpent that shot toward the group of undead at incredible speed. In less than a second, all moving corpses turned to ashes. It was certainly convenient that his main power was a natural counter to the undead. 'Still, I don't like the dead being disrespected like this. Jeanne didn't seem to have the ability to use necromancy, so then who?'
He kept eliminating all the undead he came across in the same fashion while those thoughts traversed through his mind. If he had to say a strong point about himself right now it wouldn't be his combat prowess but his mana pool. It was kind of sad that he was not a magical God but a physical one. if the former was the case, he would have already killed Jeanne and her goons long ago.
The fire serpent from before was just a degraded version of one of his skills, he was using it to expend his mana instead of keeping it serving no purpose. Of course, if he were to use the original skill then the serpent would be enormous. Sadly, even with his large mana, it wasn't enough. He calculated that ten times the amount of his current mana was necessary to perform his weakest skill.
While he was strolling around the ruined city, he met Artoria, Marie, and Amadeus who were coming from the west.
"Did you find the one we are looking for?" Going by the downcase expression on Rider's face, his question was kind of meaningless, but there was a chance that they still managed to get something useful out of their trip.
"Unfortunately, we didn't. We did notice undead surging so we were going to help Jeanne and the rest. What about you?" Marie's voice was a little hurried; no doubt wanting to help the others as soon as possible.
"Hm..." The black-haired man closed his eyes and folded his arms, seemingly in thought. That random reaction caused a bit of confusion among the three Servants. He stayed like that for a few moments before finally opening his eyes again. "I think I found someone. They are at the edge of the city on the far north. It was really far, so I had my misgivings regarding if I was just imagining it or not. You can help the others if you are worried, I can take care of this on my own."
Marie and Amadeus agreed instantly, while Saber just gave him a sidelong glance before reluctantly agreeing as well. Her first priority was and should always be her Master, and to be honest, she didn't trust Ruler to do a good job when it came to protecting him.
Once they departed, he went in the direction where he had detected the presence that could or could not be the Dragon Slayer. He didn't walk much when he heard a growl from the skies, a group of green Wyverns led by a red one was hovering over him.
Thinking of him as easy prey, one of them rapidly descended with its claws ready to grab Seth and rip him to shreds.
Seth looked at the incoming beast, grabbed its legs, and slammed it into the ground. Not happy enough, he put his foot on top of the fallen Wyvern's head and then proceeded to crush it into meat paste.
Seeing the death of their comrade, more Wyverns came to the ground but all met the same end. This kept repeating until only the red one was left. But seeing as it had no chance of survival, it fled with no hesitation.
Not having any reason to chase after it, Seth let the Wyvern go. That was until he noticed the presence of a Servant near the rest of the group. Quickly deciding something, he looked to where the beast was retreating.
Grabbing a medium-sized stone on the ground, he threw it at the flying Wyvern. Upon contact, it shattered into dust and made the lesser dragon fall to the ground.
He got closer to it just as the Wyvern was getting up and shaking its head to snap out of its stunned state. Clutching its neck, he made eye contact with the beast. Eyes flashing golden, he said just one word, "Submit."
The beast trembled, whimpered, and thrashed a little, but it was useless. Its eyes clouded a little before falling under his control.
Jumping on its back, he commanded it to go east where the others were. The beast took flight with Seth on its back and departed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group had just finished fighting the Wyverns that also attacked them.
"Finally, the battle is over. Not only undead but Wyverns too. They didn't lie when they said this city was plagued by monsters." Mash said with a little helplessness in her tone. She was getting a little tired of fighting the same monsters over and over again, but at least they weren't a Servant, so it was manageable.
"Right...at least we managed to free those poor souls from their suffering," Jeanne said but that was when an unknown voice joined in their conversation.
"Do they even have the desire to be freed? They don't hold such emotions I fear." A man with long red claws in a black coat with a white mask that covered the right side of his bandaged face made his appearance.
"A Servant...?" Fujimaru asked unsurely. He didn't know anyone crazy enough — aside from them — to wander this ruined city with all the monsters lying in wait for a piece of their flesh.
"That is correct, young man. People call me The Phantom of the Opera and I'm in charge of this city, the city where hell is on earth by orders from the Dragon Witch herself." The man said confirming his status as a Servant and also revealing his True Name without care.
"Now, let me hear your beautiful voice as you die. This destroyed place will be your stage, where I shall partake in the sound of your agony. Oh, Christine, will their voices ever compare to your magnificent one—" He didn't even finish his sentence when a spear pierced his head from high above.
The group looked up only to see Seth mounted on a red Wyvern with a frown on his face. On one hand, he should feel glad that the battle was resolved in an instant, and on the other hand, he felt like it was a total disappointment and a waste of time to have come here in a hurry. 'This... First that woman, and now him... I should not set the bar too high in the future...'
Now dead, the Phantom of the Opera faded in yellow lights, yet no one was paying attention to him anymore.
"U-Um...Master?" Jeanne asked, not knowing what to say. It was certainly... something.
Artoria was more direct than her, however. "Bastard, have you taken the side of the enemy already?"
"Go bark somewhere else. If I was now an enemy, I would have attacked you guys while you were starting dumbly as the idiot talked your ears off." He said while lightly tapping the Wyvern's neck to make it go down.
While almost everyone was confused by the situation, Fujimaru's eyes were sparkling. "You managed to tame it? That's impressive! How did you do it?"
"I just saved him while he was being attacked by other Wyverns, he was so grateful that he decided to follow me." Seth totally lied with a straight face at the honest question of the young man. As for the red beast, it just looked the other way while a small tear fell from its eye. Even a monster that was driven by instinct knew that it was suffering needlessly at the hands of that man.
"I see, that makes sense! By the way, have you thought of a name?" Fujimaru asked, still interested in the matter.
"He is not a pet, why should I give it one? Besides, I only wanted him to come here quicker." Turning to look at the Wyvern he gave it a light slap. "Go, you are free now." Faster than someone could blink, the Wyvern flapped its wings and escaped as if its life depended on it.
Saber quickly covered her mouth trying not to laugh.
"He looked happy to go, though...?" Fujimaru asked with confusion.
"Don't mind it, some people's gratitude doesn't last very long. Anyway. I possibly found the guy we were looking for, now that we have cleaned most of the undead we can finally go and meet him." The Egyptian God totally ignored everything else and only focused on the matter at hand.
"Really?! Where is he?" They were obviously good news for Mash, seeing how her face lit up in joy. Going from heaven to hell, and then back to heaven was surely a mental rollercoaster for her.
Seth merely pointed at the biggest building in the distance. "In that big castle over there. I don't know what he is doing there, though. For all I know, it might be something like a camp for him to recuperate and then come back to fight again."
"If that's true then we need to find him as soon as possible." The urgency in Jeanne's tone was evident. She was most likely the most interested person in finding the Dragon Slayer out of everyone in the group.
That was why no one disagreed with her words. As they finally had a concrete place to go, the group decided to depart immediately to meet with the possible Dragon Slayer. That was when Dr. Roman's voice was heard by everyone.
"Finally, the connection is back. Guys, you need to retreat! I'm detecting an ultra-size lifeform heading your direction, plus there are three Servants with it!"
"So Fafnir is coming, huh? Then I guess the crazy kid is coming too." The Kingslayer didn't share the same urgency Romani did, which made the orange-haired man scream in agony as well as frustration.
"Then why are you so calm?! I can sense the hate of that Dragon even from here! If he sees you then it will all be over!" He said appealing to his reason.
"Why don't you drink tea or something and stop bothering, Romani? Finding that guy takes priority." Seth dismissed his words without hesitation. He understood the man's worries, but he really could do without the constant screaming.
"Master is right...if we retreat now we may not get a chance to come back for him in the future. If what Master said is correct, then the other me might be here to kill that Servant to avoid a future threat." Jeanne agreed with Seth.
"It will be a real problem if the Dragon Witch comes, that's why we need to hurry," Marie had an uncharacteristically serious tone. She perfectly understood they didn't have much time if they wanted to succeed.
"I don't like the melody produced by the other Jeanne but if you fight I will do it too, Maria." Amadeus had already promised from the moment he was summoned together with her that he would follow that radiance until the end, so that's what he would do if it came to that.
"We just have to buy some time, don't worry." She smiled again.
"If you all finished with your cloying words, I suggest we get going. Considering they are on top of a dragon then they will come here sooner than later." Saber coldly remarked from the side. All the melodrama was unnecessary.
Releasing a frustrated sigh, Romani spoke. "Okay, okay. If you already came to a decision I won't stop you. Wait for a second, I will check for readings on any Servant nearby."
"That's not necessary, Doctor. Kuro-san already spotted the Dragon Slayer before, it's in the castle." Mash said.
"Okay then, but please hurry!" He remained them once again.
"Let's go." Seth put Fujimaru on his shoulders to save time and immediately departed. Since they had to get things done fast, they didn't stop for even one second. However, since not all Servants had the same speed, they took a bit more than they would have liked.
A little over five minutes later, they got to their destination. Once again, they didn't stop. Seth rushed like a bull against the castle walls while making sure the Japanese Master wasn't hurt by his actions.
Eventually, they managed to find who they were looking for.
A silver-haired man with white armor and a big sword in a black sheath. The man had a green tattoo-like mark on his chest. However, what caught the most attention were the terrible wounds on his body. The state of his body was so terrible that one had to wonder how he was even alive.
"That wound...!" Marie was surprised by its gravity. It was so bad they could even see some of his organs. It was to a point where even if the other Jeanne did nothing, he would die in probably a day or two.
Seeing someone approaching, the wounded man got up and brandished his sword at them but was blocked by Seth's spear. "They still keep coming...one after...the other." It was obvious that even speaking was a challenge, but he still rose up to wield his weapon. If anything, his tenacity was outstanding.
"Calm down, slayer of dragons. We came here for your help, not to fight you." Seth said easily parrying his sword. The Servant, using his weapon as support, looked confused at them.
"You have the same aura as Fafnir, so I guess you are either Siegfried or Sigurd. Listen, that Dragon is coming here so we need to go now. With those wounds, you won't do anything more than throw your life away if you were to fight, though." The Knight was surprised at the mention of the Dragon. It could be considered his nemesis if his legend was anything to go by.
"I see... Then it makes sense I was summoned here. Just to avoid misunderstandings, I am Siegfried." He said, coming to an understanding of the situation. If the beast he slew appeared in this place, then his mission was already set in stone.
"Artoria, you carry Fujimaru this time. I will help Siegfried." Seth said then proceeded to put Siegfried's arm over his shoulder.
"Don't order me around, I don't remember becoming your Servant." Despite her words, she got closer to Fujimaru and carried him like a sack of potatoes.
Exiting the castle, the group tried to make their way out of Lyon. It was at that moment a roar filled with hate shook the skies.
The enemy was here.