Roar!!!
A thunderous roar resounded all around them. Looking up, the group saw the figure of the gigantic black dragon Fafnir with Jeanne Alter on top of it together with a white-haired man with a dark gray coat and a big sword. A knight covered in full black armor was present too.
Setting her gaze upon them, Jeanne spoke with disdain. "Hah! Running around like rats for help and the only thing you find is a dying Serv-"
She wanted to continue but was interrupted by the armored man beside her. "ARRRTTHHHHUUUURRRRR!" With a hate-filled scream, the knight jumped from Fafnir and shot down like a cannonball in Artoria's direction.
"Berserker! Don't you dare disobey me! Come back here, it's not your turn to act yet!" Jeanne screamed in rage at the knight but was totally ignored. From the start, his Madness Enhancement was innate, he didn't need any curse to introduce it to him.
A look of confusion flashed through Artoria's eyes, not recognizing the man that seemed to hate her to the bone. Seth and Siegfried exchanged a look and both nodded. Seth put him down and did a big jump to meet the falling knight.
Armor and weapon collided mid-air, creating gusts of wind in all directions. Seth's eyes were on the rustic helmet of the knight, although there seemed to be some kind of interference he could still see the maddened glow of his eyes.
"ARRGGHHH!" With a mad howl for being interrupted. Berserker tried grabbing Seth's spear, something which proved to be a big mistake. The spear as if alive released a mad howl of its own and started vibrating as if discontent with the attempt of the Black Knight to gain control of it.
"Didn't your parents teach you not to try and steal someone else's property? Now you made it angry." While he words might seem light-hearted, his tone was anything but.
Repelled like there was some sort of force field around the spear, the warrior lost all of his momentum, something Seth took advantage of. "I don't like getting my things stolen." Setting his leg on fire he kicked the armored man in the stomach, throwing him upward toward Fafnir's direction.
After kicking Berserker, Seth descended and landed beside the sitting Sigfried who he proceeded to help to stand up again.
"Sumanai, I wish I could be of help but with my body like this I'm afraid I can't do much." Siegfried apologized to Seth while using his sword as additional support. The said man just told him not to worry about it. Although he was indeed disappointed that he couldn't fight with them now, it wasn't like he didn't understand his situation.
"Fafnir, catch Lancelot!" The now madder Saint ordered her dragon which complied and extended its claws, successfully stopping him from flying any further.
Saber's eyes widened at Alter's words. "Sir Lancelot?!" She asked no one in particular with disbelief. She didn't expect to meet one of her knights here but most important of all, Artoria didn't expect one of her knights to become like her. It definitely brought her mixed feelings.
"You are all useless! You can't even be obedient like a good dog and do what I say!" Jeanne said with rage that didn't last long. Quickly regaining her composure, she shot a smug look at Artoria. "Oh? What seems to be the matter, icy bitch? Bothered by something?" She asked causing Saber to clench her fists.
"That's not good! A lady should not say such things, even if her heart is filled with hate." Marie intervened from the side with nothing good to contribute as always.
"Shut up, you clueless idiot! I'm already sick of you all. Fafnir, finish them!" Jeanne Alter commanded Fafnir, the dragon happily complied and started gathering energy in its mouth ready to blast them all to oblivion with Seth and Siegfried as the main targets since they were the ones Fafnir hated the most. In fact, only the control of the black Saint was holding him off from diving down to chomp on the Dragon Slayer.
"This doesn't look for us, I should've run away sooner." Amadeus smiled as if his life wasn't in danger. It might have been an attempt at calming their panicking hearts, but it had little to no success.
"We need to do something. Master, I—I will stop it!" Mash said positioning her shield in front of her ready to block Fafnir's breath attack.
Fujimaru, who was still on Artoria's shoulders shook his head in denial. "Don't be reckless, that's too dangerous!" He tried to warn her of the impending doom that will come to her if she tries to stand up to that Dragon.
"Please believe in me Master, I will certainly block it!" She stubbornly refused to back down.
"Don't worry, I will help her," Jeanne reassured Fujimaru and walked forward until she was beside Mash. If they wanted to stop Fafnir, there was no doubt that they needed everything in their arsenal to do so.
"But...!" The Master wanted to continue but seeing Mash's gaze full of confidence he finally relented.
Not waiting for them to finish, Fafnir attacked them with a red beam that created a sonic boom upon release.
Seeing the incoming attack the two Servants didn't waste any time and prepared to unleash their Noble Phantasms.
"Luminosité..."
"Lord..."
Together with their chant, a big green shield started forming in front of the Chaldeans. Additionally, the clouds above them parted to bathe them in sacred light. The black-haired man suffered some discomfort, but he opted not to complain out loud, nor mention that the protection on him — at least from Jeanne's Noble Phantasm — would be weaker.
"Eternelle!"
"Chaldeas!"
Just as they finished, the red beam finally reached its intended target. When the attack met the defense, everything, even what was not ahead of the attack was destroyed.
The only thing that was still standing strong were the light, the shield, and what they wanted to protect. However, little by little, Jeanne and Mash were being pushed back and even Jeanne's flag was tearing as time went by.
'This can't keep going like this. At this rate, the majority of us will be incinerated.' Seth thought before turning to Siegfried. "Can you at least do one attack?" In this situation, it was better to have someone with dragon-slaying properties do the final blow. As of now, Fire was the authority he could use the most, not taking into account storms and illusions. And considering Fafnir was a dragon, fire wouldn't be of much use against him. It was even a miracle that it worked before, though not by much.
"Yes, I have been gathering mana to use Balmung but after that, I won't be of use. I apologize." It was really embarrassing as well as frustrating to not be able to do much against his natural enemy. Even so, his intentions were not enough to help.
"One use is all we need, I will distract him in case he stops his attack to avoid yours." Seth's suggestion was met with an agreeing nod from the white-haired man. In the first place, it wasn't like they had too many options at the moment.
'Marie and Amadeus will be useless here and Saber is carrying Fujimaru so she won't be able to do much. If she were to drop him to make a distraction and Fafnir's attack made its way through it will be bad. I need to distract it myself.' Seth thought looking around he noticed something that could help.
[O Sand. Ascend and bring forth the storm!] Seth spun his spear once and pointed at Fafnir. From all around him, dust started gathering in multiple drill-like shapes that shot toward the flying beast with tremendous ferocity in a mad spiral from all directions.
ROOOAAARRR!
Fafnir released an ear-shattering howl of annoyance but still continued with his assault. Meanwhile, Jeanne shot a look of disdain from the Dragon's back. To her, it was nothing more than the last struggle of a dying man, one that could alter the final outcome—their deaths.
What she failed to notice, however, were the dark clouds forming in the sky, covering everything except the light from Luminosité Eternelle.
"This is for the last battle, crazy kid." The Egyptian God closed his eyes momentarily, and when he opened them back up, their color went from red to golden.
[Mortals shall be judged by the hands of the evil in the sky. Heaven's strike!] Finishing chanting, the tip of the spear that was pointing at Fafnir descended until it was looking at the ground.
Jeanne noticed the world above her illuminating in white light. When she looked up, she saw, albeit too late, a massive thunderbolt descending at her with raging fury. Her eyes widened in shock just in time to suffer the impact of the attack.
BOOM
The sound of a big explosion was heard together with the anguish-filled roar of Fafnir. The Dragon staggered mid-air, causing his breath attack to cease once and for all. To the black beast, screaming its suffering to the world was more important than continuing his onslaught.
"Now, Siegfried!" With the opportunity obtained, now what was left was the final blow from Siegfried. The man nodded and set his gaze on the giant dragon in the sky.
"Evil Dragon who rules the Blue Sky. As the one who defeated you, If you get summoned then I shall be summoned too to return you to your slumber." Siegfried's sword started glowing in blue light. yet the man seemed to have trouble keeping it straight, much less remaining standing upright. Seeing this, Seth approached to help the man keep his balance and used the magical energy he had sitting there doing nothing to make the blow more powerful.
The blue glow gained dark tints to it. Seth was careful not to overdo it least he made Balmung transform into a Broken Phantasm.
With a nod expressing his thanks, Siegfried raised his sword to the sky, "Noble Phantasm release! Balmung!" before slamming it into the ground creating a dark blue beam similar to Fafnir's that managed to impact head-on on the Dragon's stomach.
Fafnir roared in pain, more than the times he had done previously. It kept flapping its wings trying to stabilize itself, having little to no success in doing so. Jeanne and the other two Servants had problems maintaining their footing on its back as well. More so considering they had suffered from the recoil of the earlier thunderbolt as well.
"Dammit! Fafnir get yourself together and climb up to the sky!" Alter commanded, and luckily for her, Fafnir obeyed, albeit a little clumsily.
"Dammit! DAMMIT!" Once they were high up in the now blue sky after the storm dispersed, Jeanne couldn't help but curse and curse. Ever since that pair of annoying rats came here, nothing was going her way.
Calming herself down after her outburst, she turned toward Sanson and Lancelot. "You two, go after them. Your priority is the Dragon Slayer. Fafnir received too much damage, I can't risk losing him for nothing." She then looked at Sanson's coat who now looked like rags, Lancelot's armor who seemed even blacker than before, and her own arm which had burn marks all over it. It seemed Balmung wasn't the only thing they needed to be wary of.
Jeanne clenched her fist in rage. 'I will personally be the one to kill you.' She thought with rage. "Berserker, Assassin will join you later, be sure to kill as many as you can."
"Don't worry, Master. The Queen's neck is something only I am fit to cut." Sanson replied calmly as if nothing happened, though he couldn't deny the stiffness on his body.
"Arrrrrrr—thuuuurrrr!" For his part, Lancelot only howled the same words he has been doing a couple of times now. It was really getting on Jeanne's nerves. If she knew this was going to happen, she wouldn't have summoned him.
"Tch. I didn't expect anything from a Berseker but you really are testing my patience." She couldn't help but curse her luck with Lancelot's case. Of all the Servants in the world, the useless dog had to meet the one that fueled his madness.
...
On the Chaldeans' side, they could finally release a sigh of relief at having avoided danger, at least temporarily.
"Now it's our time to retreat!" Jeanne said with a hurried breath. Stopping Fafnir's attack wasn't easy at all. It was a miracle that she was still standing—something she thanked God profusely for.
"I agree, it will be bad if they come back. I will be counting on you to help me walk, sorry." Siegfried apologized once again, causing the black-haired man to shake his head in a mix of strangeness and helplessness.
"There is no need to apologize that much. You did what you could for the people of France, and that has a lot of merits, even if you don't believe it. And if you manage to slay Fafnir, that would be enough to slack all the way until the end." Amadeus offered some words of encouragement to the knight, something that was greatly appreciated.
"Sor—Right..." Siegfried was about to apologize again but seeing everyone's glares he stopped himself. Habits were going to be hard to stop at this point, but he was going to at least try.
The group now finally started making their way out of Lyon. Everyone except for Saber, and in consequence Fujimaru, who kept looking at the sky in the direction where Fafnir had run off. Sighing, she shook her head and followed the rest.
Fujimaru, noticing Saber's strange behavior, decided to ask, "Saber, are you okay? You seem to be a little down."
"It's nothing. It's just that seeing a Knight of The Round Table after so long brings back memories." Saber replied. What she didn't say, however, was how 'strange' she felt seeing one of her knights in a similar state to hers. After all, she chose to be a tyrant so that her knights didn't have to.
Fujimaru nodded. "I don't know how you must be feeling right now fighting against one of your knights as an enemy but I'm sure everything will work itself out in the end." He didn't know what to say to make her feel better, but what he did know was that no matter when there was always an opportunity to find closures in matters like these.
Saber nodded, with her mood improved a little. "Right, I guess it will all be fine." She said, exiting the now, even more, ruined city with the rest.
They had been walking for half an hour, except Marie who was riding her crystal horse, when they were met with warcries from men and roars from Wyverns. Looking ahead, they noticed a skirmish between the French army and the flying beasts.
"Those are French soldiers, we need to help them!" Jeanne outburst let evidence of how much she wanted to aid her former compatriots, but even without opening her mouth, they would have to fight anyway as the Wyverns detected them as soon as they approached. The flying monsters didn't hesitate in the slightest in lunging at them, thinking of the group as easy prey.
Artoria put down Fujimaru, who thanked every God possible for getting out of that embarrassing situation and readied her sword. The rest did the same while Seth just stayed in the back with Siegfried.
When Wyverns got too close he slashed them in half, he also created fire serpents that attached themselves to the legs of the dragons like tentacles and made them smash against each other.
A Wyvern approached from behind ready to sink its claws into Siegried's back but was stopped by a glare from Seth. "Attack the other Wyverns." He ordered. The beast, having lost all of its free will, did just as he ordered, and started clawing and biting the enemy. The controlled Wyvern managed to kill three of its kin before being ganged upon and torn to pieces by the others.
"I didn't know you could control them, were you a Dragon Tamer in life?" Siegried asked seeing the display. For some reason, he could notice the discomfort in the black-haired man's body the moment he controlled the Wyvern. As for why he had no clue.
"I was not, but I grew up among beasts, so I know a thing or two." It was pointless to tell his life story, so he just focused on helping the others as much as he could, while also making sure that Siegfried didn't suffer from any attacks from the lesser Dragons.
However, their display soon gained the attention of the French Army, and seeing Jeanne amidst them, they got increasingly furious and restless.
"It's the Dragon Witch! Attack her, let's take revenge for our homeland!" One soldier said and others followed suit causing Jeanne to sigh in helplessness. It was not like she didn't expect this to happen eventually, but she wished it hadn't been so soon.
Despite their desire to attack Jeanne, they couldn't do it due to the whole army of Wyverns who ironically protected her from the soldiers' reach.
Little by little, the French Army was being pushed back. Wyverns dived and grabbed soldiers before tearing them in two with their claws, painting a grotesque scene that was not for the faint of heart.
This wasn't the end of all their troubles, though. Seth noticed and Romani confirmed soon after the presence of approaching Servants. It seemed they have caught up to them.
"We need to prepare for another fight. Ruler, you keep helping the soldiers. Even though they aren't so keen to receive your help in the first place. We will fight against the other Servants." The decision with the most common sense would be to have Jeanne be a part of their own fight, but from what little he knew of her, it was very likely that she would be more focused on what was happening to the French Army than in her own battle, so this was the next best decision he could come up with.
"Understood, leave it to me." She nodded, thankful that she could keep doing her duty of protecting her brethren, regardless if her help was wanted or not.
'Now... Let's welcome the mad knight and the others.'