When the young man appeared before them, everyone was utterly dumbfounded.
Seriously, dude? We haven't even started the summoning ritual yet, and you just pop out on your own? Aren't you a little too eager? Or did you see us digging up your grave and just couldn't sit still anymore?
By the way, are all you top-tier Servants this casual? You couldn't even be bothered to follow the proper procedure?
"Um, is there a problem?" the Servant named Charlemagne asked, looking around. "This place seems... familiar..."
Also, why was his Master holding his personal weapon?
At Charlemagne's question, Mo Wang, Archer, and Cu Chulainn couldn't help but let their gazes drift downwards.
"Huh?"
Charlemagne followed their line of sight and saw the all-too-familiar coffin.
( ._.)
(°ー°)
Charlemagne: Wait a minute, is this...
"Yep. This is your grave."
(#°Д°)
Upon hearing this, Charlemagne's world tilted on its axis. He had just been summoned, only to find himself standing in his own tomb. And the people who summoned him had just finished robbing it.
This... what was he supposed to do?
"Uh, don't be mad," Mo Wang said quickly. "This was just a small emergency measure. Look, Your Majesty, the foundation of human history is in this state. We obviously need some powerful allies, right? And you were the first person I thought of. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to summon you, so I had to resort to this. But the result is good, isn't it? You wouldn't mind this little thing for the sake of saving humanity, would you?"
Mo Wang slung an arm around Charlemagne's neck, talking a mile a minute as he shoved the holy sword back into the man's hands.
"This..."
Charlemagne's feelings were incredibly complex. Was he angry? Honestly, no.
Unlike the more mature Emperor Karl, this version of Charlemagne was still young, his personality more like that of a hero than a king. So, knowing that they had dug up his grave to stop the Incineration of Humanity, he didn't feel any anger.
But... no matter how you sliced it, his grave had still been robbed. The idea of robbing graves to save the world felt... a little off.
"I'm not angry, but Master, isn't this a bit..."
"Great! As long as you're not angry," Mo Wang cut him off. "By the way, our forces are still a little thin. Since you're here, Your Majesty, could you tell me where your twelve paladins are buried? Uh, I guess it's ten now. Astolfo and another one are already out and about. If you don't mind, could you tell me where the rest are? I'd like to go have a look."
Mo Wang's tone was so practiced and casual that it left Charlemagne completely speechless.
Wait, you're not just digging up my grave, you're going after my men too? And you're asking me this to my face? Is that really okay?
"Wow, he actually said it out loud. That's really..." Cu Chulainn and Archer were at a loss for words. It was terrifying. He wasn't just robbing one grave; he was going after the whole crew.
Mash and Shirou-Morgan had already covered their faces, unable to watch.
"What do you guys know? This is a rescue excavation!" Mo Wang declared righteously. "Haven't you seen that Jeanne's grave has already been dug up? How can you be sure those lunatics won't dig up these guys' bones and summon them for their own evil purposes? I'm just taking precautions!"
His words were noble, but the logic was... distinctly European. Because I'm afraid someone else will rob this grave, I'll rob it first so no one else can. What kind of twisted reasoning was that?
"No, this..." Charlemagne was completely flustered, pointing a trembling finger at Mo Wang, at a loss for words.
"Alright, alright, enough chatter. After we dig up the paladins, I'm thinking of checking out Solomon's place. I wonder where he's buried. I should still be able to find it, right?"
"Pfft!"
Romani, listening in, nearly choked. What?! He's talking about digging up my grave right in front of me? Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to summon me, would you?
...You wouldn't, right?
"Mo Wang, forget about your grave-robbing spree! We need to get back to France, now!" Romani urged. "The situation in the singularity is getting worse! If we don't go back, something terrible is going to happen! The singularity has to be our priority!"
He had a feeling that if he didn't stop Mo Wang now, not a single hero's grave from this era would be left untouched.
"Y-yes! I think we should go!"
"Right, right! With His Majesty joining us, our team is already super strong! I don't think we need any more people."
The rest of the team immediately voiced their wholehearted support. If Mo Wang made them dig up graves for days on end, they'd die of exhaustion, if not of a broken spirit.
What would they say when they met those Servants in Chaldea later? "Oh hey, didn't we dig up your grave?" The awkwardness would be lethal.
"Mo Wang, if you don't solve this singularity right now, you'll have me to answer to when you get back!"
At the critical moment, it was Olga Marie who came to the rescue. Her projected image appeared, yelling at Mo Wang with such ferocity that it instantly extinguished his desire to continue his archaeological pursuits.
"Sigh. Since the Director said so, I guess we'll let it go," Mo Wang said with a deep sigh. His dream of ushering in a great age of grave robbing had been crushed by the Director.
But speaking of which, if he did go and dig up Solomon's grave, would he find the rings? Dr. Roman could use an upgrade. He didn't want the guy to get himself killed during the final battle.
"Achoo! Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" Back in Chaldea, Romani shivered. He had a strange feeling that something terrifying had just had its eyes on him.
"It's finally over. Only the Director can handle him."
"Ahaha, I hope Mo Wang will be a little more stable from now on."
Mash and Shirou-Morgan exchanged a look. They both had a feeling of dread about the upcoming journey to France. Unlike the deserted Fuyuki, France was full of living people.
With Mo Wang's personality, there was no telling what kind of chaos he would wreak.
"Hey, you're Charlemagne, right? I never thought the legendary King of Europe would be so young," Cu Chulainn said, walking over to him with Archer. They both clapped a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
"I am Charlemagne. Um, why are you looking at me like that?" Charlemagne felt a strange sense of unease under their gazes.
That mix of sympathy, relief, and schadenfreude... what was that all about?
"It's nothing. We're just glad you decided to pop out on your own," Archer said.
"Yeah. If you hadn't, that guy probably would have fed your bones to the dogs."
The two of them spoke in turns, their words filled with pity for Charlemagne and immense relief that they finally had someone else to share the burden.
"Huh?" Charlemagne was confused. If I hadn't come out, my Master would have fed my bones to the dogs? Is he that cruel?!
Charlemagne had heard of many tyrants in history, but he couldn't recall many who would desecrate the dead just because they were unhappy with them.
Wasn't Mo Wang supposed to be saving humanity? Why did he sound like a tyrant?
Archer and Cu Chulainn exchanged another look, their eyes filled with helpless resignation.
Okay, maybe feeding his bones to the dogs was a bit of an exaggeration. Mo Wang probably wouldn't do that... yet.
Based on what they knew of him, it was more likely he would just try to summon Charlemagne a few thousand times, annoying him until he finally came out. Or maybe he'd just go to the Throne of Heroes and drag him out himself.
In a way, those options were even more brutal than feeding his bones to the dogs.
They figured that the real, complete Emperor Charlemagne must have seen this bizarre situation unfolding and decided to just kick his younger self out to shut Mo Wang up and get some peace and quiet.
But either way, now that they had a new team member, maybe Mo Wang would torment the two of them a little less.
"Wait, we're supposed to go to France, right? How are we going to get there?" Charlemagne asked, a thought suddenly occurring to him. Hadn't these people just arrived in the singularity today? How did they get all the way to the Holy Roman Empire?
Just as he finished speaking, he felt a sudden blast of air from above. He looked up to see a massive warship slowly descending towards them.
Charlemagne: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
What in the world is that?! Did aliens just invade?!
Charlemagne suddenly had a feeling that the most abnormal thing in this singularity... was his own side.
...
Meanwhile, in France, the moon hung high in the sky. Among the clouds, a swarm of wyverns circled a woman in black armor.
"As disgusting as ever."
A colossal black dragon soared through the air, letting out a deep, rumbling roar. The woman standing on its neck, just behind its head, looked away from the hole in the sky and down at the ruins and fleeing people below, a disdainful smile on her lips.
Her eyes were cold, as if all this destruction was under her complete control.
Flames burned, people screamed, and the roars of countless wyverns created a scene straight out of a monster invasion.
The woman commanding the dragons laughed with wild abandon, seeming to revel in the chaos. "Is that so, Fafnir? You think so too?" she murmured, stroking the dragon's cold, rough scales. The dragon responded with an arrogant roar, as if in agreement.
"Descend," she commanded, her voice calm and firm.
The dragon obeyed, slowly lowering itself. The other wyverns, sensing its descent, stopped their slaughter and raised their heads, roaring in reverence to their leader. In the face of a true dragon, the impure-blooded wyverns had no courage to resist.
Jeanne Alter couldn't remember how many villages she had burned. Ever since she had launched her plan to "sweep across all of France," the "Dragon Witch" had ravaged the land with her draconic horde, reducing numerous cities and fortresses to ashes.
Before that, she had mercilessly executed all those she deemed to have "betrayed" and "harmed" her. Her laughter echoed through the air, filled with a scorn that seemed to mock the bloody slaughter. All of France had become her hunting ground.
Jeanne Alter's forces were not limited to dragons. She was also accompanied by the Servants she had summoned. Her orders to them were simple: destroy and kill.
Saber, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Archer, Caster, Berserker. All the Holy Grail War classes were present. Jeanne Alter had inflicted them with the "Mad Enhancement" status, turning them all, in principle, into Berserkers.
However, as FGO players knew, Berserkers could still maintain their sanity under certain circumstances. Though their alignments had been completely reversed, they could still think rationally.
At this moment, at Jeanne Alter's side, were her acquaintances and comrades, not scattered about like the other Servants. Standing next to her was Gilles de Rais, his eyes gleaming with a fanatical light. His obsession with Jeanne and his madness following her death had led him down a dark path of alchemy.
Though his hands were stained with the blood of countless innocents, his goal had always been the same: to resurrect the holy maiden and have her by his side again. He was, in a way, a more extreme and cruel version of Otto Apocalypse.
"Jeanne, are you happy?" he asked softly, his voice filled with anticipation.
"Happy? Of course, I'm happy, Gilles," Jeanne Alter's smile was like a blazing fire, her fanaticism unconcealed. "I've rarely been this happy! Hahahaha! Let's move on to the next location! I'll turn all of France into a dragon's nest, and then spread destruction across the entire world!"
This declaration, though evil, was exactly what Gilles had longed for. He had finally seen Jeanne resurrected. Her very existence was enough to satisfy him.
However, neither Jeanne Alter nor Gilles knew that a super demon lord, a hundred times more dangerous than they were, was currently on his way to France.