Chapter 176: Be More of a Villain Than the Villain, Leaving Them Nowhere to Go
"I've said it countless times, but that guy is like a living dragon. Now, however, I'd like to retract that statement. He's way scarier than a dragon." Cu Chulainn watched Mo Wang toss Fafnir around and felt a renewed sense of gratitude that he hadn't been on the receiving end of those slaps.
Dragons were the epitome of pure strength, yet Mo Wang was using one as a jump rope. That kind of power had to be beyond Strength A; it had to be EX. Could a human body really be that strong?
"Do you think... Mr. Mo Wang is really going to cook Fafnir?" Shirou-Morgan asked.
"If it were anyone else, I might have my doubts," Romani said. "But with Mo Wang... Fafnir is definitely going to be eaten." Didn't they see Archer already pulling out Kanshou and Bakuya? Those swords were about to become dragon-butchering knives.
"Excuse me," a voice said. A strange man and woman had appeared before them. "Is that person over there, the one who's currently throwing a dragon around, the Master from Chaldea?"
"Um, huh? Jeanne?" the silver-haired, blue-eyed young woman asked, her eyes falling on the real Jeanne.
"Oh no!"
"Ah, you must be the real Jeanne. You're completely different from that angry, fire-starting woman over there," the young woman said, cutting Jeanne off.
"Wh—"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Marie Antoinette, and my class is Rider~" the cheerful and cute young woman said, interrupting Jeanne a second time. The strange man beside her just smiled helplessly.
Everyone gave the two suspicious newcomers the side-eye, but they didn't seem like enemies. And as Servants, they were both quite famous.
Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI. She might not be as well-known as her husband, but thanks to some malicious rumors, her fame wasn't far behind. "If they have no bread, let them eat cake." A statement as foolish as the infamous "Why not eat minced meat?" from Chinese history. Though it was a fabrication, it had certainly cemented her reputation.
"You're Jeanne, right? The saint who saved France. I've wanted to meet you ever since I was alive. I'm so happy to meet more French Servants," Marie said warmly.
"I'm not a saint..." Jeanne replied, a little flustered by Marie's enthusiasm. It was true; she wouldn't be canonized for another few hundred years.
"Mm. I think everyone knows that's what you'd say," the man beside Marie said. "But at least your way of life was genuine, and we all know how it ended. That's why everyone praises and admires you. They'll never forget the miracle of Orléans."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Even those who didn't play FGO knew the name of the legendary composer.
"Your life, however, has taken a strange turn," he continued, addressing Jeanne. "The one who was hurt by being called a 'perfect saint' wasn't others, but you yourself."
Then he turned to Marie. "Listen, Marie. You praise others too much. Sometimes, you need to scold or disagree with them."
"I... I know that without you telling me! You say that every day!" Marie retorted, blushing.
It was a little-known fact that the Mozart standing beside Marie was actually a Demon God Pillar. He was supposed to be the final boss of this chapter, but he had given up on his mission because he was too fond of Marie. A happy ending, of sorts.
"Hey~! If we don't hurry, our Master is going to start boiling the water," Archer called out, gesturing to Mo Wang and Jalter.
Jalter, who had just been threatening to destroy the world, now looked small, pitiful, and helpless. In her short, miserable existence, she had never experienced anything so terrifying. Her dragon was being discussed as a potential meal, and there was nothing she could do about it.
"You bastard! Let it go!" she shrieked, unleashing her Noble Phantasm at Mo Wang. A torrent of flames shot towards him, but it did nothing.
"I told you, an attack of that level is useless against me."
"What?!" Jalter stared in disbelief, a mixture of anger and despair on her face.
Thwack!
Mo Wang appeared in front of her and swatted her out of the air. She crashed to the ground, coughing up blood. He stepped on her, his eyes a void of emptiness. "How does it feel? Painful?"
"You seem very angry," he said. "But what are you angry about? Is it because of those memories that aren't yours?"
"Shut up! You bastard! I'm not—" Jalter tried to fight back, but Mo Wang kicked her away.
"I'm asking you, on what authority do you do these things?" he said, his voice cold. "Because the leaders of this country betrayed you? So you're going to unleash your anger on every single person in this country? You call yourself an Avenger? Don't disgrace the class. An Avenger doesn't take their anger out on the innocent!"
He kicked her again, and she landed in a pile of charred corpses.
"Look around you. This is all your doing. How are you any different from the people who condemned you? Oh, right, you are different. At least they had some semblance of humanity. You... you're just a puppet, a fake from head to toe. Didn't you hear the cries of the innocent as they died?"
As he spoke, the corpses around Jalter began to stir, their empty eye sockets turning towards her, their burnt vocal cords emitting broken whimpers.
"Save... us..."
"Lady Saint... why..."
"It hurts... everything is burning..."
"Shut up! I don't know you!" Jalter scrambled back, screaming. "It's an illusion! A trick—"
"An illusion?" Mo Wang stomped on a crawling corpse, its skull bursting with a wet crunch. He kicked up a jawbone, which continued to clack in the air. "...We... offered you bread... in Orléans..."
More corpses joined the chorus, their melted fingers grabbing at her boots. A child with half a face clung to her leg. "You said... you'd protect..."
"Look at these faces," Mo Wang said, grabbing a female corpse. "This was a weaver. When you were captured, she gave her family's entire savings to the church to try and ransom you." He kicked another corpse. "This was a baker. He was executed for questioning the legality of your trial."
Jalter's pupils contracted. She shook her head, but the voices only grew louder, not just from the corpses, but from the depths of her own memory.
"Silence!" Her banner erupted in black flames, incinerating the corpses. But more translucent spirits rose from the ashes—the villagers she had slaughtered, the scholars she had burned, the merchants she had drowned...
"Every time you deny it, they come back," Mo Wang said calmly. "This is the real Jeanne d'Arc—not the saint canonized by the church, but the farm girl who was once lifted up by the people of France. You don't remember any of this, because you are a fake."
"The Saint Jeanne, though she was betrayed, never blamed anyone. Because she knew she was fighting for her people. Just as Jesus was betrayed by his most trusted disciple, yet held no grudges, she too was a saint. And you, you who would burn those who supported her along with her enemies, dare to take her name? How laughable. Beneath that false face, girl, who are you?"
Jalter's conviction shattered. "Who... who am I?" she whispered, her mind in turmoil.
"But no matter who you are, you won't get a happy ending after doing all this," Mo Wang said, his voice taking on a demonic tone. "I will crush everything you hold dear, one by one, and show you that there are things in this world far more painful than death."
"You... you're a demon!" Jalter cried out, finally realizing that the man before her was not a hero, but something far worse.
"I'm sorry, but I'm an angel," he replied.
In the burning, ruined city, three terrifying dragons roared, their dark silhouettes casting long shadows. It was as if the demon king himself had descended. When the hero is more terrifying than the villain, it is the villain who should be afraid.
"Jeanne!"
Just as Mo Wang was about to make his move, a blast of magic shot towards him. He swatted it away and saw the frog-eyed Marshal standing beside Jalter.
"Jeanne, are you alright?" he asked, but he was horrified to see that she was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
"Gilles? No, that's not right! I'm Jeanne... no, who am I?!"
Gilles gritted his teeth and, with a teleportation spell, whisked her away.
"Heh, they ran away?" Mo Wang watched them go, but made no move to stop them. A wicked smile spread across his face. "It seems things are about to get more interesting."
At that moment, even the most fearsome demon would have had nightmares if they had seen his smile.