Act I – The Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons: Orleans.
The inner courtyard of Orleans Castle. Besides wyverns, the undead, raised by Jeanne Alter's power, swarmed everywhere. And there, blocking their path, another Servant awaited Ritsuka's group.
"Vlad is dead. The others are gone too. Am I the only one left? Pathetic weaklings." It was Berserker Assassin. The same one who had previously confronted Ritsuka and his companions alongside Vlad.
"As long as I'm here, you won't enter the castle." The Assassin waved her hand, and the undead surrounded the heroes in a dense ring.
The Servants were exhausted from the recent battle with Fafnir and couldn't fight at full strength. Nevertheless, they stubbornly pushed through the crowd of undead, striving forward.
"It's too early for us to disappear!" Siegfried, who had spent the most mana, could barely stand but continued to rotate his sword with gritted teeth. Fortunately, his Noble Phantasm "Fafnir's Armor" was still active, and the undead claws couldn't leave a scratch on him.
The other Servants also fought with all their might, but under the onslaught of hundreds of living dead, they had to retreat.
Watching the heroes drown in a sea of enemies, the Assassin couldn't contain her ecstasy. A feverish blush spread across her face.
"Hahaha! How fun. Simply wonderful! By bathing in their blood, I will become even more beautiful!"
"You like it? You're a complete sadist, I see." A male voice sounded right by her ear. She instinctively struck, but the Servant in red, whom she had encountered before, easily dodged and adopted a defiant pose.
"And I, on the other hand, almost awakened my M-mode just now. And you know, it reminded me of my childhood, so my mood is foul."
"You... you?! How did you get here? You weren't with them!"
"I took the thirty-second bus!"
Not only the Assassin was surprised – even Ritsuka's team froze for a moment, staring at him.
"Hey, kid! Sorry, I'm late – I really had to go to the bathroom." It was Deadpool. His absurd pose and silly greeting left no room for doubt. And, of course, he hadn't come alone.
"Found you! I'm from the distant future!" Following Deadpool, Elizabeth and Kiyohime appeared, immediately engaging in battle with the Assassin and the undead.
"Wade! Where have you been?" Mash exclaimed.
"I should be asking that! You! Do you hear me?! If someone falls behind, you should at least worry about them a little!" Deadpool seemed beside himself with rage. He pressed the muzzle of his pistol to Ritsuka's cheek, venting his frustration at being abandoned.
"Mister Pool! Thank God you're safe. But how did you get here? I didn't sense your presence at all."
"Shh! It's a trade secret." In response to Mash's question, Deadpool hastily pocketed some glowing blue object.
"Well, you all look quite something... As I was walking here, everything was shaking like an earthquake. Looks like you had quite a party. Well, now it's my turn!"
Deadpool drew his swords and immediately decapitated an undead that attacked from behind. After deflecting another's strike, he shot it through the skull, and shoved his blade so deep into a third's mouth that he split the poor thing in half.
"Ooh... This is it. Like a gulp of fresh chimichanga-mother-f***er!" Intoxicated by the thrill of battle, he fired in all directions and, with a laugh, plunged into the thick of the enemies. The undead's attention shifted to him, and Ritsuka gained room to maneuver.
"Leave them to us! Run to the castle to Jeanne!"
"Only you can stop Jeanne Alter." Siegfried and Georgios, having recovered some strength, cut a path to the gates. Jeanne, Mash, and Ritsuka hesitated for a second, but seeing the Servants buying them time, they resolutely rushed inside.
"You won't get away! I won't let you!" The Assassin lunged after them, but Elizabeth blocked her path.
"It seems I was summoned precisely for this. To correct my future disgrace!"
"Ha! My disgrace from the past. What irony of fate. Disappear from my memory, you talentless idol!"
"Disappear from my future yourself, you brainless old idol!" While the past and future argued, Deadpool, plunging his sword into the groin of another undead and twisting it there, watched the exchange with interest.
"Hmm. A battle between my past and my future. Oh... that's a bad thought. My damn shameful past... Argh! I don't want to remember. And why do I have two of them right away?!" He lowered his voice. "And don't even think about asking what happened there, I'm too ashamed..."
◇
Inside, Orleans Castle was much larger than it appeared from the outside. Wyverns and undead were encountered here as well, but Jeanne and Mash broke through with ease.
"One last push, and we'll be there." The end of the long journey was very close.
There, Jeanne was to meet the Dragon Witch. Not a fake, but another version of herself.
Jeanne recalled Maria's words, who had sacrificed herself: "The answer to your question is hidden within you." Repeating them to herself, she finally flung open the doors to the main hall.
"Well, well. You got here quickly. And here I thought I'd set up a few more traps..."
"Jeanne d'Arc!" Mash raised her shield in front of Jeanne Alter. This was truly the end. The revenge of the woman who wished to destroy France would conclude here. But first, Jeanne wanted to ask one thing.
"Other 'me.' Why do you hate France so much? Where does this rage come from?"
Jeanne Alter merely sneered contemptuously.
"You still don't understand? Foolish girl. France betrayed me! No one came to my aid; they just pointed fingers at me, calling me a vile witch. And this was after I saved them all!"
Jeanne calmly listened to the angry tirade and continued:
"Then I'll ask differently. Do you remember your family? Your childhood?"
"What?" Jeanne Alter was momentarily confused. Memories of Domrémy, of the life of a simple village girl...
"You only talk about battlefields. But if you were that girl from Domrémy, you would have other memories. Even after becoming the Dragon Witch, you couldn't forget those peaceful, humble times." For before becoming the Maid of Orleans, Jeanne was a peasant. The life of a simple girl, who knew neither literacy nor war, was a huge part of her being.
"Precisely because you couldn't forget that life, you fell into despair and came to hate your homeland and the God who abandoned you."
"Wh-what are you talking about... I...!"
"I cherish those times. But a revelation came, and Mother tried to hold me back when I went to war. She asked: 'Why you? Why must you sacrifice yourself?' But God called to me, and from that day on, I swore I would accept any slander and any mockery. Yes, even when they lit a pyre beneath me."
"Shut up!" Jeanne Alter gritted her teeth in fury and raised her spear. She denied everything. She denied the words of her other self. She had no memories of her childhood. But Jeanne didn't laugh at her or accuse her. She merely raised her spear in response with sadness.
"It doesn't matter if we are real or not. But now I have sworn: I will fight you not with rage and a thirst for revenge, but with sorrow and understanding in my heart!"
Jeanne's face expressed unyielding resolve.
"Mash, Master, I ask of you. This battle is only between her and me."
"Yes. I think I understand," Ritsuka replied.
He and Mash froze to the side. Even if Dark Jeanne possessed the Holy Grail they sought, this confrontation was a matter for the two Jeannes d'Arc.
"Sorrow and understanding? Don't make me laugh! Don't you dare speak as if you're superior to me!!"
Dark Jeanne pushed off the floor and swung her spear.
Jeanne's silver spear clashed with her double's black spear. A lunge, two more strikes, a thrust – and it all started again. The crossed tips struck sparks, and only the clang of colliding weapons echoed in the spacious hall.
But in this metallic ringing, echoing under the vaults, one heard not rage or hatred, but sorrow. It was not pity for Dark Jeanne, but sadness for the false nature of the malice that lurked in her soul.
"Aaaaaaah!!"
Blinded by anger, Dark Jeanne broke the distance and unfurled a banner wrapped around the shaft. Waving the burnt black cloth, she drew the sword hanging at her hip.
"In life, you never touched this! You kept saying you didn't know how to wield a blade and didn't dare draw it. But I am different!"
As soon as she drew the sword, tongues of flame ran along the blade. It was the fire of rage and revenge. Contempt for the homeland that betrayed her, France, became the spark that engulfed the blade.
"This is my answer to your 'sorrow and understanding'!"
"Burn, my rage!"
"La Grande Dame du Lac!"
The next moment, Dark Jeanne's sword transformed into a giant fiery vortex that engulfed Jeanne.
"Jeanne!"
"Senpai, wait. She hasn't given up yet," Mash said.
As Mash predicted, Jeanne remained unwavering even in the flames of hatred. She unfurled her banner, and the noble coat of arms of Orleans fluttered in the wind.
"And this is my answer to your 'hatred and rage'!"
"My Lord is here with me!"
"Luminosité Éternelle!"
Pure radiance, gushing from Jeanne's banner, extinguished the flames and filled the entire hall.
"No... it can't be!"
Engulfed by the light, Dark Jeanne dropped her weapon in despair and collapsed on the floor.
When Jeanne lowered her banner, the light faded. Dark Jeanne lay in the middle of the hall, her body trembling with unwillingness to admit defeat. Jeanne walked towards her.
"Don't... don't come closer! This can't be. It shouldn't be! I... I have the Grail that grants any wish! So why... why am I losing? Why hasn't my revenge been fulfilled?!"
"Other me..."
Having lost hope of revenge, Dark Jeanne, with a face contorted in despair, tried to get up. Revenge on France – that was what she had wished for the Grail. With its power, she wanted to destroy the country. But the wish was not destined to come true.
"This wish... allow me to fulfill it. My saint, my Jeanne!"
A black figure appeared behind Dark Jeanne.
"Gilles!"
"Gilles? Gilles de Rais?!"
Jeanne shuddered: Gilles de Rais stood before her, but he looked nothing like the man they had met outside the castle.
"Gilles... I..."
"Oh, my poor holy maiden. Do not despair. This Gilles de Rais will fulfill your wish."
"Indeed, my Gilles... Oh!"
It all happened in an instant.
Dark Jeanne's chest was pierced through. Gilles de Rais's lifeless hand passed through her flesh, clutching her beating black heart.
"Ugh... Kh!"
Seeing this, Ritsuka squeezed his eyes shut, feeling nausea rising.
"Wh-why..."
"I told you. I will fulfill your wish!"
As Gilles de Rais tore out Dark Jeanne's heart, she collapsed, choking on black blood. Her empty, fading eyes were fixed on her other self. A moment later, she disappeared.
"Oh, other... no, true Jeanne! It seems creating a Jeanne who meets my dreams is still impossible."
"Gilles! What are you talking about?"
In response to Jeanne's question, Gilles de Rais showed how the black heart in his hand began to glow dimly, returning to its true form. This form was...
"The Holy Grail!"
"Exactly! When you, Jeanne, burned in flames due to the betrayal of this filthy mob, and God's voice turned away from me... I decided! If God is powerless, I will fix everything myself!"
With a mad smile, Gilles de Rais raised the Grail. This was definitely one of the artifacts that Lev Lainur had scattered across the seven singularities.
"Guys! This is the Grail's reaction! That's right: the Dragon Witch Jeanne d'Arc was an irregular created by Gilles de Rais using the Grail!"
"Precisely! My Jeanne is a noble maiden! And since she didn't meet my aspirations, I had no choice but to create her from the Grail itself! Thus, my wish gave life to a new saint. But..."
Gilles de Rais glared at Ritsuka and the others with malice.
"Now that doesn't matter anymore. The Grail is intact, and if I wish, I can create a hundred more such maidens. And now I will kill you, who are hindering me, and flay your skin to make an offering for the one who will be born anew!!"
Gilles de Rais had completely lost his sanity. Whether it was the effect of "Mad Enhancement" or the result of his twisted faith, lust, and desire for Jeanne – it was unknown.
"Bluebeard, Gilles de Rais! Even if you consider me your Jeanne, you cannot stop my wish!"
He pulled out a book with a peculiar binding, and a distorted abyss churned around him, from which hideous tentacles stretched out.
"Senpai!"
"Mash! Watch out!"
At the moment dozens of tentacles lunged at Ritsuka's group...
"L-i-i-i-i-i-roy Jenk-k-k-k-k-ins!!"
The stained-glass window of the hall shattered, and under a familiar cry, the tentacles were simultaneously severed.
"Wade!"
"Mister Pool!"
Covered in wounds that were already healing thanks to his regenerative factor, Deadpool shook his swords, stained with the blood of the undead, and stood before Gilles de Rais.
"So, if we squash this radioactive squid, it'll be over? Did I get that right?"
"Irregular! Even you cannot stop me. My lady, my Jeanne will be reborn!"
Gilles de Rais burst into mad laughter, but Deadpool simply threw a stone he found nearby directly at his face.
"Shut the f*** up! What lady? Do you even see how much shit I had to clean up because of your twisted desires?! I came to punish you, you son of a b****, for messing with my head. I am Deadpool!"
Having spat this out at machine-gun speed, Deadpool, without losing a second, threw two grenades that appeared from nowhere at Gilles de Rais.
"O-o-oh! Grenades!"
***
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