A blood-red light pierced through the heavy wooden door and, with lightning speed, struck the Holy Grail floating mid-air, pinning the Grail through the wall behind Jalter and Black Saber.
The black mud spilling from the Holy Grail underwent an extremely bizarre transformation the moment it hit the ground. Countless tentacles twisted and rose from what should have been a brick floor, waving randomly in the air, seemingly trying to prey on everything around them.
Scáthach kicked open the heavy wooden door and calmly walked into the bedchamber, stepping over the blood of the guards at the entrance. Under the slightly angry and confused expressions of Jalter and Black Saber, she raised her hand and drew several '?' Runes in the air.
"Sigel'Sun'!"
Orange flames containing light erupted from the Rune, quickly burning away the black mud and tentacles on the floor.
Jalter stood up and, positioning herself perfectly, shielded the injured Black Saber behind her, then questioned Scáthach.
"old hag, are you planning to start a war?"
Just then, Bradamante rushed to the doorway, leading several Knights.
"Your Majesty, Miss Jeanne, someone broke in..."
Bradamante and the Knights instantly drew the Knight's longswords at their waists and charged at Scáthach's back from behind her, accompanied by battle cries.
"Stop!"
By the time Black Saber spoke to order Bradamante to stop, it was too late. Just one second earlier, Scáthach had dodged the Knights' attacks with an exceedingly graceful posture while simultaneously pressing one hand firmly onto the back of Bradamante's neck. In a move resembling a Thomas flare, she viciously kicked the Knights, sending them flying hard against the wall.
Bradamante, who was about to resist, subconsciously swallowed, realizing a gleaming dagger was held against her throat from behind.
"Cough... cough... cough... Let her go. old hag, what exactly are you here for? You don't think you can eliminate me just because I'm injured, do you?"
Anger flashed in Black Saber's eyes as she tried to rise, but her body only allowed her to cough, leaving her leaning weakly against the pillow.
Scáthach retracted the dagger and gently pushed Bradamante away, putting distance between them.
"Are you sure you want me to speak now!"
Scáthach looked playfully at the Knights who had just gotten up and the reluctant Bradamante.
"You all may leave!"
Bradamante glared fiercely at Scáthach.
"If you dare harm a single hair on His Majesty or Miss Jeanne, you are dead!"
After warning Scáthach, Bradamante led the unwilling Knights out of the room. Scáthach bent down, picked up a tentacle that had been burned to charcoal from the floor, and displayed it in her palm before Jalter and Black Saber.
"This is something created by the black mud from your Holy Grail. Jeanne, do you understand?"
Black Saber shot Jalter a questioning look, but Jalter was also confused and did not understand what Scáthach meant.
"old hag, just say what you mean, don't beat around the bush!"
Scáthach shrugged casually, walked past Jalter to the wall, pulled her magic spear out of the Holy Grail, and pointed it at the floating Grail.
"Jeanne, this is the Holy Grail from your birth, right!"
"Yes!"
"It's a fake!"
As she spoke, Scáthach grabbed both sides of the Holy Grail and, with a pull, tore the entire Grail apart, tossing it carelessly onto the floor where it made a crisp sound of metal hitting the ground.
Seeing Scáthach destroy the Holy Grail, Jalter drew the Sword of Catherine from her waist and pointed it directly at Scáthach's back.
"What are you doing?"
"Proving to you that it's a fake, of course."
Saying this, Scáthach pulled her own Holy Grail from within herself and tossed it into Jalter's hands.
"Try to destroy it. You can even use a Noble Phantasm!"
Jalter held Scáthach's Holy Grail, looked at the Grail torn in half on the floor, put away the Sword of Catherine, and tossed the Grail back to Scáthach.
"No need to try. Unless I unleash my Noble Phantasm, I cannot destroy your Holy Grail!"
Scáthach took the Holy Grail, lightly tapped its wall, and then stored it back inside herself.
"So if the Holy Grail is fake! Then you, who were resurrected in a cursed form by a cursed Holy Grail bestowed by God..."
Jalter frowned and questioned Scáthach.
"Are you suggesting that I am also fake? That's impossible! I am Jeanne... I..."
Hearing Jalter's voice grow weaker, Scáthach walked to within a step of Jalter, stared intensely into her eyes, and spoke.
"Does resurrecting from Jeanne's body mean you are Jeanne? Besides the memories Jeanne had before the burning at the stake, do you truly possess all of Jeanne's memories?"
"I..."
Jalter's expression suddenly changed. The memories that should have been in her mind were instantly impossible to recall, as if her previous memories had been fabricated.
"I am fake! I am fake..."
Black Saber watched Jalter fall into self-doubt, frowned, and endured her still aching body to shout loudly.
"Assault Girl! Cough... cough..."
Jeanne, awakened by Black Saber, quickly came to Black Saber's side and gently rubbed Black Saber's back to help her breathe smoothly.
"Thank you... Cold-Blooded Woman..."
"Cough... I'm fine. old hag, what exactly is going on?"
"I should ask this Jeanne... no, rather, Miss Blackened Pseudo-Jeanne. Who told you these things like God and curses?"
"Gilles! It was him!"
"It's simple then, you were tricked! Your creation was likely orchestrated by Mr. Gilles. You all saw that strange black mud in the Holy Grail just now, right? Perhaps you haven't seen it before, but I can tell you that it is the enemy of all things, the product of some Evil God's power!"
At this moment, the doors of memory opened in Jalter and Black Saber's minds. They recalled the black mud they had just seen and the black mud from the Fuyuki City Holy Grail War, and nodded.
"Let me state my guess! Blackened... let me call you Jalter! I believe your creation involved Mr. Gilles using the power of the Evil God, along with the Holy Grail, to steal some of the power from that fellow, God, and used God's power to create you! Only this can explain why you didn't directly turn into... a true monster!"
"Gilles...!"
Jalter spat Gilles' name through gritted teeth, then looked up at Scáthach and asked.
"Old hag... Scáthach! Your goal! You still haven't stated your goal!"
Scáthach didn't answer. She extended her hand and drew complex Runes in the air, forming a mirror-like projection.
Jalter and Black Saber looked at the projection with confusion, seeing a twisted, disgusting, and indescribable monster battling something within the image. However, because the projection's viewpoint was distant, Jalter and Black Saber couldn't see clearly.
"The goal is simple. I don't want to wait for you two to turn into this thing... no, you'd probably be stronger after being twisted! Strong enough to rush into my Land of Shadows!"
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