Seeing that everything there was already finished, Arthur turned his attention back to the battlefield once more.
Honestly, aside from Jeanne, there was nothing left that truly required his concern. Richard had already defeated D'Eon. Artoria had just destroyed Vlad's body, while Martha had been killed with excessive efficiency by Ishtar. On the other side, the battle between Jack and Carmilla was also nearing its end.
Without a doubt, the situation was completely in their favor.
A few seconds earlier, Atalanta had returned looking dejected; even her feline ears seemed to be drooping.
Apparently, Jack didn't need her help, and as soon as Jack activated her Noble Phantasm—The Mist—she decided it would be better to retreat.
The little Assassin had made it clear that she was more than enough to deal with Carmilla.
Arthur's gaze fell upon the two versions of the French saint who were still fighting on equal footing.
Normally, he would have dealt with everything himself. After all, it wouldn't have been that difficult. However, the Heroic Spirits who had come along needed a bit of real action every now and then.
---xXx---
"This is the howl of a soul filled with hatred!"
Jeanne Alter raised her black banner and activated her Noble Phantasm.
"La Grondement Du Haine!"
Flames exploded around her and surged toward the saint.
Jeanne gripped her own banner with both hands.
"O Lord, I beseech You... grant me the strength to protect those who are precious to me."
"Luminosité Eternelle."
The light of her Noble Phantasm met the flames almost immediately. The two forces collided in the center of the battlefield, transforming the area into a sea of gold and black.
Jeanne Alter showed no intention of prolonging the clash of Noble Phantasms. The moment she realized Jeanne had halted the initial advance of her flames, she charged into close combat with her sword in hand.
Jeanne blocked with the shaft of her banner. The impact scattered sparks around them.
Jeanne Alter continued attacking without pause, each strike carrying more force than the last.
"Look at you! Still protecting useless trash that doesn't even deserve to be saved! The same trash that burned you alive!" she laughed as she attacked relentlessly, her flames fueled by rage.
Jeanne remained silent, focusing entirely on defending herself from the attacks.
"Hahaha... so that's it? Even now, you can't answer me?" Jeanne Alter mocked as she laughed at her counterpart.
Jeanne immediately responded by raising her banner. The two remained locked together for a moment. Jeanne Alter stared at her counterpart with a wild look, while Jeanne maintained her unwavering expression. Neither of them intended to give up even a single step.
It was at that moment that Arthur shifted his attention to another battlefield.
---xXx---
As they continued fighting, day gradually gave way to night.
For most of the Servants present, it was nothing more than a natural change in the environment.
For Jack, however, it was the moment she had been waiting for since the battle began.
Jack was not an ordinary Assassin. She was a serial killer.
Behind her childish appearance hid an amalgamation of specters born from the aborted children of Whitechapel prostitutes.
She was a creature devoid of common sense and morality, a being who killed prostitutes in the obsessive hope of returning to the lost womb.
As the final traces of twilight disappeared, a mist began spreading around her.
"The mist..." she murmured as the fog thickened around both herself and Carmilla.
It was her Noble Phantasm, a Bounded Field generated from an ancient lantern that recreated the "Death Mist": London's atmospheric pollution resulting from the mixture of the city's cold fog and the soot-laden smoke of coal fires. A phenomenon that plagued London countless times throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in the crisis of 1950, when the city was engulfed in a dense fog saturated with sulfuric acid.
During the Ripper's era, this problem was already severe enough that the serial killer could take advantage of the fog to attack her victims.
Ordinary humans would quickly collapse in agony upon coming into contact with the dense sulfuric acid cloud. Merely inhaling it was enough to burn the throat, while direct contact with the eyes caused intense irritation.
However, Jack's prey was not an ordinary human.
Jack's eyes gained a blood-red glow as she disappeared into the mist.
Carmilla immediately tried to locate her again, but failed.
That was when she felt something strange as she breathed.
"Cough... cough..." She suddenly coughed.
The sulfuric acid-laden mist had entered her body, and although it was not a lethal poison for a Heroic Spirit, it would gradually erode her physical capabilities.
However, that was not her primary concern.
Someone was hidden within that mist, trying to kill her. She was absolutely certain of it. Yet no matter how much she focused, she couldn't form a clear image of her opponent. It was like trying to remember a dream that vanished upon waking.
As she struggled to identify who was trying to kill her, a muffled sound echoed through the fog.
Carmilla's eyes widened as she felt a searing pain in her side.
Looking down, she found a deep puncture wound in her waist, blood pouring endlessly from the injury.
She had been struck without even seeing the attack—or the attacker.
Carmilla took several steps back, her expression becoming increasingly serious.
Realizing the situation was rapidly deteriorating, she immediately decided to release her Noble Phantasm.
If she continued allowing her opponent to control the pace, she would die without ever being able to counterattack. There was no longer any room for caution.
So she would bet everything on the power of her Noble Phantasm.
But this was also the moment Jack had been waiting for.
The three conditions necessary to unleash the true power of her Noble Phantasm had been fulfilled.
Furthermore, Carmilla was no longer in her ideal state of concentration.
Still hidden within the mist, Jack lowered her small body, keeping her arms extended at her sides and her forearms bent.
She held a pair of daggers that immediately took on a purple hue, just like her eyes.
"From this point onward, it is hell."
"We are fire and rain."
As she recited the activation chant of her Noble Phantasm, she immediately rushed toward Carmilla at full speed.
Carmilla barely had time to begin the activation chant of her Noble Phantasm when a small figure appeared before her.
"Holy Mother of Dismemberment... Maria, the Ripper..."
Jack appeared immediately behind Carmilla.
Under normal circumstances, Maria the Ripper could be used to inflict physical damage even if all conditions had not been met.
However, now that every condition had been fulfilled, the damage received a drastic Rank increase, practically doubling its power.
As Carmilla screamed in agony, knives materialized inside her body.
Her lungs tore apart even as she continued screaming, expelling blood that stained her lips crimson. Her bones shattered under the pressure of the knives, splintering into fragments that pierced her own flesh.
Her limbs fell away; her exposed ribs formed an open cage of splintered bone while her vital organs dropped to the ground. What remained was nothing more than an unrecognizable mass of flesh and bone, a bloody lesson in just how terrifying Jack the Ripper could be.
Gradually, the mist began to dissipate, and Carmilla's body disappeared completely.
With that, only one pair remained fighting.
(End of Chapter)
A/N: I think I've improved a little when it comes to descriptions... But let's be honest, Carmilla deserved it.