Clang!
It wasn't the sound of a sharp blade slicing into flesh, but the dull impact of metal striking metal. Sanson's slash crashed against Mash's shield.
In that instant, Mash had reacted with lightning speed. The moment she realized there was no one on the ground, her experience kicked in and she looked straight up. Seeing the danger, she swung her shield and knocked the airborne strike away.
The blue slash spun like a top after being deflected, then skipped across the ground several times like a stone on water before a black figure tumbled out and collapsed.
"Guh!"
Sanson clutched the spot where Mash's shield had hit him and spat out a mouthful of dark blood. The blow had clearly hurt him badly.
Once the figure stopped spinning and lay still, everyone finally got a good look at him: a Servant with gray hair, blue eyes, wearing black clothing, and wielding a strangely shaped greatsword.
"Huh? So it's a Servant," Mash said, staring at the Assassin on the ground.
She still wasn't fully used to the enemy strength in this Singularity and had assumed she'd just knocked away some ghoul or monster.
At that moment, Marie was staring at the disheveled Servant on the ground. The more she looked, the more familiar he seemed. She felt like she'd seen him somewhere before.
Even the back of her neck tingled coldly—probably because that was exactly where the slash had been aimed.
It wasn't until Sanson wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, making his face easier to recognize, that Marie finally realized who had just tried to assassinate her.
"Wait! That face… Are you… Sanson?"
Marie stared in shock at the executioner she knew all too well.
Why was she so familiar with him?
Mozart, standing nearby, frowned the instant he heard the name.
"Sanson? Marie, you're saying this guy is the one who executed you?"
Mozart turned his gaze to Sanson, who was still sprawled on the ground.
The two had no connection in life. Mozart had died earlier than Marie for different reasons. Thanks to the Grail's knowledge, he knew that the executioner who had beheaded Marie was Charles-Henri Sanson.
Marie carefully studied Sanson's dirt-covered face.
"Yes… it's definitely Sanson."
Meanwhile, Adam watched Sanson with a strange look.
Although Adam and Sanson were quite familiar with each other back in his Chaldea, he still couldn't quite understand the Assassin's current behavior.
"I know you're a loyal Servant to your Master, but you must have seen that massive pillar of light earlier, right?"
"After witnessing an attack like that, you didn't run away—you came straight toward us?"
"Interesting. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Was it Jeanne Alter who ordered you to come here?"
From Adam's perspective, Sanson was usually an extremely obedient Servant who carried out his Master's orders with almost no personal will. He executed every command accurately.
That was exactly why Adam found his current actions so confusing. Even if Sanson had a strong obsession with executing Marie, he should still follow his Master's orders.
So why would his Master, Jeanne Alter, send him forward after seeing such overwhelming power?
Sanson staggered to his feet, his eyes locked intensely on Marie—or more precisely, on Marie's neck.
"Yeah… what was I thinking? What the hell was I thinking?"
"My Master was screaming in my head just now, telling me to retreat immediately."
"But my feet just wouldn't stop moving!"
"I even pushed my mount, the Wyvern, to its absolute limit to get here faster… and it died halfway."
"I was only supposed to come retrieve the Berserker…"
Adam raised an eyebrow, confused by Sanson's self-questioning.
"Then why did you still—"
Before Adam could finish, Sanson cut him off with a frenzied, almost manic voice.
"But!!!"
"The moment I saw Marie's pure white neck, I just couldn't hold back!!!"
"I couldn't stop myself from wanting to cut it off. I couldn't stop myself from wanting to see her head fall once again."
"Ah~ I was born into a family of executioners. I only ever learned the art of execution. On this point, I will never compromise!"
"It's not just about resolve. It's about the technique—the obsession with perfect execution!"
"A skilled executioner doesn't cause unnecessary suffering. But my goal is one level higher!"
"It's pleasure!!!"
"Only when the moment of execution brings true ecstasy is it the beheading I've always pursued!"
"And the greatest execution of my entire life was Queen Marie!!!"
"I simply must recreate that moment!!!"
Sanson had originally planned to wait until Lancelot and the others were fighting, then use his Assassin skills to secretly execute Marie. But his dream had been shattered the instant Mash smacked him away with her shield.
"What a shame. If that Berserker had lasted just a little longer, my chances of beheading Marie would have been much higher. Such a waste."
"I should have retreated the moment I saw the Berserker fall."
"But the second I saw Marie's neck… I just couldn't control myself!!!"
"The moment I laid eyes on that flawless white neck, I got completely excited."
Sanson's face had an eerie flush. His expression twisted into a bizarre, ecstatic grin as he dug his fingers into his own scalp and twisted them around.
After hearing Sanson's unhinged monologue, everyone's faces turned extremely weirded out. Even Mozart—usually the most eccentric person in the group—looked at Sanson with an expression that clearly said I concede defeat.
"S-Senpai… this guy's a pervert, right~?" Mash asked, staring blankly at Sanson.
Ritsuka shook her head in response to Mash's question, denying it.
While Mash was still wondering if Sanson's speech didn't count as perverted,
"No, Mash. He's not just a pervert. He's a pervert among perverts. The word 'pervert' alone isn't nearly enough to describe his current mental state."
"He's a super pervert!"
"Oh… I see~" Mash nodded blankly, apparently taking Ritsuka's words to heart.
"Ugh~"
Even Marie was visibly shaken by Sanson's disturbingly abstract rant.
At her current age and personality, Marie chose to lovingly respect everyone's feelings. Even so, she hated the guillotine more than anything. Hearing her own executioner say something so insane naturally filled her with instinctive revulsion.
Yet her compassionate heart kept urging her to try and understand him anyway. Marie found herself torn, unsure what to do.
Before she could decide, Adam stepped straight forward, blocking Sanson's obsessive stare at Marie's neck.
"..."
Adam looked at Sanson, who had gone full super-pervert mode, and let out a helpless sigh.
He knew Sanson had a powerful obsession with executing Marie. Back in his own Chaldea, even when Sanson saw Marie, he would feel the urge to behead her—but he only thought about it.
He never acted this openly unhinged.
After all, in Chaldea they were teammates, and Adam was there to keep Sanson's beheading impulses in check, so he remained relatively calm.
But this Singularity's Sanson was clearly different.
Even without Adam's influence, he shouldn't have lost control this badly.
How could an Assassin be acting so recklessly, like a Berserker?
The answer was obvious.
Jeanne Alter had granted Mad Enhancement to all her Servants.
Since Sanson had lost his reason, Adam could roughly guess what he wanted most right now.
"Sanson, would you like to know what Marie actually thinks about being executed by you?"
Just as Adam expected.
The moment Sanson heard those words, his face lit up like he had found a kindred spirit.
"Oh~ How did you know? I really want to ask Marie what she thought of my beheading!"
"Indeed, rather than simply cutting off her head, I want to know if Marie felt any happiness or joy in the final moment before I executed her!"
"That's the whole reason I became a Servant!"
Sanson spoke with frightening intensity and craned his neck, trying to look past Adam at Marie.
Marie shrank back behind Adam, clearly creeped out by his mental pollution.
There was no denying it—while Sanson's combat ability might be lacking, when it came to mental contamination, he had completely rattled Ritsuka and the others.
"Can a human even ask something like that?"
"An executioner asking the prisoner he once beheaded: 'Were you happy and comfortable when I cut your head off?'"
Adam replayed Sanson's perverted statement in his mind, then glanced at Marie, who was hiding behind him.
Marie looked deeply conflicted. Her compassionate side still wanted her to show Sanson some respect. After all, he had improved the guillotine, and one should respect someone who had devoted their life to their craft.
But her body's natural reaction strongly opposed that idea, leaving her stuck in the middle.
Adam saw all of this clearly. Since he knew Marie so well, he understood exactly what she was struggling with.
He had a solution—not just defeating Sanson physically, but crushing him mentally.
In a way, Adam also wanted Marie to express her true feelings instead of bottling them up like this.
Adam opened his Servant list and selected the Black Marie he had summoned earlier.
With her sharp tongue, he wondered what Black Marie would say to Sanson.
After all, every Marie hated the guillotine. The difference was that normal Marie expressed it gently out of kindness, while Black Marie would say the most venomous things with the sweetest smile.
For reference, when Black Marie saw Napoleon, she had said with a loving tone:
"How does it feel to walk on a carpet dyed red with our blood, Your Majesty? Hehe… Ahahaha…"
Her voice had been incredibly gentle, and her laughter beautiful—yet for some reason it filled Napoleon with pure terror.
Adam placed Black Marie in his deployment slot and looked back at Sanson.
"Sanson, would you like to hear Marie's true, honest feelings about being executed by you?"
"Of course I—"
Sanson's words suddenly stopped.
He could no longer speak in front of Adam.
Under everyone's gaze, Sanson's figure instantly vanished without a trace.
"?"
Adam raised an eyebrow in surprise as he looked at the spot where Sanson had disappeared.
"Where'd he go?"
***
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