"Adam, where did that Assassin go?"
Ritsuka Fujimaru instinctively moved closer to Adam, scanning the area warily. The rest of the group looked just as stunned at first, but after a brief moment they all shifted into high alert too. Mash had already summoned her shield and was watching their surroundings with sharp focus. Since Sanson was an Assassin, they figured he must have used some kind of Presence Concealment skill to vanish that quickly.
Adam, however, knew better. Unless Sanson's Presence Concealment had reached the level of a certain old man, there was no way it would look like that.
"Unless I'm mistaken, that Assassin didn't hide—he was teleported away."
The group relaxed slightly once they heard Adam's explanation.
With the immediate tension gone, Jeanne stared at the spot where Sanson had disappeared, deep in thought.
"Teleported? By who? Jeanne Alter?"
"Probably," Adam said, gazing at the same empty space.
If his memory was correct, Jeanne Alter hadn't used anything like that in the Singularity he remembered. Had his arrival forced her to change her tactics?
Meanwhile, Mozart was replaying the scene of Mash smacking Sanson away with her shield. He compared it to Ritsuka's earlier claims about Jeanne Alter's world-ending power and felt a strong sense of contradiction.
"Hold on. If Jeanne Alter is supposed to be that strong, why are her Servants so weak?"
"I mean, she's supposedly unstoppable, so her underlings shouldn't be pushovers like that Assassin, right?"
"About that…" Adam started, realizing Mozart was starting to doubt the whole "Jeanne Alter is terrifying" narrative.
Truth be told, Adam was already regretting his offhand comment earlier. One little white lie always needed more lies to keep it going, and now he was scrambling to patch it up without burning too many brain cells.
"Maybe it's because…"
Before he could finish, Ritsuka stepped in, stroking her chin exactly like Adam had done earlier. After a few seconds of dramatic thinking, she raised a single finger beside her head.
"Ah!"
"I get it now! That Assassin was another smoke screen Jeanne Alter threw at us!"
Adam: "?"
He raised an eyebrow, genuinely confused. He still hadn't figured out how to explain it, yet Ritsuka already had a full theory?
"You figured it out again?"
Ritsuka nodded confidently and addressed the whole group.
"Think about it. Jeanne Alter has no idea we already know how strong she really is. She sent the Assassin to attack us, let him get beaten easily, then yanked him back. It was all to make us underestimate her even more and feed us false information!"
"Remember how she pretended to lose and ran away last time?"
"That made us think she was weak. So she sends out more weak Servants for us to crush, reinforcing the idea that her whole force is pathetic. But we'd be wrong!"
"Too bad for her—I, Ritsuka Fujimaru, have already seen through her entire scheme!"
"Even if Jeanne Alter herself is insanely powerful, her Servants clearly aren't on the same level. She's using them as bait to mislead us and make us misjudge her real strength again."
"But I've already figured it out! Hahaha!"
Ritsuka let out a proud laugh and turned back to Adam.
"Right, Adam? Did I guess correctly?"
"I got at least ninety percent of it, yeah?"
Adam looked at her with a complicated expression. The corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly before he forced a nod.
"Ah… yeah~"
"Wow, as expected of Senpai!" Mash's eyes sparkled with admiration the moment Adam confirmed it.
The others, hearing Ritsuka's logical breakdown and Adam's approval, bought it completely.
Marie was genuinely impressed by Jeanne Alter's supposed cunning.
"I never knew Jeanne Alter was that strategic. Guess it makes sense—she was created from Jeanne, after all!"
"Jeanne! You could probably come up with plans just as brilliant, right?"
"Why don't you take charge of our strategy from now on?"
All eyes instantly turned to Jeanne.
"Eh?!?"
Jeanne's face turned bright red from the sudden praise. She felt utterly embarrassed because she couldn't come up with any decent plan at all. The thought that her dark counterpart had completely outclassed her made her want to crawl into a hole.
(In reality, Jeanne Alter's actual plans were far more emotional and nowhere near as clever as everyone now imagined. But in their minds she had become an unstoppable genius who could wipe France off the map in one strike.)
Unable to think of anything useful, Jeanne quickly changed the subject by bringing up another Saint they had met.
"If the Assassin was just a diversion, does that mean Martha was one too?"
Her words instantly reminded everyone of the big-sister figure (crossed out) Martha who had risked everything to deliver information.
Ritsuka shook her head, denying it.
"No, no, no. Thinking back, Martha told us we couldn't beat Jeanne Alter with just our current strength. That's exactly what she meant! Her warning actually makes my theory even stronger."
"Martha really was trying to help us. She must have temporarily broken free from Jeanne Alter's control somehow."
Ritsuka stroked her chin again, then raised her finger once more.
"Ah! Martha's a Saint, right?"
"Since Heroic Spirits exist, I'm sure 'the Lord' does too. Martha must have used the Lord's power to break free and bring us that intel!"
A certain pigeon flying overhead: "???"
The pigeon that had lost its branch kept flapping silently.
Everyone nodded along, convinced.
(The real reason was simply that Jeanne Alter hadn't gained full control over her Servants yet.)
Adam kept that thought to himself.
Then Ritsuka remembered the other Servants they had encountered besides Martha and the Assassin—Lancelot in particular. She thrust her finger up again.
"Ah! I get it again!"
"Jeanne Alter's strategic ability is even more terrifying than I thought!"
Adam was starting to go numb. He stared at her, a hint of genuine surprise in his voice.
"Ah… what did you figure out this time?"
Everyone's attention snapped back to Ritsuka. She gave a proud little hum and explained.
"I finally understand what Jeanne Alter wanted Lancelot to do!"
"Think about it—her face is identical to Jeanne's. She knew exactly who she was summoning. She deliberately sent Lancelot at us because she knew he would mistake us for King Arthur and go berserk!"
Mozart frowned.
"Uh… what was the point of that?"
"Another attempt to mislead us about her strength?"
Ritsuka wagged her finger, shooting down his guess.
"No, no, no—this is the truly scary part!"
"If she only wanted to mislead us, why didn't she just recall Lancelot like she did with the Assassin? She left him out there on purpose to test our real power!"
"What?!" The group gasped.
"Why do you say that, Ritsuka?" Adam asked, completely lost now.
Wasn't Lancelot just acting on his own mad obsession and charging in?
How had he suddenly become a sacrificial scout sent to probe their trump cards?
Ritsuka didn't notice Adam's confusion and kept going.
"Think about it. The moment Lancelot showed up, Adam summoned those Artorias and unleashed that insane attack, revealing our strongest hand."
"Jeanne Alter must have figured out Adam's personality during our last encounter. She predicted he would bring out the Artorias the second Lancelot appeared!"
"We fell right into her trap!!!"
"She now knows exactly how strong we are!!!"
"In a battle of wits at this level, the moment you show your trump card, you lose the initiative!"
Adam: "..." He was speechless.
Ritsuka's words left everyone stunned once again by how terrifyingly clever Jeanne Alter seemed. Their awe and fear of her shot up another notch.
"If she's that strong, even if we recruit every possible ally in this Singularity, can we really beat her?"
"Yeah… our raw power is already inferior. Are we getting outsmarted too?"
"Is there any way left for us to win?"
Morale plummeted. The group had never felt this discouraged. They were genuinely worried about France's future—and humanity's. If they failed to stop Jeanne Alter, it was game over for the Human Order.
Adam watched their sinking spirits and awkwardly pressed his lips together. Even though Ritsuka had taken the idea and run with it, he was the one who had started the lie.
Mash quietly moved to his side and whispered in his ear.
"Senpai… maybe we should just tell them the truth~"
The thought of coming clean—that Jeanne Alter wasn't actually that terrifying—crossed Adam's mind. He was about to speak when Ritsuka stepped forward and cut him off. She stood beside him with a grave expression.
Before Adam could wonder if she was about to spin another wild theory about Jeanne Alter's power, Ritsuka looked him dead in the eye and spoke with absolute conviction.
"You don't need to say anything more, Adam. I understand."
"Eh? What do you understand now?" Adam blurted out in surprise.
Oh no. She's not about to guess Jeanne Alter's strength again, is she?!
He couldn't let this spiral any further. Morale was already so low it was scraping the bottom of Artoria (Saber)'s chest plate!
Just as Adam panicked, Ritsuka turned to face the disheartened group. Her voice suddenly rang out, full of fiery determination.
"Jeanne Alter really is incredibly strong. Thinking back, the way she instantly teleported Sanson back might even mean she has spatial abilities!"
"But! We have no retreat! If we lose, Human Order ends and humanity is finished!"
"So we must win!"
"Even if it's not for humanity, we fight for the convictions we hold in our hearts!"
"What we have that Jeanne Alter doesn't is—"
"Unbreakable will and the spirit that never gives up!"
"We will never lose to her on that front!"
"In the end, the ones who will save Human Order will be us!!!"
Her passionate tone, paired with her dramatic gestures, instantly lifted everyone's spirits. Morale shot back up—higher than before.
Adam stared at Ritsuka in awe. She looked like a genuine savior right now. Yet something about her tone felt oddly familiar.
Before he could place it, Ritsuka turned back and gave him a big thumbs-up.
"How'd I do, Adam?"
He instantly realized she was copying the exact speech and posture he had used with Metatron Jeanne back in the city when he had cleared up the misunderstanding between Jeanne and Jeanne Alter.
Adam didn't say a word. He simply returned the thumbs-up.
It was a little clumsy, but Ritsuka had definitely grasped the core—using emotion to rally people.
She brightened at his approval, then quickly schooled her face back into a serious expression and stepped close again.
"Adam, I know you might not have any stronger Servants left. With just the people here and the few you can summon, we're probably outmatched in raw power. And now Jeanne Alter knows our strongest attack…"
"I think… we might actually lose."
"But everything I said earlier came from the heart. As long as we keep that unbreakable spirit, I believe we can still defeat her."
Adam listened, especially to the part about how even the Servants he could summon might not measure up to Jeanne Alter in raw power. He awkwardly scratched his nose and glanced at the four hundred Servants sitting in his roster.
Even the imaginary super-genius, map-erasing Jeanne Alter they had all cooked up in their heads could be erased instantly if he deployed a few of his overpowered options.
But seeing the determined look on Ritsuka's face, he couldn't bring himself to shatter her moment. In a way, she was growing too.
In the end, all he could manage was a single word.
"Nice~"
————————————
France.
Jeanne Alter's stronghold.
A complex magic circle flared to life. Sanson's figure materialized inside it.
He blinked, confused. He remembered confronting Adam and the others just moments ago. How had he suddenly returned to base?
Before he could process it, a kick slammed into his stomach and sent him flying.
It came from the one Ritsuka's group had imagined as a strategic mastermind who could erase France in a single strike and possibly wield spatial magecraft—Jeanne Alter herself.
Her face was twisted with rage as she glared at Sanson sprawled in the dust.
"I can't believe you, Assassin! How many times did I tell you to come back?! Come back! Come back! Instead you ran straight toward those monsters!"
"You saw that massive pillar of light! Were you trying to throw your life away like the Berserker?!"
The Jeanne Alter that Ritsuka's group had built up into an unstoppable, France-destroying genius was, in reality, still shaking with fear from the nearly ten-kilometer-wide beam the Artorias had unleashed. If that attack had hit her directly, it would have vaporized both her and the Fafnir she rode.
The memory made her even angrier. She stomped over and delivered another "France-destroying" kick to Sanson.
"Good thing I had Gilles prepare a summoning circle in advance after what happened with the Rider!"
"I knew something was wrong the second I saw you and the Berserker both charging in the same direction. I rushed back and had Gilles yank you out."
(The spatial ability Ritsuka had theorized was actually just Gilles de Rais using a pre-set circle—something Jeanne Alter had arranged after Martha's betrayal to prevent another Servant from slipping her control.)
What she hadn't expected was the Berserker charging straight in to die!
"Just thinking about that idiot Berserker pisses me off," she muttered, lips curling.
She had told Lancelot to report back first, but the moment he saw something he had cut contact and sprinted off. No amount of calling could stop him.
(The Lancelot that Ritsuka's group imagined had sacrificed himself heroically to probe Adam's trump card had, in truth, simply slipped Jeanne Alter's control after spotting Adam and lost his mind.)
After watching Lancelot bolt, Jeanne Alter had sent Sanson to scout and confirm whether he had really found the enemy. Then she saw the ten-kilometer pillar of light and froze in place atop Fafnir.
She stared at it for a long time, unable to calm down. Only after Lancelot's Saint Graph signal vanished completely did she snap out of it and frantically order Sanson to retreat. But he had already gone dark too.
Exactly like the Berserker.
(The Assassin that Ritsuka imagined was a clever smoke screen to make them think Jeanne Alter's forces were weak had simply been another Servant who slipped control and wandered straight into the enemy.)
Jeanne Alter was completely numb. She started to leave, but couldn't resist glancing back at the damage from the beam. Seeing that enormous crater made her heart tremble again. She quickly mounted Fafnir and fled back to base, ordering Gilles to summon Sanson home.
Even now, looking at the Assassin who had tried to throw his life away made her furious.
She grabbed Sanson by the collar, dragged him to the corner, and unleashed two solid punches to his face.
After pummeling him for a while with her "France-destroying" fists, Sanson's face was black and blue.
"Why the hell did you charge in?!"
"You saw that giant beam! Why did you still go after them, Assassin?!"
"Were you just trying to get yourself killed?!"
"Think, Assassin! Think!!!"
Jeanne Alter grew more agitated with every word. She jabbed her fingers hard against her own temples, the very picture of frustrated disappointment.
"With that fragile body of yours, charging in was nothing but suicide!"
"That beam could have erased you with even a thousandth—no, a ten-thousandth—no, a hundred-millionth of its power!!!"
"What were you thinking?!!!"
"Are you trying to make our enemy's job easier by reducing our fighting strength?!!!"
Sanson lay crumpled in the corner, face swollen and bruised, barely able to see. He weakly whimpered a few times before finally answering.
"Uh… uh… Marie's… head…"
Jeanne Alter's brows knitted together. She slowly stood up and stared at her bloody fist with a complicated expression.
Right now only one question filled her mind:
Did I hit him too lightly?
Just as she raised her fist again, Gilles hurriedly stopped her.
"Jeanne, if you keep hitting him we'll lose another fighter."
Jeanne Alter shot Gilles a death glare that made him flinch, but she glanced at the half-dead Assassin in the corner and finally lowered her arm. The memory of that colossal beam still made her heart skip. If that attack really belonged to Adam's group, they were in serious trouble.
In the end she let her fist drop, despair washing over her. Even if she killed Sanson to vent her anger, it wouldn't change the fact that they couldn't stand against a beam that size. All her Servants combined weren't enough to fight Adam's people.
The most ridiculous part? A few hours ago she had naïvely believed that summoning two more Servants would give them a fighting chance.
How innocent she had been—almost like that white country girl version of herself.
Even worse, after summoning those two Servants she still hadn't even seen Adam's group in person, yet she had already lost two more. If she hadn't rushed back in time, she might have lost Sanson too.
Before summoning the two new Servants she had five. After summoning them she still had five. It was basically the same as summoning nobody.
The Jeanne Alter that Ritsuka's group imagined—even if every Servant they could gather plus Adam's strongest still couldn't beat her—had already lost all hope after seeing just three of Adam's dozen Artorias combine their Noble Phantasms.
"Damn it!!!"
Jeanne Alter kicked the nearby wall with a "France-destroying" stomp, leaving a long crack.
"Jeanne, you…"
Gilles seemed about to say something, but she cut him off.
"Gilles, summon every Servant we have left."
"Hm? Jeanne? You… feeling better?" Gilles blinked, surprised by her sudden shift in spirit.
Jeanne Alter glanced at him and waved dismissively.
"I kicked the wall and vented a little. Don't worry about it. Just summon everyone. I have something to say."
Under her urging, Gilles got to work. After a short time he successfully recalled the remaining Servants.
Vlad III.
Carmilla.
Atalanta.
Knight Dion.
Jeanne Alter's Servants looked around in confusion.
"Hm? This is the base. Why were we called back?" Knight Dion asked.
"Ah! Master, why summon me now? I finally found some virgin blood and was about to enjoy it," Carmilla grumbled, clearly interrupted mid-meal.
"..." Atalanta simply stared coldly before closing her eyes, disinterested.
"Wait, where's the Berserker?" Vlad III counted heads. He didn't miss the bruised Sanson slumped in the corner, but Lancelot was still nowhere to be seen.
"The Berserker is gone," Jeanne Alter said gravely, facing her Servants.
"Gone? What happened? How did he fall?" Knight Dion asked, puzzled.
"Wait, the timing of the Berserker's defeat feels way too convenient!" Carmilla's face suddenly filled with fear as her own thoughts scared her.
"That giant pillar of light a few minutes ago… it couldn't have been…" Vlad III finished Carmilla's sentence.
"You're right. That pillar is exactly what took out Lancelot. And the ones who fired it are our current enemies."
Jeanne Alter didn't hide the fact that the devastating attack had come from Adam's group. The result was immediate—the morale of her Servants plummeted.
"How are we supposed to fight something that powerful?"
"That beam only went into the sky. If it had hit the ground instead, who knows how much worse the damage would have been."
"We'd never stand a chance even if we all attacked together!"
The calmest reaction came from Atalanta.
"Hmph~" She let out a short, ambiguous snort. The corner of her mouth twitched upward for a split second before vanishing.
Seeing her Servants' morale drop to the level of basic arithmetic, Jeanne Alter summoned her flag-bearing lance and slammed it into the ground.
Clang!
Everyone's attention snapped to her.
Jeanne Alter's expression was deadly serious, her voice ringing with passion. The aura around her made the flag on her lance flutter.
"I know the enemy is strong—insanely strong. They might even be able to erase all of France in one strike."
"And we're already missing two Servants." She clicked her tongue at the memory of those two wasted summons, but quickly hid it.
Then her tone shifted.
"But we have no retreat! If we back down, the enemy will kill us—and it won't be a pleasant death."
"Yet if we fight back, even against impossible odds, at least we'll have no regrets."
"No matter the final outcome, we will have tried."
"Even if it's not for victory, we fight for the convictions we hold in our hearts!"
"What we have that the enemy doesn't is—"
"Unbreakable will and the spirit that never gives up!"
"We will never lose to them on that front!!"
"Fight with everything you have, my Servants! Even if the result isn't what we hoped for, this battle will be the proof that we existed!!!"
Clang!
She slammed her lance once more. Her Servants' morale soared to a new peak.
Even the ones with hidden agendas couldn't help but feel moved by her presence.
Gilles de Rais watched her fiery speech and scratched his head, looking a little lost.
"Uh, Jeanne, actually…"
He tried to speak, but she cut him off again.
"No need to say anything, Gilles. I understand…"
"Even if I die, I'll die with style."
Gilles waved his hands frantically and shook his head.
"That's not what I meant, Jeanne! Not at all!"
"Hm? Then what do you mean?" Jeanne Alter looked at him, puzzled. She had already steeled herself for death—what else was there to say?
"I still have a few tricks left," Gilles said, reaching into his coat pocket as if searching for something.
Jeanne Alter's eyes widened like a drowning woman grabbing a lifeline.
"What tricks?!" she asked urgently.
After a moment Gilles pulled out a sheet of paper.
It was a bizarre sheet covered in incomprehensible writing that radiated a thick, eerie aura.
"What is this?" Jeanne Alter stared at it blankly.
Gilles's unnaturally bulging eyes stayed fixed on the paper as he slowly explained.
"It's a contract with the Demon God Pillar. It lets us control the Demon God Pillars of this Singularity and restore them to their original form."
"Demon God Pillar? What's that?" Jeanne Alter repeated the unfamiliar term, searching her mind but finding nothing.
"The Demon God Pillars are servants of the Mage King."
"They are the ones who summoned me to this land."
"They gave me the Holy Grail, and I used it to summon you, Jeanne."
Gilles carefully explained the origin and identity of the Demon God Pillars—though he once again lied about Jeanne Alter's own background.
Jeanne Alter didn't notice anything strange. Her eyes remained glued to the contract in his hand.
"I see…"
"But are you sure this Demon God Pillar can help us defeat the enemy?"
"Can it even withstand that giant beam?"
She clearly doubted whether the paper could turn their dire situation around.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Gilles admitted, scratching his head in mild frustration.
Ever since the Demon God Pillar had summoned him and handed over the contract, it had vanished without a trace. No matter how hard he searched this Singularity, he couldn't find even a hint of the Pillar. It was as if the entire thing had disappeared.
"But if even the Demon God Pillar can't defeat them… then I'll have no choice but to…"
Gilles's gaze slowly drifted to the other hand, where he held a grimoire bound in human skin. Its pages contained forbidden knowledge from before humanity even existed.
It was essentially a method that would drag all of humanity down with them.
***
If you want to read up to 25 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (remove space)