Meanwhile, elsewhere.
On an uninhabited islet to the southwest of the battlefield, Nameless, one of the Alien Apostles, lowered the gravely wounded Caenis from his shoulder.
They had withdrawn from the combat zone the moment Odysseus was struck by a Noble Phantasm, escaping Artemis's firing range ahead of the others.
"Caenis has no combat capability left. Her death is only a matter of time. Why bring someone like her back?"
Pollux, the younger sister of the twin Servants known as the Dioscuri, asked Nameless. The twins had been dispatched alongside him to support Odysseus, but had ended up locked in a stalemate against Barghest.
"It was precisely to prevent Olympus's land from being defiled that Odysseus and Caenis were sent in the first place," Castor declared coldly. "Now that Odysseus and his entire fleet have been wiped out, there's no reason to keep a piece of trash that's lost all usefulness."
"...I'll kill you both..."
During the retreat, Caenis had regained a sliver of consciousness. Grinding her teeth, she muttered a curse at the arrogant twins.
"You even brought Artemis into play and demanded our support, yet you still failed to kill Chaldea. Do you actually understand your position?" Pollux pressed on, completely ignoring Caenis's condition as she continued to interrogate her, despite Caenis being barely able to respond.
Unable to tolerate their attitude any longer, Nameless cut in, interrupting the stream of accusations.
"If you want to fight among yourselves, save it for after we get back. No matter how you look at it, the order to support Odysseus and Caenis came from Kirschtaria. The one who misjudged Chaldea's strength was him, not Caenis. And as the reinforcements sent to assist them, we didn't just fail to help secure victory. We suffered heavy losses and only managed to bring Caenis back alive. From that perspective alone, you have no standing to condemn her here."
With a faintly amused smile, he mercilessly laid the facts bare.
"Alien Apostle," Castor snapped, raising his sword and pointing it at Nameless's throat. "You are nothing more than an assistant to Kirschtaria-sama. You have no right to judge our results."
"Getting angry because you were told the truth?" Nameless replied without flinching, continuing to strip away Castor's bluster. "If you had been the one commanding that encirclement, you probably wouldn't have even gotten close to Chaldea. In the end, even sharing a Spirit Origin, the two of you couldn't take down a single fairy in a two-on-one. Was the size difference just too much for you to handle?"
"Heroic Spirit Nameless, mind your words," Pollux said sharply, her tone turning stern.
Nameless merely looked at them with cold indifference.
"Kirschtaria's calling. Want to hear it? Or should I wait until you're dead and report your deaths as well? It would just be one more line added to Chaldea's report."
"You two, put your swords away. Otherwise, before I address your failure in dealing with Caenis, I'll first deal with the fact that you've drawn weapons against your own allies."
Calm yet authoritative words rang out as the communication connected. Kirschtaria appeared on the deserted beach as a three-dimensional projection.
At that moment, he was seated upon the throne at the deepest core of the Lostbelt. Through Magecraft-based communication, and as an ally of Zeus, he could ignore distance entirely and speak with the front lines as if he were present.
Kirschtaria's words carried weight. The two Dioscuri sheathed their weapons, stepped back a few paces, and bowed respectfully toward his holographic image.
"Please forgive my brother and me for our discourtesy, Kirschtaria-sama," Pollux said.
"..." Castor remained silent.
"So the result was exactly as feared," Kirschtaria said, confirming it once more with Nameless. "The supposedly foolproof encirclement operation instead led to the complete annihilation of the defensive fleet, along with Odysseus himself."
"As you can see, that is indeed what happened," Nameless replied calmly, arms crossed. "Odysseus even activated the Trojan Horse, but it was still utterly powerless against Chaldea's current strength. Chiron is now acting independently, searching for Chaldea's whereabouts. Can Olympus track them?"
"Unfortunately, no," Kirschtaria answered. "Evidently, Shiomi-sensei… no, Chaldea possesses extraordinarily capable Magi. With goddesses fighting alongside them, even the omniscience of the great god Zeus cannot pinpoint their location."
Nameless nodded in understanding.
"Artemis's shot did hit the target, but judging from the situation just before the explosion, they likely executed an emergency Imaginary Dive."
"There is no need to dwell on that," Kirschtaria said. "My ally Zeus is already aware of it and has ordered Artemis to dispatch surveillance units to search the islands of Atlantis for Chaldea's trail. Have the Dioscuri return to Olympus for now. As for Caenis, her injuries are not life-threatening. Given time, she will recover."
It was only thanks to the power unleashed by Caenis's True Name release, combined with her constant Noble Phantasm, Neptune Blessing, that she had survived Scáthach's attack at all, barely clinging to life.
Of course, this was also because Nameless had promptly followed Kirschtaria's orders and extracted Caenis in time, sparing her from being caught in the explosion caused by Artemis's shot.
"So you intend to leave Caenis here?" Nameless asked, confirming Kirschtaria's intent.
"That will be her punishment as well," Kirschtaria replied evenly. "She will remain alone on this island to recover from her injuries."
Caenis forced open the one eye she could still see with.
"Heh… coming from you, that's actually… a pretty soft punishment."
"Before this encirclement operation began, you believed that Odysseus's fleet and yourself alone were enough to defeat Chaldea," Kirschtaria said, his tone utterly calm. "You should understand now that the defeat in Scandinavia was not a coincidence. From now on, you will follow my orders without exception."
With that, the communication was cut.
"Got it… you bastard Master…" Caenis let out a self-mocking laugh.
Soon after, the twin Servants, the Dioscuri, followed their orders and dissolved into spirit form, departing the deserted island.
"Since Kirschtaria has decided so, I won't interfere any further," Nameless said as he prepared to leave. "Even if you survived the god-slaying spear of the Queen of the Land of Shadows, the curse bound to that spear will continue to haunt you."
"I know that without you telling me…" Caenis muttered.
The crimson spear that struck true to the heart.
Even without Artemis's shot, she would have died at sea.
But Kirschtaria had used a Command Spell, allowing Zeus's Klironomia to act as a substitute for her heart and sustain her Spirit Origin. To be fully healed, however, she would have to rely on Demeter's Klironomia.
She would need to recover to the point where she could personally seek an audience with Demeter.
"Tch… like hell I'm dying in a dump like this…"
Watching Nameless disappear from the deserted island, Caenis leaned back against the rocks and muttered the complaint weakly.