"Honestly... they're much weaker than I imagined," Arthur muttered reluctantly.
He had genuinely expected something from them.
His gaze shifted toward Ritsuka.
"I thought so too," she agreed, analyzing the creatures while Mash remained beside her with her shield raised. "They remind me of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers Tamamo and I fought in that Apocrypha Microsingularity."
"Ah, those?" Tamamo immediately made a face. "They were awful. Ugly, annoying, and completely lacking in charm. I don't miss them at all."
Arthur let out a brief laugh.
"In that case, this makes things easier."
He shook his head and turned back toward what remained of the horde.
"Now that I have a rough idea of their strength, we can finish all of this at once."
Despite no longer possessing the same power he once had, this was still nowhere near a genuine threat.
For a brief moment, an unpleasant memory crossed his mind.
Even now, he could still remember the feeling of arriving too late.
When he arrived at Chaldea, everything had already happened.
The explosion had already occurred.
Lev Lainur had already revealed his betrayal within Singularity F.
And worst of all, Olga Marie had already been thrown into CHALDEAS.
He had failed to stop it.
The fury he felt at that moment was something he had rarely experienced throughout his entire existence.
Lev Lainur died.
But not quickly.
Not mercifully.
And certainly not painlessly.
Arthur made sure he suffered as much as possible.
The eternal death to which Olga had been condemned—the endless torment of having her existence disintegrated and reconstructed without end inside CHALDEAS—would have seemed like a recreational training exercise compared to what Lev experienced before Arthur finally allowed him to die.
Only after his vengeance was complete and his anger began to fade did regret take its place.
He had arrived too late.
No matter how thoroughly he punished the one responsible, it did not change the fact that he had failed to save her.
That was when he made his decision.
In order to stabilize the main timeline and prevent Olga's death from becoming a fixed point in Human History, Arthur sacrificed nearly sixty percent of his power to anchor Olga back to the world.
He even fragmented a portion of his own soul to make it possible.
Olga Marie returned to life.
Her power, however, never returned to what it had once been.
---xXx---
Arthur rose several meters into the air.
At the same instant, hundreds of golden ripples appeared around him.
Space itself seemed to distort as brilliant portals opened on every side.
The undead barely had time to react before a storm of weapons erupted from the portals.
The monsters were torn apart before they could even approach the group.
A few seconds later, absolutely nothing remained standing, and silence once again dominated the area.
Richard watched the scene with shining eyes.
"Magnificent..."
The smile on his face widened.
'No matter how many times I see it, it's still impressive.'
Arthur landed calmly on the ground.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Enjoyed it?" Richard laughed. "I just watched an entire army disappear in a matter of seconds. I think that goes a little beyond 'enjoying it.'"
Ritsuka crossed her arms while observing the now-empty battlefield.
"Right... so what do we do now?"
Arthur opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by another voice.
"If it isn't too much trouble..."
Jeanne's voice interrupted the conversation, drawing everyone's attention toward her.
The saint seemed hesitant about something.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Ritsuka immediately noticed the seriousness in her expression.
"If you interrupted us right now, it must be important."
Jeanne nodded.
"It's about my memories."
"Your memories?" Arthur slightly frowned.
"When I was summoned, I received memories that shouldn't even exist," Jeanne explained.
Arthur and Ritsuka exchanged a brief glance.
Both reached the same conclusion almost instantly.
Those memories were undoubtedly connected to the Singularity or something that could completely alter their plans.
"Tell us everything from the beginning," Ritsuka requested.
Jeanne took a deep breath before continuing.
"I still remember the moment of my execution."
Her voice remained steady, though a trace of discomfort crossed her eyes.
"However, my new memories begin after that."
"Suddenly, I found myself near a small village. I can't explain how it happened. I simply woke up there."
Arthur slowly raised an eyebrow.
"I walked for some time until I reached a nearby town. When I arrived, I discovered it was under attack by dragons."
Jeanne lowered her gaze briefly.
"Naturally, I tried to help, but nobody believed my intentions. They called me the Dragon Witch. They said I was responsible for everything that was happening. The people were afraid of me. Some of them couldn't even look directly at me."
Mash tightened her grip on her shield.
Ritsuka didn't seem comfortable hearing it either.
Arthur remained silent for a few seconds.
Now things were beginning to make sense.
The information Jeanne was providing was far too specific to ignore.
Jeanne observed the group's faces.
Part of her had expected suspicion.
Or at least confusion.
After all, it wasn't the first time she had been judged for something she hadn't done.
Even so, she had decided to tell them everything.
They needed to know.
What Jeanne hadn't expected was that not only Ritsuka but also Arthur completely believed her words.
For several moments, she simply stood there staring at the two of them in silence, clearly surprised by how easily they accepted something she herself still struggled to understand.
Arthur was the first to notice her expression.
A small smile appeared on his face before he chuckled.
"Don't look at me like that. Doubting the serious words of a saint would probably earn me a special place in Hell."
The comment drew a faint smile from Jeanne, while Ritsuka immediately nodded.
"Of course we believe you. I trust you completely, Jeanne. Otherwise, I never would have brought you to Chaldea."
The sincerity in her voice left no room for doubt.
Jeanne remained silent for a moment, feeling part of the burden she carried become lighter.
Even if she still didn't have answers for everything that was happening, at least she didn't have to face it alone.
As the conversation continued, Artoria noticed something unusual.
For a brief instant, Arthur's crimson eyes shone with an intense golden light before returning to normal.
The change happened so quickly that it would have gone unnoticed by almost everyone present.
But not by her.
"Arthur, did you just activate your Noble Phantasm?"
Arthur turned toward her and nodded.
"Yes."
"Did you find something?" she asked.
"Actually, I only wanted to confirm a hypothesis."
Arthur crossed his arms.
"And, as expected, it was correct."
The statement immediately drew everyone's curiosity.
"Wait a minute."
Ritsuka blinked several times.
"Since when do you have a Noble Phantasm like that?"
"Always."
Arthur answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Always?" Mash repeated.
"You never mentioned it, dear husband," Tamamo observed.
Arthur looked genuinely confused by their reaction.
"You never asked."
The silence that followed caused Ritsuka to close her eyes for several seconds.
"That is not a normal answer."
"It's still an answer."
Before the discussion could continue, Arthur cleared his throat.
"Anyway, its name is Sha Naqba Imuru."
"In simple terms, it allows me to perceive hidden information and observe possible futures. It's not like I can predict a fixed future. I simply see multiple possible outcomes simultaneously."
Mash immediately showed interest.
"So you can observe future probabilities?"
"More or less. The future continues changing according to people's choices. I can simply see possibilities that would normally remain hidden."
Ritsuka crossed her arms.
"And you genuinely never thought that was important enough to mention?"
"There was never a situation where it was necessary."
"Arthur, there were definitely several situations where it was."
Arthur ignored the comment.
"Anyway, thanks to Sha Naqba Imuru, I finally figured out what's happening in this Singularity."
The joking atmosphere vanished immediately.
Everyone focused on his next words.
"I found another Jeanne d'Arc."
Jeanne froze.
"Another... me?"
Arthur nodded.
"Yes. However, unlike the Jeanne standing before us, this other Jeanne gave me a completely different impression."
His gaze briefly shifted toward Jeanne before continuing.
"Hatred."
"It was as though she were consumed by it. A hatred so intense that it seemed to be constantly burning her from the inside."
Arthur continued without breaking his train of thought.
"My conclusion is that the memories you possess do not originally belong to you."
The group fell silent.
"I believe a third Jeanne d'Arc was involved in the summoning process. Somehow, she ended up merging with you when Ritsuka summoned you here."
Mash immediately understood.
"Then those memories..."
"Exactly. They came from that third Jeanne."
Arthur nodded.
"The fear, distrust, and hatred directed toward her were probably caused by the actions of this Jeanne consumed by resentment."
Jeanne remained motionless.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"Now we have two options."
Arthur drew everyone's attention once again.
"The first is to locate this other Jeanne and deal with her."
He raised one finger.
"At this point, I'm almost certain that the entire problem behind this Singularity is connected to her, and the Holy Grail is probably in her possession as well."
Arthur paused briefly.
"However, that option has a problem."
"It's unpredictable," Mash concluded.
"Exactly."
Arthur nodded.
"We don't know what we'll find. We don't know how many enemies there are. We don't know what resources she possesses. Anything could happen, and if we're unlucky, someone could end up dying."
'Personally, I'd rather not have to use Sha Naqba Imuru again.'
The group immediately understood the weight of that assessment.
Arthur raised a second finger.
"The second option is much more stable."
He pointed toward the forest.
"We find the ley line in this region and establish a base of operations on top of it."
"That seems like the better choice," Ritsuka answered almost immediately.
Everyone looked at her.
"We're strong, but that doesn't mean we should charge in without a plan. Before anything else, we need to secure a safe position and gather information."
"I agree."
Artoria nodded in approval.
Her gaze shifted toward Arthur.
"Under normal circumstances, I would consider a direct offensive after properly assessing enemy forces."
She paused briefly.
"However, that is not possible at the moment. You do not possess sufficient reserves to sustain Rhongomyniad's full release."
Arthur nodded without hesitation.
"She's right."
Floating beside him, Ishtar raised an eyebrow.
"Is that Rhongomyniad really that ridiculous?" she asked.
"With the pathetic amount of mana I currently possess, I couldn't sustain its full power even remotely."
Arthur sighed.
The answer immediately made Ishtar understand the scale of the issue.
Arthur continued.
"Anyway, one of my objectives once we reach the ley line is to store mana inside the Grail I possess and replenish my reserves."
His gaze passed over the Servants present.
"As a mage of the Third Magic, there isn't any real concern about death if my reserves are completely exhausted and I have to rely on my life force during Rhongomyniad's full release."
The statement was delivered so casually that it took everyone several seconds to process what he had just said.
"That said, I would prefer not to lose my physical body."
His tone remained calm.
"Therefore, I ask that those contracted to me refrain from using their Noble Phantasms at full power until that problem is resolved."
His gaze passed over Artoria, Tamamo, Ishtar, and finally Richard.
All of them immediately understood.
Satisfied, Arthur ended the discussion.
"Now that's enough talking. It's time to get moving again."
The decision was accepted without objection.
Finding a ley line was not particularly difficult for someone with Arthur's abilities.
Thanks to his Clairvoyance and the information he could gather, he quickly located a powerful ley line deep within the forest.
However, it was not unguarded.
Quite the opposite.
As he observed the distant area, Arthur noticed numerous presences gathered around the concentration of magical energy.
Wyverns.
And there were quite a lot of them.
Apparently, the creatures had gathered there precisely because of the ley line.
Arthur observed the horizon for several moments before a slight smile appeared on his face.
"Well..."
His smile widened slightly.
"This seems like a good opportunity to find out exactly how strong a wyvern really is."
(End of Chapter)