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Chapter 439: Chapter 398

"We have arrived, Lord Odin." The Ferryman of the Dead – Charron, informed me.

"No shit, skeley-boy." I leapt off the boat.

"I\'m not actually a skeleton."

"Then eat some more! You\'re all skin and bones. Tell Hades that just because he has an aesthetic, doesn\'t mean he should abuse his subordinates."

".....Please do not come back." He pushed off the shore, moving back across the waters of the River Styx.

"Bah." I spat. "Damn brats, always so stuck up." They needed to learn to loosen up a little, life was short, even for Gods.

One moment, you have everything in your grasp, a happiness that can\'t be described, then the next moment, you\'re only filled with regrets.

I took a deep breath. "HADES!" I roared to every corner of this bleak place. I calmly waited a moment until a swirl of darkness swept me up and carried me along much more quickly than if I moved by myself.

"Odin." Top Skele-boy greeted me as his power deposited me right in front of his throne.

"Persephone!" I looked at the only thing worth my attention. "You\'re as lovely as ever."

"....thank you, Lord Odin." She strained a smile.

Hah, she\'s already swooning.

Hades sighed, covering his face. "Everyone, leave us." He waved his hand, dismissing all the people in the room. "Why did you just come the normal way?" He asked as everyone left.

"I didn\'t wanna walk." I shrugged.

"Of course." He drawled. "And why are you here?" He started again before I could get a word in. "And if it is some variation of singling out my wife for a jest, I will be upset."

"This is why the brats up on the mountain don\'t like you. Can\'t take a joke."

"I will take your words under the consideration that they deserve."

"Why couldn\'t it have been Zeus that I teamed up with?" I signed, leaning on my walking stick slash spear. "I\'d already have Aphrodite bouncing on my –"

"Yes, we get it." Hades growled. "Why are you here, Odin?"

"Did you know that Zeus and Hera tried swinging for a few decades awhile back? Before Zeus got too jealous that his wife was banging other guys. But that was fun, your sister really knows how to handle a man."

"...Odin, I\'m losing my patience."

"Fine, fine." I rolled my eyes. "Young\'uns these days, way too serious I say. Anyways, just wanted to come talk about a few things. Thanks for stepping in with Indra, by the way. I appreciate you for that."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "I didn\'t even have you on my mind when I did so."

"Even so, thought I\'d at least give you my thanks. The brat is someone important to me, don\'t want anything to happen to him. And that cougar of his doesn\'t deserve Indra\'s brand of bullshit."

"You are aware that I\'m going to tell Izanami how you refer to her, yes?"

"Bah, I\'ll say it to her face the next time I see her."

"Of course you will." Hades sighed again.

"Izanami is someone we like, Odin. Your thanks is unnecessary." Persephone spoke up in his place. "And Wilhelm is in an agreement with us, it\'s only natural. That and I look forward to hosting the new couple for dinner~"

Hah, that cougar was gonna be so embarrassed, I\'m almost jealous that I won\'t be there.

"I should apologize to the brat, I talked a big game about distracting Indra, but it wasn\'t nearly as long as I thought it\'d be."

"It was never a sure thing. I wouldn\'t be surprised if Indra used the whole thing as an excuse to release some steam by treading on what he perceives as his \'lessers\'." Hades replied.

"Sounds like that cunt." I nodded. "Still, I\'ll do something for him later as an apology. But that\'s not why I wanted to come over here to bother you. I think I found the location of a few of those items you both were lookin for. Figured I\'d give you a head sup."

".....that, is very appreciated, Odin." Hades sounded sincere. Heh, I did actually like him more than his siblings despite how much I like to give him a hard time. "I\'ve been chasing down a few rumors, and I\'m only really sure on one at the moment."

"The Nails?" I asked.

"How did you know?" He was surprised.

"It was the easiest one to find."

Hades grumbled, making me just laugh in response. "I\'ve merely been surveilling the owner thus far. Do you have any insight?"

"Two things." I held up corresponding fingers. "First, it seems like the original was cannibalized by the system left by the Biblical God and turned into a Sacred Gear. Which is why it went missing for so long."

Hades visibly got annoyed. "Of course it did. That damn system has been going haywire ever since he died."

"Well, you\'re gonna get more upset. Cause it\'s not just a Sacred Gear, it\'s easily a Longinus level from what I\'ve gathered."

"And this is precisely why I originally joined that ridiculous organization. Eventually, things will spiral out beyond our control."

"Yeah, I\'m starting to see your point. Some lass with a grudge got a hold of such a thing by sheer chance, and she\'s already began destabilizing the mortal government in her area and taking over the mortal businesses with its power."

"While I don\'t care much about the Mortals before they die, I agree that it\'s not something to ignore." Hades nodded in agreement. "Why haven\'t you stepped in if you already figured all this out?"

"Second point." I noted. "I was curious as to how she got so good at using this \'new Longinus\' of hers without anyone noticing."

"....that is a fair point." Hades stroked his chin. "Outside interference?"

"Of the worst kind. Probably that same group you were talkin about cause I think there\'s an Evil God possessing her and twisting her perceptions." I wasn\'t entirely sure, as I didn\'t want to alert anyone, but I\'ve been at the game long enough to pick some things up.

"I will need to rethink my approach then." Hades grumbled.

"What were you going to do before?" I was a little curious.

"Buy her off."

".....yeah you would."

Hades huffed in annoyance. "She is a human Magician, I have accumulated knowledge she couldn\'t fathom. And I have riches that the supposed Royal Family she was cast out of couldn\'t even hope to dream about. It would have been simple to form a contract and have her enter my employment. I\'m not against hiring talent at any level or profession."

"She might be thankful if you free her? If she is possessed, and not willingly doing a soul shuffle with said Evil God." I shrugged again. "In either case, if she is doing naughty things with her Sacred Gear, atl east you don\'t\' have to feel bad about taking it from a human."

"True." Hades mused. "My pride wouldn\'t let me take something without giving something equal in return. But if she is misusing it to cause trouble, I would not care."

"I think I know where that Shroud of Turin is, and the Cross made an appearance a year or so ago, I don\'t know where it is now, but I got info on who used it."

"I appreciate the notice, Odin. But what do you want in return for this help?"

"What makes you think I want anything?"

Hades deadpanned, but didn\'t answer.

"Fine, I want a favor."

"Speak."

"I need you to take care of my Valkyrie for a little while."

".....an odd request, but not one I would disregard. Might I ask why?"

I unbuttoned my shirt, pulling it open.

Hades stood up from his throne, eye\'s widened. "Odin..."

"Yeah, thought you\'d recognize the energy this gave off." I ran my hand down a deep cut on my chest. I had Runes drawn on my body to heal and begin dispelling the energy, but it was slow going.

"You fought my Father." Hades stated.

"Yup." I hummed. "Honestly, it looks worse than it is. His annoying power of Time is what\'s making it difficult to heal properly. That and his damn Scythe, what a stupid weapon. Who uses a scythe!? Pick a proper weapon, stupid bastard."

"How?" Hades asked. "My Father is powerful, but I would not give him good chances against you, All-Father."

"Bah." I huffed in annoyance. "Bastard ambushed me with that other one of his fellows. The Sun bastard that also broke out with him some time ago. I\'d have been fine, but they used my Valkyrie to distract me. Maybe it\'s cause I\'m old and retired now, but I fell for such a stupid trick."

"I will go with you and hunt him down." Hades stated. "I owe you that much."

"It would only cause problems. Those bastards are hiding somewhere within the Realms of Yggdrasil. If you started poking around, it\'d only escalate the already tense atmosphere among Asgard. Don\'t worry, he didn\'t escape unscathed."

Though I don\'t think gouging his Heart out was gonna slow him down for very long. But I aint a bitch that gets hit without getting some in of my own.

"This is....distressing news." Hades sighed. "My Father is active in the Norse territory, and he even has his weapon once more. It had disappeared eons ago, yet the moment he resurfaces, it\'s back in his hand."

"It is what it is. It\'ll make a good trophy after I bring you his head though."

Hades snorted with laughter. "I will look after your Valkyrie, Odin. You don\'t have to worry about her."

"Thanks, bone-boy. I\'d ask one of my Sons to, but Asgard isn\'t the safest at the moment."

Despite my confidence, I wouldn\'t be a very good War God if I just went chasing after them without a second thought. This whole thing basically screams \'trap\'. No, I would wait for a little bit, because that brat was going to be coming to my neck of the woods soon anyways. I\'d feel a lot better if I had someone strong enough to throw down with Indra watching my back. And I actually had a few good excuses to let him move around without my own brats kicking up a fuss, unlike Hades.

[***]

Wilhelm POV

The normal Soldiers were scrambling to ready themselves as we marched through the camp to meet up with the others. Olga and the rest were gathered around as we approached.

"Good, you\'re here." She eyed me in approval. "Roman, what\'s the situation?"

"We\'re detecting 9, no now it\'s 12 Servants converging on your location." He replied through the projection.

That.....was a lot of Servants to fight.

I wasn\'t honestly sure how many I could handle comfortably. And a Servant\'s Noble Phantasm almost always deserved respect.

"I can sense the same, however, only the 9 you mentioned appear to be coming from the direction of those Wyverns." Jeanne added. "There are three more moving from the North East."

"....we have no way to tell if they\'re enemies or not." Olga bit her thumb. "Assume the worst, hope for the best."

"Logical." Medea hummed. "However, there is still the matter of the hundreds of Wyverns flying towards us. With the amount of Servants that appeared to be involved, we wouldn\'t have time to protect the humans."

I could handle them but....I was trying to go under the radar for the most part. That kind of power needed to take out.... "How many Wyverns is that?" I held a hand up over my eyes to block the sun.

"Between 1600 and 1700." Saber said bluntly. I glanced at her, meeting her gaze briefly, and she frowned, turning away. "....it is common for those experienced in battle to be able to estimate numbers at a glance."

"She\'s right." Cu chimed in. "I\'d give it closer to 1600, but it doesn\'t really make a difference. Still way more than should be possible. To the point where if this many turned up in my time, or the Witch\'s, it\'d be freckin weird."

"Don\'t call me that." Medea hissed. "But he\'s right. Wyverns sometimes gather into groups around nests with an \'Alpha\' or whatever you want to call it. But these kinds of numbers are absurd."

"I wonder how they compare to what you\'re familiar with?" I asked.

"It\'s not like I went out of my way to hunt them during my life." Medea crossed her arms. "But they seem weaker, I was just assuming it was due to the age and regression of Mystery but now that you mention it...."

"I wouldn\'t be surprised if the \'Dragon Witch\' was just making \'clones\' via the Grail and throwing caution to the wind."

"....that is something possible through a device like the Grail." Roman idly mused.

"The more I hear about this thing, the more stupid I feel it is." Medea shook her head.

"Regardless, we now have to deal with a Phantasmal species nearing two thousand in number that would take a skilled Magus to put down one with time and effort." Olga redirected the conversation back to the main point.

"How much time do you think we have?" I asked again, glancing at the swarm of black dots in the distance.

"Between ten and fifteen minutes, probably." Cu estimated. "They might slow down as they start getting closer, so maybe a few minutes more."

"Jeanne, what\'s going on with the soldiers?" I turned to our resident Saintess. "Did you fill them in on everything?"

"N-no." She shook her head. "It was hard to settle just my presence, I hadn\'t had the opportunity. And there\'s no way they can run away."

"We\'re not going to leave them, right?" Samuel asked. "They wouldn\'t stand a chance."

"This place is already burning around us, Farmer boy." Cu snorted. "Ya think one more instance is gonna matter?"

"Yes." He said resolutely.

Cu chuckled. "Good, I like that attitude." He spun his – my spear. "I ain\'t one to run from a fight."

"I won\'t abandon my friends." Jeanne agreed.

"I suppose this is what we trained for." Olga sighed. "We have enough people to handle the Servants." She paused, glancing at Hinako.

"Yeah, yeah, I can handle one, two maybe if you don\'t expect me to win." She grumbled. "I won\'t be able to command my own if I\'m busy." She jabbed her thumb towards Lancelot at the side.

"I can handle a few as well." I made sure to clarify.

"Are you sur—"

"No." Saber interrupted Roman.

Everyone just sort of went quiet and stared at the stoic Saber, not offering anything additional, simply denying my input.

"I assure you, I can handle myself with a few Servants." I tried to be gentle in rebuffing her as I didn\'t quite know what was going on with her at the moment.

She scowled deeply, somehow producing Artoria\'s Sheath as it appeared into her hands with a burst of light, and she threw it at me. I fumbled to catch it due to the abrupt action, and she simply walked away.

"Women." Cu shook his head.

"What was that?" Hinako raised an eyebrow.

"I said, what\'s our plan?" Cu corrected himself.

"We need to keep the fighting away from the people here." Olga announced.

"They may have other ideas." Hinako noted. "It\'s their home, you think they\'re just gonna be okay with a bunch of \'outsiders\' coming in and telling them to sit tight?"

"Thankfully, we have someone they trust implicitly." I turned to look at Jeanne.

"....I\'ll speak to them." Jeanne muttered.

"Alright, everyone, this is what we\'re going to do." Olga began laying out the plan.

[***]

Jeanne did manage to convince the soldiers to allow us the opportunity first. It took some quick words on her part, but she got them to agree, in no little part to Gille\'s actions.

"Hey Pierre?" I asked.

"Oui? Yes?" he answered.

It\'s funny, I noticed that my magical Devil Ability to understand languages gets messed up sometimes if people switch between languages in their speech. It doesn\'t exactly throw me off, but I don\'t quite hear things as I should sometimes.

"Must be nice, visiting home again."

".....France is burning." He deadpanned.

".....you mean it wasn\'t like this originally?" I feigned shock.

I got a few snickers around me, but mostly a grumbling from Pierre and a Jeanne looking rather puffed up in indignation.

A small joke to ease any tension they might be having.

Siegfried was contracted with Ritsuka, due to his absurd Servant compatibility. While Hinako had Lancelot, and the others were rather obvious. Lancelot also hadn\'t gone full Berserker yet, so that was a bonus.

"Any last-minute advice, Boss?" Samuel asked. "This is a bit different than the simulations."

"Stay together, don\'t be afraid to use Command Seals. If you see an opening to push for a kill on a Servant, take it." I replied.

I would also be doing my best to protect them, but I had the feeling that I wouldn\'t always be around, so they needed their own experience in matters such as these. My insertion into this Singularity was already rocky, I couldn\'t guarantee I could be in the next one or stick around.

"Let\'s give them a greeting." Olga stated, turning to Ritsuka. "Fujimaru, you\'re up."

Ristuka clenched his hand, a Command Seal lightning up. "Saber, with this Command Seal, use your Noble Phantasm."

The baleful Magical Energy swirled around the darkened Artoria as she raised her blade up high. "Hammer of the Vile King, Overturn the Aurora, consume the Light – Excalibur Morgan!" The dark Excalibur released its fury.

The usual holy and memorizing attack still had an effect despite looking so malefic. I didn\'t get to see its capabilities in this capacity the last time as I was on the receiving end of it. But there was a different sort of beauty to be held in this version.

The Army of Wyverns, and presumably Servants were still a distance away, but this blade had by far enough power to reach them and clear a good chunk away before they even reached.

"No!" Siegfried blurted out, clutching his heart.

A roar shook the world following his outburst. It came bursting through the clouds, carrying a similar mark as Siegfried across its chest, but with scales and wings of black and red. A massive Dragon appeared in the path of the Noble Phantasm and opened its mighty jaw.

The amount of Magical Energy it gathered in that moment was just as palpable as the amount Saber used to release her Noble Phantasm. It let loose its breath, colliding with the blast in the sky.

The sun that was setting on the horizon was dimmed at the burst of power that illuminated every corner of France in the transcendent light. The power of a Dragon\'s breath, and Excalibur, neither won over the other, but that in itself was a loss for us.

"Is that a Dragon!?" Olga shouted.

"Fafnir." Siegfried answered the question that was on everyone\'s mind.

Yeah....I suppose that is what Martha was talking about.

[That thing is stronger than the Fafnir I know.] Ddraig chimed in as well.

....joy.

Just its presence alone is a few magnitudes higher than the Dragon Martha controlled.

Just as everyone was processing the fuck-off dragon that just negated one of the Strongest Noble Phantasms present, it opened its mouth again.

It could seemingly pull the needed Magical Energy from the atmosphere as its wings glowed with an ethereal light, only to be dwarfed by the magnitude of Magical Energy gathered between its jaws.

It literally shook the landmass with the sheer density of power released. Each breath, seemingly a Noble Phantasm in of itself.

"Bakudō #81, Danku!" I quickly chanted, the Hogyoku thrumming inside of me as I shifted what I had into Reiatsu. A large shield materialized in front of us as the breath attack slammed into it.

I was about to call out, but someone beat me to it.

"Mash!" Ritsuka yelled.

My barrier was cracking and breaking away under the strain. A spell that I was confident could stop one Susanoo\'s attacks and still stay standing.

Mash leapt next to me and slammed her shield onto the ground. "Lord Camelot!" She declared, activating her own Noble Phantasm.

White walls began to rise up from the ground as my shield shattered. Pristine and protective in nature, the Dragon\'s breath collided with them, but they didn\'t waver an iota. Mash struggled, she braced herself and held her Shield with all her strength, but it held without any semblance of breaking.

And that was why I always give Noble Phantasms the respect they deserve, because I wasn\'t even sure I could break that defense with everything I had.

"Dragon Slayer, go slay your dragon." Hinako pointed to the flying calamity.

"....I am unable." Siegfried admitted. "I have yet to fully recover."

"Great." Olga grumbled. "Get ready for battle." She stated, as the walls of the white city of Camelot receded.

"My Noble Phantasm can\'t do shit to that thing." Cu revealed. "Maybe throw a few punches, but it won\'t do much to a Dragon of that scale."

"I can keep it busy for a time." Siegfried stated. "But if it stays in the air, it\'s pointless."

"Medea." I called out, retrieving my Staff of Magnus from my ring and tossed it to her.

She caught it questioningly, then her eyes widened. "Did you just hand me a Divine Construct!?"

"Keep the Wyverns at bay."

She looked at the staff in her hands. "Yeah...I can do that." She glanced at Pierre. "Master, be ready to give me a Command Seal if I call for it."

"I\'ll trust you." Pierre nodded.

Medea hesitated for a moment, before shooting up into the air. I poked Sir Wiggled on the forehead, and he zipped over, landing in Olga\'s arms.

My Reiatsu soared to the sky. "Wall of iron sand, Tower formed from hate, forge molten iron and neatly finish in silence!"

Medea held the staff up and used one of her signature spells. The amount of spell circles that appeared in the air was beyond the need to count. "Μαχ?α Εκ?τη Γα?α!" She chanted her Divine Words, actualizing Magic from the bygone era, amplified many times over by the power of the Staff of Magnus.

Rain of Light.

Fafnir opened its massive maw again, about to let loose another breath attack, but I finished my own spell.

"Bakudō #75, Gochu Tekkan." Five incredibly tall and thick pillars manifested far up into the sky, connected simply by a chain as they slammed down onto the back of the mighty dragon, disrupting its attack, and sent it hurling into the ground.

Medea\'s own spell filled the sky with purple light. Every single one of those beams of light was the equivalent of a Modern Magus chanting for thirty seconds using a High-speed Aria. And there were more than enough for every single Wyvern still flying towards us.

But it wouldn\'t be that simple. One in particular flew faster, someone riding on top of it. The outline of whom, I could vaguely recognize as they pulled back the string of their bow. Black thorn-like projectiles shot forth, sniping every Beam of Light it could. Granted, there were far too many for this Archer to manage on her own as Wyverns began falling out of the sky, pieces of flesh and bodies seared and destroyed upon impact, but she did enough to keep a good chunk of their forces from simply being routed right then and there.

".....Atalanta?" Medea blurted out in shock.

I recognized her too, but she looked different. Her normal Greenish fur was now white and black, with a noticeable bleakness to her.

No doubt, she was a Berserker just like the other\'s we\'ve seen.

Medea floated downwards, an obvious choice as just being up by herself as a Caster would make her an easy target.

She looked at me, then back at the staff. "I\'ll marry you if you give me this."

....I was honestly unsure of what to say in response. But I was definitely going to tease my Medea about this later.

Fafnir roared, breaking free of my binding spell with particular ease. Siegfried was about to move, as was Raikou, but I held my hand up.

"Quiet, my Dragon." A woman landed next to Fafnir, hopping down from a Wyvern amongst the pack. The Dragon, Fafnir was cowled at her words.

Except for the white hair, pale skin, and black armor, she was the spitting image of Jeanne.

The Wyverns waited above, the Servants as well. They were ready to attack at a moment\'s notice.

The Dragon Witch swept her gaze around. She landed on Jeanne then turned her nose up, almost mockingly. Then she looked at me and her expression changed drastically. "You!?"

"....hi?" I offered.

"You!!" She held her hand up, pointing at me. "B-but! No, you? Why are you here!?" She looked pained for a moment as if she was having trouble articulating.

Everyone else sort of looked at me. "I have no idea what\'s going on." I said with complete honesty. Why did she seem to recognize me?

"Who are you?!" Jeanne stepped forward, demanding from her pale counterpart. "Why are you doing this? Why are you pretending to be me!?"

"Pretending to be you!?" The Dragon Witch growled. "I\'m the real Jeanne D\'Arc! You\'re the fake!"

"What!?" Jeanne looked aghast. "No, I\'m Jeanne!"

"No I am! And I\'ll carve the word fake into your body and hang it up on my castle walls for everyone to see!" The Dragon Witch scowled.

"Well, that just proves you\'re the fake." I commented. "Everyone knows that the real Janne can\'t read or write!" I pointed out.

"..."

"Will!" Jeanne squawked.

"Kill him." The Dragon Witch intoned.

And everything went to hell.

[***]

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