Crack—
A mottled fracture appeared on the Spirit Origin within his body.
Takumi fell silent and stopped borrowing Siegfried's power.
It wasn't yet time to completely exhaust Siegfried's power, because...
Takumi turned toward a corner untouched by the aftermath of his Noble Phantasm. A black figure was hiding there, hugging her knees.
"Laugh if you want. In your eyes, I'm just a fake anyway, just a ridiculously laughable existence, right?"
Hearing Takumi's footsteps, Jeanne Alter didn't look up, only speaking coldly.
On her chest, a bloody hole penetrating straight through to her back had appeared unnoticed. Specks of golden light were drifting out from it.
Takumi planted the flag emblazoned with irises into the ground with his left hand, and sat down silently beside Jeanne Alter, leaning on Balmung with his right hand.
He just sat there quietly, gazing at the sun setting in the west.
Jeanne Alter silently scooted two steps away from Takumi.
This silence continued for a dozen seconds.
Why isn't this bastard saying a word!!
Jeanne Alter couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Hey, at least say something!"
At the very least, ask me why I ended up like this!
Takumi seemed to come back to his senses only then.
He shifted his gaze away from the distant horizon.
"I don't have the mood to laugh right now, even if it's to mock others."
Hearing Takumi's calm, almost lifeless tone, Jeanne Alter huffed coldly.
Just this? I'm about to die, and I still sound more imposing than you!
"So? Are you planning to finish this now, to kill me, the village girl you hate the most, with your own hands?"
"Actually, even if I don't do anything, you will definitely disappear. I just walked over because I heard someone crying."
Takumi shook his head. Jeanne Alter was a Heroic Spirit fabricated by the Holy Grail. After the Grail was stolen, she would disappear sooner or later.
"Who—who was crying?! Don't slander people!"
Jeanne Alter raised her head in embarrassment and glared at Takumi.
"Is that so?"
Takumi's gaze focused on the corner of Jeanne Alter's eye. Not only was there a conspicuous redness, but there were also some tears that hadn't been wiped clean.
He pointed at the corner of his own eye, signaling Jeanne Alter.
Jeanne Alter froze for a moment before realizing, hurriedly wiping away her tears in a panic.
"You really came to mock me..."
About to disappear and still embarrassing myself in front of others. Jeanne Alter felt her short life was simply bleak, so she buried her head even deeper.
Another dozen seconds of silence.
This time, it was Takumi who spoke first.
"Jeanne told me. You are not her."
Hearing Takumi's words, Jeanne Alter's eyes dimmed, and her tone turned colder.
"Yes, yes, yes. So what if that's true? Yes, I'm just a super big idiot fabricated by someone else, who kept saying she wouldn't be betrayed again but was still betrayed by the person she trusted most. Happy now?"
"She also told me that although you are not her, you are also a brand-new existence. She asked me to tolerate you more if I have the capability."
"...Hah?"
Jeanne Alter suspected she was hallucinating.
"Are you sure that village girl said that?"
"Mmh."
Takumi remembered she said it when she was carrying him to find Georgios, afraid he would fall asleep on the way.
"...Boring."
After a moment of silence, Jeanne Alter flung her head to the other side.
"Avenger... But who is born with the necessity to exact vengeance?"
Takumi ignored Jeanne Alter's movement, chewing over the word "Avenger" repeatedly before speaking.
"You are indeed an imaginary Avenger created by someone else using Jeanne as a template for their own selfish desires. But you are not without a self."
"You can cry, you can feel loneliness, you can look forward to tomorrow, you can... yearn for others' care... Without a doubt, you are already a brand-new life that truly appeared in this world."
"What joy is there in revenge alone? Your life shouldn't contain only vengeance. At least experience some things other than revenge. It won't be too late to consider what kind of person you want to become then."
Takumi's voice didn't have much fluctuation, like a gentle breeze across a plain.
But Jeanne Alter, who listened to all this, felt her nose sting, and tears swirled in her eyes.
Brief memories of the past flashed through her mind one by one.
From the moment of her birth, everything about her was branded with the mark of vengeance. Indeed, at the beginning, Jeanne Alter didn't feel anything wrong. But as she burned the culprits to death one by one, Jeanne Alter shifted from initial excitement to emptiness.
She asked Gilles: "Revenge is truly satisfying, isn't it, Gilles?"
Awkwardly, she didn't speak her true feelings but took a detour.
She received an affirmative answer from Gilles, who bluntly stated: "You were born for vengeance!"
Jeanne Alter trusted Gilles's judgment and suppressed that strange feeling in the bottom of her heart.
That was why she broke down after meeting Jeanne and hearing Jeanne deny her existence.
Why don't I have memories of my life?
Jeanne Alter asked Gilles in a roundabout way again, and unsurprisingly received an affirmative answer.
Jeanne Alter trusted Gilles again.
Gilles betrayed her. While she was staring at the battlefield, he snatched away the necessity for her existence—the Holy Grail.
Because he was moved by the true Jeanne's saintly performance on the battlefield, he betrayed her.
'What exactly is the meaning of my existence?'
Just to satisfy Gilles's morbid wish? An existence to be kicked aside whenever he wanted?
Yet her enemies, Jeanne and Takumi, dramatically affirmed her.
So, I actually have the right to choose a richer life?
But...
"But I'm just an imaginary Servant fabricated by the Holy Grail... If it ends here, it really ends..."
Jeanne Alter's tone carried a sob, her body trembling slightly.
It was the fear of disappearing from this world.
"Not necessarily. The Quantum Time-Lock records everything. Perhaps there is a place for you on the Throne of Heroes too—of course, the premise for all this is that humanity doesn't completely disappear."
Even Heroic Spirits who transcend time exist because of humanity. Presumably, they couldn't become water without a source, right?
Takumi thought.
"...But isn't the Human Order pretty much in the same state as me right now...?"
Jeanne Alter said quietly.
"Maybe it can last a little longer than you?"
Jeanne Alter cried even louder.
"So in the end, doesn't it all mean disappearing..."
"Then why don't you wish for me to turn the tide and save humanity?"
Takumi said as he stood up.
"If I can save humanity, maybe you can continue to exist."
"...I don't want to."
Jeanne Alter fell silent for a moment, then suddenly started being difficult.
Takumi didn't have much expectation for Jeanne Alter anyway. He just shook his head, withdrew Balmung into Siegfried's Spirit Origin, and pulled up the flag planted in the ground.
"What are you going to do?"
Seeing Takumi looking like he was leaving, Jeanne Alter became anxious again.
"Settling the score. The Holy Grail of this Singularity hasn't been recovered yet."
"Want to come along?"
Takumi extended his hand to Jeanne Alter.
Jeanne Alter didn't speak. She just looked at Takumi's hand, then slowly shifted her gaze to the side.
This situation was also within Takumi's expectations. He was just asking out of politeness.
Without lingering, Takumi turned his head and prepared to lower his hand.
A slightly cold hand suddenly grabbed it.
Takumi paused, turned back, and found that Jeanne Alter had already extended her hand, her head turned to the side.
From that pale profile, a touch of red could vaguely be seen.
"I didn't say I wouldn't go—It's just that I can't last much longer in this state, so take my power and go beat the crap out of that bastard Gilles..."
Jeanne Alter said in a muffled voice.
"Let me say this in advance! You are not allowed to say my power is small!"
At the end, her voice raised a few pitches.
Seeing this familiar Jeanne Alter, the corners of Takumi's mouth couldn't help but turn up.
"Of course. I've been unhappy with that guy for a long time too."
"Also, you don't have to worry about your entire existence disappearing from this world. I will always remember you, until I die."
"—Put that way, having someone disappear with you sounds kind of interesting, right?"
"Mmh..."
Jeanne Alter responded softly, the blush on her face becoming more conspicuous.
Golden specks of light drifted in the wind. Takumi felt his hand become lighter, and Jeanne Alter vanished without a trace before his eyes.
Feeling yet another portion of power added to his body, Takumi sighed imperceptibly.
He closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, his gaze had become firm once more.
He then turned to look at Georgios, who had been watching from not far away, and extended his fist toward him.
"Teacher George, can you accompany me on this final leg?"
Hearing Takumi's address, Georgios looked thoughtful.
'Teacher George? That's an interesting title.'
However...
"I couldn't ask for more."
Georgios smiled and also extended his fist like Takumi.
Two fists bumped together under the setting sun.
--------------
[Original Author's note]:
Did Takumi really hear Jeanne Alter crying?
In a way, yes.
It was the connection between hearts that allowed Takumi to hear the sorrow and loneliness buried deep within Jeanne Alter. That is why he walked over and sat beside her.
After all—when you are afraid of being abandoned, you definitely hope someone will stay by your side, don't you?