The bewitching full moon finally set, and seeing this, Takumi and Nero also stopped their Noble Phantasms.
As the golden-red protective shield vanished, the scene outside finally appeared completely before everyone's eyes.
The ground was littered with corpses. Some were even twitching unconsciously. Flowing blood dyed the earth red, as if a thin mist of blood had been spread over the battlefield.
Just looking at this scene was enough to know what terrifying chaos had occurred here.
"What on earth is this..."
The soldiers who regained consciousness looked blankly at the blood-red scene in front of them, their weapons dropping from their hands unconsciously.
They had clearly lost the will to fight.
Letting go of the hand holding the flag, Nero completely ignored the fact that she and Takumi were actually very close just now.
Then, putting her hands on her hips, she gazed into the distance at Caligula's position.
Looking from afar, golden specks of light danced wildly where the full moon had disappeared. Caligula's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Nero couldn't help but furrow her beautiful brows and sigh.
"He inexplicably released a big move, and then suddenly disappeared? I feel like my Roman Empire is getting stranger and stranger..."
Not being a Heroic Spirit, she found it increasingly difficult to understand the current situation.
"That's because he retired. Unless someone summons your uncle again, he shouldn't appear anymore."
Hearing Nero's muttering, Takumi examined the flag in his hand and found a moment to interject.
"Oh—so you understand quite a lot, my Guard!"
Nero looked at Takumi with shining eyes.
What she needed most right now was exactly such a character who could explain the current situation to her!
Takumi, however, seemed not to have heard Nero's words, still examining the flag surface with a face full of confusion.
Seeing this, Nero followed Takumi's gaze and saw the flag in his hand, which had already changed its appearance.
A trace of understanding and pride appeared in her eyes.
"Hehe, no need to look anymore. This is the result of my whim!"
"Since you have become my Guard and are holding a flag, how can I not add my symbol to the flag?"
"If you wave the flag on the battlefield in the future, but hold a flag that has nothing to do with me, wouldn't it look like my army has split apart?"
Nero said with logic and reason.
That's right. In just that short time earlier, Nero actually used [Imperial Privilege] to modify the pattern on the flag Takumi inherited from Jeanne.
But she didn't change too much.
She just added bright red rose patterns on top of the original golden iris flowers.
Now, the two different patterns intertwined. Not only did it not destroy the original beauty, but it actually made the flag much more colorful and rich.
"How is it? Does it look much better than the previous style? You should know that my artistic sense is something even the gods would tremble at!"
Nero put her hands on her hips proudly.
"It's not wrong to say that..."
Takumi helplessly rolled up the flag again.
Having played the game and watched the anime, Takumi naturally knew what kind of willful Emperor this was, but he didn't expect her to be this jumpy.
Anyway, the flag wasn't broken, and it even became better looking, so Takumi was too lazy to dwell on it.
"Speaking of which, where exactly did you come from? As far as I know, there shouldn't be a talent like you in Rome."
Nero asked in confusion.
"So you also knew my identity was unknown? Yet you nonchalantly gave me two official titles."
Takumi looked at Nero speechlessly.
"What does that matter? I knew at a glance that you must be a loyal subject who can be of use to me!"
Nero patted Takumi on the shoulder nonchalantly.
"Besides, I've already given you official titles, right? Thinking about it this way, you count as being under my command, don't you?"
"...I really wish I could have the same mental state as Your Majesty..."
Takumi said weakly, but he didn't refute Nero's words.
Because he really did come to support Nero, even the type who would risk his life to protect her.
"Stop! Don't talk about those irrelevant things. Tell me properly what you know that I don't know; that is the proper business!"
Nero held out her palm to signal stopping the current topic, then looked at Takumi expectantly.
Takumi was also honest. After all, knowing that Nero was a character who absolutely must be won over, he simply organized his words slightly and revealed his origin and part of the intelligence.
-----
(Time Skip)
"I see, I see. So you actually ran back from the future to support me. It truly is unimaginably wonderful..."
Nero nodded repeatedly. A large pile of confusing things in her mind was finally slowly sorted out with Takumi's intelligence.
Looking at Nero who seemed to understand everything, Takumi couldn't help blinking.
"Your Majesty doesn't seem very surprised?"
Takumi asked.
"How could I not be surprised? It's just that my Rome has long become a chaotic mess, so I'm somewhat accustomed to weird things."
"Just looking at the current map of my Rome... In the West, there is the Roman army led by Ancestor Caesar. Just now, I met my uncle. In the North, there is Boudica, who also obtained incredible power. Recently, I even heard rumors of Divine Spirits appearing in the Mediterranean..."
Nero counted on her fingers, listing the news she knew as if enumerating family treasures.
"To be honest, even if all of Rome's ancestors crawled out of the ground right now, or even if the Divine Ancestor appeared in front of me, I wouldn't be surprised—That Divine Ancestor wouldn't really appear, right?"
Nero suddenly became unconfident at the end.
Others were fine to deal with, but if the founding Divine Ancestor really appeared, Nero wouldn't know what to do.
Takumi, who knew the plot, listened silently to Nero's news without speaking.
He couldn't possibly say, "Sigh, you guessed right," could he?
"Umu! Better not think about such impossible things!"
Nero shook her head, forcing herself not to think about that possibility.
A wisp of breeze blew past. The thick scent of blood was inhaled into everyone's noses along with the breeze.
The fishy smell made people want to vomit.
"This isn't a good place to talk. Follow me back to the capital of Rome first."
Nero frowned and said immediately.
"Everyone! Whether you were originally soldiers under my command or enemy troops crossing blades with us just minutes ago, at this moment, I grant you special permission to listen to my jade words!"
The group of soldiers came back to their senses and involuntarily focused their gazes on Nero.
Seeing this, Nero nodded in satisfaction.
"Umu! Very good. You have clearly witnessed the tragic state just now. The battles hereafter might be even more tragic than this. So, I give you a chance. Whoever wants to quit this war, soldier or otherwise, may leave now!"
The soldiers looked at me, I looked at you. They seemed unable to imagine that a ruler like Nero would say such words.
Is she really letting people go?
Looking at Nero's serious expression, which didn't seem fake, the soldiers originally belonging to the enemy side were moved, signaling each other with their eyes.
"Just a slightly bloody scene, is there a battlefield that isn't bloody? If you can't even stand this, might as well go back and cry in your mommy's arms!"
The soldier Nero promised to promote spoke up first, speaking with a loud voice and a disdainful tone.
He practically scolded every scared soldier.
The enemy soldiers were dumbfounded. This is called slightly bloody? Have you ever seen such a scene in your life?
But Nero's soldiers were angry. Can we tolerate this?
"That's right! Don't forget how His Majesty protected us just now. Failing to protect our Lord, and then running away as soon as the battle ends... would you have the face to tell anyone about this?"
"Did no one notice that the little brother next to His Majesty looks much younger than us? He looks perfectly fine right now. Are we inferior to a young man younger than us?"
"I'll put my words here today. Whoever dares to run, I'll chop him into eighteen pieces on the spot!"
"In short, dedicate your hearts to His Majesty!"
"Dedicate your hearts!" ×N
The soldiers spoke all at once. Even though Nero hadn't said more than two sentences, they got excited on their own, raising their fists high.
One could only say that soldiers personally led by Nero might all be a little... touched in the head.
The enemy soldiers looked at each other, their eyes all conveying one meaning.
Should we shout along too?
"Umu! Since that is the case, return to court in victory!"
Nero looked at her soldiers with satisfaction and waved her hand to signal everyone to return.
"Uh, do we have to go too?"
An enemy soldier who wouldn't give up pointed at himself and asked unwillingly.
"Of course! You have now been taken under His Majesty's command. We are family from now on!"
Nero's soldier wrapped his arm around this dissenting guy, raising a fist the size of a sandbag and shaking it in front of his face with a fake smile.
"Don't you agree..."
The dissenting soldier wisely chose to follow his heart (cowardice).
Takumi watched all this in silence, feeling that his art style was somewhat out of place with theirs.
"Hey, my Guard, why are you still dazed? Hurry up and follow!"
Nero turned back, saw Takumi frozen in place, and waved to call him.
Watching Nero's movement, Takumi smiled helplessly.
But this is quite nice too...
He let out a sigh of relief.
Takumi drew a few Runes to summon fire, consigning the mess here to a sea of flames.
Then he hurriedly caught up with the main force.
"You set that fire well! I was just having a headache about how to deal with these corpses. Not enough manpower to handle them, but leaving them be isn't appropriate either..."
"Could it be that your thoughts and mine are surprisingly synchronized?"
"Actually, I was just afraid some magus would run out and use these corpses to cause trouble for us..."