The following hours were, to say the least, boring.
Curiously, we didn't run into any creatures, which made the journey even more monotonous.
To ease the boredom, we sometimes switched our means of transportation.
A few hours earlier, Marie had been riding atop Kinto'un, arms spread wide as she soared through the sky. She let out adorable giggles, as if thoroughly enjoying the moment.
Now, however, she was riding her crystal steed. Right behind her, I was accompanying her, my hands resting on her slender waist, just below her breasts.
She'd asked me to hold her waist. Honestly, I had no reason to refuse—after all, I was the one benefiting from it. Although I certainly wouldn't have fallen off if I hadn't held on, it was still a great excuse.
Feeling the warmth of her body and the natural fragrance she exuded, I didn't even notice when we neared the city. "Nearing" might not be the most precise word, but even from several meters away, we could see the ruined city.
The walls were scorched, and the charred remains of the garrison littered the battlements and the ground.
It was evident that the soldiers of that city had fought to the very last moment. And, judging by the refugees Marie had found in the previous city, their deaths had not been in vain.
We stopped at the city entrance. I dismounted the horse and offered my hand to Marie.
"Thank you," she said with a serious expression, staring at the utterly devastated city. "I already expected something like this, but seeing it with my own eyes makes my heart heavy." Marie let out a soft sigh as the other Servants descended from Kinto'un.
"I don't see any enemies," said Nobunaga, jumping down from her arquebus with narrowed eyes.
"I don't see anything either. Doctor, any sign of life?" I asked, but there was no response. The silence over the communicator made me furrow my brow.
"Doctor?" Mash tried, but all we heard was static. "It seems the connection has been cut." She looked at me and at Ritsuka, who was also frowning. "I think it's best if we split up to cover more ground and find the dragonslayer."
"Fine by me," said Nobunaga with a shrug, while Okita nodded in agreement with the black-haired Servant.
"Mash, Ritsuka, and Artoria, head for the center of the city. Marie, Amadeus, and Okita, go west," I instructed.
Okita furrowed her brow, clearly displeased with the idea of splitting up, but remained silent. She knew I'd put her in that group because her abilities fit better there. Jeanne wasn't in top form, and as for Nobunaga… well, she was simply Nobunaga.
"And you, Altair-kun?" Ritsuka asked, curious.
"I, Nobunaga, and Jeanne will go east. But…" I pulled out two strands of hair and tossed them to the ground. Instantly, two clones of me appeared. "Each group will take one of my clones."
"Tsk, I'm not in the mood for this… so sleepy," grumbled the clone assigned to Marie's team, letting out a lazy yawn.
"Miss Mash, Miss Ritsuka, and Miss Artoria, it will be a pleasure to accompany you on this journey," said the clone assigned to Ritsuka's team, giving a polite bow.
Ritsuka blinked, surprised, staring at the clone. "Wow, he's really different from you," she commented, genuinely astonished.
"He's polite…" Mash realized her words might sound like an indirect jab and adorably covered her mouth.
"They're not that different. All my clones carry a part of my personality, but that part becomes their dominant trait," I explained.
"Interesting!" Marie exclaimed, raising a finger to poke my clone's cheek. He pushed her hand away lazily, which only encouraged her to poke him even more. My clone shot me a desperate look, as if to say, "Please kill me."
Giving him an apologetic smile, I waved him off and promptly ignored him, causing dramatic tears of despair to well up on his face.
"Be careful. If you find the Servant we're looking for, inform my clone. He functions as a communication bridge between us." Over short distances, we could almost communicate telepathically.
Split into three groups, we spread out through the city.
Jeanne, Nobunaga, and I went on our way, passing by countless bodies scattered across the streets. It wasn't exactly a pleasant sight. Jeanne and I showed some reaction, which was understandable—after all, beside us was a warlord known as the "Demon King," for whom this seemed like routine.
"This is terrible. This used to be such a beautiful city, and now…" Jeanne's blue eyes swept over the devastated battlefield. "Why would she do something like this?" Her gaze lingered on the bodies with deep sorrow.
"Don't dwell on it too much. She's not you." I placed my hand on her head, and feeling my touch, her body seemed to relax slightly.
Suddenly, Nobunaga stopped, crossing her arms over her chest. "A voice," she said, tilting her head to the side.
Hearing it as well, I withdrew my hand from Jeanne's head and summoned my staff. At the same moment, Jeanne called forth her flag.
"Could it be a survivor?" she asked, her voice filled with hope.
"I highly doubt it," replied Nobunaga, uncrossing her arms and pointing ahead.
Following the direction of her finger, we saw mutilated bodies rising up, staggering toward us.
Zombies!? That was far from pleasant.
The blonde beside me seemed to share my opinion. "To do this to innocent citizens…" Jeanne wasn't showing sadness this time but rather anger in her eyes. "Heresy? No, not even 'heresy' describes this." Her fingers tightened around her flag.
"Even for me, this is a bit much," said Nobunaga, massaging her neck while summoning an arquebus at her side. With a snap of her fingers, the sound of gunshots echoed through the city, piercing the zombies and sending their bodies crashing to the ground.
Jeanne advanced with firm steps, raising her flag. With a twist of her wrist, she drove the sharp tip into the head of a zombie, an expression of disgust crossing her face. Without missing a beat, she pulled the weapon free, the fabric of the flag fluttering in the air, and spun it around. Using the momentum, she delivered a lateral strike, piercing another zombie beside her.
I let out a sigh and stepped forward, twisting my body as I swung my staff at the zombie in front of me, crushing its head with a nauseating crack. Wiping the blood that splattered onto my face, I saw a new wave of undead approaching.
As they advanced, I received a message through my link with my clones—it seemed the other groups were also facing trouble.
Hmm… this was going to take longer than I thought.
I dodged the claws of a zombie and spun the Ruyi Jingu, striking its torso, which folded with a dry crack. With another movement, I murmured "grow." The staff extended, knocking countless zombies to the ground.
Around Nobunaga, the ground was becoming a carpet of corpses. With a katana in one hand, she decapitated a zombie, while with the other, holding an arquebus, she blew off another zombie's head.
I bent my knees and charged into the row of undead. With each strike of Ruyi Jingu, several zombies were destroyed. Working together with my three Servants, we quickly wiped out the wave, leaving only one remaining.
"I'm sorry, but the only thing I can offer you is freedom…" Jeanne stepped firmly forward, thrusting her flag and piercing the last zombie's head. "Rest in peace."
"Rest in peace!?"
The male voice made us freeze.
"They desire peace? How foolish. There is no peace in their souls," mocked the voice.
I turned my head, and before us appeared a man dressed in dark gray clothing. It was hard to distinguish his features: he wore a white mask covering the right side of his face, while the left was wrapped in bandages. Where his right eye should have been was nothing but an empty hole; his left eye, the only one visible, gleamed with a mad light. His hands sported long red claws.
"A Servant!?" Jeanne exclaimed.
"Exactly," replied the man with a laugh. "People call me the Phantom of the Opera, an Assassin. By order of my Master, the Dragon Witch, this city is under my absolute control. Welcome to the heart of Hell, where the dead live." He revealed his name without hesitation. "Now, let me hear your voices as you die…"
••• ••• •••
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