Section 7: Destroying the Acquired Holy Land (2/2)

This is the throne room. However...

Ew. I don't know what I'm looking at, but I do know there's way too many of them.

My, my. Don't you people know better than to go sneaking around like gutter rats?

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...The Foreigner "version"? Do you mean to say there's more than one version of me?

What, like there's some world where I'm running around as a Lawful-Good Saber? Ahaha, fat chance!

Well, uh...

Lady Molay, please, stop this. This nonsense has gone far enough.

Nonsense? Ahaha, c'est vrai! It IS nonsense, isn't it? Complete and utter nonsense.

I mean, just look at me. Some hack pulp fiction author cranks out a book or two, and now I'm all innocent and dressed like this. Whoever that guy was, he must've had a serious fetish!

But you know, I can't help that I was summoned here as something ridiculous.

And besides, it doesn't matter how delusional or abstract the occult may be. As long as there's an idiot cultist who buys it, that's all you need to make the world fall apart on its own...

Now get ready for the longest Halloween of your lives... A never-ending nightmare of grotesquery and gore!

...I had hoped we might be able to reason with her. Alas. All right, everyone, I'll be counting on your assistance!

So this has merely been a two-bit mummer's farce? Such amateur nonsense has no place in my theater. I would sooner drink poison than suffer such a horrid dish again.

How dare you serve me such slop? I trust you understand that the price for such a transgression will be your life.

Not that I ever had any intention of letting you live.

Oh my, how terrifying. So you didn't enjoy my cooking, Your Imperial Highness? I'm sorry to hear that.

Well, then, perhaps you'd prefer my chèvre goat cheese with grilled mutton?

In the name of the Mother, the Young, and the Depraved!

Iä! Dark mother goddess! Bearer of the harvest, with a Thousand Young!

What an incredibly ominous aura! Is that

Elohim, Essaim! Elohim, Essaim! Hear my plea, and answer my call!

...Baphomet!

Oh yes, that one's a little closer.

Even if this world is on the verge of collapse, it's not so far gone or far-fetched that it can't bring down a fake god.

I think it'll come out pretty properly demonic. Especially when you're working with materials like this.

Lady Nero, this feels like

Yes. It is there inside that thing.

...Incarnadine Demonic Beast, Ira.

...!

...Bastard.

Dammit, that overgrown fur ball keeps going after Lady Nero!

It probably wants to get back to its original body.

I think it'd be très bien if it got its hands on an even better vessel.

In fact, if it can absorb all the remaining Incarnadine Demonic Beasts and incarnate in Sodom's Beast's true body...

...that would make it a true harlot. Then we just might be able to finally bring our wicked god into this world!

Do not be ridiculous. No fevered delusion could ever hope to become a go

What the...!?

Lady Nero!?

Hey! What happened!?

I... I cannot move...!

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Huh? Don't look at me. I didn't do anything.

...Luxuria?

Ghk!

...

Ooh la la. I don't know what's going on, but this is clearly bonne chance! O Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath! Take the Beast's immature body and bring it to

...

Uh... Hellooo?

...!

Eeeeeeeeek!

The goat just exploded!

Wow, talk about a splatterfest...

The demon is falling apart, like it's melting into...mud! But its dark presence is only growing stronger!

Heeeeelp!

Lady Molay!

The mud swallowed her!

Does this mean it has a mind of its own!?

Gaaaaaah! It's coming right foooooor us!!!

We've gotta get outta here, Master! C'mon!

Ghh...!

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Lady Nerooo!

I'm actually fine just leaving her now that you ment

Fine, fine! Don't give me that look, Master!

That mud came from the goat's demonic nature.

I can scarcely imagine how bad things might get if it were to swallow a Beast.

Guess that means I can't ignore her after all. All right, Master, if we're gonna do this, we gotta do it quickly!

...

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Master, no! You're too far out!

You fool... How can you be so reckless!?

No!

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？！

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Fujimaru! Grab onto me!

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A mother's love for her children never fades, no matter how much they tell her, "Shut up, you old hag!"

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A little mud like this is nothing compared to my sea of chaos self!

If you want to swallow up THIS mother, you'll need a lot more! Enough to cover a whole planet!

(Cough, hack!) Man, that was too close!

How about you, Master!? Are you okay!?

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Master, look! Over there!

...

...Something ain't right.

She's using the mud against us!

Lady Nero!?

Damn, looks like it got her!

No. If anything, that's her natural self. Beast VI's true form is a dragon drinking endless sludge from her golden chalice.

Fujimaru, listen very carefully.

Mother is so proud to see you've become a good person willing to cooperate with anyone, even a Beast.

That earnestness is what saved me too, I think.

But, a Beast is still a Beastan Evil of Humanity that can never peacefully coexist with humans.

I'm sure you understand that better than anyone.

？！

Even when Chaldea welcomes Beasts into the fold, they only do so after they've become ordinary Servants and relinquished their Beast Authority.

So long as that creature remains a Beast, humans must destroy it.

So I implore you, Fujimaru, my strong, sweet child: fight. Fight with all you've got.

Kill Sodom's Beast here and now, before it can reclaim its Authority.

...

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...Master.

...

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Fujimaru!

？！

...

Ngh... Nnnghhh!

You naughty child! No fair!

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Fine, I'll help Sodom's Beast! But only this one time!

Molay!

Understood!

!?

The mud stopped moving!

I have used my authority as Floor Guardian to seal the Incarnadine Demonic Beast's power.

I'm so sorry for the trouble I've caused you. I hope you can give me a chance to redeem myself.

Who're you!?

Oho! You're

？！

Indeed. Jacques de Molay, at your service.

My witch self got the better of me. I've been wandering aimlessly as a spirit until Lady Tiamat saved me.

I saw something floating around, so I just brought it along.

Man, is there anything you CAN'T do?

I will hold the Incarnadine Demonic Beast in place. The rest of you, please take that chance to rescue the Beast!

？！

Very well then...

...Ooh la la? What happened to

Listen up, witch. From now on, you do what I say.

Geh, there's someone inside me now!? Wh-what the hell's going on!?

I hope you enjoyed using my body as you like, because it will never happen again.

No way! A male me!? And a stupid chivalrous Saber at that!? Th-this can't be happeniiing! Get out of me!

If anything, I should be the one kicking you out! Consider yourself lucky this Foreigner Spirit Origin doesn't sit right with me!

Now stop whining and start fighting! You made this mess; the least you can do is clean it up!

Waaah!

Wow. I've never seen a comedy duo squished into one person before.

All right, my darling rebellious children! Hurry up before Mother changes her mind!

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...!

Oh, Lady Nero. Thank goodness...

...Sodom's Beast has grown stronger once more.

It must be Alloces, the Incarnadine Demonic Beast we sealed away, taking up residence inside her.

Alloces... That must be the Incarnadine Demonic Beast, Ira.

...So, Sir Georgios, what're you gonna do now?

What do you mean?

You're here to kill Draco and Master, right? Well, you'll have to come through me first.

Ah. Now I see.

...

...No, I don't think I will. Especially since Lady Molay is entirely to blame for this mess.

Ulp... Pardonnez-moi...

Besides, I'm curious as to where this journey will lead you, young Master.

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Not at all. But I doubt the other Heroic Spirits called to this Proof World will be so forgiving.

You have a long and difficult battle ahead. May God protect you.

Look, the ladder's here! Come on, let's vamoose!

？！

...

Just so we're clear, Mother still doesn't approve of you and Sodom's Beast together.

Next time I see her, I'm destroying her. Until then, I'm counting on you to take care of Fujimaru for me, Sétanta.

...I know. Don't worry. I will.

Are you sure about this, Sir Georgios?

As a dragon-slayer, I possess the power to assess a dragon before slaying it.

This allows me to discern a dragon's true nature.

Meaning?

Draco the Monster Queen is no longer the dragon described in the Book of Revelation.

...And you therefore think she will never return to her true Beast form?

That, I cannot say. But I can say that something feels...off about this Proof World.

Lady Tiamat.

...?

May I ask you to continue watching over their journey and helping them as needed, so that we may uncover the truth behind this Spiral Proof World?

I believe that will be the key to saving the young Master contracted to the Beast.

...You don't have to tell me! Of course I know that!

I'm everyone's mother, you know! No mother would abandon her children!

...There she goes.

I don't know what caused this sixth imitation Singularity to go awry or what that might signify...

Be wary, Master of Beast. The fifth imitation Singularity is the continent of North Americaa vast landscape where Heroic Spirits are engaged in war.

And unfortunately, I have no means of knowing what sort of changes may have taken place there.

In that twisted world, filled as it is with so many Heroic Spirits, where you will face a united force coming for your head...I know one thing for sure:

That land truly embodies "e pluribus unum" better than any other.