"The mana fluctuations from the direction of Homurahara Academy—Durandal and Rita have already engaged the target in fierce combat... Over at the Fuyuki City Station Church, the class monitor and the others are in position as well... Hm? That direction—widespread power outage... Is that Li Sushang?"
"Wasn't she patrolling Fuyuki City as the reserve unit? Who did she start fighting?"
Before the dark and damp, eerily oppressive mansion, Raiden Mei's violet-red eyes reflected the nameplate that read 'Matou Residence.' "Kiana, it looks like we need to speed things up..."
She turned her head, only to see the slightly gloomy expression on Kiana's face. "Kiana?"
"Mei, this mansion gives me a very sinister, twisted feeling. It makes me instinctively disgusted and nauseous."
Her single ponytail swayed in the evening wind. As if sensing something, Kiana suddenly shouted sharply, "Come out! You vermin!"
Rustle...Creak—creak...
A scalp-numbing sound of countless joints scraping and chewing echoed in response. With a rasping shriek of metal, the mansion gates slowly opened. From the shadows writhing and spreading across the ground, a short figure staggered out.
Each step he took produced an eerie echo in the empty surroundings.
"Heh heh heh... What business do you two have visiting this old man's residence?"
Accompanied by a grating, owl-like chuckle, the figure beneath the moonlight was a hunched old man leaning on a cane, his appearance withered and grotesque like a decaying corpse.
His hair had long since fallen out, leaving only a few sparse eyelashes. His limbs were as shriveled as a mummy's, as if nothing but skin clung to bone. He wore a kimono in muted blue and dark gray, both hands folded atop his wooden cane.
"You... can no longer even be called human."
From Kiana's perspective, she could see clearly. Beneath those sunken eye sockets, where dim gray light flickered, there was no flesh at all—only countless insects intertwined into a grotesque mockery of a human form.
The foul, blood-soaked stench emanating from him made her frown deeply.
He might as well have a sign pasted on him that read: 'I'm the villain. Come kill me.'
She didn't even need to look twice. Of everything Kiana had encountered so far, this thing disgusted her the most.
"Heh heh... Human? You have no right to define what a human is."
As the old man's sandpaper-like rasp echoed through the darkness, the dense sea of insects carpeting the ground suddenly bulged upward.
"Insulting me the moment you arrive. It seems unwelcome guests have come calling." The ghostly old man gazed intoxicatedly at the writhing swarm beneath his feet. "This old man is no helpless prey for you to butcher."
The writhing antennae and viscous slime, along with the overwhelming stench of insects, made even Raiden Mei step back instinctively. Lightning wrapped around her body as she stared at the hunched elder with undisguised disgust.
She had cut down countless Honkai Beasts, yet she had never encountered anything this repulsive.
"Such dense resentment... such hatred that refuses to rest in peace..."
Kiana's gaze sharpened. Deep within her heart, an inexplicable fury ignited, blazing wildly. In an instant, her azure eyes turned a deep crimson.
Voom—!
"Demon, I will burn you to ashes!"
...
"Ruler—Jeanne d'Arc. By the privilege granted through the Greater Grail—God's Resolution—I hereby issue a command to Foreigner, Li Sushang—"
In that instant, dark crimson lines lit up behind Ruler Jeanne, rapidly spreading to her left hand, which she held clenched before her chest. They formed a scarlet Command Spell pattern resembling an unsheathed straight sword.
Hummm—
"What?"
Just as Li Sushang prepared to unleash a major attack using the Tenth Divine Key—Dominion, the Xuanyuan Sword, she suddenly froze.
After being swept by the spreading crimson light, the magical energy she had been gathering and erupting abruptly stalled. A strong sense of rejection surged through her body.
An intense binding force directly restrained her. Her magical output sputtered like an engine starved of fuel, and the golden sword she was about to swing uncontrollably began to lower.
"This spiritron body really has too many restrictions. Annoying... Hmph. So that's the referee's privilege. What an unfair ability. What? Does Miss Ruler plan to use a Command Spell to force me to commit suicide?"
"No. Foreigner, as a Ruler, I indeed possess various privileges and unique class skills toward Servants. However, God's Resolution exists solely to uphold the rules."
"I will not directly participate in the struggle between Servants for the Holy Grail. My duty is to ensure the Holy Grail War does not bring irreversible harm to the human world."
"I have no desire to claim the Holy Grail. You may rest assured of that, Foreigner."
Facing Li Sushang—who held the golden sword loosely with its tip angled downward, appearing casual yet clearly ready to strike at any moment—Jeanne spoke calmly.
It was the truth.
A Ruler cannot normally be summoned in an ordinary Holy Grail War. Only when the form of the war is highly unusual, or when the outcome becomes entirely unpredictable and risks distorting the world itself, will the Greater Grail judge that a Servant beyond human interference must intervene. Only then is a Ruler summoned.
As a Catholic saint, Jeanne herself had no wish to entrust to the Holy Grail. That was precisely why she qualified for the Ruler class after death.
Only heroes without a wish at the time of death can become Rulers.
If it were Selene instead, she would have absolutely no compatibility with the Ruler class.
Selene's desires were far too intense—and they shifted, expanded, and multiplied at every moment, as though endlessly increasing.
Whenever she completed one plan, she would begin the next. Whenever she obtained one treasure, she would immediately want the next—even if she never used it, she simply could not lack it.
In other words, she wanted everything.
With the creed that 'desire is the driving force of life's progress,' she had no concept of contentment.
Regarding the Holy Grail War, Jeanne would also restrain herself. She would not use the privileges of the Ruler class for personal gain, nor would she favor any faction. She acted solely to preserve the concept of the Holy Grail War itself.
"Oh? And what if your Master also desires the Holy Grail?"
"The same applies!"
Raising her left hand marked with Command Spell-like sigils, Ruler Jeanne declared firmly.
No one understood the proper use of Command Spells better than Jeanne.
Spatial transfer? Mana amplification? Forced obedience? Using them as nothing more than a pure source of magical energy?
No, no, no. Those uses were far too shallow. With the privilege of God's Resolution and the knowledge instilled alongside it, Jeanne was fully prepared to demonstrate what it truly meant to exploit a Command Spell's loopholes.
Even if her mathematics was abysmal, her mind somewhat straightforward, and she was nothing more than a village girl who knew little beyond the prayers written in the Holy Scripture, Jeanne was no fool. She had led the soldiers of France into battle and beaten back the invading English forces. She did not lack the instinct to adapt on the fly.
Moreover, having experienced a Holy Grail War before—and influenced by a certain someone's words and conduct—she had learned to be a little more guarded.
(PS: God's Resolution grants the right to exercise two Command Spells upon each Servant participating in the Holy Grail War. They cannot be substituted with another Servant's Command Spells.)
Step one: activate the Command Spell without immediately issuing a precise order. By calling out the opponent's true name, disrupt their magical energy source and use that opening to clearly state what must be said.
"If Foreigner desires to kill me, I will await you at any time and will not invoke the privileges granted to me by the Greater Grail against Servants."
"However, I ask that you do not violate the established rule that the Holy Grail War is conducted in the shadows. Do not drag innocent civilians into our conflict!"
"Choose the battlefield—suburbs, mountains, forests, ports. Anywhere you wish. If you have the ability to kill me, then my withdrawal is of no consequence!"
Maintaining the manifestation of the Command Spell on the back of her hand directed at Li Sushang, Ruler Jeanne spoke sternly.
"Tch. Hiding the supernatural from the world—your so-called magecraft world's rules really are nothing but self-deception. Not very straightforward."
Li Sushang's crimson eyes flashed with disdain. The battle intent she had been gathering dissipated instantly. She curled her lips and let out a soft snort of laughter.
"A hero, a martial artist, should act openly and uprightly. What kind of hero sneaks around in secret...? Sigh, never mind. You're magi, not warriors. And this isn't my world. I spoke out of turn... When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Her brown twin ponytails swayed with her shifting mood. "Boring, boring... So tell me, Miss Referee—how do you intend to punish me?"
Jeanne raised her left hand high.
Step two: expend the Command Spell. Punish Li Sushang for recklessly initiating battle in a densely populated traffic zone.
This change stemmed from advice she had taken to heart during the previous Holy Grail War in Romania.
"Are you the referee or is he the referee? Someone attacks you and you still try to reason with them? Beat them first. If they don't break a few bones and pay a price, who will take you seriously as Ruler afterward? Will anyone be allowed to step all over you?"
She still remembered the tone of frustrated exasperation after she had responded too leniently to Lancer of Red, Karna, when he had deliberately provoked her.
"Foreigner, Li Sushang—return to your Master. This is a warning. Your Saint Graph will be sealed for one day. Should you initiate battle again in a densely populated area, I will remove you from the Holy Grail War!"
Of course, even with this change, Jeanne's punishment was not particularly severe—but it was progress. Last time, she would have done nothing in the face of a similar attack.
As her words fell, the Command Spell on the back of Jeanne's left hand shone brilliantly, transforming into a torrent of dark crimson magical energy that poured into Li Sushang's body.
In response, the golden sword in Li Sushang's hand began to dissipate, and her figure gradually turned translucent...
Having used the Command Spell, Jeanne finally let out a breath. Being attacked repeatedly as a referee was exhausting.
She could not help recalling that domineering yet graceful figure who had once dragged her across an entire town to feast boldly on every delicacy available.
If Selene had been the Ruler instead, encountering such a situation—crippling or killing the attacking Servant would have been the bare minimum. She might not even spare the attacker's Master. Slaughtering them together in passing would be entirely within expectations.
Sigh... Who knew when they would meet again?
"Ruler, prepare to withdraw. The patrol officers are almost here... Huh?!"
Waver had just let out a sigh of relief. But as he stepped forward, he saw Li Sushang's body—already undergoing spiritron conversion and enveloped in transfer magic—suddenly halt with a sharp crack, forcibly breaking free of Jeanne's Command Spell transfer.
"Huh?"
Her spiritual form solidified once more. Watching the violet-red arcs of electricity crackling between her fingers, Li Sushang blinked in confusion at the equally stunned Ruler and Master before her.
"It seems your God's Resolution can't judge me after all."
Seeing how imposing Jeanne had looked earlier—and having genuinely felt the Ruler-class privilege suppress her—Li Sushang had fully prepared herself to be forcibly sent back.
She had not expected that a certain skill within her Saint Graph would block the Command Spell's compulsory order.
Foreigner—Li Sushang
Class Skill—Existence Outside the Domain: B
A being descended from outer space, from the void. One observed by an alien god-lord, bearing and manifesting a precursor of divine authority.
"Foreigner, you—"
Jeanne's expression froze.
Strange. There were Heroic Spirits capable of resisting Command Spells—not many, but not exceedingly rare either. Servants with high Magic Resistance could resist to some extent. But her command had not been suicide, nor had it forced Li Sushang to do something she fundamentally rejected.
It had merely ordered her to return to her Master—a simple transfer command, at most accompanied by a sealing effect. How could it fail?
"B... One rank lower than Durandal and Kiana. If it were A-rank, would it completely withstand Command Spells?"
Instead of attacking, Li Sushang rubbed her chin, muttering thoughtfully to herself.
Then her body suddenly stiffened.
Using Li Sushang as a coordinate, a projection manifested out of thin air from within a crimson glow.
The moment that massive figure appeared, the surrounding air visibly distorted. A sharp, majestic—one could even say terrifying—pressure radiated outward.
It was a woman—or at least, her silhouette suggested one. Wings spread from her back. Scales covered her body. In form, she was devilishly magnificent.
"Well now... isn't that Jeanne? My old friend."
With a face bearing three parts resemblance to Gorgon, Selene slowly opened her long, slightly languid eyes. A trace of enchantment shimmered within them, alluring and seductive.
Her cool voice carried magnetic depth, slightly husky, as if imbued with a peculiar power that inspired trust—or even submission.
Yet to Jeanne, it struck like a bolt from a clear sky. She lifted her head, her expression adorably blank with disbelief.
"Selene?! No... that's not right. Why do you look like this?"