"No one opens with their ultimate move!"
Angra Mainyu was greatly shocked.
La Pucelle — that was the true portrayal of Saint Jeanne d'Arc at the time of her death.
It is a crystallized conceptual armament formed by interpreting the flames that once burned her to death as an attack. It is a subspecies of a Reality Marble, as it summons the flames that caused her own death, and is a strike unleashed at the cost of her own life. Its destructive power is immeasurable.
Moreover, these flames only harm the targets she deems must be defeated. They do not exert the slightest impact on anything else.
Angra Mainyu was extremely confident in his own weakness.
Not to mention such an attack, even a regular attack from Jeanne would be too much for him!
While turning to flee, he looked toward the Nightmare Curse Spirit, intending to repeat his old trick—have the Nightmare Curse Spirit use its ability to escape.
"Ah, there's no saving this now..."
Just as he turned around, he realized that this mess was already over.
The conceptual flames had already engulfed the Nightmare Curse Spirit before he could reach it.
Jeanne had already recognized that the one responsible for this nightmarish situation was the Nightmare Curse Spirit—either she received a revelation or was driven by some unknown force—in any case, she had included the Nightmare Curse Spirit in her attack range beforehand.
Okita, who was chasing the curse spirit, was startled by the flames nearby, but quickly realized they had no offensive power. The sweeping heat wave only felt warm. She then realized—this was an ultimate move that automatically identified allies.
The Nightmare Curse Spirit was consumed by the conceptual flames and vanished without even managing a scream.
The moment the spirit died, the surrounding dreamscape shattered like a mirror in an instant.
On the other side, Angra Mainyu also helplessly shrugged, no longer showing any resistance, and willingly let the flames engulf him, disappearing from sight.
And Jeanne herself, having unleashed her self-sacrificing Noble Phantasm, also departed from the dream.
"So fast, coming and going..."
Roy looked at the spot where Jeanne had vanished, a cold smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
She sure ran fast.
A dream is a dream, and reality is reality.
Without the interference of the Nightmare Curse Spirit, nothing that happened in the dream would reflect in reality. Jeanne in the real world should have already awakened by now.
"That was amazing... It's finally over!"
Only after everything ended did Rin let out a long breath, collapsing to her knees in exhaustion.
"Whatever you want to say, wait until we wake up."
"Fair enough."
"I agree too."
Even though they were in a dream, everyone felt utterly drained.
Rin and Illya left the dream one after another.
Soon, only Roy and Okita remained in the dream.
The surrounding space was distorting chaotically—it seemed there wasn't much time left before they woke up.
"Rider, is the curse spirit confirmed destroyed?"
Roy raised his hand, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses appeared in his palm and were placed on his face.
"Yes."
"That's good."
Roy exhaled deeply.
He didn't care about Angra Mainyu—it was born alongside the Great Holy Grail and was nearly impossible to kill.
Only the Nightmare Curse Spirit was a target he absolutely had to destroy. That's why he endured having his past peeped at, willingly staying in the dream.
Seeing no one else around, Taigong Wang openly appeared before Roy, smiling.
"Thanks to Miss Jeanne's self-sacrificing strike, the Nightmare Curse Spirit has been confirmed eliminated. Thanks to her, I didn't have to expose myself—that makes it twice now!"
"That's right, looks like we're quite lucky."
Roy also felt himself to be quite fortunate.
Okita nodded in agreement nearby.
The first crisis was resolved by Aoko's return, and the second by Jeanne's arrival.
Although with Taigong Wang around, neither incident could be called a true crisis, avoiding exposing Taigong Wang was more important than anything else.
"Indeed, Master is really lucky — although I'd love to say that, Master, it seems this isn't due to luck."
Taigong Wang suddenly smiled like a fox.
"Based on what I overheard, both Miss Aoko and Miss Jeanne seem to have come to help you due to some kind of push. And for Miss Aoko, this wasn't even the first time, but the second. Just now, I also confirmed—both Magicians and we immortals are restricted from intervening in this world. To be more precise, we are restricted from intervening on the surface."
"And the one who established this rule that restricts us is the beginning and end of all things—the Root. Hard to comprehend, isn't it?"
Taigong Wang's smile turned somewhat troubled.
When it came to the Root, even Taigong Wang couldn't remain composed.
The one restricting them is the Root?
Aoko and Jeanne were both pushed by some unknown force to help him?
This news caught Roy completely off guard. His breath hitched as he fell into confused contemplation.
What does this mean?
What exactly is the Root up to?
"Master, do you have any ideas?"
Taigong Wang's eyes, as if hiding deep meaning, looked toward Roy.
"Magicians are forbidden from taking action, yet after receiving some kind of push, they actively broke the taboo to save you… As absurd as this may sound, if anything could compel a Magician to break the Root's restriction—perhaps only the Root itself could?"
The speculation was like something out of a fantasy.
The Root should never act on its own. It is a transcendent existence that doesn't fixate on or pursue any individual.
But one had to admit—the reasoning made perfect sense.
Even entities like the Counter Force, from the Root's perspective, are no more than gatekeepers at the threshold of the Dao Ancestor's house. For them to break the Root's restriction? Impossible.
The idea of defying the Root never even enters their logic.
So, the only reliable explanation for the force that drove the magi to break the Root's restriction is the Root itself.
"This world wasn't abandoned—it was chosen. That's what the Magician said."
Taigong Wang said this, something even he and the Primordial Celestial Venerable didn't know. That's why gods and immortals like them were so curious about this world.
But since it was said by a Magician, it held considerable credibility.
"Even though this is just my deduction based on human logic—but if I were the Root, and I had chosen this world and turned it into what it is, then I'd likely want to turn it into a stage—a stage to carry out some kind of grand, world-scale endeavor."
"But what exactly this so-called great undertaking is—I've racked my brains and still can't figure it out!"
Taigong Wang smacked his forehead in frustration, looking utterly at a loss.
"Um, could it be that this is normal?"
Okita, however, seemed unfazed, looking at Taigong Wang with a face full of incomprehension.
"Since it's the great Root we're talking about, isn't unpredictability the normal state?"
"Haha, simple-minded people really do live more enlightened lives!"
Taigong Wang let out a hearty laugh.
"…Rider, don't think that just because I can't beat you, you can insult me!"
Okita was silent for a moment, then revealed a bright grin, her tiny fang gleaming sharply.
Roy ignored the banter between the two Servants.
He too found this idea unbelievable, but unlike them, Roy was a transmigrator—he could view things from a different perspective.
The Root wanted to carry out a world-class undertaking, and prepared this world specifically as a stage.
And Roy himself—seemed to have been targeted by the Root.
—So then, what exactly does the Root want to do?
***
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