Fate/Max Level Returner

"What… what?"

Gilles de Rais (Caster) stared at Jeanne d'Arc Alter in blank confusion, the meaning of her words failing to register at first.

Or perhaps he had heard them clearly but simply could not accept them.

What followed was even harder to swallow.

Jeanne d'Arc Alter looked at him with deadly seriousness and repeated herself in a voice of absolute resolve.

"I said no, Gilles."

Her hands opened. The sinful cross-shaped sword and the flag-bearing lance slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground.

It was the clearest declaration that she no longer wished to walk that path.

"The hatred and resentment burning inside me… have vanished."

"I no longer have any reason to destroy France."

Gilles de Rais (Caster) gazed at her, utterly bewildered, his tone frantic with disbelief.

"But why, Jeanne?!"

"They're the ones who got you killed! Why would you abandon your revenge?"

"This isn't like you at all!"

He could not comprehend the sudden reversal. Only moments ago she had been ready to burn everything, and now she claimed she no longer wanted to destroy France?

Jeanne d'Arc Alter shook her head slowly, a trace of helpless pity in her eyes as she corrected him.

"The 'me' you keep talking about has never been me."

"Neither the hatred for France nor Jeanne's memories belong to me."

"All of it comes from you, Gilles."

"Your hatred for France. Those memories of fighting beside Jeanne in life. That's what you filled my head with."

"After all, I have no recollection of Jeanne before she took up arms."

Gilles de Rais (Caster)'s eyes flew wide. His already pinprick pupils—shrunken by madness—trembled violently.

"Does that mean… Jeanne, you've already…"

He realized she had seen through everything.

Jeanne d'Arc Alter spoke calmly.

"I've confirmed it. You created me with the Holy Grail, didn't you?"

"I'm not Jeanne's dark side. I'm nothing more than a monster you manufactured using the Grail."

She stated her origin without anger. Where the first revelation had filled her with rage, now there was only quiet acceptance—or perhaps she simply no longer cared.

The lie Gilles had kept hidden for so long was finally exposed. He staggered back two steps, his fractured mind reeling.

He could not accept that she thought this way. He could not accept her decision to abandon revenge against France.

His refusal ran deeper than concern for her. Her hatred for France was born from his own. In the depths of his subconscious, her rejection of that revenge felt like his own surrender.

Something Gilles de Rais (Caster) could never allow.

So he lied to her once more, desperate to drag her thinking back.

"That's not true, Jeanne! You are Jeanne's dark side!"

"The hatred inside you is yours alone. The gaps in your memories are only because I wasn't skilled enough when I summoned you."

"Don't listen to the enemy's lies. They're trying to trick you."

His voice shook with frantic intensity.

Jeanne d'Arc Alter watched him and gave a small, gentle shake of her head. She had grown completely immune to his manipulations.

"Enough. There's no need to say any more."

"Jeanne never had a dark side. That holy fool never felt a single ounce of resentment toward France, even at the moment of her death."

Seeing his panic, her own feelings grew complicated. She wasn't sure how she felt now that his deception had been laid bare.

But right now, only one emotion remained: clarity. She had worked through everything and made her choice.

The corners of her mouth curved upward in quiet release as she looked at him.

"You don't have to panic, Gilles."

"Even knowing my true origins, I'm still your comrade. I won't side with them against you."

"The fact that you created me won't change. I won't betray you."

"After all, I know the taste of betrayal. In this short life of mine—less than a month—it's the only thing that truly belongs to me."

Gilles de Rais (Caster) stared at her, stunned.

"…Jeanne."

For some reason he felt she had grown so much in just a few hours. What had happened in that time to bring about such a profound change?

Yet no matter the reason, this new version of her stirred regret in his heart.

Perhaps he should have told her the truth about her origins from the very beginning instead of hiding it until she discovered it herself.

Still, at least she remained on his side even after learning everything.

A strange, paternal warmth flickered inside him.

Adam listened from a short distance away, brows tightly knit. Not because Jeanne d'Arc Alter had chosen to stay with Gilles de Rais (Caster)'s faction.

But because he had sensed something deeply wrong with her state.

The feeling gave him an eerie sense of déjà vu.

It didn't feel like she was truly siding with Gilles. There was something else beneath the surface—something darker, something that smelled of death.

In the next instant,

Jeanne d'Arc Alter slowly turned her head toward Adam and the others. Her gaze held no hostility, only calm detachment.

She had no intention of attacking them, even while standing with Gilles.

"I'm truly sorry… to the other me over there, and to you."

Her eyes moved first to the future Jeanne d'Arc Alter, then to Adam.

"You went to such lengths to offer me another path. It really was tempting. There were a few moments when I almost threw myself into it without hesitation."

"But I'm sorry. I simply cannot betray."

"Still, you can rest easy. What I said earlier about losing my drive to destroy France wasn't a lie."

"I won't be destroying France anymore."

"And thank you. At least you showed me what the me from another world gained after making that choice—how beautiful her life became."

The future Jeanne d'Arc Alter looked at her past self with a complicated expression, the same helpless frustration she once felt when facing her own stubborn refusal to change.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Couldn't you just honestly take that option?"

"Must you repeat the same mistakes I made?"

Adam remained silent, staring at her with grave intensity. The uneasy feeling in his chest only grew stronger.

Jeanne d'Arc Alter refused to walk her own path, yet she also refused to continue destroying France alongside Gilles.

So what did she intend to do?

After finishing her words to Adam's group, she turned back to Gilles de Rais (Caster).

"Thank you, Gilles. No matter what, you gave me life. Even though this brief existence was filled with hatred, deception, and betrayal, I still want to thank you."

"And… please don't do this again."

As she spoke, magical energy gathered in her hand once more, forming the sinful cross-shaped sword. But this time she did not point it at Adam or France.

A wet, sickening sound cut through the air. A vivid bloom of blood sprayed into the sky.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jeanne d'Arc Alter drove the blade straight into her own chest.

The sword sank two-thirds of its length in, instantly drenched in her blood.

It still wasn't enough. She forced her hand forward again, slamming the entire weapon deep into her heart until the whole cross-shaped blade was stained crimson.

The fatal wound left no possibility of survival.

Particles of light began drifting from her body, the visible sign of her life fading away.

In barely a second, her form dissolved completely, leaving only an empty Holy Grail hovering in the air.

Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others watched in stunned silence. The act had happened so fast they couldn't even react. No one had expected such a decisive, self-inflicted end.

Every person present stared at the spot where Jeanne d'Arc Alter had stood, frozen in shock.

None of them noticed that a blank card had appeared in Adam's hand at some point.

He flung it toward where she had vanished.

The card absorbed the drifting light particles as it neared, then disappeared.

An instant later it reappeared in his palm.

"You really are…"

Adam looked at the card with helpless resignation, his eyes filled mostly with heartache.

Her Spirit Origin had been etched into it; the image of Jeanne d'Arc Alter now clearly printed across the surface.

He gently stroked the card and let out a quiet sigh—part resignation at her choice, part self-reproach for not doing enough to bring her to his side.

Carefully tucking the card away, Adam turned his attention to the final remaining enemy.

The others were still staring blankly at the Holy Grail, not yet recovered from the abrupt suicide.

"Stop spacing out," Adam said. "The battle isn't over."

His words snapped them back to reality. Only then did they remember Gilles de Rais (Caster), the mastermind behind everything, was still standing.

All eyes turned to him.

Gilles de Rais (Caster) stood before the Holy Grail, body rigid as if frozen solid, completely unmoving.

He looked as though he still hadn't processed what had happened—or simply refused to accept it.

He kept muttering Jeanne's name in a mechanical whisper.

Adam watched him with weary eyes.

Honestly, he no longer cared about Gilles' condition.

He just wanted to finish this First Singularity and return to Chaldea in this world.

"Enough, Gilles. It's over. Let all of this end."

Hearing Adam's voice, Gilles latched onto it like a drowning man grasping a rope. The name he had been muttering changed into…

"It's all your fault… all your fault… you people are the ones who turned everything into this…"

Adam rubbed his brow. Despite the immense endurance of his body and his full reserves of energy, he felt utterly drained.

He had no desire left to finish Gilles himself. He simply waved a hand at Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"Fujimaru Ritsuka, take command. With only Gilles left, have all the Servants attack together."

"I need… a moment to breathe."

Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at him in silence, wanting to offer comfort, but she understood he needed her to shoulder the responsibility right now.

Without a word she accepted the command and ordered the Servants of this Singularity—along with Mash—to launch a full-scale assault on Gilles de Rais (Caster).

The Servants Adam had summoned did not join the fray.

Fujimaru Ritsuka directed only the local forces and Mash.

Mash quietly stepped to Adam's side and rested a hand on his shoulder, hoping to give him even the smallest measure of comfort.

"It was her choice, Senpai."

"But I forced her into it."

Adam drew a deep breath. The dark emotions in his chest continued to swell. Even though the situation could still be salvaged, he believed her suicide could not be separated from his own actions.

The rest of his Servants wanted to offer comfort as well, but he waved them off, stopping them in their tracks.

"I'm fine. Don't worry. I just… need a moment to breathe."

Jeanne d'Arc Alter's self-execution had dragged up old, unpleasant memories. He kept absently rubbing his palm.

His state was poor, yet his gaze remained fixed on Gilles de Rais (Caster). The look in his eyes was distant, almost mechanical, simply carrying out his duty.

Gilles had been murmuring incoherently, but suddenly he threw his arms wide and screamed.

"It doesn't matter anymore! Let everything perish together with Jeanne!!!"

As the shout left his lips, the book bound in human skin in his hands began flipping pages on its own.

Adam's tired eyes flashed with disdain.

The Gilles de Rais (Caster) from his own Chaldea had already told him the book was a relic left behind by ancient gods from before humanity existed.

In life, Gilles had tried countless times to summon those so-called ancient gods and had never once received an answer.

What made him think it would succeed now?

Yet in the very next second, everything changed.

The human-skin book stopped on a single page and suddenly released a strange mist.

It looked like ordinary fog—nothing remarkable at all.

But Saint George, the first to come into contact with it, froze instantly.

***

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