188 Saving Marie Together
"Master! Master! Meow came to find you, woof~!" Tamamo Cat, sitting on the other side, stood up, smiling brightly, and waved at the young man. "Hmm... why are you driving a car? But we were saved, thank you, Astolfo." Shirou thanked the Knight in the car.
"Eh? I don't really understand, but I was complimented~!" Astolfo laughed happily.
"Well, as long as you're happy," Shirou said helplessly.
"Yo, little brother and little sister who were hugging so hotly, as a thank you for saving you, do you want to come for a ride with me?" Astolfo, sitting in the driver's seat, adjusted his sunglasses and said, thinking he looked very cool.
"Waaah! No! It's not what you think!" Jeanne d'Arc quickly let go, crying out in shame.
"What do you think we think?" Astolfo asked with a smile.
"Ugh... damn it, I should just burn you. As long as you disappear..." Jeanne d'Arc lowered her head and picked up her banner.
"Alright, alright. It looks like you've resolved things over there too? That black mud monster clone was tough, wasn't it?" Shirou asked.
"Master, the black mud has been torn into shreds and eaten by meow, woof," Tamamo Cat said with a cheerful smile, looking for praise.
"...Is your stomach okay?!" Shirou looked at Tamamo Cat with concern and surprise.
"My stomach, meow? I'm fine, woof?" Tamamo Cat tilted her head in confusion, rubbed her belly with a cat paw, and blinked at her Master.
"No, as long as you're okay," Shirou waved his hand.
He should have known not to underestimate the White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox, the embodiment of the sun, the Great Youkai who overthrew five dynasties, the deity who could see the past and future and travel through time, even if it was just a clone representing its wild nature...
"By the way, where did you get this car?" Jeanne d'Arc asked, looking at the Ferrari in confusion.
"The car was found! Shirou, get in, get in!" Astolfo patted the car door, completely ignoring the dented front end from the earlier collision.
"Well done!" Shirou praised.
"Aah-aah-aah!!!" A deafening noise sounded, more like a curse than a song.
"Troublesome things are what I hate the most! Honestly! I want to stay home!" Osakabehime, wearing noise-canceling headphones, launched origami shapes: pink bats, gray harnesses, dogs, and rabbits, all surging toward the enemy.
Unable to withstand the singing, the exposed black mud monster clone started rolling on the ground.
The black mud monster clone, either too weak to resist or having given up, allowed itself to be continuously pierced and bitten by the origami.
The Spirit Origin that composed the black mud monster clone disintegrated under the Dragon Girl's singing and Osakabehime's attack, finally disappearing into the ground.
In the other district, a handsome, silver-haired man was skillfully leaping between piles of flesh stacked on the ground.
The black mud monster clone continuously pounced on its prey.
If anyone were to watch from a distance, they would realize it was merely an illusion. The real Merlin was actually standing on a rooftop, overlooking everything. With his Incubus bloodline, he was perfectly at home using illusion magic in the dream world.
He was making the black mud monster clone spin in circles. At this moment, he also heard the destructive singing stop.
"It seems the others have finished as well. Then the battlefield game ends here," Merlin said, maintaining a relaxed smile.
And so, a spire entwined with purple flowers rose. The golden light from the King's Sword and the magic cannon from the staff flashed alternately, burning the black mud monster clone into a wisp of smoke, leaving nothing else behind.
"So... finally, it's time to notify everyone to rendezvous at the palace," Merlin said, raising his staff and firing a set of flares into the sky, illuminating the four districts.
"It looks like the other two sides have been resolved," Shirou said, looking at the flares in the sky.
"Then let's hurry to the palace! Come on! Get in! Get in!" Astolfo said with a smile, patting the car door.
"Eh? We're going in this?" Shirou said, looking at the dented sports car.
"Forget it, anything is fine as long as we can leave this awful place. Shirou, you get in too," Jeanne d'Arc pulled the young man and squeezed into the car, standing behind the two seats.
"Then! The Dented Roland is starting! Let's go!" Astolfo raised a hand, pressed the accelerator, and sped toward the palace.
Meanwhile, outside the Palace of Versailles, the black mud monster let out a baby-like roar and attacked the four people holding it back with various bizarre abilities.
The Knight of the White Lily, D'Éon, focused entirely on raising their sword to block the tentacles swinging from the black mud monster's back.
The tips of the tentacles were black scissors that clacked open and shut. Other tentacles were syringes, with long, sharp needles plunging toward the enemies' bodies. Once they pierced in, they would suck out blood, instantly causing a limb to visibly shrivel.
Above those were tentacles wielding axes and saws. Any of them, if they connected, would be a fatal wound. Even a Servant would lose combat capability quickly.
"Waaah!!!" The black mud monster cried out like a giant baby, its wailing resounding across the land.
Sanson seized the opportunity, swinging his blade to sever the tentacles. Every time the blade touched the monster, it was at a weak point on its body. However, the black mud monster's vitality was extremely strong, and even if a tentacle was cut off, it would quickly regrow.
D'Éon and Sanson were deep in a hard fight.
"Emperor, you said you had a plan. Why don't you do something now?" Mozart said mockingly while using music magic to reinforce the two fighters ahead.
"Mozart, you control this monster, keep it from moving around. The rest is up to me," Emperor Louis, who had been observing the fight from the rear, spoke up.
"What? Emperor, if I could do that, there would be no need for you at all," Mozart said testily.
"But you can do it, prodigy!" Emperor Louis was not angry. Instead, he smiled. He and Mozart were rivals in love, incompatible as fire and water, even arguably enemies, but now, facing their "Princess" together, he was grateful for the other's reliability.
"Argh, I can do it! But it's precisely because I can do it that having to take orders from you is so irritating," Mozart said, unhappily waving his conducting baton.
"This is all to save Marie. So lend me your strength, Mozart," Emperor Louis said.
"I won't lend it!" Mozart refused decisively.
He looked at the black mud monster's swollen, obese body, seemingly seeing Marie within, and smiled as he said, "From the very beginning, I only appeared here for Marie."