Location: Thiers - Rebel Camp (Makeshift Base)
Time: Night
The French countryside was quiet, save for the distant roar of Wyverns.
Jeanne d'Arc (Ruler) sat by the campfire, staring at the motley crew that had invaded her holy war.
To her left, Ishtar was trying to appraise Jeanne's holy flag to see if the fabric was valuable.
To her right, Melusine was sharpening her arm-blades while glaring at the sky.
And in the center, Raiden was roasting a Wyvern leg on a spit.
"Um," Jeanne raised her hand. "Mr. Raiden? I received a Revelation that there is a powerful Heroic Spirit nearby, but he is cursed and turned to stone. We need to save him."
"Stone?" Raiden bit into the Wyvern leg. "Like jerky?"
Mash checked her scanner. "It matches the reading of Siegfried, the Dragon Slayer. But his Spirit Origin is fading fast."
Raiden stood up, wiping grease from his mouth.
"Dragon Slayer, huh? Let's go see if he's as tough as the legends say."
They found Siegfried in a cave near Lyon. He was petrified from the waist down, a result of a curse from a Shadow Servant.
Saint George was guarding him, fighting off a pack of werewolves.
"Ascalon!" George swung his sword, driving the beasts back. "Stay back! I will protect the Dragonslayer!"
Raiden walked past the werewolves.
[Lust: Sovereign's Command]
"Sit."
The werewolves whimpered and sat down instantly, tails wagging nervously.
Raiden walked up to the petrified Siegfried.
"You look heavy," Raiden noted.
"I am sorry..." Siegfried muttered, his head hanging low. "Sumanai (Sorry)... I was careless. I am a burden..."
"Stop apologizing," Raiden slapped the stone encasing Siegfried's legs.
"It's annoying."
Raiden placed his hand on the stone curse.
[Gluttony: Curse Eater]
The grey stone turned purple. The petrification curse flowed like liquid into Raiden's hand and disappeared into his skin.
Gulp.
"Tastes like chalk," Raiden spat. "Dry and dusty."
Siegfried's legs returned to flesh and blood. He stood up, bewildered.
"The curse... is gone? Sumanai... thank you."
"Say 'Sorry' again and I'll eat your sword," Raiden threatened.
Back at the camp, Siegfried sat awkwardly next to Raiden.
"You... you also have the aura of a Dragon," Siegfried noted, eyeing Raiden's horns. "Yet you saved a Dragonslayer. Is that not... contradictory?"
"I eat Dragons too," Raiden shrugged. "I'm not picky."
Melusine hissed from Raiden's other side. "Do not lump my lover in with those overgrown lizards. He is the Horizon. Fafnir is just a flying gecko."
Siegfried looked at Balmung, his holy sword.
"Fafnir... In my life, I bathed in his blood to become invincible. But in this Singularity, the Dragon Witch has resurrected him with power far exceeding his original form."
"Invincible?" Raiden looked at the leaf-shaped mark on Siegfried's back.
"You missed a spot."
Siegfried flinched. "Yes. My weakness."
Raiden leaned in. "I don't rely on invincibility skins. I just make sure my teeth are harder than whatever tries to bite me."
He poured wine (stolen from Ishtar's private stash) into two cups.
"Tomorrow, we raid the castle. You take the small lizards. I'll handle the big one."
Siegfried hesitated, then took the cup.
"Understood. I will clear the path. I will not apologize for fighting."
Location: Orleans Castle
Time: Noon
The sky was black with Wyverns. The castle was surrounded by undead soldiers.
Jeanne Alter (Jalter) stood on the balcony, flanked by her servant guards: Vlad III (Lancer), Carmilla (Assassin), and Atalante Alter (Berserker).
"They come!" Jalter screamed. "Kill them! Leave no ash behind!"
Raiden's group charged.
"Gigas!" Raiden shouted.
The giant robot unleashed a missile barrage, clearing the undead army in seconds.
Ishtar flew up on Maanna. "Time to shine! An Gal Tā Kigal Shē!"
She fired a Venusian beam that obliterated the castle gate.
Vlad III leaped down. "Impudent fools! Kazikli Bey!"
Thousands of stakes erupted from the ground.
Mio and Kurumi stepped forward.
"Thunder!" Mio blasted the stakes with high-level demon magic.
"Chop!" Kurumi spun her axe, slicing through the forest of spears.
Carmilla tried to grab Mash.
Zest intercepted, her combat knives clashing with the torture maiden's iron claws. "Target analysis: Sadist. Countermeasure: Lethal force."
Siegfried drew Balmung.
"Balmung!"
A wave of twilight energy swept the courtyard, killing fifty Wyverns instantly.
"I am sorry!" Siegfried shouted out of habit. "I mean... Die!"
Raiden ignored the Servants. He jumped straight for the central keep.
A massive shadow blocked the sun.
Fafnir. The Great Evil Dragon.
It roared, a sound that shattered glass in the nearby town.
It breathed a torrent of black fire.
Raiden ran through the fire. His clothes burned away (again), but his skin glowed with the red heat he was absorbing.
"You're big," Raiden landed on the castle roof, facing the dragon's head.
"That means a lot of steaks."
Jalter stood on Fafnir's head.
"You again! You annoying stalker! Fafnir, eat him!"
Fafnir lunged, jaws wide enough to swallow a bus.
Raiden didn't dodge.
He expanded his own jaw using [Partial Transformation]. A spectral, void-black dragon head formed around him.
"No. YOU get eaten."
Raiden punched Fafnir in the nose.
CRACK.
The massive dragon recoil, crashing into the castle tower.
Raiden jumped onto Fafnir's neck.
He pulled out a knife. Not a weapon, but a literal dinner knife he borrowed from the Chaldea cafeteria.
He infused it with [Dimension Cutter] (from the Testament world).
"First cut," Raiden grinned. "The tenderloin."
SLASH.
He sliced a massive chunk of dragon meat right out of Fafnir's shoulder.
Fafnir roared in agony.
Jalter screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Butchery," Raiden replied.
He tossed the slab of meat into his Imaginary Space.
"Nyx, keep that fresh."
Nyx: [Acknowledged. Marinating in void energy.]
Fafnir thrashed, trying to shake Raiden off.
Raiden dug his claws in.
[Gluttony: Life Siphon]
He started drinking Fafnir's HP directly through his grip.
The massive dragon began to shrink, its scales losing their luster.
"Stop it!" Jalter fired black flames at him. "You're killing him! He's a legendary beast!"
"He's a legendary lunch," Raiden retorted, dodging the flames while taking another bite out of Fafnir's scales.
Crunch.
"Tastes like charcoal and hate," Raiden chewed. "A bit tough. Siegfried was right, bathing in blood makes the skin rubbery."
Siegfried, down in the courtyard, watched in horror/awe.
"He is... eating the dragon alive? Is this the true way of the Dragonslayer?"
Melusine hovered nearby, clapping. "Go, Darling! Show that lizard his place!"
Fafnir, realizing he was being consumed, tried to fly away.
Raiden grabbed its tail.
"Get back here. I haven't had the tail meat yet."
Raiden pulled.
With a strength that defied physics, he slammed the dragon back down into the castle courtyard.
BOOM.
The castle collapsed.
Fafnir was unconscious, half-eaten, and shrinking rapidly as Raiden absorbed its mass.
Jalter fell off the dragon, landing in the rubble.
She looked up. Raiden stood over her, shirtless, covered in dragon blood, holding a piece of Fafnir's horn like a toothpick.
"You..." Jalter trembled. "You monster..."
Raiden threw the horn away.
He knelt down in front of Jalter.
"I ate your pet," Raiden said. "Now you have no ride home."
Jalter bit her lip, tears of frustration forming. "Just kill me! I lost! The hatred... it's useless against you!"
"I told you," Raiden wiped blood from his cheek. "Hatred burns out."
He extended a hand.
[Lust: Charm of the Sovereign]
"Come with me. I need someone to cook this dragon meat. You have fire, right?"
Jalter looked at his hand. She looked at the defeated Fafnir. She looked at the destruction he caused - not out of justice, but out of hunger.
It was... overwhelmingly cool.
Her face turned red.
"I... I can't cook! I only know how to burn things!"
"I like burnt ends," Raiden smiled.
Jalter slapped his hand away, but then grabbed his coat (which he had mysteriously produced).
"Fine! I'll come! But only to watch you die of indigestion!"
Location: Ruins of Orleans
Time: Sunset
The Singularity was resolving. The sky turned blue.
Raiden had set up a massive grill over the burning ruins of the castle.
Slabs of Fafnir meat were sizzling.
Siegfried took a bite. "It is... delicious. I feel my curse lifting."
Jeanne was praying over the food. "Lord, forgive us for eating a phantasmal species..."
Ishtar was complaining. "This grease is going to ruin my skin! But it tastes expensive!"
Melusine was feeding Raiden by hand. "Say Ahhh, Master."
Raiden chewed the dragon steak.
"Not bad. A bit gamey."
He looked at Ritsuka and Mash.
"Alright. Next course. Where to?"
Dr. Romani (Hologram): "Um... Raiden? The next Singularity is Rome. The Emperor Nero is there. And... it seems Lev Lainur is trying to summon a Demon God Pillar."
Raiden stopped chewing.
"Demon God Pillar?"
He remembered the tentacles he ate in the Demon Realm.
"Does it look like calamari?"
Romani: "Well... it's a giant pillar of eyes and flesh..."
Raiden stood up.
"Squid rings. Rome it is."