Anchor, Stop Pretending, You're in Chaldea - Chapter 116

“Well, of course, if you run out of Command Seals, I won’t hesitate to send you straight to hell!” Jeanne Alter immediately responded to Bai Qiu’s words, even igniting a wisp of hellfire from her fingertips.

“Please have mercy…” Bai Qiu pleaded, making a begging expression.

“So, you better not find yourself in the danger of running out of Command Seals. But I won’t let you die at the hands of anyone other than me,” Jeanne Alter said with the cruelest tone, but her words were surprisingly gentle.

She really knows how to play with my emotions. I could cry.

“We have a long journey ahead to Rome tomorrow. You should get some rest,” Bai Qiu suggested.

“Hey!” Jeanne Alter suddenly called out to Bai Qiu, but her gaze was fixed on the moon above.

“Do you also think… that hypocrites are pitiful?”

“——————？！”

After hearing Jeanne Alter’s words, Bai Qiu immediately understood her meaning.

During the battle with Caesar before, Jeanne Alter was able to unleash another ability by strengthening her Saint Graph.

Ephemeral Dream.

It allows her to briefly avoid the interference of the real world with her own characteristics.

At the same time, it made Jeanne Alter realize even more that she is a Servant born from nothingness.

Perhaps Caesar’s words made her start to doubt herself.

“It was just a fleeting bubble… but I fantasized about becoming something beautiful…”

Silver moonlight spilled onto Jeanne Alter’s armor, and perhaps due to the light, from Bai Qiu’s perspective, she seemed to not exist in this world.

Just like an illusory bubble.

For some reason, Bai Qiu reached out his hand and grabbed Jeanne Alter.

“—————?!”

Jeanne Alter immediately reacted and tried to shake off Bai Qiu’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?!!!”

“Ah, well… unconsciously…”

Bai Qiu struggled to think of a few words.

“I’m afraid you’ll run away?”

“Huh? Is that supposed to be a reason? Let go of me quickly, or I’ll burn you alive!!!”

Under Jeanne Alter’s scolding, Bai Qiu still didn’t let go.

For some reason, he felt like if he let go, Jeanne Alter would truly disappear.

“Can I say a few words first? After that, I’ll let go.”

“What is this supposed to be? If you’re going to give a reason, at least make it sound somewhat reasonable. Just say what you want to say.”

After thinking for a moment, Bai Qiu spoke.

“Even though you were born from wishes, you’re not just an illusion. Because you have formed bonds with everyone, as long as they remember you, you are definitely not nothingness.”

“But memories are the most unreliable thing. How can you prove that your memories are not illusory?!”

Jeanne Alter, for some reason, kept trying to deny her own existence, and it seemed that Caesar’s words had a significant impact on her.

“Well, that’s because I’m firmly holding onto you, and I will prove your existence!!”

Bai Qiu tightly held onto Jeanne Alter’s arm and said loudly:

“——————?!”

Jeanne Alter widened her eyes, neither speaking nor making any other movements. Her eyes seemed to slowly regain their clarity.

“So, how long do you plan on holding onto my arm?” she asked.

Upon seeing Jeanne Alter return to her usual state, Bai Qiu quickly let go of her hand.

“Hmph, to think I would become the Servant of someone like you. I must have drawn the short end of the stick.”

Then, Jeanne Alter walked straight towards the camp.

“Those annoying people are still waiting for me? They’re a bunch of clueless fools, completely disregarding the possibility of me defecting.”

“That’s because they trust you,” Bai Qiu replied.

“It’s precisely because they trust a anti-hero like me so easily that they lack a sense of crisis.”

“…Well, you’re right,” Bai Qiu conceded.

Jeanne Alter’s reasoning was just that peculiar.

“Hey, why are you still standing there? Hurry up and go over. I don’t want to sit with those annoying people alone.”

“Ah… alright,” Bai Qiu sighed and ran towards Jeanne Alter.

But as he approached her, he noticed that she was staring absentmindedly at her wrist.

As if it were the spot where he had just held onto.

“Well, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Could it be that he had held on too tightly earlier?

“It’s nothing. Just hurry up and walk. If you keep staring at me like that, be careful, or I’ll burn you alive!!!”

——-

In the dungeon of Rome.

The silver moonlight shines through the window and spills onto the ground.

“Ah…!!”

Inside the cell, a golden-haired girl sits on the floor, groaning in pain.

On her back, a twisted fragment emitting peculiar Magical Energy is embedded in her left shoulder, continuously causing her nerves to throb.

“What kind of attention are you paying! Magus!!!”

“Since the Emperor is not afraid of death, this level of pain won’t make you submit, right?”

In the darkness, Lev’s face appears once again.

“I am the Emperor of Rome! I will not yield to mere pain… Ah…”

The piercing pain in her back is even worse than the intense headache, causing the girl to collapse.

“Oh, by the way, the judgment of the Divine Ancestor has come for you.”

Lev smiles.

“Because you refused to join the coalition army and betrayed Rome, you will be publicly executed tomorrow in the central square of the city.”

“I am the Emperor… I would never betray Rome…”

The girl tries hard to stand up, but the intense pain makes her whole body tremble.

“Even if you say so, the Divine Ancestor has deemed you guilty, so you are guilty. Although I don’t really care about all this,” Lev shrugs and reveals an evil smile.

“Enjoy this last night, even though it may be painful for you. But compared to the extinction of humanity, this pain is insignificant. Well then, farewell, Your Majesty, Emperor of Rome.”

After saying these words, Lev’s figure disappears into the shadows once again.

“Ah…”

The girl grits her teeth in pain, but there is no relief.

“Hehehe, I have already tasted your inner despair.”

A voice speaks in her head.

The girl’s headache intensifies once again.

“The sins of humanity are beyond redemption. Even the Divine Ancestor will wield the butcher’s knife against their own descendants. How selfish, how full of sin.”

The voice seems to become clearer.

“Who… who are you! Why are you in my head… Ah…”

With the intense headache, the voice resounds once again.

“Hehe… Who am I? I am you!”

“————?!”

“…But the cup of sin is not yet full… However, soon… the moment to taste this wickedness… is coming… hahahaha…”

The voice in her mind gradually fades away, and the pure white moonlight shining on the girl from outside the window has turned crimson.