Chapter 646

【Without falling into confusion, Jeanne held her mother's hand and said firmly: "Mother, even so, in order to save this village, this country, I still must go. I must stand up."】

【Her mother was not comforted by these words, only continuing to shed tears.】

Rin Tohsaka: "Saying goodbye to family and never returning, is this really worth it?"

Jeanne: "I think it's worth it; looking at the results, I successfully protected my hometown."

Qin Qin Shi Huang: "This is war. Country, country; the country comes first, then the home. If everyone just wants to protect themselves and not protect the country, then when the country falls, who will protect them? Do you expect the enemy to be kind-hearted and let you go?"

Conqueror King: "That's right, you can never entrust your safety to the hands of the enemy. That's no different from a pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered."

【"As expected of Saint Jeanne d'Arc. Such a powerful resolve; no wonder you don't consider ordinary heroes as opponents!"】

【Words similar to a narrator's voice rang out from somewhere; it was Shakespeare's voice.】

【Jeanne: "Caster, even if you borrow my mother's appearance, don't think you can shake my heart. If you're satisfied, end this quickly."】

【"No, no, your story has only just begun! Then let's move forward, Act Two, unveil!"】

【Accompanied by a snap of his fingers, the scenery around Jeanne immediately began to switch.】

【The smell of blood, the smell of gunpowder, this is—】

【The battlefield!】

【She couldn't refuse, couldn't resist; Jeanne began to relive the wars of her life.】

【No problem; even though she was about to break, even though she was about to fall, even though she was reaching her limit, she could still endure.】

【"No matter how many times this repeats—"】

【No matter how many times it repeats, what she should do will not change, and the path she should take will not change. Her past will not change, and she will not regret it because of the past.】

【Even if she welcomed the final moment, her heart could not be broken because of it.】

【"I see, it is indeed as your mother said. No matter the situation, as long as you find what you should do, you will only focus on moving toward the ending; it's truly wonderful!"】

【Jeanne suppressed the urge to curse out loud and could only continue to act along with the story.】

Illya: "Truly a nasty uncle to the extreme."

Rin Tohsaka: "You guy only know how to poke at people's sore spots; is there no positive energy in your brain?"

Shakespeare: "Positive energy? Are you talking about those happy endings? Those are the most hypocritical and boring; only tragedy is reality!"

Extra Feng Xi: "If I could summon Cao Xueqin, you would definitely have a common language."

Shakespeare: "Who is Cao Xueqin? Is he also a writer?"

Extra Feng Xi: "That's right, a writer who, just like you, doesn't act human and writes tragedies."

Shakespeare: "Oh, then if there's a chance, I must meet him."

【Even though she was a Saint, she still fought on the battlefield; even though she was a Saint, she still accepted killing her companions.】

【The enemy soldiers who should have been dead kept accusing her.】

【"Since you are a Saint, why kill us?"】

【"You hold the holy banner, yet you still want to harm us?"】

【"We are not sinners, just ordinary people with a different stance than you."】

【Jeanne silently accepted these insults; everything was as they said. Even though she was a Saint, she still waved the holy banner and thought there was nothing wrong with harming others; this really shouldn't be the behavior of a Saint.】

【In the past, the Saint was an existence that forced back evil dragons with her own strength.】

【What she did was just be a commander who defeated others together with people.】

【"That is exactly so. I myself think that I am absolutely not a Saint."】

【No matter what firm faith she held, she prayed to the Lord every day—even after receiving the revelation, she still thought so.】

【The enemy soldier with his head shot off asked: "Then why do you stand up?"】

【Jeanne: "But even so, I still believe this path will connect to the correct path."】

【As soon as the words fell, all the soldiers turned into dust and disappeared along with the battlefield.】

Qin Qin Shi Huang: "Hmm, very good."

Qin Qin Shi Huang: "Don't care about other people's opinions; once you are on the battlefield, there is no right or wrong, only the difference between life and death."

Conqueror King: "That's right, if you don't kill others, others will kill you."

Mordred: "I say Shakespeare, you don't just have these tricks, do you?"

Shakespeare: "Hehe."

【Jeanne: "Caster! There's still a third act, right? Can you hurry up?"】

【"Yes, yes, of course. This is a story to explore whether your life has mistakes, and if there are mistakes, whether they should be corrected. Alright, let's enter the third act!"】

【The scene turned again; this time Jeanne arrived at Reims Cathedral, when she was receiving her coronation.】

【It wasn't until Charles VII poured holy oil on Jeanne's forehead that the coronation ceremony was considered complete.】

【However, immediately after, Charles VII looked straight at Jeanne and said: "Saint Jeanne d'Arc, why didn't you stop here?"】

【The cheers stopped, and everyone in the cathedral looked at her with questioning eyes.】

【Jeanne: "... What do you mean?"】

【Charles VII: "I walked a different path from you here. At this point in time, even if it's not the Lord—you should be able to understand that you are about to fall; as smart as you are, don't tell me you don't know."】

【Jeanne: "..."】

【Charles VII: "Jeanne, answer me, are you going to say the path you walked is correct?"】

【Jeanne: "... Yes."】

【Charles VII: "There is no basis. The revelation you received was only conveyed to you by the Lord, and the result was added later. How are you going to make others believe that only the path you think is correct is the right one?"】

【Jeanne: "—To put it bluntly, the path I walked is just like that, different from Your Majesty, who held suspicions but still trusted others."】

【Charles VII's desire for peaceful coexistence with the hostile Burgundian faction became the decisive reason for him and Jeanne to part ways.】

【"If you look back at history, it can indeed prove you are right. But those are all boring post-hoc additions by later historians. At that time, in that situation, did I make the wrong choice? Can anyone say it was wrong? And Jeanne, why—didn't you make me believe! If you had the power, I would have believed you! It's not that I didn't believe you! It's that you didn't believe me!"】

【Jeanne shook her head, held Charles VII's hand tightly, and said: "No, Your Majesty and I parting ways here is fate... and even if Your Majesty believed, nothing would have changed. We are just bricks forming the great staircase of history, so we must walk forward on the path we believe in. Your Majesty might have been wrong, but you were also correct; I might have been correct, but I was also wrong. Your Majesty and I were just fighting for our lives, that's all—that's all, isn't that enough?"】

【As soon as the words fell, everything disappeared.】

Laeticia: "... Miss Jeanne, do you really not hate the King?"

Jeanne: "I don't hate him, because I was captured in war; it has nothing to do with him."

Laeticia: "But, he didn't save you..."

Jeanne: "He couldn't save me. In that situation, both England and Burgundy wanted me dead; the sky-high ransom was just an excuse."

Gilles de Rais: "No! Jeanne, he betrayed you! You should hate him!"

Jeanne: "Gilles, I will never hate."

Gilles de Rais: "Ugh..."

【"—I just wanted to know this answer. Alright, let's enter the next act."】

【The scene turned again; this time, a fat, red-robed cardinal appeared.】

【"Pathetic bitch, we meet again."】

【"Pierre Cauchon..."】

【Facing the person in front of her, Jeanne's emotions were complex.】

【Because this guy was the bishop who conducted her heresy trial, a member of the Burgundian faction.】

Laeticia: "This is, the person who killed Miss Jeanne."

Rin Tohsaka: "To be able to eat like that in that era, this guy lived quite well."

Illya: "I heard that this guy actually had no qualifications to judge Jeanne at all."

Waver: "It's all disgusting political struggle."

【"Caster, it's useless; even if you recreate him through your script, it's just repeating what I experienced in my life. Your Noble Phantasm shouldn't be able to inflict physical pain, right?"】

【'Pierre' shrugged and said: "That's right, Saint Jeanne d'Arc, with my power, I can't even make you shed a drop of blood. The only ones who can fight you are heroes like Karna and Achilles, or my Lord."】

【Jeanne: "Then, what exactly is the purpose of this Noble Phantasm?"】

【"I'll tell you that when we reach the final climax."】

【Shakespeare, disguised as Pierre, took a step forward, and the surrounding scene changed again.】

【This time, it was the execution platform where Jeanne was executed.】

【Everything around seemed as if time had stopped; she could clearly see the people mocking her, the people looking at her with sympathy, the people crying as they saw her off—】