[It wasn't just Atanta who was affected.]

  [Not far away, Jeanne d'Arc and Sieg, who had been following her, were also caught off guard and struck by the evil spirit's bck fog.]

  [They, too, saw that hell.]

  ["Stop... please, I beg you, stop!"]

  [Sieg, who had only been part of the world for a few days, couldn't bear the overwhelming darkness. He curled into a ball and let out a heart-wrenching cry.]

  [The ideal world he had imagined was now polluted, the once beautiful scenery fading into gray.]

  [When he came to his senses, he found himself standing alone in the middle of a desote street.]

  ["Yes... that's it."]

  [A ragged girl emerged from a nearby alley, her voice strange and disjointed. "The world is ugly... so we want to go back."]

  [Sieg: "...Go back where?"]

  ["Back to our mother's womb."]

  [More girls appeared, stepping out of the shadows one after another, their hollow eyes fixed on Sieg.]

  ["I want to go back." "I want to go back." "I just want to go back to my mother's belly." "Why? Why does everyone hurt me?" "I just wanted to be saved. Why wouldn't anyone save me?" "Are we so awful?" "Do you hate us?"]

  [The ghostly figures reached for Sieg, their small, cold hands cmping down on his arms. Their faces twisted in expressions that were both weeping and ughing as their forms melted into his body.]

  ["The world is ugly. We know that. Even so... do you still want to live?"]

  [That voice, soaked in endless resentment, carved itself deep into the boy's heart.]

  Sieg: "No... stop it... what is this...?"

  Jeanne: "Sieg!"

  Astolfo: "Sieg, calm down!"

  Waver: "For someone who's only just stepped into this world, that level of darkness is far too much to bear."

  Tohsaka Rin: "It's not just him. Sakura and I are traumatized too."

  [Unlike Atanta and Sieg, Jeanne quickly regained her composure.]

  ["Even so, if we don't stop this, there's nothing more to say."]

  [With her unwavering faith, she repelled the evil spirits that tried to cling to her.]

  ["Why aren't you afraid?"]

  ["Why should I be afraid?" Jeanne's gaze remained resolute. "You're just pitiful victims."]

  [Upon hearing those words, the children suddenly rushed toward her, colpsing at her feet.]

  [They came in countless forms, but each shared the same hollow despair.]

  [They were the embodiment of what "hell on earth" truly meant.]

  ["Saint." "Angel." "Please... save us. We're so pitiful. Save us... save us... please hold our hands. Please... please... please..."]

  [They clung to Jeanne's hands, convinced that the saint before them would surely grant them salvation.]

  [But Jeanne's expression remained stern, devoid of pity or sympathy.]

  ["I can't." Her voice was resolute. "I can guide lost children and purify souls that seek repentance through prayer but I cannot save Jack the Ripper."]

  ["Because you... have already been etched into the legend of that name."]

  ["The killer known as Jack the Ripper is 'anyone and no one.' You never even knew the names of those you killed, or what they looked like. You killed them simply to chase the shadow of your mother."]

  Atanta: "Why?! You're a saint! Why can't you save them?!"

  Jeanne remained silent.

  Achilles: "Calm down, big sis."

  Amakusa Shirou: "Because, despite being evil spirits, they are also the heroic spirit known as Jack the Ripper. They cannot be saved."

  Kotomine Kirei: "The only pce left for them is the Throne of Heroes."

  [Jeanne's words froze the children in pce.]

  [Who was Jack the Ripper? A doctor? A member of the royal family? A painter? An ordinary person...?]

  [All the rumors were lies. And all of them were true.]

  [Who was Jack the Ripper? He was everyone. And no one.]

  [Because of the endless specution surrounding his identity, Jack the Ripper contained infinite possibilities. If the right conditions were met, it wouldn't be impossible to summon seven Jacks of different professions to fight in a Holy Grail War consisting solely of Jack the Ripper.]

  Kayneth: "Unbelievable. I never would have imagined."

  Tohsaka Rin: "I thought Artoria and Gilgamesh already had enough different csses... but this? Jack probably has the most."

  Chihiro: "It's precisely because the mystery surrounding Jack is so strong that different versions of him manifested."

  Chihiro: "But unlike Gilgamesh, who changes depending on his css, these Jacks are separate entities, completely distinct from one another."

  Waver: "So humanity's fear and gossip gave rise to all these different versions of Jack the Ripper..."

  Ishtar: "In the end, all tragedies are born from human hands."

  [Jeanne d'Arc: "Yes... you were consumed by Jack the Ripper. Perhaps you even willingly became part of her. Even if I defeat you, I cannot save you."]

  ["How... how could that be?" "No!" "We... we just..."]

  ["You should understand... from this moment on, I will end you."]

  [Without hesitation, Jeanne began her baptismal chant.]

  [It was not a prayer for salvation but for annihition.]

  Atanta: "Jeanne! What are you pnning?!"

  Jeanne: "...This is the only way."

  Amakusa Shirou: "Yes. For these children, this is the most merciful end."

  Atanta: "Merciful? How can you be so cruel?! Haven't they already suffered enough?"

  Achilles: "Big sis..."

  ["Stop! Ruler, stop it!"]

  [Atanta suddenly lunged forward, shielding the children behind her.]

  [Her right arm was stained with a creeping bckness, clearly the mark of possession.]

  ["What are you trying to do? They're just children! Harmless spirits! They're victims, innocent souls crushed by the world's cruelty! How can you bring yourself to kill them?"]

  [Jeanne d'Arc: "...Archer, you know as well as I do that these children cannot be saved. Releasing their souls through annihition is the only mercy left to them."]

  [Atanta: "Mercy? This is mercy?!"]

  ["You're a saint, it's your duty to save them!"]

  ["You didn't carry a sword into battle; you raised a fg instead. Isn't that because you couldn't bear to stain your hands with blood?"]

  ["Is that what you think?"]

  [Jeanne's voice turned cold, and her gaze sharpened.]

  ["Do you really believe my hands are clean just because I didn't wield a sword?"]

  ["Don't insult me. The moment I stepped into battle, my hands were stained with blood. I never hesitated not then, and not now."]

  [Atanta: "Then... you're no saint at all..."]

  [Jeanne: "You're right. People call me a saint, but I've never believed it myself."]

  Bluebeard: "Lies! You're the purest saint of all! The guiding fme who led a kingdom to salvation!"

  Bluebeard: "How dare you, how dare you snder her!"

  Atanta: "Look at yourself. And then look at her."

  Atanta: "You're nothing like the woman in that vision."

  Achilles: "Big sis, please... calm down."

  Atanta: "Calm down? How could I possibly stay calm?! These children... these children. If I abandon them, who will love them?"

  Achilles had no answer.

  [Atanta: "You say you want to set their souls free but all you're doing is killing them! I won't allow it!"]

  [Just then, a single child stepped forward.]

  [The boy looked at Jeanne with bnk, uncomprehending eyes.]

  [Jeanne knelt, lowering herself to meet his gaze.]

  ["What's wrong?"]

  ["You... you really don't mind killing us?"]

  [The child's question pierced Jeanne's heart like a dagger.]

  [She didn't want this. She truly didn't. But she couldn't save them.]

  [As long as the legend of Jack the Ripper persisted, these children could never be freed.]

  [The boy seemed to grasp her sorrow.]

  ["Even so... even so, we have to move forward."]

  [At that moment, the fear in the children's eyes faded. One by one, they stood and faced Jeanne.]

  ["No... don't go. Don't go!"]

  [Atanta tried to stop them, but they gently slipped past her.]

  Atanta: "No... no... you can't..."

  Achilles: "Big sis... they've made their choice."

  Atanta: "No!"

  Demon King: "Tch. Forcing children to bear the sins of adults... how repulsive."

  Kotomine Risei: "Lord, grant their souls peace..."

  Sieg: "...Children..."

  Reika: "Jack... my Jack..."

  Jack: "Mom... don't cry. I'm okay now."

  Reika: "...Yeah."

  ["There's nothing more to be done."]

  ["This... this is the only path left."]

  [Jeanne's chanting resumed, clear and unwavering.]

  [The children instinctively reached for each other's hands, forming a fragile chain of solidarity as they advanced toward oblivion.]

  [They faced their end with quiet acceptance.]

  [This was not death as mortals knew it but true annihition.]

  [They would never return. Never again would they linger in the shadow of Jack the Ripper.]

  [And so, the Saint of Orleans granted them their final release.]

  ***

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