Chapter 93: *La Pucelle (cont.)

It was the shadow of the Holy Grail.

The manifestation of the Greater Holy Grail's power!

"Amakusa Shirou, you are afraid of more than just having your plan thwarted. That is merely the surface of it. I, too, understand why the Lord sent me here. Perhaps a devout believer had lost his way, and so I came here to help you. But I cannot help you completely. I can only use my death, all of my strength, to make you awaken."

Jeanne d'Arc drew her sword.

The silver sword she had been granted at the Church of Saint Catherine was indeed an excellent weapon. But with mystery of that level alone, victory was utterly impossible.

Yet she sliced open her palm with that blade. Paying no heed to the blood welling out, she knelt down. She pressed her hands together and closed her eyes. That excessively beautiful posture was an act of submission—or martyrdom.

But what Amakusa Shirou Tokisada saw was a different scene.

"The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and the sky proclaims the work of God's hands."

"Day speaks to day, night imparts knowledge to night."

"Though they neither speak nor utter words, and no sound can be heard from them."

"Warm light pours across the earth, extending to the very ends of the world."

"Rising from one end of heaven, it circles all the way to the other."

"My end is here, my fate is here, my life is here."

"My life is as nothing, drifting everywhere like a shadow."

"I cannot rely on my bow, nor can my sword save me."

"With the one thing I have left, may I protect His footsteps."

"O Lord, I entrust this body to You—"

From the "hilt" of the drawn sword, a flower of flame emerged.

These