Jeanne looked at the Sanguinarch, who had been tossed over by Patriot and looked like a mollusk, and asked the other party with some confusion. It wasn't for any other reason, but because the fellow before her was indeed in a rather tragic state, even more so than when he had clashed with her. If one were to say that the Sanguinarch, after receiving her Holy Water attack previously, still barely resembled a flying bat, then currently he was not much different from a slug.
At this moment, he made no struggle at all, appearing to have resigned himself to fate; he closed his eyes and remained silent, with only the cold sweat continuously breaking out on his forehead telling of his current pain. Originally, Jeanne thought that after this fellow successfully escaped, he would go find a place where no one would take him and suck blood to alleviate his own fatal injuries until the power of the Holy Water was exhausted. Who would have thought that this fellow actually got into a fight with Patriot? Under circumstances where he was so close to death, he actually still had the strength to confront him?
"This fellow is indeed quite difficult to deal with. Fortunately, I had a spare bottle of Holy Water on me; smashing it directly on him was more useful than any weapon."
Upon hearing Patriot's explanation, Jeanne nodded to express her understanding. Who could have expected that the two of them had actually thought of the same thing! It was a pity that because she was worried Patriot might injure himself for some unknown reason, the Holy Water she gave him had been diluted, so its lethality was not quite as great. Otherwise, she would no longer be able to see the Sanguinarch now; he should have become a strange stone in this wasteland, standing tall upon this earth. To put it another way, by that time, this Sanguinarch would have, to a certain extent, approached eternal life.
"But what is going on here? How did this Sanguinarch turn into this ghost-like appearance? Could it be that this is a curse unique to your race?"
Even though this fellow had undergone purification again, it shouldn't have gone so far as to change his very species, right? What was with this mollusk-like appearance? Jeanne poked the Sanguinarch on the ground with the tip of her spear; the fellow seemed to have closed off all perception of the outside world entirely, showing no reaction whatsoever. Coupled with that face so white that he wouldn't even need to apply white makeup if he went to Higashi to work at the red light district, if she couldn't still feel a faint breath, Jeanne would have thought the fellow was dead!
Nearby, the Confessarius, who was recovering his strength while watching the two interact, as well as the dozen or so remaining soldiers beside him, also sucked in a cold breath upon seeing the Sanguinarch in this state. Although they admitted they very much disliked this Blood Demon—and would even happily have a few drinks if they saw him in this state in a different setting—under the current circumstances, it was hard for them not to associate the Sanguinarch's severe injuries with themselves. Would these two "behemoths" turn around and take them to task next? It was hard to say. They did not possess a vitality as strong as the Blood Demon before them, meaning that if they were subjected to this level of torture, they had no possibility of surviving like the Blood Demon. If these two people truly intended to use the methods applied to the Sanguinarch on them, they would rather die in this place right now. Their pupils were filled with fear, completely lacking their previous spirit as elite warriors, leaving only a bedraggled appearance after being trampled.
"This... his resistance was a bit too fierce, so I broke this fellow's major bones. Otherwise, once he recovers, he will still cause trouble."
Hearing Jeanne's inquiry, Patriot also scratched his head in response. As for the reason for doing so, it was very simple: his vitality was simply too tenacious! Even with him beating him into this state, if it weren't for the Holy Water hindering his recovery from his own injuries, the fellow would have long since risen up in revolt. Hearing Patriot's incredibly crude and simple solution, Jeanne merely gave a wooden nod to express her understanding. This was indeed very much in line with his character: solving things in the most labor-saving way and never creating a second trouble for himself. Looking at this tragic state, one could tell that he hadn't left a single bit of sentiment for this old acquaintance; he had gone entirely with the intention of killing him. One can only say that the Blood Demon's vitality was truly too tenacious; if it had been even slightly less so, Kazdel could have held a funeral feast today.
"So, how to handle these fellows now? Should we let their souls return to Kazdel right here, or do you have some other plans?"
Seeing this situation, Jeanne also knew that the outcome of this battle was decided, so she asked Patriot how he intended to deal with these Sarkaz. After all, the protagonist of this incident was the other party; from the current situation, she was merely a helper in their eyes. Therefore, the decision on how to handle these Sarkaz, who no longer had any thoughts of continuing the fight, naturally fell to him to decide.
Hearing Jeanne's inquiry, these Sarkaz soldiers also turned their gazes toward Patriot, who was standing to the side. Compared to letting this woman who had appeared from nowhere decide their future, they were more willing to let him determine what their future would be. After all, he was also a legendary Sarkaz hero; if Theresis hadn't ordered them to come here this time, they wouldn't have even had the courage to fight him. Even if he wanted to kill them, it didn't matter; to be able to die under the weapon of such a legendary warrior meant they hadn't lived this life in vain. At this moment, no one believed he would let them go easily. Thinking carefully, if they had encountered such a thing themselves, what would their reaction be? It would likely involve torturing these fellows who were disadvantageous to them to death with the harshest punishments in the world, wouldn't it?
Upon hearing Jeanne's inquiry, Patriot naturally remained silent for a long time, looking at these bedraggled soldiers with his pair of crimson eyes. Actually, he also wanted to simply wipe these fellows from this world to demonstrate his attitude to the one who tried to harm him. But looking at these soldiers whose eyes were filled with fear yet none begged for mercy, he always felt that he couldn't say the words to kill them. It wasn't because he saw them as pitiful or anything of the sort, but because they were soldiers from Kazdel, and there were also two powerhouses of Kazdel among them. If these two powerhouses died here, it would be no different from "losing two legs" for Kazdel, whose current situation was already very tense. If it were slightly more serious, this disaster could very likely cause the Kazdel that he and others had worked so hard to establish back then to collapse again, and the Sarkaz would once again wander the land. Although he said he had broken away from his homeland, he still had feelings for that place in his heart. But it was also impossible to just let them leave like that without doing anything! They had tossed everyone around and brought Emperor's Blades to attempt to destroy the village; if he let them go so lightly, he would have no way to give everyone an explanation. Even if everyone could understand his actions, it still wouldn't do.
"I'll leave the decision to you! After all, the vast majority of these fellows were dealt with by you. If you think they should die, then let me do it."
Patriot had also fallen into a dilemma, so he handed the right to make this decision over to Jeanne, letting her determine the future of these fellows. Whether it was the Confessarius or the Sanguinarch, Jeanne was the primary figure who had completely crushed them; according to the rules of Kazdel, they were Jeanne's spoils of war. Although they had surrendered now and, strictly speaking, could be counted as prisoners, Sarkaz had no tradition of treating prisoners well. Currently, Patriot was indeed radiating murderous intent; as long as Jeanne said a single word—"kill"—he could swing his halberd and turn this area into their burial ground.
Seeing that he had left the life and death of these fellows to her, Jeanne also fell into thought for a moment. She could tell that he didn't want to kill them, but she also worried that letting them go back just like that would not only be unfair but might also be the idea of "releasing a tiger back to the mountains". And they had already surrendered! According to Jeanne's rules, they were already prisoners, and killing prisoners was something she would not do. But did Terra have rules for treating prisoners well? She seemed to truly not have heard of any. Furthermore, even if there were, they shouldn't apply to them anyway.
"If the two of you cannot make a decision, then why not hear me out?"
Just as Jeanne intended to simply activate her Noble Phantasm to burn them to death and be done with it, a cold voice entered their ears, and not far away stood a white-haired lynx. She stood there still slightly gasping for breath; from the look of it, she had rushed to this place immediately after discovering the battle here.
Kal'tsit? She wasn't at Babel fighting Theresis to the death, so what was she doing running to this place?