200 Two Peas In A Pond

Clank, clank, clank...

The sound of a lance's tip repeatedly hitting the ground coupled with the one from steel boots stepping on the hard concrete reverberated across the streets of the mist city, planting an eerie atmosphere that surpassed its default state.

Strangely, no one seemed to be approaching that person, even if their actions were loud and attention-grabbing. They even started to hum in a womanly voice, making her gender discernible, as well as adding more fuel to the fire when it came to getting noticed.

That or... the ones that had done so and attacked... already laid dead and broken to pieces behind her. However, that reality didn't seem to affect her calm walk. In fact, it only made it more eye-catching.

And that eye-catchiness was something some being couldn't help but be drawn to. In particular, she was nothing more than a prim target for someone that adored seeing the innards of females with a sick passion.

The shadows twisted inside the mist, but they didn't dare approach the woman. She didn't seem to have the fear they were accustomed to, and that made them suspicious. They decided to wait, silently stalking for a while.

Yet, no matter how much they waited, nothing changed. Everything remained the same. It was like a picture that had been modified to add movement. Regardless of the visual sensation, it wouldn't alter the original image.

Everything, absolutely everything screamed at them 'This is not right.' Since they never retreated from a target nor ever doubted when to strike; the current situation where they instinctually felt they should be careful, created a sense of restlessness never found within them.

And as with every single thing in life, having a frantic state of mind makes people act with hastiness, and more often than not, cause mistakes.

They doubted, doubted so much... but in the end, they still launched themselves out of the shadows. They still decided to attack, unaware of the growing malefic smirk on the woman's face.

The moment they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

A hulking behemoth rammed into them, making their seemingly fragile body collide into a wall. A pained grunt escaped their lips as they tried to recover from the impact—something that proved to be unsuccessful once they opened their eyes and were met with a giant hand enveloping their frame.

"Finally you showed up, kid. I was getting really tired of waiting." Their gaze went to the source of the voice, soon getting entranced by the woman's beautiful blonde hair. Such sight remained them of their mom. It was so dazzling. She was perfect, the ideal mom they had envisioned. She fulfilled all the requisites except one... She didn't look at them with love.

"You... are not mom... You look like her, smell like her but aren't her..." Even though she had some difficulty speaking from the previous impact, it was obvious that she was forcing the words out of her mouth because she was getting anxious... and angry. "What did you do to our mom?!"

The child's scream did nothing but widen her smirk. "Look? Smell? Those are trivial things. Did you know? In the wild, some predators release pheromones of their female prey to attract the males and then kill them."

"Still. Mom, huh? That's the first time someone ever called me that." Her smile turned bitter before she chuckled in mocking amusement. "As if I would need something like that! Leave those weak women to take care of the house. I have strength, and so I live for the battlefield."

They didn't understand, not a single thing. The words their fake mom spoke were confusing but still managed to cut deep. Did she not want them? Was she going to discard them? Again...?

"Master...enough. You...creeping out child..." They turned to the side and saw the thing that attacked them first. "A monster" was the first thought that came to their mind, but his eyes reflected something else, something that resonated within them.

However, the woman did not take his intervention kindly. Her weapon soon found its way to his neck. "Don't order me around. You will find that things don't go so well for you when that happens."

"..." The monster just stared back unflinchingly until the woman retracted back her lance and snorted, sighing in annoyance soon after.

The space around her started shifting like a mirage, causing the captor's eyes to widen. Where once stood a beautiful woman that was nothing short of their ideal man, now there was a black-haired man with piercing golden eyes that soon turned red.

"Although I wouldn't use those exact words myself, I told you before that you shouldn't speak to me while I am impersonating someone." The man, Seth, said with exasperation while scratching his forehead in mild frustration. He had worked so hard in his youth to perfect his imitations to the point where no traces of him were left when he did them. During those days, he wanted to make that a habit so that he could fool himself before fooling others.

Unfortunately, without wanting to sound arrogant, his act was perfect or near so. That was good and bad since he could get upset for something his own self considered trivial as it happened just now. It was the reason why he told Asterios not to speak to him; precisely to avoid situations like these. 'I should have expected someone as kind as him to react like that, though. In hindsight, I could have gone for Mordred, but she acts too much like a tomboy, so I don't know if the plan would have worked as well as it did. Well, at least, despite Marfisa not having any sympathy for children, she is not that crazy to start murdering them at first sight.'

"You-You deceived us! You are not mommy!" The little kid's voice brought Seth out of his reverie. He observed her with raised eyebrows. 'She couldn't be this naive, could she? I guess it's not that strange if I think about her origins.'

The Kingslayer tapped his chin while ignoring her earlier words. She was held in a tight grip by his new mascot, not allowing her any space to move. "It's your fault, isn't it? I don't know much about you, but your specialty is killing females, isn't it? Then I fear you just had bad luck with me."

He offered a shrug at her angry pout before a sudden idea came to his mind. "Tell me, kid. The mist should be your doing, right? I suspect it's not that big originally, but this Singularity is set in a particular place, at a particular time, which may have caused it to mix with the natural mist, enhancing your Skill or Noble Phantasm to greater heights."

"Shut up! We won't tell you anything! You are a liar!" Seth felt his lips twitch, and Asterios pointedly looked to the side to avoid the awkwardness.

"Yes, yes, I am scum. I know. But this scum isn't going to kill you. In fact, I am just going to let you go." He gave her an eye-smile that looked so forced it made even himself cringe. However, he thought it was necessary to give the appearance of being approachable. He wouldn't know, he sucked at dealing with kids, but this was supposedly common sense.

"Y-You will?" Evidently, the look the kid gave him was one of suspicion. He had deceived them before, so he could do it again. He couldn't be trusted.

"Of course. Your mist is what prevents people from going out on the streets, as well as people outside from entering. We need to work without their meddling, so you are an important piece. If they realize the mist is no longer poisonous, everyone will just come to get themselves killed." It was one of the reasons why he just didn't use his Wind Authority to lift the mist up into the sky and disperse it to oblivion.

In truth, he was at a crossroads. The mist might be his worse nightmare against Lightning Gods, but if he just got rid of it, the death toll could outweigh the trouble caused by the former. No matter what he did, it would have undesired consequences. Sometimes he missed those days when just brute-forcing his way through things worked wonders to resolve his problems.

"If you promise to just be a bystander and not interfere from now onwards, I will let you meet the mommy I based myself on to trick you. How about that?" Lancer has been a pain in the ass for a while, so a little revenge would be fine, right?

The mere idea of having the kid calling her mommy while Marfisa looked on with disgust was enough to put him in a better mood. Unknowingly, his sudden good state of mind made him seem more genuine, causing the little kid to not be as reluctant to the idea as before, even more so when they could meet their real mom and not a fake one. Their eyes shined at the prospect. Although...

They looked at the man in front of them, and then at the image of their ideal mom in their head. A thought bubble soon formed above their head where a cartoonish version of the three of them seemed to be happily dancing and holding hands.

Seth was quick to disperse the imaginary bubble with his hands while showing a disturbing expression of sickness on his face. 'This kid... I don't know what she was thinking, but I suddenly got a chill...'

He again got a pout in response, though this one had less anger in it. Seth sighed, suddenly felt a headache incoming. Motioning with his eyes to the Demon for it to release her, the creature did just so.

"Go before I change my mind, and make sure to stay safe, Jack The Ripper." He didn't want them to suddenly go and die against a God just when he went purposely kept her alive to prevent future troubles.

Assassin touched her arms, feeling them slightly numb from the firm hold the horned monster was using on her. Finally, she gave one last glare to the strange man. "Hmph. Different from you, we are not liars and can keep our word." Her tone then went from adorable to downright menacing. "And if you don't keep yours, we will dismember you."

As soon as her sinister expression came, it was gone, replaced by a smile full of happiness. "Bye-bye!"

Not even a second after she bid her farewell, she disappeared into the mist, leaving the God, Demon, and Monster alone.

"..." For a moment, the three stayed silent, not knowing what to say to that declaration.

"Creepy kid." Seth eventually said, gaining strange looks from Asterios, and even from the Demon itself. "What?"

When they didn't respond to him, he just rolled his eyes. With allies like these, who needed enemies. "Forget it. Our first objective was a success. Now, onto the final one. The location that guy told me shouldn't be far from here."

The reason why they came here in the first place was to look for an old man who was Jekyll's friend. Since the others had had a battle not long ago, Marfisa was not interested in anything other than battle, and Khronos was outright useless, he decided to go himself. It would also be a little respite before everything comes crashing down, so he wouldn't say no.

Seth honestly didn't know if that person was still alive or not. The little guy was surrounded by Servants, so his security was almost guaranteed. However, going by the bespectacled man's own words, his friend did not.

There was no need to act with pessimism, though. For all he knew, the man could be hiding like everyone else. He supposed this was a wait-and-see situation. Nevertheless, they did have to hurry. After all, ironically, time was on their side, and at the same time, it wasn't.

So, without delay, they started their march again. Despite not having to act as bait anymore, Seth preferred to keep walking instead of using the Demon as a glorified horse. Asterios was the same since he felt a bit uncomfortable doing so.

That didn't mean they were slow by any means, proved by how they arrived at their destination just a few minutes later. There was no way of mistaking it as it was the house that stood out the most. Rather than a house, it would be better to call it a small mansion.

'It fits the description he gave me, so this should be it.' Once he confirmed this, the black-haired man turned to his two companions, telling the Demon in its own language to stand guard outside while he motioned Asterios to follow him.

"There doesn't appear to be a Bounded Field when it should be something necessary... I don't think we will find good news waiting for us." Seth commented once he inspected the mansion's layout from the outside. At least there were no signs of battle on the outside.

Just in case, the two opted to jump over the gates, not wanting to mess things up in case their 'fears' were unfounded.

That went out of the window when they saw the door slightly open once they walked a little farther in. "Stay alert. There might be unwanted visitors inside." He wouldn't put it past an Assassin Class Servant to escape his detection, and even more so with the horrible smell of sulfur in the air that did nothing but make his nose itch every time he tried to find someone with that sense.

Pushing open the door, they were met with the sigh of a disheveled room; furniture and decorations in disarray as if a hurricane had just gone by. If this didn't give them the idea that a battle had occurred, then they were idiots.

"Let's go, we might find something in his studio." Judging by the state of things and some minor details, Seth concluded that whatever happened here should have occurred around two days ago. With that in mind, there were few chances someone was actually waiting for them. Still, he kept his guard up just in case.

Berserker nodded, crouching down to enter the house due to his enormous height. The Minotaur knew that closed spaces weren't his specialty, so he had to be extra careful. Fortunately, he was sturdy if nothing else, so he could last long enough for his Master to come. He could destroy the whole house if worse came to worst, but he would feel bad for doing it, even if the occupants weren't around anymore.

Both of them advanced amidst the chaos, checking every room they came across until they could find the one they were looking for. In doing so they discovered that aside from the living room they saw when they opened the door, every other room seemed to be in normal conditions, meaning that whatever the perpetrator wanted, it was not to find something.

Eventually, though, they arrived at their intended place. A simplistic but cozy room with two small libraries on both sides of the room; a neat maroon desk with a small lamp on top, and a chair rested neatly behind, with a red carpet leading to it. The room was getting the little illumination it could from a window with a perfect view of the outside world, but as the sun could not reach this place, darkness was mostly what enveloped it.

"It seems this is the place. Want to keep looking around? I will see if I can find something useful in here." Seth asked, getting an affirmative grunt from Berserker. This door was smaller than the others in width, so his body could not fit unless he broke it down. Besides, the room was too dark, and if there was something he disliked, then that was being in the dark. At least he wasn't alone, but he preferred to keep walking through the illuminated hallways.

The Egyptian God watched his Servant go as he kept looking at other rooms, always making sure to turn the light on before doing anything else. Seth's lips curved a little upward at Asterios' actions. 'Truly a kid at heart.'

Shaking his head, he finally entered the room. If there was somewhere that should have some valuable information, it was here.

Without further ado, he got to work. He first went to the desk, forcefully opening the drawers yet finding nothing of value. Jekyll's friend was supposedly an Alchemist, yet he didn't find any sort of traps that could blow the whole place up. It was confusing at best.

He then went on to check on the shelves of the libraries just in case there was some sort of mechanism but there was still no luck. Heaving a sigh, Seth closed his eyes while tilting his head up for a moment. After a few seconds, he opened them again and walked directly toward a flowerpot in the corner. He grabbed the plant resting in it by the stem, yanking it without care and throwing all the potting soil onto the floor. As he did so, a small white but dirtied envelope fell down as well.

'Should have done this from the very beginning.' Since this was a space that didn't get much air in the last few days, that meant there wouldn't be a mix of smells. Once you got past the scent of humidity, it was possible to find the place that had the last record of the person in question.

Leaving his idiocy aside, Seth opened the envelope, finding a handwritten letter inside. He was not an expert, but going by the shaky strokes, he was either a fragile old man or he was in a situation of anxiousness where cared more for getting the contents on the page rather than making it look pleasant to the eye.

"I am afraid I don't have much time. What I discovered would certainly spell my doom. There is a dastardly plan ongoing, one that could spell the damnation of the world. The plot was called 'Project Demonic Fog.' At least that was how it was supposed to be. The original perpetrators of this plan were 'P', 'B', and finally 'M'. By their abilities, they are Heroic Spirits no doubt. However, not long ago, someone else joined and got ahold of the project, easily subduing the other three: 'T'. He is someone attuned with the Gods and someone that can see the future. Although he shows signs of being crazy, he is not to be underestimated. What started as a 'simple' plan now became the prelude to the end of the world as we know it. I doubt they are going to listen to him, but I fear he is the type to gladly die if that accomplished his goal, and bringing them back is one of them. They have lived long enough, don't they think it's time to finally rest? Be that as it may, my time is short, so I don't want to ponder on those things. I rejected their invitation to join them, so I am going to be targeted for my knowledge without a doubt. I just pray that it is you, Jekyll, my friend who is reading this. Take care, attentively, Victor Frankenstein."

"..." Seth fell silent upon finishing reading the letter. Some things he knew, some others he didn't, so it couldn't be said that it was a waste of time. However, his mind was not in that, but in a particular sentence.

"What do you know, human? You speak from ignorance. If many of us could, I assure you we would like to be put to rest for eternity. You lot always complain that we treat you like slaves, then why do you try to do the same and disturb our slumber? It seems that no matter where you go, hypocrisy will always be a common trait of people." The Kingslayer spoke with some distaste in his voice. Obviously, those words had hit close to home.

'Tsk, what am I getting all upset for? They are just the last ramblings of a dead man.' He burned the letter to ashes, leaving nothing behind. There was no need for it anymore.

Seth turned around to exit the place but suddenly stopped. He heard footsteps coming from the hallway. However, this was not what caught his attention. It was not just a pair of footsteps, they were two.

Soon, Asterios appeared outside of the hallway. When he saw his Master looking at him, he spoke. "Master... found woman... trapped in box. I... freed."

Berserker then moved to the side, leaving way for the said woman to show herself. The moment he saw her, his eyes widened, and multiple emotions coursed through his heart. Rage, disgust, frustration, irritation, pity, sympathy, amusement, curiosity, and calmness.

Such contradicting emotions would look out of place in someone else, but to him, it was just the same as any other day. He wanted to applaud at the same time he wanted to destroy this Singularity with an earthquake.

'What a repulsive creature. Do I also look like that to the outside world? Truly... did you want to create something perfect, but ended up recreating my birth instead? That's as imperfect as you could get.' It was like seeing your own ugliness in a mirror. It didn't have anything to do with outward appearance, but more with their composition.

"I suppose introductions are in order." Seth put a hand on his chest as he bowed his head slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, one that has the same curse as me."

This marked the encounter of two Chimeras with a human disguise.