Incoming

My head throbbed as I got up from my bed.

"Ugh…"

Next to me was a board filled with pictures I had drawn of Virus.

When you have a world inside your mind governing all bodily functions, anything that is usually nimble and requires dexterity is much easier for me to learn.

I think I made perfect replicas of her face onto paper, from her aloof expression to the strain she puts into her eyes, I captured the essence that is 'Virus' onto paper.

'Killing… have I gotten so used to it that I can just freely kill now?'

A passing thought, the thought of my revenge led me down a train of thought that led me here.

No. The answer is no.

I refuse to believe that I've lost my humanity in these past couple of years. I may have been brainwashed and some parts of myself aren't even me but I refuse to believe that all of me is gone.

Getting up I noticed the fine groves of the wooden floor.

Tiny details that added to the aesthetic to this antique house.

The room had transformed during my stay, it was once barren but clean and now it was filled with all sorts of things I had needed or installed for my convenience.

A mannequin with my (battered) uniform was next to a desk with blueprints of random ideas.

My bed was in the top left corner, the end facing the door entrance.

After taking a shower I started making some breakfast for myself.

'Eggs… bacon… pancake batter…'

Listing the items helped me from losing myself, trying to solidify my existence inside my mind so that the vying unconscious minds inside stay dormant.

-Tick tock.

The grandfather clock in the hallway ticked and tocked with each passing second.

The silence was… deafening? No… peaceful is the right word.

The backyard door let in rays of light and so did the surrounding windows which added to the peaceful scene around me as I ate my food in relative silence.

My mind had many thoughts going on at once, some louder than others that sometimes overwhelmed the other thoughts and killed them entirely.

But among them right now was a thought louder than others, one that needed my attention.

'Jack…'

'Is he the real Jack the Ripper or some fanatic?'

'If he's the real one how has he survived for over a millennium?'

I allowed my other thoughts to freeze as new questions arose in my head. They were all concerning and made me somewhat fearful that I might not be able to reach Virus but I had faith that I would. Everything worked out in the end.

A question I have to ask is, 'Is he real or fake' would be the question that I would like answered the most.

After all, one leads to a deadend of thoughts while the other leads to an unfathomable amount of interesting thoughts.

If he was a simple fanatic then that's that. But if he was the real one from the 1800's… that would be interesting…

-Crunch!

*

*

*

"A letter?"

Arthur currently sat whilst Fidelis stood in front of his desk, on the desk was a letter with a black wax seal. On the seal was a joker card imprinted on it.

"Yes sir, a letter was addressed to you from an unknown sender…"

Fidelis replied, his injuries from the weeks before were nowhere to be seen.

"Was there anything harmful inside the letter?"

"From our observations, no."

After hearing that from Fidelis, Arthur took a hold of the letter and grabbed a letter opener.

Opening the letter, Arthur was greeted with an old fashioned letter, yellow and had its edges burned with fire.

'How… strange…?'

The letter certainly put a mood on, trying to tense the reader.

The letter read as follows:

Hello Arthur.

How have you been? Are you suffering from my attack from before? Perhaps not because you were fully healed only a few minutes after.

'He's trying to provoke me.' Arthur thought, smiling at the half hearted attempt that failed miserably.

The time for this short war to end is near, my grand finale, one that I've been thinking of for quite some time now, is finally ready.

I'll tell you this however, if you don't come I'll do my best to destroy Britain and it's god forbidden ugly history that's attached to it as well. So take this as a word of advice from one leader to another, come and come with an army because this is the final battle whether you like it or not.

Your arch nemesis, Jack The Ripper

It was short but concise.

Arthur was no longer in a good mood, the first part was merely a lure and a fake to hide the rest.

Tap.

Tap.

The echoing taps felt heavy to Fidelis.

The already cold and empty room filled with stacks of paper just felt more cold, now that his superior was in a foul mood.

"...Fidelis, what do you think I should do?"

In his mind, Fidelis already knew Arthur came to a conclusion, this was further backed by his intense tapping but he still decided to input his own opinions into the matter.

"...I only got a glimpse of the letter but…"

"Go on…?"

"I don't think there is a choice anymore, is there Sir?"

Arthur stared at the fine groves and curves of his wooden desk. They started and ended in such an easy to see manner that sometimes it was easy to forget that even human life was also the same as these groves on the desk.

"...I suppose there isn't, is there?"

No matter the amount or quality of a person, in God's eyes all life is equal. A quote that Arthur had decided to take to heart after Oliver had almost tragically died.

There was now only one path from here, forward.

"Let's go, Fidelis."

"Yes."

*

*

*

Fall was coming.

It wasn't here yet but it was coming.

The last days of August approached and with no communications from Arthur over these past couple of weeks, I was starting to wonder if I had been abandoned or not.

"Here's your order."

A plate was served in front of me, on it was…

"Enjoy."

The waiter left to serve another table.

"Hmm…"

"I see now why people call British cuisine a disaster."

I had been eating nutrition packs, they were quick and easy to eat along with a bit of a strange taste so it was like drinking an apple sauce textured liquid.

If I wasn't eating the nutri packs then I would cook something to stimulate my taste buds a little to feel the tiniest bit of satisfaction.

At this point everything was just starting to feel numb.

'People call this cuisine?'

Maybe it was because I had only been drinking drinks and eating desserts… but isn't this too much?

Fish and chips.

A common British dish made with fish… and 'chips', or as the Americans call it, french fries.

"Thanks for the food…"

I ate the entire meal without a complaint, I wouldn't have just wasted food and money for nothing after all. I learned my lesson to eat everything after starving.

'This takes too much time, eating a nutri pack is faster, and this tastes only slightly better than it anyway.'

Upon leaving the restaurant I was met with Arthur's gaze.

"Hello, Arthur."

If there was one thing I could count on with Arthur, it was his sense of knightly chivalry.

"I still have a deal to uphold with you, Takahiro."

His aura seemed to be enhanced by the sun's rays of light.

"Yes… Yes, I suppose you do."

I was taking advantage of this man. That much I know, but so what? The world moves on interest, perhaps Technician's pragmatic view on life is starting to affect me…

The further I push my luck the more my feet go deeper into the ground until my whole body is covered in dirt six feet under.

It was like an unconscious 'sense' of sorts.

But like a fool I must tempt even death itself to meet the ends to my goal.

Arthur wordlessly started walking in a random direction, I followed suit walking only a pace behind him.

"...Takahiro."

A car whizzed by.

"Hm…? Yes?"

"What do you think about the situation in Britain?"

"Do you mean the 'Cult' situation?"

I asked, unsure. My head felt… off today.

"Yes, what are your thoughts on it."

"..."

I took a second and went through all I knew so far about this strange situation.

"...It's surprising really."

"Surprising? In what way?"

Arthur had a tinge of curiosity laced in his voice.

"From what I know, after the death of 'Jack the Ripper' a cult was formed or modernly known as the Whitechapel Cult. But over the years, mysteriously, all the (Round Table) heads who tried to stop and impede the progress of growth of the Cult have either died or disappeared.

Using this, the cult grew into a large parasite, yet they did nothing and stood a passive stance and before this 'war' both the Round Table and the Cult stood passive stances.

Overall the situation was strange, from the previous heads missing to the Cult itself."

Arthur didn't comment on anything. Had I overstepped my boundaries by talking about the previous heads of the Round Table? His father was after all the previous head before him and he too tried to stop the Cult in some type of manner and disappeared like the rest.

"...Thank you for the insight."

His 'talking' had changed more formally, something that disturbed me in just the slightest way.

'?'

He… seemed more distant than usual.

"No problem."

The bustling of the city surrounded us yet in this strange little 'bubble' it felt like we were detached from the world itself.

Just an arm's length away was the rowdy, untamed concrete jungle but in here there was like a void that sucked up all the sound and turned it into a radio silent space.

'Eggs, bacon… toast…'

The list of my breakfast's items came to mind suddenly. I closed my eyes and remembered each sensation from this morning, the thoughts, the taste, the texture…

"Hah…"

"Huu…"

I found myself in a trance, one that reminded me of my nightmares that had slowly been going away since the last time I had killed a person was quite a while ago.

As they say, time is the best medicine.

"-ro…"

I could almost feel it…

A memory I had suppressed for a long time was unraveling like loose yarn.

"-hiro…!"

Cold…

So cold…

It was freezing, fall was coming but it wasn't here yet. So why?

Flashing lights.

"Takahiro!"

My vision jogged as my body shook since Arthur shook my body quite a bit.

"Y-Yes…?"

His brows were creased and on closer inspection his face was actually a bit paler along with careful makeup done so that his dark circles under his eyes were almost unnoticeable.

His eyes darted around my face.

"Could you let go of me? I don't swing that way…"

I joked, wanting the man's iron grip off of my arms that made me remember just how powerless I truly was in face of Gold Rank spies.

His hands gradually let go, I twisted and turned my arms still feeling a bit of pain from the areas he gripped me by.

"...I won't pry, but this better not affect your performance. We still have a deal, Takahiro, I intend to finish it."

"Of course, I want my 'reward' out of this as well after all."

I replied, I wouldn't have even thought of working together with Arthur if I couldn't reach my goal to the end.

*

*

*

Comical.

It was comical what Jack could do with the influence of the Cult. A large 'stage' was set for his final battle with Arthur, everything was in his favor.

"Ahhh…"

"Everything…"

"Everything is ready…"

Jack grabbed his face with both hands, his eyes shivered and looked as if they would pop out from his skull.

Behind him was a table with thirteen individuals. The most powerful members of the current Cult consisting of all of the Five and all Suspects were present.

(A/N: Five and Suspects (eight from the suspects). There are three characters from the Five that haven't been shown yet and another three from the Suspects)

"Tch…"

~~~~

Here is a chapter. I feel like I have too many 'filler' chapters where it's only the MC and him waiting on Arthur's response to give him a mission or something. But I hope this slowly eases you readers into his mindset and how subtly his actions change and the like.

Since this arc is on its final 'legs' of sorts I'll learn from this and try to improve.

Also, I got through some tough exams today so I made this to celebrate.

(I don't know why but for some reason I feel like the relationships in this Fic are getting ambiguous for some reason? Like there are a lot of 'touchy touchy' scenes which are not intended at all. Is that just me? Anyway the only relationships for the most part anyway should be male female and not BL or Yuri so anyone with these dreams you can pop them goodbye. 

And besides there are no planned relationships in this Fic at all, I thought about it but I'm not confident at all about writing relationships. (Bromance for the victory!))

I only said that because I just felt weird…

Fun Fact: Fidelis' name actually means 'loyalty' in latin.

Here is all of the characters of the Cult:

(The roman numerals just are the ranks within the Cult, though number five and six are actually the same just for different genders.)

V (Canonical) Five : 

Mary (Dark Mary) (Mary Jane Kelly)

Elizabeth Ann (Mary Ann Nichols)

Hanbury (Annie Chapman)

Long Liz (Elizabeth Stride)

Catherine (Stitched Mess) (Catherine Eddowes)

VI Suspect : 

James P Rawlings (Leather Apron / John Pizer)

Kosim (Aaron Kosminski)

William Black (Seweryn Kłosowski)

Unknown Man (Michael Ostrog)

Mr. Nichels (Nichels / Francis Nichels) (Francis Thumblety)

Brandy (James Thomas Sadler)

I (Jacob Isenschmid)

Dead Man Druitt (Montague John Druitt)

VII Jack : 

Jack The Ripper