Chapter 39: Prelude to Disaster

The musky scent that penetrated Zero's nose finally dispersed as he left the Red Light District. If there was something that he would complain about, it was that– the smell was even stronger than a horde of zombies and could impede his senses.

But still, Zero didn't really think about that as he tried to recall his fight with Joseph while he was on his way to get his halberd from Charlotte's place.

[Reader of Fate: Don't Try Me, says Zero is getting stupider. At least he uses his brain before when he fights!]

It was the first time he chose to battle a slayer head-on, and it truly was quite an interesting experience– if not extremely dangerous. He could have probably ended the fight in an instant if he chose to hide in the shadows instead, but when he fought the gang leader as well as Natalia Woods…

…there would be times that stealth would not be an option; a time when the shadows would not be his ally– he knew needed to learn how to fight them head-on.

And learned he did.

The slayers were unlike the large werewolf he fought back then– they moved completely different and would use everything, even Zero's own cloak in order to win. They use their surroundings to propel themselves even with an injured leg. Unlike him, who relied only on the fact that he wouldn't be stopped by normal injuries.

If he had his halberd, then Joseph would have also not been that much of a trouble since he could just yank him with it from afar– that was another thing he learned… his claws weren't enough to fight a slayer with a weapon.

These humans, they can not be underestimated even if they were weaker than him. Truly interesting.

[Reader of Fate: Craze the Third, says Zero is also interesting.]

"..." Maybe Zero should buy another cloak and use it to wrap his opponent, pull them down like what the slayer did to him?

"That's… not a bad idea," Zero then whispered to himself like he just thought of the most genius plan in the world.

[...]

He then grabbed the two daggers from his waist; swinging them around as he tried to imitate what Joseph did. But as soon as he realized that the guards were looking at him, he immediately hid the daggers back.

The halberd was bigger and he was carrying it around the streets before, so why do these daggers attract more attention? Humans can be weird sometimes, Zero thought as he just continued to make his way through the streets, until he finally reached the apartment building where Charlotte lived.

"..." He wasn't really questioned much by the person guarding the building as he saw Zero with Charlotte before. And so, he just gestured to Zero to not make any trouble on his way up.

It really didn't take long for him to reach the front of Charlotte's apartment since it was only 3 floors up; finally, he would be reunited with his halberd. Zero then knocked on the door, as most normal humans do, only to find the door slightly opening as he did so; letting out a small creaking noise that felt louder than it should.

"..." With the door now open, Zero just shrugged as he stepped inside– he already knocked, after all. The apartment was darker than earlier, so it's possible that Charlotte is already asleep, that's too bad.

Charlotte seemed to be an expert in fixing cloaks; since his new cloak was damaged, he wanted to have her repair it. But if it was like this, then maybe he could just return another day and–

"..."

And before he could finish his thoughts, he saw Andrea in the kitchen…

…being strangled by Alice on the floor.

"Hm," Zero only hummed, before turning his head towards his halberd that was still resting on the wall. Grabbing it without caring about what was happening and just walking away.

But alas, sadly for Zero, his eyes met with Alice's.

"R… Robb!?" Alice then quickly removed her hands from Charlotte's neck as she stood up,

"This… this isn't what it looks like!"

"...Okay," Zero said before once again walking away. But then, his nose caught the scent of blood– he couldn't smell it before since it was too weak, but now that he was inside, it was all he could smell.

"..." He turned his eyes to Alice's hands, which were covered in blood.

"Z… Zero?"

Zero then turned to look at Andrea, who was coughing vehemently as she clasped her neck. There was blood on her neck, but no wound.

…It's not her blood.

Zero then slightly sniffed in the air, until his nose finally led him to the source of the blood– Charlotte. Lying behind the counter of the kitchen, with a knife behind her back and drowned in her own blood.

"..." Someone else will have to repair his cloak, then.

"T… this woman killed Charlotte!"

"..." Zero then turned his eyes towards Alice as she screamed, pointing at Andrea who was seemingly still trying to recover her breaths.

"I… I tried to stop her and–"

"No, she didn't."

And before Alice could finish her words… Her jaw suddenly became loose as her mouth opened wider than it was capable of.

"K… Khe?" Her hums garbled as she looked at the large blade that was suddenly resting in her mouth; her eyes then slowly trailed towards Zero, who was pointing the halberd a little close to her face.

And very slowly, Zero's silhouette turned sideways along with everything else… as half the top of her head slowly dropped to the floor.

"F… fuck," Andrea, who didn't really know what to feel right now, could only crawl backward as the top of Alice's head fell in front of her. She seemed to want to puke but stopped herself from doing so as she rushed towards Charlotte.

"C… Charlotte!? Miss Charlotte!?"

She tried turning Charlotte to her side, but it was useless. She didn't even have to place her hand on Charlotte's nose to know that she wasn't breathing anymore.

"No… oh no," Andrea then dropped down her arms and her head as she let out a very long and deep sigh,

"She… she's dead, Zero."

"Yes, I know," Zero said, before taking off his cloak and giving it to Andrea.

"..." Andrea only nodded as she grabbed the cloak, before covering Charlotte's body with it.

"..."

"..."

"What are you doing, Andrea?" Zero then said as he grabbed the cloak from Charlotte's body.

"...What do you mean?" Andrea blinked a couple of times, clearly confused as Zero once again gave her the cloak, "...What are you doing?" She then returned Zero's question.

"The cloak, it's damaged."

"...What?"

"I need you to repair it."

"...What?"

***

"...You again?"

It took a full hour, but the guards finally arrived in the apartment after Andrea called for them. She already explained the situation on the way up, but as soon as the one leading the squad saw Zero, he almost tripped and choked to death.

"Dave," Zero nodded as he recognized the leader of the guards.

"Why are you involved in all the accidents that's been happening around here!?" Dave blurted out, causing the rest of his squad to look at Zero,

"Do we need to start following you to keep you away from trouble!?"

"Maybe follow the trouble instead?" Zero answered.

"That's what we did and it led us back to you!" Dave pinched the bridge of his nose as it was starting to widen, "Anyway… Andrea already told us what happened, we just need your side of the story. The deceased…

…was she really your mother?"

"N–" Zero was about to answer, but then he noticed Andrea staring at him; subtly nodding her head repeatedly,

"...I don't know."

"Right… your memories are clouded," Dave could only sigh, "We'll be doing an in-depth investigation about this so you know the drill…

…Don't leave the Safe Zone for a few days."

It didn't really take long for Zero to tell everything that happened, but he kept the part where he ate Joseph to himself, of course. He also didn't tell them where he died so that they would have a hard time finding whatever was left of him.

"...I don't want to go to work tomorrow," Andrea then breathed out as she and Zero stepped out of the apartment, "So… what do you plan to do with the apartment?"

Charlotte… didn't really have a next of kin since his son died. And so, in a way, since Charlotte recognized Zero as her son before she died, the apartment became his, legally.

"Nothing, it is not mine."

"Charlotte would want it to be yours…

…even if you're not really his son."

"...You need to go to work tomorrow," Zero completely ignored Andrea's words as he walked away.

"What? Why!?"

"You…

…still need to fix my cloak."

***

"Yo! I heard you got involved in another incident again last night?"

"..."

Zero was now back in the Slayer Association building, staring at all the pamphlets that were pinned on the wall. The Slayers seemed to like to do this since this is the way most of them get their requests… the only problem was…

…that Zero couldn't read any of them.

Andrea agreed to fix his cloak. But alas… not for free. Zero has learned another valuable lesson– money is also important.

"You really need to get out more, man."

Zero then looked at the woman that approached him, Anna– the sub-leader of the Wind Mafia group.

"Hector accepted a joint quest to pop a Bubble, want to join us? Don't tell her…

…but Sandie's actually the one who told me to tell you to come."