Chapter 3: Dark Blue, Crimson Red

I looked dumbfounded at the abrupt appearance of the maid. Suddenly, the number of strange people had gone up.

First, a schoolgirl with golden eyes capable of summoning drones, now it was a maid dual-wielding pistols; not to mention that both of them tried to kill me at least once.

"…."

As much as I 'd like to say that this is one of the strangest things that had happened to me, I still vividly remember that one time when Astolfo suddenly barged in my room wearing a maid uniform and fake bunny ears while screaming: "I am a rabbit from the moon."

I am afraid that's difficult to top.

Either way, I couldn't help but wonder where this collection of strange characters came from. Was this maid also a superhuman being? Another Siren? They surely didn't look alike. Or were they from different factions? Enemies?

There were too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.

However, one thing was clear.

"This maid is hostile." I thought while I raised Lord Camelot in front of me and took a defensive stance. I ignored the reason, but her bullets went directly to my head; she was prepared to kill me in cold blood and if it wasn't for Purifier, she would have succeeded.

Not that I consider the Siren my ally now, she may as well be the reason this maid tried to kill me in the first place.

Although, rather than the Siren, she was staring at me. Her gaze didn't carry any apparent enmity at first glance, however, I did see one emotion that betrayed her unemotional façade, it was neither fury nor anger, it was…

Disgust.

She was looking at me as if I were a cockroach; something so disgusting that it shouldn't be allowed to live. Whatever her reason was, this maid clearly considered me someone that should be eliminated.

"What are you doing here, so far from the sea, pawn?" Purifier suddenly broke the silence; her tone denoted a feeling of superiority. "Why aren't you bonding with your human friends?"

The maid's expression remained neutral.

"It's the duty of the Royal Navy to exterminate any kind of Siren threat, being in the sea or not." Her eyes never stopped staring at me. "The same goes for traitors."

"Traitors…?" I couldn't contain my confusion. "I have no idea what are you talking about."

"Pests don't deserve explanations, only a quick and effective extermination." She declared, and the talk was over, both pistols opened fire again.

Although I easily blocked her bullets this time, she didn't lose a second and approached me with impossible velocity. Before I could even think my next move, she was already next to me, her pistols moved to shot the next barrage at point-blank.

However, Purifier intercepted her, and with a single punch, the maid was sent flying in the opposite direction. A cloud of dust was raised the moment the maid crashed with one of the alley walls.

"That power…."

I knew the difference between us was big, but at that moment I understood it all; she was just toying with me using her drones. If she really wanted to kill me, she could have done it a long time ago.

"Ah, sorry, Fujimaru Ritsuka." She turned back to me and made an apologetic smile.

Then, she dashed towards the fallen maid, who was just about to get up and grabbed her by the neck.

"Wait for a bit, okay?" Having said that, she began jumping between buildings and left the alley with the maid.

"…"

Everything happened so quickly that my brain had difficulty processing it. I was suddenly left alone in the alley, and without a doubt, looking like a confused idiot.

My fighting spirit slowly disappeared and I lowered Mashu's shield, suddenly feeling tired.

"What…what should I do now?"

She told me to wait but…should I just stay here and wait? No, should I even trust her? She didn't actually answer my question.

"…."

Maybe I should simply leave… and try to forget about all this.

My life here is not bad; I secured a job and a place to live at least a bit comfortably, I even made some friends, people who I could talk to.

I had already accepted my destiny after coming here; the fact that my years of risking my life were long gone. I was prepared to live the rest of my life here as a normal person, who will eventually succumb to old age.

But this…this changes everything.

If I follow them, I'll be destroying all those things I have worked upon these six past years. I have already been there before, entangled in a war that far surpassed my own abilities, and I know how it's going to end, that image will always be stuck in my head.

The desolating silence after Mashu's sacrifice, leaving only her shield behind which still stood despite the death of its user.

No matter how many years had passed, I will never be prepared to experience those things again. I am not like the Servants that used to follow me; I am just a mere human that happens to know a bit of magic.

I am no hero, I am just a survivor.

"I promised you, Mashu." I put my hand in Lord Camelot and feel the cold metal in my palm. "I promised you that I would live, and if I follow them, I will be putting my life in danger, the life that you fought so hard to protect."

…

However…

If that Siren could really send me to Chaldea, if I could see you just one last time…I…I…

"…I am really sorry, Mashu."

Cursing myself, I decided to follow them.

Sheffield tried with all to her might to get away from the Siren that currently was crushing her neck, but it was useless; she was forcefully dragged by her.

"This Siren…." Sheffield thought, feeling overwhelmed.

Not only her strength far surpassed the ones she had faced before, there was also something different in this one...something that the others Siren lacked.

She couldn't exactly put it into words, there was something just off about her.

Sheffield was no expert in Siren's psychology, neither she had battled and destroyed that many of them, that honor corresponded to Belfast, but she was sure that the Sirens were supposed to be no more than mere killing machines. Even the humanoid ones hardly ever show any emotion or feelings, in that regard, they were no different from the ships they commanded.

But this one...was humming.

From the moment she took her by the neck, the Siren didn't stop humming for even a second, as if she was enjoying herself.

As if she truly could feel emotions.

"Hmmm, that looks like a good place." The Siren suddenly spoke. "We can settle things there." And then, Sheffield was unceremoniously thrown again.

This time, however, she managed to control her fall and with a mid-air spin, her feet safely landed on the soft grass.

A quick look revealed that she had landed on a field, a bit far from the residential area they previously were. There weren't a lot of structures close by, only a couple of metal bars forming rectangular arcs a few meters away from her.

The Siren landed in front of her just a few seconds later.

"What do you think? Nobody will interrupt us here."

"You went this far just to hide our encounter." Sheffield immediately understood the Siren intent. "It seems my intervention wasn't necessary, you lot want to remain hidden as much as us."

"Hey, don't take me wrong, it would be fun to see the reaction of the humans." She shrugged. "But orders are orders."

"Orders?"

"You see, I was not supposed to meet humans yet, but that guy seemed interesting so I…." Purifier suddenly stopped talking, looking a bit worried. "Yikes, I think I said too much. Now Empress is going to be mad at me."

"Empress?"

"She is our lea-" She stopped again. "Hey, you are trying to confuse me so that I continue talking, aren't you!?"

"Oh? Did you realize? I must have underestimated your intellect, my apologies." Sheffield made a small reverence.

"How unpleasant…" Purifier release a resigned sigh, but then, a smile was suddenly drawn on her face. "But you were designed like that, so it can't be helped, right?

That claim took Sheffield by surprise.

"What do you know about us?"

"Ah! That's not working a second time! If you want to know then you will have to play with me." She opened her arms and dozens of black drones began to appear around her. "Let's-"

She couldn't finish.

Most of the drones weren't fully materialized when Sheffield answered by making her own weapons appear and without another word, she pressed the triggers.

One by one the drones were shot down, even if some managed to escape the initial bullet barrage and shot her, she easily dodged and destroyed them all.

In no time, it was clear that the drones were no match for her.

"Huh…guess that doesn't work on you." Purifier said, a bit shocked that her drones were destroyed in seconds. "Alright then." She made her knuckles crack. "Let's play in a more direct way, shall we?"

Marcia Haydes, the Commander of the so-called "Prototype Fleet" was currently having the worst headache of her life.

The wait was killing her.

I had been an hour or so since prototype 05 "Sheffield" has contacted the base; she really wanted to attribute that to Sheffield's lack of subordination, but one part of her couldn't help but think that something had gone wrong, very wrong.

And now in her private office, where she thought she could spend some time away from the chaos that was the command room, her doubts were only getting worst.

Was sending Sheffield the correct choice even if she knew her loyalty was the lowest between all the prototypes?

She would have preferred to send Belfast rather than her, but she couldn't simply let her fight in a city, sending her to the sea was risky enough already.

The rest of them weren't a choice either, prototype 02 "The Queen" refused to fight because apparently "That's the duty of the maids", prototype 03 won't abandon said Queen side for anything and prototype 04 apparently wasn't good at fighting, despite being a living weapon.

She really didn't have another choice but…what if Sheffield's dislike of humans had reached a point that she abandoned them? What would happen then with the rest of the prototypes? Would they follow her? Would they join the Sirens in their war against humanity?

And more importantly, would humanity be prepared to face yet another threat that clearly surpassed them in everything?

"Would you like some tea, Commander?" Said one of those very beings. In her hands, capable of smashing a tank with ease, was a silver tray with a teapot and a steaming cup.

"What I want, Belfast, is hearing news from Sheffield." The commander answered with an irritated tone.

"I am afraid I haven't heard anything from her yet. As an apology, please accept this tea." The maid didn't seem to mind her tone at all, in fact, she was adamant about offering the cup to her.

Marcia deeply sighed and finally accepted the drink.

"Thanks, I guess." She brought the cup to her mouth, but stopped just before drinking as familiar scent reached her nose."Bergamot? We don't have….no, we don't actually have any kind of tea in the base? Where did you get this?"

"A maid had to be prepared for everything." She answered as if it was obvious.

"...You didn't let anyone see you, don't you?"

Belfast just responded with a smile.

"…"

Marcia knew better than to question Belfast actions, so she decided to just enjoy her Earl Grey.

"Hmmm, it's good."

"I am glad." Belfast said, happily. "Nothing fills me with more happiness than to hear than from you, Commander."

"…"

Marcia still didn't know how to feel about the maid.

Belfast, the first prototype and, in the higher-ups' opinion, the only successful one from the Electromagnetic Cube Project. A woman who despite being capable of shooting down helicopters alone, had decided to dress as a maid and serve her.

"Why?" That was the question that didn't leave the commander's mind. "Why does she act so submissive if she can kill us all, and escape from the base?"

She was so friendly with her, so loyal...despite the fact it was her, the Commander, that was pretty much locking them in that hellhole to use them as weapons.

Those thoughts were the only thing that kept Marcia for actually trusting Belfast. Maybe it was a consequence of being a soldier, the constant and permanent mistrust.

"Is something the matter, Commander? You have been looking at me for quite some time without saying anything."

She didn't realize it.

"Sorry." She immediately looked away and tried to change the topic "I was thinking how different you are from Sheffield." She lied.

"Ah, my apologizes for Sheffield's behavior, she is still unaccustomed to humans, so her service may not be the best."

"Don't apologize on her behave. I understand that we didn't exactly treat your kind...in the best manner."The Commander said, while they were alone, she could be as diplomatic as she wanted. "But we have one enemy in common, so I hope we can continue working together."

"Humans created us, Marcia. We are your weapons, so isn't it natural that we follow you?"

"…"

Again, Marcia couldn't understand the maid.

It just didn't make sense, why did it matter if they had created them or not, when they could destroy battalions of soldiers with no effort whatsoever?

She couldn't just shake the feeling that Belfast was hiding something behind that image of perfect loyalty.

Maybe it was her eyes, her calm silver eyes that never show worry or concern as if everything were going according to her will.

As if she was just waiting to make her move…

"Oh? Sheffield is talking to me."

Marcia suddenly snapped out of her thought.

"What is she saying!?"

Belfast didn't answer; instead, she brought a hand to her ear and focused on hearing.

"Understood." After a few nods, she finally looked at the Marcia. "Commander, Sheffield is about to release her rig."

"What!? We sent her precisely because we can't let any of you use cannons inside a city! What is-?"

"Commander." Belfast interrupted her. "She told me that if she doesn't use it, she will be destroyed."

"…Maybe I should have expected something like this."

Some time had passed since I started following the maid and the Siren. However, I failed to realize an important fact.

I had no idea where they went.

In retrospect, it should have been obvious. Purifier left the alley literally jumping on buildings and I didn't start to follow them immediately, it was only natural not being able to keep up with her, even with magecraft it would have been difficult.

"Hah, pathetic, I can't even follow them. Maybe it was presumptuous of me to think that I actually had a choice in all this."

Things never go the way I want when it comes to superhuman beings. It was the same back in Chaldea, I was constantly getting dragged by my Servant antics.

Fishing all day with Cu Chulainn, serving as a taster in a cooking competition between Tamamo, Emiya, and Boudica, escaping with Kintoki from an enraged Raikou, putting up with Hans's ramblings about a certain woman, training until almost dying with Leonidas…

A smile appeared on my face.

Even if did get dragged by them, I never disliked it. The moments I spent with them were still my most fond memories.

I was deep in those memories when I noticed something upon looking at my surroundings; I didn't know where I was. I had lived in this city for a few years now, but the place I was currently in was completely alien to me.

In other words, I was lost.

"Just what I needed…" Cursing internally, I began searching for a signpost or anything that gave an idea of where I was, I couldn't have strayed that much of my neighborhood.

It didn't help that the night seemed to have become even darker; no lights were coming from the multiple houses beside me and the moon was nowhere to be found. Only the dim light of a few lampposts illuminated my path.

…

…

…

It was quite.

Almost too quiet, there wasn't even the sound of cars or motorcycles passing by.

…

…

...

And maybe it was my imagination, but I could almost swear that the air was thicker, more difficult to breathe even.

…

…

…

The lampposts path seemed to extend for miles and no matter how much I walked, I felt that I was getting further and further away from my destiny. I was starting to wonder if I actually would find something when I saw it.

A person in the distance, walking ahead of me.

They were a bit too far so I couldn't know if they were a woman or a man, all I could see was their pure white clothes, which seemed to heavy contrast with the darkness of the night, making their figure glow.

I was about to approach them, but then I realized that I was some guy holding a shield as tall as him, wandering in the middle of the night, and about to approach a person who is alone. Maybe I shouldn't have called both the maid and the Siren strange when I am in fact not the most normal person.

However, while I was debating that in my mind, the person suddenly stopped walking and turned back at me.

They were still too far away, so I couldn't distinguish their features but…something was wrong. I had assumed that they were wearing a white cape over their head or something, but nothing had changed now that they were facing me. Maybe the distance was playing tricks on me, but all I could see was a figure that vaguely resembled a person, but white, not even a trace of another color, it was completely and utterly white.

Then they started walking towards me.

"…!"

I had been trying to deny it, but I no longer could hide my anxiety. Neither this "person" nor this situation was normal, but as I raised Lord Camelot to defend myself, the lights of the lampposts began to fickle.

"Shit!"

The lights alternated between on and off, until it finally died, leaving me in the oppressive darkness.

I looked around frantically, as my eyes could see only black. No matter how much I moved my arms, I found nothing around me. It was as if the whole world has just disappeared and the only one that remained was me, alone in that sea of nothingness.

Time flowed weirdly; I couldn't recall how much I was lost in the darkness until the lights went on again.

And I saw her.

The white person was just in front of me, and now I could see her clearly.

She was without a doubt, a woman. Her entire body, except for the head, was completely hidden by a long white cape. Her hair, as white as her attire, was rather short, but long enough to cover her facial features apart from her mouth. To complete her ghostly appearance, all the skin that wasn't being hidden by either the hair or the cape was a colorless pale, like snow, like a sheet of paper…like death itself.

I wanted to run, my entire body ordered me to run from her but I couldn't… It was as if I was frozen in the place, unable to do anything besides looking at her.

The ghostly woman spoke, but no words came from her mouth. Then, from inside her cloak, came a hand as pale as the rest of her body and it moved slowly until it pointed to a certain direction in the city.

"Are you telling me…to go there?"

She didn't answer, instead, she hid her arm inside her attire once again, and turned back to leave.

"No…"

I didn't understand what had happened, but for some reason, I didn't want her to leave. My legs moved on their own, finally starting to work again, as I approached her.

"W-wait…! Don't go!" I put a hand on her shoulder.

She stopped and turned back to see me again.

A single eye peeked between her tufts of white hair, it wasn't white as the rest of her appearance but blue, blue as the darkened sky on a rainy day, blue as the depth of the ocean, a dark lifeless blue. Her gaze was devoid of light, as if any trace of life was taken away from it, leaving only an empty shell.

But what took my breath away wasn't just that, it was her face.

Her face was…she was…

"Mashu."

And then the lights died again.

After some time, I finally managed to find them. They were in a football fiend a couple of kilometers away from my apartment. I remembered that some kids from the school used to come there to play.

The strident sound of metal welcomed me, and the first thing I saw was Purifier, the Siren. She was standing proudly in front of the maid, her entire body was stained with small drops of blood. Meanwhile, the maid was desperately trying not to fall, her body full of wounds and her clothes torn.

"Oh?" Purifier looked back at me. "Fujimaru Ritsuka? Perfect timing!"

The maid used this opening to distance herself from the Siren. Then, a bright light began to cover her, taking some kind form around her.

Whatever she was trying to do, the heavy kick that Purifier quickly connected to her temple prevented her from completing it; that light disappeared as the defeated maid fell on the grass.

"There, that should make you relax for a bit."

The maid no longer moved, I was unsure if she was still alive.

"…"

That could be my fate if I don't play my cards right. Purifier wants information, and I want her ability to move between worlds, I have to convince her that she would rather get that information from me and not form my lifeless body.

"Fujimaru!"

"…!"

I almost had a heart attack, her face was already a few centimeters from mine, she got so close without me realizing!

"I am glad you came to play but…How did you know I was here? I was sure I got pretty far away from that alley."

"Eh…? How…?"

Good question, how did I know they were here? The moment I began to follow them, this fiend just naturally came to my mind.

"….a hunch, perhaps."

"A hunch…?" She looked at me weirdly. "Well, whatever, what's important is that you are here and we can continue…" She moved her right hand to touch my face, the black gloves she was wearing didn't hide the bloodstains on them.

I instinctively stepped back.

"You haven't answered me, though. Can you actually take to another world?"

She smiled.

"But of course, that's like a walk in the park for us. You just have to do me a little favor."

Yes, this is my opportunity.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know, just a-"

"Kill her." she pointed at the fallen maid.

"Huh?"

"You should be able to, right? Using that "energy."

"…"

"It would be the perfect experiment, more useful than anything you can tell me." She walked around me. "Not only I can test if that energy of yours is capable of hurting us ships, but it also would prove your loyalty to us."

"Wait…that's…"

"Kill her." She repeated, finally put her hands on my face, the crimson drops on her school uniform quickly stained my clothes, the blood on her hands was cold. "And I assure you that you will be able to see Mashu again."

END OF CHAPTER 3

AN: still on exams, but I wanted to write some more, I should be totally free by next week. Thanks to everybody who wished me luck.