Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 53 of the story! Hope everyone enjoyed the suffering of NeroFest or if you play JP, that you are having a blast with the summer event.
Now, without further ado, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
"Oh? The fog doesn't affect you?"
The armoured woman said with curiosity as she observed the group in front of her.
"That appearence. Something tells me she's a servant." Nala said, staring at the woman's armour.
"Can you do some quick search on her doc?" Ritsuka asked to Romani. "Also, do you think she's a friend or foe?"
In response, Romani let out a frustrated groan. "I'm trying but the fog's density and nature is interfering with my divices! Guess I'll have to try a different approach!" Romani said, typing tirelessly on the keyboard. "MagiMari, what can you tell us about this person we just encountered?"
"Are you really hoping that will work?!" Peko shouted at the doctor.
"Do we fight her or not?" Nala whispered to them, with her sword in hand already for the occasion.
"I don't know." Mash replied back. "She isn't showing that much hostility torwards us."
"Either way, we better don't let our guard down." Ritsuka advised them as they continued in a defensive stance, cautious of the person in front.
The group all waited silently for the knight woman to attack at any moment. The stare between them and the supposed servant was enough to build up tension in the middle of the misty street. Preparing for the first movement. The very first battle in this Singularity and it has only been a few minutes since they arrived. It was rather an unlucky start with the left foot. But whatever were the odds and challenges, they had be prepared for it. No matter when they'd show up.
So the chaldeans stood ready, waiting for the supposed servant's attack. And they waited. And waited...and waited...
"Meh. You lot dont smell like trouble." The armoured woman said, lowering her sword and turning around, much to the group's surprise. "Just be careful out there and watch for the monsters. Don't go around pretending to be some kinda of lame ass heroes." She told them, before starting to walk away.
"She...won't fight us?" Mash said in confusion, leaving her combat pose alongside everyone else.
"Hey! Are you running away or something?" Nala shouted to the knight who was about to enter the clouds of mist ahead.
"Nah. Not really. You just don't look like bad guys." She responded, dismissively putting her hand in the air before dissapearing into the fog. "Also, it wouldn't be worth it wasting my time to fight small fries like the bunch of ya."
Nala felt attacked by the servant's comment. "What did y-"
"Don't engage in it!" Peko stopped his sister. "She's letting us go and has no intrest in us! Let's not try to buy a fight right here when we can avoid it."
"Instead we should ask her for more information about this Singularity if she isn't gonna fight us." Ritsuka said.
"That's good thinking master." Mash said. However, when they look back to the view in front of them, she was already gone.
"Hey! Come back!" Peko shouted out. "We just want to make a few questions!" Yet, no reply came back.
"Guess she's already far away to hear us." Mash speaked.
"Then let's go after her!" Nala proposed. "She couldn't have gone too far by now, right?"
"We could try that." Ritsuka agreed with her. "However, with all this mist around us, it would be easy for us to get lost." He said, looking to all the smoke around covering the area.
Peko then looked to Romani's hologram. "How about you try scan the area doctor? It would easy the job so much that way."
"Of course I can!" Romani happily responded. "Now, sIt tih..gT.."
"Hum? Is the transmission okay doctor?" Mash asked, seeing the image and sound of Romani's hologram glitching.
"Y..yEah. DoNt Worry a..Bout it. ME and D..a ViNci will-..." And so the image of the hologram went out, the connection having been interrupted.
"Hello? Doctor? Doctor!" Mash tried to call him back, but it was no use.
"Guess the fog must have interfered with it." Peko thought.
"Great. Now how will we find that knight without guidence?" Nala asked, seeing that Romani was unavailable to give them directions.
"Certainly by not standing just here." Ritsuka said to them. "She has gone up ahead. So we will have to just walk ahead. That and stick together. Any second alone in this mist could separate us easily."
"I'm not sure that by going straight would exactly led us to her. She must already have taken another route." Mash told him.
"Whether she turned left or right, it doesn't matter. We will search the area and the surrounding ones if it means we can find her again." Ritsuka replied.
"London is a big city however. It would take us some hours to try and met her. More so if we add all this fog." Peko said.
"Easy. We just go around knocking on people's door asking if they saw a knight passing by." Nala told her brother as well as Mash and Ritsuka.
"That could work." Mash commented.
"Altough I believe most people wouldn't be willing to answer us." Peko said.
"Mostly." Nala replied. "That doesn't mean no one."
"Then it's decided! We will ask for the direction that the knight went to any civillian we can talk to." Ritsuka said to his group. "Or we find someone else that can fill us in about this Singularity's situation. And if instead we find enemies..."
"We'll kick their ass!" Nala responded.
"Exactly! Ready to go searching guys?" Ritsuka asked to his team.
"Only option we have now." Peko said.
"Yeah. We don't have much choice." Mash speaked. "Ready to go master!"
"Fu fou!"
It had been half an hour since they started their search. And until now it couldnt be said that it was being a success. Very few inhabitants dared to open their windows and doors to talk with strangers like them. The few that did, would be questioned about a knight woman and if they had seen her passing by. Even then, the answers that the group got weren't entirely satisfatory. One would say they saw her going right, while another would say to the opposite direction. No one was quite sure where that female knight was heading, only having briefly seen her walking outside.
Fortunately, the group could at least a clue when one of the individuals they interrogated told them that she perhaps was heading to the area of Westminster. And so, the group was now on their way there, travessing one of the bridges over the River Thames. Despite changing areas, the fog continued to be everywhere.
"I do hope that that she really is in this place." Peko said. "Making questions with this folk was tiresome."
Nala agreed with him. "Man, the people from here are quite the rude jerks."
"Your words also weren't very nice to them Nala..." Mash told to her.
"They were asking for it." Nala replied.
"What matters is that we now have a place to look for that knight." Ritsuka told them as they reached to the other end of the bridge. "What are the transmission status Mash?" He asked to his servant.
"Still inactive I'm afraid." Mash responded.
As they entered the area, Peko's foot happened to step into something, gaining the boy's attention. "Hm? What's this?" He stared to the ground, removing his foot from the item he was stepping on. It was a beret and scarf.
Ritsuka noticed Peko staying behind from the rest. "What was it Peko?"
"I found these on the ground." Peko said, showing the two pieces of clothing to Ritsuka and the group.
"Oh. A beret." Mash said, looking at the old cap on the boy's hand. "Very common to use during this period. And it looks like to be the perfect size for you."
"So you think I should put these on me?" Peko asked, thinking how he would look himself wearing the beret and scarf.
"I don't see why not. Give it a try." Ritsuka told him.
Hearing Ritsuka's opinion, Peko then put the beret in his head, covering great part of his hair as well as the scarf around his neck. "How do I look like?"
"Not bad at all." Nala said impressed before adding a smug. "You even look like a begger."
"It actually looks pretty good one you." Mash told him.
"Fou fu." Fou said, probably expressing his opinion too.
"Didn't knew it would fit me that well." Peko said, staring at the scarf and touching the beret. "A mirror would come in handy."
"Perhaps there could be one lying around here." Ritsuka said, approaching Peko. "But I too think you look great with it!" Ritsuka told him before putting his hand on the beret, messing it a bit.
"Haha. Stop that already!" Peko said, removing Ritsuka's hand from the top of his head. "But thanks. If it looks good then I will- atchum!" Peko sneezed as dust fell from the beret into his face, causing him to sneeze again and cough a bit. And it seemed the beret wasn't the only thing dirtied with dust as the scarf also caused Peko to cough and sneeze.
"Hum, are you good Peko?" Nala asked him as Peko removed the beret and scarf and threw them back to the floor.
"Ah! Forget it! They are full of dust!" He said before rubbing his arm against his own face to clear the dust. "I'm not wearing that again."
"Then it's a no." Ritsuka said. "But I think we should be expecting it. Things that come for free aren't always nice."
"And we got the proof for that." Mash added. "Hope it wasn't enough to make you sick Peko."
"No it didn't. I'm already getting better." Peko said, having stopped rubbing his face.
"Fu fou!" Fou then called the group's attention, jumping up and down while pointing at somwthing near a building in front of them.
"Oh! Looks like Fou saw something!" Nala exclaimed.
"Fou!" The animal said again, continuing to point at the building where around the corner, where something or someone looked like to be moving.
"Did you all saw that?" Peko asked to the rest.
"We sure saw it!" Ritsuka replied.
Nala didn't even wasted the second and started running torwards the thing Fou pointed.
"Don't just go ahead like that Nala!" Mash warned the girl, to no avail.
"And let what's possibly the knight we are looking for to dissapear from our vision? I ain't risking it!" She told. "Let's go after her!"
"As much as it isn't the best approach, we really can't miss our chance it it really is that knight." Ritsuka said to Mash and Peko before running behind Nala.
"W-wait a moment you two!" Peko speaked before also starting to run.
Seeing that they all went to chase the silhouette, Mash had no choice but to do the same. "And what happened to the part of sticking together?"
As Mash runned by last, she entered the mist and briefly lost sight of her team as she stopped moving her legs. The Shielder looked to all directions, trying to spot them, but she couldn't find no one. "Oh no! I got separated from-"
Before she could think on what to do next, someone grabbed Mash's arm and pulled her to the side into a alley. "Ah! What are y-" Mash ceased her words as she saw Ritsuka, Peko and Nala all in the alley, having been the ones to pull Mash in. "G-guys!"
The three all raised a finger, signaling Mash to be silent.
"Hm? Why do you want me to be quiet?" Mash asked them in a low voice. They then pointed back to the street where Mash was, showing the figure they were chasing, previously presumed to be the knight.
It happened that altough it had an humanoid aspect, it looked more like a mannequin rather than an actual human, with a featurless blank face and body, unnatural long arms and other strange bodily aspects.
"What is that?" Mash asked in confusion at seeing the mannequin-like creature.
"It certainly isn't our knight." Nala told her.
"And by the way it looks and moves, it seems to be one of the monsters the inhabitants told us about." Peko said, remembering what one of the civillians they interrogated informed them about certain hostile mobs lurking in the deserted streets of London.
"The creature is definetly going to somewhere. We should follow it." Ritsuka speaked before looking to his group. "Quietly."
All of them nodded in response and got out of their hidden place of the alley, carefully and silently following the the robot mannequin creature. It wasn't easy to do so as the unberable amounts of mist around them was making harder for the group to keep following the enemy.
"Crap. It's oy me or is the fog getting denser here?" Nala asked them as she make an effort to still see the mannequin creature some feet in front of them as more clouds of mist would get in the way.
"I'm noticing it too." Ritsuka responded, waving his hand. "There seems to be more fog here than the place where we rayshifted."
In the next few seconds, they stopped seeing the creature.
"We just lost it from our sight!" Peko said.
"Perhaps we should start moving faster." Mash suggested.
"But that would make our steps be heard by that thing." Ritsuka told her, not wanting to be discovered by the enemy.
"I got an idea!" Nala exclaimed, summoning her sword.
"Are you thinking about attacking it?" Peko asked her.
"Course not! I got something else in mind." With a swing of her sword, Nala monumentarily pushed the fog around them away, allowing them to have more visibility and spot the mannequin again, further away from them and going in the direction of a building.
"There!" Nala said, pointing at the mannequin.
"Great job Nala!" Ritsuka told her as before the group started to rush a bit torwards the building the mannequin was heading to before the huge amounts of fog could block their view again.
Reaching near the building however, their persecuted was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? How did it dissapeard so quickly?" Nala said confunsed, looking around.
"Same. We swore it was just ahead of us a moment ago." Mash replied.
Before the entire group could wonder about the possibilities of what happened to the sentient mannequin, a mechanical noise sounded behind the tall wall of the building next to them. Trying to look at the source, they noticed how abandoned and worn out the building looked like. From the exterior, it appeard to be a warehouse.
"The sound must have come from the inside of this warehouse." Ritsuka speaked.
"Could it be from that mannequin?" Peko asked to Ritsuka, who was staring at a open window up there in the wall.
"Only one way to find out." Ritsuka told him, walking torwards the wall.
"What are you planning?" Nala asked him with curiosity.
"A way for us to see the interior before going in." Ritsuka said, slightly leaning his body and putting his hands against the wall. "Come here Mash! Use my body to climb up. And then you two climb up our bodies as well, Peko, Nala." He told to his group.
"Oh, I see! You want us to create a human ladder!" Mash said, understanding Ritsuka's idea. "Very clever master. We'll help you with that." The demi-servant then walked up to Ritsuka and begun to climb his body, putting a foot on Ritsuka's shoulder. Unfortunately, Ritsuka wasn't counting for one thing.
"M-Mash...Your legs are..." Ritsuka tried to say in a way he wouldn't offend Mash as he felt a crushing weight being put on his two shoulders when Mash supported her feet on them. Nevertheless, Mash was able to understand the suffering she was unintentionally causing to him.
"S-Sorry master!" She apologized. "I-I'll get down immediatly!" And so she did. "I think it would be better if I stay at the bottom of the ladder since as a servant, I get to be more resistant to support the weight of all your three bodies." She said, sadly looking at Ritsuka. "Sorry for causing you pain master."
"No no. It's alright! I should have just went more times to the gym." Ritsuka told her, not wanting Mash to feel guilty.
As the twin siblings watched the whole thing, Peko remembered something, proceeding to look at Nala. "Wait. Can't you just jump an-"
"Ah! Don't bring that up." Nala silenced her brother with a smirk. "I'm enjoying this. Plus, the human ladder thing sounds like fun."
Peko sighed. "If you think so." He then loked at Ritsuka and Mash. "Alright, let's try to make this thing work."
Taking a minute or two, the four managed to make a human ladder, with Mash at the bottom and Nala at the top, supporting her balance on Peko's shoulder who in turn was supporting himself on Ritsuka.
"Did you catched the window?" Peko asked to his sister as all of them try to maintain their equilibrium.
"A bit more to the right." Nala said, trying to reach to the window with her hand.
"To the right guys." Peko passed the message to Ritsuka and Mash.
"Go right Mash." Ritsuka told to the Shielder.
"Understood!" Mash slightly took a few steps to the right, making sure to be careful in doing it so. "Good enough?"
Being closer to the window, Nala made an effort in stretching her arm to grab its border. "Hmmm, just a little more." Putting herself in tiptoes, Nala managed to reach to the window. "Got it!" She exclaimed.
"Good! Now tell us what are you seeing inside." Ritsuka told her.
"Be careful to not fall as well." Peko said since Nala's feet continued to be tiptoe on his shoulders.
Taking a peek to the inside, Nala was absurd by what she was seeing. "W-Wow! Surely something's happening there."
"Like what? What are you seeing?" Mash asked from below.
"Hmmm. Some kind of meet up I guess." Nala responded, observing more of the situation. "There are other mannequins identical to the one we saw before. And they aren't the only ones in there."
"They aren't?" Peko said in shock.
"Yeah. There seems to be other types of monsters too." Nala replied as her eyes went to stare at another kind of enemy. "Some big white voluptuous kinda creatures with black dots on their face."
"Weird." Ritsuka commented. "Anything else?"
"Hum, looks like they are all gathering in front of a robot machine creature." Nala told them.
"What does it look like?" Peko asked.
"Metallic. Has-!" Suddenly, Nala lowered her body, taking her face out of the window much to the group's surprise, with them shaking a bit due to Nala's unnanounced movement.
"H-Hey! What happened sis?" Peko questioned her.
"I think I almost got spotted by that machine thing." Nala responded.
"Be careful! Don't stick your head too much in the open." Peko reprimanded her.
"I know, I know!" Nala said to him, slightly annoyed.
"Just keep cool you two." Ritsuka told the twins. "Try to peek at the inside again Nala." He then stared down at Mash. "How are you feeling Mash?"
"Still good master. All that weight isn't bothering me much." Mash replied. "But it seems we've had encountered a possi-"
"Hey. What are you guys doing?"
A voice sounded right next to Mash. Being caught by surprise, Mash turned her head to the right, being greeted by the sight of a person wearing some kind of steampunk mask and a coat with a hood, fully made of crow feathers. The individual was holding a black and dark yellow staff with a purple lamp embedded on the top. Being stared by the two dark blue lenses of the mask of the mysterious person, Mash let out a scream.
"Aaaahhhhhhh!" Immediatly, she moved her body abruptly, causing Ritsuka to lose his balance.
"M-Mash!" He said in surprise before falling to the ground, breaking the human ladder. Peko and Nala also fell to the floor, landing on top of Ritsuka and Mash.
"What the hell happened?!" Nala exclaimed as the whole group was pilled on top of each other.
"Fooooou!" Using all of his strenght, Fou was able unstuck himself from the group and then make some kind of barking to the masked person in front of them. "Fou fou!"
"It was this person! It appeard out of nowhere!" Mash said as they started to get up on their own legs.
"Is he an enemy?!" Peko wondered as he summoned his sword with Nala and Mash doing the same with their weapons, being prepared to fight this person if needed.
The masked man however, tried to prevent the fight from happening. "W-w-w-wait a minute! I don't mean any harm to you!" He waved his hands awkwardly.
"Then why are you here? For a stroll?" Ritsuka questioned him.
"N-No! I'm actually a servant! I use to oversee the streets around here!" The man revealed to them. And a certain part of that reveal caused some curiosity within the group.
"You're a servant?" Mash asked surprised.
But before they could proceed further on the conversation, the sound of several footsteps could be heard coming for them.
"What's this?" Peko turned around, hearing the steps getting closer.
"Looks like you've alerted some company with all this fuss." The masked servant said as the monsters that where inside the warehouse came out targeting them.
"We've been found! Now the only option is to fight!" Mash exclaimed as she raised her shield and got prepared for combat alongside Peko and Nala, with Ritsuka standing behind.
"Sorry for causing you to be spotted. Allow me to help as an amendment." The masked servant said as he stepped up, joining the trio.
"What are you going to do?" Ritsuka asked him confused.
"Normally, I would fought them all by myself. But as this time I'm not alone..." The servant said, grabbing his staff with both hands. "This should be enough of a aid!" He said, tightening his grip on the staff before striking it on the ground, making the purple lamp burst out a strong dark glow.
"Metabolism!" (Debuffs Enemies with Critical Chance and Defense Down as well as buffs allies with Buff Removal Resistance Up.)
"Hope what you just did comes in handy." Nala told him.
"I'm sure it will." The servant responded to her.
"Prepared for combat?" Ritsuka asked to his team who all shouted a yes.
The masked servant stepped down, joining Ritsuka in staying from behind. "Need any help in case one of these monsters attacks you?" He asked politely.
"All the help is welcome." Ritsuka responded.
Battling for the next minutes, the skill casted by the servant proved to be helpful indeed, with the Chaldea group being able to easily handle and defeat the enemies. Perhaps they were just used to fight better by now compared with their first times, but it couldn't be denied that the masked servant's spell made the things less arduous.
"Last one!" Nala said as she ended up cutting the last enemy in half.
"No more signs of enemies." Mash announced. "Well done everyone."
"Didn't even broke a sweat." Nala said with a hint of pride. "I told you these monster would eventually be no match for us."
"Looks like it." Peko told her. "But we also have to thank this servant guy for his support."
"True. Altough it may not have made much of a difference, it made us clear out this enemies a lot faster." Mash said, smiling to the masked servant. "Thank you for the help and sorry for our reaction before."
"N-No need for it. I myself was heading this way in hope to find one of the many meeting points of this creatures around London." The masked servant explained to them, adjusting one of his leather gloves.
"Speaking of wich, what are these things anyways?" Ritsuka asked, looking at the remains of the enemies they just fought.
"Automatas and Homunculi." The masked man answered, grabbing one piece of a defeated automata. "Mindless beings created through magecraft and alchemy."
"So that's what they are." Mash said, putting a thumb under her chin. "Thinking about it, I must have read about them once before."
"Then you probably do understand their beauty, no?" The masked servant asked her, continue to stare at the piece of the broken automata. "Creations with the original intent being to auxiliate the man. Useful and helpful in a dream society where the human would strive for the best of everyone and everything!" He raised his voice a bit, roughening his grasp on the piece of automata. "Beings like that, were meant to be used for good. Yet, here I find them, causing chaos and havoc. Having no mind of their own to grasp their crimes."
"You feel really bad about it, don't you?" Peko asked to the servant, noticing the slight anguish on his voice.
"Now that we are talking about it, Nala..." Ritsuka called out the girl's name. "Didn't you also saw a robot like creature inside the building?"
"Yes, I did. Why?" Nala responded.
"If all those enemies came out of the building, then why we didn't saw that robot out here as well?" Ritsuka speaked, explaining his doubt.
"A robot?" The masked servant repeated that word, almost in contemplation.
"Oh..." Nala realized too how weird it was for the robot to not have appeard. "Since you have mentioned it-"
"!" Having a kind of premonition, Peko quickly jumped over Nala, pushing her away from the wall. "Watch out!" He yelled to everyone as the wall from the warehouse behind them erupted, with the robot Nala had saw breaking through as a sort of surprise attack.
"It's the robot!" Mash exclaimed.
"A Helter Skelter!" The masked servant shouted.
"A what?!" Ritsuka speaked.
"Be careful! This type of enemy is no joke!" The servant warned them.
"Then let's finish this before it can be of huge trouble for us!" Nala said, charging torwards the tall robot.
"Luminary Route!"
Casting his newly achieved skill, Peko served as back up for his sister. Charging up his finger, Peko fired a light bullet torwards the helter skelter, forcing the robot to to parry out with huge effort. That allowed an opening for Nala to dash in and slice the robot with her sword. Still, that wasn't enough to defeat the robot who liberated steam from the bottom of its feet, launching itself in the air, ready to squash its enemies.
"Air Step!"
Activing her skill, Nala dodged the blow like everyone else and gave a counter attack the moment the robot crashed on the ground. Being in a complicated situation, the helter skelter tried to punch Nala, only to had the attack blocked by Mash. Yet, the enemy was able to push her away by releasing more stream from its mechanical arm.
"Ggh!" Mash grunted as she was sent away by the enemy's brute strenght.
"Mash! Are you alright?" Ritsuka asked her.
"Y-Yes master! I'm okay!" Mash responded, getting back on her feet.
Meanwhile. Nala and Peko continued fighting the helter skelter.
"How is this thing still not dead yet?!" Nala said as she watched Peko made another cut on the robot.
"It's surely more resistant than the other enemies!" Peko said as it barely dodged from the blade like weapon of the helter skelter.
"Then let's see if it can tank this!" Nala yelled as she charged her sword, delivering a critical hit on the enemy. And to their surprise, it still continued operative and fighting despite of the huge damage.
"It can't be!" Peko exclaimed.
"It must be on its last legs!" Nala told him, feeling her body starting to get exhausted. "Just a bit more and its done for!"
"Allow me the honours so! You all done enough now!" Stepping up, the masked servant fastly approached the helter skelter, and changing the glow of the purple lamp to a dark tone, fired a beam from his staff, opening a hole on the helter skelter's body, killing it for good.
"Threat neutralized." Mash reported. "I guess it was the last one of them."
"For real this time." Ritsuka emphasized.
"Good job Peko." Nala told her brother, withdrawing her sword and taking a rest.
"You too sis." Peko replied back before changing his gaze to the masked servant. "You also-"
"Ouch ouch ouch!" The servant groaned in pain while frantically rubbing his shoulder. "I think I'm never pulling that off again! Big mistake!"
"Eeeh, you good?" Ritsuka asked him with a sheepish smile.
"Yeah! Of course! I couldn't call myself a servant if this bothered me that much!" The servant replied, brushing off the pain.
A static noise sounded out of nowhere, gainign everyone's attention. Shortly after, the hologram of doctor Romani had finally reappered again. "Testing. Testing. Do you copy?"
"Was already missing your voice doc!" Ritsuka said happily.
"It's good to see you back." Peko speaked.
"Yep. We were kinda lost without you." Nala told him.
"I see, I see. Well, worry not now! For your favourite director and idol loving doctor is back on the transmission!" Romani said with a smile. "But changing subject, I bet something happened while I was off, didn't it?"
"It sure happened doctor." Mash replied, staring to the masked servant. "We didn't found that knight but we did found another servant who help us fight against some enemies."
Romani went to also look at the servant Mash was referring to. "Great! That means we now have someone to explain us the current status of this Singularity."
"Hmm, so my intuiton when I first saw you was right. You're not from here as well." The servant said, figuring out that the people he has meet were indeed not normal civillians.
"Yes. We come from another place and we would be grateful if you could tell us what's been happening to London to be all so foggy." Ritsuka told him.
"Sorry tho say this, but I think my answers won't be enough to fully explain this situation to you." The servant said to them. "I only arrived to this 'Singularity' a few days before. By that time, the fog had already settled in alongside the monsters."
"So you too don't know exactly what's causing all of this?" Peko asked, faintly dissapointed.
"My knowledge of the situation is only but a little less limited than yours." The servant said sadly.
"Then we are all kinda in the same page." Ritsuka speaked.
"Eitherway, what caused the communication to go dwon that time doctor?" Mash asked to Romani, wanting to know the reason why they had lost contact in the first place.
"Most likely the fog." Romani said. "Its density of magical energy must have had interefered with the equipment, causing us at Chaldea to lose the transmission."
"This fog is truly no joke." Nala commented.
"Wich amazes me on how you are able to survive out here in these conditions. The fog doesn't look to affect you despite being normal humans." The servant noted. "I've heard some zones of London have been abandoned due to huge concentration of the fog in there, making impossible for human to roam, even with equipment. Are you using a protection spell to become immune against it?"
"Yeah. It's precisely that." Romani told him. "By the way, could you mind telling us your name?"
"Oh right! We haven't introduced ourselves to one another yet." Peko replied.
"Guess we could do that now." Nala talked.
"Alright." Ritsuka agreed in presenting themselves to the servant. "My name is Rits-"
Without warning, the servant jumped in front of Ritsuka, putting his hands in front of the master of Chaldea's face, taking the hit of an incoming knife that came out of the fog.
"Fu fou!"
"Arrhg!" The masked servant took the knife out of his hand and clench onto the wound with his other hand.
"Are you alright!?" Mash gasped in shock.
Peko and Nala quickly drawn their swords.
"Who goes there?" Nala yelled out to the fog who had now encompassed the entire street, with them not being able to see an inch in front.
"Wow! Where did all this fog all of a sudden?" Romani said utterly dumbfounded. "The street wasn't so heavy on mist a few seconds ago!"
Ritsuka tried to check the servant's wound on his hand. "Is it hurting?"
"N-No. I'm fine." He let out a small heave. "The blame isn't yours. We should have just went inside a building instead of talking so much in the open like that."
Mash stood in front of Ritsuka and the servant, defending them with their shield. "Attention master! Looks like we aren't alone!"
"Hehehehe! That reaction was so funny!" A kidly voice giggled amongst the mist.
"Ah? Is this a child speaking?" Peko thought to himself, confunsed. And he wasn't the only one. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, not having a precise location from where it was coming from.
Another knife was launched behind the mist, with Nala being able to defelct it. "Are you going to stay hidden or show up already?" She shouted to the fog.
"Oh? You don't like playing hide and seek? We thought everyone loved playing it." The enemy said disconsolated. "But having new people to play with is still fun! Perhaps we can do a different game! Yeah, that's it, that's it!" The voice giggled happily again, echoing around them.
"We aren't here to play with you!" Mash said to the identity that was attacking them.
"Really?" The voice asked.
"We aren't!" Peko responded.
"Awww, you are no fun then." The voice said, proceeding to get eerily silent, making everyone pay attention of any possible movement, looking around, trying to figure where the next attack would come from. Or perhaps, the enemy has just left. Romani even tried where the enemy was hiding, but couldn't detect their presence on the monitor.
"It's no use! I can't see the enemy's location!" Romani exclaimed to himself. "This type of ability must be Presence Conceal-"
"That means we will have to kill you already."
A small short white haired girl wearing a ragged cloth appeard right next to Ritsuka, holding a shapr knife against his neck. Ritsuka felt the touch in his skin, but the reaction he had was probably already late to prevent the enemy to slit his throat.
"!" Thankfully, the masked servant acted quickly by kicking the girl off Ritsuka and pulling him away.
"That was close!" The servant exclaimed, looking to Ritsuka. "How are you feeling?"
Ritsuka touched his own neck, sensing that it fortunately got away unscathed. "Still alive thankfully!"
Being the closest to the enemy, Mash tried to hit her with the shield. "How did she managed to sneak on us?"
The girl was able to dodge acrobatically, proceeding to kick Mash in the face, forcing her to fall on the ground. "Hehehe. Almost had us!"
"Mash!" Peko exclaimed, firing a light bullet from his finger at the girl. But she dodged that attack as well and proceeded to charge and clash with Nala.
"You two are also kids like us!" The girl exclaimed happily. "That means we have good chances of playing together! We were already getting sick of playing with adults."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nala responded back agressively. "Does the games you want to play consist of killing everyone else?"
"Hummm, depends of our current mood and creativity ehehe." The girl smiled sadistically at Nala, before breaking the clash and managing to cut her in the shoulder. Nala tried to give her a payback but the enemy avoided the blow.
"She's fast!" Nala frowned in a mix of anger and pain. And despite her attacks being able to keep up with the enemy's speed, they kept being either blocked or dodged. Yet, Nala didn't gave up and was able to make a small cut on the girl's face, causing her to retreat a little.
The enemy touched her own wound, staring at Nala. "Hm, you're good." She smiled. "We can feel that you'll be a great playmate!"
"As if I want that!" Nala shouted to her.
"Is that so?" The girl raised her eyebrow before looking at Peko who was behind Nala. "Then we'll play with the other one!"
Nala immediatly tried to stop the girl from advancing torwards her brother. "No, you won-" But she ended up being surprise as the girl jumped over her and the sword, passing through Nala without any problems, leaving her shocked. "Peko watch out!" She warned her brother as the enemy was heading torwards him.
"Hm!" Peko pointed his fingergun at the girl, firing three light bullets out of it. The enemy was able to block the first two and dodge the final one. Her reaction movement was simply absurd. "She's getting closer!" Peko swinged his sword, trying to hit her in a last attempt. Alas, she managed to avoid that blow too, tilting her head backwards and then quickly grab Peko's arm and used it as support to get her entire body in the air, much to Peko's bewilderment and everyone else's shock.
"She just dodged every attack like it was nothing!" Peko clenched his teeth in fear and frustration as now nothing was stopping the girl from killing him.
"Peko!" Nala screamed in alarm as she and the rest weren't quick enough to react in helping the boy out.
With a knife in hand, the girl approached her face torwards Peko and...sniffed him, like if she was some sort of dog.
"...W-What..." Peko blushed slightly in utter confusion as everyone else watched without knowing how to properly react to that. "S-She's smelling me?"
Ending up with the sniffing, the girl's eyes slightly widened in surprise. "Hm!" She then got rapidly down to the ground and stared at Peko in the eye. Her lips then formed a pure joyful smile and her eyes sparked with happiness. "Oliver, it's you!"
Those words only increased the confusion of everyone else.
"What did she said?" Ritsuka asked.
"O-Oliver?" Peko muttered in confusion before being surprised by an effusive hug of the girl. "H-Hey!"
"We missed you so much Oliver! We truly did!" The girl said, tightening her hug around Peko and laying her head on his chest. Peko was completely overwhelmed by this. The mood had entirely changed in an instant.
"Weird way to end a battle." The masked servant talked as he got up from the ground along with Ritsuka.
"I mean...I wouldn't quite say she's been defeated." Nala replied, staring perplexed at Peko and the girl. "Also, why's she's acting buddy-buddy with him all of a sudden?"
"The enemy is also calling him Oliver." Mash noticed. "I have the feeling I've seen a book with that name before..." Mash tried to remember it.
Thankfully, Romani was able to recognize that name immediatly. "She's mistaking Peko for the fictional character of Oliver Twist! An orphan boy from a novel that happens to occur during the time of industrialized England as well!"
"That still doesn't explain much." Ritsuka said. "Like, why all that affection? Who even is she?"
"According to the signal I'm detecting on the monitor...Yep. She's a servant." Romani responded, checking his computer.
"Then any idea of who is she?" Mash asked for the identity of the servant girl.
"Jack the Ripper." The masked servant responded. "That would be my guest. An assassin servant that has gone around killing people who venture outside at night."
"Oh! So she really is Jack the Ripper..." Romani said, before realizing how bizarre and crazy that sounded. "WHAT?! JACK THE RIPPER IS A CHILD?!"
"I'm impressed as well doc." Mash told him. "Never would I thought of that possibility."
"Why? Is Jack the Ripper supposed to be a man or something?" Nala asked confused.
"I mean- That's what most people guesses would went to! Even some would think she was a woman!" Romani told her. "Jack the Ripper's was a famous serial killer of this era wich identity was never found out. But, the thought of being a child would've never had crossed my mind. There's gotta be an explanation for this."
"So she's an Assassin servant, from what you are saying." Ritsuka speaked to the masked servant.
"Most surely." The masked servant replied.
"I'm still not seeing the correlation between a serial killer and a orphan boy of a fictional work for her to be hugging Peko like that." Ritsuka said as he took a quick glance to see Peko trying to break free from Jack's hug.
"Me neither. I wonder why a serial killer like Jack the Ripper would even have known Oliver Twist as if he was her friend despite not existing." Mash commented.
"It sounds quite the mystery." The masked servant said.
"Perhaps she used to read Oliver Twist a lot and created some sort of bond with him. Child stuff to do y'know?" Nala said to them.
"Yet, that wouldn't explain why she thinks Peko is that character from the novel." Romani said. "And trying to think more about it is only hurting my head."
"Same here." Ritsuka replied.
Peko heard the entire conversation despite he couldn't join in because he was still dealing with the hug Jack was giving him. "Oi! I need help here!"
"Already going!" Ritsuka said as he and everyone else approached Peko and Jack, alerting the serial killer who pointed a knife threatinfully at them.
"Are these the ones who kidnapped you Oliver?" She asked, staring at them with cold eyes. "Say it and we'll kill them all."
"W-What! No! What are you even talking about? They are my friends!" Peko told her. "One of them is even my sister!"
Hearing that information, Jack stared back surprised at Peko. "You have a sister? And never told us?"
Peko didn't even know how to respond to that. "Eeeh...I..."
Jack seemed displeased at hearing that. "Oliver! Why are you always keeping secrets from us? That isn't cool!"
Peko smiled shyly. "I-I guess so..."
"We bet you didn't even brought that porridge that you promised us you would bring back home!" Jack continued to rebuke him, believing Peko to be Oliver.
"..." Silently, Peko stared at his group, as a clear way to ask them for help.
"Don't look at me! This isn't a situation I would like to get involved." Ritsuka replied in his mind.
Jack however forgaved him. "But we don't care anymore! That's in the past. What matters is that you are alive and well."
"Sooo, can we have him back?" Nala tried to ask politely to Jack.
"No! Dare it and we will kill you." Jack responded coldly.
"But they are nice people and like a family to me." Peko told her, using the fact that Jack thought he was Oliver to his advantage. "They treat me well. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine."
Jack looked at him sadly. "You sure? The streets here are dangerous..."
"And you are one of its dangers." Nala said to herself.
"We protect one another. It will be alright." Peko said to Jack.
"Is that so..." Jack whispered, looking sadly to the ground.
Peko however tried to cheer her up a bit. "B-but that doesn't mean we won't see each other again! I promise to be safe and meet up with you on another day."
"Hmm, shouldn't have said that Peko."
"Definetly shouldn't."
"That will be a mistake."
"Hope he doesn't regret it later."
"Those weren't wise words to choose there."
The entire group's opinion was the same when it came to the words Peko said to Jack. The serial killer girl however seemed a lot more happier to hear that.
"Oh! Okay then! We can't wait to play with you again ahah!" She laughed happily before dissapearing into the mist. "Take care Oliver! Mommy will be so happy to hear this! See you around!"
And so, majority of the fog got lifted with the group being able to see more of their surroundings again. There was also no sign of the assassin anywhere.
"Phew. She's gone." Peko sighed, taking a rest.
"You know. You could have just told her the truth by saying you were not that Oliver kid." Nala told him.
"Something tells me she just wouldn't believe it." Peko justified. "That or her reaction wouldn't be the best."
"Well, whatever happened it happened." Romani said. "Now our priority should be getting inside a building before we get attacked again."
"What isn't lacking on this London is abandoned buildings." Ritsuka commented.
"But before, I have a small request for you." Romani told them. More specifically to Mash. "Could you take some pictures of that robot monster and send it to me? I would like to analyse it."
Mash nodded. "Sure thing doctor."
"But please be quick." The masked servant warned them. "We don't want to fight enemies again for now."
Reaching close to the defeated helter skelter, Mash took the images and showed it to Romani. "Here you have it doctor."
Romani took a glance at it. "Hmm, strange. Its metal parts seemed to be corroded by some acid."
The masked servant approached the helter skelter after listening to that information. "You aren't wrong. That seems to be the case. But I don't remember of the robot being in this state after we defeated it."
"What do you proposed it might have happened?" Romani asked him.
"Clearly some type of magic at work here." The masked servant looked closely to the liquid acid. "The helter skelter wasn't looking like this before Jack the Ripper appeard. Wonder if this was her doing."
"It could be." Romani said. "The fog we were surrounded by when we fought her looked somewhat different from the fog that is plaguing London. I'll have to do a search on that."
"Damn it! Looks like I arrived too late to the party."
Everyone reacted in startle as a figure came walking out of the mist.
"Please not again. Can't we have a rest already?" Nala protested, summoning her sword for another fight.
"London's streets are really dangerous." Ritsuka talked, also getting bored of having another fight shortly after the previous one.
Mash however, felt she recognized the voice. "Wait! This voice sounds familiar!" She told them.
"Of course it sounds familiar to you jerk! You have that shield after all." The knight they had seen before from when they rayshifted appeard again in front of them. "What did I told ya all about playing heroes? Are you fuckin deaf or something?"
"We were actually looking for you." Peko told to the woman knight.
"Huh? Looking for me? The hell you want?" She questioned them, before looking at the masked servant. "Oh! Didn't expected that you would also be with him. Is this what? The third time we meet?"
"I think so." The masked servant responded to her.
"And I thought you liked working solo last time I saw you." The knight said with slight annoyance.
"You know each other?" Ritsuka asked to the masked servant.
"Barely. We never interacted that much." He explained to Ritsuka.
"Because you are a fuckin introvert who denies any chance of cooperation!" The knight said angrily.
"Okay okay! Putting that aside, do you know of a place where we can stay?" Nala asked to the knight. "We've been attacked from all sides today."
"A place to stay?" The female knight tilted her head to the side.
"Yeah. We are good people who wanna help save London from whatever is causing this chaotic fog." Romani told her.
Thinking for a moment, the knight has decided what to do. "Yosh! You do seem trusty people if you kicked all these monsters butts. You can stay at our hideout."
"You have an hideout?" Nala asked.
"Course I do! You thought I operated alone and spend the entire time walking outside?" The knight told her. "You're also coming with us asshole!" She pointed at the masked servant, not wanting to hear a no.
"I wasn't even denying it." The masked servant said.
The knight then turned around and started to walk. "Okay, follow me. If it's information you want, me and four eyes can share with you."
"Thank you very much. Also by the way, you're a servant, aren't you?" Peko asked her.
"Through and through. Why?" The knight asked them.
"We just wanted to know if you were a servant or not as well as your identity." Mash explained.
"You wanna know my identity?" The knight asked again.
"If you are willing of course." Ritsuka told her,
"Hphm! Guess I can reveal it for you." The knight said, taking out her helmet and revealing her green eyes and blond hair tied into a short ponytail, giving a prideful smirk to them. "I'm the one of the proud Knights of the Round Table! Knight of Treachery, Mordred!"
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 53!
The gang meets the first servants of the Singularity: a new servant (Gonna reveal who he is next chapter), Mordred and Jack who confunds Peko for the fictional character of Oliver Twist. Why? It will eventually be explained.
When I think about the London Singularity, I like to imagine that its atmosphere is like that of Yharnam from Bloodborne. Except, you know, without all the eldritch nightmare stuff. But I can still notice some similarities.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 54! Peace!
P.S:
Douman: Mmmmmaster, Lady Mash, Lord Peko and Lady Nala. Can this simple and humble servant have a minute of your attention please?
(The four of them look to Douman)
Ritsuka: Sure. What do you want?
Douman (Raises his hand, showing them a videogame): Have you ever heard about Mario Kart 8?
Peko: It sounds fun.
Nala: Wouldn't mind playing it!
Mash: Me too.
Ritsuka: I don't see why we shouldn't.
(One gaming session later)
Ritsuka: I hate you!
Peko: And I hate you!
Nala: I hate you two!
Mash: And I hate all of you!
Da Vinci: Oh no! They are discussing between each other!
Kadoc: What can we do to stop this?
Douman: Mmmmm, truly what can we do? In a short time period, their friendship will end and they'll start despising one another, dividing Chaldea into factions and destroying it themselves! And so, no one to stop me from unleashing hell! AHAHAHAHAHAHA-
(Suddenly, Goredolf bursts into the room, grabs the console and destroys it)
Goredolf: Stop arguing because of a stupid game! Be better than that!
Ritsuka, Mash, Peko and Nala: YES DIRECTOR-SAN!
Da Vinci: He did it! Director saved the day!
Douman: Gggrgh! Curse you Goredolf Musik and your speciality in dealing with trouble!
Sei Shonagon: Hey! That was my Switch! Now who will pay me a new one?
Douman: Oh...I haven't thought about that detail.