Hello guys and welcome back to the start of chapter 61 of the story! Today I went for a walk and witnessed a seagull stealing a woman's sandwich. One more proof of how that creature was one of the worst things to happen to human kind as a whole. Also good luck for everyone pulling Zenobia and Jacques Molay.

But now with that out of the way, let's start it!

DISCLAIMER: All of 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.


Alice: Madness Returns OST- Orphanage

In the dusty corners of an empty dinning room, a child would sob and tear all alone, their belly rumbling from the lack of food it had received.

"What happened this time?"

A boy approached to the crying kid, comforting them in their pain.

"T-Those bullies have stolen my food again Oliver. I'm so hungry..."

The boy ended up sighing, searching for something in his pockets . "You need to stand up for yourself sometimes, you know?" He took out an half piece of eaten bread, giving it to the whimpering child. "Here, you can have the rest. Good thing that I saved it for occasions like this one."

"T-Thank you Oliver." The kid stopped sobbing, cleaning their tears and grabbing the piece of food from the boy's hand, eating it. It was cold and stiff, almost hard to tear ir apart and almost of a blank taste. Yet, it was better than nothing, with the kid being grateful for their friend's generous act.

"No need to thank me. Also, if it isn't enough yet, I'll try to get you some porridge." The boy told to the other kid.

"Eh? You mean it? But that sounds too risky Oliver." The kid gave their opinion. "They'll beat you up if you're caught!"

The boy smugged at them. "No problem! I've already did these kind of things enough times already to avoid being caught. It will be easy-peasy."

"Really? You will do it for us?" The kid asked, with a bright smile on their face.

The boy nodded, smilling in return to them. "Of course! We're friends after all. And so, we need stick together."

"You were the only person we could have called friend in that place. The only one that made our days bearable."

"H-Hey! Your hands!" The boy grabbed the kid's hands, taking a closer look at it, seeing how injured they were. "So many cuts. You can't go working to the factory today like this."

"I-I know..." The kid responded weakly, causing the boy to touch their forhead.

"You're sick above all else! Yeah, there's no way you'll be going to work. Go rest on a bed."

"But I need to work Oliver...O-Or else...I won't receive any gain of food from it..."

The boy put a thumb under his finger, thinking. "Hmmm, I know! I'll do your work too!"

"What?!...You shouldn't! You might die from exhaustion for...doing both yours and my tasks." The kid protested, being against the idea of their friend.

"All of these hours in the factories are already rough. What is just a few more right?" The boy winked at them, grabbing a blanket and putting it around his friend's body. "Now stop using your remaining energy being a contrarian and go to sleep instead. I'll buy an orange for you along the way if possible."

The kid snuggled the blanket closer to their body, thankful for the kind act of their friend. "I'd appreciate that Oliver."

"You where always there for us, taking care. The only time of happiness and relaxation we felt we could have was besides you."

"Have you heard? Another one died this month. That makses the count five." The boy told to his friend as the two sat on the bridge above the Thames while the people walked by.

"But at least it wasn't you..." The kid responded lowly, altough the boy ended up hearing it anyways.

"Hm? Yeah. That's true. It would be quite a bummer if it happened to me right?" The boy laughed a bit, trying to lighten the mood.

"You won't die, will you Oliver?" The kid asked in almost a supplicant tone.

"Heh, of course not. I can't even get sick, much less dying, so you can get that thought out of that head of yours." He responded happily.

His friend nodded in response. "I see. That makes me more serene knowing that."

"We suffered almost every day. Everything was an hell hole. Without you, we think there wouldn't be a point to move on."

"Hm? Where are you looking at?" The boy asked to his friend, who were staring at a mother walking with her child by the sidewalk.

"Have you ever wondered how your mother looked like Oliver?" They asked, still staring at the parent in front of them.

"One time or two. I really never delved too much into it honestly." The boy scratched the back of his head.

"I wished that I could have one..." They responded sadly. "Why did my mother abandoned me? Didn't she loved me unlike the other moms do with their kids?"

Seeing the sadness in his friend's face, the boy tried to cheer them up. "Nah. I'm sure your mother just wasn't up to the task and you deserved a better one."

"You think so? Then why do I wait and wait but no one comes?"

"Because you deserve only the best of the best!" The boy offered his hand to them. "But until that day doesn't arrive, let's both have fun playing around together. What do you say?"

They accepted their friend's hand. "Eh. Always."

"Even if we did found a mother, we wouldn't abandon you. Wherever we'd go, we wanted you to go with us."

"O-Oliver? Where are you going?"

They stared at their friend on the other side of the window, about to wander off in misty streets during the middle of the night.

"I'm going to do another job."

"At this hour? We thought your shift had ended some hours ago."

"Apparently not. But hey, that means I'll get to gain a few more coins to buy you some stuff." The boy cheerfuly smiled to them.

They however, didn't fully believed it. "Oliver, how can you always be getting presents for me with such little money? I-It can't be from work, can it?"

Sighing, the boy adjusted his beret and scarf. "Does it really matters when we live in such condition? We've got to have hapiness in one way or another, don't you think?"

The child put their hands together in slight apprehension, a fear in their eyes. "You...You are abandoning me?"

"No! Of course I wouldn't do that!" The boy rised his voice a bit, grabbing his friend's hands and staring at them in the face. "Listen, I'll may be gone for a bit this time. But I swear I'll definetly return to you! To everybody in here! So don't panic. I'll come back and with a big bucket of porridge! O-Or that new food they call in Naples...Pizza or something."

"Then, you will come back?"

In response, the boy hugged their friend in a goodbye, hopefully a see you later. "Whatever happens, I will. And one more thing..." He gave a reassuring smile to his friend before departure. "Be strong and protect yourself from bad people. Got it?"

Trying to fight their tears from falling from their eyes, they nodded. "Hm hm."

"Good." The boy turned around, wandering off in the mist, waving at his friend before dissapearing. "I'll come back! See you later!"

They waved in return. "Bye Oliver! I will be waiting for you! Take care!"

"But you lied. You lied to us. You abandoned us that night. You left us agonizing alone."

In a cold pale day, the child laid fragily and feebly in a bed, the only thing protecting their aching body from the cruel cold being a ragged blanket. "Oliver..." They called out, with the eyes slightly open, staring at the degrading wall to the left. "...Oliver...where are you...?"

"We waited every day! Every single one!"

"It...It hurts Oliver..." The child speaked to the lonliness of the room, with no one there to aid them. "My body...doesn't stop feeling sick..! Please...come back...Oliver..." They continued to weakly beg and plead for their friend to show up in their rescue, to make them feel better, to make them forget about the current pain and misery of their existence. "...Cold...My body is so...cold..." They lamented, the eyes having no more energy to continue staring at the outside world. "...O..liver...I need...something warm...Warmth...something to...warm...me..."

"And you never appeard."

Climbing from the freezing waters of the river, a soaked white haired girl covered in a dark cloth emerged. She wasn't sure of how she ended up in that situation. Only thing she was sure, is that she craved for someone or something. A thing that would make her feel better.

"I need...to find Oliver. I...We need warm. Warm to make us happy." And so the journey of this girl to find what she desired begun.

"Hey! Who's there sneaking around?! Show yourself!"

A nurse stepped out from the building, holding a lamp to illuminate the source of the strange noises she was hearing. What she discovered was unexpectable. Just a few feet away, the nurse laid eyes upon a bloodied child near a recent mutilated corpse of a woman, having been brutally killed. The girl stared emotionless at the nurse who looked at the situation in pure astonishment, processing how to react it.

"Are you...our mom?" The girl asked to the woman, drops of blood falling from the knives she used to do utter attrocities to the other woman's dead body.

Instead of yelling and running away from the scary murdering child or to deny answering her question, the nurse let a smile form on her lips, a face of fascination and intrest showing up, amazed by the original and twisted way the girl had killed the woman and vandalized her body. "Well, I can be."

And so the nurse accepted the lost girl with open arms, adopting her and offering her shelter inside the asylum, where the two would play games together with the patients and the girl would finaly, after a long time, rediscover her happiness.

"Hehehehehehehe! The way he screams is so fun!"

"I know sweetie. But try hitting this area here. He'll scream louder if you do."

"Oh, really? Thanks for letting us know mommy!"

"Hmmmm, what a wonderful music to hear. You are really good at this game dear. You made him scream more than I could."

"We won then! Yay! Can we do another match mommy? This one was funny!"

"Fufufufu, we sure can dear. Let me go grab another one then since our friend here seems to have given up."

"Awww, but we wanted to play more with him...At leat we're sure he had fun too!"

"He must have. Now let's move onto the next one."

In the girl's mind, nothing was wrong. It was all just mindless fun between her and her mom. The girl had never felt this much wanted and joyful before. The cold and food weren't a problem as well as her mom would always show the girl fun new games to play in the asylum. All the screams, blood and terror caused inside that building, disguised as mere games by the little serial killer's ingenue young mind as well as the influence of the psycothic nurse by her side. She was okay with doing all of that. The girl had almost everything she could have asked for in that place. There was still something she felt she was missing. Some fundamental part of hers.

"You're getting good at the piano Jack."

"Jack?" The girl asked confused to her mom, having stopped playing the instrument.

The woman showed her a newspaper. "The nickname you gained for having killed those women previously." The nurse giggled, poking the girl's nose. "Jack the Ripper."

The girl's eyes shined in joy. "Woah! A name for us? We never had one! And it sounds so cool!"

"It definetly has a nice ring to it." The nurse replied. "Want to keep that name?"

"We sure do!" The girl exclaimed.

"And do you want to keep this mom?"

"Of course!" The girl jumped torwards the nurse hugging her. "You are the best mommy we could have asked for!"

"Hehehe, thank you sweet heart. Is there anything I could do to make you even more happy?"

"Well, there is but we doubt it's something that you could make it happen mommy."

"What is it so?"

"We...want to see a friend of ours again." The girl revealed to her mother who reacted with curiosity.

"Oh? A friend?"

"Yes. The way he cared for us, was almost identical to the way you do. He also was a good friend to have fun with. But he just dissapeard one day." The girl said sadly. "We go outside looking for him, but we don't find him anywhere. Mommy, do you think he could be-..."

"Aww, don't think about it dear." The nurse gently grabbed the girl's chin, making her look at her. "I'm sure he must have gone to a better place. And that he has in no way forgotten about you. If anything, he is probably looking forward to return and play with you again."

"You think so mommy?" The girl asked hopeful.

"Hm hm. I'm sure of it Jack."

"Despite the time we spent with our mom and all the fun we had together, it felt off to us how you weren't there. We still wished to see you. Even after you have left us, we weren't able to hate or despise our only friend. We would have forgiven you once we would have gotten reunited. And then, everything was going to be like a wonderful dream, far away from the awful past. Yet, when we thought we had finally found you Oliver...you...you..."


"Oliver...was never here?"

Jack stared in shock to the ground, her breathing out of order as the serial killer's mind was shattering apart with the revelation that she had mistook a person for her actual friend all this time. Every recent moment she had spent talking and spending with her friend, was nothing more but product of a mere mistake and delusion of her part, seeing the boy in front of her by what he truly was instead of her longtime friend Oliver Twist.

"Sorry. It's just, I think you deserved to know the truth." Peko told to the assassin. "I also have blame in starting this nonsense, so I wanted to put an end to it too."

"What...nonsense?!" Jack rised her voice, slowly getting up from the group, still with the hands in her face. That caused Peko to take a step back while Nala and Ritsuka both took positions prepared for the battle on the back.

"Looks like she didn't took it well." Ritsuka commented to Nala. "Stay on alert."

"Staying on alert won't be enough when dealing with her. She's quick and precise." Nala replied. "Better watch out your back constantly Ritsuka. Sneak attacks are Jack's speciality." She warned, having witnessed enough times what the assassin was capable of doing. "Need to keep an eye on Ritsuka if she tries something."

Seeing a fury building up in the serial killer, Peko tried to calm her down by explaining this. "You would know sonner or later! If we had prolonged this it might could have hurted more!"

"We are hurt enough already!" Jack shouted, the hair covering her eyes. "You are a liar! An imposterous liar! How dare you tricked us by pretending to be our friend?! That wasn't funny at all!"

In face of Jack's accusations, Peko still tried to deescalate the situation. "I-It wasn't my intention to-"

"Peko." Nala called her sibling, the sword in her hand. "There's no way back." She simply told to him.

Not wanting to admit for a brief moment, Peko knew that his sister was right here. A fight with Jack couldn't be preventable. "...Yeah." The boy said, staring at Ritsuka on the back how showed him his Command Seals in his hand.

"I'll be supporting you two! Focus on the battle!" Ritsuka told to the twins, mainly Peko, who nodded back at him.

"Understood!" He said, summoning his sword and turning his head back to confront Jack.

"You know, we have an idea of what we could do with awful liars like you." Jack gave a snickered laugh, staring at the two siblings with a bloodlust and psycothic smile. "Cut off your tongue and slice your throat. That's the proper punishment for liars!"

Peko gulped at hearing that, seeing that he had become the target of Jack's ire.

"Get past over us first!" Nala exclaimed, taking a step forward, showing her sword to the enemy.

"Don't worry. We might also do the same to you for being a fake friend." Jack responded, giving a mean stare at Nala, with the seemingly start of the two's friendship having completely been destroyed. "But now..." Jack moved an arm behind her back, quickly taking out a knife and dashing torwards Peko. "Your brother shall go first!"

"Hm!" Taking a second to react, Peko was lucky enough to block Jack's sharp knife that would have went straight into his neck. The assassin wasn't done yet however, going for a kick on the boy's head that was stopped by Nala's intervention, putting her sword in front of Jack's leg, immediatly making her retreat back to the fog that had suddenly appeard.

"Careful! She went into hiding!" Ritsuka shouted to the two, being at a distance that they could still see him in the mist.

Nala stayed with her gaze on Ritsuka as she and Peko stood close to one another, carefully watching the surroundings. Despite not being the best of times to bring that up, the girl's mind thought back of the memory she had recently unlocked while on the asylum. "Hey Peko."

"Yeah?" Her brother responded

"After this battle, there's something I need to share with you and the rest." Nala told him.

"Is it important?" Peko asked her.

"Very." Nala answered.

Wanting to ask more about what could possibly be, Peko stopped himself to develop the conversation any longer due to their current position. "Okay. Better not forget about it when we-"

"There!" Ritsuka yelled in alarm the moment a scalpel was sent flying behind the fog, scrapping some skin on Peko's nose who still moved his head back in an attempt to dodge.

"Khg!" Peko slightly grunted before having Jack literally by his side, having hauntingly appeard from thin air.

"Die faker."

"Peko!" Nala immediatly acted, grabbing her brother's clothing and pulling him fast away from the serial killer's lethal attack, missing her target. Nala backed her off in return by parrying Jack's second attack, forcing the assassin to land some meters in front of them. "You have to do better than that!"

Jack grunted hostilely at her. "How annoying you are. And to think we played with you."

"Jack the Ripper's presence vanishes so thoroughly that it becomes near impossible to spot her." Ritsuka analyzed the battle, seeing how Jack would conceal her presence almost perfectly. "Plus she's quick to react. Peko might have trouble with it but Nala has already proven she can keep up with her speed." Ritsuka touched his Command Seals, feeling a slight discomfort in the area. "Altough they're the ones fighting, I need to be on high alert too. If Jack the Ripper decides to attack me then I'm almost done for. I want to aid the two but I also don't want to be a problem here. For now, I'm just being lucky that she hasn't noticed or cared about my presence."

"She's always appearing from nowhere!" Peko said, getting up from the ground.

"Which is why we won't take our sight from her!" Nala replied, staring at Jack. "We can't let her hide again!"

Jack was also staring intensely at the two, her knives rubbing into one another, preparing another attack. "We still need to hear your screams. The screams of you liars!"


"Taaaaaaaake thiiiiiiiis!" Mordred screamed, descending her blade torwards Artoria Alter who simply blocked it.

"Is that all?" The dark king said unimpressed before winning the clash against Mordred and piercing her in the left side of the stomach, sending the knight flying some meters away.

"Hey knucklehead! Stop rushing and doing mindless assaults like that!" Hans yelled to Mordred as she was getting up from the rubble and dust. "It's clearly not working against her!"

"Shut up shortie N.3! Don't get in the way!" Mordred said angrily to the writer, having taken her eyes off from the King of Storm who was about to launch a powerful thunder from her lance torwards her son.

"So mindless brutish." Artoria Alter released a thunder shot, about to electrify Mordred. The knight ended up being saved from the hit by Mash's interference, using her shield to block the powerful attack.

"Just hear someone for once!" Mash told Mordred, the tone of her voice sounding unusual for someone like Mash. "Using your anger like that will not result at all!"

"Then what? You know damn well the history I have with that shithead over there!" Mordred replied back, her head only thinking in slicing down Artoria Alter.

"I sure know! But you think you'll get what you want fighting like that? She's easily outplaying you!" Mash said to Mordred, trying to reason with her.

"..." Artoria Alter could have attacked, but instead the dark king watched to Mash's interaction with her son, finding her words intresting to listen.

"If we want to achieve that, we'll have to do coolheaded! Understood?" Mash finished speaking, waiting an answer from the knight.

"Urrgh...Fine! Let's do it with more 'calmness' then." Mordred replied, accepting Mash's advice.

Artoria Alter smiled amused, staring at Mash. "You still have a way with words I see." She complimented the shielder who looked at her confused. "However, it is a pity that your ideals have to clash with mine once again." The dark king moved her lance. "Guess that no matter what, you'll always be a thorn in my side."

"What is she talking about?" Mash wondered, unable to see why Artoria Alter spoked of her like she knew Mash personally.

"Don't listen to her crap! She's trynna mess with her head!" Mordred told to Mash, shooting down that thought from the shielder's mind. "Let's do what we do best instead!"

"H-Hum?! S-Sure!" Mash responded to Mordred who smiled at her before running torwards Artoria Alter.

"Try avoiding this!" The knight of treachery exclaimed, about to attack the King of Storms.

"Denouncing your moves that easily?" Artoria Alter commented, ready to block and counter attack her child again. This time however, Mordred done it differently, holding on her blow and instead dodge the dark king lance, slightly surprising Artoria Alter. "Oh?"

With the gaze on Mordred, Mash charged into Artoria Alter in an attempt to hit from the blind spot. Unfortunately, the King of Storms was aware of that.

"Not enough." Artoria Alter said, evading Mash's blow and Mordred's too in a short time, grabbing her rebellious son by the pulse and kicking her on the back.

"Argh!" Mordred exclaimed in pain as she fell to the ground while Mash tried to attack Artoria Alter again.

"Yah!" The shielder swinged the sharp part of her shield torwards the dark king's face, passing extremely close to it, with Artoria Alter hitting Mash away with her lance afterwards, sending the shielder far from her.

"Hm, not bad." Artoria Alter speaked, a small line of blood running down from one of her cheeks. Mash had actually hit her. "Truly, a whorty successor of the shield." The King of Storms said, dodging from a pathetic attempt of Mordred to hit her while still on the ground. "Unlike you, unbeffiting inherit anything."

"Khh! You-" Mordred tried to retaliate before being kicked in the mouth by Artoria Alter who proceeded to grab the knight's head by her hair and look down upon her child's beaten face.

"However, it is true in fact that I barely tried to spent my time in understanding you. Perhaps we can have a restart here." The dark king approached her face to Mordred's, still holding her head. "What do you say to your king?"

Defiantly, Mordred responded in her usual way. "Fuck you!"

"Utterly dissapointing." Artoria Alter responded coldly, bashing Mordred's head into the hard concrete of the ground.

"Ergh!"

"S-Stop that!" Mash yelled to Artoria Alter, getting up and recovering from the blow she had suffered.

"Why should I?" Artoria Alter asked. "Forgiveness and tolerance to the ones who don't respect authority is a sign of preposterous weakness. Leniency is detrimental to any ruler in charge of their nation. Uprisers need to be made an exemple of." She explained to Mash, about to bash Mordred's head on the ground a second time. "Starting with this one!"

"No!" Mash shouted, trying to stop Artoria Alter.

"Aren't you forgetting about someone?" A blast came from behind, hitting Artoria Alter in the back, having been casted directly from Hans book. "Altough it wouldn't be beneficial for me to partake greatly in this fight, I have one job to fulfill here as a support!"

"The Little Mermaid's Love!"

Being powered by Hans's skill, Mordred got new strenght to fight back and successfuly hit Artoria Alter on the right side of her waist. "Here you have it jackass!"

"Gghg!" Artoria Alter cleenched her teeth, annoyed to have been hit by having lowered her defense for a bit, distracted by the small writer servant.

Mordred did a thumbs up to Hans. "Nice one for using that spell! Keep casting it on me!"

"You know I can't just do that, do you!?" Hans shouted to the knight.

"Tsk, how bothersome." Artoria Alter checked her wound. "I hope you have enjoyed it. It will be the only time your blade will have ever sliced me during this fight."

"I'm more than willing to prove you wrong shithead!" Mordred responded, swinging her sword to the side. "Do your worst!"

"As you wish so aberration." Artoria Alter charged her lance with another thunder, ready to throw it at Mordred. "Your insolent mouth will be silenced here and now!" The dark king exclaimed, releasing a powerful thunder from her lance that was thrown at Mordred as well.

Ready to struggle against it, Mordred put herself in position to parry the attack, only to have Mash jump in front of her and use the shield instead to protect them both.

Hardening her entire body, Mash made a great stance against the King of Storms attack, with the thunder and lance being unable to break her shield's defence. Once it run out, Mash slightly lowered down her shield, with hot steam coming out of it. "I...I did it!" Mash said in between of her tired breathing, moving her head to look at Mordred. "Your face! Are you-"

"Totally fine. I can keep up with it even if I'm bleeding from my head." Mordred interrupted Mash. "Also, good job blocking the attack. See what happens when you don't hold back?" She smiled to the shielder.

"Y-Yeah." Mash responded, blushing slightly. "And I'm ready for more if necessary!"

"Transient Wall of Snowflakes!"

A bright aura enveloped Mash as well as Mordred and Hans for a brief moment before dissapearing.

"Was that a skill you just casted on us?" Hans asked to the shielder, impressed.

"Yes, I was finally able to develop one!" Mash responded happily. "I achieved it with the protection of my companions in mind. I made sure Senpai, Peko and Nala would also receive its effects." Mash said, changing her gaze torwards Artoria Alter in front of her, putting her shield back into combat position. "Hope that serves of great help to you!"


"Hm? My body..." Ritsuka touched his own chest, feeling a reliefing sensation in it. Peko and Nala also felt the same.

"Strange. My body somehow feels more...rigid?" Peko commented.

"Mine too. Even if our wounds haven't been healed, the pain from it has reduced." Nala added, observing her own condition. "Was it you Ritsuka?"

"N-No. I haven't used one of my Command Seals yet." Ritsuka responded, thinking on how it could might be, with an answer popping up on his mind. "Perhaps it was Mash!"

"It could be!" Peko replied. "She's helping us even while having another fight!"

"Heh. Well played from her part!" Nala smiled, turning around to stare at Jack. "I'm more fired up to fight now!"

"Hm? What is so funny? Do you think fooling us is fun!?" Jack questioned angrily, wondering why Nala was smilling. "You liars are the worst!"

"Murdered of the Misty Night!"

Ritsuka paid attention to what Jack next move could be with Peko and Nala doing the same. "Watch out! We can't let this bit of Mash's help go to waste!"

"We won't!" Nala exclaimed, seeing Jack attempting to quickly go behind the curtain of mist again. "She's trying to hide!"

"Luminary Route!"

Acting on instict, Peko pointed his finger at Jack before she could vanish. "Not if I stop her!" Peko fired a light bullet at the serial killer's direction who's body had just gotten behind the fog. "And..!" Moving down his thumb, the light bullet Peko sended blew up in a flashbang, revealing a stunned Jack behind. "There! She's open!"

Wasting no time, Nala sprinted torwards Jack, a swing of her sword ready to slice the assassin who initially dodged the first blow but was slow to react and defend the one that came afterwards, being cut near the shoulder.

"Krrghgr! That wasn't nice at all!" Jack furiously attempted to hit Nala back, with the other girl defending and dodging the attacks.

"Air Step!"

"Not very funny when it happens to you right?" Nala said, reminding how Jack would enjoy attacking helpless people as some sort of her twisted games.

Peko approached the two, going to lend a hand on Nala, with the siblings now cornering Jack who was running out of options to get free from this hard situation she was in now. However, the more cornered she was, the more wild Jack was getting, not allowing herself to be defeated by people who she thought to have lied and hurt her the way they did.

"WE REFUSE TO DIE HERE!" Jack shouted, gaining a sudden rush of adrenaline, avoiding Nala's blade and slashing her in the chest, much to Nala's own shock as she fell to the ground. Peko and Ritsuka where in shock as well.

"She got an hit when it seemed they had cornered her!"

"!" Seeing that Jack was about to gain the upperhand here, Peko immediatly tried to cut her down. "Jac-ghr!" But due to the precipitation in delivering a fatal blow to the serial killer, Peko let himself open, a chance that Jack made sure to not overlook, sticking a scalpel right into the boy's stomach, making Peko cough blood.

"PEKO!" Ritsuka yelled in terror.

"Aarghr aaah!" Peko screamed in pain as he grabbed Jack's pulse, trying to stop the assassin from deepening her weapon into his body.

"Come on now! Scream more! Scream liar!" Jack moved her hand to the right, trying to cut open Peko's stomach. "We are going to leave your body like those of our victims! That's what you get for hurting us the way you did!"

"Grr..aarrhg...P-please stop." Peko attempted to rationalize with the angry serial killer. "Doing this won't-AAAAH!"

"Shut up and die already imposter!" Jack yelled, doing more pressure on Peko's wound.

"You're the one who needs to die!" Nala appeard in a hurry, cutting Jack in the arm that was holding the scalpel, making the assassin retreat. "He didn't want to have anything to do with you!"

Ritsuka had also reached the two siblings at that moment, grabbing Peko and helping him to sit and rest on the ground. "Hey, are you alright? Say something Peko!"

"I-I think so..." Peko responded covering the wound on his stomach with his hand. "I can still fight."

"But that wound will disturb you! Let me help!" Ritsuka responded, casting a heal spell on Peko's wound.

"B-But Ritsuka! Your mana energy has already been used too much for today!" Peko exclaimed, seeing his friend healing the wound altough not completely due to Ritsuka's magic circuits already having been too worn out.

"A-And? You prefer me to rest over letting you be in agony?" Ritsuka replied, getting up and approaching Nala. "Hey Nala."

"Hum? What is it Rit-ah?" The girl got caught off guard as she saw Ritsuka stretch his arm and cast another healing spell on the wound in her chest, almost healing it completely.

"D-Done..." Ritsuka smiled tiredly. "This should help you to fight a little long-blergh!" Having abused of his magical capacities, Ritsuka's body ended up hurting itself, with the leader of the Chaldea group coughing up some blood from his mouth, much to Peko and Nala's concern.

"Ritsuka!"

"Hang on!"

Both sibling grabbed him, supporting Ritsuka's body and preventing him from hitting the ground.

"Idiot! You can't push yourself that hard!" Nala critizised his action.

"She's right! That is beyond risky!" Peko told Ritsuka as took his bloodied hand from his own mouth.

"Leave the rest to us and take a break." Nala advised Ritsuka.

"Awww, what happened? Is your friend that weak? Probably can't even do a game of catch." Jack's voice sounded around them, coming from all the directions of the fog.

"No! T-This is bad..!" Ritsuka speaked despite the fatigue and weakness inside him. "She's gone back to the mist!"

"A friend like that isn't worth a thing! Only an annoyance!" Jack continued to speak.

"And we still prefer to be his friends than yours!" Nala replied to Jack, trying to discover where was she by following the serial killer's voice.

"As if we also wanted to be friends of someone like you." Jack said, preparing her triumph, mainting herself well hidden from detection. "Fakers don't deserve any sympathy from us. You will know your end here."

With the serial killer's declaration, followed a somber and sinister silence around the three members of Chaldea who were now on high guard, guessing which way Jack would appear to attack them.

"Hell is starting here

"Peko...Nala...Beware of any sound you hear coming torwards us." Ritsuka instructed to the two siblings who were surrounding him in a defensive pose, staring carefully at the clouds of fog ahead of them.

"Understood!"

"Sure!"

We are flames,rain,power..."

A malignant aura started to lure behind the curtain, still unnoticed to the three. Despite trying to keep their cool, Peko and Nala were both nervous on the inside.

"She could attack us from anywhere in this location! The mist is so dense that I can't even see any trace of Jack's movements!" Nala cursed to herself. "Whatever! I'll just have to be quick to react when she appears! Ritsuka is at the most faint state here. No wonder if she decides to attack him. Have to watch out for it."

"With how quick she appears from nowhere, I'm not sure if I can react in time if she attacks me even if I antecipate for it! What do I do now? I can't lose compusure because of this! I need to remain calm!" With that, Peko's mind thought to had found the solution. "...Yeah. Just, got to stay calm. Head clean and soul untroubled." Closing his eyes, Peko started to enter into a realm of tranquility, his muscles relaxing and his heart beating peacefully. The only thing Peko was concentrating in that moment, was his hearing. "The footsteps. The wind slight movement. I have to catch its sounds..."

"Let there be slaughter...

Two hostile glimmers shinned among the suspenseful fog, a pair of sharp dark purple fangs ready to strike the victim. In a flash, the serial killer charged in a frenzy, about to reveal herself to her enemies, planning to put one of them down before the other two could even register what happened.

"The Holy Mother of Dismemberment: Maria the Ripp-"

"She's there!" Not hesitating for a second, Peko pointed his fingers to the foggy area in front of Nala, firing a light bullet at it, uncovering Jack from her curtain, leaving the serial killer shocked by how she was discovered before even revealing herself.

"What?!" The surprise was such that the assassin inadvertently ended up cancelling her Noble Phantasm, leaving herself exposed. Nala and Ritsuka were also caught off guard by witnessing Peko find the enemy before they could have attacked them.

"She's opened! There's our chance!" Peko shouted, breaking the quick state of bewilderment his two companions where in. Specially Nala, who immediatly took the opportunity.

"Precise-

Charging her blade with abundant mana, Nala aimed to Jack's torso, the serial killer still momentarily stunned by the fact she was discovered before unleashing her Noble Phantasm. She had no way to properly react in time to dodge Nala's sword as it swung down to fatally cut her. This was the end for the assassin.

Stroke!"

Using a powerful slash, Nala not only cut through Jack's torso and core but also the mist in front of her and a building, greatly damaging it with a huge slice.

"Grghr-berghr!" Bleeding hugely from the fatal wound, Jack dropped her knives and fell to her knees, a signal she had been defeated.

"Got her!" Nala exclaimed before taking a step back in a bit of a fatigue, taking an hard breath. This last attack wore a part of her energy out.

"Well done sis!" Peko exclaimed happily, seeing that he had done the right thing by relaxing down completely in order to hear and sense Jack's presence before the attack, making way for this victory of them.

"Heh. Good job you two!" Ritsuka congratulated, trying to get up alone before having an help of Peko to aid him standing up.

"Thanks Ritsuka! Wouldn't have done it without you." Nala congratulated him back.

"She's right. The way you acted calm also helped us to not get into despair too." Peko added, smilling to his friend.

"I was just doing what I think a leader would do." Ritsuka replied. "You and Nala where the ones who did the crucial things to defeat Jack."

Peko slightly blushed at it. "Y-You think? Honestly I'd say that bullet was more of a lucky thing than-"

"Why?...Why?...Why?..." Sobbing and muttering, Jack got the attention of the three who stared at the defeated serial killer, now pitibly lamenting to herself.

"..." Peko stood in silent just like Ritsuka and Nala, watching Jack's sorrowful anguish as the assassin herself had much likely realized this was the end of the line for her, that everything she created and built to herself during her time in this Singularity was about to blow away like sand. Something ached deep inside Peko's heart. Seeing the murderous girl weeping was a view he simply couldn't take pleasure in, no matter how heinous her actions might have been.

Nala summoned her sword again while staring at Jack. "Better end this quick. She's clearly miserable-huh?" Nala raised an eyebrow in perplexion when suddenly she saw Peko walking past her and torwards her. "What are you-"

"Let it be Nala." Ritsuka interrupted the girl from even stopping her brother, standing by her side while watching Peko approaching Jack. "That pain is simply something he can't ignore."

Reaching and standing in front of Jack, Peko stared to her face, the hair and hands covering the eyes from where tears would flow and run all the way down to the serial killer's chin.

"Why?...Why we can't just be happy?" Jack said amidst the sobs.

With the damage done and nothing more he could do, Peko at least tried to gave her comfort before vanishing completely. He felt that was the best he could do to lessen the hurt of Jack's painful sadness. "I...I didn't want that it would have come to this." He said, feeling the grief Jack was having in her final moments. Peko then approached his hand to her face, about to clean her tears. "But, if we-"

"DIE!" In pure rage and vitriol, Jack showed her tearful and furious eyes to Peko, shoving abruptly his hand away and pushing his body down on the floor, standing on top of him and about to strongly pierce Peko's skull with one of her knives. However, Peko, altough caught off guard, was still fast enough to react and stop Jack's knife by instinctively grabbing the sharp blade with his bare hand, cutting the palm of his hand.

"Hrgh!" Peko groaned in pain as he felt the skin in his hand getting sliced.

"PEKO!" Both Nala and Ritsuka yelled in shock.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Jack repeated the same word insanely, putting all of her remaining energy and strenght into a last effort in taking down the liar that hurt her feelings. The person who caused her much pain. "WE HATE YOU! HATE YOU!" She shouted to the boy, not caring at all by his attempt of being compassionate with her.

Peko fought back, avoiding the knife from getting closer to him as best as he could. "I'm sorry! I never wished to hurt yo-!"

"Liar! Liar! How could you!?"

"You left us! You didn't cared about us!"

"We thought you were our friend! It was all just an act in the end!"

"You are terrible! We trusted you!"

Thinking he was seeing things, Peko's eyes widened in absolute horror as he saw other poor and miserable children around him and Jack. All of them staring at Peko judgingly, condemning him for crimes he wasn't even aware of. Some where taller or shorter than others, with even some kids carrying babies in their hands. But the one thing they had in common was they apparent hatred for Peko. This was all of them. This was Jack the Ripper.

"You abandoned us. You used and tricked us." Jack said to Peko, slowly descending her knife torwards Peko's head. "Your death, will make us warmer."

"N-No! Wait!" Peko struggled, his hands fighting against the strenght Jack would put in her knife, slowly making progress and getting closer to its target. Just as Peko thought there was no way out of this, a blade came in rescue, piercing Jack right into the chest, the zone of her Spirit Core. All of the children dissapeard alongside the mist, the scenario going back to normal.

"Then let's put an end to this. Your suffering. All of it." Nala said as she took out her sword from Jack's chest, more blood spilling out from the serial killer's body. "May you finally find some peace." She said, watching Jack's body fall limp on the ground, right next to Peko.

"...Why?" A single tear of sadness and injustice fell from the uncared child's eye as she stared at Peko. "Why...did you had to hurt us...like that..?" Was the last thing the infamous serial killer said before vanishing completely from this Singularity.

"..." Despite not being there anymore, Peko's vision continued to stare at the place, with his brain still unable to process what he saw and the final words of the assassin he had just heard. Peko seemed almost paralyzed from it.

"Peko! Peko!" Nala went to snap him out of it with the help of Ritsuka.

"H-Huh?"

"Are you okay? How bad is your hand?" Ritsuka asked him, checking if everything was generally fine with him after that one final stance of Jack.

"I...I'm fine." Peko responded, slowly getting out of his state of absolute shock, getting up from the ground. "So...Jack has been defeated for good."

"Yeah. This was surely the last of her." Nala replied.

"At least that one less enemy we won't have to worry about." Ritsuka added, glad that another enemy servant had been defeated. But before he and the rest could rush to Mash's fight against Artoria Alter to help her and the others, he noticed the persisting trace of sadness in Peko's face. However, it wasn't only sadness this time. The boy's face was also one of regret.

"Hey, Ritsuka." Peko called him, staring at his own hands. "She would continue killing people if we didn't put a stop to her, right?"

"Yes." Ritsuka simply responded.

"And...she was an evil person for doing that, wasn't she?" Peko made another question.

"Definetly." Ritsuka answered again.

"Then...why do I feel bad for her?" Peko asked, more to himself than to Ritsuka, while continue to look at his own hands.

Ritsuka didn't exactly know how to respond to that one, since it was a question that perhaps only Peko himself could know the answer.

"Peko..." Nala heared Peko's last question in surprise, but also understanding where her brother was coming from with that.

"I-I know it doesn't make sense at all to feel bad for someone like her but...I hoped that we could have done things differently with her." Peko expressed. "That she could have been on our side! I want to believe that deep down Jack wasn't aware that the things she was doing were bad! Perhaps...perhaps if we had found her sooner-"

"I too wished the same honestly." Ritsuka replied, giving Peko an understandable smile. "Her pain was just too real wasn't it?"

Peko nodded, looking at the ground. "Yeah...In the end, I think she just wanted a friend to share time with." Peko said, feeling bad about it. "But we took away that opportunity from her." Peko closed one of his hands into a fist. "No wonder she ended up hating me. To her, maybe I was really a monstrous liar."

Nala didn't liked what she heard from her sibling's mouth. "Hey! Look at here!" She called Peko out.

"What is it N-aaagh!" Peko screamed painfully in surprise as he was headbutted by Nala.

"Don't dare saying that again, do you hear me? You are anything but a monster Peko!" Nala told her brother, holding his face. "You did what was needed to be done. You did what was right. And if you think otherwise, I'll headbutt you again, understood?"

"U-uhh..." Peko was taken aback by Nala's words before nodding with his words. "S-Sure."

"Repeat it!" Nala wanted to hear it louder.

"Sure! I understood!" Peko replied with a higher tone.

Nala smiled to him. "Glad you did. Now put your head up and stop frowning!" She continued to cheer Peko up, however, on the inside, she also felt bad for the entirety of Jack's situation. "But I too wanted that the things could have turn out differently." Nala's mind went back to the short time she had spended with Jack, having a genuine good time with her. "You definetly deserved a better life Jack! Sorry that it had to be this way. But right now..." She went to look back at Peko's face. "I have a promise to take care of my brother!"

"I couldn't have said it better Nala." Ritsuka speaked, his body and mana circuits having restored a bit of energy and putting his hand on Peko's head. "What you did wasn't wrong by any means. Now let's move on and help Mash and the others." He told the two, with the intent of also making Peko temporarily forget the topic about Jack.

"Already was thinking about that." Nala responded.

"Y-Yeah. It's our turn to help Mash now." Peko also replied before the three started to went torwards Mash, Mordred and Hans fight against Artoria Alter.


On that fight, Mordred was just clashing her sword against the dark king's lance, the weapons hitting onto one another. As Mordred was keeping Artoria Alter occupied, Mash rushed to the King of Storms left side and about to hit her shield against the enemy's body.

"Hm?" Taking a glance to the side, Artoria Alter protected herself by blocking Mash's shield with her free arm, much to the shielder's shock.

"H-How?!"

"Please. Try to do better than that." Artoria Alter told her before violently press her arm against Mash's shield, pushing her away from her side and then break the clash with Mordred, hitting her son with the lance. Artoria Alter had easily got two of her enemies off her just like that.

"Drat! Her might really lives up to her legend of Arthur Pendragon." Hans said while using his book to create a spell and launching it torwards Artoria Alter who easily eliminated it by the swing of her lance. "This king was exactly made for battle! We can't even barely hit her!"

"A good observation yet plain obvious actually." Artoria Alter replied to the writer. "It would be smart of every single one of you in just giving up and swear allegiance to me."

"In your dreams!" Ritsuka's voice shouted as he appeard alongside Peko and Nala, arriving to aid Mash and the other two servants against the dark king.

"Guys!" Mash exclaimed happily, seeing her group appearing for help.

Looking at them, Artoria Alter deduced the worst. "So Jack the Ripper was defeated." She sighed, slightly pestered. "I knew that we couldn't trust that irksome child for anything. Now the whole work has to be left for me."

"Why the complaints? Aren't you the oh so mighty and incredible king of Britain?" Mordred provoked her father, having now all of her allies by her side, everyone ready to jump Artoria Alter.

"Heh. Do not confound my slight displeasure for feeble weakness aberration." Artoria Alter responded with a chuckle. "I have alot of energy to spare and go around." Her smile grew evilly as her lance started to electrify itself with bright and violent thunders. "And I'll rejoice in spending all of it in you."

Getting ready, everyone was prepared for the hard fight that was ahead with the dark king despite injured and tired for having done another battle as well as the clear power Artoria Alter had. Her servant aura was easily one of the strongests the Chaldea group had witnessed on their journey up till now.

"Save all of your unrelentless strenght to another time Your Majesty." A voice came from behind Artoria Alter. "You should head back to your master." A man with long dark hair that covered one of his eyes and wore a white tailed lab coat with two red lines from an 'X' in it.

"Hm? Another enemy?" Nala stood in slight surprise, seeing the new figure who had revealed himself to them.

"You dare to interrupt my fight in such hour 'P'?" Artoria Alter spoked to the man, turning her head to stare at him.

"The loses we suffered now was of a low blow to us. Please comprehend it Your Majesty." The man known has 'P' replied to her.

"And? I was about to wipe out the enemy." Artoria Alter argued back, with 'P' responding by showing her some containers he was holding.

"We already have what we needed to pick up here. The royal twins can wait for another time." He said to the dark king, insisting on having her leave the duel.

Under a repressed breath, Artoria Alter closed her eyes and accepted. "Fine. But be warned that this is the last time I comply in giving up a fight to the enemy." With that said, she cancelled the thunders from her lance.

"She's leaving then?" Mash asked, lowering her shield, not expecting these turn of events.

"I'm more focused on the newcomer here." Hans responded, mentioning the man who appeard to them.

"Wait? 'P'? That's one of the three letters we saw in that paper in the lab we found Fran!" Peko exclaimed, realizing where he had seen and heard of the name 'P' before.

"That means he's one of the leaders!" Ritsuka added.

"Yes I am indeed." The man responded to that. "And altough I would enjoy to talk more with you, I'm thinking of guarding that opportunity for the next moment we meet. For now, it shall be a quick goodbye to you people of Chaldea." He then grabbed a flask from his coat.

"This was a nice warm up." Artoria Alter said, standing on 'P'' side and giving a glare at Mordred. "You almost made me break a sweat. Perhaps you are only half of a failure I thought you were."

"You!" Mordred cleenched her teeth in anger at the King of Storms insult.

"As for you." Artoria Alter stared at Mash. "I'll look forward for our next battle, my knight. Amuse me like you did today."

"W-what?" Mash said, unable to understand what the dark king meant by that.

"Where you two think you're going dammit!?" Mordred yelled, jumping torwards the enemy duo, her sight completely on Artoria Alter. "Our battle isn't finished yet!"

Before Mordred blade could reach her, 'P' dropped the flask on the ground, freeing a liquid that made both him and Artoria Alter vanish from the place, right in front of the knight the moment she had swing her sword at them.

"Ghrrrr, crap!" Mordred shouted angrily, seeing that her father had gotten away.

"They're gone. Guess it means the end of this fight." Nala said, unsummoning her sword.

"Let's hope so. Fighting is so exhaustive." Hans commented.

Peko let out a tired breath. "Uff, finally."

"Any enemies in the surrounding area Mash?" Ritsuka consulted Mash, wanting to be sure there was no enemy to surprise them out of nowhere.

"No master. I detect none." The shielder responded. "We're safe from danger."

As it all seemed calm for them now, Nala suddenly remembered of someone. "Wait! There's still one left!"


"Ggh...nghg.."

In the middle of the debris near the huge hole in the building that was caused by the explosion, the nurse, Jane Toppan, was regaining back her consciousness, wiggling her body out of the wreckage. "W-What happened?" The nurse asked to herself as she pressed her hand against her head, still a bit dizzy of the hit that put her uncounscious in the first place.

"Oi."

A voice sounded alongside two figures towering menancingly over Jane, who looked up to see the cold faces of both Mordred and Mash.

"So you're the one who has been treating people as if they were your playthings." Mordred said, hostile.

"And you planned to hurt my friend the same way, didn't you?" Mash asked, equally as agressive.

Jane could do nothing but nervously giggle, sweat all over her face and make a trembling smile. "F-For scientific purposes, y'know?"


"And done. She won't be a problem to us anymore." Mash said as she locked the door of a padded cell with the beaten Jane Toppan inside. "The food supplies that she has inside the cell should be enough for three days."

"That was an easy way to get clear of it." Peko responded.

"Honestly, I'd prefer having killed this bitch." Mordred shared her opinion.

"That makes us two." Nala added, having the same thinking as the knight.

"I know she's a terrible person but killing her wouldn't be the wisest thing to do here." The hologram of had appeard alongside Jekyll after being off during their recent battle. "She's an actual person that was alive during this period. So killing her would be risking to creat some possible instabilities on this Singularity."

"At least it's good to know the people she killed here will come back to life once we restore the Singularity." Ritsuka speaked, being satisfied with the way they decided to deal with the nurse.

"And I even bet she will wake up all of a sudden confused in why she's locked inside a cell once we do that." Nala laughed, thinking about that scenario. "Despite that it means...she'll get to continue with her murders." Her smile dissapeard.

"I know that it's frustrating to see her get away with the things she's done here." Romani told Nala. "But knowing how her life ends, she will eventually get what's coming to her, believe me." The doctor concluded, being aware of the fate the wicked nurse would suffer years down the line.

"Now that we got to resolve the problems and put a definitive end to Jack the Ripper, I think it's a good hour to come back to the hideout and rest." Jekyll told them. "Me and Fran will prepare something to eat in the meantime."

"Oh, you don't know how much we're needing that." Ritsuka replied, the things Jekyll said sounding like true heaven to him.

"Yes please! I need a place to rest my legs and continue to write my multiple scripts after all." Hans speaked. "I hope you have a room that can meet these expectations."

"Hey now, who said you would be getting VIP treatment?" Mordred talked to Hans.

"No problem. I'll see if I can arrange it." Jekyll responded nicely to Hans.

"You desperatly need to develop a backbone!" Mordred said to Jekyll, not liking how easy he accepted Hans demand.

"So that was 'P'. One of the leaders behind all of the Demonic Fog. He looked smart." Peko told, with them now knowing how one of their main enemies looked like.

"And Artoria Pendragon seems to be on the same side as him." Mash added. "She's perhaps the one enemy who we need to be more worried about."

"We better discuss that in the hideout." Ritsuka told them.

"Yeah, I agree master." Mash responded, with now all of them walking out of the asylum and in their way back to Jekyll's apartment.

As they walked, Peko remember something Nala had told him. "Oh, by the way. What was the thing you wanted to tell me Nala?"

"Oh right!" Nala stopped after hearing that. "This is something all of you better hear, specially you Peko." She said, catching the attention of everyone as the girl stared to her brother. "I think I got a memory back while in the asylum. An important one. One where I heard our family's name and saw our dad's face."

To be continued...


And that was it for chapter 61!

Jack is finally out of the way and Paracelsus reveals himself to Chaldea, but like it was said by Mash at the end of the chapter, the real problem will be Lalter since she is clearly the most poweful of her group. Not like the competition is that strong when the other members are all a bunch of magical, alchemical and technological nerds. Lalter is undoubtedly the muscles of the villain's group as of now.

And how will the group, more specifically Peko, react to that shock of revelation made by Nala at the end? Let's wait to see.

But anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 62! Peace!

P.S:

Peko: Hmmm, no, that wouldn't do it.

Melusine: Excuse me, what are you thinking on so much about Peko?

Peko: Nothing much really. Just trying to come up with a great prank to play on Ritsuka.

Melsuine: (Immediatly raises hand)

Peko: No Melu. Bombing an entire orphanage and justify it with a 'little bit of trolling' isn't a good prank at all.

Melusine: (Lowers hand)

Baobhan Sith: (Approaches Peko from behind) You don't even wanna know the ACTUAL trollings she ended up doing.

Peko: Wait what?

(IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE WON'T BE CHAPTER NEXT WEEK)