A Shark King's Hell

by Darklord331

Why do heroes not exist in this world? Why do the innocent get used and abused while the corrupt and morally bakrupt rake in the profits for themselves? The answer was something he learned the hard way: this was a world for monsters, and the only way to fight back was to BECOME a monster himself. So that's exactly what he did. Co-authored with HuntrXKiller87

48. Chapter 48

Inside the store

"Huh, not as populated as I'd thought it'd be."

Upon entering the shop, those words left Mio's lips in a small whisper with the reasoning being how the shop seemed to only be filled with a few customers. The shop's layout had different isles vertically lined up between the entrance and the counter at the back where a female clerk could be seen tending to one of the few customers. The isles themselves looked to each be geared towards a specific genre of music too, and one could tell there was a lot of effort put into maintaining this place.

"Probably because people prefer streaming or watching stuff on youtube or some shit like that." Theseus mused in a similarly toned manner, not willing to draw attention to something that might be a bit sensitive to the people in this place. It'd be too annoying to deal with and he recalled the LAST time he'd been annoyed with someone within the city.

Though his words weren't wrong, this was an almost entirely digital age they were entering where people would rather stay connected to their phones and laptops instead of socializing with the outside world. The internet had advanced a long way since it's conception, and now there were tons of uses for it that were widely accessible to the populace. One could say that humanity had never been as connected with one another than they were now with the internet having things like social media and various websites with their own activities on them.

"So, which isle should we visit first, hm?" Maria suggested after a moment of pondering, aiming this question at the shark king. Since he had been a decent escort for them, she figured that he deserved some sort of freedom from the role. Never let it be said that she and Mio weren't merciful dates, as doing the opposite might drive him further away from them which was the opposite of their intentions.

Knowing this question was aimed at him, Theseus hummed as he cast his gaze across the store. He noticed a bunch of different genres, some making him wince like k-pop and more girly ones that made his skin crawl. He'd heard that Meredith preferred to listen to operas compared to modern music, especially the song Rule Britannia, though they weren't his style of music. Part of him swore he could hear such anthems sometimes when moving past the door to Meredith's office late at night when she was working…

Eventually, his gaze settled on a small rack close to the entrance. This rack contained what looked to be metal songs, something which completely drew his gaze and made the male approach it, Mio and Maria following suit.

The former hummed as she looked at the rack and then the male. "Huh… figured you'd like metal music." she remarked, finding this music taste to be somewhat fitting for him. Theseus did seem like the hardcore emo type who listened to edgy music in her opinion. Nothing against it of course, everyone had their own tastes to consider.

"Not just ANY metal, Mio." Theseus rebuked, casting his gaze across the rack till he noticed something which quickly made him perk up. "Fuck yeah, they have one of these…" he muttered under his breath, briefly confusing the girls behind him until he reached forward and grasped onto an album, pulling it from the rack. "Heroes: by Sabaton…"

Looking at the album cover, Maria hummed in thought anf confusion. "Sabaton? Who are they? I've never heard of these guys…" she queried, somewhat surprised by the band that Theseus had chosen. She thought he would have gone for more well-known metal bands that liked to shout a lot to the point where it sent her ears ringing, but this didn't look anything like what few bands she'd seen of this genre.

"They're one of a kind, I tell you." Theseus answered, a small smile starting to spread across his face as he looked at the list of songs on the back of the album. Each song filled him with a new sense of pleasure and joy that was usually reserved for when he was knee deep in bodies on the battlefield. "Sabaton's a sweedish Heavy Metal Band who've based their albums mostly on historical events like wars and battles, although they also portray the life stories of specific individuals who took part in these wars." he explained.

Hearing this caused Mio's eyes to start sparkling as intrigue started to grow within her. "Really… wonder why I never heard of them before…" she whispered under her breath. The opportunity to learn more about what Theseus liked was not going to be wasted by her, and she had a feeling that Maria had the same thought process in mind. This date had been about spending time with Theseus anyways, so learning about his music tastes seemed like it fulfilled that objective.

"Meh, understandable." Theseus retorted dryly, mentally confirming that he'd buy this album called 'Heroes' for himself. "Sabaton weren't that well known until in recent years where their popularity skyrocketed. I only heard of them when I first listened to their song about the 'Bismarck', a German WW2 Battleship. Their 9th Album called 'the great war' reached number 1 on swedish/german music charts with them being named one of the 'big four;' in terms of power metal bands. I like listening to their songs mostly for the historical lessons they teach, especially like watching their videos on their sabaton history channel, explaining the context around these songs in greater detail."

Both Maria and Mio hummed in awed wonder, taking in every piece of intel they could about what Theseus had been telling them. Both of them knew it was quite rare for the male to talk about something so passionately that wasn't a new battle technique or graphic descriptions of how he butchered the enemies of Hellsing that fell under his claws, so they'd be milking this for all that it was worth.

Though learning that this guy liked his history especially political history seemed quite… fitting, for him, they came to realize. This opinion largely came from how the blonde sometimes ranted about the incompetence of politicians or used historical events to justify the points he was making in arguments, which usually made it harder to refute the logic in his words.

However, Mio then remembered her father's various scathing words towards humanity alongside what Theseus always said about certain individuals. Thinking about it, a debate between those two would actually get quite heated, especially when she considered the fact that the two of them may actually agree on certain issues given their shared dislike for humanity and the incompetent morons running them, even their mutual hate for the biblical god.

Shudders travelled down her spine at the thought of them teaming up to bring chaos to the world, something she refused to entertain any longer than necessary.

"Huh… so the brutal, ruthless Shark King is somewhat of a history nerd under all that brovado, eh…?" Maria mused, bringing the other twos' gazes to her allowing them to see how she her putting an index finger to her chin with her free hand cupping her elbow. She aimed a slightly queer expression towards the male, and Mio swore she could sense her companions succubi parts trying to manifest against the will that kept them hidden. It all came alongside the mischevous gleam in Maria's eyes as well as the matching smirk on her lips. "Never would have thought that. Though considering you being sorta boomer makes a lot of sense somehow."

At that, Theseus twitched his brow several times at the jab. "Can it, woman. I'm not that old." he sneered back at her, much to the Succubus's amusement. The male oh so wanted to wipe that smirk off her face, but decided against commenting on how he'd heard from her mother how Maria herself was approaching the 500 year mark. It'd spark a row he would rather not deal with right now, especially when considering the multi-thousand chronological age of a certain heiress next to them. "What about you, then? Any surprise tastes on that tongue of yours?"

"Oh, my sweet Theseus, you should know that Succubi tend to stay in character under intense pressure and pleasure…" Maria cooed, giggling at the annoyance she could feel from him. Riling him up before attempting to prank him when they got home sounded like a fun idea to the Succubus, but for now she decided to answer his question. "As long as the song has a level of ecchiness to it, like that wonderful Natalie Kills when she sung 'Mirrors', then It'll be a song that has the Maria stamp of approval!" she proclaimed, winking at the male in an attempt at a cutsy manner… though to the male it just looked seductive rather than cute.

Something which honestly surprised him because thinking about it, Maria had been known by the group to like her childish form before, so her suddenly deciding to age herself up like this threw him for a loop. It'd definitely do that for the rest of the gang, he figured.

As for the succubus herself, in her mind the girl had been inspecting the differences between his reactions to her current form and her prior one. So far, it seemed like this form had a better chance at rousing him since, as a succubi she had experience in detecting lust from even the strongest willed of men. Right now, despite his prior reaction she could sense a small 'ebb' of lust buried deep inside the blonde that got roused briefly upon her comments, something she doubted would have happened in her previous form.

Made aging herself worth it at least, though she would miss her loli form somewhat. Maybe once she and Mio broke his walls down they could experiment with her loli self as well. A healthy sex life needed some versatility in it after all!

"Not surprising there…" Theseus drawled dryly, not amused by Maria's actions before glancing over to Mio, who had briefly walked over to an isle and came back with an album in her hands. "Oh hey, you found something to your tastes?" he questioned, arching a brow in her direction.

The redhead nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Been a fan of Cascada for a while now, sue me." she admitted, holding the album close to her chest. "Their songs were a lifeline for me back when me and Maria were on the run, they helped me get through some of the… darker times we experienced back then." she explained, her tone growing slightly bitter at the mention of her past as a runaway.

Part of her now could respect those who lived a nomadic lifestyle, because her unwilling entry into such had left her much more appreciative of the smaller things in life. One of the things she treasured the most were the 'romance-oriented' songs like the ones Cascada made such as 'Everytime we touch' or 'Glorious'. Call her a sappy teenage girl, but she liked those kind of romantic songs ever since she had been a kid. It gave her hope, happiness, and comfort thinking about when she would experience such moments in her life.

'Yeah, somehow I can see something that cheesy being the case…' Theseus noted mentally, repressing the urge to groan at such things. Nobody could say he was a cheesy guy, far from it, but he could definitely see Mio liking that type of stuff. Despite her powers, identity and origins she was still a young woman and there were women who were into those things. Just like there were the raunchy whore-types who liked the more risque songs such as Maria, though if he had a say then he wouldn't mind them expressing their interests to one another. Just not when he was around, he'd stick to his historically accurate sabaton songs, thank you.

Thinking about tastes made him think to Vali and Kuroh's tastes. He remembered the former once mentioning he like metal bands such as beast in black, powerwolf and Gloryhammer. He'd listened to a few of their songs as a punishment from Vali a few times, and Theseus did admit they were pretty catchy. The latter two preferred 'classy' songs similar to Meredith but kept those to himself mostly.

"Whelp, lets see what there is here. Who knows we might find something interesting."

"Yea!"

---

Later

About half an hour passed before Mio, Theseus and Maria stepped out with their bags, ones accompanied with a couple albums of various singers for listening at their leisure. Theseus intended for his to be playing during training, since those epic tales of the heroes of old provided a great motivator for him to push his limits (especially the song 'Shiroyama' which made him think of Hijikata). Mio intended to listen to hers while engaging in some late night reading of some romance novels or some homework sessions for uni classes, being the intellectual that she was. Maria?

Whelp, one could guess what she intended to do with hers.

The trio walked together through the mall, Theseus on the left, Mio in the middle and Maria on the right passing by the shopgoers without a care in the world. Theseus himself occassionally glanced around the mall (despite wanting to get out of this hellhole) and gazed at the various shops still open for business.

It only took his guts warning him something suspicious was happening for him to cease these actions. Narrowing his eyes, the male unpocketed his hands from his Overcoat and stopped walking, making both Maria and Mio stop in confusion alongside him.

Ignoring their looks, the blonde glanced around like an animal suddenly being aware of bloodlust in the air. He watched as many people passed by him, ignoring him as he tried to find the culprit behind this suspicion in his gut, though he didn't find anyone.

"Theseus, whats wrong?" Mio asked the masked boy in worry. She knew that look after having seen it enough times, whenever the blonde had that look danger was sure to follow.

Initially not responding, Theseus kept looking around their immediate surroundings with his gut instincts not letting up. "Do you get the feeling….that there's someone watching or spying on you?" Shifting his attention to Mio and Maria, he addressed them with this question. Seeing their expressions, the male elaborated further. "Like there's someone planning against us?"

Maria tapped her chin while adopting a thoughtful look,though that didn't last long as several instances that happened during her and Mio's years of being nomadic returned to the forefront of her mind. A surge of worry blossomed in her chest at the recollection of those memories, as she glanced over to the male with a look of apprehension. "You think something's following us right now?" she questioned cautiously.

Off to the side, Mio tensed as well at the thought of being trailed by a member of the Supernatural world. She'd had enough of that to last a lifetime, even though Lars may have been on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Speaking of Lars, early into the shopping trip Mio had tried to distract Theseus from his raving by inquring into the said Demon's motives for helping them. She didn't think someone who had such experiences in acting and manipulation like him would have done what he did for them, rather she figured he would have sided with Zolgear. Though this changed when Theseus told her that Lars had been aiming for Zolgear's head for years now, due to him being an orphan thanks to his parents dying in the Great War. Zolgear had, after some tense relations and the failure to bribe away their cooperaion in political matters, killed a pair of Devils who had contributed greatly to the development of orphanages across the Underworld. Including the one Lars grew up in. They had been seen as almost second parents by many children who lost their families, so upon hearing of their demise Lars had sworn revenge against that old fossil.

What Theseus had planned had been simply put the golden opportunity Lars had been waiting for.

"I don't know, but as far as I'm concerned there might be." Theseus stated, gravely as he continued surveying with a predator's level of caution. In his line of work one could never be too cautious especially after having just performed something ground-breaking like killing someone with sway and influence. There was time for people to know of this and send assassins after those responsible as a demonstration not to follow their example to the sheep-like masses.

It wasn't long until he put those thoughts away and slackened his posture with an exhale however. There had been enough drama and revelations over the last few days, and this time he needed a break from all of that chaos.

Not something he ever considered he'd think in the past, but one never could predict everything.

"Let's forget that feeling for now." Theseus spoke in assurance to the girls, turning his gaze away before he could see their reactions. Then, his eyes landed on a shop they were approaching the entrance of with the title of 'Barnes & Nobles'. His gaze glistened when he noticed the contents through the observation glass. "And buy some books at Barnes & Nobles." He suggested, having pointed at the store for their next visit.

Mio looked at the bookstore before to Theseus. "Why do you want to go to the bookstore Theseus?" She asked the Shark king. Honestly she felt like she was learning more and more about his tastes every shop they visited, she kinda wanted to continue doing this so she could understand the male better. Beside her, Mio noticed the look that Maria was sporting which didn't bode well for the redhead, nor the blonde who didn't notice. Mio got the impression that Maria also wanted to know… but for different reasons.

"Oh its quite simple, I'm going for Marine biology because I am interested in both fishes and the sea life across Earth." Theseus answered Mio. Last time he'd read a book about marine biology he'd been learning the habits and mating rituals of various sea creatures, though the whale ones stuck out to him the most since apparently every 'supposed' sighting of some supernatural creature by sailors may as well have been a whale or dolphin penis.

He could NEVER get that image to leave his head now.

Additionally, on youtube he'd found a channel called casual geographic who mainly posted videos about animals in a manner that was a mix of funny, sarcastic and educational all at once. He'd gotten that penis fact from that guy, and the first time he'd heard it the male had nearly turned blue in the face.

On the other hand, Maria mouth formed a thinline while putting her hands on her hips while looking at the scarred boy. "You just want to learn more of sharks don't you?" she queried.

A sharp nod came immediately after. "That I will not deny." Theseus answered Maria's question instantly.

Though he didn't get a chance to continue thanks to noticing the growing grin on the succubus' lips. "U sure? U sure its not about measuring their 'tubes' against your own? Not interested in their wei-AGH!"

BONK!

"You shut up!" a red-faced Mio scowled, her fist steaming after having bonked the poor succubus on the top of her head to stop her from saying more. Mio did NOT want to have that picture in her head.

Theseus shook his head at the usual antics the silverette got herself into, before pocketing his hands inside his Overcoat and starting to stroll towards the bookstore. "Alright enough of this Maria. Lets just head to the bookstore and-"

"HEY!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Theseus shut his mouth when someone called out to him and quite frankly, rudely too. Theseus lifted his head before he snarled. "Grrrrhhhh. Now what?" He muttered in a low, deep and annoyed voice. He wasn't the only one annoyed though, for the succubus next to him mimicked the blonde's expression before the trio turned around and looked at who had called out the masked boy.

From there, they saw three figures rapidly approaching them before they finally got a clear view on them. One of them had orange hair and green eyes, wearing what looked to be an Academy-style jacket, whilst underneath it was a pink coat.

The other had brown hair, with round glasses covering his eyes. Same as the first male, this brunette wore an academy-style jacket with a pink coat underneath it. He looked quite skinny though, like he had never gone to a gym or even left his house in his life.

Finally was the third male: a rather blubbery man, that was the best way they could describe how fat he was. He sported brown eyes and wore the exact clothes as the other men.

Theseus groaned inside of his mind, resisting the urge to facepalm and release that groan into his hand as he figured out what they likely were: Simps.

How hard was it to tell that they were simps? These three wore pink coats, its not hard to comprehend what they were. He really wanted to ignore them as much as he could, but sadly the male found that their attention had already been directed towards him as the party being called out.

"Who the hell are yo-"

"Did you know what you did?" One of them interrupted him when Theseus was about to ask him, the glasses was glaring at him with fury and hatred due to his expression on his face.

The blonde's anger was rising within his being with his inner beast already releasing threatening growls within the back of his mind. Images of himself shredding through these asshols, ripping out that big larg's guts to hang him from a lamppost like some form of ganging, skinning that stick-like guy alive and turning the flesh into a ball to shove down his throat, among other gory atrocities filled his mind. They gave him a dark sense of satisfaction, as well as added further fuel to the flames that was his rapidly increasing toxic bloodlust.

Even so, Theseus made sure to hold back. He knew he had to keep his calm because he was in a public place, even though he could have Maria conjure up a barrier it would still be a major problem. He holds it in and continues to ask. "Remind me on what I did to piss you three off."

"Shut up! Don't act like you don't know!" the one with brown hair retorted angrily, having pointed his right hand at Theseus like some shounen protagonist declaring something before the main villain which only succeeded in heightening the cringiness that he exuded.

The fat man then joined in, his face red with fury. "Yeah you are a disgrace to all men in the world!"

CR-CR-CRRACK!

Theseus' bones were literally cracking due to how hard his hand were griping themselves, veins could be seen bulging on top of his hands and head. Almost reaching his reaching point, he felt inside. Just one more push and the floodgate would burst open. Just one more…

Apparently none of the trio were getting the memo to STOP what they were doing, for the one with the orange hair stepped forward and tried to make himself look as intimidating as possible. "Do you know what was the first rule of men? The mens code?" He bellowed in the best 'manly' voice he could muster.

"No I don't. Remind me what it is." Theseus spat, trying to sound calm and level-headed but failing miserably. Something which both worried the two girls beside him as well as made the three males smirk smugly, knowing that they were close to getting the blonde to snap.

"Its to not hit a woman!"

…

…

…

…

RECORD SCREECH!

All that buckled up rage inside of Theseus disappeared with the sound of a record being abruptly paused while playing filling his mind. The male's features turned from vengeful to sheer bewilderment in seconds like the former emotions hadn't even existed, not fully comprehending what he just heard just now. Not to hit a woman?

'Wait, hold on a minute…' Theseus mentally muttered to himself before he internally slumped down, quickly realizing the situation after processing the likely reason behind these three idiots trying to harass him. Though the realization only added to the cringiness and this time Theseus didn't stop the urge to facepalm his masked face. 'Ahh great, they ARE a bunch of Simps. Perfect, just what I need. Whiny bastards who are simping for some women's attention. Just thinking with their pants and nothing else.' The male lamented, thinking about the sheer idiocy that was being presented before him.

Man, if only Vali and Kuroh were here to see this shit, they'd be sharing in the headaches he was currently experiencing.

"Do you not have any common curtesy in that thick skull of yours?!"

"Yeah why did you did that? Have you heard the term of equal rights?!"

Theseus deadpanned at them while still seeing the audacity these sorry beings in front of him were saying. Really, were they just idiots who had no braincells or were they actually serious about this shit? "Did you not seriously see and hear what those banshees were doing?" The male questioned, one hand in his overcoat's left pocket while the other hung by his side in an aloof, composed manner as he put more weight on his right leg upon leaning on it.

"Of course we did! We're not blind or deaf!"

"But that doesn't mean you should lay a hand on them!"

"Yeah! You should've let her hit you!"

Theseus sharpened his eyes. "Are you fucking with me right now? You think I would let those bitches lay a hand on me? Well here's news for the three of you: I am an advocate of gender equality. I don't hesistate to punch or slap a woman on the face. In my eyes, my hands are rated E for everyone." He spat with as much venom as he could muster, which could be enough to rival the potency of that of the blue ringed octopus.

Needless to say that these three males were affronted, as well as the crowd that had assembled to see what was going on judging by the copious amounts of gasps. Most of them were females of varying levels of dress with some having male escorts, the former looking at the scene with a mixture of different expressions ranging from anger to confusion and befuddlement. The guys on the other hand just looked lost as to what was going on.

"You bastard!"

"You are an enemy to all women in the world!"

"You have no common curtesy!"

They were throwing insults galore at Theseus, the male finding it very annoying and frustrating to the point where he can't believe he's even entertaining their drivel. Having enough of this, he said the following. "Ok, here's whats the gonna happen. I'm gonna pretend this never happened at all and you three can just get the hell out of here, leaving me alone. If you don't…There will be lots of pain. I can promise you that." he sneered, flexing his hands into claw-like positions. Oh, he FULLY intended to teach these morons what happened if you cornered a beast like him, beasts were at their most dangerous when cornered after all, and he would RELISH the feeling of their intestines between his fingers.

Every second that he saw their ugly mugs his vision gradually grew redder and redder.

Just when things were about to get heated and probably escalate into a fight, the three males finally took notice of the two girls beside the blond-haired boy.

In an instant they quickly changed their tunes from 'simps fighting for their mistresses' to 'gentlemen trying to woo the ladies'.

"Why hello there~. Beautiful maiden."

"How lovely to see you here."

Two of them declared as the third one winked at the two. The trio had seemingly moved with nigh superhuman speed, having brushed right past the blonde to confron the to hotties he was travelling with as if they had forgotten about his very existence. Of course, seeing the way they fawned over Mio and Maria like main characters from a shoujo manga irked the male deep inside, more so than their previous behaviour even which Theseus didn't even consider possible previously. 'Seriously, what do they have in those skulls for brains, unlimited horniness?!' the male couldn't help but think in internal outrage.

Theseus wasn't the only one being affected by this rapid shift in the situation though, for Mio found herself feeling QUITE uncomfortable with these strangers near her. Especially the one with the orange hair who kept trying to 'discreetly' (meaning the exact opposite) ogle her chest area alongside the rest of her body like a sack of meat. It didn't help that each of them seemed to stink of sweat and BO like they hadn't bathed in weeks giving extra credit to the theory that they didn't go out much.

Beside her, Maria had veins pulsing on her hands that were currently gripping themselves tightly, displaying how much anger she's having right now. Now, as a Succubus the silverette found herself used to this kind of treatment especially from the hornier of individuals. Yes, individuals, there were even women who had similar levels of perversion to men (she should know, she had those levels herself) but then there were the REAL creepy ones and even in the past Maria had to bear it for Mio's sake. Without that limiter however, the disgust she could feel swirling inside of her gut was palpable.

None of this was perceived by the trio, or perhaps it was more likely that they were ignoring it in favor of their flirting. "What are you lovely sweet ladies doing here in the mall?" The fat one questioned with what he THOUGHT with a smooth playboy voice, when in reality it was more of an oily, greesy kind of voice that sent multiple shudders down their spines… not the pleasurable ones.

"Oh, ummmmmm..." Mio awkwardly tried to speak, the redhead having struggled to say something but she couldn't really finish her sentence proper. The combination of the trio's presence and them surrounding her alongside her companion threw her for a loop and it wasn't anything that she was used to. If anything, all this just felt weird and awkward to her, making her wanna leave the mall as soon as possible.

This sight caused Theseus' blood to boil over the rooftop, his face LITERALLY screaming bloody murder right now.

"Oi! You're getting on my nerves real quick!" Theseus shouted at them. Seeing them being close to the girls made him have some uncomfortable feelings inside of him, feelings which quickly resulted in him acting on them instead of thinking logically like he normally tried to. "How about you three idiots get over here instead of being a bunch of pathetic little simps!" He bellowed, growling as he strolled towards the trio with his gaze literally ablaze with fury.

"Hmph!"

"What would you know about girls?"

"You probably have never even dated one!"

"These women are way beyond your league, if they are your girlfriend then you don't deserve these angels!"

"So why don't you do a favor and walk away, like a coward!"

Whatever restrain Theseus had inside of him has gone away, replaced with the untold anger inside of him, a volcano was starting to erupt. 'Ok, that's it! Screw what Meredith has for me! I'm kill these trio!' Mentally he said to himself.

Just before he was about to though, Maria put her hand up stopping Theseus much to his surprise. "Allow me." She simply said to the blond boy before he could question her as well as before the trio of boys could gloat.

Though judging by the darkening expression on her face Theseus needn't have bothered doing anything, especially with what came next.

"Alright, first off…" The succubus whispered, bangs covering her eyes as she raised her hand. Before anyone could ask her what she intended to do, she showed her intentions when she clicked her fingers.

CLICK!

CLUTTER!

At once, everyone surrounding them in the crowd collapsed like a bunch of puppets being unceremoniously disconnected from their strings. The sight of this quickly alarmed the trio of boys who frantically cast their gazes around, observing everything with no small amounts of confusion.

"Huh?!"

"What the heck?!"

"Wh-why is everyone-?!"

"Ufufufufufufufu!"

Before long however, some creepy ominous giggles filled the air with a thick layer of intense tension, the atmosphere becoming saturated with it resulting in a heavy weight being placed on the trios' chests. Add in the shock and confusion of this whole thing then one got what was basically written all over their faces.

It was the fat one who found the source of the giggling first, his features turning whiter than a ghost as he hurriedly stepped away from Maria. His companions followed suit when they noticed how she was giggling like a vengeful spirit ready to trap and kill her victims in the most painful manners possible. Their minds must have been playing tricks on them though, because they swore that they could see some kind of energy rolling off the silverette in waves.

Even as they tried backing away further, the trio found both Mio and Theseus behind them in similar states, radiating their own levels of bloodlust towards them.

"My, how the youth of today have fallen…" Maria muttered, drawing their attention after giggling creepily. "To think that they would be so brazen as to insult someone close to us, I'm honestly appalled. It looks to me that none of your fathers gave you the spanking you three boys so RICHLY deserve. So how about…" she began, trailing off as she held her hands up and clenched them hard, a 'fake' sweet smile on her lips as she raised her head to reveal her closed eyes. That expression may as well be the stuff of NIGHTMARES for the boys given how much killing intent she was radiating.

"...We do it for you? Since you so LOVE to let women hit you."

"...GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Three cries of terror filled the mall as another three vengeful wraiths descended upon them with the clear intent to harm in their eyes.

BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP-BONK-BAM-SMACK-SLAP!

Soon the simps were beaten to an inch of their lives, and by the end of the 10 minute long beatdown they lay like crumpled heaps on the ground, covered in bruises and bumps.

The glasses guy had his glasses broken which were still hanging from his nose's bridge for some reason, nevertheless they looked completely WRECKED. Their sides were bent unnaturallly at several points, and the lenses had all but shattered with sharp glass spikes orbiting around their frames. Essentially they were like junk now, unwearable as well as highly dangerous if he somehow poked his eye out.

Second, the blubby male lay on his back while looking like a fat walrus, his eye was swollen and multiple bruises on his face.

Finally was the third simp. He lay face up, his face similar to the blub but with his clothes in a bit torned up.

Dusting his coat down with his hands to wipe away some imaginary dust, a now significantly relaxed Theseus commenced looking downwards upon the beaten up simps like an artist marvelling over their masterpiece.

A short moment of silence passed as the mildly sweaty trio observed their handiwork. Then when it did pass, Theseus and Maria grinned devilishly after glancing at one another.

"Whelp, that takes care of that." Maria said to Theseus.

Theseus narrowed his eyes before he smiled evilly. "Hold on a second, there is just….one more thing." He, instead of clarifying what he meant to the confused Sucubus, walked towards the simps while flicking out his hand which transfigured into his BOE claw. It also had the effect of manifesting a third arm from his right shoulder.

Once he was at the trio, he stopped and loomed over their unconscious forms menacingly, his face shrouded in darkness whilst his eyes were sharpened and teeth were fanged similar to his mentor. He squatted down, grabbed a hold of their lower back sides with his three limbs and…

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIPP!

"AAAHHHH!"

"OHHHHHH!"

"OH GOOOOOD!"

Gave them the worst wedgie ever possible. He placed their undergarments atop their heads and then stood up, letting them stay in those positions since their beaten bodies would be too damaged to move for a while guaranteeing their torment for a good while at least. The thought of which sent shivers of delight down his spine, especially when he considered the past when he'd give these wedgies to an unprepared Vali and Kuroh in the mornings back in London.

They'd had yet to get him back for those.

That wasn't enough for Theseus though, no sir. Instead he walked and hanged them at the middle of the mall area where the fountain was. This will serve as the ultimate punishment and humiliation these simps will ever experience once the rest of the crowd woke up.

"Ok now I'm done, lets go." Theseus simply said before he waved his hand and transported their bags into his pocket dimension. If only he could have done this in the beginning, but one they were in public so he couldn't and two there hadn't been any moments where he could go somewhere private to do so.

Oh well, better late than never.

---

Later

"Oh my god, that really got a lot off my chest..." Theseus remarked, moaning pleasantly as he stretched his arms above his head. The male was understandably very relieved and relaxed after he had given those worthless simps the worst wedgie in their entire lives ever.

After they had left the mall (Maria had erased everyone's minds first before so they wouldn't remember or recall of what Maria had done), they now finally started to head home, much to Theseus pleasure. This whole shopping trip had proven to be quite an adventure to say the least, to which he felt pretty certain that it wasn't usually supposed to be like this for normal people. Nevertheless, to say that he didn't enjoy it or that he hadn't learned anything important from this would be outright lying, and Theseus' mother didn't raise no liar.

Even as they walked, the blond boy swore he'd gained new muscle from holding that many bags for many hours… but who was he to complain?

He wasn't the only one who had some high spirits though, for walking beside him the perverted Succubus looked like she was on cloud nine. "It was totally worth it. Check this out Theseus." Maria proclaimed, and when she saw him glance towards her the silverette showed him a video from her iPhone. Theseus looked at the youtube video and saw it was those simps thatr was hangoing from the fountain, clearly looking embarrassed and horror. It had tons of views and was going viral.

Their reputation would be eternally ruined for certain.

And he felt pretty sure that they will never forget this humiliation for their entire life. A fitting judgement for those spineless wimps.

The blond hair boy was about to grin more of the thought, though it wasn't long until he remembered something from the back of his brain. Meredith. "Ah, shit." he cussed out, getting Maria's attention while the male palmed his face with his right gloved hand. A bitter hiss left his lips like he'd sucked on a lemon as he began thinking about how the auburn-haired woman would react to the video. "Meredith is going to have our asses grilled. She'll see this video and quickly figure out who it was that made such a thing."

Maria's face lost a bit of color at the thought of what punishments that the woman would have them undertake, someone mentored by the leader of Hellsing of all people would be bound to be merciless in punishing those who disrespected her rules. "D-Don't be so sure, Theseus. I mean, nobody in our group was shown in the video, so she shouldn't think we had any involvement in it. H-How can she even find out?" she tried to say to calm the male down… as well as herself. Theseus' punishments she could take (part of her even liked the rough treatment, that being her pervy side) but Meredith?

Yeah, none of that.

"You don't get it, woman." Sadly her efforts were in vain, for the male moved his hand from his face to his forehead, numerous encounters running through his mind. "The women of Hellsing almost have a sick sense for whenever me and the boys get into our pranking antics, they're like bloodhounds for the stuff. So I've no doubt Meredith will somehow figure out how that video came to be. People have loose lips, after all." Even the fact that the crowd's memories had been erased wasn't enough to calm him, since there were still ways that the information could come to light and Meredith if anything, was QUITE thorough in such matters.

Maria couldn't help but shudder at this, especially with the way that her companion looked right now. There were very few things that could unnerve the male she had learned, and angering Meredith, Sir Integra or any woman who could handle being a part of Hellsing seemed to be one of them. She'd already seen how bad Meredith could be, the whole incident with the Shinto's being a prime example, but Integra herself would probably be worse if what she had heard from Kuroka a few times was any indication.

Even so…

"D-Don't worry, Theseus!" doing her best to try and keep calm, Maria placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Or at least she hoped it was comforting since she hardly felt anything of the sort as herbody constantly shuddered at the images inside her head. As Theseus looked at her, Maria struggled to stay calm as she offered a thumbs up. "I-I-I'll explain it to her and take the blame for you. Y-You were merely reacting this time, and what I did was essentially the lesser of two evils. Th-Things would have gotten way worse had I not intervened." Now part of her had mixed feelings about herintervention. One part was satisfied she'd gotten to teaching those pigs a lesson, but the other felt guilty in the knowledge that her actions may have harmed Theseus in the long run. This whole idea had been a way to spend time with and learn more about the male, not to potentially draw him away from additional outings in the future!

Even though he could see how panic-driven Maria was behind her falsely calm demeanor, the sight of her still trying to support him made a small smirk form on the male's lips. While his forehead showed itself to be lightly sweating, Theseus reached out and patted the girl on the head which would look rather strange to an outsider, since it looked like he was rubbing a teenage girl's head. Still didn't stop him however. "Nah, don't worry about it. You're not wrong in that assessment anyways." If anything Maria had made the right call. He'd been so angry back then that, like a shark going crazy when smelling blood, he likely would have caused another incident like the one with the ambushing Hero Clan members.

"..."

Having slowed her stride to where she now lagged behind the duo, Mio looked at them in front of her as she observed how the two of them didn't seem to be at each other's throats like usual. Now that she was looking at it, the redhead noticed how the relationship between them was significantly improving, example right now being how Maria was stianding up for Theseus when he gets in trouble with Meredith if she finds out. Now that she thought about it, it also probably had to do with the several times when Maria stood up for Theseus throughout the shopping trip. Whether it were to those wenches or those wimpy simps, Maria apparently had made it her mission to demonstrate her loyalty to her friends… or perhaps it was more towards Theseus in general. It was working whatever the case was, since Theseus was showing much less aversion to her presence compared to before.

Perhaps it also had to do with the fact that the Succubus no longer had any secrets to hide, allowing her to be herself without any reservation. She was essentially as free as a bird now that she didn't have to worry about the past, now that she didn't have to watch her back for any signs of assassins after her and Mio's lives. Mio wasn't the only one who'd gained more freedom recently, she realized, Maria had gained her own as well.

Though it hardly seemed fine for her.

'As happy as I am for Maria… she's done a lot for my sake after all…'

Thinking about how happy her friend was made Mio start thinking back to the moment she learned about how her life had been planned out from the beginning, which soured her mood significantly. Her entire life, from the moment she was born the supernatural had a grip over her, controlling almost every aspect of it like she were some puppet and they the puppet masters. Her memories may as well have not even been hers, to go even further her life had never truly been hers in the first place.

It was all just supernatural machinations, manipulating her fate and destiny from the moment she had been born.

Sometimes she wondered if it was fate that had been controlling her entire life.

'How pathetic…'

Thinking about the memories of her childhood, when she first learned how to ride a bike, when she first graduated highschool, her birthdays, the looks of sheer joy on her parents whenever she achieved anything for the first time, all of it used to make her feel warm inside. They had been some of the few sources of comfort she had when she'd been forced into the life of a runaway, a few warm flames in the cold, dark and lonely world that she'd been tossed into. More often than not Mio remembered how she'd spend entire nights without sleep because she yearned for those days again, when she could once more returning to being a normal young woman experiencing the highs of youth. When she could go shopping with her friends, look at attractive males and fantasize about being with someone like that. She remembered some of her old friends from highschool actually getting with some, even if a couple had a few rough breakups here and there.

But now?

Now all of that felt toxic for her to recall. None of that warmth she'd previously relied on to get her through hard times existed, instead all she felt was this sickening feeling of revulsion. She hadn't known the truth back then, of just how much the supernatural had control over her livelihood. How much had been their doing? Were her friends even her friends or did they get manipulated into being them? And her parents, did they know the truth? Did they know and hide it from her?

Such questions now plagued her dreams that usually turned into nightmares ever since Mio had discovered the truth about her origins. Those memories now held nothing but contempt in her heart that now felt as heavy as lead every time she brought them to her mind's forefront. She'd hardly got more than 5 hours of sleep a night ever since those revelations, with her having kept it hidden through the use of makeup and a fake 'mask' of happiness to hide away the murky darkness brewing deep inside of her.

Was this what her father had foretold? Was this the 'regret' that he had prophesied?

In that case… then…

"Oi, Mio."

"Eh?"

The girl promptly snapped out of her trance and noticed that the masked boy was looking at her. "What is it?" He asked, Maria looking with palpable concern as he regarded her with similar expressions alongside some pursed lips, "You have that look of some emo moaning about their problems."

Mio shakes her head and puts in a smile on her face. "Oh nothing! Its just some random thoughts, there's nothing for you to worry about." she tried to assure Theseus.

Normally some people wouldn't try to dig deeper into a situationlike this because of how it messed with other peoples emotions. Emotions were quite a bunch of messy things by nature, and then one must consider that these came from a woman. A gender known for their whole manipulation of emotion to garner sympathy or to ruin another's social reputation irrepairably. It'd be like stepping into a murky swamp from which there was little to no escape, so normal people wouldn't wish to get involved with such matters.

Those people were not Theseus who didn't give a crap.

Instead he narrowed his eyes and strolled up to her like a thug, hands in his coat pockets while his demeanor loomed over her. "Don't give me that crap, I can tell something's amiss from miles off." he stated firmly, his gae almost predatory as his cold eyes bore down on her.

"No really, its fine Theseus. It doesn't matter."

"Bullshit. How about I guess what's swirling in that noggin of yours?"

Maria looked over t Theseus with a look of stunned bewilderment, wondering where the guy was going with this. She knew that things would be escalating soon enough if the male didn't budge, and she knew he wasn't the type to take things as they were. But what did he mean by saying he wanted to GUESS what Mio was currently feeling? She felt pretty certain that Theseus wasn't a psychic or someone who could read minds, though one part of her DID like to mention that Theseus didn't showcase all his abilities all the time like any common shounen character.

Mio looked to be in a similar boat to her Succcubus companion, and even as she made to once again try denying the male she stopped when he started speaking first.

"First, its likely to do with what we learned of your origins. Maria here…" He briefly paused to gesture with a gloved hand towards the Succubus who flinched at the memories of learning those events. "Was affected by it just as much as everyone else, though we all had our own ways of coping. It'd be foolish to think you weren't trying to cope with it all yourself, it was the most recent revelation that I can think of to explain your prior mad face."

At this point, Mio looked to be trying to emulate a leaf with how shaky she started to become, her body trembling as her hair shadowed her eyes. Briefly her body started radiating a thin aura of demonic energy, much to Maria's worry regarding the possibility of her charge going crazy Theseus-style.

However, the blonde male wasn't done as he placed his hand atop his hat. "Thinking about it, it's likely that a certain PART of that story we heard is what's giving you your current grief. The stuff related to your origins, perhaps? No, its likely more recent. Probably about the whole thing regarding your childhood. So what do you think, am I on the right track?"

Even after everything he'd mentioned, Mio remained quiet. She kept her head lowered with her hair still covering her eyes… and for a moment her energy spiked further heightening Maria's concerns. Seconds later proved that her worries were unfounded though, for her energy simply vanished as soon as it had appeared, a defeated look soon forming on what could be seen of Mio's features. "...Yes" She eventually stated, having confirmed Theseus thoughts.

Now that he'd been proven correct, Theseus stopped speaking for a moment and stared down at the redhead. For a time, a tense silence overtook the trio as the male gazed upon the redhead's now minutely trembling form. Before long however, the male released an exhale through his nostrils as he shifted his gaze towards the skies above, then back down to Mio. "Look, I understand I should probably not delve too deep into the matter of your personal feelings, but there's a reason why I don't hide anything in favor of speaking bluntly. I don't have my personal feelings holding me back, it gets in my way and muddles the thoughts I have. They prove to be a stone that can block an entire lake. The lake and water cannot pass through no matter how much the water streams, but the stone can be destroyed if given enough pressure, breaking free from the path that was blocked." Pausing his little rant there, Theseus rubbed his mask on his face with his left be continuing. "Break that stone that is blocking the river that is streaming, let it flow through your mind and body."

Mio was silent for some minutes after hearing Theseus' lecture, her brain slowly processing what he was trying to tell her. Before long, she finally gave in. "I've been wondering….has my entire life…..been a lie?" Mio questioned Thesues. "Has my life been controlled by fate? The supernatural?"

Theseus raised his eyebrow in confusion, not understanding what the redhead was asking of him.

Meanwhile, Maria looked on in rising concern for Mio. The silverette clenched her fists beside her, having developed an idea as to where the redhead was going with this, and it wasn't like she could blame her either. If she were in Mio's shoes, Maria wasn't sure if she would be thinking differently.

Doing her best to keep herself from cracking under the pressure building inside her chest and throat, Mio continued on. "My childhood is just a bunch of lies and deceit. All of it. Do my childhood memories have any merits to them? All of them, every single one of them wasn't even truly 'normal'. I've always been able to feel a sense of comfort from them in the past, but now all I feel is utter nothingness. No revulsion, no happiness, nothing. They're just… there, and they hardly feel like anything truly MINE anymore." Mio shakes her head while looking at her hands. "Do they have any worth to them at all? I'm no longer sure, were they real or were they just all part of some staged conspiracy millennia in the making my father made? Or is it that I never had a truly 'normal' life from the beginning, and likely never will since I'm a multi-thousand year old demon hybrid."

Basically, it all boiled down to the question of whether or not Mio had truly been living the happy, blissful human life she remembered or if it was all part of the ploy those up top in the Supernatural world had. Mio simply felt disillusioned, the almost 'fragile' life she'd coseyed up to for years during her nomadic life had shattered like a mirror when hit with a sledgehammer. Now, she didn't know what to think anymore about it since the sheer 'control' the supernatural had on her life before she had even been AWARE of it, heck before she'd even been conceived.

If the latter was all true, then Mio never truly DID fit in to the idea of a normal life, she could never be an ordinary girl who enjoyed shopping, clothes, makeup and all manner of girly things. If her life had been a lie for so long now then what was she even fighting for? Was there even a point to her fighting, now that her previous beliefs and assumptions had been pulled out from under her? Such questions plagued her non stop, causing her as much irritation, frustration and sadness that rivalled the deaths caused by the black death disease way back in human history.

The moment she had learned of the truth, she felt like she'd died inside. She'd learned a truth she never sought to find, didn't like it and now wished like hell she could forget it. Even though another part of her ridiculed her for such a thing.

Her father, Satan…

Many people suffered for his agenda, for what he did to her mother and the Great War between the three Factions. All that he had been, his capacity for cruelty, death, destruction, and savagery… all of that existed within herself too. The apple never fell far from the tree after all.

Now… all Mio felt inside was hollow, emotions she'd been subjected to since those revelations being skin deep and 'fake' at best.

All of this was reflected in her eyes, as Mio looked up to Theseus at long last, unable to handle all of this on her own no more. Her gaze bore up into his own, and off to the side Maria felt goddamn gobsmacked in horror at the sheer DESPERATION burning brightly behind her crimson pupils. Those were the eyes of someone desperately searching for something to believe in, something to latch on to, for someone to show her the answers that she'd been spending days seeking.

The sight tore away at Maria's soul, wrenching her gut like said tool and a bolt crank.

This had been her fault, if she hadn't ruined Mio's life by revealing to her the supernatural world, if she had only kept things a secret from her forever Mio wouldn't have had to be reduced to this horrendous state. She felt like ripping out her entire set of hair seeing how devastated her charge had been thanks to learning about her origins.

'And yet…' the silverette whispered in her mind as she cast her gaze towards Theseus who had remained silent this whole time. His expression looked harly readable, a nigh-perfect poker face which didn't bode well in the Succubus' mind. 'What's Theseus thinking about right now? How will he take all of this?'

One moment he was silent and the next moment…

BAM!

"OW!"

Theseys literally slapped Mio's face without any regard. Her face literally jerked to the side from the impact.

Before either of them could respond to this, Theseus began to speak. "Are you a fucking idiot? Do you actually think that fate has control over you? Don't give me that crap." While Mio cupped the cheek that now currently stung thanks to the red hand imprint on it, Theseus pointed at his hand towards the redhead. "Did you not remember what I said to you after your ascension? You are in control of your own destiny. And yet you're talking about a normal life that you desired? Grow a pair." Theseus waved his hand forward and raised his voice, almost like an echo.

Pausing his words, Theseus stepped back a few feets before raising his hand and conjuring a ball of fire via his Sacred Gear. One that almost resembled a sun like the one a certain prideful lion sin in golden armor generated. "You see this ball of fire? I manipulated my sacred gear to manifest it into existence. Even a low ranking magician can be able to do this simple spell. Now let me ask this: is the fire fake?" He put his hand on the fire. "Or is it real?" seconds later, he pulled his hand away, holding it out in front of the redhead. To the said girl's shock, the hand wound up showing no burn marks.

"Your memories may have some element of 'fake' to them due to the circumstances, but who gives a shit about that? Just because you had 'fake' memories, doesn't mean you have to feel like a sad little shit." The male spat. Honestly he couldn't even believe that the redhead worried about something so minor, so mundane. Heck, he remembered starting out his OWN nomadic lifestyle so long ago, but back then he'd never had such issues since he focused solely on carving out a life of his own. He had to do so using two things:

Ingenuity and sheer fucking will.

Perhaps the fact that they were similar in this regard was why Theseus felt so irked by Mio's way of thinking currently. He and her both went through similar instances that forced them into a life of constant mobility, both of them were forced into becoming unwilling nomads, but that was where the similarities apparently ended. He himself largely existed on his own, fighting to preserve his life and the sanctity of his booty. Unlike a lot of penguins when assaulted by specific birds, he retained both.

Mio on the other hand had Maria from the very start to help her, and only God would know how much that succubus suffered to keep them ahead of the hounds chasing their asses down for as long as she had. In that sense, Mio had it slightly better than him, and SHE was the one feeling depressed about herself? That would not stand, he wouldn't stand for it. It didn't matter whether she was a hybrid, a normal girl, a casual pleb or even a demonic goddess Theseus internally swore he would set her damn straight.

To start, lets shed some additional light on this 'plight' she was apparently under. "Even IF those memories were all manipulated by someone from the shadows since your birth, doesn't mean you didn't make memories of your own. You fought against fate the moment you fought against your father, to gain control over your own will the moment you defied fate by fleeing with Maria from your enemies, remaining nomadic with her for many years." he crossed his arms under his chest. But right afterwards he formed a pair of his BOE form's secondary arms which then pointed their claws towards her. "That kind of experiences and mental training gave you a good mental fortitude and resilience. Your memories, your story truly become yours the moment you first joined Hellsing, allowing us to take you and Maria into our protective custody."

Theseus uncrossed his hands, putting his four arms down alongside his head before lifting it, facing her with a firm but fierce gaze. "Even if you had fake memories the succubi gave in order to protect you from the life of being hunted, you also have real memories. Real ones forged from your blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have doubts about them, you can just make memories for yourself now that your more aggressive pursuers had been culled."

BAM!

With a flick of his wrist, Theseus commanded the earth beneath him to rise up to form into a cube, one that he sat on before he continued to speak. "Your memories may be fake, but there were things within them that are real. Look at your human parents, looking at how you've turned out I can say for certain that their love for you was real."

Standing opposite him, Mio's mood was slowly getting better and better the more she listened to him. The way he delivered his opinion without any BS and with the ruthless realism that was synonymous with the male at this point provided a new level of warmth to her that Mio hadn't experienced before. Even when she thought back to the memories of her human parents, she began to feel some warm embers starting to flow from them and throughout her soul.

Inspired and motivated from Theseus speech, she widened her eyes when she heard him comment about her parents love, though right afterwards her eyes slowly began getting watery. After seeing another makeshift cube-shaped seat of earth manifest beside him, Mio walked to it before sitting next to Theseus while looking at the side of his face.

Now that the redhead was next to him, Theseus continued. "I'm sorry about your parents, there isn't much I can say about them but I'm certain they didn't know about the supernatural. They were victims in all this, all because of that asshole Zolgear manipulating events while trying to achieve greater power similar to your father." closing his eyes. "You lost everything from that day Zolgear murdered your parents and took you away your normal life. I can sympathize with that."

Briefly pausing again, Theseus went about interlocking his four hands (his human and BOE ones) while his eyes were still closed. "I can understand why you craved for normal life, the supernatural world is a death world, monsters are real, Gods are real, demons exist, Angels, all mythology are real. Combined into one world and you get a fucked up reality. While learning about mythology you sometimes wanting or crave to become something like…..a hero or have superpowers, thinking like fighting bad guys and wanting to protect the people. When you realized the depths of the situation…you wish you want to go back being normal, to get away from all the things you've seen and the fucked up shit that even made the strongest warriors break."

Memories started to flow through his mind thanks to being triggered by his words, starting from when he was a young child, remembering the day when he was talking with Jack. About the legend of hercules and superheroes. A wish the both of them wanted to have fulfilled.

That dream…can't become a reality.

Clenching his fingers tightly around each other, veins showed themselves on the back of his hand how much he was repressing before he opened his eyes, still facing sideways. "I will not be the person to try and convince you to continue living with this type of life. I can offer you an alternative, you can still go back to the normal life you wanted. Forget this, forget everything you know about the supernatural in exchange for sealing away your powers and memories. In doing so, I alongside the others can make sure that the existence of 'Satan's descendent' is nothing but a myth. Your father wouldn't care about you…..or continue residing in this death world. The choice is yours to choose."

In the end Theseus was not forcing anybody or anyone to do one thing, nor was he trying to convince Mio to be with them, he was too realistic for that. He was not a fool nor an idiot like those shounen characters who say to stay with them and they'll be safe from anyone. Especially since Theseus knew for certain even if Alucard or any of the gang could protect her, she would die one day if she continued down this path.

He still remembers the words his master has told him.

"Remember this, my apprentice. Not everyone is powerful or has great influence of the world. Someday death will come for us no matter how young you are, death will have a grip over you. Even Gods and immortals die one day, including me. But thats just the beauty of it, death can be any day, any time, any seconds. Do not forget this Theseus, because one day…..death will also come for you. No one can escape from it, not even me."

Returning from his trip down memory lane, Theseus cast his gaze down to the ground beneath his feet. He was willing to accept the fact death would be coming for him, the concept of death cannot be evaded by anyone. Initially he'd tried to deny the fact his master would be gone one day, that is before he grew out of his teenage mindset and matured.

"...I…I see…"

Really, what else could she say to all of that?

Mio stared at him, transfixed by his words like she'd been enlightened by the word of god (ouch!) or something. Although she didn't think that was a good analogy, she didn't think the opposite would happen due to her connection with Satan, but the fact of the matter was that Theseus had stolen her breath away with his declaration. He'd left her with no room to fight back, stolen every argument she could have thought of and answered every question she had been tormented by this whole time.

After having been staring in fixated silence for a seemingly eternal moment, Mio's brain rebooted and a wave of warm feelings surged from her chest like a damn bursting. This warmth was accompanied by how wet her eyes felt like they were becoming as well as how tight her throat felt, like it were being strangled by a vice grip. Yet, she didn't hate it one bit as she gazed at the one who had helped her with her problems.

Just how many times has it been since Theseus had first gave her his council whenever she had issues on her mind? Honestly Mio had lost count at this point, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the blonde male had given her more knowledge and advice about the supernatural world than anyone. Even her mentors at Hellsing didn't do what Theseus did, they taught her about subjects like history and magic, whereas Theseus taught her about life and how she should live it, that she had the CHOICE now thanks to working hard all these years to earn it.

That was the big thing though, the core of Theseus' argument. That she had a choice now, her life was now her own at long last. It didn't matter if there was fakeness in her childhood, as not only were there moments of genuine love and support from her family, but there were also various good things that she'd gained from that 'fake' life. While those memories may never truly have the same warmth to them again with what she now knew about her origins, Mio could still see something valuable in them: the lessons that they taught her alongside her experiences up till this point.

It actually made her feel giddy inside, a true wave of happiness washing over her for the first time in seemingly ages.

"...Thanks for that, Theseus. Really, I mean it." she began to say at long last, a few tears running down her cheeks despite the warm smile that formed on her lips. The way that it was accompanied by a dazzling aura surrounding her deeply contrasted with her previous gloomy aura, making her look brighter than even an angel.

Well, that was what the surprised Theseus figured at least, that was just his own opinion. "No biggie. Looks like you made that choice already." he mused, a lighter smirk pulling at the edges of his mouth. The way she looked at him told the male everything he needed to know about her choice, the choice to stay in the supernatural world and carve out a place for herself. A place where she could be who she truly wanted to be, and if that was to have as close to a normal life as possible, then that would likely be what she would do. He could get behind that, she's worked hard to get this far and she had the tools she needed to go the rest of the way.

His thoughts were confirmed with the following statements from the redhead woman. "Yup, not going to run away like a wussy little bitch. Feels like spitting on what I've done up till this point if I did that." Mio admitted with a brief but honest chuckle, one which Theseus and the proud-looking Maria emulated. "I'll grow stronger, and i'll eventually form a place of my own to do with as I plase. Nobody's gonna stop me now!" she vowed, pumping a fist into the air like a classic shounen protagonist vowing to get stronger for that power of friendship BS.

Though that wasn't as bad as he usually considered it for this moment, Theseus realized. "Glad to hear it. Anyways, we should get back to Hellsing." he declared, stepping off from his seat which prompted Mio to do the same. The earthen constructs then sunk back into the ground like they had never been there in the first place, leaving no trace of their prior existence. "We both know how Meredith's gonna be-"

"Figured you deserve something for everything you've done though Theseus."

"Huh?"

CHU!

"?!"

At once, Mio closed the distance between the two of them before Theseus could react in time. Her arms threw themselves around his neck as her lips planted themselves on his cheek, somewhat tilting his stunned self to the side thanks to her motions. Her hair fluttered behind her as a result, whilst the redhead herself had her eyes gently closed while performing this unexpected action. She didn't feel confident to go for the REAL prize, that being his lips and eventually something…more (a sinful part of her fantasized pinning Theseus down and having her way with him right then and there, bouncing atop his lap like a bucking bronco using the joy inside of her as fuel for her rapid motions), what considering the way he reacted to Vali's teasing. But this was more than enough for her to convey her gratitude towards him…

And who knows, maybe it'd soften him up to the idea of actually dating her. She wouldn't mind seeing him ask her out of his own accord.

Whilst Maria cooed at the bold move Mio had played, Theseus himself had turned stark white from the shock of the act as she pulled away, a faint giggle escaping his lips. The male stayed perfectly still, his mind practically blue-screening at the moment while it struggled to process what had happened. The way a certain divine tenant of his was cooing in the back of his mindscape at this development certainly didn't help matters.

Even as Maria begun teasing the hell out of Mio for her actions while the two walked away, Theseus walked on after them like a drone following it's mistreess' orders.

---

Later

Upon turning around a corner and walking down another street, the silhouette of the Hellsing manor in the distance made the blonde boy feel a surge of relief, knowing that the shopping trip was finally over. After all the torture and days(more like hours) of suffering going and ramming through clothes the girls had a hard time choosing, he'd finally get to throw some hands with his homies again. The fact that they'd gotten what Chisato had listed for them was just a bonus, in his eyes.

Just as they neared the manor's main gate…

"THESEEUUUUUUSSS!"

The trio collectively flinched when they heard Meredith's angry voice.

The male groaned and put his hand on his forehead in frustration. "Oh great, what is it this time…?" he mumbled, frustrated at once more being yelled at. What the hell was going on, what was the bitch is mad about now?

Mio looked in worry before facing Theseus. "You don't think she saw the video?" She asked the blonde hair boy. News travelled fast, and she could imagine that it wouldn't have taken long for Meredith to stumble upon it thanks to the reception it had garnered. Part of her worried for Theseus and what might befall him, she even glanced towards Maria who returned a similar level of worry to her.

Apparently, Theseus had noticed this too judging by the way he shrugged his shoulders after pointedly glancing at the Succubus responsible for the video. He then hissed briefly, eyes flashing with bloodlust. "Whatever it is, let me just handle it. We've already had enough drama and I'm going to end it. I wanna go back to my room and sleep in the water with my aquatic pets dammit." the male declared, not wanting to deal with this dramatic shit right now and instead wanted to get it over with.

He marched to the gates and telepathically opened it with his telekinesis, leaving beind Mio and Maria standing there in worry. "Alright what the hell is it this ti-WHAT THE HELL?!"

They jumped when Theseus cussed out in the middle of his lazy-sounding question. Fearing for his safety they quickly ran inside of the gate. Once Maria and Mio were at his side, they peered out to see what had spooked the male as much as it had. "What is it The-Oh my goodness!"

"(GASP)!"

When they looked into the territory that was the front courtyard, what greeted them was a literal chaotic mess. The building itself looked to have been riddled with holes that radiated large piles of steam, some even still radiating immense levels of heat. The garden was littered with craters, piles of dirt, and littered with destroyed flora. One could say there had been so much destruction around the Hellsing manor.

After staring with sheer gobsmacked jaws, Theseus was the first to speak. "I leave for a couple of hours…..and this is what happens when I'm not around?!" The boy exclaimed, stomping his foot on the destroyed ground like a whiny kid while being one step away from going on a rampage. "Am I the only one here who has to keep things stable around here?!"

"Would you shut up?!" Briefly pausing his tirade, Theseus's eyes widened when he heard Vali's voice a few feet away from him. Looking at the direction where it came from, the sight that greeted him further stunned the male. "And help us for God sake!"

BARK-BARK-BARK-BARK-BARK-BARK!

"MRRREEEEOOOOWWWW! HISS!"

From there, they were greeted to the sight of a literal giant, red, three headed dog that was large enough to rival a freaking Americam Abrams Tank. It's skin was crimson like the blood that coursed through every living animal, yet the hind legs and arms below the elbows/knees were that of hardened chitin, ending in clawed talons that looked sharp enough to slice someone in half with one swipe. Its three heads had large crests around them made entirely from flesh-like webbing like that one dinosaur from the OG Jurrasic Park movie (one of the boys' favorites while the girls of the group found it somewhat scary). Curved spikes ran down its back directly above its spine, ending near the base from which a long tail protrude outwards from. The Tail's tip also had a set of 3 spikes protruding from the back, making it resemble some sort of slashing weapon. Its three heads were composed of elongated snouts and almost blunted teeth, though between the three 4 teeth each were larger and resembled the tusks of sabretooth tigers. Around the three necks looked to be some spiked collars seemingly made from iron or brass, but nonetheless this combined with everything else gave the canine a twisted, savage look to it.

Before long Theseus got out of his trance and pointed at the giant dog creature. "What the hell is that?!" he exclaimed, agitation and confusion laced between his words.

"Down boy, down!"

"Heel! Heel!"

"Setz dich gleich hin! Ich sagte sitzen!"

"I'll give you a treat if you be nice! A juicy steak for you!"

There was a robe that was attached to the dogs middle neck with Vali, Kuroh, Michel, and Meredith trying to pull the dog away from the tree. Though even with their combined strength they could only BARELY restrain the massive Canine that was barking upwards with it's three snouts at Kuroka who had latched onto the tallest tree branch. Following her feline instincts or rather being enslaved by them, she meowed and hissed at the dog with her back arched like a cat.

All in all, a rather chaotic situation with many questions that needed answering.

After surveying everything and allowing moments to pass for his brain to reboot, Theseus' face returned back to his stoic expression whereas the male slaped his forehead with his right hand. "Just another day at Hellsing." he mumbled under his breath, feeling an intense migraine coming hile ignoring the uneasy chuckle that came from Maria's lips. There never really WAS a dull moment with them, was there? Looking over to Mio briefly, the male hid a slight smirk that tugged back on his lips.

This went unnoticed by Meredith who glanced at Theseus and shouted at him. "What did you do this time?!" she bellowed, several tick marks present on her forehead which, combined with the stress this situation had and her currently dishevelled appearance, resulted in a thoroughly pissed off woman.

Getting out of his stoic expression and returning to his angry face, Theseus snapped back. "I didn't do anything this time, Meredith!"

"Bullshit! I know it has something to do with you unleashing this type of-Woah!" she almost slipped when the dog put its paw onto the tree's while trying to reach Kuroka. "So God help tell me how were you able to find this mutant type Cerberus?!"

"First off all I don't even know where that dog came from and secondly don't go blaming me on this one! I already have enough fucking problems!"

"How do I know that you're not lying?!"

"Just shut up and hold tight!" Theseus puts his fingers in front of his mouth, preparing to whistle. "Things are about to get more messy!"

When the blond hair boy was about to do was to call his familiar to deal with this mutant cerberus. This thing may be large, but it had nothing on a Catachan Devil who had been HIS rival of all things even when he entered his BOE form.

It was then one of the canines' heads lifted up and sniffs the air before noticing the trio. Theseus froze on the spot just before he was about to whistle, the same being said for the girls as well.

"..."

Things got quiet all of a sudden when the giant red dog looked towards them with a seemingly neutral gaze at first. Keywords being 'at first'.

It wasn't long until Vali spoke. "Uh oh. This is not going to end well, things are about to get real messy!" He commented.

Then, all hell broke loose when the canine suddenly broke off into a mad dash away from the tree, rushing straight towards the trio like a bullet. This also had the effect of knocking the previous restrainers of the beast down to the ground face first, having lost their balance at the abrupt shift in speeds before being dragged along for the ride like flailing flags on a ship.

Unwilling flags, at that.

"WOOOAAAHHH!"

"OH GODDAMIT!"

"WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN EVERYTIME?!"

Theseus widened his eyes at seeing the beast charging at them with what looked like flames starting to form inside it's maw. Face rapidly paling when he deduced the amount of time they needed to get the hell outta the way, Theseus frantically glanced towards the girl. "Oh shit! Quick girls! Jump!" he shouted at them, already leaping into the air using his Sacred Gear to propel himself further via an upward wind current.

Maria was about to unfurl her wings to take flight, until she saw that Mio wasn't moving an inch. "Mio!" she called out the redhead girls name in a fit of panic, seeing that the beast had shifted it's full attention towards her.

By this point, the canine dog had gotten close to Mio who didn't know what to do because of her stunned state and slow reaction speed. All she could do is close her eyes, lower her head and scream. "SIT BOY!" she screamed… while accidentally filling her voice with demonic power.

BAM!

Mio still had her eyes closed for a while, almost scared before noticing how nothing had happened to her, she hadn't fell unconscious nor did she feel any claws or fangs tear her flesh a new one. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw giant paw on the ground just INCHES from her feet. Opening her eyes a bit more, she glanced up and saw the canine was panting at her with its tongue out, looking like a dog.

In confusion, Mio stared dumbly at the situation in front of her while looking as lost as a zombie. "Huh? What just happened?" she asked to nobody in particular while tilting her head sideways. If this were an anime, this would have been a moment where she'd have question marks floating above her head.

"You just told this Cerberus to sit." Theseus, being his self, bluntly told Mio while looking intrigue at her. Taking a glance of the cerberus before to Mio. "I gotta say you must have a natural talent for dogs." He commented on her hidden talent for dogs.

"Uuhhhhh. Th-thanks, I guess?" Mio nervously said to Theseus.

Soon the ones that were holding the canine dog were slammed to the ground, face-first. Not long they began to groan and get out of the dirt.

First was Kuroh who started coughing and spitting dirt from his mouth. "Ugh, this is the last time I'll be ever thinking about getting a dog. I'll remember this." he mutered, glaring at the canine before him with utter contempt.

Next was Vali who had a face covered in mud from being dragged through a lot of it. "I'm never getting a dog." he spat, growling at the humiliation he'd been forced to endure.

Finally, both Michel and Meredith got out of the mud with the doctor helping the auburn haired woman getting up by taking her arm and it's shoulder in his hands and using himself as an anchor to pull her to her feet. Meredith herself looked like crap like the majority of the ones restraining the creature, the woman having had mud spread across her clothes, face and hair as well.

One could tell she was NOT a happy bunny right now.

"Theseu-"

"I told you for the last time woman." He interrupted her, walking straight to Meredith before stopping in front of her. Hands pocketed inside his new coat, Theseus glared down at the woman who glared right back at him. "I don't know where the hell that Cerberus came from, did you not forget I've been out with Mio and Maria this whole time? Look, even those two and Chisato can testify."

Meredith glared at him for a while before shaking her head. "Alright fine, I'll acknowledge that you had nothing to do with this. But that still raises the question..." She glanced at the canine who had lowered its three heads to Mio, the said girl having nervously taken a step forward to reach out and pat its middle snout. The tail was wagging left and right. "Where did this cerberus came from?"

Theseus looked at the dog as well. "I have no idea as well. Maybe its a stray?" He suggested his opinion. "Also, part of me's wondering if this is even a Cerberus at all." From what he'd heard from the supernatural grapevine, that being the Hellsing intelligence network, the common appearance of the Cerberus race was a massive brownish hound with three heads and spiked collars. Close to the typical depictions of the creature really, though one aspect humanity got wrong was the fact there wasn't just one but many Cerberus. Enough to be classified as a race or species rather than a single organism.

One other piece of trivia was that those hounds bred like rabbits when in mating season. Don't ask him how he knew this.

"Like I said, it could be a mutant type." Meredith mused in speculation, still observing the canine that had caused the group so much grief while Theseus, Mio and Maria were away.

Vali walked forward while dusting himself. "Maybe we'll get our answers soon."

Now that the topic had been slowly diverging away, Theseus quickly brought up one aspect he'd yet to learn. "More than that, what the heck happened while we were gone? What's the story there?"

Vali simply pointed his right hand towards the canine who was laying down on the ground flat as a board, as if waiting for some sort of stick to be thrown. "That, is what happened."

"I mean HOW did this all happen? Details, man, details!"

Kuroh walked forward while adjusting his collar. There was still some dirt on him but he managed to get some of it off of him but it would require some laundry work. A lot of laundry work, at that. "It happened 3 hours ago. We were all preparing and adjusting for the future meeting with the Shinto Pantheon that's happening in a couple days. Vali's prepared the prisoner Maria brought in, Meredith made sure there was nothing distracting her, any threats towards her final preparations or anything that would cause any major problems. We double-checked before coming to the conclusion that there was nothing in Kuoh city that pose a threat to us." Kuroh explained to Theseus.

The scarred boy hummed thoughtfully while he glanced over to the source of the current predicament they were in. "That is until that thing appeared?" He questioned, having pointed at the canine beast who began to lay down lazily. Thanks to the lack of danger coming from it, Mio didn't show as much fear and trepidation towards it as before. It almost looked like a normal owner and pet relationship one would see on the street.

Kuroh nodded his head in response, resuming his recounting of the events that had transpired so shortly after the trio had left. "Yes, that thing. At first everything had been normal… but then out of nowhere, Kuroka who had been up to her usual antics trying to get into Vali's pants…" Kuroh pointedly ignored the annoyed glare Vali sent his way at that. "Suddenly began to growl and faced at the front door like the animal her species takes after. We were confused at this abrupt change in behavior until… that thing burst into the room and started to chase Kuroka everywhere throughout the manor and in the garden. Which lands us where we are." he finished his lecture and gestured around him further clarifying the situation.

'Speaking of Kuroka...' Theseus mentally mused, shifting his attention from Kuroh to the said blackette. She was growling of course with her back arched upward from her perch in the tree, refusing to come down despite the threat of her life being ended having passed… for the moment. Yeah the blond hair boy can imagine that its like in an old cartoon show(which he sometimes still watched) Tom and Jerry. Both cat and mouse cause mayhem wherever they went. Though it felt sort of odd imagining a Nekoshou like Kuroka running on all fours while being hounded by a massive hound from hell with apparent pyrokinetic abilities.

Shaking his head while looking around his surrounding, Theseus put his lips together in thought before finally narrowing his gaze to the damaged areas around the courtyard. Raising his hand upward, the male set about activating his Sacred Gear Zenith Tempest, allowing him to manipulate the surrounding earth. As a result, he began making the courtyard repair itself like a time reversal. Debris lifted themselves into the air before falling back into their former positions, being put back together like someone knitting a cushion, whereas the mess around the area rapidly reversed itself. A lot of destruction were being cleared out.

While this took place, the male turned around and faced the rest of the Hellsing group. "This is all I can do, I can only clean the courtyard for now. For the building itself and the rest…" He glanced up at the ruined manor. "I'm not sure if my powers could repair them, and even if I do I doubt I'll be conscious afterward from the energy overconsumption." He explained, and before Vali could call BS knowing that the male had huge reserves thanks to his training, Theseus elaborated on this point. "Normally this wouldn't be an issue given my vast reserves, but I can sense a plethora of residue demonic energy saturating the damaged areas. I tried to repair them normally, but I had to expend more energy than I'm comfortable with to do even 10%. Don't want to risk any potential side effects since I feel several distinct differences between the demonic energy of a Devil and this hound's version. Its best to either call in construction workers or any supernatural workers to repair the mansion."

Meredith growled in frustration but did not rebuke Theseus. Her agitation kept increasing due to the fact that the diplomatic meeting with the Shintos was coming up soon, and she had had everything prepared. Now, it's all gone, destroyed because of that mutt.

While ignoring his superior's rising distress, Theseus continued. "For now, the rest of you will have to bunk in my underground floor. I'll create extra rooms and buy some furniture but for now I'll have to begin constructing those rooms."

Meredith sighed and closed her eyes, massaging her aching temples at the prospect of not getting proper sleep for the time being, before nodding her head in acceptance. "I understand Theseus." She declared. Collateral damage like this was indeed an unfortunate happening, but at least it would eventually get fixed. She should be thankful that none of her subordinates got hurt or worse killed. The thought of her comrades falling under her sent multiple discomforting shudders down her spine.

Even so, the woman really wished she could go for some tea right now, but unfortunately her Victorian tea set was also destroyed by that mutt.

At the thought of being forced to share a room with someone, Vali paled slightly before he quickly proceeded to intervene. "Fuck that, I'm bunking in with you." the silver-haired boy said to his blonde companion. "I'm not going to be waiting for some rooms to be finished. It would take too long, so I'm bunking with you."

Kuroh adjust his collar and took a step forward. "I will be keeping an eye on Vali in case he makes a mess when he's around you. Knowing him he'll probably do something worse beyond my expectations."

"Hhaaaa?!" Vali slammed his forehead at Kuroh as they both tried pushing against each other like rhino's locking their horns together. "Who gave you permission to keep an eye on me, asshole?" he spat.

"Me!" Kuroh spat back. "I don't need to remind you the last time you weren't in check you destroyed many hotel rooms that costed millions of bucks to repair!" he bellowed, recalling the shit they got given by their superiors because of those very incidents.

"That only happened twice a few years ago!"

"Few years?! That was half a year ago! Your brain must have become too damaged from all those punches in the head you took!"

"Oh yeah?! How about the time you were almost seduced by a female vampire that was wearing a maid unifor-"

"I WAS COMPLETELY CAUGHT OFF GUARD!" Kuroh had a red face appearing on his face while trying to forget how that female vampire almost seduced him. He didn't know she was a vampire, and what was worse was that at the time she had almost succeeded and drained him dry had it not been for Vali and Theseus catching on to the situation and bailing him out.

"HAHA!" Vali laughed and pointed at Kuroh in mock. "So you don't deny and admit that you have a fetish for maid th-"

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Having enough, Kuroh jumped on Vali and began to brawl once again. Forming their usual cartoony dustball.

The blond hair boy shook his head at the sight, a hand over his masked face… though he also had a hidden grin on his lips. Amusement flowed through him from how Kuroh kept trying to deny having a thing for maids. It wasn't hard for him to figure it out his fetish because come on, he always acted like a butler and its not hard for anyone know what butlers like.

It wasn't long before he finally had enough, so he decided to finally put an end to their squabbling…

BOOM!

…by commanding the Earth near him to form a cube below him while also conjuring stairs as well to Theseus' underground floor.

Just when Meredith who'd gotten the unsaid message began to step towards the underground stairs…

"My, quite the commotion we've got going on here."

"?!"

'Oh, what the fuck now?' At this point, Theseus was really beginning to hate surprises. The male gritted his teeth in agitation, as he proceeded to glance towards a space in the south western corner of the yard. Upon doing so, he saw what looked like a black-colored portal open up on an undamaged section of the wall, and from it a pair of figures proceeded to emerge from it. Those figures stepped out of the portal and into the yard, revealing themselves to the rest of the group.

"Huh? Oh, hey Hijikata."

"Mom?!"

Maria called out in shock as a certain petite succubus mother and her escort stepped out from the portal, which closed itself behind them. That petite Succubus, Sheila, smiled calmly and warmly with a matching motherly glint behind her purple irises.

Since their last meeting, it appeared that the woman had had a wardrobe change since now instead of a silverish dress meant for nobility, Shelia now wore a dark purple shoulderless dress that wrapped around her neck, a dark purple cawl over her shoulders alongside the bicep-lenngth purple gloves. The dress split itself apart beneath the crotch, exposing her pink stocking-clad legs that ended in white high heels to give her some additional height. Beside her, Hijikata wore his usual getup which resulted in them providing the image of a pclassy lady being escorted by her bodyguard to a party for the social elite.

It wasn't long before Maria got out of her stunned state though, while part of her found it strange that she could now look down at her mother given their newfound height difference. "What are you doing here, mom?" she asked, wondering why her mother had arrived at this point in time.

Sheila aimed a warm smile at her daughter while Hijikata looked around, wincing at the damage that had been done to the place. "Why shouldn't I see my own daughter? Is it because your keeping stuff from me?" she questioned her daughter who began trying to stammer a response out, before the older Succubus looked up and wound up seeing the destruction inflicted upon Hellsing's stronghold. Rather than further teasing Maria, she figured it'd be best to get straight to the point and then later tease Maria.

"Mom!" she called out at her mother in embarrassment, already having had enough and wanting to go to her room and try out some more of her new outfits. What, girls usually come home with multiple outfits from their shopping sprees, no judging!

"Hmhmhmhmhm." Shelia chuckled under her mouth from Maria's embarassed expression. Adjusting herself slightly, the older Succubus glanced to the rest of the group and began to speak. "Well anyway the reason why I came here was because of I sensed an outburst of demonic energy coming across the city. So I thought I come and check, and of course Hijikata here acted like a gentleman, escorting me here." she explained.

Theseus made a stone cube to sit on, having accepted that he would be staying out late at this point. "Well your in luck, because that demonic energy outburst came from that." He replied, having raised his hand to point it at the Cerberus creature which was still laying on the floor with Mio petting its stomach. The girl had at this point lost all of her previous fear of the creature judging from how she cooed like a mother hen to her baby chicks.

Sheila nodded her head in acceptance. "Oh I see, a mutant cerberus species then. Well I was worried all for a sudden but it seems there is no problem at all. It seems to be my imagination. There is nothing for me to be worri…ed about." She slowly stopped her sentence when she slowing shift her attention to the canine with a look of realization. Widening her eyes and became pale all of a sudden.

Maria became worried when her mother all of a sudden stopped and became pale. "Mom? Is there something matter with you?" she asked her mother.

Sheila shakily pointed at the canine. "Th-th-th-th-th-thats…..thats….thats….." She struggled to speak, couldn't form a sentence due to the intense and sheer fear she's displaying right now.

Theseus narrowed his eyes. It seemed Maria's mother knew something about what this canine was due to her look of realization and fear she's displaying. "What is it woman? Speak up already! We don't have time to hear your stuttering." He rudely shouted to Sheila with a tick mark on his forehead.

Upon hearing this, an angry pout formed on the formerly petite Succubus' lips. "Theseus!" Maria called indignantly, not liking the rudeness he directed towards her mother.

Fortunetly Sheila managed to form a complete sentence. "That can't be here! Why is Karanak in the mortal realm?" She exclaimed with fear on her tone.

The blond hair boy lifted his head. "Karanak?" he glanced at the canine who's name was revealed to be Karanak. "Thats what that dog's called? Seems pretty gothic." He commented on its name.

The canine raised its head when it heard its name being called out, making Sheila step back in fear and almost tripped if Hijikata hadn't caught her. He did so by wrapping an arm around her shoulders from behind. "Calm down, woman. Your gonna get a heart attak if you keep acting like a scardey cat."

Sheila took many deep breathes, calming herself and regaining her control over her emotions. Such an unladylike act was far from someone of her calibre. "Thank you Hijikata I appreciate it. Forgive me for my outburst of emotions." she thanked the former vice-general.

"Ehh it wasn't big of a deal." he shrugged his shoulders to her before glancing at Karanak who returned to laying down, but with Mio attention when she heard what the creature name was. "Now as for this 'Karanak' thing…I can imagine you know what this creature is, don't you?" he asked Sheila about the giant red canine.

The older succubus interlocked her fingers and nodded her head. Her expression looked a mix of grim and downright traumatic, like she'd seen something that would scar her for the rest of her life. "Yes, I do… unfortunately…" she responded to Hijikata.

Theseus looked at the creature Karanak before to Sheila, figuring out whats the relationship between her and the red canine. "I'll be guessing it has something to do with Mio's father?" he simply guessed to Sheila.

His guess was correct when Sheila once again nods her head while lowering her head. "Yes, it does." her head was still lowered before lifting it up and spoke in a grim tone, explaining what Karanak is. "Karanak….is the personal hellhound of Satan itself. It is also known as the Hound of Vengeance, Endless Hunter and Talon of the Black Throne. It commands an entire legion's worth of creatures called 'Flesh Hounds'. Karanak hunts Satans enemies all across the world, no matter where they hide or where they go, Satan's Hound will find them even if they were at the center of the earth. There have been confirmed reports where Karanak tracks prey across entire dimensions, such as the du'at, pantheon pocket dimensions, nowhere was safe and nowhere was outside his reach. Satan uses Karanak on those who incur his wrath and those who defy the dark lord, Karanak practically embody's the demon god's vengeance. Not even some gods survived. Whenever its not hunting, Karanak prowls the shadows of the Dark God's throne room, keeping guard over Satans throne."

Theseus widened his eyes at the revelation of what Karanak is. He shifted his attention from the lazy dog on the ground to Mio also looked surprised at this revelation. 'So it wasn't a coincidence that it obeyed Mio, it probably recgonized her due to her lineage and power she unintentionally displayed.' He deduced, shifting his attention from Mio to Sheila.

Seeing this, the older woman continued to speak. "It shouldn't be here. It was supposed to be at Satan's throne room, guarding the black throne." she explained, shaking her head almost in refusal to acknowledge the sight of Satan's personal hellhound before her despite reality slapping her in the face.

The blond hair boy brain processed for a while as the brain cell worked in millions of wats. It wasn't long until he made a deduction. "It must've been when Satan opened the portal to the hell dimension." he remarked, which caught everyones attention. He placed his hand under his chin while remembering. "You said its an endless hunter correct?" using his knowledge and experience from his many years hunting vampires when he was still in london, Theseus formed a theory that he soon shared with everyone. "It must've smelled Mio's scent when the portal had been opened by Satan and left the Umbral plains. My guess: Karanak was waiting for Satan or someone from his bloodline. He must have been tired of waiting for a millennium for his master's return." Putting his hand down and had a serious expression on his face. "That is my deduction at least."

Mio looked at her father's hound for a while, running her gaze down it's form with a newfound perspective. While she never knew that this dog belonged to Satan, she perhaps could have guessed this to be the case since she could guess that no Cerberus would EVER look as demonic as this. Only a twisted being like him would keep something as horrific as this creature as a pet.

Though this presented another dilemma for the group to solve: what should they do with the canine? For one, Mio being Karanak's owner would finally prove once and for all that she belonged to Satan's lineage. She wonders if she even wanted to keep him or give him away due to the fact the creature belonged to her father.

However, her eyes flashed with nostalgia when she remembered Theseus inspiration speech from before she hardened her eyes. She won't back down or hate her own blood just because it gave her so much pain and misery, she would be a fool if she would since it'd be essentially hating a gun for functioning like it was made to.

The scarred boy saw her expression and his brow arched, a frown etching itself onto his lips. "Are you sure about this Mio? Because if this happens, people will target you more due to the fact you are what people assumed to be his descendent. Your lineage and Karanak would make it more tempting for other people to target you. Especially from the church and angels." he asked her, wanting to make sure the redhead knew what she was dealing with. This move would invalidate any attempt from her to run from her life in the supernatural world, for it would eternally bind her to it's workings.

But yet, in csharp contrast to her previous demeanor a confident scoff escaped Mio's lips as she gently patted the canine's stomach. "Please, as if I'm scared of them. I'm not going to hide or run away anymore. I won't be scared any longer. Instead I will face them head on, I'll deal with those who try to mess with me." she promised the male, and more importantly to herself like she were swearing an oath of fealty to a lord or something. At that point she stood tall and gazed downwards, allowing her hair to shadow her eyes "And if they do…"

It was thanks to sensing her rising energy, Karanak immediately got up. Standing on its four legs before showing is teeth and growling.

GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Almost as if acting in accordance with this action, Mio turned around and glanced at Theseus with her sharp eyes that glowed red, Theseus finding it quite familiar to what he and the rest of Hellsing did from time to time. "They will regret from ever incurring my wrath against them."

Theseus stood silent for a while, before crossing his arms and aiming a fanged smile at her. His eyes also started glowing green in response to the dark malice starting to radiate from his form. "We'll see about that…Satanic Queen."