183 Into The Mist

The group of three opened their eyes, taking a moment to adjust themselves to working conditions after the Rayshifting process was over. This time, they didn't bring anyone to accompany them.

It had been something Romani, Da Vinci, and Seth had decided on after some talk. Instead of bringing Servants for the sake of bringing them, it was best to analyze the situation from within and then choose who to call from Chaldea.

In the meantime, Seth would be their attacking source while Mash would be their defensive one. There was no point in making Fujimaru waste Magical Energy on someone not suited for the job.

Unfortunately for the black-haired man, Fou had come along this time as well. The little squirrel was looking around, taking in the view. When he noticed Seth staring at him with a flat stare, he gave him a dismissive glance before returning to sightseeing.

"Hello? Can you hear me loud and clear?" Dr. Roman's voice made them all focus on Mash's wrist, where a small watch was projecting a window with Romani's figure in it. This watch was one of the things Seth had helped Da Vinci to create. He and Fujimaru had one as well, just to avoid a repetition of Okeanos' incident where a bad lapse of judgment almost cost them everything.

"Yes, we can, Doctor. Were there any abnormalities with the Rayshift?" The Shielder Servant asked while taking in the sight of London. It was... something. A perpetual night with no ending in sight, and fog that didn't allow people to see more than a few hundred meters ahead.

"Not at all. Everything seems perfect, at least for now. But this fog..." Romani sounded a little pensive and even worried, something that caught the attention of the lilac-haired girl.

"The fog? What with it? We should be around the times of the Industrial Revolution. Isn't it normal?" She asked while moving her head to the side.

"It's filled to the brim with Magical Energy. Such concentration should be like inhaling poisonous gas. Isn't that right, Romani?" It was Seth the one who answered, and the orange-haired man followed up.

"Exactly. How are you holding up, Fujimaru? Any strange symptoms?" The youth shook his head negatively. Just in case, he checked things like the color of his skin or if he had trouble breathing.

"No, there aren't. I feel just fine." He too was puzzled. They were making a big deal out of it going by the worried looks of Romani and Mash, so he understood that he SHOULD be feeling something bad, but that was not the case. Naturally, he was happy that it was like that and not the other way.

"You should be careful, though. That fog is giving me a bad feeling, so you would do well in stay far away from the denser parts." It was unnatural, that much he knew. Even so, he felt that there was something more to it, although he couldn't quite place what.

"I agree. You would do well in looking for a place to take refuge from it just in case. We can always start trying to solve this Singularity after we have somewhere to return to." Dr. Roman gave them a suggestion, one that they accepted without any protests.

"It is strange, though..." Mash looked around as if searching for something before returning to look at the image of the orange-haired man above her watch. "I don't see anyone besides us. Do you pick some signals, Doctor?"

"Now that you mention it... there is nothing at all. Seth, your senses usually catch more paranormal things. Do you feel anything out of place?" Something was wrong here. Romani felt that this was resembling a horror movie more with each passing second.

"Don't word it like that. Anyhow, I have something solid and theories. Which one would you like to hear?" Only a few minutes had passed since he arrived, so he couldn't offer much.

"Both would be good. It's best to hear all the scenarios to be as prepared as possible." Dr. Roman wasn't the type to just dismiss a theory just because it was unlikely to happen. Even if it turned out to be something impossible to believe, it would still be something that would help them be open-minded about likely threats.

"Hmm... My guess is that fog is caused by a Servant or at least part of it is. I am sure you arrived at the same conclusion. Servants are Magical Energy given form, so detecting them in a fog that is filled with it is difficult unless they get close. It might also be my imagination, but I can feel it changing its Magical Energy signature. In any case, unless we get rid of it, spotting Servants in advance will be next to impossible."

"And as for what you know with certainty?" Romani further asked, causing the Kingslayer to look at the ground.

"As for what I know with certainty... Someone was here before. A human female to be exact. In fact, Mash is standing where her corpse used to be. I can smell the blood under her feet." Shielder yelped and quickly got away from the location. She quickly looked at the place where she had been before but saw nothing. Noticing this, Seth decided to elaborate.

"There are no traces, but I am a hundred percent sure. I don't know if the citizens are hiding in fear of the killer or if they have already been killed, but what I do know is that someone with too much time in their hands had made a mess of this Singularity."

'Not to mention... something else is mixed with this fog... but what is it?'

"Well, that's comforting... I could do without all the creepy stuff, though..." The Japanese Master scratched his cheeks while a drop of sweat dripped down his face. No amount of supernatural fights against heroes of myth would make him fear this sort of thing any less.

Seth rolled his eyes before tensing a bit. Without warning, he summoned his spear and positioned himself in front of the two. They didn't need an explanation to know what was happening as they had faced numerous situations like these in the past.

"I was going to warn you, but it seems that isn't necessary. Be careful, they might be hostiles." After saying that, Romani stopped transmitting his image, although he still kept communications active to know what would be the outcome.

The sound of clanking armor and two pairs of footsteps were heard from beyond the mist. What started as something invisible soon became outlines, and then a few seconds later the incoming figures were revealed to Chaldea.

Seth immediately recognized one of them. There was one thought that came to his mind at the moment. 'Shit. It's that insane woman.'

Both individuals were women. One was clad in silver from head to toe, wearing complete plate armor with a breastplate, greaves, spaulders from where horn-like protrusions extended backward, and gauntlets. The armor was trimmed with red markings while the sword in her hands shared a similar color scheme to the metal covering her. She wasn't wearing a helmet, so they could easily tell she was female. She had blonde hair tied into a ponytail and a face that made them instantly think she was a different version of Artoria.

The other one was a tall woman who had a youthful appearance with bright long blonde hair and blue eyes. Part of her hair was worn in a braid that fell on her chest. Same as her companion, she wore an ornate set of silver plate armor which consisted of a chest and neck piece, two pauldrons with three spiked protrusions each, a circular plate around the waist, gauntlets, greaves, and large round elbow guards. Different from her companion, she was not holding any weapon in her hands.

"Who the hell are you guys? I don't remember seeing anyone with your ugly faces around these parts." The short woman asked with a frown on her face, which only intensified when she saw Mash's shield.

"You are not particularly pleasant to the eyes either..." Seth was quick to retort, causing the short woman's eyebrows to twitch.

Before she could lash out, her companion put a hand in front of her, stopping the knight from insulting the black-haired man's entire family line.

With a calm voice that betrayed no emotion, she asked the same question her companion did, albeit with more decorum. "May we know who you are? And if you were brought here by the fog?"

"Brought here by the fog? What do you mean?" Mash asked with a clueless look on her face. Before she could inquire further, though, a strange sound came from the alleyway beside them.

Everyone looked in that direction only to see a white and round object spinning at fast speeds at the nearest target, who just happened to be Seth. After making sure to have cursed his luck for the recent developments, the Kingslayer dashed at his foe, kicking it into a nearby wall and then following up by throwing his spear at it, impaling the... thing that had just attacked him.

Everything was over in a second, but it didn't surprise him considering that the enemy wasn't particularly powerful. He went to retrieve his spear and at the same time see who was the one that initiated the assault.

It was clear that both women recognized it, but Mash and Fujimaru did not. The Egyptian God grabbed his spear with one hand while the other went directly to the neck of the dead creature. He turned its head from side to side, taking in every single detail. A frown soon marred his face at noticing something about it. "They experimented on you, huh? Good job holding up. I authorize you to pass on."

The creature, who looked like a deformed white humanoid began to turn into dust and disappear after his quiet mutter, not before leaving his killer with a quiet and ghostly "Thank you".

Seth then retracted his spear that was stuck in the wall, turning to face the Chaldeans and group of knights a few seconds after. The hands of the taller woman were twitching, grasping empty air. He cursed inwardly once he noticed this. 'Why do I keep meeting warmongers...'

"What was that? I have never seen it before." Fujimaru asked with confusion as he approached Seth all the while keeping an eye out for another attack from a random direction, something the black-haired man praised mentally. The kid was finally learning.

Mash was following closely behind with more of a troubled look than a confused one.

"That was a Homunculus. A mass-produced one at that." Seth kept his answer short and concise. He also didn't say what he discovered about them—that they used to be humans. The most reasonable possibility was that this one was a London citizen before being transformed into that thing. And speaking about London citizens, now that he was near one of the buildings, he was able to finally sense some life forms inside. 'Although detecting their fear is not as helpful as doing so by smell or Magical Energy reading alone...'

"An artificial human, right? Could this be the work of a Servant?" Fujimaru further asked. The chance of being a Magus was there, but he didn't think even people like them would be sending those things to attack civilians when the world was ending right before their eyes. Thinking about it more clearly, maybe they would...

"Calling these abominations humans, even if you include artificial, is being too generous. Witchcraftian atrocities would be a most fitting term for them." The weaponless blonde spoke with a neutral face, although a small tint of disgust leaked through her voice. When she saw the lightning beginning to course through her companion's sword, she shook her head, wanting to convey that she was not speaking about her. It seemed she caught on to that, as the lightning disappeared as fast as it came. Shielder didn't catch the sign, though. She only stayed with her words, something that caused her to flinch and tense; going as far as to take a step back and making herself smaller.

Noticing this, Fou quietly came next to her and began to lick her legs as a way to cheer her up. The lilac-haired girl looked down as a faint smile crossed her face. She picked up her furry friend before placing him on her shoulders where she began to nuzzle against her cheek.

"We think it's a damn Servant the one creating these spinning yo-yos too. The fucker doesn't seem to get tired of sending them after us." It was the shorter woman who spoke. She still acted like some kind of thug, but at least now she didn't show any hostilities. Her guard was still raised, though. She had confirmed they weren't with their initial enemies, but that didn't mean they couldn't be new ones either.

"Are these the only things you can find here?" Seth asked as he placed his spear on his shoulders. He preferred to focus on the important things than to throw sarcastic comments her way. The desire was there, though.

"No, they are not. There are also robots and automata. We haven't encountered any human soldier yet, so we can discard them from our enemies' forces." The taller blonde informed them calmly. Fujimaru gained a glint in his eyes at the mention of a robot. He wanted to see them...

"What about Servants? Have you met them?" Machines weren't a problem for him, so he was quick to dismiss them as a threat. What mattered were the real troublemakers.

"Yeah, only one so far. Bastard is slippery, but we can't remember shit about our fights. They must have some stupid Skill capable of messing with our heads. Anyway, I am Saber, Mordred. What about you, guys?" The scowl she had at speaking about her enemy soon turned into a half-smile as she introduced herself at them.

"Mordred? Isn't that Artoria's son...?" Ritsuka whispered with a hand on his chin. Thankfully, Saber didn't hear him, or he would be in for a lot of trouble.

"My name is Mash, and I am a Demi-Servant. Senpai here is one of the last Masters of Chaldea. As for him..." Shielder gestured to the black-haired man, not knowing if he wanted to use his real name or not.

"Seth. Call me however you want." He didn't bother to hide his identity anymore, so what was the point in using false names.

"Huh... I see. Well, I have no idea who you are!" Her answer caused Fujimaru to snicker silently, while Seth just gave her a flat stare.

"Your mother does." The Egyptian God took pleasure in seeing how her face quickly transformed into a rage-filled one. Even though he said he wouldn't be throwing jabs at Mordred; that was before he learned what he had to learn.

"What did you say?!"

"That you are so fast."

"Ehem... I prefer to keep my True Name hidden, but you may address me as Lancer for now." The taller woman didn't wish to disclose her identity, something the others didn't have a problem with.

Mordred calmed down, believing her hearing was failing him, and left it at that. "Well, the shield girl and the frail-looking boy follow close to me. Pansy boy, you cover the back with Lancer."

Not bothering to hear any protests, she marched forward.

The Chaldeans exchanged glances before following after her. The youth was a bit confused, though. 'She still didn't tell us where we are heading to...'