Living Catalyst

While the three new Servants were getting used to their surroundings, Seth was observing Fujimaru with raised eyebrows. The said person chose to conveniently look the other way, although his body language gave him in.

The Egyptian God felt that the reason why he summoned them was that they had a certain... vibe to them, for lack of a better word. Be that as it might, he wouldn't offer any input. If the youth believed they would do the work, questioning him wouldn't counterproductive.

"We have answered your summon as per your request, Master. I as well as these two shall do our utmost to ensure your victory." Vlad took the 'leader' position in a natural way. As a former King, he was used to it. That didn't mean others were fond of that trait, though.

"In spite of our similarities, I would appreciate it if you didn't speak like we are your subordinates, Vlad." Carmilla looked to her fellow vampire with not-so-hidden displeasure. Her only comfort in this situation was that she finally left that icy prison called Chaldea. She was getting tired of using the Simulation Room just to get a scenery change.

The Impaler frowned when she mentioned his... kinship with her. He had an absolute distaste for that legend that warped his valiant figure into a monster, and he did not like the way the Countess reminded him of it on every occasion she had. However, he endured since he was in the presence of his Master. If possible, he wanted to avoid making a scene unbefitting of someone of his caliber and status.

"I hope this doesn't take too long..." Meanwhile, Medea was sighing at the side. She came here to do her job, but the companions she arrived with were making a circus show. She just wished this was worth her time as she had left a half-finished figurine of Stheno and Euryale together only to come to the boy's aid.

Ritsuka coughed to dispel any further distraction before addressing the new arrivals. "Thank you for coming here, guys. We will need all the help that we can get."

"Right... I already informed them of the things you have heard from Jekyll. There is no need for a briefing at the moment, so you can go and explore as you like. This goes without saying, but you should be careful out there." Romani appeared as a hologram through Mash's watch, wasting no time to speak.

"Is Asterios ready? The moment I summon him we will all be ready to go. We'll be exploring different zones to cover more ground. With Vlad, Carmilla, Medea, Mash, and possibly Mordred banded together there are few things that could pose a problem." The last part was meant for Romani. After all, he did promise him he would look after Fujimaru. However, the youth had to evolve as a Master by fighting his own battles without him acting as a nanny.

The Doctor naturally understood, so he approved of the idea. With nothing more to add, Seth went ahead and placed himself in front of the shield. The three Servants made way for him so that he could get to it. As they were doing so, however, Carmilla shot an icy-cold look at him while hiding her neck unconsciously. She had a vivid memory of her death in Orleans, and it was not a pleasant one.

Seth noticed this but made no comment or sign that he was concerned by it. He simply focused on the summoning process to bring his Servant there. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he used his Command Spells to trace back the Master-Servant connection between them.

The shield started glowing again, and not long after, a towering behemoth manifested itself in the room. His head was gracing the ceiling, so he crouched down a bit to avoid causing problems.

"I... Arrived... Master." This time he didn't roar when he introduced himself, probably thinking he would incommode the people present if he did so.

"Good to see you here, Asterios. You can enter Spirit Form if you want." At his suggestion, the Minotaur nodded before disappearing in blue mottes of light.

Once the process was over, Mash went to pick up her shield. Now everyone was ready to depart without any trouble. Meanwhile, Fujimaru turned to his fellow Master. "If we are going to go different ways, which side are you going to take?"

"According to Jekyll, we are on the east side of London. I plan to go to the west. That place should be unexplored for the most part considering neither Morder nor Lancer went too far from this location." The chance of meeting unknowns was higher there as well, so that was a plus for him.

"Then we will remain on the east side, and possibly go a bit farther than what Saber patrols usually take her to. We may not find anything, but at least we'd be able to clear a bit more terrain." Seth nodded at that. If they wanted to discover something new, sticking to the area the Knight covered wouldn't help, so deciding to extend the said area was not a bad idea at all.

Some moments after that, the group of five—seven if you counted Vlad and Asterios, who were in Spirit Form, exited the room to meet the rest. Jekyll and Khronos were in the same position they found them the first time the Chaldeans entered this place: sitting on a sofa drinking tea.

Mordred and Lancer were sitting on two nearby chairs, border out of their mind going by their expressions. Hearing the sound of the door opening, they all turned to the new additions.

"Huh... a Witch, isn't it?" The Knight of Treachery looked with raising eyebrows at Medea. She could recognize their kind almost immediately, and saying she didn't have a good impression of them would be an understatement.

"What of it?" Medea instantly frowned. She would be dumb if she didn't become aware of the hidden mocking behind the blonde's words. The Princes of Colchis also took notice of the white-haired man, who, unlike the rest of the group, was giving her a sudden bad feeling.

"No... nothing." Mordred refused to elaborate as she looked the other way, trying to make it look like she wasn't interested at all.

"...I will be going." Knowing this was going to become a battlefield of words, Seth opted for getting the hell out of that place, all the while the Minotaur was following him in Spirit Form.

"Are you taking only one Servant with you? It does not seem to be the smartest decision." As Asterios didn't have the Presence Concealment Skill, it was easy for Khronos to detect him even if he wasn't visible.

"You don't have to worry about me. Better be worrying about you and your back problems. That's why Lancer is staying here to take care of you." He didn't bother to pause in his steps as he responded to his fellow God.

"I am not as weak as you think. If you so desire, she can accompa—"

*Slam*

Before Khronos could finish his phrase, Seth was already out in the streets. The God of Time shook his head while Lancer frowned at his action. "Is it me or am I being avoided quite blatantly?"

Fujimaru averted his gaze to the side as a weak chuckle escaped his mouth. Meanwhile, the white-haired man hummed a little. "Who knows? He is probably scared of you."

"Scared of me? Why?" The blonde-haired woman took interest in hearing the answer. She might have had some suspicions, but listening from another source would be valuable.

"Simple. In his youth he—"

"Oh! Look at the time! Sorry I got distracted with something. So, ready to go yet?" Romani appeared all of a sudden, interrupting Khronos once again. The Divine being knew it was intentional, yet instead of getting angry, he decided to remain silent and make no further comment.

Wanting to take advantage of the Doctor's timely arrival to dispel the awkwardness, Mash turned to Saber and asked, "R-right! Are you ready to go, Sir Mordred?"

"Yeah, whatever. Ignore the ramblings of the goat-haired weirdo. He is about to kick the bucket anyway." With that said, Mordred stood up and walked up to the door. The others followed her silently, although some snickers could be heard among them.

When they were gone, Jekyll released a sigh of exasperation. "They sure make things lively. Though I have to say, I do enjoy this quietness once in a while. I hope you are not offended by her words. She doesn't really mean it... for the most part."

"Do not worry. Time will put everyone in their place." Khronos simply waved the matter off. If there was something that characterized time, it was patience.

"I am correct in assuming you won't keep telling me whatever you were going to say before being interrupted, right?" Lancer focused on what was important to her. Unfortunately, the white-haired man would disappoint her.

A small smile of amusement crept its way into his face. "It wouldn't be fun if I did. Everything will be answered in time."

"Please stop with those horrible puns..."

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'I have never been happier about my speed to escape until today.' Seth thought with tiredness leaking through his internal voice. Instead of just walking through the streets, he decided that jumping from building to building was a better option, at least until he was far away from Mordred's patrol zone.

"Why... we... ran?" Asterios' voice sounded next to him. Once they exited the apartment, he materialized in full.

"It's best to avoid their shenanigans if possible. I am sure you have first-hand experience seeing as you stay with Euryale and Stheno regularly." A drop of sweat fell down the Minotaur's cheek when he heard his answer as he weakly nodded. Being the target of their pranks was not a good thing at all.

Seth spoke no more. He kept leading the way while Asterios silently followed. Along the way, they saw many Homunculus, Automata, and Robots, or Helter Skelter as Jekyll liked to call them. There were even some floating Grimoaires that wandered aimlessly through the fog.

However, no matter how far they went, there were no signs of Servants at all. Knowing that if they continued like this there wouldn't be any results. The Usurper descended together with Asterios to inspect things in closer detail.

"Are your instincts telling you something?" This city was like a labyrinth in a sense, and since they could only make use of their sixth sense, his Servant could know something.

"Eyes... many... observe us. Bones... flesh... sacrifice... out of... us." Even though he was already aware of it, the confirmation was really helpful. People sacrificed virgin maidens for him to devour in the form of a crocodile, while Asterios received sacrifices as well from Athenians thanks to Minos' retribution for the death of his son. It was easy matters for them to recognize the nature of this place.

"So you noticed as well, huh?" The Egyptian God crouched down, running a hand through the cold floor. Small, almost unnoticeable splashes of red could be observed there. 'I should be able to prevent it if it's a ritual to summon a dead... thing. However, I need to do it while it's incomplete or in the process of completion. Otherwise... I fear we will get some nasty surprises.'

"Master... invoke wind... disperse... fog?" Asterios' question brought him out of his musings. Berserker was a little confused on why he didn't get rid of the mist surrounding them. It would make things easier.

"I can't. Using wind strong enough to push the fog away enough for us to use our senses in a useful area would be like shooting ourselves in the foot. The properties of the mist wouldn't disappear into thin air, they would be intensified. Chances are that the fog would break the windows with the help of my wind and finish killing everyone that is hiding." He did think about doing it before, but he quickly shot down the idea for the reasons stated above.

Seth knew this wasn't a fairy tale as Romani painted it to be to the kids. That everyone who lost their lives would return. No, they would not. The only way of that happening was if the World were to reset this Singularity as it did with Okeanos thanks to the presence of a Beast. 'I don't know if there is going to be another one here, but I don't want to become one just to save a few lives I could have saved without acting stupidly.'

"I... see." Asterios understood the reasoning, so he didn't comment further.

"Well, we have company, let's make quick work of this and keep exploring." Just as he said that, numerous Automata and Helter Skelter appeared from the corner of the streets.

Looking above, he noticed the natural climate of this place. 'I wonder...'

The Kingslayer summoned his spear as his Divinity activated. Out of nowhere, the dark but pacific sky began to tremble with the crack of thunder.

Pointing his weapon toward the clouds, Seth manifested lightning in them. They danced wildly in a variety of red, black, and yellow.

The Minotaur retreated a few steps to stand beside next to his Master. He didn't want to get caught in the attack, but he also didn't want to cower behind.

'Heaven's strike.' Seth swung his weapon down, causing his attack to finally hit the ground. Lightning fell multiple times across the streets on the incoming enemies. The way they hit the ground made it seem like a laser was moving through the road and pulverizing everything that stood in its way.

As they were mechanical beings, there were no screams, and even if they weren't, it would be difficult to hear them with the booming sound of thunder.

Berserker observed everything in awe. It was strange, yet he couldn't deny that this destruction was... beautiful.

Sadly for him, as with everything beautiful, it was ephemeral. Seth stopped his attack barely a few seconds after it started, not seeing any reason to continue senselessly.

'As I thought. I barely put any effort into that attack, and yet it caused a good amount of havoc. After the restriction on my Fire Authority in Okeanos, getting a boost in my Storm one again feels quite nice.' Once the light show was over, Seth was able to see his handiwork. The greenish-gray streets were now black, or at least what remained of them.

There was not even a single mechanical body intact, and even finding parts of them scattered around was hard. He was satisfied, although the part where he knew that he couldn't abuse this lest he obliterated a building with people in it put a stop to his good mood. At least the streets were wide enough to allow something to be done.

However, as if the World itself wanted to mock him, lightning began to converge in the fog in front of them. This time, though, he was not the cause, at least not the direct one.

"What is happening...?" Seth narrowed his eyes, dropping his relaxed posture and switching to a battle-ready one. Asterios did the same. His axes were positioned in a way that he could defend his Master from a sudden attack.

The lightning intensified as the space around it distorted. Both didn't have to wait long for whatever was happening to make itself clear. After a big flash of light, a figure manifested in front of them.

The fog was hiding most of its features, so they couldn't discern much of the person. By its build, though, it should be a man. He? seemed to have a pair of animal ears as well, but that was as much as they could recognize.

Out of nowhere, that person manifested a gun on its hand and fired at Seth without hesitation. The said person did nothing as Asterios blocked the projectile with one of his axes. Nevertheless, the act itself was enough to tell him that he was an enemy.

Just as Seth was about to dash at his enemy, he spat blood from his mouth. Confused, he looked down only to notice a hole in his chest area. 'How...?'

It didn't make sense and going by the shocked look of his Servant, he thought the same. Asterios had certainly blocked the bullet, yet despite that, he still got wounded.

When he looked back at the newcomer, he was already gone. The Minotaur was about to unleash his Noble Phantasm to capture that person but Seth stopped him. Coughing the rest of the blood in his lungs, he shook his head. "Forget it..."

Until they knew in full the capacity of the enemy Servant, revealing Asterios' Noble Phantasm would be bad. Especially because that guy wasn't the only one they had to be concerned about. Fortunately for him, his regeneration activated, healing his injury in some minutes. However, for some reason, a sudden headache assaulted him. He could keep going even with it, though. That's why he didn't let it bother him that much.

Still, there were matters more concerning than his physical health. 'The lightning... it acts as a catalyst? Moreover, it doesn't bind the summoned Servant to the person who used it. This place keeps getting more mysterious with each thing I discover about it...'

"Let's go. We have much to do. If we face that Servant again, don't block his bullets, avoid them all. We should kill him instantly were the chance to present itself. This fog is already pissing me off."

"Yes... sorry..." Asterios wanted to apologize for his inability to protect Seth, but the person in question patted his arm in reassurance. "Don't worry, big guy. I should have been more careful as well. I think so little of guns that I seem to have forgotten the danger comes from the people that wield them, not from the weapon itself. I guess you learn something new every day."

Soon he would also learn why this fog was also called demonic...