Fleishig

What awaited Chaldea was a world of damp darkness. A network of narrow and wide passages that sprawled underneath the Capitol like a nervous system. Wear and tear was evident in these halls, as were various stains of deterioration and detritus. It was a stark contrast to the polished dystopia of the surface.

Marco had generously donated a gas lamp to the cause, with Guillemot holding it ahead with one hand while the other clutched Vega's pristine weapon. They had already been wandering for an hour by now, without so much as a whiff of disruption or danger in those tunnels. The ominous feelings present in their minds, however, never settled.

"I thought you said it wasn't far?" complained Marco, still having Vega in tow.

"I know my way on the streets. Waterways are a bit different. Pretty sure we were lost at one point." At least the swordsman was being honest.

"So that was what that familiar feeling was!" Marco seemed to recall some fond memories as Guillemot laughed.

"I found my way again, so where's the issue? Should be there soon."

The darkness in the waterways seemed to absorb both light and sound. The walls and ceiling were barely discernible, and sounds from the outside were like a distant memory. Even the clatter of their united footsteps seemed to become drowned in the blackness around them.

Casting wary gazes to Vega and the still unconscious child, Ritsuka looked to Guillemot. "If I can ask... what exactly is going on here? How is this city like this?"

"I really dunno how to answer that, kid. It's like asking why we breath air. Ain't much of an explainer. I'll leave that to my acquaintance when we arrive."

They reached a seemingly wide open chamber, indicated by the echo of flowing water that reverberated throughout it. A rusted metal bridge took them over black water channels, with a faint light in the distance. Guillemot locked his eyes onto the light. "That should be our exit right there. Let's move it before-"

Grrrrroooowwwwl.

Ritsuka's eyes darted around, glancing into the patches of darkness around them. Guillemot's grip tightened on the sword as he stamped his foot. "Knew it wasn't gonna just be a walk in the park. C'mon, move it!"

Shapes huddled in the darkness, slinking around like drunkards. Shambling footsteps and guttural groans. As Guillemot advanced, the light of his lamp caught the visage of one of the creatures. A maggot-ridden, dessicated facade of a humanoid.

Marco shrieked, clutching Vega tightly as he kept close to the swordsman. "The dead! It's the dead, they walk! I'd only heard tales of it! I wish I could see them better, but also do not!"

"Yeah, yeah! Just keep moving after me! I'll carve the way. Damned things, the sound of the water must've masked their approach." With a trained swing, Guillemot swept before him and carved through bodies. Rotten chunks and fluids spewed forth, splattering liberally onto the ground as he pushed onward. Despite the mess, the sword retained its impeccable sheen as he slashed again. "It cuts well, this blade. This is how you wield it, poser!"

Ritsuka ducked away as a shadowy hand grasped for him. They were sluggish yet numerous, he couldn't let his guard down. He tailed after Marco closely as the group formed a tight procession. The cacophony of groans and gurgling was offset by the harsh sounds of metal cleaving through spongey bones and viscous tissue. They continued to advance, but so did the monstrous horde around them.

A hand grabbed onto Marco's sleeve and another on Vega's foot as he shrieked even louder while shaking it off. "WHY ARE THERE SO MANY?! AAAUGH IT STAINED MY SLEEVE! WITH DEAD STUFF!"

"Ya don't have to scream so much! Just keep following me and don't trip up! We're almost there!" yelled Guillemot as he continued slicing through decayed flesh.

The unconscious boy was suddenly seized by another hand, as Ritsuka grunted and punched as hard as he could. To his surprise, the wrist of the assaulting hand actually gave out from his punch and the limb was dismembered. Vile muck stained his fist as he rushed along, wiping it off on his trouser leg. It stunk of mould and death.

The light in the darkness was close now, however. It was a small window in a doorway, flickering with the glow of flames beyond it. Guillemot bisected another few creatures before he reached for the door...

Only to find it locked.

"Shit." As he struggled with the door-

GROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!

A roar distantly bellowed throughout the chamber. The crashing sound of water being ripped apart could be heard, followed by hurried stomps that became closer and closer.

Marco pounded his fist on the door in a futile attempt to budge it. "Why is it locked?! Cuti it open cut it open! Something big is coming!"

"Unknown entity detected. Threat level: High. This unit recommends immediate action." Emotionless as ever, Vega was still limp in Marco's arms yet Ritsuka could somehow feel a hint of urgency in her monotone voice.

"Aight, screw this. Hiyah!" Guillemot exclaimed as he made a precise strike against the door mechanism. A sharp sound of a metal blade carving into other metal, as he slashed again and again. The door started to come apart, before he thrust his foot forward and kicked it apart.

By this point, he had dropped the lamp and was now yanking Marco along who in turn was being held onto by Ritsuka. The whole crew ended up tumbling through the doorway and were now scrambling down a torch-lit corridor. Flames could be heard spreading behind them as the gas lamp spilled and ignited the hoard.

Ritsuka dared to gaze back, as he saw...

A horde of decayed, eyeless faces enveloped in a cowl of fire. Shambling, crawling, shuffling, even bouncing towards them. Headless bodies, bodiless heads, whole figures and figures missing several parts. Black-green viscous flesh oozed and melted off of their mouldy bones as the flames devoured them. Yet they all continued to moved in sickening unison as they all groaned and pursued them out of instinctual, unyielding hunger.

That all seemed fine and dandy compared to the emerging threat. A hulking, mutant hand smashed down through the burning horde. A disgusting splash of crushed rotten flesh echoed throughout the corridor as an abomination in rough semblance of a humanoid being burst through the doorway.

It had several arms, and only one leg. Things barely resembling facial features adorned its whole body and it left a trail of putrid ooze that was a combination of its own excrement and the crushed flesh of the creatures it charged over.

This was all burned into Ritsuka's eyes in the split moment he decided to look back. If it wasn't for adrenaline, his stomach would be violently vacating itself right now. Instead, he steeled himself and thrust his gaze back forward. The comforting view of the backs of his comrades...

But the sounds were still there. The horrible groaning and gasping of that abomination clambering after them, gaining speed as it started charging like a deformed bull.

"HERE!" The swordsman called out as he arrived at another doorway that resembled a blast door. He was already cranking a wheel to open it as the horde closed in.

Marco was the first to slip through the gap of the door, followed by Ritsuka who stopped and looked back. "Guillemot!"

"Go on, this ain't nothin'!" Defying that order, Ritsuka set the child down quickly and grabbed the edge of the door with both hands. He grunted, feeling the weight of the thing defying his feeble strength as Guillemot released the wheel.

"Damn, kid. Can't even do what you're told!" Despite saying this, the swordsman was grinning as he barely darted through the available gap before Ritsuka released his hands. The door made a heavy thunk as it slid shut.

BANG! CLANG! BONG!

The abomination crashed against the door, some of its arms and digits trying to grasp through the grates. The door held true, however. Ritsuka grabbed the child and sprinted away alongside Guillemot.

Soon enough, the roars and groans of the dead faded into the distance as they ascended a spiral staircase to the surface. At the top, they emerged into an empty alleyway. The party took a moment to let the adrenaline escape their bodies.

Marco dropped Vega next to a wall and slumped against it himself, sighing in relief. "That was seriously scary... I need to write before the rush goes away..." he remarked as he pulled out his notebook and started obsessively scribing away with a shaky hand.

Ritsuka felt his legs give out as he fell onto his behind, leaning back and staring into the sky while panting. He shuffled over to a wall to sit the child down.

Allowing the others this respite, Guillemot stood guard at the other end of the alley. It was now night time, however, so the veil of darkness helped them remain hidden. "None of the guards tend to come around here at this time, so we're lucky."

"Guillemot... what... were those things?" Ritsuka questioned between breaths.

"The dead, didn't I say? Prolly, anyway. That which are left behind by the whims of Madame Deficit and her mad butcher."

"Mad... butcher?"

"Yeah. The Lord Executioner."

The right-hand of Madame Deficit, the Lord Executioner. As Guillemot began to briefly explain...

He was the head of the guard, the court and the prison. Many people feared speaking ill of Madame Deficit, but it was not because of her wrath alone. What they truly feared was him. An iron guillotine that governed the masses with tyrannical domination and fearmongering. He was reputed as death itself, able to exercise any sort of excuse to execute the populace of the Capitol. There were even rumours that said that, sometimes, he doesn't even kill those he captures. They are instead used as meat for his twisted experiments, before being abandoned in the waterways.

Ritsuka could only think of one person that this description violently clashed against: Charles-Henri Sanson. The most famous executioner of France.

One of Ritsuka's former adversaries, that went on to become one of his numerous allies and friends. He could not even imagine matching this description to him. But then again, he could not imagine the always radiant Marie Antoinette as this Madame Deficit either.

This world was truly alien to everything he knew.

"... Well, if ya caught ya breath, let's go. Just up the street from here." Guillemot examined the blade he had been wielding. It was clean and shining as ever, not a single stain on it from the previous conflict. Impressive, he thought, as he glanced back at Vega.

By now, Vega's functionality was also restoring. She managed to stand herself up after a bit of struggle, power returning to her body. "Motor functions have now resumed."

"Thank goodness, it was becoming real tiresome lugging your dead weight ar- OWIE!" There was a sharp thunk as Vega kicked Marco in the shin, before she approached Guillemot. Ritsuka looked gobsmacked by this, utterly surprised by Vega's reaction.

"I will now reclaim the weapon for this unit," Vega said as she approached Guillemot.

"Yeah, shouldn't need it now. Hope ya learned a thing or two by watchin'. Or not. Don't really care." The sword changed hands once more as Guillemot led them around the corner. Ritsuka made sure to pick up the child as they set off towards a particular house on the next street.

Once at the front door, the group huddled up around it before Guillemot decided to knock on it. There was a pause, followed by the sound of some clutter inside. The sounds of someone that was desperately shoving things about. After about a minute, the sound of latches being undone was followed by the cumbersome door slowly swinging open.

On the other side...

There was a petite lady, in a casual frilly dress. Her emerald eyes were accompanied by platinum hair that was tied into a bun. She looked almost doll-like in complexion. Her dainty expression contorted into one of mixed confusion and fear as she hid herself behind the door. "G-Guillemot?! But you were... are you one of the dead now?! Stay back!"

"Shhhhhh. It's me, Blavet. I escaped," he responded as he held his hands up to calm her nerves.

Just now, the woman also noticed the crew that he had brought with him. All he could do was offer a smirk as her confused expression tensed up a bit. "W-who are..."

"Just trust me. Let us in."

After a moment of hesitation, the woman slowly nodded. "Okay... give me a moment." The door was closed again, as rummaging was heard beyond it. Marco looked towards Ritsuka, who in turn offered a shrug. Soon, the door opened again...

As a crossbow pointed outwards from within, aimed at Guillemot's head.

"I-I HAVE YOU NOW, MONSTER!"

"Warning: measuring hostile intent. Lethal weapon detected." Vega grabbed for her blade as Ritsuka and Marco called out, but it was too late-

Click.

The crossbow mechanism released its tension, as a silver bolt fired out.