Saria has dealt with reckless people before, hell, even she would consider herself reckless in some situations herself.
'Isn't he just a mercenary?' The woman had to question why he was taking this job so seriously, most mercenaries would do a decent job at best, as the majority of them were in it for the money.
Zen'in though? He ran into the byproduct of an Originium explosive without any protection, that was something not even a Sarkaz Mercenary with a screw loose would do.
"Wow~, he sure is fast!" Muelsyse placed a hand over her eyes, watching his figure disappear in a blur, "we shouldn't keep him waiting!"
The Elf woman turned to Saria, before she turned into water and started zooming forward, moving through the hallways and leaving her sight.
Saria sighed, 'I'll find out later.' Her Calcium Arts started to enhance her legs, leaving cracks on the ground when she bolted with greater speed.
***
Cursed Energy reinforcement, the bread and butter for any Sorcerer. 'You could never go wrong with it,' as The Former Strongest would say.
A lot of Cursed Technique would be rendered useless if you can't protect yourself with such a common technique, so CE reinforcement would be the first thing Sorcerers would get a grasp of.
When put into practice, the malleability of Cursed Energy possesses limitless potential.
Enhancing strength, enhancing durability, enhancing senses, and enhancing speed...
Any part of the body, Cursed Energy can enhance.
So when an explosion comes towards Megumi point blank, all he had to do was focus all of his Cursed Energy to increase his body's durability.
What came next, was the enduring explosion, which the Ten Shadows user didn't have a complete feel for how powerful it would be.
He might be left with a few singes, fighting Cursed Spirits and Ryomen Sukuna that one time had helped train his durability in general.
Unless the explosion had the force to send him through multiple skyscrapers, then his Cursed Energy reinforcement would make absolute light work of it.
What bothered him most though, was the gas that would come after them, how they made him nauseous and sick without the usage of Reverse Cursed Technique. Megumi had gotten first hand experience back when the first explosion had happened.
Having to expend more Cursed Energy for RCT would be a bad idea, since having low reserves while Rhine Lab was still under attack would mean there might be another wave of infiltrators, or he might have to stay behind because of the attack.
Having anybody leave the premises in the aftermath was usually a must for situations such as these, and if anything went wrong, Megumi needed to be in a good fighting condition.
Back to the present, the black haired man was blown out into the hallway, back slamming and leaving a considerable crater on the reinforced hallway wall.
"Tch," Megumi narrowed his eyes, releasing his Cursed Energy reinforcement before breaking off from the wall, dropping Dragon Bone into his spatial inventory as he did so.
"Divine Dog: Totality."
It was most likely that the leader had broken out of the window, so he would need to use his first ever companion to sniff them out.
The problem right now, was...
Megumi covered his mouth and nose, seeing the black smog coming out of the room, Totality itself was growling as it started to invade its nostrils.
"Screw it," he decided to bolt through it, Totality following right behind him-
"Wow~, you have a really big wolf with you!"
Megumi blinked, before turning to his right and seeing Muelsyse... Not, it wasn't Muelsyse, it was her clone trailing behind him.
Water was gathered around their form, as the clone harmlessly moved through the smoke with him. "Are you alright? You took a pretty~ big explosion there."
"That's not important right now!" Megumi put a hand into the shadows, there were plenty of them thanks to the light being cut off.
Even if there weren't any, he could forcibly open a puddle for his tools. Once he pulled his hand out, he held a firearm, primed and ready to fire.
Click.
Muelsyse most likely had already seen Divine Dog: Totality, so Megumi didn't care if she saw it again, he'd answer her questions with as many half-truths as possible when this situation blew over.
"A gun?" The Elf woman looked slightly surprised, 'how many weapons does he have?' Especially a gun, since those were quite rare to get, nevermind the training that would need to go into it.
Megumi leaped through the window, Totality sinking into the shadows while its master made it through.
Once Megumi touched the ground, he tried to sense for the perpetrator who had escaped, but couldn't feel their presence anymore.
Totality came up from behind him, peering out of the shadows and sniffing the air once more. Now that there were no obstructions in its senses, the wolf knew where to go.
It rushed forward, before Megumi followed to tail it.
"It's finding their location isn't it?" Muelsyse's clone stared at the wolf with an analytical gaze, all the while she floated with water gathered around her.
"Yes, it is," Megumi didn't turn to look at her, keeping his attention on the sniffing dog, having his Glock at the ready.
"Uwah~, it's kinda cute," the woman peered from behind Megumi's shoulder watching it do its process.
"That-," Megumi wondered if the Elf was even taking the situation seriously... 'Is she not taking it seriously because she's seeing through a clone?'
The main body was most likely with Saria, and because Muelsyse was here with him, they most likely won't come to him unless he was in danger.
'A good idea, since we need to secure a wider range to find the infiltrators,' Megumi followed after Totality, only stopping when the werewolf itself halted and growled out.
Muelsyse moved along with Megumi, who hid in the shadows. They were now in a small forest behind the Rhine Lab building.
'There they are,' Megumi glared from the shadows, seeing the leader gathered around with three other cloaked figures.
Lifting his gun, he pulled the trigger five times.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Two bullets for the leader, three for the rest of them. All of them made their mark, but hit non lethal areas such as arms, shoulders, and chest because the enemies had reacted fast enough.
Muelsyse took the opportunity to leave the shadow, four teal water droplets forming around her, coalescing into water orbs before shooting forward like a laser beam.
Totality stalked above the trees, it didn't attack the ones on the ground as it sniffed out reinforcements the cloaked figures had called not long before.
It shot its claw forward, leaping from one branch to another and slitting the throat of a crossbow man who had their weapon aimed at Muelsyse's clone and Megumi.
Blood spurted in the air, the sound alerting the other tree campers of the beast.
Shouts were heard, before glints of scopes under the moonlight turned to the blackened wolf's figure, making it growl.
With a quick leap, Totality leapt through the branches, dodging bolts that attempted to pincer it while siccing its claws into any enemy it made it close to.
Back to Megumi, he had dropped his Glock and pulled out The Inverted Spear of Heaven, expecting them to use the Arts smokescreen they had before.
Luckily, they did, which led him to dispel it instantly; much to the cloaked figure's shock.
Even with their covered forms and gas masks, Megumi couldn't help but grin when they looked around with erratic and shaky movements.
"I'll support you from behind," Muelsyse spoke more seriously, the woman forming a wave of water behind Megumi while he charged forward.
Holding his dagger in reverse grip, the grass and dirt flew up from around him while he approached the men, watching as they pulled out short swords.
The leader in particular, at the center of their three injured members was dual wielding.
Megumi reinforced his body with Cursed Energy, before stomping on the ground in front of him and halting his movements to a slide, all the while Muelsyse's water forced them to guard against the attack.
Once he stopped completely, Megumi spun around, slicing The Inverted Spear of Heaven in a 360 motion, the slash either going through flesh or colliding with weapons.
The leader was the first to recover, before charging forward and lashing out with a storm of slashes, making Megumi raise his dagger and deflect all of the blows.
The other members were being distracted by Muelsyse's Arts, as the clone outputted as much power as possible. What she did this time was create mini vortexes around their feet to distract them and give Megumi as much time as he needed.
Megumi blocked a heavy cross slash, holding his dagger in a reverse grip with his right hand, and his left hand supporting the other.
Taking advantage of the momentum of the attack, he leapt forward and pulled out the Glock once more, firing two shots.
The leader slice them into two, charging forward again-
To be met with a Nodachi in Megumi's left hand, also held in a reverse grip as the Inverted Spear of Heaven was in his right.
Shadow Extension: Nue: Totality
It was like the sound of jets was behind it, electricity crackling through the weapon all the while the Cursed Energy stored within blasted it forward.
A sound of combustions rang out, rupturing the air and ruffling entire trees around it.
Megumi's target had raised their weapons in an 'X' shape, attempting their best effort to block the weapon's advancement...
But it proved useless, seeing how the weapon sliced through their dual short swords with such ease that it looked like a knife sliding through paper.
BZZT
SHING!
The weapon sliced the upper half of their head off, lightning which can rip through concrete rather than electrocute increasing the cutting power of it. Not only that, but it was able to course around, and find itself within Muelsyse's vortex of water placed at the feet of the other enemies.
It chained through, lashing out at them in arcs of purple, leaving them stunned.
Megumi grinned in satisfaction, before leaping back and watching as Divine Dog Totality fell from the trees, its form covered in blood from the snipers placed up at top.
It slammed into the already formed corpse of their leader, the stunned members from both the water and lightning being absolutely helpless.
Totality howled, lashing out in a fury of slashes left, right, center, and back as the members were ripped apart in a gory mess.
Megumi pulled back, dropping his weapons back into his spatial inventory, not wanting the blood to splash onto him.
He looked around, seeing the corpses dropped from the trees and the center of the forest being left as nothing but a puddle of blood, completely diluting the water that Muelsyse had sent out.
"Ah, Zen'in, isn't that too much?" The clone tapped him on the shoulder, watching the bloodied werewolf Megumi had summoned out standing at the focal point.
"What do you mean?" Megumi turned to her with a raised brow.
"Aha~, nevermind," even though it was from the sight of her clone, the blank look Megumi always held looked far more unnerving than his usual ones. '...Besides, it's completely confirmed.'
Muelsyse knew that the purple lightning Chimera Bird had a 99% chance of belonging to the black haired man, seeing how he summoned a werewolf and shot out purple lightning from his Higashin nodachi.
***
"Muelsyse, what's with that look?" Saria stared back at her friend, having escorted the proper engineers to the area where they needed to get the power back on.
Right now, the two were patrolling the interior, making sure the researchers were safe, and looking out for any other infiltrators.
"It's nothing~, just found something interesting," Muelsyse hummed to herself, walking by the stoic white haired Vouvire.
"Hm, alright," Saria turned her attention back in front of her, anticipating any sneak attacks, "is Zen'in fine?"
"My clone sees he's perfectly fine, he even took care of the escapees... Though, a little messily," Muelsyse scratched her cheek while recalling the scene.
"That's good," Saria blinked a few times when the light ceilings started twitching on and off.
Thankfully, it settled and dim lights started to become active, lighting up the hallway around them.
The two took a second to let their eyes adjust to the new sight, having been in the darkness for way too long.
"Oh, and we might want to check his condition after," Muelsyse added while rubbing her eyes.
"Why so?" Saria questioned, but mentally face palmed when she realized why.
"Figured it out, huh? Yeah, he walked through two instances of Originium bomb after explosions," Muelsyse shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "He's so..."
"Reckless," Saria nodded.
"Quite strange, he puts in so much effort despite being a hired mercenary, are we paying him a lot~?" Meulsyse placed a finger under her lip.
Saria kept silent, knowing that the commission only paid 10,000 LMD, certainly not worth the money when your life is placed in such risk.
It was Kyle Hensonn who put that price, most likely because he hadn't anticipated an event such as this happening.
Bzzt
The radio on Saria crackled back to life, whatever interference being used had been removed.
"Oh, finally," Saria picked it up and spoke into it, "this is Saria, status report."
"Clear on our end."
"Clear."
"Clear in sector B."
"Clear."
Multiple voices started to come out, Saria felt some tension leave her body as confirmations of the infrastructure being cleared out.
Saria thought of contacting the mercenary that was hired, but then realized something, "...Did we never give Zen'in a radio?"
"It's fine, I'll tell him via my clone~," Muelsyse smiled at the other woman, placing her hands on her hips.
"Alright," Saria placed her radio back on her belt, continuing to survey her area with Muelsyse.
A brief silence came about, cautionary footsteps rang across the hallway, before they came up upon the corpse of a cloaked member.
"This one..?" Saria tilted her head.
"It was the first one Zen'in took out," Muelsyse analyzed the scene, turning up to the wall opposite of the corpse. "It was surprising, that man also shot a jet of water out from his clasped hands."
Saria perked up at that, "shadow abilities, potentially lightning abilities, and now water abilities?"
"He's the one who summoned the Chimera Bird, I know that for a fact," Muelsyse nodded to herself, crossing her arms.
The Vouivre blinked owlishly, still holding her stoic expression before she turned to Muelsyse, "how do you..?"
"He summoned a big werewolf, like, this big~," Muelsyse spread out her arms, creating an adorable scene in Saria's eyes. "He also channeled purple lightning through his weapon, if you connect the dots..."
"...Those claws he used, were they like the werewolves?" Saria questioned, cupping her chin.
"Yup~, exactly so," Muelsyse swayed left and right as she spoke, knowing Saria had already figured it out.
"...So he is a summoner, and can channel his summons' abilities through him... Versatile and dangerous," Saria mumbled, "then that purple lightning... Means he can summon that Chimera bird from before."
The bird that was somehow able to destroy the Originium particles from a section in District 9.
"Do you think we can hire him?" Muelsyse suddenly spoke up, catching Saria's attention. "He's a mercenary right~? That sort of job can't fit him, seeing how much effort he put into catching those intruders."
Saria listened to her intently.
"Mercenaries are usually in the occupation because they have a difficult time getting normal jobs, so if we could offer him a security position here," Muelsyse drew out, "then we can also get to study that Chimera Bird he uses~!"
"...Are you sure he'd accept?" Saria openly questioned out, closing her eyes.
"Hmph~, it's a foolproof plan, just trust me Saria~!" Muelsyse smiled at the woman, brimming with a sense of great confidence.
Saria thought back to Ifrit and Silence, how the former was suffering from Oripathy to an insane degree, and the latter putting in a great deal of effort to treat it.
Chimeric Treatment, the Vouivre woman had her suspicions about it, but it was the only option Ifrit had right now...
So if they could find any revolutionary discovered from studying the Chimera Bird Zen'in had in his possession (with permission of course), then Ifrit might be able to be cured...
The white haired woman stared at Muelsyse, the latter's eyes sparkling.
Saria couldn't help but sigh, placing her trust in the Elf's plan of hiring the man to Rhine Lab. 'Hopefully her reasoning is sound...'
.
.
.
.
***
"No," Megumi boredly spoke out, staring at the check in his hand. The situation with the infiltrators had been resolved, but there were still some security guards checking out the perimeters.
Along with cleaners getting rid of any corpses. The ones who were captured alive were currently undergoing questioning.
"That's amaz- wait, huh?!" Muelsyse's confident expression immediately shifted to a devastated one.
They were in Muelsyse's office room, Saria standing behind the Elf woman, all the while she pinched the bridge of her nose.
The plan had fallen flat on its head at the first stage.
"It's an interesting proposal, and I enjoyed working with you..." but Megumi had no ID, and was a wanted criminal by the LGD, "...But I don't think I would fit in." So he just made up an excuse.
The black haired man also didn't trust the two completely, especially after the Elf had so brazenly admitted that she knew Nue: Totality belonged to him.
His current plan? Get the hell out of Rhine Lab right now, considering he received his pay and was far too tired to deal with anything else.
"Goodbye," Megumi stood up and waved them off, getting a sense of deja vu from a certain mouse lady. 'Two job proposals in one week... It would have been nice if I wasn't in a screwed up situation.'
Muelsyse watched his departing back, opening her mouth to say something.
However, she stopped when Saria placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'll talk to him." Muelsyse was most likely to mess up again, but she didn't include that.
***
Staring at the night sky, Megumi reassessed his place in this world once more. 'Jobless, homeless, no identification, a criminal.'
He was all the worst things at once.
A frustrated groan left his lips, before he decided his next course of action, 'tame Tiger Funeral, I should be ready now-'
"Zen'in!"
Megumi turned to look behind him, holding a slightly shocked look, "Saria?"
Long white hair trailed behind the woman's head before she halted her steps a few feet away from Megumi, "I'm not here to convince you," she curtly stated.
"Then..?"
"It's if you ever change your mind," the woman reached into her pocket and tossed him a card.
"Huh?" Megumi caught it, before analyzing it.
"I'm sure you already know about Oripathy," Saria began speaking.
'...I really don't..?' Megumi was about to ask what it was, but thinned his lips.
"A lot of people are afflicted by it everyday, and you could be the key to revolutionizing a cure," Saria continued, "so, even if you don't consider joining, please, Rhine Lab always has its doors opened for you."
Megumi stared at the card with a muted expression, feeling the wind of the night blow against his body.
"...I'll keep that in mind," Megumi placed the item into his haori, before storing it in his spatial storage, "I'll keep that in mind..." He spoke again, this time in a much lower voice.
"Thank you," Saria lowered her head, Megumi not knowing how to reply to that.
"...No problem."
***
"Eh?! What do you mean he left?!" Muelsyse pouted at Saria with pout.
"He's already made his decision," Saria shrugged, walking back to her office with the Elf woman tailing her. "We can't change that."
"Ah..." Muelsyse visibly deflated, looking like a kicked puppy.
"Rhine Lab is opened to him, so if he so wishes to, he can walk in any time," Saria spoke to comfort the woman
"Still..." Muelsyse crossed her arms, "...Are you sure he'd ever visit us again?"
"I have a feeling," Saria shrugged, arriving at her door, "hopefully he'd be willing to let us research his Chimera Bird."
"Hmph~," Muelsyse was in a disappointed mood, "I'll search him all across Lungmen if I have to, tell Kristen I'm extending my stay here."
"...Good luck with that," Saria shook her head, before entering her quarters.
Muelsyse kept her sights on the closed door for a bit, closing her eyes.
'If he takes commissions from the Mercenary's Tavern... Then I can just send a clone out everyday to search the Slums, right?' A plan formulated in her mind, 'then, I should be able to meet him again, right?'
Keeping herself slightly optimistic, Muelsyse walked back to her office with a complicated expression.
However, a thought came to her while she was making her way back... 'We never checked his condition, did we?'
Indeed, they had completely forgotten to check his blood for any Originium particles, especially after he had taken nearly two Originium bomb detonations to the face.
***
"This can't be real..." Ch'en rubbed her brows, dropping the papers on her desk and leaning back on her chair.
Absolutely impossible and never seen before, if information like this were to leak out of Lungmen... Who the hell knew what would happen.
'Secret agents infiltrating Lungmen, a manhunt for the person who summoned it...' That was also why the LGD hadn't leaked out information on who exactly spawned what was now known as the 'Chimera Bird' by the public.
"Well, it's the results that came in," Hoshiguma leaned over from behind her, covering her mouth as she looked over the papers again.
"Pretty messed up," Swire flapped her own paper in her hands, moving to place it on Ch'en's desk. "Who knew? The dirty rat wasn't lying."
"Of course," Ch'en straightened her posture and stood back up, "I'm searching for him again."
"...Ch'en, it's 10:30 pm right now," Hoshiguma glanced at the clock, "are you sure you can find him before you sleep?"
"I can pull an all-nighter," the Superintendent stated with conviction, "I'll sleep once my body hits its limit."
"Huh?" Swire looked at the dragon lady as if she were stupid, "you're gonna get jumped while you're tired, dumbass!"
"I can have alternating officers with me, it doesn't matter," Ch'en crossed her arms with a huff. "I'll find him one way or another, I can't say the same for you, tiger bitch."
"Excuse me?! I'll have you know I've been smoking out those stupid Blood Hounds while you're here stuck finding some random guy to hit it off with!" Swire retorted.
"He's not some 'random guy,' did we not go over the fact he has a skyscraper sized bird?!" Ch'en moved forward, butting heads with the tiger woman.
"Hoo boy..." Hoshiguma shook her head, crossing her arms and leaning against the office wall. 'They're probably gonna start a brawl and knock each other out... I'll let it happen this time because Ch'en definitely needs sleep-'
As if on cue, the sounds of punching were heard.
'...I wish I had some alcohol right now,' Hoshiguma groaned. 'Hopefully nothing crazy happens, like two more Chimera Birds appearing, fuck that would be a pain.'
***
"Whew~!" Exusiai stretched her arms, before grabbing a drink on the counter and taking a sip of it. "Those Blood Hounds were a slog to go through!"
"Mhm," Texas looked at her blade for a second, before sheathing them.
"Ah, are you guys okay?" Sora peeked out from over the counter, the sounds of broken glass being stepped on resounded.
"Yup, completely fine!" Exusiai winked at her with a smile, "though... We might have made an enemy out of them..."
"It's fine," Texas pulled out a pocky stick, looking at the bodies piled on the ground, "we'll just take it to their boss."
"Oh wow~," Sora stared at the black haired Lupo with shining eyes, "I've never seen Texas have this much conviction!"
"It's 'cause you're not used to it yet," Exusiai took another sip, laying down on the countertop of the bar, "she gets real serious about these things, especially if they affect Penguin Logistics."
"You're overexaggerating," Texas bit down, the pocky stick splitting half, "I simply do my job."
"Mhm~," Exusiai playfully poked at her from her position, "whatever ya' say~!"
Sora giggled watching the two, before reaching for a drink of her own, "oh! I heard this is a rare delicacy even for Lungmen!"
"Uh? Let me see," Exusiai broke off from poking Texas to take a look at it, "there's no way!"
"It's exclusive wine from Siracusa of all places!" Sora held the bottle in her hands, "who knew the Blood Hounds would have something like this."
Texas felt her ears twitch at the mention of Siracusa, but shook her head to clear her thoughts, it was to be expected the gang would have something like that after all.
"Ah, neat! By the way..." Exusiai tried to recall a memory, "isn't your concert in like, two days?"
"Actually, it's one day~!" Sora corrected, "people are getting all excited for it too!"
"Oh seriously?! Crap, I gotta prepare for it!" Exusiai jolted up, looking slightly panicked.
"It's fine, we're already done with prep," Texas reassured her.
"Aha~, well, I guess all we have to do is look forward to it, huh?" Exusiai scratched the back of her head.
Texas nodded, 'hopefully nothing bad happens.'
Too bad she jinxed herself harder than Megumi.
***
Lappland grabbed a flier, narrowing her eyes as she looked at it... "Penguin Logistics... idol Sora making a performance?"
The woman smiled a wide grin, "Oh really~? It looks like I didn't have to spend too much effort looking after all..."
The woman messily pocketed the flier, the plastic paper creasing under the pressure, "Ah, Texas~, you can't keep running away forever."
She entered a hotel in the Slums, the Lupo receptionist peeking up from her newspaper as she stared at the woman who just entered.
However the receptionist's eyes immediately widened, "y-you're-!"
A sword impaled next to their head, before they could even react in any meaningful way.
"Hey," Lappland hopped onto the desk, staring deep into their eyes, "call all the back-up you can, I'm giving you one chance."
A large grin made itself known on her face as the other woman started to scramble to a panic button.
'But first, these Blood Hound puppies have been really ticking me off lately.'
***
Megumi walked through the streets of the Slums.
Currently, he has switched back to his hooded outfit, no longer feeling safe wearing his black haori. Although it still reminded of Ryomen Sukuna, it had somewhat grown on him. Somewhat.
Complete emphasis on somewhat.
Currently, he was planning to make his way to the outskirts of the slums, his Cursed Energy reserves had replenished themselves to a good degree after two hours of walking and keeping a calm stride.
'Actually, no... I'll sneak out of the walls of Lungmen itself,' Megumi didn't know how powerful Tiger Funeral was, but if he could reduce as much noise as possible when taming it, he would take that chance.
The best course of action was doing it outside of Lungmen, perhaps a kilometer (0.62 miles) or two away?
He had already entered a district that was fairly empty, the decaying and battered buildings being the first giveaway.
'I should hurry up my journey-'
A slender hand touched his shoulder, causing him to stop his steps and turn to the person.
"...Is something wrong?" Megumi raised an eyebrow, taking in the sight of the person in front of him.
A perpetually soft smiling face, an unnatural light in her eyes, she had long flowing black hair and held a case which seemed to hold a musical instrument.
What was the most captivating part about her was that a black shard-like halo was present on the top of her head, and shard-like wings behind her back.
It was a bizarre view, reminding Megumi of Angel, but a much much more exotic appearance compared to even her.
"May I have a brief moment of your time, please? My name is Arturia," the woman introduced herself.
"Huh?" Megumi wondered why she wanted to talk to him, when he looked like a hooded thug, one that had people tightly gripping their purses and bags.
"There's something... Interesting about you, should I say?" Arturia tilted her head, the same smile present on her face. "Do you comply?"
"...Make it quick," Megumi didn't know what to say, but he wanted to get to taming Tiger Funeral as soon as possible. 'These extra features people have... Are so strange.'
"I will," the woman named Arturia's smile curved more upwards, slightly bothering Megumi with how... Coy she seemed to look.
***
Arturia was curious about what the East was like, having spent a majority of her time in the West. Recently, she had... 'Liberated,' a few people from Laterano, Sargon, and Columbia of their mental blockages, and was wondering how much it differed in a place like Lungmen.
"How curious," the woman tilted her head, watching the sprawling lights and cultural differences she saw the more she made her way across the city.
The Sankta was currently avoiding a certain Executor of the Notarial Hall, after her stunts in the previous two aforementioned places of Columbia and Sargon... So she had decided to take a trip to Lungmen to get him off her trail.
Arturia would go back to Leithanien after spending the time she allocated to herself.
Now, she was making her way to the Slums, an infamous area of Lungmen, known for its treachery and poor-quality of life.
To her, however, concepts such as the 'Slums' and 'low-quality' areas usually had people who showed off their truest self.
'After all, don't people pry off all pretenses when pushed to the brink?' Arturia amusedly thought to herself, hopefully finding her adventure here to be worth the time. 'I heard that Wei Yenwu resides in that tower...'
While she was walking through the Slums, her gaze turned to the most significant building in Lungmen, the one where the Chief of Lungmen resided. 'I wonder... What do you hide under all those fortified steel and luxuries?'
Perhaps she could use her reputation as a 'renowned' musician from Leithanien to get a meeting with him, and present her music to his ears.
Another thing she found interesting about Lungmen was the gigantic bird that had been making headlines.
'Wasn't I quite lucky to witness it myself?' While playing her instrument silently to herself from a rooftop in Lungmen, the woman had noticed a Chimera-like bird bursting from the section of the Slums, emitting a vicious purple lightning.
Then, right after, a red sword slash had cleaved its snake tail off, leaving the beast to fly off into the horizon.
What truly caught her eye was the accursed feeling it gave off, the negative energy emanating from its form, as if declaring itself all the worse aspects of humanity.
Being intrinsically linked to humans more so than even the most empathic of Sanktas, Arturia couldn't help but find herself completely captivated by the Chimera Bird.
Lastly, the small black spot, unnoticable even to a trained eye; had been plaguing her mind when she laid her eyes upon it.
It was most definitely a person on its back, being its summoner if she had to assume. No bird can just appear in the middle of the Slums like that.
Losing track of time while in her thoughts, Arturia tilted her head as she found herself in a rather empty section of the Slums.
"Hm?"
Though, it wasn't completely empty, a few people loitering about, walking aimlessly and sometimes shooting glances her way.
'It isn't as I'd expect it to be,' Arturia continued walking through, a slight sense of disappointment.
'Ah, mayhaps I need to explore deeper...' Her thought process paused, before her eyes slightly widened.
There it was, there was what she was searching for, 'Ahaha~, haven't I been blessed by Lady Luck herself?'
A man coated in black, wearing a hood and casually making his way through the lifeless streets of the Slums.
That wasn't what gave away his appearance, no, it was the fact he gave off nearly the exact same energy as the bird, even if he were suppressing it.
To her eyes though? She could see through the pretenses he was holding up around himself, enclosing off his heart to hide from the world.
'Ah... How... Divine?' Arturia couldn't explain it, it was like he was a mass of negativity.
If he were to be described as a landscape, it would be bloodied rivers running about, mountains of corpses in the distance as the withered grass of the prairies wide were stained red.
But at the same time... How could such slaughter be... Regal? Majestic? Divine? It was all of them at once, the beauty of bloodshed and indifference to such slaughter.
'I have to... I have to see through him,' the Sankta fugitive found herself shivering in both excitement and fear, wanting to lay bare the man that hid beneath such a presence.
Fixing her expression, Arturia lightly cleared her throat and approached him.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, he seemed to have jolted, the woman taking note that he was definitely a trained warrior who can react to danger.
"May I have a brief moment of your time, please? My name is Arturia," the woman kept up her smile, before staring deep into his... Lifeless eyes.
'Oh my...' It was like staring into an abyss, a garden with nothing but shadows that had wilted and rotted away all flowers which resided in it.
The man looked like he had lost everything, his inner psyche having been shattered over and over again, worries plaguing every inch of his life...
A man on the brink of nearly giving up... Yet burning as brightly as the highest star in Heaven, a potential untapped and waiting to be unleashed.
But it was restricted in some way... Somehow Arturia couldn't grasp.
"Huh?" The man let out a confused breath, a tension seemingly present within his body.
"There's something... Interesting about you, should I say?" Arturia tried to keep the excitement from boiling too highly. "Do you comply?"
The man took a moment to mull it over, before agreeing to her, telling her to make it quick.
The Sankta couldn't help but find her lips twitching into a slightly wider smile, it had been so easy!
"I will," Arturia closed her eyes, before letting her hand go, "please, follow me to somewhere private."
Honestly, the man was absolutely terrifying, not once had she meant anybody in her life that seemed to possess such a bloodied aura...
'But doesn't that make it evermore thrilling?' Arturia giggled to herself, the man behind her raising an eyebrow at that.
***
Megumi wondered if he had just stupidly walked into a trap, the two entering a decent hotel room in some other section of the Slums that wasn't too far away.
Honestly, he took this opportunity to recover the still dampened reserves of his Cursed Energy, needing to find a way to distract himself.
'It's probably for the better, yeah... As long as I don't get jumped,' Megumi looked around, the room was as standard as any 4-star hotel room.
Opening his mouth, he questioned the woman, "...So, what is it that you need?"
"Pardon me for being so silent on the way," the woman closed her eyes into crescent moons as she spoke and laid down on the white sheeted bed.
Megumi took a chair and sat down on it, before watching her open her case and pull out... A silver cello and bow.
"What do you think of music?" Arturia had asked him while meticulously getting them out.
The black haired man had the decency to ponder over it for a second, "I think it's nice to listen to?"
The angel looking woman let out a hum at his words, "indeed, I see no fault in that opinion. "Then I simply wish to ask... Would you like to listen to my music?" Arturia kept her gaze focused onto Megumi's own eyes.
Her cello was placed on the ground, being tall enough for the woman to reach while sitting on the bed, her hand held the bow that was ready to play.
"...Okay," Megumi placed his elbows on his knees and leaned in, "I wouldn't mind." He wondered if she was just a woman who had a big passion for music.
"I'll play something... You'll completely confine in," the woman closed her eyes, the ever present smile on her face never fading.
Megumi couldn't help but find those words ominous.
***
A/N: I'm sure the timeframe of Arturia being in Lungmen in this fic won't screw over the overall Arknights timeline, right?
Eh, screw it, it is what it is.
Once again, please point out grammar or spelling mistakes, I've been too lazy to go through 5-6k words recently.