Doctor didn't bother to turn around as he heard the door open. Only a few people had the smarts or stupidity to come in unannounced. Besides, he had a feeling as to who had opened the door to his office anyway.

"Did you finish it?" he asked.

Breaker nodded, even though his boss wouldn't see it. "Yes, sir. The package was delivered."

"Good. It's a shame that we have to lose so many test subjects, but with this, we'll be able to complete it."

Doctor giggled as he twirled around in his chair. Breaker sighed. The man, for all his sadism and cruelty, was oddly childlike in some aspects.

This didn't redeem him in any way, though. It just made him even scarier.

"Are you sure about this, sir? What if they escape?" Breaker said.

"Don't worry. You said your mole is secure, right? We'll be fine."

Breaker grimaced. "But if the creature fails-"

"I've accounted for that. Things are unpredictable. I know that much. Even if it's my creation, I can never trust a creature as much as myself. You need to calm down. It's all under control."

"...yes, sir."

Breaker walked out of the room with heavy footsteps while Doctor continued to giggle.

"Oh, how sweet their despair will be…"

~~~

A large figure barreled toward the door, getting closer and closer. The dust it was kicking up made it hard to tell just what the thing was.

"What the fuck is-"

John's voice cut short as the pain in his chest flared up again. His heart felt tight, as if his lungs were squeezing in around it, stopping his blood from flowing while squeezing out the air from his lungs. It wasn't the most painful, but on the other hand, it would definitely get in the way of his fighting, and that wouldn't do.

"Is that some kind of mana beast?" John said, his voice still hoarse.

"That's… I don't know," Fate hesitated.

"I thought you knew everything!"

"I don't- what?" Fate said, but he didn't seem to be talking to John.

"What are you yapping on about?" John yelled as he pulled Fate in and slammed the door shut.

"Kit said that she's never seen something like that before!"

The group got quiet as they hid in the secret lab. Danjo herded the prisoners towards the back of the hall in order to keep them safe, as per Fate's orders.

The rumbling stopped.

John opened the door a crack to take a peek. He held his breath, not daring to make a noise. The creature was pretty disgusting, but it wasn't anything John hadn't seen before.

It was bipedal, but it was very clearly not human. It had the body of one, but then there were… other things. Spider legs on the back, claws instead of fingers, talons instead of feet. The thing was some kind of chimera.

"Hey, Fate?" John whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Are chimeras a thing in this world?"

Surprisingly, it was not Fate, but Kit, who reacted. The little fox started jumping up and down, growling at the door.

"Whoah, whoah, way too loud!" Fate grunted as he held his ears. "She wants to know how you know about chimeras."

"They're, um… sort of common," John muttered, closing the door. "Don't know anything about this kind of chimera, though. Wanna elaborate?"

"Kit said they were experiments. Each once was as strong as a newborn Mystic. Apparently, though, they shouldn't exist. They were supposed to have been discontinued ages ago," Fate explained, relaying Kit's words.

John just pressed his lips together, absorbing the information. There was a lot to take in here, but right now, he had to focus on winning. He pulled a pill out of his pocket dimension and popped it in his mouth, unseen by anybody.

"Alright, strength of a Mystic," John muttered to himself. "I've killed gods before. No big deal."

He rummaged around inside his bag and pulled out another grenade.

"Sorry, what did you say? You've what- is that a flashbang?" Fate said, getting more confused by the second.

"Yes. We go on three, ok?" John said quietly.

Fate wanted to argue, but right now wasn't the time. They needed all the help they could get. He nodded, unsheathing his sword.

"Ready when you are."

John nodded back and tossed the flashbang out the door.

"Three."

With a yell, he kicked down the door and charged forward, the chimera stunned by the bright flash and loud noise. Modern Earth weapons seemed to work well on those who didn't expect it.

He pushed the muzzle of his shotgun right into the thing's chest and pulled the trigger, knocking the chimera back. Unfortunately, that seemed to accomplish nothing but to annoy the monster. With a roar, it charged forward with the intent to kill, swinging its claws at a terrifying pace.

"Prota!" John yelled.

An ice pillar shoved him out of the way just in time, although it was by no means gentle. He looked back to see his sister looking at him disapprovingly.

"Three?" she glared.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry."

That was all John had to offer before running off, pumping shell after shell into the creature. The blasts rang out through the chamber, but the noise just seemed to be for show. Prota and Fate were doing their best, but even then, the chimera wasn't taking much damage.

"Are you not still injured?" Fate exclaimed, firing off a fireball as John fell back.

"Oh. I am, probably. I took a painkiller," John explained as he continued to retreat. "It's really good. Got an adrenaline boost in it, too. Only problem is, I go unconscious for a full day in about… three hours, let's say?"

"Why would you use something like that?"

John pointed at the chimera. "You need all the help you can get, alright? I don't wanna hear any complaints."

Fate nodded. He usually would've argued, but John was correct in this moment.

"Got a plan?" John gasped as he dodged another attack.

"Yeah," Fate said, keeping his eye on the beast. "Crack the shell."

"Crack it? What?" John frowned.

"The key is Prota."

Prota looked over as her name was mentioned.

"Her Blossom. She needs to get a direct hit. Hopefully, that's enough to make the shell brittle enough to break."

"Hopefully?" John said, raising an eye.

"You have your own plan?" Fate shot back.

John nodded. "Fair enough."

He went out and began distracting the chimera. Fate turned to Prota, his breath heavy.

"Prota. Are you ok with this?"

Prota didn't know. It felt strange. Fate had always felt like the centrepiece of their plans. Perhaps that was what it meant to be the [Protagonist]. Could she step into those shoes? Could she really be the one this plan relied upon?

I am strong. I'm not weak anymore.

She hoped she wasn't lying to herself. Steeling her nerves, she nodded.

"Go!" Fate yelled, charging forward.

A shell flew out of John's shotgun as he pulled the trigger yet again, sparks flying as pellets ricocheted off the monster.

Sparks flew as Fate's blade and the creature's claws clashed. Prota watched as John leapt forward, blasting away before rolling as he hit the ground, strafing around the enemy before going in for another shot. He would get risky with it, sometimes avoiding attacks by a hair's worth of distance, but then he'd kick off the creature's back and flip over it, pumping yet another shell into its head.

It wasn't doing any damage, but John wasn't trying to do damage. She watched as his thumb shoved something into his weapon between shots, a sort of hypnotic rhythm of pump, trigger and reload.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Prota! Now!" Fate yelled.

This was it. She charged forward, the Blossom in her hand. Fate's sword clashed with the creature, knocking its claws away, giving Prota the perfect opportunity. She raised her arm, preparing to throw—

And she missed.

The Blossom flew a little too far. The explosion still stunned the chimera, but no real damage had been done.

"S-sorry…" Prota panted.

"No, it would be unreasonable to expect you to hit that first try," Fate said, also out of breath.

Interestingly enough, John was the only one who showed no signs of fatigue.

"You don't need a break?" Fate said.

"It's ok. Just take care of me when I'm unconscious," he muttered.

John wasn't very comfortable with the situation. He was normally the one to make the plan, but he really had no clue as to how to kill this monster. It didn't help that he couldn't do any damage, either. He was almost entirely useless here. He didn't have a backup in case things went wrong.

John really hoped things didn't go wrong.

"Prota," John said quietly. The chimera looked like it was recovering. "How many more times can you do that?"

Prota thought for a bit.

"Three," she said.

If she continued to cast mana recovery, her body would put up with three more Blossoms. Despite Kit's healing, she still wasn't fully recovered from the fight with the crab. Her body was already running on as many mana recoveries as it could, and the chimera had an incredible amount of mana to draw from.

The thing had multiple souls, after all.

"Everyone ready?" John said, gripping his shotgun.

Fate nodded. "Let's do it."

The time for talking was over. The monster was getting back up. Once again, it was the same pattern as last time. Prota focused.

Three more times.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and felt the chimera's mana. It was easier to pinpoint the chest based on where all the cores were.

John, on the other hand, had lost all interest.

[Are you not going to fight?]

"She's going to miss," John muttered. "Twice. Then she's going to figure something out on the third try, and then we're going to win."

[You're acting on the basis that she's a [Character]. Remember. She's an [Anomaly], just like you. Try not to predict anything when you're around her.]

"...looking forward to it," John muttered as he cocked his shotgun again.

Prota, oblivious to this, was focused so deeply that her mana started to fold over itself. It began to compact itself and fold over, becoming denser and denser. Each petal of ice packed a slightly harder punch than before.

She wouldn't fail. She needed something else. Something that would give her enough time to cast her spell.

In her right hand, a fire started burning. Just like the flower, the layers of mana began to condense. She had the mana to do it. A constant stream of mana from the chimera fed the spell, causing it to turn orange, then yellow, then blue.

A crystal blue flower. A blue flame, the same hue as her left eye.

"...are you kidding me?" Fate muttered as he looked back. "That's ridiculous."

Double casting powerful spells. Granted, he could do it too, but still, what a feat to pull off in the middle of combat.

John, too, was stunned, but for a very different reason.

"You're fucking with me. The fire- the ice- her eyes-" he stammered, lost for words.

[John. Please just leave it alone.]

"The [Author] couldn't come up with anything better? Like, seriously! Wow. Her abilities and her eyes match colours. How incredibly creative. I sure do hope this doesn't translate to her future abilities!"

[Leave it.]

A spider's claw grazed his leg, but he was so incredibly amazed that he completely ignored it.

"You're kidding me."

[John. Leave it alone]

"I thought I did a bad job at being a good character. But-"

[Leave. It. Alone.]

"...fine."

He clenched his teeth as he loaded a special shell loaded with explosive pellets. He'd been saving this for an opportune moment, but it didn't look like one would happen any time soon. Besides, the recoil would probably break a bone, and he wasn't looking forward to that.

Still, he was curious. The standard formula in a situation like this was two misses and a home run. However, if Prota was really the [Anomaly] Zero said she was, then she'd be able to land her attack as soon as there was a window of opportunity.

And if that was the case, then who better to open that window than another [Anomaly]?

There was a loud bang as the shells shattered against the beast, staggering it and forcing it to take a few steps back. Fortunately, at the same time, Fate had been fighting against the thing's claws and had managed to parry a blow at the same time.

This combination left the creature's shell wide open.

"Prota! Now!"

Her eyes snapped open, bright and glowing as she held fire in one hand and ice in the other. Once again, she dashed forward, but this time, things were different. She didn't have enough stamina to do this again. It had to work this time. She threw the fireball first, heating up the plating on the creature's chest and causing it to fall back onto its legs.

Time seemed to slow down as Prota aimed. This was it. Her opportunity.

She wouldn't miss.

"Blossom," Prota whispered, and the flower exploded.

The extreme difference in temperatures was enough to completely shatter the creature's head, causing it to explode. The body stopped moving and fell down to the ground with a thump, but no blood leaked out.

It wasn't a normal body.

Unfortunately, that was their final mistake. In some kind of post-death reaction, the creature's legs flailed out. Fate and John both reacted in time, but John just wasn't fast enough. A leg plunged itself into his back. He yelled in surprise, but not in pain, as he collapsed to the ground.

"John!" Prota yelled out, but he just yanked the thing out and grunted, standing up.

"I'm fine," John grunted, getting back up.

It didn't hurt, but he found that his leg wouldn't support him. Interesting. Perhaps some kind of nerve damage? Prota rushed over to support him, and he leaned on her like a crutch.

"Those were acid spider legs," Fate said, shaking his head. "Your wounds aren't going to recover very fast. But… what the hell is in that drug of yours?"

"Plot armour," John sighed. "Prota? Can you ice my leg?"

Glaring at John, she put her hands on his wound and began to put a thin layer of ice over it.

"What- why does she look like that?" Fate said as he watched the two.

John sighed again. "She's mad."

"At what? You?"

"Yeah."

John groaned as he collapsed, sitting on the ground. The ice wasn't helping all that much. Well, that made sense. Ice was usually for pain, and that wasn't an issue at the moment. He needed to move.

"What the hell was that thing?" John muttered, staring at the dead chimera on the ground.

"Why're you asking me? I know as much as you do," Fate muttered, wiping the blood off his sword. He was tired, but he seemed to be recovering well. "That's a freak of nature. It shouldn't exist."

"...then we're in the right place?"

"Probably. Multiple souls. Chimeras. It all links up, doesn't it? It looks like your theory is turning out to be correct, John."

"Yeah. I kinda wish I was wrong, though," John muttered.

Prota was finishing up a cane of ice, which John gladly took. He hobbled back to the lab with the others, licking his lips.

"I need some water."

"The acid will do that to you. We still need to get rations for the prisoners. Let's keep looking."

Somehow, John had just remembered that they were initially looking for rations. The beast had appeared out of nowhere for apparently no reason. He pondered that for a bit. A fight was usually meant to accomplish something. The introduction or removal of an enemy. To bolster one's growth. To encourage training. But this monster had done nearly none of that. It was simply a fight for the sake of fighting. A fight to survive.

Or was there something he was missing?

As they ventured deeper into the lab, they found more tied-up bodies and vats full of monster parts.

"...chimera research," Fate muttered. "This is disgusting."

"Mm, yeah," John muttered, chewing on a piece of jerky he took out of his bag. "Disgusting."

"You can eat?" Fate said, disgusted.

Even Prota was incredibly disgusted. At least she wasn't throwing up this time. But John just stood there, munching away. Fate stared at him.

"What? I'm hungry. I need meat to recover, right?" John shrugged.

At the end of the lab was a door. At this point, Fate was tired of opening doors. They always had terrible things behind them. Surely, this one would have something.

Please. Please.

"The supplies!"

Behind the door was a bunch of dried meat and crackers as well as barrels of water.

"You think this was for the prisoners?" Fate said as he rolled some of the barrels out.

He winced as the injuries he'd received from the fight yelled at him, but he would manage.

"Probably for whoever looked after them," John shrugged. "Oh, I'd leave the meat alone. Just in case."

Fate gagged as he remembered the room full of human, elf and dwarf meat.

"Good idea."

John frowned. "...that's animal meat. You know that, right?"

"Then why are we leaving it behind?"

"I just don't trust it. It's fine. The prisoners don't need the protein right now. The bread should be good enough until we can bring them back."

Fate hesitated but then nodded. It wasn't worth the risk. The prisoners could afford to go without meat for a few more hours. They gave the crackers to John, and Prota pushed one barrel while Fate pushed the other.

Halfway through, though, the consequences of the fight began to show. Prota tripped over a small crack in the ground, landing face-first.

"Prota!" John yelled, hobbling over. "What the-"

He looked at the little crack.

"You need to rest," he frowned.

"I'm ok-" she started, but despite his injuries, John picked her up and put her on his back.

He stuffed the crackers into his hoodie and used the barrel for support, rolling it as he limped with it.

"You good?" John said, looking at Fate, who was watching the whole ordeal. "You got this funny look in your eyes."

"No, it's just… You guys really are like family. I sometimes forget that you're people, too."

"That's what I should be saying," John muttered. "How about you? You have anybody waiting for you?"

"...don't worry about it."

John nodded. He was curious, but this was clearly a topic for later.

The group dropped off the food with the group and started handing out rations. Fate was concerned that the people would harm themselves by overeating, but John assured Fate that such a thing wouldn't happen.

"What? How can you be so sure?" Fate frowned.

"There's a certain guy who's really lazy regarding certain details. It'll be fine," John said offhandedly.

"...what?"

"Don't worry about it."

After a few minutes, Fate and John returned to look for more materials. Prota wanted to go with them, but John forced her to stay behind and rest. She was about to protest, but felt her legs buckle.

"Your body isn't that well trained, Prota. Calm down," John muttered as he got ready to leave.

"Fate-"

"Fate's probably been doing some hell training or something since he was five. You were on the brink of death for a year. Relax."

"Then you, too," Prota insisted.

"Huh?"

"John has to rest too."

John was about to say something, but stopped as he looked at Prota. He sighed and sat down. And with that, it was settled. Kit stayed behind as well, just to make sure nothing would go wrong.

Maybe staying behind had been the wrong choice, though. As Prota looked at the prisoners, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. They reminded her of herself. Skinny, barren, all bones, a dying light in their eyes… could she help them?

Was it possible?

She wasn't sure. And yet, despite these thoughts, she found that it wasn't so bad. She still wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear, but there was now a reason to stay. She couldn't do that, even if she wanted to.

Kit softly pushed her paw into Prota's stomach, trying to get her attention. As Prota looked down, their eyes connected.

"...I have to get stronger," Prota muttered as she looked away.

There was still room to grow.

But that would come later. She closed her eyes and started to fall asleep until John and Fate's voices started getting louder.

"...and you don't have a single change of outfits?" Fate's voice said.

"No."

"Your sister has lots of different outfits."

"She wears the cloak every day," John pointed out.

"That's different. You've been wearing the same clothes every day since we met."

"So?"

"You don't see how that's an issue?"

"Not really."

Prota opened her eyes to see John and Fate returning with a bunch of rolls and cushions in a cart. There were a bunch of fresh sheets at the top of the pile, presumably what had sparked the discussion about clothing.

"We've still got time to kill before the team arrives," Fate called out. "So come grab some fresh clothing and get some rest!"

The prisoners looked towards Fate with shining eyes. They were desperate, longing, hopeful, and yet still starved of something. Prota shuddered. She was starting to understand the state she'd been in when John had picked her up. She suddenly had the urge to look in a mirror. Did she still look like that?

"Hey. Prota. You, too," John said, plopping down next to her with a cushion and a roll. "Rest up. You're gonna have to take care of me in a bit."

"You should be resting," Prota said groggily.

"Hey, I'll be getting tons of rest in a bit. I… I just… I, uh…"

John's voice slowly faded out as his eyes began to flutter.

"John? John!" Prota exclaimed, shaking him, but she couldn't stop his descent into unconsciousness.

[I think the drug kicked in a little earlier than usual. Makes sense, considering the damage he's taken.]

Prota read the message, but it didn't make her feel any less uneasy. Fate rushed over, standing over John.

"What? What happened?"

Prota looked up. "Drug… early…"

"I see." Fate stood over his body, concerned. "I guess we'll have to bring him with us."

Prota nodded as she worriedly put her hand on John's forehead. Using a bit of magic, she put him on the roll he'd brought for her. Twenty-four hours. That was a blink of time compared to what they'd been through. Nothing could go wrong during those moments.

Right?

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