~3805 words
Unit 17, Sørlund Street
It was well past midnight when three heavy knocks suddenly echoed through the Holmes Estate. The sound reverberated through the quiet house, startling both Liv and Freya awake.
The two were sleeping in separate rooms on the uppermost floor, yet they emerged into the hallway almost simultaneously. Only the old woman—Ada remained asleep.
When the knocking came again but louder this time, Liv hurried downstairs with Freya close behind. Before approaching the door, she grabbed a kitchen knife from a nearby drawer and pressed it into her daughter's hand.
The knife was nothing special. It was merely a vegetable knife with a wooden handle. Against a real threat it would likely accomplish very little, but having something in her hands seemed to calm Freya's nerves.
"Stay back," Liv whispered into her ear.
Freya nodded and retreated into the shadows near the dining room entrance. Only after confirming Freya's location did Liv move towards the front door as she pressed her ear against the wood.
Before she could ask who stood outside, a familiar voice reached her through the other side.
"It's me." The voice was monotonous, as always, yet there was something underneath it. Something close to the feeling of being tired.
Instant recognition flashed across Liv's face as she unlatched the door and pulled it open without any hesitation. Before her eyes could properly settle upon Kiyotaka, a small figure suddenly threw itself forward and wrapped both arms around her waist.
A broken sob escaped into the night at the same moment as Liv froze.
For a moment she could only stare downward.
The little girl clinging to her looked thinner than she remembered as dirt stained her cheeks, her clothes hung loosely from her frame and her face was streaked with old tears that had dried and been replaced by new ones.
"Daisy..." The name left her lips in a breathless whisper and her knees gave way. She collapsed on the doorstep and gathered the girl into her arms with such force that it seemed as though she feared that Daisy might disappear if she loosened her grip even slightly.
She pulled and stuffed Daisy's face into her somewhat sagging breasts and began crying even harder. Years of exhaustion from working all the time, worrying about her daughters and the recent trauma of losing one seemed to take its toll upon Liv all at once.
The faint vitality that had returned to her during the past few days vanished entirely as tears streamed down her face while the wrinkles around her eyes deepened, and the haggard woman suddenly looked every bit the exhausted mother that she truly was.
She looked as if she had gained ten years in a single moment.
Standing a short distance away, Kiyotaka watched the reunion in silence.
His coat was torn in several places, and beneath those torn parts, there were many wounds, some of which had stopped bleeding and some of which were still running while the lacerations across his back burned like heated iron whenever he moved too abruptly.
His gaze lingered on the mother and daughter for several seconds before drifting elsewhere.
Whether it was because the scene before him was too intimate or some other reason, he couldn't tell. Or perhaps because there was simply nothing that needed to be said in such a heartfelt moment between the mother and the daughter.
Slowly, he pressed a hand against his side and suppressed the discomfort radiating through his body.
Only then did Liv finally look up. Tears still clung to her eyelashes as she parted her lips. "Sir..."
The gratitude, relief, disbelief and guilt in her voice were so overwhelming that she could not even finish the sentence.
Kiyotaka raised a hand before she could continue.
"I am going upstairs." His tone was as indifferent as ever. "Close the door before you let all the heat out."
Liv opened her mouth again, only for her words to die before reaching her lips because Kiyotaka had already stepped past her. The wooden stairs leading to the first floor — where his master bedroom was located — creaked softly beneath his weight.
"Feed her something first," he added without turning around. "Preferably something warm. Her body is too weak but not too much."
The practical observation somehow made Liv choke on a sob. No one had ever cared about her, or her daughters, save for those who just wanted to defile them.
As Kiyotaka reached the middle of the staircase, he finally paused. Then, very slowly, he turned his head as his gaze settled on Freya.
The girl remained standing where Liv had left her, the knife still clenched tightly in her hand, yet she seemed completely oblivious to it.
Her eyes were fixed on Daisy and tears had gathered in them long ago, falling down in thick streams.
For several moments, neither of them spoke. Then Kiyotaka's gaze drifted from her face to the knife and back again as the corner of his mouth moved ever so slightly.
Whether it was amusement or approval was impossible to tell.
"Come to my room in an hour."
Freya's breath suddenly caught in her throat.
The words were quite simple, yet in the silence that followed, surrounded by darkness, bloodstained clothing, and a man who had returned carrying her sister from the jaws of hell itself, they seemed much more haunting than it should've been.
Liv gently pried Daisy away from her chest and wiped the girl's face. "Go sit in the kitchen," she said softly. "I'll bring you something to eat."
Daisy nodded obediently and shuffled away, glancing back every few steps as though afraid someone might take her away again. Only after the girl disappeared into the kitchen did Liv reach out and grab Freya's wrist.
"Mother?" Liv pulled her aside until they were standing beyond the dining room doorway. For a few moments, she simply stared at her daughter.
Freya had grown up far too quickly. The child she remembered seemed to have vanished sometime during the past few years, replaced by a young woman who had spent too many nights going hungry and working day and night to make ends meet alongside her.
Liv reached up and adjusted Freya's collar. "Go wash yourself first."
Freya blinked, an incredulous look appearing on her face. "What?"
Liv smoothed a wrinkle from her blouse and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And fix your hair."
Realization gradually appeared on Freya's face and her lips parted slightly. "Mother..."
Liv lowered her eyes. "Sir has already done more for us than anyone ever has. More than what your father has ever done for us..."
A grim silence settled between them. Freya could hear Daisy moving around in the kitchen and the crackling of the fireplace.
She could hear her own heartbeat... she could even hear her mother's rapidly beating heart.
"You don't know that's what he wants," she whispered.
Liv let out a bitter laugh. "Maybe not." Her fingers tightened around Freya's sleeve. "But men with money rarely do things for free."
Freya lowered her gaze and Liv looked toward the staircase. "If that's what he wants..." Liv hesitated before continuing. "Then it is still better than what life would've demanded from you eventually."
Freya's shoulders trembled as Liv stepped closer and placed a hand against her cheek. "At least this way your sister is safe. You... and I are safe."
The older woman's voice cracked. "At least this way you—we won't spend the rest of our lives starving and working ourselves to literal death."
Freya remained silent as Liv forced a smile that looked more painful than crying. "Go on."
Liv adjusted Freya's collar one last time and patted her cheeks. "Don't keep him waiting."
*****
IRIS STREET
"Your Grace, this requires an investigation. We tried using Beyonder means to find clues, but all of them failed," the captain of the Mandated Punisher team spoke, somewhat trembling in fear. "There was a single person who did all this."
"I've tried it too," An old man with silver eyes replied. He was wearing a black bonnet, and a black robe with the symbol of the Lord of Storms embroidered on it—Cardinal Ace Snake. "That said, why was a Human Trafficker receiving the support of so many Beyonders. None of them seemed to be low-Sequence either."
"We are not entirely sure..." The captain replied with a tremble. "The person who killed all of the Beyonders and the one who betrayed them, both seem to have extremely strong anti-Divination measures in place. Even after trying with a Sealed Artifact, we are unable to trace their location, or any proof tied to them."
"He must be a high-Sequence Beyonder. Maybe even a Demigod." Ace Snake theorized as he looked down at the Emperor Tarot Card, arranged neatly on the dining table. "This is similar to the case of that rat who was killed in the sewers by a Circus Clown and the Plague Doctor. Leaving behind Tarot Cards seems to be a ritual for them."
"Yes..." The captain couldn't help but shake his head in agreement.
*****
CHERWOOD BOROUGH
"Are you ready?" Xio asked as she adjusted her hair with her gloved fingers.
"Yes, I am." Fors replied, yawning as she did.
As the two were about to leave, Xio's eyes suddenly fell on the newspaper that was pushed through the bottom of her door at some point in time. She picked it up and flapped it open before looking at the front page.
—!CAPIM MEETS A GROTESQUE END IN HIS ESTATE! AUTHORITIES UNCOVER EVIDENCE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING! MYSTERIOUS EMPEROR TAROT CARD RECOVERED FROM CRIME SCENE! POLICE SUSPECT OCCULT INVOLVEMENT!—
"This..." Xio's eyes widened.
Fors peeked over Xio and looked at the heading. "I hope whoever killed him ripped his organs out before killing him."
However, something else entered her field of vision, once more and her heart almost jumped to her throat.
'Mysterious Emperor Tarot Card recovered from crime scene!'
'Emperor Card? Does this have something to do with Mr. Emperor? Mr. Emperor's Blessed? He did sound powerful since he had a lot of Beyonder Characteristics and Mystical Items. But is it really him? If so... doesn't that mean that he is too powerful? There were rumors that Capim had un-ordinary helpers... which could mean he had Beyonders protecting him.'
As Fors was lost in thought, Xio folded the newspaper and slipped it over the table, ignoring the sub-section that detailed the authorities' thoughts on him and the connection of this event to something else.
"Come on, we have to leave, quick!"
Fors blinked a few times to snap out of her thoughts and then ran after Xio.
*****
EMPRESS BOROUGH
Audrey was waiting for the maid to cut up the food, when she heard her father, Count Hall, who was used to reading the newspapers at breakfast, laugh.
"Capim is dead."
"Who is he?" Audrey asked with her eyes wide open.
In fact, she wasn't the least bit curious about who Capim was. She was simply going along with her father, who obviously had the desire to share his thoughts. This was both her specialty as a daughter and the innate nature of a Telepathist.
"He's a tycoon who secretly might be a human trafficker. He has rather good ties with some people. Heh..." Count Hall chuckled. "He was killed last night. He was killed quite grotesquely. I received a letter a while ago as some of my friends think that this might be the work of the Circus Clown and Plague Doctor."
Audrey smiled innocently.
"You remember the giant explosion at the docks that caused a lot of uproar in the past month, right?" Count Hall waited for Audrey to nod in affirmation before continuing. "The two are suspected of doing that. And now this again. The similarity between the two is them leaving Tarot Cards behind."
Audrey's heart suddenly palpitated.
"Which tarot card was left this time?" Suddenly feeling interested, Audrey posed a question.
"Emperor Tarot Card."
'Mr. Emperor?! It has to be him! Perhaps... Perhaps it's a test from Mr. Fool to test his loyalty. If so, Mr. Emperor has passed with flying colors and must've received a huge boon! The explosions before were confirmed by Mr. Fool to be during the hunt of True—no, Fallen Creator's spawn.
If Mr. Fool really asked Mr. Emperor to kill Capim, then that means that there was a huge underlying threat that endangered our world!
Praise to be Mr. Fool!'
Audrey listened to her father talk in detail about his views about the whole thing as her mind drifted off towards something else. 'I wonder if anyone took the commission regarding Williams Holmes.'
*****
UNIT 17, MINSK STREET
Klein woke up late and in a strangely good mood.
After the events of last night, he was able to parse a thing or two about the Acting Method for Faceless. The core belief that he understood from the operation last night was that he did not have to just change appearances, but also live that life.
Only by living his target's life as that person without internally losing his self-identity could he digest the potion.
After taking a bath, he made himself a lavish breakfast to treat himself.
'I already have the Sequence 5 Beyonder Characteristic. Which means I just need to find mermaids to complete the ritual. Hmm, maybe I should head over to the sea for that with a new identity. That way, I would be able to digest my Sequence 6 potion until I find the mermaids.'
He thought happily as he chowed down on a greasy piece of Desi Pie alongside some black coffee. However, his eyes suddenly widened as he flapped open a newspaper and looked at the first page.
"What...?!"
*****
A NIGHT BEFORE - Unit 17, Sørlund Street
Freya spent far longer than necessary preparing herself. The small washroom on the second floor was dimly lit, with only a single oil lamp illuminating the mirror hanging above the basin.
She washed her face twice... and then a third time.
Even after the dirt was gone, she remained standing there, staring at her reflection. The girl looking back seemed unfamiliar.
Her cheeks appeared thinner than she remembered and dark circles rested beneath her long eyes—the signs of malnutrition, despite eating to the brim for the past few days, remained impossible to hide.
After drying her face, she slowly combed through her light hair before tying it properly behind her head. Eventually, she changed into the cleanest set of clothes she owned after coming to this estate.
They were not beautiful. Nothing she possessed could be called beautiful, even herself, however, the clothes were clean.
That seemed to be enough, at least in her mother's eyes. When she finally stepped out of the washroom, nearly forty minutes had already passed.
The walk towards Kiyotaka's room felt strangely long and hallways seemed to stretch on indefinitely while her heartbeat seemed to quicken with every heavy step she took.
Her mother's words were continuously echoing in her mind. By the time she arrived in front of the door, her palms had become damp with sweat and cold as ice.
She hesitated for a moment but after a while of deliberation, she raised her hand.
Knock. Knock.
A calm voice sounded from within after a debilitatingly few seconds. "Come in."
Freya swallowed a dry lump of saliva and slowly pushed the door open, stepping inside.
A fireplace crackled quietly in one corner and bookshelves covered an entire wall. Maps, newspapers and handwritten notes occupied a large mahogany desk near the window.
The first thing Freya noticed, however, was Kiyotaka. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back partially turned towards her, shirtless.
For a brief moment, her body froze.
Not because of what she feared was true all along, but because of the thing she saw—wounds.
Not one, not two, three or four, but dozens.
Long lacerations crossed his back and shoulders.
Several of them already felt stitched shut while others were wrapped in fresh bandages stained faintly red and dark bruises covered his ribs. An ugly wound near his side appeared deep enough that she could not understand how he was still standing.
A basin of water sat nearby that was tinted pink from the diluted blood.
The sight struck her so suddenly that every thought she had carried into the room vanished.
Kiyotaka, however, appeared completely indifferent to his condition. Holding a needle in one hand, he was in the middle of stitching a wound on his forearm as the flesh around it looked inflamed.
Freya felt her throat tighten.
"Sir, you are injured."
Kiyotaka glanced back at her and then went back to stitching himself. "I know. You are early."
The response caught her completely off guard as for several seconds, she could only stand there. The terrifying conversation she had imagined during the walk downstairs suddenly felt absurd. Kiyotaka returned his attention to the needle and without looking at her began speaking.
"You cleaned yourself."
Freya instinctively lowered her gaze. "Y-Yes."
"Hm."
Kiyotaka did not say anything further as a deathly silence stretched between the two.
Eventually, Kiyotaka set the needle down and his pale eyes studied her for a few moments. However, the expected feeling of "lust" was entirely absent from his eyes. She could tell this much.
"You love your sister."
The sudden statement startled her. "Of course I do."
"Enough to die for her?"
Freya was taken aback, but nodded immediately. "Yes."
Kiyotaka thought for a moment before asking again. "Enough to kill for her?"
The question froze her. Kiyotaka kept his eyes at her as Freya's breathing gradually slowed. After several more seconds, she answered honestly: "...I don't know."
"Good."
Freya blinked. "Good?"
"Anyone who answers that question too quickly is usually lying. To themselves, mostly."
Reaching towards the bedside table, Kiyotaka picked up a small crystal vial. Within it swirled a strange liquid. When the light of the gas lamp reflected into it, it decomposed into a seven-colored alluring liquid.
Freya's eyes widened. "What is that?"
Kiyotaka rolled the vial between his fingers. "A chance."
Freya had a strange look on her face as Kiyotaka placed it beside himself. "A chance to ensure nobody can ever take your sister away again."
Freya stared at the seven-colored liquid, then at Kiyotaka and then back at the potion. For several seconds, she simply stood there. The silence dragged on long enough that Kiyotaka eventually raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
Freya's lips parted. "What... what do you mean, what?"
"You appear surprised."
Freya immediately looked away and a faint redness crept onto her face. "I-I just..." Her moist fingers twisted together. "This isn't what I was expecting."
Kiyotaka observed her for a moment. Then his gaze slowly drifted over her carefully combed hair, freshly washed face, matted lips and the clean clothes she had evidently spent considerable effort selecting.
"You may relax. If I had summoned you for that purpose, I would've been considerably less vague."
Freya wished the floor would open beneath her and swallow her whole. The room suddenly began to feel unbearably warm. Fortunately, Kiyotaka did not comment on it, instead, he simply lifted the vial slightly. "This is a magical potion."
Freya blinked. "A what?"
"A source of power." His voice remained calm and matter-of-fact. "If consumed successfully, it will transform you into something beyond an ordinary human."
Freya's eyes widened. "You mean like in the children stories...?"
"Among other things."
The seven-colored liquid reflected in her pupils. For the first time since entering the room, genuine excitement began to overwhelm her embarrassment.
"You can really do that?"
"Yes."
"And it will let me protect Daisy?"
"Nothing is certain, but it will give you the opportunity to become capable of doing so. Protecting Daisy, Liv..." Kiyotaka looked at the malnourished girl from head to toe, "...and yourself."
Freya lowered her head and her fingers trembled slightly.
This was a strange opportunity.
After all, nobody had ever offered her an opportunity before.
People offered orders, pity and scraps, that too at the expense of something that couldn't be measured.
Kiyotaka quietly placed the vial on the bedside table and then he leaned back. "I will ask only once. If you drink it, your life can change. If you refuse, I will destroy the vial and this window of opportunity will be lost completely. "
Her eyes widened as Kiyotaka lightly tapped the glass vial.
"You will remain employed here and will receive a monthly salary. There will be no punishment for refusing my offer. You will continue receiving food, shelter, wages, and even education." His gaze remained steady on her. "However, the opportunity to acquire power will disappear. You should decide carefully."
Freya stared at the potion as a strange emotion gradually surfaced within her chest.
For years, she had believed she understood how the world worked. Men wanted things and those things came at a price.
The richer the man, the higher the price. That had been her understanding ever since she was old enough to notice the looks people gave her mother and even herself. Even after arriving here, she had not truly believed otherwise.
She believed the same when Kiyotaka gave them huge money for merely washing clothes, when he paid for Daisy's education, when he hired them, gave them the same food he ate and still paid them incredulous wages for such little work—comparatively.
A small voice had always remained inside her heart and mind. All this time, she had been waiting for the debt to arrive, waiting for the moment the mask would finally come off and this "good" man would finally reveal his real nature.
Yet the man sitting before her was nothing like that.
Not once had his eyes lingered on her in a way that other men looked at her, nor once did he look interested in her body. The realization left her feeling strangely ashamed as her gaze automatically lowered out of shame.
A weak chuckle escaped her lips as Kiyotaka kept staring at her.
She had been wrong... Completely wrong.
The man in front of her was warm and kind, but also cold, difficult to understand and possibly insane. But he was not like the others.
Her thoughts drifted towards Daisy and her mother.
Freya's hands slowly clenched.
'No...'
She never wanted to feel that helpless again.
'Never again...'
When she looked up once more, the hesitation in her eyes had disappeared. "I'll do it."
Kiyotaka studied her silently. "There would be risks of madness and death."
Freya gulped but steeled her resolve and nodded. "Then I accept them."
"The process may be painful."
"I don't care."
"You may die."
Her fingers tightened around the edge of her skirt. For a moment, her entire life flashed before her eyes, and then her mother's words echoed in her mind.
The feeling of watching everything precious slowly slip away while lacking the strength to stop it... she never wanted to feel that again.
Her thin lips parted. "If I remain weak, something important will eventually be taken from me again." She took a step forward, towards the bed-side table and her fingers closed around the vial. "So I'd rather take the chance."
For the first time during the entire conversation, Kiyotaka seemed faintly satisfied.
"Good answer."
Freya lowered her gaze towards the seven-colored liquid. Then, taking a deep breath, she pulled out the stopper while Kiyotaka kept his gaze fixed on her. As he saw the dirty-blonde haired girl touch the vial to her lips, he breathed out.
'This will do.'