Chara was in a strange situation, the system message dud not surprise him at all but Jack holding onto him was....quite a novel experience.
Tiamat watched curiously like a caring mother, enjoying as her two children spent time with one another. Actually Chara didn't mind her doing it, things like levelling up the Bond of a Master and servant still exists in the system and he was gaining 1 bondXP every second she held him, Taimat watching them also increased the bond XP for her.
The mechanical hum of the System pulsed in the corner of Chara's vision, a stark contrast to the soft, rhythmic breathing of the legendary serial killer currently treating his arm like a plush pillow.
[Bond Leveling in Progress...]
[Jack the Ripper: Bond Level 1 (5,400 / 10,000)]
[Tiamat (Larva): Bond Level 1 (2,100 / 25,000)]
Chara leaned back into the worn velvet of the armchair, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. In the Undertale world, "Bonding" usually meant something much more violent, but here, it was the only thing keeping him grounded. The 1 XP per second was a slow crawl, but in a world as dangerous as Lord of the Mysteries, time was the one thing he hoped he had.
"Mommy's soul is... different," Jack murmured, her head resting against his shoulder. "It's not like the others in the mist. It doesn't break. It just stays... shiny."
"That's called Determination, Jack," Chara replied, his voice softening. He looked over at Tiamat. She had moved to the center of the room, her dark cloak pooling around her as she sat on the floor, humming that ancient lullaby.
Every time she hummed, Chara felt the Beast Potion inside him settle. Normally, a Beyonder potion is like a wild animal trying to claw its way out of your skin, but Tiamat's presence acted like a divine leash. She wasn't just his protector; she was his stabilizer.
Chara knew how this world worked from the fragments of memory he possessed. To advance, he couldn't just sit in this room. He had to "Act." For a member of the Monster pathway, acting meant observing fate. But for a Beast?
The System's description flashed in his mind: "The Beast is the disaster."
"Jack," Chara said, gently disengaging his arm. The girl looked up, her eyes wide and expectant. "You mentioned 'bad smells' in the walls. And people who 'died sad.' Can you still feel them?"
Jack's expression shifted instantly. The innocent child vanished, replaced by the cold, analytical gaze of the Mist-Born Assassin. "Yes. The city is full of them. Downstairs... across the street... in the sewers. They are cold, and they want to be warm. We can make them warm, Mommy. We can take them apart."
Chara stood up, gripping the Real Knife. The blade didn't reflect the dim gaslight of the room; it seemed to eat it.
"We aren't going to 'take apart' innocent people," Chara clarified, though he knew "innocence" was a rare commodity in Backlund.
"But this city has a literal underworld. Gangs, corrupt officials, and things that hide in the smog. If I'm going to digest this potion, I need to hunt."
But he wondered if he could obtain some craft essence or a new servant...though if he know thinks about it, does he still have the slight luck of the Monster Pathway....probably not, eh well gacha was always uncertain and this was FGO.
Chara pulled up the interface, the blue light of the System reflecting in his newly awakened Eyes of the Primordial. He had 10 Saint Quartz. In the original game, this wouldn't even be enough for a multi-roll, but here, the rules were shifting.
[System Notification: Single Summon available. Cost: 5 Saint Quartz.]
[Current Luck Stat: E (Rank: Beast) — Note: "Determination" may influence the outcome.]
"Five Quartz for a chance at sanity or a complete disaster," Chara muttered. "Let's see if the Gacha is as cruel in Backlund as it was on a phone screen."
He tapped the screen twice.
The room didn't just glow; it shook. The spiritual density of the apartment spiked, causing the gas lamps to hiss and flicker with a violet flame. A slight thud echoed on the ground and....what seemed to be a young version of a certain king. She was on the ground rubbing her back while her sword was besides her
[You have Summoned Mysterious Heroine X.]
This...wasn't this the bane of all Artoria type servants? Also Chara thought why the hell he was obtaining only female servants? Did he somehow obtain Shirous EX Rank Harem Protagonist Skill? Ah let's just forget it, he got a strong servant so why should he care.
Chara stared at the girl on the floor. She wore a blue tracksuit-style jacket, a cap pulled low over her eyes, and clutched a familiar-looking holy sword that had been "modified" with some futuristic tech. She looked less like a legendary knight and more like a high-schooler who had lost her way to a kendo tournament.
The silence in the room was absolute, save for the faint, futuristic hum of the "Secretcalibur" lying on the rug. Jack tilted her head, her surgical knives glinting as she sized up the newcomer. Tiamat simply blinked, her lilac eyes reflecting the absurdity of a tracksuit-clad girl appearing in a Victorian-era apartment.
"Owowow..." the girl groaned, pushing herself up. She adjusted her cap and glared at the ceiling. "I'm sure I set the coordinates for the Saber-verse. This smells less like 'Saber' and more like... coal smoke and eldritch dampness."
Mysterious Heroine X (MHX) fixed her gaze on Chara, her eyes narrowing as she adjusted her scarf. For a second, the air in the room didn't just feel Victorian; it felt sharp—like the cold vacuum of space.
"Are you the Master of this... remarkably soot-covered establishment?" she asked, standing up and dusting off her tracksuit. She picked up her sword, which looked like Excalibur if it had been redesigned by a sci-fi enthusiast. "I am the definitive edition of the Saber class. Though, strictly speaking, I am an Assassin. I have come to this world to eliminate all Sabers. Wait..."
She stopped mid-sentence, her head swiveling toward Tiamat and Jack.
"An Alter Ego and another Assassin? Hmph. As long as you aren't hidden Sabers, I suppose we can coexist." She turned back to Chara, pointing her sword—Secretcalibur—directly at his chest. "You are my master, as your servant I–uh wait, this body doesn't have a saint graph? Did you summon me in my true form or something master?."
Chara rubbed his temples. The spatial distortions caused by MHX's arrival were already settling, but the headache of managing this specific trio was just beginning.
Through the Eye of the Primordial, he looked at the newcomer. Unlike Jack's jagged red line or Tiamat's infinite error, MHX's health bar flickered with a strange, cosmic energy.
Heroic Spirit: Mysterious Heroine X
Class: Assassin (Self-Proclaimed "Definitive Saber")
Health: [||||||||||] (High Density / Cosmic Attribute)
Mental Stability: [|||||||| ] (82% - Currently obsessed with "Saber-slaying")
"I didn't exactly 'summon' you in the traditional sense," Chara explained, leaning back as Tiamat curiously poked at MHX's tracksuit material. "The system here is... physical. You're not a ghost made of mana; you're real. Which means you can actually get hungry, and more importantly, the 'Sabers' of this world aren't knights in armor—they're high-sequence Beyonders or literal gods."
MHX's eyes lit up under her cap. "God-tier Sabers? Splendid! I shall refine my Secretcalibur on their divine essences!"
Chara sighed and patted her head, well her cap but it still counts as a headpat. "Well there aren't really any Sabers in this world but I am pretty sure you should be effective against those who are similar to Sabers."
X ears turned red at the sudden pat but she was determined. "Don't worry master, as an Assassin class meant to fight Sabers, I will slay all Saber attributed beins."
Chara pulled his hand back, noting the faint blush creeping up MHX's ears despite her determined proclamation. The Eye of the Primordial showed her Mental Stability tick up by 2%—apparently, headpats were effective even on interdimensional Saber-slayers.
"Right," Chara said, crossing his arms. "But before you go hunting for 'Saber-attributed beings,' we need to establish some ground rules. This world isn't the Saber-verse or the Servant Universe. This is Backlund, capital of the Loen Kingdom, and it's crawling with things far worse than corrupted Holy Grails."
MHX tilted her head, adjusting her cap. "Worse than Sabers? Impossible."
"Outer Deities," Chara said flatly. "Gods that can drive you insane just by looking at their true forms. Sequence 0 Beyonders who can rewrite reality. And three Great Churches with literal angels patrolling the streets at night."
The room went quiet. Even Jack stopped playing with her knives.
MHX blinked. "...That does sound marginally more dangerous than Sabers."
"Marginally," Chara repeated, deadpan.
Tiamat let out a soft "Aaah," pointing at MHX's Secretcalibur with curiosity. The sword hummed with cosmic energy, its futuristic design clashing violently with the Victorian aesthetic of the apartment. MHX instinctively clutched it closer.
"This is my Noble Phantasm," MHX explained defensively. "It's specifically designed to annihilate Saber-class enemies. Anti-Saber, Anti-Arthur, Anti-King Arthur specifically. The ultimate weapon against—"
"—Against a class of servants that don't exist in this world," Chara interrupted. "But listen, X. In this world, there are people called 'Beyonders' who gain powers by drinking potions tied to specific 'Pathways.' Each Pathway has abilities themed around different concepts. The closest thing to 'Sabers' here would probably be members of the Warrior Pathway or the Hunter Pathway—people who specialize in combat and weaponry."
MHX's eyes gleamed. "Warrior Pathway? That sounds suspiciously Saber-adjacent."
"Please don't start a war with an entire Beyonder Pathway on your first day here."
"No promises, Master."
[Bond Leveling Update:]
[Mysterious Heroine X: Bond Level 1 (150 / 10,000)]
[Note: Headpats accelerate bond growth with this Servant by +50 XP]
Chara glanced at the notification and filed that information away for later. If headpats were this effective, he'd need to stock up on patience.
Jack suddenly appeared beside MHX in a swirl of white mist, causing the tracksuit-wearing Assassin to jump back, hand on her sword.
"You smell like stars," Jack whispered, circling MHX like a predator analyzing prey. "Cold stars. Far away. Are you also Mommy's child now?"
MHX looked genuinely confused. "Mommy? I'm a professional Saber-slayer from the Servant Universe, not a—" She paused, glancing at Chara. "Wait, are you collecting a family of murder-capable daughters?"
"It's complicated," Chara muttered, rubbing his temples. "Jack calls me 'Mommy' because of... Whitechapel reasons. Tiamat treats me like her child because I'm apparently the only human she's decided to claim in this world. And you—"
"I'm your Servant," MHX said firmly, though her ears were still slightly red. "A professional relationship between Master and Assassin. Nothing more."
"Sure," Chara said, unconvinced.
Tiamat floated over, wrapping her arms around Chara from behind again, her chin resting on his head. She hummed softly, and both Jack and MHX's tension seemed to ease slightly. The lullaby had that effect—even a Servant from another universe wasn't immune to the Primordial Mother's influence.
[System Notification]
[New Quest Available: Digest the Beast Potion]
Objective: Act as a "Beast" by becoming a disaster to those who prey upon the innocent. Hunt entities that exploit the weak in Backlund's underworld.
Progress: 0%
Reward: Advancement to Sequence 8 unlocked
5x Saint Quartz
Random Craft Essence
Optional Bonus: Use Servants to eliminate targets without detection by the Churches.
Bonus Reward: +10 Saint Quartz
Chara read the quest details carefully. "Becoming a disaster to those who prey upon the innocent" was conveniently vague, but in a city like Backlund, there was no shortage of targets. The East Borough alone was a festering wound of human trafficking, illegal Beyonder potion trades, and gang violence.
"Alright," Chara said, standing up and causing Tiamat to reluctantly release him. "Here's the plan. We need to start acting out my role as a Beast, which means hunting down the predators in this city. But we can't do it sloppily. The moment the Nighthawks or the Mandated Punishers notice 'supernatural serial killings,' they'll descend on this district."
MHX raised her hand. "Question. Can I use Secretcalibur?"
"Only if you want a pillar of light visible from across the city to announce our location to every church in Backlund," Chara replied. "We're Assassins, X. We work in the shadows."
"I'm a Saber in Assassin's clothing," MHX corrected.
"Which makes you an Assassin."
MHX grumbled but didn't argue further.
Jack, on the other hand, was practically vibrating with excitement. "We're going hunting? For bad people? Can we dissect them, Mommy? Can we make them warm?"
"Yes to hunting, conditional yes to the rest," Chara said. "But we need information first. We need to know where the gangs operate, where the illegal Beyonder trades happen, and most importantly, where we won't accidentally stumble into a Sequence 5's territory."
[System Tip: The Zmanger Gang operates in the East Borough. Known for human trafficking and illegal potion distribution. Threat Level: Low-Mid (Average member is Sequence 9 or mortal)]
Chara's eyes narrowed as the information appeared. "The Zmanger Gang. Perfect. Low-level enough that we won't attract major attention, but criminal enough to justify being disasters." He continued with a smile. "But we aren't going on a hunt now, i might as well increase the bond level between us all."