After Yan's outburst about the Red Mist, Asher only became more curious at what the Fixer was actually like. If she was so violent like Yan made her out to be, why would the Hana Association keep her in commission?
He would judge for himself after he learned more about the situation.
Asher flicked open the Hana Association app, tapping away until he reached the Red Mist's profile.
(Colored Fixers (9))
(Kali, 'The Red Mist': Rank 1. Unaffiliated)
...
Just like with his own Fixer profile, He could open her profile to view her achievements and information.
And so he did. He wanted to see for his own eyes what the strongest Fixer in the City was like.
(Kali, the Red Mist)
(Alternative nicknames: Crimson Demoness, Blood Reaper)
Those were some scary nicknames.
(Currently the highest ranked Fixer. Her Color title is derived from the blood fog that is left behind on her missions, the signature mark of the Red Mist.)
He looked at the picture inserted beside those words.
A lightly tanned woman smiled wolfishly back at him, a white cigarette held between her teeth. Disheveled red hair cascaded down her back, nearly reaching her waist.
Over her shiny black bodysuit, she wore a long leather coat that hung down to her feet, completing the unique style.
What was most surprising was the enormous sword that she supported on one of her shoulders. Nearly as long as she was tall and as wide as her head, the reddish sword was imbedded in eyes and veins, flesh and sinew, and spikes made of bone. The only metallic part of the sword was on its cutting edge, which he could tell was razor sharp even from the picture.
A caption underneath explained the picture:
(The Red Mist with her preferred weapon, 'Mimicry', which she retrieved on an expedition to the Ruins.)
Asher gulped. The sword appeared so sinister; its eyes looked like they might blink at any moment. Even just staring at it, he began to feel dizzy. He had to forcefully pull his gaze away before he could think straight.
'W-What was that? Even through a simple picture I was affected by the sword? And from the Ruins...' Asher remembered what Harold said about the Ruins. If magic really existed in the Ruins...
"System? Are you from the Ruins?"
[Yes. Just like the Red Mist and her sword, you found me on a trip to the Ruins.]
"Is that thing also like you, then? Can it talk?"
[No. The creatures living in the Ruins are known as abnormalities. 'Monsters', if you will. The sword was extracted from one of those in the Ruins that mimic human behavior and appearance, hence the name.]
[It seems that the Red Mist subdued the abnormality and created her weapon from its flesh. I'm not sure if the weapon retained the monster's ability to mimic human speech, but I am fundamentally different from those Abnormalities.]
Asher shuddered. The sword gave him the creeps, and thinking about a monster that looked exactly like that but with a whole body of red flesh was even worse.
"Hopefully I never have to see something like that again."
[Oh you will.]
"Huh?"
Was the System going to send him to the Ruins for his missions or something?
[Remember the Punishment Missions? The fairies and the Scorched Girl? Those are all Abnormalities.]
"Wait what? You're wrong, Sophie's a human, I can even transform into her right now!"
Asher whispered out loud, ignoring the attention it brought him.
[Do you remember at the end of the mission, when her burnt body came back to life and ash covered her skin? She turned into an Abnormality right after you left. What I didn't tell you was that she burnt down her own city afterwards, wandering aimlessly for decades in the barren wasteland that was once where she lived.]
Before Asher could reply, the System seemed to sigh in resignation.
[You will learn everything in due time. Focus on the now, please. You are judging the Red Mist.]
"Right..." He swiped down again.
(Her sense of justice and kindness is what makes her the most popular Fixer as well. When not on missions, she can be seen helping ordinary civilians out with their daily lives. She has a soft spot for kids, as they 'remind her of her childhood'.)
Asher tried to picture the Red Mist smiling as she gave a child ice cream. Quite expectably, he was unable to do so.
'You can't just say that she's well known for making 'blood fog' and expect me to believe tha-' His finger froze as he scrolled down.
It was a picture of Kali sitting on a bench beside a child, handing the girl a waffle cone with an ice cream scoop on top. Her eyes were gentle as she watched the child lick the cold dessert excitedly.
'Is she nice or not? Choose a side, Hana! Oi System, did I know her in the future? What was she like?'
[Let me search your sealed memories... Yes. You were the one who killed her, nine years from now.]
'...So I guess she's nice...' Asher, in a sudden realization, knew that his 'companions' were most likely similar to the Eighth Chef. Criminals and villains. And he was a part of them.
"System, what are my future companions' titles?"
[The Crying Child, The Mother of Gears, The Eighth Chef, The Musician, The Ringmaster, L'heure du Loup, The Puppeteer, The Blood Red Night, and Yesterday's Promise.]
'Hm. Most of them sound fine, but Blood Red Night sounds even more sinister than Red Mist!'
Staring at Kali's smiling photo, he started to feel bad. To kill someone like this, was his future self really that awful?
'Ugh, snap out of it. I'm not my future self at all.' Scrolling down further were some fun facts about her, like favorite food, height and weight.
Which were barbeque brisket, six feet, and 165 pounds respectively, but that hardly mattered.
Below those were her achievements, at long last.
The Red Mist had many achievements that were about Fingers, such as the Index, Thumb, and Middle. Now that Asher knew of her true nature, he could understand why she fought the Index, even if the Hana Association gave no reward for it. She probably couldn't stand the injustice that they pushed onto the innocent civilians, like how Mei was nearly assaulted by the Thumb Soldato.
Of course, that was all his own interpretations, but he felt they were logical.
Yan's hate towards her was purely from the loss of her comrades, not by morality.
Asher skimmed through Kali's contributions, but they soon became bland to read as she soloed yet another syndicate, or sliced another Urban Nightmare in half with ease.
He exited her profile, entering the general Fixer forums instead. Topics flooded his screen, often completely unrelated to the others.
(The Vermillion Cross crowned as a new Colored Fixer!)
Reading through it, a Grade 1 Fixer was suddenly promoted without notice to a Color. The discussion was mainly praise toward him, although there were a few arguments as well, such as one person who wished for the Grade 1 Captain of the Liu Association to become the Color instead.
Asher didn't know there were other Associations other than Hana, so the mention of another name surprised him.
(Pinky establishes a territory in Section 17.)
Asher chuckled quietly. Out of all the Finger names, the Pinky sounded really comedic. It didn't seem to fit their title as a Star of the City Syndicate.
That was, until he read further.
(The Pinky, a Finger that predominantly uses blood rituals and human sacrifice, has established a following in Section 17. Urge any residents of the Section to stay in their homes during early dawn and late dusk.)
(Unlike the Middle, Thumb, and Index, the Hana Association has issued a bounty system for the Pinky, where rewards will be issued for each successful elimination of their members. Any amount of people can claim. Check their threat tab for details.)
The first comment was a picture from a Fixer in Section 17.
It had a caption underneath it.
"Aftermath of a large Ritual Session yesterday. Be on the lookout for the signs."
"Ugh-" Asher's hand subconsciously covered his mouth at the sight of the grisly picture. It depicted a single abandoned warehouse, completely ordinary except for its center.
A huge shrine was placed in the middle of the room, and hundreds of people hung from ropes on the ceiling.
Their stomachs were slashed open to reveal their insides.
Using the intestines of their victims, the cultists crafted intricate models of living things. Two people's guts made a swan, nine made a lion, twelve made a tree. The intestine animals combined together to make a vibrant ecosystem, filled with models of plants and animals. They seemed to circle around the crude wooden shrine in the middle.
On the center of the shrine was a dead child fastened to a pole. There was a bloody hole that went straight through the heart, but otherwise, the body was untouched. Everything in a ten meter radius around the body was soaked in blood.
'Why... would anyone do something like this?? That's- that's enough for today.' He closed his phone, covering his eyes with his hands.
*Sigh*
Asher knew he had softened over the days, especially in his attitude towards Yan. When he first saw her, she was ruining someone's life by issuing a Prescript. Who knew whether she had delivered one that forced them to hurt someone?
And what happened when they didn't complete their Prescript? Would anything happen to them?
'That picture... Would Yan do something like that?' He burrowed his head into his arms. After today, how could he still think that she was evil? She was only a child, even slightly younger than him. He had seen the innocent side of her today, a genuine side of her.
He peeked his head above his arms as he sensed Mei approach him.
"Asher, what's wrong? Something happened with Yan or Sophie?" She had switched out of her work clothes, replacing them with a loose floral dress.
He tried to humor her, yet his mind was on other thoughts.
"...Why are you here? Shouldn't you be working?" Asher sulked as Mei sat beside him and patted his head gently.
"Today my shift ends early. Want to head home with me? You don't have to tell me what's wrong if you don't want to." Mei's voice was soothing, like a mother to her child. Asher slowly relaxed the tension in his body.
"Alright."
Mei nodded silently, sensing Asher's distress. She didn't know why he was unhappy, but she knew better than to pry.
"Ready now?"
Asher nodded, pulling himself to his feet.
Mei pulled him into a warm embrace, and he didn't resist. She cooed as she patted his head.
"There there, everything's fine~ You can like whoever you want~" Asher chuckled at how off the mark Mei was. Nevertheless, her soothing voice did calm him down somewhat.
Pulling themselves away from each other, Asher and Mei began to walk home.
Soon, a familiar building loomed over them. It was their home sweet home, all boarded up and falling apart, just as they remembered it.