It was early in the morning, just before noon—a time when most people were still sleeping in. There were little witnesses, except for those who worked this early at dawn. One of those people was my target, Harold Palinka, a construction worker who had a Fractal that let him weld using his fingers. After the countless HP Fractal users I'd encountered until now, I noticed that most of them had pursued careers according to the Fractals that they bore. In my early days back at A.X.A., I'd always thought that those with Fractals had more to do in life due to the extra ability their Fractal provided. But now I noticed that from the moment they were all born, their life path had already been set, fully determined by their Fractal alone.
But how much more free could you be, even as a Fractless?
I thought about my life compared to theirs, and with the conditions I'd faced, such as the responsibilities I now sought out for Heathen, I realized I wasn't much different.
My life has been curated the moment I had that awakening, just like these people with their Fractals.
We were all just slaves to our biology.
This is it.
I'd arrived to the construction site where my target worked, in the southwest side of downtown Melysia. It was a block of the city that had many up-and-coming skyscraper projects, aimed at producing a new segment for downtown that looked just like its center, where all the tallest buildings resided. I heard the echoes of drilling, metal clanks, and gravel being shoveled around. The site was massive, so although there were numerous workers, all of them were spread apart a great deal, which meant that my target should have been sufficiently isolated.
His specialty is welding, so he should be found somewhere in the interior levels of this place.
I hopped the fence into the surrounding dirt of the site. There were some workers in the distance, but not close enough to notice me climbing up the structure and through the floors. Ian had said in the letter that Harold was often seen working near the highest floors of the building, so that's exactly where I made my way to. The place was barren, mostly all concrete, and the sound of construction dwindled as I approached the top floor.
If he's working alone up here, then it'll be perfect.
'Balding, graying hair, and a scruffy beard that started stretched from ear-to-ear,' were among the characteristics noted. A photo had also been provided with the letter, showing him wearing a bright orange vest with neon yellow stripes, and a welding mask that was slightly too small for his face.
"Who are you—!?" I suddenly heard yelled just a floor above me. My train of thought was quickly interrupted, and I hurried behind cover assuming I'd been compromised.
"W-What are you doing up here!?"
It sounded like the voice of a grumpy aged man, something I'd associate with the look of my target.
How does he know I'm here?
"Stop, w-what are you doing…?"
His voice had become concerned. I quickly realized that he wasn't talking to me. There must have been someone else up there on the top floor with him.
What's going on?
I immediately rushed up the stairs, but halted near the top in order to stay hidden while observing what I could of whatever event occurred with the man. My eye locked onto the bright orange and yellow vest of a bearded man with a welding mask held above his face.
That's definitely Harold.
"I asked you, who are you, and what are you doing!?"
He was yelling at a person who stood in front of him with a single arm raised. I noticed that the individual wore long, robe-like, black clothing that drooped down from their arms, legs, and head—like a hood.
—?!
My brain stuttered for a moment, as if double-checking what I saw with my eye before descending into shock at the realization of who stood before me. When a green aura appeared surrounding the individual, followed by a low-pitched hum that synchronized with every incantation-like movement they performed with their hands, I'd finally registered that I stood there watching the anomaly I'd been so desperately looking for all those months ago.
The Sin of Discrimination.
It can't be…
I had my doubts, but instead my suspicions were only further reaffirmed when I watched as the Sin formed a green sphere around Harold, condensing it into a singularity with him still inside, all in a single instant.
"Uegh—!"
Splat—!!!
The gathering of matter packed too-tightly in a single point in space caused Harold to burst apart in an implosion of flesh and blood, staining the Sin's black robes with the maroon death of my target. By now, my heart had picked up pace tremendously, before stopping completely when the Sin looked in my direction, directly at me.
Fear. Absolute, morbid, fear.
Even though the long black hood that they bore covered their face, I could feel the intense gaze set upon me by their bloodlusted eyes. It were as if I'd been sent back in time to the state I felt when I first witnessed the Sin of Discrimination, back during the end of the Invidan War right after they'd eradicated everything on the battlefield. At the time, I'd felt an amalgamation of emotions—horrified, confused, yet thankful at their aid in the battle. But I'd watched them through the eyes of an Angel. Right now, in this moment, I stood face-to-face with the national anomaly that had even A.X.A. gripped in their palms with fear. I could only feel dread and petrification in this current moment. I felt small, weak, and useless, just like the Fractless I used to see myself as. I was too stunned to move, even after watching the Sin raise their arm at me the same way they'd done to Harold. But the hairs on the back of my neck quickly stood erect, sensing the danger that began its manifestation at a point above and behind me. Within my limited peripheral vision, I could see the beginnings of a green auracious sphere begin to form around me from the back. As the green domain was soon to confine me, leaving me left with only the same outcome as Harold, something deep inside me down to the DNA in my cells suddenly ignited, causing an extensive ignition that sparked throughout my body quicker than time could even pass on a clock.
Flow State.
With only a narrow opening left to escape the green entrapment, I leaned forward with my weight in its direction, allowing my body to do the rest of the work. I'd instantaneously flash-stepped out of the way just before the sphere fully closed, and I looked back at it as it concurrently shrunk into a singularity, obliterating even the atoms that resided within. The breakage of physical laws that I witnessed brought about a loud pop in the air that rung loudly in my ears. I covered them with wincing pain, before feeling something wet dripping down my palms. When I looked, I saw that it was blood from my ears.
Holy shit…
I quickly snapped out of the momentary trance when I heard a breathy whisper coming from the direction of the Sin of Discrimination.
"Heathen…"
I heard the cursed name, followed by a mouthing of words that shook me to my core.
Order. In. Chaos.
I stumbled, not from anything physical that moved me, but from a sudden mental toll that amassed in my head. Realizations and understandings unfulfilled since the very beginning of the mysteries I sought were finally coming back to me, now adjusted with bridges connecting all the severed points in time.
The idea that the Sin of Discrimination was associated with Heathen had just been confirmed before my very eye.
Suddenly, everything had added up. The rumors about how the Sin of Discrimination only seemed to ever target people with 'strong' Fractals. The strange videos people posted online of their encounters with the Sin, all including a peculiar whisper of the word 'Heathen' within. As the anomaly stood there watching me while I gathered all these conclusions in my head, I spoke up before it could do any further action.
"Heathen. Order in chaos."
I stood my ground firmly, making sure not to make any mistake in showing fear anymore. With what I assumed in mind, the Sin of Discrimination was no longer my enemy.
They were my ally.
"Just as Ian had prophesied about you."
The somber, yet grim voice of a female came from the Sin of Discrimination's direction. I watched, speechless, as the Sin lifted their hood, finally unveiling the face of a woman whose beauty was so deep and profound I'd almost forgotten about the atrocities I'd seen her commit. Her eyes were green, and her hair was aquamarine. Her lips were dark, while her skin was pale. The bloodlusted, fiery gaze I expected to see in her eyes was instead muted, yet bright with the detail I saw in her irises.
"He told me that the new Fractless exeutioner would react in a way I would least expect. And somehow, you evaded my Fractal."
I felt her aura intensify all of a sudden.
"You're Enzo Cartier's successor, aren't you?"
Her green aura was flaring about. I could feel the strength, the power, surging from her stance alone. Although she spoke to me somewhat casually, I couldn't help but let the adrenaline from Flow State continue to course through me in the case that something unexpecting were to happen.
So finally, I responded.
"Yes, I am."
She looked at me intently, as if observing from me something I couldn't see. My curiosity was impatient though, and more than anything, I just wanted confirmation about all the things hanging by a thread in my head.
"Are you the Sin of Disrcrimination?" I asked.
There was no facial expression in response to what I'd said, as if she couldn't even fathom to manifest emotion.
"That's what they've come to call me, haven't they?" She paused for a moment, locking eye contact with me.
"Seris, is my name."
Seris, the Sin of Discrimination…
I spoke up once more. "You've mentioned Ian. You've even mentioned Enzo. I can assume that we're allies under Heathen, right…?"
"We are the same role, Klyson Rainer." She pointed at the disfigured remains of Harold's body. "We are executioners under Heathen's name."
I'd finally received the confirmation I'd been seeking for too long just now.
It finally makes sense, all of it. It now makes sense as to why she was rumored to only ever target people with 'strong' Fractals. If she's an executioner just like me, then she was targeting HP Fractal users all this time, exactly like what I've been doing.
I scoffed at myself, only at the disbelief that I'd finally uncovered this long-discontinued mystery.
"You don't understand. I've been looking for you for a long time, even before I was in Heathen."
"You never would have been able to find me unless you were in Heathen," she replied. "So tell me, why is it that you think you are in Heathen?"
I was put on the spot. Her words were accompanied with immense pressure, so I couldn't help but tell the truth.
"Because of my Fractless ability, according to Ian…"
"He gives chances, purpose, to people who feel helpless. He sees himself as a saint."
She wasn't wrong. Ian did give me a chance to move forward when I felt that I had no purpose left, but what did it really count for if I had nowhere else to go in life?
"How about you? Why are you in Heathen?" I asked.
She looked at me with no change in expression, yet, I could feel sternness from her eyes.
"You don't get to choose what to know about me."
The pressure from her gaze was immense. It finally made sense what I'd felt from behind her hood all this time.
"Through uncovering my name alone, you already know more about me than all of Melysia does." She raised a hand towards me, and my danger senses immediately flared.
Flow State.
I dashed backwards as fast as I could, barely escaping the encapsulation of a green sphere that began its manifestation from the front this time rather than behind.
She can manifest it from different points—!
I realized that her Fractal was too unpredictable, even for me and my abilities. I'd barely escaped her attack.
"You're aware." She said, turning her back on me. "I won't interfere with your next targets now that I know that you aren't distracted."
As the ear-piercing pop from her sphere's implosion pierced through the air, I watched our surroundings flash an instant bright green as she vanished out of thin air, leaving me alone on the rooftop.
Holy shit...!
I fell to my shaking knees that'd held-up as long as they could while I stood before the Sin of Discrimination. I was trembling. My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I hadn't realized until now that I'd been holding my breath out of utter fear at the death I escaped twice in a single conversation.
It barely registered to me that I had conversed with the Sin of Discrimination, Seris, herself.
"Fuck… sake…"
I sat there, shaking, attempting to regather myself, before noticing that Harold's remains had vanished along with her. I understood now how all those people back then had gone 'missing.'
Is this the 'ace in the sleeve powerful enough to rival the Overseers' Ian had been referring to?
After what I'd witnessed during the Invidan War, and what I witnessed today, I no longer doubted Ian's words. And for the first time ever since joining, I was thankful not to be enemies with Heathen, especially after finally confirming my suspicions—that the Sin of Discrimination was a part of Heathen.