Fate/Eva Frankenstein

"Judgment fell from the thunder. But what burned was not a monster."

--Words lost in the wind somewhere unknown in Switzerland.

__________________________________________

Chapter 3: Ashes and Guilt.

Pov. Third person.

Eva followed the magical trail with Bridal Chest in hand.

The footprints were subtle, fragmented, as if someone had deliberately tried to hide them.

This forced her to go slowly, feeling her way with each step, skirting around trees, sometimes turning back.

She had changed direction twice and returned to the village once. The trail seemed to diminish in certain places and then, like a mockery, reappear in others.

"Annoying..." she muttered under her breath, frowning.

Just as she began to hesitate, Bridal Chest vibrated in her palm. Lightly, like the suppressed purr of an animal sensing danger.

At once, she sensed it.

The trail became clear. Not just visible: it glowed. The magical particles multiplied absurdly, as if the entire path were igniting before their eyes.

What had once been a thin, faint line was now a stream of light floating in the air. Clear, bright... and completely out of place.

Instead of relief, a chill ran down her spine.

No. This wasn't normal. None of it was.

The pressure in her chest tightened. Something didn't add up. It was impossible for a simple trail to become this sharp without direct intervention. It was too obvious.

A trap.

Her instincts screamed. Her body felt it.

The cold seeped into her bones, and the sweat on her back turned to ice. Every fiber of her being begged her to stop.

It means I've been discovered...

This isn't a good sign.

It's not a good sign at all.

And yet, she had no other lead. She had no choice.

She sighed, her face tense, and moved forward. Her fingers tightened on the grip of her weapon.

The fog thickened. The sounds of the forest faded. Even the birds had fallen silent. The light descended slowly, as if something were squeezing the life out of the landscape.

The air became thick, almost unbreathable, charged with a tension that didn't come from the natural world.

As if the forest itself were holding its breath.

Waiting.

The "what" was what worried her.

__________________________________________

"Here the trail ends..." she murmured as she looked back to where she'd arrived.

A cabin. Perhaps a lumberjack's. Or at least it was.

It had no door, the windows were visibly broken, and the porch was covered in cobwebs.

With her eyes half-closed, she approached.

Eva circled the cabin with slow steps, her breathing ragged.

There were no signs. No sounds. No visible traces. Only the echo of her own impatience hammering in her ears.

"Nothing," she whispered to herself, frustrated. "This is no good. I wasted my time."

Perhaps what she felt earlier was a hallucination of her mind? Was the situation making her very anxious?

She turned, ready to walk away, when a chill ran over her skin.

Her senses tightened like strings stretched to the limit.

The already heavy and silent air seemed to have become deadly oppressive, as if it held a dark secret.

She looked around, unaware of the cold sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.

The mace rested in her hands, the familiar weight anchoring her to reality.

"Where...?" She whispered, her heart pounding.

Wait, no. That wouldn't do. Remember:

Eva inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying to calm her rapid breathing. She closed her eyes, concentrating.

Lea's voice echoed in her mind, clear and firm:

"Empty your mind. Stop thinking and focus on your senses. The smell, the touch, the sound. She's there."

The silence enveloped her, dense, almost tangible.

Then, a subtle but firm vibration reached her feet, coursing through the floor beneath her.

Without hesitation, she snapped her eyes open and leaped back.

Before her astonished gaze, a huge black claw erupted from the ground, piercing the spot where she had been standing a moment before.

"What...?"

Eva landed in a roll, spun around, and came to attention in a single movement.

A deep roar echoed as the wood broke beneath her feet.

From the ground emerged in all its gruesome splendor... "That".

Almost two meters tall, a huge bear's body covered in dark fur, a grotesque, twisted goat's head, and a snake's head emerging from its back, swaying dangerously. The main head was a lizard.

It was...

__________________________________________

Five years ago.

"Lea... What is that?"

The question arose on a quiet afternoon, as the rain gently tapped the library windows.

Eva, sitting on a blanket on the floor, had been leafing through an old, black-covered tome bound in rough leather.

On one of its illustrated pages, a grotesque creature was drawn in detail: the body of a lion, the wings of a bat, the tail of a scorpion, and multiple eyes on its chest.

Lea, reading silently beside her, shifted her gaze to the open page.

"That... is a chimera," she replied seriously. "A creature made by man. By magi."

Eva looked up. There was a shadow of doubt and something more in her expression.

Disbelief, perhaps. It wasn't the first time she'd heard things that defied all logic.

"How... do you do something like that?" she asked, her voice low.

"With surgery, alchemy, grafting, and most of all, sorcery," Emma chimed in from the back, arranging dusty vials on a high shelf. "They're not natural. Well, at least most of them aren't. They're aberrations. Part animal, part beast...part human... whatever the creator needs."

"Why would anyone do that?"

Lea slowly closed the book. For a moment, she seemed unsure whether to answer.

"Power. Control. Experimentation. Sometimes, just to see if it's possible."

Emma whispered with a hint of bitterness,

"And sometimes... out of simple curiosity about what the outcome will be."

Eva didn't respond right away. Outside, the wind blew, and branches rattled against the glass as if trying to get in. Beside her, the fire crackled softly in the fireplace.

Memories of her other life still echoed in her mind: sunny days, familiar voices, warm hands, freshly baked bread.

And now...

Creatures formed from corpses, from animals, from beasts, with twisted magic.

A silent mansion.

Books written in dead languages.

Magic circuits.

Mystical codes.

Sorcery.

Victor.

...her.

It was that night that she understood, for the first time with complete clarity.

This wasn't her world.

It wasn't the world she'd been born into in her first life.

A world where magic existed.

A world of the supernatural.

A world of theirs.

Of the magi.

The moonlit world.

__________________________________________

Present moment.

"A chimera..." Eva thought apprehensively as she looked at the creature.

The chimera slowly emerged from the ground, its every movement exuding an air of primal horror and brutal strength.

Its body was colossal, covered in coarse, matted fur, black as the moonless night, with tangled strands that seemed to absorb the light around it.

Its thorax, massive and broad like a bear's, seemed a living wall of taut, vivid muscles.

Two heads sprouted from its back like an incarnate nightmare: the first, a goat's head with twisted horns and yellowish, phosphorescent eyes that flashed with a savage and cruel intelligence.

Its twisted mouth was filled with yellowish fangs, sharp as daggers, dripping with dark liquid.

The second, the serpentine head, slithered and coiled like a sinuous shadow, with glistening scales and cold eyes that seemed to pierce the soul.

Its main head resembled that of a large reptile: square jaw, deep-set eyes, jagged teeth. Nightmarish red eyes.

Its front legs ended in enormous, curved black claws, capable of tearing at anything in their path.

When it moved, each step made the wood creak and the ground beneath its feet vibrate.

The air around the creature was permeated with a pungent smell, a mixture of wet earth and decay.

Eve felt her face transform.

Confusion gave way to pure rage, a visceral ferocity that lit her eyes and twisted her lips. Her body began to vibrate with electricity, tiny blue lightning bolts dancing across her skin, tensing every muscle and filling her with a voracious energy.

-GRAAAHHH!!

With a roar that emerged from the depths of her being, she let out a battle cry and launched herself at the chimera.

The beast reacted immediately, letting out its own roar and charging hard. It swung one of its massive forelegs, intending to crush her.

Eva ducked at the last instant, feeling the biting wind that grazed her head.

With a fluid movement, she gathered momentum and with a powerful sweep slammed her mace into the monster's side.

A bestial shriek escaped the chimera, its body violently thrown sideways.

Eva didn't waste a second. She ran after it, each step echoing with force. In an impressive display of superhuman strength, she leaped and caught one of its front paws in midair.

With a brutal jerk, she destabilized the creature and slammed it to the ground.

Without hesitation, she finished the attack by swinging the mace again with all her might.

The bear was thrown with such force that it impacted a nearby tree with a dry, resounding crack.

It lay for a few seconds, its body trembling, before slowly rising.

To Eva's astonishment, despite the fury and power of her attacks, the chimera showed no visible wounds beyond a few superficial scrapes and bruises.

Its skin seemed to withstand the blows, as if made of iron or living stone.

Eva's eyes narrowed, filled with determination and alertness.

"This... isn't going to be easy."

The chimera snarled, its eyes blazing with ferocious anger.

In a burst of fury, its black fur began to take on a reddish hue, as if the creature were ignited by an internal fire.

Then, with unexpected speed, it launched itself at Eva. Much faster than before.

The speed was such that Eva barely had time to react.

In the blink of an eye, the beast was once again in front of her, a whirlwind of muscle and claws.

Eva rolled to the side, dodging the charge with a breath.

The ground shook under the impact.

She didn't have time to relax as her instinct immediately alerted her.

She felt the air cut into the back of her neck.

She reached back just in time.

The snake's head had stretched out, elongating its neck like a sinuous shadow, attempting to bite her in a nimble movement that took advantage of a blind spot.

By inches, Eva dodged the venomous bite.

Her heart pounded, but her gaze grew colder and more calculating.

"So that's what you have..." she murmured, electricity sparking even more intensely across her skin, preparing for the next move.

The chimera-bear roared, red with fury, and wasted no time swung one of its massive front paws with brutal force toward Eva.

She ducked her body just in time to avoid the blow that crashed against the ground with a thunderous roar, kicking up dust and pieces of wood.

With a swift twist, Eva counterattacked, furiously swinging her mace and striking it precisely at the beast's flank.

The impact caused the chimera to let out a shrill scream and be thrown sideways, crashing hard into a rock.

But instead of collapsing, the creature staggered to its feet, without a single visible wound.

Eva gritted her teeth, rage and determination shining in her eyes.

Without giving it a second to breathe, she ran after the chimera and, in a gesture of superhuman strength, caught one of its front legs in midair and yanked with all her might, knocking it off balance.

With a powerful swing of her mace, she finished the attack, sending the chimera flying several meters away until it impacted violently into another tree.

For a moment, the beast lay prone, but then it slowly rose with a defiant gaze, displaying superhuman resilience that sent shivers down Eva's spine.

However, she was already ready, her body electrified and her heart racing, ready for the next assault.

The chimera bear roared with fury and launched another attack, charging with brutal speed. It raised one of its massive forelegs and swung straight at Eva.

She reacted quickly, blocking the blow with Bridal Chest, which vibrated violently upon impact.

But then, the snake's flexible, cunning head shot forward in a sudden movement, shoving the mace hard.

The weapon flew from Eva's hands, embedding itself in the ground with a crash just a few feet away from her.

"Damn it!" —Eva thought quickly, without time to recover.

The chimera seized the moment and raised both front paws, preparing for the brutal attack real bears use: a crushing blow.

Without hesitation, Eve threw her hands forward and managed to stop the claws, feeling the cold edge graze her skin and cut lightly.

A fierce struggle began, muscles tense, teeth clenched, and sweat beaded on her forehead. She could hear the crunch of her arms as they resisted the brutal force that slowly pushed her backward.

Her feet sank into the damp earth, leaving deep grooves in the ground.

A threatening hiss caught her attention.

The snake erupting from the chimera's back quickly extended, seeking to bite her chest with its venomous fangs.

Eve twisted her neck just in time, dodging the bite by inches.

"Ack."

But that move cost her ground. The struggle forced her back even further.

The snake braced itself for another attack.

Then, from the depths of her soul, Eve screamed.

"RAAAHHH!"

Her body was engulfed in vibrant green electricity, which crackled across her skin and coursed through her muscles, fueling her strength.

With a powerful thrust, she broke the bear's grip, forcing it back.

The snake's head lunged at her again, but Eve ducked and, with a fluid, breakdancing motion, dodged by balancing on one arm.

She spun and kicked hard at one of the bear's front paws, breaking its balance.

The creature staggered, and Eve took advantage of the opportunity to stabilize.

With a brutal punch, he connected with the main reptilian head: an elongated snake, with iridescent scales that shone with a dark green hue and an oily shine.

Its crimson eyes flashed maliciously, and its sharp teeth hung threateningly.

The blow sent several fangs flying, and the chimera let out a scream of pain.

With a crash, the beast was pushed back and slammed into the walls of the hut, which gave way and collapsed around it.

Eve stood there, panting, exhausted and battered, but steadfast.

She wasn't defeated.

Not yet.

Eve scrambled to retrieve her mace—Bridal Chest—when a sharp crack stopped her in her tracks.

Amid the rubble of the collapsed hut, the chimera slowly rose, splintered boards falling from its bloody fur.

For the first time since the start of the fight, a wound was visible, not superficial: the jaw of the main head—the reptile's—was bleeding, dripping thick black drops onto the broken earth.

Finally.

A crack in her monstrous resilience.

Eva took a deep breath.

Now she had a clear assessment of her enemy:

Brute strength, bestial speed, unnatural stamina. Claws as sharp as black swords, and a second head—the snake—stalking from behind her like a living ambush.

"I need something big to defeat him..." she thought.

If she prolonged the fight, she would be the one who would lose and die in the end. If she wanted to win, she had to finish him in one blow.

And luckily, she had it.

She shifted her gaze to Bridal Chest.

During her time at the manor, Emma and Lea had taught her that it was much more than a weapon of war.

More than just a mystical code capable of absorbing energy from the environment.

It was also a living battery. A catalyst. A bolt of lightning waiting to be unleashed.

—Grrrrrr! Ssssh! Bhaaaah!

The chimera roared. The three sounds—goat, bear, and snake—melded into an aberrant shriek that shook the air.

Then it launched itself at her, each footfall crushing the ground as if carrying an avalanche.

Eva stood her ground.

—Bridal Chest... activate.

Her voice was clear and resolute, charged with will.

The mace responded.

A click.

A spin.

And then a rising hum as the magical reactor within roared to life.

Pure magical energy began to flow, channeling through the lines etched along the metal, illuminating with an electric green glow.

Lightning bolts began to dance around the weapon's head, emitting sparks and heat.

Eva exhaled and adjusted her stance. She held the mace back, her body tense. Energy vibrated through her spine, focusing on her weapon and her determination.

The monster was coming straight for her.

Fast. Too fast. Like a train of flesh and fury.

When they were face to face, and the moment of impact seemed inevitable…

Eva spun.

With the grace of a dancer—though she had never been one—she dodged sideways, like a matador avoiding a bull.

The wind from the chimera's passing whipped across her face.

The snake's head, in a last desperate attempt, lunged to bite her abdomen.

Its fangs tore at the fabric of her dress... but missed.

"Now."

Eva spun around, electricity enveloping her completely. She raised Bridal Chest above her head. Green sparks shot out in all directions.

The energy was such that parts of her clothing began to burn, charring at the edges.

The chimera stopped. Perhaps it felt it.

Perhaps it tried to react.

But it was too late.

—BLASTED…

A dull hum began to fill the air.

—…TREE!!!

The mace struck the ground with a dry crash. The ground shook, cracking. A crater opened beneath her feet. Eva roared with all her might, her scream drawing the stored energy in her body skyward.

Silence.

And then,

THUUMMB!!!

Lightning struck with the force of a divine execution.

Electricity descended from the clouds like a judgment, striking the chimera full force.

A green and white light enveloped everything. Shadows fled. The air turned to ash.

The creature shrieked, its three voices overlapping in an unbearable wail.

Its body arched, its muscles tensed, its flesh creaked under the impact.

And finally, it collapsed like a broken toy.

__________________________________________

Eva remained on her knees, breathing heavily.

"Chock"

Her chest rose and fell frantically, cold sweat clinging to her skin as the echoes of the lightning still rumbled in the air. Bridal Chest returned to its compact form, the artifact releasing a small jet of steam from the built-up pressure.

A few seconds passed, perhaps more than Eva could remember at that moment.

The battle was over, but something in the air remained heavy, palpable.

The ground smoked, and the air still carried the trace of electricity.

With her hands flat on the ground, Eva slowly stood up, her body aching but functional. Her eyes turned to the corpse of the chimera.

The creature, although completely charred, had not been reduced to ash.

No.

Instead of disintegrating under the impact of such a brutal lightning bolt, in fact...

"It's still alive..." she murmured wordlessly. Even their fur and scales were charred, and most of their heads were gone. I could see their stomachs moving up and down. Signs of breathing.

But it was slow, deliberate. And it diminished with the seconds.

"He'll die soon... it's a relief," she sighed, a little more calmly.

Eva sat up slowly, still catching her breath, when something cracked in the air.

A sound... a voice. Hoarse. Distorted. Hollow.

But not unfamiliar.

"S...Sister... Blanche?..." the thing whispered.

Eve froze.

Her gaze fixed on the smoldering corpse.

No... it couldn't be...

Her heart pounded. Every fiber in her body tensed.

That voice, as horrible as it sounded, was familiar.

Too familiar.

No. It couldn't be.

She took a step forward. Then another.

The steam slowly dissipated among the charred remains.

And then she saw it.

Bridal Chest slipped from her hands, falling to the floor with a thud.

Eve didn't react.

She just watched.

In the chimera's blackened chest, where before there had been only a mass of flesh and ash...

...a human face was beginning to form.

Small. Feminine. Childlike.

A little girl.

Her eyes, almost dull, looked at her with an incongruous sweetness.

She felt the world stop.

"Elena..." she whispered, barely able to say it.

Yes.

She remembered.

That face. That shy smile.

She used to come with her father, Monsieur Lecroix, to the bakery every Sunday.

She loved the milk rolls with sugar. She always ordered two. One for herself, one for her younger sister.

Until she stopped coming.

Gone like all the others.

"No... it can't be..." Eva murmured, taking a step back, as if by moving away she could deny what was before her.

The little girl... Elena... looked at her one last time.

"T... hank you..." she whispered, her voice breaking.

A word more human than monstrous.

"No... you didn't... you couldn't be there... not you..." Eva murmured, taking a half step back as if the girl's face were on fire.

And then...

She closed her eyes.

The charred body creaked.

Then she collapsed.

As if, with that final gesture of recognition, what sustained him no longer made sense.

Dust. Ashes. Nothing more.

Eva stood still.

Her hands trembled.

Her breath was labored.

__________________________________________

Pov. Eva.

And then, the world fell silent. Only she remained. Her and the pain.

She stood motionless, paralyzed in front of the still-warm ash. Bridal Chest lay forgotten on one side, smoking.

Steam danced among the remains as if they refused to leave.

Her chest rose and fell, faster and faster. Something squeezed her stomach. She tried to breathe. She couldn't. Her throat closed.

She fell to her knees.

There were no tears. Not yet. But her body trembled. She brought her hands to her face, squeezing them tightly, as if she could tear out her eyes, or the memory.

The girl's face was still there, seared into her.

"How many more are you going to kill... believing you're doing the right thing?"

A voice. His voice. Or Blanche's. Or both. It rumbled in her mind like thunder that never fades.

The image of Elena laughing in the bakery.

Her father, always smiling, with one hand on her shoulder and the other on the still-warm bag of bread. His small hands reaching for the milk bread.

Missing. Turned into a monster.

Burned alive.

For her.

Eva doubled over. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out. Only a dry, broken moan. A white fog filled her vision, a mixture of pain, rage, and something worse: guilt.

If only she had started earlier. If only she had started searching when she disappeared... maybe...

She bit her lip until it bled.

If this little girl ended up like this then, the others: Mia, Sofia, Olivia, Sarah, Anna, they could all be there.

Then, slowly, something changed.

It wasn't calm. It wasn't comfort.

It was fury.

A spark ran down her spine.

Electricity. Not magic: emotional. Her fist clenched.

She forced herself to breathe.

"If I can't save them now... then I will avenge them."

Her voice came out low, shaky... but firm.

A promise, or perhaps a threat.

Selfishly, this was the best he could do right now.

__________________________________________

Several minutes passed.

Her body was still shaking, and her legs weren't fully responsive. But her mind, though foggy, was beginning to sort through the broken fragments. Her breathing remained labored. Every breath hurt.

She forced herself to stand.

"Elena..." she whispered. That name cut through her like a lead knife.

If she ended up like this...

She gritted her teeth. She squeezed her eyes shut. The images came back the same: small, sweet, deformed faces, fused into nightmarish flesh.

The other girls.

The tremors returned, but this time she didn't allow them to grow. She crushed them with sheer will.

She turned her gaze toward what remained of the cabin, or rather, the hollow beneath it.

Remains of burnt wood, fallen beams, ash... but also something else. A dark circle in the rubble, almost imperceptible if you didn't look closely.

An access.

A passageway.

It faced downward. Like a well, but with carved edges. Not natural. Designed. Hidden.

She was about to go down when... she stopped.

She didn't move. She didn't blink.

But she felt something.

A pressure in the air, like a needle on the back of her neck. Like a fixed gaze. Something that didn't belong to the environment, but mimicked it well.

Without turning, her hand slid to the ground and picked up a stone.

"...You know, owls don't come out during the day..."

She spun around and threw the stone with all the strength of her arm.

CRACK!

A screech. The beating of wings. A heavy body fell among the branches of a nearby tree. A creature that shouldn't be there at that hour. An owl.

But its eyes shone.

Eve knew at that instant.

This was no coincidence.

It was a trap.

A trap for her.

Someone knew I was looking for it.

And someone was still watching me.

Her gaze fixed on the forest, on the apparent stillness. Her heart began to beat rapidly again, not from fear, but from preparation.

She clenched her knuckles.

She turned her gaze toward the hole beneath the cabin.

And without saying anything, she descended.

End of Chapter 3

__________________________________________

And here is the chapter. Sorry I uploaded it later than usual. Yesterday I was busy and couldn't upload it at my usual time. But I'm free today, so as compensation, I'll upload the next chapter earlier today.

Stay tuned. Bye.