Chapter 33: Twins
in the middle of the gathering items, Ingrid and Arie took over in what was supposed to be their mission... those damned two... seriously...
"|Mei! we need backup in here!|"
hmm? this is troublesome..."what is it Arie?"
"|Ingrid's respirator shattered! you need to come here immediately!|"
"WHAT!?"
shit! I forgot to do some maintenance on his respirator... damnit...
"Hold on there for a minute... gahhh..."
Ingrid Maya, Arie Maya's Twin. at first, Arie was fine by herself, but Ingrid was a special case. the moment he was born, he was incapable of breathing air with no compatible Mana mixture, the respirator serves as a piece of equipment solely for mixing the air surrounding him and the Mana he has and mixes it so that it's breathable for him, to us normal fallen and individuals, it's poison
"Arie! I'll send in the chrom Virus, it'll hurt him a bit but it would at least let him live for a day, whatever you do, don't touch him!"
"affirmative. hang on there Ingrid... just a few more hou-|"
the comms shut down and I immediately prepared the medical and portable lab set.
. . .
. .
I re-open the comms and set it to call Liliya and the others
"Liliya! are you all there?"
"yes? something the matter Mei?"
"Rin? what're you doing with Liliya's phone? no... forget about that for a second, I need Liliya here right now, where is she?!"
"what's the rush? did something happen? Liliya's currently on the way there, so she should probably be back in one day... wait... uhh... 24 hours"
[note, Rin is still uncomfortable with the day-night gap between Earth and Laplace]
"great! that's enough time"
"wait, Mei! what's happening?"
"I'm currently on the way to a country called Russia, it seems that Ingrid's Respirator mask malfunctioned and in just one day, he'll die so I'm currently on the way to him right now, there's a phone in the table in the tent, try calling there and ask the soldiers to stop Liliya there, I'm gonna call her later"
"ahh, gotcha. be careful out there Mei"
the comm shuts down, I'm certainly glad that we finally produced a working jet, this would fasten my travel time to there.
just wait, you won't have to suffer
------
we're currently resting in a dense forest here... currently on watch on Ingrid's movements, the Chrom virus is implanted in every Fallen Race, giving it a slight push could activate it creating a sudden outrage of corrupted vessels and leaking out Ether but in the process...
"Gahk.... GAAAAHHH!!!!"
pain... something unimaginable, the Chrom Virus overdrives and burst the Ether cells a Fallen's body could take, bursting the Ether vessels and creating the ominous black-ish blue mist
"Mei... please be quick..."
screams of pain... something that I would never wish to ever hear from someone of my kind again... I'm sorry Ingrid... but... this is the only way to delay your death until Mei comes...
"A-... Ar-.... G-GAAAHH!"
just... hang in there...
!!?
"who's there?"
a man... he's raising his hands
「relax... I'm not here to injure your pained friend...」
I... don't understand him...
"Stay back! not another step forward"
「woah, woah, I'm serious here」
!?
shadow manipulation!? shit... I have no time for this
huh?
"can you understand me now?"
I... can understand him?
"relax, I'm not here for your friend, I simply heard-"
"GAAHHH!!"
...
"that... are you not going to save him? I suppose that something could be done to soothe him?"
"you have no business here, leave now or you'll die without even knowing it"
I don't have anything to spare any more trouble here
"mind if I look closely?"
"I don't know what you're planning, if I see a single glint of hostile movement you'll see hell"
"fine... here, I'm unarmed, now would you let me check on him?"
even if he's saying that you still have something you have in your pocket do you?
!
"I knew it!"
he's hostile, immediate assassina-!
"to slow"
n-n... impossible! I couldn't-
"time to sleep"
Gah... In-...grid...
. . .
. . .
. .
what... happened...? I was... protecting Ingrid...
"I see that you're awake"
it's!
"!! YOU! What did you do to Ingrid!?"
You're dead to me once I get myself out of here!
"Relax, relax... he's still fine, he's currently under hypnosis so he won't feel pain. you, on the other hand, don't compare to your seniors..."
"Stop talking to me as if you know me!"
I glared straight at him but took a glance on Ingrid asleep laying on a futon...
"... it... seem's like Ingrid is fine... so I'll forgive you for capturing me... but I'm not going to give you information"
"I don't need information, I have everything I need but I didn't aim my purpose to you two in the first place, I was simply searching until I heard screams so I had to check if everything was alright"
I... see...
"look, I don't mean any harm and you should really get out of here"
"What about my brother!?"
"relax, I'll carry him, no tricks hidden"
he unbinds me and began to carry Ingrid without any problems
"What t-"
"MOVE!"
a- undead?!
"Follow me! I know a place to keep you two safe!"
I really have no choice here...
"Fine, but any tricks and I'll kill you with these undead"
we began trotting through the dense forest, these undead's have weird... blood spewing out of them... nothing like our monster kind...
. . .
. .
.
we finally escaped the pack of mobs and the stranger lays Ingrid down safely in a log... a campsite?
"I found this when I was walking through, so? any injuries?"
"no... thank you..."
I... still don't know his aim...
"sit down for a second, you can guard your brother if you still feel uncomfortable"
"a-alright... if only I know how to fix your respirator..."
"!? wait... his respirator mask's broken?"
shit, I shouldn't have said something
. . .
"here... this should help him breathe easily"
"the... it's fixed?"
"no, it's just a minor modification, as long as it doesn't exceed the amount then it should be fine"
just... who is this guy?
"If you're asking then just call me Noel, I'm a reincarnated soul from Laplace too so I know who most of you are, that aside, can you trust me now?"
F-... fine... I'll trust him for now... until at least Mei arrives...
. . .
he started writing in the log with a some paper...
"you don't need to be cautious about it, I'll show you its contents after I finish, is that fine?"
"y-yes..."
...
"good... now, read the contents until I call a friend"
a friend? well... I don't really care that much for it...
the contents of this note...:
[there is no major problems in the northern countries except for the country called Greenland and the arctic, I speculate that they are hiding in the coldest region but I have no proof or any backing as to why, the monsters here, from what I know is generated by the beliefs of the people and some even properly follows their habits, nothing else is new to report]
I... don't know what's their goal... but we shouldn't really intervene in their problem
"you finished? I suppose that you won't be telling this to your higher-ups?"
"... no... we don't seem to be connected in either way, we have no reasons to support or to help you, that is all"
he makes a quite mischievous grin then suddenly speaks out of humor
"It is indeed not connected to you all, well then, the owl's here so I'll need that letter"
"I'll try to lay hints for your rescuer to notice, this place is quite protected so I assume that you two will be safe. well then, I'll be going now"
he fades out in the dense forest, leaving me and Ingrid alone... I feel somewhat relieved and devastated from seeing him disappear in the mist but for Ingrid's safety, the less people to worry, the higher his chances of surviving.
. . .
. .
.
20 hours passed...
"A-...rie..."
"have you come to? It's been 20 hours at least since we've been here, Mei will be here not too long soon so just hang in there"
"I... s-see..."
. . .
a few minutes passed... footsteps!?
"Who's there!?"
without another second, I felt a sudden breeze, I instinctively took a glance to Ingrid and-
"Heartbeat... stable, Virus is secured, Respi-!"
Mei's here! finally!
"Arie... did you modify... the respirator?"
"wh- n-no, I didn't... someone called Noel did"
"did you dig any information from it?"
"all I know is that he came from our same world, though reincarnated and he seems to have a different task... that's everything I know..."
Mei grins... ever so slightly. with a small glitter in her eye, looks up in the night sky as if she found someone
"tch... c'mon... let's go, Liliya might be waiting at camp"
I don't know what's on her mind but... I'm glad that Ingrid is safe...
. . .
. .
.
we return back to base and Mei is asking for a report together with Ingrid
"I shall be reporting the 1st and last half, a titan at the size of a modern house in Laplace was spotted and deemed us hostile so we attempted to subdue it, but the outcome wasn't all too great, I used my remaining Ether to generate a strong mist to hide us thus destroying the air Ether crystal converter... it's entirely my fault..."
"I see... well then, Arie, report"
"after calling you, a man called himself Noel and fixed a part of the Respirator while I was unconscious by him, it was my misconduct and inability to negotiate with him..."
...
"well then... Arie, Ingrid, as punishment, you both will be taking care of her daughter, Osiria for the remainder of the 10 days our time, as for you, I do believe that you were slacking off, quite amusing to see that both You and Naoya are taking a breather"
miss Liliya... although she was one of the main reason as to why Ingrid took a heavy blow, it was still something we couldn't predict
"as punishment, you and Naoya will be taking over Arie and Ingrid's roles as one of the captain's of the scout units, therefore, placing a barrier for you and your daughter"
"WH-What!? M-Mei! please reconsider this!"
"no, after all, who was the one who suddenly deviated from the main task? didn't I order you to gather some Undead samples? who was the person who completed that?"
"Ga-... Ingrid was..."
"and who took a break without even working for an entire day?"
"But-"
"I'm afraid this is the proper punishment for you, as for you two, take care of their child for their sakes, I'm afraid that even I won't allow our little Lily to take even a single graze"
"Yes, ma'am. s-sorry miss Liliya... it truly wasn't our purpose"
we can't help but just smile for her sake, although our mouths wouldn't even be seen in the first place
"I'll be informing Naoya and Rin about this, you can all leave now"
. . .
. .
"W-well... it seems that my research will have to be postponed..."
"and tending to my weapons will be done later night..."
pfft...
I don't know why but... we can't do anything but laugh in our situations... I truly do feel sorry for miss Liliya and Naoya for that but... it's also a change of pace for us.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Kirin_Aiha
Kirin_Aiha Arie and Ingrid's concept art will be done after finishing my Theia's and her servants, there will also be a part in the auxiliary chapters explaining each Laplace Militants