Yes

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN FOX BITCH!" You shout while sitting up and firing another ice spell forward, only for your spell to destroy a wooden dresser in the corner of the room, the fine wood splintering from the sheer power of your attack. You're suddenly disoriented as the frozen street you were lying on became a warm, plush bed. You're surprised to find that you were currently in Mathias' estate with all your limbs and your face regrown, the thousand cuts no longer affecting you. With your enhanced perception from the fight, you're slightly overwhelmed to find that you can sense every footstep in the estate and to an extent "see" everything around you far more vividly than ever. You'd always been able to do this, but your psyche seemed to subconsciously repress it until now due to your more human mindset. As if to prove your enhanced senses, you detect Fenri and Citrinas from down the hall.

Unsure of whether or not they were still under mind control, you decide to plant a trap. The air was too dry for you to make a full scale ice decoy, so you grab pillows and whatever other cloth you can find and stuff it under the covers before crawling underneath the bed. You try to harness moisture in the air, but Mathias' estate is a warm haven devoid of ice and snow, having only a few milliliters of water you can harvest. You can't get angry at your brother for making you comfortable, but you also know that you need moisture to fight.

"Verdi, did you wake up!?" Citrinas asks as the door abruptly slams open with Fenri hot at her heels. They can't see you hidden under the bed, but you can sense them easily. Like the ambush predator you are, you stay completely motionless as your breathing slows to a halt. They eventually reach your bed, spotting the covers that were covering your decoy. They throw the covers aside as you prepare your trap.

"What the? Where the hell did he-GYAH!" Fenri yells as you freeze the ground she was standing on and pull her by both ankles, sending her falling to the ground as you drag her underneath the bed. You quickly reshape the ice you harnessed into a knife as she summons a knife by her foot and kicks forward, stabbing you in the shoulder out of pure instinct. Of course, with your regeneration returned, the blood instantly clots around the cut without issue as you drag her underneath the bed and hold your ice knife to her throat.

"Ready for round three you damned mutt!?" You shout, only to realize her eyes weren't glowing anymore. She looked to be equal parts shocked and pissed off before pulling her knife out of you.

"You wake up from an 8 day coma and your first instinct is to **** the first people who come to check up on you?" She asks in disbelief as Citrinas looked underneath the bed to see you with a knife to Fenri's throat "Are you insane!?"

"Assaulting the person who put me in the coma is the sanest thing I can do!" You counter indignantly.

"Verdi, she's fine! It's over!" Citrinas says as you look her in the eye, looking for the slightest green glow in it. Deciding to trust them for now, you toss your knife away as you and Fenri crawl out from underneath the bed.

"And you were worried he'd be traumatized." Fenri spat while looking to Citrinas.

"Why would I be?" You ask, puzzled by the thought. True, holy magic hurt like hell, this was the first time you'd had your face ripped off, healed, then ripped off again in rapid succession, you were screaming for a bit from the pain, but it wasn't that bad in hindsight. Sure, you were panicking, screaming, and begging for **** at the time, but you're quite sure you could cope with the pain this time.

"You were freaking-you know what? Nevermind." Fenri says with a sigh before scratching her neck awkwardly. "Hey, uh, sorry about, you know. Know it doesn't make up for it, but, well, I'm sorry." She says, unable to find the proper words to apologize for turning you into a nugget. She did beat the ever loving hell out of you, but she was actively trying to avoid hurting you. Furthermore, it's not like you had a personal grudge against her.

"Well, it could be worse." You admit as she raises an eyebrow.

"How can things have gotten any worse?" She asks as you shrug.

"Don't know, but life tends to find new and inventive ways to either physically or psychologically **** me." You answer as she just stares at you.

"What kind of messed up life have you lived until now?" She asks as you notice just how haggard Citrinas looked. Her eyes had dark rings around them, her skin was pale, and she looked like she lost a few pounds. Despite that, she looked to be in a good mood as she spoke to you.

"It's... It's good to see you're back to normal. Do you feel like anything's out of place?" She says with an uncharacteristic sheepish tone. You'd never seen her this worried before. It was creeping you out, and you weren't sure how to respond to her.

"Nope. Everything regrew-wait. Did you say I was in an 8 day coma!?" You ask, suddenly realizing what Fenri had said, the danger you were in far more than anticipated. Despite your secondary body and main body being separate entities, both of them went dormant when your second body bled out. Were all the monster cores connected to one another? If so, then sending out a body with only two cores was a huge mistake. Hindsight was 20/20. Best you could do was try and avoid getting killed from here on.

"Yeah. You healed on day 3, but you didn't wake up until now." Citrinas explained as you took in the information. It seems your hybrid body was resilient, but it wasn't invulnerable judging by how long you'd been ****. You mostly ignored hits to the vitals since verdure monsters had decentralized vitals, but being hacked apart, burnt, or exsanguinated was still lethal to you. The fact that your one trump card was also your greatest weakness made you want to cry. Fenri could infinitely amass stats with her ability, Tomoko had the power of friendship, you had the power to bleed to **** at breakneck speeds.

"When the hell did you two become buddies?" You ask as the three of you begin walking together down the halls

"She's been sitting by your side the entire time, while Harvin told me to scare the rest of your party away. We ended up chatting to pass the time." She says as you decide to bully Citrinas for a bit.

"Aw, were you worried for me?" You ask mockingly, expecting her to reject or call you an idiot like usual. Instead, she grabs you by the hand and holds you tightly.

"Yeah. I was." She answered with a strangely stern tone, startling you. "Don't get hurt like that ever again." She demanded as you sigh. It was no fun toying her if she was this serious.

"Don't worry, I learned my lesson. I'll run faster." You say with a bitter voice, still remembering the fight. It was a complete and utter loss for you in every definition of the word. This skirmish just proved that you were a terrible fighter compared to a hero.

First phase you won because she was restricted by mind control to use the bare minimum **** at any given time. It was only at the end when you ambushed her with a sneaky trick that you managed to break her legs, and that took up most of your magic power. When she actually got serious, you panicked because you couldn't handle the pain, got your face ripped off, panicked more, then had everything else ripped off. Only reason you managed to paralyze her with your poisoned blood was because she was underestimating you. Overall, you just got lucky you lasted as long as you did.

"Yeah, you should run next time." Citrinas says with a nod as Fenri seemingly understood something at her response.

"Shit, sorry Citrinas. If this is how he talks all the time, I don't blame you for saying what you did." She says as you raise an eyebrow. Was Citrinas shit talking you while you were in a coma? Instead of being insulted, you were surprised she would have the guts to talk shit about you. She seemed more like the person to silently pout than complain to a stranger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You ask.

"Nothing." Fenri says while looking away from you. "Damned tsundere." She spat under her breath.

"What did you just call me!?" You snap at her.

"Nothing." Fenri answers.

"Thought so." You say while sensing the area. You can tell Tomoko and the rest of the party aren't here, while the servants are all gone. No, wait, you sense Harvin in the kitchen. And in the guest room folding the sheets. And also watering the plants in the dining hall. He's also somehow in your room cleaning the sheets and replacing the dresser you destroyed. You decide that ignorance was bliss when it came to what that old man could do. "Where are we going?" You ask, spotting one final presence on the estate, your route making a beeline for him in the dining hall.

"Mathias and Harvin want to see us." Citrinas answered as you sense Harvin suddenly appear by Mathias' side at her words, his doppelgangers disappearing at her words. You decide to ignore what you just saw as Fenri opens the door, your blood brother and his strange butler waiting with a fresh pot of tea and small snacks set up. You blink, realizing the room was completely different from when you sensed it earlier as the three of you sit down across from Mathias.

"It's good to see you're finally awake." Mathias says as you sheepishly look away from him. You want to say you're happy to see him, but there's something you had to get off your chest first.

"Sorry, I kind of broke your dresser. I woke up and-I'll pay for it. Again, really sorry, I woke up thinking I was still mid-fight." You apologize, thinking back to the dresser you shattered when you woke up. You felt genuine guilt when it came to harassing people that didn't deserve it, and Mathias was someone who deserved your respect. You don't particularly remember what the two of you did when you got drunk, but you do value his time immensely.

"Think nothing of it. If anyone is to apologize, it is me. My love said that you were safe in this city under my protection, and I besmirched her faith." He says, unable to look you in the eye as the two of you exchanged apologies. "It is no wonder she is unwilling to be with me if I fail to meet her basic expectations." He says as you shake your head.

"I got hurt because I was stupid and Fenri was weak. You aren't at fault" You vow as Fenri rolls her eyes at your brotherly reunion.

"Oi, did you call us out to have a tea party, or was there a reason for this meeting?" She asks as Harvin nods.

"We're here to discuss a rather important matter. Namely, Lady Tristiana." He says as you frown, still remembering your previous moments facing down the person behind your dismemberment. Not even your ice empowered by your weakened blood could pierce her skin. She was dimensions out of your level.

"Harvin, my sister is dead. Why is she alive and a kitsune?" Citrinas asks as Mathias' face turned grim.

"Somebody hybridized her with a kitsune monster core." He says, your mind erupting in a flurry of questions. You assumed the kitsune was just someone who looked like Citrinas and used that to her advantage, but it seemed things weren't that simple. You knew you weren't the only hybrid around, but you assumed the hybrids were summoned to this world like you, not locals who were converted. Considering your original mission was to neutralize the hero party, it makes sense they attacked Citrinas.

"Hybridized?" Citrinas asks, still ignorant of your true nature.

"The forcible implantation of a monster core in a human to create a monster who exhibits both human and monster abilities." Mathias explained. "It's a highly taboo procedure done only by the most depraved of individuals." He continued as you tensed up.

"R-really? Hybrids are that hated?" You asks nervously as Mathias nodded.

"While hybrids themselves are rare enough that there are no formal laws against them and no public opinion on them, the major forces of light and darkness will execute anyone who holds any aspirations for creating them." He answers, relieving your worries slightly. You were rare enough that nobody really knew what you were to properly hate you. Obscurity was best.

"Considering how absurdly powerful that fox bitch was, why would you ban the procedure?" Fenri asks, seemingly interested in becoming one herself. Considering she could create claws and ears made from pure holy magic, having them become flesh wasn't that far of a leap for her

"For one, you'd need exotic ingredients to begin the procedure. An angel's feather, the hair or blood of a goddess, juice of the time fruit, the blood of an ancient devil, a demon king's soul, and other items of that nature. Furthermore, the process is so traumatic that only a hero's corpse can withstand the procedure. Any other being would be driven mad from the pain." Harvin explained, his words mostly coinciding with your memories of the cheats those goddesses offered.

"Still, it seems like a huge bonus if you can resurrect the dead AND make them stronger." Fenri says as Harvin shook his head.

"An improperly formed hybrid will suffer a number of problems. Memory issues, hallucinations, schizophrenia, changes in psyche, and so forth. There's even a chance the monster core takes control, leaving the human host dormant or for the procedure to go awry, leaving the host psychologically crippled with a fractured mind. Worst case scenario, you've created a nigh unstoppable being with the skills of a hero and brutality of a monster." Harvin says as you think back to Tristiana. Sure, she was a cunning rat, but she wasn't a mad berserker. If anything, she was too calculating.

"She didn't seem crazy to me." You mutter.

"Lady Tristiana was a hybrid likely made from top level ingredients. She is highly stable compared to other hybrids." Harvin explained as Citrinas spoke up.

"So why did she attack the city?" She asks as Mathias snapped his fingers. Instantly, a map of the city appeared on the table with several X's marked on them. You peer down at the map, noticing that the X's were placed atop temples to major deities. You'd never been inside them, but you spotted a handful when when going out into the city with Citrinas.

"These temples were attacked and had their holy artifacts stolen during the attack. We fear she has plans to produce more hybrids with them." He explained as you nervously shift in your seat. Hybrids were rare, but if they became common and caused enough trouble, you might be lynched on sight.

"This doesn't make sense. Why would she do this?" Citrinas asks as Harvin and Mathias shared a cautious look.

"We believe she is being commanded to do so by the hero of the hearth." Mathias says, his voice melancholic at the mention of the hero.

"Hero of the hearth? There wasn't one of those at the summit." Fenri says as Harvin nodded

"He is the sole hero outside of Lady Tomoko that survived the war unscathed." He answered as Fenri shook her head.

"I was told hero of bonds was the last hero. Every other hero was dead or crippled." She says as Citrinas looks away, knowing full well that the story of the hero of bonds was just propaganda.

"How much do you know about the previous war?" Mathias asks.

"It was terrible, lasted several centuries, ended semi-recently, and the final battle that ended it wiped out every hero except the hero of bonds." Fenri answered, giving a concise explanation of the war.

"That's mostly correct." Mathias answers as he gives a more in depth story to the one he gave you the first day you met.

"At the final battle 6 years ago, the heroes arrived to fight the demon king and his armies. Without warning, the hero of the hearth killed both sides, scavenged their corpses, and disappeared." He said as Fenri abruptly interrupted him before he could continue.

"Hold on. This guy took down 18 heroes, their companions, AND the demon king's forces alone? What kind of freak was he?" Fenri asks as Mathias clenched his fist.

"I was his companion once. He held the title of humanity's strongest, and I have no doubt he is still the strongest in the world. If he's hybridized himself, I can't imagine how powerful he must be." Mathias concedes, the supposed hero of the hearth a monster beyond comprehension by now.

"To avoid panicking the masses, Demon King Rael and the forces of light swore to bury this incident as a mutual assured destruction, signed a treaty, and have spent the past 6 years amassing forces to deal with the hero of the hearth." Harvin says, continuing the story as you take in the details. Why was Carnachias and Melanoche having you deal with the hero party if this Hero of the Hearth was running around killing everyone while the forces of light and darkness were actively cooperating to deal with him? Wouldn't it be smarter to hunt him down first? Mathias finishes explaining the current state of affairs.

"Since then he's been quietly stealing divine artifacts, hero corpses, and monster cores from both the demons and the forces of light. We've tried to hide this from the public, but he's become more aggressive in recent years." He explains as Citrinas speaks up.

"Why would my sister work with her murderer?" She asks.

"We are unsure, but we think she's being threatened." Harvin explains as you think over her actions. If she wanted both of you killed, she'd have ordered Fenri to kill you two. She merely ordered the two of you captured, and opted to sedate the two of you. Fenri beating the hell out of you was just because you refused to stay down.

"So why call us here and tell us this?" You ask, puzzled at just why they were talking about this with you and Fenri. You weren't a part of this, while Fenri was just caught up in the mess on accident.

"We were hoping you would have some insight into just what the hero of the hearth is planning to do with so many hybrids." Harvin said as Citrinas and Fenri stand up and look to you in shock.

"Verdi, you're a part of this?" Citrinas asks as you look around the room in confusion.

"What!? No! Why would I be!?" You ask, a sinking feeling appearing in your gut as you try to pray Harvin didn't know what you thought he knew. This prayer was not met as the elderly butler spoke up.

"We know you're also a hybrid. We aren't going to harm you or expose you, since you've obviously proven you aren't formally allied with him." Harvin says as you clench your fist, seeing Mathias was unsurprised at the revelation. Seems you weren't as sneaky as you thought if both of them knew.

"How long have you known?" You ask, curious to see how long you lasted.

"On the first night. You cut your hand and I saw it heal. Since you aren't formally affiliated with any patron deities, there was no way your regeneration was divine." Harvin says as Citrinas speaks up to your defense.

"No, he's a monster pretending to be human, not a human turned monster." She says before looking to you nervously. It seems the gig was up already. "Right?" You look away from her.

"... Surprise." You say as she just stared at you in silence. While Citrinas was trying to process your existence, you looked to Mathias. "Look, I know less than you think." He said as Mathias snapped his fingers again, the map on the table replaced with an oil painting. Looking down, you see the peak masculine form staring back at you, the man's muscular build complementing his strong jawline and steely gaze. He had brown hair and gave off an almost regal aura as you squint your eyes, his appearance familiar to you. It's like you've met him somewhere.

"Have you seen this man before?" He asks as you try to remember where you've met this man.

"Actually... He seems kinda familiar." You say, wracking your brain. You've seen this man before. Where? You can't remember, but it's at the tip of your tongue. You know without a doubt you've seen this face before.

"Good. So you've seen the hero of the hearth." Mathias says, his tone oddly stern as you shake your head. Seems you were just seeing things. There was no way you met public enemy number one in your life. It was just you feeling deja vu for someone you've never met before.

"No, he rings a bell, but that's it." You say as Harvin sighs.

"Regardless, would you care telling us what you do know regarding your transformation and then going into what you've done prior to meeting Lady Citrinas?" He asked, hoping to pry some useful knowledge from you. Sadly, you know he's trying to drain blood from a stone. Your story was significantly less interesting than former hero reincarnated as a warrior of darkness under the employ of a traitor hero. You were some nobody **** and used as a test subject. Rather than play coy, you decide to give up the honest truth. Harvin was too smart to be deceived and lying to Mathias left a bad taste in your mouth.

You decide to tell them everything that happened from the day you met Melanoche and Carnachias. From there, you tell them what monster powers you gained while omitting the existence of your dungeon core and your true body, then going onto what you'd done prior to meeting Citrinas. You opt to omit your more depraved acts. As you finish your story, everyone just stares at you, shocked. A deafening silence falls over the room as you wait for somebody to say something. Eventually, Citrinas speaks up while punching you on the shoulder.

"Stop joking around. We're being serious right now. Tell us what happened to you." She says as you glare at her.

"I did! It's not very dramatic, I'm sorry I'm not a hero reincarnated as a warrior of darkness, but that's the truth." You say indignantly, only to earn more stares of shock. Eventually, Harvin speaks up, his eyes filled with pity while Mathias looks away from you, biting his lip. What was with them?

"Master Verdi, you are serious?" He asks as you nod.

"I'm not lying. The jig is up, and you guys don't look like you're going to attack me." You say as the mood grows heavier. What was with them?

"There isn't anything else you'd like to say?" Harvin asks as Mathias raises a hand.

"Harvin, I believe he is speaking the truth. I ask that you not question his words" He says before looking to you and smiling. It wasn't the usual smile he had when the two you met for drinks, nor was it a false smile. It looked like he was on the verge of crying. "Brother, I'm sorry to have called you over. Please, rest." He says as you feel chills run down your back. Something was wrong. Harvin suddenly takes a step forward, bowing at the waist while looking to Mathias.

"Apologies for my insolence, but I cannot hope to watch a wound fester before me and pretend nothing is amiss." He says as he looks to you, his eyes hurting as though he was afraid of you. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, unwilling to speak his next words. He eventually gains the strength to speak. "Master Verdi, I'm afraid your mind was impacted by your hybridization. You've been suffering hallucinations and delusions this entire time. I'm sorry to tell you this."

"Very funny." You say, only to find everyone in the room looking at you with a weird expression. It wasn't mockery or scorn. It wasn't even hostility. It was just... Pity.