It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

  Her chest felt like someone was stepping on it and they tried to dig something from within as if someone was trashing on its way toward the deepest part of herself and wao rip apart something away.

  In a nutshell? It hurt.

  It didn't hurt enough to make her cry, it didn't hurt enough to make her scream, no. She had been there before, had dohat before.

  The first time one of her arms was broken, she couldn't help but release a whimper, that was also the first time she had been spped. Akira had said that it would be for her own good. And she...wasn't sure why she believed him.

  It was as if everything Akira said was correct, even though her [Instincts] told her otherwise, but Akira hadn't led her astray so far. Whe him as a kid he was a shining bea of warmth.

  Her headaches disappeared almost as soon as she locked eyes with him, and while she didn't reize him, she khat he ecial. Akira for some reason seemed to know her, all her small habits, all that she liked and disliked.

  She had been a somewhat tomboy of a girl, when Akira told her that she wouldn't like the taste of spicy stuff she ate as much as she could but in the end admitted defeat, spicy food wasn't her thing.

  And like that, they had grown together...It was...Nice.

  Most of the other kids around weren't as mature nor as smart as Akira, and more importantly, they all were weaker than Akira. She had found out that early on, for some reason she was stronger, faster, and had better reflexes than everyone around them.

  The only one who was even somewhat close to her was Akira, and even he...wasn't as strong as her.

  The first time she actally hurt someone she had been so scared, so scared that they would ground her, so scared that they would call her a monster, but Akira?

  He was calm, so calm, with a few words he vihe kid that it had been his fault instead of hers, it was the first time she saw Akira 'cry', he spoke with the adults about hoere pying and the act occurred, how sad he was that his mistake had ended with another kid hurt.

  Her younger self saw that as something romantic, a knight in shining armor helping her deal with her mistakes, it was thanks to that particur event that she found out that Akira also was more talehan she gave him credit.

  She of course had hat Akira was more sturdy than the rest, puhat wouldn't do anything to Akira, would send kids g to the floor. At some point, she even earned herself the title of [Bully] and no birl would py with her.

  Besides Akira that is.

  He didn't have problems trolling his strength so he could py with almost any birl he wanted, at the time she saw it as Akira being a knight who protected the girls, how he stood in front of them, how he hugged and carried them away in a princess carry style.

  Away from other kids who would throw stuff at them getting their shirts and dresses dirty.

  Now?

  Well, she wasn't so sure what to think.

  She had knowhey arrived at the MPI that something had gone wrong sihe first thing Akira did at the MPI was try to get a private bedroom with her.

  Her [Instincts] screamed at her to refuse, to run away. But Akira had been so good with her through the years...And his family too, when hers died in a crash act and only her [Instincts] made sure her body turned just in the right way to survive.

  It had been Akira's Mother the ohat helped her the most, they eve her have a room near Akira, which made it easier to sneak into his bed too, even if he rarely was asleep early. And he liked to tumble and grope at her while she tried to sleep.

  It made her early childhood more bearable, even if she didn't uand then why Akira was so handsy, nor why she shouldn't speak about it to the adults lest they don't let them sleep together again.

  When they arrived that first day at the MPI and night made its way, her [Instincts] screamed far strohan ever, and for but a sed she felt crity in her eyes. She uood why Akira wanted a private dorm with her, what he had been doing all their life together. At first, she thought it was love at first sight.

  Sure Akira ecial, but what he did, it chilled her, his eyes weren't the warm eyes of her friend, for a sed she saw them for what they were, the eyes of a predator eyeing its prey.

  He didn't see Watanabe Rena, he didn't see a childhood friend, and he didn't see what by all metrics should be something closer to a sister. He only saw her body, and then she felt something that she hadn't felt in ages. Not sihe days before her headache disappeared.

  "[Kneel, obey, submit..]" The voice of Akira was imposing, it made her obey without meaning to, she was seeing things for what they were finally, so many iions made more sense when she uood what she was seeing, what her [Instincts] had been telling her her whole life.

  All the iions she had before were tinged by Akira's influences, how she behaved, and what she spoke about with her friends. Everything had something to do with Akira.

  "Damned [Gods], why did they make it so hard to use my [Blessing]..." Akira cursed and she felt the strain around her heart lessen, she felt as if she could release herself from his hold.

  And when she had been about to release herself from the hold Akira had over her, even if her [Instincts] also told her that doing so may kill her, Akira turned his gaze towards her.

  "Ain't you a cheeky one, well... I didn't want to repeat my mistake of the st life, but I don't have enough power yet so...[Love me]" And after uttering those words, she felt tears of blood form in her eyes. As her sciousness started to fade away her body seemed to move on its own accord. "You will not make me regret it will you b????????????????????i???????????????????????t????????????????????c???????????????????h?????????? / Rena?"

  His words started to morph, and her sciousold her that he was saying something else, but her [Brain] refused to process it and instead ied her name for her.

  She was screaming, trashing, fighting, but nothing seemed to work, her body didn't want to listen to her, her mind didn't want to listen to her, her [Soul]...Oh her [Soul], it was the first time she had seen it, but she was sure of it.

  Her soul was [Ravaged] beyond reason, broken and patched all ain as if it was used as a chew toy for someo had patches here and there, some more obvious than others. Her [Instincts] told her that some of those were from [Healing] magic, older [Healing] that seemed to want to alleviate the damage, and others from [Magic]. A [Magic] meant to work as a patchwork.

  And then there were the cuts, her [Soul] had evidence of a bde [Cutting] through it as if someone had tried to [Cut] away the ive influence. She had never heard of a pce like this upon which the [Soul] rojected.

  But even so, she didn't know what to think about it. At the ter of the pce, she found a single [Sword] encased in sludge that was corroding it away.

  Her [Instincts] pleaded at her to [Cut] away the [Sludge], but before she was even able to try and draw her [Sword], her hands were tied in s. Dark s sprung from the floor.

  "Well, well, well, who we have here Little Emma wao be naughty huh." A man's voice resounded in the pce, and as she turned she saw an older man. He looked like Akira if he had aged a few years.

  But somehow she khat this man was [A] and [Dangerous], her [Instincts] screamed at her once more, that she o cut these s and break [Free].

  "Tut tut tut, I will be taking this..." But no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't release herself, the s were too ingrained into her, as if they knew how she would move her [Mana] to try and free herself.

  She wasn't able to do anything as the [Older Akira] took the sword from the pedestal and immediately she felt as if he was strangling her by the throat.

  "Hmm...It feels odd, you will o practice more your [Skill], we 't have my [Sword] be weak." Akira said and then her [Sword] morphed intem that he pced in his arm.

  And afterward, the whole thing turned into a hazy mist, her body moved, but her mind didn't seem to want to move with her body, she heard whispers here and there, but even her [Instincts] weren't present.

  She felt herself move through the motions as her body was being traiempered, scar after scar, wound after wound, broken boer broken. Her body was destroyed and regeed every single day.

  Akira toyed with both her mind and body, and here at the respite of her [Soul] she could only whimper and wait for the day she would be released.

  Either by Akira's demise or because he got bored of her body. But while the first seemed improbable and the sed e dream, something ged with the [Advent].

  Or with the ramifications of it to be more precise, she felt a soothing hand in her [Soulscape] followed by the promise of release, she wasn't sure who or what had whispered to her. But she felt ined to believe, and when the sed year was almost halfway through her answer came.

  A shining bea of hope in the form of a blonde girl walking into the MPI, her mind seemed to turn normal for a few seds when her body was close to her. It was almost as if her [Soul] could link itself back with her [Mind], but even while that ossible, her [Body] and [Mind] still were sved to Akira.

  So while she had attempted to [Link] herself towards that blonde girl, she hadn't achieved it, even the smallest of brushes against that girl's soul was enough to give her hope.

  And a o look forward to, [Elizabeth Starbright].

  It was all going fine, Akira was getting distracted more often than not by irls, and she was getting more crity as the days where she could sneak an iion with [Elizabeth] increased.

  She felt herself with almost enough trol that she could for a, soon enough she would be able to increase that to two as, she would check if going for three ossible of course. But overall she only wo as, if push came to shove maybe one would be enough.

  If it were three as she could squish, the first would be summoning her [Sword], the sed would be sinking it in her [Heart] and the third would be a ter should someoice her pns.

  If it was only two as, she would sacrifice the ter and rush the as...

  And if only one was the option...Well, she would probably move her body into an attack while doing a match fight, she would feel bad for the poor bastard whose attack she ended up taking, but that was life.

  And so, while preparing for her sweet [Release] they arrived at the [Arena], even while her [Mind] seemed to be clouded most of the time, she could see clearly through her [Soul] both Akira and Elizabeth.

  And while her [Body] and [Mind] were getting along, she took that ce to inch Akira to fight with Elizabeth, she khat he wouldn't be able to pull punches even if Akira wasn't aware of how powerful Elizabeth was. So taking a small amount of trol over her [Body], she made sure that her mouth made it painfully obvious how Akira ying with irls.

  And while her [Mind] didn't seem to uand why Akira had hit her, she found herself surprised at the fact that her [Mind] also asked Elizabeth for salvation.

  It was in that moment that she hesitated, did her [Mind] also seek salvation?

  Then was her [Body] also pleading for freedom?

  While thinking about that Elizabeth had walked towards them, and passing by she said her part. That she would save her...

  That everything would be okay...

  That had been enough to make her fet about her pn, and so her [Body] fell unscious, only...

  Somehow she found herself with other two girls materializing, the first one was a little girl with red hair and a sundress, her five-year-old self who had been adopted into Akira's family.

  The sed was also a red-haired girl, only she dressed as a 20-year-old woman who went to da bars for money...and that was a very polite way to refer to her.

  And finally herself, a normal pin-looking sixteen-year-old girl in uniform.

  "So...How are you doing?" She started speaking unsure of what to think of this.

  "Really? This is the first thing you say? You have been screaming at us fod knows how long and that is what you say?" The older oke while gring at her.

  "Calm down, calm down, we all want the same thing here okay?" The little girl added trying to soothe the older one.

  "...Didn't you want to [serve] Akira?" She accused them, she had seen her body and mind willingly give itself to Akira after all.

  "Not really, for me, it's more like a fog and Akira is the bea of light. If I don't follow that bea I get hurt." The little girl said as she raised her hand and in there you could see scars all across her arm. "Eae is from a time I didn't want to follow the bea."

  "And I don't have a say iter, of the three I have the less weight. I only make sure the [Body] stays funal and up to date. And since you don't follow our [Instincts] I have less work to do anyway." The older woman said and turo the little girl. "So, why are we here?"

  "Oh, that's easy." The little girl happily said as she summoned a s, on it they could see a mockery of the MPI fused with the high school they had goo before, and in it, the figure of Elizabeth walking through the hallways. "Elizabeth seems to be closing into our [Sword]."

  "...Then?" The [Body] smiled as she tried to pull out something from thin air, only to frown at her own failure. "Not yet huh."

  "If she mao do that...Will we be free?" She asked the little girl, she was almost sure they would be free from [Akira] if nothing else, but the [Mind] seemed to be more aware of what happened.

  Probably because she was the one closer to Akira and could take peaks here and there, or was this the way her [Soul] coped with the damage it had?

  "When she mao take our [Sword] we will o act quickly, we will o [Link] ourselves to her. Only this way will we be [Free] from Akira." The [Mind] said as she took a step forward and raised her hand.

  "So we o work in tandem huh...Not like I had an option to begin with." The [Body] spoke as it pced her hand above [Mind].

  "So we will work with Elizabeth, and pray that she is more lehan [Akira], at the very least she 't be worse." She said as her identity as [Soul] merged with [Mind] and [Body].

  She hadn't been full in quite a long time, eveest memory she had as [Herself] was a blurry thing, it should have been when she was a little girl, but it didn't feel quite right.

  What she was aware of now that she had synched her [Body], [Mind], and [Soul] was that she was ed, a set of obsidian s tied her body tightly and only a sihread ected her right arm to ay spot in the air.

  "So that's how you are taking my [Talent] and [Skills] huh, Akira." She whispered as she analyzed the thread that sank deeper into her [Soul].

  It wasn't long before she felt the rumble shatter the world around her if her [Soul] had been whole if her [Mind] had been whole...Then maybe that would have been a traumatic experience.

  Having your [Soul] rip open and shattered sounded like something that should hurt...a lot.

  For her? It was Tuesday, maybe it could pass as a sunny Sunday m if she ged her viewpoint of the i, either way, it wasn't as traumatic as it should have been. That meant that she could fully take this ce, so making sure she was aware of the state of the [Thread], she took the ce when she felt the e [Snap].

  And while it was still fresh she searched for the [Bea], she found herself two of those near and a few others farther away. The first one gave her a [Slimy] feeling and it was full of lust, greed, envy... The sed one was [Warmth], while it also had ive emotions to it, it also showcased some positive ones.

  And it was also ohat actively tried to feed its own [Mana] to her, so closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she allowed the mana to form a e to her. She felt her [Soul] make the e and as soon as it was made her whole [Self] got pulled into it. The world of her [Soul] that had been a prison shattered in a thousand fragments as the [Thread] that now ected her to Elizabeth pulled at her.

  It slowly but surely grew as [Shadows] started to climb from the thread as if wanting to e everything, her [Mind] raced at the idea of being ed, her [Body] wao fight against this hreat, but her [Soul]...Her [Soul] only saw the beauty of a [Primordial Beast] g something for itself.

  She embraced it, soothed her [Mind], calmed her [Body], and embraced the [Shadows] that wao e her [Self]. She wasn't sure what this would cause, she wasn't sure what had happehat allowed Elizabeth to cim her from [Akira]'s grasp.

  But she relished the idea of finally getting some [Freedom] away from him. And if she o sell her [Soul] to a [Beast of Shadows]?

  Well, she had spent at least 15 years with Akira at the side, how bad could this new [Mistress] be?

  Notice:Liablished...

  Willio form a e...yes.

  Willingness from the other party...yes.

  New [Heroic Party] e established.

  New [Hero]: Elizabeth Starbright

  Geing hierarchy... Hierarchy detected, submissive.

  May you strive to serve well under your new liege.

  Katsurandom