62 What's Mine, is Mine

When Owen had rammed into Bennox, Lydis slipped to the side and observed Edith out of the corner of her eye. As she spewed out lies and obvious nonsense, Lydis connected her as Theda's bully. A small smile spread on Lydis's lips. Her prey had delivered itself to her, it felt a bit unsatisfactory but, she was delighted at having less work to do.

Just as Bennox made the crowd realize the obvious, Edith was already trying to slip away from them. Slowly, she crept further from Bennox.

Lydis took this chance to make her move. Weaving around frightened children, Lydis made her way to Edith. Just as Edith got out of the circle a hand grabbed her mouth. In the next instant someone's arm went around her throat.

Alarmed, Edith wanted to scream but felt that her voice wouldn't come out, she couldn't make a sound much less ask for help from the countless children behind her. As she tried to claw at the attacker her fingers snagged the ribbon on her shoulder. Suddenly, a small prick jabbed into her neck. Flinching slightly, Edith couldn't help but feel that her eyelids had started to become extremely heavy.

Seeing as Edith had passed out, Lydis quickly crouched to the floor. In it's dragon form, Ui climbed down from Lydis's shoulders and helped cut the ribbon on Edith's shoulder.

"Master, what that efficient enough?" Ui's little head looked up at Lydis.

"Well done. How long till it wears off?"

"Taking into account the size of the body, pulse, and amount of fluid inside, the estimate is half an hour. Is that a satisfactory time? If not, I have enough to add a few days to it." Ui's needle popped out from its metal claw again.

"No, that should be enough. In the case that Edith starts to wake up early, don't hesitate to administer more."

"Yes master."

As Ui retracted the needle, Lydis made a note to ask Ui what kind of serums and liquids Nova equipped it with.

Using Edith's ridiculously large ribbon, Lydis stuffed most of it into Edith's mouth. The other half she had wanted to use to tie Edith up, but the children had started to waver and spread out.

Dragging Edith away, Lydis rounded the corner just as Bennox asked for the culprit. The group parted to reveal the evidence of Lydis's successful kidnapping.

So as to not raise too many questions, Lydis carried Edith piggyback style outside of the dorms, making sure that Edith's mouth was blocked by her hair.

After exiting the dorms, Lydis quickly made her way down the paved path and, without anyone noticing, snuck into the forest. Following the same familiar path from before, Lydis continued to wander deeper into the forest before she heard Edith's muffled groans.

Ui quickly took out the syringe from it's claw but Lydis motioned for it to stand down. They were far away enough that Edith's potential screams wouldn't be heard.

Stopping in a relatively open area, Lydis threw Edith off her back and waited for her to be completely awake.

Edith's eyes fluttered open before closing again, her head swiveling from side to side. This repeated for almost a minute until Edith had completely regained consciousness.

During this time Lydis whispered to Ui and her face lit up. Sinister and cute, the chaotic balance between the two was truly a miracle.

Whipping her head up instantly, Edith wasn't aware of the gag.

"Mmm! Mhmh!... mh!?" Eyes wide, Edith finally understood her situation, although not completely. She whimpered and wept but the gag was doing a good job of muffling her cries.

"Edith something something… seems like you've been a bad child recently right?"

At the sound of Lydis's voice, Edith turned her head to stare angrily at Lydis. Edith tried to stand but found that she couldn't. Her arms and legs were numb, so numb to the point that she just felt like a head on a torso.

"Mphm!"

Lydis clicked her tongue in a scolding manner while shaking her head.

"I've already numbed your limbs so running won't be an option. Now, you may be wondering, who am I? Where are you? Who ordered this? It's not anything really complex, it's just, you pissed me off." Lydis walked over and stood above Edith. "Do you understand?... I don't think you do. The look in your eyes is cursing me, right?"

Edith flinched a little but turned her head away. Her spoiled upbringing had truly led her to develop such a large ego filled with arrogance that it overwhelmed her mind's subconscious fear. The fear that would help a soldier determine whether to fight or run, the fear that would allow a soldier to grow and not offend those stronger than themselves.

Lydis was a bit baffled at how Edith could act so arrogant given that she had been kidnapped and brought into a secluded forest. Maybe she thought Lydis wasn't going to do anything but, her judgement couldn't be any more wrong.

"This isn't getting us anywhere. Let's just move on shall we?"

The happy tone in Lydis's voice confused Edith. Was that all? Did the girl in front of her just kidnap her to give her a scare? Ha! As expected of lowly commoners, too scared to actually to anything th-!

"MMmmM!"

When Edith was lost in her own thoughts, Lydis had taken a small blade from Ui, about the size of a small scalpel, and cut a fine line on the side of Edith's neck. It took a second for Edith to register the pain and fear it brought but her previous assumptions had shattered. The girl in front of her was going to kill her!

Edith whipped her head side to side and tried to shift her body but her limbs wouldn't move.

"… mhmm…" Edith was crying real tears this time. No longer the tears for attention but ones out of fear. Edith's chest heaved up and down rapidly as her breathing quickened, the gag getting caught in her throat a couple of times. Each time she moved her neck, the thin wound would get pulled and the stinging pain would pass through Edith again.

"We've only just begun but, good thing I numbed your limbs beforehand. Don't want you passing out from the pain…" Lydis reached for one of Edith's arms. At the same time Edith was screaming and shaking her head wildly.

*tsk* "If you keep moving, I might accidentally cut one of your major veins. If that happens then, I can't guarantee your life." Lydis shrugged and continued to pick up Edith's arm.

Crying internally, Edith wondered how she managed to piss off a psycho like Lydis.

Lydis looked at the pale white of Edith's arms and suddenly jabbed the blade into the palm of Edith's hand. Although Edith couldn't feel anything, just the sight was enough to scare her. She couldn't imagine the pain but dreaded the moment the numbing in her arms and legs wore off. When they did, she might pass out from the sheer amount of pain.

Lydis worked up Edith's arm, crisscrossing methodically, finding joy in Edith's expression as she neared areas where the numbing agent was weaker. Although the cuts weren't very deep, they still drew a lot of blood combined.

As Lydis moved on to the other arm, Lydis asked Edith a question.

"Do you know why I'm mad?"

Edith shook her head furiously.

"Well, what's mine is mine. You shouldn't go around bullying other people's things without permission. I have a tendency to be a little," Lydis paused and tilted her head to the side, trying to find the right word. "… a little wild when it comes to revenge."

Edith saw Lydis's smile and instantly though of different words. Crazy! Monster! Inhumane! Psycho! Maniac! Savage!

Lydis continued to slash happily at Edith's arm. She hadn't had much experience carving up people but she found it somewhat dissatisfactory compared to her expectations. Compared to animals, a human's skin was softer and much easier to cut into, it didn't feel very fun. Or maybe it was just because her first experience was a child, but the discontent remained.

Suddenly she had an idea. Tossing her blade to the side, Lydis brought one fist into Edith's face. The abrupt impact would've made her bite her tongue if it wasn't for the gag. Still, Edith's teeth cut into the inside of her cheeks. From the side of Edith's gag, a small trail of saliva mixed with blood, tears, and mucus rolled down her chin.

"Hmm. Still nothing huh? Then maybe my other fist?" Once again, Lydis's knuckled collided with Edith's face.

"Mmp!"

The previous impact was already starting to redden on her face but now it looked like both sides of Edith's face would eventually be swollen.

Lydis was a bit perplexed. She felt no thrill in punching or carving up Edith. Initially she had expectations due to her previous experiences with the beasts in the forests surrounding the camp but now, it just felt like punching a training dummy. Even then, those might feel better than the mush in front of her.

"How strange…" Although discouraged, Lydis still thought that Edith might try to bully Theda in the future so as a precaution, she shouldn't let Edith go so easily this time.

Just as Edith was recovering from Lydis's punch, Lydis grabbed a handful of Edith's hair. Pulling her face upward, Lydis glared into Edith's eyes.

"Edith, you know this isn't the end, right?" Edith's body shook involuntarily. She had tried to avoid looking at her arms but, her eyes wandered down. The bloody mess which was her arms seemed to have a never-ending flow of fresh blood flowing down them. In some places where Lydis had sliced her skin, the flesh had been peeled back to reveal the bright pinkish read of her muscles. In other places, Lydis scrapped enough flesh away to reveal the white bones on her hands.

Lydis noticed Edith's eyes drifting and smiled, pulling Edith's hair to get her attention again.

"There is still so much to do…"

Edith tried to beg for Lydis to stop, but Lydis was already pulling Ui out from her pocket. The little dragon's claws turning into syringes.

To explain the horrors Edith experienced in that hour which had seemed to last an eternity would take a few years off anyone's life. Just hearing about it would be enough to send chills down anyone's back. As ruthless and cruel her methods were, Lydis seared into Edith's neurological pathways the fear and obedience a tool should have for its master.