...Mine?

Pools of crimson drenched the ground; blood splatters etched the cave walls.

Miniscule lumps of discarded flesh, muscle and bones scattered around her guests.

A few heads rolled across the ground, their eyes blanked with horror.

A few ropes of intestines tied themselves around another one's torso.

A few ribs acted as a makeshift splint for the leg of another.

A plate of meat was stuffed into the mouth of another.

The finale was poison in their eyes.

Leaning back from the face of the leader, Aranea observed his eyes rapidly melting into a pool of molten goo.

"These lesser things are tenacious."

Twirling around with her hands clasped behind her back, Aranea glanced up at her two Squad mates, "What now? They won't speak."

...

"Hello?"

...

Planting one hand on her hip and the other on her chin, Aranea thought to herself:

'Did I go too far?'

But, looking back at the interrogation...

It was pretty tame?

Right?

But these two passed out while standing upright.

Maybe it was their body's way of trying to protect itself from trauma.

Although, you wouldn't normally get trauma from something this tame...

"Right?"

...

"See, I knew I wasn't going crazy or something."

Shaking her head, Aranea casually waved her hands.

Crackle.

Ice encased the remaining Corrupted Humans, quickly ending their useless lives.

Chances are that there were more of them, these bastards are usually tight-lipped but not this much.

She suspected they might have a leader because of how dedicated they were.

If they were less dedicated to their cause then she could have gotten something out of them.

What a waste...

-

Except she was wrong.

Completely wrong.

It's not that they weren't willing to talk.

It's that they couldn't talk.

Their minds broke.

Aranea broke them.

She broke them to a point where even the power of the Abyss couldn't help them.

She broke them to a point where they had entered a vegetative state from the pain.

She broke them to a point where even death would be considered a gift.

And the girl had no idea.

-

'I'll let them get their first kill another time.'

Wiping her hands with a cloth to clean away the 'blood', Aranea shuffled the mess out of the cave one after another into the dark of the night.

Throwing them off the edge of the cliff, she heard the sound of ice crashing a long while after.

Then, Aranea put Savana and Silvia to rest in their bedding.

<Mana Barrier>, <Scent Concealing>, <Light Dampening>, <Camouflage >.

These Spells covered up the cave preventing anyone else from finding them for the night.

Closing her eyes on her bed, Aranea started developing a new plan.

This ordeal was somehow ruined, she had to create one on their way to base camp artificially; 'It might be a bit risky.'

It would involve luring in Corrupted and when luring Corrupteds there was always a chance of luring in powerful ones.

"Sigh..."

'What to do-'

---

Aranea woke to a sword on her neck.

Scarlet eyes sharply stared at her from above.

The not-so-fun Silvia decided to give Aranea a visit this fine morning.

Aranea had to admit that Silvia was acting irrationally. While, yes, Aranea did purposefully call other Races and Humans 'things' to aggravate Silvia, and, yes, she did torture some Corrupted Humans, neither action was enough to push Silvia to the edge like this.

Danger signals were firing through Aranea's nervous system.

That scarlet Aura of Silvia's was vibrating manically millimetres off the surface of her neck.

'I must have pushed her mind to the brink.'

This had nothing to do with her uniqueness or any other action.

Not even the rumours.

Silvia's eyes looked shaky; a veil of fear hid behind those eyes.

She wasn't stable.

'...Was the torture that bad?'

Maybe.

Her sense of normality did take a wrong turn at some point; she thought she fixed it a little while ago but apparently not.

"Anything to say for yourself?" Her voice was cold.

Colder than the icy wind breezing through the cave opening; Silvia cut down her Skills at some point while she was asleep.

"I don't believe I have committed an action against you for you to act like this." Aranea's dark whirlpools locked onto Silvia's shivering eyes.

Quiver-

Her sword rattled slightly with sweat dousing her grip.

"What you did last night-"

"Was the correct thing."

Aranea's statement was undeniable.

Silvia knew it in her heart.

But the cruelty of her actions; her unwavering torture capabilities; her unflinching hands as she broke their limbs one by one-

The contents of her stomach came flying up to her throat.

Blurgh-

Throwing up her breakfast to the side, her sword accidentally inched closer to Aranea's neck. Drawing blood.

Coughing out the remnants, Silvia quickly fixed her grip.

"But-!"

"Silvia, stop."

Savana came in from outside.

Looking back at their short, well-endowed scarlet Assassin's stern gaze, Silvia bit her lips and slowly withdrew her sword.

Clank!

Throwing her sword aside, Silvia clenched her empty fist.

Then, she did something Aranea hadn't ever expected.

She bowed at her.

"I'm sorry."

"And thank you for protecting us last night."

Silvia's silver hair draped down to the ground, the blue, highlighted tips of her hair grazed the rocks.

'Have I ever seen her character apologize to Aranea before?'

...No.

Silvia had never apologised to Aranea for anything before.

Not in the game nor reality.

'Things are changing.'

Aranea had to accept that unsightly truth by now. Things were moving unpredictably compared to the game.

She almost killed Charles; the ordeal was messed up; Silvia apologised to her; Luliya-

'Fuck...'

"Aranea?" Savana looked at Aranea; she had yet to tell Silvia to lift her head.

And Aranea didn't plan on it.

Silvia couldn't feel apologetic toward Aranea, the best she could feel was neutral; else-

The girl in question slowly raised her head; the apologetic look on her face remained.

Aranea's small tactic clearly failed.

'I'll have to figure something out and quickly.'

[I must get used to killing.]

[I cannot make the same mistake again.]

Funnily enough, Aranea didn't need to.

Her vile actions were enough to rile up Silvia's Swordmaster pride. She ranked first yet Aranea, who ranked second, handled the situation better than her.

That couldn't stay the same.

"How do you do it?"

"???"

Question marks popped up on top of Aranea's head.

What did Silvia mean by that?

"How do you kill someone?"

'Ah...'

'So this type of route also existed...'

"Same here, tell me how to do it." Savana was also as flustered as Silvia over her uselessness.

Glancing between the two grimly determined girls, a slight smile arose on Aranea's face.

"Are you finally prepared to kill those lesser things?"

While Silvia still hated Aranea's use of 'things', she had no choice but to nod.

Savana twirled her serrated daggers, flickering embers at their tips, "Show us."

Aranea lowered her head, she lowered it enough for neither of them to see her face.

And there...

Her smile widened.

And widened...

To a grin stretching to both ends of her face.

'I'll make you lose your apologetic tone real quick Silvia, just you watch.'

'And you-'

She held back the urge to glance at the entrance of the face.

At the female figure hiding; watching them.

The one who had been following them the whole time.

Their Instructor.

'-you better do your job next time, this idiot almost killed me.'

Aranea didn't expect her to do anything though. Not her.

Instructor Florin.

Female.

6-Star Mage, 6-Star Aura User, type Assassin.

A combatant with two occupations.

There was a difference between an Aura User and a Swordmaster.

Swordmasters concentrated and perpetually rotated their Aura in a Swirl at their Core, while Aura Users concentrated them into Stars as simple, concentrated storage containers.

You couldn't compare the two.

Swordmasters were many times more powerful.

It was good to note that currently Silvia was considered a 5-Swirl Swordmaster and Savana a Low 4-Star Mage and Peak 4-Star Aura User, type Assassin.

Don't worry misunderstand though.

Savana wasn't one of the main cast for no reason.

As for Aranea-

Well, let's just say Instructor Florin wouldn't fare well against her.

She wouldn't ever act against the woman though.

Even if Florin tried killing her, she would only protect herself.

This was because she knew who Florin was. And she knew who Florin was connected to.

Her eldest brother.

Sylas Von Lethraxus.

The current Duke of House Lethraxus.

Or, what remained of it.

"Let's get moving." Savana finished packing up their stuff.

Stretching out her Mana, Aranea pulled their luggage again; it was going to be a long stretch before they arrived at base camp.

-----

Florin itched.

Her Mana and Aura were on the verge of exploding in outrage with every moment she spent looking at that thing.

They say she didn't do it.

They say she's innocent.

But how could someone innocent torture Corrupted Humans like that?

How could someone Human call other Humans things?

She didn't believe that this creature was Human.

She wouldn't believe it till her final breath, even if it was proved otherwise, she would never believe it.

Opening her clipboard, she looked at the notes placed beside each of their names.

Silvia: A strong Swordmaster with a powerful, scarlet Aura; has a lot of combat experience but has never killed before.

Savana: Competent Assassin, keeps a constant lookout for any threats and has plenty of experience as a scout. Competent in combat and uses her Aura and Mana efficiently. Hasn't killed before.

Finally, she looked at the one belonging to that Demon.

Aranea: Extreme Caution; lacks basic human empathy, extremely capable at torture, no issues with killing, uses her Mana perfectly.

Only Aranea's was different.

Yes, she was biased.

Yes, she wanted to ruin her prospects.

But all the better.

That thing should have never been allowed to roam the world.

That thing should have never left the Lethraxus compound alive.

'That THING!'

Her heart palpitated with unadulterated rage. Every vein in her body seethed and boiled at the very idea of allowing that thing to live freely.

She couldn't handle it.

'Sylas! Why do you stop me?!'

Every moment, every second, every microsecond!

[I want to kill her.]

It was true, unrelenting hatred.

-----

Lifting her right hand, she closed it into a ball, "Enemies."

Savana looked far ahead, around a kilometre, behind an array of mounds and shattered boulders on a mountain path; she could sense the existence of living beings there.

"What are they? How many? Distance?"

Responding to Silvia, "Most likely Human, at least 20, a kilometre ahead."

"Lesser things." Aranea added on.

"How sure are you?" Silvia glanced back at Aranea.

"100%. Lesser things around this area act as bandits, consuming anything and anyone that attempts to cross. Considering stronger things use Transportation Arrays, that only leaves weaker things behind."

"Not many people pass through here though?" Savana's point was valid.

Most people would never take this route, it was too dangerous and there were a couple of other safe routes that would only extend the time taken by a day.

"These lesser things are the weak ones, they can only pick up the scraps."

Taking Aranea for her word, Savana and Silvia prepared themselves.

They had to kill this time.

They won't make the same mistake.

Otherwise...

The chances of Aranea repeating the torture-

They didn't want to imagine it.

Even Savana's uniqueness faltered slightly, the fact that that happened even with her having that type of unique personality shows the full extent of Aranea's actions.

When Savana saw what happened; after she woke up...

This is what her uniqueness presented:

[More- Do I... Want more...?]

[No!]

[But... Yes.]

[I...]

[I want-!]

[I ʇuɐʍ more.]

[I pǝǝu more.]

[More.]

It teetered on the brink before recovering.

It still believed in Aranea.

It needed more of Aranea.

It had to have more-

More-

More.

Savana's shimmering wine-red eyes curled up, the obsessiveness within them flourishing.

Savana looked down at the traces of Corrupted Humans then back at Aranea.

If she killed.

If she proved herself worthy.

Savana's original goal of tying together Aranea and Silvia into one cohesive cohort blurred at some point.

She herself completely forgot.

Now all that remained was-

More.

Ba-dump.

Something within Savana's heart beat wildly.

Ba-dump.

It rose into her throat.

Ba-dump.

Warming her chest.

Then, the voice which did not belong to her.

The voice which was unknown to Savana.

It gazed at Aranea's abysmal, infinitely swirling black eyes.

[...Mine?]