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 wanted to 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 done that 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 slapped. 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. When she met him as a kid he was a shining beacon of warmth.

Her headaches disappeared almost as soon as she locked eyes with him, and while she didn't recognize him, she knew that he was special. 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 accidentally 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 convinced the 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 how we were playing and the accident 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 particular event that she found out that Akira also was more talented than she gave him credit.

She of course had noted that Akira was more sturdy than the rest, punches that wouldn't do anything to Akira, would send kids crying to the floor. At some point, she even earned herself the title of [Bully] and no boy or girl would play with her.

Besides Akira that is.

He didn't have problems controlling his strength so he could play with almost any boy or girl 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 known when they arrived at the MPI that something had gone wrong since the 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 accident and only her [Instincts] made sure her body turned just in the right way to survive.

It had been Akira's Mother the one that helped her the most, they even let 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 understand 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 stronger than ever, and for but a second she felt clarity in her eyes. She understood 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 was special, but what he did, it chilled her, his eyes weren't the warm eyes of her friend, for a second 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 since the 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 interactions made more sense when she understood what she was seeing, what her [Instincts] had been telling her her whole life.

All the interactions 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 last 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 consciousness started to fade away her body seemed to move on its own accord. "You will not make me regret it will you b̵̨̧̘͉̭̖̹͈̜̪̼̰̝̝̌͑͒̅͝i̷̱̫͕͙̪̹͇̟̗̺͐̾̈́͂͛̿̊̐͌͒͝t̸̨̧̝̞̺͚̱̟͈̜̥̞̜̝̘͒̈́̾c̸͚̲̰̟̙͕̟̜̣̯̃͛̉̃̔̌͐̚h̶̳̰̞̯̫̖̫́̀ / Rena?"

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His words started to morph, and her consciousness told her that he was saying something else, but her [Brain] refused to process it and instead inserted 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 over again as if it was used as a chew toy for someone, it 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]. Ancient [Magic] meant to work as a patchwork.

And then there were the cuts, her [Soul] had evidence of a blade [Cutting] through it as if someone had tried to [Cut] away the negative influence. She had never heard of a place like this upon which the [Soul] was projected.

But even so, she didn't know what to think about it. At the center of the place, 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 chains. Dark chains sprung from the floor.

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

But somehow she knew that this man was [Ancient] and [Dangerous], her [Instincts] screamed at her once more, that she needed to cut these chains and break [Free].

"Tut tut tut, I will be taking this..." But no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't release herself, the chains 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 need to practice more your [Skill], we can't have my [Sword] be weak." Akira said and then her [Sword] morphed into a red gem that he placed 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 trained, tempered, scar after scar, wound after wound, broken bone after broken bone. Her body was destroyed and regenerated 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 second was a pipe dream, something changed 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 inclined to believe, and when the second year was almost halfway through her answer came.

A shining beacon of hope in the form of a blonde girl walking into the MPI, her mind seemed to turn normal for a few seconds 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 was possible, her [Body] and [Mind] still were slaved 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 name to look forward to, [Elizabeth Starbright].

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

She felt herself with almost enough control that she could force an action, soon enough she would be able to increase that to two actions, she would check if going for three was possible of course. But overall she only needed two actions, if push came to shove maybe one would be enough.

If it were three actions she could squish, the first would be summoning her [Sword], the second would be sinking it in her [Heart] and the third would be a counter should someone notice her plans.

If it was only two actions, she would sacrifice the counter and rush the actions...

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 chance to inch Akira to fight with Elizabeth, she knew that 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 control over her [Body], she made sure that her mouth made it painfully obvious how Akira was playing with other girls.

And while her [Mind] didn't seem to understand 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 forget about her plan, and so her [Body] fell unconscious, 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 second was also a red-haired girl, only she dressed as a 20-year-old woman who went to dance at bars for money...and that was a very polite way to refer to her.

And finally herself, a normal plain-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 for god knows how long and that is what you say?" The older woman spoke while glaring 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 beacon of light. If I don't follow that beacon I get hurt." The little girl said as she raised her hand and in there you could see scars all across her arm. "Each one is from a time I didn't want to follow the beacon."

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

"Oh, that's easy." The little girl happily said as she summoned a screen, on it they could see a mockery of the MPI fused with the high school they had gone to 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 manages to 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 manages to take our [Sword] we will need to act quickly, we will need to [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 need to work in tandem huh...Not like I had an option to begin with." The [Body] spoke as it placed her hand above [Mind].

"So we will work with Elizabeth, and pray that she is more lenient than [Akira], at the very least she can'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, even the latest 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 chained, a set of obsidian chains tied her body tightly and only a single thread connected her right arm to an empty 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 morning if she changed her viewpoint of the incident, either way, it wasn't as traumatic as it should have been. That meant that she could fully take this chance, so making sure she was aware of the state of the [Thread], she took the chance when she felt the connection [Snap].

And while it was still fresh she searched for the [Beacon], 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 second one was [Warmth], while it also had negative emotions to it, it also showcased some positive ones.

And it was also one that 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 connection to her. She felt her [Soul] make the connection 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 connected her to Elizabeth pulled at her.

It slowly but surely grew as [Shadows] started to climb from the thread as if wanting to consume everything, her [Mind] raced at the idea of being consumed, her [Body] wanted to fight against this new threat, but her [Soul]...Her [Soul] only saw the beauty of a [Primordial Beast] claiming something for itself.

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

But she relished the idea of finally getting some [Freedom] away from him. And if she needed to 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:

Link established...

Willingness to form a connection...yes.

Willingness from the other party...yes.

New [Heroic Party] connection established.

New [Hero]: Elizabeth Starbright

Generating hierarchy... Hierarchy detected, submissive.

May you strive to serve well under your new liege.