Unfortunately, that option of merciful death seemed to be out the window. Not that there were any windows in this nightmare that I knew of. A figure of speech, so to speak. A pathetic attempt to distract myself in a brief moment of rare respite from the plight I was in, to put it mildly.

I was screwed, so screwed.

Instead of getting rid of me like the other slaves downstairs during the relocation of this shithole, they argued over whose clutches I would fall into, each of them seeking their own merits in me. Not even the warmth of the mana rolling slowly through my body was able to chase away the shivers the notion gave me.

Or so I thought.

The moment the mana touched the core in my guts, a sharp pain tore through my body, ripping a bestial scream from my throat along with the outburst of that might, shaking the room slightly. As swiftly as it came, it went, and with it all the pain. Even the unbearable thunder of my own heartbeat pounding inside my skull had died down to the point where I was able to hear my own thoughts, albeit shrouded by a strange fog wrapped around my mind. It was nothing like the mechanical grip of the iron collar or the calculated urging of my Slave Array. Not even the disgusting touch of that shoelace bitch came anywhere near that.

This touch was even more alive, more raw - more primal.

“S-she. . . she accepted it. . . impos. . . no, incredible. . . she really accepted the core,” stuttered the asshole, his voice noticeably strained but brimming with zeal. “This, this is simply amazing, a breakthrough.”

“Tsk, breakthrough my ass!” the bitch hissed through the pain, the smell of her blood reaching my nose. She was hurt. Why? I didn’t know - didn’t care. “Where do you have the suppressing chains?”

“Huh. . . what? Chains? No, I need vials to collect samples.”

“You fucking moron, WHERE?!”

“Th-there. . . o-on the shelf. What happened? Why do you look so pale? Is it the might? Terrifying, certainly, but I assure you it's just a result of. . . ”

“. . . That was no initial outburst. What I saw waking up in there. . . "

"Where?"

"In her bloody mind, imbecile,” the shoelace shrew snapped, to hide her fright, but the quiver in her voice didn't escape my ears. However, instead of the joy over her pissing her pants, dread gripped my guts.

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'Wh-what did you see? What was s-slumbering inside me?'

Dreadful questions. But I got no answers. Either the bitch deliberately ignored me, or didn't hear me, downright afraid to peer into my mind. The notion of that clenched my guts even tighter. What the bloody heck could she possibly see?

“Oh, her mind, and what did you. . . ?”

“Tsk, just shut up and tie her down!” the shoelace shrew snapped at the asshole, irritatingly depriving me of the answers I so desperately needed, instead tossing him the chains.

The metallic clatter jolted me awake and to my horror not just me.

»ME shackled?!«

‘Shit! Shit, shit, shit!’ That was a growl. A feral growl came out of my throat instead of my voice. No words, just a growl of the same meaning, full of primal rage coming from somewhere deep inside me, uttering things through my lips that I didn't even want to say. ‘Like, really, what the bloody heck was that?’

“See! She’s a fucking beast, a beast that needs to be shackled. Now move your ass,” the bitch hissed, attaching one end of the chain to the ring embedded in the floor at the base of the table.

»Don’t you dare, humans!«

‘Humans?’ Why the bloody hell would I say that? Not that what I barked mattered. Neither of them understood my growls, and even if they did, they still wouldn’t listen.

»Get it off me!« I yelped full of anger when my attempt to break free from the bitch’s grasp only ended with my hand in shackles. Pathetic. I was simply too weak, an ordinary girl, a young woman for quite a few years now, schooled in how to take care of flowers, not bitches with a weird mind touch.

Weak.

I was too weak.

The notion just rubbed me the wrong way, more than it normally should. So were the shackles on my wrist.

I was not one to be chained down.

»Release me!«

The primal rage at these humans, coming from deep within me, took my breath away. This just wasn’t me. Sure, I could be pissed, and I was, but this was something else entirely. But what? Was it the beast they wanted to turn me into? Was I losing the last shreds of my human self?

»Why can’t you just leave me alone. . . ?«

Oh, well, that kicked puppy whine sounded more like the city girl I grew up to be. It seemed there were still vestiges of the old me left. Was that all I was, though? Just a wretched freak doomed to be a slave for life, a pet even.

‘A pet?’

»You DARE to think of me as a pet?!« I snapped as a sudden rage surged through me, intensified by the following rattling of the chains. This time, it came from my right, the side where that deranged human stood. Once already, he had shackled me to a life behind iron bars. Once before, I let him take my freedom.

Now, it was time to take it back.