Nelg spat to the side as he pulled violently on his chains.

"Your 'Mother' is everything but a God. She's just some blind, insane entity with undeserved power and the impossibility of descending on Limbo. Fate? She probably doesn't even control the time she wakes up in the morning!"

Nora stopped playing with Glenn's chest and glared at Nelg. "...You. YOU!" She roared as she jumped out of bed and drove her fist through Nelg's chest. The latter looked down at the wound, grimacing.

"Ah, that hurts. That hurts so bad. Ah. Ah."

The slaver's eyes widened. "What the hell are you...? How can you not feel anything? And..." She pulled her hand out and looked at it with curiosity. "...Do you not bleed?"

Nelg looked down as the hole in his chest disappeared. 'That was weird. I can fake wounds then? Maybe it'll be enough to divert her from Glenn and Liara...'

"Or perhaps I can't see blood anymore? Wait, let me see~" Nora turned to Liara with a cruel grin before stabbing her hand through her thigh. Liara clenched her teeth and looked at the wound with utter disgust. Her lips were sealed, no hint of a scream would come out of it.

Nora whistled, impressed. "One who doesn't bleed, and the other who doesn't feel pain. Or at least don't show it. An admirable duo. What should I do with you both...?"

She suddenly flicked her finger, enlightened. "I know!" She picked a dagger from a shelf nearby and threw it at Nelg's feet.

"...You want a fight, you old bitch?"

Nora chuckled lightly. "No, no. I want you to stab your friend's arm." Her smile disappeared as she grabbed Liara's throat, her Aura flaring up into a crushing presence. "Or I kill her. Choose. Would you rather let her die, or save her life by hurting her?"

Nelg slowly looked down at the dagger on the ground, his nonexistent blood turning to ice. 'What? W- why would she want me to do that? What am I supposed to do?'

"Take. The knife." Nora ordered as she clenched Liara's throat tighter. Nelg slowly kneeled, pulling on his chains to the limit as he picked the dagger up. He looked at Liara, his voice stuck into his throat. She nodded imperceptibly at him. Her eyes seemed to say 'I can take it.'

"Stab her. It's as easy as that!" Nora laughed as she snuggled next to Glenn, hugging him tightly like a plush.

Nelg felt the handle of the knife in his hand. It was rough, and heavy, with thick nails driven into it to maintain the structure of the blade. A rough weapon, barely sharp enough to cut through meat. And Nora wanted him to stab Liara with it. The reality pushed down on Nelg with the weight of a thousand suns. He was about to harm Glenn's friend—his friend, with his own hands. Had he even stabbed anyone before—anything?

It was always Glenn holding him, plunging him through the hearts of his enemies. Because Nelg was a weapon. He was meant to be used to kill or protect. He wasn't meant to make those decisions himself. He wasn't supposed to hold a weapon. To be responsible.

To choose.

Cold sweat drenched his back as he clenched the knife tighter, struggling and failing to conceal his trembling hands.

"Yes..." Nora released Liara and instead approached Nelg, whispering in his ear. "You have a choice, but not really. Torture her under my orders, and eventually kill her when I get tired of it, or let her die now. What a terrible, terrible choice, isn't it?"

She grabbed his shoulders and pressed her face against Nelg's. "Still can't feel pain? Still not wounded?"

The trembling in Nelg's hand came to a still. His expression was black, like a sheet of paper. There was no emotion, no fear, no guilt. No pain. Without another second of consideration, he stabbed the knife into Liara's arm, drawing blood for the time, not as a weapon but as a person.

As a human.

Nora looked at him for a bit more time, smirking silently. Liara closed her eyes, heaving through her teeth as the vitality fled from her body.

'I need to hold on. I need to hold on. Save Glenn and save myself. For my people—for Thalorieth, I cannot die here!'

"Again." Nora grinned cruelly. "The other arm."

It took only a second for Nelg this time. The blade sunk into Liara's flesh, ripping through the muscles and carving open veins. The Black Heiress was paling visibly, but still, no sound left her mouth. Both she and Nelg were as silent and unexpressive as tombs. The only difference, Nelg left the knife in Liara's wound instead of pulling it out right away.

'Is this how Glenn feels every time he wields me?' Nelg's mind was a bottomless abyss, the Black Sun in his soul burning with ominous energy. 'What am I doing?'

"Again. Her waist."

'Why do I keep listening? Why do I have to listen? Why can't I just disobey and save Liara another way?'

"Again. That shoulder looks too lively."

'Am I going to kill Liara? With my own hands?'

"Again. The other shoulder. It's not symmetrical."

'I- I can't. I can't continue. Why do I keep going? Why isn't Liara telling me to stop? Why isn't she showing me any signs?'

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"...Hmm. This—This isn't fun. One looks like a damned fish while the other seems to not possess a voice to scream with. Why do I have to end up with the only two fools who don't seem affected by torture?" Nora plucked her lips out and waved dismissively.

"This is boring. Let's stop there. Seems like she's almost dead anyway." Nora lazily stretched out her hand. The bloodied knife slipped out of Nelg's grip and fell into hers. She licked the blade, swallowing the blood with a distinct moan of pleasure. Nelg slowly looked at his work. At what he did.

Liara's head was hanging off loosely, a large pool of blood growing under her. Her body was covered in wounds, wounds that he inflicted on her.

'Powerlessness. This is what Glenn felt like when the Baron killed his friends back then,' suddenly understood Nelg. Even though he was 'birthed' after all of these events, he shared the same memory bank as Glenn. He knew what Glenn knew. He felt what Glenn felt.

But Nelg had never felt so much what Nelg felt before. Even when he was thrown into that hole of nothingness it didn't feel like that.

Guilty.

He still had no expression and was standing rigidly like an abandoned dummy. A movement drew his attention from the corner of the carriage. A small, ridiculously round white bird hiding between two books on a shelf. It was trembling from head to claw, its beady eyes glued to the body of its master. It looked terrified.

On the bed, away from everyone's attention, something moved. Glenn's breathing was still regular, his chest rising and falling with no incident.

But his finger trembled.

***

“It’s out of my hands, it’s out of my hands… I swear I’ll find that clerk’s family and rip them apart!” Sahro cursed as he raised a pristine mechanical limb to the sky. As it stood, Liam and Janica had already prepared an MKII version of the prosthetic, intending to replace Sahro’s old one with it.

It came quite in handy, considering Sahro destroyed the old MKI version.

“It’s not the clerk’s fault if all the teleportation nodes in Satidipug and Eari are cut off from King’s Rise,” Lina argued as she leaned over the guardrail.

“You shaki, I’ve been tolerating this—bleurgh—this damn flight for a whole week already! Don’t start getting on my nerves!” Sahro’s face turned to a deeper shade of green as he leaned back over the guardrail as well.

Tuleam crossed his arms, walking around the boat with a curious look. “I’ve always heard about these flying boats, but never saw them in action before.”

The sun was high in the sky above them, cloudless. Lucian used his hands as a visor before taking a second look at a map and compass.

“Ten degrees to the port side!” He shouted to Milena, who was handling the boat’s helm. She looked at him confusedly and he rolled his eyes.

“To the left, you uncultured noble!”

Lina rested her chin on her fist, watching the land unfold beneath her eyes. “I never thought I’d be flying in a boat one day…” She chuckled lightly, the heaviness in her heart alleviated slightly.

“Tuleam, remind me why we took her with us?” Sahro turned to the seaweed-headed man, who was currently studying the sail.

“Hmm…Because fresh blood is the most powerful medium for scrying, and dry blood wouldn’t cut it…? And I also need to scry every day to make sure that the target didn’t change location. But didn’t I tell you that every day since we left King’s Rise?”

Sahro opened his mouth to reply but hurriedly turned away to puke above the guardrail. Tuleam smirked and shook his head.

Lucian leaned back in the captain's chair, a pirate hat on top of his head. "Ay-ay, scums and maggots, this vessel shall reach the end of the sea of clouds! A lil' more seriousness aboard my ship!"

Lina pulled herself away from watching the scenery and joined up with Milena. The lady was concentrated on keeping the right course, her eyes lost in the distance.

"Milena, don't you think it's strange for Eari and Satidipug to be disconnected from King's Rise? Aren't they important counties?" Lina sat on the guardrail, dangling her feet.

Milena moistened her lips. "There certainly is something going on. Satidipug houses the headquarters of the Gold Church while Eari welcomes the Iron Blood Brotherhood. Both cities always shared tensions, over territory, mines, whatever they could fight over."

She frowned. "Let's just hope we'll be able to enter Satidipug and find Glenn and Liara."

Lina looked at the sky dejectedly. "I'm not sure hope will help us greatly..."

***

"Hmm. Where the fuck am I?" Glenn looked at his surroundings, lost. There was nothing. No light, no movement, no sound, truly nothing. He glanced down at his body, and it was still there.

"What kind of shitty illusion did Milena pull me into...?" He tried to find something in the darkness, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find anything. He stopped and grinned widely.

"Ah, I know! It's not Milena's illusion. Alright, which god wants to meet me now? I already met Onnea, the Guide, and the Bloodblade. Who's next...? Nergal, maybe? This does look like some mysterious bullshit draped in secrecy." Glenn waited for a moment but nobody replied to him. He sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Come on now, whatever you are, I promise I won't judge you! Hello?"

Glenn clicked his tongue and chose the second option since nobody was answering him. He concentrated on his Mana, trying to enter Meditation, but something was stopping him from doing so. It was as if his spirit, his mind, was dipped into thick goo and struggling to move.

'The idea of a spirit moving is still a little funny, whenever I think about it.'

He gave up on Meditation and instead tried to reach for Nelg. He called out to the other part of his soul, but the signal was cut.

"...So that doesn't work either. Hmm. Milena's mind powers, maybe...?" Glenn tried to call on Diamanes' powers and use the power they took from Milena to no avail.

"This is different from all the other times. Let's see, there has to be something, right...?" Even as he said that Glenn felt uneasiness install itself in his chest.

What if...That was it?

Did he die? Did, for some reason during his unconsciousness, someone slit his throat? His teammates were about to fight three Newborn Rulers, so it wasn't that far-fetched of an explanation.

"...No. I'm sure I would have felt something, at the very least." Glenn paced in the darkness. Well, imagined himself pacing, since he couldn't feel any ground to walk on. It wasn't like he was falling either. It was as if he was in some sort of stasis. Unmoving.

"Okay, I didn't want to use that option just because I'm seriously starting to doubt gods, but...oh well, here I go."

He cleared his throat and drew a deep breath.

"Onnea! You divine dipshit, get me out of here or I tell the world about Doyle Malory!"

Silence was the only thing that replied to him. Glenn sighed once more.

"I guess that doesn't work either. Damn it—wait. The fuck?" He squinted as something shone through the darkness.

A little ball of purple light.