Chapter 6

"This is just gonna be my life from now on isn't it." Mercy muttered to herself as she found herself in a large room that she vaguely recognized. It made her feel a certain sense of certainty that she wasn't in the real world, which when piled on top of everything made her less than excited for what was to come next.

She sat casually in a chair that was unarguably a throne, wearing a rather fancy dress, that while flattering, wasn't exactly to her tastes. It was like a costume from some medieval period drama. Sitting across from her was another woman. One that looked uncomfortaly similar to Mercy, save for some rather distinctively non-her features, such as the pitch black eyes and the tentacle hair. Yup, the tentacle hair really gave away whatever game this was meant to be.

"Alright, what's the deal here?" Mercy said. "Because, I'm pretty sure I don't have a lot of time."

The Mercy look alike smirked as she examined actual Mercy. Like the real deal, she sat in a throne like chair, though with more regality and grace.

"No you do not, and as such I'll try to impart the importance of your, or rather our situation." the other Mercy said. "You are weak. I'd say disgustingly so. The weakest of cretures could snuff you out without even meaning to. Hells, as we speak you've been rendered all but useless by some filthy yokel, that'll probably do disgusting things to you, and by extention, me. That needs to change, quickly."

Mercy gazed at the alt-her narrowing her eyes. She wanted to retort, but she couldn't find the words.

"Hmph, nothing to add? I was expecting some lip from you."

"Well, what is there to say? You're right." Mercy said, her mouth tasting sour. She clenched her fist in a meaningless gesture. Then she sighed. "Is this the part where you offer power and what not in exchange for control? You are the Symbian right?"

"Yes, I'm the symbian, and in regards to control, we're beyond that point. You chose the path of unity. You've already opened yourself up to me. I have what I want, in the broad sense. My roots run through you, and there is almost no force that can seperate us. I'm in it for the long haul baby." she said with a twisted smile full of sharp shark like teeth. "That being said, it won't mean much with you being so pathetic. I am like a sword, or a shield, I'm there for you to use to do whatever; protect, conquer, slaughter indescrimnately, I honestly don't give a crap. It's on you to be strong enough to wield me, which you aren't."

"Ok, so how do I remedy that?" Mercy asked.

"By getting good." the symbian said unhelpfully.

"Do you have an actual plan, or idea that I could run with?" Mercy asked through gritted teeth. The Symbian shrugged her shoulders. "Well, a lot of help you are."

"Oh, I am a great help, I'd be even better if you could actually handle me. I don't know what #@#R@TER@ was thinking attaching me to you." She sighed and made a dramatic show of it. Then she got back into serious mode. "Ok, this is what we're, and by that I mean you, are gonna have to do. It won't be easy, or flattering, but you're currently in the trenches, well a creepy basement prison, but that's besides the point. You're at rock bottom, and it's time for you do some distasteful stuff."

"Still not hearing a plan." Mercy said.

"I'm getting to that." the symbian said. "I have some skills, low level garbage that I can give you, to help work your way up."

Mercy looked on as the symbian look alike waved her hand and a System window popped up. She read it over before looking up at the Symbian.

[Congratulations! You have learned the following skills and abilities:

- Devour (1)

- Natural Weapon (1)]

"There, that should be enough to get started." the symbian said. "I know you like your magic, but that'll have to come later, after you've eaten a few hearts."

"Hearts?"

"Hearts, souls, mana stones whatever, I don't care, I'm not picky." the symbian said taking on a serious tone. "They are a source of power. You kill, you eat, you grow, period. I don't have the time nor patience for any soft hearted veganism."

Mercy tilted her head. "What's a vegan?" she asked.

The other woman looked on with a sculpted eyebrow raised. "First the pudding and then vegans. How- you know what I don't care. Wake up, go out and kill. You got that?"

"Yes, geez. People all day today." Mercy said grumbling.

"It's been a week."

"What?"

"It's been a week, since your encounter with #$T$#HER@$#$, which is quite frankly not bad considering how mess up time is in the void."

"Void?"

"Not important. What is, is you getting up and getting swole."

Mercy was mouthing the word 'swole', all confused as the scene around her began to change. It faded away into darkness. A moment later her eyes shot open, and Mercy found herself once more on her back, this time staring up at a dark ceiling and a woman dirt covered skin. The woman clicked her teeth, retreating from whatever she had been in the midst of doing.

Mercy sat up, and began scanning her surroundings. She was in a cell. One crammed full of people, most of them human from what she could see. They varried in age from the very young to the very old, all in differing shades of colour. The one thing they seemed to share was the same broken and dejected look. Which, considering the collars around their necks that marked them as slaves, was understandable. Mercy reached up to her own neck feeling for the collar.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Just great." She muttered.

Mercy blinked at the message, she assumed was from the Symbian, but shook clear of the shock. "No, I mean the slave collar."

Mercy just groaned. She had two skills. [Devour] and [Natural Weapons]. The first was rather self evident, but she wasn't sure how to use the latter.

Mercy looked from the message to the people before her. None of them, as far as she knew had done a thing to her, or anyone else for that matter. They very could have been innocent victims, dealt a poor hand and cursed by fate.

Should they have to die for her to become strong? Did they deserve to be slaughtered like chattel? Did she have the right to do it? Was there no other way? None of those questions passed through Mercy's mind as she sat in that cell. No, her focus was instead in her hands. The Symbian told her to think of claws. Shutting her eyes for a moment she pictured her fingers elongating, and becoming razor sharp instruments of death.

Opening her eyes again she watched with equal parts horror and fascination as a viscous ooze rose from her flesh. It moved quickly taking the shape of eight inches knives with a wicked curve, just she pictured in her mind. Once formed the ooze set and became hard. The same thing soon happened with the other hand. Mercy gave them a test flex, and looked up at the rest of the people. So far none of them seemed to notice her transformation.

Mercy rolled her eyes, and stood up. She took a breath to calm her nerves. She turned to face the bulk of the prisoners. Mercy took a step and let the cold mask of indifference she developed living with the Princess of Blood settle over her. Then she attacked. She swung her hands, carving out flesh from her targets. Within seconds the cell was filled with screams of terror that were so cut off by their deaths. Mercy made a ruthless showing of cutting down everyone within reach. Most she killed out right with a slash, while others she settled for merely disabling them with the intent on circling back later.

Within minutes both the cell and Mercy were drenched in blood. It dripped from her face, hair and the end of her claws.

"Why?" Asked one of those who managed to survive the first two minutes. "Why?"

Looking down into his eyes with a cold stare she replied, "The why doesn't really matter. No, what matters is that you were too weak. I know that pain. I can sympathize. I won't, but the point is that I could. Which incidentally is the reason for this. I could so I did."

"You're a monster." He said with a shudder.

Mercy's lips turned up into the barest hint of a smile as she examined her clawed hand. She then looked back at the man cowering before her. "Not yet, but I'm working to get there." She said before ending his life. Once silence descended she let out a sigh. "Now for the disgusting part."

Kneeling in the mess of bodies she began with the even messier task of digging into their corpses and removing their hearts. The first one she held was still warm and had the echo of a beat. She gulped as she brought the organ to her mouth. Opening her maw she bit down, sinking her teeth into the flesh. Mercy grimaced at the taste of human. At the same time she activated the skill [Devour]. Mercy felt something ripple beneath her skin. The ooze that made up her claws became malleable and turned into tendrils that latched onto the heart in her hand. Mercy watched as the heart meat seemingly melted into the tendril leaving nothing behind.

"What the hells?!" Mercy said as she spit, trying to get the taste of people out of her mouth. She ignored the System prompt that appeared.

Mercy grumbled under her breath as she moved onto the next body. This time she made sure to streamline the line process of her canabalism. She attempted to use [Devour] from the outset only to have it fail as the skill level was too low. That being the case she was back to digging through body cavities for organ meat.

"Ugh, you this is exactly why I skipped over the Harbinger class when it was offered." Mercy said as she [Devour]ed hearts with her ooze tendrils. "I just wanted to shoot spells with my gun, not dig through corpses. Damned cursed ring. Dumb fucking horse."

Mercy let out a snort and got back to it. Upon completion about half an hour later, Mercy was feeling nauseous. The smell of rotting corpses had combined with the stink of urine, shit, and unwashed bodies that had already been in the place. To distract herself Mercy looked over her gains.

[Natural Weapons skill increased. 1 -> 3]

[Devour skill increased. 1 -> 3]

[You have slain the following:

- Human Slaves x 5

- Elven Slaves x 3

- Beast kin slaves x 4

Exp awarded.]

[You have consumed the hearts of the following creatures:

- Human x 5

- Elf x 3

- Beast Kin x 4

You have gained the following stats:

+ 4 STR

+ 3 DEX

+ 3 INT

+ 2 CON]

[Due to blessing of Luxuria you have gained a permanent +6 increase to CHA]

[You have leveled up! Lv. 1 -> 2. You have gained 3 free stat points.]

"Are you in a mood, or are you just this much of a dick all the time?" Mercy asked.

Mercy rolled her eyes before opening up her status page.

[Status

Name: Mercy Phillips

Race: Void-touched Aberrant Hybrid

Level: 2

Class: N/A Sub-class: Locked

Titles: Blessing of the Pale, Blessing of Luxuria, Void-touched, Abyss-touched, Primordial Host

Stats:

HP: 200/200

MP: 210/210

STR: 20, DEX: 14, CON:18, INT: 19, CHA: 25

Points to distribute: 3]

Mercy's eyes bulged as she looked over her numbers. Some were lower, which she expected. Yet others were much higher than she thought should be the case. The answer to that little mystery were her titles. They each provided an increase to her stats with the most coming from [Primordial Host] and [Blessing of Luxuria]. The first gave her a flat bonus of 10 to every attribute, while the latter increased her CHA every time she increased a stat that wasn't CHA by half the total value. It capped out at 10 for each instance, but she wasn't exactly complaining.

Once she finished preening, Mercy looked to getting out of the cell. There was a single door that led into a hallway, that she assumed took to somewhere less depressing. She didn't have a key, but then she didn't need one. Examining the door, and the wall around it she couldn't detect a trace of magical reinforcement. No doubt her captors believed that the slave collars would suffice as security. That being the case she formed a sharp thin blade over one of her fingers. She slid it into the crease of the door and sliced through the latch, allowing the door to swing open.

"Step one complete." Mercy said proudly as she walked down the hall toward what was most likely freedom, and most certainly danger