My job was to keep the peace in times of war.

This was a time when the Akki civilization’s ruler had passed. Factions led by dukes and duchesses were vying for control over the region. Whichever group won will have conquered the continent during those times. The Akki civilization had the strongest military force consisting of giants and dragons created through magic. I did not serve any of these incompetent and greedy nobles. I was hired by a secret organization that did not want any one of these people to take control.

I would destroy any weapons being developed, place monsters and traps in areas deemed to be strategic points, and kill anyone proclaimed to be too dangerous. I did all of this alone with my dagger that could make fires.

I was known by two names: Satoa, which meant wolf on fire, to the common people and Lambert the Wolf to those who worked with or against me.

I killed a lot of people back then. I didn’t find any enjoyment at the prospect, but I was absolutely enamored by the gore. It was intoxicating. I’d even cut up some of the cleaner bodies before getting rid of them. I became very familiar with the various organs in the body. It got to the point where I could replicate them through magic. They weren’t perfect at the time, but they were pretty close.

The end of my career as a saboteur came when I was made to join a wannabe hero and his party to track down and dispose of a child. I never knew what compelled someone with noble intentions to accept such a task.

My superiors told me that the child could be heir apparent to the deceased emperor. She was hidden away for an undisclosed reason.

We managed to chase her and her guardians to the ruins of the emperor’s old castle. I split with the hero and his party and found them before they did. Her guardians let her run further while they fought me. I ended up killing them. I caught up to the child just a few moments later. We were in an enclosed room. She couldn’t run anywhere now. All of a sudden, by some stroke of bad luck, the ground around us collapsed. I passed out after that.

When I woke up, I saw the blonde-haired girl treating my wounds. She had ripped some of the cloth from her dress and bandaged them on a laceration I had on my stomach. She looked at me with those bright-green eyes and a smile on her face.

“Why?”

“Because you were hurt. Daddy would always do this for me whenever I got hurt.”

For the first time in my life, I questioned if what I was doing was right. She was just a child: an innocent child. I had no interest in taking the life of one so young.

“My name’s Sofia. What’s yours, Mister?”

She offered me her tiny little hand as she said that. I shook it as I also began to answer.

“Lambert.”

“Mr. Lambert, would it be fine if we found our way out of this place together? Chica and Cama are probably worried sick about me right now. We were supposed to move someplace else today. They said I could do whatever I wanted when we got there.”

Before I could speak, I heard a slicing sound. Her head was lobbed off by a halberd. On the other end of it was a woman who was with the hero. Her pale skin and glowing red eyes made her look like a terrifying demon at that moment.

“Finished the job, for you. Hope you don’t mind.”

She smiled as she told me that.

“Don’t worry, though. I’ll give you full credit for this. Congratulations, Lambert the Wolf. You’ve saved this place from going to war with itself once again.”

I could never forget what I saw that day. I gave up my job and ran away. I studied human anatomy more. I wanted to bring her back. I wanted to take back all those years of happiness stolen from her.

It wasn’t enough. I couldn’t make a perfect human by just studying books. I resorted to killing again. I couldn’t bring myself to kill children still, but I could kill unborn fetuses. As contradictory as it may have been, I didn’t feel any remorse for killing those along with their mothers.

Forty years after that incident, I’d managed to do it. I made a fetus with my own magic. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was alive. I knew it was alive. All I had to do was feed it mana to keep it alive and growing. I just had to do that, and she’ll never disappear.

As she grew, I started seeing the world through her eyes as well. Was this her way of saying thanks to me? She didn’t have to do anything. She saved me, so it was only natural for me to want to save her. Our bond is unshakeable now. Nothing can bring us apart.

“You won’t bring us apart!”

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I yell at those two as Sofia charges at them. Yet again, our minds are one.I can see what she sees and think what she thinks.I can lend her the skills I once had and a bit more.

She causes an explosion with the fire from the dagger and some gunpowder I’d given her. It doesn’t matter how much damage she sustains from the blast because I can always repair them for her.

As the two split up, I tell Sofia to go for the pale woman. She’s definitely the more dangerous of the two even if she’s cursed. She can keep up with Sofia despite the enhancements I gave her. She’s more or less superhuman.

We rush straight for her heart which I anticipate she’ll dodge. She does so, and we simply activate the dagger again after. The woman grabs hold of the dagger with one hand to minimize the explosion. It’s a very desperate attempt.

I then feel our connection weaken. Am I running out of mana? No, it was the boy. He’s placing sorberes on top of our tether.

“Stop! Sofia, come back!”

She didn’t respond to me. The explosion soon clears to reveal that she’s being held down by that blasted woman who’s missing an arm. She pinned Sofia’s body and one of her hands down with her foot and held her other arm.

“Fine! I’ll handle this!”

It’s quite taxing on my body to do it now, but I have to. With all my strength, I use my magic to push the traitor away. He tries to resist it through sheer force but can’t. He’s pushed beyond the edge of the hill and starts falling.

I focus back on Sofia to see that she’s broken free of the wench’s grasp. It’s a one-sided fight for her now. We’ve won.

I start going towards the pile of sorberes still on our tether. There’s so many scattered about. I have to move in such a way that the tether bends as the leaves would move along with it if I simply go straight.

As I remove them, I feel a tough, rope-like clutter of them that I proceed to pull on. I hear something snap and then suddenly, something sprung up from the ground underneath. It’s moving towards my chest.

I can feel the warm sunlight touch my skin as I get done burying the doctor.

“You didn’t have to bury him, you know.”

I hear the woman with her condescending tone.

“I had to. He gave me the best years of my life. He was my dad.”

“Even after knowing what he was? He didn’t have the fatechanger, so we can only assume that he got that good at crafting organs by cutting more people up.”

I sigh as I know she’ll never get it.

“We were family, still.”

The woman just shrugs.

“Tell yourself whatever you want. I just want your answer.”

Until now, I’d kept her question at the back of my mind. Even now, I’m still looking back at that moment.

The woman knew that Dr. Silva would send Sofia to her first. She managed to lead her in the best possible position for the trap. It was almost underneath the tether and perfectly aimed at the doctor.

The trap was a long rope gripping a still-rooted and flexible trunk with an axe attached to it on one side. All of it had a bunch of leaves and sorberes stuck to it with adhesive and was concealed in a pile of the same stuff. Its other end was put through one of two iron rings I’d hammered prior.

During the encounter, while the doctor was distracted, I draped the rest of the rope over the tether and tightly tied the end of that side to the other iron ring. This caused the trunk with the axe to bend. I then cut a bit on the first side to make it snap easier when the doctor would come to remove it. I practiced this a bit earlier.

As I climbed back up, I saw that the plan was tragically successful. The axe is buried deep in the doctor’s chest, the tether’s gone, and Sofia stopped moving.

I went straight for the doctor.

“Why? Why did this have to happen? Did we really have to kill him?”

I was sobbing as I asked. I knew my answer. The woman said that the Fatechanger would shine brightly and show itself when its owner dies. We saw no light anywhere. I looked towards the woman with rage.

“He was telling the truth, and we killed him!”

The woman came closer and stared deeply into my drenched eyes.

“We did him a favor. No, I did both of you a favor. If you went on with your lives, you would’ve ended up just like him. Is that what you want? To be a soulless puppet feeding another puppet?”

The doctor let out a violent cough.

“Listen to me, Soren. You may think lowly of me after knowing the truth, but not even I can stand up to her cruelty. She was the one who killed the real Sofia. I—”

He couldn’t finish his last thought before perishing. I looked towards Sofia. Her body was halfway gone, now.

I stopped crying after that. I was somewhat enraged. Not just by her, but by this whole mess.

“Why’d you kill her? Why did you kill Sofia?”

She crouched closer to me. Her head’s right next to mine.

“I was told to kill her. Plain and simple.”

I could feel myself shiver as she said those words. I couldn’t respond.

“You have two choices now: wait here to be arrested for murder or come with me. What’ll it be?”

“I’ll go with you. On one condition.”

What I say intrigues her.

“I’ll bite. What do you want?”

“Tell me your name.”

She grins at the condition I give.

“Don’t have one. Best I can do is let you give me one. Call me whatever you want.”

“Cruel. I’ll call you Cruel.”

She starts laughing.

“Fair enough. Cruel, huh? Cruel the Immortal. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”