Unknown Camp Ground, John POV
I smiled at the broken, beautiful woman’s question. The warm wind was blowing in my face and I realized that I was right in the middle of a camp. It looks peaceful at a glance but the horrifying scene around it is a stark contrast to the image of peace that I associate with a green forest.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that I’d see Dryads and Elves fluttering about but I now know what kind of things live on this planet. It’s a dog eat dog world where the strong live and the weak suffer.
I stared at the woman in front of me. Again, she was broken but I thought that her eyes were beautiful. Well, her eye was beautiful and this is considering that half of her face was melted away by some sort of corrosive agent.
She was profusely bleeding but she was kept alive by a powerful emotion; it wasn’t anything romantic like wanting to live for the sake of living. She wanted to let the people who inflicted this pain on her suffer.
I’m not exactly a paragon for good but then again, what is good and what is bad? Regardless of my naiveté about how people live, I am at least knowledgeable about the mysteries of the world. However, is there really such a thing as an absolute good or an absolute evil?
I have lived amongst the Gods for a very long time now and aside from their overwhelming power, they weren’t very different from the mortals they claim to rule. Immortal beings such as the Gods are insecure and at times, helpless. In fact, I can confidently say that they will not benevolently save other existences on a whim especially if their own safety is at risk.
The strong live and the weak are eaten. Such is the law of the universe. It was true in the beginning and it will be true in the end.
As I was musing about various things, my leg was again pulled without force.
“God….are you a God?” She softly asked.
I am surely some form of immortal but a God I am not. If a God that I knew was in my place, I am sure they would simply leave her to die. Some of them might even play with her on a whim. I have no such inclination but I am at a loss as to what I should do.
“I am not a God.” I simply replied. “I’m nothing like the immortals that you look up to but I can grant you what you seek.”
Her vigorous eyes became wider as I said that. It seems I have piqued her interest.
Restoring her and everyone else around her should be simple for me – after all, they are still alive. Well, most of them at least. The problem is their mentality. Of course, after going through what they went through most of them would be broken.
So how do I go about this? If I simply healed all of them, most of them would be dependent on me. Some of them would even go as far as killing themselves just so they could have an easy escape. After all, mentally broken people are more pitiful than the physically ill.
Health defects and the like can be cured or alleviated by magic or with medicine, regardless of the civilization’s advancement but mental scars are harder to deal with.
I stared at her earnestly as I took out Red String, my fan. I pointed it towards her.
“Your name.” I asked.
“I am called Artesia, my lord.” She said, albeit hesitatingly she added “Princess of the Empire of Glass”.
“Your titles are irrelevant; however I have received your name.” I retorted.
The strong shall live and the weak shall die. I find inspiration through these words and I have found my path.
“I can give you your vengeance but it shall come at a steep cost.” I smiled, “What say you, Artesia?”
As though struck by a thunderbolt, her face is displaying a dumbfounded expression. However, it was quickly replaced with the same expression that took my breath away earlier.
She closed her golden eye and pointed her head downwards as though she was bowing respectfully.
“Whatever the price, I shall pay it. My body though broken is yours. My spirit is undaunted but it shall be yours alone. I will be your sword so long as my lord is willing to wield me. That is mine answer.” She said with conviction.
The frailty of mortality – I seem to have awakened a perverted sense of interest in the feeble lives of these mortals. But that is fine, after all what is good is good and what is bad is bad. I will be the middle ground and I will forge my path with that.
“I acknowledge your resolve”, I snapped Red String close as I quickly stored it in my belt and in one swift motion, I drew Anima from its Sheathe.
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With a practiced swing, I brought down the blade of the sword on Artesia’s body quickly ending her life. Of course, I wasn’t killing her.
I drew out the souls of the people surrounding her. They must have been her friends, her family, her partners or they could have been strangers victim to a meaningless violent crime. It doesn’t matter. Her life must come at a cost. I’m not going to be a hypocrite and claim this for balance but I have resolved myself to never help anyone for free. This is my personal policy.
Artesia, caught by surprise, coughed out a blot of black blood mixed with semen as well as undigested food as I stabbed my sword deeper into her chest. I was collecting the souls of the people around me as I forced them to breathe their last. Some of them were screaming due to their rapidly declining life force while others simply accepted their demise.
Pathetic. Those with lives should fight for it regardless of the cost. These people are weak but I shall give your lives a purpose. You will be the hammer that I will use to temper promising mortal into my sword.
I pulled my sword out of Artesia’s chest and I brought it near my face. With resolve, I slice my palm with force. Of course, it started bleeding but that’s exactly what I wanted. I wiped her blood from the sword using my bloodied hand.
I looked at the union of our life energy in my hand and I simply wiped it on my face.
“I seal our pact with the source of life. May it remain unbroken.” I carefully sheathe my sword, as though I was afraid of breaking it. “With this, I grant you a life anew.”
I invoked the highest recovery magic
Essentially, Grand Heal doesn’t really mend wounds. It essentially replaces the target’s body with that of a perfectly new one. It’s a convenient phenomenon that doesn’t cost me anything. How nice.
After gathering energy within the magic circle, her body started wriggling as though worms were crawling around her body. She started discharging various human waste as well as semen from her orifices. Her face was slowly going through the process of regeneration and in time, it formed a perfectly beautiful face – one that would even put Goddesses to shame or at least in a fit of jealousy.
After feeling her face recover into its natural form, Artesia opened her eyes. They were a beautiful golden color and her already powerful gaze was strengthened with a sort of fanatical resolve within her. Her piercingly beautiful eyes are why I am helping her – I want to see how she grows as a mortal. Yes, it was idle curiosity.
Her body finally started fixing itself after discharging everything inside of her. Her limbs started growing back and after a while, all that was on her body was her pristine porcelain-like skin. She was stark naked. Of course, I too am a man and I was roused by her perfect appearance.
I understood why those men were tempted by her looks –she literally looks like she is not of this world. Is she one of the halflings born between a mortal and an immortal? I hope not, otherwise if her immortal parent finds out what happened to her then a massacre might occur.
Artesia, finally recovered, rises from her kneeling position. Her long beautiful golden hair covers her beautiful body as she stands in front of me, looking me in the eyes as she started truly scrutinizing me. I have no idea what she’s thinking of right now but her face is flushed.
“You are…my master and as vowed, everything that I am is yours.” She took my hand and she kissed it. “I must have my vengeance, at least grant me this selfishness my master.”
I nodded at her, acknowledging her resolve. “By all means Artesia, take it. It’s yours!” I opened a portal to my personal vault and I scrutinized her build. It seems she originally wielded a two-handed sword. The way she carries herself favours her dominant side which indicates a heavy sword normally adorns the left side of her body.
I also took note of her measurements and I took out [Alexandra] the Sword of Luminescence as well as a light suit of armor that was hastily built by Hephaestus. I presented Artesia her new equipment with a smile on my face.
“Here. Earn your vengeance with this holy blade.” I said as I gave her Alexandra.
She lowered her head as she respectfully took the sword in her hand as well as her new set of armour. Without any regard to my presence, she started dressing up in front of me. Well it would have been weirder if she remained naked but this is strangely arousing.
Noticing my gaze, Artesia smiles at me. “Master, are you attracted to my body?” She pauses as though she remembered something. “It seems as though you restored my chastity as well.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“A woman’s intuition” She giggled as she replied coquettishly as she wore her arm gear. I noticed her breasts jiggling but I won’t point that out.
“Ah I wasn’t intentionally aiming to restore your chastity, Artesia.” I replied as though it was the most natural thing to do. “I simply restored your body to how it was before you were tainted by mortality.”
She tilted her head to the side and asked, “So this body is as if I am a newborn child?”
She’s quite perceptive. “Yes. So the body that you possess is perfectly new. It retains everything that you have learned such discharging waste, swimming and even your warrior training.” It’s quite a cheat really. What this means is that even if she was infected with venereal diseases and degenerative diseases, they would all be cured as though they never existed in the first place.
I hesitated a little but I gathered my courage and I turned to her.
“Were you pure before all of this happened?”
“Why yes, I was. Normally, men would never even have the opportunity to look at me, my Master.” She added in a whisper, “I was betrayed by one whom I considered a friend.”
A sense of melancholy covered her beautiful face and looking at her pained expression pained me too. After all, I’m not that heartless.
I caressed her hair which caused her to look at me in shock. Hey, I’m not a pervert. This is a habit I picked up from having a Goddess as a childhood friend.
“This might not be so bad after all..”
Eh. It seems she whispered something but I was too caught unaware by my own thoughts.
“I’ll tell you everything but please, allow me this one selfishness. I must have my vengeance.” She paused, before suddenly adding. “I’ll come back to you soon, my Master.”
I nodded at her. “Go but you are forbidden from dying, you hear me?!” It’s not as if she could die with that body anyway but I won’t tell her that.
She started walking away from me but before she disappeared from my sight, she looks back and gives me a smile, as if she wasn’t about to walk the path of murder.
As she went on her way, I looked at the corpses around me and I wrly laughed to myself.
“I should get started on my end too.”
John POV End.