"As long as these demons don't see my face, it's fine…" she gritted her teeth, grabbing the hood of her cloak over her head.
She sprinted forward, boots slapping against scorched stone.
She snatched the little girl's wrist just as a claw came crashing down where the child had been. The girl didn't even flinch, her eyes were glassy, hollow. That kind of emptiness couldn't be fixed with a hug or a pep talk. But whether they liked it or not, survival came first.
Dodging through crumbling alleys and smoke-choked streets, she ducked past a pair of demons fighting over a corpse, narrowly avoiding their notice.
She slid behind a half-collapsed wall, leapt over a broken cart, and bolted into the forest's edge beyond the village.
Only when the screaming faded behind her did she slow down, gasping for air.
She was scratched up, filthy, and exhausted.
But they made it out alive.
"Hey, kid..." she said softly, turning to look at the girl.
But the child didn't so much as blink. She just stood there, unmoving, eyes vacant like an empty vessel with the soul drained out. That hollow stare made her wince.
Comforting people wasn't exactly her specialty.
Hell, she could barely comfort herself most days. However, she knew words wouldn't reach.
⬧︎[] SYSTEM NOTIFICATION []
⬧︎[] Emotional distress detected. []
⬧︎[] Suggestion: Use [Emotional Nullification] []
⬧︎[] Temporarily suppress emotional extremes in target. []
⬧︎[] Creates a brief zone of calm, dulling fear, panic, grief, or anger. []
⬧︎[] Note: Due to current low Formancy level, effect will be mild and short-lived. Lasts approximately 30 seconds. []
⬧︎[] Would you like to proceed? []
When I was a kid, I would've loved to have a power like this...
She gave a small nod, and a soft, silvery light bloomed across her palm, gentle and warm, like moonlight distilled into magic.
The change was immediate. The tension in the air melted ever so slightly, like a held breath finally exhaled. Even she felt her own nerves loosen.
The child's body slackened, her haunted eyes dulling into something softer that it appeared there was more exhaustion rather than despair. With a quiet yawn, she sank to the ground and, moments later, drifted off to sleep.
Liora exhaled and used the last stretch of the thirty seconds to sit beside her, shielding the girl with her cloak.
***
"WHERE'S THE KID?!"
Liora clutched her hair in panic.
The moment she'd woken up and saw the girl missing, alarms blared in her head.
Someone with that low of a will shouldn't have been able to wander far and shouldn't have wandered at all. It was a warning sign. A big, flashing, gut-twisting one.
She tore through the bushes and underbrush, weaving between trees with frantic steps. She didn't even know why she cared so much, it wasn't like she'd signed up for this, but the thought of losing the child made something in her twist painfully.
Is this what having kids does to your brain?
Then she saw it.
Sunlight bled through the trees ahead, casting long shadows on stone. Beyond it, an open cliff.
And there, teetering on the edge, was the little girl.
Her small frame stood frozen, staring down from a deadly height, eyes wide with fear and utterly devoid of hope.
"Come here, you filthy human," a demon snarled in front of her, its voice low and grating like rusted metal.
Did the kid… accidentally draw the attention of a demon while wandering off?
But something was off.
Unlike the others she'd seen, horned, grotesque, monstrous, this one looked almost human. Too human.
⬧︎[] SYSTEM NOTIFICATION []
⬧︎[] New Demon Classification Detected: VOLTRAK []
⬧︎[] Voltraks are mid-high tier demons known for their humanoid appearance and intelligence. Unlike lesser fiends, they often act as enforcers, slave masters, or emissaries of the Demonic Royalty[]
⬧︎[] They specialize in manipulation, subjugation, and dark contracts. Approach with caution. Their strength far exceeds typical demons, and they are known to toy with prey before the kill. []
⬧︎[] This Voltrak is a slave master. []
There's something seriously messed up with this world's laws… but then again, what else did I expect?
"I can see potential in you," the Voltrak said, his long black hair billowing in the wind, his blood-red eyes gleaming beneath a suit of dark, ornate armor. "Disobey me, and I'll strangle the life out of you, child."
Potential?
Without thinking, she dashed forward, exhausted, starving, and with nothing but adrenaline to keep her upright and threw herself between him and the girl. Her legs trembled. The Voltrak towered over both of them.
"Threatening a child? Is that where we're setting the bar now?"
Not that it mattered. In a world like this, the laws and morals she once knew were probably a joke.
The Voltrak's expression twisted into visible disgust. His already cold stare hardened further. "I can sense how little power you have… How useless. And yet you dare stand in my way?"
Yes. This was stupid. Extremely stupid. But if there was one thing she had learned from her days as a lawyer, it was this: power respects confidence or at least the illusion of it.
She gave him a dry smile. "And I can sense how much of a walking cliché you are. All that power, and still you open your mouth and say absolutely nothing of worth."
"YOU—!"
"See what I mean?" she shot back with a crooked smile. "If you're so powerful, why get riled up by a few words from a 'lowly creature' like me?"
Her heel brushed the edge of something—water. A river was rushing just behind her. She had to think fast.
"You call me foolish, but you're the one throwing a tantrum over a nobody!"
With a snarl, the Voltrak drew his sword and lunged—aiming straight for her heart.
Steel pierced flesh. A hot, searing pain bloomed in her chest, followed by the cold rush of blood in her throat. She staggered, breath hitching, crimson trailing from her lips like ink.
"M-MISS!" the child cried.
So this is what being an extra really feels like… An easy, forgettable death. How fitting. Honestly, the kid was probably some future protagonist anyway, and she was just the tragic woman who saved her.
Still… worth it.
In her old life, she endured everything powerful people threw her way so this was a fresh change.
"Hey, kid…" she rasped, voice thin but firm. "Keep going. Not for glory, but living full of life."
With the last of her strength, she shoved the child off the cliff's edge. It wasn't a far drop, she prayed it was enough.
One final glance.
The child splashed into the water and swam.
"Hah! Did you really think I wouldn't go after the brat?" he sneered, drawing his sword with the expectation she'd already be dead.
But Liora wasn't.
"W-What…?" she gasped, blinking in disbelief. The pain was blinding, her body trembling, but she was still breathing. Her wound, large, gory, and definitely fatal was slowly knitting itself back together. Even the Voltrak saw it.
"An… immortal?" he muttered, eyes wide with a mix of shock and greed. "You're not as useless as I thought. You'd fetch quite the price."
Before she could react, his hand clamped around her throat.
Goddamn it. I'm going to be sold as a slave…
"So this is your trade," he hissed. "Immortal, yes, but weak. A perfect servant. You'll never die, never rot. Just keep working. Obedient. Efficient."
And just like that, she became the one taken, dragged away and lined up among the other slaves, shackled and silent.