Melody woke after her surgery later on, in the same mattress which Oliver had brought her to originally.
She sat up quickly.
"Oi!! Don't sit up so fast!!! You just had a brain surgery, and an entire chunk of.... everything was taken out of you!! How are you even still alive!?", Oliver shouted.
However, right now her mind felt more clear than she ever had before.
'Ah... there is no more squirming.... the parasite is gone....'
She looked around, with cold, dead eyes.
Oliver, the burly man who had brought her to this place, was holding out his hands in an attempt to tell her to sit back down, however Melody felt refreshed.
Despite having killed for the first time in her life just earlier.
Despite the attempt of a rapist- and the very man who raised her at that- to violate her.
Despite the sounds of the pitter patter on the metal ceiling in this run down bazaar.
Despite the empty hole which she felt inside her head, which was once filled.
Everything was clear now.
The constant gnawing which had been eating away at her, from the day she came into this world was gone.
"Where are your parents, young lady? Don't you have anyone to go to, or anywhere you need to be?"
Oliver seemed very concerned for Melody, despite the fact that he obviously came from a shady background himself.
"I have no parents. They both died to that thing."
"That thing?"
"The parasite."
"Ah.... what was that?"
"I don't know, but I suppose it was a part of me.... one which has now been removed."
Oliver seemed confused.
"Young lady, the doctor said that the blood is not your own.... you said that you were raped.... don't tell me..."
"Ah..."
Melody touched her nightgown, wiping around the blood which covered it.
"This is the blood of the man who raised me like livestock, in order that he may fulfill his carnal desires."
"What?"
Melody simply shook her head.
There was no way that this man would understand what it meant to be raised by a person.... to be bred from a young age, for the sole purpose of sexual gratification.
'And he simply couldn't hold himself back.... no wonder I felt no affection from him all that time...'
Melody was unsure about who she was.
Did she have a purpose?
By killing the person who 'saved' her, she had rejected the very reason she was kept alive after her parents died.
She was now rid of the parasite which consumed her constantly.
What remained?
A person, perhaps.
But is it possible for one who was once a monster to cease being one, and to become human?
Melody was unsure.
She felt the knife in her pocket.
She undid the jacket, and took it out. The blood had congealed on the blade.
"I killed that man, and I have nowhere to go. But that is fine."
Melody slid the knife back into her pocket, and began to stand up, wobbly.
"Oi!!! Don't just get up and leave!!! You just had brain surgery!! Sit down and rest, I will figure something out for now."
Oliver helped Melody down, before getting a cup and filling it with water.
"Here, have a drink. Take it slowly."
Oliver helped Melody to drink the refreshing liquid before helping her lie back down.
He looked at her with sad eyes.
"So you have nowhere to go, eh?"
Oliver seemed to be considering something.
"Then, why don't you stay here for a while? You have a certain look in your eyes.... I can tell. You may not know it yet, but you have the eyes of a killer. I can introduce you to some assassin work if you'd like."
'What am I saying?'
'Assassin work?'
'For a 13 year old girl?'
When he thought this in his own mind, it sounded rediculous, but looking at her, he could tell.
She had exactly what it took, and she would never be able to get by on a regular job.
Melody simply nodded, and agreed.
She had nothing against it, and was willing to try something new in order to find a purpose.
Melody spent the next five years working as an assassin, searching for this purpose.
She honed her skills, not only in physical combat, but also in magical spells.
She became famous among the underworld, and rumors spread about her once being infected by a parasite. Due to her red hair, and her involvement with the disease, people called her the Scarlet Fever.
She killed countless people on contracts, and took up a fighting style that was not fitting for an assassin. She fought with a blunt wand, using it as both a weapon and a medium to channel mana.
However, one day, she came across a certain set of idiots, who were fighting in a bar, and a hostess working there who tried to break it up.
----
A spunky kid with spiked up hair wearing something that looked like a combination of a cape and a labcoat was drunk at the bar which Melody was trying to rest at, after having taken out a certain corporal who's head was wanted by many due to his elaborate views.
Stumbling around, the drink in Melody's hand almost spilled over due to the magnitude of his footsteps as the kid approached a boy about the same age, but with long blonde hair and a beret. He wore an interesting set of clothes that seemed somewhat noble, but different than what was normal in the Empire.
"Hey, what's with the dumb looking hat! Get a haircut!", he shouted in a drunken fervor, almost tripping over his own coat.
"What was that?", the kid wearing the beret exclaimed, while slamming his drink down to the table. "Are you trying to start something, brat?"
"Who's the brat here, eh? I'm not the one wearing something so stupid looking!"
"Excuse me! You're wearing something far stranger than I am!"
"Oh, you wanna go then? Alright."
The kid with the spiked hair started flinging his fists around in the air, with a complete lack of control. He was drunk beyond belief, and the one with the beret easily dodged the slow swings while still in his seat, however the offender slammed into the drink on the table, spilling it.
"Ah! My outfit! Now there is beer all over it!"
The beret kid stood up and raised his fists as well.
He swung at the face of the kid with the spiked hair, however he ducked underneath and performed a roundhouse kick, aimed at the legs of the kid with the beret.
These two were Lance and Pierre, when they first met.
At this point, many of the customers were disturbed.
"Oi, what the heck? Is there a fight going on?"
"I'm just trying to drink in peace. Waitress, kick these hooligans out of here!"
A girl about the same age with a bob cut, wearing a waitress uniform stepped out quickly from behind the counter.
"Uh... could you please take this outside? You are distu-"
Lance then grabbed Pierre, who was on the ground, and lifted him above his head.
Pierre began to grab and pull at Lance's hair.
"Let me down, you brute!"
Lance was about to throw Pierre, however before he could do so he felt a sharp sting in the back of his leg.
He crumbled to one knee, and Pierre used the falling momentum to swing his legs so that they touched the ground. He then shoved Lance away from him, and Lance was sent to the ground, where he soon fell asleep, knocked out. Whether it was from the hit or from the alcohol remains a mystery.
Melody was the one who had incapacitated Lance before he could do anything wreckless. She stood on the side behind him after having performed a swift kick to the back of his leg, which caused him to initially lose his footing.
"What an idiot, causing such a ruckus like this. And you, watch yourself. Don't think you can get away with fighting so easily.", Melody lectured Pierre.
Charlotte, who happened to be working at the restaurant as a waitress, ran up to Melody.
"You're so strong!"
Melody simply turned away.
"Not by my own choice."
She sat back down at her seat, and resumed her solitary drinking in peace.
However, Pierre sat down next to her, and Charlotte approached the two as well.
"Just who are you? That move was extremely fast, I barely even caught it.", Pierre questioned.
"You don't need to know. Now shoo.", Melody responded while taking a sip of her drink, trying to ignore the two.
"Ah, don't be like that. Why don't we have a drink together?", Pierre asked.
"Mhm! My shift is almost over! I'll come join you when I finish up here!", Charlotte exclaimed, excited. "I want to know all about you!"
Melody simply rolled her eyes, and sighed.
"Ah, fine. Do what you want."
The three then spent the rest of the night talking, however Melody never once mentioned her job as an assassin, nor her dark past.
"Could it be that you are a mercenary?", Pierre asked.
"What does that mean?"
"You haven't heard about the policies of Percius IV?! He has allowed people to enlist as mercenaries recently, where you can perform jobs by fighting for a living! There is an entire system for it. You know, people could dedicate their lives to apprehending criminals, and protecting the people of the Empire from bandits and murderers. There are other jobs as well, but if I were to become a mercenary, that's what I would want to do.", Pierre explained. He seemed to be recalling something with a sad expression.
"Oh, I heard about that! Hey, what if we all became a mercenary band together!! What do you say? Cmon! It'll be fun!", Charlotte said with pure eyes.
"Let's do it!"
Melody looked at the two, annoyed.
"Why would I do that with you people?"
"Well, cause it would be fun!"
"We could help the people around us, and stop them from having to suffer because of criminals!"
Melody thought about the words Pierre was saying, and remembered back to the man who tried to rape her.
She certainly thought the world would be a better place if she could get rid of men like him.
At that moment, the man on the floor started to wake up.
"Ugh... what's going on...."
As he was slowly getting up, Pierre shot a glance over to him.
"He had better not cause any more trouble.... my outfit is stained because of him."
Lance stood up, and saw Pierre sitting with the other two.
He walked over quickly.
"Ah, he's coming this way."
"Does he want another beatdown?"
"N-no more fighting in the store please!"
However, Lance bowed his head.
"I'm sorry for insulting you. I was drunk at the time."
Pierre was shocked by the sudden change of attitude, but he understood.
When people are drunk, they have no control over themselves after all.
"Well, all is fine as long as you understand. Why don't you have a seat and drink a little more with us!!"
"Eh... you're just going to forgive him like that?", Melody asked.
Thus, the four drank to their hearts content that night.
"Cmon Melody!! Loosen up and form a mercenary band with us!!"
"Think of all the adventures we can go on!!"
"It'll be a whole new world!!"
Melody sighed, and with a defeated smile, took a small sip of her drink and agreed.
"Alright. I'll do it."
'Perhaps.... perhaps I have just found my purpose. I have found people to protect.'
Thus, the mercenary group was formed.
Many adventures were had, and Melody took up the responsibility of these children.
She knew that they had all been raised in the light. Well, perhaps not the kid with the beret. She could sense something dark from him. But the other two.... she could tell.
She was different from them.
They were ignorant.
But she was fine with that.
In all their journeys, Melody took the role as the 'adult' in the party. She was the one who kept the group together, and took care of them when they had a little too much fun.
Never before had Lance or Charlotte killed a human, and even when the group was forced to kill or be killed, Melody always performed the final blow.
She later learned that Pierre, like her, was also one who had killed before.... no, rather that he was fine with killing so long as it was for the purpose of self defense. In this sense, he was somewhat different from Melody, who merely wanted to see the criminals suffer unsightly deaths.
He never killed for other reasons, but he too had come out from the darkness. He had accepted that sometimes killing the criminals was a better option than letting them live.
Together, they agreed to act as the blades of the group, while protecting Lance and Charlotte from the corruption which they carried within themselves.
This was their purpose.
However, now that these two had killed a creature in which they considered to be human, this purpose was lost- yet it was replaced with a new one.
A greater purpose than just taking care of those close to them.
To serve these antiheroes, who would change the world itself.
Sitting together with her comrades, Melody reconsidered her entire life, and smiled back on it.
'What a long journey it has been.... but this parasite has finally found a host to cling to. One which will not even be bothered by it sucking away.'
----
Rocko walked through the town with a stride in his step.
Right now, he was a leader.
He wore the skull of a bison on his head, and it's pelt as a cape, which fluttered about as he walked.
Rocko could see the wall from here, and he climbed up a tower which led to the top of the wall, right next to the Northern gate.
On emerging from the tower, Rocko saw a unit of around 80 fishmen, with a few humans mixed into the group. The humans wore odd clothing, however Rocko didn't particularly take note of this, as he rarely had any interactions with humans in the first place, so everything they wore seemed odd.
His eyes wandered through the group of fishmen. They seemed tense, yet they were all sitting down and relaxing as if there was nothing to worry about. No, rather perhaps there was simply nothing they could do but sit down and wait.
Rocko approached the edge of the wall before spotting Ploritan, the chief of the fishmen from the last time he had met.
Rocko had met with Ploritan only a few times before, however their villages did establish a small amount of trade, and Ploritan was the one who personally came to the lizardmen village before in order to encourage the sale of the salt which the fishmen village was so famous for.
The lizardmen in turn traded weapons and manufactured goods for this salt, which was very important for the preservation of foods.
Igard stood behind Rocko, wearing his cheetah skin cape and remaining calm yet serious.
Rocko then called out to Ploritan.
"Ploritan! It has been a while since we last met. State your reasons for coming here with such a large force!", Rocko bellowed.
Ploritan stood up, and many of the other fishmen including the humans began to stand up as well.
"Rocko, it has indeed been too long. I understand the shame in coming to you like this, however I come bearing news of our village. As you may have already heard, we have been attacked, and our forces have been reduced to this pitiful number. Our city currently is under a siege, and our wives and children along with our elders remain trapped inside, however I have come to ask for your assistance in driving back the invaders!"
Rocko's face went sour, and he felt fear as he recalled Pilir's horrible experience with the antiheroes.
"Do you think you can just come to our village and ask us for help so easily? We too have had our fair share of troubles! Are you not aware that the antiheroes have arrived in the monster realm, and are currently building up their strength? Or perhaps it was them who attacked you! We had a run in with them before, and as a result, we are lucky that our entire village was not destroyed! Can you prove to us that they are not on the side of your attackers!?"
Ploritan seemed shocked at Rocko's response.
"Wait just a minute, Rocko! I as well have had an encounter with the antiheroes.... as a matter of fact, it was not the attackers, but them who reduced our numbers to the remaining people here.", Ploritan tried to explain.
"AH! I knew it!!! The antiheroes attacked you all, and now you have come running to us for help!? Boys, make sure those gates are all locked tight, and you all better get out of here before they catch up to you! I'm sure they could do so any second now, and are just waiting for us to let you in so that they can claim that we were assisting their enemies!"
Rocko seemed furious as he raged on about the possibilities.
"Wait just a minute, I said! Hear me out!!! It is true that the antiheroes wiped out the rest of our forces, because our current chief.... who is now dead.... dishonored and insulted them! However, the ones remaining here are those who have decided to serve them! We are the ones who went against our idiotic ruler, and instead turned away from our traditions in order to pledge our loyalty to the antiheroes! And they assisted us for doing so! When we were on the brink of death in a hopeless fight, they eliminated our opponents in an instant!"
Rocko stood paralyzed after hearing this.
"Is... is this true? What about those humans with you?! Who are they?!"
"They are allies, who have also pledged their loyalty to the antiheroes."
'What!? These are all people who are loyal to the antiheroes!? Then why would they be asking us for help? No, perhaps this too is all part of the plan of the antiheroes... my goodness.... could it be that they have sent this group here to test whether we send them away or receive them!?! Has the time finally come where they make their move on our village, and our actions right now will determine what future we face?!!? I cannot risk offending them! I must let them in immediately!'
"Raise the gates!!! Now!!!!", Rocko screamed to the soldiers below.
"Eh? But Rocko, you just said-"
"I don't care what I said!!!! Let these fishmen in now, and tend to their wounds!!! Bring them food and drink, and spread the word that we will muster up our forces and set out for the fishmen village tomorrow!"
"Y-yes, chief!"
Many soldiers ran off to spread the word, while other opened the gate.
Ploritan looked delighted.
"But Ploritan, just who is it who holds your village under siege? If the antiheroes eliminated those who went against them, then who is occupying the village?"
"It was a human army!! A legion of 10,000 men attacked us, and the antiheroes selected individuals from both sides to save! The antiheroes take no sides in the petty squabbles of mere mortals like us! Rather, they select individuals to support, and other individuals to slaughter! Everyone is equal in their eyes! Good or evil, just or unjust, sane or insane, monster or human, none of these things matter to the antiheroes!!! Rather, they only care about those who show promise for their incomprehensible goals!!"
"A human army? Of 10,000? If that is all, then even us mere lizardmen will be able to win with ease!"
Rocko felt his heart leap.
Perhaps it was time again to show that the lizardmen were a warrior race.
Even if existences who boggled the mind such as the antiheroes were out there, they would still be able to win against humans. They could still keep their pride as warriors, even if it seemed as nothing more than a petty squabble to those beings.
And most importantly, they would be supporting the ones which the antiheroes had chosen to support, so they didn't really have a choice in the matter. It was either do this, or risk angering the antiheroes.
But why did humans invade the fishmen village in the first place?
A human invasion in the monster realm- a real one with an entire legion, hadn't happened for hundreds of years. Why now? Especially given that the humans are much weaker than even the typical humanoid monster, there was no reason to launch a full fledged attack like this.
Did this also have something to do with the arrival of the antiheroes?
Rocko didn't know for sure, but his heart beat with excitement.
It was time to lead an army forward, once again.