"Hnnf!" Rumie gasped and rolled over putting her hand over the wounds. A single minute of relief was enough for her to get her spirit back. "A-are you not going to try to kill me anymore?"
Breathe El.
"If we can make our goals align, then no." Not that I had a clear goal anymore. I was lost trying to tell head from tail. I merely wanted the Deity who wanted to see me suffer, dead.
The only reason why I decided to let her stay conscious was that Liu asked me to. Honestly, I couldn't trust Liu either, but at this point, I would take anything. But explaining that to her would be a pain.
"That's better than definitely dying." She sighed as she crawled to lean against the wall. Ashes were falling from the sky, and the area around us was gradually settling down.
"Spit it." I, too, sat back on my ass. The chains around me loosened but never let go.
"Uhhh, where do I even start?" She started healing her nose. "Well at the very beginning, my mother was half a beast and got trapped by the organisation just like that girl of yours was."
"Getting sold off as merchandise?"
"Hah, that was before you showed up to save the girl. If she goes back now, worst-case scenario Anino would end up used, killed and get paraded around the city. An example of what happens when you mess with Luoris. But my mother had no one to save her so she went the normal merchandise route."
Just thinking about it made me feel icky inside. Ah, I went back to how I spoke. Anyways, I didn't want to think about it anymore.
"Then what happened to your mother?"
"Well, she got lucky. After one of her night favours, a lower member of Luoris ended up taking a liking to her, well, services. And soon I was born." Ah, so she was a harlot.
As Rumie was talking about her past, energy started surging through my body. Not because of her, my body was just going back to how it originally was. Not a ginormous amount of energy, but enough to know that my strength was in the process of getting renewed.
"My father got attached to his newly formed family, and wanted a peaceful life away from Luoris, so he decided to move out. For them, this decision my Dad made was a good excuse to cut off a useless leg. So Luoris framed my father as a traitor and killed him. I got buried under a fake pact to make up for my father's supposed crime. And my mother got taken away as well."
The way she said it was almost like she was an onlooker. But this was enough for me to understand the gist of Luoris. I thought it was just a rowdy coalition of adventurers, but there is obviously someone much better versed in management than there needed to be.
Good enough to know that a member leaving the group was one of the biggest threats an organisation like that could face.
"Is she alive or…"
"I don't know. At first, I wanted to find out about her, but as time went on, even surviving became next to impossible. I had to trample over everyone they told me to trample over just to see another day, and in that struggle, I forgot about finding my mother. I wouldn't have even remembered had I not told this story."
Not even once throughout this speech did Rumie sound emotional. And it was that detachment that made me question if her motives were even real.
"I don't trust you."
"!!"
Just four words were enough to put her guard up. Unfortunately for her, her body was frozen from exhaustion and its broken state.
My energised body made quick work of the chains latched onto me as I was set free. I got up and saw her squirm around trying to get even an ounce of strength back in her bones.
"I don't trust you, but just this once, I'm willing to let you join me."
"Eh?"
"You are useful. You want to make out of this alive, and I need someone who knows how everything works... And a scout."
She had a surprised face as if I suggested something so unreal that it was almost comical.
"B-but if I want to make it out alive, you would have to destroy Luoris. Do you want to destroy Luoris? You know that that's imp-"
"No. All I have to do is get rid of the people behind Luoris." Rumie's face contorted in fright. "I'll destroy the entire faith."
It took a minute for the words to settle into her ears, but as they did her eyes opened wide in disbelief.
"You don't mean-"
"I'll destroy the church, the clergy, the heroes, and even the Gods if they dare descend to stop me from killing that sadistic fucking deity."
Every man needs some sort of motive to live. I had already reached the end of my straw. Grasping at loose ends was all I could do. My love betrayed me, my body turned to that of a monster, I was a wanted criminal and a dead man, and in my final struggle, even my family betrayed me.
Everything that I wanted to do was locked away in my utopian dreams. From this moment on I needed to define what my life would shape up to be. Even if my way forward was paved by something.
It wasn't as noble as revenge. It wasn't something as powerful as revolution. This was just the petty struggle of a man who had nothing to lose. Just trying to prove to himself that he was at one point worth more than just a piece more disposable than a pawn.
A beam from the remnants of the pub we were in fell behind her.
"A-are you serious?" Rumie still struggled to get up.
"If I can't even do that much, I'll die trying." I extended my hand at the maimed succubus. Her eyes tried to show resolve but were scared beyond belief as she tried to wrap her mind around her new reality. "Are you in or should I kill you?"
She never had a choice from the moment she came to the town to kill me. It was either she died or lived to follow my struggles.
Her face was conflicted and horrified. Something she couldn't get rid of. Rumie's hand gripped around my palm as I pulled her up.
It was funny how the person trying to shatter my dreams one day ago was now in my care.
Her arm was around my shoulders as I helped her sit against a tree.
"Recover."
This landscape wouldn't be clean for a while now, the town I lived in was wrecked. But it was fine, this place was not my home anymore. I had lost the place where I belonged.
So I'll just take everyone else's home away. I'll take away all that they believe in.
It isn't like I have anything to lose anymore.