"…And then, I collapsed. Well, I think both of us did, actually. I just went down first." As Lieren finished telling his story, he noticed that there was an incredulous expression on the tall giant, Vesba's face: "What? Did I say something weird?"
The tall giant back and rested his hands on the floor behind him as support. He said plainly, without the smallest intent of deception:
"Huh, I guess it was true that she was holding back. I thought for sure that she went all-out, given her injuries. Such a shame. It's been a while since I've seen her get serious."
Lieren lingered for a bit, he had long gotten up and sat on the edge of his bed and stubbornly tried to endure the inexorable amount of pain, fatigue, and exhaustion that he was feeling. Too bad it didn't really matter in front of the perceptive woman and lying giant!
Closing his eyes and circulating mana in his body whilst using Fortification at small bursts, when it seemed like another pang was going to assail him, he waited for a bit for the pain to subside and looked at the tall giant, sat cross-legged in front of him, and crafted a facsimile expression.
"Oh yeah? And when was that?" He tried to sound fine, act okay, and look better than ever, but the lying giant knew the truth. Better than anybody, perhaps, about the lie he had told. Though whether or not he would do anything about it was still a mystery.
It turns out… that he chose to respect his act and say nothing about it. Instead, he smiled as well, and crafted his own face. Entertaining his question, the tall giant responded with:
"About a couple of years ago, before she was even a part of the family. She… uh… she used to be a part of some sect, high in the mountains, I heard. Don't know which one, though, I heard that they have all been wiped out by a Shifter with mysterious powers beyond imagination." He looked outside, through the sole window, and said wistfully: "All happened in one night, apparently. There were no survivors."
Selen close her book abruptly and glared at him, then said with reproach:
"Not all of them." She sounded… serious, and a bit morbid.
Vesba shook his head and shrugged, and Selen clicked her tongue, stood up and quickly left the room. Lieren tilted his head.
'What's up with her?'
Noticing his odd gaze, the tall giant explained somberly:
"She's just being moody. Don't mind her. She's like that most of the time." The man seemed to be in the same situation himself, his usual spunky self replaced by a deep melancholy.
A silent pressure settled in the moonlit room, broken only by Lieren's next words:
"What do you mean there were no survivors? Didn't Master Feng survive? You said so yourself." He squinted accusingly. "Are you lying to me again?"
Because if the was the case, then the man might have reached a level where even his intuition could do nothing to uncover his misleading words. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.
Vesba cleared his throat and looked at him seriously, his tome even and critical as he said:
"That's because, technically speaking… the woman you know as Feng Xing Liu doesn't exist." The man's words were heavy and overbearing, as if a divine weight had been placed on his shoulders.
Lieren frowned and squinted his eyes disbelievingly. He lingered for a minute, then said incredulously:
"…How?"
Vesba just smiled wistfully, then continued:
"After the incident, anybody involved with the mass slaughter was eviscerated. I heard it was by done by the Shifter itself, but nobody really knows for sure. As if all memory of the supposed sect had been wiped from existence."
Vesba looked down at his hands. They were rough and calloused, proof of the mountain of work and training he had put them through… as well as the sins he had committed with them. With a grimace, he closed them tightly and exhaled heavily. When he opened his eyes again, there was a sincere glint to it, as if the lies were all a.. well, a lie.
"And yet, she kept on insisting that they did exist. The people she's talked to, lived and dined with, and inevitably lost their loved ones to the horrifying monster… she desperately insisted that they were once alive. Nobody believed her at first, calling her "crazy", "deranged", and "a lunatic." She was eventually sent to a mental institute, which turned out to be a facility for inhumane spell research."
Lieren paled considerably, his face losing all semblance of color as he remembered his time in the orphanage. Indeed, facilities like that existed. He knew it all to well. He was — and technically still am — an orphan, after all. Shady and devious people liked to target his kind most, being the most vulnerable and, well, stupid people that they could possibly target. They were very easy pickings for people like them. Lieren couldn't even count the number on his fingers and toes how many shady people approached him in exchange for lofty promises.
…As well as the number of times that Lady Barett had saved him from those very same shady people. Shaking his head furiously, he tried to banish the thought from his mind.
'No, she's evil. Undoubtedly so! That fact would never change. Ever.'
Looking back to the somber giant, he urged him to continue on, and the man indifferently complied.
"After that, all kind of horrid and wrenching experiments were done to her. Her humanity, identity, and personality was completely thrown away, as if they didn't exist in the first place. And after some insensate experiments… it might as well have been. It would have saved her the pain of losing and suffering even more…"
Lieren swallowed and hesitantly asked as the tall giant trailed off:
"What… what happened after that?"
He looked at the young boy without a hint pf deception.
"After that? Well, she killed them all. Ruthlessly so. It was said that by the time she was done, the white halls of the research institute was painted crimson, with no speck of the sanitary white it used to be."
Suddenly, a sullen atmosphere permeated the room. Lieren was getting used t situations like this.
'How ironic.'
To think that their very own creation would bring their own end. That was nothing, if not, poetic. Though others may call it justice or divine wrath. Nevertheless, it was nothing short of terrifying. There must have a lot of trained professionals and various restrictive apparatus to make sure that such an intricate line of work proceeded smoothly. Multiple armed men that bordered on militaristic might must have been implored to make sure that nothing went wrong.
A bead of sweat flowed down Lieren's nervously tense face as a grim realization overcame him.
What kind monster could have done such a thing? And to still be alive, no less.
That was… that could've only been the work of a demon.
A horrifying, menacing, and unrivaled incarnation of death and suffering.