Felt kind of happy, so here's an early release.

***

𝑸𝑶𝑻𝑪:

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚.

***

Like dried leaves crumble under the force of the strong autumn gusts, Asami's life collapsed under the weight of Kite's words.

Savagery was an understatement, the man was a complete and true monster. As his laugh rode around the room, leaving echos of his spiteful voice, Asami couldn't help but shiver. She felt like a derelict wasteland being ripped off of its vegetation- weak, betrayed and hopeless.

How could he?

She wouldn't say that her life used to be perfect. In fact, it was as tragic as anyone's could be. But who was he to toy with her life, her body and her emotions? What kind of degenerative ambitions stirred him to make a living doll out of her; a doll he could tear apart and sew together and repeat... repeat until she was broken to the extent she could not be pulled back together into one piece.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦? 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺?

Her still wide, outraged eyes gave her face an almost pathetic expression.
How could you?.. screamed her blue orbs as they lost even the little trace of life left in them. He wanted her to be a vessel, and she became one; albeit an empty one.

His laughter died down, but not the pitiful expression morphed into Asami's once beautiful face.

"Be grateful, my dear," he hissed, tracing the sharp edge of the knife down her cheeks, making the blood ooze out of the barely visible but deep cut, "I gave you power and you enjoyed your little skit of revenge. Too bad your goal is quite contrary to mine. You wish to wipe POWANs out of the face of Earth and I wish to lead them into power, which I have been working on for quite a while. You see, most POWANs aren't violent, they rarely transform into their POWAN forms unless out of a need of nutrition or paranoia. So, why is the population of this species riding uphill? Simple, because of me. I am the one testing out of my handiworks. See, ain't I doing a magnificent job?"

He scrutinized her response, but none came. Far from it, her face only seemed to calm down. Calm was far from what she was feeling, though. Her inner turmoil just got too messy to be projected through facial expression.

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴.... 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶... 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬–

"It's been going pretty well," he leaned away, along with his scalpel after he carved out an incomprehensible kanji on her cheeks out of blood—to which she didn't bat an eyelash—and adopted a serious tone, "your great grandfather's been doing a decent job in helping us control them. But you see, we need more than just one controller. And that's where you come in, Asami."

His lips crooked up into a smile, but what caught her attention were his words, as she slightly lifted her head to notify that she was listening.

"We need your body to experience enough pain to make you immune to any kind of senses and for your brain to stop functioning straight. Once that happens, we have the technology to put you to use. The same cables you saw on your relative would be connected to your body and you will be our fuel. In the world I create, I will be the king, humans will be my pawns, and Asami," he rested her chin in the crook of her index finger, "you will be my knight."

A knock caught his attention as he pulled his finger away from Asami's face and turned his gaze to the direction of the disturbance. His female assistant stood with a clipboard tightly secured in her hands, eyebrows scrunched up in concern.

"Sir, it's time for the routine check—"

"I think I told you not to disturb me while I am busy with her," his demanding voice made her flinch, as her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

She looked up again, the hopeful shimmer in her eyes aiming towards Kite, "I am sorry, sir, but you asked me to remind you of the routine checkup five minutes beforehand."

Kite pinched the bridge of his nose as his teeth rubbed against each other in irritation, which slowly relaxed as he released a hefty sigh, "Fine."

He turned to walk towards the exit, before he jerked his head back and gave Asami a doting look. "Listen," he began, "this world is not the kind of place one would want to protect. Useless imbeciles are eating away at the foundation of this society, and it is on the brink of falling apart. One can only protect what hasn't already rotten away. So instead of playing the pretend hero, try facing reality for once."

His footsteps were the last thing she heard.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺...?

True. This world was rotten. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself, she couldn't get the thought away from her mind. If this world was rotten, then she was a part of this world. Smitten with a selfish desire to end something for someone dead, what was she truly seeking? For what purpose was she fighting? To protect the weak? Who were the weak? How to find them? How did she know she was truly stronger than them? What was the reality and what was the illusion?

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵.

Her frown grew more intense as she got more and more lost in her unpleasant reverie.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘐 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦?

Taking a deep breath, she looked down at herself. Vulnerable and weak, that's what she was. She could taste the iron of the blood dropping on her lips; the blood which was still crimson, despite her being a creature so distant from humans.

Silence filled the room and her mind.

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦? 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯. 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯...?

The pace of her breaths intensified as she closed her eyes to shut those damn thoughts up.

𝘕𝘰. 𝘕𝘰... 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴... 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘐...

She bit her lip, staining her pearl teeth red as they dug deeper into her skin.
The thought came to her mind almost instantly, as if it weren't her own. Sick, mortified, that was all her life managed to make her feel. All she had acknowledged of her existence was failure.

𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Her eyes shot open, her blue orbs back to life with a completely strange and terrifying determination.

𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘮 𝘐. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.

The naked woman looked up, face bloodied red with the putrefying stench of her body mixing in the air.

𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴.

Her mouth stretched into a horrendous grin, skin stretched like a dirty mop as Kite's female assistant came in her line of sight.

"And I have got just the plan."

______________________________________________

When you have many lines to write as QOTC but you gotta choose one!!😥

Anyway, here it is. End of this volume. I have to get to work for the new volume cover but first I have a maths exam to give. Minna-san, ogenki!!!