A little over a week ago.

O cursed as she stalked through the forest, searching for more prey. She could not believe the audacity of that bitch; she should have taken her offer. They could have slew that whole pathetic town together! Instead, that damn woman took her by surprise, slashing her across the face. Normally She would not let something like this bother her, however the strike was faster than she could even react to. She raged at herself; she could not believe she had been forced to retreat. Although, it was the first Divine Class she had fought since arriving here, perhaps she should not take the others so lightly. As O found another one of the giant mantises, she easily crushed it. She had killed who knows how many of these things, two feet tall, thin and spindly. She found little pleasure in their demise. They did not even have time to make noise before she crushed them, or ripped them in half. She had witnessed a few of the villagers cutting a few trees down here and there. Perhaps they would make better sport....

O roared in triumph as she stood over three bodies. Or rather, two bodies and some pieces. A few people had escaped, but that did not bother her, in-fact, watching the group scatter in terror as she charged out of the forest only heightened her spirits. The first victim was a young lady, she was quite attractive, she wondered if she was the town whore. She simply tore the woman in half, she did not even have a chance to cry out before her organs were spilling into the dirt. After that, she grabbed the nearest man, who seemed to think he could protect the rest. Bringing her elbow downward, she relished the noise and crunching of the, relatively, feeble facial bones. As the man dropped to the ground, O had time to grab one more man. He was one of the two men holding weapons. The other armed man had been drug away by his friends as he stood there shell-shocked and limp. The one in O's grasp stabbed her in the shoulder, the blade sunk deep and hit bone, but this did not seem to faze her very much, beyond a wince and twitch. Laughing, She began to strangle the man. Unfortunately for O, she overestimated the man’s neck, and instead of strangling him, her hands simply sunk into his neck, tearing through skin, flesh, and then bone.

"Well, that was easy." O spun around quickly as a voice called out behind her. No bastard would ambush her and get away alive! The fire in O's eyes blazed to life once again. A man with shoulder length black hair held up his hand "I know it’s not your nature, but if you hold a moment, I have some information you might wish to hear." If the man thought she would spare him simply because of information, the dumbass was in for a rude awakening. She charged at him, intending to collide with him. However, for some reason, O seemed to have veered off track. She did not stumble or trip... she simply charged in the wrong direction? The man stood a few feet to the left of her, a bemused look on his face "As you are now, you will never be able to even connect with me." O raged, no tiny pissboy was going to lord over her! She swung for his head, intending to smash the smile off his face. However, she simply swung over top his head. Despite the man's relaxed pose and lack of movement, she had missed. O did not see him move, but he must have dodged... He could not keep that up forever! She attacked with abandon, wildly raging.

A half hour later, O stood there, for the first time since coming to this world, she was out of breath. The man had simply waited in his casual pose, smilingly slightly the whole time. "Are you finished? Even you should be able to see that this is not going to work." she had fought as hard as she could for the entire half hour. No... fighting was not the word. Swung, railed, and raged perhaps, but O could not call this a fight. Somehow, she had not even gotten close to hitting him a single time. Exhaustion and frustration brought O's temper down, for the time. "Then what do you want? If you wish to mock me, you will pay for it one hundred times over. I will discover your trick and then smash it to pieces!" The man shook his head, "Actually, I wanted to give you some information. The woman who slashed you, I discovered her secret. I can tell you how she seemed so fast. Also, I have some information on another Divine Champion, one that you should be able to kill with ease." O narrowed her eyes, she was unsure as to why he would offer this information, but there was no reason for her to turn it down. She nodded. "Speak then." He gestured toward the town "Well you see, another champion arrived here a day or two ago. He is an elf, he is trying to make allies in the town, but he wants to come to the forest in a few days. He has heard the town's rumors of you, and wants to see if he can talk you down, to join forces and stop your rampage. Right now, he is simply gathering information, but in a few days, he should come looking for you, to talk. You have no need to fear him, you will kill him easily. As for the Samurai well you see, her blessing only activates when...."

The night of V's arrival.

"Eika did not disobey!" The small rabbit girl was standing in a plain room in front of Edna, another slave here at the Shivering Shackle. Much like how house servants often have a head butler or maid, Edna would be considered the head slave. She was owned directly by Gergor, and managed most of the other slaves needs, punishments, and any other non-business related issues. As Edna removed Eika's shirt, she clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "It’s not just about following the rules to the letter, girl. You have been with us your entire life. You should know by now. You will never find a master who will purchase you if you only do exactly as you are ordered to. I was not ordered directly to take care of you when you returned, but I did it anyway. It's what is expected of me, and it’s my job. If you mess up like this too many more times, you will end up being sold as a battle thrall to some cruel adventurer. Or in the worst case, taken to the capitol and sold to the black market, or the to one of the insane mages there." Tears welled up in Eika's large eyes, she was trying to hold them back, but was not succeeding very well. If she was not under orders to hold still, she would have pulled her ears down over her eyes, to hide her embarrassment, and fear. Edna folded Eika's clothes in a pile as she grabbed a thin, plain, white gown. She continued as she pulled the gown over Eika's head. "Even worse, you are a rabbitkin. It’s rare for anyone to want one, even if they are the best slave in the place. You are virtually useless, you are of the rabbitkin race, and now, you led two people who hired you right to their deaths. To be honest, I don’t think there is any reason to even keep you here anymore. Gergor might send you off to the capitol the next time the merchants put together a caravan. If you want to avoid that, I would suggest trying to find any redeeming reason for Gergor to keep you here before then." Edna mixed a strange faintly glowing powder into a glass of water before handing it to Eika. "The next few days are going to be miserable for you, maybe this time it will help you remember your lessons. "

That night, Eika received no rest or reprieve. The mixture she had been given made her body feel like it was on fire, and kept her from falling asleep. Most slaving guilds used nonphysical punishments as discipline. Physical trauma could leave ugly marks and scars, and in the worst case, cause impairments that would diminish their longer-term value, especially if they were combat slaves. Instead, various magical substances were given to the offending slave, in order to simulate punishment, with little to no risk to the overall value of the individual. As the Shivering Shackle was a small town operation, they most dealt in house slaves and focused more on the servant aspect of the industry. Because of this, social pressure was also a form of punishment. Eika had been given only a simple gown to wear, a sign of failure and embarrassment. The handful of slaves that slept in the same room as Eika, and interacted with her from day to day would almost certainly ridicule her for it. It was common place, among slaves to establish a hierarchy based on who was rented the most, or who had the highest chance of being bought by a wealthy patron. 

The night before the showdown with O.

The newcomer, V slept soundly a few feet away from her. He had finished explaining his plan over an hour ago, but she could still find no rest. His idea was something she would not have thought of, that was for sure. However, she could not deny that it would give them a certain edge. Faking a surrender as a last resort, to trigger her blessings properties. She would not even consider the plan in most situations. For one thing, it was not particularly honorable to plan on getting beaten down, and then using that to trick someone into believing you surrendered. However, L reasoned, O was the worst type of monster. She was lower than even those who murder for love or money. She killed for no reason other than to kill, and to terrorize those who survived. Any tactic that would result in her dying would be worth it. Ambushing someone such as O would not be a dishonorable act. Sometimes the honorable need to use dishonorable tactics to stop those of evil intent. 

On the other hand, She would have to surrender to V. She had no illusions that he would protect the weak or uphold justice. Could her honor, in any sense of the word, be upheld while under his command? Restlessly she rolled over. As long as O was killed, her service to V could be something solved afterward. She had already been given a second chance to redeem her honor due to this "game" of the Gods. Perhaps this could all be solved by killing him, then herself. Under those circumstances, perhaps honor would be satisfied.

After another half hour, she fell asleep. Rather than allowing her some peace from her troubled thoughts, sleep only brought a dream. A dream of her past. The last few days before her original death. "What a pathetic being" It was raining, and a man held L by the hair. His face was scarred and filled with mockery as he stared into her eyes. "The Demon of the North? You could not even fulfill the last wishes of your master! The north must be weak indeed if you were its greatest warrior!" The man threw her down into the mud, she could hear the laughter of the man's troops surrounding her. She tried to rise, but her right leg was broken, and something was terribly wrong in her chest. "Those of the north..." She gasped for breath as stabbing pains shot through her body. "They will end up ruling this land! Your treachery stains your soul. You will never..." The man kicked L in the chest, she collapsed but managed to keep talking "...never have the love of the people. Some... someday they will turn on you. You will die, and your soul will be cursed." The man grabbed something and threw it next to L. It was the body of a small child, eyes lifeless. "Not if they continue to rely on failures such as you..." L simply lay there, she reached out a hand and shut the child's eyes. "Nothing more to say? Then I suppose we are done here." The man gestured to his companions; he would not give her the satisfaction of dying by his hands. As numerous weapons pierced her body, L jolted awake. She would not be sleeping anymore tonight. Although that was nothing new, the dreams often haunted her when she closed her eyes. It was still dark out, but she rose and prepared to head out, to prepare for the coming battle.

Shortly after the showdown with O.

He was impressed, which was rare. He did not expect L to surrender to the newcomer. He clearly also did not give the newcomer enough credit. The plan was rather innovative. As long as he could save O, all in all, this whole series of events worked out rather well. If he couldn't keep O alive, well, you can’t get everything you want. He hoisted O over his shoulder. Even without her arms she weighed a wild amount. Luckily, he had the aid of magic. He would have to get O to someone better at healing then he was, and rather quickly.  He wondered if the Divine Berserker class gained regeneration at level 5, like the normal berserker class did. Not...really important right now though. He walked through a dark city, hauling O. To be honest, that new guy, V, might end up being an important piece in the game, both his, and the Gods'. He had interfered enough in that small town for the time being. He did not want to draw the attention of the Champion of Light. It is a bit of a shame though; he would have liked to... pushed things a little further before having to leave. He really hoped V could handle the other one. V, he could use. O, he could use. L, he could use. The other one though? The sooner he died the better.

He tossed O's body onto a bed as he spoke "Can you save her?" a shadowy figured nodded "Probably, but she will be out for at least a week. What about her arms? You planning on doing something about that? I doubt she can be much help otherwise." The man smiled "I have a few ideas on the arm situation. You just worry about keeping her alive." The man turned to leave "I’ll be back in a week or two then, thanks for the help." As he opened the door to leave, he stopped and turned. "Oh, there is one more thing I suppose." He then took the remnants of L's sword off from around O's neck. "I’ll leave this back at the place they fought." As the man disappeared with a small cracking noise, the shadowy figure shook its head "I’m glad I’m not a part of that man's schemes, I’ll say that much..."