As my first step in founding a religion, I must gain an outstanding follower. Zeke and Gabriel are ok, but they were far from talented. Gabriel was gifted at best with his enormous energy pool, but the only reason they lasted so long against the red knight was a combination of my blessing, the knight not being serious, and luck.

I needed someone that was talented, and gifted. A cheat-like existence. Someone who's bound to climb to the top whether I help them or not. Being at the top, people will look up at them, and that's how my name will spread.

I spread my senses, focusing on only those that have a high base energy. To my surprise, there were more candidates than I thought. Scouting out each and every one of them to see if they pass my requirements would take several days which was annoying, but I had time.

---

"Please! Don't harm my mother! Use me instead!" Lilli cried out, her arms stretched out as she blocked the man from getting to her mother.

It had been several days after they had been bought by the gentleman which they would come to know as Baron Coson. Just as Lilli's mother expected, their new owner was not any better than the merchant, in fact, he was worse.

She was covered with multiple cuts made by a small knife. They weren't fatal cuts. Their purpose was to inflict pain. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to feel, and her body was covered in it. She was a bleeding mess, and Lilli stood between her and the Baron holding the knife.

"I can't use you yet." He licked the blade of the knife which had been dripping blood onto the beautiful tiled floor. "I'm saving the best for last. Now move along. Or I'll move you myself."

"No! I won't move!" Lilli knelt down, clasping her hands like her mother had taught her. "Gods! If you exist, please help me and my mother! Punish this bad guy in front of me!"

Laughing, the baron approached the praying Lilli. "The gods won't save you. Certainly not a lowly bunnyfolk such as you. Remember, your kind only exist to serve humans."

Swinging his leg, he kicked Lilli on the side of her torso, the force throwing her to the side. She clutched her ribs from the pain as she cried. "It hurts."

Now that Lilli was out of the way, the Baron walked towards her mother, and grabbed her hair. "You know your daughter annoyed me just now. What should I do?"

"L-leave my daughter out of this. Whatever you want to do... do it to me," her mother replied. She was being tortured, but if it would keep her daughter safe, she would gladly let it happen.

He smirked. "I always wanted to cut hair. Let's do something about that dirty hair of yours."

His eyes glossed over her long bunny ears. "Your ears too. They're too long. Why don't I make them look better for you?"

Dragging her by the hair, she cried out in pain as he took her to another room, closing and locking the door behind him.

"MOTHER!" Lilli stood up, ignoring the pain from her throbbing ribs. Her ribs had been broken from the kick which made breathing painful.

She walked towards the locked door, her face wincing in pain with each step. "Let go of my mother!"

She banged on the door with her small fists, all the while she heard the screams of her mother on the other side.

"Please, gods.. Help my mother!"

---

It's a hard days work out here. I was still scouting my candidates, but I had a good list of talented people.

One was a young man who was apparently an adventurer. Not only did he have a massive reserve of energy that even surpassed Gabriel, he was talented too. I had a chance to witness his swordsmanship, and it was good.

Speaking of Gabriel, him and Zeke have woken up about two days ago. I gave them a new task of spreading the word about my new religion, Church of Nai, and indoctrinate anyone that's willing.

They seem to be doing a good job as now I hear some of the residents talk about my religion, but that was the extent of it. It seems no one wants to willingly join a newly founded religion.

Anyway, back to my candidates, there were several I have my eye on.

A sorcerer, A gambler, this one is weird, he wasn't exactly talented, but he was gifted. I don't know why, but he was blessed with an outstanding amount of luck. Moving on, a fisherman, a slave, and one newly recruited soldier.

All of them were good candidates that would surely be well known in the future, but I couldn't make a decision yet. I hadn't finished my scouting mission, which speaking of. The last candidate was in a big mansion.

Hmmmm, jackpot? Rich, talented, and gifted please. I couldn't enter the mansion, so I had to wait outside, using my senses to scout out the candidate. To my surprise, the candidate wasn't rich. In fact, she was a slave, indicated by the slave mark on her neck.

It seemed I had caught her at a bad time. From what I can see, her mother was dead on a table, and she was crying as she hugged her dead body.

The mother's body was covered in blood. Her hair a mess. The long bunny ears had been shaved down to a nub, and several of her fingers had been smashed.

Well it's definitely her. Her energy was insane. She had the highest out of every candidate, but because of that slave seal, it was being suppressed. Wait a minute. If it was being suppressed, then that meant her energy was actually bigger than this?

"Time for your turn," I heard a laugh as a man walked out of the bathroom and into the room. Fresh blood was splattered on his white clothes.

This must be the culprit. 

"Why did you do that to my mother?! What did we ever do to you?!" She asked, charging towards him, but suddenly, she stopped.

Detecting that she was about to make hostile actions to her owner, the slave seal activated, freezing her in place.

The man laughed. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Raising his hand, he slapped her across the face, bringing it back again to backhand her other cheek. The large ring on his hand left a cut on her cheek, blood leaking out.

"Know this, you are mine. I bought you fair and square. So I can do anything to you and your mother. It's a shame though, I thought she would last longer, but it's ok. I've been wanting to play with you."

He leaned closer to her, licking the cut on her cheek. Wrapping his arms around her frozen body, he lifted her up, bringing her to the table where her mother laid.

I watched as he kicked her corpse off the table, placing her daughter in her place.

"I was going to strap you down, but this slave seal is really convenient," he said, running his hand throughout her body.

He grinned as he grabbed a knife beside him. Hovering it over her leg, he drooled.

"You have such juicy thighs!" Moving the knife downwards, he cut into her leg, causing her to cry out in pain. Once again, he licked her thighs along with her blood.

This is a problem. How am I supposed to see her talent in a situation like this? Hmmmmm.

As I was thinking, I lightbulb suddenly lit up in my head. Telepathy. Using aether, I made a connection in her head.

Thankfully, he wasn't actually killing her, but torturing her, causing as much pain as possible. As long as nothing drastic happens, we'll have plenty of time to talk.

In her head, I heard her mental voice pray, "Please gods, save me!"

I was about to speak when I caught myself. Let's wait a little more.

The man continued to cut her body, causing excruciating pain. It didn't take long for her to break with her body covered in wounds. It wasn't as bad as her mother's, but if it continued, I had no doubt they would have the same outcome.

She was a shadow of her former self, and listening to her thoughts, it was bad, but broken minds were the easiest to control.

"Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help..." I heard her cry out in her thoughts.

I guess this is the best time to intervene.

"Do you want to kill him?"

"Yes. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.."

"Very well." The slave seal which was on her neck disappeared, and her body which had been frozen earlier twitched.

Her energy which was being suppressed was suddenly released, the force of which sending her former owner flying into the wall.

He coughed. He had the wind knocked out of him and couldn't speak. Once he recovered, he stood up, looking around the room. He groaned, rubbing his back.

It looked like a bomb had suddenly exploded in the room with dust everywhere, obscuring his vision.

"What the fuck?!"

"Lilli!? Are you alright?!"

So Lilli is her name? It seems he doesn't realize that she was the cause of this.

As he looked around the room, he saw something in the dust. A pair of glowing purple eyes, staring at him.

He wasn't stupid, he could feel it. There was bloodlust within those eyes. "Lilli, didn't you learn your lesson? You can't kill me."

Amazing. She was talented too? She was using the same energy as the red knight, which in my scouting I managed to learn was called Ki, and was channeling it into her eyes to see through the dust. It wasn't just her eyes too, her whole body was bathed in ki.

Man, I wish I had popcorn.