Chapter 357: Cage
"Freedom?!! You fucking massacre villages from other empires, and you called that Freedom!!!" Jessica yelled at her evil second, her voice breaking under the weight of the atrocities committed by her own body.
"What can you do about it? Those who escaped already have their memories taken care of, they will simply place the blame on the demons..." The second shrugged nonchalantly, completely devoid of empathy.
Jessica stared at her in profound disbelief, not believing she was hearing those exact words from her own mouth.
"Put the Blame on the demons?! That can’t wash the blood away!!" She snapped, her hands trembling as a sudden, horrifying realization clicked into place. She froze, the pieces of the puzzle aligning perfectly:
"So Buck... Is that why he hates me so much?" She muttered in a low, heartbroken voice.
"It seems I didn’t do a good job, and one escaped... Or maybe he witnessed what happened in the shadows." The second sighed softly, treating the survival of a victim as nothing more than a mild clerical error.
"I should kill him, but because of Mirabella’s No-kill rule, I can’t... This competition is still important, and your mission isn’t yet done." She said, her tone dripping with dark purpose. She slowly spread her arms around, commanding the vast emptiness of the mental realm:
"You told Nadia you want strength, and she gave you strength... I don’t understand why you are now against it." She said, and casually waved her hand. The spatial fabric warped as a massive, magical screen appeared before them, forcefully projecting a traumatic memory. It showed a heavily injured Jessica, her clothes torn and bloody, desperately running through the dark, twisted woods of the Dead Forest, vicious wild black wolves chasing relentlessly behind her.
"Nadia saved you, and you asked for power... She just helped you accomplish your goal." She added, manipulating the narrative to justify the Master Teacher’s horrific human experimentation.
"You!! She didn’t! She turned me into her puppet!!" Jessica yelled, the sheer betrayal of her mentor tearing at her soul: