After that confrontation, I do everything I can to avoid Gen's attention. I don't say a single word, make myself as small as possible, and hide behind the bodies of the other party members when I can to stay out of his line of sight. One time, he decides to throw another orc at me and tell me to kill it again.

I manage to deal with it without as much trouble this time, relying on what I learned from the first fight to finish it with only two extended fire beam spells. I go through every last bit of my mana in the process, but I get through the fight without injury, in just a couple minutes this time, since I don't need to rely on a Channel Cast fire beam again.

After that, I set a up a Channel for another fire beam, just letting the spell build in case he makes me fight another one on my own. Thankfully, he doesn't. I keep the fire beams building all the time, finding that they take about a half hour to charge fully, before I let them fizzle.

We keep up fighting, taking down the orcs for like half a day before it gets dark, a couple suns dropping from the sky. We take a break to eat and recover. Unfortunately, I don't pay close enough attention, and when I sit by the fire, Gen is looking right at me. His face goes bright red, and he kicks me in the ribs, sending me toppling away from the group around the fire.

Groaning face-first on the ground, I don't even see a point in getting up. I'm sore all over from him hitting me, and the grass is so comfortable by comparison. So I just stay like this.

After drowsing for a while, a foot lands against my side, kicking me over on my back. I try to bite it back, not wanting to show weakness after all of this, but I can't help it.

I whimper when I see Gen, towering above me with his dark, terrifying eyes. “Not dead yet after all,” he says flatly, before spitting on me, and stalking off.

I shake a little, my sobs coming silent while I wipe away the spit from my face and struggle up to my feet again. I don't deserve this... right?

It's light out, another sun rising through the sky with the overlapping moons, their coloring turning the world a little more red than usual.

Pushing back the sore aches all over, I follow the party once more. We're almost done. I just have to endure a little longer, then I can go home, get paid, and have enough money for over half a year of rent.

I can make it through this. Things are going to be alright. It's not my fault.

So I keep going. Keep fighting and throwing my magic around as we fight for hours on end, cutting through the remaining orcs by the end of the day.

It's pretty dark out already, and I look up at the sky again, loving the sight.

It fills my head with all sorts of questions. I wonder how big the moons are? How far away? They have magic and stuff here, but not much classic technology. I wonder if they'll ever develop space travel so they can actually go up there, to reach those godlike beings that bestow magic on everyone down in this world...?

Heavy footsteps pull me from my first pleasant thoughts in a long while. As I start to turn, a heavy blow lands against my side, throwing me to the ground. “You're in my way,” Gen quips as he walks through the spot I was just standing.

“Urgh...” That was wrong, I wasn't in his way. He's just looking for excuses to hurt me now, isn't he? Why is he so horrible? I haven't done anything wrong, have I?! I've done everything he wanted! Isn't it enough?

At the sound of me rising, he turns back and sees my angry, hurt expression. “Wipe that look off your face, bitch!” Before I know it, he sweeps my legs and sends me toppling to the ground again. A kick lands against my ribs, and I try protecting them with my arms as he kicks me a few more times, each one hurting worse than the last.

“Woah, Gen, you're going to kill her like that,” Miria warns. Then why don't you sound concerned?! What's wrong with you people?!

He steps back, and I curl into a ball. My stomach is throbbing, and I can't stop the tears at all anymore. Whimpering and sobbing, I've reached the limit of what I can endure.

I hate this. Why is this happening? Why am I too weak to stop it? This can't possibly be my fault!

“You know what? You're right,” Gen agrees. “I need a different punishment for her.” Then he grabs my burning, bruised, possibly broken arm, and hauls me up from the ground. He starts dragging me after him. I lower my head a little and follow. “I've changed my mind,” he announces, “I'm taking her body. See if that teaches her. We'll be back.”

Oh no. Oh fuck no. Not like this.

I struggle. It's useless, but I struggle anyway, panicking and pulling at his grip despite the scream of pain it brings from my arm. “Please, please don't!” I cry. “I'll do anything you want! I'll be good, I swear!”

My pleas all fall on deaf ears. All my frantic words, screams, promises, he doesn't respond to them at all, dragging me a decent distance from the party, into a spot with somewhat sparse grass, and throws me face first into the ground.

I land with a grunt and roll onto my back with a throb through my whole body from my other bruises all over. This is wrong! I don't deserve this!

Then he comes down on top of me, pinning my shoulders. I shake my head, babbling and pleading. But he just squeezes down tighter and tighter, until there's a crushing pop as my collarbone gives under his fingers, and the pain drowns out everything else.

It's only once I've finally stopped pleading for mercy, unable to produce anything but wordless cries, that he releases me. He goes straight to undoing my pants. As soon as he starts to pull them down, and I panic again, kicking and flailing up and out of his grasp. I turn to run, but only make it a couple steps before he grabs me, slamming me into the ground again. While my whole body screams, one hand lands on the back of my neck.

Pinned and gasping, crying and aching, he holds me, fingers on the verge of breaking my neck, while is other hand fights to yank my pants down.

I can't do anything, can't even beg anymore.

I feel him press up against me. I want to shut my mind off. This can't be happening.

Pinned from behind, he pushes inside, plunging into me in a way that should never happen. I shake and squeal and scream.

Fuck it hurts!

Hands flailing, fingers digging into the grass and dirt uselessly, it's like he's stabbing me with a branding iron. Jamming it inside me.

Everything hurts.

That thought fills my entire brain while he pumps his hips, straight into my dry, unprepared hole, tearing me open.

It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts...

The mind-numbing despair overtakes everything, just like when I was back there, back in that dungeon. My sobs die out, until all that's left are his heavy breath, grunts, and the slap of his hips.

The only thing that breaks it up are the random blows he brings down on my back, hips and butt. I'm hardly even responsive to them anymore.

“That's more like it!” Gen snarls. “Bitch playing at being something more than a fucking doll...” After his comment, he slaps my ass again and thrusts even harder, bringing automatic, twitching responses to the agony, until he groans, pumping his seed inside me, before pulling out and standing back up.

The pain doesn't fade at all. I can feel the blood flowing out with his semen, and everything still burns. “Get up.”

When I don't respond, he grabs me by the throat and lifts me from the ground. Looking straight into my eyes, he snarls, “I told you to get up. Now stand, like the obedient tool you are.”

All I can do is obey. In the vague hope he just... doesn't hurt me any more... When he drops me, I nearly crumble, every muscle throbbing, but manage to stay on my feet. Then he drags me, stumbling listlessly after him, my pants still around my ankles, back to the others.

They look somewhat disconcerted at the sight of me, blood and seed spilling out of me, but it's hard to even feel bad or embarrassed or... anything. One of them pulls my pants back up with a disgusted look.

“Come on, quest's done, we're going now,” Gen waves everyone on, and we start walking.

As soon as we do, I realize how badly I'm limping. Every step is like another stab straight up through my groin, and out into all parts of my pelvis and legs. Those pains are joined with the ache from the bruises all over the rest of my body, and the burning fire from my crushed collarbone. Moving is pure agony.

Despite it all, I keep walking after the group. We walk for a day, then make camp. I sit there, hurt and lifeless, until they eventually go to sleep.

I roll onto my side, staring blankly into the distance.

…

…

…

Everyone wakes up. I push myself upright again. I can barely stand. The pain is blinding.

On our second day of walking, I finally start to think a little. When I do, I'm immediately, incredibly grateful toward Malic. I'm so, so glad he took my virginity.

He was right, I can't even imagine if what just happened was my very first experience. If I didn't know what sex is supposed to be. Even now, I hardly have the will to walk. I would have just fallen over and died...

Thank you so much, Malic...

Once I get that thought in my head, it helps. It tells me that this isn't my fault. What Gen did is not my fault, he's just evil. Him doing terrible things to me doesn't change who I am.

I have to keep living, like Master wanted me to. With that thought in mind, I finally work up the will to move forward a little, and start my magic casting again.

It takes hours and hours of telling myself that I'm still fine, to start to feel a tiny bit better. It's not like last time, like when I was broken. I know I can't protect myself, I won't let this abuse destroy me. I may not be much stronger, but I'm more resilient now than I used to be. I'll get through this.

Finally, I decide there's no reason to stay with them. I can get back to town and wait for them there. The further away from Gen, the better.

But when I turn to leave, Gen immediately pins me to the ground, and the last day of healing unravels in an instant.

I'm... unfortunately, relieved when he only stomps on me a few times and says that I'll go back with the party, or not at all.

Fuck.

We stop again after our second day of travel. We'll get back to town tomorrow. When we sit, I take a spot away from the fire. Away from him. Away from the horrible people who won't even rebuke our party leader for fucking raping me.

No, I sit on my own, and eat my travel rations and try with all my might not to move my broken arm and crushed collarbone, and ignore the burning agony from my other injuries and probably infections from the shit he did...

All I want, all I care about, is just pulling my broken body through the end of this terrible quest.

Unfortunately, Gen notices me existing over here. Stomping over, he grabs my face, staring into my eyes.

I think I get it now, after what he said. He thinks I should be broken after being a slave. Like the other slaves I saw. I don't know why, but the life in my eyes drives him fucking mad.

But there's nothing I can do to stop him. All I can do is stare blankly into his raging eyes. “You piece of trash!” he snarls at me. “I guess I need to teach you another lesson!”

I shudder, tears in my eyes, but I won't be broken again. Not like this. Not by someone like him.

He can obviously see that determination, because he shoves me over to a tree. The impact reverberates through my entire body, another brutal throb of agony tearing through me.

He yanks down my pants, and I clench my jaw. I won't give him what he wants. I grind my teeth together as he presses against me from behind, one hand wrapped around my throat, and starts to violate me again.

It hurts even more than before, I haven't even healed from the last time.

I shut my eyes and endure it.

My entire body shakes from the pain, my face and fingers grinding into the rough bark of the tree he has me pressed against, but I've made up my mind. I don't care how much it hurts, he is not my master and he has no right to me. He's just a fucking monster. I've endured before and I'll endure it again.

Despite my earnest, determined will, my body still responds with angry, resentful tears. But this time, I stay silent until he finishes.

He turns me around, and I fix him with a steady glare to let him know that he will not win this time. Of course, he snarls at me angrily, and starts hitting me. I keep enduring, my mind finally strong, even when my body is weak.

He hits me over and over, until I slowly slip out of consciousness. He isn't actually going to beat me to death, is he...?

I didn't think about that part...

Another report of pain rouses me. Not dead, I guess...

I groan, having trouble thinking of anything beyond the agony that feels like a blanket of thorns, wrapping me in its spiked embrace. I somehow manage to rise anyway, looking around with bleary eyes.

But it's Gen, right there. He pounds me over the head, both waking me up and nearly knocking me out at the same time as I tumble back to the ground. “I said get up, bitch!” he shouts, and plants another kick in my ribs.

It hurts so much, I feel like nothing but a mass of bruises at this point. My entire pelvis feels like it's made of fire. Like he scraped out all my insides with a fire poker. I'm not sure how I'm still breathing anymore.

Determined to endure it, I stumble and waver upright once more. I spit out some blood on the ground, and trudge over to my things, still sitting on the ground where I left them last night before he dragged me off.

Both my arms are on fire, so I try to use the one that might not be broken yet. I pick up my bag and immediately notice the difference. It's lighter. Opening it up, the four orc tusks I collected, all on my own, are gone. I turn a furious glare back on Gen, but it just makes him backhand me off my feet.

Staring at the sky, head spinning and face bleeding, I realize yet again, he can do anything he wants to me, because he's stronger and no one will help. Steal from me, rape me, kill me, anything.

Why hasn't he killed me yet...?

I drag myself upright, dead on my feet even though it's the first thing in the morning, and turn my attention on walking once more.

All the pain is slowly morphing, turning to anger as we go.

Fuck Gen, I don't care anymore. I just have to get home, then everything will be fine.

So I walk. Everything hurts so much I can barely move. My legs won't even work right, so I travel with a shuffling limp, like a zombie. That bastard seriously injured me fucking me like that. I think I'm still bleeding down there...

I'm going to need a healer when we get back, Anyone other than shithead Blik here, who hasn't bothered to heal me at all, from any of the beatings or abuse. What, if it doesn't happen in battle, it doesn't matter?

We go and go, through the familiar landscapes in the immediate surroundings of Miselka, before we arrive at the gates again. The guard there stops me.

“You, with the slave mark. Travel fee, two gold.” He holds a hand out for the money.

“I'm already registered with the guild,” I explain flatly. He clearly doesn't like my tone, but after a glance over just the bruises that are visible, and my probably broken arms and bloody face, I guess he takes pity. First decent fucking human being in days...

“Name?”

“Yumi.”

He draws out a little book and flips through it quickly, until presumably finding my name, and nodding. “Alright, you can go.”

“Thanks.” I move on, following my party that didn't bother to slow down and wait for me. I'd be glad to split up from them, if not for having no idea what bullshit Gen might pull when they get to the guild.

I don't know, tell them I died or abandoned them so they won't pay me, or fucking fine me or something.

I don't know and I don't want to know. I am not letting him fuck me again!

So I force my screaming body to limp faster to catch up to the group, with at least some hope that he won't beat the shit out of me in the middle of town. We reach the guild, and he goes up to turn in the quest.

A receptionist comes over to our group, and the first thing he does is look at me, bruised and bloody and pissed the hell off. He looks like he wants to say something, but bites his tongue for now, and gets to the debrief.

Gen gives a quick overview of how we went, killed the orcs, their numbers, pulls out a tusk to show, and wraps it all up quickly. Of course, he doesn't bother to mention the rape or attempted murder. Of course not.

With that, the receptionist gets our pay and passes it out. Five and a half gold for them, three for me.

Once he's done that, I turn to eye those tusks, and ask, “Hey, how much do orc tusks sell for?” I have to know.

“Hmm,” the receptionist wonders momentarily. “Ones like you all gathered are pretty good, about quarter of a gold for each.

They're that much?

“Oh.” So I not only gave up two months rent to these scumbags just to let them beat and rape me for six days, they also stole another month worth of rent in drops from monsters they threw at me trying to kill me.

I am so FUCKING. DONE.

I stand straight up before we've been dismissed and march out of the spot off to the side where our group has gathered with rapid, angry steps, my brain screaming as loud as my body. Right over into the middle of the guild hall, near the reception counter, while Gen's angry voice calls out from behind.

I turn back to see him following, a hand raised angrily to grab me. I'm not even scared of him anymore, all thought has been washed away by bottomless fucking rage.

“HEY!” I shout as loud as I possibly can, my whole body feeling like it'll break from the effort it takes. It draws a moment of quiet and attention from the mass of swarming adventurers in the guild hall. I take the deepest breath I can as all eyes fall on me. I don't even flinch. I'm on fire as much from the burn of my injuries as the unrelenting rage at everything.

Then I scream at the top of my lungs.

“GENRIPL IS AN ABUSIVE RAPIST FUCK!” With my words, I use one hand to pull my torn up shirt, broken armor and all, halfway up off my head, revealing my entire bare, battered body for all to see. Every discolored bruise, the cracked ribs, all of it. My other hand points out straight in the face of Gen, just a few steps away. Forcing my broken arm to extend like that takes every last ounce of my grit and spite.

After a few long seconds of silence, I scream in his face. “I AM A HUMAN BEING AND NO AMOUNT OF ABUSE WILL CHANGE THAT!” It's so shrieking loud that my voice goes instantly hoarse.

My challenge is met with such a wave of hate and rage that when he raises his hand, no amount of determination is enough to keep me from flinching away from the impending strike.

It hits me like nothing before. Like an explosion through my skull that causes my entire head to spin with a deafening snap.

The next thing I know, my view is tumbling, but I'm rapidly losing sensation all through my body. I come to rest somewhere on the floor, the reception counter at the edge of my view, and there's a ton of noise all of a sudden, but I can barely hear it.

Oh hey, my body doesn't hurt anymore...

Why is everything going dark...?

My eyes fly open, a gasping, retching breath entering my lungs, with a pounding migraine and burning flood of adrenaline.

The fuck happened?!

I'm just starting to look around wildly when someone grabs my head from behind, completely immobilizing me. I'm in full panic mode, being pinned again, but then I realize Arkida is right there in front of me. She grabs my face, hands on both cheeks so she can press her forehead to mine and stare me in the eyes.

She keeps speaking. It's comforting. It takes some time to understand her words though. “Just stay still, Yumi. Don't move.” That's the first thing that finally registers. I don't really understand, I don't know what's happening right now. My whole brain and body are screaming danger though.

Arkida takes up most of my view, her face pressed right up to mine, and I'm on the floor, and there are definitely a bunch of people around me. But if Arkida's here, I shouldn't be in danger, right? She's been my safe space for a month already...

For now, I go with her words, and release the confused tension in my body. My mind is racing, despite all my fuzzy thoughts jumbling together so I can't really think at all.

Meanwhile, everything hurts. Especially my head, neck, and groin. Slowly, I notice the pain receding. Sometimes steadily, a bit at a time, and sometimes in big waves. However it happens, it's wonderful. It makes me feel like I'm floating...

I'm not sure how long it goes on. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. The whole time, Arkida is right there, her kind face filling most of my sight with jumbles of movement all around her.

After a while, a good deal of my body feels better, not quite as broken, but the worst of it hasn't improved much. At that time, Arkida backs up a little, turning to look away from me. She's talking to someone...

I can barely see them in the corner of my eye, unable to move my head to get a better look. “Yes, sir,” she's saying. “But she's still an adventurer. He attempted to murder her in the middle of the guild, in front of a hundred witnesses. He used his Class magic, broke her skull and neck, and multiple healers needed to cast powerful healing spells to save her life.”

Who is she talking to? I feel like I should know, but it's just so hard to think...

Arkida gestures down at me. “That's not the half of it. There are clear signs of repeated physical and sexual assault, and even rape. Their party members confirmed everything. And really, just look at her! They've been working on her for ten minutes and she's still this injured!”

It's hard to hear the voice that comes back. It sounds so far away and my ears are ringing from the pain. But I think I catch most of it. “She's still... slave. Doesn't matter what... on quests. …out of... not our job.”

“Fine, even if you don't care, the adventurer's guild is formally informing you that the adventurer Genripl has been blacklisted and is a dangerous, unstable person who should not be allowed to run free within the city limits. We genuinely hope you heed our warning. No matter who the victim may be, this level of brutality is despicable and must have consequences. Just letting it pass would make us no better than the beasts.”

I can't put too much thought into whatever she's saying, but just listening to her talk like this is comforting... I think whoever she's talking to eventually leaves after a few more small exchanges. There's more talking, then eventually, she turns to someone else.

“Can we appropriate guild funds to compensate these adventurers?” she asks. “It doesn't look like these items will cover the full cost of the magic crystals.”

She keeps talking, snippets of the conversation coming, fragmented by my aching brain. “I have to admit this before anything else,” she says at one point, “I'm biased, she's my roommate.”

And another at some other point. “Why does that matter? Ok, fine. Yes, six. Yes, I know our logs say six as well. Just because it didn't go up doesn't mean she wasn't raped.” There's some other voice, then, “Fine! Do you want to see for yourself? The healers still haven't fixed all the damage!”

I think I fade out for a bit, but the next thing is, “Yes, SS rating. No record of bad behavior.”

Eventually, my mind trails off...