In the morning Reylor awakened to the sound of footsteps crunching along the path nearby their camp.

Ugh. Did I really fall asleep again? Disgraceful. That could have been dangerous, I was supposed to keep watch…Well, at least I was able to store a bit more energy, though.

“Crunch” “Cling” “Crunch, crunch” “Cling” A metallic sound was mixed in with the footsteps.

“Why are we still carting it around? I thought royalty sold like hotcakes,” a gruff voice sounded.

“C’mon man, everyone knows Royalty from that kingdom’s got red hair an’ fiery eyes. This un’s got black hair an’ brown eyes.”

“Cling” “Crunch, crunch”

Reylor stood up and looked out, seeing two rogue-ish people walking along the path. This wasn’t odd, but that metallic sound—what was that?

Then he saw it. One of the two was holding onto a chain. Tracing the chain back, he found it to be fastened to a collar, which was secured to the neck of a young girl. She had a thin frame, but he could tell that her muscles were far denser than the average person. Her hands were bound close together, while her ankles were attached together by a length of chain, which dragged on the ground as they walked. Her inky black hair fell down past her waist, while her eyes were cast down in humiliation. She was a slave.

“Reylor, what is happening?” Elany said, as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. The group had gotten close enough to wake Elany up as well

“…”

“Oh, it’s a slave” She said with a tinge of sadness.

“A slave, huh.” “Despicable.”

“Oh, there’s a looker.” “Tie this one up over there. We may get something out of this trip after all,” The first man said with a devious grin.”

“Leave us alone. We have no business with you!” Reylor called out, as they approached.

“Hey punk, we’re not interested in you, just the girl. Leave her with us and we might let your sorry ass go.”

“Not happening.” A silent rage seeped into Reylor’s words. Elany had just suffered a loss greater that they could dream about, yet these despicable humans wanted not only to sell off this other slave girl, but Elany as well! They must be judged.

“Then die!” The pair of rogues pulled out their daggers.

Reylor pulled out his longsword.

The fight commenced.

They were quick, and it was obvious they were used to hand-to-hand combat, but they did not realize just how much of a disadvantage they were at.

Most of the time Elany was sleeping Reylor was not sitting idle. He realized that if he was going to survive in this world, he needed to become stronger. Now with a way to recover spacial energy he focused on his most basic ability, void transfer, and honed it for use in close combat. He could now use it instantly, and also multiple times in quick succession. Combining this with the reaction speed he had cultivated both in practice and on the field with shade creatures, the match was not even a contest.

They charged forward.

Reylor grabbed Elany’s arm, transferred her to a safer place, and then transferred back to the battleground.

The two men furiously tried to stab and slash at him, but his instincts allowed him to smoothly dodge every attack. The first man stabbed at Reylor but lost his balance for a quick moment, but that was enough. Reylor transferred behind him, impaled him with the sword, and transferred back just in time to dodge an attack from the other man.

“Ugh. You, how…” The first man slumped over.

Now that there was only one left, things became even easier. The man slashed with his right hand. Reylor transferred just behind his right side, ending that man’s life with a quick slash.

Meet your end, Karma-less brutes.

Reylor flicked the blood off his sword before returning it to his sheath.

After decomposing the bodies using his spacial arts, he brought Elany back to where they had made camp.

“A-are y-ou okay?” Elany asked with now fully-awake expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. But you, you just kill… killed…”

“Yes Elany, I killed them. And I’m sorry you had to witness that. But they had really bad karma, and as a gatekeeper…”

“As a gatekeeper?” She looked up with questioning eyes.

Dangit. I guess it would be easiest just to tell her, since she already has a bit of a clue on my previous occupation. Hopefully it won’t go too badly.

“… As a gatekeeper, directing reincarnation was not my only job. For those souls which were too corrupt, my job also entailed ending reincarnation cycles.”

“That’s not so bad, is it? I mean, if they are already dead…” Elany scrunched her eyebrows in concentration.

“Think about it. Killing may seem brutal, but in the end, people will often just be transported to another world to live it. It doesn’t do much to them. Ending the reincarnation cycle, though… Well, it’s permanent.”

“Oh.”

“My job, race, and fate have given me great powers, but with those powers come responsibilities. It isn’t always fun, but it is not something I am willing to ignore. I am not willing to allow the few corrupt to destroy the lives of the innocent”

“Oh” She said simply.

You don’t have to stay with me. This probably won’t be the last time something like this will happen.

“They were bad people, right?”

“Yes, they were”

“And… and this will make the world a better place?”

Yes, Elany, it will.

“Ok. I don’t want to leave you, Reylor. And I don’t like it, but I think I understand; and I’ll try to understand better”

She hugged Reylor and shook, trying not to cry. She had already lost so much; she didn’t want to lose him as well.

“I appreciate it,” He said, returning her embrace. “Now there is still someone we need to look after”

“Hmm? Oh, y-yeah, the slave,” she said looking up

Reylor glanced around and found what he was looking for.

Approaching the slave, Reylor noted her appearance. The thin girl (probably from malnourishment paired back with questioning and fearful brown eyes. Her black hair fell down midway down her back and contrasted sharply with the rough cotton tunic—likely the only garment she owned, at this point

Her ankles and wrists were shackled, with chains preventing full mobility “leash” chain, which was connected to band around her neck had been wrapped around a tree, and secured with a lock.

The girl backed up with a look of fear.

“It’s ok, we are not here to hurt you” Elany gently said.

Reylor grabbed onto the chain close to the girl’s neck.

“Remodeling, break”

The link he was holding onto shattered.

This was repeated for the chains between her wrists and ankles.

“Come now, Reylor said, you look like you could use some food.”

“Yes, yes, food is good!” Elany brightened up a bit, and grabbing the wide-eyed girl’s hand, proceeded to nearly drag her over to the camp.

“Unfortunately it will take a little time before we can properly heat the food up, so take some of this dry food for now. Then I’d like to hear a bit of your story, if that’s alright.” Reylor reached into his back pack and pulled out some jerquee they had made from the remains of a prior hunting trip.

The girl carefully took a bite of the food she'd been given.

She took another bite. And then her natural instincts kicked it.

Reylor and Elany didn't have to wait long, as they watched her dig into the food like a starved lion set loose in a butcher's shop.

"I-I mean... I didn't mean to eat it all!" She glanced up and quickly looked back down, as if bracing to take a blow.

Reylor smiled.

"I'm glad you did."

"Now come with us, we are on our way to Votran and wouldn't mind having another companion for a time."

She lifted her odd brown eyes, meeting the soft expressions of her rescuers, but then looked back down.

"I-I can't do that. I'm branded, and-and they’d turn me away when we got there, a-and I can't use magic."

"It's ok!" Elany said, giving the girl a big hug. "Come with us, it'll work out! Reylor is a..." Elany nearly flinched, as she could feel the sharp look Reylor was giving her. "...is a really good person for working these kinds of things out...." The sharp look melted off.

"While I don't mean to boast, Elany is not lying. Besides, if you so wished you could be quite a help to us."

"Let me ask you a couple questions," He continued. "What do you think of the Vilnor Empire?"

"What do you think?" She mumbled, touching the metal collar around her neck. Her eyes widened as she put her hands over her mouth and shrank back.

"What's your name?" Reylor asked bluntly.

"L-L-Lucy" she stammered out.

"Well look here Lucy." She fearfully lifted her eyes up.

"You know almost nothing about us, but I want you to know one thing before anything else." He reached out and grasped a shackle on one of her wrists.

Her hands trembled slightly.

"What are you doing?" Elany softly cried out.

Reylor was unmoved as he emotionlessly looked into Lucy's eyes. "We are not your enemies."

"Crrrr"

"Clang"

The shackle shattered and fell to the ground, as Reylor released his grip.

Who is this man? He looks so scary, but... It's different. His eyes, his eyes aren't like theirs. They're different...

She took a breath.

"Crrrr, Crrrr" "Crrrr" "Clunk"

Lucy just sat and stared as one by one the shackles on her ankles, the shackle on her other wrist, and finally the collar on her neck were shattered and cast aside by this man--this strange man who was unlike any she had ever seen.

When he smiled, it wasn't the most bright and cheerful. When he was stern it was terrifying, but in a different way. He didn't have the most charming personality, despite his looks, but there was something else about him. There was something comforting about everything he did, and about every expression he wore. He was… sincere.

“Do you hate the Vilnor Empire? We have a score to settle with them ourselves.” Reylor said.

Elany solemnly looked down.

“What do you think about the shade?” he continued.

“I don’t like them.”

“We will get rid of them. All of them.”

Lucy looked up as a tinge of hope replaced her face of fear.

“B-But what could I do? I’d just be in your way.”

“I will answer that after you have made your decision.”

His eyes, his eyes! It feels like he can see straight through me! But what could I do now? I can’t even use magic anymore, and I’m from… But I really hate Vilnor! I hate them so much! And the shade… Even if I was safe, the stories were so awful.

“If you think I can be useful to the cause against Vilnor and the shade…” She paused and then looked up at Reylor once more. “I-I will do what I can to help”

“Yay!” Elany gave Lucy a hug, which was returned with a half-hearted smile.

“It will be great having an extra crew member” Reylor smiled.

“But all formalities aside, you must be wondering ‘what can I do now?’ And the answer to that is ‘I honestly don’t know.’ However, I believe you know what you are capable of, and I will release you to do so.

Lucy’s eyes grew big as Reylor placed a hand on her back and the other on her breastbone. However this paled in comparison to Elany’s reaction to come

“Spacial Art: Void Disruption”

It was felt like a bomb had exploded as a wave of energy seemed to explode away from where the three were. This was an art which enabled its user to completely clear an area of mana for a short period of time. Additionally it would freeze all sources of mana in the area. In short, everything magical was made useless.

Elany could hardly breathe, for not only did she feel the shock of mana dispersion, but Lucy… She watched as the brown of Lucy’s eyes melted away, revealing two blood red Irises, and the black of her hair seemed to have washed off, revealing a crimson hue.

Lucy was frozen in place.

“Aetheric Art: Awaken”

From her chest was emitted a light so bright that it even shone through the hand Reylor had placed over it.

“Bind to me”

The light dimmed considerably and Reylor pulled his hand back, along with whatever it was that glowed so brightly.

His face looked very strained as he lifted his hand up toward the sky.

“Release!”

The object was vaporized, as it blasted outside the zone of Reylor’s Disruption art.

Lucy just stood there, frozen.

“Void Dispersion: Recall”

By now Reylor was hunched over on one knee, gasping for breath.

The zone of dispersion collapsed and the surrounding manna rushed back in to fill the area.

“Ahh!” Elany cried out; for as the manna returned she watched as “Lucy’s” eyes turned from their dark red to a brighter color, giving them the distinct appearance of flames.

“L-Lucy…? Lucy…? You’re Princess Lucille!?”