“Well, that’s certainly a sight I’ll never get used to. Been using your blasphemous skills again, Joe?”

Too tired to comment, Joe limited himself to flipping a bird at his former slave then let out another pint of blue blood gush out of his mouth. After a week of aimless wandering and failed attempts at getting drunk, then a whole day of guilt and self-pity followed by mad scramble and another week of tracks-hunting through where-in-slimy-hell-am-I, Savile found him in the middle of sandy nowhere, wearing his perverted alt body and huddled around an almost full bucket of incandescent, blue blood. A shiver went down her spine when she realized that not so long ago, she was the one hiding behind those pink, beastly eyes that now were watching her every move. A part of her broken brain loved every heartbeat of that experience. A part she tried and failed to suppress. Especially now when she saw those eyes gazing at her.

If it wasn’t for the name slapped over the status screen, she would never believe that this sick woman was her former master.

“I see you went through with it.”

She quipped, accusingly. The myriads of negative effects applied to Joe's body and the lack of ninety-some levels on that perverted doll body seemed to be a good indication of what he has done.

“Did she…”

“Went first.”

Joe spat and tried to clear his mouth. Unsuccessfully. His hand just smeared this ink like blood all over his face. And it started sizzling. One of the downsides of his design. A kink he hadn’t manage to get rid of. If exposed to air and sunlight for long enough, dark elven blood became acidic. Thankfully it did not affect their bodies but at times it was inconvenient. He considered swapping back into his main but, right now, it was in a much worse shape than the one he occupied. Negative nine levels can do some nasty things to a human body.

“Why are you here?”

He gathered enough strength to ask, watching as the knight toyed with the sword she held.

“You going to use that or what?”

Since she failed to answer his previous enquiry, Joe poked even further. Not the smartest thing to do when the other person holds all the pointy arguments.

“You don’t think I would?”

“I think I’d be dead-dead-splat already if that was what you came here for.”

He managed to somehow get up and walked over to his former knight. In this body, their eyes were almost at the same level.

“Why did you come here? You are free to be anywhere, just go live your life.”

Not seeing any will to kill in his former slave eyes, he walked past her towards the exit of his tent, exposing his back. A rookie's mistake. Joe realized when an armored boot collided with his crotch from behind, sending him on a short lived flight.

“What the fuck, you insane fuck!?”

Screaming through tears, Joe rolled on the sand, gripping his bleeding, funny bits now squashed to a pulp. Tiny little voice inside his brain sent thankful prayers to all gods for being too lazy to switch back to his main, thus saving his precious one and his crown jewels from the apocalypse that happened between his legs. Although the dangly bits were absent in this body, that kick still managed to crack something in there. Most likely his pelvis.

“Consider that your heavenly punishment for being a dick, you sick bastard!”

The demi gloated standing above him then took another go at him, this time aiming at his center.

“Now this one is for all the times you made her cry.”

The same armored foot sent him flying once more. Propelled by that kick, Joe’s body vaulted over a dune and tumbled to a stop on the other side. He tried to crawl away but the demi flipped him over and dropped to sit on his chest.

“And this one is for making me love the piece of shit you are!”

With a deafening thud, her iron fist sunk wrist deep into the sand beside Joe's head. His alt’s body was tough but not tough enough to survive such blow. If that punch were to connect with his temple, there wouldn’t be much left of his head. Replaying the what-if-splat-scene inside his mind, he froze in wait for another assault.

Yet, nothing else happened.

Instead, silent tears began dripping onto his face. Great, he thought and passed out.

***

Absorbing and then regrowing his insides that turned into mush, turned out to be exactly as not-fun as Joe thought it could be. His pelvis breaking and resetting itself after it badly regenerated for the first time, added to the misery and knocked him out for one more day.

Well, at least his design worked and all the enchants did what they were supposed to do. That was something he could not say about the mind of the woman sitting beside him in the sand. Without uttering a word, she just stared at him.

"Got tired of trying to murder your former master?"

That little snarky remark of his earned his face a slap from smelly foot. A sloppy slap. Not that he complained but the demi's action had little if any of the previous ferocity.

"...Gods I hate this!"

Savile screamed, pulling at her hairs. Joe cast a quick analyze at her and saw a big fat [Confused lv.9] slapped onto her status screen. Since she was no longer his slave, he couldn't see her entire status screen but just that one debuff was enough to tell him what to expect.

"Well, don't get me started on what I hate."

Joe winked at the five hundred pounds of his ex furball staring at him. Armor included.

"You... how can you... Joe, I almost killed you! I almost murdered you in cold blood and you’re trying to laugh it off?!"

"I guess I am."

After witnessing a guy being shived to death in the showers by five other inmates... he could still sometimes feel the blood all over his face. The sound the guy made as air left his dead body...

"If I wasn't laughing, I'd be... I don't want to think where I would be. And just for the record I am soo not into this tsundere crap you are pulling on me right now."

That was a part of his life he wanted to leave far, far behind.

"Then you are much more broken than I am. Gods help us."

Savile hugged her knees in an oddly human manner and rest her head on her arm.

"Back then, you said some interesting things..."

"You know, Joe I always fantasized about killing my former masters, you want to become the first one?"

She said but, from what Joe leered about their body language, he knew those weren't her true feelings. More of a way to mask her embarrassment.

"So, why did you come back? Did Neira ask you?"

"No. She dosn't know I'm here."

Savile shook her head.

"How come you never call me by my name?"

Joe gazed at her then he did call her name. A name she had not heard in over three thousand years. Her first impulse was to ask how, but then she realized he must have seen it on her status screen.

"You may not want to repeat that. It did not end well for the last one that used that name on me."

"How so?"

"I choked him to death in front of our families and several thousand people."

"Did he deserve it?"

The demi did a double take on the human longing before her. Oddly, there was no sign of that familiar rook she always got when people learned of her past. Unnerved, she broke eye contact.

"It was either that or see my people burn in the flames of yet another rebellion."

Joe remembered there were plenty of odd things about her. Her status screens were black akin to his and there were some titles she tried burry deep within herself. Even though he was curious, Joe never pressed the matter. And killing people... they went through so many bandits on the road that it hardly bothered him. The moment you raise a weapon at any other being, you acknowledge your own death at their hands in retaliation. That's the only way to think about it and remain sane.

"Your people? So, you’re a noble?"

"I was. In human terms at least. We do not divide ourselves as humans do. My pride was the pride of our Prime and I was his Ansha. Then I learned of his intentions and the bubble burst. I did what I had to do. One life for the myriads he wanted to destroy."

"I paid for that then, by being cast out by my Toku. I had lost my place among my pride. They cast me out. Death would be too light of a punishment for my crime. My very own Toku sold me to a human for nine coppers. One for each Toku I’ve failed."

With ears drooping low, she rubbed her eyes clears of tears.

"But that was long ago. None of that remained. Even freed, I no longer have a home to return to."

"Did you try going back?"

"Joe, that was well over three thousand years ago. I have not aged a day ever since my constitution surpassed four hundred. As I said before, I may not be immortal, but I sure am exceptionally bad at dying."

That he could still remember. Her insides dangling out of her bisected body and her still being lucid. Not something he want to ever see again.

"Does it not bother you? I just confessed to a cold-blooded murder."

"Not that much. I've spent months locked with men that killed for much lesser reasons and I am no god to judge you past. From what I saw of how you live your life you wouldn't kill him without exhausting all the other options. I'm sure you loved your Prime. That much I saw in how you treat the others. How well you took care of this useless, ex-master of yours."

Joe winked at her, remembering one of the few good things of this insane world. She was a system sanctioned knight. Not a warrior, a knight. It meant quite a lot for local people. It wasn't something a random noble could bestow upon his servant. No. The system awarded the knight's profession to those that showed exceptional dedication towards protecting others. It was something that stem from deep within the soul of such individual. And most of all, knights don't become assassins overnight. If at any time she would betray her calling, the system would instantly brand her as a fallen knight.

"Thank you."

Savlie let out but a silent whisper he wouldn't pick up if not for the ears of his current body. He made a mental note to research similar upgrades for his main body.

"Anyway, sob story aside, you still haven't told me why your here..."

Savile's sweaty foot once more ended up braced against his cheek.

"I hate you."

She kicked his ribs with her other foot. Albeit much gentler than the last time.

"Make up yer mind woman, you just told me you love me."

"Joe, what are you gonna do with them?"

"Finish the damn quest?"

"No, I don't mean now. After it's all done."

Her question gave him a pause. He hadn’t plan that far ahead.

"Don't know. Probably find a peaceful bum-fuck-nowhere, build a house there and enjoy the rest of my life. No more quests. No more trying not to die every second of every day. I'll stay away from everything bothersome. Then I'll tell everyone to fuck off and go on their way."

"I think I can accept that."

With an odd, almost content look on her face, Savile pulled off his blanket then straddled his body.

"Now, as fun as this new look of yours is, I'm not in the mood for rubbing a mirror. Get mister sunshine out and ready. You still owe me one. Chop, chop."

He tried to ask her what was this now about, but the demi just covered his mouth with her finger.

"Later. Right now, I want something else. we can haggle about the details later."

Joe sighed and cycled back into his main body.

Damn perverted demi.