THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"What do you mean, because of me? you are the one who killed her."

I thought there was a way to save you but Anriette…you have fallen way too deep in the darkness. I can't be the one to save you.

"Of course it is because of you. Everything that is happening is because of you? My broken heart!" Anriette closes in and cuts my chest and left shoulder, "my suffering!" Then it's my face, "my dead family!" my other shoulder, "the people I loved!" and my stomach. "Huff…Huff…"

"Are you finished?" I start healing immediately. It does hurt but I am used to it after spending two days receiving the same kind of wounds.

Anriette looks at me with a devilish smile then places her hand on mine. It's only at that moment that I notice. She has cut one of the chains holding my left hand. No, let's not think about it now or she will notice..

"Am I finished? Of course not. I was only beginning with the physical most basic pain." Out of nowhere, that girl has the gal to kiss me.

Sadly for you, I don't feel anything. Even with Lanuvel who I wasn't sure I had any feelings for, I felt that electric feeling running inside me but you, it is just…

"Disgusting."

"Ohh…You have grown balls now to know what a kiss feels like, huh? You arrogant little shit." She slaps me then backs away for a bit.

Slowly, she removes her coat and shows me her entire body. I had thought her body had changed but not this point.

"W-what happened to you?"

Aside from her face, nothing about her looks like a human anymore. It's like they blended some kind of grasshopper's legs with a mantis's arms of some sort. Her stomach has a weird shape that I don't even want to describe.

"You like it? This is the new me. The new body they gave me, the new body I suffered to obtain." she walks to me and slams her foot on my face. "Just for you."

"Ish Tha sho." AH, she broke my teeth. Well, she kicks as hard as Farner for sure. Or not, I don't think that girl has such a weak kick when she is angry. "Ahahaha!"

"You still have the confidence to laugh. Good."

She removes her foot then brings out a small bottle out of her coat. It is the same dark color as her teeth. Is that the reason why…

"Do you have an idea what this is?" I simply shake my head. "This is the elixir. The very blood of the Longinus."

Their blood? Those things have blood? I don't remember ever seeing them bleeding though. Even that super strong guy didn't shed a single drop of blood when we wounded him.

"I don't know they did it but that woman and whoever commands her managed to condense the essence of the Longinus: the Regas into this. But you wanna know the best part of it?"

She opens the bottle then drinks a droplet of it. As she does, her hair changes color for a moment, going from their original color to a complete black then turning back again.

"Ah, it's always the same whenever I taste it. And now, it is your turn. Let's see how brutal it will be for you."

She approaches with the odorless bottle and as a droplet fall on my hand…

"Argh!!!!!" What the hell?!! What kind of pain is this?!! This is…This hurts!! It doesn't just hurt my body, I can feel my soul itself getting pierced through! "Fuck!!!"

"Ahahahaha!!! Now, who is laughing, huh?!!! This feels great, right?!! Can you imagine?!! I bathed in that thing for a whole month." She sends another droplet on my other hand.

"Argh!!!!"

"A whole month!"

Then it is my left foot.

"A.whole.month."

And my right one. This…I can even hear anymo…

***

"Wake up!" Anriette wakes me up with a slap, removing a tooth in the process. "We still have much to do, you know? Don't go sleep on your own. I haven't even gotten to the good parts of our body yet."

"You…"

"Just heal yourself."

"I am sorry."

"W-what?"

"I am sorry, Anriette."

"Ahah…Ahahah….AHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!"

The most ominous laugh resounds everywhere in the cave, ringing into my ears like the screams of a Longinus. In fact, is that not one in front of me right now? What point is there in considering her as a human anymore? No, no, no, no. I must not! Because I thought that way before, the consequences are here now. She is like that because of me. I cannot deny that nor must I forget.

Anriette holds her stomach with both hands while rolling on the floor of the wet cave. She doesn't even care about her appearance anymore.

"Oh, please. Come on, you were about to give me a stomach ache. I haven't laughed like that in a good while."

"I am sorr-" This time, she jumps to my face before I can finish and grabs my head.

"I don't want to hear it. No, I don't want anymore. You had so many opportunities, so many chances but no, no, no. You had to play your bad boy card and act all mysterious and hurt even though you were the only one hurting others. So now, there is no need t be sorry."

She releases me and goes back to her mantle again.

"…" I start healing but the spots where she dropped that liquid don't close. The wounds stay there and still burns like hell even when all the other areas of my body are healed enough.

"Ah, she was right then. Healing scripts can't heal those. Good. We are in for a good fun then."

Healing scripts cannot heal wounds caused by this thing? Then this is bad. Anriette approaches me and grabs my neck this time. She starts choking me as hard she can while smiling.

"Hugh!"

If I can't heal those wounds, then there is a high chance they will cause the same phenomenon as the black flames from that time. In which case, the only solution is to escape now, before it gets worse.

I move my left hand slightly and notices it is relatively free. It is time then.

"You...you know what?"

"You still the energy to talk? You are really tough. I like that."

"You were always ugly. That's why I rejected you."

"You fucking!!" She raises her other hand and as she brings down her claw, I break the chains on my left hand and push her hand to break those of my right hand. Right as they break, I grab her choking hand and drag her towards me.

"Arrogant son of a bitch!" She tries to bite me but I dodge and jump forward. Pushing both to the ground. The chains holding my feet don't break, well I will have try... No, I have to try harder!! I can't let it end here.

"Ahh!!" I punch her one, two, three times then I am suddenly projected to the ceiling of the cave.

"Stop wriggling already!!"

She kicked me hard enough to send me to the ceiling. Well, that's good. I smash into the ceiling and the chair holding me breaks, freeing my feet. Now, let's flee. I fly to the dark alley behind her but I suddenly hear something cutting through the wind. I barely dodge it in time only to see a wind-like blade cut through the rock of the cave. Did Anriette unleash that with her claw?

"You can't run from me!!" As soon as that wind blade passes by, she appears before me.

"Wow." She is fast. Those grasshoppers' legs must really work well for her.

"Let's start wit-"

I kick her hand and the claw enters into the ceiling of the cave since she is very close to it. She isn't that proficient in combat it seems. It's my advantage then. She might have a lot of strength but if she doesn't know how to wield it, then I can still beat her.

"I said you can't run away!!"

Though it didn't buy me much time. I still manage to get a further bit away from her. But I am still unable to use draconic energy or talk to Cissa even though I keep calling her. And those wounds are distracting me as well.

Another wind blade comes and while I evade it, I get a glimpse of something. For a moment, for a flash, I see something like Claire's armor in a bright room.

They brought Claire ad Frank here as well? Wait, if so, they must have turned into monsters as well. I should really get out of here before they notice me or I am dead for sure. Especially if Tatiana is here. That woman knows how to get to me, I painfully know it.

"Rahh!!"

And it won't be easy with you screaming like that for sure. If only I had a weapon.