With Vahn's incursion into her mories coming to an end, the forrly hooded woman, Clentine, cupped her head with her her hand, covered in a padded, elongated sleeve.
"You bastard...what did you do to ...?" Clentine groaned, still under the effect of Silence but audible to Vahn.
"First and foremost, I would like to apologize. I'm generally opposed to peering into another person's mories without their express consent, but you didn't leave with many other options..." Vahn sighed, causing Clentine to raise her face and glower at him with her red, hatred-filled eyes.
"If it will alleviate so of your enmity toward , I am not opposed to you trying to kill ..." Vahn proffered, producing an ornate dagger from his Inventory and setting it on the floor between him and Clentine. For several seconds, the latter just stared at it. Then, faster than the average person could have blinked...
Demonstrating how rciless she could be, Clentine hastily grabbed the dagger before lunging forward, slamming her forehead into the center of Vahn's chest and knocking him onto his back. Then, straddling him and tucking her legs to his sides, she didn't hesitate before raising the dagger over her head and brutally stabbing him, over and over again, in the chest, throat, and, notably, several tis in the face.
'She might be too far gone...' Vahn thought, exhaling bloody bubbles from his nose—his closed eyes bloodied and shredded by the dagger's curved, jagged edge. The pain was nothing short of excruciating, but thanks to his S-Ranked [Pain Tolerance], his thoughts remained calm and clear, even as his face, neck, and chest throbbed with intense heat.
Exhausting herself after stabbing Vahn 237 tis in the span of a single minute, Clentine, her chest and shoulders heaving, remarked, "Serves you right...you stupid lizard bastard..."
'Mmn...you're not wrong. I definitely deserved at least this much after I peered into your mories...' Vahn affird, causing Clentine to tense as he spoke to her via telepathy. Then, in the span of just a few seconds, all the damage he had sustained was undone, his blood evaporating away as motes of rainbow-hued light, and his caved-in face promptly regaining its structure.
"Go ahead..." Vahn said, surprising the stunned Clentine with a gentle, understanding smile as he assured, "All of your pain, hatred, frustration...I will accept it all. And when your fury has settled, I will be here to hear you out and provide you direction..."
Punctuating his assurances, Vahn surprised Clentine even further by guiding her hands, still holding the dagger, into a stabbing position. Then, maintaining his smile, he guided her to stab him in the chest, the dagger's tip sinking into his heart.
"What the fuck is wrong with you...?" Clentine asked, her expression more disgusted than understanding. The fact that Vahn had been able to heal from her initial onslaught made it evident that she wouldn't be able to kill him with the dagger he had provided her. Thus, having cald down a bit after her initial frenzy, her mind overworked itself trying to make sense of his actions and what he wanted from her.
"I an it..." Vahn responded, guiding Clentine to twist the dagger in his chest, blood leaking from the sides of his mouth as he asserted, "You have suffered more than anyone reasonably should. As soone who has compounded your suffering, even unintentionally, you're within your rights to hold to account. I cannot relinquish my life to you, but I can indulge your fury until it has abated..."
"..."
Though she felt there was sothing seriously wrong with his head, Clentine only hesitated for half a second before pulling the dagger from Vahn's chest and stabbing it into his left eye, twisting the handle within his socket. The way Vahn just closed his eyes pissed her off, but if he was going to let her stab him to her heart's content, she had no reason to refuse him...
...
..
.
"Feeling better...?" Vahn asked, swapping his puncture-ridden yukata for a clean, unpunctured version.
"I might feel better if you were dead. But since you're still alive, I feel like shit..." Clentine responded, seated against the back wall of the padded room, her expression a weary, temperantal glower.
"That's sothing I find odd. When I peered into your mories, I didn't find anything that would cause you to resent as much as you seem to," Vahn stated, a slight frown marring his face as he expanded, "From what I can tell, you aren't particularly loyal to Zurrernorn. You've killed more than a few of your fellow mbers—including that executive called Khajit. Why do you resent so?"
"I told you...it's because I don't like your face..." Clentine responded, turning her head and spitting onto the floor.
"Well, as you've experienced, you can't exactly kill ..." Vahn remarked, lowering himself to the floor and crossing his ankles before asking, "So I ask you—what is it you seek? What would make you, Clentine Haizea Quintia, happy?"
Hearing Vahn utilize her full na, Clentine bared and gnashed her teeth hard enough to produce an audible crack. There was strangely no pain, but that wasn't her concern at the mont.
"Why are you here? Do you think I'm pitiful or sothing? Do you think you're better than ...?" Clentine questioned, her crimson eyes filled with fury.
"I think you've seen and experienced things no one should be forced to endure. And if you allow to, I would like to help you," Vahn answered, causing Clentine to glower at him with a mix of disbelief, disgust, and more than a little confusion.
"What do you gain by helping ...?" Clentine questioned, her words coming out as a low hiss, even while Silenced.
"I seldom seek to gain anything from anyone. And while your actions these past few years of your life have been...inexcusable, they're not for nor the Sorcerer Kingdom to judge," Vahn stated, his tone calm, full of patience as he asserted, "Your Karma will eventually catch up to you, and soone you've hard in the past will almost assuredly be the cause of your death. However, with the strength and information you possess, you have the opportunity to change how you've lived and pursue more than a life of bloodshed and tornt. This city, this kingdom—they could be the place you start anew..."
"..."
Though her first instinct was to spit in Vahn's face and ask if he was a retard, Clentine was surprised to find herself seriously considering his words. She had been used, abused, manipulated, exploited, betrayed, and experienced just about every evil thing that could happen to a person—up to and including being killed and resurrected multiple tis. But there was sothing about the look in Vahn's eyes, the weight of his words, and the air about him that made it seem like he could be trusted...
'Just who is this guy...?' Clentine asked herself, seeing Vahn, for the first ti, as a person rather than soone she had decided to kill most brutally. More importantly, he was a person who might be able to get her out of her current situation. She had only been imprisoned for a very brief period, but what she had experienced up until then led her to believe that her chances of escaping on her own were close to zero percent...
"I should preface things by informing you that if you accept my offer and are released from this prison, you will lose the ability to kill humans and other sapient creatures," Vahn revealed, clarifying, "The exception would be if you're defending yourself or others. Such sentints trigger specific signals and chemicals within the mind, so it's marginally more accurate to say you will lose the ability to kill because you choose to. You will only be able to kill when you need to."
"I am literally an assassin, though. You would strip of my livelihood and force to do what? Whore myself out...?" Clentine questioned, looking more annoyed than angry.
"The Sorcerer Kingdom is always in need of strong, capable people. With your strength, you could easily find employnt with them," Vahn stated. "Otherwise, I would recomnd that you beco an Adventurer. Up until this point, you've hated them for their freedom and their ability to envision a better future for themselves. Now, I'm presenting you the opportunity to walk the sa path..."
Producing what looked like a simple, expressionless white make, Vahn set it on the floor before him and explained, "This is a rare artifact called True False Identity. It allows the person who puts it on to assu a completely new identity, functionally resetting their Karma to neutral. It doesn't have any effect on your appearance, but until you willfully remove it, no one will recognize your face as belonging to your previous identity—not even your twin brother."
"That's absurd...and you're just giving it to ...?" Clentine questioned, slack-jawed, incredulous.
"The restriction I'll be placing on you is a restraint that, once accepted, can never be discarded..." Vahn stated, eting Clentine's gaze as he reinforced, "It is tantamount to a sacred vow made to a God. This mask is compensation for the difficulties you will invariably face as a result."
"..."
Though the totality of her life and past experiences prevented her from accepting Vahn's words at face value, Clentine found herself crawling forward on all fours, her movents reminiscent of a cat's. The feline ears and striped tail she had grown when she was younger had been surgically removed, her scars completely erased by magic. But she still retained the natural agility and flexibility of a Cat-like Beastfolk—colloquially known as Nekomimi.
Picking up and inspecting the mask, Clentine felt no magical power from it in the slightest. However, as they were currently in a room that completely sealed magical power, she didn't imdiately dismiss it as a fake. Instead, she questioned, "If I put this on and accept that Heavenly Restriction you intend to place on , you'll help leave this place—no questions asked?"
"Just as the actions you've taken in the past aren't mine nor the Sorcerer Kingdom's to judge, the path you choose to follow after leaving this place is for you to decide," Vahn stated, causing Clentine's pupils to contract into thin slits as he confird what she was thinking, specifically, "Even if you use it to pursue vengeance against the Theocracy, I will not stop you. Just know that, no matter how gratifying it feels in the mont, the only thing that awaits those who seek revenge is a feeling of emptiness once it is achieved..."
"That's sothing I will decide for myself..." Clentine countered, the depths of her crimson eyes filled with a lifeti of accumulated hatred. She didn't know how she would circumvent the restriction Vahn intended to place on her, but if the True False Identity made it impossible for those who knew her to recognize her face, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people she wished to kill. What she didn't know was that Vahn was well aware of this, and, due to the sentints attached to the hatred she held toward her would-be victims—clergyn and won who had victimized her and many others—the restriction that prevented her from killing would not prohibit her from retaliating against those who had hard her...
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After Vahn personally discussed his justifications for her release with Ainz, Clentine was freed from prison on the condition that if she ever perpetrated another cri within the borders of E-Rantel, she would be sentenced to death. Less than an hour later, she was exiting the city, her heading southward, toward the Slane Theocracy. It would only be a few months before she returned, but in that ti, many low to mid-ranking clergyn and won of the Slane Theocracy would go missing, only to show up several days later, brutally tortured with their ears missing and genitals mutilated...
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