Chapter 281: Lust and Blood (1/2)

By the time he had regained consciousness, he was back in the cottage with a bandage around his shoulder. Below the bandage was nothing, an empty void of where his left arm had been

'She cut it off...' Arthur looked at his arm with a daze. A void in his chest resonated with the void his arm left, making him feel breathless. 'That crazy bitch caught it off that easily.'

He had considered the possibility that this might end up badly for him, but he had valued himself as a Loved By Stars. Larza herself valued him. That was the reason she tried to keep him leashed by inducing fear into his heart.

Arthur tried to sit up but his body was tired, he failed. He only had on hand for him to lean on, making everything seem like an impossible task.

'No.' Arthur's eyes focused, his golden irises shining brightly. 'This is only temporary. Until I regain my powers.' He tried again to sit and found that his clothing had been neatly arranged beside him. 'How considerate.' He smiled in mockery.

Suddenly, he felt a pain that shouldn't be there from his left arm. Arthur gnashed his teeth as he waited for the pain to pass.

[Realignment of the soul has failed. Restructuring shall now begin. Proceed?]

[Yes | No]

'Restructure?' Arthur furrowed his brows as he panted. 'Does that have any adverse effects?'

[Unimaginable pain and the inability to regenerate your left arm in the future.]

'Hah,' Arthur was baffled. 'Why would I proceed then?'

[The recovery will be instant. Otherwise, your body will need twice the amount of time to recover on its own.]

'You're asking me to give up on my arm to recover instantly?' Arthur gritted his teeth. 'Is there no way to regenerate my arm after the soul restructuring?'

[A Rune to restructure the soul would be needed. However, multiple restructuring on a single soul would result in Spiritual Breakdown, as known as, death.]

What bugged Arthur the most was how simply death was written. It was so easy, as if life should be just as easy, but refused to be. He pulled his clothes as he made his decision. Well, there was no decision to make.

'No.' The Legacy's message disappeared and Arthur's recovery resumed its snail pace. As he wore his clothes, with difficulty, he checked how much he had recovered.

[Recovery percentage: 5%.]

'Dammit. Dammit. Dammit all!' Arthur smashed one of the shelves with his right hand clenched into a fist and the tools fell on the ground around him. 'Everything just keeps going wrong, time and time again.' He clenched his head. 'I'm so tired.' He breathed out.

However, the world wouldn't allow him to rest so easily. The cottage door opened and Bao entered. He looked around with his sharp eyes at the tools scattered around.

Arthur's head turned as a loud slapping sound echoed. The pain came in moments afterward as he turned to look at Bao, who had slapped him with the back of his hand.

”Filthy animal.” Bao spat as he cleaned his glove with a handkerchief. ”You think these things belong to you?” He glared at Arthur.

Arthur looked at him silently, rage blinding his vision. He hadn't been humiliated like this before. How badly he wanted to rip this goat to pieces right here and then.

”Keep looking at me like that and you'll lose more than just an arm. You've been treated kindly because Lady Larza asked for it in the beginning. Now, she told us to treat you like the animal you are.”

Arthur kept glaring at him and Bao raised his arm again and slapped him. Bao kept slapping him but Arthur didn't submit even as his lips bled and his face turned purple.

”That's enough.” Larza's command came from behind Bao and the goat-man stopped despite his fury. He looked at Arthur with detest for going against him. ”Leave.” Larza commanded and Bao left to leave Arthur and her alone in the cottage.

She closed the door as she walked in. Looking around the tools, she began to pick them up and placing them on the shelves. After the tools were all neatly arranged, she looked at Arthur silently.

”I know I've hurt you.” She walked closer to him, her hand resting on his cheek. ”But you need to understand that I did everything for your safety. The world is cruel to humans, yet you tried to run away. Do you know that a worse fate awaited you if I hadn't found you?”