That dim, ground-floor room had now been twisted into a grotesque work of art.

Bloodstains and dismembered corpses were strewn about like ornaments.

At the very center of the room, the masterpiece of this horrific tableau, hung Silas.

His body was suspended like prey by thorny ice vines that snaked down from the ceiling. A few of his fingers had been severed at the root, and patches of his skin had been skillfully flayed.

But he was still alive, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.

After my little session of torture, I healed his most fatal wounds with the warmth of the sacred mana seeping from my fingertips.

He would not die, at least not yet.

Then, I formed a small orb of water in the air and flung it at his unconscious face.

Silas jolted awake violently, shocked by the icy water. His eyes widened in horror as they took in the massacre around him and his own pathetic state.

Directly across from him, I sat on a simple wooden chair of my own creation.

I fixed my black eyes on his face, a perfect portrait of desperation and fear.

After watching him in silence for a moment, I spoke. My voice cut through the room's dead silence like a knife.

"What's the deal with that little, green fairy girl? Where did you find her? Who is she really, and who were you planning to sell her to? In short, tell me everything you know."

Silas's mind was still clouded from shock and pain. He tried to mumble something incoherent.

My patience was wearing thin.

I slightly expanded the vines holding him to the ceiling. The icy thorns pierced a little deeper into his flesh.

Pain is the best sobering agent.

With a shrill scream tearing from his throat, Silas came to his senses.

"O-okay! I'll talk! Everything!" he stammered.

"That girl... she was abducted from the Fairy Forests, east of the Elven Kingdom. The fairies... their defenses are very weak lately because they've been forsaken by the Elves. They've become frequent targets for hunters like us."

"But they weren't easy to catch; they're incredibly fast and cunning. Dozens of men had to work together to capture her."

"And what is her status among the fairies?" I asked, my voice devoid of any emotion.

"I-I don't know, I swear! From what I heard, she's descended from a line of primitive fairies. That's why she's so valuable."

"She was... personally requested by the Imperial Family. Yes! It was the Imperial Family who placed the order! They told us they wanted a fairy carrying primitive fairy blood. They even paid 10,000 gold pieces in advance for it!"

The information flashed through my mind.

The Imperial Family... This business ran deeper than I thought.

I didn't remember anything in the game's story about fairies being hunted.

This meant one of two things: either there was a reincarnator in the Imperial Family, or one of the previous reincarnators had already changed fate.

"We were able to complete the mission successfully thanks to their logistical support," Silas continued, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Please... If you let me live, I'll forget everything that happened here, I promise! There are more experienced, Elite Knights on the upper floors of the building, you can't get past them!"

"Even if you do... you'll be making an enemy of the Imperial Family! They'll hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

I ignored the man's pathetic threats and pleas. My voice came out with a sharpness that could crack a sheet of ice.

"And what about the fairy's wings? Was that your doing?"

At this question, Silas's face went white as a sheet.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it!" he whispered, his voice a terrified breath.

"Our boss... our boss took her wings. He said it was too risky to leave them on her, that she might escape, and... he tore them off. He should still have them on him now."

I turned away, deep in thought. The pieces were starting to fall into place.

The Boss... The Imperial Family... A Primitive Fairy...

Silas saw my silence as a glimmer of hope. He spoke in a trembling voice.

"I've told you everything you wanted... Will you let me... let me live?"

Before he could finish his sentence, the vines holding him to the ceiling suddenly tensed.

In the blink of an eye, Silas's body was torn into dozens of pieces.

His arms, his legs, his head, his eyes, his fingers... every single part was ripped off by the vines and scattered to the four corners of the room.

With a thousand questions racing through my mind, I stood before the fairy girl again.

What could I possibly have to do with a primitive fairy?

I couldn't make sense of this instinctive sense of affinity I felt towards her. The only logical answer that came to mind was the time I spent in Dr. Aris's damned laboratory.

That old pervert might have transferred the genetic traits or a spiritual fragment of a primitive fairy to me.

That had to be the only explanation for this strange, protective closeness I felt for this girl.

This was a biological echo.

I stood before the girl and fixed my gaze on her. Terrified by the savage massacre she had just witnessed, she stared back at me with those emerald eyes.

I knew I couldn't stay here any longer.

And I didn't know what to do with this girl, either. The only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn't just leave her here.

I placed my hand on the rune-covered glass. Chaos Flames silently turned the glass and the seals upon it to nothingness.

There was no longer any barrier between me and the fairy girl.

The fairy girl stood motionless inside the cage. I held out my palm to her.

She hesitated for a moment, looking at my outstretched hand.

My patience was running out.

Annoyed, with a gentle but firm motion, I grasped the girl by her delicate torso and placed her in my breast pocket.

The upper part of her body peeked out from the pocket like a miniature bust. With her tiny hands, she clutched the fabric of the pocket as if to feel secure.

I turned and walked down the corridor toward the exit.

The corpses and the pool of blood I left behind were covered by a shroud of Chaos Flames, which in seconds left not a single trace of the horrific destruction.

The massacre that had taken place minutes ago was replaced by a serene, eerie silence.

Then, with a simple mental command, I opened the cages of all the monsters on the ground floor.

I moved through the building with calm steps. I entered every room, one by one, instantly slaughtering every slave trader and pleasure-seeking client I came across.

Chaos Flames and icy vines extended from my body like deadly limbs, lashing out in every direction. The guards who occasionally stood in my way were pierced through the heart and died instantly before they could even understand what was happening.

This wasn't a battle, it was a cleansing.

Meanwhile, the fairy girl in my breast pocket had hidden herself behind the fabric, avoiding the sight of the gruesome massacre.

I made my way to the top floor. My target was the boss's room.

When I arrived, however, I was met by an empty, tidy office.

I sighed and cursed inwardly.

What kind of boss isn't at his own establishment on a night like this? Where was I supposed to find him now? I had killed nearly all of his employees and guards.

I began to search the room. I rifled through every drawer, every cabinet. I corroded their locks instantly with Chaos Flames.

Though the things I found weren't what I was looking for, I couldn't help but let my eyes sparkle.

I found an elegant dagger, adorned with gold and etched with runes; I tossed it into my dimensional bag without a second thought. From another cabinet, I found a small dimensional pouch; that went into my pocket. In yet another, I found a pair of large, ornate earrings. I wasn't sure what they did, but they were clearly valuable. They went into my bag as well.

Finally, I started tearing the room apart.

I still hadn't found what I was looking for. The fairy's wings were nowhere to be found.

The boss either kept them in a very special place or carried them on his person at all times.

At last, I decided to leave the building. The entire structure had fallen into a deep silence, save for the growls of the freed monsters and the whispers of the liberated slaves.

I assumed Silas's appearance and walked toward the main door. The two guards at the door immediately snapped to attention when they saw me.

In Silas's form, I turned to the guards.

"Do you have any idea where our boss is?" I asked, mimicking Silas's voice.

The guards looked at each other in confusion. One spoke hesitantly.

"Mr. Silas... isn't the boss supposed to be at your house?"

"At my house?" I asked, confused.

The guards spoke even more cautiously. "Sir... you and the boss... well... how should we put it... aren't you in a relationship?"

My mind went blank for a moment.

What? What was happening? Silas was a man. His boss was also a man.

How could the two of them be in a relationship? My head was spinning.

I quickly composed myself and let out a feigned laugh.

"Ahaha! My apologies... I think I've had a bit too much wine tonight. Could one of you walk me home? I'm not feeling too well."

The younger of the two guards stepped forward.

"I can accompany you, Mr. Silas."

"Thank you. You can lead the way, then."

The moment we turned our backs to the building and took a few steps, the massive door behind us creaked open slightly.

Ice vines shot out from the darkness, dragging the remaining guard inside with a silent scream.

Now he was dead, too.

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