Escape

Since I put this on ff.net as well, it only makes sense that this belongs here too. I originally wrote this story for xRO, a fanboard for RO hentai and whatnot. Google it, if you will.

I do not own Ragnarok Online.

Onwards!

---

The perfect target was found. It was of the rare, illusive type whose charm was its purity. There was something so gratifying about destroying beautiful things. It had been tracked for a while now, still unaware of the predator’s presence.

The person looked absolutely peaceful in the corner. There were no disturbances, as if nothing could go wrong. To leap now at the person would be fine, as the predator knew that it would easily win. But where was the joy in an empty victory, when there was no struggle, no chance of the prey escaping? All the satisfaction would be gone and the entire process would have gone to waste.

The prey had to fear. Fear for its life, fear for whatever the target held dear. Without
that fear, without that drive, there would be no satisfaction for the victor…

---

His number one favorite spot was the Amatsu labyrinth. Perhaps it was a little out of the way, seeing that it was on another continent, but he found that he thought the most clearly in this place. Whenever there was something that bothered him for a long, long time he would come here and simply meditate to try to get an answer.

His full name was Ken Dessen, a young, recently ascended priest. Within the church he was called Father Dessen, and among his closer friends there he was just known as Brother Ken. Those outside of the church simply called him Ken, and he was fine with that. He did his best to live a righteous life. Of course, there were times when he stumbled but those times were often few and far in between.

He was resting in the corner of the room. The tatami mats were a little bit strange whenever he sat on them for reasons that he could not point out, but it was never strange in a bad way. Something about this place was just calming.

Maybe it was because he had somehow managed to befriend one of those girls in long purple kimonos. A large majority of the population called them demons, for they were possessed by something. Most would try to subdue them to exorcise it from the girls’ bodies, but the demons would simply return after they had recovered their strength. He never really tried to defeat one because of that fact; it bothered him that there was so little he could do against this continual demonic possession.

The girl he managed to befriend, however, was a little different. Instead of trying to fight off the possession after so many times, she simply gave into its demand. With some sort of magic, she had somehow managed to combine with the demon. Ken knew her because she had asked him to watch over and make sure that she would be okay in the end; if things became too dangerous, he was to subdue her. Luckily, it did not turn out that way. The combination was successful and in the end they formed a sort of symbiotic relation with each other.

“More tea, Onii-chan?” her voice surprised him. Perhaps it was because he was simply staring off into space, but somehow he had completely forgotten that she was next to him. She had an accent, but he was able to understand after being around her for a while. Not only that, but she always called him by that name. He asked her the meaning of the term once, but she simply said that it was a way to address males who were older than her. It had caused him to wonder just how old she was. She looked like she was in her late teenage years, maybe less than a year younger than him. The name felt a little strange for him and he had once asked her to simply call him Ken, but she blushed and fiercely refused to, bringing an end to that conversation.

“No, thank you,” he politely refused, “I think I’ve had enough for one day. More importantly, Kazami, how are you doing? It was not very long ago that you combined with that demon. It must not have been more than three months.”

“Sometimes I become a little aggressive, but beyond that it’s nothing.” Her black hair was long enough to touch the floor from her kneeling position and her youthful face almost always carried a smile on it. Her deep purple kimono cascaded around her body, almost looking like waterfalls. If she were to take a walk on the streets, not many, if any, would be able to realize that she was different. In fact, the only thing that he noticed that separated her from normal people was that her eyes were golden, perhaps the only sign that something else was living within her.

“Are you sure that there’s nothing else beyond that? Even if it seems a little strange, the Church has asked me to not only watch over you but to also observe any developments to help understand this mystery.”

“Onii-chan, I’m not a case study,” she curtly replied and pouted a little bit.

“I told them that too, but they didn’t want to take no for an answer.”

“Well, it’s good that you don’t treat me differently.” She blushed a little bit. “And at least they had the right notion to send you. I’m not sure how I would feel if they sent a complete stranger for the task.” She shifted herself so that she was a little closer to him. He didn’t notice just how close she was until she rested her head against his shoulder.

This was the hard part. He had known that during the short time they had together she had grown close to him. In a sense he knew it was inevitable; not only were they around the same age, but such close contact with each other was bound to cause something to grow. Not to mention that she had admitted that he was attractive.

He had never given his looks much thought. He always believed that he was somewhat average in the area. A little thin with grassy light blonde hair, many had commented on how he still looked a little boyish and tend to under-guess his age, but there was nothing he could do about that. He had sharp blue eyes, the one thing that stood out from young face. The only thing that bothered him about his image was how some people made fun of his lack of height. He was a bit on the short side, just how much he did not know, but he knew that the average male was at least several inches taller than him.

“Kazami,” his voice was a little more serious now. “You know that we can’t do this.”

There was a small sigh. “I know.”

She didn’t sound very convincing. “I’m a priest of the Church of Prontera. We’re supposed to remain chaste.”

“I know.”

“So you know that I must ask you to not lean on me.”

“I know.”

She didn’t move from her position and he sighed. If anything, she may have actually gotten closer, as it was not just her head that was against him now, but she was now holding onto his arm with hers. “It’s just that this… this church thing, I do not understand why they would impose such a rule.” Her grip tightened and she looked up at him. “I do not like it! I do not like it at all!”

It was his turn to sigh now. “There is nothing I can do about it, Kazami.”

There was a short silence between them. She was still holding onto him, as if he would disappear from her grasp forever. There was something about her near childish honesty that attracted him; she had this cute semi-naïve streak running in her. But he knew that while the relationship may work out, it would be the end of his career as a priest.

“Oni… Ken-chan, what happens when a priest… you know, does it with someone?” she blushed a little bit.

He paused for a moment wondering why she had called him by his name. She was too embarrassed to do so before. “What makes you call me Ken-chan now?”

“W-Well,” she had a sheepish smile, “in our culture, you only call a person by their first name if you’re close to each other.”

It took him some time to respond to her other question as he saw the deeper meaning of her statement.

“If the person is found out, then he or she is immediately expelled from the church. I don’t really know what happens after that though, besides that the person’s power diminishes as well.”

She lit up. “Then that’s okay, right? You can just quit and we can be together! They’re not going to hurt you! And it’s not like you can get killed so easily, right?”

“It doesn’t work that way. It’s true that the Kafra System is usually able to keep you from permanent death, but that luxury is only available for adventurers. If I were to leave the church, the only thing that could save me from death is a Resurrection spell.”

“But that’s okay! We can just live at a quiet place somewhere here. You won’t have to go where there are monsters!”

“But-”

“See? You can still live a life after you leave!” she seemed pleased with her conclusion. “You just have to-“ suddenly her face turned grim and quickly moved herself behind him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone… Someone was watching us.” She was absolutely terrified. Most people still attacked her, thinking that she was just another possessed girl. Although she usually escaped with ease, there were some that were fierce and nearly killed her before realizing that she was different.

“Was?”

“I-I don’t know how long the person was there. I couldn’t detect them until now.” She was shaking. “I have to go! Hopefully I will see you again soon.” She drew a circle in the air with her finger and sank into the floor. Within a second it was as if she was never there in the first place, having taken her tea set with her as well.

He got up from the floor and looked towards the entrance in the room. Despite the hidden walls and entrances, this was a room in which there were two entrances and neither was hidden. “Who’s there?” he shouted out.

“Looks like the little priest boy has an admirer.” The voice belonged to a woman. She stepped out from behind the wall, her outfit showing that she was a huntress. She was dressed almost completely in black and dark, thin sunglasses that hung on the edge of her nose, revealing green eyes. Her hair was the only thing that was not black, which was light brown. He couldn’t tell much about her beyond that, but she had a dangerous smile on, was at least a whole head taller than him, and probably a few years older. “I suppose that makes this much better for me.”

“What do you want?” There wasn’t much that he could do. Since he was more suited towards support in battle, a direct head-to-head confrontation was bound to be ugly for him. He could maybe reduce the fight to a standstill but beyond that there was not much he could do. He never brought butterfly wings with him as he could simply teleport around, but this labyrinth did not allow it. He would have to outrun her.

She took out her bow. “Now then, I’m only going to say this once.” She notched an arrow and pointed it at him. “Drop your pants.”

“What?” At first it confused him, but anger replaced it. “I’m a priest! You dare suggest that I do such a thing?”

She quickly adjusted her aim and let go of the arrow. For a moment he thought it would hit him until it whizzed by his ear. “That was a warning shot.”

He concluded that reasoning was no longer an option and drew a pentagram. “Pneuma!” At least he would be safe from the arrows. If he cast them within short distance of each other, then perhaps he had a chance of escaping. If he remembered, this caused arrows to simply go through him, causing no damage. The only problem was that it only lasted for maybe a minute, sometimes less.

“Ah, yes, that spell.” She pulled out another arrow from her quiver. “Thankfully I did some research on it.” Notching it, she took aim and fired. Once again the arrow harmlessly passed through him, but this time a black small black mist arose from where it would have hit. Drifting around a little, he stared in horror as it struck his throat before disappearing. He had seen this type of magic before.

She had that dangerous smile on again. “Now try casting your spell, little boy.” She put her bow away. “Oh wait, you can’t.” And it was just his luck that the spell he cast before had just run out. “I’ll give you a five second head start.”

He did not need a second warning and began to run in the opposite direction. Knowing the path was not the problem for him, as he had gone through the labyrinth so many times. However, he knew that she was now after him and that she most likely much, much faster than him. He kept running however, knowing that he knew the way better than her. If he could stay out of her vision, she might take a wrong turn and give him more time.

“You’ll have to be faster than that to outrun me, little boy!”

Was she already so close? He took another turn, a purposely wrong one, and hid next to the pathway entrance. Hearing her heavy footsteps, he waited right until she entered and then sprung into action. He took quick aim and delivered a speedy punch to the face. There was some sort of a crunch or shattering noise, but he ignored it as he had caught her off guard. She made a surprised utterance before falling to the ground and he started running again.

“I like prey that fight back, but enough of this child’s play.”

He was almost out of the place. It was only a little further. He could even see the guard that let him into the area in the labyrinth. Suddenly, however, he fell. Something had caught onto his leg. Turning over and looking down, a rope had somehow tied itself around his foot. Without further warning, it began to drag him back into the labyrinth. He tried to grab a hold of something, but it kept him clear from the corners; apparently this was not just any rope.

“Thought you could get away, could you?” The rope was coiled around one of her arms, and in her free hand were her sunglasses, although now broken. “I liked this pair, you know. You’re a little stronger than you look.” She put them away into her backpack.

At last the hex lifted itself from him. He sputtered a little bit before speaking. “What do you want from me? You can’t be serious about that pants thing!”

“It’s the least you owe me for the sunglasses.” She was serious and walked towards him. He tried to get up and run again but she gave him a swift kick at his side, causing him to crumple to the ground in pain. She rolled him over with her feet onto his back before straddling his waist. “You were a fun one to chase,” she said to him.
“You’re fairly quick and you’re not afraid to do some crazy stuff.”

“Is that supposed to be some sort of sick compliment?” he yelled. What was wrong with this girl? He threw a quick punch at her, but this time she was ready for it. Grabbing his wrist with one hand, she slammed it against the ground and with her other hand she pierced an arrow through his coat sleeve near his wrist. Before he knew it, she had pinned down his other hand as well. “Unhand me!”

“But you’re my trophy,” she trailed a finger across his jaw line. “I’m not going to let you go just yet.” Her hand moved down onto his chest, fingering the buttons. “Besides, this is where the fun begins.” Taking out a knife, she placed it under one of the buttons and slowly cut the thread wrapping through it.

“Stop that!” this was not happening! “This clothing is sacred! You can’t do that!” He was beginning to become frantic.

“Careful now,” she slid a hand under his coat. “Don’t want to move around too wildly with this knife lying around.” Her fingers trailed up and down his chest, tying his stomach into a knot. She slowly continued to cut away at his buttons. With each button removed, her hand explored further and further.

There had to be some way out. He could try to slip his hands through his sleeves, but there was no doubt that she would immediately catch him. There were no strong offensive spells for him to use and his legs were useless in this situation.

“I know you’re still trying to get escape,” her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “So, let’s occupy that mind of yours for a little bit, shall we?” Cutting away at the last button she suddenly pulled the clothing to the side, letting the cold air hit his exposed chest. Taking her hands she began to play upon his skin. “That’s rare, a priest with a flat stomach. Normally they’re a little bit round, seeing as they don’t do as much physical stuff.”

He blushed uncomfortably at the comment. “This is neither the time nor the place for that! Why are you doing this?”

She leaned in and started placing kisses on his chest, making him even more unsettled. “Normally if I wanted sex,” her voice was a little raspier, deeper, “I’d just head to a bar or something. But sometimes, regular sex just doesn’t cut it. Sex for the sake of sex is lacking in emotion. And every now and then, I see some guy that I know I just… shouldn’t touch.” She pushed her breasts against him and she began to nip away at his neck. “And I want to. There’s something about them that just makes me want them to so badly.”

“And I’m,” he could feel his heart beating faster, “I’m one of them?”

She smiled at him once again, “That should be self-explanatory.” One of her hands had snaked its way down into his pants and he jerked at the sudden contact.

“Please stop this!” he was in full out panic mode now. He could feel her hand grasping him, feeling him up along his length.

“Hmm… this could be problematic.” She stood up above him.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.” Unbuttoning her pants, she slid everything off, leaving her naked from the waist down. His face turned red and he looked away. He wasn’t supposed to see such things!

She examined her black panties before crumpling it into a ball. “Looks like you got me all wet without doing anything. Just shows how badly I want you.” She returned to her straddling position on top of him. “Hey, little boy, look at me.”

He refused to face her. “If you keep going, I’ll scream.”

“Just what I wanted to hear; I dare you.”

The moment he opened his mouth was when she hurriedly stuffed her panties deeply into it. His eyes opened, shocked that she had moved so quickly and that such a… a thing was even in contact with him. There was a strange scent and taste coming from it and he did not like either of them. Gagged, he knew that it could only go downhill from here.

“Oh, your look was adorable. That shock in your eyes, it was lovely.” She quickly undid his belt and pulled down his pants, leaving him exposed.

“Now then, let’s see how big of a prize I’ve caught.” She lightly began to stroke him. He tensed up again, knowing that no matter how much he knew that it was wrong, there was no way that he could not become aroused. He could feel himself becoming harder and harder.

“Wow,” he heard her say. “What are you doing in a church? You should be going around making girls happy with the size of your cock, little boy. Or perhaps you’ve outgrown that name?” He blushed even more at her vulgar language. “Let’s see then… If an inch is this big, then… one, two, three…” The rest she counted to herself and he was glad that she did.

“So big and hard. I can’t believe that you chose to be a priest with the size of your cock.” Would she please stop saying that? “I don’t think I’ve had one this big before.” Sitting up straight, she placed her opening at the base of his shaft and began to move up and down. He let out a muffled moan, but quickly silenced himself again.

“Oh, I want to hear that again.” She put more pressure on him this time, stroking him more vigorously. He couldn’t breathe straight anymore; they were heavy breaths and mixed with moans. There was this slick sound every time she moved. “How are you doing, little boy? Not going to come too early, will you?”

He shut his eyes, doing his best to focus on something else. “Look at you, trying to deny yourself,” he heard her say. “It’s absolutely adorable.” She stopped, giving him a moment to catch his breath. “But if you think that felt good,” she got onto her knees and this time placed her opening at the head, letting in a little bit. “Wait till you feel this.”

Slowly, very slowly, she began to push down until the head was inside. All the while, he bit down as hard as he could against the disgusting thing of a gag. He didn’t want to make another sound, didn’t want to give her what she wanted so badly.

“Are you ready, little boy?”

He shut his eyes as she quickly took him into her, but he could not stop his voice.

“Mmph!”

“That! That’s what I wanted to hear!” She slowly pushed down until there was no more to take. “Looks like I could take all of you, little boy,” she roughly said. “Oh, your cock feels so good...” She began to slowly move up and down. “And those noises you’re making… my goodness, delicious!”

He could do no more in holding back his voice; it was acting on its own accord. He was ashamed that he could not stop himself from enjoying this… this vulgar act! How could he be aroused by such shameful things? It was warm, wet, hot, and something that he couldn’t fully describe.

“Oh!” she paused for a moment, before turning to him with a smile. “What was that?” What was what? What did he do? “You’re moving on your own.”

As soon as he realized that what she was saying was indeed true, he immediately stopped. Even though he told himself that such a thing was horrible, so vulgar and bad, he could not control his own body. It felt good, he hated to admit. But it was the truth.

“Don’t stop now. We’re getting to the fun part.” She started to slowly move again. She would go up, and then come back down and pause a little. She let the feeling go away before starting again. He shuddered and moaned, and each time he did the huntress gave a small fulfilled moan or laugh, reveling in her defilement of him.

But despite all these things, these atrocities being done unto him, he refused to look. If there was one thing that in the end he could preserve about himself, it was that he didn’t want to see what was happening. His eyes were shut tight. Were they watering? He was not sure, but with each push and pull he was moving with her, the one thing that gave away the fact that he could no longer resist her, that his doctrine had been tossed away and he was now reveling in the forbidden things.

He didn’t know how long she went on, but at some point in time he was able to tell that her pace had quickened. “Oh, little boy… little boy!” Her voice was rich with pleasure. With the hastening of the pace, he could feel something… coming. He panicked. Was this what it felt like? He knew what was going to happen, but he had never experienced it before. It was good, he would not deny that it felt good, but in a sense he feared what was going to inevitably happen.

She began to move uncontrollably, and her insides gripped tightly around him as she rapidly moved up and down. She moaned loudly over and over again; soon it was too much for him to bear. He found himself crossing the line as well; he would have cried out loud if it wasn’t for the gag and his arms would have moved on their own if they were not so restrained. In a sense he was glad that he was unable to do either, that she couldn’t hear him through her own cries and that she couldn’t see him writhe in complete and utter pleasure. He didn’t know how long that moment was; only that it felt amazing and horrifying at the same time.

Time seemed to pass irregularly as he lay there, trying to catch his breath, but he could feel her splayed across him. “Oh, little boy, you’re good at holding out.” She finally said, breathing heavily, “Some men just come too quickly, but you… you’re something else.” She pulled herself of his now half hard member. If he focused, he could feel a lot of something dripping down onto it.

“Take a look at your handiwork, little boy.” He didn’t bother averting his eyes this time, nor did he try to close them. There was something different now; no matter how much he didn’t see, nothing could deny the inevitable. She leaned in to whisper into his ear. “You’ve dumped quite a lot of cum into me. It must have been overflowing before you finished cumming. And it felt amazing.” Was that what they called it out on the streets? Cum? That white stuff that was dripping down from her onto him?

“Once is not enough, little boy, I have to take you again. But first, we need to take care of this half-hard cock of yours.” She moved herself down, bringing her head next to his member. “Oh, there’s so much cum on you.” He no longer found himself bashful or embarrassed by her language; he was apathetic to it now. “Take a look now, before it all disappears.”

He watched as she slowly began to lick his shaft, starting from the very base before going to the very top. He twitched and moaned as she cleaned him, taking every drop of that… cum into her mouth and swallowing before starting up again. Before long, he could feel his blood rushing back down there and he heard her soft laugh of victory; she had touched the untouchable. As he reached full length once again, she changed things. Instead of simple licks now, she had enveloped the entire top of his member in her mouth and started to move up and down. Her tongue was doing something on its own, stroking the sides of him; whatever was not in reach of her mouth she used her hand to stroke. His moans had come back.

If he looked closely, each time she moved down she went a little further, taking him more and more into her mouth until there was nothing left to take. The huntress pulled off slowly, taking extra care to use her tongue on as much skin as possible. When she was at the head again she delicately licked and sucked out whatever was left, knowing that he was watching her.

Taking a finger, she wiped away a dab of cum that was on the side of her mouth and licked it. “Mmm… delicious,” something in his head registered that they were going to start once more. “And it looks like you’re ready to go again.” Positioning herself over him a second time, she plunged the member into her, crying out when it was all the way in. Instead of sitting up, however, she leaned over his body, her face over his. As she moved up and down, their cries were low and soft. His eyes were open now.

“Oh, those eyes, those blue eyes. They’re so broken, I love it.” She was in her own kind of heaven. A hand snaked up to him and took out the gag, tossing it aside. He took a gasp of fresh air. “I want to hear you scream,” she moaned into his ear. “I want to hear what a broken priest sounds like.”

For the rest of the time, they were face to face. She stared at him as he broke down into a shadow of himself, a beast controlled by its carnal desires. At some point in the midst of the pleasure, she spoke. “You see… sex, it’s not a sin,” she managed to say in between moans. “It’s an instinct… something passed on by generations.” He could do nothing as she whispered those words into his ears. “Our parents did it… and our grandparents did it… and so on and so forth.”

“For us… the offspring of so many generations of… of sex…” She leaned in closer to him, so close that her mouth was next to his ear. “It’s only natural for us to do it.”

For some reason, what she said made disturbing sense to him. “Now then, little boy, I’m close… And I can tell that you are too.” He half-consciously nodded. “When you cum… when you let lose inside of me… I want you to scream out loud, hold nothing back.”

Her hips suddenly began to move much, much faster. Faster than last time. With no gag in his mouth, he found that it was natural to let out a loud, heavy moan repeatedly. Each fierce stroke up and down brought him closer, closer, closer until he was at the very boundary of his limits and pushed him over it.

“Scream for me, little boy!”

He found that the only natural reaction to such feeling was to scream. He could see her now, see her face lost in pleasure of both his member and his voice, losing to her own carnal beast and giving off her own loud yell. For that one moment, where they were both lost to their own bodily desires, everything around them seemed to stop.

How much time had passed he did not know but he was now aware of his surroundings once again. The huntress was leaning back, her arms supporting her. “Little boy,” she seemed aware that he was fully conscious. “You were amazing. Definitely one of the best ones I’ve had in a long time.”

He remained silent.

“Normally, such an encounter wouldn’t warrant anything afterwards, but you’re something different.” Her hand weaved some sort of design into the air and a small red ball of light formed. Grabbing it, she pushed it into his chest. It burned for a moment and he grimaced but the feeling soon disappeared.

“Well then, I’ll be heading out of here.” Standing up, she picked up her pants, but she left her underwear on his chest. “You can have this as something to remind you of this day.” Pulling the pants back on, she took out a butterfly wing and lightly blew on it. They began to flutter and scales from the wings enshrouded her before she disappeared.

For some time the only noise was his own breath. She was no longer there and he could remove snake his arms out of his coat and escape, but he did nothing. He was trapped in his own mind, asking himself if this encounter truly did happen, for it was almost too surreal for him to believe. It was the cold air that eventually brought him back to his senses.

After retracting his arms through the sleeves, the first thing that came to mind was putting his pants back on. He paused in doing so, however, after seeing the fluids on his waist. He didn’t have anything to wipe it off with and he would have to put on his pants anyway. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the undergarments over, seeing the fluids begin to stick it and make stains. There was so much, it almost made him sick when he realized that most of the strange liquid was produced by him. When he finally brought himself to clothe his lower body, he turned to deal with the mess that was his robe.

It was completely ruined. The buttons were lying everywhere and the thread that kept them on the piece of clothing was cut. The two arrows going through the sleeves would leave holes on both sides. All those things could be repaired, but the greatest issue was the stain on the back. While they were black, he feared that the stain would be visible even after washing them. And even if he did wash them and remove the stain, they were still considered defiled. In the end he would not only have to discard it in exchange for a new one, but also tell why it had to be discarded.

But that was the only thing he had to wear on the way out. He could teleport away back to his quarters in the church, but he first had to leave the labyrinth. Pulling out the arrows, he picked up the robe and put it on. He did not bother looking for the buttons, as he knew that even if he found them they would do no good for him. Grabbing the opposite side of the robe, he pulled it over his chest, so that at least he looked presentable.

He left the room. As he passed the sliding door, he heard soft crying and a familiar presence swept over him. He did not turn around to face her, for he knew that she would not be able to stand his gaze.

“Kazami…” he found speech difficult. “How much did you see?”

“…Since… Since the beginning.”

For a moment, the only sound was her cries.

“I’m…I’m so sorry Ken-chan.” She sobbed, “There was nothing I could do. I-I felt how powerful she was when I first felt her presence and… there was just no way.” She let out another sob, this time louder. “If I had interfered, she… she would have overpowered me.”

“…” he closed his eyes and breathed before opening them again. “It’s okay, Kazami, you don’t have to apologize.”

“It’s not okay!” she yelled out. “She took something from you!” her breathing was rough, struggling against the hiccups. “Something that no one is supposed to have! Not even me…”

It was at this moment that he accepted the nature of what had really happened in that moment. He always knew that it happened, but he refused to believe it. He wanted to think that in the end he had given in to that woman, that she in the end tempted him and that it was his fault. He could deny it all he wanted, but there was no doubt that what he had lost was indeed something he held dear and originally had no intention of giving away.

The huntress had raped him.

“Kazami.” There was a pause in the girl’s cries. He turned around and looked at her. “I forgive you.” She must have originally been in a kneeling posture but lost composure after she started crying, as her legs had gone out to the side. Her back was against the sliding door and her hands were wet with tears that she had wiped away. At the utterance of his statement, however, she became still. He walked up and knelt down in front of her.

“Kazami, I’m your caretaker, assigned by the Church of Prontera.” He leaned over and gave her a hug. “And as your caretaker, I don’t want to see you cry. I don’t want you to worry about this.”

“B-But Ken-chan, I shouldn’t have sat still! I-I should have-”

“Shhh…” he whispered to her as he held her close. “If there was nothing you could do, then there was nothing to be done.” He had to stay strong, for both of them. “I want you to go home and rest now.” He pulled away; she was still crying but she nodded anyway. He stood up and began to walk away.

“Wh-Where will you go now?”

“… Back to Prontera. I have to report on your progress.”

“… Will you tell them... tell them what happened?”

“… In due time, they will know.” He turned around. “But remember, I don’t want you to worry about it. I will be okay.”

She didn’t make a response to him, but as he left the labyrinth and prepared to teleport himself back to Prontera, he was sure that both of them knew that it was not going to be okay.

---
---
---

And there we go. Expect the next chapter sometime soon, as it's already in the editing process.

Until next time.