"NOOOO—!" The rat-faced bandit tried to run.

He made it three steps before Rustina launched herself from Bella's shoulder.

SPLAT!

The pink slime landed directly on his face, covering his nose and mouth like a suffocating mask.

"MMMPH! MMMMMPH!"

He clawed at her, fingers sinking into the gelatinous mass, but it was like trying to grab water. His movements became frantic, panicked, as he stumbled backward, unable to breathe.

And then his head started dissolving.

Not slowly. Fast.

The skin on his face bubbled and peeled away, revealing muscle and bone beneath. His screams turned into wet gurgles as his throat melted. Blood poured from where his lips used to be.

Kaida turned her head away. "Oh gods..."

Viktor watched, expressionless.

'Damn...'

Within ten seconds, everything above the neck was gone. Just a clean stump at the shoulders, blood still pumping from severed arteries for a moment before the body collapsed.

Rustina bounced off the corpse, landing with a satisfied boing. "Kyuu!"

The young bandit with the axe was already running, crashing through the underbrush like a wounded animal.

Viktor sighed, but rather than feeling fear or any other emotion, he saw a future. A future where he just got his hands on something that might be worthwhile. "Rusty. Can you do that too?"

"Kyuu!"

The purple slime shot forward—not transforming this time, just moving with terrifying speed. It launched itself through the air, a purple blur, and latched onto the fleeing bandit's ankle mid-stride.

The bandit screamed, falling face-first into the dirt.

"NO! NO NO NO—PLEASE—"

Rusty climbed up his leg, over his back, and settled on his face.

The screaming stopped almost immediately.

Dissolved. Clean. Efficient.

When Rusty bounced back, there was no blood. No evidence. Just a headless body slumped in the dirt.

Viktor finally pushed himself to his feet, pulling Kaida up with him via the chain. His shoulder ached from the fall, and his ribs throbbed where Kaida's knee had landed, but he ignored it.

He looked at the two slimes—Rusty and Rustina—sitting side by side, their cute faces staring up at him expectantly.

"...Good job?" Viktor tried.

"Kyuu kyuu!" They bounced happily.

Kaida stared at them, then at Viktor, then back at them. "Those... are killing machines."

Bella, who'd been frozen in shock this entire time, finally found her voice. "S-Sir Viktor... the bandit leader said something before he..."

Viktor's expression darkened. "Yeah. I heard."

"I was ordered to clean the village before that priestess arrive."

A priestess.

Here.

Viktor's mind raced. In the original timeline, Seraphina, Leo's first heroine and the saintess with healing powers, would never come to this shithole territory. There was no reason for her to.

This place was worthless, and given her personality, she would most probably be busy in the capital.

So it was atleast not her but random priestess.

Viktor's eyes shifted. Not toward the carnage scattered around them—the headless corpses, the blood-soaked earth—but back.

Back toward the hollow tree they'd emerged from. The entrance to that twisted underground mist.

His jaw tightened.

The demonic mist. That thick, corrupting fog that had tried to swallow them whole. It was still down there, festering. Growing. Contaminating everything it touched including the village fertility for crop growth.

And he had no way to purify it—atleast that's what he thought.

Divine healing. Divine energy. That's what he needed. The kind of power that could burn away corruption at its root. The kind of power he didn't have and couldn't get.

Unless...

A grin spread across his face. Slow. Dangerous.

'What will be 100x of a divine ability?'

"Is something dirty going inside your mind again?"

Viktor's head snapped toward Kaida. She was staring at him with that mix of suspicion and exasperation he was starting to recognize. Her arms were crossed, one eyebrow raised.

"Come on, what are you saying?" Viktor said, his voice light. Innocent.

He slowly knelt, and both slimes—Rusty and Rustina—immediately bounced toward him. They launched themselves onto his shoulders, one on each side, their gelatinous bodies settling comfortably like living scarves.

"Kyuu!"

"Kyuuu~!"

Viktor stood, adjusting his weight. The slimes were surprisingly light despite their... appetites.

Kaida rubbed her temple, exhaling through her nose like she was trying to calm herself. "It seems the monastery has decided to take this route."

Viktor's grin faltered. "Wait. Do you know something?"

Kaida's expression shifted—serious now, the playful annoyance gone. "Last time when I was investigating, priests from the monastery were searching for something in the countryside. As per the prophecy given by the saintess."

Viktor blinked.

Then blinked again.

"What?"

His voice came out sharper than intended. His mind raced, pulling apart everything he knew about the original timeline. There was no prophecy. Nothing like that. Seraphina—the saintess in Leo's harem—wasn't the type to give cryptic prophecies. She was a healer. A warrior of light. Direct. Blunt.

Prophecies were...

His thoughts screeched to a halt.

'Cassandra.'

The Oracle. The fifth heroine. The one who could see the future.

But only for those who bore ill intent toward her or the people she cared about.

It made sense that whatever they were searching for based on the prophecy could cause problems for Leo.

Viktor's tail, hidden beneath his shirt and wrapped around his waist like a makeshift belt, twitched. He forced it still.

"What was the prophecy?" His voice turned firm. Cold. The casual mask slipping as he just needed to confirm it.

Kaida noticed the shift. Her posture straightened, her own expression hardening in response. When Viktor got serious, it usually meant something bad was coming.

"It was..." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "A prophecy that something big is about to happen within the countryside borders. Something that will change the power balance between the kingdoms. Or something like that."

Her words slowed. Then stopped.

Her eyes—sharp, calculating—drifted from Viktor's face to the slimes perched on his shoulders. Rusty and Rustina sat there, innocent and cute, their round eyes blinking at her.

Then her gaze dropped lower.

To the bulge under Viktor's shirt. Right at his waist.

Her lips parted slightly.

His tail.

Her eyes widened, just a fraction.

"Hey..." Kaida's voice came out uncertain. Almost hesitant. "Don't tell me... was that prophecy about these—"

"Let's leave. It's already night."

Viktor's voice cut through hers like a blade. Sharp. Final.

Kaida's mouth snapped shut. She looked up—really looked—and realized the sun had dipped below the horizon.

The sky was bleeding orange and purple, shadows stretching long across the forest floor.

Night was coming fast.

She nodded. "...Right."

Bella, who'd been standing a few steps back this entire time, moved forward. Her movements were small. Hesitant.

She clutched her own elbow, her cat ears flat against her skull, tail wrapped around her leg.

She hadn't done anything during the fight.

Couldn't do anything.

No awakened ability. No combat skills. Just a slave who'd been told how to pierce soemthing with knife.

She watched Viktor's back as he started walking, the slimes bouncing cheerfully on his shoulders.

Watched Kaida fall into step beside him, the chain between them clinking softly with each movement.

Two people, chained together as if fate had placed them together, while she stood away, just looking at them from afar, having nothing about her that could be considered worth.

Bella's hands clenched into fists.

Useless.

The word echoed in her head, bitter and heavy.

She muttered under her breath, her voice barely audible over the rustling leaves.

"So I am really useless to them..."

She looked towards the empty sky, her yellow eyes hollow as she seemed to realize how she was just being a burden.

"Should I return to... Lady Elena?"

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