Fucked up. (Citrinas POV)

Citrinas stirred in her bed as she stretched her arms out and yawned, waking up with a start while rubbing her neck. She didn't remember how she got back to bed, but she felt oddly stiff. Was Verdi messing with her again? She suddenly felt several pairs of arms wrap around her as she squeaked, finding Tomoko, Elmeria, and Alka sitting around her bed. She looked down to find that she was still wearing her usual outfit instead of her pajamas. Odd. Whenever he pulled a prank on her or had sex until she passed out, he'd at least wash her up and change her into pajamas. As she tried to grasp what happened, she remembered her odd dream. She was unsure what it meant, but pushed it away from her mind.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!" Tomoko said while hugging her tightly.

"Wha? Why are you guys here?" Citrinas asked as Alka separated from her and looked her up and down.

"You're not hurt right? Do you feel sick?" The amazonian asked quickly as Citrinas tilted her head.

"What are you guys worried about?" She asked.

"Harvin brought you, Verdi, and the hero of the hunt back saying you were all **** in a poisonous gas cloud before leaving to deal with the magic attacks hitting the city." Elmeria explained quickly as she remembered her last moments. The city was under attack and they fled to the alchemist's guild when somebody filled it with tesrakim gas. She was attacked by a tall olive skinned woman with white hair before passing out. "When we heard that, we thought you and the hero of the hunt were going to die if even Verdi couldn't handle it."

"It must be bad if both Mathias and Harvin are busy." Citrinas noted as Elmeria nodded.

"Worst attack in the city's history. Most of the temples were attacked and their treasures were stolen, Varrick's been fighting against the leader of the Company of Roses, and some nutjob even opened the Apollyon gate outside the city." She explained as Citrinas tensed up.

"Someone was stupid enough to open the Apollyon gate!?" She asked in disbelief that anyone would entertain such an idiotic idea. The forces of light and darkness fought quite often, but there were lines neither of them dared cross. Apollyon gate was one of them according to the stories.

It was a prison holding the worst monsters from the infinite multiverse that existed outside of time and space. During the worst times of the war, both sides opened them in the vain hope that whatever came out killed their enemies before they killed them. After the Orichalcum Dragon was released and required her sister, the hero of the hearth, and Demon King Rael to unite to stop it before it ended the world, everyone agreed to never open the gates again. After all, conquering the world required there be a world at the end.

"Mathias killed it, but things are bad. Someone's been firing massive attacks across the city, and he's been running around trying to stop each one." Alka said, almost proud to speak about how far her childhood friend had gone in life.

"By the way, can you release Ruya from your Domain? We have no idea what's outside the city gates, but it causes people's eyes to bleed and makes them speak in weird tongues when they look directly at it, and we want to know if Ruya has any ideas on how to get rid of the corpse." Tomoko asked as Citrinas noted the dried blood on her cheeks. It seemed whatever popped out of the Apollyon gates was quite mild this time.

"Yeah of course." Citrinas said while looking around the room, searching for a specific someone. "By the way, where did we put Verdi? I'm afraid if we leave him alone things might get worse." She said, suddenly noticing he wasn't there. Knowing him, he was just playing possum when the poisonous gas showed up and hid until Harvin arrived to save them.

"In his room. Harvin says we should let him get some rest, and that he probably doesn't want to see anyone for the next few days. He's probably traumatized by the attack." Tomoko said as Elmeria rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"You know, the 50 foot tall monster that causes your eyes to bleed when you look at it and the magical attacks shelling the city really aren't supporting our argument that the city's safer than his mountain." She said, already anticipating Verdi's mockery later. Even though he probably got away from this event scot free, he'd probably hold it over the party's heads until the end of time.

"I'll go see talk to him." Citrinas said, releasing Ruya from her domain before making her way to Verdi's assigned room. As she walked, she spotted a familiar looking olive skinned woman waiting outside, leaning on the door with her arms crossed. For some odd reason, she expected the woman's eyes to glow green. As she saw Citrinas, she seemingly tensed up before looking down at her feet with an ashamed look on her face.

"Who are you?" Citrinas asked as she walked forward, noting how tall she was. Based on how athletic she looked, she was probably a speed type fighter, but if she was in Mathias' estate she was probably a friendly. Her long white hair swayed softly as she awkwardly scratched her head.

"Fenri. The hero of the hunt I'm... I'm the one who tried to abduct you and assaulted your friend." She confessed, stumbling over her words as she spoke as Citrinas finally remembered her. She had a rather powerful mind control spell placed on her. Unless she had an immunity from a divine artifact, there was no way she'd resist it. "Harvin told me to keep your party away from him for the next three days while he cleans up the mess." She said, **** up mid-sentence as she continued looking at Citrinas' feet. Despite towering over the mage and looking like someone who ate people like Citrinas for lunch, she looked scared and skittish in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Citrinas asked as Fenri clenched her fist.

"I'm so sorry. This is my fault." She looked devastated as Citrinas just blinked, unable to process her emotions. She was mind controlled. She wasn't to blame for anything she did. Considering she was waiting outside Verdi's room, she probably smacked him around a few times for mouthing off or trying to run.

"Don't feel bad. He usually walks off most injuries. I remember you were mind controlled, so what you did wasn't your fault." Citrinas said with a shrug, not minding whatever Fenri had done. It wasn't her fault, it was the person controlling her who should be at fault. Plus, if she stabbed Verdi a few times or threw him off a roof, he'd just walk it off. Verdure and Erosarkics are known for their regenerative abilities, and Verdi's ability to recover was particularly rapid even for his species. He was probably just being a drama queen and hiding under the covers. Upon hearing Citrinas' comment, Fenri flinched, as though she'd been sucker punched in the gut just now.

"... He won't be walking away from this." She said, opening the door and letting Citrinas in. As expected, Verdi was lying in bed as he usually did to pass the time. Rather than having the covers wrapped around him, he looked different. He was clad from head to toe in bandages, all of his limbs and his lower half was missing, his intestines exposed and held in place by a the cloth bandages. There were visible gashes around his entire body, causing the bandages binding him to look uneven while his lower jaw was outright torn off. He stank of paralytic toxin, the poison seeping into the bandages and making the mere act of changing them a danger. The usual floral scent he had was gone as the stink of decay permeating the room, his body rotting from what appeared to be severe frostbite as though he'd frozen himself on accident.

"W-what happened to him?" Citrinas asked, trembling at the sight before her. His body was covered in bandages, but she had seen something like his current state before. It was a dream though. There was no way he was that mangled torso. She pinched her cheek and felt pain, realizing that this was no dream. Yet, she couldn't accept the sight before her. He could heal from anything. So why was he just lying there slowly rotting?

"The Huntress' Cloak is an Angelic Blessing acquired when the hero of the hunt loses a Hunt against a target weaker than them." Fenri began, **** up for a minute as she saw Verdi's current state. Even though she was unharmed, she looked like she was the one that was going to die.

"Why are you telling me thi-"

"Huntress' Cloak gives a variety of buffs plus the ability to inflict a debuff called Thousand Cuts. Upon inflicting 1,000 strikes, they can steal an attribute for 72 hours or permanently if the target... Can't hold out." Fenri continued, spewing on about some random worthless trivia while Citrinas reached to her coat, fishing around for a potion. She clicked her tongue to find somebody removed all her potions from her coat. She quickly casted a domain spell, entering her domain and grabbing an elixir before returning to Verdi's side. Just one drop and he'll be back on his feet and complaining how cold it was again. As she uncorked the bottle, Fenri stopped her, the hero's large arms trembling. No. Not this again. This scene only happened in her nightmares. She didn't have to conserve potions anymore. The war was over.

"Don't. You'll just waste the potion." She said, her words causing Citrinas' heart to sink. This was real life. The war was over. She didn't have to reserve potions and choose who got to live or die anymore. Fenri didn't know what she was saying.

"No, no, this is an elixir. It could heal any injury as long as he's still alive." She said, struggling against Fenri's arm as she tried to pour the fluid on him. She just needed to pour it. That was it. Just pour it, and everything would be solved. "Let go before I make you." She said, ready to fire a spell as Fenri looked down again. It was strange. Usually, it was Citrinas who couldn't look people in the eye.

"I stole his ability to regenerate. He physically can't heal from his injuries. For the next 3 days We already tried healing magic and potions. Nothing works." She finally said, her words like a punch to the face as Citrinas completely shut down, setting the elixir down on the nightstand as she tried to process her emotions. This... This wasn't supposed to happen. This was the safest city in the world. He was right next to her the entire time. Why did this happen? It didn't make sense. She couldn't understand why this happened.

As she thought this, she saw the faintest silhouette of a man at the corner of her eye. Looking up, he faded away as quickly as he appeared. She knew who he was.

He'd be back.

"Why did you have to go this far to stop him?" She asked, unable to look at the bandaged body. "Why couldn't you just break a leg or knock him out? Why would you do this to him?" She asked, trying to make sense of the events. He was a low leveled alchemist. He wasn't a threat to anyone. He was a monster, but he never killed or hurt anyone. He didn't deserve this.

"I was ordered to capture you two. He didn't stop when I stabbed him, poisoned him, strangled him, or dismembered him. Even when I did... Did this to him, he didn't stop." Fenri answered, **** up again as she spoke of what she had done. Citrinas knew it wasn't Fenri's fault, but it still stung to hear how far she went to stop him.

"He's always been a persistent one." Citrinas said in a hushed voice, trying to stay calm. The one thing he excelled in more than anything was resilience. He always complained that even if he could regenerate, he still felt pain. She never really understood how high his pain tolerance was until she saw how far Fenri had to go to pacify him. A silence fell over the room as Fenri swallowed, speaking once more.

"... He did stop for a moment. For a full minute, he stopped fighting against me and spent the entire time screaming from the pain when I first did this to him." She confessed, breaking the silence. Citrinas was unsure if this was the hero of the hunt trying to avoid seeming weak or if this was just some sort of admission of guilt. Either way, she didn't think less of Verdi for cracking if this was his limit.

"Anyone would be screaming after this." Citrinas said while throwing another glance at Verdi's wrapped body. Fenri just continued talking as though Citrinas wasn't there.

"He stopped screaming and started attacking me again when I tried to grab you." She said, likely misinterpreting Verdi's actions. He was a self centered person who placed himself at the top priority of everything. He even admitted and took pride in it whenever he got the chance. There was no way he was protecting her. Plus, he was an alchemist fighting against the hero of the hunt. She was quite literally the best hero at defeating mages. Anyone would run from such an impossible fight.

"He was probably trying to fend you off or run away, and protected me out of happenstance." Citrinas said without thinking, explaining away Verdi's actions. She didn't know why she said it aloud, she just wanted to clear the air. He didn't end up like this because of her. Suddenly, Fenri stopped shrinking and straightened her back, her eyes going from apologetic to pure shock as she looked to Citrinas.

"You actually want to say that about him after seeing him like this?" She asked, clenching her fist so tightly that her fingernails cut her palm. Despite breaking skin, she never bled, Verdi's absurd healing rate keeping her in peak health at all times. Citrinas couldn't understand why she was suddenly so angry. It wasn't as though she was saying he was a bad person or that he had betrayed her. It was the logical choice for him to run, he gave ample warning he'd abandon her if he were in danger, and regularly said he disliked her.

"What happened to him was a tragedy. I'm furious that this happened, but he isn't the type of person to save people. I'm not saying that's a bad thing either." Citrinas admitted, unwilling to back down. Seeing him this injured made her angry, but she also wasn't going to delude herself into thinking he got this injured for her. He was out for himself. As a monster, that wasn't something she should fault him for since that was just his nature. In fact, she loved that about him. She was done seeing people die protecting her. This event was like he'd been hit by a meteor or a cart ran him over. Bad luck. She'd be angry or sad if he died, but she feel guilty by his ****. Before she could explain herself, Fenri struck.