Sana POV:
'I need to get faster...'
Sana thought as the daggers in her hands moved faster. Her feline eyes narrowed, and the power within her surged. The target in front of her quickly disintegrated into pieces. Sana exhaled as the power slowly returned to her.
With gleaming eyes, she looked at her dagger, the one she had earned in the realm with the information Austin had provided. Thinking of him, a loving blush spread across her cute face, and her cat-like tail and ears wiggled.
Sitting on the ground, she took out her water and began taking sips, her mind focused on the orders Austin had given them.
'I need to get stronger...'
He had instructed them all to become stronger, to climb the ranks quickly while making as much noise as possible. And she, for one, was not about to let down Austin, her savior, her friend, her big brother, and... someone she had come to love.
Just the thought of Austin brought butterflies to her stomach, her mind filled with emotions she had come to understand. Leaning against the wall of her training room, memories of the past flooded Sana's mind. The troubles she had experienced, clawing at her.
'It was hell...'
Both she and her big sister, Rina, were part of a specialized experiment to bring out hidden powers and abilities present in beastmen. The head of the experiment believed that each beastman had an innate power that was yet to be awakened, a deeper potential of the beast within them.
Sana could recall those sad days, the pain that filled her heart, the sounds of agony and despair. In truth, she remembered very little of her early life. By the time she could understand anything, she was already in a cage, alongside others like her. From then on, her nightmare began, with cruel experiments pushing their minds to the limit.
The aim was to awaken the inner beast within all beastmen, to unlock something innate within them. They were raised to kill each other in the end, subjected to every mental trauma possible. Soon, many of them started awakening unique abilities related to their lineage, becoming more beast-like.
Sana survived this ordeal, but she didn't do it alone. Along her path of torture, she encountered her big sister, Rina, who soon became family within the world they lived in. Sana knew that forming a family was just another weakness for themselves, another route those twisted individuals could exploit to break their minds.
As years passed, the pain in her mind lessened. Time seemed to move fast, and before she knew it, only a few of them were left in the experiment. Many had died due to the mental pressure, while those who survived developed certain special traits, albeit with the backlash of turning into mindless beasts of slaughter.
Only a few managed to keep their minds clear and retain their special abilities. Sana and Rina were among that group. There were seven of them, and they planned to escape the hell they lived in. Throughout their lives, they had never seen anything beyond the confines of the walls. Only whispers of the great skies reached their ears, teased by their tormentors, who would offer hope and then snatch it away.
All of them were monsters, brought into existence to break their minds. But one day, an opportunity arose, and the seven of them executed the plan they had devised long ago. The ironic thing was that it was Sana and Rina who escaped while the others perished.
A single tear rolled down Sana's cheek, which she quickly wiped away. Her legs spread apart, she continued to be consumed by the memories. She had already shed countless tears in the past, and now there were no more tears left to give.
'To think we survived...'
Surviving the facility was not the end for them. Sana and Rina soon found themselves in the desert, experiencing something other than cold steel walls for the first time. However, fate played a cruel trick on them, as this new experience almost became their undoing. They knew nothing about survival, and the two of them should have perished in the scorching lands, becoming food for the vultures that ruled the sky that day.
But everything changed, all thanks to him...
'We should have died that day...'
Back then, Sana wouldn't have understood, but now she knew that if Austin hadn't shown up when he did, they would have died. And if they had somehow survived, they might have ended up in an even worse situation, as they knew nothing about the real world. They were as naive as newborn babies, ripe for exploitation.
The Sana and Rina from back then were no different from beasts who didn't know how to survive in the world. Sana always believed that Austin was the only good thing fate had given them. She believed that, after all the torture they went through, Austin was the one and only help the world had provided.
'Both of us were quite unruly back then...'
Those thoughts made her chuckle. She remembered how wild they had acted toward Austin, behaving like beasts ready to bite. She recalled the marks, insults, and attacks they had made. Yet, even after all that, he never held contempt for them. He could have easily deceived them, but he didn't. He taught them about the world and gave them a new lease on life.
"How will I ever fully repay you..."
Sana spoke aloud, slowly clutching her heart, which was beating faster than ever. In the past, she would have taken it as a sign of fear in the presence of a greater enemy. And for a while, she thought it was the same. But her short life in the real world had taught her more than that. She had come to understand that the sensations coursing through her body were not some illness.
Well, in a way, it was an illness - the sickness of love...
A shy smile appeared on Sana's face as she twirled the daggers in her hands. Austin had given them so much without asking for anything in return. Along the way, he had become the second member of her family, which soon transformed into love. He was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
"Would he accept me?"
Sana asked aloud, her face filled with worry. She wasn't oblivious to Austin's attractiveness, and seeing other women trying to get close to him made her hand itch to drive her dagger through their heads.
Sana wasn't noble; she wasn't as beautiful as the women surrounding Austin, nor was she as intelligent as all of them. This weighed heavily on her heart. All she had were the powers that had never betrayed her, but even in that league, she wasn't the most powerful girl Austin knew.
"So why would he choose me?"
She asked again, this time to no one in particular. Her mind once again traveled down the same path, but she quickly shook off those thoughts. Sadness filled her face as she attacked the other targets in her room, her daggers moving with speed, cutting them all down.
'I-I want him to love me!'
She screamed internally, and it was then that the daggers spoke in a snake-like voice.
'Maybe we can help...'
.....
Rina POV:
"I am bored..."
Rina said as she lay in her training room, her rabbit-like ears drooping, while her pink hair sprawled around the room, and her pink eyes focused on the ceiling. She had just come back from her last challenge, and her continuous winning streak meant she wouldn't be able to take another challenge for some time.
"Humph... those pussies..."
She muttered, her eyes narrowing. None of them gave her a good fight, and the new ability she gained made her fights easier.
'I want to fight Austin...'
She thought, a smile that was half hunger for battle and half tenderness spread across her face, her beautiful face seemingly filled with confusion.
'Urgh... it's here again.'
She thought as she held her heart. It had started long ago, but it still continued - the problem of her heart beating very fast when she thought of Austin. The situations she thought would improve had only intensified, making her day-to-day life difficult.
Whenever she thought of him, her heart would race faster than she could control. Her mind felt weak, and she could feel a butterfly-like sensation in her stomach. For some reason, her lower regions tingled like never before, causing her hormones to burst out like a broken dam. And now, Austin was constantly on her mind.
"I think I should do something about this now..."
Rina spoke in a serious voice as she stood up. She slowly stretched her body, causing her ample assets to jiggle, as she walked out of her training room and headed toward the treatment room of the academy. Her mind was once again consumed by thoughts of Austin, and she could feel the wetness between her legs.
As she walked by, she felt several gazes focused on her, but she ignored them as she kept walking. The desired eyes of men landed on her, which she had grown used to. In fact, she had already received invitations from several powerful men of the beastmen faction, hoping to claim her as their own, but she quickly and efficiently dealt with them. With Austin backing her, none of them dared to challenge her when she beat the crap out of them.
'I really do owe him everything...'
She never thought her life would turn out like this, not when she and Sana were rotting in that experimental prison-like two rats. All her life, she took the lead, being the unbreakable shield to protect Sana, whom she considered her little sister. Rina had come to understand at a young age that the world was a terrible place.
Only her sister brought some light, but the arrival of Austin made her feel that the world wasn't such a bad place after all. Her mind vividly remembers all the adventures the three of them went through, and she can't help but chuckle when she recalls how many problems she caused, leaving Austin to deal with it all.
It was an amazing situation for her, and in her heart, she believes that Austin was the greatest gift she received after all the sadness she went through. His words and actions won her over, and her loyalty was always in his hands. He gave her hope and a home, making the world a much better place for her to live in, and for that, he would always have her loyalty.
To Rina, who swore to never lean on another, Austin became a sturdy pillar and a great friend - a word she never thought she would use or come to know. To her, in order to survive, she had to kill everyone she knew. Darkness was all she knew, and Austin was the light that gave her sight.
Just like Sana, Austin became her family, and for him, she would slaughter the world.
Lost in her thoughts, Rina reached the private women's treatment room. Entering inside, she explained all her symptoms to the healer, who looked at her with a weird expression as she spoke.
"You do know this is love, right?"
"Um?"
Seeing Rina's confused look, the healer spoke more clearly.
"I mean, you are in love, the love between a man and a woman."
She explained, which only made Rina more confused.
"Looks like this might take some time."
The healer spoke as she locked the door to the room, sitting in front of Rina as she started to explain everything about love, completely changing Rina's perspective.
Slowly changing her.
