Free Web NovelThe girl's eyes went wide beneath Matt's face.
She couldn't believe what her master had just said.
"You can't do that…" she said, her voice trembling.
She didn't sound scared.
She sounded outraged.
"You can't break the bond. Not after everything we went through together in this place. I awakened for you! I helped you! I destroyed that horrible skeleton! I—!"
"I'm going to do it."
Despite how confidently Matt said it, it was a lie.
Once a soul bond with an ego weapon was formed, breaking it was nearly impossible.
But Matt couldn't back down.
Not now.
"If you keep up this shitty attitude of not obeying me, I'm going to break it. Right now."
The girl closed her mouth.
Her two eyes — the red and the blue — stared at him with disbelief, as if searching his master's face for any sign that he was joking.
She didn't find one.
Her master didn't joke.
The girl swallowed and looked away to one side.
The guns, on the floor a few steps from them, vibrated harder. The tremor was constant, almost rhythmic.
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vmmm!
The girl clenched her teeth.
She raised her hands and pressed them hard over her ears, palms flat against the sides of her head.
To Matt it was just a hum.
But to her — who could understand every word those weapons were saying…
It was annoying.
Very annoying.
"Shut up!"
Her voice came out louder than necessary.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! I want to talk to my master alone! This is a private conversation! Stop butting in!"
The guns vibrated harder.
They wouldn't stop complaining at her.
Vmmm! Vmmm!
"I said shut up!"
Matt watched her from above without moving.
His mind was working fast despite the exhaustion.
'She doesn't just understand them. They're telling her something that's making her furious…'
Matt spoke slowly.
"Why do you sound so upset with them?"
The girl uncovered her ears and looked at him.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"No. It's not obvious."
The girl frowned.
"I'm the weapon you chose when you entered this place."
Matt didn't respond.
"I was with you from the very beginning of this trial. You should keep only me. Those two guns aren't real weapons. They're failures!"
The moment she said it, the guns vibrated even harder.
VMMM!
The girl pointed at the weapons with irritation.
"And if you ask me, I can tell you how to get out of here — but without those two pieces of junk!"
Matt went still.
He hadn't expected that attitude from her.
Why did the ego weapon that awakened have to be this stubborn?
Matt's fingers, braced against the floor beside the girl's head, tensed slightly.
"Say that again."
The girl looked at him, not understanding why her master had repeated the order.
"I said if you ask me, I can tell you how to get out of here, but I don't want you to bring them along."
That statement confirmed one thing.
The guns were close to awakening.
Matt lifted the hand he'd had braced beside the girl's head and lowered it to her shoulder. Then he pressed it against the stone floor.
"M-Master?" she asked, nervous.
"Tell me what those weapons are saying right now."
The girl opened her mouth.
"No—"
"Now."
Matt pressed a little harder.
The girl winced.
"I don't like how you're treating me!"
"Don't be dramatic."
"You're crushing me against the floor!"
"I'm not crushing you against anything. You're an ego weapon. Your body is far more durable than this."
The girl opened her mouth to protest again, but closed it when she realized it was true.
Her shoulder didn't hurt.
The cold stone against her back wasn't really uncomfortable.
And the pressure from Matt's hand was firm, yes, but it wasn't causing her pain.
What actually bothered the girl was that her master wasn't treating her with the affection she wanted to receive for having finally awakened.
The guns kept vibrating.
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vmmm!
The sound grew more insistent.
The girl covered her ears again with her free hand. The other was pinned against the floor by the weight of her own body.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Do it yourselves!"
"Answer me."
"I'm not telling you anything until we get out of here!"
"Yes you are."
"No!"
Matt leaned in closer.
His face was centimeters from hers.
Both eyes — the red and the blue — opened as wide as they could go.
And for the first time since she'd appeared, the bow-lance girl felt something new.
Embarrassment.
Matt's face was very close. She could feel his breath, the pressure of his hand on her shoulder, and the weight of his presence above her.
The sensation wasn't unpleasant.
In fact, it was the complete opposite.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A strange warmth rose through her body, and for a moment the girl forgot the guns, the questions, the soul bond, and everything else.
'Oh… this is… weird. What is this nice feeling? Is it normal to feel this in a physical body? Does Master feel the same? He's so close… and he smells good. Wait, do I smell? What do I smell like?'
The girl was about to lose herself in her own head when she felt something else.
Something that wasn't physical.
Matt was pulling her in.
Not with his hands.
Not with his body.
With his consciousness.
A new pressure, similar to the fusion with Noxx, but different. Something latched onto the freshly formed soul bond and began dragging her inward.
"Wai—!"
She didn't get to finish the word.
The world changed.
◇◆◇
When the girl opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the cave.
She was in a grass field.
The sky was blue. The sun was somewhere above, but couldn't be seen directly. The grass was green, soft, and swayed slightly with a wind that couldn't be felt on the skin but could be seen.
There were trees in the distance.
A hill.
A large rock off to one side.
And two people in front of her.
One was a girl dressed in black, sitting on the grass with her legs stretched out and a calm expression. She had white hair, red eyes, and clothes that covered her entire body.
The other person was a man.
Black clothes.
Black hair.
Brown eyes.
He was taller than the girl and stood with a straight posture and a serious expression.
The girl looked down at her own body and noticed she was naked, unlike them.
For a second, she didn't care.
Her mind was busy with something more urgent.
Ignoring the man in front of her, she started walking toward Noxx, taking clumsy steps and nearly falling with each one. Her knees buckled, her left foot tangled with her right, and her arms moved with poor coordination, trying to balance the body.
"Master, why did you bring me here?"
Noxx looked at her and blinked, confused.
"I didn't do that."
"Huh? Then who—?"
Thwack!
The girl felt a solid hit on her back, right between the shoulder blades.
"Ah!"
The yelp escaped her mouth. Her body lurched forward, but she managed to keep her balance by flailing her arms — out of pure instinct, not skill.
Then she spun around, furious.
The man dressed in black was behind her, his right hand still extended from the strike.
"What's your problem? Why did you hit me?"
Her voice came out shrill and offended.
"Do you have some kind of issue, stranger? Who even are you?"
Matt didn't like doing this.
But this method was the only one he knew for earning the respect of a freshly awakened ego weapon that refused to listen.
When Eleonora had first awakened, she barely listened to Matt either. Until the queen ordered him to hit her in her physical form until she understood who was supposed to lead the bond.
And while it was a cruel order…
It had worked.
Matt raised his hand again.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson."
Despite the voice clearly being a man's, the way he spoke felt familiar to the girl.
The girl froze.
"In this place, you're going to learn to obey."
The girl frowned and let out a small laugh.
"Huh? No, no, no. Why would I obey a stranger? I don't have any contract with you. My master is—"
Thwack!
Another hit.
This time to her side.
"Ow!"
Another.
Thwack!
This time to her leg.
"Wait!"
The girl stumbled backward clumsily, nearly falling again. She raised her arms in front of her face in an improvised defensive stance.
"Master! Master, help! There's a stranger hitting me!"
Noxx, still sitting on the grass, looked at her without fully understanding.
"I'm not your master."
"What?"
"I'm Noxx."
"But Master said that—!"
Thwack!
Another hit.
"Ow!"
The girl tried to dodge the next one.
She failed.
She took one to the shoulder.
As she moved backward clumsily, her brain tried to piece things together at full speed.
'Master doesn't like being called master…'
Another hit.
The girl's eyes flew open as she remembered something important.
Her master was a man.
The girl went completely still for one second.
Thwack!
Another hit landed directly in her stomach.
"Ugh!"
The girl doubled over, breathless for a moment, but she was no longer thinking about the pain.
She was thinking about something much worse.
How had she not realized the man in front of her was her master?
No.
Her master.
On top of that, she'd made the mistake of insulting him and disrespecting him.
The girl's face turned red.
Not from the fight.
Not from the hits.
But from not having recognized the person who had wielded her inside that cave for years.
The girl took another hit to the face.
SMACK!
This time she did fall.
Her naked body hit the soft grass. The ground, at least, didn't hurt as much as the cave's stone floor.
The girl lay there for a moment, blonde hair fanned out around her head, staring up at the blue sky of this strange place.
Then she turned her head to look at Matt.
"Why do you keep hitting me so much?" she asked in a voice weaker than before.
Matt looked down at her, still wearing the same serious expression.
"I'm not going to stop until you tell me what those guns are saying."
The guns.
Those damn guns.
The girl breathed hard and felt something rising inside her.
It wasn't fear.
It was anger.
A clean, intense, and completely disproportionate anger.
Why wouldn't her master stop bringing up those damn defective weapons?
The girl bit her lower lip and clenched her fists.
Then, with enormous effort, she stood up.
Her legs were still shaking, but she didn't care.
Her balance wasn't perfect.
But it was there.
Something inside her body had started to learn, to adjust, to understand how muscles were supposed to work when you weren't a spear.
If her master wanted to play this game…
She was going to accept it gladly.
Matt raised his hand to hit her again.
The girl dodged it.
And then, without thinking, she hit back.
Thwack!
Her fist landed against Matt's shoulder.
Matt blinked, surprised.
Had she really just learned to move her body to that level?
Not even Eleonora had grown this fast. She'd taken days to dodge a single hit from Matt, but this girl…
Matt threw another strike.
The girl dodged it again.
Better.
It wasn't luck anymore.
She was genuinely learning at an absurd speed.
Thwack!
Another counter from the girl.
This time to his side.
Matt blocked it with his forearm.
Thud!
Matt struck again, faster.
Smack!
The girl took the hit to the face, but didn't fall. She stumbled, took a step back, and raised her arms again.
Her cheek was red and there was a bit of saliva at the corner of her lip.
But she was smiling.
Matt unleashed another series of strikes.
Three in a row.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Two connected.
One was dodged.
The girl returned a hit and connected.
Thud!
The exchange started to find a rhythm.
Matt hit faster. The girl took more hits than she gave, yes, but every hit she managed to land was cleaner than the last.
The body was learning with every impact.
The feet moved better.
The knees bent at the right angle.
The arms rose and fell with a new coordination.
Her face, which had been red from embarrassment, was now red from something else.
Excitement.
Noxx, still sitting on the grass, watched them in silence.
She didn't know what to say.
Matt had been much gentler with her at the start of training.
Not because he hadn't been tough.
He had.
But with her, he'd given advice, pauses, space to think, and time to try a strategy.
With the blonde girl it was different.
Matt was using direct pressure.
Hit.
Order.
Hit.
Correction.
Hit.
But the bow-lance girl wasn't backing down.
On the contrary.
She was learning — and far too quickly.
Even though Matt was increasing his speed, she was starting to turn the fight around.
Noxx didn't fully understand what Matt was doing.
Why was he hitting her like that?
It was a strange way to force someone to talk.
And the girl hadn't shown any signs of giving in.
But then Noxx remembered something.
The castle.
The queen.
When Matt was still being trained as a "princess" during the first months, the queen had done something similar to him.
Not identical.
But similar.
A mix of physical pressure, constant demands, and controlled exhaustion — until the student's body and mind surrendered to the will of the teacher.
It hadn't been kind.
It hadn't been pretty.
But it had worked to make Matt obey.
Even if only for moments.
Matt was copying that method.
Noxx didn't know if she thought that was right or wrong.
She just found it interesting.
And a little sad.
While Noxx was thinking about that, the rhythm of the fight changed.
The bow-lance girl started smiling more.
At first it was a small smile, almost without realizing it. Then it grew wider. Her two eyes — the red and the blue — shone in a different way.
Her strikes, which had been instinctive and messy before, started to carry intention.
She took one to the jaw.
Smack!
And she laughed.
A short laugh, full of excitement.
"Ha!"
Matt narrowed his eyes.
The girl lunged forward.
Thud!
Another hit against Matt's chest.
Matt stepped back.
The girl advanced.
And suddenly, she bent one leg, raised her knee with a speed Matt didn't expect, and drove it straight into his chest.
WHAM!
Matt felt the impact travel through his body.
The air left him for a moment.
One of his knees touched the grass before he could stop it.
The girl laughed louder.
"Master!"
The word came out for the first time.
Still not entirely natural.
But it came out.
"Master, this is so much fun!"
Matt looked up at her from below, one knee still on the grass.
The girl was standing in front of him, blonde hair tangled, lip slightly split, cheek swollen, and eyes shining.
"I never expected fighting you in this body would be this much fun!"
Matt breathed through his nose.
'An ego weapon is an ego weapon.'
That was what he was thinking.
And it was a shame.
The reason he hadn't done this in the real world was simple.
First, he was far too exhausted to fight any more with his physical body.
Second, ego weapons had absurdly strong human bodies.
If he fought her in the cave, he could end up with several broken bones.
Or worse.
That was why he'd used the mental world, where they were nearly on equal footing.
But he hadn't accounted for the girl's growth.
A growth that bordered on the ridiculous.
Matt stood up calmly.
"Looks like I can't beat you in a fistfight."
The girl smiled, panting.
"Giving up?"
But this wasn't the real world.
No matter how talented she was in the mental world, there was one thing she would absolutely struggle to adapt to.
Matt extended his right hand to the side.
A black sword appeared in his palm.
A long, dark blade with no reflections.
The girl's eyes went as wide as they could.
"W-what is that piece of crap?"
Matt stepped forward.
"Master, don't use that! It's so ugly! Why don't you use me instead?"
Matt didn't answer.
He just attacked.
The sword cut through the air with speed.
Swoosh!
The girl, on pure instinct, threw herself to the side. She felt the edge pass very close to her right arm.
Vmm!
"Are you trying to kill me…?" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
"Yes."
"What kind of master tries to kill his own ego weapon?!"
"You're no use to me if you won't answer what I ask."
The girl barely dodged another slash.
Swoosh!
Her instincts were getting better, but they still weren't enough.
The body couldn't move at the speed of her mind, and the sword moved faster than both combined.
Matt advanced.
A horizontal cut.
SLASH!
The girl tried to retreat.
She didn't make it.
The edge crossed her body from the left hip to the base of the right side of her neck in a clean line.
The body went still for an instant.
Then it came apart.
Not in bloody pieces.
Not realistically.
The mental world didn't work that way.
The body simply dissolved into golden and red particles that hung suspended in the air for a few seconds.
Then the particles regrouped.
Vmm!
The girl's body reappeared on the grass, whole and intact.
She was lying on her back, arms spread to the sides, staring up at the blue sky.
The girl was breathing hard. Her chest rose and fell sharply, ribs pressing against pale skin.
For a few seconds she said nothing.
She just breathed.
Then she laughed.
"That…"
Matt waited.
He expected this to make her more submissive.
To make her understand the difference between them.
To make her obey.
But…
"That was fun!"
The girl turned her head toward him. She looked up and smiled with teeth stained by blood that was no longer there. Her eyes shone, and her blonde hair spread across the grass.
"Master, can you do it again?"
Matt sighed.
This ego weapon was definitely going to be a handful.
