Un-Chain

"Can you do this for us?"

Harvet didn't even hesitate when Uteu asked her. She nodded solemnly and let his words settle heavily within her.

He had used 'us' instead of 'me' and somehow that small difference in words that he had used, sparked resolve within her.

Before she left him to climb that red crystal tower alone, she dropped a kick down upon the back of a Guild member that had gotten a bit too close to him.

She had recognized the guy, a piece of shit that used to arrogantly order her around just because he was there longer than her. Seniority was the excuse most of the people within the Guild used to abuse the younger members.

Don't get her wrong, the Guild was all kinds of messed up and this small thing didn't exactly bother her all that much. Still, getting mud into her senior's perfect hair was satisfying.

With Judith securely tucked under her left arm, Harvet pulled out an energy bar and munched on it as she ducked under a stray stream of fire. She eyed all the chaos out on the battlefield in the middle square. The trees all around the park were nearly destroyed.

She felt a bit numb to all of the destruction. Neither happy nor sad. While she did live here for over six years, she hated it deeply for taking her brother from her for the entire duration of it. The energy bar was suddenly wrenched from her mouth and pinned against a tree, that was on fire, by a very familiar machete.

"Harv..."

Harvet didn't even bother to turn around to give her old roommate her attention. Claris was someone she was determined to leave behind. She was already looking forward to her future, this girl meant nothing to her now.

"Harv!!!"

But if this girl continued to get in her way...

Harvet placed Judith down under a bench before she took out another energy bar and began munching on it. All Thews took in a lot of calories since they relied heavily on their own bodies to unleash attacks and being low on food would be detrimental to any Thew.

She casually dodged a kick from Claris and countered with two of her own. Claris without her weapon was no threat to her. Harvet smirked, Claris was still a child, to throw her only weapon was foolish.

Harvet closed her eyes, she didn't need to pretend anymore. She didn't need to lower her own skill levels in fear of rejection from Uteu since he couldn't see her here.

Exhaling through the bar clenched between her teeth, Harvet bent her knees and took on a stance.

"You're serious! You really have betrayed us! How could you?!"

Harvet didn't even bother to respond. A child, one who was so fully brainwashed by the Guild would never understand her. She didn't have the patience in her to do anything for her either. Claris had chosen this life, anything she did from here on had nothing to do with Harvet.

Swift, without any wasted movements, Harvet moved in and countered against Claris who was darting in to punch her.

Twisting her arm, Harvet easily snapped the bones in her elbow and shoulder. She then dropped down a heavy kick to her knee, shattering the cap.

Claris yowled out in pain. Which already told Harvet how much pain she truly was in. All of the grunts in the Guild were trained to build up a tolerance for pain. It was the most basic requirement before they could live in the dorms.

Claris glared up at Harvet from where she was on the ground. She covered her knee with her remaining good arm and a line of curses spewed out from her mouth.

Grabbing Claris from her black hair to have her sit up, Harvet put a hand on her chin and the other against her neck. Harvet peered into the girl's angry soft brown eyes. She observed her reflection within them and how Claris went from anger to fear the longer she stared. With a snap of her neck, Claris slumped over, dead.

To take on missions in the Guild. No, for the Guild to send you out on missions, grunts needed to have the will to kill. They needed to be able to kill without flinching and were required to kill at least ten people to prove that they were ready.

Those ten people that she had to kill, Harvet could remember them very well. They were all around her age if not younger.

In a large white room, the same one they were once sent to in order to wait for their pain tolerance tests, over one hundred children sat and played.

Once a week they were sent here. They were encouraged to train together. To play fight to gain better reaction speeds and experience. They were even rewarded with cakes after every fight. That should have been the first sign that something was wrong, but as young as they all were, they didn't care to notice.

Although each child had a different reason for wanting to join the Guild, they had gotten along just fine, all of them were friendly towards each other since they joined around the same time.

They would help each other build up their strengths and help on their weaknesses. They had inspired and encouraged each other, telling each other that soon they would be able to go on missions together.

But, the moment they were told only five of them would be allowed to become a member of the Guild, they turned against each other quickly enough. The entire white room would quickly become blood splattered as they snapped each other's necks and choked each other to death.

Out of the ten that she killed, two of them were girls. They were sisters only a year apart, and they loved to play with her hair, tying them differently every time they met. The sisters had taught her many different styles that she could tie her hair in.

They had tagged teamed her, deeming her as one of the easier targets to kill. She killed them by using their own hair against them, their long blond locks of hair were easy targets for her to grab onto. She had choked them with it.

One of the eight boys was a chubby fellow, always kind enough to give her half of any strawberry shortcake he got his hands on when he found out it was her favorite.

He had knocked the wind out her when he pretended to want to partner up with her. The three smirks from the boys behind him were the ones he had actually partnered up with. She had to dig her fingers into his fat ankle to get him to release his foot from her c.h.e.s.t. She tossed him into the other three and was quick to dig her nails into their arteries to make them bleed out. Those four were the messiest kills she had ever made.

From then on she didn't bother to listen to anyone else, quick to kill anyone that got close to her. With the bright red drying on her hands and under her nails, and with her long dark blue hair a disheveled mess, she looked crazed as she snapped the necks of four more people. Their eyes were wide open, not expecting their deaths to come so quickly.

They were all Thews, they had nothing but their own bodies to fight with, so it was with their own bodies that they would kill their friends with.

She could remember the slow claps when she had gotten her ten kills. She was the first one and also the first let out of that room. What happened to all of those children afterwards she would never find out. She'd never know why they told them only five when there were a hundred or more children in there.

Harvet's hands shook as she remembered. She had been perhaps twelve years old or younger at the time. It was something she had buried deep in her memories.

Killing Claris brought it all back to the forefront of her mind. Back then she was determined to do anything to rescue her brother. It was the only thing that had kept her going.

Harvet picked up the still unconscious Judith. Dark grey eyes and dark red hair flashed in her mind.

She had done her hardest to prevent Uteu from seeing such a sight. The sight of her killing so easily without a shred of guilt. Perhaps she believed that he would look at her differently if he saw. It was foolish since she knew that Uteu himself, knew exactly what she was capable of.

As Harvet shifted Judith in her arms and tossed the wrapper of her energy bar. It happened to land on Claris' quickly cooling body. Harvet spared a single glance at her previous roommate before speeding off to fulfill Uteu's request.

She shouldn't have followed her all the way out here. If Claris' had stayed in their room, Harvet wouldn't have had to kill her.

It wasn't just for her brother anymore, Harvet had found another reason to continue on and she was determined to do whatever it took to keep it.