As the saying goes, once the wound heals, you forget the pain.
At this moment, Briar had completely forgotten that Luke was the one who had beaten her half to death. Her mind was filled only with memories of that absolutely delicious flavor from just now.
She stared at Luke eagerly, her big eyes clear and foolish, as if saying, "Give me one more piece. Just one!"
Her mentality was like that of a child.
Luke threw out the last roasted piece of drakehound meat and said, "This is the last piece. If you want to keep eating, you'll have to come back with me."
Briar chewed the meat in her mouth, but in that instant, she became sharply alert.
She swallowed the food in one gulp, then backed away a few steps and said, "I don't want to be locked up again!"
In her eyes right now, Luke was no different from those Noxians.
They all wanted to capture her and imprison her again.
She absolutely refused to go back to those days.
Luke's tone was calm. "I won't lock you up. In Demacia, you can receive the same treatment as a normal person."
"I'm not a normal person."
Briar was still very clear about what she was. She knew she might not even count as a "person."
"You can become one." Luke looked at her. "The fact that you can stand here and have a normal conversation with me proves that you can become a normal person."
Briar looked into his beautiful eyes and hesitated. She was a little tempted, but she still remained guarded. "Why me?"
She thought the person in front of her probably knew what she was. Since he still came looking for her, there had to be a reason.
She absolutely did not want to return to those lightless days from before.
So she had to be careful, careful, and even more careful.
Luke did not hide it from her and said, "Because you are very powerful, and Demacia just so happens to need a weapon against Noxus."
In his eyes, Briar was a controllable source of power.
She possessed formidable strength. If used properly, she would absolutely become a sharp blade.
As for the fact that she might have eaten people before, as long as they were not Demacians, that was fine.
Luke was a man with double standards. He had two different faces for those inside and outside his circle.
Besides, he knew this was not really Briar's fault.
Because when she had been created, she had been set that way.
Since the other side could set her that way, he could naturally change her settings too.
Hearing Luke's answer, Briar thought with a solemn expression. Then she stared at Luke seriously. "If I follow you, will I get to keep eating that meat from just now?"
Luke simply said two words in a flat tone.
"Until you're full."
Those two words directly shattered Briar's final mental defense and made her feel a thick sense of happiness in that instant.
Until you're full. To a girl who had never been able to eat her fill, what a dreamlike phrase that was.
"I'm following you for life!"
Briar said decisively.
"In that case, put this on."
As Luke spoke, he threw a collar at Briar.
This was the pet collar he had received from the previous yearly sign-in. The current situation made Luke remember that he could use it.
Briar caught the collar in her hands at once. It was a black leather collar, and she actually liked it quite a bit.
Listening to Luke, she did not hesitate and directly put it around her neck.
Immediately, she felt as though a wonderful connection had formed between her and Luke.
In her eyes, Luke suddenly became the closest and most beloved person in the world, making her unable to resist the urge to pounce on him and lick him.
In Luke's mind, he received feedback from the system that the binding had succeeded. He had not expected it to be this easy.
He did not feel much guilt about tricking an ignorant girl either. Seeing the binding succeed, he said, "Briar."
"Here!"
Briar stood up straight by reflex, waiting eagerly for Luke's instructions, without the slightest resistance in her heart.
In her eyes, Luke was already an especially good person for giving her that delicious food just now.
So when she put on the collar, she did not feel even the tiniest bit of rejection. She was completely willing.
"Put this on first. Once we get back, I'll give you something that fits." Luke looked at her ragged body and threw out a piece of clothing as he spoke.
Briar began clumsily putting on the clothes, while Luke's next words reached her ears.
"Since you've decided to join Demacia and follow me, I will grant you freedom to the greatest extent possible. But we also need to set a few rules."
Briar's head was stuck inside the clothes. The bloodstone pillory was very inconvenient at a time like this, but she thought of a clever method. Her head suddenly poked out through the collar, and she tilted her head at Luke. "A few rules?"
Luke looked at her. "It means you have to listen."
"I'll be very obedient!"
Briar immediately promised.
Luke said, "First, you can't eat people anymore."
In Briar's eyes, people and animals were no different. If she ate them, she ate them.
But since Luke had taken her in, he did not want to see that happen again.
"Can't eat people…"
Briar froze in place. She felt that not being allowed to eat people was a bit of a shame, but that emotion was quickly washed away by some inexplicable feeling and disappeared.
She nodded repeatedly. "Mm-hmm!"
"Second, you can't hurt your companions."
There was nothing for her to hesitate over on this point. On the contrary, Briar was even more serious than Luke and said, "I definitely won't hurt my companions!"
Luke continued, "Third, you must never indiscriminately kill the innocent. Of course, I'll be the one defining what innocent means. For the current you, not a single Noxian is innocent."
Briar listened obediently and nodded again and again. "Mm-hmm."
By now, she had more or less finished putting on the clothes. They did not fit well, but Luke could not directly conjure up a perfectly fitted outfit either.
After thinking it over, there was nothing else he needed to explain, so he took Briar and headed off to catch up with the Demacian army.
Soon, before twilight arrived in the afternoon, they caught up to the main force.
Since evening was approaching, and they had just gone through a major battle, Tianna had already arranged for the troops to set up camp and rest.
When everyone saw Luke return with another small girl, they did not act too shocked. Some soldiers had even seen Briar on the battlefield.
They recognized her as one of the living weapons sent out by Noxus.
But since Luke had brought her back, and since she looked rather well-behaved, no one interfered.
Briar followed Luke inside, her eyes full of curiosity as she looked around at everything. If Luke had not been right in front of her, she would absolutely have been jumping up and down everywhere to investigate.
Luke brought Briar back to his own tent. Before long, Lux and the others came over one after another after hearing the news.
"You're saying she's the living weapon Noxus called the strongest?"
Lux stood in front of Briar and looked at the girl, who was a good bit shorter than her and did not look like a harmful creature at all. Her face was full of disbelief.
Luke glanced at her and said, "Be careful. Her teeth are much sharper than yours."
"What are you talking about? She's not a puppy. It's not like she's going to bite people for no reason."
Lux reached out and patted Briar on the head, completely unable to sense any threat from Briar.
Briar did not hate being surrounded and observed by everyone either. She felt curious about everything she had come into contact with after gaining freedom, and she was likewise curiously examining everyone around her.
She discovered that each of them gave off a pleasant scent, and she did not hate it at all.
At this moment, Lux curiously poked the bloodstone pillory restraining Briar. "Why are you wearing this thing? Isn't it uncomfortable? Let's find a way to take it off for you."
Hearing that, Briar backed away repeatedly to avoid her. "You can't take it off."
Of course she knew what she would become after removing the pillory. She dared guarantee that everyone present absolutely would not want to see her in that state.
Lux did not insist on asking either and chose to respect Briar. She felt there must be a reason.
At this time, according to their agreement, Luke roasted three whole drakehounds for Briar. One drakehound was larger than two or three people combined, so this was definitely enough for her to eat.
Before that, he first had her change into a new set of clothes.
After that, Briar, who could finally go all out, plunged headfirst into the delicious roasted meat and could not pull herself free.
"Can she really finish all of this by herself?"
Lux looked at the scene before her in some surprise. Even she could not finish that much meat.
However, as she watched Briar eat and eat, Lux went from questioning it at first, to staring dumbfounded, and then to admiration. She was completely convinced.
From now on, the title of the biggest eater around Luke would probably have to be handed over to Briar.
Finishing a drakehound in minutes was simply too terrifying.
What made it even harder for her to imagine was that Briar was clearly so small and thin. Was there a black hole hidden in her stomach?
Where did all that food go after she ate it?
In truth, it was directly transformed into energy through hemomancy and supplied to her body.
As he looked at Briar over there, Luke found Sona and briefly explained Briar's situation.
"I hope you can use magic to influence her subconscious and modify her original settings a little."
Luke believed only Sona could do something like this. Usually, she was unwilling to use magic to influence a person's true inner self.
But when living weapons were originally created, their settings were slaughter, bloodlust, and destruction.
Even Briar, who possessed reason, considered these things perfectly normal in her worldview.
But if they wanted her to be a normal person most of the time, these things had to be changed.
At this moment, Sona focused her eyes on Briar and naturally recognized her. She was the living weapon who had been the only one to break free from her control back then.
As she now carefully sensed Briar's heart, in an instant, she saw surging hemomancy, a shattered inner world riddled with holes, and shadows shrouded in darkness.
"I keep feeling that I can dig out more from her heart."
Sona's inner voice reached Luke, her emotions slightly affected. "Her heart is like a desolate world, barren of even a blade of grass, filled only with dead silence."
At least from the outside, Briar currently looked no different from an ordinary person, aside from being especially able to eat.
But her inner world was worlds apart from a normal person's.
This was the first time Sona had encountered this kind of situation.
She kept feeling that there was something else hidden deep in Briar's heart.
Luke quietly held Sona's hand. "In any case, I'm counting on you. She's the product of experimentation. She's already miserable enough. There's no need to make her more miserable."
"Mm. I know what to do."
Sona nodded seriously.
Briar did not disappoint Luke's preparations. She quickly finished eating the three drakehounds, and her stomach finally bulged. She lay on the ground, feeling as if life had no regrets left.
Sure enough, deciding to follow Luke was the correct choice.
Briar had never experienced such a happy moment before.
At this time, Luke looked at her and said, "Next, we will use magic to enter your inner world. Don't resist."
Although Briar did not know why Luke was doing this, she agreed without the slightest hesitation. "Okay! Come on! I'm ready!"
So she waited.
Inside the tent, Lux and the others sat and looked toward Sona, who was ready.
Sona placed her etwahl on her lap, and her fair hands immediately plucked the strings. In an instant, beautiful music spread outward.
The melody turned into a beam of magical light and shot toward Briar's chest, sinking into it.
Briar seemed not to feel it at all, still taking the chance to bask in the happiness of being full.
The next second, she showed a pained expression. She felt as if her heart had been gripped tightly, and she instinctively wanted to resist. But then she remembered Luke's words and forcibly endured it.
Fortunately, Sona resolved it quickly.
Because not long after her perception entered Briar's inner world, it encountered the hemomancy in her heart.
Before this, hemomancy had always existed only in ancient legends. Even in those legends, it was a forbidden power.
Rumor said it was a power used by beings as mighty as gods.
Now, however, hemomancy had appeared in living weapons like Briar.
It was not hard to see that someone was using hemomancy in an attempt to overturn the conventions of the human body.
In fact, he had succeeded.
Because Briar's presence here was an example of success.
Briar's ability to move and survive did not rely much on her heart. It relied on hemomancy.
Hemomancy was her true source, which meant that even if her heart were pierced, she would not die.
But likewise, if she lost her hemomancy, she would die immediately.
Hemomancy was the first line of defense standing in Briar's heart, and probably the last as well.
In order not to damage the hemomancy, Sona could only use the gentlest possible method to quietly bypass it. With her current control over her abilities, she was naturally extremely skilled.
So she soon broke through the obstacle and smoothly entered Briar's inner world.
The music seemed to bring vitality to this world, but Sona knew that if she did not understand it more deeply, this would only be temporary.
Fortunately, without any obstruction, she easily found what she wanted.
A sealed memory.
Briar had originally felt that the music Sona played was incomparably pleasant and had been immersed in it. Suddenly, the scene before her eyes shifted, and it was as though she had arrived in a strange world.
She could not move. It was as if she had no hands or feet and was trapped inside a shell, only able to see the world through its eyes.
Then she abruptly realized that this was herself.
When had this happened?
Briar had no impression of it at all.
At this moment, she was in a dim prison cell, lying on a pile of weeds. Her body felt soft and extremely weak.
She raised her hand and discovered that her palm was smaller than usual, and even a little thinner and weaker.
"Briar? Are you awake?"
Just then, a girl's voice sounded.
She looked toward the voice and saw a brown-haired girl with a few freckles on her face looking at her with concern. "It's okay. Just endure it for a bit, and it'll pass."
Briar remembered. The girl's name was Milissa, and she was her friend.
Friend?
Briar thought in confusion. When had she had such a friend?
At this time, Milissa brought her cool water. Briar swallowed it thirstily and even choked.
"Drink slower. It's okay."
Milissa comforted her softly.
At this moment, Briar looked around and suddenly discovered that there were four other girls around her.
Two of them were unconscious, while two had already woken up and were curled up in the corner in fear.
"When can we get out?"
Briar looked uneasily at Milissa.
"We'll be able to get out soon." Milissa answered with certainty. "As long as we behave and listen to them, they'll definitely let us go."
"Mm."
Briar felt a warm aura coming from Milissa and instinctively believed her.
After that, she remembered that the other four girls were all her friends too.
Legly, Susie, Elisa, Olena.
One incredibly familiar name after another echoed by her ears.
Then she remembered that they had lived together in an orphanage before. Every day, they caught butterflies, dug for earthworms, and played games, until a pale-skinned man came to the orphanage and took them away.
They were brought here. Every day, they were forced to drink awful medicine, and sharp, thin needles would be stabbed into their bodies to inject a strange-colored liquid.
After they came back, they would develop high fevers and feel terrible.
They were very afraid. They already had no family left in the world, so they could only rely on one another.
Fortunately, they were all still there. Every day, when they saw their friends return safe and sound, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Later, that pale-skinned person said they were sick and had to be cured. As long as they endured, they would all obtain freedom in the end.
So they encouraged one another. Under the comfort of Milissa, the oldest among them, they still held onto their hopes for a better tomorrow and did not fall into despair.
Among the six of them, Briar was the weakest. She was the youngest, and her body had not been very good to begin with.
Every time she opened her eyes, she could see the look in Milissa's eyes, as if Milissa were about to cry.
At times like that, Briar would instead comfort Milissa in return.
In the hearts of these young children, they firmly believed that there would eventually be a day when they returned to the outside world.
Days passed under this hope. Gradually, their bodies became stronger and stronger. Aside from Briar, they basically no longer developed fevers.
It seemed that pale-skinned man had not lied to them. They really had been sick, and everything they had drunk and been injected with before had been medicine to treat that illness.
Because they felt that their bodies were even stronger than before.
Just like that, day after day went by.
One day, that pale-skinned man stood at the door of the prison cell again. With a gentle smile on his face, he called Susie away.
He held Susie's little hand and gradually disappeared at the end of the corridor.
At that moment, Briar had a bad feeling. She felt her brain ache violently, as if something was about to happen next. But right now, she could not stop it at all. She could only watch.
After Susie was taken away, she never came back.
Milissa, Briar, and the other three little companions were all very worried about Susie, but they had no way of learning what had happened to her.
On the second day, the pale-skinned man took Legly away.
On the third day, he took Elisa away.
For three consecutive days, three of their companions did not return. The remaining three gradually began to feel afraid.
The pale-skinned man offered no explanation for this, as if there was no longer any need to waste his breath.
They huddled together in the cage where only a little light could be seen and cried loudly, feeling incomparable fear in their hearts.
To fight that fear, they even comforted themselves by imagining that perhaps those three companions had already left this place and obtained their freedom.
On the fourth day, the pale-skinned man came to take Olena away.
Olena was so terrified that she collapsed weakly to the ground. Her crying echoed through the prison cell. She did not even have the courage to run.
She was still taken away. That crying kept reaching the ears of Milissa and Briar, and they cried too.
All they could do was hold each other and comfort one another.
In the end, Olena did not come back either.
Of the six girls who had originally been filled with hope for tomorrow, only two remained.
On the fifth day, the pale-skinned man came again. He wanted to take Briar away.
But Milissa stepped forward on her own and offered to leave with the man.
It seemed that it did not matter which of them went. Since she was willing, he took her away.
Briar wanted to go with her. She struggled to get up and ran after them.
She no longer wanted to endure days like this. But the other party clearly believed this was against the rules, so he locked her up.
This time, however, something unexpected happened. Late that night, Milissa was sent back.
Only, her entire body was wrapped in white bandages soaked with blood, and she had fallen into a deep coma.
Briar was terrified. She did not even dare go up and hug Milissa. She could only stay by her side and keep crying.
Perhaps the tears had an effect, because Milissa miraculously woke up. Even more miraculously, her wounds recovered.
This result made the pale-skinned man very happy. He took Milissa away again.
Before leaving this time, Milissa comforted Briar with great confidence. "I'll definitely protect you."
That night, Milissa was sent back again, but her condition was even worse. Most of her body was covered in blood, dyeing the bandages red.
And this time, she was not as lucky. She was awake.
So for the entire night, she could only vent through crying and screaming.
Briar did not know what to do, nor did she know how to do anything. She only knew how to cry.
A miracle happened again. By the second day, Milissa's wounds had once again recovered, and she was taken away once more.
On the third night, Milissa was thrown back covered in blood. There were no bandages wrapped around her body, and the shocking wounds were laid bare before Briar's eyes.
She was almost dyed into a bloody figure, and her gentle face could no longer be recognized at all.
Even so, Briar was not afraid of her. She moved close to Milissa, not knowing what she could do for her.
Milissa was still awake. She hoped Briar could tell her a story to soothe the pain.
Briar did as she asked. She began reciting her favorite story, the one Milissa had once told her.
Milissa seemed to reveal a smile and listened happily, slowly closing her eyes and sinking into sleep.
Briar was terrified that she would leave her. She did not dare close her eyes all night. She stayed beside Milissa, making sure she was still breathing.
In truth, she was. Even if it was very weak, her breathing remained.
But this time, the miracle did not happen. The wounds on her body did not recover.
The pale-skinned man came again. This time, Briar also saw a woman in mage robes.
The woman said, "Vladimir, it looks like your experiment failed."
Vladimir.
The instant she heard that name, Briar felt a sharp stab of pain in her brain.
Hearing this, Vladimir only said flatly, "There is no such thing in this world as absolute success. We are still in the exploratory stage. Even when used on the dead, hemomancy requires someone with a physique as powerful as Sion's in order to succeed, let alone conducting experiments on the living."
The robed woman looked at Milissa with regret. "What a shame. She was clearly only one step away."
"One step away is still a gap, and that step may very well be one we can never cross."
When Vladimir looked at Milissa, his eyes were filled with indifference and merciless disregard for life. Then he spoke as if passing a death sentence. "She will never wake up again. She has no value left."
Hearing this, Briar froze in place. She hurriedly got up, spread her arms, and protected Milissa, mustering her courage as she said, "Nonsense. Milissa can definitely wake up, just like the last two times."
As she spoke, tears were already falling from her eyes.
Vladimir looked at her indifferently. "Your understanding of the structure of living beings is far inferior to mine. Her physical vitality has collapsed. Without my hemomancy sustaining her, she would already be a corpse."
Briar covered her ears and broke down. "I'm not listening!"
"This is not a problem you can escape just because you refuse to listen."
Vladimir waved his hand and flipped Briar aside through the air. Then, with a lift of his finger, Milissa's body actually floated into the air.
"No! Give her back! You can't take her away!"
Briar ran toward Milissa and reached out her hand, only to discover that her own body had floated up as well. Between the two of them, there was only the distance of a single hand.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not hold Milissa's hand.
"I never said I was going to take her away. I am merely going to destroy her. Hemomancy cannot be allowed to become known to others."
Vladimir spoke calmly.
Beside him, the robed woman said somewhat helplessly, "You're guarding even against me?"
"Are we close?"
Vladimir glanced at her, then looked toward Briar. His eyes carried a touch of scarlet, calm as lake water as he said, "Actually, I also feel this is somewhat of a shame. Do you know what is such a shame?"
Briar only kept crying.
"Among all of you, she was indeed the most different, so I originally intended to save her for last. But she was willing to step forward for you, so I could only respect her choice."
"She was also the only one who dared to look me in the eye and make a bet with me."
Vladimir spoke with interest. His fingers swayed, and hemomancy was already operating. A blood-red magical power surfaced over Milissa's body.
"Although I did not know what she wanted to bet, I gladly accepted."
"She said that as long as she could endure five days, then after five days, no matter what, I had to let you go. Because you were too weak, perhaps unable to withstand even the first stage of the experiment, and were a completely meaningless test subject."
"This little girl actually knew what I was doing. I found it surprising."
Vladimir looked at Milissa, a hint of regret in his gaze.
When he said this, Briar's crying also stopped. She listened blankly.
She had never imagined that Milissa had done so much for her.
"The experiment is something even I am still exploring, but with astonishing willpower, she endured until now."
Vladimir sighed softly. "What a pity. She was only two days away."
At this time, hemomancy had already begun operating inside Milissa's body. It enlarged her blood vessels and made her blood flow rapidly, causing Milissa's small body to quickly swell.
Briar's eyes widened in terror. "No! No!"
The next second, with a splat, something exploded.
Blood splashed across Briar's face. Even more blood floated strangely in midair, like raindrops that had frozen halfway through falling.
Briar saw Milissa's arm outside the cage. Her foot was at the other end. As for the hands that had so often stroked her gently, only a few fingers remained.
The bloody scene happened just like that before Briar's eyes.
In an instant, her pupils lost all focus.
"She already said that she might not even be able to withstand the first stage of the experiment. Even so, are you going to continue?"
At this time, the robed woman looked at the unconscious Briar and Vladimir as she spoke.
"These six test subjects were all carefully selected by me. Even the weakest among them has value worth attempting. Naturally, I will not miss this chance."
As Vladimir spoke, he began injecting hemomancy into Briar's body.
In the days before this, he had already made many preparations so that hemomancy could seamlessly integrate into a mortal body of flesh and blood.
The robed woman watched him begin casting and asked, "If this little girl had really lasted five days, would you have let her go?"
"I would."
Vladimir answered without hesitation, then continued, "But she did not last."
Several drops of blood shot out from Vladimir's fingertips. Their color looked even more vivid, even carrying a crystalline gleam.
Then they entered Briar's body, and hemomancy began to carve itself into her flesh.
This carving process meant destroying the blood vessels and organs within her body, then reconstructing them anew.
This process was naturally extremely painful. Many test subjects would collapse during it, either dying or going mad.
Hemomancy was very complex, so it usually required many attempts before it could be thoroughly engraved.
After experimenting for so long, only Milissa had endured it. If she had lasted two more days, she actually would have been almost done.
Briar was awakened by the pain. Blood began spilling out from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, followed by the pores across her body.
She felt a powerful energy rampaging through her body, wantonly destroying everything.
But at this moment, compared to the pain in her body, what surged in Briar's heart was only boundless hatred and rage.
Scenes of Milissa flashed through her mind. Her lovable smile, her soft voice when telling stories, her little moods when she was upset, the tenderness with which she held Briar when Briar was terrified.
The next second, what appeared in her mind was the scene of Milissa being blown apart.
"Ahhhhh!"
Briar screamed in agony. Her body actually began to actively cooperate with the operation of hemomancy, and it even displayed a powerful suction force that accelerated the engraving of the hemomantic spell.
She madly absorbed the power of hemomancy. Her body was rapidly remodeled in a short time, while all color vanished from her pupils.
Her hair began turning white at high speed. Vladimir could not understand the scene before him.
But in the next second, Briar roared and instantly broke free of his control. A blood-red aura erupted outward.
She stared at him with hatred like a beast. Then she vanished from where she stood.
Vladimir turned sideways, but a deep bloody gash had already appeared on his face.
His eyes flickered.
When he looked again, Briar was crouched there, swallowing the blood on her fingertips. As her body continued to reshape itself, it released a powerful and terrifying energy.
"This is…"
Vladimir did not care about the wound on his face. He looked at Briar in surprise.
The robed woman watched from the side and said, "It seems your experiment succeeded."
"No. This is very likely only an accident. But it did indeed succeed."
Vladimir revealed a thoughtful look, his gaze flickering slightly. Facing Briar's frenzied attacks, he constantly dodged aside while saying, "To be honest, among these six people, she was the one I had the least expectations for. But I never imagined that she would be the only one to succeed. There is no mistake. Her body has already fused with hemomancy. Hemomancy will become her endless source of power and grant her formidable strength."
Briar stepped on the walls of the narrow prison corridor and moved at extreme speed. Her hands had turned into sharp claws as she attacked Vladimir.
Yet such rapid attacks were easily dodged by Vladimir.
The robed woman asked, "So have you found a way to create a second one of her?"
"Perhaps. I may need some time to try."
A strange scarlet light flashed through Vladimir's eyes. The power of hemomancy suddenly released and instantly sent Briar flying.
Briar flew backward and slammed hard into the wall, buried beneath chunks of enormous stone.
"Ahhh!"
The next second, she burst out from within, roaring furiously, completely unharmed from head to toe.
Vladimir was very satisfied with this. As he raised his hand, a scarlet bloodlight rushed toward Briar.
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