208. Seeds?

There was once a time when Frost didn’t believe that death was an appropriate punishment. In her civilized mind death was a barbaric method to stave people away. Her profession made it clear that people could be healed. They could change for the better.

But this was only applicable to humans: sapient and sentient beings. Frost could not call the members of the Sleeping Dogs Syndicate ‘people’. To her, they were no better than the Impuritas who kept people as livestock.

Their retribution could only be delivered in the form of death.

Her compassionate heart had its limits. She recalled the time when she sought to explore the colorful world beyond the Black Forest with Jury. That the Black Forest was the worst the world could offer.

How wrong she was.

The City of Spades was a mirror of the Derma Layer, with factions that sought to use people. To impose themselves all because they could. If this was what they considered ‘civilization’, then…

The boss of the Sleeping Dogs throat clogged. His voice betrayed him as Frost stared at him like he was no more than an insect. No. This was truly how she saw him. She had briefly questioned his men upon entering their territory after they decided to fire an arrow their way unannounced.

Such projectiles were no more than grains of sand drifting in the air.

This combined with the discovery of rotting corpses being hung like Christmas ornaments along their turf was all Frost required to deem them as less than monsters. She, alongside her trusted companions, conducted the one thing they knew best.

Fight.

Whilst Frost had caused the lackeys of the Sleeping Dogs Syndicate to submit and bark for their lives, the others went to thoroughly investigate the small urban sprawl. Huts of wood, steel and brick were slapped together, standing layer by layer. They created a small forest of houses where the upper layers were only accessible by rope ladders.

Some had already fallen, whilst others were a mere gust away from toppling over. Laundry rope hung clothes and fingerless corpses along them. Even from a distance Frost could already hear the anguish of many within the control of this Syndicate.

It took a tremendous amount of willpower to prevent herself from slaughtering them all where they stood. The dynamic between them was akin to a deity standing before a group of peasants. But her benevolence was reserved only for those in need.

“Unforgivable.” Frost spoke scathingly, her voice carrying enough weight to cause their breathing to nearly cease. “From the City of Diamonds to the City of Hearts… then onto this. I don’t get it. It’s one thing to resort to atrocities to survive. But it’s another when it has nothing to do with survival. I wonder if it’s fun for you. Taking fingers. Torture…”

Their fear was so thick that she could tell its scent. It was rather refreshing on her part to know that these scum understood their place. No amount of meat on their arms or weapons would do a thing to her.

As a result, weapons began to rattle as they slipped from their palms. The sound of shuffling could be heard outside, as were the calming voices of her friends who ensured the safety of the unfortunate. She heard cries and moans of relief. They sounded like muffled heartbeats through the wooden walls of the inn.

Nav then spoke on Jury’s behalf.

“Frost! I found a caged room! There’s… people everywhere. Fingerless. Their hands are all sawn off from the wrist. It’s horrible!”

Without any warning Frost threw her fist in the direction of the nearest person besides their boss. A clean hole suddenly devoured their chest despite her fist never making contact. Because of their lackluster levels, which were in the mid 30s, with their leader in the high 50s, her attacks naturally eviscerated them.

Leave them there for now. I’ll get them healed soon enough. Try to see if you can find anything else.

Frost desired a thorough cleansing of this place. She was tempted to set it all alight, but she was not like these monsters.

The leader carefully swallowed; half their face smothered with dripping blood.

“Lady. In the blue uniform. Hand her over. Place her beside him.” Frost spoke as calmly as possible. There were answers she wanted, so it was for the best that she didn’t kill them straight away.

But they hesitated, causing her to suddenly snap.

“Let me make myself clearer then –”

She thrust straight into the crowd of a dozen, reducing it to a mere six. Before the bodies could even spill a drop of blood she had returned to her original location. Her AGI was insanely fast, and to them ,it appeared as though she teleported.

Frost had merely driven her fists straight into their chests, devouring them in the process. Thankfully, the ordeal was tasteless much to her mind’s relief. But either way, she had already grown accustomed to the forbidden taste of flesh.

This also confirmed that she could not steal skills from people. Only highly unique Abilities could be stolen. Disappointed, Frost was overjoyed to find that a pair of men had carefully placed the unconscious woman aside.

They promptly returned, seeking refuge as Frost moved to the bodies. With her hand on the gambler and the woman’s body, she casted Grand Healing, engulfing them in black particles. None could believe their eyes. This person who robbed them of their willpower was none other than a healer.

“Surprising. As always. Healers are incapable of harm. What’s up with that? I think it’s cruel that healers can’t defend themselves. Thinking about them always hurt, you know? Because monsters like you exist alongside those angels. Rambling… rambling… just to keep myself from blowing up and wanting to just –”

Frost suddenly incinerated one side of the room using Liquid Fire, reducing the wooden furnishings to ashes and the brittle rock to slag as she then yelled:

“– TEAR YOU APART! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!? Cutting fingers for what…? FOR WHAT!?”

She was so close to reaching the First State. Without any warning, and perhaps as a defensive mechanism, the leader instinctively caused the wooden floorboards beneath her to snap shut like a bear trap. But she had already seen this through and before it could even occur, she slashed her hands downward and took each and every single one of their hands off.

“A-AGH!”

“W-WAIT!”

“It… It’s gone…”

“ITS REGROWING – AAAAAGH!”

The cries of the remaining members of the Sleeping Dogs Syndicate were left in a state of pandemonium and anguish. Frost could regenerate their hands as many times as she wished, and conducted several cycles until the boss finally broke and began begging for it to stop.

“It’s payment! It’s… It’s – WAIT! Wait – Payment… For another Syndicate! W-Without them we wouldn’t be able to feed ourselves – No... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”

Her feathers did not rustle. This was a lie, and Frost yearned to know what they needed these fingers for. Currency was the likely answer, but strangely enough, they themselves possessed coins.

Two forms of currency made little sense to her.

And just like that, the man was left as withering worm, more than willing to speak so long as the pain could stop. Violence was truly the only language these monsters could speak. Snot dribbled from his face, his eyes were left bloodshot, and he groveled beneath her feet, squeezing himself so close to the ground as if a weight was placed above him.

“You’re a healer… why… why… all this madness… for just a taste of that seed…” One uttered, right before their body was instantly electrocuted the moment Cer barged straight in through the wall. Another was buried by the rubble.

“Sounds like you’re having fun! Catch anything big?”

“There’s a door. But no. Nothing yet. Just this one. They refuse to speak. I’m half tempted to manifest the Listening Bird and get him to spill everything.” Frost took the man’s hair into her palms, eager to devour it whole with a single punch. “I guarantee you that whoever the fuck you’re afraid of is nothing like us. Another Syndicate?”

Frost drew him close enough where she could bite his face clean off.

“Tell me: what are they to an Incandescent Color?”

His heart stopped, and his eyes widened in disbelief. Shock had already taken a toll on him after the revelation of a violent healer, but to hear that she was also a ‘Color’ caused him to suddenly seize.

“S-Seeds. We’re doing this for seeds! You – You’ve eaten one… There’s no way a healer can be so strong. You must have taken a seed for yourself!” The boss suddenly accused, rationalizing Frost’s bizarre existence. “Why are we punished if you’ve done the same to acquire –! AAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Fingers gets you a seed? Cer.”

“That fish said something about a seed too. At least from what you’ve told us. No coincidences here.” Cer shrugged, finishing off the others, leaving only the man left. “I’ll take these two out. A suit… and a blue uniform. Must be an office or something with this low quality cloth. Ahhh~ This brings me back~”

Cer reveled in the moment, tugging the unconscious gambler and woman away like they were no more than a sack of vegetables.

“Have some respect for them.” Frost warned.

“I’m sure they’d drag me by the tail if I was ever out.” Cer shrugged. “By the way, it’s nice to see you in our elements. You often find scumbags like this near the Corrupted we’ve fought. Trust me, it never ends well for them. Have fun!”

Soon it was only Frost and the last of the Sleeping Dogs left. Their inn had been turned upside down, with the roof now sinking into itself as it could no longer support itself. It was only a matter of time before it collapsed.

Such a thing was trivial to her, and this man knew it.

“… wait – wait… I-I can – W-who is paying you? I can – two! Two times as much –!” He begged.

“Good. Then you’ll die twice for me.”

“… How… How can a healer say that…? How can you call yourself A HEALER!?”

“So what?” Frost remarked, causing him to shrivel up as she slowly began to drag him up from the floor. He could not even stand on his own. She brought him up until they were eye to eye. “Healer. Human. Angel. Demon. What does that have to do with wanting to get rid of you? Healers heal wounds. We remove impurities. Stains. Illnesses. Deep down I truly wish they could do it as effectively as me. All this for a seed…”

Suddenly, Nav flashed a prompt.

< Frost. Your Language of Greed Ability is resonating >

< This person has a price they are willing to pay to defy their heart and follow yours >

< Bribing Criteria: The promised Seed >

So that’s how it works. It resonates with greed… of-fucking-course. Nav. You already know my answer.

“I agree. There is also the risk of a betrayal if someone else matches the price.”

Exactly. Besides…

The man was granted an anticlimactic death. His body was reduced to cinders as the entire inn finally collapsed. A mound of rubble surrounded her as she merely pushed it aside, clawing her way though like it was no more than the ferns of a jungle as she relayed their newfound information to the others.

“Seed... Do you think it’s something that strengthens them?” Jury wondered as Frost met up with her in the cellar of a boarded home, finding several cells with a stench so putrid that it caused her to physically retch.

The Bloody Herring was obsessed with it. Leitmotif had a seed of their own as well. It’s linked directly with the Impuritas… but I’m more concerned about its origins. The seeds were what Iscario promised to give to the Bloody Herring. Frost brainstormed, descending the chipped stairwell into a dark cellar.

People were kept within tiny cells akin to bird cages. They were left there as nothing more than hostages and the playthings of this Syndicate.

“This is only S3. It’ll get worse from here on out.” Frost whispered to herself, audible only to the all-hearing ears of Res who stood beside Jury with rage.

“We had the same treatment. But you’re right about it being worse the deeper we go. Bigger Syndicates lie in S4. Plus the Hungry seem to have a foothold… Scarlet Logic does nothing. This ends up being the result. If they had even a little bit of control then…” Res trailed off, shaking her head as Frost moved to heal these people one by one.

Orth and Thras. They ended up on a train filled with people like that guy. I can’t imagine what they went through to become Wandering Healers. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t become cynical.

“As in distrustful of the human nature? Or of civilization?”

Civilization. It’s all… I don’t know. Full of so many grievances. Nothing’s perfect. I get that. But nothing should have to be like this either… Alright… That’s the last of them. Is Ignis ok?

“Ber’s with her. Ignis may be young, but she is not as naïve as you think. She’s a Demi-human, after all. She understands how her fellow kin are treated in Grandis.”

Frost herded the victims out, receiving heartfelt thanks for their restored limbs and joyful tears. They regrouped with Cer just at the mouth of the Brick Graveyard. Suddenly –

“… Maral…” A woman uttered the gambler’s name, limping towards him as if she had forgotten how to walk. “You… I’m so sorry… that all I could do was say yes to losing my hands…” Their intimate moment was shared beside the rousing, blue-uniformed woman who darted her eyes in every direction, shocked to find that she was still ok.

“What just… R-right… they turned their backs on me… Useless. I hate this job…” The woman lamented, clutching her forehead, unable to come to terms with her troubled heart. She was an ordinary woman, leveled in the high 30s and was part of an Office called the ‘Blue Partners.’

Frost could not afford to spend their precious time escorting them towards Armistice Point. Snap could not ferry them either. Prior to entering S3, Frost had asked it to return to the Golden Index to warn Carpalis in the event of a war. Since Magus could translate the language of ‘Snap’, they’d have a method of long-range communication.

Therefore, she grabbed a handful of near weightless gold from her Dimensional Storage and placed it in front of the sulking woman’s face.

She was going to hire her for this one simple task.