“Get in there now!”

  “I refuse!”

  I flailed around in the air as Liora held me above the tub of water, which we would bathe in. Liora was trying to put me inside, and I wasn’t exactly being the most cooperative.

  “Why do you have to be like this every time? You're being annoying!” Liora huffed as she lowered me closer into the tub. She was met with a swift kick to the face by my unaugmented foot.

  It wasn't like I didn't want to bathe, though I didn’t see the point in bathing every day. I didn’t particularly mind it. What I didn't like, however, was the fact that no one would let me bathe myself. In the beginning, it was Liora who would bathe me, which I hated, but she was technically my so-called “mother” in this world, so I could excuse it a bit. Eventually, though, it switched to Liora being given the task. That made things even more embarrassing.

  “Agh!!! That hurt!”

  “I don't care. Put me down!”

  “Fine,” Liora said simply before letting go of me, much to my surprise.

  Unfortunately, she let go of me as I was held high above the water, which led to me falling straight into it.

  “Haha, I win.” Liora mocked before jumping into the soapy water after me.

  Unfortunately, she had won again.

  ***

  I walked out of the bathroom, stewing in anger with a towel wrapped around my waist. I had elected to leave the tub as soon as Liora was done having her wicked way with me. My eyes stung because the girl still, after all this time, didn't know how to wash someone's hair, leading to a large amount of soap getting into my eyes.

  As I headed towards the bedroom I slept in, lost in thought about the hell I had just gone through, I was suddenly interrupted by a loud and harsh knock on the door. I shrugged, ignored it, and headed to the room. Once inside, I shut the door and began getting dressed.

  The knocking didn’t stop and instead grew more and more wild and rapid. It was really starting to piss me off. I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts over the knocking, which was actually closer to banging, if anything.

  I took a deep breath to calm myself down before continuing to get dressed. I figured that someone would eventually answer the door, and all I would have to do was wait. Though even after getting dressed completely, the banging was still going.

  “That’s it!” I said out loud in anger.

  I walked over to the door and opened it. I then left the room and headed towards the door with my fists balled. Why did no one answer it? Well, Caelen was probably still busy somewhere out in the backyard, or something, and Liora was still in the bath. I guess that left it up to me to greet the person on the other side of the door. Though I was sure he wouldn't like what I had coming for him.

  I reached the door, then augmented my body by releasing the mana from my core. The plan was to open the door, then smack the daylights out of whoever dared to piss me off to that point. With my body fully augmented, and the familiar sensation of power flowing through my veins, I opened the door, ready to knock out whoever it was on the other side.

  “AHHH!” I fell onto my butt and crawled away from the door backwards. Tears filled my eyes and I pissed my pants. But it was justified, as what stood before me could only be described as a monster.

  “Help! Help! Liora, Cael— I mean Dad! Help!!”

  I yelled and screamed but no one came. The monster watched as I cried out desperately, but it did not say a word. Instead, the monster only came closer, stepping inside the home as it approached me slowly.

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  “S-stay back! I’m warning you! I…I’m augmented! So just…stay back!”

  The monster didn’t listen as it kept coming closer. I backed up and scooted, trying to get away, but I was too petrified to stand and run. Though as it approached, I began to get a better look at it.

  The monster actually resembled more of a person on closer look. In fact, it looked like a little girl, a brat like Liora. Their skin was deathly pale, more gray than anything, and their hair was long and silky and colored midnight black. Their face wore an amused and mischievous grin which scared the ever-living crap out of me. Looking at the top of their head, I noticed two thick protruding black horns. Seeing those horns made me realize that I was wrong.

  This isn’t just a monster. It’s a demon sent straight from hell itself!

  I had no idea why a demon could’ve come for me. Okay, actually I had a few ideas. But why now of all times? Was this demon coming to make me pay for all of my sins? Did only my sins in this life count or would it be counting my past life sins as well? Whatever it wanted, I knew that I could do nothing about it. I was petrified, more than I had ever been before. Realizing that I had no choice, I began to beg.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, okay? For everything! Please don’t kill me. I don’t think I can afford to die. Not again!” I sobbed as I wailed around the floor. I had hoped that the demon would at least hear me out and stop doing whatever it was sent here to do. Instead, the demon reached its hand out for me.

  I shut my eyes in anticipation for what would happen. Would it rip off my head? Maybe it was going to strangle me to death. I much preferred the former rather than the latter honestly. If I was going to die again, I wanted it to be quick, just like my last death.

  Though now that I thought about it, when I died in my past life it still wasn’t quick enough, and I was left staring at the ceiling in a puddle of my own blood. That kind of sucked, but at least it wasn’t painful because of all the drugs I was on. Hopefully the demon would end it quickly. I smiled slightly to myself at the thought of dying again. It was kind of funny. I thought I had gotten away with my degeneracy scot-free and was given a new life on top of it but instead, I was just prolonging the inevitable. Now it was time to pay up.

  Well, goodbye everyone. Actually, never mind, I don’t care about anyone here anyway. Whatever, let’s just get this over with.

  ***

  “What the?” My anticipation abruptly was interrupted by the demon finally speaking.

  I opened my eyes to see the demon had pulled its hand back and its head was turned away from me and to its side. Following its gaze, I was met with the sight of Liora. She was wearing a towel and her fist was connected right against the demon’s face.

  Liora pulled her fist back and got into a fighting stance. Was this girl crazy? She was about to fight this demon head-on. Did she even know how to fight with her fists? I mean, Mira had only taught us how to use swords. And on top of that, she didn’t even know how to augment herself. She had to have a few screws loose.

  Battle-hungry maniac…

  Well whatever, it wasn’t like it mattered anyway. If she felt the need to throw her life away for me, I’d gladly take it if it meant I got to live. Now I just needed to get out of there and…

  Crap, I can’t even stand…

  My legs were still dead weight and I could barely move. When I tried to stand, I just fell back down onto my butt. I was absolutely petrified. All I could do now was watch. Though I already knew the outcome. The demon would kill Liora then kill me next. The poor brat might not have known what was coming but I sure did. It was over for both of us.

  The demon turned its body towards Liora and got into a pose of its own and at that sight, Liora grinned. She wasted no time as she charged towards the demon and swung her fists. Each swing was easily slipped by the demon but it made no effort to counterattack.

  It’s gotta be playing with its food.

  “You’ve gotten better, Liora,” the demon said as it continued to evade Liora’s attacks.

  Huh? How does it know her name? And what does it mean “she’s gotten better”? Have they met before? What’s going on here?

  “But you’re still too…” the demon continued as it ducked under a hook from Liora.

  “Slow!” The demon elbowed Liora right in the gut, causing her to fall to the ground, clutching her stomach in pain through the towel.

  Shit, I’m next…

  But instead of turning to me, it approached Liora. All I could think about was how the demon would choose to finish her off. Maybe it would stomp on her head, crushing it like a berry. Or maybe it would rip off her limbs piece by piece to savor the moment.

  Thats that i would do at least…

  But instead of finishing her off, the demon held out its hand to Liora.

  “Aww no fair, Lili, you know you have more practice than me,” Liora whined as she took the demon’s hand and stood up.

  “Hehe sorry. I might’ve gone a bit overboard,” the demon said before roughly patting Liora’s back.

  The two of them then shared a laugh while I was left utterly confused and covered in my own piss and tears.

  “What the hell is going on?!” I yelled out in frustration, embarrassment, and confusion.