With Vahn's incursion into her memories coming to an end, the formerly hooded woman, Clementine, cupped her head with her her hand, covered in a padded, elongated sleeve.
"You bastard...what did you do to me...?" Clementine groaned, still under the effect of Silence but audible to Vahn.
"First and foremost, I would like to apologize. I'm generally opposed to peering into another person's memories without their express consent, but you didn't leave me with many other options..." Vahn sighed, causing Clementine to raise her face and glower at him with her red, hatred-filled eyes.
"If it will alleviate some of your enmity toward me, I am not opposed to you trying to kill me..." Vahn proffered, producing an ornate dagger from his Inventory and setting it on the floor between him and Clementine. For several seconds, the latter just stared at it. Then, faster than the average person could have blinked...
Demonstrating how merciless she could be, Clementine hastily grabbed the dagger before lunging forward, slamming her forehead into the center of Vahn's chest and knocking him onto his back. Then, straddling him and tucking her legs to his sides, she didn't hesitate before raising the dagger over her head and brutally stabbing him, over and over again, in the chest, throat, and, notably, several times in the face.
'She might be too far gone...' Vahn thought, exhaling bloody bubbles from his nose—his closed eyes bloodied and shredded by the dagger's curved, jagged edge. The pain was nothing short of excruciating, but thanks to his S-Ranked [Pain Tolerance], his thoughts remained calm and clear, even as his face, neck, and chest throbbed with intense heat.
Exhausting herself after stabbing Vahn 237 times in the span of a single minute, Clementine, her chest and shoulders heaving, remarked, "Serves you right...you stupid lizard bastard..."
'Mmn...you're not wrong. I definitely deserved at least this much after I peered into your memories...' Vahn affirmed, causing Clementine to tense as he spoke to her via telepathy. Then, in the span of just a few seconds, all the damage he had sustained was undone, his blood evaporating away as motes of rainbow-hued light, and his caved-in face promptly regaining its structure.
"Go ahead..." Vahn said, surprising the stunned Clementine with a gentle, understanding smile as he assured, "All of your pain, hatred, frustration...I will accept it all. And when your fury has settled, I will be here to hear you out and provide you direction..."
Punctuating his assurances, Vahn surprised Clementine even further by guiding her hands, still holding the dagger, into a stabbing position. Then, maintaining his smile, he guided her to stab him in the chest, the dagger's tip sinking into his heart.
"What the fuck is wrong with you...?" Clementine asked, her expression more disgusted than understanding. The fact that Vahn had been able to heal from her initial onslaught made it evident that she wouldn't be able to kill him with the dagger he had provided her. Thus, having calmed down a bit after her initial frenzy, her mind overworked itself trying to make sense of his actions and what he wanted from her.
"I mean it..." Vahn responded, guiding Clementine to twist the dagger in his chest, blood leaking from the sides of his mouth as he asserted, "You have suffered more than anyone reasonably should. As someone who has compounded your suffering, even unintentionally, you're within your rights to hold me to account. I cannot relinquish my life to you, but I can indulge your fury until it has abated..."
"..."
Though she felt there was something seriously wrong with his head, Clementine only hesitated for half a second before pulling the dagger from Vahn's chest and stabbing it into his left eye, twisting the handle within his socket. The way Vahn just closed his eyes pissed her off, but if he was going to let her stab him to her heart's content, she had no reason to refuse him...
...
..
.
"Feeling better...?" Vahn asked, swapping his puncture-ridden yukata for a clean, unpunctured version.
"I might feel better if you were dead. But since you're still alive, I feel like shit..." Clementine responded, seated against the back wall of the padded room, her expression a weary, temperamental glower.
"That's something I find odd. When I peered into your memories, I didn't find anything that would cause you to resent me as much as you seem to," Vahn stated, a slight frown marring his face as he expanded, "From what I can tell, you aren't particularly loyal to Zurrernorn. You've killed more than a few of your fellow members—including that executive called Khajit. Why do you resent me so?"
"I told you...it's because I don't like your face..." Clementine responded, turning her head and spitting onto the floor.
"Well, as you've experienced, you can't exactly kill me..." Vahn remarked, lowering himself to the floor and crossing his ankles before asking, "So I ask you—what is it you seek? What would make you, Clementine Haizea Quintia, happy?"
Hearing Vahn utilize her full name, Clementine bared and gnashed her teeth hard enough to produce an audible crack. There was strangely no pain, but that wasn't her concern at the moment.
"Why are you here? Do you think I'm pitiful or something? Do you think you're better than me...?" Clementine questioned, her crimson eyes filled with fury.
"I think you've seen and experienced things no one should be forced to endure. And if you allow me to, I would like to help you," Vahn answered, causing Clementine to glower at him with a mix of disbelief, disgust, and more than a little confusion.
"What do you gain by helping me...?" Clementine questioned, her words coming out as a low hiss, even while Silenced.
"I seldom seek to gain anything from anyone. And while your actions these past few years of your life have been...inexcusable, they're not for me nor the Sorcerer Kingdom to judge," Vahn stated, his tone calm, full of patience as he asserted, "Your Karma will eventually catch up to you, and someone you've harmed in the past will almost assuredly be the cause of your death. However, with the strength and information you possess, you have the opportunity to change how you've lived and pursue more than a life of bloodshed and torment. This city, this kingdom—they could be the place you start anew..."
"..."
Though her first instinct was to spit in Vahn's face and ask if he was a retard, Clementine was surprised to find herself seriously considering his words. She had been used, abused, manipulated, exploited, betrayed, and experienced just about every evil thing that could happen to a person—up to and including being killed and resurrected multiple times. But there was something about the look in Vahn's eyes, the weight of his words, and the air about him that made it seem like he could be trusted...
'Just who is this guy...?' Clementine asked herself, seeing Vahn, for the first time, as a person rather than someone she had decided to kill most brutally. More importantly, he was a person who might be able to get her out of her current situation. She had only been imprisoned for a very brief period, but what she had experienced up until then led her to believe that her chances of escaping on her own were close to zero percent...
"I should preface things by informing you that if you accept my offer and are released from this prison, you will lose the ability to kill humans and other sapient creatures," Vahn revealed, clarifying, "The exception would be if you're defending yourself or others. Such sentiments trigger specific signals and chemicals within the mind, so it's marginally more accurate to say you will lose the ability to kill because you choose to. You will only be able to kill when you need to."
"I am literally an assassin, though. You would strip me of my livelihood and force me to do what? Whore myself out...?" Clementine questioned, looking more annoyed than angry.
"The Sorcerer Kingdom is always in need of strong, capable people. With your strength, you could easily find employment with them," Vahn stated. "Otherwise, I would recommend that you become an Adventurer. Up until this point, you've hated them for their freedom and their ability to envision a better future for themselves. Now, I'm presenting you the opportunity to walk the same path..."
Producing what looked like a simple, expressionless white make, Vahn set it on the floor before him and explained, "This is a rare artifact called True False Identity. It allows the person who puts it on to assume a completely new identity, functionally resetting their Karma to neutral. It doesn't have any effect on your appearance, but until you willfully remove it, no one will recognize your face as belonging to your previous identity—not even your twin brother."
"That's absurd...and you're just giving it to me...?" Clementine questioned, slack-jawed, incredulous.
"The restriction I'll be placing on you is a restraint that, once accepted, can never be discarded..." Vahn stated, meeting Clementine's gaze as he reinforced, "It is tantamount to a sacred vow made to a God. This mask is compensation for the difficulties you will invariably face as a result."
"..."
Though the totality of her life and past experiences prevented her from accepting Vahn's words at face value, Clementine found herself crawling forward on all fours, her movements reminiscent of a cat's. The feline ears and striped tail she had grown when she was younger had been surgically removed, her scars completely erased by magic. But she still retained the natural agility and flexibility of a Cat-like Beastfolk—colloquially known as Nekomimi.
Picking up and inspecting the mask, Clementine felt no magical power from it in the slightest. However, as they were currently in a room that completely sealed magical power, she didn't immediately dismiss it as a fake. Instead, she questioned, "If I put this on and accept that Heavenly Restriction you intend to place on me, you'll help me leave this place—no questions asked?"
"Just as the actions you've taken in the past aren't mine nor the Sorcerer Kingdom's to judge, the path you choose to follow after leaving this place is for you to decide," Vahn stated, causing Clementine's pupils to contract into thin slits as he confirmed what she was thinking, specifically, "Even if you use it to pursue vengeance against the Theocracy, I will not stop you. Just know that, no matter how gratifying it feels in the moment, the only thing that awaits those who seek revenge is a feeling of emptiness once it is achieved..."
"That's something I will decide for myself..." Clementine countered, the depths of her crimson eyes filled with a lifetime of accumulated hatred. She didn't know how she would circumvent the restriction Vahn intended to place on her, but if the True False Identity made it impossible for those who knew her to recognize her face, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people she wished to kill. What she didn't know was that Vahn was well aware of this, and, due to the sentiments attached to the hatred she held toward her would-be victims—clergymen and women who had victimized her and many others—the restriction that prevented her from killing would not prohibit her from retaliating against those who had harmed her...
...
..
.
After Vahn personally discussed his justifications for her release with Ainz, Clementine was freed from prison on the condition that if she ever perpetrated another crime within the borders of E-Rantel, she would be sentenced to death. Less than an hour later, she was exiting the city, her heading southward, toward the Slane Theocracy. It would only be a few months before she returned, but in that time, many low to mid-ranking clergymen and women of the Slane Theocracy would go missing, only to show up several days later, brutally tortured with their ears missing and genitals mutilated...
...
..
.