• Name: Ne?kos


  
• Title: None


  
• Race: Kuva?ai


  
• Age: 20


  
• Gender: Female


  
• Class: Bulwark


  
• Affiliation: None


  
• Actuality Level: 15


  

  Attributes

  

  
• Health Points (HP): 277/277


  
• Realstone Shards: 3


  
• Damage Reduction (DR): 35%


  
• Affinity: (PHY)


  

  Combat Statistics

  

  
• Physical Damage (PHY): 58


  
• Fire Damage (FIR): 0


  
• Frost Damage (FRO): 0


  
• Divine Damage (DIV): 58


  
• Malignant Damage (MAL):


  
• Unarmed Damage: 28


  
• Total Damage (Without debuffs): 116


  

  Skills:

  Equipment:

  Mumu’s eyes narrowed as she beheld the warrior before her.

  She didn’t even need to see her stats to know just how strong Ne?kos was.

  That’s how sharp the warrior’s eyes were.

  Without moving a millimetre, they caught every movement and studied every change.

  Even though she looked despondent and crestfallen, Mumu knew that if she took one wrong step, she would lose a limb or worse.

  And so, she changed her approach.

  “I’d rather not kill you.”

  Ne?kos lowered her head and sighed. Her form seemingly blending with the shadowed corpses that surrounded her. All of them were partly submerged in mud and covered in foliage, meaning some time had passed since their deaths.

  “You don’t look like a Cultist, so I guess I can believe that. But I also know that you’re here for my heart. He sent you, didn’t he? The doll man?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mmm… then I guess our weapons were destined to clash, but tell me something. Where is your master?”

  “He’s somewhere safe.”

  Ne?kos’s eyes widened a little as the sun steadily rose above.

  “So, he’s still alive?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should be grateful. All loss is agonizing, but losing one’s master is akin to losing one’s purpose. That’s why I sit before you, hollow.”

  Mumu agreed for the most part with Ne?kos’s words, but she was also determined to live for herself.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Ne?kos sighed before standing up and stretching his arms.

  She then tucked her hair behind her ears, revealing her scar lined face which was frozen in a hardened expression.

  “I… unlike you, am a coward. I abandoned my master when the straits got dire and fled here where I have since hid.” Ne?kos breathed as she walked from side to side, seemingly deep in thought.

  “Make no mistake, I cared for and respected him, but… when the time came and we faced the woman in red…” She paused, taking a moment to ponder some more as her eyes shifted from side to side.

  “Say, instead of fighting, you and I could always just look for a new heart for you, right?”

  Mumu frowned at this.

  “Why would you want to help me?”

  “I… I figured that maybe it’s time that I stopped hiding.” Ne?kos wearily smiled, but Mumu remained poised for battle.

  “What do you want in return?”

  “Nothing. I just want to help one of my sisters achieve her goals. That’s all.” Ne?kos’s smile widened a little.

  But Mumu still felt as though she was in a snare.

  As if something was closing in around her.

  But… she had thought about gathering more allies at some point.

  She was in the middle of a war, after all, and she couldn’t fight every cultist by herself.

  Mumu relaxed her shoulders and nodded.

  “Alright.”

  Ne?kos nodded back before walking past Mumu, leaving her back completely open to attack.

  Well… that’s what Mumu would have thought before, but now she knew that was not the case.

  If she tried recklessly attacking the warrior before her, she would meet the heavy end of her hammer in a flash.

  “Your master, what’s he like? Mine was a bit of a knucklehead who never thought things through, so I'm curious.” Ne?kos softly chuckled as she walked ahead of Mumu.

  “He’s young, innocent, but… this world has been unkind to him.”

  Ne?kos stopped, and Mumu’s sharp ears allowed her to hear that the warrior’s heart had started beating a little faster.

  “H-he’s still a boy?”

  “Yes. But mercy isn’t afforded to the youth or the faultless.” Mumu shook her head as her heart ached more for Lav.

  She hoped she could get strong enough so that he would never have to fight, but she also knew that it was already a given.

  That he would one day have to step into the trenches.

  “Where did you say he was again?”

  “Mmm? You spoke of Dollman, right?” Mumu asked while walking ahead to face Ne?kos whose eyes had narrowed, sharply again.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s with him.”

  Ne?kos visibly clenched her jaw.

  “Is that scary woman still there?”

  “Who? Stician? Yeah, she’s still there.”

  Ne?kos’s eyes drifted to the side.

  “That woman… she’s as dangerous as the Red Dullahan, you know?”

  “Maybe. But she saved her life, so I owe her one.”

  Ne?kos nodded before resting her hammer on her pauldron.

  “Say, w-why don’t you bring your master out sometime, and we can look for your new heart together.”

  Ne?kos’s heart was practically racing at this point.

  “That won’t be possible. He’s not very strong right now, and I don’t want him to get hurt.”

  Ne?kos’s bit her lower lip at Mumu’s words and her face seemed to be getting flustered as her once hardened expression soften to a point that it looked tender and pleading.

  “But I can protect him! W-we can protect him together. Look- I just don’t want to that scary woman again so…” Ne?kos seemed to be struggling to find words as she lowered her head but this made Mumu’s guard, which she hadn’t fully lowered, rise.

  “Hey, I said what he said. He’s not coming out. If you want to see him, you’ll have to go to the bunker. So, are you coming or not?”

  Tears welled in Ne?kos’s eyes, and she stomped on the ground once.

  “Do you know how rare children are?” She whined.

  “His mind is still nascent and pure! I don’t want him to see me trembling before that woman like usual! Ugh- he probably has the cutest, littlest face too!” Ne?kos squirmed from side to side, which only served to anger Mumu.

  “HAA! Alright, he doesn’t have to come out now, but you’ll bring him out soon, right? RIGHT?” At this point, Ne?kos was panting like a beast.

  “He will come out either when necessary or when he’s strong enough.”

  Ne?kos’s face froze.

  “Mmm… don’t you think you’re being a little selfish?” She removed her hammer from her pauldron and held it tightly.

  “What do you mean?” Mumu asked, taking half a step backwards.

  “I told you that I lost m-my master, told you of my pain, and yet you deny me even the smallest of requests… but I guess that makes sense. I guess I would do the same. I would do anything to protect him… I… I should have done everything I could to protect him.” Ne?kos sobbed as tears fell from her eyes.

  She dropped her hammer and fell to her knees, finally falling to a state even lower than that which Mumu found her in.

  Defeated and that sense of danger, Mumu felt finally dissipated.

  “Go ahead. Kill me. Take my heart. I don’t think I could bear seeing you happy with your master.” Ne?kos smiled as she looked up at Mumu, who refused to let her guard down.

  However, she nodded to Ne?kos’s request and raised her axes.

  “I should have tried harder.”

  Mumu swung her axes and promptly decapitated Ne?kos, whose body limply fell to the side afterwards.

  [Congratulations on beating a Level 15 enemy!]

  [You Have Levelled Up!]

  [You have gained 3 Realstone Shards!]

  [You have gained True Sight]

  Mumu let out a breath, letting her shoulders slump and hunching forward as she picked up Ne?kos’s body, which she dragged as she made her way south.

  She trudged on like this for a while up until Camp Crestfall was in site.

  Upon seeing it, she assumed the posture of a huntress and walked until she stood face to face again with Captain Kettle, who looked the corpse in her hand over for a moment before sighing.

  “Your efforts have been acknowledged by the Saintly Forces and while we have no monitory rewards for you, your status has been changed to that of an ally in the eyes of the soldiers of all that is good.”

  In any other circumstances, Mumu would have been disappointed but all she wanted to do was go back to the bunker, to return to Lav’s side.

  And so, after parting ways with Kettle, she made her way to that distant, solitary hill which she climbed and, upon reaching the top, she knocked on the heavy door that was embedded into the rock.

  Stician opened the door shortly after and greeted a weary-eyed Mumu with a smirk.

  “Would it make your day any worse if I thought you were going to die?”

  “Hehe, no. Because I thought the same damn thing.”

  Stician’s smile widened, and she took Ne?kos’s corpse from Mumu, allowing her to freely enter the bunker.

  She made her way down into the main chamber, where Dollman was preparing two operating tables.

  “Shh. The boy is asleep.” He spoke without turning.

  “Go to the level below. There’s a geyser in the last room.” His voice was soft, taking care not to awaken Lav.

  Mumu nodded before making her way downstairs where, after passing two closed rooms, she reached what was essentially a bathroom only instead of a tub, it had geyser which was about as big as a hot tub and went down further than she could see.

  After taking a breath, Mumu took off her clothes, revealing her muddied, bloodied skin.

  Almost all of her scars and wounds were gone since she had levelled up, but the pain…

  The thing about pain was, just like any stimuli, it recorded by the mind, etched onto the consciousness and helps in the formation of new neural pathways.

  Just because the sensation was gone, doesn’t mean it can't still be felt.

  Mumu, as she listlessly stood in the silence of the bathroom, closed her eyes and found herself subtly flinching as she recalled every time she was hit, every hateful glare she received and every teary she shed.

  Pain wasn’t just a moment.

  It echoed in the mind.

  Manifesting as a knot in the stomach, an ache in the head, a sleepless night, and so much more.

  Mumu, who had lived a full life prior to her arrival on Neo-Earth, knew this all too well.

  She knew what each pang meant.

  That, however, didn’t make it any easier.

  She slipped into the geyser, which bubbled with pleasantly hot water and washed the blood from her body.

  As she got more relaxed in the cradling waters, the ache in her chest grew.

  Another echo of pain.

  One that was strong enough to draw tears from her eyes.

  Was it a weakness to cry?

  To give in to the torrent of memories that barraged?

  Was there any good or honour in holding it all in?

  Mumu didn’t know.

  All she could do was try to cry as quietly as possible.

  She didn’t want Lav to see his big sister in such a pathetic state.

  And so, after washing away the last of her tears, she got out of the geyser, wrapped herself in a towel and softly stepped back into the main chamber where Stician had placed a headless Ne?kos onto one of the two operating tables.

  “I’m sorry,” Dollman whispered.

  “I wish I knew a way that wasn’t so painful.”

  Mumu nodded, telling him that she understood.

  Dollman nodded back and gestured that she lay down.

  She did so and felt herself getting steadily drowsier as Dollman stood at her side.

  “With this heart, I hope to give to you a new, more powerful body. I truly, dearly wish to see you walk in the realm of the gods. But to do that, my child, you may have to descend into the darkest of depths. Are you ready for that?” His voice rang endlessly in Mumu’s mind as her vision rapidly darkened.

  “Yes.”