[X] Dignity.
Did you think you could forget Yukihime?
"Silence." You were more than angry... You were unspeakably furious, but that anger was tempered... It was cold. You slowly let go of your throbbing skull, and reset yourself into your seiza. The memories slide off of you with a practiced ease, everything fading into the background behind the two of you. "I never forgot. Every time I look into the mirror I remember. Every time someone points and gawks at me I remember, every time someone asks what happened I remember... You must have expected me to break into a mindless fury and kill you in the form of my daughter, hmm? Or perhaps be so broken that I'd just fall over and rot? It's obvious what you were trying to do... You wanted to recreate Aoi's death while wearing the skin of my daughter... Yet you fundamentally misunderstand me entirely." Your hands were shaking that was true, you felt like you wanted to vomit... But you survived, you rose like a great phoenix after this thanks to the body Bug has been wearing right now... The pain... It was nothing at all.
"Misunderstand! You... I'll show you-", "Show me it a thousand times, it won't matter more than the first time. It's true that it left me scarred for life, and my life expectancy is probably around twenty or thirty with what they did to my body but if I was going to give up? I'd have done so already, idiot demon..." You smile coldly, "After all, didn't I save myself soon after?" If someone like you was able to be the Prince... Then this bug was nothing. "When I first arrived in this world... I swore I was going to be a Hero. I won't let something like you, get in the way." Finally you stand up. You're aware of the being's capabilities, it's only able to attack you emotionally... It was a weakling who tried it's hardest to make you surrender so it can snatch your body... "What... What are you doing! You can't hurt me, I know you cant!" Despite this the demon sounded panicked, well aware you could snap it in two at any moment... Instead you loomed over it, inspecting it... The more you inspected it, the more angry you got... It was a disservice to Saki's memory to keep letting this thing inhabit this body. Saki wasn't just skin and bone. Saki was a person, a kind, sweet girl... This was just a demented puppet that looked like her. "It's imperfect" You noted to yourself silently, something channeling into your eyes, burning them allowing you to see every last detail of your fake daughter... It was wrong. So it was not Saki. You could see the wisps of black smoke straining in such a small dense form, and soon Saki's form disappeared from your vision to show you a small figure made completely of black gas...
It can't hide anymore, much like you can't from those memories. You see the Truth... You see through it. Your fist launched outwards, meeting nearly no resistance as you punched through the demon... Unexpectedly fragile... You didn't feel pleasure from this action. You didn't feel anything at all. You watched dispassionately as your fake daughter slides off your arm onto the floor before exploding into smoke. The world cracked, and then shattered...
You woke up.
You see William seal the demon back into the jar. You feel nothing. "Yukihime... Are you alright?" William looks at you concerned, well aware of how risky this training method is. "Yes, I'm fine." You lie. William frowns, his eyes turning blue for a moment before roughly shoving a palm into your chest... You feel a bit more normal now. "I see... You released your spiritual energy as planned... However, it seems that your energy is tainted by your experience with the demon for now. Please don't lie to me about this again Yukihime... It's dangerous... Though it isn't your fault. The energy you got from this is better than I expected... I half thought you'd come out a berserker but instead your energy latched onto your depression and apathy... So you didn't have any attachments when you saw me..."
You get up and vomit into a nearby box. Despite William's quick action you still feel an emptiness inside.
Well. I didn't really expect you guys to go with the Red Option due to the lack of taking them throughout the quest. Yeah... You guys got 2 more trauma from The First Lesson miniarc You are on the cusp of getting another Red Trait.
You also chose probably the worst option to deal with the demon mentally, but you've got the best amount of spiritual energy from it... Dignity allowed you to scrape by with most of your personality unscathed! Congratulations for not breaking your sense of self. Not that the others didn't have their own benefits. You also saved yourself from getting another Red Trait through Dignity.
If it isn't clear, Dignity is a dual meaning here, between saving your daughter's dignity from the monster puppeting her skin to taunt you, and your own self respect.
Today you.
[X] Ran the numbers in your head, you think that if you hired a cheap adventurer you can run a profit sending them out to do Charlie's request. Perhaps it's possible to throw your status as a Heroic Weapon user to start a business taking all the shit jobs nobody wants?
[X] Went looking for monsterslaying work. There has to be some streamlined system here that you're missing.
[X] You just... Want to unwind for now. What is it that normal people do on their day off?
[X] Train yourself in the use of Spiritual Energy.
