Liberation of The Slaves Chapter 111 – What Was Left In Selena

— Selena’s POV —

My eyes opened slowly, heavy as if I’d been asleep for days. My vision adjusted to the dimness, revealing the barred wall in front of .

I was inside a cage.

No—

A prison.

mories trickled back, walking through the forest, the scent of wild berries in my hand, the breeze on my cheek, and then, nothing… until now.

I sat up, my limbs trembling. I wasn’t alone.

Around were children and won, so elves, so humans, huddled together in silence, eyes empty, shoulders trembling. They looked more like discarded dolls than people. A sickening weight pressed against my chest.

That’s when I heard it.

“Where is Gina!?”

A child’s voice broke the silence.

She was no older than , a girl with hollow eyes and a wooden tag dangling from her neck. A number was carved into it like livestock branding. 11634.

“Gina! Where’s Gina!?”

Footsteps echoed from the hallway, too calm, too clean. A man in a white coat stopped just outside the bars, staring in like we were animals in a lab.

“Gina?” he said, as if tasting the na. “Ah. You an 11633? She was defective. She’s dead.”

“…No. No, she can’t be…”

The man smiled coldly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be joining her soon. You’re next, 11634.”

*Crreeeaaaak*

The tal door groaned open like the mouth of a beast, swallowing light.

“No… No, I don’t want to! I don’t want to die!”

“Shut up.”

*SLAP!*

“Kyaaa!”

The sound cracked through the room like a whip. The girl's body hit the ground hard, and before she could move again—

*ZZZRRRRAKKK—!*

The collar around her neck lit up with a cruel hiss, sending volts of punishnt directly into her spine. She convulsed on the ground, twitching violently, her screams echoing against the concrete.

“AAAAARRRGHHHHH!!”

No one moved.

No one spoke.

We all just watched… and waited for our turn.

He didn’t even glance at the girl still twitching at his feet. Her cries were nothing but background noise to him.

Instead, his gaze swept across the room, lecherous and slow, crawling over every trembling, naked woman like a roach in the dark. His tongue dragged over his lips, wet and vile.

“Co to think of it… we’re already bored of number 11620’s body.”

His eyes stopped on .

Like acid down my spine, I felt the burn of his gaze.

“You. Since you’re the last number… co with , number 11666.”

Terror spilled from my throat before I could even think.

“No… No...! I don’t want to!”

My knees shook. I backed away, bare feet scraping against the cold stone floor.

I didn’t want to be touched. I didn’t want to be defiled.

Death… I would’ve preferred death.

Because I had promised… promised my darling that I would wait. That my first ti… would be his. That my heart and body would belong to no one else. Not in this world. Not in any world.

I scread inside, silently begging the goddess to make a test subject instead. Just let die in a lab, torn apart by cruel experints… but not this.

Please… Not this.

Then—

“Don’t take Sis Lena away!”

A voice pierced the horror.

“I’ll go! Let take her place!”

I turned, my heart lurching.

“Rin…?”

It was Rin, my neighbor. Barely more than a child. She’d been taken with , the only one I knew in this nightmare, the only one who called sister. The only voice that ever spoke with warmth here.

“Rin!? What are you talking about!?”

I reached out, panic consuming . But she stepped forward and hugged , her arms trembling, her voice barely a whisper against my ear.

“Don’t worry, sis… I’ll be fine.”

“No…! No…!”

Tears broke free. I clung to her, shaking.

“You’ve always been kind to ,” she said softly. “You always helped . So this ti… let protect you.”

“I don’t want that! I don’t need—!”

“You said soone would co for us, right?” she smiled, though her voice cracked. “So… let buy you ti. Until our savior arrives…”

My heart shattered.

I had told her that only to keep her from giving up. Obviously a lie. A small, stupid lie to comfort her. I never thought she’d believe it. But she had. Or maybe… she didn’t. Maybe she just wanted to believe. Maybe she wanted to believe, too.

And now… she was going to die for it.

But instead of sparing , her offer only made him grin wider.

“Aren’t you two adorable.”

He licked his teeth.

“You’re number 11665, huh? Just before her. What a perfect pair.”

He took a step forward, keys clinking in his hand like shackles.

“Guess we’ll take both. Two pretty girls before the next batch cos in.”

““Huh…?””

We froze.

“No!” Rin cried out. “Let her go! Don’t touch her! Just take ! I-I will do whatever you want, I swear! Just don’t lay a finger on her!”

My breath caught.

Even now… she still tried to protect .

“Rin…”

But her desperation only amused him further.

“What are you, stupid?” he sneered. “If we wanted soone who begged for it, we’d go ho to our wives.”

Wives…?

My eyes trembled.

They had wives? Families?

And yet here they were, forcing their way onto girls like us… like beasts. Like demons who wore the faces of n.

I bit down on the scream that rose in my throat.

“…Despicable.”

The word escaped , trembling with disgust.

They were not like my darling. Not like the man I loved.

These weren’t n.

They were monsters.

But… He just shrugged and grinned.

“What’s wrong with it? It’s normal for n to want more won, right?”

“…!”

Yes.

Yes, I’d heard those words before, even in my old world.

But they never sounded like this.

Those n… they loved their wives. They were flawed, but they never took what wasn’t given. Never reduce others to objects.

But this man…

He didn’t desire love.

He wanted control.

Domination.

He… wanted to break us.

And in that mont, the fragile hope I’d carried about this world, about the people in it, shattered into dust.

I missed my darling.

I missed the warmth of his hand, the sound of his voice, the way his gaze held no hunger but only love.

And now, here I was.

Naked and afraid.

About to be dragged into hell.

And all I could do… was pray that soone, anyone, would co...

Before it is too late.

But… this was not a fantasy story in a book.

This was… my reality.

Living like this… is beyond pain.

It’s hell.

“Aaaaaaaahhhh!! It hurts!!”

Their voices, shrieks and groans twisted together, bounced off the sterile, bloodstained walls. The air was thick with the stench of chemicals, sweat, and suffering. Sowhere, a girl was being sliced open. Another scread for her mother. Another laughed, a broken, manic sound that didn’t belong to a sane person anymore.

And then… us.

“Ahnnnn…”

“Ngghhhh…”

Rin and I, shackled and trembling, forced to crawl like dogs before their leering eyes. We weren’t test subjects today.

We were toys.

Their hands were cruel. Their laughter, louder than our sobs.

“Mmmmhhh…!”

“Mmnnnn…!”

They made us kiss. Not in love, not even in lust. Just for their amusent.

In front of the test subjects who scread even louder than our moans.

Our lips and tongues pushed together. Tears stread from our eyes and mingled in the hollow space between us.

Rin whimpered. Her shoulders shook. Her body trembled every ti they touched her body, no kindness, no hesitation.

She tried to be strong.

I tried to be strong.

But our bodies betrayed us. Our dignity was stripped away along with our clothing.

And in our eyes… there was no light left.

We were hollow, like a cracked glass waiting to shatter.

I held her hand as we fell apart.

That was all I could do.

The sting in my body was nothing compared to what broke inside .

I had waited.

I had promised.

My darling… I had saved everything for him.

But now...

Now I was being ruined by monsters in human skin.

The words choked inside . Not even a whisper. Just thoughts tangled in agony.

Tears stread down our faces in silence. Around us, tal clanged, instrunts buzzed, other victims wailed, and the n laughed.

Ti kept moving, uncaring.

And no one ca.

All we could do was cry.

Cry for our broken hearts.

Cry for our broken bodies.

And cry… for the hope we were starting to lose.

Ti had lost all aning.

The days bled into each other, gray, numb, and painted in shades of agony. The others disappeared, one by one. So died screaming. So never scread at all, their minds already broken before their bodies followed. So ca back… twisted, deford, their eyes empty. Most never ca back at all.

And then… It was Rin’s turn.

My hands were bound. My legs were shackled. And I could do nothing.

Nothing at all.

I watched them drag Rin’s small body forward like a doll on a leash. Her bare feet scraped against the cold floor, leaving streaks of red blood. Her arms trembled. Her voice, once so bright, cracked when she begged softly.

“Please… let go…”

They didn’t even answer her.

They only laughed.

Her na wasn’t Rin anymore. It was 11665. A number scrawled onto a tag around her neck like livestock. She stood there trembling, too young, too thin, too kind, and they strapped her down like an offering to a butcher’s table.

“Rin…!”

I scread her na.

“Riiinnnn…!”

I scread and scread until my voice broke.

But the collar around my neck flared to life, an electric jolt tearing through my spine, hurling to the floor.

*ZZZRRRRAKKK—!*

“AAAAARRRGHHHHH!!”

My body convulsed. My jaw opened wide and scread loud.

And in that helpless situation, I was forced to watch.

They began their test.

Not with scalpels, but with chemicals.

I didn’t know what they injected into her veins, but the mont it hit, her body spasd violently.

“AAAAARRRGHHHHH!!”

Her screams weren’t like before. It was like her soul was being torn apart from the inside.

Her skin rippled. Her veins bulged. Blood poured from her nose, her eyes, her mouth.

And I...

I...

I couldn’t look away.

Because they made sure I watched.

They held my face forward. Even as I wept, even as I begged for it to stop… they forced my eyes open.

All while those sa n... used again.

Right there, in front of her.

“Ahnnn…! N-No…! R-Rin… N-Ngghhhh…!”

My voice broke into desperate sobs and moans, but their hands didn’t stop. My pain didn’t matter. My sha didn’t matter.

Only the experint did.

I could see Rin's eyes through my tears, wide with agony. Her mouth moved, trying to speak, but no sound ca out. Her body twitched uncontrollably, blood pooling around her waist.

And still… She looked at .

Not in hate.

Not in bla.

But in gratitude.

In her final mont… as her chest heaved and her pupils faded into lifeless glass… she smiled.

She smiled at .

And with blood on her lips, she whispered words I would never forget.

“Thank you… for everything… sister Lena…”

Then… she was gone.

Her eyes remained open.

And I—

I keep moaning.

But I forced myself to scream until my throat bled.

“Riiiinnnnnnnn!!! Nnnggghhhhh!!!!!”

My soul shattered.

I scread even when my body was being used as a toy.

I scread her na until there was no breath left.

But she didn’t answer.

She never would again.

And from that day forward, her voice haunted .

Her smile.

Her sacrifice.

Her final breath, spent trying to comfort while I… while I…

I did nothing.

Nothing but cry.

Nothing but moan.

Nothing but watch.

She gave her life for .

And I… couldn’t even die for her.

I thought I would follow her.

I thought Rin's death would be the end of too, that the next experint, the next experint reaching for , would finally shatter what little remained of my body and soul.

But death never ca.

Not for .

Sothing inside rejected the sa fate. A strange, cursed resilience kept breathing, even when I begged the goddess to take my life.

A trait they hadn’t expected. A phenonon the researchers labeled with excitent.

They called it “progress.”

But I called it hell.

They doubled down on their efforts, eyes gleaming with feverish obsession. To them, I was no longer a test subject, but I was a mystery to be unraveled. A perfect experint. A puzzle worth breaking.

Then... Years passed.

Or maybe it was centuries. I couldn’t tell anymore.

The light outside never changed. My world was dim corridors, flickering bulbs, and the constant hum of machines. The air stank of blood and tal.

Researchers ca and went. So grew old and left, others replaced them with fresh cruelty and newer tools. Their faces changed, but their eyes, the way they looked at , never did.

Cold.

Lust.

Detached.

Each ti they welcod a new group of captives, new girls, new children, I prayed one of them would carry the sa curse I did so my hellish ti would be reduced.

But none of them did.

One by one, they died.

Kept, used, then died.

The researchers would toy with them like discarded dolls until their screams no longer echoed, and then, when even that entertainnt faded, they would end them, cold and casual, as if throwing out trash.

And through it all… I endured.

I watched.

I listened.

I was being used.

I watched it again.

And being used again.

Like an endless cycle.

And I broke.

Every ti they forced beneath them, charted my vitals, praised my body's response, I sank deeper. My body responded only because it had been conditioned to.

There was no pleasure. No thought. No resistance.

Just emptiness.

I stopped crying years ago.

I stopped screaming too.

I learned how to float, how to escape into the corners of my mind where their voices couldn’t follow. At least… for a little while.

But even that sanctuary of my mind began to crumble.

The silence Rin left behind echoed louder than any torture they could inflict. Her final smile haunted the edge of every dream. Her voice, soft and forgiving, replayed itself every ti I closed my eyes.

She died for .

And I, her beloved “Sis Lena,” beca nothing more than a breathing corpse, enduring one violation after another in her place.

The guilt burned deeper than the pain.

The sha clawed harder than the chains.

I forgot what my voice sounded like when I wasn’t moaning.

I forgot what it ant to be human.

I forgot… to be .

There was no escape.

Only the never-breaking truth: I was the cursed one.

The one who couldn’t die.

And so, they kept alive...

To suffer.

To break.

To watch.

And I...

I just waited.

Not for a savior.

But for my ti to die.

Even if fate never allows it.

My life had felt like it had stopped.

Ti blurred, pain repeated, and I had forgotten what change even looked like.

Until that day.

That judgnt day.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”

“Help ee!!”

“Nooo! Don’t kill !!!”

Screams ripped through the halls.

But these weren’t the cries of test subjects.

Not the sobs of broken toys.

These were their voices.

The researchers.

The torntors.

Panicked. Desperate. Dying.

Then… I heard it.

*Clank—clank—*

I looked down.

The collar around my neck had fallen to the floor.

Around , the others stared, eyes wide, hollow and lost, unable to believe what they saw. Freedom wasn’t sothing we understood anymore. It was a word spoken in prayers we no longer believed in.

Then—

*BOOM!*

The heavy tal door exploded into shrapnel.

Smoke poured in, thick and choking.

And then, through it stepped a shadow.

A woman.

A figure cloaked in battle’s fury, wielding a sword dyed in the blood of our captors. Her long black hair clung to her black dress armor, wild and wind-tossed, and her obsidian eyes glead like blades in the dark.

For a mont, we cowered. Was this a new demon? A worse fate?

But then, her gaze swept across us.

And softened.

No pity. No revulsion.

Only recognition.

Like she saw us… not as subjects, not as numbers, not as toys.

But as people.

She raised her sword, voice calm and resolute.

“Let’s go. This place is not where you belong.”

And with that…

She gathered the few of us who still breathed,

And tore open a portal with a glowing scroll.

The light surrounded us.

Warm. Blinding. And felt unreal.

Was this what salvation looked like?

Was this what dying finally felt like?

No.

This wasn’t death.

It was sothing far more distant than I had dared to hope.

It was… an escape from hell.

After we erged on a cliff overlooking the forest, the woman moved quickly and efficiently.

One by one, she handed clothes to the survivors.

And then… she sent them ho.

Each one.

Teleportation scroll after scroll.

Without hesitation.

She didn’t hesitate to spend them, even though each one could cost a fortune. She only cared that they reached safety.

Until finally… only I was left.

Just . The last broken soul.

I stood before her.

She turned to , her voice soft and gentle. The kind of voice you’d expect from a mother, not a warrior soaked in blood.

“Where do you want to go?”

She asked. But I didn’t answer.

I couldn’t.

My mouth didn’t move.

My mind didn’t work.

I simply stood there, staring blankly at her like a lifeless doll, eyes wide, hollow, lost.

Because my mind had shattered long ago.

Because I had stopped thinking.

Because thinking hurts .

She let out a sigh, quiet but heavy.

“I’ll take you to a safe elf village,” she murmured, as if she’d already decided for .

But before she could move...

My hand reached out on its own.

It trembled violently as it clutched her cloak tightly and desperately.

I was scared.

Terrified of being left behind.

Of being alone again.

That was the first ti my mind raced again.

But I still couldn’t speak. I didn’t know how to answer.

Because going back to my village…

If I saw Rin’s parents…

If they asked what happened to their daughter…

I didn’t have the strength to tell them.

I didn’t have the courage to say, “She died because she protected .”

I couldn’t face them.

But it wasn’t just that.

I didn’t want to live buried in grief.

I wanted to live for sothing… do sothing.

Yes. Now I rembered it.

I… had dreams once.

I wanted to craft magic tools.

Invent magic.

That dream still flickered sowhere deep inside , smothered by years of pain, but not dead.

And the most important thing… I’d made a promise.

To him.

To my darling.

Even if he never ca.

Even if I was already tainted, defiled, and ruined.

I promised him I would find a safe place.

A place where we could live in peace, far from the war.

But I was weak.

Too weak to survive in this cruel world on my own.

Yet now… standing right in front of ... was strength.

A savior.

A kind, terrifying, powerful woman.

Maybe she could be my guide.

Maybe… just maybe, I wouldn’t have to be alone anymore.

At that mont, I… finally heard my own voice again.

“P-Please… let follow you!”

I cried out, bowing so deeply my forehead brushed the dirt.

“I’ll do anything! Chores, errands, anything!”

She turned to , face unreadable, and said flatly.

“You can’t. I don’t need a burden.”

Her words hit like a slap.

Still, I didn’t give up. I pleaded, my voice cracking.

“I’ll train! I’ll beco strong enough to help you! I swear I won’t be a burden!”

“No. I don’t need help,” she replied again, cold and unmoved.

I was shaking.

Then… I said it.

“I’m an otherworlder!”

The truth slipped from my lips like a final gamble.

“My knowledge from my past life might be useful to you!”

That gave her pause.

Her eyes narrowed.

And then, she sighed again, this ti longer, softer.

“Haa… Why are you so honest?” she muttered.

“You’ll get yourself killed if people find out you’re an otherworlder while you’re still weak.”

I replied with a small voice, but sincere.

“I said it because… I trust you. You saved us. You didn’t look away.”

A brief silence.

Then…

She sighed again.

“Haa… Don’t complain later.”

My heart skipped. My eyes widened.

“Does that an—?!”

Before I finished my words, she pointed toward a distant patch of grassland.

“My house is there. That small wooden one. Run to it. No aura. No mana. If you co late, no dinner tonight.”

She waved her hand and turned away, vanishing into thin air without sparing another glance.

I stood still for a second, breath caught.

And then—

“Yes, Master!!”

I took off.

My legs felt like glass, but I ran anyway.

Because this ti, I wasn’t running from sothing… I was running toward sothing.

Wind against my face.

Tears in my eyes.

And for the first ti in what felt like an eternity—

There was a light ahead.

A ho.

A chance.

And the beginning… of a new chapter in my life.