Chapter 346: An Eye for an Eye

Cage by cage, Saige popped open the doors and squeezed inside to free the prisoners held within. Each time, chanting a prayer to his God that filled the area with a noble golden light. It was enough to draw plenty of attention from those within the War Camp, but between the Alluring Succubus, the head chopping ghost and the illusionary army that caused them to turn on each other, they had enough to keep them occupied.

Figg, the only one who was not fighting, was mostly taking the job of guiding the lizards out. As a Druid, he naturally had a connection to beasts as well as nature. Although it wasn’t nearly as high as Saige’s, nor was it even as high as his own connection to nature, it was enough for him to convince most of the lizards to leave.

Most of them.

One particularly mean looking lizard, with a body covered in scars, burn marks and only one glassy eye as the other had been gouged out, was not intent on leaving.

The moment the life returned to its eye, its entire body was filled with an unyielding bloodlust of a raw fury that could only belong to the abused and downtrodden. Although its mind had not been its own, it remembered everything.

Every crack of the whip, every sizzle of the brand. It remembered the maddening feeling of being held prisoner inside of its own body whilst its eye was slowly and painfully gouged out by its own claw.

As it felt the metaphysical shackles release, it twitched its claw cautiously, as if it wasn’t ready to believe that it was free to use its own body again. But when no punishment came, and the shackles remained free, its next movement was not subtle in the slightest.

It immediately burst from the cage, bending the metal as it slammed into it, with Saige’s petite body being crushed in between. But the metallic healer managed to endure as he was dragged along with the lizard before letting go of its frill.

He bounced along its charging body and slumped to the ground, as the lizard blitzed into the depths of the war camp. The face of a particular demon etched into its mind.

The whip-wielding demon, one of the ones that was strong enough to resist Lilith’s influence, flicked his wrist to unfurl the whip that was wrapped around his comrades throat. Although in his eyes, it was the throat of a human invader that he had slaughtered, as they deserved.

The demon turned at the sound of thundering footsteps, and his eyes widened in horror at what was charging towards him. He flicked his wrist, striking the charging beast with his whip.

It cracked three times, as the skilled slaver was quick with his favourite weapon. Each crack drew jagged lines of red across the lizard’s scales as the barbed tip tore through its scales and ripped gashes in its flesh.

But the lizard didn’t flinch for so much of a millimetre, nor did it slow in its charge in the slightest. This pain was nothing new. It had grown used to this torture. Their weapons had grown dull in its mind.

Its weapons, on the other hand. It was eager to show them just how deadly they could be. First, it thought as it slammed into the demon and sent them sprawling across the ground, it would start with the eyes.

***

Saige grunted as he clambered to his feet. He let the metallic coating retreat back into his skin, as he stretched slightly to rid himself of the stiffness the impact had caused before dusting off his pristine white cloak.

Horrifying, bloodcurdling screams slipped into his ears and echoed for miles. But it was not the screams of his companions, so he quickly deafened himself to them and turned back to the task at hand.

A few more lizards were locked up, that Saige quickly freed both from the cages and their enslaved mindsets. Then he came to the final cage.

Before he had even opened the door, the Lizard was looking at him. It was a far cry from the blank, mindless expressions that he was used to from the others. But more than that, it was staring at him with an eerie sense of intelligence.

Intelligence that surpassed even his own, as its eyes were completely calm and filled with ancient wisdom that whispered to him as if they were tempting him to learn their secrets which must not be told.

Saige didn’t even touch the cage door. It simply unlocked itself with a click and swung open as he approached, like an automatic door.

The warm, familiar and comforting aura of this lizard swept over him as Saige stepped inside, and the cage door swung closed behind him.

That alone made the space suffocating from how tight and enclosed it was, but that feeling was only made worse when the lizard leaned down, its eyes level with Saige’s as it continued to stare at him unblinkingly.

Those eyes, those magnificent eyes, were like pools of silver. He could see himself reflected in them, and the way his ears shifted and pressed against his head as his tail bristled up.

"Do I scare you, little pup?" A growling voice slipped from the Lizards lips, as it spoke in the language of the beasts.

It was a complex language, for it relied on many things that humans simply would not be able to pick up on. Subtle signals, scent markings, expression changes or sounds outside of human hearing range, amongst others.

Growls and barks were the most simplistic part of it.

Yet Saige had no trouble understanding this language. It was burned into his blood and further reinforced by his devotion to the Beast Lord.

Even if he did not realise he was doing it, Saige replied in the same language.

"Yes, My Lord." Saige replied with a whining yelp and a flicker of his ears, as he answered the Entity before him. The God that had taken mortal form.

"Then prostrate yourself." The Lizard Vessel rumbled again, releasing a small hint of its power. A small hint that nearly crushed Saige’s heart in his chest, as the weight of the Gods supremacy came crashing down on top of him.

It was like he was facing a thousand elite beasts and the blood freezing pressure of absolute death.

It took nearly everything Saige had to stop his heart from simply giving up, surrendering to the pressure and growing still in his chest. The rest went to forcing some breath from his quivering lungs, through his tightened throat and out through his lips.

All he managed was a single word.

"No."