Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 519: The mysterious Sage

Dirty, alone and powerless, Tina Celes lingered on the mud for a few seconds trying to endure the pain of the powerful blast she just received in full, though as soon as she managed to stand back up the hurt that came along with the laughter was hundreds of times worse.

Getting beaten was something any experienced hunter could recover from, but people making fun of her for 'soiling' her pants was an embarrassment she couldn't withstand and she was left on the verge of a mental breakdown.

She wanted nothing but to run away as far as she could until people forgot about that scene, which was very unlikely after she proudly threw around her name, but after her pathetic attempt to channel flux energy she became aware that giving up on the daily ration was the same as giving up on life and she swallowed her pride.

Instead of opposing the soldiers, she meekly headed towards the end of the line, but the soldiers followed her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm back to the end of the line like you commanded, Sir." Tina replied in a respectful tone of voice, channeling all of her frustration by clenching her fists until they made a raspy sound.

"That was before you attempted to assault an officer, you are now banned from the daily rations," The soldier grabbed her hair and pulled her out of the line, to which Tina replied by silently joining the queue. "Are you deaf? I said you're not going to get anything, scram!"

"Please, just this once..." Tina begged in a thin voice that would have moved mountains in the megacity, but now fell on deaf ears.

"Don't make things harder on yourself, just leave." The other soldier let out in annoyance. Even if they wanted to give everyone enough food to sustain themselves, the army's resources were limited and they couldn't afford to feed the troublemakers which meant that, if Tina continued, they would have no choice but to kill her.

"I'm already starving, please! I need to eat something, anything!" Tina finally couldn't keep hold of her emotions anymore and began crying.

"You want something to eat? I'll give you this if you give me a piece of that ass." A man who wasn't even a hunter offered his recently acquired military ration, though Tina slapped it out of his hand spilling the contents on the ground.

"Now you've done it." The soldier sighed as his companion started beating Tina into submission.

"It's one thing to make a fuss in line, but wasting food is unacceptable!" The soldier said as he kicked her in the ground over and over. Her clothes tore up, her face bruised and even her heavenly rank skin couldn't keep up with the merciless beating and she started bleeding from her lips.

Tina felt as life escaped her body, but after such a horrible day in which everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong she wondered if living was truly worth it.

"I- I just wanted to see let Sage know... I'm here." She voiced softly with the last of her effort and just before the soldier gave her a kick, his companion hurried over to block it.

"Hey, I'm teaching this bitch a lesson."

"Didn't you hear what she just said?"

"Huh?"

"She mentioned Sage..."

"And?" The soldier asked confounded, still in position to keep beating on Tina.

"Listen... There's a few people that no matter what their rank is, you simply can't mess with them. Sage is such a person, If I told you half of what I've heard you'd be on your knees apologizing to her."

"Yeah, not going to do that." The soldier shrugged dismissively.

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"You really don't get it... they say even General Sword..." Tina could barely heard what they were talking about, but she noticed how the soldier's face became pale and she realized it was her last chance.

"I'll keep quiet if..." She attempted to speak but her voice barely got out.

"We should just kill her..." The soldier who just beat her said, now shaken by whatever it was his companion told him.

As the last strand of hope had already taken shape in front of her, Tina clung to it with all she had and pushed her luck.

"Do you really think no one will say a word of what happened today? I promised to keep quiet about this, but word spreads fast, would you rather have Sage hear what happened only to find out I'm dead?" With that, the soldier finally realized how screwed up he was and decided to take her back to the army camp.

"If you're lying about knowing Sage, you will have to pay us back for this one way or the other." The soldier warned after 'wasting' a serum on Tina. They not only healed her wounds but also allowed her to take a bath to make her more presentable, though they refrained from feeding her since they noticed she was a heavenly rank.

If containing her while starved was a chore, doing so while she was in optimal condition would have been impossible.

Tina was then lead to one of the newly built hogans where the same two soldiers who brought her remained as guards. She was a guest, though she felt more like a prisoner and could do nothing to pass time but to think of what to do when 'Uri' came to see her.

She thought of many different scenarios, some more positive than others, but she reached the conclusion that the only way to get on his good side was to stop pretending and just be honest. Even if she did have feelings for him, she was aware of how little value they posed now and the only thing she had to offer was information.

As the heir of the Celes company there were many secrets that could potentially earn her a nice reward and she knew Uriel would never pass on the opportunity to gain knowledge, especially if it could be translated into money.

However, all of her hopes and wishes came crashing down when instead of the tall lean man Tina expected to enter, a woman who didn't seem anything other than ordinary walked in.

"I have never seen this woman before." Emma said with a confused expression on her face.

"Are you absolutely certain, Miss Sage? She asked us to let you know she was here."

"Mmm... she does look a little like Miss Celes, but I wasn't acquainted with her." Emma took her time to observe Tina, who after being deprived of proper rest and food looked nothing like her former self.

"You... you're not him." Tina finally blurted out.

"She's definitely her," A voice came from the outside and then Medusa walked in. "I'd recognize that annoying voice anywhere."

Just the sight o the tall huntress made Tina cower in fear since they've been in open enmity since the day they met, but things changed when she noticed Medusa was blinded.

"What happened to you Miss Medusa?"

"Nothing much," Medusa shrugged then added with a chuckle. "It was a pleasure not seeing you. Come on, sister." In spite of the circumstances, Medusa didn't miss on the opportunity to get on Tina's nerve by blatantly addressing Emma as a sister.

"You're Uri's sister!?"

"I'm... it's complicated." Emma said awkwardly.

"Please," Tina begged for the umpteenth time that day. "Take me with you, I'll be helpful, I swear."

In spite of her voluntary blindness, Medusa knew exactly in what position Tina was in. In fact, she knew it from the moment she heard that someone claiming to be Tina Celes wanted Sage to know she was there. She also knew exactly the kind of misunderstanding that took place, but decided to let things develop.

What she didn't expect was to find Tina in such a weakened condition and that changed her plans.

"We could use a heavenly rank hunter in our party, but it seems you won't be of much help in a fight."

"I will! I just need to grab something to eat, anything," Tina extended her hands in a pleading manner, throwing her pride out the window. "Even leftovers, yes... anything will do."

"Leave us alone." Medusa commanded, but the soldiers didn't budge.

"You're not even a soldier..." One of them tried to argue, yet all it took for him to follow her commands was for Emma to nod at them.

Contrary to Medusa who didn't have a reputation, Emma had garnered quite a deal of attention during the downfall of their city. She became a public figure and took over Uriel's hunter name, leaving him no choice but to continue his career as Raider. After all, they both shared the Sage last name and Uriel didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention as usual.

Little did they know that along with the 'Sage' name came a long list of rumors, each more fearsome than the other, to the point where Emma now enjoyed the perks of Uriel's reputation.

"Have some," Medusa said as she handed Tina a bowl of synthetic food. "It's cheeky chicken."

"This is... I can't eat this..." Tina said regretfully.

"Didn't you just say you're starving and would eat anything!?" Medusa burst out in anger when she realized Tina was looking down on her favorite food, but Emma butted in suspecting there was more to it than mere entitlement.

"Why can't you eat it?" Emma asked.

"This... this isn't food... It's not good, please, take it out of my sight." Tina's shaky voice barely came out of her mouth.

"It's too bad, because we're going out to reclaim the synthetic food factory in the slums..." Emma explained but stopped talking as soon as she realized that Tina's face paled as she fainted as soon as she heard their mission.