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I didn't quite belong to this world.

It was as foreign as it was, harsh, and completely hostile.

I had been brought here against my will, with no explanation or guidance, and been thrown into life-threatening events again and again for reasons I wasn't quite able to understand, surviving though no skill on my own, but through a power as alien as the land I was thrown into.

Wanting to go back to my old life was initially the most sensible goal I had thought of, considering the unfortunate circumstances, even if it hadn't been an easily achievable one.

Not only hadn't I known what happened, there had been no one I could ask for guidance or answers. My attempts to solve this reasonably, seeking the way home, had been met with hostility.

My inability to communicate with locals turned into an insurmountable obstacle, as frustrating as it was depressing, and made me suffer constant pushbacks.

But at no point until now, even after my monsters repeatedly insisted that I wasn't a human, did I quite believe them and instead clung to the memories I had, merely learning to not press the topic anymore.

Then, even as the connection between me and my monsters grew stronger and felt almost supernaturally enforced through the intense, violent feedback, even as my mind slowly grew on them as being mine - my monsters, my girls - I never truly gave up on this personal identity as the human being even if doing so provided me with the endless source of the internal conflict, and the discordant sense of weirdness.

After all, there weren't any discernible physical changes to my body I was aware of, and so far I merely thought the time was the only serious problem for me to overcome. I tried not to think how many days, months, or even years it might take to uncover the reason behind my arrival to these accursed lands, and with it, a way back home, but reassured myself that the matter would resolve, eventually.

I was drawn to my female monsters, but deep inside, I convinced myself I was still myself.

Until now.

Ironically, there still weren't any physical changes, at least not noticeable ones I was aware of.

It was the seemingly unrelated mechanic behind the power my monsters wielded that gave out the final, crushing truth that I might indeed be a different man than I once was. Their magic never thought of me as a human, just as they weren't.

The power behind my monsters showed no more tolerance than the natives of this land showed to us, and was as inimical towards the humans as their land was to us, but for some reasons, it never considered me part of humanity.

To it, I was the one with the furry and scaly menagerie it created.

Although I didn't speak with my retinue much until we returned to the village, I couldn't help but to keep Miwah and Tama close to my side, as my ever faithful, beautiful companions, the loyal guardians against this world I didn't belong to.

For a while, the only thing I did was command my monsters to carry the new captive in, too preoccupied with my introspection, triggered by the seemingly unrelated event.

I let my monster do the work.

No longer relying on the work of smaller 'Purifiers', it turned into an effortless task for Kuma's considerable size and strength. She simply handled the man as the sack of grain, and a small one at that.

In the meantime, I spent the time thinking.

Back in our new home, a crowd of monsters were still continuing in their effort to change the village to their image, magically charging plants quickly spreading over as the ever present creepers and other twisted, outlandishly shaped vegetation.

A scent of smoke, and likely, cooked meals was in the air, as my monsters still had to eat, and were making a good use of the appropriated local stores.

Despite the group dispatched towards the other village, there was still a sizable force around, most of which opted to stay on guard, aware of the potential danger, and many greeted us back from my short trek to the hill. They were lively as always.

"Master! Master!" They cheered enthusiastically.

I waved at them, learning to appreciate the company my monsters, big or small, provided, making me feel welcomed among them, just as they always did. This time, however, with me fully realising the sharp divide between us and the human natives, it held a special, unspoken meaning for me at the moment.

"We should convert one building into a prison." I blurted abruptly, "Probably with Mai's power."

"Yes, my Master." was the immediate reply.

"Kuma, could you carry the prisoner to the... whatever keeping area Mai prepares?" I asked.

"Yes, Master." The ursine answered, ever slightly sounding annoyed by the entire affair. I understood her perfectly.

She was about to leave when I realised my past failures in managing the captured humans, which led to the pointless prisoner of death for reasons I quite didn't understand yet. Though, I was certain I wouldn't repeat the same mistake now, not if I could help it.

"Actually, it's better to keep the old guy and the girl separated!" I added as she left, effortlessly dragging the still unconscious body of the man over her shoulder.

"Yes, Master." She confirmed, with a brief glance at me, then carried on with the order I gave her, with no complaint.

I was going to leave it at that. There wasn't any need to rush the matter with the captive humans, but I still couldn't allow myself to go idle without making at least one nominal attempt at communication.

"Did the other human, that girl, wake up?" I directed my next question towards Narita.

"Yes-yes, Master." Narita confirmed.

"Lead me to her." I decided.

"Yes-yes, Master."

The chance that the girl would be suddenly capable of speaking the same language as we did was practically zero, though. Despite my surprise over the general mechanic changing whether it was used on the human, or one of mine, there was no reason to believe it would suddenly start blessing the affected with the knowledge they never had before.

If there was any power that allowed exactly this, or employed even more exotic means to facilitate communications, it wasn't the one of the 'Defilers' or any other monsters I have at my disposal at the moment.

I still wanted to see the girl.

They led me to one house. Originally a simple, unassuming building with the thatched roof, similar to the many others in this settlement, it was already showing the signs of the 'Corruptors' work, with the unnaturally coloured wines slowly, but noticeably, creeping up its walls to the roof, and misshapen thorny patchwork of plants blocking its windows.

A handful of the little reptilian monsters, facilitating this magical transformation just before my eyes, greeted me, while one of the rat-like monsters opened the door to let me in.

"For Master!"

I entered, followed by Tama, Miwah and Narita. Mai stayed outside, visibly unappealed by getting to see another human once again.

The room was dark and mostly empty, with most of the content looted and carried somewhere else, or perhaps never being present in the first place, with only a sleeping rug left on the floor for the captive human girl to lie on, with the new captive nowhere to be seen.

They kept them separate, as I ordered, though they hardly left them alone, with two 'Purifiers' and two 'Eviscerator' maintaining the constant oversight to prevent any potential problems.

The human girl didn't seem to be in the shape to cause any.

Though she was unharmed, and seemingly in better shape than when we found her, her previous vitality associated with her dubious, erratic behaviour I originally attempted to cure was also completely absent. She looked completely plain and uninteresting, with the usual dark hair and eyes the most locals sported.

Although she was conscious, and aware of our presence, her eyes were also completely glassed over, almost as she was drunk, or heavily drugged, visibly struggling to maintain any resemblance of focus. It was apparent we wouldn't have much of the conversation, even without the language barrier I struggled with so far.

However, I certainly saw the pattern - the symptoms were, I assumed, similar to the other humans we attempted to heal, alive, but brought in this strange, almost hypnotised state, or possibly shock, due to sheer ordeal caused by the incompatibility of the physiology I didn't previously know it was there.

It was strangely similar to the side effects caused by the overextension of Miwah's new found power too. Except, in her case, the infusion of energy was the cure, not the cause.

"How long has it been since she was healed?" I asked, looking at Narita, who took the guarding stance nearby.

"Several hours." She replied.

"I see." I said, looking back at the girl, "If she comes back to her senses, let me know. Or if anything else changes."

"Yes-yes. Master."

There weren't any reasons to attempt any serious conversation with someone who barely knew where she was. At the level of apparent disorientation, she would blabber nonsense even if she spoke English. I felt bad for her becoming a lab animal of sorts to test out the permanent effects our seemingly beneficial power had on humans, but there was no going back.

Even thinking so made me feel a certain level of alienation between me and my past.

Then the human girl finally mustered a reaction to our presence, almost like something within her brain clicked in place after a few moments she spent staring. The girl tried to straighten her sitting position, move to her knees, and bowed.

"Fo-mas-te." she said, sounding exhausted.

"For Master!" The one of the 'Eviscerator' added, almost as she tried to correct the girl.

"For-mas-te." The human repeated, and I finally understood she was trying to speak the same phrase my monsters constantly used, just unable to pronounce it correctly because of the differences between our languages.

This was strange, considering the default violence on sight approach her countrymen opted for when encountering us, but it was hardly a major development - the previously homeless girl simply didn't lose her apparent craziness that caused her to behave differently. Perhaps she didn't know where she was. Perhaps our powers didn't really help humans. They, however, also didn't make her friendly, since she showed the same tendencies since the very first moment she saw us.

I was back at the start.

Gently, I pushed her to raise her head.

She looked at me, confused. I patted her shoulder and said.

"It's unnecessary to bow. Rest now."

"For-mas-te!" she acknowledged and collapsed to the ground. I had no way of knowing whether she actually understood me, or her body gave up at the right moment, but there was no point in pushing for answers. I wouldn't get any.

"Just let her rest. Same with the other prisoner." I waved it away, gesturing to my monsters away, then left the improvised cell.

It would not be easy, I thought to myself, and sighed.

"I am slightly ever more jealous now, Master. You didn't pay attention to me, and then you went to see the human..." Tama broke the moment of silence.

The teasing tone of her voice betrayed that she wasn't this angry at the time being. I looked at her. She was beautiful, at least my treacherous mind insisted, another aspect of the influence this power had on me that went deeper than the effect of the healing abilities. It was alarming how fast I became unused to humans, and instead, was being drawn to my monsters instead.

Unnatural, even, another sign of the divide between me and my past, another sign of not belonging on the other side of the metaphorical face.

I was, however, not in the mood to entertain Tama.

Still, I did nothing when Miwah gently hugged me from behind. 'Alphas' seemed to demand their share of attention, at least, those two were. Mai stayed silent this time. Narita and Kuma seem to prioritise their duties elsewhere.

"At least buy me dinner first." I said, tired of all of this, including my conflicting predispositions.

"It's already being prepared." Tama replied, playing along with the suggestion.

I went with the flow. There was a very little I could do, other than witness the organised chaos.

Though they converted one house into a field kitchen of sorts, utilising all the cookware left behind by the original inhabitants, they still preferred to eat their meals together gathered around the blazing campfire where I could join them.

Even with the contents of the village's granary, we were short on many things, including cooking utensils, though my monsters were doing a relatively good job with what they found - the close attempt at soup wasn't that good though, though lack of spices was probably to be blamed. That we somewhat tackled the food issue calmed me down.

Tama, despite her usual attitude, didn't seem to be all that isolating, and many common monsters simply used this as an excuse to gain my attention, while others amused themselves through various means as the sky above us slowly grew darker. 'Purifiers' usual pyromania, accompanied by giggling, served as an excellent distraction from even the day coming to the end.

Despite all my focus so far was to leave this strange world, for the moment, it felt like home.

It didn't last long, though.

Watching my monsters fooling around almost made me forget we had a fight on our hands.

"Master. Brave and her group reached the other village." Miwah whispered in my ear. The surrounding crowd went much quieter, too.

I froze, realising I almost forgot. With my monsters being so many, it was easy to miss that there were still more of them roaming the land.

The previous moment of relaxation was suddenly replaced by tension.

"Any sign of anyone like that... sorceress?" I asked, carefully, not entirely sure what I should call the 'caster' woman with the ability to 'seal' away my monsters.

"No, Master. They didn't notice us yet." Miwah reported, her eyes fixated on the unseen horizon as she focused on her communication with the group. Despite my previous decision, I was tempted to call it off. The sun was already setting down.

"Overview" I subvocalized, calling the system screen, even if it was unlikely to help in my decision.

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The Master

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<The Root of All Evil, level 5>

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Skills

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<Scorched Earth lvl.27>

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<Slayer of Men lvl.24>

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<Great Devourer lvl.13>

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<Green Hell lvl. 40>

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<Slayer of Champions lvl. 8>

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Mates

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Miwah, The Bride of Shadows

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Units (Active)

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Tama, The Purifier Alpha

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Brave, The Eviscerator Alpha

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Narita, The Defiler Alpha

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Mai, The Corruptor Alpha

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Kuma, The Ravager Alpha

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332 * Purifiers

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28 * Named Purifiers

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310 * Eviscerators

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40* Named Eviscerators

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103 * Defilers

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8* Named Defilers

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341* Corruptors

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14* Named Corruptors

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24* Ravagers

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5* Named Ravagers

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Units (In queue)

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<None>

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Sealed (per caster)

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15* Eviscerators

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6* Purifiers

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3* Purifiers

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1* Purifier

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It didn't help.

There simply wasn't any organisational aspect to that power.

I was entirely reliant on 'Alphas' to manage their respective types, or even the execution of any tasks.

Looking around, they all seemed to do the same, with each one of them having their kind present in the force I didn't even know the composition of.

There could be easily a few hundred monsters in the task force and I wouldn't notice from the crowd that kept me company.

"Disgusting humans." Mai commented, never too shy to voice her misanthropy.

"Attack them before they attack us." Kuma yawned, impatient for my decision.

Only Narita stayed silent, though even her attention was elsewhere.

"They noticed us, Master." Tama remarked.

I felt the weight of the seconds passing.

It wasn't a dilemma of doing the right thing, or minimising the suffering caused through my futile search for home anymore.

What I felt was more helplessness over my situation, where a rational approach didn't work, and the life I once remembered already slipped past my grasp.

"Begin the assault." I ordered.

There wasn't a single moment of hesitation in their reply, and it scared me.

"Yes, Master."

Although, this time, I was spared of the mayhem they caused, only the relative silence followed, interrupted only by the occasional, silly giggle from the bored 'Purifier' in the still very many crowds that remained with me in the village.

It felt cold, even as the smaller monsters tried to attend me as their 'Alphas' managed the battle I didn't get to see.

There was combat.

The red mist, an ever-present source of my monsters, was back, occasionally spitting reformed monsters into the world after they perished somewhere else in the unseen struggle

One. Two. Five. An 'Eviscerator' or two, a 'Purifier' and a 'Defiler' even.

The overlay screen flickered each time, but the unbearable agony of the 'sealing' feedback didn't appear, yet no new notification invaded my sight, almost making me hope it could turn into a victimless fight because of my monsters respawning, almost forgetting on the loses the other side may suffer.

They all felt too distant.

I could only hope villagers ran away.

It wasn't the case.

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Skill "Slayer of Men" Lvl. 25" gained.

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A fresh group of my werewolves were formed, all filled with excitement, just slightly less vocal than their pyromaniacal cousins usually had been, all ready to be welcomed into our fold.

Another few puffs of red smoke, with more monsters formed from them, another push towards me, losing the track of what might be actually happening, a screen flickering before a new blank window announced the expanding base numbers.

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Skill "Slayer of Champions lvl. 9" gained.

Skill "Great Devourer lvl.14" gained.

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Then, another notification, another fresh spawn of the many new monsters, a sense of achievement, a triumph through our expansion flooded my mind, almost intoxicating, encouraging, even in the achievement's face as impersonal as this one.

A reward for the action I originally didn't want to make.

"Yes. Drive the humans away."

I almost desired to make more of our kind.

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Skill "Great Devourer lvl.15" gained.

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It took another notification to snap me out of it, realising that it was the feedback, an unexplainable urge associated with the certain effects of my power. This time, however, it didn't push me to act in retaliation; it wanted to continue the offensive.

"Human-things are fleeing. Master." Narita reported, her ruby eyes still fixated on the sky, her snout twitching.

"We squash those who don't run." Kuma added. I said nothing, with my mind falling back on the events I didn't quite get to witness in my own eyes, but would probably turn back to haunt me.

This fight, this assault, could have been a mistake, even if we were gaining from it.

It was wrong.

But the treacherous mind was with my monsters instead of the humans that certainly died there as well. I couldn't help it. We were trying to tighter the noose around the castle where the true enemy lied.

The power feedback insisted I should, I must.

"We are letting them escape, as you ordered, Master." Miwah said, more conscious of my own plans than I was momentarily.

"Thank you." I answered, staring at the darkening horizon, though it wasn't any connection my 'Alphas' had. It was me wondering if this should ever end.

Still, I absent-mindedly welcomed the fresh additions to the ever growing furry horde.

There was another report from Mai, but I didn't pay attention to it, only vaguely reminding them that there wasn't any need for further violence, and to let the humans who didn't fight back to escape.

At that point, I wasn't certain if I was reminding them, or myself.

I spent minutes, maybe even longer, until I shook this over, and by that time, the skies above us turned even darker, with the buzz by the restless, now less agitated monsters more relaxed, as their kin were no longer stuck in the unseen battle.

But, I wasn't able to feel the peace.

The entangling feedback was replaced by lingering guilt, eased by the assuring hug from the ever mindful Miwah, yet somehow still not sufficiently soothing, though she wasn't the only one that tried to ease my sudden change in the mood she perhaps didn't even understand.

And she wasn't the only one.

This was the time where I gave in to Tama's advances.