A 3% Probability
The warning was clear: there was a three percent chance of failure.
Terra, the beast-kin fighter. Among her kind, she had earned a name as one of the most outstanding warriors. She had joined the Hero Party out of a sense of duty to protect her people, and for her own personal desires. In the process, she had fallen for the porter who truly understood her. For his sake, she had joined the other women in using the leader of the Hero Party — the strongest warrior she had ever witnessed.
She had shown nothing but empty affection to a hero she did not love. She had offered insincere cheers and words of encouragement so that he would fight with everything he had. Though Terra herself was not particularly skilled at such things, the others handled the overall scheme and its execution. All she had to do was go along with their plans and add her voice at the right moments.
And so the hero had swung his sword with desperate fervor, completely unaware of what lurked behind the praise and false love from the women. On one hand, Terra had felt a faint pity for the foolish man who endured every hardship while clinging to both his sense of justice for the world and their fake affection. But she quickly decided to brush such feelings aside without a second thought.
What mattered most to her was protecting what she held dearest. The porter — Torare — who had given her pure love despite the discrimination she faced as a beast-kin. For his sake, making that foolish hero miserable was no problem at all.
Having cast off the guilt in her heart, Terra had prepared thoroughly to stab the hero in the back at the final moment. Yet her loyalty and affection for her master had ultimately been shattered in the most unthinkable way imaginable — by that very master’s betrayal.
Torare and the others had sold her to one of their creditors as a slave in exchange for clearing their massive debts. Betrayed by both her comrades and her master, Terra was condemned to live out her days as a pawn of the alliance, fighting and eventually dying in their endless wars.
But the despair dealt to her life did not end there.
As a powerful beast-kin warrior capable of overwhelming ordinary soldiers, Terra needed to be controlled. Her new owner and manager, Cassandra, had fastened something called the Shackle of Control around her neck. It was an object that sealed the target’s ego and turned them into a berserker who obeyed commands without question. In other words, the moment it was placed on her, Terra would lose all control over her own body. Her flesh would become nothing more than a beast that existed solely for battle.
It was a truly horrific device — her mind would remain alive while her body became a puppet, making the torment all the more unbearable. Terra had struggled desperately to avoid having it put on her, but in the end the dreadful shackle was locked around her throat.
She had no choice but to live as Cassandra’s battle slave, a beast obedient to her master. Trapped in that state, robbed of control over her own body, Terra had chewed on nothing but despair and rage. She swore that if the cursed shackle ever came off by some miracle, she would have her revenge. On Cassandra. On Torare. On every last member of the Hero Party.
But at that time, Terra had no idea.
That the cruel treatment Cassandra inflicted on her — the act of turning her into nothing more than a weapon for the war against the demon race — would one day seem like heaven compared to what was yet to come.
Seals the target's ego. Forces absolute obedience. Turns the body into a puppet while leaving the mind conscious. Inflicts excruciating pain during activation. 3% chance of failure.
“Y… you…?”
The sight of the man before her eyes, and the way Terra naturally expressed surprise without the shackle suppressing her reason. The moment she realized that fact, she automatically assumed she had been killed… and that this must be the afterlife.
“…I see… So… I’m dead?”
“..What?”
The hero showed a slightly dumbfounded reaction to Terra’s words. But immediately afterward, he shook off that emotion and fixed her with a cold gaze.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. No point wasting my breath when nothing will change in the end.”
“…? Wh… what… are you saying?”
Terra felt a faint sense of unease at the hero’s incomprehensible — and somehow ominous — words. But before she could speak again, she saw him slowly raise a finger in front of her. Her expression hardened instantly.
“! Wh… what is that…? Y… you… why do you have…?”
The ring on the hero’s finger that had just entered Terra’s sight. The instant she saw it, her entire body went cold. She frantically reached up and touched her own neck.
The chilly sensation against her fingers. The moment she recognized what it was, a desperate cry burst from Terra’s mouth.
“W… wait… wait a second…!!! Ghhhaaaaack!!!”
A horrific, stabbing pain suddenly pierced straight through her skull. The sensation of her head being split open raw engulfed her. Terra screamed in agony and began rolling across the floor.
“Kaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!”
The cry that tore from her throat sounded like the scream of a beast being tortured. Yet despite her obvious suffering, the hero standing before her simply held up the ring that glowed with green light and looked down at her.
With a smile completely devoid of mercy, he poured wave after wave of torment into Terra using the power contained in the ring.
But even through that terrible agony, the greatest source of pain in Terra’s heart was something else entirely. It was a cruel future she had already experienced once — something she could recognize with painful clarity.
The Shackle of Control fastened around her neck. A tool that crushed a bound person’s ego and stole their bodily freedom. A dreadful object that inflicted unimaginable pain in the process, just like what she was feeling now.
Naturally, Terra assumed the hero before her eyes intended to use her as a slave, just as Cassandra had done. A deep wave of despair washed over her heart.
I don’t want this! To become the property of a man like him! To belong to this foolish brute who only has strength!
As the strongest warrior she had ever seen, he certainly possessed ability. But from her perspective, she had never felt the slightest attraction to him as a man. She had always viewed him as nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded.
Yet now, the one who had truly become a tool was not the hero she had looked down on — it was Terra herself. The realization filled her with humiliation and a burning rage.
Just you wait, hero… If I ever get the chance… I’ll rip your throat out…
Trapped once again in searing pain and fury, her mind was sealed away and she lost control of her body. The brief spark of life that had returned to her eyes faded once more into a dull, unfocused haze. The face that had been twisted with rage and pain became an empty doll, devoid of all emotion.
The instant she was reduced to a puppet again, the sealed mind of Terra steeled itself as it looked at the hero watching her. She prepared herself for something even more horrifying than when she had become Cassandra’s slave.
It was not merely becoming a slave for battle. It was the prospect of the nightly duties that came with being a slave — something she absolutely did not want to do with that man.
Since her body was now like a puppet with no freedom, even if the hero decided to violate her right in front of her, she would not be able to lift a single finger in resistance. All she could do was endure the coming humiliation and pain.
Having steeled her resolve, Terra watched the hero’s every move and prepared her heart for the horrific future that awaited her.
But then…
“…? Huh?”
The next moment, she suddenly felt a sense of calm. It was as if she had regained something she had lost. Terra easily realized what had just happened to her.
“Wh… what? Why is this…?”
From the situation alone, it looked as though he had pointlessly canceled the magic he had just cast. But before she could even think about it, the question in her mind was instantly replaced by deep despair.
“Ghhhaaaack!!!!!”
Once again, the pain stabbed into her brain. A wretched scream tore from her mouth. The hero simply watched her with a cold smile.
Her mind had been violently ripped from her body once more. Having suffered that burden — expressed as pain — twice in a row, Terra’s mind was now tormented by agony as if salt had been poured into an open wound. The sensation of her entire body being burned alive refused to fade and continued to swirl around her.
Even through the lingering pain, Terra could not help but wonder why the hero was doing this.
But then…
“Huh?”
Once again, she naturally regained control of her body. The ring on the hero’s hand began glowing again as he looked at her.
! N… no way…?
Only then did Terra realize what he was trying to do.
And as she stared at him with a face steeped in shock, fear, and pain, a single sentence rose in the hero’s mind.
3% chance of failure.
At this rate… I’ll probably need to try it about twenty times.