Katherine Reyes

"Ahh!" The young lady leaped back in surprise, narrowly missing Matt's punch.

"You were really going to bury me alive!" Matt said in exasperation. He couldn't blame her though. As a Cyborg, he had no pulse nor breath and seeing his tattered state, it would not be strange to assume he was dead.

"Huh, I'm sorry... I just didn't think you were still alive" The young lady apologized with a peculiar look

"uhhh.. don't worry about it" Matt smiled and examined the young lady closely.

She had long, dark hair and a pair of matching dark pupils. Her eyes seemed to be hiding deep sorrow.

"I'm Matt... What's your name?" Matt asked

"My name is Katherine Reyes, Benefactor" She answered with a slight bow.

"Katherine...It's so nice to meet you"

"Uhh...Benefactor, can i ask a question?" She said with uncertainty

"Huh...yeah yeah, ask away" Matt replied " and don't call me Benefactor. My name is Matt"

"Can I have the privilege of meeting your real body..?"

"Real body? What do you mean?" Matt was stunned

"I mean...this is your puppet and..ugh never mind" Katherine said with a sigh.

'He may be one of those reclusive elders and he just helped me on a whim. asking to see his main body is really overstepping my boundaries' she thought

'What?! She actually thinks I'm a puppet?' Matt thought in shock before recalling he had a skill named 'Cloak', he had not used since because he was alone and he really didn't have any moment to rest since arrived at this world.

'Why in the hell do i have a cyborg's thinking capacity if i can't even remember such a thing. How do I explain this?' Matt was in a tight spot

"Uhh Yeah, about this... The Twin tailed wolves were a bit too strong for me, you know? I could have escaped but i couldn't just leave you here to be eaten by those beasts" Matt began to explain " I had to use a forbidden secret art to draw out my body's latent potential to fight at Rank C strength for a few minutes but you should know this kind of arts don't come without a price..."

Katherine's body was already shaking with tears threatening to burst out of her eyes.

'Everybody has sacrificed their lives for me, even this stranger sacrificed his humanity for me...

I can ignore the Warriors'sacrifices by assuming that it's duty but this man... I must repay him...but how? I don't have any thing of value with me. Every artifact i have been used to battle the beasts and even if i had any, it would not be enough to pay for my life!' She was feeling a furry of conflicting emotions

"...I had to give up my human body, cursed to live with the puppet forever!" Matt ended his explanation with an air of righteousness around him.

Looking at Katherine, he saw he r kneeling with tears flowing down her cheeks.

Sob! Sob!

As he was about to move close to her and console her, she declared

"I, Katherine Reyes, swear with my soul before the Heavens that from this day till the day of my death, to always follow and obey your orders, protecting you even at the cost of my life. Benefactors, please accept my fealty" Katherine bowed with her forehead to the ground.

Matt was about to reject at first but he felt an overwhelming presence, it was like it was watching them. He instantly knew this was not something he could reject, she had already swore to the heavens and if he refused her accept her fealty, he would only be causing suffering to her.

Helplessly, he said " I accept your fealty, Katherine Reyes"

He immediately felt a bond form between the both of them and the overwhelming presence vanished.

" OK, with that done, we should leave this forest... but before we do so, I have somewhere I need to go"