“You look like shit.”

Zeke didn’t know if it was the unexpected words or the sound of his voice that did it, but Ripper flinched. Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes regained some clarity. She tilted her head to the side, her gaze searching his.

Zeke showed her a calm smile, waving at the young woman. “It is good to see you.”

Ripper remained silent, but her gaze traveled from his face to his missing arm, where it lingered for a while. “You too,” she eventually said.

Zeke smirked. “I had a run-in with the young master of the Firebrand family.”

Ripper nodded slowly. “Can it be healed?”

“It will need some work, but yes.”

Ripper smiled slightly. Despite her situation, it seemed she was still able to feel happy for him. Zeke checked her body but didn’t find anything outwardly wrong with her.

“What about you?” he asked.

Ripper slowly shook her head. “There is no hope. The healers managed to close the wounds, but the fragments stuck in my spine are still there. I can’t move my lower body at all.”

Zeke frowned. “How low are we talking?”

“Anything beneath my chest.”

Zeke’s frown deepened. This was even more severe than he had expected. “What are you going to do now?”

“There is nothing I can do but wait for the Master’s decision,” she said in a lifeless voice.

“Is there a chance he is going to keep you?”

Ripper averted her eyes. “I don’t think so. If I’m lucky, he’ll sell me to a brothel. If not…”

Zeke knew that it was a horrible thing to ask, but he really wanted to know what could be worse than that. “If not…?”

Ripper glanced at him. “…he’ll sell me to the meat vendors.“

Zeke’s eyes widened. Ripper had the body of a human. The thought of turning her into food was something completely out of his expectations. Were the people in this city all cannibals?

Seemingly guessing his thoughts, Ripper answered the unasked question. “It is not something the surface dwellers would be fed. But here in the undercity, many don’t have a choice.”

Zeke nodded slowly. He had known that the conditions in the undercity were much worse than on the surface, but not to such an extent. The books he had read had merely referred to this area as the place where most of the slaves lived. It now seemed reality was quite a bit harsher than that.

No wonder Ripper had seemed so content with her life as a fighter, even with the constant abuse. It must have been like heaven compared to the conditions she had grown up in.

This gave Zeke an idea. “I might be able to help you get back to your family.”

However, to Zeke’s utter astonishment, Ripper immediately turned him down. “Please don’t do that.”

“Haven’t you been sending them money all this time? Surely, they wouldn’t turn you away.”

“They would not,” Ripper agreed. She didn’t say anything more, but Zeke understood. In her current condition, she would be nothing but a burden to her family. And without the hope of recovery, she would remain as such for the rest of her life.

Zeke couldn’t help but sigh. It was a selfless gesture, but it tore at his heartstrings to see the once proud warrior reduced to such a state. No wonder there was no life left in her eyes. She had already resolved herself to die.

“Is there anything we can do, Akasha?”

[Answer]

The difficulty level is high. Numerous splinters are deeply embedded, predominantly concentrated in the spinal region. The core issue arises from the material composition—Voidiron—introducing a heightened complexity to the situation.