Time passed and Sara's breathing became fainter and fainter before finally coming to an and. I sighed. "It seems that I'm alone again…" I carefully began the funeral preparations.
First I found Diana's thorn clothing, rummaging through it, from one of the pockets, I obtained her sewing kit that she used for repairing equipment on adventures. I looked at it for a minute in preparation of what I was going to do. I collected her severed body parts and sewed them back on, stitching her wounds as well. I did the same with the rest of my party. They will probably need those in their next life.
After that, I used a wet cloth to wipe their bodies of blood and dirt, finally I gently picked them up and laid them side by side, then covered their bodies with tenting fabric. I was strangely calm while working, it was as if the realization hadn't set in yet. I also took my time to do everything with complete precision, not daring to leave a single mistake.
After the work was done, I just stood there, not speaking, not even thinking, just letting the moment set in. Then I unsheathed one of my short swords, lifted my left arm above the fallen friends and made a deep slash on the wrist. I allowed my blood to drip all over their remains, saying. "I am sorry for not being there to fight with you, it's not much and it's too late, but I'll at least bleed with you." My wound healed.
A black fire with a purple hue appeared in my hand, I sent it to their bodies and they instantly disappeared, not even leaving ashes. "Goodbye Sara, Clive, Zen and… Diana." I turned around and walked off. "As for you 'Blood roar', I'll see you very soon."
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"So, which one of those girls did you like more?" Asked a bald man in heavy armor. "I personally preferred the one with the scar on her face. Her defiant look, her attitude, they stayed unbroken until the very end. I wish we had more time to break her…"
"Shish, you know we're not supposed to talk about that, what would happen if someone found out?" A man clad in mages robes replied.
"Relax, we're on the 48th floor, there's no one here, but us…" The bold man smiled confidently. "So… Which one?"
The mage scratched the back of his head. "Well, I liked the weaker one…"
"Ha ha hah… Every time you go for those that can't resist. Shame on you."
"It's not like you are any better, always trying to break their spirits and bodies."
"Enough! Zaruman is right, we shouldn't talk about this even here. Who knows who might hear us." Zaiger Bladeheart commanded.
"Oh relax, captain, it's not like anyone is here. And besides, even if there were, we could always silence them… It's not like this is new to us by now. "The bald man laughed.
"So you guys do this kind of thing often then?" My voice rang out through the floor, scaring them. "It seems that you, scum, are indeed beyond saving… Good…"
"Who are you? show yourself!" One of them shouted.
"Don't hide in the darkness like a coward!" Other retorted.
The bold man smiled. "Relax, I got it." He walked to the front of them and addressed me. "Listen, I don't know who you are and I don't know how much you've heard, but even if you tell anyone about it they won't believe you, so I have a proposal. Come out to the light and make a deal with us, we'll give you ten gold coins if you take this secret to your grave. How about it." He turned to his companions and whispered. "When you see him, kill."
I stayed silent for a while, then spoke. "It seems like a good deal, but… Ten gold coins isn't enough."
"This… Do you even know how much that is? We're being generous just by offering you anything." He thought for a moment, then, with a villainous smile, said. "Fine, 20 gold, how about that? Just show yourself and take the money."
"That's still a bit light, is that all that you have?"
"This kid… Fine, what do you want?"
"Wait, something's wrong." Zaiger stated. "Why is someone here alone in the first place? And that voice, That voice belongs to…"
"Don't worry, I won't spill your secrets, I'll even come to the light, but for that… I want your lives." I slowly stepped out of the shadows. They immediately recognized me. And with a worried look took their formation.
"So it's you, Adam right?" Zaiger said with a smile. "What? Did you come for revenge? Do you think that it will be that easy to beat us this time? We've seen what you can do and are prepared now, there's no way for you to beat us. Just give up and die!"
"Yeah, that's right! You're nothing." One shouted.
"You're so dead now!" The other added.
"So, you've seen what I can do? Is that right?" I activated 'Shadow step' fusing with the darkness around and disappearing completely.
They tightened their formation, ready for an attack from all sides.
One of them screamed, disappearing into the darkness, the others turned to look. The second, from the other side, disappeared in the same fashion. "Stop hiding you, coward! Show yourself!" One more vanished.
Zaiger gave a nervous smile. "Is that it? Is that all that you've got, all that you are? You're a coward that doesn't dare to fight in an open fight! Diana picked a loser!" two more members of the 'Blood roar' vanished screaming. "You know, she screamed for you while we raped her, she shouted your name, saying that you'll come to save her and that we would be sorry." Three more people went missing, leaving only Zaiger and the bold man standing back to back. "Her screams were wonderful, but I soon got tired of hearing your name, so I personally cut out her tongue. That bich should have known that it's bad manners to shout another persons name while getting fucked!"
"Is that so?" I was standing back to back with Zaiger now. He noticed, turned around and swung his sword horizontally, trying to split me in two. "Finally! You've shown yourself!"
The slash, infused with fire, was stopped with two fingers and the fire surrounding the blade quickly disappeared. "How… How could this be? That was my most powerful attack…"
"Good night."
_________________________________________________________________________
Zaiger Bladeheart
Ugh… What happened? My head hurts so much… I tried to move, but noticed that I was restrained by a very fine metallic thread, my mouth was also gagged with a cloth. Wait, I fought that Adam, that monster. Didn't he kill me? I smiled. It seems that he's too scared to kill me. After all, I am the current heir of the Bladeheart family. Good…"
I heard a terrifying, blood curdling scream, then the voice begged for mercy. "No more, please, no more… I'm s-sorry for what I've done, so please, just kill me!"
"Not yet, you haven't suffered enough…" The screaming continued.
This went on for hours until finally the screaming ceased. But the silence didn't last for long, because soon after, another voice began screaming and begging.
Days passed and I sat there, tied up, listening to the voices of my companions screaming, begging and finally ceasing. After the eighth voice ceased, I realized that it was my turn. I realized that the reason he hadn't killed me was not because of my family connections, it was because he was going to torture me to death, slowly and painfully. He intentionally left me for last because he had something in mind, something worse than what the others had experienced. The cloth in my mouth wasn't to keep me quiet, it was to prevent me from biting my tongue and bleeding out to death.
I heard footsteps. They became louder and louder with every step. He's coming. I started panicking, trying to break the restraints, but I was malnourished and dehydrated, I had no strength left in me.
"Did you enjoy the music?" A chilling voice rang out. "I tried all sorts of things - the death by a thousand cuts, I tried to avoid the arteries as much as possible, but the victim died after only 547. The next guy was supposed to have all of his bones crushed to sand. It went well for the limbs, but when I got to the torso, he inexplicably died. One of his broken ribs probably pierced his lungs or heart." He approached and undid my gag.
Looking at my terrified face the monster continued. "Probably the most interesting so far was a guy that I skinned alive. Oh, the screams… His screams were the music to my heart… He begged, he pleaded, not to let him go, but to end his suffering by killing him. But I became strangely attached to him, his voice had such a soothing effect on me, so I tried to keep him alive and in pain for as long as I could. Unfortunately, just like the rest, he died. You humans are such fragile creatures…"
I listened, with every word becoming more and more convinced that my end wasn't going to be an easy one. Completely dejected, I spoke. "Please, just kill me… Don't make me go through this… I'm sorry, if I had known that this would happen, I would never have touched them."
"Oh, you're sorry? For what?"
"I-I'm sorry for… Raping, torturing and killing your party members and… Your girl."
"Ah! If you're truly sorry then I have no other choice but to forgive you right? After all you being sorry washed away all your sins, so there's no real need to punish you anymore, right?"
"Please! Please kill me! That will be my punishment!" I was frantic, clinging to any hope. I was crying at this point.
He thought for a while, then said. "No… You will suffer far more than the others… What I have prepared for you is… 'Special'. He clasped my jaw, forcing my mouth open and poured something down my throat. Then the pain started.
I screamed in agony. It felt like my bones were breaking and fusing back together thousands of times a second, my muscles were no better.
"Do you like it? Is being in pain fun for you? ANSWER ME!
I kept screaming. Finally the pain subsided. "What… What was that just now? What did you do to me?"
"It's a little potion made from the blood of an 'Immortal salamander'. An old friend of mine came up with the recipe a while back. Did you like it?"
This was my chance, while his guard was down, I could bite my tongue and die. This was my one and only opportunity to die… I bit my tongue with every ounce of force I had. I winced in pain, but didn't show it. If he saw, he'd use a healing potion to heal me. I was successful, I was bleeding heavily to my mouth and swallowing the blood so as to not let it leak outside.
While this was happening, he was just standing in front of me, staring at me intently. I've outsmarted you, you bastard! Suddenly, the bleeding stopped.
"This potion of mine is a wondrous thing, it grants the one that drank it incredible regenerative abilities. That means… That we're going to play together for a really, really long time. Let's start."
My body was instantly engulfed in flames. I screamed.
"This flame… It's interesting isn't it? It's not even half as hot as a normal one, right? I created it just for you, I created it so that you could suffer for as long as possible. Isn't it fun?"
My body become charred after a few, painfully long minutes, then the flame got extinguished. To my horror, My body began to heal instantly. I knew that if nothing changed, My life going forward would be hell.
With a weak and trembling voice I asked. "Why? Why go so far?"
"Why? BECAUSE I WAS GOING TO BECOME A FATHER, THAT'S WHY! For the first time in ages, I had a family, I had something that I always dreamed about and you… You took it away from me! Now then, be so kind and pay me back. You will suffer for Clive, Zen, Sara, Diana and me! Your suffering will never end, you will endure it all and I'll be here to watch. Don't disappoint me…"