The Primeval Era

The underground cavern stretched wide beneath the Cradle of First Flames.

Blue crystalline stones jutted from walls and ceiling and floor, formations that had grown during the night as Mana saturated the earth above. They cast dim light across the space, cold illumination that painted everything in shades of sapphire and shadow. The cavern was large enough to hold the massive beast form of Damian with room to spare, a cathedral of stone and crystal hidden beneath paradise.

And at its center, Sir Alex hung suspended in the air.

Golden chains wrapped around his limbs and torso, tendrils of boiling Mana that had erupted from Damian’s beast form and refused to release their prey. The chains pulsed with heat that would have incinerated ordinary flesh, temperature maintained at levels designed to cause maximum pain without granting the mercy of death!

And today, there would be no honor or mercy!

They coiled around his arms and legs and throat, holding him spread like a specimen prepared for dissection by the most obscene shamans in the Lands of Stone.

The stellar light that had protected him was gone.

His Physique had been overwhelmed, pure and simple. The nine-pointed stars in his pupils still glowed, but dimly now, their light flickering like candles in a hurricane. Whatever power the Stellar Sovereign Gaze granted, it hadn’t been enough to prevent this.

Much of his skin displayed horrendous fourth-degree burns.

The flesh had been charred through to muscle in patches, blackened tissue contrasting with raw red where skin had simply ceased to exist. His muscles twitched with Mana desperately trying to heal damage faster than it was being inflicted, a losing battle that left his body in constant spasm. What remained of his crimson robe hung in tatters, fabric fused to wounds in places where the heat had melted cloth into flesh.

His mouth was bound.

Golden Mana wrapped around his jaw, preventing speech, preventing screams, preventing anything other than muffled sounds that might have been words if they could escape. Those star-filled eyes blazed with fury and pain and something that might have been fear, fixed on the being responsible for his current state.

Damian sat before him in his human form.

Simple Dross garments covered a body that showed no signs of the battle that had raged above. His dark hair hung around features that held no expression beyond cold assessment. His wing-shaped pupils burned with blue-gold flames as he observed the traitor suspended before him, cataloging injuries with the detachment!

Behind him, the other Imperators were strung up in similar fashion.

Vessel Completion Warriors and Physique Awakening Warriors hung from golden chains, their bodies displaying various stages of ruin. Some had been burned like Sir Alex. Others showed wounds suggesting different methods had been employed. Most of them were close to death, consciousness having fled minutes ago, their chests rising and falling with breaths that came slower and slower.

Their hearts were kept pumping by Damian’s Mana.

He could feel each beat, could sense the blood flowing through damaged vessels, could perceive the exact moment when natural processes would have ended and artificial continuation began. The demon seeds within them remained dormant, fooled into believing their hosts still lived normally. It was delicate work, maintaining this balance while also conducting his interrogation.

But Damian had discovered he was quite good at delicate work.

His beast form loomed behind the suspended Sir Alex, massive head positioned so those golden-blue wing-shaped eyes could observe every twitch and tremor. Nine tails swayed slowly, each one trailing Mana that added to the chains binding the traitor. The Crown of Kingship still spun above his head, casting light that made the crystalline walls sparkle.

"For the expansion of the Empire."

Damian’s voice emerged soft from his human body, contemplative, as if he were discussing philosophy rather than conducting torture.

"My father said no to colluding with demons and expanding the empire with the Murderous Saint."

He rose from where he had been sitting, walking toward the suspended figure with measured steps.

"And this is the result."

Those wing-shaped pupils surveyed the ruin that had once been a Royal Captain.

"Don’t worry. I will listen to you in just a second here."

He circled around Sir Alex, observing the damage from every angle.

"But I have to strip your last weavings of dignity and honor."

His voice remained calm, almost gentle, a tone that made the words more terrible than any shouting could have achieved.

"Let’s see..."

He paused before the suspended traitor, head tilting as he assessed what remained.

"Badly burnt, but..."

Those burning eyes moved downward.

"You still have your balls?"

A cold smile crossed his features, the first expression other than rage thst he had displayed since the interrogation began.

"You never truly had these."

He raised his hand, and the earth beneath Sir Alex shifted. A spike of crystallized stone rose from the cavern floor, its edge sharper than any blade forged by human hands.

"Let’s cut those off and anything else nearby."

The spike began to rise toward the suspended figure.

"At that point, I will allow you to talk."

Sir Alex’s muffled screams intensified, his body thrashing against chains that refused to yield. Those star-filled eyes went wide with terror that even his cultivation couldn’t suppress, the primal fear of what was about to be taken from him overriding any dignity he might have retained.

Damian watched without expression.

"Be very careful with your words then."

The spike continued its slow ascent.

"I will want to know about the demons."

His voice hardened.

"Seeds of demons. Everything."

...!

The spike found its target.

And in the blue-lit depths beneath the Cradle of First Flames, screams that couldn’t escape golden bindings echoed off crystalline walls while a prince collected the debts his enemies had accumulated across eight years of borrowed time.

It was a unique thing as he never thought himself capable of the seemingly horrendous things thst he was doing right now.

It felt off. But it also felt right. You had to treat those without Honor...how they deserved to be treated!