Chapter 80: Iron Maiden 2
Daylan couldn’t see anything—only darkness—even though the cube had been transparent before. It was like all his abilities had vanished. He tried to activate Dark Spiral, to make it all stop, but even worse, his mind wouldn’t work, like it had been shut down, and he barely had the space to question why nothing was working.
The blades were slowly pushing forward, as if something inside him was forcing them out—but it never ended, each second bringing a new wave of pain to react to.
He kept screaming, tears streaming as he cried out in agony, but it was like he was trapped in the middle of nowhere. Even his screams came with their own pain, as the blade through his neck kept tormenting him with every slight movement. Suspended in the air, slightly tilted, he could see nothing—only the endless vacuum of darkness beneath him.
Not even his thoughts made sense, as the blade piercing through him continued to radiate an unbearable sound through his skull. To make it worse, the one lodged in his heart made him feel every broken, stuttering beat as it pulsed through his entire body.
He trembled in agony, trying to find even a sliver of solid ground to process the pain—but even that effort hurt, sending his temperature spiking by the minute. And yet, not a single drop of blood fell; all it did was torment him, inside and out.
He remained there for hours, never feeling hunger or fatigue—the torture never gave him enough time to process such things. All he knew was that he had to endure every ounce of pain, and that’s exactly what he did, even though he didn’t know why.
Before long, everything vanished, and he collapsed onto the floor. When he turned his head, he realized he was still in the training room. He couldn’t move a single muscle—he just lay there, panting slowly.
"Pain is the key to survival," Asaemon said as he walked forward. "You must either love it or hate it... so which one are you?"
He outstretched his arms, and Daylan felt those same tentacles from before begin to wrap around him, pulling him up—forcing him to stand. Yet, he had no strength left to stand, let alone resist.
"Your training isn’t over yet. You still have to defeat me."
The moment the words left his mouth, Daylan was slammed into the ground. Pain flared even worse as he gritted his teeth, dragging himself across the floor.