Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 81
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch81
*Gushiggck*
A stone knife pierced Kazuki’s chest and sunk deeply within.
Kazuki grit his teeth as hard as possible as his mother stabbed him in the center of his chest. A hot burning sensation spread around the wound and Kazuki couldn’t help but twitch in agony. Throughout his life, he had been stabbed a few times. It’s something that comes with living a life on the edge. He understood this fact well but that didn’t lessen the pain.
His mother stood over him while his sister Fera stood over his brother Kai. The two were like mindless drones as they pulled the knives out from their victims and proceeded to stab both Kazuki and Kai over and over again. Each time, the pain stacked and the slicing of flesh, the heavy lacerations, induced such misery upon te two.
Kai’s screams rang out time and time again with each new wound opened up on him but Kazuki ignored it. A stinging in the back of his mind spread around his skull like an ocean wave. This constant throbbing, this constant pressure in his head which felt as though it would split him open and display to all his dark thoughts, this told him the truth of the matter. It told him that everything happening, here and now, all of it was fake.
Even though the stabbing pain all over his body told him differently. Even though it all felt s very real to the point it wouldn’t be strange to cry out for mercy, Kazuki knew otherwise. He knew he was still in that small room with Glacious and the others. He knew this was all the magic room scrambling his thoughts and twisting his reality. This wasn’t the first time he had sunk into one of these illusions. No, this had happened before, many times before. Kazuki had already lost count and knew neither the time that had passed or the number of tests he had been through but at the same time, it didn’t matter.
Whether this was the 10th time or 11th or the 100th or more, it didn’t matter. The pain didn’t matter, the situations and scenes playing before him time and time again, none of it matter.
(Glacious said to endure for 10 hours, then that’s exactly what I will do. That it’s not my brother, and that is not my mother nor my sister. All of it is nothing more than an illusion and I will not surrender. NO matter how much I’m a stabbed, beaten, tortured, I will endure.)
The throbbing in Kazuki’s mind eased at this moment as though to recognize his powerful will.
The woman who impersonated his mother and the one who resembled his sister began to change.
In front of him now, his mother morphed into Asuna and his fake sister changed into Nunully. Kazuki who was chained down to the golden table was forced upward until he was standing. His body still had no control and he was still chained to the table but he and the table were now upright.
Asuna’s face stretched until her mouth was several times bigger and she spoke with a horrid voice.
“You are tough, but that in turn only makes things much more fun. Let’s try something different.”
Asuna’s eyes began to glow and Kazuki’s eyes glowed in response. A moment later Asuna nodded.
“Your mind is complex and your ideas run deep but you can only hide so much. Your emotions are well guarded but because of this, they are rawer and potent. Let’s bring a few friends to help you explore your heart, shall we?”
Asuna snapped her fingers and the chains wrapping up Kai disappeared. Kai walked over to Asuna and Nunully’s side and a split bamboo shoots appeared in his hands. Asuna snapped again and Kazuki’s Granny master Maya appeared at their side as well. One more snap and Kazuki’s adoptive father also appeared from nowhere.
Both his granny Master and his adoptive father approached from one side and held both his hands in place. Next, his older brother Kai walked over with the bamboo shoots.
Kazuki could already see where this was going and could only grit his teeth.
Kai then started with his left pinky finger. Taking the split bamboo, he put it at the edge of Kazuki’s finger before ever so slowly, pushing it in underneath his fingernail. Blood quickly began to pour and Kazuki bit down on his teeth even harder. Kai moved onto the next finger and then the next. Each finger was worked on with excruciatingly slow precise movements. By the time they reached his sixth finger, Kazuki bit down even harder and a few of his teeth could no longer hold against the pressure and directly cracked and broke there and then.
At that time, Kai and the others paused for a moment to see if Kazuki would actually cry out in pain, surrender to it all but he didn’t. Even as his mouth filled with blood and overflowed from his mouth, Kazuki continued to bite down on the broken pieces of teeth in his mouth and glared at them as though he were urging them to continue.
Asuna smiled like a venomous snake watching this and they stopped no more. They went through all of his fingers and then moved onto his toes. When they finished with his toes they moved on to cutting out his tongue before peeling pieces of skin from his flesh. They beat him, lit him on fire, and skewered his eyes. Still Kazuki never once cried out, and he never gave in.
This was fine to them though. Kazuki could feel the intense throbbing within his mind getting worse and worse but he didn’t fear nor did his mind waver. One thought kept echoing in his mind, ringing like the repetitive striking of an anvil.
(ENDURE!)
They broke his bones, tore his limbs away from him, crushed his balls, and yet he still endured. Cut off his ears removed whatever teeth that still remained within his face. They tortured him for who knows how long. After an incredibly long time, everything would fade to darkness and Kazuki would reawaken, chained to the golden table once more. Like this, everything would repeat itself. It seems that this was the worse things could get, because, after this, the environment no longer changed.
Every day he would awaken, every day he would be tortured beyond what someone could survive, and then everything would go black. The pain in his head reducing each time. He would then reawaken and things would restart. At some point, Kazuki began to laugh out loud. It seemed as though he had snapped but in reality, he felt like laughing in this illusions face was the only blow he could realistically deliver. His thoughts were, if he could laugh even through this, he could get through anything. Time ticked on, in this illusion, and in the real world as well.
—————————————————————————-
When the sand within the hourglass trickled away and the third hour passed, Glacious received his first call for help.
Glacious shook his head in mild disappointment before he extended some of his power and entered Kimi’s mind, forcing her to snap out of the illusions.
Kimi sat up with a fright and looked around to see a room filled with nothing but darkness.
“No, not again, not the dark, anything but the dark!”
Kimi curled up into a small ball and began to cry her eyes out. That’s when a soft light floated over followed by Glacious’s words directly in her mind.
(“Little mouse, snap out of it, you are back.”)
With the small light glowing around of her and hearing Glacious’s voice in her head, she looked around desperately for someone, anyone. The light showed her Sam’s passed out figure lying on the ground and she instinctually rushed to his side. However before she could reach him, Glacious grabbed at the air and froze her movements.
(“Do not disturb him little mouse or you may regress his path. Sit and calm yourself. Here, drink this.”)
Glacious tossed over a teacup and it floated in front of her. An attractive aroma stole her attention and she couldn’t help but reach out for it. The aroma seemed to have a mystical effect as it filled her nose with its alluring smell. Just from that alone, she began to calm down and she asked.
(“Teacher…Am I really back? Is it finally over?”)
(“Indeed, it’s over, for you that is. You have barely gathered a third of the power this magical room has to offer. It will be extremely difficult for you to enter the 4th stage on your own.”)
Kimi’s shoulders sunk. She sat down and tears began to fall from her eyes.
(“I failed. I can’t become a 4th stage Mage. What do I do? What dod I do if Sam leaves me because I’m so useless?”)
Glacious rolled his eyes. In this darkness, Kimi couldn’t see such an obvious act of being annoyed.
(“Little mouse, are you ready to give up already?”)
(“But…but you said…”)
(“I said it will be extremely difficult for you to enter the 4th stage on your own but tell me, since when are you alone?”)
(“Teacher you mean…?”)
(“It will take longer, maybe a few years but that’s still decades faster than other Mages. As long as your diligent, I can help you enter the 4th stage so stop crying already. Haven’t I told you before, everyone needs help occasionally and you are no different. So sit down, have your tea, and stop your crying. Even if I can’t hear it in this room, I can still feel it in this darkness and it’s annoying.”)
Kimi finally calmed down and she bowed respectfully in Glacious’s direction.
(“Teacher, thank you!”)
Glacious said nothing more and went back to monitoring Kazuki and the others. Only two hours later and someone else called out for help.
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