Within Rans mind, mindscape, sea of consciousness… imagination, a chaotic land of otherworldly beauty presents itself.
A Sakura tree as big as ZA WARUDO shook as its fragrance carried its cotton candy-like flowers to the sand below one by one.
The tree stayed the same after Rans first transformation/his bloodline awakening further.
Well, there was one change, but it severely changed the image of the current landscape. And this change happened in the ocean.
No longer was it the mysterious and lapis-like blue… actually it still was, but the introduction of Rans color changed everything!
A pink-blue ocean!
With swirls! And who doesn't love swirls!?
And waves were especially beautiful now.
Yet, within the new ocean, a huge Koi fish had washed up on a beach nearby.
It was fine, after all almost everything here was a part of Rans imagination; the fish was fine okay?
Though it did wear a pained expression. And not for itself either. After all, with its fin wrapped around a tall figure, who else could it be for if not it?
Unfortunately, it would appear so as the facial expression on the tall figure was one of agony. The feeling was a lot like what Ran had been feeling recently.
They grabbed their head as their veins crawled underneath their forehead; they would also pulsate every now and again. Though they were in a lot of pain, they didn't cry or scream for help and even so much as a whimper didn't escape from their mouth.
They didn't speak; on the contrary, Olly did:
"There there child-" she gently rubbed the tall figures back, "we all know why he won't heal himself, so we just have to tough it out. After all, we have to support him in any way we can." She spoke with empathy, but the resolution was deep in not only in Olly's eyes, but the tall figures as well.
"Yeah, sure, but I swear that ba***rd better eat a f**k ton of fish when we get back otherwise…" the tall figure tried massaging their head as they grumbled unhappily at the pain. Not to mention their stomach growled at the thought of fish.
Olly just laughed innocently while wiping the single, nonexistent, tear that formed under her fisheye with her fin.
"Just focus on moving the blood, don't worry about him; truly, what's a little electrocution every now and then?"
Olly spoke seriously to the tall figure when she saw that they were worried. The tall figure only responded with a nod, but it was clear they were still worried about the current situation.
But this wasn't the time to be worried, they were the only thing keeping Ran from dying. So they did what they did best and concentrated.
Concentrated hard!
Really hard!
Really really hard!
Really really - okay you get the point, but the blood was moving, so Ran isn't going to die…
At least I don't think so.
…
Ran was taken to the same place where the first session took place and the boss was there waiting for him.
The only reason why he was the "boss" was because he was mildly stronger than the rest, otherwise he would also be a lackey.
And being the "boss" had already gone to his head. He smiled arrogantly as he saw the others place Ran right in front of him.
"Haha, look who we have here, the man of the hour himself! How has your stay here been so far; I take it my boys have been treating you well?"
Ran: "..."
Well? Well!? Bro, they stuffed me in a dark room and didn't even feed me! No, not well - zero stars!
Actually that was my thoughts, Ran didn't even bother to process what the boss had just said, so it pretty much passed over his head.
The boss: "..."
Ran not saying anything kind of irked him a bit and his lips twitched. If Ran doesn't open up, how is he gonna get the information he needs?
He heard their conversation yesterday, but guess what? He already knew all of that s**t!
While his current strength would most definitely have restricted the amount of information he could learn, he had some great superiors who weren't so tight-lipped (was what he thought).
As for Ran not knowing anything… that can still be verified.
"Hehe… well, we'll know what we have to know soon enough. Boys, what do you say, should we follow our ancestors and go for another classic?"
"Woo! Boss, let's do it!" The lackeys cheered for their boss' "wisdom" as they recovered from yesterday's trauma.
"Hmmn okay let's see here." He took out a list of torture methods and the scroll rolled onto the floor and unfolded itself a couple feet out.
Acid, waterboarding, quartering, colonoscopy, stoning, bees, flogging, cat-o-nine tails, solitary confinement, truth serum, maggots, skinning, stool softeners, electrocution, dentist appointment, etc…
These were all included.
"Truth serum?" He contemplated those words for a while before coming to a conclusion.
Truth serum? Nah!
He looked again and saw electrocution; it just so happened he had what he needed for that with him, so electrocution it is!
Pui, who needs truth serum when you can go zap zap!?
"Men!" He signalled for them to prepare the necessary equipment - a ball.
A metal ball. Of course, a spell had been placed on it:
A converter. actually, this type of spell was ultra common, even commoners would have this. The only thing more common than this would be the light spell that people use to light their houses as well as the lock spell that shuts their door tight for security.
And it was common because it is the most staple of appliances - otherwise known as a stove!
Yes, this is what people use to cook, after all, if your sigil isn't of the fire element, how would you cook food?
With normal fire? Pui, dont play games with me. The convenience of only having to use soul juice to get a flame is already off the charts when compared to having to get wood from the local forest or buying it at a store.
Except, this version of the converter spell is a lot more expensive. It doesn't come with only one element option. It, in fact, comes with multiple elements.
Not only fire, but water, wind, lightning (electric), as well as metal are all included.
Of course, with this many additions, the complexity and price of such a spell skyrockets.
Once it was handed to him, the spell on the ball lit up as he poured his juice into it.
Immediately, tiny sparks were introduced into the air before zapping his hand.
"Ouch!" The boss shook his hand, trying to get rid of the numb pain in his hand. He was completely oblivious to the mockery he just made of himself.
Come on man, you're the boss! His lackeys tried to hold in their laughter, their face turning slightly red.
Even Ran had his lips curved a bit.
Ah, this boss is such a chump.
The boss got rid of the numbing pain in his hand when he looked around; his mouth twitched.
"I-I was just testing it okay!? Hmph."
His middle-aged face turned slightly red in embarrassment before he summoned his juice once more.
Thick threads popped out of his hand as he used them to hold, maneuver, and supply the lightning ball with energy.
He held the ball up to Rans finger before charing his fingers skin black. The electric pain shot up his arm and smacked his brain awake!
Ran: "..."
He looked up to the boss; since they were both seated, he was able to make eye-contact.
The boss: "..."
He stared at Ran silently, unnerved about Rans continued silence.
The boss again: "s-so..."
He gulped as he eventually couldn't take away his gaze from Ran, it was like he was sent spiraling down a rabbit-hole and ended up in another world.
"So beautiful."
By now, Rans eyes wouldn't become bloodshot anymore, so his eyes were clear for everyone to see if he opened them.
"Eh?" The lackeys behind him were confused, they looked at each other doubtfully from his words.
"S**t!" He shouted within his mind and in his fit of rage, he charred the rest of Rans hand to a crisp.
Then, he proceeded to slowly fry Rans other fingers before moving on to the toes, doing the same to the rest of his appendages one at a time.
Of course, the process itself was pretty slow as the converter spell had one flaw.
It was its efficiency. Basically, it only takes about a tenth of your juice and converts it to the specified element; it was very inefficient.
That was why it wasn't practical to use in battle and the spell itself needs to be reinforced according to the rank of soul juice. Otherwise, the juice will overwhelm the spell and break it, such is the case for most spells.
As for whether its efficiency can be raised… that has remained to be seen.
Once most of Rans body was beyond welldone, the boss wiped his sweat away.
While it was actually really cold within the Crypt, his mind was surging with heat from mental exhaustion; truly, none of them were meant for this kind of job.
Welp, they will die otherwise so…
Either way, he decided to just stop there. This kind of solution definitely isn't getting the results he wanted, the results he needed.
Plus, the only other person who had the information he needed was that dreadful lion; he definitely wasn't going to get anything out of that monstrosity.
He couldn't help but sigh as he ordered someone to heal Ran.
"Boss why can't we threaten him?" One lackey commented.
"Yeah, I heard that his servant was quite the beauty." Another couldnt help but say as they licked their lips disgustingly.
The boss actually hadn't thought of that. He cycled the idea through his head for a bit before coming to a conclusion.
"You idiot!"
Slap! He smacked the s**t out of the first lackey who commented; the lackey at him with puppy eyes. What was that for!?
"Dumb*ss, why do you think they're called Guardians? They only have one purpose in life."
He stopped to look at his lackeys sharply.
"One; to protect the city! Two; to protect EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in that city!"
"Do you really think they would care about a single servant!?"
They thought about it before slowly nodding their heads. It did make sense… except…
Wasn't the city in ruins!? Wasn't everyone there dead!? Of course!
And unbeknownst to them, Ran was currently sweating profusely.
The boss had turned around to face his lackeys while the lackeys had all their focus on their boss, so they didn't see his reaction.
Ran basically knew close to nothing about being a Guardian, except the obvious of course, but when it came to Ann…
He was willing to give his life if it saved her from danger. So he gulped at the possibility of Ann being pursued by these goons.
Of course, he didn't want to die either, so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place; the only way to stop any of this from happening, he had to escape and get rid of the pests in this place beforehand.
But how? That was the question on his mind. He was still in great pain from his migraine and it was significantly hindering his ability to do well… anything.
Just as that came to mind, a vague image popped into his mind; the pain raised to a new level as his body started shaking uncontrollably. No one noticed.
The image felt important to him, but the resolution was just too blurry. His body shook more and more rampantly as he tried to focus onto the image.
Finally, it showed itself. Funnily enough, it just so happened to be a vision of when he had also been in the jaws of death.
In other words, it was when he had lost his real heart. The pain back then from having to control the soul heart was actually less than what he felt now.
At least back then, he still had the energy to scream to his heart's content while he didnt have that here.
But pain wasn't the point. Well, it was but it had to do with why.
Besides losing his real heart, which was no doubt painful, the rest of the pain came from having to concentrate on handling the soul heart.
Concentration! Yes, the answer had been staring at him this entire time. Well, not really, at least that's what he thought.
While correlation did not equal causation, it wouldn't hurt to try.
Yet, when he did, blood immediately spurted from his nose and he fainted a couple seconds after from the enhanced pain.
If before, the pain was like a horde of elephants stomping on his head repeatedly, then now it was like those elephants had spikes for feet.
The lackeys caught this, however.
"Boss, quick, look!"
The boss looked and was astounded.
"Don't "boss" me, heal him!"
And so, they hurriedly healed him with elixirs before sending him back to his cell.