Waking up, Aki noted that he was at a cell, completely bound by LACED chains, which didn't make much sense to him either, but the five balls of metal linked to his limbs made him be sure he'd not be able to easily escape, since he'd already immediately tried to control all the restraints, finding them to be completely suffused with the energy of someone even stronger than him.
The room was also completely dark, but he didn't need to see to guess it was neither normal stone nor was the place unenchanted.
He had not expected the seemingly friendly palace to straight out shove him into an actual containment cell that would work on him. Then again, he'd completely forgot someone may simply go nuts at his sight because the chance of that happening was too damn small! His surveillance had been going on the whole fucking time! After waiting for so long near and inside the royal palace, he surmised there was no one of insurmountable power related to his 'memory loss'.
There was a scape plan the whole time, just not one for when he was right in front of the emperor, general, imperial guard and tower, while inside the fucking throne room! Because if the emperor wasn't interested in having him immediately killed, then he was best off being captured while hiding his capabilities or simply talking his way out!
Was that bitch having a panic attack or something!?
Several more insults, derogatory questions and torture methods passed through his mind, but Aki was still doing something productive and formulating ways to untangle his chains so he could move with more flexibility.
After about an hour, he had finally freed his left arm, and then a man he recognised from the court room entered his cell through what seemed to be a dislocation of the stone behind him. He couldn't exactly see him, but his stats and magical perception allowing him to have a rather defined outline of his surroundings.
"Greetings. May this one question about the sudden change in..." A shock went through Aki's body, his throat locking up and having him bite his tongue. It was honestly not that bad. At least they didn't know how to torture him.
"You will speak only when spoken to. Understood?" Asked a distorted voice brining with authority. Somehow.
"*Sigh* Understood." He was honestly not that interested in following the routine of obedient captive as much as ripping some throats open before shoving...
"What are you?"
"A human with little sense of morality, scruples, shame and money, plus no memory of anything but how to fight." There was silence after his tired voice suppressed his rage, the one asking questions seemingly not expecting these results.
"Why are you here?"
"To use the influence of the royal family to find out my own identity, get more powerful and possibly get a job that will give me influence and resources." He readily said, sarcasm in his voice saying it was the most obvious thing.
"What do you want to do right now?" This time there was magic trying to monitor him to make sure he'd talk.
"That's going to be a very long answer." He grumbled before taking a deep breath. "Well, first i'd rip open your throat, then make sure your brain is still connected to the sinapses of your body after i'm sure it is immobilised, as keeping the thing going with either pure manipulation of blood or keeping your head properly oxidated and cooled, don't really know how that works..."
"To the point."
"Torture everyone important, kill those i don't know, then have the bitch that had me thrown here eat her next of kin alive until her stomach bloats and she is forced to keep eating till my powers do not allow for an extention of her misery. Like i said, not a good guy, though as you may have also noticed, i also don't go around torturing people no matter how much my mind and rage tells me to." He spat, pure bloodlust going towards the man that kept trying to shock him into unconsciousness as he turned his head to stare at the one oozing fear.
Or so he though, but his eyes were closed, which surprised the man and made him stop the increase in voltage for a moment.
"As if this fucking play is of any use! Reality doesn't change by becoming angrier at a problem, grow a pair! Just bring the doll and have her tell exactly what she sees that frightens her so much! If she's not spouting shit about me being a monster then you will actually talk to me, right? Then just let me have a talk with her while the emperor or whoever cares enough makes sure that she's fine." He screamed at the man while frowning, turning back to simply untangling himself from the extreme weights currently holding him down, the other man wordlessly leaving and closing the door behind him.
*****
Chang Ying woke up to the familiar roof of her bedroom, her heart beating fast, no drowsiness allowed as she examined her surroundings.
"It's ok your highness, you're safe!" Her personal maid and confidant, Meng'er, immediately went to her side and held her hand, fixing their gazes together as she started to draw deep breaths to calm down under the reasuring gaze of her friend. By the time she'd calmed down, she noticed her father emperor was by her bedside, tenderly looking at her.
"How do you feel my child? Did that man have a technique to hurt those gazing upon his soul?" The man with a regal aura asked with calm in his voice.
"I don't think so your majesty, i feel fine, just... terrified." She'd never seen someone, something, so disgusting and disturbing as the representation of someone's soul. It was a pure mockery of what being human should mean no matter how you looked at the mass of white flesh that somehow held the resemblance of a humanoid. There was something even more wrong about it, though she could not tell what exactly.
"Was it so bad you would scream as if about to be devoured by a horrendous beast then?" He asked with a raised brown, but despite her embarrassment, she did not look away.
"Father emperor, that man is not to be underestimated. He is definetly crazy, a maniac that loves blood and should not be trusted, but there is wisdom in those eyes, so many eyes..." She shivered as she thought about the visage again, but resolutely kept to her own duty. "Whatever you choose to do with him, i can only suggest you don't allow for freedom, for the sake of the empire and it's subjects."
"I will keep your worries in mind daughter, but strangely enough, the man himself has admitted to having a not so good personality or so to say, and asked to talk to you about what you saw. I think he has an inkling to your gifts Ying'er. I would normally suggest we allow him to stay there for a bit, investigate more, but he has shown several signs of being willing to work for the empire and actually repelled an invasion from the beyond by himself, so nibbling at his seemingly thin patience does not seem to have any benefit. This leaves me at an impasse however, as i would not feel safe employing this individual without your approval that it is safe." He slowly explained.
This made her frown, hard. Her father had never ignored her predictions so blatantly, not after she'd saved his life so many times with them.
"Your majesty, excuse me for asking, but why?" She looked into his eyes, completely serious and unwilling to stay out of the trouble. Then the regal figure in front of her suddenly seemed very tired.
"I did not want you to get to know it like this, but as days pass, it is becoming more and more clear i am not enough to deal with this matter. The coming tribulations requires all the forces i can muster my child, and even the weakest of immortals can change the tides of a war." He said, pitch black eyes staring into her own.
"I... I will talk to him. If he can be of use, then he shaw be." She sighed and replied with some forced courage.
"Thank you daughter, i promise nothing will happen to you while i am present." He assured her before asking about her health again, but she would not get any better in the knees with more time.
It took a while to walk through the whole palace and back towards the dungeon ward, but when they got there, the security was way bigger than she'd first thought it'd be. The traps and wards were all active and flashing to her sight since she had authorization in the royal castle's formation, but there was at least double the amount of guards as she normally saw, and the deeper she got the more stressed they seemed, as if a battle would happen at any time.
Her father had not mentioned anything, so she didn't think of asking why, but when they reached the second to last floor, she understood what had so many pseudo immortals and even the royal guards on their nerves. The sound of extremely heavy objects being dragged around and chains clinking was ever present. She had simply not been able to hear it.
"Has there been any change?" The emperor asked the warden. He looked like a handsome scholar on the outside, but his soul literally looked like him with snake features. If i could not see the representation of the oath on the man i'd immediately suggest killing him off for the safety of everyone.
"He has taken a second ball and started to 'train' his legs. I honestly don't think i could even torture the man." He admitted with a confused expression, his lack of manners ignored by all those around as they seemed to share his incredulity.
"Since i shaw have a talk with him, i fear i need to ask what do you mean by that warden." Sighed the second princess, expecting something bad.
"Well your highness, the prisoner has freed himself about an hour and a half ago." IMPOSSIBLE! "And then rolled the chain of one of our mountain heart metal balls around his left arm, before beginning to do a punching repetition with each arm for half an hour, somehow lifting the things despite their charge remaining." HOW?! "Instead he seems to be draining his cell and the royal palace's array for energy, which he is then ussing to reinforce and heal his body to an ungodly degree. I can still perceive what he is doing inside, so i know for a fact he is not trying to escape or kill anyone."
.....
.....
.....
"Have you... tried to stop him?" She questioned, sickly pale face staring towards the white creature pass the wall.
"Yes your highness. He beat me, shoved me out of the restricting cell and then healed me. Apparently he has infiltrated our array and put himself above all but the emperor himself, so the cell also affected me when i went inside. Since he didn't do anything else, we've just been waiting here."
"HOW?!?!?" She screamed at the man. Nothing he just said made any sense!
"Because your stupid formation is somehow linked to one big encapsulation parsing through the whole thing that for some reason accepts any and all sources of neutral energy of a certain purity, so i feed the thing and messed around with the intents firmed in it until the thing granted me authorization to disable this room. After enough time feeding it's energy back to it after it got a bit of my brand, i got elevated all the way up. A scholar should be able to explain the rest, so go ask them. Thanks for the long wait time though sleeping beauty." Said the young man without a shirt as he left his cell, several weapons pointing towards his bloodied skin even as his PURPLE veins shined through what was clearly not the psique he had when he got here. "Would think someone like an emperor would prefer to have something more costly and safe then something that distributes energy more efficiently, but what do i know about the values of this land?" He shrugged, not bowing as he gave both royals a flat look. "I didn't expect your majesty to directly come at the first time, but this saves all of us time and money. Before her highness asks though, this isn't abyss magic, i'm just making my body brim with energy and reinforcing it at the same time as i heal it, since it's basically eating itself to keep this state where i can literally walk away from the palace if i so wish. And yes, it hurts."