The Iron Maiden sat on her knees, keeping her hands closed to each other as a sign of submission and respect to her creator. Who also was on his knees in front of her.
Both entities sat inside the pocket universe, staring down at the space between them both. Patiently waiting for something to appear out of nowhere.
With enough focus and effort, a body manifested itself right where they looked. It was undamaged, almost pristine for what they went through.
"My sweet maid, you will not be alone forever," Demon smiled. "You will have an ally out in the field, one to assist you as you threat lies and manipulate Koroth to our advantage."
He reached down for the tight muscles across the body's chest. When he felt them, he noticed just how sturdy the corpse truly was when it was alive.
It was exactly what he was waiting for, the perfect host to carry over into an Iron Butler. Demon did not waste time in working with the body.
"You see," Demon cut open the corpse from the collarbones down to the hips. "This was all part of the plan. To make such creations, you need to take risks. Cover your steps everywhere you go."
A tainted hand reached inside, taking out undesired organs and repurposing them for Syndicate Dust production. By the end, regardless of what the organ was, it became a black heart.
"Oh!" Demon cheerfully said. "Look at how it beats, like an actual heart!" he admired what he held in his hands. "This reminds me of how I made you."
The Iron Maiden lifelessly watched her creator make his next creation. She looked through the two obscured holes in her mask, seeing him work effortlessly.
Each heartbeat echoed throughout the entire universe, trying to find something to stop it from going so far. Demon reached down for some dust, holding it tight in his hand as he poured it into the body.
Upon contact, the fleshy inside suddenly turned to metal. Everything touched automatically turned into armor, perfectly fitting how the Iron Maiden was physically.
"You know," Demon glanced up at his maid. "We cannot hide from everyone, there are many eyes that are watching us. Albeit, not physically. Think about it as reading a book or a journal. That's how."
He smiled into the empty void of the universe. "So wonderful, isn't it? They might be questioning what is happening right now and why I am talking like this. But the truth is, the know more than us."
Demon continued to repurpose organs until they were completely transformed. Up next were the muscles, these he intended to enhance.
Syndicate Dust latched onto each muscle fiber, then took over. Hijacking everything they could until the only thing that remained were Distorted versions of themselves.
Each one that got corrupted matched the armor-like material. Demon was building a machine from the dead, except this machine was not yet ready for usage.
When he was done with the core, he swapped over to the arms. Doing mostly the same thing as he did with the torso. Each muscle turned grey and solidified. Slowly transforming a once great Feral.
"Get ready for what will happen when Ether goes to visit Niro," Demon spoke to the Iron Maiden. "I didn't manipulate an icicle into performing a fake ritual for nothing."
She watched her master get up from the floor, stretching out his muscles while making all the armor fade away from his body. The look of a twisted child replaced a fearsome creation.
Despite the years that had passed since he came back, he hadn't aged one day. He was stuck as a seventy-one-year-old, unable to reach full maturity because of his curse.
"Form a whip," Demon ordered her.
As requested, the Iron Maiden formed a whip out of Syndicate Dust. She held onto the leathery handle, waiting for further instructions to come in.
Metal clanked and screeched as the armored body shifted into a sitting stance. Demon held onto its back, keeping one hand out over its forehead.
"When it moves, you will relentlessly whip it into submission. Is that clear?" he ordered.
To prove she understood instructions, the Iron Maiden cracked the whip. It echoed through the universe, showing she was going to become the same thing that destroyed her mind.
Grey powder escaped from the eyes and mouth of the nearly complete creation, causing it to gasp for air and struggle to break free. But that's when the first of several cracks rung out.
He screamed, begging for mercy as it tried to comprehend where he was. But Demon did not allow him to move, only to stay still as the maiden continued to torture him.
"Don't be shy, hit him harder! Break the whip on his body!" Demon barked orders.
Despite the reinforced body being meant to shrug off damage, it couldn't ignored Syndicate Dust. It was the only thing that could brutally damage Distorted, an attack from their own kind.
On the seventh whipping, Demon let go for the body. He held an arm out, ordering her to stop beating the defeated figure.
"Plant a foot on his chest, and hold him down. I am going to continue," Demon whispered to his maiden.
She followed instructions, nearly crushing the armored chest of the downed figure. Demon walked back and forth, thinking of a good way of torturing what little sanity this creature had left.
"What they do not know," Demon said while staring at his palm. "Is how much we gained from the invasion. A new butler, a successful experimenting, the keys to our next move, and access to more forces."
A maul clanked against the darkened floor, it groaned as Demon dragged it onto his shoulder. This was going to be the next method of torturing the weakened figure.
He was too weak to be able to speak, allowing Demon and the maiden to do what they pleased freely. It all came in a haze, being in the middle of a war alongside a Distorted then finding himself in an empty world.
Before the figure could continue struggling, one of the maul's heads came down on the figure's face. Breaking bones with ease and driving in plenty of pain.