Far away, Charlotte's parents barely looked at her, like one of the many dogs roaming in the streets of the Nomanian Empire.
She ran to them and tried to cling to her mother's skirt.
When she saw her daughter, a Witch, she raised her hand to slap her once again.
But Maalick grabbed her wrist before she could do so "I swear, if you touch even one strand of her hair. I will break every single bone in your body"
The husband held out his arm to throw a ball of pure mana toward his daughter. The SAS agent took Charlotte in his arms and dodged his attack.
He brought her next to Raz and said "Hold her back"
As coldly as he could, he snaked through the crowd and grabbed his attacker's forearm "That' is for trying to kill her"
He knocked him down with his lesgs and held out his arm. Maalick began to break his humerus, radius and ulna with frightening precision.
The screams of his wife and of the husband did not strike his Lizardian mind.
"You filthy lizard! Always trying to hurt us! Your race should bow to us humans !"
"We should have killed you when we had the chance !" said the man.
Maalick was furious at her father "Why did you do that!? Huh?! Answer me!"
The man started quoting some kind of religious texts like a fanatic "Don't forget... my children, that the Witches, because of their magic and neat appearance, are the women who slept... with the Demon, the Fallen Angel of Heaven!"
He raised his head with a smile more than evil "The death of your children, will prevent the birth of the Devil's daughters! Make them confess their sin to sharpen your mind and sanctify, parents, by blood this filth ! Thanks to this thanksgiving, you will be in Paradise promised by our lord Liandras !"
In Charlotte's father's eyes, Maalick saw there that he believed in everything he said 'He believes in every word he says. People like him are only puppets of their own beliefs'
His wrath rose to the surface as he thought about what kind of life Charlotte had lived with parents like them.
"I'm going to destroy your arm motherfucker"
Raz hid the child's wet eyes in his arms "Why... sir? Why do I have to... die?!"
Raz hugged her a little tighter "You don't have to die Charlotte. It is their ideals, their religion and their sick minds that must die"
Maalick was about to move on to the last bone in his arm, the radius. But before he could fracture it, Arthur's copies surrounded him. They pointed a variety of firearms and bladed weapons at him, in the greatest of silences.
"Drop him" he ordered.
Then they saw them coming. The original Arthur, Bassandia Thedhlianda and the Captain, Maria Dernia.
"Arthur, divide the number of your copies by 2" she asked.
The second in command was out of breath, as if he had just run a marathon.
He made a quick circular motion with his hand, and half of his copies melted away like snow in the sun.
The Hyena approached Maalick "You are still alive, number 710293. Because of you, I lost my bet against the soldiers of 1st class. It puts me in a veryyy bad mood"
With her mental mana, she controlled herself to amplify her physical abilities.
Maria moved so fast that Maalick thought she had teleported 'Where is she ?'
But she kicked him in the stomach with her knee by leaning on his shoulders "You're going to be so dead" she said with her sick smile.
[ PV : 5/7 ]
The Captain took out her whip and began to beat him with just her physical strength "You don't even worth using my magic, you fucking lizard !"
The euphoria of doing harm could be seen in her insane eyes. But Maalick didn't crack, he tried to block her attacks with his forelimbs. Unfortunately, the blonde knew her weapon too well.
[ PV : 3/7 ]
She grabbed his injured arm with her weapon and brought him back to her to throw a mana-fueled punch into his mouth. At the last moment, he blocked her attack with his hand.
[ PV : 1/7 ]
Maalick didn't know what was worse.
Charlotte's cries as she tried to struggle away from Raz to come to his rescue. Or the slight smiles of the Promenade survivors who were doing nothing but contemplating the bloody spectacle.
Or the feeling of his bones being shattered by Maria's mana, which had managed to spread the shockwave through his entire body.
'Sh... Shit... I'm not going to be able to keep this up for very long...'
[ Regeneration activated ]
[ Error ]
[ Injury detected, impossible to regenerate ]
[ PV : 2/7 ]
Charlotte screamed her name so loudly in despair that Raz had to release her "MAALICK !!!"
Without anyone could explain explaining, everyone dropped a tear from his left eye, except the two fighters.
When he looked at his protégé, the SAS agent saw a huge blue aura, so dark and at the same time so bright, taking shape around her.
'Charlotte... What are you...'
Then he looked at his enemy 'My left arm is completely... unusable. Maria's strength is on a whole other level compared to me. For her, it's not even a fight. She just gets... off on it.
'You're right, you little shit' she said through telepathy.
Maalick wanted to counterattack. But he couldn't move.
"You see my dear toy, you are boring to death. I torture you, you regenerate again and I martyr you again. All of this is so dull, do you understand ?"
She walked over to Charlotte and Raz "Whereas with these two... I'm going to be able to have such a fun time. Besides... do you know why the Troll is here ?"
'I know damn well why, you fucking psycho !'
"But I bet you don't know what he did, do you? He killed 100 Coalition soldiers in a single night, without his country's approval. Just to save some civilians that we had taken as hostages. And you know what the funny thing is... ?"
The Hyena's smile grew more insane "It's that he didn't even manage to save them! They had been blown up to lure him and other members of his homeland. So he slaughtered 100 soldiers out of guilt, self-loathing and... rage"
Raz fixed his angry gaze on Maria. Maalick had never seen him lose his temper before. But now, he clearly wanted to punch her in the face.
[ HP : 3/7 ]
As his HP went up, Maalick's anger increased. He managed to free himself from the Hyena's spell in time to say "I'm gonna... rip... your... fucking... smile"
The Captain snapped her fingers and two soldiers jumped off the wall "Bring him into the Hole with our "surprise" for people like him"
The two soldiers understood what she meant.One of the soldiers picked up Maalick and forced him to walk to the gate, while Maria released her mental mana.
When the gate of the camp opened, Maalick saw the beginning of his punishment.
There were imposing buildings in Rosibbo, including a small gothic church and 4 factories to the far left.
To his right were rows of barracks and in the middle of his resting places was a sports dome.
A little further on, a sober 4-story building perfectly ordinary stood in front of him. However, his instincts told him that this place was the most dangerous of all.
'I don't like this building'
When the gate of the camp opened, Maalick saw the beginning of his punishment.
There were imposing structures in Rosibbo, including a small gothic church and 4 factories in the far left.
To his right were rows of barracks and in the middle of his resting places was a sports dome.
A little further on, a sober 4-story building perfectly ordinary stood in front of him. However, his instincts told him that this place was the most dangerous of all
'I don't like this building'
He moved forward, guarded by the soldiers, through the camp while regenerating. He felt his bones come together, repositioning and reattaching themselves as if they were a complex puzzle to be finished.
'Damn, that hurt !'
Then the Lizardian came to an underground passage into which he entered.
On his way, he saw a wooden sign above him 'Level 1. What does it mean ?'
Maalick continued on his way to see the second part of his punishment.
Men, women, old men, and even children who were Human, Witch, and others he could not identify, worked relentlessly in the mines.
They were all skeletal, their eyes were broken by life and they were on the verge of death by exhaustion.
While the soldiers beat them, insulted them and took some of the women and girls out of the level with a perverse smile.
The most in shape captives threw the corpses of the miners out of their tunnel, so that another one could pick them up in a cart filled to the brim with these macchabees.
One of the soldiers accompanying Maalick called him "You there! Let go of the cart. He's going to carry it"
The man put it down and ran as fast as he could to the nearest gallery 'I must...'
But the officer supervising that part of the tunnel put a bullet in his head "We don't take atheists, you son of a bitch"
He turned and shouted at his workforce "You know what awaits you if you don't do a good job or break the religious rules our God has given you ! Work to the death for the greatness of the empire and the grandeur of the Church of Liandras !"
From the sounds of the pickaxes, his threat had succeeded in speeding up their production.
Maalick glanced at one of the many harvest boxes.
Inside, there were ores with green and purple glints "It must be that stone that was in the stick. It prevents me from regenerating my scar'
The Lizardian went deeper into the ground, with his load that he held with one hand in another tunnel.
The last part of his punishment. A horror sight.
It was nearly night-time and hot because of the heat of the oil lamps that illuminated with a weak light this demented place.
Breathing was a real challenge because of the pressure that became stronger and stronger with every step he took 'Where the hell am I ?'
This underground network was filled with a multitude of metal towers, in which the prisoners were packed like cattle. They were starving, dehydrated and on the verge of losing their sanity.
Corpses covered their cells. The smell of blood, decay and death was an integral part of the second level.
These atrocious towers were surrounded by watchtowers with the same equipment as those on the walls.
The one closest to the exit also had a machine gun, making it impossible to get out.
At that very moment, Maalick lost the smell of Charlotte. He held back from puking and focused himself on the smell of blood that filled this horrible world.
'I-I have to protect Charlotte ! She won't survive in this place ! I have to save her!'
They walked through the cries of despair, the pleas for help, and the sounds of dismembered bodies falling from the towers.
They went deeper into the underground hell until they came to a gigantic hole.
"You drop the bodies in there" the military man ordered.
"Fuck off, you sick bastards"
The other soldier laughed and drew his handgun "You are the sick one, the cancer that is eating away this continent. We are the doctors who remove the infected tissue that you are"
He shot him in the flank with a bullet coated with mana.
[ HP : 1/7 ]
The Lizardian in front of them staggered to the edge of the abyssal pit and fell into the void.
His accomplice pushed the cart into the Hole with wind magic.
He looked at the bottomless pit and said "Welcome to Hell"
The gunman activated the radio on his military jacket "Madam, we confirm that the Lizardian has fallen into the Hole with your surprise. Over"
Maria was in her luxurious barracks, her feet resting on a table full of files about the prisoners "Very good soldiers. You have well earned a reward. You are excused from guard duty tonight. Over and out"
Then she crossed out Maalick's name on his file.