Nathan leaned against the wall with a somber expression behind his mask. Mary was closing in on him and he had no way to escape.
The inherent silence of the castle enveloped them and only the sound of footsteps could be heard in the surroundings. As soon as Mary was a few meters in front of him, she stopped and, before Nathan's incredulous eyes, disappeared again.
Before he could even react, Mary appeared in front of him and grabbed his face, then took the momentum and started smashing him against the wall.
'Ugghhh! Fuck!' Nathan moaned unable to resist Mary's strength, then cracks appeared in the wall behind him and then it collapsed.
Pushing him, Nathan's body rolled backwards through the rubble and stopped a few meters later.
He never stopped the essence flowing through his body, but simply facing Mary was impossible. Besides, he was in who knows where in the castle, with no chance to even think about escaping.
Quickly getting up with a sore body, Nathan stepped back when he saw Mary break through the wall, and in the same instant she disappeared again.
Again Mary's blow connected with his body, pushing him backward through the corridors in an uncomfortable way. Nathan was still trying to withstand Mary's blows with his essence, but how could he resist the blows of a third rank? In any case, he would have to be grateful that she was not trying to kill him.
Turning his body over on his arm, Nathan took advantage of Mary's hitting him again to recover slightly.
"Are you planning to kill me?" Nathan said suspiciously as he repositioned his shoulder that had been dislodged by one of Mary's many blows.
"Kill you?" The woman stopped and watched him with a smile on her face. "No, I'm just having fun"
"...Just having fun?" Nathan felt the fury begin to build up inside his being, but he knew he could do nothing and go with the flow.
The moment he entered the castle, Nathan knew it was possible to meet death face to face. He did not even intend to go too far into the castle, only to wait for a while to throw his pursuers off the scent. He never thought they would find him so quickly.
"Does it amuse you to abuse others? Just like you lied to me about taking down the rooftop calamity?"
"Ah... That? Don't take it personally, wealth is what keeps many of us alive, I just saw an opportunity and took it" Mary clasped her hands together and waved an apology, to which Nathan only responded with a grimace behind his mask.
Swallowing saliva mixed with blood, Nathan stood up with his whole body aching as if he had been run over by a speeding truck. He took a couple of steps back while Mary just watched him silently with a slight smile on her face.
Behind that smile Nathan could see traces of amusement, perversion and at the same time boredom, which puzzled him.
'Nathan, you've got to get out of here!' Amelia alerted him, but Nathan didn't dare move any further than he had already retreated.
'If you see any way out let me know'
Mary resumed her slow walk approaching Nathan, her eyes focused completely on him. Disappearing from his vision, Mary continued to unload on him while Nathan could only resist praying for the beating to end.
Without realizing it, Mary's blows were not only intended to hurt him for fun but were actually guiding him to a specific place in the castle.
Nathan leaned on his two arms as he coughed up blood that accumulated behind his mask. If his body felt sore before, now several of his bones felt like needles piercing his organs.
He barely had any more essence to regenerate even a little, let alone withstand more blows. But the next attack never came, forcing him to look suspiciously ahead.
Two doors almost five meters high stood majestically in front of him. Luxuriously elaborate designs formed the frame of both doors and their opaque black color swallowed up any hint of light that reached this deep into the castle.
Nathan felt a glimpse of despair as he looked at both doors. He was not sure where he was, but what other part of the castle would have doors like these?
"The throne room" Letting his head fall limply, a slight chuckle escaped his lips. "Haha... shit"
Mary grabbed him by his shirt, picked him up and threw him into the room. Nathan didn't bother to move, he simply rolled on the floor to a stop and looked back up without getting up.
At the end of the room, a man sat in a chair with golden edges that resembled gold and armchairs of dark red velvet. His pearl blue eyes watched Nathan calmly as his long hair fell like a white waterfall over his right shoulder.
'A king' That was the first thought that came to Nathan's mind when he saw the man on the throne. His luxurious but ancient garments reminded him of the spitting image of the medieval kings he had seen so much of in movies and portraits in the museums he had once visited.
But compared to all those kings of antiquity, the man in front had an aura of authority that could not be matched by a simple photo or video.
"I brought him as you commanded, my king" Mary stopped next to Nathan and spoke, lowering her head without daring to look at the man on the throne and spoke respectfully as if she was a completely different person than the one who had nearly beaten Nathan to death.
"Hmmm, well done" Replied Vcansire, the Duke of Hembiurg. A man Faye and the mercenary king had met in the first few days they had entered the castle.
Vcansire stood gracefully letting his hair that rested on his shoulder fall to his back. The duke did not move, however, but looked down at Nathan from above.
"Is that the rat that prowled my castle?" Vcansire looked at Mary who was still with her head down.
"Yes, my lord"
"Something insignificant, remove his mask" Vcansire ordered, to which Mary nodded without hesitation.
Nathan bit his lips and tried to back away, but in vain, Mary grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
"Let's see your pretty face again" she said with a mischievous as well as perverted smile.
"Fuck you!" Nathan tried to cling to Mary's arm, but with no strength his attempt to keep his mask on was in vain.
Mary just smiled at his insults and his attempts to free himself and grabbed one of the horns of the mask. As she pulled on the mask, she realized that it was clinging to Nathan's face, leaving them both surprised.
Nathan did not understand why the mask would not leave his face. Never before had something like this happened, but never before had the mask absorbed his essence on its own.