"Sugar? What?" Ray asked with a glare. He thinks that Karl is making fun of his old age.
"Nothing. You won't understand anyway." Karl answers with a nonchalant tone. Ray is still not convinced. Suddenly blood starts to come out of Karl nose, he tries to rubs it off but it is too much.
Ray's glare dissipates as he watches Karl, his son's only friend in pain. Alessa already informed him about Karl's condition, he knows that he is dying.
Karl notices the change in Ray's gaze. "W-What's that look?" His voice breaks as he struggle to breathe, every time he breathes the throat hurts due to inflammation.
"Can you actually kill Chris?" Ray asked calmly.
All of a sudden this made Karl annoyed, he scowls. "Huh? Of course I can. In fact, I am the only one who can grant you revenge. Only me."
Ray silently crouches in front of him. "You can't."
Karl gets further frustrated. "Stop doubting me! I will win. I always do."
"Your fight is against an experienced knight. The odds of winning are negligible. Besides you are sick." Ray addresses the facts, yet Karl refuses. "You talk big for someone who got his ass whooped. Did your wife-"
THAMP! A pair of teeth went flying in the air. Karl's entire skull shook as Ray slapped him. The stinging pain was quickly replaced by anger. Ray watches silently as Karl's entire arm changes violently. Due insufficient mana the arm was grown partially which did not looked pleasing at all.
He pressure punched Ray in the face. A loud sound was created, followed by immense pain in Karl's hand. His fingers broke on impact. "Agh!" His blood splattered everywhere.
The impact did not affect Ray whatsoever. His eyes filled with pity, few sentences from Ian resurfaces in his mind. "Father! I am telling you the Chief is a lying. Leonard is not a bad person. When I first talked to him, I couldn't tell a difference between him and you. He is just like you. So please, help him."
Ray wonders. 'This miserable kid is like me?'
Karl is holding his hand, trying to stop the bleeding. He wants to scream but he can't. He wants to cry but he can't. He wants to go home but he can't. He just sits there, in pain.
"Are you scared?" Ray asks a low voice.
Karl glances up, he is taking deep breathes. "Y-y-yes. I am afraid of dying. I don't want to die. Yet."
Ray sighs heavily. He extends his hand and picks Karl by his waist. "Don't worry. I make sure that you win and grant me my revenge"
Karl quickly tries to phase to escape but his body completely refuses to inhale mana.COUGH! COUGH! He pukes a bucket of blood.
"Ugh. I can't have you pouring blood every few minutes." Crack! Ray flicks his finger on Karl's neck and he loses consciousness.
Karl opens his place in a dark place. His body refusing to move. 'Wow. Haven't seen this place in a while.' Zena's face appears in his mind. He becomes a bit sad.
Unknown amount of time passes. In this period, Karl experimented few things. He can't speak. But he can breathe normally. Despite this place being dark it is quite hot in here. Also he assumes that he is naked. 'UGH! How long do I have to stay here?' He screamed in his mind.
Suddenly he spots something in the distance. A blurred dot or something which a human eye cannot see has appeared. It is not visible but Karl can feel it in his body and he doesn't like it.
The abyss.
'Hello there. Didn't see you since I learnt phasing. Are you here to give me a new spell?' Karl asks sarcastically. The abyss slowly draws closer to him. It stops only when it is few steps away from Karl's face. Then something happens which makes Karl's entire body shiver in fear.
The black worm silds out of the abyss followed by dozens of small white worms. They are swimming closer. Karl jerks his body. 'No! No! Don't do this! Fuck off! Augh!!!!' He screams as the black one wraps itself around his waist. The small draws to the limbs such as arms and thighs. 'ARGHHHH!' Karl silently screams as thousands of small worms bite into his limbs.
They are eating him alive. This torture continues for a long time. At some time, Karl couldn't feel any of his body. From other perspective, most of Karl's body is eaten only skull and a small of portion of his exposed heart remains intact. Everything else is eaten. The pain is there but the feeling of his limbs is completely gone. The black worm slowly moves up to the face. Karl is mentally so tried that he doesn't even react. Koraet pushes Karl's body down and he feels countless worms on his back.
'Is this death?' This was Karl's last thought as he drowned in the sea of worms.
He opens his eyes and finds himself on a bed. 'Hospital?' He tries to move but his hands are tied to chain. The sound of someone walking closer was heard. Karl tries to look.
Alessa walks in with a trolley which has the same large cylinder saline that used to earlier. "Oh! Sir Leonard, you are finally awake. This is good. The ceremony is about to start in an hour or so." She quickly taps something on her watch and the chains holding Karl's hands opens up. "I was about to cast a mind spell on you to forcefully wake you up."
Karl sluggishly forces his body to get up. He quickly notices something is not quite right. His hand hardly has any muscle in it. It is all bones and skin. He panics as checks his other hand. "What the-"
Alessa shoves a screen in Karl's face which shows his own face. Karl sees a completely different person on the screen. That person is bald and his entire body is heavily malnourished. He has no nose, lips or a single strand of hair on his face. There are multiple stiches in a single line from his forehead to the back of his neck. That person looks worse than Yelm's injured form which was just horrific. Karl quickly rips his hospital gown and sees that the stiches went all the way to tailbone and back to the forehead. His reproductive organs absent.
Alessa watches silently as her young master's friend throwed a tantrum. "UAHHH!" Karl dugs his own fingers into his face. "What did you do? Answer me!!" He bolted from his bed stood in front the maid. He raises his hand with the intention to kill.
Just then door opens and Ray appears. Karl grits his teeth and turns to Ray. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU?" He unconsciously uses levitating steps to dash. Once close enough, he launches a series of pressure punches.
The impact was on a whole another level than earlier. The entire room shakes as Ray tanks every punch. This continues for few minutes until Karl couldn't move due to exhaustion. "W-What did you do?" He asks one more time before kneeling down.
"I saved you." Ray answers calmly.
Karl glares at him. "Saved? You made me look like a monster! LOOK AT ME!"
"Your condition was worse than I thought." Alessa speaks as she stands next to her master. She looks down Karl. "If left alone, by now you would have probably died. When master brought you here, he ordered me to make you fit enough to have chance in the ceremonial fight and I did exactly that...…No, currently you are in better condition than you first woke up. I teared your body from the middle to remove every unnecessary organ from your body. Fat, stomach, both intestines and every single microscopic worm was taken out. Then, I pumped 50 cylinders of artificial mana directly into your body."
Karl's spine tingled in fear as he hears Alessa's words.
"All this to grant you few more days to live."
Karl trembles as he lies down on the cold floor. The rage fades away and realization kicks in. He starts to cry. Becoming louder each second. "Hic. Hic."
Alessa narrows her eyes. "Therefore, be grateful to my master. You lowlife."
"Get him ready." Ray orders before turning to leave. Alessa bows.
10 minute later, Karl sitting on the couch in Ray's suite. He is wearing his armour. He glances in the window and notices that the sky has been completely dark. The dome is filled pack, everyone is excited to see fights between top 10. The judges are nowhere to be seen. The stage is all brand new, the damage from the riot has been repaired. "How long was I out for?" He asks.
"5 hours." Alessa who was standing behind him answers.
Karl breathes in mana. This time there was no pain. He summons his magic circle.
"Your life force is still depleting. I have temporarily replaced it with artificial mana. It doesn't mean that you can do as you please. After the artificial mana drains out from your body or your body develops a resistance we will be back at square one. Use your spells accordingly."
Karl takes out the twin daggers which has the crest of Phirsecot on their handle. He stares at the tip of the daggers.
Just then the referee appears on the stage below. "It is time." Alessa informs. Karl gets up from his seat.
Alessa takes out mask from her back pocket. She offers it to Karl. "Don't get to close to any sentinels. As they will notice that you are genetically modified. Wear this special artefact, it will cover your artificial mana. Also, after the fight quickly come back here for the new dose of artificial mana."
Karl takes the mask and put it on his face. The mask quickly moves and attached itself with the rest of the armour. To others, it looks like it is the part of the armour. Honestly, Karl feels extremely uncomfortable but he is no position to complain. He moves to the elevator.
TING! The door opens up and he walks in.
Alessa stares at him. "Fulfil my master's wishes. Don't make me feel like I wasted my time on you." Karl remains silent.
The door closes.