The day after, which was the group's day of departure, no one in the party was feeling particularly great in their guts. Lydia decided to cast a minor healing spell on everyone to ease their pain and prevent everyone from having to go to the restroom constantly during their travels, but she couldn't figure out what was wrong.
The leader of the party and strongest adventurer, who happened to be one of the outside hired escorts, made the decision to take a different route back. He explained that this would be the better route and would prevent attacks from anyone from waiting on the road ahead if they were to take their original route back.
…
It had been two weeks since they left Corsa Village, but none of people in the party were able to fully calm down their gut.
'Man, this feels like the time I got a bacterial infection when I was backpacking with Dad once. Brings back great, but terrible memories.' Kayn smirked to himself.
Recalling his old memories always brought up bittersweet feelings. He missed his old family, but cherished his new one more than he expected if not more than his old one, perhaps because he had lost his first one and that the emotions relating to them were suppressed to an extent.
Kayn was determined to protect this new family, especially his mother and sister who have done nothing but give him love since day one. He loves his dad, but didn't think that his father would need his protection anytime soon.
Not that his mother would need protection either, but he didn't know how weak she became during her escape, nor did she tell him.
On the 24th day of their travel a change occurred. All of the sudden a giant fire tornado surrounded the carriage and horses, creating an impenetrable barrier. At the same time a wind blew in from the top of the massive column forcing the group members into a dull state. Unfortunately, the group was late to react as they were distracted because of the never ceasing gut problems.
"Lydia, we need to do something, our consciousness won't last long. This is a higher tiered fire spell and whatever is in the wind is affecting even my mind." Vena screamed as even someone very close to having a 5th stage core was being affected.
There was no chance for the rest of the team who had lower mental resistances and core strength to hold off the negative effects.
Lydia waved her hands and pulled out a large staff to amplify her control of mana. A giant water column appeared to block out the fire, and a surge of wind began to blow the air out of the top of the now combination fire and water column that was rapidly turning into steam as they clashed.
At this point, the silhouette of a person walked through both the fire and water as if he was taking a stroll in the park. A large broadsword was in his hand and an arrogant smile looking at the prey caught in his trap.
"Feyat? What are you doing here?" Lydia asked as she didn't understand why someone from the empire, who was even highly respected among the upper echelons for being a peak stage 4 swordsman, would be doing something like this.
"Ah Lydia, what a surprise to see you here! Just kidding hahaha! But in all seriousness, it's just a job and I'm a mercenary, I was hired and paid generously. So, here I am to collect my goods and deliver them for the rest of the payment. It would be best if you would come with me nicely, that way I won't kill the rest of your group or that kid you're protecting with your barrier."
Feyat just continued to look at Lydia with a joyous smile. However, the boy he was looking at pulled out two short swords and started running at him while stumbling since his mind was fading.
Kayn was just a child in Feyat's eyes, so when he arrived in front of him practically unconscious, he just delivered a low strength kick straight to the kid's chest.
Cracking sounds were heard throughout the isolated area. Kayn's ribs were broken in several places and he instantly passed out as he crashed into the carriage.
Lydia looked at Kayn with tears in her eyes. She was helpless in this situation. No one in this group was strong enough to face Feyat, not to mention the unknown number of mercenaries outside of the tornado and its caster.
"Fine…fine! Just don't hurt the child anymore, please let me tend to his wounds." Lydia turned and begged toward Feyat. Her pride would mean nothing if she couldn't at least save her disciple.
Plus, the fact that the group didn't seem to be after Kayn, was a plus. It seemed more likely that someone had hired Feyat to abduct her in order to make her heal someone she normally would refuse to even hear out.
"Good, I won't hurt him then! But no, you cannot tend to him. We have our own healer who will stabilize, but not heal his wounds. He seems important to you and we can use him. Xi Lun, pick up the kid and carry him, we are going to take him as well as the target."
Feyat's instructions seemed to fall on deaf ears, but a large red skinned demon race suddenly appeared behind him and carried out his orders throwing both Kayn and Lydia over his shoulders.
"Well then Vena and crew, until next time! Your mental facilities and the fire should calm down in the next few hours. Bye!"
Feyat and the man named Xi Lun walked back through the fire and their silhouettes disappeared.
Vena cursed herself since there was nothing she could do as they were all afflicted with the mind-numbing poison. She looked around to assess any possible injuries and noticed that the leader of their group was gone as well. She now had no doubts that he was a traitor.
The best Vena could do until they were released from the fire prison was to gather everyone together in the center of the vortex, where the heat was lower, to rest. She had one person in her team that had a strong wind aptitude and could fly for a while, but he was out cold due to the mental strain and not having the capability to defend himself.
…
In the meantime, Feyat brought Lydia and Kayn to large warehouse looking building in the middle of the forest several days away from the ambush site. No one could track them to there since they were very meticulous in covering their tracks and any traces of their passage.
Kayn and Lydia had woken up during this time since the trip lasted a few days, but they were bound and gagged, and the gag was only loosened to force feed them food, mostly Kayn though as Lydia technically need to eat every day with her core strength.
Once inside the building Kayn was strapped to a table while Lydia was placed in front of him on a chair. Kayn's ribs were still broken, but at least he could breathe and it didn't seem like a lung was punctured.
"Now Lydia, just to prove to you how serious I am with what we are requesting of you, I will show you the consequences of saying no first." Feyat stated while a figure with a mask and hood entered the room with a small knife that let off a weird glow.
The figure placed the edge of the knife along Kayn's exposed upper right arm then stabbed about 1 cm deep and continued to pull all the way down the top side of the arm ending at the web in between his thumb and pointer finger.
They proceeded with those movements three more times, one cut for each web on the right hand. The torturer then continued and proceeded to do the same to the left arm. At first Kayn resisted screaming, because he didn't want to give anything to these people, but during the third cut on his right arm he could no longer hold it in, he had never felt pain like this in his life!
Lydia felt that her heart was breaking with each scream she heard. She begged and screamed asking them to stop, saying he was just an innocent boy and she would do whatever they wanted. However, the cuts continued until each arm had four lacerations running from the shoulder to a web of the hand.
"Now that you understand our intentions, and since we can't injure you due to needing you at your peak, we will take out any resistance on the boy. Your job will be to take several different organs from children and implant them into a body we have prepared for you. The living body to transfer into is quite the mess if I say so myself, but the children's bodies will be delivered to you fresh."
A look of disgust appeared in Lydia's eyes and face. She would never hurt innocent children, not even for her disciple.
"I will not hurt innocent children, especially taking their organs while they are still alive!" Lydia shouted at Feyat, she was outraged at this point. That was messing in the world of forbidden magic practices in the Empire and she would play no part in it.
"Lydia, Lydia, Lydia," Feyat said as he shook his head. "You missed the point, we will kill them. You are just fusing the organs into a different body. So, everyone you touch will be dead minus the, how do you call them, ah yes patient. The children are already essentially dead anyway since they are slaves. Your only meaningful option is whether this boy stays alive, or is added to the dead. That is the only choice you can influence." Feyat paused after stating his intentions.
"As for being disobedient once already, here is your punishment." Feyat calmly explained as he waved his hand for the other figure to continue.
At that point each one of Kayn's finger nails was ripped out one by one, then the toe nails. He struggled to remain conscious, using pure willpower to stay awake. After the last nail was ripped out, tears and snot were flowing down his face like a waterfall while his breathing was rough and heavy due to the pain and his rib injuries.
He didn't want to give them any satisfaction that the pain was affecting him, but between his chest and the new wounds it was unbearable. Were he actually a child in mind and not just body, he was not sure what would have happened. However, if he lived through this, he decided that he would use the process as a tempering for his mind and body, especially because he felt like something was breaking inside of him.
Kayn tried to use any mana left in his body to stop the bleeding, and promptly passed out before the blood flow stopped. Both Feyat and the figure noticed the blood flowing from Kayn's wounds slow down momentarily before returning to normal. Both were surprised since the boy didn't have a mana core and something like that shouldn't be possible without control of mana. They glanced at Lydia thinking she did something, but seeing that she was still bawling her eyes out and begging them to stop, that thought vanished.
Soon, they both quickly put it into the back of their minds since the success of their mission took precedence.