Chapter 154 - Captured

[Aaaargh!]Creaking sounds came from Gerald's body as he struggled to resist, attacking the ethereal form in vain. His attacks did nothing to the pure energy giant, his energy's grade too low for it to matter in that exchange."Stop resisting!" De Danw ordered and squeezed harder. In return, Gerald began to squirm and trash around even more, biting and clawing at the hand."I'll also be taking back my things if you don't mind, with interest, of course."The other hand of the Avatar gripped Gerald's belt, and with a quick tug, tore it free from his body.[Stop! That's mine!]"Not anymore." De Danw smiled. He spread out his hand and the pouches dropped into his embrace. He pulled out the Soul Breaker and released it, letting it float up and behind him together with the rest of his swords."Surrender."[Never! I'd rather die!]De Danw smirked. "Very well. That can be arranged." And then he smashed him into the ground. His Avatar landed on the forest soil and began landing punches on Gerald. That lasted for a few seconds and then De Danw stopped it, giving him some space.Gerald wobbly stood up and looked up defiantly from the crater he was smashed in.[You'll never break me!] His wounds closed at lightning speed, but De Danw just smirked."We'll see about that."The Avatar then continued beating him. Left and right, the hands continued smashing him into the ground with the speed of a jackhammer, breaking the skin and crushing him. Yet he endured, regenerating over and over, and over for minutes.The power of the many Spirit Stones had long since been used up, and his own reserves were quickly drying up too."It seems like your regeneration is finite after all." De Danw smiled and landed at the edge of the crater.Inside, in a puddle of his own blood, Gerald lay unmoving, he was still alive, but badly wounded. He quietly groaned, the energy all used up to resist the pounding. The little bit he had left was directed to protect his internal organs, leaving his outer skin, flesh, and bones exposed.De Danw made a beckoning hand gesture towards him and he flew up, limp, and just barely opened his swollen eyes."Seems like we'll have lots of fun together. Let's get you back to the Sect, shall we?"[Fuck… you.]"Hehe, still got some spark in you, huh? That's good! I'll enjoy beating and extracting all the secrets out of you. But don't worry, we have plenty of time for that. We can go slow."He dismissed the Avatar, grabbed Gerald by the neck, and flew into the sky. He then accelerated and flew in a straight line in a certain direction.[Hey…] Gerald coughed out. [The Sect's... the other way.] His voice carried a mocking undertone."Ah, you noticed? Good. Since nobody knows I have you, why not take everything you have for myself? Isn't it much better if I keep all your secrets safe? And don't worry, haha, I'll wipe your memory so you won't remember a thing after I'm done with you. Nobody needs to know about our little adventure, right?" Elder De laughed.They continued rushing through the sky, with any weak flying beasts avoiding their path by a wide margin. Lush green Ancient Ironbark Timberland began thinning, replaced by sprawling grasslands and rocky terrain.[You… will… never… get me… alive!] Gerald suddenly hissed out. He had been secretly gathering some Qi as they flew, and he had just enough for one final act of defiance."Ah? Oh, no! You are not getting away that easily!" De Danw, having noticed the chaotic swirls of untamed Qi, immediately stopped and punched Gerald in the sternum with a mass of Qi of his own.The strike disrupted the latter's attempted self-detonation and made him cough out blood. De Danw ignored him and took out a metal contraption in the shape of a ↻. It was a circular strip of metal filled with runes that had one end of it turned inward and formed like a hook.Holding Gerald with one hand, he stabbed the pointy end of the metal strip into his neck, getting a spray of blood in his face as he punctured the artery. Yet he didn't stop. He pushed the metal deeper until he reached the spine, and then the metal came alive and wrapped itself around Gerald's neck, stopping the bleeding and binding him tight."There…" De Danw said with a smirk as he wiped the blood off his face. "I didn't want to waste a relic such as this, but you gave me no choice. Try using your magic now, see what happens."And Gerald did try and immediately regretted it as he had to stop as an otherworldly pain rocketed through his body and mind. He roared in agony as his body convulsed as if a bolt of electricity had just ran through him."Haha, feels nice, doesn't it?" De Danw laughed.[Fuck… you.]"Yeah, yeah… I get the sentiment. We'll see if you keep your attitude after a few weeks in the dungeon."The young Elder then dropped back into flight mode and with Gerald in hand, flew towards the horizon.***I groaned as my wounds reopened every time I moved. Being chained to a wall in a standing position was not fun, like at all. If I had a coin for every time it happened, I would have two coins, which wouldn't be much, but it was weird that it happened twice.But last time it was back in Neloron where I was captured by Mortals. Here it was a Spirit Realm Cultivator. There was a slight difference.After flying for quite a while we came to an unimpressive patch of rocky turf in a hilly area. Had I flown or walked over, I would have never guessed a secret base was hiding beneath.Elder De sent some of his Qi down there and the ground opened into a chasm. We went in there and then traveled along a corridor, one among many, until we came to a solid metal door. It kind of reminded me of a vault door. It was thick and massive and looked mightily impressive in the dim light of two crystal braziers on either side of the tunnel."Welcome to my home. Make yourself comfortable, you'll be here for a while." Elder De said. He then led me inside where we quickly arrived at some sort of lab. Not the Earth kind of clean white, but instead it was dark gray stone, thick wooden furniture, and all kinds of contraptions for Alchemy I had no name for.And one wall had chains. I so wasn't looking forward to that, especially since the wall had way too many arrays carved into it, and the ground beneath it too. They were most likely a part of a larger Formation that did all kinds of terrible things.Elder De locked my hands and feet into the chains and pulled them tight so my limbs were stretched wide. He even locked my neck into a brace so I couldn't even move my head more than a few centimeters in any direction.As he did so, I coughed more blood into his face. The metal anti-magic collar he put on me was choking me, and blood was gathering in my lungs, slowly suffocating me. I couldn't even use my Qi to fix that, and things were slowly getting worse."I would appreciate it if you could stop spitting in my face." Elder De said and licked his lips and wiped his face. "You are going to ruin my clothes."[I can't… breathe…] I managed to squeeze out between rapid breaths."Yeah, well…" He patted my cheek. "I'm going to get some rest. Try not to die in the meantime, alright?"In response, I released a low gurgle and blew some bubbles from blood and saliva."Good talk."He left and I heard him slam the door somewhere far away. As soon as I heard that I stopped wheezing and straightened my back a little. It was really annoying being stretched out like that since I couldn't move into a comfortable position.I took a deep breath and then exhaled quickly, contracting my stomach and chest muscles as much as I could, and sprayed blood out of my mouth. It wasn't perfect, but I got rid of some blood in my lungs. It was still hard to breathe though, and it fucking hurt! My entire body was in pain.[This fucking guy…] I internally swore I would kill the man and get back my stuff, with interest! I just had to figure out how to leave my prison.It actually shouldn't be too hard. I just had to use my Qi to…[Yeah… Qi.]Damn collar was fucking everything up. I tried to pull on a minuscule strand of my energy and instantly felt hellish pain shoot through my entire body, starting with my neck. My entire being convulsed and I struggled to grit my teeth hard enough not to scream.It only lasted a few seconds, yet the pain completely exhausted me and I dreaded experiencing it again. If I had to put a number to it, it would be 20/10. Twice as painful as I thought the limit should be. And so I tried it again. I didn't go calling on a single strand of Qi, instead, I instantly mobilized everything I had, prompting it to action.The pain came and crashed into me, and I blacked out.***I woke up sometime later, drenched in sweat, with residual pain still lingering. I gasped for breath in my cold prison and looked around. Everything was the same and I had nothing that would tell me how long it had been since I lost consciousness.Could have been seconds, or hours, I had no idea.Elder De still wasn't back, so I had some time to think. I sank into my Sea of Consciousness and began examining the Souls I had yet to devour. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to eat them to get my mind off things and somewhat recover my morale.They were delicious, if somewhat small. The quality and size just weren't proper. They really were subpar Cultivators. My guess was they were those with Mortal Talent, forever fated to remain in the Golden Core Realm. Brilliant Sword Sect probably used them as meat shields.I mean, not probably, that's literally what they were. One of the dead knew that fact and still chose to remain in the Sect. They didn't have much chance, really. They could either stay and eventually die for the Sect, or they could leave and become Rogue Cultivators, having to watch their back for both monsters and other Rogue Cultivators.The former was preferable for most.And then came Shadow and Darkness. The guy burned his Soul in a last-ditch attempt to gain the upper hand with the boost, but that didn't seem to do much. He just ruined my meal and left me with a bunch of incomplete memories. Still, the most recent ones remained, and I was annoyed so many people were interested in poking around my guts to see what made me tick. Fucking perverts.Darkness was a bit different, but holy hell, her life was boring as fuck. And the rule that forbid the members of the Midnight Order from having partners was absolute trash! Not to mention that they were selected to join it at an early age. Basically, every member was a century-old virgin. No wonder they weren't right in the head. They were probably super frustrated since most people around were really attractive and they had no way of release.I know I would be. Teased for a century? No thanks. Just fucking kill me now.