Inside the basement of the great Zordian Palace, a body lay on the floor.
The body was missing all four of its limbs, the stumps seemed to be cauterized by flame and the blood had already dried up.
On the stomach, a nasty gash ran across the skin, out of which the body's intestines bulged out.
Yet, he was alive.
"Good morning, Xavier." Arlott's voice lingered in the air as he moved closer to the body on the floor, looking at it with great disdain.
"Gu gu…" Xavier's eyes opened wide and he opened his mouth to speak, only to realize that his tongue was sliced.
"I. Said. Good Morning, Xavier." Arlott's eyes glinted with malice as he raised a plastic bucket over his head. Without wasting a single moment, he splashed the entire bucket of cloudy solution over Xavier's body.
The solution of water, salt and lemon washed over Xavier's body.
The particles of salt and lemon zest reacted with his wounds, causing a burning sensation to spread throughout his entire body.
Unlike Arlott, whose injuries were saturated around the two leg stumps, Xavier had four such stumps.
His stomach was also sliced open, his guts flowing out of the wound.
"GAAAAA-" Xavier's eyes got teary and his snot leaked out of his nose as he began to bang his head against the floor in pain.
"He he," Arlott chuckled slightly when he heard Xavier's manic screams.
But not wanting to alert anyone else, Arlott quickly stuffed Xavier's mouth with a cloth, effectively gagging him.
"I had to use a healing potion on you to keep you alive, but it was worth it~"
On the floor, Xavier looked at Arlott with bleak, pleading eyes. He was trying to speak, but he had no tongue and his mouth was also muffled.
Arlott smiled widely.
'I don't have much time. Lady Zordian might come down here in an hour or so,' He squinted his eyebrows at Xavier.
Although he had no clock down here, Arlott had started to keep the track of time using the bar on his system screen, which extended for over one hour before resetting.
But the issue was that the bar only moved when Arlott was idle, and currently Arlott wasn't.
"Time for some food, Xavier." Arlott grinned and sat down on his knees, looking at Xavier who was shaking and shivering with pain. He moved his hand towards the gash on Xavier's stomach, clutching his intestines.
"Eat."
With one hand, he pulled out the gag in Xavier's mouth and using the other, he forced Xavier's own intestines down his throat.
Xavier tried to resist, but he had no strength to do so.
*Creek*
'Shit!' Arlott grimaced when he heard a sound coming from a distance.
Without a moment of hesitation, Arlott decided to finish Xavier off.
Torturing Xavier was fun, but his own life was much more important.
"Gu gee!" Xavier spat out his guts from his mouth and began to resist and make some noise when he heard the gate opening.
"Shut the fuck up, Xavier." Arlott kicked Xavier in the nuts and moved towards his spear.
He grabbed his spear and quickly chopped off Xavier's head, silencing his movements and the muffled screams. The blood was sprayed and Xavier's life was lost.
Arlott wiped off the spear using a scrap rag, glancing at the metallic bars which barred his way out of this hell.
'What should I do…'
***
"Who does that brat think he is? Where is this loyalty coming from?" Lady Zordian, or in other words, Emily Zordian, was walking down the staircase towards the cellar Arlott was trapped in.
Her short heels clicked on the stoned flooring, and her body swayed with her every movement, appearing elegant.
"I swear I will end up losing all patience if he doesn't confess in a few days!" she complained with a low murmur.
But soon, she reached the cellar and looked inside it in great shock.
The gate was already flung open, and the entire cellar looked as if it was painted with blood. In the four corners of the room hung four different limbs, which all belonged to her loyal knight and disciple. Xavier.
His severed head was hung on the gate while his torso lay flat in the middle, with its guts flowing out of the gash on his stomach.
A wave of nausea washed over Emily as she stared at the disgusting piece of art.
'This…' she was speechless, she had seen many brutal things. But this… this topped them all.
"ARLOTT WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU HIDING?" Emily screamed in rage.
"..." No response came.
"ARLOTT!" Emily shouted.
"..." No response again.
"Ar-fucking-lott!" Emily said before spinning on her heels and walking towards the gate with quick and long strides.
She knew that Arlott was strong. He slew the 7th magic circle Magi Master despite being only 3 circles in strength.
Of course, it was an assassination and a team effort, all 10 of his crewmates were superiorly trained and also coded to win any fight against her husband.
Yet, Arlott couldn't be taken lightly.
'I need to man all the gates and send a search party to look for him.' She planned.
"Yes, I am here, Lady Zor-fucking-dian."
Have you ever frozen and felt your brain shut down when you suddenly feel something that you didn't expect at all?
This was exactly what Emily felt when a spear pierced through her back from behind, and appeared out of her flat stomach.
"Ah…" a single muffled sound escaped from Emily's lips before her mouth began to fill with blood, which started to leak out down her sharp jaw and slender chin.
Arlott smirked slightly and pulled Emily's hair, kicking her to the floor.
He didn't expect that the +5 in physique was this effective.
Earlier, with 13 in his Physique, Arlott was already one of the top among all other 3 circled mages.
But now with added 5, Arlott was more than capable of contesting with the 4 circle mages in the terms of strength.
Emily, while falling and her mouth clogged with her flowing blood, turned around and pointed her index finger to Arlott. And as soon as she did that, a small blue coloured hex began to form on her fingertips.
Arlott grimaced. Truly, she was a 4th magic circle.
"Mana bullet." Emily chanted softly and at her words, a small, packed bullet of mana streaked from her fingertip and headed towards Arlott.
Arlott waved his hand and swatted at the incoming projectile, causing it to bounce off his skin and deviate.
Though, it did leave a small burn mark on the point of contact.
"Lady Zordian, did you see what happened to your lovely little retainer?" Arlott spoke with a wide grin.
Emily's blood turned cold at his voice, making her look at him as if he was a demon in human skin.
"Don't worry though, I will give you a fate worse than that. You are special to me, Lady Zordian. You are my precious."
Emily wanted to laugh at his coldness, but the blood filled in her mouth didn't let her. She could feel her body getting weaker and weaker as she lost more blood.
She wished that the spear was drilled further upwards in her body, so at least she wouldn't have to suffer this agony.
In the end, she felt her eyes closing from exhaustion and she gave into the pain, letting it put her to sleep.
Emily passed out with a single thought in her mind…
'Ah… god, I created a monster…'