After some chose to leave, a guard escorted Luther and the others to a room filled with metal capsules. The atmosphere was stifling. As he looked at the capsules, Luther couldn't help but notice how worn-down they appeared, as if they hadn't been used in years.
"Is this… the technology of this world?" he thought, feeling a growing anxiety. The capsules looked like they were ready to fail at any moment.
A guard approached. "Don't worry," he said, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "It only hurts a little."
"Hurt?" Luther asked, his heart pounding. "What do you mean by 'hurt'?"
But before he could get a response, the guard closed the capsule around him, trapping him inside. Luther began pounding on the interior, his heart hammering in his chest. "Let me out!" he shouted, but his cries were ignored. The pain began almost instantly. Something cold and foreign coursed through his body, entering his extremities and slowly creeping toward his abdomen.
Luther tried to control his breathing, but the pain was unbearable, as if his blood itself were on fire. His screams mingled with the cries of others in the capsules around him—screams of desperation, of agony. Luther felt like he was losing his sanity. The mana was surging through him, and the pain kept intensifying, with no end in sight.
And then… everything went dark.
Pain was all he could feel. It was as if thousands of burning needles were piercing his skin from within, touching every nerve in his body. He tried to scream, but his voice got stuck in his throat, smothered by the agony consuming him. The world around him was only darkness and an endless suffering that seemed to have no end.
Luther fought to keep his eyes open, but the pain was like a poison pulling him into an abyss. "I can't take this anymore!" he thought, his mind teetering on the edge. The metallic capsules they'd been placed in were filled with horrifying sounds—the agonized screams of other summoned ones filled the air, a reminder that many wouldn't survive this. Would he be one of them?
His body convulsed with involuntary spasms, and for a moment, Luther felt his consciousness slipping away. "No… I can't…" His body trembled, his muscles tightening to their breaking point. Every cell in his body screamed in pain, as if he were being disintegrated from within. The mana coursed through his veins like an uncontrolled fire, burning everything in its path.
"I'm going to die!"
Terror overwhelmed him completely. He tried to fight it, but with every second, he felt his strength slipping away. "I don't want to die…," he thought, desperate. "Not like this… not now…" But the pain grew unbearable. The world around Luther began to blur into hazy shadows, as if everything was drifting away.
Just when he felt the abyss would consume him, something changed.
A warm breeze touched his body. Instantly, the pain vanished, as if it had never been there. Luther felt an overwhelming relief that enveloped him completely. The sensation of comfort was so intense that he could hardly think of anything else. His mind, filled with suffering just moments before, was now at peace.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
The capsule around him was silent. The pain had completely disappeared, though his body still trembled slightly. He felt numb, as if he'd just been yanked from a nightmare he could barely remember. He looked around, disoriented. The process was over.
Luther tried to move, and with a strange effort, he pushed open the capsule door and stepped out. As he did, a nauseating smell hit him with an almost physical force. He looked inside the capsule and saw it was filled with a thick, black liquid that gave off an unbearable stench, like the essence of death and decay itself.
"What… is this?" he murmured, covering his mouth and nose to keep from retching.
He quickly backed away from the capsule, barely processing what had happened, when he heard footsteps in the distance. He saw other summoned ones being escorted by guards to another room. But something was wrong. Luther immediately noticed the difference: there were far fewer people than before.
"Where is everyone?" he thought, heart racing. He remembered seeing thousands of people at the start, but now, only a few hundred remained. Lost in his thoughts, struggling to process the situation, a guard passed by and gave him a look of disgust.
"What's wrong with you, kid?" the guard sneered, wrinkling his nose. "You stink like you've been rolling in filth. Move it—you need to shower before you make everyone pass out from that stench."
Still disoriented, Luther touched his body and felt the sticky layer of black fluid covering him. The smell was nauseating, though he hadn't noticed it until now. "This… this was in the capsule…" he murmured to himself, still stunned by the experience. The guard ignored him, simply giving him a shove to get him moving.
As Luther walked toward the rest of the group, he heard a voice to his right.
"Damn machines!" a guard grumbled loudly, cursing under his breath. "Another capsule broke down again. Now the poor bastard inside's been torn to shreds, and I have to clean it up. Why the hell do we have to do this for these useless souls?" His tone was laced with disdain, his face twisted in disgust.
Had a capsule killed someone? Luther's whole body froze upon hearing the guard's words. "Do they see us as trash?" he wondered, feeling a mix of panic and rage. He could barely process what he was hearing when something else caught his attention.
In front of the entrance to the showers, a woman was sobbing desperately. She was kneeling, clutching a guard's leg and pleading through her tears.
"Please, I can't find my brother! He was with me when we arrived!" she cried, her voice breaking with despair.
The guard, visibly annoyed, tried to shake her off with a kick. "He's probably dead by now. He was probably just a weakling. Only one out of ten survives the process, so it's more than likely he ended up like the others."
"One out of ten?" The woman broke down into heart-wrenching sobs, her words drowned in grief as the other guards laughed mockingly at her misfortune.
"They lied to us! They said we'd be safe!" the woman cried, but her voice was cut off as the guard motioned to two others. "Take her away!" he ordered indifferently. Two soldiers grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the room as she continued to scream and struggle.
Luther stood paralyzed, watching the scene in disbelief. "These… bastards." His thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning. The kingdom… the protection… was it all a lie?
Before he could process further, a knight nudged him gently on the shoulder. "Come on, keep moving. Don't just stand there. There are things to do." The tone was impersonal, almost irritated.
Luther, his mind still clouded, nodded and continued walking. Barely aware of himself, he entered the showers, where they were treated with a cold, impersonal attitude, as if they were livestock.
"Strip and wash up!" another guard barked, pointing to the communal showers.
Feeling stripped of all dignity, Luther obeyed in silence. As the cold water poured over his body, he placed a hand over his face, feeling his anger bubbling up. The rage was so intense that Luther was trembling, feeling utterly humiliated. Used to a life of luxury and being treated as a leader, being reduced to this felt like a harsh slap of reality.
Suddenly, he felt a strong hand clap him on the chest.
"Don't worry, kid," said a deep, kindly voice. "We'll get back at these bastards."
Luther looked up and saw a large man with a thick mustache and a broad grin. "Why the long face?" the man chuckled, giving him another slap on the shoulder. "If you keep looking like that, you might get yourself in trouble. These bastards don't have a drop of mercy."
The man was much older than him, broad-shouldered with a hairy chest, but his presence was comforting. "You're right," Luther murmured.
The man winked and smiled. "This is hell, but we'll survive. You'll see."