Chapter 61: Torture

"Lucias? What are you doing? I thought you were busy"

Artoria asked as soon as she saw Lucias enter her room while she saw talking with Yami due to sheer boredom of not being able to join them to fight off against the invaders of their dimension.

"I was able to free up some time, but... I might not be able to visit the two of you 2 days from now since... I'll go to the underworld for the conference on how we would deal with Khaos Brigade and Xaosis"

Lucias said as he walked towards them with a light smile on his face before giving both of them a short kiss on their lips.

"Have you two been doing well?"

Lucias asked as he sat down between Yami and Artoria on the large sofa of her room.

"Yes... The maids have been carefully taking care of us since we arrived in the palace... How about you? I heard that you had a fight with the devil faction a week ago"

Artoria asked as she leaned back against his chest trying to seek comfort and warmth. Ever since she got pregnant with his child, she has always carved for his warmth and care for the past few days, but couldn't ask him to spend some time with them due to his busy schedule concerning the upcoming war.

"Everything has been settled... Yami's and Kuroka's name has been cleaned 4 days ago and... news has spread within the underworld that the elders of the council along with the Naberius Family suddenly disappeared"

Lucias answered with a light smile on her face causing both Artoria and Yami to look at him with a suspicious expression on their faces.

"What did you do?"

Yami asked with narrowed eyes causing Lucias to grin.

"Nothing special... Just a little punishment"

Lucias said with a large grin on his face remembering the terror that was visible in their eyes when they brought in to the headquarters.

-Flashback-

"You're not getting away with this, Lucias Frey!!!"

One of the elders shouted in anger as he was dragged by one of the dhampirs who tied both of his arms and legs to his back together with the rest of the council and the entire Naberius Family.

"Believe me, even if I abduct you in broad daylight, they wouldn't even bother saving you"

Lucias said with a nasty grin on his face as all of them made their way towards an empty floor of their headquarters.

"YOU'LL REGRET THIS, LUCIAS FREY!!!"

"Regret? I don't think I'll regret anything old man, in fact its the opposite"

Lucias said as he gestured for his subordinates to drop them to the ground before creating a massive cylindrical hole on the ground that was reinforced by magic to give them no path of escape.

"Rip off their wings"

Lucias ordered causing all of his subordinates to oblige as they mercilessly pulled the black bat wings on their back.

"AGHHHHHHHH!!"

All of them screamed in pain as they felt the skin on their wings tear from the sheer force that they placed in their grip as they pulled their wings off, tearing some of the skin on their back while blood flowed down from their back.

"I-I'll make you regret this!!!"

One of the elders gritted his teeth as he tried to endure the pain of having his wings teared mercilessly from his back causing Lucias to laugh as he stepped on the exposed tissues and muscles on his back while he groveled on the ground.

"I think you should evaluate your situation first before threatening me like that, Old man"

Lucias then pressed the sole of his shoe on his back causing him to scream in pain before his head was stepped on by Lucias.

"Dad please save me"

The only heir of the Naberius Clan pleaded as he glanced at his father and mother who were both experience the same situation as him.

"L-Lucias-sama, w-we were wrong, please just my son, have mercy on him, you can do whatever you want with me just please please spare my son"

The head of the Naberius Clan pleaded as he crawled towards Lucias causing his skin to tear from the friction of his skin and the hard ground of the floor they were currently on.

"I could but... you're son is as guilty as you, Naberius. It's not enough that you experimented and hunted the nekomatas, but you also gave the most beautiful ones to your son to turn them into his sex toys"

Lucias angrily said as he kicked his stomach causing him to launch a few meters away from the sheer force that was contained in his kick.

"They also pleaded to you, to spare their daughters, children, and sibling but what did you do? You turned a blind eye to them and let them suffer when you have no use for them"

Lucias said as he watched him struggled to get up from the ground while blood came out of his mouth.

"Let's not delay this anymore. I don't want any of my daughters to see this side of me"

Lucias said before tapping his shoe on the ground causing a massive magic circle with the emblem of their faction to appear below them, illuminating the dark floor of their headquarters with golden light.

"[Grant Immortality]"

Lucias muttered casting a wide area of effect spell of the primordial tier to the devils who were kneeling on the ground, causing their wounds to heal but not the wings that were teared off from their backs.

"W-What..."

They all muttered in disbelief, noticing the powerful trait of immortality that was granted to them by Lucias.

"Hahahaha so you were afraid after all!! You were acting so cocky just a minute ago!"

The elders scorned as all of them got up from the ground, kneeling in front of Lucias with a large grin on their faces.

"If you release us now and give us some of the elves that we just saw a while ago, we might as well forgive you for your insolence"

One of them shouted towards Lucias causing him to look at them with a expression of ridicule on his face.

"And here I thought you lot were smart but, I guess I'm just overestimating all of you"

Lucias said causing the elders to frown as they couldn't understand his words.

"Immortality is both a curse and a blessing, it does grant someone infinite amount of life essence but... that means that if they're placed in a very torturous situation where they can't escape. They'll experience that kind of experience of eternity. This is where Immortality becomes a curse"

Lucias stated causing the elders to widen their eyes as the members of the Naberius Family shivered on fear.

"You'll forever see your loved ones die in front of your eyes repeatedly while you as well suffer from extreme pain and torture. What a wonderful way to repent for your sins, don't you think so as well, Naberius-san?"

Lucias said as he looked at him with a nasty grin on his face causing some of them devils in the vicinity to piss on their spot due to the extreme fear that they felt when they saw his expression.

"N-No..."

"L-Lucias-sama please have mercy on us!!!"

"W-We were forced we didn't want to do it, Lord Naberius forced us into doing it"

"T-That's right!!! We we're forced p-please spare me, I'll do anything!"

"No no no no no no no no no"

All of them shouted in terror as they suddenly threw all the blame for their actions to the head of the clan while they desperately pleaded to Lucias to spare them from his punishment.

"Y-You!!! YOU PIECES OF SHIT!! I GAVE ALL OF YOU A LUXURIOUS LIFE AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME!!"

He shouted in anger as he glared at each and every one of his subordinates and members of his family betray him.

"P-please, I-I warned him b-but he didn't listen to me, j-just spare me, I-I'll satisfy your every needs so please just spare me!!"

Naberius looked at the woman by his side in shock as he didn't expect that his own beloved wife to betray him.

"Y-You slut!!!"

"Shut him up will you?"

Lucias ordered his men causing them to wrap a large cloth on his mouth while Lucias started at them with his cold golden eyes.

"A person or any being in general will only show his true nature in the face of death, so it's only natural for them to betray since all of you came from the same hive"

Lucias stated as he watched the Elders and Naberius struggle as they tried to free themselves but was all for naught due to the seal that was placed inside their body to seal all of their strength and magic.

"You fools are wasting your energy since... I will never spare any of you after what you've done"

Lucias said as he snapped his fingers causing a massive magic circle to appear above the deep cylindrical hole on the ground causing thousands of blood red bugs to fall on the hole.

"[Remove Friction]"

Lucias casted causing the bugs that were trying to escape to fall onto the ground, leaving them no room to escape.

"W-What are those?"

One of the elders nervously asked causing Lucias to grin before taking one bug from the hole to show them what it looks like.

"A little bug that I obtained when I was still grinding inside my instant dungeon. They are called [Blood Beetles] and each one has an endurance that is comparable to a low-class devil"

Lucias said before placing a single demon bug on one of the elders on the ground causing the bug to immediately carve a hole onto the skin of the devil before crawling inside his skin as it made it's way towards his head.

The sight made the devils shiver in fear as they saw a large bump underneath his skin, slowly crawling up while blood trickled down the hole that it carved on the devil's skin.

"They pesty bugs that killed hundreds of Kurumi's clone when we went inside the instant dungeon 3 years ago"

Lucias explained ignoring the painful screams of the elder from feeling the bug crawl inside his head, slowly devouring his brain as he desperately tried to shake his head to stop it from nimbling his brain.

"They're sadistic bugs that feeds on their prey by burying themselves inside their skin, slowly tearing their muscles, tissues, and internal organs bit by bit, all while keeping their prey alive to preserve the freshness of their food"

Lucias said before casting [Pain Amplification] on the devils in front of him.

"They have no poison nor any toxins that paralyzes nor nullifies the pain of their victims. They like torturing their prey slowly before completely devouring their skin, and when they're prey survives for a couple of months. They will breed inside their preys body and lay their eggs on the prey's internal body"

Lucias explained with a vicious smile on his face causing some of the devils to faint from the extreme fear and terror that they felt as they watched their elder scream in pain while smashing his head on the ground.

"Once the eggs hatch, it will slowly devour them from the inside until only the bones of their prey is left but since you all are immortal, it will just continue to regenerate and they will just continue to eat until the cycle starts over again"

Lucias said before grabbing the elder by his collar and throwing him inside the large pit without hesitation, causing loud screams to come out of the pit as soon as he landed on the pile of demon bugs.

"Once every month the pit will release hellfire for a few hours to burn some, but not all of the demon bugs inside the pit so they wouldn't overflow... along with all of you, and I made sure that they wouldn't evolve and develop any more traits that can make them stronger and more resilient to magic... while also making sure that you devils will not develop any tolerance nor pleasure from the pain that they inflict"

Lucias said before signalling for his subordinates to throw every devils in the vicinity to the deep pit behind him causing all of them to struggle as they desperately called for his mercy with bloodshot eyes.

"Don't worry... The elves will occasionally take one of you out... for their experiment and don't dissapoint them because they're more brutal than me when it comes to their lab rats"