Chapter 45: Atonement

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[ Violence warning ]

"What do you want to do with her?" Ivery asked

"What do I want to do? You know what I'm going to do.." Luther's eyes flashed with murderous intent

"Kill her." Ivery said

"Of course, she's not going to get off easy from this..." Luther smirked

"At least you're feeling better." Ivery smiled

"I'm feeling more than better..." Luther felt energized and felt like his strength was heightened

"Now...it's time for another punishment of the day." Luther's body disappeared into a black mist

"As usual.." Ivery shrugged

...

"You're making quite the racket out here." Luther looked down at the woman

She looked up with confusion.

"Y..You.." Her eyes displayed intense shock

"I'm supposed to be drugged, I know..." Luther squatted down to level up with her

"And I am sure you're wondering how I'm out here right now..." Luther reached out and touched her shoulder

"C-Can you help me?..I can't get up.." The woman cried

"Help you? No problem." Luther smiled

"T-Thank you.." The woman painfully smiled

"Let's start with putting you out of your misery." Luther pressed down on her shoulder

*Crack*

"Aughh!" She shrieked

"What's wrong? I only broke your clavicle, is it that painful?" Luther sarcastically asked

"G-Get..a-away!" The woman held her broken shoulder and tried to crawl away from him

Luther stood up and walked up to her as she continued to slowly crawl away.

"After what you've done, you think I'd let you get away like this? Well, it's not like you could get far anyways." Four black daggers materialized in Luther's hand

He stepped on her back and applied pressure.

There was an immediate crack.

"S-Stop!" She screamed as she felt intense pain in her back

"P-Please! Don't...!" Tears ran down her face

"Please don't what?" Luther played with the daggers in his hands

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The woman pleaded

"I've heard that so many times that I've become numb to the word.." Luther threw one of the daggers down

She screamed as the dagger went straight through her left hand.

"Go ahead, apologize again, and maybe I'll stop." Luther twirled a dagger in his right hand

"I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry!" The woman sobbed

Luther threw the dagger in his right hand. She wailed louder as it pierced into her right hand.

"W-Why!? Why!?" The woman screamed as tears flowed down her cheeks

"Why? I don't believe your apology to be genuine." Luther smirked

"You're only apologizing to save your life, not because you're sorry to me, so now I'm even more irritated."

"Y-You asked me to!" The woman shouted

Luther threw the third dagger.

She screamed louder than before as the dagger went straight into her left achilles tendon.

"Don't talk back to me." Luther threw the last dagger

The dagger pierced into her right achilles tendon, her voice soon became hoarse from her constant screaming.

"I was actually going to kill you, but instead...I'd rather have you suffer for the rest of your miserable life." Luther grinned

"No, please! No!" She cried

"It's too late." Luther's hands gathered a black mist

The black mist shot from his palms and went straight for her.

"Enjoy this curse.." Luther laughed as the mist entered her nose and mouth

She squirmed in pain as the mist spread throughout her body.

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"Ivery.." Luther looked up

He saw her looking down at him out of the broken window, she was nonchalantly staring down at the scene.

"Hm?" Ivery raised an eyebrow

"Let's go, we're leaving." Luther said

"Alright." Ivery nodded

She broke off the remaining glass pieces that were still attached to the window, she put her foot on the window seal and leaped out.

As she descended to the ground, Luther caught her before her feet were able to make contact with the stone ground.

"It's great that this is an alleyway." Ivery looked around

"If it weren't, I wouldn't have been able to do this without attracting attention.." Luther looked down at the gasping woman

Ivery looked at the woman closer and saw that her skin was gravely pale, her previous beauty was completely diminished.

Large black patches that looked like bruises were all over her skin, and her breasts...looked smaller than before.

"What did you do?" Ivery asked

"I manipulated her body and some of her organs." Luther said

"Which organs?" Ivery asked

"Stomach, brain, and uterus." Luther told her

"And you manipulated those organs how exactly?" Ivery was curious

"She won't be able to talk anymore, nor can she eat solid food, and she cannot conceive children." He explained

"They were bigger than that..." Ivery pointed at the woman's chest

"Oh those? I just reduced the size of those '𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬', she won't be needing them anyways, since she won't be having children." Luther smiled

"Much worse than death.." Ivery thought this was much more suited for her than death

"Certainly." Luther nodded

"Wait you looked at her breasts?" Ivery narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms

"She was the one flaunting them, but don't worry I wasn't interested.." Luther smiled

"That's so not the point.." Ivery said with dulled eyes

Luther grabbed Ivery's hand and he led her out of the alley and back out into the town.

"We should just go back to the Hollow's castle..." Ivery slightly frowned

"What? Why?" Luther turned around to look at her

"Today obviously hasn't been the greatest, is it even possible to have a little enjoyment in this world?" Ivery asked him with a gloom expression

"Of course...this world isn't the best, but there are plenty of ways to still enjoy it." Luther gently smiled

"How? Today's been nothing but problems after another." Ivery sighed

"The town has been unpleasant so far...so let me take you somewhere else that might save the day." Luther picked her up

"Luther?" Ivery was confused

"Hold on tight." Luther smirked

Ivery wrapped her arms around his neck and he immediately jumped up and ascended.

The people around were alarmed and were left as stiff as stone statues.

...

Luther descended to the ground.

"Close your eyes." Luther said

"Why..?" Ivery smiled

"Just close them for me." Luther kissed her forehead

"Okay, okay." Ivery covered her eyes with her hands

She could hear him walking on what sounded like dried leaves..

As she breathed, she could smell the fresh scent of grass and....water..?

"You can open your eyes.." Luther said

"...." Ivery slowly took her hands off of her eyes

"Oh...my.." Ivery's eyes glistened

"Beautiful.." Ivery was enchanted by the sight

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