Chapter 171 Stress relief

It's a little weird, seeing someone like Bryce. He has so much power, easily making him a powerhouse in the world, yet his kit is heavily skewed. He only has a mid-ranking perception skill and his defence is like paper, and yet, his offensive ability is among the best in the world, allowing him to casually wipe out entire armies in seconds.

Don't get me wrong, he's got the basic skills. He's got [Magic Sense] or a perception ability on par with it, and he's got the basic barrier skills like [Multilayer Barrier].

But that's it.

With his massive amount of magicules, against weaker beings, simply overcharging the skills is enough. But even that has a limit.

For example, using the same amount of magicules, [Infinite Barrier] has more defensive capabilities than [Multilayer Barrier].

It's as if he only used his [Deprive] Unique Skill on Veldora and never used it again. That's just a massive waste of his skills.

Who knows, if he diligently kept accumulating power… he might've posed a bit of a challenge against me.

Right now, Bryce is in his "human form", no longer being infused with his black lightning. His clothes are tattered all over and his skin is covered in dirt.

He's currently laying on the ground, breathing heavily. It's not because he's physically exhausted. He's a spiritual being, he does not need to breathe. In fact…

*FWOOOM!*

Bryce- "AARAARGH!"

It's because he is currently in the middle of a torture session. Specifically, he's the one being tortured.

As for his torturer? Obviously, it's yours truly…

DIO.

Bryce- "P-p-please-"

[Control Natural Elements]

*FWOOOM!*

Bryce- "AAAAARH!"

I had Illya sever his connection with his Storm Crest, removing his authority over anything storm-related. After that, I used [Control Magic] to take him out of his "Thunder God Whatever Mode". Using [Universal Thread] to hold him down (the sharp threads), I then burn him with fire using [Control Natural Elements]. And finally, using [Scathach], I wrote a rune that enhances his pain while making sure he never grows used to it.

I didn't bother preventing him from falling unconscious, he wakes up from the pain immediately after. With his own regeneration, this is something like hell for him who has rarely gotten hurt.

Bryce- "AAAAAAaaaaaahhhhh…"

Oh, he fell unconscious again.

It's okay. I have a trusty tool to help me.

It's called my foot.

I rear it back and send it flying in between his legs.

*Crack!*

Bryce- "*High pitched squealing*"

Music to my ears.

How did it come to this? Well, I won't get into detail but I basically overpowered him with brute strength and versatility.

I slashed Yamato at him again and again, sending one space rift after the other at him. He constantly sent lightning to intercept them but the rifts simply "ate" them and continued unhindered.

Each rift would hit Bryce (because he couldn't dodge to save his life) and outright sever his limbs, causing him to scream in agony as the spacial rift consumed them. More than once, I destroyed his head which gave him a feeling of death.

Fortunately or unfortunately, his regeneration and spiritual body kept him alive. That and some healing runes I snuck on his body.

As I said, he's not dying easily.

Getting curious, I decided to let him touch me. You know, to see if his [Deprive] works on me.

So I just stopped attacking and after not doing anything for five seconds, he suddenly gained an epiphany and shot forwards towards me through a streak of black lightning.

Bryce- "I got you!"

He places a palm on my chest.

Bryce- "[Deprive]!"

I felt something worming its way into me, but between my Ultimate Skills and Illya… heh. I could crush it with just my will.

But I didn't do anything.

Instead, I just enjoyed the sight of Bryce slowly lifting his head to look at my face as fear settled in more than anything. Behind Shizu's mask, I smiled.

I wonder what he saw…

In any case, Bryce then proceeded to turn around… and run.

Of course, if I, the wielder of the Crest of Space, were to let anyone run from me, it would have to be intentional. To have escaped without my permission is the stuff of dreams.

I set up a closed space bubble around us. He ran away from me at full speed in one direction only to appear again from the other end of the horizon. Seeing me again, he turned around once more and ran, reappearing on the other end of the horizon again.

The idiot didn't realise what was going on until he tried around two hundred more times.

Finally, once he realised he couldn't run, he grew desperate… and attacked me the exact same way all over again by sending lightning at me. This time, all arrogance is gone from his face and is now replaced by fear.

I can't actually see his face because of the lightning, but his eyes tell the same story.

So yeah, this happened for a bit longer before I decided to have a little more fun. I used [Universal Thread] to tie his feet together before flicking the thread linked between us, sending him into the ground. I then lifted him up over my head before slamming him into the ground on the other side of me again.

It's like that scene in The Avengers movie where Hulk grabbed Loki by his feet and treated him like a doll.

It was marvellous.

I did this again and again until I got bored, which didn't happen for about five more minutes. I got the feeling that Bryce kept trying to say something but he always ate dirt because his mouth was open.

And then I decided to just inflict pain onto him. It's a simple method of burning him again and again and then breaking his family jewels should he fall unconscious. His regeneration is more like a curse now, especially since I boosted it with my runes.

Said runes also kept his sanity intact. Hehe, no escape.

*FWOOOM!*

Bryce- "GAHAHAHH"

Rimuru- "Hmm… his screams all sound the same."

Illya- 'Of course they do, Onii-chan. They're screams.'

I'm so glad Illya is apathetic to all this.

Hmm… Right.

I guess I'll finish this.

Removing the rune keeping his sanity, I then replace it with a different rune.

Rimuru- "Hey, Bryce. Have you ever seen Naruto?"

I feel him try to respond, but I'm not looking for an answer.

Rimuru- "There's this Jutsu called Tsukuyomi. It traps the target in an illusion where time passes much faster than in reality."

Bryce's eyes widen. I doubt he realised EXACTLY what this means for him, but it obviously isn't good.

Placing the Tsukuyomi rune on his head, Bryce's body falls limp.

As for what's going on in there?

Simple. There's a copy of Mikoto, Shion, and everyone else he fought in there. Each of them has a small knife. They will then plunge it into his body at random areas and occasionally move them across his skin, cutting him open randomly.

He doesn't have his regeneration nor can he move in this illusion but I removed his sense of pain. With a mirror hanging overhead, he will see his body slowly get mutilated without feeling anything. This will cause his sanity to erode quickly.

After that, everything will reset. His memories, his body, his spirit, his sanity, everything. This will happen hundreds of times.

Except once, where there is a scene of him getting double teamed by Mil-tan and Puri Prisoner.

In the end, I will restore all his lost memories and make him endure the pain he should've felt from all those moments.

All at once.

And if I'm right, it should happen riiiiiight… now.

*Flinch*

Bryce's body jerks once.

His eyes are open. But this time… no emotions are shown in them. Instead, a single tear rolls out.

Hmm…

I really don't get this. He never cried at all. Or rather, his body COULDN'T cry. But now he can shed tears…

Well, it's good to see that it isn't just me suffering from bullshit anime logic.

Using [Manas: Illyasviel] for myself, I take a look at his soul.

Instead of a normal ball of white light that all souls look like, his looks… deformed.

It looks like someone grabbed it from both ends and twisted it. Hard. And then they curb-stomped it before playing a game of volleyball with it. Except the players are macho men with Saitama-levels strength.

Those men then proceed to slap their peens across the soul for good measure.

Rimuru- "… I'd say it's a job well done."

Illya- "Umu!"

I then eat his body and soul with [Belzebuth]. As much as I hate him, he's got good stuff.

Teleporting out of the Mirror Dimension, I find myself above a large gathering of humans. Or rather, they are soldiers.

The Farmus Army.

Gotta clean them up.

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Name: Rimuru

Race: Origin Slime

Protection: Crest of Space

Title: Highest Tier Spirit, Leader of the Monsters, Onii-chan, King of Avalon, Master of Headpats, Procrastinator King, The Nutcracker, socially awkward cringe slightly chuuni slime, Dragon Slayer, Sensei, Sadistic

Manas: [Manas: Illyasviel]

Ultimate Skills: [Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony] [Ahura Mazda, Lord of Creation] [Scathach, Lord of Runes]

Unique Skills: [Spatial Ruler]

Intrinsic Skills: [Infinite Regeneration] [Universal Shapeshift] [Universal Sense] [Enhanced Replication] [Universal Thread]

Extra Skills: [Lord's Ambition] [Thought Communication] [Control Natural Elements] [Control Magic] [Control Gravity]

Resistances: [Cancel Pain] [Resist Melee Attack] [Cancel Natural Elements] [Cancel Ailments] [Cancel Spiritual Attack] [Resist Holy/Demonic Attack] [Natural Attack Resistance]

Equipment: Yamato

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A/N: And there you have it! The scene you were all waiting for!

Bryce is now officially dead.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Also consider dropping some power stones!