Chapter 60: Torture.

Rigel groaned and felt his head spinning until he opened his eyes and found himself hanging upside down. He looked at his surroundings and saw a man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked at his body wrapped in chains like a cocoon.

He tried to move his body, but the chains were too tight for him to resist and it seemed there was some kind of spell that made him lose his strength. He was powerless, but he didn't stop trying until the man in front of him punched him in the face and grabbed his face the moment his body swung back.

"Don't make me..." The man said and his voice trembled in anger as he tried to crush Rigel's face.

Rigel could hear his cheekbones cracking, but he glared at the man in front of him with a cold stare. He was challenging the man to do his worst because it was nothing to him. The man gritted his teeth and he had never seen someone so arrogant and fearless as Rigel.

"Stop..." Madam said as she entered the room with her waist covered in bandages. "It's not your job to torture him, it's mine," she pointed out as she grabbed a dagger on the table.

Leid removed his hands and walked away from Rigel to let Madam do her work. Rigel looked at Madam and he regretted that he couldn't kill her after what she had done to Vania.

"Name..." Madam stared into Rigel's eyes as she pulled Rigel's left ear and slowly cut it off.

The pain was still bearable and Rigel didn't show any reaction although tears started to gather in his eyes. Seeing that, Madam did the same thing to his right ear, and Rigel started to flinch and grit his teeth.

"Still don't want to tell us your name?" Madam raised her right eyebrow as she played with the dagger in her hand. "Good. Because I would be disappointed if you gave up now since I want to enjoy every second of this moment."

Madam pointed the tip of the blade at Rigel's left ear hole and slowly stabbed it and reached deep into his ear drum. He started to grunt and let out a scream as his ear rang and could hear the sound of the blade cutting the flesh. 

He tried to move his head, but Madam held the top of his head and kept it steady. The pain was too much and he had never felt such pain like that, and the deeper it went, the more pain he experienced. He could see the dead look of Madam, she seemed to enjoy the moment as she had said earlier.

"You won't get anything from me!" Rigel screamed, but it only enhanced the pain in his ear. He screamed and could feel blood spurting out of his ear as a constant ringing sound made him slowly lose consciousness.

Madam could see in Rigel's eyes that he was serious about it. She could see that he didn't fear death which was something she had seen countless times. She decided to pull the dagger from his ear and took a few steps back, making Leid confused.

"Well, if that's the case..." Madam sighed as she closed her eyes. "I'm going to make you lose your mind from the pain. After all, she doesn't need the answer from your mouth," she wiped the blood off the blade with a white cloth that slowly turned red.

Madam held the dagger downward and stabbed it right into Rigel's chin. She pulled the dagger back, making Rigel's jaw split in half and his tongue as well. She could see Rigel gargle in his own blood and cough it out because he was choking on it.

"I'm out of here..." Leid said, and he couldn't stand the view anymore. He realized he wasn't needed there, and the longer he stayed there, he would lose his appetite for a whole week.

Leid poured a mug of rum and looked at the 1st Finger watching the street from the window. He then approached him and offered him a mug of rum after he poured another one. The 1st finger looked at it for a moment, and then he grabbed and drank with Leid.

"I don't know which one is crazier. Ersa who tortured people like that or the people who followed her," Leid said and took a sip as he looked at the Masquerade guarding the tower's entrance. "You're her right-hand man, and I wonder if you have gotten used to her torturing method," he looked at the 1st Finger.

"No, I would be relieved if Madam didn't need me around when she tortured people," The 1st Finger responded. "Madam is lashing out her anger since she lost a lot of her men. So I believe Madam is going all out in that room?" he looked at Leid.

"Esra is butchering that man..." Leid answered. "She's taking her sweet time before the Executive arrives, and I hope she didn't kill him," he looked at the Masquerade standing in line, preventing anyone from leaving the 1st floor.

The Masquerade was split in half. The first half was guarding the exit from inside the tower while the other half was guarding the entrance into the tower. 5 were inside the tower and the other 5 were outside the tower.

The 5 Masquerades that were inside the tower saw 5 people coming out of the door, and entering the 1st floor. A woman with black hair and pale skin, wearing a black wizard hat and black dress. The other 4 were men in worn-out armor.

"The 1st floor is off-limits, leave," One of the Masquerades blocked their path from going out of the tower.

The woman reached for something from her dress, and immediately all of the Masquerades pointed their swords at her. The woman showed a scroll and slowly offered it to the man in front of her.

He looked at the scroll and it had an unknown seal made of gold. He took the scroll and broke the seal to read the content of it. He looked at it for a few seconds, and then a minute without moving. The other Masquerades looked at him, confused as to why he hadn't finished reading the content of the scroll.

The second man approached his comrade and looked at the scroll, but then he also stood there. One by one until all 5 of them stood there staring at the scroll. The woman then tapped her staff on the ground twice, and all the Masquerades looked at her.

"Where do they hide the man that Madam captured?" The woman asked.

"The second building from the left side of the road. He's in the basement," The man answered.

"Kill yourself..." The woman said as she walked past them.

All the Masquerades pointed their swords at their own necks and slit their own throats. They all collapsed as hundreds of people came out of the door.

The woman opened her book and a strong wind blew the pages. When the wind stopped, she looked at the page and brought those 5 Masquerades back to life. She looked at their throats and muttered something until the wounds closed.

"Kill everyone that breathes, leaving nothing behind," The woman said.

The 5 Masquerades that she controlled left the tower first to fight their own comrades. The men that were with her, one of them was Aria and she had turned into his usual attire. He left the tower with hundreds of his men to massacre all the Players in the city.

"Arnel, you know what to do," The woman said as she closed the book.

"Yes, My Lady..." Arnel bowed his head and followed The Lady.

When they walked outside the tower, the city was already in chaos. The Lady casually walked past the Masquerades, and when one of them tried to attack her, the barrier protected her surroundings. She glanced at the man and when she squinted her eyes, the man got pushed so far away.

The Lady could hear the screams and feel the fear, but most importantly, she could smell and taste the blood in the air. She licked her lips and closed her eyes because it had been a while since she smelled and tasted blood. She then opened her eyes and stabbed her staff to the ground, cracking the ground.

The cracks got wider and spread out to the whole city, and she could see the pool of blood getting sucked into the cracks. She opened her book and she put her left hand on top of her staff.

"I offer you the blood of sinners. Feast and come forth for more," The Lady whispered and suddenly the crossroad in front of her sank. "Heed my call! Spirit of All Evil, Nyctri!" She shouted.

A massive hand reached out to the surface, and The Lady was standing in between the index finger and middle finger. Horns could be seen from the hole and then 3 glowing red eyes stared up at The Lady from the darkness. A wide grin and purple flames that sipped through the gap of its sharp teeth.

"It has been a while, Master..." A womanly and yet bassy voice came out of the abyss.