‘I-I need to leave, I need to leave NOW!!!’ Kennedy’s mind screamed, drowning in a storm of fear and pain as he watched, helpless, as his own body was torn apart.
Each dismembered limb, each fragment of flesh, sent waves of agony coursing through him, the pain swelling like a tidal wave, threatening to consume him entirely.
“You’re feeling too much pain, right?” Celestia’s voice cut through his torment like a sharp blade, her tone laced with amusement as she regarded him with cold, calculating eyes.
Her hands were stained with his blood, and the chemical lotions she applied only heightened the torment, amplifying every nerve ending to unbearable levels. These were tools of torture, honed in the darkest prisons to break the strongest wills.
Kennedy tried to speak, to plead, but the words caught in his throat, choked by the overwhelming sensation that he might die at any moment…. Yet, in the depths of his suffering, he sensed her cruel intent, her desire to keep him conscious, to make him endure every excruciating second.
His tear-filled eyes drifted to Aether, who seemed almost detached as he rummaged through the tools and crystals scattered across the laboratory.
Celestia continued her torment, her methods relentless. Kennedy’s thoughts spiralled inward, desperate, ‘I-I cannot handle the pain anymore…’ His small spider, his only hope, had already crawled its way to the restroom near the lab, a flicker of escape in this nightmare.
“ARRRRHHHHHHH!!” Kennedy’s scream echoed off the cold walls.
Aether finally turned to him, his voice devoid of emotion, “Let’s end this. We don’t have time.”… To be honest, he didn’t want to see his beloved torturing others!
“W-Wait! P-Please give me a-a chance… I-I will…” Kennedy’s voice trembled as he began to beg, desperation painting every word.
“P-Please g-give me… ‘cough’ I will teach you everything… P-Please,” he gasped, his face turning crimson with effort. He clung to the only leverage he had left, hoping it might buy him a few more precious moments of life.
But Aether’s cold gaze bore into him, “Teach me? Nah, bro… I think it’s better you die here rather than becoming a pain in the butt later.”
Celestia, for a moment, hesitated, her eyes flicking to Aether. She knew how much he craved knowledge, especially the secrets of the technology Kennedy wielded. She tried to speak, to suggest that perhaps there was value in keeping him alive a little longer.
Kennedy’s heart pounded with a sliver of hope. If he could just survive, just outlast them, he could find a way to escape, to turn the tables on these two…
However,
“Let’s fucking end this bastard,” Aether said, his voice steely and resolute.
Sure, the knowledge Kennedy possessed was tempting. But Aether was certain… if he allowed this man to live, he would regret it later.
And regret was a luxury Aether could not afford. He briefly considered a slave contract, something to bind Kennedy to his will, but the very thought disgusted him.
“I’d rather beg than learn from a rapist,” Aether’s words were ice and repulsive.
Celestia blinked, processing his words, and then asked one last time, “You won’t regret it, right?”
“Regret? I’ll only regret it if I let this bastard, who molested Kyra and nearly drove her to death, walk out of here,” Aether growled, his voice taut with barely restrained anger.
“K-Kyra?” Kennedy’s eyes widened in shock, confusion breaking through his agony, “W-Who? I do—” But his words were cut off, silenced forever.
Snap!
Aether snapping Kennedy’s neck with a swift, decisive motion. Kennedy’s eyes lost their colour, and the life drained from them in an instant… His vision turned dark…
Suddenly, his vision shifted, his perspective lowering to the ground… His soul had moved at the moment of death.
He was now inside the small spider, his last desperate hope for survival!
“I will make them pay for this!!” His voice, now mechanical and distorted, echoed in the small confines of the restroom. The spider halted its movements, uncertainty clawing at what remained of Kennedy’s mind…. He needed to escape, to regroup and find a way out of this hell.
But then, a voice echoed, chilling, “Pay them?” It resonated through the room, bouncing off the walls, disorienting him. The spider spun frantically, searching for the source, but there was….no one, nothing!
“W-Who is it now?” the spider’s voice trembled, metallic and quivering with fear.
“Who is it?… Hmm… I wonder…” The voice was almost playful, mocking, “Well, why don’t you turn to your left side first?”
The spider instinctively turned, its tiny, mechanical eyes focusing on a mirror….. And there, reflected in the glass, was Kennedy….whole, unbroken, and smirking back at him with a twisted grin.
What the fuck!!
Terror gripped Kennedy’s fragmented mind as the spider’s eyes widened in horror.
The reflection spoke, its voice dripping with dark amusement, “Look at you, how low you’ve fallen, Kennedy.”
“W-What are you?” The question was forced out, trembling with fear and confusion.
“What am I?… Hmm…. I don’t know,” the Mirror Kennedy mused, his smirk widening. “But I do know you’ve finished your part in this chess game…. Congratulations… Yay!!” The way Mirror Kennedy did was utterly repulsive but then his grin twisted even more as he added, “It’s time to remove the pawn~.” His laugh was cold, sinister, a harbinger of doom.
Before the spider could react, before Kennedy could muster a plan, the Mirror Kennedy moved.
Blob!
His form slipped through the glass like water, fluid and unnatural. He stepped out of the mirror, standing tall and menacing before the tiny spider…the Spider’s eye widened in horror!!
“W-What’s going on?” The spider’s voice was a frantic shout, its body trembling as it prepared to flee.
But it was too late.
Mirror Kennedy reached down, his hand slow and deliberate as he grasped the spider, lifting it effortlessly.
“Too bad… You’re going to become his nourishment,” Mirror Kennedy said with a mix of pity and cruel satisfaction. He plucked at the spider’s abdomen, revealing the rainbow crystal embedded within.
The crystal shone brightly.
And then, with a sickening crunch, Mirror Kennedy crushed the spider’s head, snuffing out the last flicker of Kennedy’s existence.
Crack!
Puff!
In an instant, it was over. The spider’s mechanical body fell limp as burned down and with it, any hope Kennedy had of revenge or survival was obliterated.
The Mirror Kennedy looked down at the small rainbow crystal in his hands, Slowly, his gaze lifted, drawn back to the mirror, to see his own reflection….. But what he saw instead… was Kyra!!!
Kyra smirked as she looked at the rainbow crystal in her hand with an amused expression.
“No matter what you do, Aether…” Kyra’s voice was soft but dripping with malevolence. “Everything will go according to Mother’s will… and that includes you, too. You are the one who caused this…Haha…. In the end, we are just pawns, Aether… Just pawns!”
Kyra turned and stepped into the mirror, vanishing as if she had never been there, taking the rainbow crystal with her. The glass surface rippled once before returning to its original, unbroken state, leaving behind only an eerie silence.
In the Pyra Fulgar Empire,
somewhere deep… very deep inside,
“Grrrrr….”
A low, menacing growl echoed through the pitch-black darkness. The sound was primal, filled with an unearthly fury that reverberated through the very ground. In this forsaken place, only a single rainbow-coloured crystal shone brightly, casting eerie reflections on the rugged walls.
The thick roots covered something deep.
Whatever was trapped inside those roots was struggling, fighting to break free, its movements growing more desperate with each passing second… The roots breaking slowly…
Suddenly, a voice, disembodied and full of authority, resonated through the darkness, “Here, this is the final piece.”
Out of nowhere, another rainbow-coloured crystal appeared, floating in the air with a slow, deliberate grace. It hovered for a moment, then moved toward the first crystal, positioning itself beside it as if it were completing a puzzle.
The two crystals began to glow in unison, their light intensifying until it was almost blinding. They pulsed rhythmically, like the beating of a colossal heart, and then—
BAGRUUUUUUUHHHHHAAAAAA
A sound like the blast of ancient trumpets echoed through the deep valley, filled with raw, untamed power. The roots that had held the creature in place shattered, unable to contain the monstrous force any longer.
Trrrrrrr!!!!
The sound of snapping, and tearing roots filled the air as whatever had been trapped finally began to move.
And then, in the darkness, there was another movement… slow, deliberate, and terrifying!!
Explore more at empire
Ssshhhhhhhhhh
One by one, vibrant rainbow colours began to light up the deep valley, revealing the enormity of the creature that had been trapped for so long. The once impenetrable darkness was now filled with pulsating light, and as the valley brightened, the true horror was revealed….
a pair of enormous horns and a massive trunk, thick and ancient, rose from the ground, grasping the remains of the shattered roots…. and slowly pulled!
Thud
Thud
Thud
Thud
Each step was like a small earthquake, shaking the very foundations of the valley as the creature pulled itself free.
Its massive trunk pulled the massive roots as if it was guiding to somewhere….. Other rainbow crystals, following the creature’s movements, began to shimmer and glow, letting out a sibilant hiss.
“HISSSSSS~~~~~”
Tuck, Tuck, Tuck…
In the distance, something began to rotate…. slowly at first, but with a terrifying and inexorable speed, building momentum like the gears of a monstrous machine.
Back to the stadium,
Drip….
Aether stood before Kennedy’s dead body as he nodded in satisfaction. He could feel the black/Umbra domain within him growing, a sure sign that Kennedy was truly and utterly dead….. But just as he was about to turn away,
Drip….
Aether frowned, his eyes narrowing in confusion as he sensed his white/Ethereal Domain, also increased just then,
!~Ding~!
[Survival rate: 45.3%↑]
!~Ding~!
[Congratulations on Completing the Mission: Save Helena Sunfire]
!~Ding~!
[Reward: Skill: #######]