Chapter 601: The Demon’s Karma [1]

{Author Note - Warning!! This chapter and a few chapters ahead contain severely disturbing content!!! You have been warned.}

***

Axel shook his head, almost in disappointment, and added, "The very fact that you are insinuating that possibility is beyond insulting, you fucking worthless whore, damned low intellect, wretched Dark Elven bitch."

There was an unnerving, insidious silence as Axel said that; just as the Umbra was about to erupt in monstrous fury, someone else moved.

The Dark Elven Concubine, whose face had turned dark after listening to Axel's words, dashed forward. At a speed that the Runecaster could not comprehend, she punched Axel right flat on his chest.

The Nomrad Heir's ribcage instantly shattered; air was sucked out of his lungs, while black blood rushed out of his mouth.

His figure was shooting backwards at unbelievable speed, a result of being attacked so abruptly.

Runa Suncrest again appeared right behind his gliding back figure, and…

Squelch….

Her hand pierced through his chest once more, but this time she did not pull his heart out; rather, she injected an unknown gray colored substance deep into his body.

This instantly sealed Axel's strength to that of a mere first-phase seeker. Then a clean chop was delivered to the back of his head. As the Runecaster was losing consciousness, he heard her last words: "Then let us see how long your so-called tyrannical Will holds."

As soon as Axel closed his eyes, Runa grabbed his collar and threw his unconscious body towards Mason Vex.

She sighed, "As I promised, you can torture him to your heart's content, as you are the expert in this field; go and break his mind and body completely."

"Get every ounce of information from the boy…"

"From how he became a demon… to how he spread the demon pollen, I mean every single detail that he knows….."

"Once his will is broken, Osiris will submit and kneel to me whether he likes it or not; if not, he will die..." declared the Dark Elven Concubine in a malevolent tone, her voice filled with ruthlessness.

After that, the female Dark Elf disappeared from her spot.

Mason Vex grinned viciously, staring at the unconscious figure of Axel Nomrad with a cold and mad expression. That bordered on insanity, or maybe even beyond that.

He let out a soft laugh, for it was time for payback.

After all, Mason had joined hands with the Umbra for that very reason, overlooking the fact that the Assassins of the Umbra had fought alongside Osiris when the Demon had attacked and slaughtered his Vex family.

In the end, everything had turned out to be beautifully in his favour as a result of allying with the Dark Elven Concubine.

***

Axel's eyes snapped open…

Huff!!

hah!!

Huuufff!!! Huff!!

Gasping for breath, his entire body trembled in pain; for a moment, his eyes were blurry, adjusting slowly to the severe absence of light where he was.

Axel's head was throbbing crazily in intense pain; the weakness he felt in his bones was palpable, while dirt and grime clung to his whole body.

As his vision cleared and he could finally see clearly once more, he found himself in a relatively small and dark room, but when he examined his body, his expression changed abruptly.

A large Iron nail was pinned through the middle of his chest onto the wall on his back.

"Arrghhhh, damn it."

His entire body weight was upon that massive nail; when the pain finally hit him, hr grimaced once, his face becoming twisted.

Usually, this sort of injury would not have bothered him much, or caused much pain, due to his powerful Demon bloodline, especially considering he was a complete demon at the moment.

But with his powers sealed to that of a mere 1st-phase seeker. His bloodline powers were also heavily restricted. Axel almost felt like he was again a mere Demonkin, far from completing his bloodline.

He tried using his Runic eyes, but that power wasn't working either...

Axel, with his two hands, tried to pull out the massive nail from his chest. Still, every tiny movement was only increasing the pain, because as he was being injured, his incomplete demonic powers were also trying to heal him slowly. The more he struggled, the greater the agony became for Axel.

Being healed and hurt back and forth was unpleasant.

And despite his desperate attempts, the Iron Nail wouldn't budge a single centimetre; instead, his own body moved.

Creak…!!!

Suddenly, the sound of a rusty door opening reverberated through the dark chamber, casting a sliver of light into the damp room.

A towering man in a white apron walked through the door and then closed it swiftly. Axel's expression turned cold, but he did not utter a single word, only staring at his enemy menacingly.

Of course, the man was none other than Mason Vex.

He stated with a mocking grin, "Look how low the mighty have fallen; the infamous Demon Osiris is now in a dark and small underground cell, at my mercy."

While twirling a medium-sized hammer in his hand, he continued in an almost animated tone, "And the very demon is also the greatest Runic talent to be born after Damien Nomrad. The holder of the Divine Runic Eyes."

Tink!! tink!!

The man picked up a few long iron nails from a small table placed at the corner of the room. Then he walked closer, and with no warning whatsoever…

BANG!!!

Smashed the hammer exactly on Axel's right elbow joint, with enough force to break the joint instantly.

"Ahhhh…" The Runecaster screamed in pain despite not wanting to, at the suddenness of the attack.

And Axel could no longer move his right arm, and then…

BANG!!!

Mason Vex smashed his other elbow joint with the hammer.

But Axel, this time, did not let out a pained scream or even a grunt of agony. The Demon merely closed his eyes, taking in the pain of his joint shattering silently, as both his hands went limp.

He knew… what awaited him next was only worse, and Axel could not show any weakness, no matter how unbearable the pain became.

And just like Axel had thought, what followed next only became increasingly worse. Before his joints could even start healing….

On both of Axel's crushed Elbow joints, iron nails were hammered in slowly, centimetre by centimetre, Mason being slow and deliberate, which caused Axel an even more unbearable level of agony.

But the Runecaster still kept his mouth shut by the sheer force of his will; the twisting expressions that appeared on Axel's face with each signal of the pain from his receptors were like a show that was thoroughly enjoyed by the Vex powerhouse.

The man laughed, "Oh, come on now, I am only getting started, little Runecaster. Don't make such expressions so soon. I have so, so much to experiment on you…"

"So… so much pain to inflict upon you for slaughtering my family, for killing my two sons…"

Then the powerhouse grabbed his limp right hand, which had a broken joint, and he twisted it unnaturally, placing his palm upon the wall. The Vex powerhouse hammered in exactly three more Iron nails into the wall that pierced through his forearm.

He did the same to his other hand.

Bang!!!

Bang!!!

The hammer's strike shattered Axel's two knee joints, as his legs also went limp. The Nails were pinned through those crushed knee joints.

Then more Nails were mercilessly pierced through his toes, until they tore into the wall on Axel's back.

Every time Mason smashed the hammer into any of the Runecaster's joints, or pinned him in the Iron Nails, blood splattered out, and by now, the powerhouse's white Apron was stained in black droplets of Axel's Demonic Blood.

At this point, due to the overwhelming pain, blood tears fell from Axel's eyes, his teeth gnashed so tightly that his gums were bleeding nonstop. Axel never thought being able to passively heal constantly would one day feel like such a harrowing curse.

Through all the Iron Nails that had been pierced through Axel's body, black blood crawled out, eventually touching the walls and then dripping downward, leaving multiple trails of black jagged lines on the path as Axel's black blood dropped.

The anguish of his physical body was blinding... and Axel suddenly realised that these were not any normal Iron Nails, but rather special artefacts that multiplied his pain sensitivity by probably 100 times or more. On top of the fact that his powers were sealed to be that of a 1st phase seeker.

Otherwise, the Iron Nails pinned into his body wouldn't feel so disturbing. The runecaster's face was drained of all colour, only two arcs of black blood rolling down his cheeks, his body unable to bear the pain.

But even so, Axel's spirit did not break; the defiance in his eyes remained crystal clear, as strong as an immovable mountain.

To which Mason Vex merely smiled, wearing a dark grin; he brought out a clear vial, containing an unknown form of liquid.

Axel's eyes narrowed involuntarily; he sensed an unknown form of threat from the mere liquid contained in the small vial.

The Tortured Demon opened his mouth for the first time. "You!!! cough! What the fuck is that??"

Mason chuckled, "So you feel it, huh! Demon, meaning we made it right indeed, it seems…"

"So, let's test it out… shall we…?"

As the cap of the vial was opened, there was a small needle attached to its tip, and Mason stabbed the needle right into Axel's neck, injecting the unknown substance right into his body. Despite Axel's struggles, he could not do anything.

At first, nothing major happened, but warning signals continued to buzz through his bloodline; it could not be wrong…

And then it happened….

A scathing… insidious amount of pain rocked his nervous system; the Absolute Runecaster felt in vivid clarity his mana pathways being destroyed.

As if to confirm his own terrified thoughts, Prime whispered almost in a sad sigh…

[Your internal runic circuit is being destroyed.]

[Your rune-attributed mana pathways are being destroyed.]

Axel let out a harrowing shriek, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!"

But the merciless messages continued,

[Your Runic Eyes have been permanently damaged and have become unusable.]

[The very foundation of your Runecaster aspect has been heavily damaged]

"No, no, no, no, nooooo, noooooooooooo," Axel said in complete panic, as the Golden shimmering rune symbol atop his blue iris flickered madly, failing to activate no matter how much Axel tried.

Axel roared in rage, looking at the Vex family powerhouse, uttering the name of the substance that had been injected within him, "THE ANTI-RUNE ELEMENT!!!?"

Black, putrid blood was flowing out of Axel's eyelids; his blue irises became slightly dull, as the Golden symbol of his runic eyes dimmed eternally by one last flicker.