"You haven't? Really?" I blinked. "Wow, well, I'll show you why it's a fun hobby to do to bad people." My tone was playful, but the grin I wore never faltered. I stepped forward without waiting for a response, my hand reaching out to grab the nearest black panda-clad figure by the collar.
The person yelped, kicking out in panic. "Let go of me, bitch-augh!" His feet scraped the ground as I dragged him, his nails clawing at the dirt like a dying animal.
"Hey, hey, it's not going to help to try to get free," I said, releasing his head with a firm shove that left him kneeling in front of the others. I crouched down slowly, arms resting on my knees, face only inches from his. I made sure he could feel my breath and see the gleam in my eyes as I stared directly into his wide, panicked gaze. "Hmm, for a male, you have quite the soft skin, don't you?"
His entire body flinched.
"I wonder how your hands look," I mused aloud, reaching for his left glove. My fingers gripped the edge of the fabric and slowly peeled it off, savoring the uncomfortable silence from both him and the spectators.
The glove dropped with a soft flutter, revealing a pale, well-manicured hand-delicate and elegant, with not a scar or blemish to be found.
"What the hell? They look wonderful," Sammy muttered behind me, astonished.
I tilted my head. "Oh, right, we can't actually do this in the open, can we?" I said, glancing around. We were, after all, just outside the city walls. The distant lights flickered faintly through the trees.
"Don't worry about that. Guards won't come here the entire day," Grandenzil said casually, as if we were discussing the weather.
Both Kayda and I turned our gazes sharply toward her.
"Your men?" I asked, raising a brow.
"And if they are?" Grandenzil replied with zero shame, her expression unreadable.
"Nothing," I said, shrugging as my grin returned. "I don't really care too much for this city. On the contrary, I'm pleased you're so capable."
"What-?" she started, confused.
"Anyways, get back to work," Kayda interrupted flatly.
'I guess that grumpy Kayda is still here,' I mused as I turned my attention back to the black panda who was kneeling in front of me, his breathing shallow and his hands twitching.
"How did you get hands like these?" I asked again, gently cradling his exposed hand like it was some rare gemstone.
"I won't tell you shit," the person growled, clenching his jaw, trying to hold onto whatever pride or courage he had left.
"That might be so," I said, resting his hand against my knee, "but there are twelve others here. And one of them will get to watch the rest of you suffer-one after the other."
I casually nodded toward the one who had passed out earlier when I flung him around with my tail.
"No one will talk even if you torture us!" another panda snarled defiantly.
"We'll see about that." My tone turned cold as I refocused on the soft-handed man.
"Still not going to spill the secret about your hands?" I asked gently.
Grandenzil leaned toward Kayda and whispered, "Will she really be able to make them talk?"
"She made a Federation captain spill everything," Kayda said, her voice low but firm. "This will be a cakewalk for her."
A few eyes widened at that, including the man in front of me.
"Heh, he was only a measly Federation soldier," he sneered, though his voice cracked slightly. "They aren't trained like us."
"Of course, you guys are trained by some reincarnator, right? But sadly for you," I said, my smile returning, "I have a lot of experience when it comes to breaking people."
I placed my left hand firmly on his shoulder and my right on his finger. His body tensed.
"Like this," I said softly.
Then I pulled his finger downward while my thumb pushed his fingernail upward-until it cracked and tore off with a wet snap.
"Aaaaugh!" His scream split the quiet clearing.
I held the nail up to the moonlight. "I'm really jealous of how normal your nails look compared to mine. "Just look at mine."
I extended my hand, holding it in front of his tear-streaked face. My nails lengthened, growing two centimeters longer than my fingers-sharp, curved, and wickedly thin.
His eyes widened in horror.
"See? They're like knives. And quite sharp at that." I took his hand again and, with a casual thrust, stabbed through his palm. The nail exited cleanly on the other side.
"It's like needles," Wendy mumbled behind me, baffled.
"That's mean, Wendy. Anyway, it's funny how that didn't even take half my strength to do," I said, genuinely surprised. I glanced at his restraints. 'How high did Grandenzil set the limits?'
"Augh-fuck you, bitch-sp-glugh!" He tried to snarl through gritted teeth, just as he inhaled to spit at me.
I shoved a 1.5-meter ice pole into his mouth.
"Thank you for opening your mouth," I said sweetly.
I grabbed the base of the ice pole and held the back of his neck, pushing the rod upward and forcing his head backward so that he was staring straight at the sky.
"Well, I hope your gag reflex doesn't work... for your part, though." Slowly, I pressed the pole deeper, down his throat. His body convulsed violently, his face turning a blotchy red.
"That is disgusting," Grandenzil commented, taking a step back.
"Yeah, no, I'm not watching this anymore," Wendy said, shielding her eyes and turning away.
"Oh? Are you going to puke?" I teased, feeling resistance from the pole. Something was pushing back-his body trying to eject it.
I froze his lips shut and let go of the pole, stepping to the side.
Puke sprayed violently from his nostrils.
"I almost forgot that there were two more holes from which it could come out," I said nonchalantly while walking behind him.
Gripping the pole again, I channeled ice magic into it, freezing the vomit trail inside his throat and out of his nose.
"There. That should do it."
"It's getting worse," Grandenzil muttered, visibly turning green as she stared at the frozen puke icicles poking out of his nostrils.
"Blink twice if you feel like talking," I said, watching the blue tint of his face deepen from lack of oxygen.
"..."
"I guess I was going too soft," I sighed, getting nothing but a glare from him. I tapped the ice pole, creating a small air hole. He gasped like a drowning man breaching water, coughing violently.
"Sammy..."
"Don't ask me," Sammy said with a shrug, touching the half-healed scar on her face. "She just stabbed and skinned me. Nothing more than that."
"I'll heal that later for you, okay?" I said this while standing up and walking toward the group of pandas.
As I scanned them, one caught my eye-he was gagging violently, looking away. His skin was an unhealthy shade of green.
Is that gagging from the scene or something else? Oh... he's green as grass.'
I crouched next to him. "It seems like you can't handle this sort of scene. Here, let me help you with that."
Grabbing his head, I forced him to look at me.
"Wow, you've got quite a beautiful pair of eyes," I said genuinely, noting the bright emerald hue. Then I softened my expression and extended my claws near his cheeks. "I'm sorry you had to see something like this with those eyes."
His pupils shrank. Then-
"Aaaargh!" His shriek pierced the air as my nails stabbed into the sides of his eyes. With a slow twist, I slipped my claws behind the orbs and cupped them gently before popping them out.
"Blegh!!"
I turned to the retching sound and spotted Grandenzil bent over, vomiting onto the grass.
"Sheesh, you're a bandit leader who can't handle something like this?" I asked, disappointed.
"Mom, are you alright?" Wendy called, still shielding her face.
"I'm fine, Wendy. Just... please don't open your eyes, okay, honey?" Grandenzil said, clearly shaken.
"Well, we'll talk after the fact anyway," I said, turning back to the now-blind panda.
"This bitch is crazy..."
"I don't want to die!" someone else blurted, drawing my gaze.
I turned slowly and locked eyes with the speaker.
Fart.
"Did you just shit your pants?" his neighbor asked, recoiling in disbelief.
"N-n-no," the person stuttered, trembling.
"Now that's just plain disgusting," I said with a groan, pinching my nose as I walked up to him. I placed a hand on his quaking head and, without further ceremony, burned him to ash.
A pile of soot remained. Nothing else.
"What a peaceful death," the person next to him muttered, voice low.
My eyes narrowed.
"What, do you not want an easy death?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Of course I want a peaceful death," he snapped. "But with you, I'm certain I'll be screaming my lungs out first. Not like that lucky motherfucker."
I smiled. "I see. Okay, you'll be the sixth blood eagle."
"The what?" Sammy asked, confused.
"You'll see," I replied, turning my grin on the next unlucky soul.
It's been a while since we did a proper gore scene. Well, luckily for you, it's not...
TheRealSkolliecreators' thoughts
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Chapter 111:
"Let go of me!" the man in my hands yelled, his voice hoarse with panic as he thrashed like a fish out of water, limbs flailing wildly in a useless attempt to break free. His boots scraped against the dirt, sending up small puffs of dust as I dragged him away from the others.
"Oi, stop fooling around," I muttered, my tone casual, but my grip unforgiving. Without warning, I dug my nails into the side of his head.
"Augh!" he cried out, his eyes going wide as he froze in my grasp.
"Yeah, now shut up," I said flatly, continuing my slow stride forward. My fingers curled deeper into his scalp for a moment, just enough to make him whimper.
Reaching a clear space a few meters away from the group, I raised my hand and conjured two tall metal poles, each about three meters high. They emerged from the ground with a metallic groan, standing two meters apart like grim sentinels.
"Huh, what are you going to do with those?" Sammy asked, approaching from behind, her steps surprisingly light considering the tension in the air.
"You seem quite energetic with all the activity going on," I remarked, half-turning to glance at her. "Is it because of what I did?"
Sammy tilted her head up at me, brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't know. The subject is just interesting to me. But enough about me-how are you going to torture this guy?"
She waved vaguely in the direction of the man still squirming in my grip, like he was a minor detail in her growing curiosity.
"You'll see in a bit," I replied, my smile sly as I dropped the guy unceremoniously onto the ground with a dull thud.
He let out a grunt as he landed, quickly curling up and clutching at his head. But I ignored him for now. I held out my hands and began conjuring fine, glowing wire between my fingers-thin, yet strong enough to cut through bone with enough force. Each strand shimmered slightly with embedded mana, the air around them crackling faintly.
"What are you going to do to me?" the man asked, his voice shaky now. He struggled to sit upright, eyes wide as they darted between me and the glowing wire.
"Hmm... I never asked your name," I mused, glancing down at him with mock politeness. "Mine is Kitsuna Draig-"
I stopped myself mid-sentence, blinking. "...Oops."
"Hey, dumbass, it hasn't even been a week," Kayda muttered, her voice dry and unimpressed from her spot behind me.
"Sorry, I got caught up in the torture and forgot about it," I replied with a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of my head.
"Draig?" Grandenzil echoed, a curious glint entering her eye. "So you're the rumored adopted child."
"Draig? No wonder you're so strong," Sammy said, eyes wide with realization.
I shrugged, half-embarrassed. "I'm not forceful, though. I don't even have a class."
"You don't have a class?!" Sammy yelled, her mouth hanging open.
"Yeah," I said, casually looping the wire around the man's wrists and ankles. "I might be faster than you guys, but I'm not stronger."
"You don't have a class, but you're faster than my men? How does that make sense?" Grandenzil asked, stepping closer with a skeptical frown.
"You do know who my mother is, right?" I said, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah, that beast is my teacher too."
Grandenzil visibly shuddered. "That makes sense, I guess. I never want to meet that woman again."
"You guys fought?" Kayda and I asked in unison.
"No... it was a massacre," Grandenzil admitted quietly. Her eyes lowered, and her voice grew distant. "If she hadn't let me escape, I would've died."
'I can use that to my advantage, I guess,' I thought, tying off the last bit of wire. The man was now tightly bound at each limb.
"Huh. Okay, good to know," I said, nodding at Grandenzil before looking back down at the bound black panda.
"What are you doing?" he muttered weakly, his voice cracking.
"I was going to give you a simple blood eagle," I said, smiling coldly. "But I thought about evolving it into a human eagle instead."
"Dumb name. Think of another one," Kayda chimed in from the side, arms crossed and brow raised.
"What? But it sounds cool!" I protested, frowning as I looked over at her.
"Change it, or do you want to join the King in his club?" Kayda said with a smirk, a playful edge in her tone.
"Club? Uhh, no thank you. Dan can stay in his club alone. I'll change it later, though," I muttered, face scrunching in distaste. I looked back at the panda. "Anyways, let's get this job started."
With a practiced pull, I tugged on the wire connected to his wrists, hoisting him up into the air. His arms stretched wide as he hung in a rigid T-pose. The muscles in his shoulders bulged under the strain, and I could hear his breathing turn ragged.
I took the wires connected to his feet and looped them around the two lamp poles, securing him in place with a few sharp knots.
"There. Now stay like that, little panda star, until I get back to you," I said sweetly, patting his chest before turning around.
I flexed my fingers, letting the faint ache of drained mana fade from my hands. 'That wire took too much mana for me to continue with this one,' I thought.
"Hmm. Anyone up for talking yet?" I asked, forming a small, razor-sharp knife from ice and holding it between my fingers like a toy.
"Fuck you, bitch! No one will talk just because of some torture!" snarled the nearest panda, glaring up at me with defiance in his eyes.
"I understand what you're saying, and I get it." "You guys trained not to break under torture," I said, shrugging as I reached out and grabbed him by the head. My fingers dug into his scalp. "However... I really hate it when people call me bitch."
