Argh…

Roy felt a splitting headache as he slowly opened his eyelids.

Everything felt odd, distorted, and blurry. He tried to get to his feet only to be met with impediments.

Clang!

"Huh? What the hell is going on?" he wondered, his mind still a mess. He shook his head, a clumsy attempt to clear his thoughts, but it remained fuzzy.

He reached for his strength — but there was nothing there. His items, nothing. His subordinates, nothing.

And panic set in, jolting his mind to clarity. Something was wrong. Dangerously wrong. He felt too weak, too strained.

"He's awake…" A sharp voice called out.

"W-who is there?" Roy tried to ask, his vision still not recovered, seeing only blur and darkness, not even vague outlines.

Pow!

"You savage! You don't speak unless spoken to!"

He felt a sudden spike of stinging pain to the cheeks as a metallic taste filled his mouth… blood.

Who was that talking? He couldn't fit that voice with any enemy he had made so far…

Until he remembered. He wasn't home. He wasn't even on his home planet. He had been forced to make a choice — to leave the protection of Arcana.

His vision suddenly went clear at the realization, his panic rising.

He glanced around and noticed he was under some sort of spotlight, the surroundings all pitch black.

He had been chained to a chair, and somehow his strength seemed not to be working…

No — it was working, he realized as his heart went cold. It was just that from the gravity to the restraints to the low oxygen in the air, everything made his superhuman capabilities inconsequential.

What type of forces was he dealing with? Aliens? Gods? Beasts?

Well, he would find out…

Though vague, he could make out movement from the shadows. Not one but multiple. It was like he was in a kind of auction house setting.

"Now we speak. You answer. Anything other than compliance and we won't show mercy."

A voice strangely too normal for this scenario, almost too human, spoke out.

Wait — how could he understand them? Back on Arcana those he had met so far spoke English, but this was meant to be the greater cosmos. Did they too speak English?

"Do you understand!"

The stinging pain still fresh on his cheeks, he could only comply and nodded.

"Good. What race is the dominant species of your planet?"

Roy: "…"

These bastards wanted him to snitch? Like hell he wo—

Pow! Pow! Pow!

"Okay, okay! I'll talk!" Roy yelled frantically. How were these guys giving such lethal beatings without being seen?

And their slaps… how to put it? They were unique. Even his jawbones should have a few cracks by now.

"What use is there even if I told you… You wouldn't understand what we are!" He tried to deflect the question.

There was silence, followed by rowdy chatter.

"He really sees us as fools, huh?"

"He is a savage. As a barbarian, his thoughts are limited."

"He can't comprehend our capabilities, and his mind limits us."

Roy, in shock — everything sounded… human.

Suddenly everything went quiet once more, and the mysterious questioner spoke again.

"Are the dominant species like you, human? Are there any other species?"

How did they know about humans? Could it be there were other humans out here in the cosmos?

His mind wandered for too long and—

Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

"Okay! Yes! Yes!" Roy's mind was clouded with pain as he let out.

He also seemed to realize why the slaps were so painful. Somehow these attackers could affect the soul.

Now not only did his cheek sting, his soul quaked. This type of torture he didn't dare let go on for long lest he suffered another damage to the soul.

And besides, what had the human race done for him anyway that deserved such sacrifice?

The figure seemed to sense his thought process and spoke.

"Don't feel guilty… We have other means of getting the info we need. It's just that this method is the only one where you're still alive."

Roy's heart sank. He couldn't see the outline of his system.

He tried to plead with them.

"Please, our race is just weak and filled with infighting. I promise we are not a genius race of any kind!

We humans are greedy, self-righteous, and short-sighted. We are not a threat!"

There was a slight pause in the atmosphere, until it was broken by a loud tide of laughter.

And slowly the surroundings began to get lit up little by little.

Finally, he had a clear view of everyone around him. His eyes widened, his pupils constricted, as the audience went wild with laughter.

"Did this fucker just insult us too?"

"I don't think he realized, haha!"

"Oh my, come to think of it, he's quite right. I am quite self-righteous!"

"Oh my, to hear my… what a lad…"

The blood drained from Roy's face, his heart thudding loudly. These guys… they were humans.

Two eyes, two legs, two hands, and a head — humans just like him!

"T-this isn't right." He stuttered in shock.

Suddenly a figure walked up before him, a man with black hair and a long curved mustache, dressed in plated shiny armor. He was tall, almost taller than Fredrick.

Not only him — they all were.

The man squatted to his level, head tilted, and asked:

"What? You expected a bunch of green melon-sized head aliens with bodies the size of twigs?… They do exist though."

Roy was honestly beginning to get overwhelmed.

"If we are all humans, why treat me like this?"

The man chuckled ominously.

"Well, you said it all, little one… We humans just love infighting, don't we?"

Roy's eyes trembled.

"So what is it that you want?"

"Hehehehe… boy, you see, over the past millennia countless races have ascended to the other plane. And each time there is a human race, there is a commotion that comes with us… Do you know why?" The man inched closer towards Roy, too close as he spoke.

Roy shook his head, trying to back away.

"Well, it's simple. We might be all you said, but you are wrong about one thing. Humans are unparalleled geniuses!"

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