The sweat drenched his body. The overwhelming heat from the room, with nothing but a metallic door, and the insects feasting on his blood.

They worsened the pain until it became unbearable. He developed a fever within a day.

But his body adapted. He'd lost so much blood he couldn't remember his own name. Whenever he regained consciousness, seeing his intestines spilling out made him black out again immediately.

He'd lost count of how many times this happened. But when he finally regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was Mika.

She was seated before him, her hands propped against the thighs, and lustily fascinated by Halo's ripped and bruised torso, she began to murmur gibberish.

But looking at the bright side, Horn of Dread obeyed her promise.

His intestines were tucked back inside, and the grotesque wound across his gut had disappeared. Her ability was that powerful. His injuries vanished, and he felt as strong as before the torture began.

However, that was just false hope before the next terror unfolded.

Over the following week, his body grew more fatigued than ever. His mind began conjuring scenarios where he was happy and able-bodied. Sometimes even the torture broke through those hallucinations.

But this even verified his feelings. He had been betrayed.

He was pushing three weeks now, and all he could see when he closed his eyes was Mika's red eyes, scanning his body hungrily as she yearned to see him bleed.

It was a miracle, though. His will to survive was beyond what he even imagined.

Iris had abandoned him moments before his arrest. Whatever her plan was, she'd kept him in the dark. Worse, she'd taken one of his clones, Light, with her.

Unlike Tough, Light could act independently. He could detach himself and take form at will. But Tough was just a Sinner, his humanity rank was probably in the lower tiers, so he couldn't act without orders.

Worse, whenever Mika and her men left, giving him time to summon Tough and plan an escape, he was always unconscious from the torture. By the time she returned, the cramped room made any reckless action impossible.

But with everything that was going on, if he continued to take this any longer, he'd die. That much was certain.

He'd been doing everything possible to survive the torture, but he finally decided he needed to focus on what was happening outside too.

He wondered why Mika needed so many guards. Why couldn't they just wait in the corridor and let her handle things alone?

His mind wasn't as sharp as before. But she only tortured him three days a week, and she still returned to feed him, wanting to keep her plaything strong.

He used the rest periods to his advantage, training his body through the pain while trying to reason through his situation.

Mika was weak.

That was his conclusion.

But her Only Sin was torture, and the excitement of inflicting pain always gave her the strength she needed. Beyond that, he was certain she couldn't hurt a fly.

It was absurd.

She always kept men around her. That told him she feared what would happen if he broke free.

Someone as intimidating as her shouldn't have needed so many guards, unless she knew she had weaknesses.

***

It was late in the evening, though with the room always dark, Halo had no way to tell the time. He could only track it by the meals served to him.

Mika sat before him, shoving food down his throat. Though this wasn't supposed to be a torture day, the way she fed him felt like one anyway. He couldn't even taste it.

"I'd enjoy dragging this out, truly… but your body is going to give out soon. And what fun is there in tormenting someone who can barely feel a thing?"

She didn't have to say it. He already knew that.

But the saddened expression on her face, this really troubled her.

"Wait… what if I marry you?"

Her eyes sparkled.

"There are far stronger people whose blood I want to bathe in… Kysa, the King of Puppets, and even the witches weren't off the list. But you're all I have now."

Halo sighed in disbelief.

Marry her? Impossible.

"You're my warm-up. Once I'm done honing every technique on you, even a Calamity won't catch me unprepared."

Her expression darkened again.

"That's the thing, boy. You're far too weak. Give you months to rest, years even, you'd still crumble long before my real torture begins."

Death would have been a mercy long ago. When he'd been on the verge of it, letting him die would have been the nicest thing she could have done.

But now he wasn't so sure.

He had no intention of dying. He hadn't felt like it then and wouldn't feel like it now. Hell, that was the whole reason behind everything he'd done. To live.

Mika rose to her feet.

"Take in all the air you'd need now. You'd die tomorrow."

She said and began acting affectionate toward Halo, her eyes drenched in tears.

After finishing her perverted rituals, she pulled the sack over Halo's head, sealing him in darkness even more complete than the room's. Then she casually walked out.

Halo gritted his teeth.

He'd been abandoned by his clone and comrade, but he needed to escape. He had only one plan, though he wasn't sure it would work: summon Dark Saint.

However, amidst his desperate thoughts, he felt a shift in the atmosphere.

He was certain Mika and her guards had left. She wasn't the ambush type. Where was the thrill in that?

Yet despite his failing senses, he could still feel the heavy atmosphere. He wasn't alone.

His skin crawled, and he gulped.

Before panic could take hold, his eyes were freed. In the darkness, piercing white eyes glowed back at him.

He was startled. It wasn't Saint, he hadn't even attempted to summon her. And even if he had, she would have announced herself by now.

This was Light.

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