Capítulo 414: The Beginning Of The End [LXXVI]

“I-I d-don’t know w-who you’re searching for…!” Kyora muttered weakly; however, Aestrea simply pressed his foot harder.

Hearing his words, Aestrea simply pressed his foot down harder.

BAAM!

The ground beneath Kyora’s head gave way, cracking outward as a shallow crater formed, dust and stone scattering from the impact.

“Don’t fuck around with me, and tell me where he is if you don’t want to fucking die,” he stated coldly.

Kyora let out a few strangled groans, saliva pooling at the corner of his lips, but he still didn’t answer, and kept repeating that he really didn’t know anyone named Octo.

So, Aestrea decided to try and get him talking in a more… artistic way.

Splurt!

“ARGHHH!”

A finger was severed cleanly, spinning once before hitting the ground with a wet sound.

“Bleed.”

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The flesh tore open unnaturally as crimson veins were forced into view, the injury crawling up his hand like a living thing.

Blood poured out in violent pulses, the pain magnified far beyond what a simple severing should have caused.

Kyora screamed until his throat nearly tore apart.

“Are you ready to talk now?” Aestrea asked after seeing him suffer for a while.

Kyora ground his teeth together, shaking violently before forcing out weak words.

“I–I really d-don’t know who Oct—!”

SPLAT!

“Bleed.”

SPLUUUURT!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

This time, it was his leg.

The limb was ruined in an instant, blood exploding outward as the pain crushed his sanity.

His screams echoed endlessly through the tunnel, but unfortunately for him, there was no one nearby to save him.

“Where is he?” Aestrea’s voice returned into a even colder tone.

“I… haagh… huff… I-I really don’t know anyone called Octo!!!” Kyora cried, tears streaking down his face as he shook uncontrollably.

Aestrea’s expression turned even colder than it already was.

This guy really didn’t want to survive.

But instead of killing him outright, Aestrea paused… then spoke again.

“…Alright,” he said calmly.

“I’ll trust you.”

Kyora froze.

“Hhowever, let’s play a small game first. Just to make sure you’re not lying.”

“W-what…?” Kyora asked in complete fear.

“It’s simple,” Aestrea said softly.

“Your left hand has four fingers.”

Clump!

Midnight was stabbed right between two of those, causing Kyora to shiver in complete fear as he didn’t know why his body wasn’t fucking healing!

“If you don’t manage to scream while all of them are being cut… I’ll assume that you’re telling the truth, but if you don’t…”

His foot pressed down harder on Kyora’s head, forcing another broken groan of pain from his throat.

“…You will regret being alive.”

“G-gulp…!” Kyora swallowed hard, his whole body shaking violently as he nodded again and again.

“I-I agree! I agree to that proposal!”

“Good…” Aestrea nodded with a satisfied smile.

However, he didn’t move right away.

Instead, he waited for a few seconds while staring deeply at Kyora’s face with a calm expression.

That silence was far worse than any immediate pain.

Kyora’s slow breathing became uneven, his eyes twitching as panic slowly hollowed him out from the inside.

The sword remained still.

Aestrea remained still.

And Kyora’s face twisted deeper into despair with every passing second.

Until finally, after a while, he couldn’t help but ask:

“W-when are you g-going to st—”

‘Bingo.’

Splurt!

“Bleed.”

SPLATTERRR!

The first finger was gone in an instant, severed cleanly at the root.

The wound ripped itself wider as crimson veins were forcibly dragged open, the blood surging outward like it had been given a command.

The pain wasn’t sharp or brief; it burrowed deep, spreading through nerves and marrow alike.

“MHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMPFFFFFFFFFF!”

The sound that escaped Kyora wasn’t quite a scream, more like a muffled, choked sob forced through clenched teeth.

His whole body convulsed violently as sweat poured down his face.

Aestrea watched carefully.

“…I’ll allow that,” he murmured after a moment.

Then he smiled faintly.

“Second finger.”

Splurt!

“Bleed!”

“MMHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMM!!!”

The second finger followed, blood erupting even faster this time.

The torn flesh refused to stabilize, the injury actively worsening as if alive, as though Kyora’s own divinity had turned against him.

A less screamy time.

And like that, Aestrea continued with the other two, where Kyora gradually got used to the pain, and by the last one, he almost didn’t make any sound except a small whimper of pain.

“…Ahh,” Aestrea said softly after a moment, tilting his head.

“You actually managed not to scream.”

He even wore a mockingly disappointed expression as he looked down at him.

Kyora trembled violently, barely able to lift his head.

“Haa… huff… ugh… w-will you let m-me go now?” he asked weakly, hope trembling desperately in his voice.

Gurgle…

A strange sensation rippled through his body.

Kyora’s eyes widened in disbelief as his divinity finally reasserted itself.

His flesh instantly knitted together, and in seconds, his mutilated hand regenerated completely, fingers and all.

“Oh?” Aestrea raised an eyebrow.

His lips slowly curved into a devilish smirk as he picked Midnight back up.

“It seems that I forgot to cut the fingers, silly me~”

“W–WHAT?!” Kyora shouted, hysteria breaking through.

“Y–y-you c-cut them! All of them! I felt it! I felt every—! You monster! P-please, please don’t—!”

His voice cracked, tears streaming freely now as his body shook uncontrollably, survival instincts screaming at him to beg, to cry, to do anything.

But Aestrea ignored him and cheerfully exclaimed:

“The first one…!”

Splat!

That was actually a lie, as he actually cut all five of them directly.

“Bleed.”

SPLUMMMM!

The technique detonated.

Blood exploded outward in violent arcs as the wounds ruptured far beyond what flesh could withstand.

Veins shredded themselves open, the pain cascading through Kyora’s entire nervous system at once.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The man let out the biggest scream of pain that he had ever done in his life.

“Ohh…”

Aestrea’s glowing crimson eyes stared down at him coldly.

“You screamed. And here I was, almost starting to believe you,” he slowly shook his head in complete disappointment.

“Y-you s-son of a b-bitch… krugh…” Kyora groaned, his body curling inward as he bit down hard on his own arm, pathetically trying to ground himself through the pain.

Aestrea tilted his head slightly.

“Now, will you tell me where Octo is? Or should I begin the second round?”

His gaze never left Kyora’s face.

Sure enough, his face was filled with fear once he had heard his words.

“Mhm…” Aestrea hummed thoughtfully, as if genuinely considering his options.

“Should I start with the nails this time? Or maybe divine flame… slow-burning, just enough to keep you conscious.”

He paused.

“Or perhaps drowning would be better. Forcing water into your lungs again and again, letting you feel your oxygen slip away, only to heal you right before death…”

Aestrea continued listing multiple ways of torture, causing the sweating Kyora to feel scared with each passing second.

“…Or I could crush your organs one by one. Or peel away your divinity layer by layer. Or…”

After a while… he couldn’t hold back anymore and outright shouted:

“A-ALRIGHT!” he screamed hoarsely. “I-I’LL T-TELL YOU WHERE HE IS! J-JUST—JUST DON’T KILL ME!”

His voice cracked, desperation spilling out unchecked.

Aestrea stopped listing methods.

“Alright… I promise that I won’t kill you,” Aestrea nodded lightly.

At his words, Kyora remained suspicious, so Aestrea raised his hand and spoke once again.

“By the laws of the heavens, I swear I will not take your life with my own hands. If I break this oath intentionally, may I be condemned as a Fallen God.”

Kyora was finally satisfied and started speaking.

“O-Octo… he’s in his main base,” he stammered in fear. “I-it’s in the Northern Mountains, right before the Cliff of Despair.”

His words tumbled out quickly.

“If you follow the snow path down toward the cliff, y-you’ll see a tree… much larger than the rest.”

With shaking hands, he pulled out a small emblem and held it up.

“P-press this against the tree, and a teleportation array will activate and send you straight to the base.”

Aestrea took the emblem, glancing at it briefly before nodding.

“N-now…” Kyora whispered, voice barely holding together.

“P-please… let me go. Y-you promised…”

However… Aestrea only smiled, pressing his foot even harder, causing Kyora to feel like his head was about to be smashed.

“Y-you… w-why are you d-doing this?!” he cried out in pain.

“Y-you s-swore—!”

Realization struck him like lightning.

His eyes widened in horror as Aestrea’s lips curled up.

“Y-you s-son of b-bitch…!”

SPLURT!

Aestrea brought his foot down.

Kyora’s head collapsed instantly, reduced to shattered bone and mangled flesh beneath overwhelming force.

[You’ve killed a intemerdiate 7✯ True God!]

[You have absorbed the Authority of Summoning!]

[The Authority of Ice has been strengthened!]

[The Authority of Karma has been strengthened!]

“Just before the Cliff of Despair, mhm..”

Aestrea hummed thoughtfully.

The Cliff of Despair was an extremely dangerous place, and for the God of Control to set up his base there, it meant that there was some kind of trap.

After all… he liked to be in control, and to do so, he needed to be absolutely sure about all of his surroundings.

“He’s indeed a tricky one to kill…” he clicked his tongue.

Then, he finally decided to get out of there since there was nothing there anymore that would help him find Octo.

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