Chương 204: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 204 - Kayal's Revenge

Freya sprinted through the pitch-black passage, glancing back every few seconds. The terrifying Blaze Rabbit hadn't given chase. What she didn't know was that a different shadow had been following her the entire time, close enough to touch. Until she hit a dead end. The pampered princess shattered.

"Damn it! I made it through so many corridors without running into a single dead end, and now, why now? This is just..."

"Just unlucky, right?" A voice, coming from directly behind her. Freya knew that voice. She would know it anywhere. It belonged to the Healing Magician, Kayal.

"You—" She spun around in shock. But the Kayal behind her was nothing like the frail, cowering figure she knew. He moved in a single explosive step, sword in hand, and closed the distance before she could react.

"The Wave-Splitting Slash those white warriors use really is something..." He sneered, grabbed her by the face, and slammed her against the wall. The oversized mage robe tore in the struggle, and her figure was laid bare beneath it.

"You... despicable..." Freya had never been humiliated like this in her life. Worse, the one humiliating her was Kayal. The lowly slave. The pig she'd kicked around without a second thought. She began drawing mana immediately, coiling it tight, ready to kill him where he stood.

"Plunder." His voice was ice. The magic drained out of her like water through a broken vessel. Her spell died before it could form.

"How... how is this possible?"

"Freya~ Your dear, filthy little dog has come to play with you~ I've missed my master so much. I've been following close behind you the whole time..." Kayal's grin split his face into something wrong. He leaned in until his face nearly pressed against hers, speaking each word slow and deliberate, like a demon from the abyss delivering its final verdict.

"You're not happy?"

"You should be happy! You should smile~ Hahaha, ahahaha—""Now." The laughter stopped. His face went flat. But his dark eyes glittered with something cold and surgical.

"It's time to repay you, my master, for your generosity. For treating me like a dog. Like a medicine cabinet."

"Wait, please, wait, Mr. Kayal!" Freya's voice cracked. Her mana was completely gone. She had nothing left to fight with. All she could do was buy time, keep talking, keep this man, who had somehow broken free of the potion, from doing whatever came next.

"I used that potion for your sake. I was afraid if you used Recovery, the mental strain would break you, ""Hah." Kayal's short, contemptuous laugh cut her off.

"So Princess Freya insulted me out of kindness. Ordered me around like a dog out of kindness. Made me eat filth, stomped on my groin, kicked me in the face, all out of kindness?"

"And in the Royal Capital? On the road to the dungeon? When those warriors were tearing into me, you let them, out of kindness?"

"What a fascinating way to show someone you care."

"You..." Freya's voice dropped.

"You remember all of it?" She felt it then, a cold that started at her feet and climbed straight to the top of her skull. The potion was supposed to erase his memories from the time he was under control. It should have worked. It always worked.

"Because of you, I suffered through hell." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Now it's your turn."

"What, what are you going to do?" Freya had fallen. She pressed herself into the corner, shaking, and in his eyes she saw something that looked like hysteria and hatred fused into one.

"Freya. Let's play a game." Kayal grabbed both her hands and wrenched her upright.

"A game?" He answered with action. A little pressure. Then, CRACK. He broke her finger.

"AAAHH, " The scream was raw and ragged, something inhuman pouring out of her. It rang through every corridor of the labyrinth.

"Our roles are reversed now," he said calmly.

"I'm the one doing the hurting. You're the one being hurt. Maybe now you'll understand the kind of mistake you made." Freya's finger had twisted into something grotesque. Purple bruising bloomed at the joint. Sweat beaded across her forehead. The color drained from her cheeks.

"What do you want? Money? Name it and it's yours! If it's power, I'll make you a noble, give you land!"

"Women, however many you want, I'll get them! So please just, " Kayal listened with a slight smile and half-lidded eyes. Then, CRACK: a second finger. In the black corridor, her scream came out hoarser, more broken.

"You think I'd believe a single word out of your mouth?" He shook his head slowly.

"I'm going to break your fingers one by one. If I get to the last one and you haven't screamed, you win. My revenge ends there. The two I just broke were a warm-up. Letting you adjust to the pain first." He tilted his head.

"Thoughtful of me, wouldn't you say?"

"But if you make even a sound, ""I understand." Freya bit down hard. This was her last chance. True or false, it didn't matter, she had no other move.

"I agree. I'll take your terms."

"So if I can hold out... then..."

"You have my word."

"I'm not you, Your Highness." He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into a corner, ignoring her struggling. Moments passed. CRACK. CRACK. The sound of joints snapping and twisting echoed through the corridor, undercut by the barely-contained whimpering of a woman fighting not to scream. Nine fingers. All of them deformed beyond recognition. Freya's face had warped into something that no longer looked like her, beautiful once, unrecognizable now.

"Hmm... I'm impressed. You made it all the way to the last one."

"Genuine perseverance, Princess Freya."

"I suppose that means I lose." Freya raised her head. Her cheeks were soaked with tears. The smile she forced out looked worse than weeping. She'd held on. Every finger connected to the heart, she knew that now, knew it in a way no one could explain to her. She had punished people her whole life. Casually. Freely. Had done worse than this to others. She'd enjoyed their screaming, understood in some distant, abstract way that it hurt, but she had never felt it herself. Now she had.

If this wasn't hell, it was close enough.

"Recovery." His voice was soft. Gentle, almost. To Freya, it sounded like a demon in the dark. Every finger healed in an instant. Kayal flexed his hand. Using Recovery meant absorbing every shred of pain the injured person had felt, but his tolerance had been ground to something close to absolute over these past weeks. Broken fingers barely registered. He didn't even blink.

"Well~ Your fingers are good as new. We haven't broken all of them yet, so the game isn't finished." He smiled at her like a warm, patient older brother, and actually gave her an encouraging thumbs-up.

"We start over."

"CHEATER! You're cheating! You said, " Freya screamed as her composure collapsed entirely. She fought to get upright. He pressed her flat and closed his hand around her finger. CRACK. After everything she'd already endured, she couldn't hold it back. The scream that tore out of her was worse than any before it.

"What a shame, Princess Freya. Looks like I win."

"Then the revenge continues." Kayal hauled her up off the ground. Whatever she sensed was coming next, she fought against it with everything she had left.

"Weaken." A quiet, cold sound. Dim purple light poured into her body. Her legs went dead immediately. Not numb, gone. Like something that had never worked, boneless and useless. She couldn't move them at all.

"What... what is this..." Freya curled on the cold obsidian floor. Her hands were starting to go next.

"Stop wasting your energy. I used Weaken on you. Your limbs are as good as paralyzed." Kayal began removing his armor. Piece by piece, it fell to the floor with sharp metallic clangs.

"Let's get to business." He glanced down at her hands.

"Those twisted fingers really are ugly. Allow me."

"Recovery." Her fingers healed. Freya couldn't feel anything like relief. She knew exactly what "get to business" meant.

"No! Don't!" She wailed and threw herself toward the dark at the far end of the corridor, dragging herself with the last feeling left in her hands before even that disappeared.

"I am a princess. I am royalty. I would never, with something as low as you — never, do you hear me, never—""Heh." Kayal walked toward her. Unhurried. Step by step.

"Hearing that really takes the fun out of it..."

"But honestly, Princess Freya, someone like you could never do anything for me anyway." He used Optimize on himself. Then he reached into his spatial ring and produced a torch he'd taken from one of the white warriors. The flames caught the dark walls and threw jagged shadows across the floor.

"So then, Princess Freya. A multiple-choice question. Between this torch and... which would you prefer?" Freya stared at the burning flame. The hope in her eyes guttered out.

"Can I... not choose?"

"Ten seconds. No answer, and I'll assume you want both."

The image on the screen was not appropriate for children. Anna was watching it with great interest. Su Nian's expression was something harder to read. Someone was actually playing around in a dangerous dungeon labyrinth without a care in the world. Wasn't that a provocation? Still, the Healing Magician's abilities were peculiar. Potentially very useful, by the look of things. Su Nian rested his chin on one dragon claw, and a decision quietly settled into place.

He reached out and touched Bugs's spiritual network, and sent a message through. ➤ Next: Battle in the Depths of the Maze