Supreme Magus novel Chapter 26

At those words the man steeled his resolve, recovering the courage worthy of a soldier that had looked death in the eyes many times on the battlefield.

When Lith allowed him to speak, he wasn’t afraid anymore.

"I am knight, my honour lies with my Lord! I will never betray his trust, you filthy mongrel!"

"Oh my, you’re so helpful! Thanks to your friend there, I already knew there is a Lord behind the ambush. But I thought you were just mercenaries. Are you telling me you are actual knights? Maybe his personal guard?"

Realizing his mistake, the knight bit his tongue, literally, trying to die before letting anything else slip out his mouth.

"Tsk, tsk! Not so fast!"

Lith froze him in place again, forcing the teeth away from the tongue before healing it with light magic.

"You are way dumber than you look." Lith never stopped smiling, talking to him with the calm a collected manner a mother would use with a small child.

"I’ll spell it out for you. Not even death can save you from me. I can take you apart, piece by piece, and then put you back together, like the flesh puppet you are."

Lith’s eyes lost any trace of humanity, his voice exuded only hatred and rage.

"But if it’s pain that you want, I can give you plenty."

Lith clenched his fist, and suddenly the knight felt his nether regions squeezed and crushed, like into a vise. The knight’s eyes filled with tears, his mouth was only able to emit gargling sounds.

Lith would release the grip from time to time, giving him some rest, before twisting and turning his hand and so the knight’s gonads.

"Are you ready to talk?" The knight was still in so much pain he could barely understand his words.

"No? Not a problem, I just wanted to test my new and improved Plague Arrow."

After a bolt of darkness hit the knight in the chest, Lith released him from the Puppet Master grip, letting him sprawl on the ground.

"One."

Before the knight could start looking for his weapon, he found himself shivering in cold, while his teeth were rattling uncontrollably.

"Two."

He ended curling up, hugging himself trying to find some precious warmth.

"Three."

Suddenly the cold was gone, the knight started sweating bullets. He felt terribly hot, like when he had been forced to stay on guard for hours under the scorching summer sun.

"Four, five."

He felt suffocating, so he tore away his shirt, gasping for air. The knight’s throat was so parched that he started gulping down handfuls of snow, thanking the gods for its fresh relief.

"Six, seven."

Then it was like his blood had started flowing in reverse, all his body was coursing with pain. The whole world had become the knight’s enemy. The ground hurt his skin, the snow his throat, the light his eyes. There was no safe position he could find, he could only switch from one torture to another.

"Eight, nine."

The knight’s veins were full of poison, his own saliva tasted like acid. The knight started to puke uncontrollably, until nothing but bile remained inside his intestines.

"And ten! Ready to talk now?" Lith dispelled the Plague Arrow using light magic.

"Please, no more. No more! If you waste any more hours you’ll play right into their hands!" The knight was barely alive, but at least had a sliver of hope. By enduring all that torture he now had a bargain chip.

"Hours?" Lith laughed.

"I killed your soldiers in what, three minutes? Barely another minute has passed since you told me about your knighthood. Even rounding that up, it make five minutes at worst. What hours are you talking about?"

The knight was shocked, that couldn’t be right. He looked at the sun, searching for a proof to expose that cruel lie.

But the sun was still raising over the horizon.

"Gods have mercy, how can all that pain and misery last a minute? It seemed hours long."

"You really are stupid." Lith paralyzed him again. "It’s a minute from the moment you tried to bit your tongue off. The Plague Arrow lasted barely ten seconds. Didn’t you hear me counting out loud?"

"It seems that the Plague Arrow distorted his sense of time." Solus was studying the specimen’s body reaction to the new spell. "His lack of mana must have allowed the dark energy to reach his brain, altering his perceptions."

Lith was on cloud nine, it was all too perfect.

"I’ll ask you only a second time. Are you ready to talk?"

The knight’s mind broke down, forgetting all about his vows and his honour. All he wanted was the pain to stop. Even death seemed alluring in comparison.

So, he told Lith everything. About how after being humiliated during the spring festival, Ricker Trahan had reconsidered Nana’s worth.

He had understood how lacking his preparation was, and had become determined on becoming her only apprentice.

After taking the matter to his father, Baronet Trahan had explained to his stupid son the enormity of his mistake. Nana held a huge grudge against nobles, and since they had started off in the worst possible way, begging or bribing her would be useless.