As soon as he arrived at one of the rooms in the castle, Enrico closed the door and sat down on the bed. His body was still tired from the battle against Vladimir, but at least the most intense pain had disappeared after Angela's care. Now, he needed to deal with something that worried him far more: the effect of the Sacrifice Pact.
He didn't know exactly what would happen when the effect began, but considering the absurd increase in his evolution percentage, Enrico had no doubt that it would be something terrible. The system had mentioned the consequences of that pact before, and Enrico preferred not to imagine what he would have to endure.
[You can rest assured about the others. They won't discover anything, even if they see you.]
"All right..."
The answer put him a little more at ease. At least he wouldn't need to worry about other people discovering what was happening. Enrico took a deep breath and settled into bed, waiting for the moment when the effect would begin.
Every second seemed like an eternity.
He tried to stay awake, but his accumulated exhaustion began weighing on his eyelids. His body was so tired that even keeping his eyes open became a difficult task. Little by little, his consciousness drifted away until he finally fell onto the bed and fell asleep.
Shortly afterward, he began making small noises in his sleep, like someone who had finally found an opportunity to rest after a long time.
The door opened discreetly. Yumeha looked at Enrico with concern.
"Master... He really fell asleep."
"Thank goodness. I was worried when he ran off like that."
Angela was right behind her.
Rina crossed her arms, trying to show a calmness that didn't quite match her expression.
"My Ketsumei is strong, so I wasn't worried."
Aoi looked at her for a few moments before replying:
"Miss Rina shouldn't tell such obvious lies."
"I'm not lying!"
Whistling nonchalantly, Rina began walking toward the room on the left, as she needed to resume the training Enrico had assigned her. Aoi, meanwhile, hurried toward the room on the right. Despite their concerns, both seemed willing to continue following the instructions they had received.
Angela watched the two walk away and turned her eyes back to Enrico. Something about the situation made her uneasy, mainly because he had rushed to his room so quickly. Even so, she had no way of knowing what was happening, and she had no intention of invading his privacy without a concrete reason.
'I want to see many adventures of yours, young master. So, stay well...'
She closed the door and remained outside, leaning against the wall. Yumeha also stayed on guard, positioning herself in front of the entrance with her hand near her katana.
Even after the rebellion's victory, Angela did not completely trust the vampires. As long as there was a possibility of an enemy appearing or an ally changing sides, she would remain alert to protect everyone under her care.
"What is this place?"
Enrico opened his eyes and found himself facing a scene completely different from the room where he had fallen asleep.
The sky had a dark red hue, and the surrounding landscape seemed to have been torn from a nightmare. Rivers of blood crossed the terrain, winding between distorted trees whose branches twisted into grotesque shapes. The air itself seemed contaminated, carrying a kind of poison that made the environment even more suffocating.
There was nothing welcoming about that place. Everything conveyed a sense of suffering and despair, as though that world had been created exclusively to torment whoever was brought there.
Enrico looked around, trying to understand where he was. It didn't take long for him to realize that there was no visible way back.
[This will be the hell you have to go through... I wish they had reduced one of the penalties, but it wasn't possible.]
Enrico remained silent for a few seconds.
"It's fine. I'll accept anything they throw at me."
He had no idea what he was about to face. Even so, after everything he had gone through since arriving in that world, he had already grown accustomed to the idea that becoming stronger would require sacrifices. If he needed to endure another pain to achieve his goals, he would do everything possible to survive.
[It's already coming.]
The message had barely appeared when something moved around him.
A wave of soul-like shapes appeared on the horizon. There were countless of them, and they all approached Enrico at a frightening speed. Within moments, they surrounded his body and began circling him, forming a whirlwind that prevented him from making out anything beyond those figures.
Then the pain began.
Enrico felt as though something were sucking the blood directly out of his body. It wasn't merely a physical sensation, but a kind of drain that reached his very vitality, tearing away the energy he needed to stay alive.
His skin began to split, and his body grew increasingly pale. The sensation was similar to that of someone being slowly led to death, with no possibility of escape. He tried to move, but the souls continued circling him, consuming his vitality without showing any intention of stopping.
"AAAAAHHHH!"
Enrico's scream echoed through the red landscape.
The veins in his body began to burst, but no blood came out. The pain was so intense that he could barely understand what was happening. Instinctively, he tried to inflict wounds on other parts of his body, seeking some way to divert his attention from the pain coming from his veins and vitality, but it still didn't work.
The suffering continued, growing more intense as the souls remained around him. Enrico felt that his body was being destroyed from the inside out, but for some reason, he couldn't die. Whenever his vitality seemed to reach its limit, something kept him alive, allowing the situation to continue.
The seconds passed. Then came the minutes. After that, the hours.
Time seemed to have lost all meaning in that place. Enrico couldn't clearly distinguish how much time had passed, as all his attention was focused on enduring the pain. At times, he had the impression that entire days had gone by. At others, it seemed as though everything was happening within a single, endless instant.
The hundred souls never stopped circling and screaming in desperate, irritating voices.
They continued devouring his vitality, absorbing the blood they managed to extract from his body and keeping his suffering constant. Enrico could no longer understand how he was still conscious, much less how his body was enduring such an assault.
'Do I really have that much vitality?'
The question arose in his mind as he tried to find some explanation for the situation.
It wasn't simply because he possessed an absurd amount of vitality. The pact itself seemed to restore whatever was taken away, ensuring that the process never reached a natural conclusion. The blood the souls consumed also reappeared in his body, preventing the draining from ending due to a lack of resources.
The souls took his vitality, the pact restored it, and then they consumed it again. Enrico remained trapped in that cycle, unable to find a way to interrupt the process.
'I don't know how long I've been here...'
[Three weeks. Just hold on a little longer.]
Enrico could barely react to the answer.
Just hearing that number was enough to drive him to despair. He had completely lost track of time and couldn't believe he had endured that pain for so many days. The worst part was that he hadn't even had the opportunity to sleep and temporarily escape the suffering.
Throughout that entire period, the system tried to talk to him from time to time, attempting to keep his mind lucid. Without those brief interactions, Enrico didn't know whether he would have managed to preserve his sanity.
He tried to close his eyes, but even that simple movement caused unbearable pain. Thus, he remained conscious, waiting for the moment when the pain would finally end.
'How much longer?'
[Five minutes.]
'That's good...'
For the first time in a long while, Enrico felt that there was a real possibility of escaping that hell. Five minutes seemed like nothing compared to the three weeks he had already endured. He only needed to hold on a little longer.
He tried to keep his mind calm, focusing solely on the thought that everything would end soon. However, after so much suffering, controlling his thoughts was becoming increasingly difficult. He couldn't speak, as he had screamed so much during those weeks that his voice had practically disappeared.
'How much longer?'
[Four minutes. If you keep asking, it'll be even worse for you.]
'You're right...'
Enrico tried to obey. There was no need to waste his little remaining strength on questions whose answers would only increase his anxiety. All he needed to do was wait.
But the souls seemed to have realized that the end was near.
They began spinning faster, increasing the intensity of the draining. Enrico's body was seized by violent tremors, and his muscles contracted involuntarily. The sensation was so intense that he began showing signs of shock, as though his body were about to collapse.
'Just a little longer... Just a little longer... Just a little longer...'
He repeated those words in his mind, trying to cling to something that would keep him from giving up.
Time moved forward slowly, and every second seemed to demand more willpower than the one before it. Enrico could no longer think about anything except enduring the pain. There was no room to plan for the future, evaluate his abilities, or even worry about the problems awaiting him after that experience.
One minute later, the time was up, and the pain disappeared all at once.
The hundred souls stopped spinning and began to disappear, leaving behind only the red landscape and silence. There was no warning or grand manifestation. After three weeks of continuous suffering, Enrico simply stopped feeling that agony.
He remained motionless, not daring to try to stand up.
His eyes were half-closed, and a faint glimmer remained in his gaze. Even after the pain disappeared, his body continued reacting as though it were still being punished. Any movement seemed dangerous, and he didn't want to risk discovering whether the pact still had another surprise hidden away.
'How many times will this happen?'
[Once a week...]
Enrico fell silent.
'On top of Fire Cancer, I have to endure this too? What a damn mess...'
He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that he didn't need to think about it at that moment. His body and mind were exhausted, and all he wanted was to sleep.
[He finally fell asleep... That's good. It would be better if they didn't interfere, but I need to be patient.]
The system's voice disappeared, and Enrico fell into a deep sleep. His body began floating peacefully through that landscape, free from the souls that had tormented him for so long.
When he opened his eyes again, Enrico found himself back in the castle room.
The first thing he tried to do was move his body, but he realized that he couldn't move as he wished. His muscles were still weak, and a painful sensation persisted in different parts of his body, as though the wounds suffered in that place were still present.
'Was the damage transferred to my real body?'
[Yes. Everything you suffered there was transferred to your body. In addition, a small part of your physique was taken away, but the loss was minimal. You'll be able to recover it in time to receive the next effect.]
Enrico looked at his own hand and tried to lift it. Even though there were no visible injuries, his fingers trembled nonstop. The sensation was strange, as his body seemed intact, but the pain remained so real that it was difficult to believe the injuries were no longer there.
'So now I'll receive fewer rewards from my training than I would if my physique were intact? What the hell!'
The system did not respond immediately.
Enrico continued watching his trembling hand, trying to understand how that penalty would affect his progress. If he had to go through that once a week, he would have to reorganize his training to recover his lost physique before the next effect began. Otherwise, he would risk accumulating the pact's consequences and compromising his evolution.
'How long was I unconscious in the real world?'
[Three hours.]
'That's all? I'll go back to sleep, then. I need to rest after this... for at least two hours.'
[You deserve more rest...]
Enrico closed his eyes again. His body was still weak, but the worst was over for now.
Little by little, his breathing became regular, and he fell asleep peacefully again, without needing to fight against his own body to remain conscious.
Even as he rested, part of his mind continued thinking about the future. He would need to find a way to improve even further, adapt his training to the new conditions, and prevent the pact's effect from interfering with his plans.