A day had passed since Dominik and Lara had thrown me into this hellhole. Every second was a slow, agonizing drip of water against my forehead, the only rhythm in a world of absolute, suffocating darkness. I hadn't slept for two straight days, my skin had gone numb, and the only thing I could truly feel was the hollow, gnawing ache in my stomach. It wasn't just food I was starving for, it was blood. My Blood Curse was screaming, a parasitic hunger that made my mind vibrate with the ghostly memory of every drop I'd ever tasted.
The blood curse shut off, I couldn't control the cravings of my blood, meaning I was back at it again, the blood urges were here again because the magic damping chains that Dominik forced me to wear is actually a siphon for mana, meaning it drains my body completely. As a better look, I used inspect on my mana meter.
Mana Meter 0/11000
The human skill that is only working was my inspect skill, which requires no mana.
Plasma grew silent since that day on, he didn't respond after I fell unconscious. The magic damping made Plasma tape his mouth shut, there was no single words I heard him ever since.
And I couldn't activate by pain manipulation, the reason lies on these magic damping chains, meaning I felt the hunger every second inside the celler has, meaning that I couldn't sleep.
Even though my inspect skill bypass the defense of these magic damping chains, it is still useless because it is an appraisal skill. But I can still track my progress in my Blood Curse.
[198L/200L = evolution for phase 5]
Phase 4
[198L/ 105L= +50 agility (completed)]
[198L/ 109L= +50 defense(completed)]
[198L/ 117L= +250 mana(completed)]
[198L/ 129L= +1000 mana(completed)]
[198L/ 137L= +50 strength(completed)]
[198L/ 148L= +100 agility(completed)]
[198L/ 157L= +1000 vitality(completed)]
[198L/ 169L= +100 strength (completed)]
[198L/ 173L= +skill(shapeshift)(completed)]
[198L/ 180L=+1000 mana(completed)]
[198L/ 192L=+50 defense(completed)]
Attributes obtained: +1000 mana, +50 defense
These attributes that the blood curse gave me were useless, there was no point of escaping, not even my inspect skill with apply to it.
I was about to reach my fifth evolution of my blood curse, but it is still wasn't enough, I needed blood, two liters of blood to be exact. And fate gives me enough time to survive.
Suddenly, the heavy iron door at the top of the cellar stairs groaned open. Light, sharp, offensive, and blinding, spilled into the room, followed by the heavy thud of boots.
"Roxy, good morning,"
Dominik's voice echoed off the damp stone, dripping with the kind of mockery that made my remaining teeth ache. He stood there, silhouetted against the torchlight, looking down at me like I was a broken toy he hadn't quite finished smashing.
Lara followed closely behind him, her gown of shimmering silk trailing over the filth of the cellar floor. She was carrying a heavy iron toolbox that clanked with every step.
In a surge of desperate, starving rage, I threw my weight forward, the cold iron of the chains biting into my wrists. I ignored the pain, pulling until my muscles screamed, trying to shatter the bonds that held me to the wall. The metal didn't even groan.
Lara let out a sharp, tinkling laugh that sounded like glass breaking.
"Oh, look at her, Dominik. She still thinks she has teeth." Lara said
Lara stepped closer, her eyes cold as ice, and set the toolbox down with a heavy thud. The Lara continued
"Are you still trying to be the hero, little flea? You're just meat in a cage now".
She reached into the toolbox and pulled out a pair of heavy, rusted head shears. The long, curved blades caught the torchlight, looking like the beak of some predatory bird.
"Wait… Is that... a head shear?"
Lara's laughter turned jagged and cruel.
"Are you mental? What, feeling hungry? Of course it's a head shear, you pathetic creature".
She didn't look at me as a person anymore, to her, I was just something to be pruned.
Lara handed the heavy shears to Dominik, whose fingers curled around the handles with a practiced, lethal ease. The golden mana of his rank flickered faintly around his knuckles, a reminder of the power that had put me here in the first place.
He took a slow step toward me, the shears let out a sharp, metallic snip-snip as he tested the blades near my face.
"Hold your horses, Roxy, we're only just getting started". Dominik whispered
Dominik didn't wait for my breathing to even out. He didn't give me a second to process the white-hot agony radiating from my foot. Instead, he reached down with a grunt of effort and grabbed my middle toe, wrenching my foot upward so the light of the single torch flickered off the gore-slicked blades of the shears.
"Ahhhhhhhhh…" I screamed atop of my lungs.
The head shears but through every layers on my toe, the muscles, the tendons and even a cute crack of my bones. After a bit of time, the toe loosened from my body.
I felt everything, I couldn't trigger my pain manipulation because of these damn chains, but he felt no remorse and Dominik hummed, his voice vibrating with a sick, rhythmic excitement.
"One down, nine to go. You know, Roxy, for a hero of the Bureau, you make such pathetic, high-pitched noises. It's almost adorable."
"Please... Dominik, I'm begging you… I'll do anything. Just stop... please..."
I sobbed, my head lolling against the damp stone wall. My vision was swimming, dark spots dancing in the corners of my eyes. Lara stepped forward, the silk of her skirts rustling over the filth like a serpent. She reached out and pinched my cheek, her nails digging into my skin.
"Look at this, Dominik. The great Roxy, reduced to begging like a stray dog. Do you think your friends can hear you? Do you think that demi-human of yours is coming to save you? He's probably forgotten you already. You're just a broken tool they threw away."
"No... they haven't..."
Dominik sneered, his face twisting into a mask of pure malice.
"They have, you're a freak, Roxy. A blood-starved monster. We're just cleaning up the trash."
He positioned the shears over the next toe.
"Snip. Snip."
The sound of the blades meeting was the only thing I could hear over the pounding of my heart.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful. I want you to feel every single nerve ending scream." he whispered, leaning in so close I could smell the expensive wine on his breath
He squeezed.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa…"
The crunch was louder this time, echoing off the low ceiling. I shrieked until my throat felt like it was tearing open. My body convulsed, my right hand clawing at the stone floor until my fingernails bled, but the magic-dampening chains held me fast, dragging every bit of my defensive mana into the void. I was forced to endure it, raw, unmitigated, and absolute.
"Stop crying! You're ruining the fun with all that blubbering. Be a good little doll and hold still."
Lara snapped, suddenly kicking my shin with her pointed heel. Even though she had Divine Regeneration, she sided by her beloved husband, Dominik for torturing me.
Dominik didn't stop. He moved like a butcher in a trance, his movements clinical yet fueled by a manic cruelty. One by one, the shears bit into me. The third. The fourth. The fifth.
With every wet click of the metal, a new wave of shock rolled over me. My mind began to fracture. I tried to think of the manor, of the quiet hallway, of Maine's face, but the faces were blurring, replaced by the silver flash of the shears and Dominik's wide, bloodshot eyes. Dominik panted, his shirt now splattered with my blood. He looked at Lara and grinned.
"Halfway there on this foot, she's sturdier than she looks, isn't she?"
"She's a monster, Dominik. Monsters don't die easy, finish it. I'm getting bored of the smell in here." Lara added
Lara replied, looking down at my mutilated foot with an expression of pure disgust, as if I were a cockroach she was waiting to see stop twitching.
"Only five more to go, but maybe we'll wait an hour. Let the hunger really set in. What do you think, Lara? Does she look like she wants a drink?"
Lara's laughter was the last thing I heard before the shadows took me.
"The only thing she's getting is a front-row seat to her own end."
The floor of the cellar was a gruesome mosaic of blood and shattered glass. My left foot was a ruined, throbbing mess of raw nerves, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the starvation clawing at my insides. My Blood Curse was no longer a whisper; it was a roaring beast, demanding sustenance to knit my broken body back together.
Dominik reached down and snatched one of the severed toes from the floor. He held it up between two fingers, inspecting it like a piece of cheap jerky.
"You look hungry, Roxy, a big, scary monster like you can't survive this hellhole without a little snack, right? You need that red fuel."
He stepped closer, a mockery of a smile stretching his face. He held my own pinky toe up to my cracked lips.
"Open wide, little flea. Eat up."
The smell of my own blood hit my nose, and the animal instinct took over. I didn't think about the horror of it. I didn't think about the dignity I was shredding. I was a predator dying of thirst. I snapped my jaw forward, taking the digit from his fingers. I chewed, the iron-rich taste of the blood sending a sickening surge of relief through my starving veins.
Lara erupted into a fit of jagged, hysterical laughter, clutching Dominik's arm for support.
"Oh, look at her! She's actually eating it! You really are a disgusting freak, Roxy! A self-cannibalizing monster!"
"Does it taste like regret? You're so pathetic. A week ago you were a hero, and now you're just a dog eating scraps off your own body."
But as I chewed, my eyes glazed with shame and hunger, Dominik's gaze suddenly shifted. He leaned in, peering into my mouth at the organ that allowed me to beg, to scream, and to pray.
"You know. I'm getting tired of your voice. All that begging and whimpering... it's starting to grate on my nerves. Maybe if I cut that tongue out, you'll finally learn how to be a quiet little doll."
My heart stopped. My eyes widened in pure, unadulterated terror. I tried to say, but my mouth was full of blood and the remains of my own flesh.
"No... please, I'm begging you... stop it! Don't do this!"
"Too late for prayers,"
Dominik snapped. He reached out with a hand like a meat hook, grabbing my chin and squeezing until my jaw creaked, forcing my mouth to hinge wide open.
I thrashed against the magic-damping chains, the metal clanging against the stone, but I was helpless. I watched in slow-motion horror as he lifted the heavy, gore-slicked head shears. He didn't hesitate. He slid the long, rusted blades into my mouth, pinning my tongue between the cold steel.
"You asked for this," he whispered.
He squeezed the handles with everything he had.
The sound wasn't just a crunch, it was a wet, heavy snap. A scream tore from my throat, but it wasn't a word, it was a gargled, horrific sound that died in a spray of hot crimson. The world tilted on its axis as white-hot agony exploded behind my eyes, more intense than anything I had felt before.
My mouth filled with a lake of copper. I choked, my body convulsing as I tried to breathe through the blood. Dominik reached in and plucked the loose, severed tongue from my mouth. He held the wet, limp thing up for a second before tossing it into the corner of the cellar like it was a piece of useless trash.
"There, Much better. Now the silence is permanent."
Dominik panted, wiping a spray of blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
Lara leaned over, looking at my slumped, bleeding form with a look of pure triumph.
"You look so much prettier when you aren't talking back, Roxy. Enjoy your meal. We'll be back tomorrow to see what else we can prune."
Their laughter echoed up the stairs, a haunting, cruel sound that lingered long after the heavy iron door slammed shut. Clang. The bolt slid home, and I was left in the absolute, suffocating darkness, unable to even scream for the life I had lost.