I became a legion lich

Chapter 23: Chapter 2

“Do your worst, brat. I was a prison interrogator for over 10 years. I’ve seen things and done things you can’t even imagine.” Gavin mocked him. In his mind, there was nothing a child could do that he hadn’t already done. No matter how cruel Athos had been up until now, he was still an inexperienced child.

“Captain, I think you’re a little mistaken about me. My father taught me how to dissect monsters and how to find nerves and sensitive areas in the body. My mother taught me the exact points to attack, to do the most damage possible. And I practiced my skills on that nun at your feet. I’m sure I can surprise you.”

Athos walked around the captain as he spoke. Gavin expected Athos to attack his back, but to his surprise, all he heard was a click. The chains came free all at once, falling to the ground with a screeching sound.

Gavin was startled for a moment but recovered soon after. He jumped out of his chair and spun around still in the air, trying to crush Athos’ head with a punch. Or at least that’s what he tried.

In reality, his muscles were in tatters and his calf couldn’t take the sudden strain, tearing at the muscles. Gavin dropped midway through the spin, adding even more ridiculousness to his situation.

“Arghh!!” Gavin screamed in pain as he grabbed his calf. He knew he wasn’t well, but the damage to his body was much more severe than he’d expected.

“I repeat again: you’re not very smart, are you? Trying to move with your body in that state is really stupid.” Athos laughed at him as he stomped on his injured calf.

.....

“Urk!” Gavin groaned in pain and tried to defend himself, but he was too hurt for that. Athos took the potion he was brewing when Gavin woke up and forced him to drink it.

“Blergg!’ Gavin tried to vomit, but Athos clamped his mouth shut. With no other choice, Gavin was forced to swallow the unfamiliar contents or choke. He felt awkward immediately.

His senses were heightened, but his motor skills failed. He could feel everything around him, but his body seemed unable to respond.

“What did you do to me?” Gavin spoke, starting to get scared. He might have experience as a torturer and was confident not to give in during torture, but doing it drugged was another story.

“This is a drug sold in the slums, able to better the sensations of the body for a short period of time and dark snake venom. Did you know that dark snakes poison their prey and devour them alive? Your victims agonize for weeks.” Athos smiled cruelly as he explained.

“I mixed the two together and created a poison capable of paralyzing, while enhancing the body’s sensations. Original recipe. I tested it on that nun and she begged to die in less than 15 minutes. How long do you think it lasts?” Athos pointed to the pieces of the nun behind the captain while putting on an hourglass.

Athos stopped stalling and began the torture. He took a few needles from the toolbox, before reaching for Gavin’s right hand. He used his skill to heat the needles and inserted them between the flesh and the nail and pushed down to the first knuckle of the finger. The heat cauterized the wound preventing the blood from leaking out.

Gavin shuddered through clenched teeth, fighting not to scream. The sensation was three times more painful than usual and explained why that nun was begging to die.

After the needle had penetrated all the flesh, Athos plucked it up as if it were a lever, lifting the needle. He repeated the process on every fingernail, while Gavin shook with pain and anger each time.

“Huf, huf, you’re going to have to do worse than that.” Gavin said in defiance.

Athos didn’t answer, instead, he took a hammer and nails this time. He placed Gavin’s palms against the floor before driving a nail into the tip of his nailless finger. He lifted the hammer and drove the nail through the bone in one fell swoop.

Puck!

“AARGHHH!!” Gavin couldn’t resist this time, screaming and writhing in pain. Athos didn’t give him time to think and continued hammering his other fingers. The wounds were cauterized the moment they were opened, stopping the bleeding and prolonging her pain.

After hammering, Athos grabbed both of Gavin’s hands and pulled, ripping his fingers and causing blood to spurt everywhere. Athos took a knife and heated it, rubbing the boiling blade over the wounds to close them.

As Gavin struggled with the pain in his hands, Athos grabbed a pair of pliers and held his feet. He pinched one of his fingers and twisted it violently.

“AAHHH!”

Athos continued, enjoying the screams of pain. He put the pliers on his ankle and squeezed, crushing him.

The torture continued for a while, with Athos slowly ripping and crushing pieces of the captain. Gavin tried to hold back, but as the torture continued and the pain only got worse, he started screaming more and more.

The more Gavin screamed, the more pain he showed, the more violent Athos became. A feeling of satisfaction filled her mind every time she heard Gavin scream. The helpless feeling he’d felt when he’d watched his mother die and had tormented him ever since faded, replaced by a bloodthirsty euphoria that only increased with Gavin’s screams.

His vision began to redden and Athos dropped the tools, using his bare hands to knock. He punched the face, chest, belly and any part of the captain he could see. He broke his ribs and all his teeth.

Gavin couldn’t scream as he drowned in his own blood.

Athos broke his nose against his face and pressed his fingers against the captain’s eyes until he heard the eyes pop. He kept hitting until his fists bled, until he felt his knuckles crack.

When Athos finally regained control, Gavin’s body was completely crushed into a paste of flesh. The arms were missing from the elbow down, the legs were completely broken, the chest was completely crushed and the head was open like a watermelon.

“Hunf...hunf...shit, I lost control. I forgot to tell him about his wife to break him mentally, not just physically.” Athos felt a little disappointed in himself as he panted heavily for air. He looked down at his aching wrists and started to laugh.

“Mom, the first motherfucker who hurt you is already dead. I’ll kill the others soon, ok? But for now, let me get some rest...” Athos said, letting exhaustion take over him and fell asleep.

He hadn’t slept well in days, thinking about how to kill the captain and now that he did, all the accumulated tension was gone, causing him to pass out. For the first time since the fire, Athos was able to sleep peacefully without the memories of the execution haunting his dreams.

******

Athos woke up 14 hours later when the thick smell of blood became too much even for him. He felt refreshed, the flame of hatred that had burned his mind and made him out of control temporarily faded, allowing him to think clearly again.

He felt light and laughed like an idiot every time he looked at Gavin’s meat paste.

“I think I should lure a slime over here and clean up this mess. A mop won’t do it.” Athos laughed at his own joke as he got up to eat something.

‘I should also take a shower and change my clothes. I stink worse than corpses.’ That’s what Athos thought, as he took a herb of water and directed the world energy that his body naturally absorbed, towards the herb.

The herb absorbed the world’s energy and began to produce water, which Athos accumulated in a pot.

This was one of the tricks Athos learned, testing his innate ability to absorb energy. Normally, the herb couldn’t absorb Athos’ energy because it would be poison for it, but Athos could use the pure world energy getting special effects depending on the ingredient used.

The effects were simple, but they helped in the daily life of someone like Athos, who couldn’t show himself without being hunted.