[A/N: Warning! This chapter is full of graphic content. If you are easily disturbed by this, please skip this chapter.]
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The man in the mask didn't stop there. He pulled out nine more thread-like needles and, one by one jammed them underneath Erika's fingernails. A few of them penetrated her finger bones, increasing the pain she felt.
"AAAARGH!"
Erika, who lived most of her life sheltered in the Zaria Family, had never felt such pain before. While she and Cole had explored the world over the last few years, and she had gotten injured plenty of times, this was undoubtedly the worst, as the man was purposely trying to inflict as much pain as possible.
"Stop it, you fucking bastard!! You can do whatever you want to me, but don't you dare touch another hair on my wife's body!!" Tears of blood rolled down his cheeks as he listened to his wife's wails. He knew there was no reason for this masked man to be afraid of them. Not only were they crippled, but even if they weren't, they still wouldn't be able to beat this man.
"Oh? And what are you going to do if I stop?" The masked man asked in amusement. He was enjoying this scene immensely.
"I'm going to-!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Erika screamed in pain once again as the masked man jammed a few needles through her teeth into her gums, penetrating her skull.
"Hahahaha! Whoops, my finger slipped. What were you going to say?" The masked man chuckled as he twirled a few more needles in his hand.
Cole gritted his teeth so hard that his gums bled, but he could do nothing. This man seemed to know he would take on any amount of pain as long as he could protect his wife.
Thus, instead of torturing both of them at once, it was more efficient to start with Erika, as listening to her wails would hurt Cole much more than any pain he could inflict ever could.
"Just… Please stop torturing my wife… I beg of you…"
Cole would have undoubtedly started kowtowing if it weren't for the fact that he was tied up in a chair. What was his measly pride when his wife was over there screaming in pain?
However, instead of answering Cole with words, he took out ten more needles. The needles hovered before Erika's toenails, and with a thought, they slowly penetrated the skin underneath them.
*CLINK**CLINK**CLINK**CLINK*
Erika's chains hit each other as she thrashed about, trying to escape this situation. Unfortunately, all she did was cause her metal cuffs to rub her skin raw and fracture her wrists.
However, she was in too much agony to care about what happened to care about this.
Cole's heart dropped into the abyss, but he didn't say anything this time. He couldn't. Not when every time he opened his pathetic mouth, the pain done to his wife intensified.
He could only clench his fists and grit his teeth in silence to try and keep his sanity.
"Oh? Cat got your tongue?" The masked man chuckled, seeing Cole trying so hard to remain calm.
Cole didn't say anything to the man's provocation and just sat there with his eyes closed. It ripped his heart to pieces to not even be able to glare at their captor, but if doing that could save his wife some suffering, what did it matter?
"Hmmm~ Well, I guess it is time we kick things up a notch. I did just finish laying the foundation, after all." The masked man mused while twiddling with a few more needles and a scalpel.
He extended his Qi to latch onto all the needles under Eria's skin,
"Try not to faint, Erika. This is going to hurt a little." The masked man chuckled before lifting up the needles slightly, causing her nails to rise.
Since these parts were already sensitive, just that little bit of movement made Erika cry, but the man wasn't done yet.
*RIP!**CRACK**PFFT!*
A fountain of blood shot out of her fingers as the needles ripped off her nails, tore through her skin, and penetrated her palm, crippling her fingers.
"ArGrGrGrGrGrGrGrGr-!"
Erika's body convulsed for a few seconds before her brain shut down from the pain, and she fainted.
"ERIKA!!" Cole struggled to get out of the chains and make it to his wife, but to no avail. He was too weak right now.
"Uh-oh! It looks like she fainted! Sigh… Why didn't she listen to me? I told her it was going to hurt." The masked man said with a hurt voice while holding his chest. However, if one could see his face, one'd notice that a smile never left it.
"Sigh… It seems I'll have to wake her up."
He walked up to Erika and shoved a pill into her mouth. It immediately disintegrated as soon as it touched the back of her throat, and a wave of refreshing energy washed over her body.
A second later, her eyes shot open, but just as she was about to look around in confusion, she was again overwhelmed by pain.
"URRGH!"
"Aha! It seems like she's back awake! Now, we can get back to the fun! Hahahaha!"
The masked man clapped his hands as a set of surgical tools appeared out of thin air.
He then walked over to Cole, turned his chair around so that he was face-to-face with Erika, and wrapped his eyes in Qi so he couldn't close them.
Cole glared at the man with bloodshot eyes full of rage. Killing intent, something Maria had never seen from her father, which made her tremble, descended upon the masked man. However, the man just shrugged it off and turned back to Erika, ignoring all the profanities Cole was spewing.
"You know, Mrs. Zaria, you have quite the beautiful face for someone who lived in some backwater city." The masked man said while gently caressing her face. He then ran his fingers through her hair and said, "You also have such lovely, beautiful hair.
"Why don't I… remove it for you?" The masked man asked, a large sadistic smile appearing under his mask.
In his hands appeared a scalpel and a few other surgical tools. He pressed the scalpel against her temple, penetrating her skin.
"Urgh!" Erika grunted in pain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what she just went through. However, the objective of this upcoming 'session' wasn't about how much pain he could inflict. No, it was more for Maria than anything.
"Well, let's get started!"
What happened after that sent shivers down the spines of almost everyone watching. Many turned their heads away as the scene became too horrific to watch, while others threw up in disgust.
A few couldn't take their eyes away from the screen, but even their bodies trembled in revulsion as the scene was a bit too sickening for them.
Although the cultivation world might be a cruel, heartless place where torturing wasn't wrong or looked down upon, this was a bit too much.
Most people only tortured others when it was necessary, whether to get information out of them, for revenge, or to forcefully get what they wanted.
However, the masked man on the screen wasn't doing it for anything like that. One, he seemed to be enjoying it. Two, he didn't even say what 'wrongs' they've done, just the wrongs their daughter has committed.
He might've said, 'it was because their daughter was friends with a sinner', but the more intelligent people realized that was a big fat lie.
The masked man was just using Erika and Cole to set an example. An example that said, "This is what will happen to your loved ones if you become friends with Mira."
Most people didn't even know who this "Mira" person was, but they imprinted in their brains to stay far away from any named Mira.
Aelina, who was in the sky, frowned as she watched what was happening on the screen, but she didn't turn away. Once someone lives long enough, they'll see all sorts of atrocities, whether they like it or not.
Suddenly, a woman emerged before her and bowed.
"Reporting to the Sect Master! We were unable to find the origin of these recording devices. It seems whoever is doing this doesn't want us to miss their message."
Aelina nodded indifferently, but it seemed she was already expecting something like this. Whoever had the power to broadcast this scene to most of the Continent wouldn't be so stupid as to just leave the recording devices lying around.
"Alright. You may leave." Aelina waved her hand.
The woman bowed one more time before disappearing, leaving Aelina, who had an unreadable expression.
Her eyes pierced through the void onto Mira, whose body looked relaxed as if this was a normal day. In fact, even Aelina might've been fooled by this if she couldn't practically see a dense, illusory red mist seeping out of her body.
'It seems I'll have to make some preparations just in case she does something.' She shook her head, but then an idea struck her, and her eyes brightened, 'On second thought, maybe I could use her anger to our advantage.'
A smile slowly appeared on her as she thought about the future, but it quickly returned to normal.
The torture session went on for a few more hours. Just when the people thought it couldn't go on any longer, the masked man announced.
"Now, onto the finale! Be sure to watch closely, Maria. Make sure to sear this scene into your mind!"
