A few days after the Edinnica battle concluded.
Somewhere in the kingdom of Layos.
A secret underground facility hosted a grisly scene. The dimly lit hall reeked of blood and death, with fresh corpses of mortals and rankers scattered about.
Some bodies suffered unspeakable torture, while others appeared to have had an easier death. Demonic runes slithered over some corpses, suspending them mid-air, and blood droplets fell from their wounds like leaky taps.
The atmosphere was heavy with misery and suffering.
"Aaaaaaargh!"
An Ace-ranked young man cried out in agony. His ranking powers were sealed by a special array. His body was suspended in mid-air in a cross position, with numerous cuts and bruises on his bare torso.
This time, Reva's main focus of torture wasn't mortals. The rankers she chose for her ritual practiced a different ranking technique circulated by her to a select group of people. It was different from the one used by mortals like Sara. This ranking technique allowed mortals to enter Novice rank but capped their potential at E-rank.
The use of victims who practiced this type of ranking technique was relatively less effective in demonic rituals. As a result, Reva had not proliferated this technique as much as her go-to one among mortals.
The man's body fought against the foreign mana invasion, but it was helpless against the Expert-ranked mana, which caused his wounds to fester and bleed uncontrollably.
Reva Rain, the infamous Paladin of Pain, had always been a master at her craft. She knew how to inflict pain and make her victims suffer, but for some reason, her skills faltered.
Her hand, once steady and precise, now shook uncontrollably as she tried to hold the scalpel. Her mana control was affected by her psychological condition, and as a result, she couldn't torture the Ace-ranked victim the way she wanted to.
The room was dimly lit, with only the flickering of a few candles illuminating the blood-soaked walls. Reva Rain stood in front of her latest victim, a young Ace-ranked warrior, who was bound by spatial runes produced by the array beneath him.
Reva had looked forward to this session, but now she felt frustrated and angry.
Reva Rain always believed torturing Ace Rankers was her comfort zone. They were tougher and more resilient than mortal victims, but not strong enough to withstand her torture for long.
But now? Reva felt her youth, her prime was robbed by someone. She struggled to perform even in her comfort zone. She couldn't believe that the effectiveness of her demonic rituals had dropped to this extent.
Reva's scalpel danced across the man's body, leaving deep cuts and bruises in its wake. She chanted incantations under her breath, channeling her mana into each cut, making them fester and bleed even more.
The man's screams echoed through the underground facility, but Reva was in her element. She was a master of pain, and nothing could stop her.
Or so she thought.
Minutes passed, and the man's body was covered in cuts, bruises, and festering wounds. His screams turned into hoarse gasps for air, but Reva wasn't done yet. She wanted to push him further, to make him suffer even more.
She produced a whip laced with demonic runes and began to lash the man's already battered body. With each lash, she chanted another incantation, channeling her mana into the whip to make it even more painful.
The man's body convulsed with each lash, but Reva didn't stop. She was lost in sadistic pleasure, pushing herself further than before. The pain was intoxicating, and she couldn't get enough.
However, she soon realized something was wrong. Her torture methods did not align with her demonic ritual in the right manner. Her incantation timing was off. The way she inflicted pain on the man didn't reach its peak at the right time.
The Ace-ranked victim cried and writhed in pain, but it wasn't enough. Reva Rain needed more.
She needed to feel the rush of power with each successful ritual. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her hand, but it was of no use.
Her jitters took over, and she couldn't focus.
Reva was used as an organ dispensing machine. The scenes of that battle kept flashing before her eyes, giving her nightmares.
"Will you keep quiet? Stop squealing and moving around, you swine," she hissed at the Ace-ranked victim. She blamed him in her head for everything going wrong with her demonic ritual.
Reva Rain slapped him hard with her free hand, hoping to shock him into submission. But it was useless. The Ace-ranked victim continued to squirm and scream like a headless chicken, and Reva Rain's frustration grew.
She gripped her scalpel tightly, her eyes fixed on her victim's flesh. The demonic runes over the scalpel were activated steadily this time, sans erratic mana fluctuations. Reva Rain smiled wickedly when she felt like she was back in the game.
She took a long breath before carving the Ace ranker's flesh. But for some reason, the Ace ranker's body didn't react to her torture. Even the restriction array was dimmed for some reason, indicating that most of its functions were deactivated.
Reva Rain didn't understand what had happened. She looked up in irritation only to see the Ace ranker's head had burst like a watermelon damaged by a single hammer swing.
"What the hell?" she exclaimed.
Reva Rain felt something wet on her free hand and looked down. It was covered in her victim's fresh blood and gray matter. The Paladin of Pain got angry at the dead ranker for dying of a minor slap. She looked at his dead body as if he had some explaining to do.
"Fuck! Useless pigs!" she cursed.
Reva Rain kicked the Ace ranker's corpse away and sent it flying toward the pile of corpses accumulated in the corner. She threw the scalpel away in anger and ran her bloody fingers through her hair.
It seemed that this was not the first time her demonic ritual failed. Ever since her fight with Eren, she lost her ability to perform her demonic ritual effectively.
This was because Reva Rain got flashbacks of Eren dissecting her organs every time she tortured her victims. These flashbacks would shake her from within and make her lose control of herself.
It was safe to say that the Paladin of Pain was traumatized after her confrontation with Eren. She could not perform demonic rituals as efficiently as before.
But she knew she had to overcome her fear and regain her former power. She wanted to become the Paladin of Pain again.
A newly minted term to describe Reva's current situation- Torturetile Dysfunction. ;)
