483 Painfull Loss
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
A near animalistic growl filled with pain left Seth's mouth. At the moment, Seth had his eyes peeled open and his soul sense sweeping all around, trying to fully understand his current situation and find a way to get out of it. With his eyes, all Seth could see was a bright red, blurry flare; his sight could not accurately tell him whether he was being burnt by fire, but his body could feel the intense heat it was in the midst of, and with Seth's soul sense only getting burnt and hurt when it tried to seep through his surroundings, Seth could only trust the little information he had.
Knowing that he was in the midst of flames, Seth didn't have the luxury to think of whether or not Rose was setting up another attack or had an insidious plan for him, getting himself out of his situation was all that was on his mind, and as several long growls left his mouth, he had his dantian churning out as much qi as it could while he called for his darkness. With his efforts, Seth could feel his darkness appear, but immediately after that happened, he could also feel it being extinguished. As quickly as it came, so did it go, and with that, Seth was forced to rely on nothing but his physical strength to save himself.
With all his strength, Seth pulled, but it was all for naught, like a prisoner in chains, Seth's legs were spread apart and bound, and the same thing happened to his hands. For a whole minute, Seth only knew pain and the sound of his own voice, and then all of a sudden, the pain disappeared, and then a voice sounded.
"Amongst other things, you've developed quite a strong healing factor, but unfortunately for you, that just plays into my favor. Though I'm not sure how much energy you have in you to keep healing yourself, I'm sure you still have enough juice to keep you going for at least 30 minutes. A true testament of qi reserves. Tell me, Seth, right now, you've gone through just one minute of getting your body continuously burnt and healed, can you imagine doing that for 30 minutes?"
As the voice began speaking, Seth blinked his eyes, and this time could properly see his surroundings. The hot flames, whose intensity had died down until the flames now flickered just beneath his knees, the rope made of flames that wrapped around his wrists and ankles, the surroundings which were clear of any spectators, and the two women who were before him. Rose, with her usual cold arrogance, stood before Seth and spoke, while Tera, whose feet were now on the ground, stood behind her and looked at him with nothing but pity.
Though Seth heard all the words Rose spoke, it took his brain several seconds to process and understand them, and even then, he remained disoriented for several seconds, his head bowed down.
"Think of the pain; I know it hurts right to your soul. Stop with this stubbornness and realize your position."
With his head dropping, it wasn't long before Seth realized that he was stark naked, but his brain didn't dwell on that thought as he instead raised his head and stared at the women before him, particularly the red-haired one.
"You're offering me a way out, a bargain. What do you want in return?" Seth asked.
"Don't fool yourself; this is not a negotiation, Seth. What will happen here is either a surrender from you or a defeat that leaves you as nothing but a broken man, and if you're wondering why death isn't on the table, it's because of your clan. With the little I gave you, you've created something incredible, and I would like to know everything about how you did that."
"Ohh, let me think," Seth said, bowing his head and going silent, but then seconds later, Rose spoke.
"I'll take that as you refusing."
"No, I'm just thinking," Seth spoke in a muffled tone, but Rose wasn't buying any of his bullshit or interest in entertaining them, and the next second, the flames which had lessened and the pain which had gone were once more reawakened as Seth was taken back to a world of pain.
Perhaps if it were anyone else, the thought of bearing the devastating pain they had just been through once more and for a much longer time would have had them defeated, but this was Seth, while what he was feeling at the moment was in no way a joke, compared to the pain he was put through after being slashed with sword qi, this was nothing.
As the pain came once more, this time Seth was prepared and able to grit his teeth and let nothing but grunts leave his mouth. Seth's body shook as it was being tortured, the continuous regeneration of his body always repairing his flesh, keeping him alive and sending him back for more.
With the current situation, it looked like Seth was doomed, like he was merely putting himself through pain for no good reason, as with the current situation he would either die or more likely be broken.
With such thoughts, Seth's torturer and onlooker were at a relative calm, their defences not on the best considering the helplessness of their victim and their superiority to any being that would seek to intervene. It was three minutes into the start of his excruciating pain when Seth couldn't hold it back any longer and believed that Rose had let her guard down that he acted.
Using the rampant and surging movement of Qi in his body as cover, Seth took a deep breath and then, urging the vast various energies in his body, his head snapped up, and he opened his mouth. With a roar of defiance, powerful red flames shot out of Seth's mouth and charged the red-haired woman who was before him.
The flames came with unbound arrogance, looking to break everything in their way. Yet, when they arrived near their target, they found a wall of flames before them, and when they smashed into it, they found themselves unable to even budge the wall.
As she blocked Seth's attack, Rose's eyebrow twitched in irritation, but she kept silent and let the helpless being in front of her keep with his struggle. Close to a minute passed with Seth's futile breathing of fire, and then when exhaustion overtook him and his flames began dying down, she thought it was all over, however, a second later, her eyes narrowed, and with swiftness, she grabbed Tera who was behind her and had them rapidly retreat, barely escaping the red flames that came their way.
As Rose took a step in retreat, she asked herself a question. "Was that origin energy?"
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