Chapter 558: I Want To Break My Shackles!
The other two sisters also turned.
And the moment they saw how terrified Charlotte looked their expressions immediately softened with sympathy.
Anya stepped forward to place a comforting hand on Charlotte’s shoulder.
"It’s fine, Charlotte." She said gently. "It’s alright. You can stay right here. No one is forcing you to come inside."
Astrid moved to her other side, wrapping her tail around her sister in a protective embrace.
"I can stay with you too." She offered. "I know how much the scene inside affects you."
Her face twisted with a grimace, as if recalling unpleasant memories.
"But it’s alright. We can go somewhere else while Mika and Anya takes care of business."
Hearing those words, Charlotte felt a wave of comfort wash over her.
Despite all their fighting, despite their petty squabbles, her sisters loved her.
They would protect her, support her, never force her to face her fears alone.
But still, she couldn’t accept it. She opened her mouth to speak—
"No"
Mika’s voice cut through the moment. It carried an unmistakable authority, a finality that brooked no argument.
"Charlotte is coming inside with us."
Hearing this, Astrid’s eyes flashed with indignation.
"No, Mika! I won’t allow it!" She pulled Charlotte closer, wrapping her arms around her sister protectively. "You know what she suffered in the past! You know what she had to see!"
Her voice cracked with emotion.
"I won’t allow my sister to go through that again!"
Anya stepped forward as well, spreading her arms like a shield.
"Please let Charlotte step out of this one, Mika."
Her voice was calm but firm. "She’s not ready for something like this yet."
Her eyes softened with pity. "You know what she’s been through. You were there as well...and got the worst out of it."
"So, please...let her stay out of this."
Both sisters stared at him with unwavering determination.
They were ready to fight for their sister, to protect her from the trauma that haunted her.
But Mika ignored them completely. Instead, he looked directly into Charlotte’s eyes.
"Is that what you want?" He asked, his voice gentle. "To stay out here and live in the darkness of your past for your whole life?"
Both sisters turned to look at Charlotte, fully expecting her to agree.
They knew their sister was absolutely terrified of what was going to happen inside.
Not just in the normal sense, where people could be scared of torture.
But in the sense that she was utterly traumatized because of the incident that had happened in her life.
Because of that, just the word ’torture’ alone made her shiver all over.
Even back in the restaurant, when the topic had been brought up, Charlotte had worn a smile on her face, but under the table, she had been clenching her skirt tightly, terrified by the mere mention of the word.
And right now, standing beside this room, she had completely broken down.
So both of them were certain Charlotte would back down.
But to their complete shock, Charlotte lifted her head.
Her eyes were still terrified, still hollow with fear.
But something else had kindled within them, a spark of determination, small but fierce.
"I...I am coming inside, Mika."
Her voice trembled, but the words were clear.
"I’m coming inside with you!"
"Charlotte, you can’t!" Astrid protested.
Anya shook her head firmly. "This is madness! You’re not ready!"
Charlotte just shook her head, her voice growing stronger.
"It’s just like Mika said. I can’t keep letting this fear rule over me. I’ve had enough."
She looked at her sisters with fondness, a smile trembling on her lips.
"I love that you want to protect me. I truly do." Her gaze hardened. "But I also want more. I don’t want to be a coward anymore."
"Not to mention..."
She turned her pained gaze toward Mika.
"Mika was the one who went through hell."
"But despite all the pain he suffered, he survived and stood tall."
"Me on the other hand..."
A self-deprecating laugh escaped her.
"...I was simply a witness back then."
"But here I am, fearing shadows, while he was the one who walked through fire for me."
Her fists clenched at her sides. "So don’t anyone stop me. Today, I am breaking through my shackles, no matter what!"
Mika met her gaze...and nodded.
A look of approval shone in his eyes, a silent acknowledgment of her courage.
Seeing that, Charlotte felt her resolve strengthen.
She still trembled, still felt the cold grip of terror squeezing her heart.
But with Mika’s approval, with her sisters’ love, she felt strong enough to face whatever lay beyond that door.
Anya and Astrid exchanged a glance. They could see the determination in their sister’s eyes, could feel the shift in her resolve.
There was no dissuading her now.
Anya sighed, reaching out to grab Charlotte’s hand.
"Alright, Charlotte. But if you really can’t handle it..."
Her voice softened. "Tell your big sister, and I’ll drag you out if I have to."
Astrid smiled, adding. "You can use my body as a shield. Peek over whenever you need to, and peek back whenever you’re terrified."
Charlotte looked at her sisters, love swelling in her chest.
Seeing that Charlotte had finally made up her mind, Mika reached for the door handle. He pulled it open, revealing the oppressive room beyond.
And then, without hesitation, he stepped inside.
Charlotte, her hands clenched at her sides, forced herself forward.
It was time to face the trauma that had haunted her for so many years.
—
The moment they stepped inside, they found themselves in a white, sterile room, bathed in harsh, unyielding light.
Every surface gleamed with an almost unnatural perfection.
In the center of the room sat three men, each bound to a chair positioned side by side. Their wrists and ankles were shackled to the chairs, and the chairs themselves were bolted into the ground.
Even if they thrashed, even if they threw their full weight against the restraints, escape was impossible.
The chairs had been built specifically to contain blessed with enhanced strength who might otherwise break free.
Charlotte took in the scene, and for a moment, she was stunned.
She had expected blood splattered across the walls, pieces of flesh scattered across the floor, a nightmare scenario that would haunt her dreams for weeks.
She knew just how terrifying her sister could be, had imagined Anya tearing these men apart piece by piece, leaving behind a gruesome tableau of suffering.
But the room was completely neat.
Not a single hint of blood. Not a single sign of violence.
Then realization dawned on her.
Anya wasn’t like other torture specialists.
Others had to clean up the mess after their work—sponging blood from floors, disposing of severed appendages, scrubbing away the evidence of their brutality.
But Anya simply had to wave her hand.
Whatever piece fell off from the body—whether bone, flesh, or blood could be instantly reverted back into the body itself.
If she pulled out a tendon, she could push it back.
If a liter of blood leaked out, she could reverse the flow, making it as if they had never been touched at all.
That was why the room was so clean. The horrors that had occurred here had simply been...undone.
But there were obvious signs of what Anya had done.
As soon as all four of them stepped inside, the three prisoners’ reactions told the entire story.
They didn’t dare to look up at her, not even once.
Despite their fierce expressions, faces that belonged to battle-hardened soldiers, they immediately looked down or away from Anya, as if she were some devil from the deepest pits of hell.
Even when they glanced up, a look of pure terror would flash in their eyes before they quickly averted their gaze again.
The evidence of Anya’s work was written in their trembling bodies and fearful glances.
But it also showed their resilience.
Despite their obvious terror of her—they hadn’t spoken up at all.
Their fear of something else, something on the other side of that realm, was far more terrifying than any pain Anya could inflict.
Anya, for her part, looked like a little kid who had just been presented with a bunch of new toys.
Her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement as she surveyed the prisoners.
"What are you going to do now, Mika?!"
She asked, her voice carrying a note of giddy anticipation.
"Before you say anything, let me show you all the toys I prepared for you!"
She waved her finger, and from the spatial ring on her hand, a cascade of objects poured out onto the metal table beside her.
They landed with soft metallic clicks, arranged neatly like surgical instruments.
But when you took a closer look, you’d wonder why exactly this one had a diamond-tipped vice weapon.
Why that one had sharp spikes sticking out of it in cruel patterns.
Why this one looked like it was designed to pull something out of a person’s body with agonizing slowness.
The three men on the chairs saw the tools emerge and began shivering all over, as they had personally experienced over there body not too long ago
Meanwhile, Anya picked up a single tool, a delicate instrument with a curved, razor-sharp edge.
"Maybe we can start off with peeling open the skull."
She mused, her voice carrying a playful lilt.
"I could scrape a bit of the brain matter out using this. It’s quite precise, you know. You wouldn’t even feel the initial incision."
She set it down and picked up another, a thin, serrated blade.
"Or perhaps we could do a degloving instead. Slowly strip the flesh from the fingers, one by one. Make them have bony fingers, like little skeleton hands."
She chuckled, as if she had just told the biggest joke in the world.
"Wouldn’t that be fun?"
She reached for a third tool, but before she could continue—
"Stop it, Anya!"
Astrid’s sharp voice cut through the room like a whip.
Anya turned, surprised, and followed her sister’s gaze. Her expression shifted when she saw what Astrid had noticed.
Charlotte was trembling.
Her body shook with barely contained fear, her face pale as paper.
The words Anya had been speaking, the vivid descriptions of torture had triggered something deep within her.
Because of that she had hidden behind Astrid’s fluffy tail, using it like a shield, peeking out at Anya with wide, terrified eyes.
Anya realized what she had done wrong.
Immediately, her usual composed smile became apologetic, her eyes softening with genuine remorse.
"I’m sorry, Charlotte." She said quickly, her voice losing its playful edge. "I just got a little too excited when I saw these three again."
She glanced at the prisoners, a glint of dark fascination in her eyes.
"After all, even though it hurt my dignity that I couldn’t make them confess, the fact that they’re still resisting..."
She smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile.
"It makes me want to pull them apart even more."
The three men unconsciously cowered back, pressing themselves deeper into their chairs.
Astrid just rolled her eyes at her sister’s bloodthirsty enthusiasm.
"Anyway, I’m not going to be the one interrogating them right now."
Anya turned toward Mika, her expression shifting to one of anticipation.
"It’s Mika who taught me everything I need to know!"
Mika clicked his tongue, a look of mild irritation crossing his face.
"Stop treating me like your master, Anya. I don’t remember accepting a sadistic disciple like you."
He let out a deep sigh, his eyes settling on the three prisoners.
But they wouldn’t meet his gaze. Not with Anya standing beside him.
After all, if the devil herself praised him, what kind of monster must he be? They kept their heads down, unwilling to see his face, afraid that even a glimpse would shatter their defenses.
Mika spoke at last, his voice weary, almost tired.
"To be honest. just yesterday, I had to break apart an entire family. Murdered them right as the target watched, even lost his daughter in the process."
"And unlike her, who actually enjoy this sort of thing..."
He glanced at Anya, who preened at the implied praise.
"...I don’t prefer doing jobs like this at all."
He turned back to the prisoners, his eyes scanning each of them in turn.
"That’s why I want to make this as quick as possible. Try to make it easy for both of us."
He paused, letting the silence stretch for a moment.
"So I’m giving you one single chance. One chance only."
"Right now, if you confess whatever you need to confess, tell us everything we need to know, I’ll let you off. Everyone here will even help you out with whatever you want."
His tone shifted, growing colder, more dangerous.
"But if you’re really so stubborn, if you’re willing to hold on to whatever secrets you have locked inside your heads..."
He shrugged in a casual, almost dismissive manner.
"Then I’m sorry. But that will not end well for you. Trust me on that."
