[A/N: This chapter has a non-sexual scene that some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.]
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"GahhhHHHHH!" Sage screamed in the forest, "You will not break me!"
The Finance Director was trying to cultivate, but it felt like she was bathing in alcohol with thousands of cuts on her body.
She wore blafk shorts and a muscle shirt, showcasing a network of veins around her meridian networks.
While she was trying her best to keep going, she couldn't handle the excruciating pain.
"You won't...." Sage whimpered, crashing to the ground, "Break me...."
It was nearly dark, and she was miles from campus, preventing people from hearing her scream. She refused to show weakness to the people she controlled.
Awhoooooo!
Sage's eyes snapped open when she heard a vicious howl from a wolf in the distance. "Mutant animals... I need to get up."
Heading the Scavengers, she got a crash course on mutant animals. Predators, especially, grew in size and strength by consuming Soul Qi directlya�"and wolves were predators.
Running off adrenaline, Sage got up against her body's will and started hobbling into the distance. The pace increased when she heard the beasts approaching at high speed.
GhhhHAHT! Grrrrr.
GHAT! Grrrrr.
Grrr Ghat! GHAT! Ghat! GrrRRrrRrrr GHAT!
Sage's meridians sucked in massive amounts of Qi, pushing past her limitations and allowing her to run at high speed through the forest.
The redhead couldn't think as she ran, seeing large shadows running at her from a distance.
"There has to be an opening somewhere!" She yelled, seeing the pack surround her, "There!"
There was only one direction that the beasts weren't covering or running, and she made a break for it. As she ran, the beasts slowed down and barked more.
It was easy for her to understand why.
"What is that!?" Sage gagged, smelling something putrid in the distance, "There's no way it's alive; that's what matters!"
Still, the stench got increasingly worse until she was coughing.
"This doesn't make sense...." She said in a haze, "There's no way this smell is coming from nowhere!"
In front of her was just another clear patch of forest, but the smell around it was unbearable.
GrrrrrRRrrrRrrr GHAT! GHAT!
The wolves stopped running and growled viciously, barking at her from a distance. The misbehavior made her heart pound, noting that the wolves could sense danger she couldn't.
Sage turned around and tensed up. Contrary to popular belief, wolves aren't large beasts; they are about the size of a labrador retriever but gain power from hunting in packs.
However, the wolves before her were the size of sheep and had silver fur matted with blood.
Soul Qi healed their bodies from the inside, but it didn't heal major wounds completely or previous scar tissue, so their bodies were scarred by vicious battles with other creatures.
So the creatures were four times larger, angry, and seemingly ready to fight anything.
GrrrrrRRrrrRrrr GHAT! GHAT!
GHAT! Grrrrr.
GhhhHAHT! Grrrrr.
Sage slowly backed up until she felt her entire world shift, looking at the wolves through a lens, like seeing the world with Minor Vision. She immediately recognized it. "Is this a barrier?"
The redhead quickly glanced behind her and saw a wall the size of the sanctuary.
Razor wire lined the top, but her new body told her she could crunch Earthian metal with her bare hands. So she turned around quickly and jumped higher than expected, scaling the wall and landing on the other side.
"Oh, dear God!" Sage gagged, puking when she saw the lake full of blood, "Is this where the blood went!? Why would he save it!?"
There was no blood in the ground around the mountain, proof of Kaze pulling it into the air with his technique.
However, it disappeared through a spatial rift, and no one had seen it again.
Now she was looking at all of it in one place, filling a small lake to the brim.
Grrr Ghat! GHAT! Ghat! GrrRRrrRrrr GHAT!
Sage snapped out of her haze when she heard the wolves go wild, indicating a new enemy had entered the area--a terrifying one. "Stay out!"
The wolves rushed the wall, scratching against it as a series of sickening cracks followed, making her turn and prepare to run around the lake.
As she approached the side, she saw dozens of unnaturally silver plants glittering on the ground. "What are these?"
CRrrreeeaakKkK! THUD!
She heard the door open, similar to the one in the Sanctuary, and fell, falling next to plants.
"If scavengers won't enter an area that reeks of death, why would you run toward it?" A hypnotic voice called out with biting disdain, "Has your common sense gone sour with your broken ego?"
"K-Kaze?" Sage asked, turning around and watching a figure walk through the gate, dragging a large black object into the area.
She couldn't tell whether she was grateful or terrified to see him.
"Don't move." Kaze said in a frigid tone, chilling her to the bone, "Unless you wish to die before making a choice."
As soon as he finished his statement, she heard the ground shifting, moving around as if it were alive.
The redhead saw a lone silver plant growing in real-time, stalking her. "W-What is this thing?"
"Bondage." Kaze said coldly, dragging a mutilated wolf to the area slowly, "Tell me, Sage Whitney Harrington. Do you still want me to punish you with these?"
After his question, multiple plants wrapped around her arm slowly, pricking her skin with a razor-like spine. More grew before her eyes, creating a barrier between her and the emperor.
Her heart beat like a machine gun, making her vision sharpen and her body tense.
"AH!" Sage gasped, feeling her muscles cutting against the plant, "K-Kaze, what is this!? I'll listen to whatever you have to say!"
"That's not what I asked." He said chillingly, stopping before the plants, which looked at the beast hungrily but moved out of his way as Immortals did.
"AghHhh!" She groaned, feeling the plants constrict against her skin, drawing blood. It was the most excruciating thing she could imagine, "This is my punishment!?"
"I don't recall calling this your punishment." Kaze smiled mockingly, "You were the person who wanted me to punish you with the thing I was searching for, yes?
Now that you've stumbled upon it by happenstance, I figured I'd ask."
"GahhHHhhHhh!" Sage screamed, feeling the vines carving into her arms viciously. Blood squirted from the cuts, soaking her entire body, "No! I don't!"
"Does that mean that you recognize that this isn't a game?" He asked coldly.
More vines wrapped around her bare legs, constricting and juicing her blood on the ground, making her tremble.
"What the fuck do you think!?" Sage screamed, "You call this a game? Could anyone consider this punishment for being a naughty girl?"
"I can save you from there and heal your wounds." Kaze smirked wickedly, making her heart pulse, "So this is no different than dungeon torture fantasies. Albeit much more like... hentai."
"This isn't funny!" She yelled, feeling another plant sliding around her shoulder, preparing a noose.
"I agree; it's not funny, Sage." He said coldly, freezing her anger, "I'm addressing your words and fantasies, not mine.
I don't find enjoyment in pain, even if someone asks for it, even if someone deserves it, and even if they're foolish enough to run into it and deserve it."
The redhead shook after his words, feeling the tendril wrapping around her neck like a scythe. "What do you want!?"
"For you to answer my questions." Kaze said coldly, "Do you still think this is a game?"
"What do you think!?" Sage yelled, blood dripping down her limbs, "That should be common sense!"
"It'd be common sense for someone else but not you, Sage Harrington." He replied coldly, "You've been courting death with a being far deadlier than this Grave Robber for the last two weeks as if it were a game. That's why I want to know."
THUD!
He stomped the ground, and the tendrils near him shot under the ground, and the ones against her skin loosened considerably.
Sage could feel the plant trembling, recognizing that he was the apex predator and was a serious threat to it.
While she was thankful, she was far more uncomfortable than before.
Kaze's image, walking toward her, reflected across her iris', and feelings of dread and terror she had never experienced welled in her heart.
She trembled as he dropped to his haunches, staring directly into his demonic green eyes.
"So you're going to tell me." He said chillingly, "If you answer correctly, I'll give you options.
Otherwise, you will spend the next week getting torn apart by this creature as it milks the maximum amount of Soul Qi from your body."
Kaze's eyes held no mercy. It was a psychopathic gaze that she had only seen in the mirror, and it made Sage recognize that there wasn't a shred of hope if she didn't comply.
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