I regained consciousness but didn't open my eyes immediately. Instead, I sharpened my ears and listened to any sound I could hear.
'Two sets of breathing sounds... Guards, I guess.'
I remember how I was captured by Noir Zeshion. This place should be one of the bases for the Demon Tamers. In short, the guards before me should be Demon Tamers too.
I tried moving my hands, but they were tied by metallic bracelets binding both my wrists. A metallic chain kept me hanging from the ground, pulling my arms up in the air. The chains let off a sharp scratching sound as I tried to move them, earning the attention of the two guards.
"Did this trash wake up?"
One of the guards said this as his metallic boots sounded rhythmically over the hard stone floor. A moment of silence... Then an immense impact hit me in the diaphragm. My eyes spread wide open from the sudden pain, noticing the spear's butt that was used to hit me, lit by the flickering flame of a torch right outside the cell.
I coughed as I tried to breathe but could only gasp for air. In my ears, the system sounded and was about to use the halo to heal me, but I quickly stopped it. This is the advantage of upgrading my mental power after the two girls evolved before. I can now catch up to the almost instantaneous activation of the halo and halt it.
I wheezed as I glared at the guard holding the spear. He had a grin on his face as he looked at me with disdain.
"Yep, he's awake alright. Let's call Lord Agor. Come on."
He said this as he slapped the head of the other, earning an irritated click of the other's tongue. He hit the other man back, and they kept bickering with each other as they walked away.
I sighed, the pain I felt fading slowly. Now that I had my eyes open, I saw that I was locked in a cell. The bars were rusty, as if they hadn't been maintained for years. I looked up and saw the same rusty metal covering the chains that kept me hanging in the middle of the room.
"This is..."
I looked at it as I tried to circulate my energy. However, any energy that passes through the bracelets gets dispersed, effectively preventing me from using any form of active skill.
I looked down, and both my legs were tied by chains too. They were so thorough with locking me here that I'm getting the feeling that they overestimated my strength. Or maybe this is the lowest standard of confinement they could provide?
As I was lost in thought, three sets of footsteps echoed loudly. Two of them were familiar, as it was from the same two guards, who were still punching each other even now. It wasn't a playful punch, but rather an exchange of full and clean blows.
In front of them, Noir Zehsion swaggered straight to my cell. A fearless smile on his face.
"Hey, finally awake. You sure took your time."
He waved his right hand upward as he spoke. The shadow all over the other side of the cell moved and formed tentacles that squirmed disgustingly. The tentacles combined and formed a large black chair, upon which Noir sat.
"You should thank me for waiting for you to wake up naturally."
He added with a sneer. I glared at him, still unclear what his true intentions were. His expression was so hard to read that I'm not sure if he was even lying or not.
"No need to glare at me; I only need you for one thing. Do that, and I promise you I'll release you."
He said as he raised both his hands, appealing that he wasn't dangerous. However, I could see that he already had the entire cell covered with his energy. With just a snap of his fingers, I may end up turning into a honeycomb full of holes. Cold sweat fell down my forehead.
"What do you want?"
To my question, he smiled.
"I need you, an administrator, to activate my system. Easy, right?"
It really was an easy request; however, I fear the consequences of letting this man gain more power from the system. I gritted my teeth and shouted, "I refuse!"
"..."
His smile froze, as if not expecting me to refuse. Then, as his smile faded, a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. As he snorted his nose, unamused, something moved at a speed I couldn't react to and struck my head.
*SMACK!*
My neck was forced to turn to the right, almost tearing the muscles in it that went stiff on reflex. My cheeks felt a burning pain, and I could feel one of my teeth getting uprooted. The familiar taste of blood spread all over my mouth.
Shortly after, the stars in my vision faded. I spit out the loose tooth and saw that my spit was all blood.
"How about now? Feel like activating my system now?"
*THUD!*
Another blurry object smashed my stomach. I could feel my organs rupture along with the hit. Although I felt faint from the pain, I quickly stopped the halo from activating. It's not time yet.
"... I won't help you... Never!"
I declared between painful gasps.
After that, I got a thorough beating.
I finally realized that the true identity of the objects hitting me at speeds beyond my cognition was actually tentacles made of darkness, the same as what composed the seat he was on.
I got hit all over the body, almost disfiguring me. However, I stubbornly held strong and never bowed down to his threats.
"Tsk..."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance, as if getting tired of hitting me. Noir stood up and walked away, leaving words for the two guards, who had blue faces from watching the show from start to finish.
"You two, watch him. I need to snatch his administrator privileges before I search for the current System's Crowned Successor and kill them."
As he left, I desperately tried to keep my poker face. I don't know how he plans to snatch the administrator privileges I have, but to take the System's Crowned Successor title, he only needs to kill me.
'I can't wait for rescue; I need to escape!'
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