158 Chapter 158

Gabriel's consciousness was trapped inside the Realm of Darkness, unable to use his Element. Even though his control over his Grimoire had improved a lot throughout the last few days, it was still not enough for him to be able to call his Grimoire here.

He was lying on the ground, with a dark force acting over him. His hands were before him, having both the elemental marks. The only difference was that his black ring wasn't here.

Even though he wasn't bleeding at the moment, that was only because he wasn't here in his spiritual form. If he were here with his real body, he would've been covered in blood.

"One last time, I'm asking you! Gabriel, don't be stubborn! Tell me where the Ancestral Staff of Darkness is and I might take mercy on you and not hurt you too much!"

"I suppose your mercy doesn't include letting me leave this place?" Gabriel asked as he still kept resisting the dark force acting up on him.

"I'm afraid you aren't that lucky anymore. If you had brought me the Staff without trying to betray me, this wouldn't have to be done. But you... I can't forgive betrayal."

Lira was quite similar to Gabriel in that regard, as he hated being betrayed. Even when she was with Gabriel, the villagers broke a promise they made to her, which made her destroy the entire village in anger.

Even Lambard knew what kind of personality Lira had. She never forgot a betrayal, let alone one she received from someone whom she taught so much.

It was a situation where both were wrong, yet both were right at the same time. Lira had trusted Gabriel to bring the staff back, even though she considered him beneath her. She trusted him, and by trying to control the Staff that he was sent to retrieve, she believed Gabriel betrayed her trust.

At the same time, Gabriel also wasn't wrong in his place. He was going to give the staff to Lira like he promised. He just wanted one safety mechanism before he did that. He didn't consider trying to protect himself as a betrayal. No matter what, he couldn't have blindly trusted Lira.

If she wasn't going to let him leave, then negotiating with her wasn't worth it for Gabriel. For him, the pain was much better than a lifetime of imprisonment.

He forced his body up, even as he felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of ice-cold metal spikes.

Seeing Gabriel still trying to defy her, Lira has had enough.

"That's it. If you want to defy me so much, I'll show you what happens to the ones who do that. I'll make sure to break your mind and soul, and I'm going to enjoy it now!"

Lira stomped on Gabriel's hand, which had the mark of Death. Lira was usually not very heavy, but in this place, even her stomp felt like a weight of thousands of tons was behind that stomp.

"Arghh!" Gabriel roared. It was as if all the bones in his right hand were broken under the stomp, which was a pain he felt all through his body.

"Lira, I will kill you!" he roared as he used the pain to force his body to. Since his soul was already under the pain, what was more pain of being stabbed in his back by thousands of needles? The only problem was the heavy weight that was keeping him pressed down.

"Arghh!"

Since he couldn't get under the heavy weight, he only had one open. He pulled his hand back and rolled to the side until he was out of the heavy pressure before standing up.

Unfortunately, once again, a mysterious force tossed him back. In Lira's domain, Gabriel's soul was like a toy for Lira, especially since he couldn't use his strength.

*****

[A few hours ago]

"Dark Soul Prison?" A new spell had appeared in Lira's holy Grimoire, which she never saw before. Moreover, it was the peak of High Tier spells. Even she was stunned to know what this spell could do.

According to her description, this spell could only be cast when certain conditions were met.

As for the condition, it stunned Lira even more. According to the spell description, it could only be used when someone was trying to bind her Ancestral Staff. It made the uses of this spell very limited, but it was also very important as it worked to protect her Ancestral Staff from someone else's control.

She also managed to find out that someone was trying to take control of her Ancestral Staff. Initially, she didn't know who it could be, but whenever it was, she needed to stop them at any cost!"

It wasn't until she cast the spell and entered the Dark Soul Prison that she realized it was Gabriel who was doing it!

****

[Present time]

"I must say, even I didn't expect you to be this stupid! You really thought you could control my staff? MY STAFF?"

Gabriel's body fell around twenty meters away from Lira on the ground.

"You will regret the moment you decided to go against me, young one!" Lira made a circle in the air with her hand. The dark energy around Gabriel only intensified following her graceful gesture.

The dark energy didn't attack Gabriel this time. Instead, Gabriel felt as if some kind of shackles had wrapped themselves around his ankles and his wrist.

The mysterious dark energy didn't press his body to the ground. Instead, it made his body start rising in the air.

Gabriel's hands were spread as he was raised in the air, shackled by the dark energy. The dark energy kept him in place, making him unable to move.

It was like he really was a prisoner here.

Lira walked closer to Gabriel, taking slow yet firm steps. "Don't worry. I won't ask you to tell me where my staff is. Instead, you'll tell me yourself! You'll be begging to tell me! At this point, I really hope you don't break too soon!"

"You thought what happened before was painful?" she asked, stopping merely a few inches away from Gabriel as his body floated at a height where his eyes were at the level of her eyes.

The shackles and the dark energy were holding him so firmly on the ground that no matter what he tried, he couldn't move.

Lira looked into the angry yet deep eyes of Gabriel as her cold hands gently touched his cheeks. "What happened before was just warmup, little one. It's only now that you'll realize what true pain actually means…."