Priscilla opened her mouth and let out a deep gasp as she gulped in mouthfuls of air in a hurry!
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
She started to cough as she tried to bring her hand to her mouth. But she was surprised when she couldn't raise her hands. Priscilla tested to see if she could move her feet and she was stunned when she couldn't move them either! What was happening?
Priscilla opened her eyes slowly as she looked around blearily. Where was he? Isn't she meant to be dead? She could still remember the feeling of the water going into her lungs and the inhuman strength that held her down as she tried her best to take in air. The feeling of drowning isn't something that you can just forget.
Floid definitely killed her... Right? Priscilla was sure that Floid killed her. But if he killed her, then where is she? How is she still alive?
"Down with the witch!"
"Kill her! She is the one that led them to us!"
"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"
"Fucking fake queen!"
The screams of people in front of her made Priscilla look down sharply and she finally got a good look at what was in front of her. She was on some sort of hill with hundreds of people surrounding her on every side. The people were all holding torches and pitchforks and Priscilla could tell that they were unbelievably angry with the way they were shouting and pointing at her. What the fuck was this? Is it some sort of revolution?
Priscilla tried to move her hands and feet, but she couldn't because she was tied to a post with firewood all around her. This whole thing reminded her too much of the times she sentenced people to die by being burned at a stake. Priscilla almost chuckled. The likelihood of something like that happening to her was impossible. She was sure that this was just a joke by someone to make her feel stupid.
She immediately tried to break out of the ropes, but there was no strength in her hands or feet. She was so weak.
What the hell was going on? If this is a joke then it has gone on for far too long!
A voice spoke up from beside Priscilla.
"Humans are really something else, aren't they? Even the smallest bit of suggestion would make any of them rebel against authority. It's almost like they have been waiting for an opportunity like this for years, and once they saw their chance, they just couldn't resist."
Priscilla looked down and saw Floid standing there with his hands folded. He was looking at the humans with a grin and then he turned to her and spoke when she tried to talk to him.
"Don't even try to speak, they broke your throat a long time ago. Unfortunate, isn't it? All this hate and you don't even have the voice to defend yourself. If you're wondering where you are, this is what is left of your kingdom after the invasion. The small number of survivors found you and decided that you were the cause for all their misfortune and here we are."
Priscilla turned back to the people in shock and saw their angry faces and how they were shouting and she couldn't believe how fucking stupid these people were! They think she was the cause of it all! Don't they see the fucking monster standing right in their midst!? Are they insane!? The cause of all their problems was right there!
But hold on. Weren't we just in front of a river? And now we are standing on a hill?
Priscilla thought about this for a moment and she realized how stupid she also was. Floid already showed her how powerful his illusions were, so it is obvious that this wasn't real. This was just another illusion that Floid made to fool her!
Priscilla turned down and glared at Floid and Floid grinned back at her. It was almost like he could read exactly what she was thinking because, at the next moment, he spoke again.
"So you think it is an illusion, do you? Well, okay then. Maybe it is or maybe it isn't. I'll let you decide that for yourself,"
And with that, Floid turned and started to walk away as the humans swarmed around her and started to throw their torches on the firewood around her! Priscilla grit her teeth and simply waited for the illusion to break.
Priscilla was a scholar in magic and she knew that illusion magic had its limits. There was only so much that magic could accomplish before it loses its effects. One of the things that Priscilla knew was that you cannot feel pain when you are in an illusion! Illusions happen inside your head and that means your physical body doesn't feel anything happening to you! This fire would not even hurt because it was only an illusion!
Phwoom!
But once the fire reached her body and covered her, an indescribable amount of pain surged through her entire body as Priscilla felt herself burning!
"Kaaakkkk!!!!! Akkkkkkk!!!!"
Priscilla opened her mouth and tried to scream, but the only things that came out were broken sounds as her broken throat tore itself apart even more! Blood spewed from her mouth as she tried to call out for help!
It hurt! It hurt so much! Why does it hurt so much!?
Priscilla trashed around in her bonds and her hands and feet bled as she tried to break out from the ropes! But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't break it!
Priscilla could feel her eyes boiling and melting and she barely caught a glimpse of Floid standing at the back of the crowd with that same condescending look in his eyes before she went blind and slumped.
Five minutes later, she was dead.
........
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
This time, Priscilla woke up screaming like a mad woman! She immediately brought her hands up to her throat and scratched at her throat as she felt herself releasing sound! I can talk! I can finally talk!
These words surged through her mind and she opened her eyes and looked around her in fear! Once Priscilla looked forward, her eyes landed on Floid again and she immediately screamed in fear and fell back! Floid smiled at Priscilla, but it only served to make her more scared!
Priscilla immediately tried to understand now she was here! She was sure she died! She was sure that she died this time so why is she here!? There is no way that she just came from an illusion! That pain she felt was real. The fear she felt was real! That was definitely the real world! There is no way she will forget the pain that she felt as her entire body was burned!
Then, does that mean that this is an illusion?
That was the only explanation that Priscilla could come up with. This has to be an illusion since she was still alive. She should definitely be dead by now. But if this is an illusion, and that previous death was also an illusion, then why am I feeling so much pain!?
Priscilla felt like she really experienced all those deaths! Priscilla couldn't answer this question so she only looked back toward Floid.
Floid spoke once he saw that Priscilla was no longer screaming.
"I'm surprised you're still conscious. I expected you to have passed out by now at the very least. Maybe I didn't give you as much credit as you deserved,"
Priscilla heard what Floid said and she immediately stuttered out a question. What the hell was Floid doing to her? What was happening?
Floid's grin widened as he heard her question and he answered in a curious tone.
"Have you ever wondered about the differences between humans and demons before? I've been very curious about anatomy for some time now and I decided to satisfy one of my many curiosities once and for all. Do humans and demons experience pain differently? I recently experimented on a demon, but I wasn't able to get much before he died and I feel the experiment was incomplete. So, I'll be using you as the next test subject."
Everything Floid said was the truth. The person that he conducted the previous experiments on was Reginald. Reginald went through hundreds of torture techniques under Floids watch and Floid didn't spare any method to cause Reginald a lot of pain as he tried to satisfy his sadistic tendencies.
But back then, Floid wasn't able to finish the experiment since he was busy with Givalich and he had other priorities. But now, Floid didn't have anywhere to be and he could spend as much time as he needed on Priscilla.
The technique Floid was using was an advanced version of his regular Illusion magic. Floid's illusion magic was strong enough to fool anyone and he could spread it across entire cities to hide them from the world if he wanted.
If Floid concentrates all of this power down into a single person, then Floid can create a new phenomenon inside of the person's mind called [Lucid Illusions]. This illusion method allowed Floid and whoever he puts under the illusion to experience ultra-realistic scenarios inside the person's mind. In those scenarios, Floid was in complete control and the person he paced in the illusion would feel everything from the dream world like it was real.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Very fitting for someone like you,"