Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 494: Insanity Of The Weak

Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 494: Insanity Of The Weak

Maia Claude rubbed her left cheek, a troubled look reflected in the creases along her brow as her gaze swept over Oscar and the rest while stroking her cheek, a deep frown forming on her red lips. He recalled punching her directly onto that side of her face long ago in Ashen Grove and couldn't help tensing up, his lips trembling to hold down the frown. Oscar gulped, averting his gaze from her. Did she feel something from him...something that brought up the memory of what he did to her?

"My Lady. Is there something wrong?" asked one of Maia's entourage, a woman in red armor, two swords hanging from her waist.

"Odd. Very odd." Maia bit her lip and glanced toward her left cheek. "I feel...something familiar and hateful." Her voice lowered to a chill as her eyes narrowed dangerously.

She did feel something! His mind rumbled in thunder, and his heart beat rapidly to the sounds of her heels clacking on the bloody ground, drawing closer with each echoing step. Oscar often experienced the same phenomenon when his instincts felt something was off or wrong, out of place, and dangerous. The grade-five transfiguration elixir changed his face, transformed his figure, and even shifted his voice, but it could not change who he truly was, not his soul or mind. Somehow, she had picked up on his presence.

"Excuse me, brave warrior. Can you tell me who you are?" Maia smiled, Ein swirling like whirlpools within her ruby pupils, and the prisoner in front of her smiled foolishly, nearly drooling. Maia scowled as the addled prisoner answered her with his identity.

She went down the line, asking her question to each person, and gave a thoughtful look at the ground after each one answered, seeming to be in deep pondering to herself. Oscar inwardly sighed in relief when Fred was passed over, but her sharp steps grew louder and closer until she reached him. Looking closer, Oscar had to admit from an objective view that Maia Claude had grown up to be a devastating beauty, her previous immature self nowhere to be seen, now grown up. But so what? Avril was far superior in his opinion as nothing came close to her golden stare and indigo hair matching the charming smile arcing from one dimple to another.

"Who are you?" Maia's spell bewitched him, her Marshal Exalt powers overwhelming all resistance he tried to muster even though the Ein showed she had just advanced into that realm. Avril's image distorted and twisted, white flowing and overcoming the indigo, a red bloodying the gold, dancing with a mischievous gleam, and the charming smile lowering as the dimples retracted. She had transformed into Maia, who smiled seductively, her pinkish tongue moistening her devil-red lower lip, inviting him over.

'Switch!' Oscar bellowed in his mind before it was taken over. Inside the inner world, before the glowing core, he gasped and clutched his heart in astral form, pounding his fist on the floor and grinding his teeth, his roars echoing back into his ears. He bashed his head on the floor, ignoring the cracks forming on his forehead, and continued to fight, desperately trying to force Maia's image to return to Avril's.

"I am Felix Gilles." Demon answered in a perverted voice with slobbery drool and maddened chuckles, something Oscar never expected from him. Maia's spell was canceled, and Avril's face returned, brightening his mind and curling his lips into a smile. He switched with Demon and woke up in the torture chamber, shivering from the cold sweat drenching his back.

"Take these prisoners away," Maia ordered.

The entire time Oscar was released and strung out of the chamber, Maia never took her eyes off them. As if a monster was on his heels, Oscar scampered through the exit and exhaled, his tense body loosening, when the door closed. Finally, it was over, but now, he knew the true terror of this place. The guard dragged them over in chains into the mess hall. There, Oscar saw Emily and the other women newcomers being led from another direction.

"Thirty minutes to eat your meal. Then return to your cells and await your assignments for tomorrow." The guards undid their chains and went away, leaving them alone.

His stomach growled, and Oscar was driven by hunger, rushing over to where they distributed the food. He opened the tray and frowned at the sloppy pasty mess in a bowl and a fruit on the side. Still, he ate worse in the past, so he took his plate to a table and sat with Emily and Fred, their faces bleak and exhausted.

"How are you holding up?" Oscar stuck a spoon in the bowl and dripped the runny, snot-like paste back down. He winced but placed the food in his mouth, chewing and nearly gagging. He swallowed and trembled, his stomach gurgling and in pain.

"They said this was only a taste. It'll be a longer session after today." Fred coughed and sipped his water.

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"You two always get me in trouble. I've never been tortured before." Emily paled and held her mouth. She glared at Fred. "You better not crack."

"You already know how Edclet is doing. He's only the start. What do you think happens to the others who become far worse?" Alec asked.

"...isolation?" Oscar answered.

"That's right. Like Davy." Alec turned a corner, and all hell broke loose.

"JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJI!"

"KAKAKAKAKAKAKA!"

"MEAT! MEAT! MEAT! I SMELL MEAT!"

"COME ON! JOIN ME HERE! KEKEKEKEKE!"

The air was rife with the unintelligible, crazed cries of countless others. Gnarled, bloody arms full of scars reached out through the small, narrow openings on the doors, squeezing between the iron bars, and banged on their doors—so many of them. So many arms and so many doors surrounded the corridor on both sides. Bloodshot eyes atop shriveled heads peeked out, and their mouths parted to show dirty, rotting teeth and cackled.

"AH! MAIA! MY LOVE! I'LL KILL EVERYONE FOR YOU!"

"FRESH MEAT! FRESH MEAT!"

"GUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGU!"

"This is isolation?" Oscar felt his blood drain from his body, and his veins froze. Not since the New Dawn had he seen such depravity and vile affront to modesty.

"You are aware now that the point of the tortures and seduction at the end is brainwashing us to become loyal soldiers. Simple controlling spells are too unreliable if the controller isn't always present. So they slowly feed it to us and instill the fear of disobedience and pleasure of serving." Alec stopped midway and faced Oscar with a dark and soulless look. "It's not a reliable method. So many become twisted and are reduced into madness before being converted."

"This is...insanity." Oscar slowly watched the horrific displays of the mad, the crazed.

"As long as we have strong wills, we can never become brainwashed, but we can always be broken. There is a way to reduce our chances of becoming like this." Alec stepped before Oscar. "And with your strength, we have a better chance."

"How so?" Oscar asked.

"The Cage Fights. Fight as one of us." Alec extended out his hand. "Only the strongest can thrive."