Chapter 153 (1/2)

They arrived, and cloth bags were put over their heads. Their hands were bound with a strange metal that felt extremely cold to the touch and resisted even Randidly’s extreme strength. They were hurried off on what Randidly could feel were cobblestone streets, and then they finally arrived at a place where their bags were removed.

It was a courtroom. They were tried as bandits who assaulted the soldiers of Tomkat and were found summarily guilty. They didn’t ask for a defense, but did ask whether Randidly, as the perpetrator, would claim any style as his own.

Randidly was standing up front, as the one who committed the crime, so he could not see Shal’s reaction. So he stood silent, considering for several seconds. But this was a world where you bore your strength and pride everywhere you went. This was the land of the Tassle.

So against his instincts, Randidly lifted his head and said. “...I am the youngest generation of the Spear Phantom Style.”

There were some mutterings amongst the guards, and the group was quickly rebagged and whisked off. In his brief time with vision, Randidly was delighted to see that it seemed none of the women from the Willow Tree Spear Style had been captured, or the other big bandit group that belonged to Dehark. It was only the loners and the weak that had been swept up.

Although he felt a small amount of pity in his heart for these people, Randidly couldn’t bring himself to care overmuch. He was just glad he had not immediately brought doom to the Willow Tree Spear Style immediately after they had given him a gift.

They were brought to another room, or at least Randidly was, and he was roughly searched. They appeared to be looking for an interspatial storage device, but although they were extremely rough, they were not thorough. Tucking the ring under his tongue worked. Which honestly made him wonder about how this prison continued to be effective, but the bag was once more placed over his head, and he was whisked forward.

He felt it, when they passed into the area where time had been altered. It was like stepping outside on a humid day. Even if the heat hadn’t started to get to you, the very air seemed to cling to you. Further and further he was dragged by guards, until he was thrown roughly into a room. The door closed, and there was silence.

Randidly lay there, uncomfortable with his hands bound behind him, but waited a bit longer to move. After a while, realizing he was done being moved, Randidly stretched his arms and brought his legs to his chest, getting his hands around his feet, so that he was now bound by the metal handcuffs in front, not in back. Then he removed the cloth bag from his head.

The room was dark, so dark that even with his improved eyes, and Eyes of the Spear Phantom, it was very hard to see. But he could faintly make out complicated lines drawn on the floor in a strange formation. It seemed oddly familiar, but Randidly couldn’t place it. Instead, he straightened and sat down to meditate.

That first night passed slowly, as Randidly, almost curiously, experienced his first night in prison. He focused on meditating and Mana Strengthening, straining against the handcuffs. But it truly seemed like they were made of a very powerful material. It was far beyond his ability to break at present.

The only activity of note was that at one point, footsteps began to draw closer. Randidly instinctively tensed, waiting for this “Battle Intent Torture” to begin. But the footsteps came to his door, and there was only a soft click. Then the footsteps went away.

Randidly blinked, confused. But then, the floor began to glow; the formation had been activated. Increasingly nervous, Randidly settled down to wait.

After 12 hours of waiting, he had at least one answer; he knew why he recognized the formation somewhat. It was a variant of the one that Shal had. It isolated Aether in the air, allowing none into the small chamber. At this point, Randidly felt slightly dizzy, and the Aether inside of him began to stir. Carefully, extremely carefully, Randidly reached for it, removing only a thread, and drawing it into his body. More began to rise, countless threads reaching to bore into his body, but Randidly concentrated and pushed them back.

Some of what Shal had said made sense now. This was why this wouldn’t work on him. This was likely an Aether starvation type torture, coupled with the Battle Intents that were to come. He would be weakened, and then assaulted. After all, the physical toughness of most warrior’s in this world was high, but Endurance couldn’t completely block damage done with Battle Intent. That had been impressed upon Randidly by how he had been knocked unconscious by that furious wave immediately after he had killed that soldier.

Still, after repeated exposure to Battle Intent, wouldn’t-

Then Randidly froze, finally seeing the cruelty of this type of torture. Being exposed to this would fuel rapid growth, especially because it would involve pain and a powerful desire to escape that pain with strength. But to fuel that growth…

The body needed Aether. Randidly wasn’t sure what would happen when a body wanted to grow without Aether to fuel it, but he suspected it would be similar to what would happen to a starving man if he tried to perform a high intensity cardio workout. The body would be driven into the ground.

Equally chilling was the mental effect. When you realized it was your desire that was causing you this grief, it would likely slowly chip away at your will, as you flinched away from the pain.