Chapter 72: Slaying the Torturers
After borrowing the Painting of Contrived Lovers to make a clone and only a clone, Restiel left. Just holding the item in his hands was enough. He could retrieve it later with Mirror World Thief.
Rie was then summoned and Restiel disappeared.
He was going elsewhere.
Thus, we shift our eyes to Javelin, whose skin was being regenerated, only to be torn from his body for the nth time this week.
He was still suffering under the torture. Cavrien had long perished thanks to Magnus. The man had experienced something greater than death. Dying was the only mercy he could give to him.
'Seeing him suffer like that is... unpleasant,' Magnus still vividly remembered the incoherent cries that never seemed to end. He shivered at that thought.
Killing the man was the right choice. At least, that's what he believed.
The other option was assimilating him into the Hivemind, but Magnus did not feel the need to.
Cavrien was simply not valuable enough to him.
He was better as sustenance for his Soul Devourer Art.
"Now," Restiel stretched his wings as a certain disconnection descended upon Javelin.
The curse that landed upon the members of the Hivemind was nullified by Restiel's purifying Divine Energy.
He could act despite the darkness. He could move despite the grasp of a million writhing and torturous tentacles.
Restiel thus slashed out before any more torture could fall upon the beings in the room.
His scythe pierced through the air, cutting through the outlines in the darkness.
HISSSSSSSSSSSSS
There were no screams of pain nor wails of defiance. Only the searing sound of evaporation rang out as the darkness receded with Restiel's light. A few thousand tentacles were wriggling without a master at Restiel's feet.
"Gah!" Restiel flinched as one of those broken-off tentacles made contact with his skin.
A stream of pain surged through him, forcing him down on one knee.
It ran like a flame inside his veins. Impossible to bear.
Magnus now experienced the pain wrought by these Blobs of Torment first hand. It was a sheer wonder that Cavrien survived more than a week of such pain.
[ No wonder he went insane, ] Magnus sighed.
Restiel slashed out again.
This time with as much of his Divine Energy he could muster. Those tentacles at his feet evaporated as divine light swept over them. A pulse of energy rushed out of Restiel's body, moving like a tsunami against the Blobs of Torment.
HISSSSSSSSSSS
That was all that rang in Restiel's ear as a few jellyfish-like carcasses fell to the ground, half-roasted. Half-purified.
The death of a few of these monsters made room for Magnus to appear.
Using gravity to hold Kelvin in the air, he pulled the trigger after aiming where his gut told him to aim.
BOOM!
A heart-shaking blast rang out and kicked up dust. The sonic boom wrought about by a bullet of Spirit Energy shook Magnus' hair.
A dozen Blobs of Torment were pierced through, and they fell. The darkness of their curse power receded instantly with their lives, allowing Magnus to see a line of translucent carcasses all lying together. They looked like a river of mush and jelly.
BOOOOOM!
The Spirit Energy bullet hit the Torture Room's distant wall and blasted a deep hole into existence.
"Worthy of a 3-star weapon," Magnus chuckled as he folded the gun—which he realised was originally made out of origami before it was turned into an artefact—and shoved it into a Storage Scroll. "It's also a pleasant surprise that these Blobs of Torment don't count as an observer for Kelvin's Curse of the Unseen."
It was half a mystery how such an item came into being.
After all, guns were not a prominent weapon in the world of Aodis before the Otherworld Trials. They did not have the technology for them yet. Magnus learned of this from Arlon.
Only their art was a hundred times more 'advanced' than earth. They explored the concepts of higher technology with their art first before moving towards it with science.
It was something Magnus found amazing. Gallery was a city where art congregated. Perhaps those towers he left unexplored had things like teleporters, laser guns, biomechanical arms, and more.
Feeling his thoughts moving astray, Magnus shook his head.
There was still an endless sea of Blobs of Torment lingering about.
The Torture room was absolutely filled with these mindless monsters. They appeared from out of nowhere and would disappear just as quickly. The room would always be empty of their existence at the end of each session.
They were a formidable foe, that is, if they still had their curse powers.
Thus, a brutal, bloodless massacre occurred as Magnus commanded gravity and Restiel went slashing about.
Magnus devoured their souls until his energy reserves were filled to the absolute brim. His body flickered into his ghost-like form each moment. Every subsequent kill, therefore, allowed him to savour the flavours of these Blobs of Torment.
It tasted like an expensive bottle of wine. The jelly-like body of the Blobs of Torment melted in his mouth and went seamlessly down his throat. It was a magnificent experience.
The Half-Night Tome phased into existence and placed itself in Magnus' grasp. Its pages flipped to the jet-black colours. Magnus became increasingly ethereal with every soul he devoured.
His body grew stronger with every bite he took of the monsters before him.
All until he arrived at a level of 2.3 stars.
"Sumptuous," Magnus grinned.
His growth was satisfying.
Now, almost 90% of his body was ethereal. Just a little bit more and he could become a full ghost who couldn't be harmed by normal means.
When he was done, the final Blob of Torment dropped a peculiar crystal.
This one was transparent, just like the monster's body.
Magnus wondered what use it was for as he absorbed it into himself.
Instantly, Magnus felt his Curse, Vow of the Unchained, be supplemented by some sort of energy. But it came at a cost.
Something was changing within his Blessing.
"What—?" Magnus gasped as he felt his Blessing suddenly weaken.
It kept weakening and weakening... But it stopped just before he lost a line.
It allowed his Curse to grow, binding him with a greater vow.
He could subconsciously feel that his Curse now only needed six seconds to fully annihilate him.
"Six seconds..." Magnus was at a slight loss.
"Is this how a Curse is strengthened? At the cost of one's Blessing?" Magnus muttered as he noted this discovery down, "No wonder no one seems to want to strengthen their Curses. There are too many limitations."
But Magnus felt there was something important about strengthening one's Curse.
His gut told him that there was some secret lying behind the process, and he just had to discover it.
Actually, Magnus could feel it already.
There was some kind of special connection between his Curse and Blessing that he had not felt before. It felt as if his Curse was now supplying his Blessing with power instead of him— Spirit Energy was flowing into the Blessing directly without the need for his command and circulation.
It was an interesting feeling.
He could feel that his Blessing was growing back its lost feathers.
Thus, Magnus couldn't help but summon Klaris as well.
He tried copying the feeling he got when he absorbed the transparent crystal.
He was able to make a little progress. A little bit of Klaris' Blessing flowed into his Curse, forming a connection.
Unfortunately, it wasn't as seamless and straightforward as the time when he absorbed the crystal. He had to work hard just to make a dent in his Blessing's power.
Pursing his lips, Magnus decided to leave this on his to-do list.
For now, he had to worry about the new Scroll that had appeared in front of Restiel's face.
[[ Return Scroll ]]
[[ Tear this Scroll to return to modern-day Thare. You have an hour before you will be deemed to want to stay here forever. And you will perish once Aodis is fully explored. ]]
It seemed like his earlier completion of Arlon's task counted as a completed Trial.
It was time to return.
"I haven't even finished exploring this underground labyrinth," Magnus sighed.
He had to readjust his mental state once more. It had been weeks since he was last in modern-day Thare and he could only vaguely recall where he was when he left.
Hopefully, there would be more chances for rapid growth in the future.
That was Magnus' hope.
But something told him that this would be the last special Trial made for him and his fellow Earthlings.
The Otherworld Trials surely weren't benevolent enough to allow them to continue gaining power like this.
Their chance for growth was over.
If they hadn't adapted yet, then it was their fault.
Rrrrrrrip!
Magnus tore through the Scroll and he felt Rie, Restiel, Klaris, Javelin, and himself all disappear.
Their small group reappeared where Magnus had left. In an alleyway.
Thus, they were all scrunched up like sardines before Magnus unsummoned everyone except for Javelin.
It was then,
Poof!
A Scroll with The Jester's red clown seal popped up.
Unfurling it with his paws, Javelin took note of what was written.
[[ Trial Title: Our War I ]]
[[ Objective: Earn our right to live in this world. ]]
[[ Description: Tear this Scroll to cement your identity as an Earthling. ]]
[[ This is it, everyone. We don't get 'special treatment' anymore. Our chances to grow have left us. I hope that everyone has gained enough strength for what is to come. From this day onward, we must fight. Otherwise, Earth will become nothing but a Pocket World. Forgotten. ]]
[[ -The Jester ]]
"Is this all?" Magnus wondered aloud. "No reward?"
He sighed as he tore the Scroll.
He then felt a mark on his soul intensify. A crest with Earth's figure imprinted on it could be seen being seared into his very being. The seven continents that Magnus was oh so familiar with were gleaming in their colours of green brown and white.
"This..." Javelin's eyes dilated in shock.
"A soul branding?" He tried giving this occurrence a name.
Magnus instantly felt the weight of the crest in his soul. Through it, he could vaguely sense the presence of millions of other souls just like him.
Magnus clicked his tongue.
"Twelve billion people in the world and only a few hundred million are left..."
There was no greater tragedy than the Otherworld Trials.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
perilousindulgence
perilousindulgence Slowly getting back into writing mode.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone