“N-No, please stop!”

The young knight was pinned to the stone wall by what appeared to be clear blades made of crystal. Of course, no one could verify this since no one was around to bear witness of the incident. Several of the hovering blades were lodged into the man’s limbs, his legs and arms. The back alley wall behind him ran red with his still seeping blood.

The darkened ally way was only a few miles away from the main castle of Crescentia, located deep within the inner confines of the town below. No one dared to venture into secluded spots around these throughout the town; because of this, the pinned knight was taken by surprise. Said knight now begged again to his captor once more, though the pleas fell on deaf ears. Blood was everywhere, flowing out of the lacerations seen criss-crossed on the man’s body. The masked man titled his head, as if admiring his work.

“W-What do you want! I already told you the location of the c-castle dungeon hours ago! Please, t-tell me what you want?”

“What I want?”

The masked man turned away, seemingly bored with his torture victim. 

“Yes, I do remember you giving me all that you knew several hours before. This is just a past time for me, judging trash like you I mean. But yes, I suppose that’s enough for today. It’s been a pleasure…chatting with you.”

And just like that, the masked man began to fade away, his body distorting through the use of his teleportation magic. The poor knight who had been stabbed again and again for no reason finally slouched down in painful relief. 

He barely registered the still hovering blades plunging into his body like a pin cushion, his renewed screams being choked and drowned out in a torrent of bodily fluids.

Back at the castle in question, Sable was about to be subjected to her own sort of tortures.

[i] “Well, alright. It is your choice, after all. It’s not me who’ll be getting manhandled…But I will have the pleasure of being here to hear you scream and to watch those pretty little eyes of yours cry. Yeah, that’ll be fun.”[/i]

This girl….the way she talked of torture so casually made Sable’s blood run cold despite herself. She only knew of a handful of people who actually relished in another’s despair, and those were usually the ones who led the Imperium.

The Imperium. 

No. She had to remember that these trials were for a purpose, unlike this blood lusted fool before her. She had to remind herself that despite Titania’s actions, they were still considerably better than the Imperium’s treatment of her in the past.

[i] “I hope you’re not squeamish. I mean, that would make assassinations difficult, wouldn’t it now? So...let’s start with that, huh? We’ll see how much you can stand blood.”[/i]

And yet, that thought didn’t particularly make Sable feel any better. For although she was used to torture of all kinds, that still didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of it. Hearing Titania’s preview of her first punishment, Sable said nothing more.

Instead, she clenched her teeth and tried not to shiver in her bonds at what was to come.