“Sir...this is a state-of-the-art warship that holds 20,000 Marines and crew members, and you want us to use it as a ram? We have torpedoes! This is madness...I mean yes sir! As you wish, my Lord!”

Sergeant Quant, 1st Wardens of Vigilance Fleet, Imperial Battlefleet Wardens of Vigilance. 

Darkbane Prison. 6th District. 

Alexander slowly got back onto his feet. He could heal most of the wounds on his body, but he did no such thing. Perhaps they wouldn’t realize it at first, but sooner or later, the guards or the medic would wonder how he recovered so quickly. 

This would lead to questions, and questions would lead to attention. Alexander couldn’t afford attention right now. He needed time. Time to recover. Time to think. Time to plan. 

Unfortunately, it seemed like someone didn't want to give him the breathing space he so desperately required. As Alexander grimaced and examined his missing fingernails, he saw his large cellmate slowly approaching him, and he definitely wasn’t just coming over to say hi. 

“Stay back.” Alexander said quietly, hoping the warning could prevent the fellow inmate from doing whatever he was going to do. As he talked, he realized his voice was rougher than even he himself expected. He would love some water, not that there was any nearby. Seeing that the cellmate wasn’t convinced, Alexander added. “I have no quarrel with you.”

The cellmate snickered as he slammed his fists together and cracked his wrists. He had been examining his new cellmate. Despite the fresh scars and bruises on his body, the young boy was clearly from a wealthy family. In other words, he would likely be incapable of defending himself. Good...the prisoners licked his lips in anticipation. It had been a while since he encountered someone so...defenseless.

“Bend over.” He demanded with a rough voice. 

“What?” For a second, Alexander thought he heard the man wrong, which was why he spoke up again in confusion. 

“Bend over.” The larger prisoner repeated again, and this time, Alexander was sure he heard him correctly. Still, the young man had little idea regarding what was happening until the prisoner reached for his belt. 

At that moment, Alexander almost wanted to chuckle. He was Alexander Wolf, the rightful heir to this entire solar system and the hundreds of billions of people within! Duke Wells betrayed him, fine. Countess Valentine betrayed him, also fine. Baron Lamb and most of the commanding officers of the system betrayed him. Okay. But now some random prisoner was trying to rape him? Some nobody? Who did he think he was? How dare he!

Alexander tilted his head at the man. Anger consumed his mind as he held his fists tight, his body shivering from renewed agony. The Essence of Agony flowed through his veins at will, reinforcing his body and making him tougher and faster than ever before. 

Seeing that Alexander was standing still with no intention of complying, the cellmate reached his hand out in an attempt to grab onto him by the neck. He expected this to be a quick and easy move that would end with the boy in front of him screaming in pain, but that was when Alexander suddenly struck. With an impressive level of speed, he dodged the cellmate’s reach before burying his fist in the man’s chest. 

The next instant, before he even realized what happened, the cellmate felt himself knocked off his feet. Blood rushed to his mouth, went past his teeth, and wetted spots on the ground of the cell. Half a second later, the large man fell on his back, his body slamming against the metal ground in a loud ‘thud’. 

Alexander turned and cracked his neck before slowly approaching the prisoner. The man tried to get back up, but that punch in his chest stripped away all his strength. Not only so, he could still feel piercing pain in his body as if Alexander had broken a number of his ribs. This thought brought fear to the man. He might need immediate medical attention now if he wanted to live!

But Alexander wasn’t finished. Not even close. His heart was filled with hatred and fury alike, and he needed a way to let all of those emotions out. Without a word, he rested his leg on the prisoner’s left hand, pressing it against the ground. 

The prisoner’s expression changed when he realized what was happening. That was enough to make the would-be rapist open his mouth and beg for mercy. “Wait...please! I’m sorry! Don’t…” 

A flash of sympathy flew across the fifteen-year-old’s eyes. A few days ago, he was still a proud member of a noble family. He had a famous father, a loving mother, and an adorable sister. Now, he was standing in a cell, brutalizing a prisoner as a Lord of Agony. What would his parents say if they could see him like this? Would they condone what he was doing...even if it was so he could avenge them? 

Alexander didn't know...and he didn't really care. Not with everything that had happened.

With a loud “crack”, he stepped on the man’s hand, his leg exerting a superhuman level of strength. That level of strength was enough to push the hand against the metal ground so hard the bones within the limb started snapping. 

The man screamed, and as his screams echoed through the cell, Alexander felt a wave of energy flowing into his body once again. He just generated agony in the prisoner, and as a Lord of Agony, he benefited from this. As renewed power coursed through his veins, Alexander had to admit it was an addicting sensation. It was so addicting, in fact, that he slowly made his way to the man’s other hand. 

The entire time, even as the prisoner’s screams and whimpers rang out, not a single guard came to check out what was happening. Even the prisoners from the other cells along the hallway were silent. The soundproof capabilities of these walls were decent, and even those who heard the screams wisely chose to remain silent. 

Things like this were way too normal around here. In a sense, the prisoners were supposed to be beating and raping each other. This was part of how the prison was engineered. The guards and interrogators could only work on the prisoners for so long. To truly make them suffer and repent, the other prisoners also had to put in some work. 

With his other hand in danger, the prisoner finally stopped screaming. With hastened breath, he opened his mouth and tried to convince Alexander to stop the brutalities with words. 

“Don’t do this...listen to me! We prisoners are not allowed to kill each other! We can beat each other up, but we can’t kill! If I bleed out here, the guards will execute you! They will! One of the prisoners killed his cellmate, and the guards skinned him alive and broadcasted his screams to the entire District! You don’t...you don’t want to do this!!”

Alexander tilted his head and stared into the prisoner’s eyes. Just as the prisoner thought he made a convincing argument, Alexander raised his leg again. There were no mocking words. No sadistic laughs. He simply struck and maimed the prisoner in another swift step. 

Once again, the man screamed. Once again, Alexander felt power rushing into his body. It was no longer as much of a foreign sensation as before, but that didn't make it any less addicting. 

For a full minute, Alexander simply stood on the side and watched as the prisoner struggled on the ground, his blood slowly forming a puddle below him. Now that he had let out some steam on someone who definitely deserved it, Alexander was thinking once again. 

Chances were that the prisoner was correct. Many of the prisoners here were valuable sources of information, and if the man died here because of him, the guards would get really pissed off. Maybe even pissed off enough to simply have him shot. That was clearly less than ideal. He needed time and assets...and Alexander knew a way to get both. 

Instead of proceeding with the torture, Alexander knelt down beside the man. He could see the man staring into his eyes with a look of utter hatred, but Alexander didn't mind it. 

“Here is what is going to happen.” Alexander spoke up for the first time since the prisoner started the fight. He wasn’t shouting or screaming. If anything, his words were quiet, but while previously the prisoner thought this quietness was a sign of weakness, now the man knew how wrong he was. “Here is what you are going to say.”

Alexander told the man the modified version of the oath. This version was similar to the oath he swore to Agony, just with a few minor parts changed. As long as the prisoner said the oath with all his heart, he would no longer be hostile. Instead, he would become a loyal underling of the Lord of Agony that was Alexander Wolf. He would live and die by his will. Even his injuries would be healed, saving him from the fate of imminent death and Alexander from the potential punishments. 

At first, even with excruciating pain upon his body, the prisoner thought Alexander was mad. The young man beat the crap out of him and almost killed him...and now he wanted him to swear an oath of loyalty? And one this bizarre, no less! 

Well, to each their own...the prisoner knew very well that inside the prison, there was no such thing as laws or ethics. There were only rules, and one of these rules was that the strong could do whatever they wanted to the weak. As of now, as painful as it was to admit, he was the weak one. 

In an attempt to save the two limbs he had left, the prisoner repeated the oath once. When that was over, nothing happened to either the prisoner or Alexander. 

Just as the prisoner thought this was over, Alexander rested his foot on the prisoner’s left knee. 

“No no no!” 

Crack!

“Now, let’s try that again.” Alexander repeated as the prisoner finished screaming once again. “Say these words, but know that this is not a joke. Unlike most oaths known to men, this one actually has powers. Once you say them, you will be devoting your soul to me for all of eternity. There will be no going back.”

At this point, the prisoner’s head was already getting dizzy, but his will to live was even stronger. Desperate thoughts circled in his mind as he tried to find a way out. Ah well…maybe the young man was mad, or maybe he was really up to something. Either way, if this oath could really do what the young man claimed, then he might as well give his soul away. After all, what other choice did he have? 

The prisoner would do anything to make sure he wouldn’t die that day. It didn't matter that chances were he would never leave this island alive.  

Now with his mind made, the prisoner said those words once again. His voice was low from all the screaming and injuries. 

“Hear me, Lord of Agony.”

“I, Del, hereby swear my allegiance to you. I shall heed your command. I shall execute your will. I shall act in your best interest as I see fit. My life is yours. From this moment, till all of eternity.”

“May this world suffer in your name.”

“May Agony guide us.”

This time, as he finished the oath, the prisoner suddenly felt...weird. The pain from his shattered limbs no longer felt the same. Warm energy circled around his body, which he subconsciously put to work. His hands twisted and turned as bones, flesh, and skin reforged themselves. The broken ribs in his chest moved back into their place. 

In front of him, Alexander could also feel the transformation. He could also feel a portion of the Essence of Agony originating from Del floating out of the larger man’s body and into his own. This was the benefit of converting underlings. The more agony his underlings spread, the more Alexander himself benefited. 

Del got back up onto his feet. He turned to Alexander and, almost immediately, lowered his head in submission to the same person who crippled him in the first place.

“I am at your service, my Lord.”