***

"..."

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

Sylvia could barely make out the slow footstep that rang out from the other side of the door.

'Come to your death...'

Eventually, the door opened, revealing a man in knight armor.

"I had enough fun with the others, time to start torturing that bitc—"

BAM—!

Before he could even take another step into the room, Sylvia had already punched him square in the face.

"W- What? How did y—"

BAM—!

Not letting him babbler about anything else with that filthy mouth of him, Sylvia caved his skull in with another punch.

Although the man's face was a mangled mess, she could still identify him.

"Old man Will... so it's really the Serpente knights after all..."

Old acquaintances or not, Sylvia still wanted to torture the shit out of him since he had to guts to trap her here. However, she knew better than to waste her time doing so.

After all, her priority right now was to get out of this place as soon as possible and contact her father.

As such, she hurriedly walked out of the room with shaky steps.

'If only I could use my mana...'

However, she was soon snapped out of her thoughts by the horrible sight that entered her eyes as soon as she exited the room.

There were 4 females tied to 4 chairs, all of them were dragons. 

Although blood was covering their entire body, Sylvia could tell that each and every of them had uniquely colored hair. 

The oldest looking one had green hair, and the youngest one, which looked like she was only 10, had blue hair. The other two had golden and red hair.

Cuts and bruises could be seen all over their bodies, and their tails, which was the source of their pride, was peeled off their scales, revealing the pink flesh underneath.

'To torture even a kid!', Sylvia gnashed her teeth in anger.

After all, who wouldn't if they had witnessed this horrible scene?

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia hurriedly walked towards the dragons to check on their well-being.

The oldest of them, who looked as if she was just barely hanging onto her life, looked at Sylvia with surprise, relief, but also wariness.

"Y- You're not one of them, are you?"

In response, she gave her a comforting smile. "No, I'm here to save you guys"

Despite her appearance, however, Sylvia was also wary. After all—

'It isn't like the Serpente to stop torturing their victims when they can still talk...'

—She knew how the knight order worked.

Unaware of Sylvia's thoughts, the green-haired dragon looked at her with teary eyes. "T- Thank you! I- I thought we would never be able to escape this hell"

Although Sylvia's face softened as she heard this, she was still keeping her vigilance towards the Kidnapped Dragons.¹ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

She then immediately untied the green dragon and moved to similarly untie the others.

Having recovered somewhat, the green-haired dragon helped Sylvia to free the remaining dragons.

Eventually, all of them were untied.

"Thank you, our benefactor. M- My name's Yu Spring", the green dragon said with a bow.²I know this is supposed to be a serious scene and all but I couldn't help but to add some references to a certain Korean novel

She then pointed towards the red-haired dragon, who was staring at her blankly as if she had lost her soul. "That child's name is Yu Summer"

'It's understandable that they would look that way after going through the torture', Sylvia thought as she also observed the blue-haired and golden-haired dragon. 'Or perhaps...'

"Let me guess", Sylvia interrupted Spring as she was about to point to the golden-haired dragon. "Her name is Autumn Yu?"

"Yes", Spring nodded her head and caressed the blue-haired dragon's hair. "And this child's name is Yu Winter"

Nodding her head, Sylvia walked towards Summer to check for her well-being, as well to confirm certain things.

However, she stiffened a bit as soon as she made contact with Summer.

'As expected... the Serpente knights are really fucked up in their head'

She then turned her attention back to Spring.

"We were separated from our um... caretaker, Yu Litae", Spring said as she tried to help Autumn on her feet. 

Seeing that Spring herself was struggling to even stand, Sylvia offered to help Autumn get up instead.

'Again...?', Sylvia frowned.

Looking at her with a grateful gaze, Spring continued. "A- And those men... t- they brought us to this... p- place..."

Sylvia couldn't help to sympathize with them as she heard this. However, she still focused on the weird situation at hand and asked an important question.

"Why were you guys abducted?"

After all, although the Serpente knights were crazy about torturing people, they would never do it without any reasons.

Sylvia's case was no exception, since if she hadn't killed their so-called 'Goddess', they wouldn't have even bothered to track her down.

Pausing her thoughts there, she turned towards Spring again, waiting for an answer.

Seeing Sylvia's questioning gaze, Spring sighed. "I- I didn't know at first but while they were torturing us, they laughed about how we were j- just practice for 'the main course' "

Sylvia frowned.

'The main course' that they mentioned was probably her. After all, Sylvia herself was the one they wanted to torture the most.

"Are you sure that's what they said"

"Yes.", Spring nodded. "Although that wasn't exactly what they said, it's still the main idea"

"I see..."

Spring's statement dispelled any suspicions she had towards them, since it had just—

"You almost had me there"

—Confirmed that they were indeed with the Serpente knights order.

Spurt—!

Sylvia dug her hand into Summer's chest and ripped her heart out.

"W- What! Why did you—"

"You can stop pretending now", Sylvia said with a sigh. "Serpente practicing for a torturing session? Don't make me laugh!"

"Besides", she slowly turned her gaze towards the rest of the dragons. "They're not amateurs. There's no way they're revealing anything while they're doing their 'job', like how 3rd-rate villains would"

Spurt—!

Sylvia similarly ripped Autumn's heart out.

And she smashed Winter's brittle skull.

Glaring at Sylvia with a gaze full of hatred, Spring stuttered. "M- Monster! How could you!"

Sighing, Sylvia punched Spring to the ground.

BAM—!

"I should be asking you that question!", she hissed. "Why are you working with Serpente?"

It was then that hot tears rolled down Spring's cheeks as she cried. "T- They said that they would let us go if we comply with their orders—"

She then glared at Sylvia with bloodshot eyes. "—And if it wasn't for you, we would have been out of here already! N- Not just that, you even k- killed the kids! YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN THEM!"

"Naive", Sylvia chuckled. "You really think that they will let you go?"

"What do you know?"

Sighing, Sylvia lifted Spring up by her collar and showed her the other dragons' bodies.

Spring was about to curse at Sylvia again, but she froze on the spot upon seeing the state of her sister's corpses.

They were dried up like mummies, with maggots and bug crawling under their skin. It was without a doubt that they had died a long time ago.

'It's Nick's skill...', Sylvia concluded.

She had already knew that something was up as soon as she made physical contact with Summer. After all, the mana of a living being and an undead was vastly different under her superior mana sense.

It was like comparing the refreshing smell of a mint to the stench of rotten eggs.

"You see this?", Sylvia paused her thoughts there and whispered in Spring's ear. "This is how the Serpente do things. All the hope they gave you was merely part of the torture"

"D- Does that mean..."

"Yes. You've been cursing at me over some long-dead corpses"

Hearing this, Spring broke down into tears again.

She got down to her knees and sobbed. "W- Why...? H- How could someone be this... evil!"

Sylvia couldn't feel sympathetic towards Spring anymore, especially when she had just been lied to.

However, she still wanted to save as many people from this place as possible. 

"You can either cry over your sister's corpses and wait for the men to come back, or follow me and get out of here. The choice is up to y—"

Spurt—!

However, she was interrupted by the disturbing sound of blood spurting.

Widening her eyes in surprise, Sylvia got into a battle stance as she saw Spring's head suddenly bursting into fleshy chunks.

She raised her vigilance even higher as she heard a vaguely familiar voice echoing out from somewhere unknown.

"Hehe, you're really her daughter, huh? Being able to keep a cool head even in this kind of situation"

"Who are you!", she shouted. 

"Aw! I'm hurt! The Goddess' daughter doesn't remember me"

Although the voice was extremely familiar, Sylvia couldn't put her finger on who it belonged to.

"Still can't figure it out, huh? Well, let me give you a hint!"

"..."

"The plan was to let you escape from the room you was in, and make you rescue those dragons earlier. That girl, Spring, was it? She was supposed to betray you at a critical moment, and this forcing you to kill her to keep your own life!"

"..."

"And only then will I show myself and reveal to you that she was just doing it to escape with her sisters. Then you would feel like shit for killing her"

"..."

"Well, that was how it was supposed to go before you figured out Nick's necromancy spells anyways"

'So... it's my fault after all...'

The Serpente knights' plans seemed to have worked somewhat, as Sylvia was feeling extremely guilty. After all, it was because of her that those 4 girls were kidnapped and tortured purely to be part of such disgusting plans.

'But... why does it sound familiar...'

After pausing for a moment to recall a certain memory, Sylvia's face was drained of all colors as she realized what the voice was getting at.

"IT'S MY—"

Suddenly, a man materialized in front of her, interrupting her sentence.

"Yes, it's the same torture method you came up with all those years ago. Now do you remember me?"

"...Vice-captain Keith!", she widened her eyes in realization.

"That's right!", Keith clapped his hands. "Now, let us enjoy our 'playtime', oh great Sylvia Ecertold, daughter of—"

BAM—!

Sylvia suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of her head.

"—Our Goddess, Melissia Salvant"

Those were the last words she heard before her vision went black again.
...

"Urghhhh!", Sylvia groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

Her head hurt, very much so.

However, she soon recalled what had happened before she passed out.

'SHIT!'

She tried to stand up and run right away. However, she couldn't, seeing as how she had just realized that she was bound to a chair.

It was then that she noticed Keith, the man from before, standing over her with a grin plastered on his face.

"You're up? Good, because it wouldn't be as fun if you were unconscious during our playtime"

Without waiting for her to say anything, Keith grabbed Sylvia's right hand and ran his fingers on its surface.

"How smooth... very unbefitting of her daughter"

"Let go!", Sylvia screamed. 

She tried to break herself free of the constraints, but to no avail.

Seeing this, Keith sighed. "Haaaaaah... it's obvious that you've neglected torturing other people during all those years... and here I thought that you could be our new Goddess"

He then took out a dagger and started to split the flesh of her arm open.

Spurt—!

The disgusting sound of flesh being torn echoed out. 

At the sight that would have made a normal person pass out, however, Keith was laughing crazily.

"Hehahaha! This is just the start!"

It was clear that he was insane.

And it wouldn't exactly be wrong to say that Sylvia was also not okay in her head, seeing how she was glaring at Keith with bloodshot eyes instead of screaming in pain.

As the dagger reached Sylvia's shoulder, however, Keith sighed in frustration. "Can't you just scream already?"

BAM—!

He then punched her face.

In response, however, Sylvia merely spitted on him.

Ptu—!

Wiping the saliva off his face, Keith chuckled. "So that's how you want to do things, huh?"

Crack—!

Bending one of Sylvia's fingers until it was broken, Keith continued with a wide smile. "Then so be it"

Crack—!

He broke another one of her fingers.

Crack—!

And another.

Crack—!

Getting impatient, he bent 2 at once this time.

Cra— Crack—!

Seeing that he was finished with the fingers of Sylvia's right hand, Keith put both of his hands on her right arm and twisted it,

Crack—!

In response to the pain that would have knocked even the toughest of knights out, however, Sylvia merely smirked at him. 

"How tame... have your skills regressed after all this time?"

Despite having said that, however, Sylvia was in a lot of pain.

'I can't be weak! Endure it, Estellare!'

After all, she would just give Keith what he wanted if she lets out even the smallest of groan.

"Tch", Keith clicked his tongue. "If you're not going to scream then there's no point in keeping your throat intact, is there?"

Before Sylvia could even react, Keith had already thrusted the dagger in her throat.

Spurt—!

He then twisted the dagger sideways, causing even more damage.

"Don't worry, you won't die from this much. You're her daughter after all"

Keith then moved towards her left arm and broke everything.

Crack—!

He then moved to her left leg.

Crack—!

And then her right one.

Crack—!

Despite having all of her four limbs bent in extremely unnatural ways, however, Sylvia still managed to keep her scream of pain in.

'You're dead once I get out of here!'

After all, Sylvia could sense that Keith was only a major rank above her. If it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't use mana nor aether, she would have ripped his innards out already.

Now standing a few meters back from Sylvia, Keith whistled. "Now that's a piece of art!"

He then turned to the door and shouted. "Oi, come in! The dessert's finished. Time for the main course!"

Immediately, the door was swung open, revealing several figures wearing knight armors. Held in their hands were various tools.

Swords, spears, axes, matches, candles, and even chainsaws. They truly had everything that could cause immense pain in their hands.

Glancing over the men, Sylvia's heartbeat quickened, and her breathing became ragged.

'NO! NOT HER!'

The tools weren't enough to warrant that kind of reaction from her. Instead, it was the presence of a certain someone that made her react that way.

"Oh?", Keith looked at Sylvia with amusement. "You recognized her instantly but not me? Now I'm even hurt more than before!"

"Well...", he muttered. "It makes sense that she'd be more scared of Becky anyways..."

After all, Becky was a healer, and a damn good one at that.
...

Lying on what seemed like an operating table was Sylvia.

At a glance, she looked completely fine. Her smooth white skin were still intact, no cuts, scars, burns, bruises or anything. Not just that, her four limbs were now normal, as if they weren't brutally broken by Keith at all.

However, when noticing the massive amount of blood that was covering her body, and the fact that her eyes looked like they had the souls sucked out of them, no one could dare to claim that she was fine.

'I- I can't give up here! Father, brother, grandpa, Ria, Eleanor, and... Theo are waiting for me! E- Endure it, Estellare...!'

Such thoughts were repeating in her head continuously, as if they were the only thing that were keeping her sanity intact.

And, considering the kind of torture she had just gone through, no one could blame her for being in the state she was in right now. 

Her slender fingers were cut off by swords,

and Becky healed her.

Her beautiful lavender-blue eyes were gouged out by rusty spears,

and Becky healed her.

Her smooth, fair skin were burnt by candles and matchsticks,

and Becky healed her.

Many other horrible and terrifying torturing methods was used on her,

and Becky healed her every. single. time.

The fact that she wasn't begging for someone to end her life right this instant could be considered a miracle.

Seeing Sylvia's almost lifeless eyes, Keith sighed. "Haaah... I might have overdone it..."

He then gestured for Becky and the other knights to get out of the room.

CLANK—!

Being the only one left in the room with her, Keith picked up a pair of hot, red tongs and looked at Sylvia's pale-blue tail which he had been purposefully ignoring until now.

"It's a bummer that I won't be able to hear you scream as I rip every scales off your tail, but I have to do it anyways"

He then muttered under his breath. "Fucking Iferus... I knew I shouldn't have signed a Void contract with you"

Lifting Sylvia's tail up, Keith was surprised to see that some of her scales had already been removed, revealing the pink flesh underneath.

"Oi, are you actually so masochistic that you ripped your own tail scales off?"

But of course, Sylvia, being in the state that she was in right now, couldn't answer his question.

"Whatever", he clicked his tongue. "It doesn't change anything. I will remove the rest of your sca— ARGHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, Keith clutched his own head in pain.

"FUCKING HELL! I GET IT, IFERUS. JUST STOP!"

After a while, Keith calmed down, and he heaved a sighed of frustration.

"Haaaaaaah... at least watching her descend into madness is equally as enjoyable"

He then reached into his pockets and took out a vial containing a black substance.

"Heh...", he chuckled as he lifted Sylvia's tail up again. "If you're lucky, you'll become a Void lord"

Crack—!

The vial was crushed under Keith's hand, and the black substance slowly flowed down to the exposed part of Sylvia's tail.

"Like that's going to happen..."

Keith's scowl was the last thing Sylvia heard before—

'Huh?', she snapped out of her own trance.

—The scenery before her changed.

No, 'changed' wasn't even the right word, as the scenery was so different from before that she was wondering if she was about to die, and everything that she was seeing right now was just her entire life flashing before her eyes.

Instead of being on the cold, hard operating table, she was sitting at a wooden table, with a big cakes and 10 lit blue candles right in front of her.

Her body had also reverted back to before, as she could no longer feel the throbbing pain she had been experiencing for the past few hours that felt like weeks.

Well, maybe her body had 'reverted' a little bit too far back, as she noticed that her hands were like that of a child when she inspected them.

"What happene— HUH?"

She was even more confused when she heard her own voice, which was much softer and more childish than normal.

It was then that she felt a pat on her head, followed by an awfully familiar voice.

"Are you alright my little Syl?"

'I- It can't be!'

Tears began to accumulate in the corner of her eyes as she heard the voice. However, she was still rational enough to be vigilant.

After all, if the voice did indeed belong to who she thought it was, then it could only mean one thing, and such a thing was simply impossible.

'This is too absurd... It must be some sort of new illusion Keith employed!'

As such, she quickly snapped her head to the source of the voice with a fierce glare.

However, her expression immediately changed as soon as she turned around.   

Joy

Sadness

Nostalgia 

Melancholy

And finally, immense guilt.

Those were all the emotions that flashed through Sylvia's eyes at that exact moment. 

Her face, unable to express that many emotions at one, must have been looking extremely weird, goofy, even.

However, she didn't care about any of that, as she was busy staring at the figure with white feathery wings right in front of her.

Sylvia wanted to say something to the feminine figure with blue eyes like hers. And, after a fraction of a second, she had already decided on what she would say.

What she wanted to say was only a three-letter-word, but she had to use all of the strength she could muster up to voice it out.

Hot tears streamed down Sylvia's cheeks as she stuttered the word that hadn't came out of her mouth for the past 6 years.

It was—

"M- Mom!"