Darkness.
She opens her eyes, but it's still dark.
How much time has passed?
Maybe a day.
She can't tell because she's still groggy from the effects of the drugs.
They drugged her.
Luysia doesn't know where she is.
The place is dark, cold, and damp.
The musty smell oppresses her, making her feel dirty.
She's bound.
Completely naked.
She's a prisoner.
Tied to a rickety chair chained to the wall, she can't move.
The chair lacks a seat, and there's a bucket underneath.
She tried to hold it, but at some point, she had to let go.
It's not just th shame and embarrassment that distress her but also the repugnant feeling of being tied near her own waste.
The smell of urine has filled the room, making her nauseous.
She's also starting to feel hungry.
Her stomach grumbles.

The situation is tragic, but she must stay calm.
Her captors want to break her, but she is a paladin.
She must resist, gather strength, and prepare to seize the opportunity to escape when it arises.
She begins to silently pray to Chand.
She implores for strength. To endure.
She's scared.
All that remains is the sound of her own breath, a solitary and haunting sound in this inhospitable room.

Suddenly, she hears new noises, different from what she's grown accustomed to hearing or imagining.
The steps of her captors echo on the stone floor like the somber beat of a funeral march.
She can envision their malicious whispers and mocking laughter filling the air.
The clinking of keys and chains resonates like an eerie echo.

*CLANK CAJINK*

The door opens with a sharp, dragging noise.

Light floods the room.
Luysia has to shut her eyes, as she's no longer accustomed to it.

"Good morning, Camclair."
She recognizes that voice now.
It's Strauss Wagner.

The man steps into the cell, bringing a chair with him.
He positions it in front of Luysia and sits down.

"I'd ask if you slept well, but I think that would be a silly question," he mutters while rummaging through his bag.

Luysia wants to say many things but can only manage a few words. "S-so, I was right."

"Yes," he confirms.

"Y-you're evil."

"Yes, I am."

The man extracts a needle from his bag.
Blonde Luysia pales at the sight of the needle.
What does he want to do to her?

"Stay still," he tells her in a calm tone.

With the needle, he pricks her.
Luysia winces at the sting.

Then, he takes out a pair of scissors.

"D-do you want to kill me?" she asks, terrified at the sight of the blades.

"No, I just need a lock of your beautiful golden hair," he reassures her, though she feels far from reassured.

With a sharp SNIP, the man cuts a tuft of her hair.

He retrieves something else from the bag.
It's a rag doll.

"Do you like it? It resembles you," the man tells her, showing her the doll.

Then, he ties her hair around the doll's neck, as if he wants to strangle it.

He cleans the needle, stained with Luysia's blood, on the doll's body, smearing it with red.

"Are you thirsty?" the man then asks.

Luysia wants to refuse.
She wants to resist.
She wants to reject it.
But her body longs for water, a thirst that's driving her mad.

"A human can survive up to three days without water. But don't think it's easy to reach those three days. Yes, after a few hours, we start to feel it. Thirst," Wagner explains in a tone devoid of emotion, as he takes a vial containing a clear liquid from his bag.

Luysia's stomach gurgles.
Her dry eyes gaze at the vial with longing.

Strauss Wagner removes the cap from the vial.

"Open your mouth."

Luysia opens it.
She needs to drink.

The man pours the contents onto her tongue, drop by drop, until the vial is empty.

Luysia swallows without thinking.
The instinct for survival forces her to do so.

The taste is different from water.

What has she ingested?
Poison?

"No, it's not poison. It's an alchemical compound containing aphrodisiacs and my saliva."

She feels waves of nausea and the urge to vomit.
She wants to retch but can't.

"The potion also increases sensitivity to pain and pleasure," he explains.

"You damned bastard, what do you want from me?"

"Before I answer you, allow me to ask you some questions."

Luysia watches the man's dark eyes, trying to imagine what he might ask.

"Now that you know my nature, if you were free, what would you do to me?" the man asks her.

"I-I would kill you. You're evil... The dark aura you emit is oppressive... Disgusting!" the prisoner responds sincerely.

"Your passive ability, [SEE EVIL], shows you 'a dark aura' spreading around me, right?"

"N-not just you... Even Sansanti... everything you taint with your touch..."

"You see, that's a problem. We're destined to clash. Your ability is problematic and seems tailor-made to hinder me," Strauss says in an almost sad tone.

"I'm your enemy. I'm evil. Your ideals and vows dictate that you should eliminate me. Is that correct?" he asks for confirmation.

"It is."

"There's no possibility of changing this? Would you give up your divine task?"

"N-never."

The man stands up.

"Great. My conscience is clear now. I can say I'm acting in self-defense. If I didn't act, you would kill me. So I'm forced to do it."

Luysia can't comprehend the meaning.

"Now I can answer your question. You asked me what I want to do to you," the man says and then pauses.

Luysia watches him with a mix of terror and disdain as she awaits his response.

"I should kill you because you pose an obstacle to me. You're an enemy. A problem."

Luysia shudders.
She's currently defenseless.
If only she could buy some time to regain her strength.

"Killing you, however, would be a waste, even though it would be the most sensible thing. I've been pondering for days how to handle this situation. I'm a greedy man. I want everything, and I want you too. But how can I have you?"

"You'll never have me!" Luysia interrupts the man's monologue.

Strauss Wagner chuckles heartily. "If you didn't resist, I'd enjoy only half as much," he says diabolically.

"Where was I... Ah, yes, how can I have you. Luysia Camclair, the paladin of the church, is a problem. An enemy. A thorn in my side. My kryptonite. So what's the solution? I have to destroy the paladin. I have to break the paladin. I have to force her to renounce her gods. I have to erase her ideals."

"You won't succeed!"

"I will succeed, Luysia, for sure. I'll break you in body and mind, with pain and pleasure. It will be terrible and yet magnificent."

Luysia is terrified, but she can't give up.
She must be patient.
Wait for the opportunity.

"I know what you're thinking, that you can somehow escape and overpower me once you've regained your strength. But that won't happen. I've administered substances that drain your MP. I'll also make you starve."

No, it's not possible.
Luysia can't believe she has no hope left.
Tears start to flow from her blue eyes.
No, someone will look for her.
Her disappearance won't go unnoticed!
They will come to save her!
Yes, she just has to hold on.

"It's Chand's festival, one of the deities you turn to, ironically. The academy is half-empty. It will be days before they notice your absence. By then, Luysia Camclair, you won't exist anymore," he shatters the last glimmer of hope.

"S-stop this..."

"And what would be the point? If I want to survive, I can't free you. Trust me, I would have liked to find another way, but there isn't one."

"I won't break... No matter what you do... Don't worsen your situation."

The man leans in and gazes into her eyes.
His expression is diabolical.
Luysia trembles.

"I hope so. You must resist as long as possible; only that way can I completely break you."

*SOCK*
Atrocious pain.
Sudden.

"Argh!"

Luysia is breathless from the pain.

Strauss Wagner has punched her in the stomach.

"Tsk... I don't have enough strength to really hurt you. After all, you're a rank A," the man thinks aloud.

"You... you bastard!" she insults him.

"I have to hurt you enough to drive you insane but not enough to kill you. Okay, let's begin."

The man takes the doll and the pin.

"Left leg," he says, pricking the corresponding part of the doll.

"UARARARARRGHHH!"
At that precise moment, pain explodes in the woman's left leg.
She would like to touch it, but she's bound and can't move.
She can only writhe.
Scream, suffer, cry.

"Back," he announces the next point, piercing the doll with the needle.

"ARRARARARRGHHHH!!! NO, NO!! ARGHH!"
The pain is so intense it's as if she's been impaled in the back.
If the chair weren't chained to the wall, it probably would have tipped over.
Luysia is consumed by pain, terror, and hatred.

"Scream, please, let it out as much as you can. Let go. Don't worry, no one will hear you down here."

"You, you monster! You're a damned monster! I'll kill you! I'll murder you! Bastard!"

"Yes, I am. Left arm." The man pricks the indicated arm of the doll.

"UAARARARARARARRAGHHHH! NOOOO! NOOOO! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!!!"

The woman would like to tear off her own arm, throw it away, rather than continue to feel this pain.
Biting her tongue in pain makes it bleed, and blood flows from her mouth.

Then he lowers his head to the level of her chest.

He licks her right nipple.

"No... bastard... don't touch me!"

Her body is hypersensitive, not only to pain but also to pleasure.
The pleasure from the stimulation of his tongue is a heavenly sensation compared to the pain she has felt until now.
She's disgusted and repulsed to be touched by that man, but at the same time, the pleasure is rejuvenating and soothing.

"I can hurt you or give you pleasure. You have no alternative but to accept this fact. You can resist and suffer, or give in and enjoy."

"I-I... I won't give in..."

"Very well, it's still early. Let's continue. Right hand."

The man pricks the right hand of the doll.

"UAUUAUAUUAURGHHHHH!! NOOOOOO!! ARGHHHH!"

Luysia almost loses consciousness.
Until a moment ago, the pleasure she had felt from the nipple stimulation had made her almost happy.
The contrast with the acute pain drives her out of her mind.
Her thoughts are blank.
She can only think about the pain and remember the pleasure from before.
Anything to avoid feeling this excruciating pain again.
The paladin cries and sobs.
Alone in the lair of the monster.
Abandoned by everyone and her gods.

"Despair. Curse the gods who put you against me. Renounce them. Only then will you find salvation."