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Archdemon Empress Luna

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Luna had expected to see the Grand Torturer show up in her vision, but her husband, Apollyon, had swum into her view, standing before her.

It happened for a split second.

Gasping, she lifted her head upwards, her eyes widening in shock.

When her sight had cleared bit by bit, Luna's vision of Apollyon morphed into the Grand Torturer like a mirage.

Now, she was back in the prison cell with the Grand Torturer with a weapon in hand.

As Luna lay on her stomach with her wrists chained at the back, she narrowed her tired eyes at the man, making sure that it was truly the Grand Torturer in front of her and not her husband.

The Grand Torturer's weapon had Luna's blood around the spikes.

The repeated daily torture had made the dry, and hard blood turned liquid again, drizzling down into the shaft.

Her eyes scanned left to right, looking for Apollyon or anyone whom she could ask for help.

She whimpered in anguish, not because the Grand Torturer had her overturned--making her lay on her wrists and back after shattering her spine with the Morning Star---but the fact that it wasn't her husband who had come to save her.

Luna screams echoed throughout the prison cell as sorrowful tears stream down her face, keeping her soul alive in the furnace of this pain.

At that moment, Luna had questioned her reality if she had just imagined seeing her husband in a vast space of a room, so different from the cell she was in.

In that vision, she wasn't sure if she had seen unconscious faeries--with their ankles shackled into heavy iron balls--in Apollyon's background.

Blood had spilled everywhere.

All of the captured fairies were unrecognizable, for they had grown black, pointy horns.

Dark Archdemon runes similar to hers covered their faces and upper bodies.

Was her mind playing with her, implanting false memories into her mind--when Luna swore she had seen these piles of dead bodies with broken faerie wings behind Apollyon?

Her heart pounded so loud it felt like it was about to explode.

Were they really dead if these demonic faeries' necks, arms, and legs were bent in an awkward angle like they were dolls?

Had her husband killed all these demonic faeries to summon her back to the Vampire Realm?

At the moment, Luna's mind cleared out without a tinge of madness.

She must use that as an advantage.

It was either Luna used her mind to escape from here, or she would lose her mind.

"Where have you been?" The Grand Torturer made her break out of reverie from that sudden question.

Luna couldn't get a word out except her low groans and ragged breaths.

Her body was busy reattaching her shattered bones back together inside her bruised flesh.

She hoped that her healing abilities as an Archdemon would fix them successfully no matter how slow it might take.

It would be akin to repairing a broken glass back to its original state.

"Hmmm." Tilting his head, the Grand Torturer's lips curved in amusement. "It felt like you had attempted to use a different kind of magic that I couldn't sense you for a second there."

She trembled in fear as sweat trickled down her face.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled it back so that she would face him. "Can you use other kinds of Magic aside from what the Master had taught you?"

As he raised the Morning Star, the iron ball with spikes fell heavy on her leg.

As she clawed her grimy fingernails to the dirt, Luna arched her back as the throbbing pain rushed through her spine like someone had set her on fire.

Luna's face contorted as her eyes shut tight.

Head spinning, she burrowed herself close to the ground in an attempt to hide from the Grand Torturer.

Luna could only shut her eyes tight as more tears leaked at the corner of her eyes.

The pain slowly faded, and her breathing slowed when she started to heal.

Jaws clenching, Luna wondered if her spirit could endure more of this torture.

This would be a never-ending cycle if she couldn't escape.

The Grand Torturer abruptly released her silver locks, and the strike of the Morning Star against her stomach had completely shattered her with the pain that radiated into her soul.

Baring her teeth, Luna rolled over to the side and curled into a ball, letting out a long hiss.

She lay so still on the ground, and her breathing was shallow.

She felt bruises in every corner of her body.

The pain was too great to handle that it rendered her speechless but not yet unconscious.

Luna had gone numb, and her limbs felt like they didn't belong to her.

Everything hurt.

All she can do for now was cry—not to gain sympathy from the Archdemon but in hopes to release the pain and the misery.

+++

In the blink of an eye, the Grand Torturer was gone, but she wasn't alone.

Luna winced and glanced at the floor to stare at her feet, and she realized it was hers.

She was back in the Realm of the living!

From the corner of her eye, she had noticed the presence of the Faerie Prince Aspen and King Zephyr, who were content on leaning their backs against the wall with their arms crossed, listening to Apollyon's interrogation.

They might have a relaxed stance, allowing her husband to run this show, but this underlying tension in their muscles can only belong to a predator.

Their sharp gazes were alert and vigilant.

One unpredicted move from the quarry, and they were prepared to move in for the kill.

Luna couldn't understand why Apollyon had her arms chained to the low ceiling.

Luna's soul still felt the pain the Grand Torturer had inflicted on her in her prison cell.

Her legs had trembled that she couldn't support the weight of her body any longer, so she sagged as she bent her knees.

Head lolling to her side. Luna let her body swing back and forth while her wrists carried her weight.

Her feet were inches above the ground.

"Lilith." Luna had heard Apollyon whisper in her ear, and his deep voice sounded like he was underwater.

Luna slightly lifted her heavy lids and blinked.

Why did Apollyon call her Lilith?

He was close enough to see her face.

She wanted to glance at him, but her head hurt.

Did he not recognize his own wife?

Luna should have been ecstatic with the reunion, but why can't Apollyon recognize her?

"Lilith." Apollyon held her chin with his hand, lifting them towards his gaze.

She looked at him wide-eyed.

Luna saw Apollyon in that spacious room surrounded by the dead bodies of chained demonic faeries.

"When are you planning to leave my wife's body?" Apollyon had wrapped his fingers around her neck. "I have done everything I could for this fucking ritual! Aren't these dead bodies not enough for you?"

Luna was back in her own body, but why did her husband keep on calling for the Archdemon of Envy?

"Apollyon." Luna sobbed, blood trickling down her mouth to her neck. "This is me."