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Natalia had already lost her sense of time.

It has been several days since she was sold to that "thing"…

Since that moment when had her powers taken away from her that she has been confined into this dark place, filled with strange artifacts and furniture everywhere… strange tentacles everywhere, monstrous creatures resembling walking brains, and other horrifying things.

Every day she saw as more of those with her were taken by that "thing" and never came back.

That thing resembled a skinny man, with slimy purple skin, long fingers, and wielding a long blue tunic of high grade, infused most likely with many powerful runes to enhance his malefic magic powers… while also wielding a large cane with a giant blue jewel on it.

Of course, the "thing", which the young half-vampire feared wasn't simply a skinny man, it was not even a "man" as a person, it was more than that… it was a being whose very being was different, twisted, and malicious.

It was a monster, for many races within Ginnungagap, and she, who was born from a human mother and a Fallen Vampire father, believed that those that took the lives of the innocent in such ways were monsters.

Because this thing was nothing but vicious, malefic, and even terrifying.

With her Vampiric Powers still weak due to her thin vampiric bloodline, she was suppressed and had her powerful amulet gifted by her father before dying taken away from her by the raid of space pirates.

After that, they took her and her mother, separating them and selling them as slaves within the Black Market, where many beings across the planet and perhaps the galaxy gathered to buy and sell illegal goods… and slaves were included in the menu.

Enclosed in this ceiling for god knows how long, only being feed with a strange, sweet fluid that made her dizzy but filled her with vitality, vitamins and nourished her brain, she was enclosed in this spaceship that belonged to the "thing" that bought her, alongside many other slaves, not only from her town but slaves gathered from all across the planet or perhaps the galaxy.

There were all sorts of people and creatures, some more alien than others, while others seemed rather humanoid, but none of them would speak to her, perhaps too terrified to even speak while the screams of agony of the people selected by the "thing" continued to resonate in the background… Everyone was hiding within the darkness of their cells, hoping to never be chosen, or, for the very least, to be the last to be chosen…

She gritted her teeth as she suddenly heard the door where the many cells were located, all the slaves around the place grew paralyzed and as stiff as rocks, as the creature walked inside, moving its slippery and wet tentacle feet while releasing strange sounds, their dialect.

"Grryooo… Gaguktakth… Grekeheh…"

It walked around the cells as if he were looking at the slaves like mere snacks, food for his nourishment, and constant research of the unknown…

After all, it was very close to reach X-Rank! It couldn't give up now, not after being so close to reaching the pinnacle of the mortal hood, the dream that any being in the galaxy, no, the world had!

After that, however, the race continued, reaching higher and higher realms… it was a never-ending rush to the top across many planets, the strong survived and the weak were suppressed and sold, eaten alive, and used as resources, that was how it was.

Suddenly, the creature stopped right in front of Natalia's cell, as her heart began to beat incredibly fast, her lips trembling in fear.

Creeeeak!

The cell slowly opened to the creature's mental command, releasing a sharp and annoying creaking sound that made everyone's eardrums pained.

It was already clear, Natalia was the chosen one… Many of the slaves sighed in relief, still holding into the hope of being rescued someday if they were to survive long enough…

"Grruukkhhh…!"

The creature walked towards Natalia, as it grabbed her with his hands, extending like tentacles, his head was that of a terrifying octopus, with sharp yellow eyes and long tentacles covering its black beak… it was an infamous race of abominations that often belonged to the Chaotic Evil faction… Mindflayers!

Mindflayers nourished themselves by devouring brains, so they often bought many slaves which they nourished and kept alive, and then chosen them once a week or two weeks, as they didn't need to eat as much other than two or three brains per month.

However, the juicier, tastier, and stronger the brain was, the greater they would be able to progress through their cultivation! Due to this, many Mindflayers with enough money would have many slaves and eat multiple brains per week to enhance their cultivation speed, although it ended being very costly, so only those that belonged to rich families or were in a rush for power would do this.

Although they sometimes would hunt humanoid and intelligent beings (whose brains were the tastiest), they were often doing many other things, such as fighting for resources with other Mindflayers, traveling the cosmos in look for forbidden knowledge, and doing pacts with otherworldly entities through warlock arts, so they often bought their food instead of catching it.

"No…! Let me go!" cried Natalia, baring her vampiric fangs, and trying to bite the Mindflayer with them, however, with a mere thought, a wave of psychic energy reached Natalia's mind, making her stiff… she was being mind-controlled!

This was the most terrifying thing about Mindflayers, their psychic powers were superb, amongst the best through the entire galaxy, this is why they were always deadly enemies despite their weak physical bodies, and no one should ever underestimate a Mindflayer!

Suddenly, the words of the Mindflayer were now understood by Natalia after being mind-controlled.

"Hmm… Half-Vampire Brain. I wonder how tasty it might be… Ooohh… I can't wait to taste the soft and creamy texture…!" it said with a monstrous voice that only made Natalia tremble more in fear.

She was carried against her will outside the cell, and put into a strange machine, where a giant mechanical arm would slice her skull and take out her brain…

"No…! Noooo! Please! NOOO!"

"Gehehehe…!"

As the mechanical arm slowly moved towards her and Natalia prayed to any god to save her, something happened!

CLASH!

An enormous draconic claw crushed the spaceship, opening a gigantic hole in it!

"Hm? Oh, there are people in here…" said the voice of a young man, as the dragon's crimson eyes glared at the interior of the spaceship.

"Dragon?! In here?!" cried the Mindflayer in shock.

The dragon, Chaos, quickly realized that there was something odd going on in here…

"Hi, I was wondering what was an alien ship doing here… And now I wonder how squid tastes like…" he said, as the Mindflayer gritted his beak in utter fear, Chaos entire presence was immensely powerful!

"Nnngh…! Get off my ship, you vicious lizard!" he roared, as he pointed his cane towards Chaos and released a blast of pink-colored psychic energy against him!

CLASH!

However, Chaos used his own Skill, Malicious Mind Attack to counter the Mindflayers Psychic Beam!

BOOM!!!

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