Hearing the raging winds and the spinning tornadoes, Arthur heaved a sigh of relief as his map showed no signs of the enemy. He was in a very bad state and even with his high recovery, it won't take just a short time to heal.

Especially the toll on his mind, which affected him mentally, it made him unable to think properly to the point of forgetting something.

In every sense of the word, he was broken, physically and mentally and needed a long rest, however, that wasn't possible as he can't move, neither does he have enough Mental Power to summon a strong enough Death Knight to protect him and get him out of here.

The only thing he could do is patiently wait, he had sent a Death Knight earlier and it should be returning to him soon. Its mission was to retrieve the corpse of the woman he killed in that small garden inside the main palace.

Arthur could only hope no enemies arrive as anyone will be able to kill him and dying like this, after successfully defeating a Sovereign is pretty unfortunate.

As he was panting heavily and coughing blood while holding his chest, he started feeling dizzy as the pain overwhelmed him, he could not even keep the Pain Immunity passive on, his mind just couldn't handle it, if he overexerts himself any more than this, he would literally die.

If he were in a safer place, he would have entered the ARK and although time flows slower in there, that doesn't mean it'll stop. Every second matter and a powerful enemy would need a second if not less to finish him off. The downside of the ARK is that he doesn't know what's happening outside, so he could be captured and still be unaware of it, which made him give up on recovering inside that space, despite its high efficiency.

Lost in thoughts and unable to lift a finger, Arthur's instincts suddenly warned him but he was unable to respond. Four golden blades penetrated his three limbs and chest, nailing him on the ground and causing more blood to gush out, dying the black earth with its color.

A figure descended from above, wearing a torn red robe stinking with blood, the lower left side of his abdomen was missing a huge chunk as if a beast had torn it off. His skin was black, making him look like a demon from hell, with only two eyes pulsating with a golden light, the old man looked fiercely at Arthur, his eyes containing unprecedented resentment, hate, and uncontrollable rage.

One of his arms was shattered and the other was bloodied, barely usable, as he couldn't move his legs too, making use of his powers to fly. He had sacrificed a lot of Blood Essence to survive the explosion which made him drop all the way to the God Realm! He dropped to the 2nd Grade which infuriated him as all his efforts over the years were lost, his honor was gone and if he goes back to the Holy Echelon, he would lose a lot of face and he would surely be humiliated.

All the Gods he looked down to are now stronger than him, moreover, he suffered permanent injuries which caused him to barely have the required strength to be called a proper God, the shame he was feeling made him want to suicide yet he held himself back.

He wanted to pay back what was done to him, skin Arthur alive and break all his bones, he wanted to show him what true hell really is, make him wish death yet not grant it to him.

"… You've done well, to make me suffer this much and almost kill me… hahahahhahahaha"

The old man has almost turned insane, he spoke hysterically as he waved his bloodied hand, making the swords of light dive deeper into Arthur's body, causing him to groan painfully.

He was already on the verge of death before being attacked, the only reason he is still breathing was because the old man didn't want to kill him and thanks to his recovery, the short time he passed healing allowed him to more or less recover a decent amount of Health and Nether Energy.

Despite having enough Energy to execute skills, he was immobilized, nailed on the ground with the enemy carefully watching him, any sudden movement of his part will result in his death, he had no way out and was basically at the mercy of the other party.

Actually, the old man's Health was in no way better than Arthur, he just happened to catch the latter by surprise and land sneak attacks that hit the vitals, leaving his enemy hanging on a threat.

"*cough* *cough* You really think you can kill *cough* me?"

Arthur mocked the old man as he unceasingly coughed blood, his Health was decreasing by huge amounts every passing second and even the arrival of the Death Knight won't save him as the old man could deal with that level of undead easily.

The maniacal laughing of the old man halted when he heard Arthur's words, his expression twisted and his face became ugly to behold. He controlled the blade of light, making it cut off Arthur's other hand, then he walked up to him and used his bloodied hand to lift him off the grand and hold him tightly by the neck.

His face got closer to Arthur as he whispered coldly

"Killing you is easy… but that's not fun, I'll enjoy my time torturing you first."

His face showed enjoyment as he strengthened his grip over the victim's neck, making him suffocate for a few seconds then releasing it.

He did this for a few times before he got bored so he moved into another thing, he used his power to maintain Arthur hanging in the air then proceeded in breaking his ribs, one by one, and as painfully as he possibly can.

From time to time, the old man would cough up blood, these were signs that his body was deteriorating as the Dark Magic was lethal and it had already invaded his Dantian, if it had entered his heart, he would have died long ago.

He was weakening by the second and his Realm was dropping, it was wise to protect his heart instead of his Dantian so he could survive, however, the cost was big and here he is losing power and dropping Grades.

"H-How does it feel? *cough* *cough*… to know that you're going to hell soon *cough*…"

Even when he's being tortured, Arthur didn't seem to care, he kept provoking the old man, driving him crazy and causing him to torture him more brutally.

A bloodied fist entered Arthur's abdomen, pulling his organs out and spilling them on the ground, which had several gory things scattered on it. Arthur had long since stopped groaning from the pain, his body felt numb and he felt that his death is coming soon due to all the blood he had lost.

'Ah… this feeling again…'

No matter if it's in his previous life or this one, Arthur could never get used to getting tortured. He closed his eyes only see absolute darkness yet standing in this darkness was a shiny figure of a woman with a long silver hair and two mesmerizing eyes. She was giving him a beautiful and enchanting smile which made him snap out of it.

He opened his eyes again yet this time, it contained a hint of resolution and craziness. With a broken mental state, two lost limbs and a barely functioning body, he was still going to fight, no matter how desperate the situation is.

Arthur mustered all his strength to open his mouth and spit a Mini Heavenly Arrow at the cost of all the Nether Energy he managed to recover throughout the time he was tortured, it depleted all his pool and made him lose consciousness for a split second.