Domain

volume 2 upgrade specialist chapter 17 - torture

Having heard my offer Aries looked dumbfounded. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I cleared my throat. Snapping out of her stupor she answered me.

Aries: I can't accept your offer yet. Though we have a deal I don’t trust you that much yet.

Saying so she revealed her feelings.

Solomon: that's okay, if you feel like you want to join in the future, let me know.

Nodding her head Aries said.

Aries: I'll keep that in mind, if there's nothing else I'll be going now.

Having dealt with Aries I left for the waterfall. Standing by the waterfall cave's entrance was Gareth. Walking up I greeted him.

Solomon: hey Gareth, you ready to do this?

Gareth: are you?

Solomon: I am, I've already killed many people. Torturing one won't change much. On the other hand, you have yet to kill anyone here, are you going to be able to do this?

Walking into the cave, we continued to talk.

Gareth: before I came to Domain I was part of an army. I have experience in both killing and torture. Someone of this level won't be difficult to break.

Walking into the cave the light began to fade away. Deeper into the cave I could see a faint red light. After delving deeper in, the light was revealed to be a torch, hanging from the cave wall. Having not thought to bring a light to the mission, Gareth made a torch to illuminate the cave.

Bound to a wooden log in the centre of the cave was the recently captured hall master. Having been previously bound he was unable to speak. Though it would normally be hard to restrain a soul cultivator, Yunfei had ensured that he could not use his soul power. I could see that he had several light wounds, probably dealt by my allies earlier.

Walking into the light we let Xiao Chen see us. Recognising his captor his eyes filled with hatred. As someone who had never been treated so poorly before he was enraged.

Solomon: we meet again, hall master. Though I'm sure you're not happy to see me. I'm going to give you a choice now, it would be in your best interest to choose the right one.

Turning my head to Gareth I told him.

Solomon: unbind his mouth.

Walking over Gareth took the piece of cloth out of his mouth. As soon as the cloth left his mouth he began hollering.

Xiao Chen: YOU MOTHER FUCKER, YOU DARE KIDNAP ME. WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I'LL PERSONALLY CUT YOU TO FUCKING PIECES.

Before he could continue I had stepped forward smashing my fist into his face. As the blood began to flow out of his nose he started screeching again.

Xiao Chen: YOU COCKSUCKER, IM GONNA GET YOU BACK FOR THIS. I'M GOING TO TAKE THAT PRETTY FRIEND OF YOURS AND FUCK HER IN FRONT OF YOU.

Stepping onto a landmine, Xiao Chen threatened Aries. Grabbing him by his head I smashed my forehead into his face, causing him to cry out in pain.

Xiao Chen: AAAAARGH

Solomon: watch your words, or I might kill you now.

Hearing my cold voice Xiao Chen quieted down. Though he may have been arrogant, he wasn't suicidal.

Solomon: alright, here are your choices. Either you tell me all the details about your Bandit friends, then I kill you quickly. Or you refuse to tell me, and then I torture you to get what I want, then I kill you.

Registering my words, his face filled with dread.

Xiao Chen: W, what kind of shit is that, either way I die.

Solomon: but one way is quick, whereas the other is long and painful. So, which do you pick, hall master Chen?

Xiao Chen: hey you can't do this to me, if you do the chieftain won't let you off. You may be strong, but, do you really think you can beat him? HAHAHA YOUR NOT EVEN A BUG BEFORE HIM.

Knowing his death was coming, he tried to use the threat of his leader. Having to kill him to complete the mission, his threats held no meaning. Seeing as he wasn't in a co-operative mood, I started the torture.

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Solomon: Bind his mouth. Then have some fun with him.

Hearing my orders, Gareth rebound his mouth. Standing in front of him Gareth spoke.

Gareth: if you feel like talking, start nodding your head.

From behind his back he pulled out one of the knives we had gotten before. As the blade was fairly strong it would have no problem cutting through the hall masters tough body. With the heated glare of the hall master on him, Gareth took the knife to the side of his head. As the blade pressed behind his ear Xiao Chen's face paled.

Swiftly pulling the blade back Gareth sent his ear lobe flying away from his head. With the muffled scream from his bound mouth, blood spurt out of his ear. Moving to the other side Gareth did the same to his other ear. As he spasmed against the pain Gareth applied blood clotting spray to his ear.

Now with the blood flow stopped he moved on to other areas. Starting by removing his nails, then cutting off all his finger, finishing by cutting out his eyes. Now blind and in horrid pain, he had long since stopped struggling.

By the end of it, I was close to throwing up. Seeing the brutal precision Gareth used when torturing made me unnerved. To have carried out the torture without any reaction displayed his abilities as a torturer. seeing his skill I doubted that he was an average soldier, though I wasn't going to force him to tell me.

Having finished all he could do he walked out of the cave.

Gareth: I've done all I can, ill leave the rest to you.

His voice had lost most of its emotion. Though I was worried about his mental state, I would have to talk to him later.

Turning to face the deformed body of Xiao Chen, I walked over to him. Taking off his gag I felt a twang of pity for him. This once virile and arrogant man reduced to an empty husk.

Solomon: I'm sure you know your life's over by now. Answer my question and I'll put you out of your misery.

Xiao: I'll tell you, haah, haah. Just kill me.

After questioning him for fifteen minutes I'd gotten all I needed.

Solomon: have fun in hell.

Placing my hand on his head I pumped a tenth of my qi into his brain, incinerating it.

Ourous: hall master Xiao Chen killed, 50 points earned.

To dispose of the body I used the flame serpent art. As I walked out of the cave the smell of charred human filled my nose. Standing outside the cave was Gareth, staring out at the sunset. the orange glow of the sun disappearing over the horizon.

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Solomon: I'm not going to ask where you learnt all that, but in the future, you're not going to do anything like this.

Looking at me I could see the emotion had returned to Gareth's eyes.

Gareth: thank you Solomon. I had hoped when I left the army I would leave this sort of thing behind me. Now here I am, back in the battlefield. The more I try to fight the more I can't find a reason to.

Placing my hand on his shoulder I said.

Solomon: we're not on earth anymore. To survive here we have to do things we don't like. If you need a reason to fight I'll give you one. From now on would you fight for me, will you be are my right-hand man?

I wanted him to be my right, following all of my commands. After working together for almost a week I had seen through most of his character. Though he obviously had some issues he showed that he was loyal, and was willing to do things against his interests for the team. As one of the first people I had built a real connection with, I hoped that he would not reject.

Gareth: I will, from now on I'll follow your every order.

Kneeling on one knee he pulled out a knife.

Gareth: I pledge myself to you.

Drawing the blade across his palm, he let the blood flow onto the knife's blade.

Holding it toward me he said.

Gareth: please accept me. with this blade as my witness, if I ever betray you with this blade you will reap my life.

Holding forward the blade he lowered his head. Taking the blade from in my hand I answered him.

Solomon: I accept you, from today onwards you are my arms.

Standing up he handed me the sheath for the knife.

Gareth: please keep the knife with you, it represents my pledge.

Placing the knife into the sheath, then hanging it from my waist, I asked him.

Solomon: how come you did all that, did you think it up just now?

Gareth: it was something I learned when in the army. I only ever did it once before, but that was in the past. I have to think of what to do now. Anyway Is there anything you want me to do? If not I'll go help Alice run the base.

Solomon: I don’t need you for anything, just so you know I offered Aries a place on our team. From what I've seen so far she has a trustworthy character. I'd hope you could get along with her.

Gareth: even if I didn't get along with her, I would follow your judgment. I'll keep it in mind.

Solomon: alright then, since you're going to Alice could you let her know as well.

Hearing my request he paled.

Gareth: you want me to tell her? She won't like it though.

Solomon: huh, why not?

Turning around Gareth began to walk off.

Gareth: for how great you are you can be really dense sometimes.

Confused by his meaning I put it out of my mind. I'd come back to it in the future. Going back to our team's tent I settled down in my room.

The tent had 3 separating partitions, for each of our rooms, as well as another room. Taking out a cheap blade I tried to infuse my qi into it. Based on what I knew about qi, there were several ways to create enchantments with it. With the new control of my qi, I tried my hand at it. Though I knew I wouldn't get far without a technique, I hoped to be able to add some of my qi's properties to weapons.

With this small combat knife in hand, I took a tenth of my qi and tried to force it in. As the qi began to filter into the knife the blade turned red. When half of the qi made it into the blade it began to fluctuate, turning molten and falling apart.

Slightly disappointed I took out another knife. As we were unsure if the unranked would be armed we brought enough to arm them. Without any purpose now I began using them to train. Every time the weapon fell apart the qi inside it was lost. Because of this, I had to stop every couple of attempts to recover my qi.

Settling down I got into a rhythm of training, losing myself in concentration.