In a flash I find myself kneeling on a small rock in the middle of a lake of lava. Lady Xinun is standing before me and for some reason I still have the manacles on. I immediately try to imagine them away but it doesn't work, my mind feels like it is still being suppressed.

Lady Xinun says "Oh, did you think you could fight me in a soulscape?"

I try imaging a gun loaded with holy bullets, it starts to form but then vanishes. The stupid manacles are suppressing me too much, I can't fight her. She picks me up by the throat and dangles me above the lava.

Lady Xinun says "Having second thoughts yet?"

"I will never join the dark side!"

Lady Xinun says "Let's see how long you can keep joking!"

Lady Xinun lowers me until my feet are submerged in the lava. Even with my fire and pain resist it is still an excruciating feeling as my feet slowly burn away to nothing. The Lady Xinun raises me back out of the laval long enough for my feet to reform before lowering me in again.

After the third time I can't help but scream in pain as my feet are burned off repeatedly. Each time I scream it makes Lady Xinun smile, and since it is my soul being tortured she can keep this up endlessly. I seriously underestimated her ability to cause me pain, if this keeps up I feel like I will lose my mind.

She tortures me for hours on end, she isn't even trying to ask me any questions. She seems to be doing it just for fun, as if she gets off on it, which does make sense for a demon. I feel myself getting close to snapping, the pain is unending and I just can't stand it anymore.

Luckily, just as I am about to give in, Lady Xinun lifts me from the lava and looks away into the distance. Then she reaches up with her free hand to caress my face. She seems to be thinking about something else and just petting me absently.

Lady Xinun says "It seems I have some things to take care of, but don't worry this isn't over. I am strong enough to keep my soulscape open all the time."

As she says this the lake of lava disappears and is replaced by a frozen tundra. Then my entire body except for my head is completely encased in ice. The cold bites into me even through my fur, after the heat of the lava lake the cold is even more painful.

Lady Xinun says "Just chill here while I deal with some things, don't worry it will only be a few hours. Although to you it will feel like days! Haha!"

Even as her laughter is ringing in my ears she disappears, she didn't even wait to hear my answer. Which is a good thing because if she had waited a few more minutes I may have surrendered. But in a way slowly freezing while all alone is somewhat worse than being tortured.

For the next five days all I can do is stand there in the block of ice suffering. At least it feels like five days to me, or longer, but at least I don't feel hungry or thirsty in here. Unfortunately, I can't practice or exercise in here so all this time is wasted.

Even knowing that in reality only a few hours have passed doesn't help with the feeling of wasted time. The boredom is actually worse than the pain from the cold. The only thing worse than the boredom is the dread I feel about Lady Xinun's return.

The dread itself is the most worrying thing, if I fear her that much then she will be able to break me soon. I really need to find a way out of here, but everything I have tried has been suppressed by the manacles. Wait a minute, Vackar said the manacles were always maxed, meaning they are at max energy.

So if I was to add more energy to them they should not be able to handle it and explode. Since I am wearing them it will probably kill me, but my soul will reform. As long as the manacles don't reform then I should be able to escape the soulscape, that will be worth it.

I have examined the manacles many times looking for a way to unravel the enchantment. So it is a simple matter to push my demonic power into the manacles. The only tricky part is pushing it into the two sets of manacles evenly, guess I'll just give it a shot.

"BOOOOM!!!!"

Core Upgrade Progress: 25%

'Well, that hurt a lot more than expected. My core dropped 70%? No fair!!'

The manacles didn't reform so I guess it was worth it, and now my imagination works in here even though it isn't my soulscape. So if she comes back I can at least try to fight her, that lessens my dread a little bit. It is a shame though, I only needed five percent more to rank up!

Come to think of it my demonic power didn't go down any when my progress dropped. At least I didn't lose any power, and my rank didn't go down. Still it wouldn't be wise to fight Lady Xinun in here, she is more powerful than me.

'End Soulscape!'

Sucesfully endured torture. Willpower +1!

Sucesfully endured torture. Willpower +1!

Sucesfully endured torture. Willpower +1!

Sucesfully endured torture. Willpower +1!

Sucesfully endured torture. Willpower +1!

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Soulscape has progressed to level 4!

Soulscape

Level: 4

Wis +20

You can create a basic soulscape.

Luckily, without her here to maintain the place my power is enough to end it. My soulscape ability finally leveled up as well, that makes what I suffered worth it. When I open my eyes I quickly realize I have been moved and I am now kneeling beside the throne.

Lady Xinun is right next to me on her throne but only spares me a single quick glance. When I turn to see what has her attention I notice a lot of demons are in the hall. One in particular seems to be who Lady Xinun is focused on.

???? says "So, Lady Xinun, what do you think of my master's offer?"

Lady Xinun says "Offer? All I have heard is basically a demand for me to switch sides. What incentives do I have to do so?"

???? says "My master will take you as his wife. What more could you ask for?"

'So this guy must work for one of the two demon lords that are against Xinun's alliance. How can I use this to delay the invasion?'

Lady Xinun says "Wife? I will die before I marry that pig you call master!"

Deciding this is as good an opportunity as I am likely to get I suddenly put everything I have into my legs and jump. My target however isn't Lady Xinun, it's the envoy, I catch everyone by surprise and manage to tackle the envoy. Before anyone can grab me I take a massive bite out of his neck.

It isn't enough to kill him outright but without healing he should bleed out. I kind of doubt the demons keep a healer handy so hopefully it will kill him. Either way it should put Xinun in a tight spot, or at least that is what I hope.

I don't get a chance to find out since I quickly get knocked out by one of the guards. When I wake up I am back in my cell, but I can tell that the manacles are now only suppressing me physically.

'Create Soulscape!'