Chapter 439: Scorching All Five Limbs

The moment Zolgear saw that Takumi had returned as well, whatever composure he had left completely collapsed.

He projected an image showing Maria’s mother imprisoned inside a cell, then shouted with false bravado, “I’m a trusted aide of Demon Lord Lucifer Leohart! You can’t kill me! If you do, Demon Lord Leohart will stop at nothing to take revenge on you!!”

“Mom!?”

The sight of her mother in the image immediately stirred Maria’s emotions again.

Takumi, however, wore a rather strange expression.

Maria’s mother, Sheila, was a succubus demon who had lived for who knew how long. Just from the image Zolgear was projecting, Takumi could already tell that she was anything but weak.

Hidden within that body, even smaller than Maria’s, was power at least at Super Demon Lord-class and extremely close to Chief God-class.

She was a genuine powerhouse.

And while Zolgear was showing them the image, Takumi noticed another little detail.

Every now and then, Sheila would secretly smile, looking rather amused.

She was watching what was happening on their side!

Thinking back on Maria’s usual personality, Takumi suddenly understood everything.

What was Maria normally like?

She was a complete drama junkie who lived for amusement!

Whenever anything remotely entertaining happened, she always wanted to get involved. When Takumi had been helping Mio grow stronger, Maria had called her Mio-sama with every other breath, yet her actions had been far more honest—she had pulled out a camera to record everything while happily watching the show from the sidelines.

If Maria, the daughter, had that kind of personality, Takumi could figure out what her mother was like with his toes.

“Another amusement freak.”

After muttering to himself, Takumi stopped paying attention to the seemingly lonely and pitiful Sheila in the projection and turned toward Maria.

“Maria, do you actually know how strong your mother is?”

Maria, who had still been immersed in grief, instantly froze.

She blinked her large, watery eyes and searched through her memories before shaking her head.

“Um… I don’t know. I’ve never seen Mom fight before.”

“No wonder.”

Takumi complained inwardly, then stared at Zolgear with dead-fish eyes.

There was even a trace of pity in his gaze.

“You’re an idiot being used for entertainment by a real powerhouse. But don’t worry. I won’t shave so much as a single year off the torture you deserve. You’ll have plenty to enjoy in my Eighteen Levels of Hell.”

Zolgear couldn’t understand what Takumi was talking about, but he could still feel the crushing pressure behind his words.

“N-no! I’m Lord Leohart’s trusted aide, and your woman’s mother is still in my hands! How can you kill me?!”

His panic intensified.

“Zest, stop him! Hurry up and stop him!!!”

Given his vile nature, Zolgear immediately came to the conclusion that Takumi simply didn’t care whether Maria’s mother lived or died.

Realizing that his hostage could no longer be used to threaten Takumi, Zolgear lost every shred of the elegance and dignity expected of a marquis. He scrambled up from the ground and tried to flee in blind panic, but to Takumi, the sight of him frantically running away was nothing but ridiculous.

“Light Spear!”

Takumi flicked a finger.

Spears of light descended from the sky, instantly piercing all five of Zolgear’s limbs and viciously pinning him to the ground.

Sizzle… Sizzle… Sizzle!!

The holy power radiating from the spears continued burning through Zolgear’s flesh, producing a sound like meat sizzling over a fire.

Takumi’s control over his strength was extremely precise. It was just enough to make escape impossible without easily taking Zolgear’s life.

“AAAAAAARGH!!!”

Zolgear’s screams poured from his mouth without end, making Takumi frown.

“Annoying.”

He pointed once more, and a thin spike of light shot out, striking Zolgear directly in the throat.

Pshhk!

Blood sprayed as the spike pierced and burned through his vocal cords, instantly rendering him incapable of making another sound.

Now he resembled a silkworm cocoon, writhing frantically across the ground.

Seeing Zolgear reduced to such a state caused much of the rage on Mio’s face to fade.

She had wanted to kill him, sure, but she hadn’t been thinking of torturing him to this extent!

“Mio, I’ll leave him to you. Don’t worry, he won’t die.”

Takumi gave her a reassuring look.

“I created a [Pseudo-Hell] that can collect the souls of the dead and use them for torture. Of course, if I want to, I can also resurrect the souls inside it. Either way, he’ll have enough suffering waiting for him to last at least a few million years.”

Mio shuddered all over and nodded blankly.

She had originally been burning for revenge, but now she suddenly wondered whether Takumi might be just a little… extreme.

Death was one thing, but how had it turned into millions of years of torture the moment Takumi got involved?

Of course, no matter what she thought, there was no chance Mio would speak up on Zolgear’s behalf.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to tear him into pieces.

The moment Takumi handed him over to her, Mio immediately activated her magic.

“Zolgear! For what you did to my parents, I’m going to make you suffer for every last bit of it!!”

“Gravity Magic: Heavy Hammer!”

“Flame Magic: Blazing Fire!”

…

…

As Mio got to work on Zolgear, Takumi shifted his gaze toward Zest.

A cold sweat instantly broke out across Zest’s forehead.

If I have to endure that kind of torture, I’d rather just die!

“Exploding Rock Spears!”

Zest immediately deployed multiple magic circles.

The next instant, the stone pavement beneath her feet exploded with a thunderous roar, transforming into countless conical stone spears that shot toward Takumi, but just as those razor-sharp spears approached him, the Five Gods Barrier Orb flew from his hand.

“Yellow Dragon: Earth Suppression!”

The phantom of the Yellow Dragon instantly appeared in the sky, and its power to suppress the earth element manifested in full.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

Every stone spear flying through the air crumbled into ordinary dirt and fell to the ground.

At the same time, the earth beneath Zest’s feet became incomparably dense and solid. No matter how much magical power she poured into it, the ground refused to respond in the slightest.

Zest specialized in earth magic, so more than half of her combat strength had been crippled in an instant.

“This is my [Five Gods Barrier Orb]. Right now, the Yellow Dragon is suppressing the earth, which means every bit of the earth element can only move according to my will—unless your strength surpasses mine.”

Takumi explained unhurriedly as he walked up to Zest.

Despite her tall figure, Zest was still a full head shorter than him.

As Takumi approached, a blush spread across her beautiful, seductive face. She let out a long sigh and dispersed the magical power around her body.

Then she simply stood there obediently without offering any further resistance.

“I’ve already lost. As my enemy, you may do whatever you wish with me. But at the very least… please don’t torture me.”

Submission and sorrow filled Zest’s golden eyes.

She wasn’t afraid of death like Zolgear, but neither did she want to face cruel torture.

Seeing how obedient she had become, Takumi immediately put away the [Five Gods Barrier Orb].

Noticing his action, Zest looked at him in confusion.

“You’re not going to kill me?”

“You already said I could do whatever I wanted with you. You lost to me, so just behave and do as you’re told.”

Takumi glanced at her and answered as though it were no big deal.

Zest fell silent for half a second before obediently nodding and stepping aside.

“All right. I’ll do as you say, Takumi.”

After that, she said nothing more, apparently adapting to her new status as a captive remarkably quickly.

What confused Takumi, however, was that he could sense a tiny flicker of excitement inside her heart.

Apparently… she actually kind of liked being a prisoner.