Chapter 254 – Do You Really Wish to Execute Me?

Lilyth - Mission Day 1 (relative time)

I want to say I was woken up by the worst case of headache and nausea I have ever had, but that honour was still held by the morning after the night Ere and I made Phoebe.

God Hooch has a helluva kick.

The metallic taste in my mouth, facial swelling and a gap where some of my teeth used to be were new, however.

But, hey! At least this time around someone chose to cover my eyes with something black, so I didn’t have to worry about getting flashbanged, though I could have done without the constant muffled drone filling wherever I was, the smell of plastic, and the place rocking like a ship during a storm. None of these things was helping my headache and nausea.

Dear gods, somebody fucking make it stop.

What was worse, the droning felt awfully familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

Still, that was a mystery for later. The fucking thing wasn’t stopping, so I tried to get up to deal with the issue myself, but discovered that, in fact, I couldn’t move. Well… I could wiggle a bit, but my hands were behind my back and joined at the wrists. I tried separating them, but I felt some hard material bite into my flesh. The hand positioning also made turning around difficult, as I was lying on my side on some sort of a tarp.

Things are growing curiouser and curiouser.

My legs were similarly constrained, leading me to the only possible conclusion.

This place is getting zero stars on Yelp.

Suddenly, my world rocked hard and then swerved to the side, all of which caused me to violently slam around the hard walls of my prison.

Ouch.

The whole ordeal didn’t help my nausea any, and since the rocking now got worse and was joined by a very distinct and unmistakable clatter, after I was done vomiting all over myself, I was finally able to put two and two together.

Am I in a car trunk? So that’s what it’s like. Definitely not a fun experience.

Now that I identified my somewhat suboptimal situation, I started to take stock of my body. First, what I assumed to be a single massive headache was actually two different pains. First there was the massive throbbing ache inside of the skull.

Probably a concussion, I decided.

The other source of pain was my face. Some of it must have been caused by the alarming disappearance of some of my teeth, but it didn’t explain the memory gap I had between climbing those stairs and waking up here. So there must have been more to it.

Yes. The missing teeth and the concussion must have the same cause. But what could it be?

That mystery would have to wait, however, as the vehicle came to a lurching stop, sending a sharp spike of pain through my head.

Jesus Christ, guys, I am not a potato sack.

I heard multiple car doors open and shut, followed by the sound of heavy boots on gravel. They were getting closer.

I imagine that means we are here.

The footsteps stopped by the trunk. There was a clicking noise and then a pop. I braced myself for the burning agony of my eyes getting hit by bright light, but all that awaited me was more darkness.

Oh right, the blindfold. And it is not like there is a sun in Hell anyway.

Multiple pairs of strong hands grabbed my body and lifted me in the air. I began to hyperventilate as memories of what I underwent when Kojiro captured me began flooding my mind. The hands grabbing me. The smell of sweaty male bodies...

Nononononononononono

‘Don’t worry, cunt,’ one of my captors said in a gruff voice, ‘it will be over soon.’

I don’t know what sent me over the edge there. The memories of my rape, the malice of the threat or whether it was just some hidden reservoir of energy that became unleashed. All I knew at that moment was that it was either them or me, and there was no way I would let a bunch of nobodies do me in.

[Shadow Form]

My body slipped out of my captors' hands and fell to the gravel. This had the added bonus of letting me slip out of my restraints since they weren’t bound to me.

After blinking away the blurriness from my eyes, I took quick stock of the situation. There were five demon soldiers around me, looking at me with a mix of confusion and dread.

[Shadow Barrage]

Like previously, it was not enough to kill them, though I assume the state I was in didn’t help, so I followed up with a second [Shadow Barrage]. And then the third for good measure.

Finally, the only sound around was the steady thrum of the engine.

I disabled [Shadow Form], and immediately came to regret it when pain, nausea and vertigo reasserted themselves.

Fuuuuuuck…

With the remnants of my strength, I looked around and saw that I was brought to a gravel pit of some kind, or maybe a quarry. It was hard to tell in the eerie light that the headlights of the black sedan cast on the area. This only raised more questions, as I could dimly recall some mention of there being a need for me to be alive. Did they expect me to dig my own grave before executing me? Why go to these lengths?

Wollt ihr mich denn wirklich hinrichten?

That would be one of those mysteries for later, however. Right then, my greatest concern was my rapidly depleting strength. I briefly considered dragging myself over to the car to lie down on the backseat, but the mere thought of getting up made my nausea worse.

So I just rolled myself up into a ball and closed my eyes, praying for either sleep or death to take me away.

Aki - Now

‘Shit, dealing with a concussion while alone and in the middle of a hostile territory sounds like a fucking nightmare,’ Sav shuddered.

I had to agree. I wished I was there to comfort her, but I didn’t think there was a way to bring her comfort.

‘Speaking of,’ Nyx picked up the subject, ‘I imagine you are in the market for some new teeth, sweetie?’

In response, Lilyth smiled. I leaned forward to see what she was showcasing and discovered that her top and bottom right fang and the teeth on either side of them were now made of bluish-silvery metal.

‘Already taken care of,’ she said shortly afterwards. ‘They are from some weird metal alloy they make in Hell.’

‘Those are some mighty fine chompers,’ Caei said approvingly. ‘Though it is a shame they didn’t just grow back.’

‘Yeah,’ Lilyth shook her head. ‘I think either the transformation into the Hellborn or the Curse put an end to my “can regrow things” bullshit. It is not all that bad though. Most of the teeth on that side of the mouth were either cracked or broken, and they healed fine. It is just those six that are gone forever.’

‘Makes sense,’ Sav nodded. ‘Healing magic can fix teeth to an extent. You know, minor chips, less complicated cavities, things like that. So it makes sense that your regen, stunted as it is, is better at handling that shit.’

Huh. This explains why I stopped having issues with my teeth after I started adventuring.

'At least I can now accumulate scars to some extent. Makes me feel more… human, I guess.’

‘I must know, though,’ Nyx quickly steered the discussion back on track, ‘where did you find a dentist in Hell?’

‘We’ll get there,’ Lilyth smiled. ‘Right now, we are at the point where my high level and what was left of my regenerative abilities came in clutch, and my guardian bunny activated some of her contingencies…’

Lilyth - Mission Day 1 (relative time)

Something let out a mechanical chirp, sending spikes of pain through my head.

*chirp chirp*

I pulled the blanket I was covered in over my head.

*chirp chirp*

‘Hnngh,’ I protested.

*chirp chirp*

My second instinct was to swat my phone aside.

Lemme eep.

I blindly pawed around in the vague direction of the device, but couldn’t find it.

*chirp chirp*

A glimmer of clarity hit my mind. I was in Hell. And my phone was back on Earth in another universe.

If it is not my phone…

The image of the radio that Captain Lamkin had appeared in my mind.

*chirp chirp*

I bolted upwards, causing the blanket to slide down from my upper body and sending more spikes of pain through my head and causing another wave of nausea.

Fuuuuck.

I looked down to stop the existence from spinning and, for the first time, actually consciously acknowledged the existence of the blanket.

Wuh? Where did that come from?

I began to look around in panic, which almost caused me to vomit again.

‘Easy there,’ a familiar warm voice said.

I looked at its source and saw a tall man with unkempt dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a baggy white shirt and brown linen pants, giving him the appearance of a pirate. He was leaning against the now-turned-off black sedan and looking at me with worry in his grey eyes.

‘Dain!’ I exclaimed, causing another spike of pain.

‘Hi,’ he waved at me awkwardly.

I tried to get up, but lost my balance and fell back onto my ass.

‘Let me help you,’ he said, walked up to me and lifted me back onto my feet.

I had to briefly steady myself by leaning against him.

‘Thanks,’ I said.

‘My pleasure,’ he said, smiling.

I looked deep into his eyes and saw deep longing and sorrow there.

‘I missed you, Dain,’ I wrapped my hands around him and pressed my head against his chest. ‘I missed you so much.’

He carefully hugged me back, as if fearing he could hurt me.

‘I missed you too,’ he finally replied.

*chirp chirp* the radio reminded us of its existence.

Fuck!

‘I guess we might have to catch up on the road,’ I said, reluctantly. ‘We might have friends coming…’