And no one from the nobles, the guests, he invited offered to help them,
or even ask to spare Austria. Only the nanny.
They were just spectators to what was going on, whispering to each other as they despised and said hurtful words to Uria, who was being raped at the moment.
"So, she was the reason why thousands of people died. To think that we shared the same drink and food with a mass murderer like her. I'm disgusted!"
Oh, how quick those people behind had turned on Uria after learning that she is the leader of the Black Cantrip, the most notorious witch group that sacrificed thousands of lives to help the army of the demon lord.
"Mother! Father! What are they gonna do to us?"
"Oh, you poor soul," The king caressed Austria's tears-drenched cheeks, wiping her eyes with his handkerchief and throwing it aggressively on the logs piled up around the child. "Curse your mother for bringing you to this world. Don't blame your father, for he did nothing. Just like how he is just watching right now! Buwahahahaha!"
His highness showed no mercy or empathy towards Uria and Austria. He was the one behind the investigation of Uria's background and coerced Invictus' friends to persecute the family.
"Invictus, do you really think that the people of Estaria had already forgotten about your past?"The king began to hit him with his cane. "Did you really think that we have accepted you and your bloodline? No! We didn't and we will never! It was all a farce because, deep inside, I want you to suffer and watch your loved ones burn as you do nothing!"
Anger, rage, and hatred turned into frustration when Invictus felt helpless in front of everyone. He could feel his sanity slowly disappearing after he tried to keep it intact. After all of the animosity, he felt from the Estarians because of his despicable bloodline, this may be the time that all of the pent-up anger, the raging desire to just destroy the whole kingdom down will explode.
"Ahhh!"
When all of his male friends were done taking turns on his wife, soiling her deep inside her, the king ordered them.
"Tie her up and light them up! We must extinguish the fire that could engulf Estaria, our holy land in flames, and set our families and home
ablaze with their arsonist's hands!"
With the snap of the king's attendant's fingers, the logs were set on fire, and it roaringly engulfed both Uria and Austria.
"AHHHHH!!! FATHERRR, IT HURTS!"
"HAAAALLL! H-HELP US!"
Finally, Invictus' welling up eyes began to overflow, and also lost his mind, screaming hoarsely as the fire got hotter and bigger.
Only the silhouette of the agonizing Uria and Austria could be seen through the searingly hot yellow flames raging as it goes on burning the logs and human flesh.
"H-Hal... Austria... Stop! Stop screaming! Please... Please! I can't take it anymore. I've had enough! Ahh!!!"
Watching his wife and daughter writhe in agony was so painful for him to watch. He could feel his soul burning along with his loved ones.
"Just kill me! If you're gonna do this, please, let me die with them! I beg of you..."
He pleaded so hard and so loud but his words were ignored. The fire lasted for an hour, however, Austria's voice in pain did not last long.
"And so their bodies burned, and their ashes became dirt in our eyes..."
When the fire was created to put Uria and Austria out of their misery, the king instructed everyone to leave.
"All of you are witnesses to the execution of the Black Cantrip's leader! Go home and spread the good news! We have finally brought justice upon the people whose lives were taken by the wicked witch!"
Immediately, all the noble families invited to the party hastened themselves and went home with the news whilst all of Invictus' former friends began to beat him up.
Not even once had he treated them badly nor tried to raise his hands against them. Invictus was so good to them that he thought of everyone, his seven former friends, as a family after sharing hardships with them.
However, it was all in his head. None of the ungrateful bastards and bitches thought of him as family, not even a friend. He just felt really bad for them because their friendship had to end like this.
"The spell must be breaking any time soon. Vinyl, destroy his magic core."
Vinyl was the only one capable of destroying Invictus' magic core without actually killing the guy. By doing so, Invictus will forever be magicless, and crippling him was part of the king's plan in torturing Invictus.
"As you wish, your highness."
What is the force driving them to do such outrageous deeds to a person that only wished them all the best in this world? Was it jealousy? Or envy, perhaps?
The answer was neither of the two. His friends were doing this all for titles and money. You see, everyone from the group came from a poor household. None among them were of nobility.
And their lifelong wish was to become nobility, gain the title and own lands of their own. That way, they can earn more power in sociological terms. Moreover, being a noble comes with privilege whereas peasants don't have access.
Vinyl's right hand glowed, and smaller magic particles began to be formed in his hand as his chanting continued.
"When you're done with him, bring Invictus and throw him down to The Oubliette."
An oubliette was a specialized type of dungeon, with the only entrance a trap door at the top, agonizingly out of reach of the prisoner. Often this horrible prison was shaped like a very narrow passage, not wide enough for the prisoner to sit down or even get down on his knees.
The oubliette was commonly found in castles during the medieval period. It was commonly used to hold political prisoners. It was dark, damp, isolated, and scary. This kind of dungeon continued to exist even after the end of medieval times.
This torture chamber exists deep within the king's castle. Making him suffer by burning Invictus' wife and daughter was not enough for the king. He wants to punish the miserable Invictus even more by slowly killing him in the process of starvation and mental stress.When the quite long chanting was done, Damian and Corazon firmly held Invictus, even though the man lost all the strength to struggle and fight back.Seeing his wife and daughter burned to ashes right before his eyes took away his will to carry on with his life. In his mind, he was already a dead man, waiting for everything to just come to an end."This will only sting for a bit, Invictus."Human magic cores are located inside their right chest, acting as their second heart, so once the magic heart is destroyed, the worst possible outcome of this is death. It is a common occurrence for those that lost their magic cores, however, there were cases where others became crippled until it has become a practice in human society s
Invictus woke up, standing inside The Oubliette with his legs aching and wet from all the waste thrown down.On his feet, he could feel hard objects around him as he tried to stand still. His legs were starting to feel numb and the disgust in his skin was knee-deep. He could not even climb up his way to the trap door nor bend his knees to sit down."I've heard of this dungeon before. This is where the king put the people he despises the most. He would let them suffer both mentally and physically as one won't be able to sleep as they please or even sit down.What I could feel on my feet must be the remains of those that rot away."The smell was so strongly vile. It stays inside his nostrils. Inhaling through his nose has this slightly painful sensation as though he was breathing specks of dust.And if he tries to breathe through his mouth, the smell would be stuck in his throat, and he will end up coughing virulently.No matter how accustomed one is to this kind of foul smell, the fact
"A-Austria? Is that you?"Wherever he turns his head, all he could see was darkness. Darkness extended further than how far his eyes could see."My baby, where are you?"Invictus' lower half was submerged in the dark matter he was standing in. He won't barge no matter how much he struggled. Crawling his way out was futile too."I'm right here," Austria exclaimed in the dark void."Where? I can't see you! Please, please take my hand if you can see me. Please, my baby, please!"If Invictus has to cut his arm off and hold it with another just to reach longer than he can actually do, he would do it without hesitation just to hold his daughter once more.Tears began flowing down his face and thousands of emotions flooded his mind and heart when he felt Austria's tiny fingers hold his."Oh, my baby, will you hold me? Please, I beg of you."But that was how as far as the strange encounter goes. He had woken up when the king's servants dumped another liquid waste in The Oubliette, raising the
Invictus felt a sting on his arm. With the help of the faint light coming from the torch above him, he saw the marks of his teeth on his skin. He mistakenly took a bite of himself, thinking it was a chunk of meaty beef.Moreover, he noticed that his hands were wet. When he took a quick look at his hands, there was dirt and it felt greasy."Did I—?!"Immediately, his stomach began aching excruciatingly. He was hallucinating and he had unconsciously drunk the liquid waste. Right now, Invictus was suffering from abdominal cramps as he was excessively gagging."I need to throw up!"Grievous as it might feel, Invictus had no choice but to release everything that he had unconsciously consumed while hallucinating.Eventually, after roughly poking his throat with his middle finger to force himself to spew all of that waste he drank, Invictus vomited not just the liquid waste but also accompanied by blood.His body was deteriorating and his condition just got worse than it already is.Whilst h
In the middle of Invictus' hallucinations, came upon him another strange scenario. He had met with the goddess of space and time as they stayed afloat across planets and stars.His first thought about the scenario was him having hallucinations again. He tried biting himself, but he did not wake up. Invictus just felt pain, an excruciating one since he bit himself as hard as he could."If you are real and not some made-up image of my mind, how come you didn't meet me inside The Oubliette?"Invictus knows what he was asking the goddess and still goes on with the dumb and annoying question."I'm sure you're aware of your current situation inside that waste dump, right? It's too gross in there. Also, I am claustrophobic."Their conversation continued for several minutes until the goddess herself became bored of the chitty chattering."Ahh, how boring!" She suddenly snickered, interrupting Invictus' storytelling."It was you that wanted me to tell you a story. It's not my problem that it w
A sudden stream of torturing emotions flooded his mind. His heart feels all that sharp pain pricking his chest every time he is admonished for his mistakes.All he could do now is regret putting his trust in the people that neveraccepted him and his bloodline."Sorry, sorry, sorry! Hal, sorry... Forgive me! You must know how much I wanted to help both of you! So, please... Please forgive me!""If you are really sorry, you will leave this hellish place. You would do anything you can to attain vengeance for us!"Her voice was getting louder and rougher as the conversation went on. Uria's mental strike on Invictus, all the indirect blaming, and passive-aggressive remarks were slowly breaking him into pieces.This is what Invictus gets for punishing himself. His mind was actually playing tricks on him while he suffered a mental breakdown from being unable to do anything.Right now, he was experiencing the second stage of starvation. A person's liver metabolizes fatty acids into ketone bo
An oubliette (from French meaning to forget) or bottle dungeon is a basement room that is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch) in a high ceiling. Victims in oubliettes were often left to starve and dehydrate to death, making the practice akin to—and some say an actual variety of—immurement. (Wikipedia)And it has been two weeks ever since Invictus was thrown into the said bottle dungeon to die and be forgotten. It has also been a week since Invictus received partial immortality from the goddess of time and space.So far, after Invictus made up his mind and decided to eat his own flesh just to survive the death pulling him down to the ground. He was clinging to a tiny single strand of life that is keeping him alive.At first, Invictus did not like the taste of his own flesh, for it tasted horrible after chewing on the gristly meat a few times and then swallowing it down, forcing his throat to push down his own part.As horrible and sickening as it may seem, Invictus clun
And to Aeriel's utter shock when she had a closer look at Invictus' legs. It was pitch black, drenched in greasy liquid."Lord Invictus, oh my-! What have they done to you?"Invictus was still sinisterly laughing whilst Aeriel was freaking out for her life at the condition her lord was in. Worriedly, she brought out a spare of clothes she had in a small bag."I don't have a pair of boots for you to wear, Lord Invictus. But, I have some clothes here."His lower half was dark, and his upper body was in its worst possible condition. Varicose veins were way past their worst state, but Invictus' joints impossibly didn't lock themselves."Wahaha... Thank you, Aeriel," Invictus said all of a sudden after hysterically laughing for a few minutes. "Of all the people I know, I did not expect you to risk your life just to free me. Thanks to you, I am given the chance to take everything that they have!"From guffawing, teary-eyed to emitting such a terrifying bloodlust with a serious expression on