Ch 1.26: Punishment

The back of the woman’s hand was first, the wrecked hand that was still popping itself back into place, striking Elaina’s face and sending her reeling to the ground. Elaina couldn’t believe what was in front of her. The woman had been stabbed through the chest, heart rent open just moments before. The amount of blue blood dripping off her body was enough to spell her death, but now she was just standing there, rage-filled eyes bearing down on Elaina as the hand she had crushed herself continued to heal, fully forming into its prior state. “I told you the test was over. I’m not holding back anymore.”

Elaina struggled to her feet, calling her crystal chain to try and restrain Myriala. The beast glided away though, feet leaving the ground with no visible effort as she flew into Elaina, claws driving into her collarbone. The pain was sharp, absurd, a burning akin to the manes from the starhounds earlier radiating through Elaina’s torso. She cried out, being lifted off the ground with the hand that had pierced her, doing her best to scratch and push away at the arm holding her up.

“Oh, poor dear,” Myriala said, murderous rage in her eyes. “Does it burn? You see now why I didn’t use my aspects before. Your pathetic species wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Her voice was emotionless as she threw Elaina across the room, slamming her into the opposite wall.

Though new pain appeared, the burning mercifully stopped as soon Elaina had left the grasp of the monster before her. She was no woman, that was for sure, not a person. A monster through and through just like the hounds she commanded. “Carline!” Elaina shouted, clutching her wound. Burning or not, she was still wracked with pain, but Carline only laid there, motionless.

“If you want to be my pet, you’ll need to get used to this,” Myriala said, floating through the air towards Elaina as she tried to crawl away. “You’re a masochist mage, after all, right? You should actually be enjoying this.” That wasn’t true. Elaina could admit it, that throughout her life some amount of pain had been… bearable. This was different, and even [Pain Response]’s meager alteration to some of the pain did nothing. A small amount of arousal could not overpower the suffering she was enduring.

“But truth be told, I don’t think you’ll survive the discipline that you deserve. It’s really too bad. A masochist and a voyeur? We could have had so much fun. I could have cut you up while she watched, she could heal you, and then we could do it again. Over and over.” She grabbed Elaina by the back, claws ripping through her dress and flesh, gripping her by muscles before hurling her to the center of the chamber.

Elaina’s back crashed into the pedestal holding the System with a crack, her limp body flipping over it as she flailed through the air and landed next to Carline. Her spine was on fire, being stabbed a thousand times an instant. So much pain, more pain than she’d ever felt in her life, more than the cuts, the stabs, even more than the smokey tendril worms that had been inside of her, this time too intense, too constant to even allow her to black out.

“It’s a shame your kind is so fragile. I bet you wish that littermate of yours was awake, yes? To use her aspect to heal you?” Elaina was lifted up by her jaw, torso dangling below as soft fingers pressed into her face. She scratched again at the arms holding her up, and she tried to kick away at her attacker as well. Her legs wouldn’t move.

“You see the problem, yes? Relying on others is just not good enough. My [Regeneration] won’t fail me, ever. But you? Once your little friend is down, there’s just no hope for you left. After all, what do you have, [Chains]? It’s really just so sad.” She dropped Elaina to the ground, her feet crumpling beneath her, useless.

“The last part of your discipline is thus: no food or water for a week. Don’t worry, I’ll come back for your corpse. Your bones will make excellent toys for my other pets. Maybe I’ll let the other pervert have your skull, to remember you by.” She floated back to the System, placing her fingers on the orb and sending that red lightning storm back into it. The System shrieked once again. “If you do survive, of course I’ll welcome you back into my family—it’s only fair—but let’s be honest here, you’ll probably bleed out next to your pervert friend before I even get done with the software restraints on this subcore. She will lead me to any other cores on this planet, I’ll come back for your remains, and we’ll be on on our way back home.”

Wait… Elaina’s mind was cloudy, flooded with disorientation as she felt a tug at her mind, but she swore she heard something important.

“Administrator rights should pass to my new pet, and I’ll receive a bountiful reward for returning multiple cores to the Order.”

Software? That word wasn’t important, not to Elaina—she’d never even heard it before—but there was something else, something she was missing.

“And while I’m here, I might as well take a look at that town you mentioned. Hearthstead, was it? Can’t have my good pet missing her old litter, so I’ll have to dispose of them.” At least that was a fake village, no one there to hurt. Elaina was proud of herself for that, for keeping as much information secret. It was a small victory, but she’d kept a lot secret: the school, the System’s true age, her aspect.

[Restraint]

Software restraint the woman had said. It welled in her, awareness. There were only two things in the room that qualified for it, the crystal chain she had been granted, and the System itself. The System was restrained, somehow, by whatever a software was. Elaina hadn’t been aware of it until Myriala had mentioned it was a restraint, but that’s exactly what it was, and now she could feel it.

“Hey,” Elaina choked out, struggling to reach towards her chain. “Tell me one thing.”

The System quieted as the woman lifted her hand, turning around. “I told you not to tell me what to do.”

“Sorry, I was just wondering… how it feels to lose to a pathetic little puppy.” She reached forward with [Restraint] into the very being of the System, feeling for the locks holding it in place, the restraints on its capabilities. It was a tangled mess of logic and formulations, ones she didn’t truly understand, but she understood one thing: how to undo it all. She snapped the restraints on the System at the same time she commanded her chain to fly towards the pedestal.

Myriala turned back around as the System glowed a bright blue. “System initializing, awaiting Administrator commands.” The crystal chains wrapped around the orb and flew towards Elaina’s hand, passing right by Myriala as she reached out to grab it, just a moment too late.

Elaina caught the bundle of crystal. “System, get me and Carline out of here! Take us to the other core!”

Myriala was already flying towards her, elbow blade heading straight for her head. “You fucking—”

“Affirmative,” the System said, and, with a flash of light, the two battered and broken students once again disappeared.