Chapter 996: Fight with Pain
A long time.
But full of pleasure.
She felt as though she had returned to the battlefield of four hundred years ago — but this time without the weight of failure, without watching her companions die in her arms. No burden of responsibility. No larger stakes pressing down on every action.
Best of all, both of them could feel pain.
The pain made it real.
“Female.” Kabradhabi studied the severed arm it held and then dropped it on the ground between them. “I have to say — you’ve done well. You’re a bug, but you’re stronger than most of your kind. I didn’t choose wrong. Your performance satisfies me.”
“Glad to hear it.” Zooey spat a piece of flesh from her mouth. “Unfortunately, yours tastes disgusting.”
Was this the fifth day? The seventh? Without the sun or stars, time could only be estimated by the body’s rhythms — by the cycles of thirst and hunger, which appeared and then suddenly vanished, resetting, as if the space itself regulated them. It was reasonable to call each such cycle a day. Otherwise, a fight like this would have ground them both down within hours.
Her arm ached where it had been torn off. An unfair contest by any conventional measure: the demon could conjure a sword from its own magic power; she had only her limbs and teeth.
She didn’t care about fairness.
Victory and failure had ceased to matter here.
On the old battlefields, she had killed to protect herself and protect her companions. Here, the severed limbs regenerated. No wound produced unconsciousness. With death removed from the equation, pain became the only thing that was permanent — and permanent pain was simply another name for sensation.
You didn’t need a sword for that.
She noticed that the demon had slowed its pace. This was the first time it had taken the initiative to stop and speak.
“Your persistence is meaningless.” Kabradhabi pressed a hand to the wound on its shoulder; the raw flesh knit itself closed. “Attacks like yours amount to nothing against me. If you imagine you can gnaw through my defenses with your teeth, you’re going to be disappointed. I’ll knock them out one by one and make you swallow them. Get ready.”
“But you still feel the pain. Don’t you?” Zooey breathed through her mouth and watched her arm come back. “I wanted to ask — is it familiar? That particular kind of pain?”
“Female. What do you mean?”
Patience. Don’t let it see my satisfaction — it’ll cut the pleasure short.
She couldn’t quite hold back the sound that came out. A laugh, low and private. “When you were nearly dead on the road, you should have felt it every day.” She pointed at the shoulder blade. “Stabbed there. Flesh peeled away. You were shaking hard — you must have been miserable.” She let the pause do its work. “I forgot to mention: I was the one caring for you the whole way.”
“Bug!” Kabradhabi’s sword came up, fury in every line of its body. “I will crush you—”
The sixteenth day, possibly longer.
The dark ground was covered in blood — most of it reddish-brown, some of it black-blue. Broken limbs, scattered organs, and teeth — she had lost count of whose teeth — lay strewn across the floor. The lost parts regenerated before long, but the blood did not vanish, and the debris did not clear itself. They had both slipped on it, again and again, which had led to a discovery: she now had weapons.
One of her own thigh bones. Half of the demon’s spine.
The thigh bone worked like a short hammer. The spine, with its curve and heft, served well enough as a blade. As long as she avoided its magic sword directly, they held.
Four hundred years was sufficient time to become functional with almost anything.
And her preferred target remained the shoulder.
Pain was not proportional to the size of the wound. Some places simply held more of it than others.
“Take a rest if you need one,” Zooey said, looping the spine around her waist and flexing her numb wrists. “You have a long time ahead. No reason to rush.”
The demon said nothing. Its chest moved in deep, slow breaths; its scarlet eyes tracked her without blinking. The contempt that had been there at the beginning had gone somewhere else, replaced by something harder to name.
Their balance of power had not changed. The Senior Demon’s range of abilities ensured it remained the stronger fighter. Every strike Zooey landed cost her several times over in return. It was not unusual for her fingers to be broken, her belly torn open. Even so — something in the atmosphere had shifted.
She didn’t acknowledge the silence. “Can I ask — did you construct this space?”
The demon seemed willing to rest for a moment. Kabradhabi said, at length, “This is a stream of consciousness. A confluence of magic power and the soul. It doesn’t require construction. It forms. That’s not something a bug can easily grasp. Almost no one ever enters the stream of consciousness—”
“I’ve seen a larger one,” she said. “One as complete as a real world. Trees, sky, ground, weather. Nothing like this place. This place has nothing.”
“Nonsense, female!” The roar was sharp and sudden. “Do you have any idea how much magic power constructing entities in the stream of consciousness requires? A complete world? Only the Fountain of Magic could do that!”
“The Fountain of Magic again.” Zooey took the spine from her waist and held it. “It’s like the domain of the gods. An idea everyone repeats as though they’ve seen it, but no one has.”
“It is engraved in the heritage! You know nothing of it!”
“Then explain it to me. Give me some evidence.”
“Female, do you think I’m a fool?” Kabradhabi’s voice cracked with outrage. “How could I, lord Kabradhabi, fall for such a clumsy—”
The spine took him through the head.
She’d thrown it while he was still mid-sentence. The white bone stood out against the darkness like something clean.
“If you’re not going to say anything, then the rest is over.” Zooey picked up the thigh bone and moved toward the staggering demon. “When you decide you want to talk, we can stop again.”
Dozens of days later.
“Why,” said Kabradhabi, and the word came out stripped of everything — the momentum, the sneering ease, the sense of a creature certain of its own superiority. It held its magic sword in front of its chest and watched her the way something watches a thing it cannot categorize. “Why don’t you fear the pain?”
“The war four hundred years ago made me familiar with it,” Zooey said. “Sleeping for four hundred years let me forget it. If you recovered something that had always been part of you — would you fear it?” She let the smile through. She didn’t need to suppress it anymore. “I should thank you, in fact. You’ve given me back something His Majesty Roland’s world couldn’t.”
“You’re insane — ”
“This is only a brief moment next to hundreds of years. Now it’s your turn to satisfy me.”
The moment her fingers drove into the demon’s chest, the world twisted. Blood, flesh, scattered bone — it all dissolved into nothing. A vertigo took her, massive and abrupt, and then—
She opened her eyes to the dome of the Third Border City.
Chapter 996: Fight with Pain
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
…
A long time.
But full of pleasure.
She felt as if she had returned to the battlefield from 400 years ago. But this time, she didn’t need to worry about the pain of failure or watching her friends die in her arms. She was free from the heavy burden of responsibility.
Best of all, both she and the demon could feel pain.
The pain made the fighting real.
“Female… I have to say you’ve done a good job,” Kabradhabi said as it threw Zooey’s severed arm on the ground. “Although you’re a bug, you’re much stronger than most of your kind. I really didn’t pick the wrong person. Your performance pleases me!”
“Really?” Zooey answered vaguely, then spat a piece of flesh from her mouth, “Unfortunately, your flesh tastes disgusting.”
Was this the fifth day since the battle began…or the seventh day? It was difficult to estimate the passage of time without the sun, moon, and stars, so she could only roughly estimate it based on her body’s natural reactions. Time here should be fixed in a cycle. For example, thirst and hunger would suddenly disappear when they became apparent and then reset. It was sensible to regard this cycle as a day. Otherwise, it would be impossible for people to fight for years. They would lose strength and be unable to move within days.
She felt a sharp pain from her arm where it had been cut off. It was obviously an unfair battle. The demon could create a long sword with its magic power, while she only had her arms, legs, and teeth.
But Zooey did not care about whether it was fair or not.
Because victory or failure was not important.
On the battlefield of old, she had to kill the enemy and protect herself, but not here. Here, the severed limbs would regenerate. No matter how severely she was wounded, she would not lose consciousness. Without death, the pain became eternal.
It was not necessary to use a sword to cause pain.
She noticed that this was the first time that the demon took the initiative to slow down the pace and talk.
“But your persistence is meaningless,” the Senior Demon said, as it pressed on its wounded shoulder. The bloody wound quickly recovered. “Attacks like this are nothing to me. If you want to beat me with your teeth, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. I’ll knock out your teeth one by one and then make you swallow them. Get ready for it!”
“But you still feel the pain, don’t you?” Zooey gasped and watched her arm recover. “By the way, I’d like to ask one more thing. Is that pain particularly familiar?”
“Female, what do you mean?”
No, I have to be patient. I can’t let it see my intoxication, as it’ll reduce the fun—
In spite of this, she still couldn’t help chuckling. “When you were half dead, you should have felt it every day…” She pointed at the shoulder blade, “Being stabbed here and having your flesh cut away. With how much your body was shaking, you must have felt not so good. Ah, I forgot to tell you. The person who cared for you along the way was me.”
“Bug—!”Kabradhabi was furious and lifted his sword, snarling, “I’ll crush you!”
…
The sixteenth day, or maybe longer.
The dark ground was covered with blood, mostly reddish-brown, and some black-blue.
In addition, broken limbs, internal organs… and of course, teeth, were scattered everywhere. Although the lost parts would regenerate before long, the blood and scattered parts would not disappear. In this environment, they accidentally slipped again and again. But because of this, Zooey got two weapons— one of her thigh bones and half of the demon’s spine.
The former was like a short hammer, and the latter could be used as a sword. As long as they didn’t directly hit the demon’s magic sword, they were quite useful to her.
400 years was long enough to make her an expert in all kinds of weapons.
And her favorite place to attack was still its shoulder.
Pain was sometimes unrelated to the size of the wound.
“If you’re tired, you might take a break now,” Zooey said, hanging the spine around her waist and moving her numb wrists. “After all, you have to torture me for a long time. It would be better to take your time.”
“…” The demon did not respond for the first time. Its chest heaved as it was breathing deeply, and its scarlet eyes stared at the Extraordinary. The initial contempt faded from its human-like face.
Their relative strength had not changed. The various abilities of a Senior Demon had ensured its superior position in this fight. Zooey needed to pay several times the cost in order to strike her opponent. Once she made a mistake, she would suffer for a long time. It was not unusual that her fingers
were broken and her belly was torn apart. Even so, the atmosphere gradually changed.
Zooey did not take any notice of its silence. “Let me ask… Is this space created by you?”
The demon probably needed to rest for a moment. Kabradhabi slowly said, “This is a stream of consciousness, a combination of magic power and the soul. It doesn’t need anyone to create it. It’s hard to understand for a bug like you. Almost no one has a chance to enter the stream of consciousness—”
“I’ve seen a bigger one, which was as complete as a real world,” she interrupted. “There were trees, sky, and earth. It’s not like here. There is nothing here.”
“Nonsense, female!” the demon roared, “You have no idea how much magic power it consumes to construct entities in the stream of consciousness, let alone a complete world! Only the Fountain of Magic can do that!”
“It’s the Fountain of Magic again… It’s just like the domain of deities, an illusion. No one has been there, but they talk as if they’ve seen it.” Zooey took off the spine bone and held it with her hand.
“This is engraved in the heritage. But you would know nothing about it!”
“Then can you elaborate further and come up with some evidence to convince me?.”
“Female, do you think I’m a fool?” Kabradhabi was furious. “How can I, lord Kabradhabi, be deceived by such a clumsy technique—”
Before it finished its words, a “spear” pierced through its head.
The white spear was the spine thrown by Zooey.
“Since you don’t want to say anything, then that’s the end of the rest. When you want to talk about it, we’ll take a rest again.” She held the thigh bone and rushed toward the staggering demon.
…
Dozens of days later.
“Why,” asked Kabradhabi, who had completely lost its original momentum. It held its Magic Sword in front of its chest, staring at Zooey as if she were a monster, “Don’t you fear pain?”
“The war 400 years ago made me accustomed to it, while hibernating for 400 years made me forget it. If you regained something which had always accompanied you, would you fear it?” Zooey raised her lips. At this moment, she no longer had to conceal herself. “In fact, I have to thank you. You’ve compensated for the feelings which King Roland can’t give me.”
“You… are crazy!”
“This is only a brief moment compared to hundreds of years. Now, it’s your turn to please me.”
When Zooey once again stabbed her fingers into the demon’s chest, the sight in front of her suddenly twisted. The blood, flesh, and body parts all turned into nothingness, and a strong sensation of dizziness overwhelmed her.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the hall dome of Third Border City.