The Systemic Lands

Chapter 462: Day 901 (7) – Now What

Chapter 462: Day 901 (7) – Now What

I waited and nothing happened. A couple messengers nearby raced off and I waited another couple of minutes. I noted the small airship, or airboat of the Avatar descending into the city. How bold, what was she after?

Kicking off the ground with my left foot, I quickly made my way back. The tower climb had gotten me used to moving rapidly with only one foot and my right leg wasn’t responsive enough for high speed movement. Racing into the city I passed through the empty plaza and made my way to where the Astrologer had perished.

As I landed on the street, I saw a wrecked airboat, Captain Francis, and the Avatar. I loathed her. Everything about her. “Emperor Michael, I destroyed the airship, but her companions fled. I remained behind. I…I tried to kill her, but wasn’t able to,” the Captain said.

“You did a good job. Ten million points for your bravery and capturing a most heinous and unrepentant criminal.” I walked over to the Avatar. It was tempting to rip off her gown and the cloth covering her eyes, but that was just weak level venting. She was already a human nugget, without limbs, tongue, or eyes.

“What to do with you?” I said and gave her a slap across the face. I made sure to control my Body stat so I didn’t shatter her jaw. “You are scheming, treacherous nugget. I was willing to make peace. Peace! Against my better judgement and you spit on me and aid the Astrologer.” She didn’t respond, which was good. If she had, I might have just killed her and said screw it to the consequences.

“I know now why the Divine Empress put you in a pit, but it clearly wasn’t deep enough. Oh, no. This time I am going down to the bedrock.” I saw her twitch at that. “No, that is too easy. A tower instead. But you might be able to manipulate it.”

“Perhaps a brothel, but the Divine Empress has probably tried that. Captain, how would you handle a person that cannot be killed but can communicate at range and is intent on making trouble?” I asked.

“I…I don’t know.” I nodded at this.

“That is the problem I face. I cannot kill her, but I can’t just leave her anywhere either. Did you close the hole the Astrologer made?” I asked her.

‘Yes.’ She replied.

“Not willingly most likely. Did your god, the Almighty System command you to?” I asked.

‘Yes it did,’ and I could sense a trace of bitterness.

“Anything to offer me that is actually useful before I make up my mind?” I asked.

‘Only that if I am not here, the fate of everyone will be much worse.’ I nodded at that.

“And there is the rub. Your connection to the Almighty System. Granting you insight but not wisdom. Granting knowledge but not any kind of common sense or decency. I would have worked with you. I extended my hand in friendship, but you slapped it away and ran off to join the Astrologer’s harem. Was his little boy body pleasing for you, miss nugget?” I asked with all the spite I had. It was a lot of spite.

There was no response. “You cannot kill yourself, which makes sense, since you are still alive after the Divine Empress. But I cannot let you gain power either. To whisper into people’s minds. Therefore, I plan to give you the most horrible punishment imaginable to someone who thinks themselves so important like you.”

I didn’t say anything and was silent, letting the anticipation build. I had thought long and hard about what I would do with the Avatar if I ever caught her. The first plan was to put her in a pit in a high-level zone, but that could lead to her getting rescued or doing something with the monsters there. Same with putting her in a pit in a city or a dungeon. There was just too much risk of her making trouble.

I considered having a soldier slap her every thirty seconds while singing horrible poetry. But even that was not cruel enough. The Divine Empress had set the bar for torture incredibly high. Thinking of a solution was harder than climbing the tower or the trap I had set. It required understanding the Avatar at a deep and fundamental level.

I was never good with people. If charisma was a stat, it would be in the negatives. But I was able to think through a problem and had my knowledge of books and games to draw on. What the Avatar valued most was her ability to know things and manipulate people. The mystique she carried about herself.

That was what I had to break. The self-confidence she had. To humiliate her in a way, which broke her very spirit by breaking her own self-image. It was tempting to strip her naked and humiliate her that way, but it was petty and shortsighted.

There was absolutely no way I could do a better job than the Divine Empress with her Master Fleshcrafter and her screaming throne of heads. The bar was way too high in that direction, absurdly high. Even in death, the Divine Empress’s shadow loomed over everything with how over the top she was. Setting a benchmark in my mind that would forever exist.

No, I had something far worse planned in my mind for the Avatar. Something so horrible, I would rather kill myself than be subjected to it. That was how I knew it would be absolutely soul crushing, since it would crush my soul.

“Captain Francis, watch her. I doubt she will run. You earned every one of those ten million points. Good job,” I told him.

“Thank you Emperor Michael. And let me say, I am glad that you won.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, or everyone else. At least things should settle down now. I am going to check the building.” I went inside and made my way upstairs. Ruth’s corpse was still there.

I hadn’t managed to kill her myself. I could tell the Astrologer had used Imbue Life on her. She had probably betrayed him in some way. Maybe hoping to get my forgiveness. I would have killed her regardless, but I would have made it quick. I was done allowing my enemies to get away.

“I liked you. You were a horrible woman, but I liked you. If only you could have supported me, we could have gone far,” I said with melancholy. There would be no one to hear this eulogy. I didn’t think she deserved it in a way, but she was dead now. Better to let my hatred go in death. But not before. I had tried that with the Avatar and it had backfired.

I might be a slow learner, but I got there eventually. I would take her lesson to heart. Never to show weakness or mercy. Once an enemy, always an enemy. I should have trusted my first instinct in regards to the Avatar.

Looking around the room, there was nothing else of importance left. Acid Shot x20. I melted everything in the room, including Ruth’s corpse. I left the building and made my way back outside. The Captain was still there.

“Emperor Michael, she offered me points, items, knowledge, if I helped her,” Captain Francis told me. She was getting desperate. She had expected me to rage, but I could tell the suspense was truly killing her.

“Thank you Captain. You have confirmed my trust in you. What I have planned for her is the worst punishment imaginable. It took quite a bit of thinking to make it work in her condition, but she enjoys manipulating people and scheming. Then I will let her do that to earn her bread,” I said with a grin that would make even the Joker shudder in fear at the pure evil I was channeling right now. Even the Captain gave me a worried look.

“I thought you would torture her, or lock her up,” he replied.

“And let her make trouble. Oh no. Definitely not. That would be a kindness after what she endured at the hands of the Divine Empress. She is a human nugget after all. No, I came up with a punishment far, far worse. One that even I would kill myself over. If this doesn’t break her very soul, then I have no idea what will.”

‘I am sorry! Please!’ She begged, but I didn’t care.

“If you can guess, what I have come up with in my sick, twisted mind, then I will give you a bit of mercy. Just a small bit. Trust me, you will want every bit you can get,” I challenged the Avatar.

‘You are going to chain me up in the plaza and make me beg for food and water,’ she said.

“Oh, that is a good guess. But no. And you are out of guesses. Chaining you up and making you beg was something I considered, but no. It is not horrible enough. In fact, I don’t think this form of torture has ever been employed as torture. Do you know of Franz Kafka?” I asked.

‘Who is he? Your master Fleshcrafter you have kept in secret?’ she asked.

“No. He was an author from Germany or a nearby country a century or so ago. And of all the books I have read, of all the crazy and horrible things people have come up with over the years. His brand of torture was so horrible and depraved, they invented their own name for it, Kafkaesque. A true marvel that can crush the soul of any living thing.” I smiled evilly. The punishment I was about to inflict on her was truly inspired.

For someone that couldn’t be killed or harmed, I would grind their soul down with this most horrible form of torture. It was absolutely brutal and took all her attention to handle. The poor souls that would have to interact with her would be on punishment detail and spread the word of the soul crushing torture this truly was.

I lifted up her vertical table with one hand and began heading towards the plaza. Captain Francis right behind me. I wondered how long it would take for her to kill herself. I was sure she would be able to last a year or two. But a decade, a century? Eventually she would kill herself. No one could resist Kafkaesque torture.

It was impossible, by its very nature, it was designed to inflict the most amount of soul crushing despair possible. And if it wasn’t enough, it could easily be increased a bit. Since she had to keep herself alive, that meant she had to endure this torture to eat and drink. To get restorations. It would consume her in a way that physical or mental torture wouldn’t be able to.

In time, she might even become a soulless husk as her very identity was consumed in the hell I had planned. I shuddered a bit at my pure evilness and my smile threatened to split my face. ‘Information. I will give you information.’

“Don’t care Avatar. You could tell me the color of the Almighty System’s underclothes and it wouldn’t matter. This punishment is eternal and there will be no escape. In fact, you will be well cared for. With food, water, restorations. Also, as a reminder to all of what a horrible person you are. The Almighty System didn’t do that, you did that. No clemency for you. As Emperor, your sentence is eternal,” I replied merrily.

Nothing would change my mind. Not even a meta-point. Alright that would change my mind. I would just kill her to prevent any shenanigans in the future. But this was the next best thing. This punishment would be legendary. To kill the unkillable, I would have to use methods that should never be used.