The Folter [I]

'Ughhh'

Pain!

Locke felt a searing pain ravage his head as he tried to open his eyes. His hands could not even move to rub his itching eyes, which felt like thousands of ants poking from under his eyelids.

He tried to open his mouth to find a powdery substance blanketing his tongue and teeth, producing a grinding sound as it did so against his teeth. It was sand. He tried to clean his dust-carpeted tongue using his teeth but accidentally bit on it.

Feeling even more annoyed as the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, mixing with the sand, Locke started to spit everything out, forming very tiny blood puddles with grains of sand floating in front of him.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to him but in actuality, was only a few minutes, he was finally able to move his arms. Locke planted them on the ground palm first and pushed his body upwards with all his strength until he was on his knees, grunting and panting along the way.

He pinched his eyelids, slowly pulling on them, making space for the grains to fall out.

{'Tis about time, mortal. You've made your way out of that lowly stack... well, I wouldn't say a lowly one since the Seven Suns originate there...}.

The deep voice, proud and booming initially, trailed off towards the end, confused about matters it had at first judged not worth its time.

{Anyways *Ahem* I, the Demon King Of Wrath, have decided to grace your lowly self with the unrivaled opportunity of becoming my servant.

So naturally, said opportunity would contain catering to my everyday nee- oof arghhhh... Yes. Yes. I understand.

Yes, I did forget that your projection would not leave until after the mortal acquaintances himself with the system. Alright, the ignoramus is probably blown out of his mind now.}

The Demon was on the spot. Locke couldn't understand an iota of what was going on, though an idea twirled in his mind that he wished was true. If this was what he thought it was, he could have fun and fight many strong people.

He sat there on his knees, full of hope while at the same time stunned as the demon continued his monologue, unperturbed.

{You'll soon unlock that weird little thing you mortals call a system. It beats me why he caters for your every little wish.}

Locke tried to calm his mind and inquire about his current situation. He raised a hand high up in the air as he put up two fingers while voicing out,

"I have two questions."

{Hmmm, go on}.

"You said the phrase 'different world' before; if that is true, what world am I in?"

{The world of Pangaia with a singular continent, Uruk}.

"That's it?"

The demon snickered, {You only asked for the name of the world kid. I only added the continent name as a bonus to you}.

'Hmmm, this seemingly immature, tantrum-throwing demon might not be as simple as I thought. Well, at least I'm not like those poor sods who have to transmigrate to some young master's body and learn everything from a library.'

"Alright then, my next question... Why aren't you a girl?"

{...}

"I-I mean, usually in these sorts of situations, there would be a cliche cute loli or a jade beauty to help and guide the main character out. So w-why am I stuck with an old dude...?"

The tone of Locke's inquiry took a unique path from being flustered to breaking the fourth wall and then into helplessness at the fact that he may have to live the rest of his life with a demon inside his head.

{...You dare ask me, the Demon King Of Wrath, why I'm not a female!? Horny mongrel, I saved you, and instead of gratitude, you, with your nincompoop of a brain, ask me such pathetic questions?!}.

Locke put this whole situation out of his mind and looked around, trying to assess his condition and find out any clues of where he might be. Golden sand surrounded him as he lay closer to the shore.

Waves tumbled onto the beach, the chemical-blue seawater and the milk-white wave crests coalesced together as seaspray covered his face, the salty smell tickling his nose.

He weakly staggered up as he walked over to the foamy water, dipping his right hand in it and bringing it to slick his messy-spiky hair back, revealing a triangular, unsharp face that didn't stand out in any way.

"So, where are we now?"

{Hmm? That's not my issue, mortal. My job is to grant you some techniques and then be on my way- WAIT WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'LL DIE IF THIS THING DIES!? NO. NO. THAT'S NOT PART OF THE PLAN, YOU FUCKING MORON!}

'I guess this dude was put here by someone? Ugh, why a talking system, though? Wait, it's not a system since he's here, but the system screen isn't... Am I going to have another talking one too? Should I have stayed in the cell?'

Locke's conversation with the demon in his head was interrupted by the sound of someone rushing towards him, stirring up the dust. He looked around to find a boy with black hair split in the middle, falling till his cheeks, wearing what seemed to be tattered and torn black robes.

He seemed sleep-deprived with the dark bags hanging under his eyes and was bruised all over, purple marks showing from the holes and tears in his robe. The boy gestured frantically at Locke, seemingly telling him to run away as he glanced behind him every few steps.

Just as he thought of maybe diving into the water to save himself from whatever was coming, it came. Nope. Never mind, just humans. They were two men, both wielding spears that they pointed at Locke and the boy.

Not wanting any trouble right now, Locke raised his hands and uttered, "Gentlemen, I have seen nothing. I'll be on my way." He was not stupid enough to not know that these people were after the boy, but he wanted no part of it.

They were both strangers, and if it weren't for the boy running towards him, he wouldn't even be part of this. As he stepped forward to walk away, Locke notices that all three of them were looking at him dumbly.

"HONUKEZ ITAENAE!"

One of the men with a full beard readied his spear and charges abruptly with a furious look on his face as if he was mocked. Locke looked on as the man thrusts his spear at him and dodges to the side right before it hit him, but it wasn't over.

The man grasped the spear with his other hand and, using his body as leverage, swung it at him, the blade grazing his neck as it went through its original path. He covered the wound with one hand and tilted his body to the left as the spear once again shot past him.

Locke grabbed the shaft and pulled, dragging the man along with it as he punched him square in the face. Blood splattered all over the place as the man's face was turned away from Locke. He swiped the staggering man's legs and punched him straight in the stomach as he was falling, effectively knocking him out.

Turning to the other man while bouncing his feet on the sand, Locke took his stance. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little afraid when the man rushed him, but the excitement soon overtook and even completely buried the feeling as soon as he started fighting.

"What the fuck was that?" I thought that this world was gonna be fun. Don't tell me that there isn't some kind of super-strength stuff, huh? Man, you're killing my dreams right now."Locke mocked the demon out loud.

The man who was initially pointing his spear at the boy was now alerted as he stared at his comrade on the floor. His face contorted in fury as he heard Locke's mockery. Even though he couldn't understand what it meant, he understood that Locke was ridiculing him.

He dropped the spear as he wanted to bash this motherfucker out first. Grabbing his right arm by the wrist, the man focused as a green aura slowly formed and coated his fist. The man started sprinting at Locke as the latter argued with the demon in him.

Reaching him, the man aimed a left kick straight to the center, which Locke blocked by crossing his arms. As Locke was sent stumbling away a few meters, surprised by the strength, the man caught up with him and shot out his green aura-clad fist.

Locke's eyes widened as he saw what he assumed to be magic for the first time in his life. The green aura didn't seem to provide or boost anything, so he quickly regained his calm and tilted his head to the left.

The fist he thought he would dodge suddenly disappeared and appeared almost instantly in front of him as if... its speed was boosted to the point it was unseeable to the mortal eye. A loud crack reverberated in the air as Locke was flung meters away, bouncing on the sand as he faceplanted.

Everything around him darkened as Locke tasted crinkly wet sand for the second time today, pondering over what the heck that green light was as he heard a dark chuckle. {Oops, I forgot to turn on the translator}.

"...This motherfucker" was all Locke could manage to utter before he passed out, leaving a chuckling demon king to bask in his sweet little revenge.