Too Far?

'I do not want to go but…' But for the next minute, she just kept holding the door handle while looking at him.

"…What?" Adam tilted his head, this seemed a little confusing.

"Nothing…" Esdeath shook her head with a smile and exited the shop.

And as soon as she arrived back at the fortress of the northern tribe, the frozen time started to flow once again.

This fortress, it used to be a place teeming with people who rebelled against the Empire, a vigorous force that created problems at the border and became a nuisance to the army, but now it was filled with nothing but frozen bodies, and torn corpses impaled on spears for the remaining civilians to see.

And the one who led the northern tribe, their hero, the one they considered to be the savior who would defeat the Empire.

"Hah* Hah*" He was looking at Esdeath on his fours, his tongue out as he drooled like a dog that had seen his owner after a while.

And it was true, this hero was broken and chained by none other than her, because she wanted to see how far she could push him; before he, someone who was hailed as a hero broke down.

But…

"Disappointing…" She muttered looking at him crawling towards her, "Get away from me filth," and seeing her trying to lick her feet, bored her even further.

"Argh!!!!" The northern hero shouted in pain as his skin started to freeze in an instant, this instant cold made him move violently as they overloaded his pain receptors, "ARghhhhh!!! AHHHH!!!!" and because of that the frozen skin cracked, and started to cut into his body.

"I didn't even start, and you are like this?" Esdeath sat down on the big throne in front of the writhing hero with a smirk, she was so disappointed that it was amusing.

And she was telling the truth about not starting, she had just frozen the upper layers of skin from his hands and legs.

But in the next second, she started to freeze the skin over his back and chest.

"Gaaaaaaa!!! hgggggHHHH!!!!" The former hero released even more screams as that skin broke and hurt him further, letting his blood flow out of the numerous tiny cuts on his body.

"You…." Esdeath pointed at one of the soldiers from the northern tribe who was kept to watch all of this, she didn't mind anything about his expression to what he may be feeling at this moment, "Dump salt on him."

"W-wha-?" The soldier was shocked to hear that demand while looking at the chained hero.

What was she going for? Their houses were destroyed, looted, innocent civilians were killed along with the kids, and women were raped.

Didn't she do enough already? But this is where he was wrong.

"Every second you make me wait, adds another Northern Tribesman receiving this…" Esdeath spoke coldly, she wasn't fond of waiting.

"W-wait…" The soldier nearly broke down. Just looking at Esdeath's eyes it was clear, that she wasn't joking.

"I can wait all day, but the problem is…." Esdeath spoke flatly looking at the soldier, "Are there enough tribesmen left?" it showed that to her, they were lesser than humans.

And if he keeps testing her patience, she will really end everyone without leaving anything behind.

Before this, she seemed content with just trampling over them and breaking the hero, but now it was different.

"I-I'll do it," The soldier who was freed by the other soldiers from the empire, they were also terrified by the sudden shift in Esdeath's mood.

"Time is still ticking," Esdeath said while pointing to the sack of salt with her chin.

The soldier bit his lip and tried to pick up the sack of salt, "Urgh… Ack, Damn it…" He kept crying because it was hard to pick it up, Why?

"Damn…. Urgh! Fu…ck…" The tendons in his arms were cut and all his fingers were broken, so he had no choice but to pick the sack up with his mouth. 

And somehow some way he was able to dump the already-opened sack on the former hero.

"AHHH! NO! ARGH!!! NOO!!!" And because of salt getting introduced into his cracked skin, the former hero's screams echoed in the fortress as it burned his cuts more while Esdeath made sure to freeze the upper layer, it was done to minimize the blood from pouring.

And because of his voice being too well known among the people, all of them knew who it was that was in so much pain.

But this wasn't the end of it…

"40 seconds…" Esdeath spoke with a bored look, "You…. Bring out forty survivors." She commaned and the soldiers ran, because they had no intentions of joining the event.

"No…. Please!!! No!!!" The Northern Tribesman started to break down.

"I would suggest keeping your energy for the next round, you will need to put salt on them as well," Esdeath's cold voice echoed, she had no mercy at the moment.

"Devil!! You monster!! How can a…. human…!!" The soldier glared at Esdeath in fury, something like this was beyond twisted.

What did she even gain from doing this?

"It isn't like I didn't give you the chance..." Esdeath stood up from the throne and walked over to the soldier, "But you were the one who spent too much time." and continued as she looked him in the eyes.

"Y-You…."

"Why would you go against the Empire…. When you are this weak?" She didn't understand that, if they were trying to stage a rebellion, "You can curse me all you want…." Esdeath yanked the soldier by the hair to make him look at her.

"The people who died here, didn't die because we were cruel…" Esdeath smiled looking at his face, "They died because you were too incompetent to defend them." Just hearing these words made the soldier's eyes tremble.

The northern Tribe really thought that they were strong, they believed it. But the thing was…

"And more will die because you couldn't even do something as simple as pouring salt over someone to save them," They had encountered the wrong person, "but it is their fault for following weaklings like you."

"No… Please… Don't…." The soldier could do nothing but beg, it was just that no one was there to hear his wishes.

"G-General we have brought them," A terrified Battalion Commander arrived after he heard what was happening.

'What is she doing?' He was shocked to hear what Esdeath was planning to do, but…

"Gather all of the Tribesmen here," Esdeath threw her order, and he could only nod, but before he left, "and I mean all of them." She made sure to add that.

"Yes, general of course…" He had no choice but to agree, he didn't have a death wish after all.

'I guess we can't have more fun with them,' He had been hiding a good number of women from both the civilians and the army of the rebels.

It was just that, all of his previous plans were now ruined.

But what could he do? Nothing really. 

If he did something as small as keeping a single child, he'd be joining them as well.

That day, the blood-curdling screams of Northern Tribesmen echoed through the now desolate capital.

That is how the Northern Tribe, who rebelled against the Empire was dealt with.

Survivors, zero.

And when this news spread, many were in uproar while others trembled in fear, but all of them had the same question…

'What got into her all of a sudden?' Esdeath was well known for her cruelty, but this seemed even a step too high for her.

'Has she finally lost it?' That is the only thing they could think of when they heard of this incident, but the truth was that…

'I should prepare nicely before I move forward with him,' Esdeath just wanted to get things ready quickly, so that she could invite Adam over to her house in the capital.

And because of that she couldn't waste any time here, so she thought that it would be better to end everyone, that way there would be no one to watch over and she could return early.

But of course, no one knew she had such an innocent reason behind that terrible action, and they could only curse at the reason why this happened.

And far from them, those curses reached him clearly…

"Whoever that is thinking about me… hope you are wishing for my happiness," Adam muttered while rubbing his ear.