It was not the threat of being fed her comrades so much as the fact that they were all captured alive that caused Palyntana to open her eyes and look at her torturer in shock.
To her surprise she saw a beautiful petite girl in front of her. She wore a black dress with red lacing and looked as out of place as a nun on a battlefield. Why did a pretty girl like her work as a torturer? It made no sense.
At the same time she felt a strange chill coming from the crimson eyes of the girl.
….
Palyntana's eyes widened to the point that she thought they would fall out.
She finally remembered why the voice sounded so familiar. This was the Vampire that had gone toe to toe with the Black Scripture and forced them to use [Downfall of Castle and Country]. But the fact that she was alive caused horror in the deepest parts of her mind to take over.
Shalltear noticed the shock in Palyntana's eyes and smirked as she brought her face closer to that of her prisoner.
"Oya, did you perhaps feel just for a moment as if you recognized me? That's great! I thought that if you had nothing to do with that incident than I might have had to kill you without having any fun. Ainz-sama does have a hatred of torturing innocent humans after all."
"I-I-Impossible, you were killed by that adventurer Momon. The Theocracy investigated the battlefield; no one could have survived that fight."
"You're half-right I suppose. I was indeed killed by the adventurer Momon. However…"
At this point the scarlet eyes of Shalltear widened to the point that they covered all the white in her eyes as she shed any trace of humanity in front of Palyntana. Her mouth widened to inhuman proportions as the large fangs in her mouth slid out.
"What you louts don't know is that Momon and Ainz-sama are the same person. In other words, because of your toy's power I was mind-controlled and rebelled against and was killed by my master who is like a god to me. Now how do you think I'll treat the people responsible?"
At this point Palyntana's mind was truly brought to a complete standstill between the fear and confusion of hearing that the vampire they thought had died was alive and was about to torture her. Now the famous adventurer Momon turned out to be an imposter!
Wait! I heard that the only reason that E-Rantel hasn't rebelled against a skeleton lord ruling over them is because Momon is acting as a mediator between them. But that means…
Palyntana's face twisted into an expression of anguish as the realization dawned on her of what awaited her and the poor people of E-Rantel that had placed their faith in a false shepherd.
"Seems like you have understood partially just how great my lord is. I just adore the expression you're making right now! Watching you torture yourself mentally like this is almost as good as the real thing. Well then, let's get started with the actual fun. Since Ainz-sama has given all twelve of you to me to play with until I'm satisfied, I'll take my time and do it really slowly…"
Shalltear's grin became even wider as she produced strange phallic objects seemingly out of thin air as she got even closer to Palyntana.
"My master and creator Peroronchino-sama left me with these. From what I recall they were quite expensive to get so consider this my grace to you."
Palyntana had no idea what these strange colorful objects were and wished she would never find out as she struggled with all her might to break free from her restraints as much as she could but to no avail.
"Let's start with this one! Where should I put it do you think? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where?"
Palyntana screamed out knowing full well that no one would come to her rescue. But her defensive instinct kicked in and her desperation caused her to emit a violent scream as she continued squirming in horror.
"Yes, yes, continue screaming like that it's so exciting. Which gives me an idea. Let's put it here first!"
"No please stop! Anywhere but there! Noooooo…"
Just what kind of tortures did Shalltear put her prisoners through? After she was done they were delivered to Demiurge for variable 'uses'. How long did it take for each of them to lose their minds? Some tried to commit suicide multiple times. Others just simply lost all reason. A few of them had an even worse fate in store that is better left unspoken. But the Black Scripture was never seen again.
The darkness had swallowed up the finest warriors of the human race. Now only one still stood between Nazarick and the freedom of all humans. The strongest one…
Intermission 1
Far away from the Slane Theocracy, in a castle that was thought to be abandoned by its last lords decades ago, a nefarious group of people sat in a circle in one of the rooms of this keep. Twelve beings had been gathered in this place where the lords bedchambers had once been. Now it was a cold dark room with mold on the walls as time had long begun to take its toll upon this place. But the twelve figures that sat down in this place had even darker and colder hearts still.
"Did you all see that?" the robed man almost shouted as his question echoed through the room only to be met with deadly silence from the other eleven members present.
The spectacle that they had been allowed to witness could only be described as mind-blowing.
As a group they had been credited with causing disaster after disaster in the name of their cultist beliefs and as such they had grown well accustomed to watching horror, gore and carnage unfold before their eyes. But to see something as one-sided as this struggle was baffling to say the least.
Hundreds of years ago, when the great demon gods descended upon the continent and threatened all life, people could but cower in fear and pray that they would live to see their children grow up healthy and strong or take up arms and fight against this calamity themselves. These had been the only two options…
Until a certain group of humans came up with a different solution.
A human that is not properly buried or dies with regrets could sometimes come back as a lower level undead. Throughout hundreds of years this fact had been the continuous cause of unimaginable grief for hundreds of thousands of humans who were forced to kill their loved ones or see them die a second time after they had turned into undead. But one group of humans came to view this curse as a blessing instead. An existence as a being that did not fear death or feel hunger or sadness or pain; wasn't that kind of life better than to live in constant panic while every day could be the day you were eaten by a demon god?
Thus an organization was formed that dedicated itself to the zombification of the entire human race, a fate that they still considered to be better than life in a world of danger and injustice. Thus Zuranon was born.
It consisted of hundreds of branch members all over the continent, many of which wielded a considerable amount of power and influence in their own right. Amongst their ranks were not just human cultists but even liches and non-human creatures along with other types of undead, all these types of creatures had come together and had been working secretly for many years to accomplish their goals.
Of all these members, there were only twelve who could truly be called the leaders of this organization. Three powerful mages from various human nations, four noblemen who each could summon a mighty army of banner men from their lands, a priest from the Slane Theocracy, a human scholar who was said to be one of the few people with a working understanding of wild magic, two brothers from the famous assassin guild Ijaniya and of course their leader who was an existence that was worth a bounty of several thousands of gold coins if one could deliver its head to an adventurer's guild.