FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_As always, i'm wishing you a gripping and entertaining wild ride with the new chapter. I think it is fair to say that i've considered rating this "extreme" due to the scenes of torture and violence, but i've decided, in the end, to keep the adult classification as this chapter contains a lot of key information for the story. I hope you will enjoy everything that this chapter has to say. As always, you are encouraged to comment and share your thoughts and impressions. Have a good ride. _

Pain changes the balance of everything else. Our interior strength and determination are measured with pain as yardstick. Pain contains good and evil. Pain is a warning that tells us we are under attack from external forces. Pain is solitude and self-awareness. Pain is a state of mind.

_Chapter 91 -Punishment _

Killer closed his eyes as soon as Alexis vanished from sight and the portal closed over him, precipitating him into pure, freezing darkness. He tried listening out for her thoughts, and tried sending her his own, but he shivered as his words echoed into careless, cold infinity. He was alone. Truly alone, for the first time in many, many years. And never before had he experienced such unnatural solitude, such supernatural coldness all around him. He had been in troubles many times in his life, and sometimes they had been terrible moments, but nothing could compare to what he felt now. He knew that he could expect no mercy, no fairness, no humanity. He knew he was destined to face unfathomable tortures and vicious assaults on the very essence of his being. Cerberus and Thanathos wanted to steal his power away; wanted to strip away all his abilities and above all craved his unique ability to endlessly grow, to absorb and conquer everything that could add to his already monstrous strength. Killer himself had only a vague understanding of that unique aspect of his godhood, and most of his abilities were still a mystery for him. Unnerving and frustrating as it was to admit it, Cerberus was clearly right in saying that he knew Killer's power better than he himself did. Killer tried to take a breath, but immediately regretted it because he choked on the thick, cold darkness surrounding him, and as his chest heaved, filled with that tormenting unknown essence, the myriad of scythes buried into his flesh reminded him of their presence, seeming to become incandescent in response and cutting even deeper into his sizzling chest, steadily draining energy out of him and preventing his flesh and muscle from regenerating. The tangles of heavy crystal chains wrapped all over his torso and thighs made it almost impossible to shift around in any meaningful way, and their weight burdened him in an almost unbearable way. His flesh sizzled and smoldered as the golden crystal burned his skin and tore deep into his flesh, tormenting him, but the actual Seals, the ones that had literally sunk into him to wrap around his essence, his vital energies, were much worse, because they restrained his power more than the original 8 Seals ever had. He didn't even know how many chains had successfully clamped down on his energies this time around: hundreds, thousands of seals had been used to take him down, and although a huge number of them had snapped apart right away, many others had managed to lock in place.

Killer felt exhausted like he hadn't felt in a long, long time, and the utter solitude was painful in itself, like cold talons squeezing on his heart, filling his chest with despair. It was terrible not having even a vague idea of what was happening outside. Where they wrapping chains on Alexis as well...? How were his Disciples? What had happened to his father? The thought of Seth's last, choking, broken breath echoed in his mind and made him shiver in horror. What had happened to his soul...? With the Reapers all siding with the enemy, Seth could not hope in Paradise and not even be sure about going to Hell. The Reapers might just drag his soul away towards an eternity of true agony, or something else terrible and unspeakable... including simple but horrendous complete oblivion. The thought of losing his father forever made Killer shiver. They had had barely enough time to trade a few words in their last meeting, and much of it had been about the war. There were so many things he wanted to tell his father; some others he thought of constantly but never found the courage to actually speak about... and there were even more things he hoped to hear from his father. He had taught him so much, yet had so much more to say...

Killer shut his eyes tightly as his breath roughened and quickened, the stress making his pain flare up all the worse, and he did his best to clear up his mind and shut out all those fears and worries. Careless, cold silence was going to be his only companion for the near future and he couldn't allow his mind to torment him with countless horrible what-ifs. He had to trust Alexis and the others to get things right, and keep his mind alert and focused, ready to exploit any chance he might be given for escape. He needed a clear mind to survive the torture he was going to be put through, because he did not doubt Cerberus's and Thanathos's determination to go above and beyond in making him suffer.

There is nothing crueler than torture in its multitude of forms, all meant to destroy the victim in body and soul. He could not afford to face torture with his mind full of worries and fears, or he would only make the job easier for his tormentors. He did not doubt that they would fill his mind with images of his loved ones going through hellish torment, so the very last thing to do was allowing his brain to wander in that direction and go through all the possibilities. He knew Alexis's strength and steely determination and he told himself that not trusting her was a betrayal of her love and unfaltering support. He was not going to allow doubts to erode his unconditional, endless adoration for her. She was going to come to his aid, and he that certainty would support him through the inferno.

Killer had gone through torture in many occasions. From very early on in his life he had been trained to endure pain and torment, to shut it all out of his mind and preserve his sanity. As a young prince he had been put through extremely realistic exercises which lasted for days and were more than realistic enough to test the true mettle of anyone going through the test. He was never told when the exercise would end. When he was tossed into darkness, he never knew when he would be able to emerge out of it.

When he was in the Predators, every exercise could end in torture if the opposition team had the upper hand and managed to capture him. Most exercises in the Northlands were open ended and followed no script, with two or more commanders pitted together in a set area and in an agreed political and technical setting. They were given their objectives and the greatest possible freedom of action, to use the resources available and their brains to the max in order to get to the desired end result. It was an expensive but extremely effective way of training, and it put such physical and psychological demands on the Predators involved that sometimes, when actual war operations began, there was almost a sense of relief because the training was bloodier than the conflict. It was part of why Predators were absolutely the best warriors on earth, always ready to fearlessly charge into the most desperately uneven fights and strong enough to turn them around. Obviously, though, exercises, no matter how realistic, were still exercises. The pain that they could inflict was always limited by the fact that no one wanted to inflict long-lasting damage to assets as precious as those powerful warriors. And of course, while they never knew for how long their detention would last, they did all know that, eventually, it was going to end. Those two comforts alone made a massive amount of difference. Killer had been tortured by enemies in a few occasions, but never for long: sooner or later they had always made the mistake of undervaluing his ability to resist to pain and to preserve his strength, and he had been able to turn the table on them. In Heaven and Hell, during the long years of training, Killer had experienced torture again: much of his physical training had been, in fact, a torture in itself with how extreme it was. What was digging lodestone blocks with his bare hands and then carrying it up a vertical cliff right up to the top of Eaglenest, if not a form of torture?

Ira first and Sekhmeth later had both put him through torturing exercises and literal torments that had greatly hardened his body and developed his ability to resist to pain. Ira's lessons had been particularly effective as she had really focused on the use of the mind to control, contain and in some ways shut pain out of the picture. "Pain is a state of mind, and it can be controlled", she had repeated it to him so many times that in the end he had started to truly believe it. She had taught him how to retreat deep inside his solid, adamantine body, focusing his mind on the beating of his heart, finding serenity and relief in it, slowing down its beating to simulate death or to preserve his life even in the most terrifying of conditions. She had taught him to turn his own body in a solid set of armor that shielded his vital force and his sanity from harm, shutting the whole world outside. He could clench his fists and resist to terrifying heights of pain and anguish, and re-emerge from the ordeal with his mind intact and coldly focused. During those long sessions of torture, he had discovered the true power of memories, using them to better protect his sanity, thinking of his loved ones and focusing on bringing them to life in every little detail, from their expressions to their scent. He sought sanctuary in good memories, trying to relive them in every little detail. He sought purpose in thinking of his enemies, giving himself fuel to carry on, to survive, to endure and break free.

He was painfully aware that he was faced by the most terrible of trials, but he reassured himself by thinking of everything he could do to pull through. He was confident that even with the new seals clamping on his energies, his power was so great and his body so powerful and unassailable that his tormenters were not going to have an easy time finding ways to truly hurt him. On the other hand, Ira had taught him in the hard way that a supremely powerful and resistant body could be a curse once in enemy hands: his tormenters were not going to fatigue to keep him alive while inflicting pain. They could experiment monstrosities that went far, far beyond anything a mortal or even a lesser god could hope to endure.

The silence terrified him, however. He was no longer used to it, and the thought that he wasn't going to hear Alexis's voice in his mind, for who knew how long, made his heart sink with horror.

He opened his eyes again, and was surprised to find himself sinking through semi-liquid darkness still. Portals were usually far more immediate than that: he had been dragged into the vortex many seconds before, maybe a couple of minutes, even, which felt like hours to him... and still he was not out. It was a new experience, and a very non welcome one. Crossing a portal could be disorientating and unpleasant when it was a near-instantaneous experience. Minutes of floating in that icy darkness were a true torment.

He wondered whether his torture had already started, and gazed around himself to spot Cerberus, or the Reapers and gods holding onto the chains that restrained him, but all he could see was unforgiving blackness. The chains stretched out from his body but rapidly became invisible, enveloped in that dense almost-paste. Killer flexed against the chains, clawing into them as best he could and tugging hard, trying to break free, wondering whether his jailers had perhaps less of a grip on him while they were inside that weird, new type of portal, but countless hands immediately yanked on the restraints and he grunted breathlessly as blood sprayed out of his many wounds. Almost in the same moment, his feet smashed violently into something solid... yet squishy, and he grunted but did his best to absorb the unexpected impact and stand up tall as they were unceremoniously vomited out of the portal.

The dense darkness lifted off his face a moment later, and he immediately forced his eyes open, gazing rapidly from one side to the other, studying the new place and looking for an opening he could exploit. Unfortunately, there wasn't one and he couldn't recognize the place at all. Clearly they were not on earth, nor in Heaven or Hell, and that enormously complicated things, not only for attempting to evade, but for Alexis and the others, who would have a hard time finding him in the vastness of space. Killer cursed in silence at that, while a part of him asked the unpleasant questions about whether any real hope existed for them to find him. If the portal left behind no magical residue or some other hint, they would have nothing to start from, and an entire universe to scour. And multiple dimensions, too. Boadicea's secret pocket dimension in Hell certainly wasn't the only one hiding in the folds of reality. The vastness of the area to search was terrifying... and Cerberus, as if reading in his bitter thoughts, immediately turned around to give him a sly grin that filled Killer with pure hate. Cerberus Raja theatrically threw his head back and took a deep breath, filling his nose with the stench of death and rot and disease that made the air heavy and hostile, like he was supremely pleased to inhale it once more. He clearly wasn't pleased at all by the smell, by how his muzzle wrinkled in a fleeting grimace, but he was very happy to have achieved everything he had planned. No doubt he was relieved for successfully escaping Alexis's destructive fury as well... and the thought gave Killer a smirk, at least for a brief moment.

Furious alien gods glared at him from all sides, their hands squeezing hard on the chains that kept him bound and their eyes burning with hate, but none of them was eager to walk any closer to his massive form. Even after being drained and shrunk down and wounded and sealed, he still towered over them all, his behemoth musculature casting shadow upon them and remembering them that he could still be terribly dangerous, even with a multitude of soul-draining scythes pierced into his chest and back.

Killer made a grimace of distaste at that, suffocating the rage and the intense craving for revenge, knowing that tugging on the chains now would only bring forth further pain and misery. For now, much as it offended him to be dragged around by those fearful lesser beings, the fact that they kept the distances was truly a blessing for him. Killer quietly took note of their number and studied their looks to get an idea of their strength and abilities: that they had survived the battle and managed to clamp their chains around his form gave the measure of their worth. None of them was someone who could be underestimated, especially not while his power was sealed away once more.

There was a loud crackle of energy straight ahead and Killer immediately looked in that direction, but moving slowly and carefully, gazing at the world from behind the blood-soaked bangs of long hair of his mane, keeping his head half hanging forwards, pretending to be weaker and more exhausted than he actually was. His eyes moved swiftly and silently, taking note of every detail, hopefully without alerting any of his enemies. Bolts of electricity exploded out in every direction as Thanathos came back into sight, gathering his cloak behind him: far from being a ragged, worthless black rag, his cloak was a barrier that floated halfway between space and time, deforming both with the same ease to ensure that Death could get any and everywhere, whenever he wanted. Death could easily travel through time and through the immensity of space, and could do that without ever giving away his presence, because the cloak could disrupt even the most powerful of abilities, like Alexis's energy-vision. Killer studied him with interest as the huge cloak shrunk down and retreated until it reached only just below his waist, revealing muscular legs clad in heavy, glowing crystal armor. The hood remained in place, but lost its ragged appearance in favor of a sort of heavy crown of crystal and dark metal that took shape on top of the god's skull, with the cloth becoming smooth and almost metallic, without losing anything in flexibility.

The god of Death stood ahead of the group, a few steps away from Cerberus, and he was greeted by a line of guards... or better, of monsters: hideous undead creatures that had clearly been created by mutating and corrupting living beings... aliens that had apparently been covered by a smooth skin of tiny scales, for what Killer could see. Now grotesque, massive chords of muscle pushed out through torn, ripped and hardened skin, the scales often growing heavy and oversized, overlapping each other, metallic and grinding into the flesh hard enough to cause bleeding and dig deep gashes that festered with disease and further mutations. The aliens that had inhabited that unfortunate world had probably been pretty pleasant to the eye, judging from what was left of an azure-scaled, feminine face, but it was now hard to even imagine what they had looked like, because their mutated corpses had been crudely stitched together and reassembled into hideous war machines or, more simply, in weird and terrifying shapes. The face that had caught Killer's eye was actually less than halfway intact, and instead of a nose or muzzle it had a growing, flailing tentacle apparently formed by multiple ropes of intestine tangled together and pierced through by a multitude of huge nails and spikes. A whole torso had somehow been attached on the back of the first alien, and at the end of one grotesquely long "arm" was a skeleton while thick chords of muscle sticking out of its empty sockets and wrapping around the thick jaws, opening and closing them obsessively, slamming the cruel teeth together hard enough to send the sound echoing a great distance away.

Someone had toyed with their lives and their deaths in ways that made even Killer cringe in horror, even though he did not comment, painfully aware that, whenever he let go and indulged his hungers, he could create monstrosities just as perverse, literally just through his virile sweat.

The planet itself was mutated and corrupted: the ground that had partially given out under his feet was not made of dirt but by masses of squirming, flexing flesh, grotesque muscles and literally pieces of undead creatures that had been partially devoured into the floor. It shifted and flexed under his feet, disgustingly alive, and old, stinky fluids and dark blood oozed out of the fleshy mass whenever it was crushed. The beings partly absorbed into that mutated nightmare were often still alive as well... or better, they were not dead. Mindless eyes full of malignant hunger stared out of crevices and unrecognizable, deformed faces, while long, thin yet surprisingly strong arms flailed angrily in the air, trying to snatch anything that passed. Long, skeletal, talon-like fingers immediately scratched into Killer's boots, yanking at the straps, grabbing at the sharp edges of the plates, trying to tear them to pieces and get to flesh and muscle beneath.

Killer glared down at that infernal mass of flesh and viciously stomped one of the clawing hands down into the ground, crunching bone into powder.

It was clear that the planet had not always been such a nightmarish place: in the distance there were the sad remains of incredibly tall, slender buildings that had reached up to the sky, their bases sloping out gently to form enormous porches that had surely been immersed in beautiful gardens and that had been full of file. Shops and markets, undoubtedly, and squares and theatres. Now the elegant skyscrapers were blackened and rotten, overgrown with fleshy, tumorous growths that were eating away even steel and concrete and glass. Killer couldn't help but notice that there didn't seem to be roads around, and he wondered how the lost civilization had used to move around... until he noticed the wreckage of large airships and smaller... well, flying cars was all he could think of, and he realized that the thinner towers pushing high up from the roof of the immense skyscrapers were actually moorings for the largest airships, while vast terraces had been parking spaces for the flying cars. Now everything was rapidly decaying and rotting as the undead corruption continued to spread.

Right ahead of them was a great tower of broken chunks of concrete, marble, stone and steel all engulfed into a pulsing, living, mutating mass not just of throbbing flesh but by literal, struggling victims, still alive but imprisoned and enveloped in that rotting monstrosity. Many of those miserable, crying bodies, both males and females alike, were hugely swollen, pregnant with hideous monstrosities that often poked out of wounds and tears in the mutated skin of their "mothers". Other aliens were reduced to broken pieces of meat: limbless torsos, heads that howled in anguish from within tangles of tentacles and enormous, grotesque guts, others broken and loose sacks of skin and maimed flesh that had been abused and raped and destroyed and then tossed into the alive walls of the fortress, to be tormented and invaded by tentacles and tendrils and expanding tumors. Others, relatively intact still, cried out in insanity and agony, half-cursing and half-glorifying their master and tormentor as their lives were turned into nothing but brick and mortar for his palace.

The tower was immense, looming large over the rest of that endless, dead metropolis, and it apparently was composed by at least three skyscrapers that had been uprooted out of the ground like they were small plants, and strangled within an ungodly mass of titanic tentacles that pulsed and pumped pus and disgusting ichors, feeding a multitude of smaller tentacles and growths and invading the prisoner bodies, giving them just enough sustenance to ensure they could not die and find peace.

It was a formidable and terrifying castle, meant to dwarf everything that the inhabitants of the planet had ever created, and to keep them all cowering in terror. Much like the Spire of Hell, it was meant to remind the few trembling communities still desperately hanging on to illusions and dreams of deliverance that the cruel and glorious god of their world always looked down at them, ready to crush them out of existence as and when he pleased. And if anybody ever got desperate and insane enough to try and assault it, that living castle didn't even need defenders: it would swallow and absorb the attackers on its own.

Mutant worshipers armed with massive, grotesque mace-axes made of bones and metal wreckage stood in orderly lines on either side of a great staircase leading to an entrance that uncomfortably resembled a massive vagina lined oversized, terrible teeth of metal and bone. It flexed lightly, pulsing disgustingly, and it was clear that it would close on any unwanted visitor, munching it into pulp. Instead of a clit, it was surmounted by the massive, grotesque torso of a monstrous creature that resembled a gigantic spider, with huge legs made of bones and mutating flesh and a fat body composed by a multitude of alien corpses melted together. It looked down at the entrance with at least six crimson eyes, snapping pincers made of ribs tangled together and dripping acid poison. It didn't seem like it could move out of the fleshy hole from which it protruded, but Killer suspected that few, if any part of the tower was truly unmovable. The whole castle could morph and fight back against any assault, he was sure... and he took mental note of that. God or not, he had not forgotten nor abandoned the well-drilled and experimented procedures of military service. His SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training was very much leading his actions, making him study with great attention his surroundings in search of anything that might aid or obstacle him. As a young prince he had taught the art of memorizing the ground features, the enemy emplacements, building lasting maps in his mind with quick, purposeful gazes. He had been told how to notice weaknesses and patterns of life he could exploit, and he had spent a lot of time sketching battlegrounds and reconnoitering locations and compounds. Now everything that he had learned and experienced in his life was coming to his aid as he immediately began to formulate plans and hypothesis about how to get out. In every direction he gazed he could only see ruins and mutant, fleshy growths that no doubt acted as sensors for Thanathos as well as independent predators, dangerous already on their own. Thanathos's words suggested that there were encampments of survivors still resisting out there somewhere... but it was clear that they were little more than toys that the god kept around for amusement purposes. Even assuming he could find one, he could expect no useful assistance, and certainly none of the survivors was going to come to his aid in any way. Still, he made plans. One after the other. Each individual plan was so doomed that it made little sense... but the act of planning made all sorts of sense instead. It gave him purpose and kept his mind active and sane. And it ensured that he knew what to do if he was given a chance by some unforeseen event. At the same time, he was careful in looking around, using only rapid, fleeting gazes, using his own messy mane to hide his eyes and exaggerating his sluggishness of his steps, trying to lull his jailers in dangerous overconfidence. The weaker they thought he was, the better hope he had of surprising them.

Thanathos was clearly the lord and creator of that nightmarish world, and the monstrous "guards" kneeled before him while other hollow, corrupted creatures scurried hurriedly forwards to offer sacrifices and gifts: bloody pieces of corpses, heads, arms, legs, that the god of Death studied with contempt before coldly growling: "I've allowed some of this world to live on just so they'd keep producing fresh meat for me to enjoy. I want them whole, not in bits and pieces! You worthless dregs, get me sacrifices worthy of me!"

The godless, mutant monstrosities trembled before their Master but bowed deeply and then retreated without ever straightening, only turning around when they were at least a hundred feet away. They cradled their macabre offerings in their ugly, deformed arms and ran towards the terrifying staircase to the great tower, where they laid their gifts down on steps already largely covered in piles of similar sacrifices. They gazed with adoration at their cruel creator and emperor, almost fawning at the sight of his imposing, armor-clad body, no doubt admiring the way he had grown larger and stronger with all the force he had stolen out of Killer and Alexis. Thanathos, in turn, only snorted in contempt and ignored them, until they all scampered away, venturing into the dark spaces between the ruins, beginning their hunt for new and better sacrifices to drag to their Master. They moved very rapidly, going down to all fours, and sometimes on more than fours as they almost all had extra arms sewn onto them to create messy, sinister "sculptures". Piles of ruins and masses of squirming flesh were no obstacle for them, and Killer made a note of that as well: whenever he managed to break out of the tower he was going to be swarmed by those horrendous creatures. There was no doubt that they could perceive every single step that added pressure on the flexing, alive ground.

One great unknown was what, if anything, Thanathos had done to prevent teleporting and portaling in and out of that doomed planet. He was confident that if he managed to break free and snap a few Seals he could barrel through any kind of magic and technological barrier, no matter how powerful and perfected, but he had to consider the likely need to get out of the tower first, and probably to put some distance between himself and that beacon of Thanathos's power.

Killer couldn't help but feel horrified by the world surrounding him, which was a living and constantly worsening nightmare... but part of him grouchily approved. When he was in the mood, he enjoyed the same kind of horrendous cruelty and corruption, and he had spread the same kind of darkness in more than one occasion. Everything Thanathos had done, he could do faster, better and at greater scale. It was an awareness that delighted and horrified him at the same time, and Thanathos, as if reading into his mind, turned around to face him, enquiring in a mocking tone: "Do you like this place, Amon-Ra...?" His features were, as always, invisible, but there could be no doubt he was grinning from ear to ear. "It took me many years to transform this place into what it is now... I know you could have done it in mere instants... but soon you'll be "teaching" me how to do that, so I'll be able to properly show you up."

Thanathos walked up to Killer and slowly stroked a finger down the pole of Requiem Aeternam, growling a bit when electricity crackled angrily all over the weapon and shot into him, making his arm tremble for a moment. For a brief moment, the god of death was silent and Killer could feel his glare even though his face remained invisible, hidden by impossible, impenetrable darkness within the metallic hood... and then Thanathos seized the pole and dragged the huge weapon violently downwards, then to the side, tearing Killer's chest open and slicing his upper abs apart. Killer gritted his fangs and shuddered, but did his very best not to let out a sound. It undermined his strategy of showing himself weaker than he really was, but he was not ready to reward Thanathos's taunts with cries of pain. Pride had always been the main defect of Killer, and that moment made no exception. Thanathos studied him for a moment, and Killer could imagine his grin dying away... before the god of war viciously drove his gauntleted hand into the wound, and the crystal plates retreated to reveal terrible, skeletal fingers that lightly ran over the edges of his bloody flesh, causing immediate necrosis, turning solid muscle chords into blackened, rotting dead meat. "You will cry for me, I can assure you that..." Thanathos venomously said, with a tone of entertainment that hurt Killer even worse than his touch. "I'm going to have fun experimenting on you. And once I find what I'm looking for and get it out of you... once I no longer need you to live... that's when the real fun will begin."

Thanathos shoved two of his long, body fingers deep into the liger's chest, stabbing them deep into the solid, enclosed cage of adamantine bone that protected his vital organs, and Killer shuddered and nearly collapsed as he felt an impossible mix of incandescent and freezing spreading through the solid bone, consuming it rapidly, until parts of his natural armor came flaking away, carried out by the blood cascading out of him. "I've dreamed of this day for a long time, Amon-Ra... a long time spent in frustration and disgust, playing nice, sticking to the rules while I waited for the right moment. All the time I had to spend serving Elelyon! The mere thought makes me sick!" Thanathos spat, leaning forwards angrily and stabbing his skeletal fingers through the thick bone, beginning to crack Killer's ribcage open, causing the liger to stumble and tremble, huge muscles bulging as he flexed against the chains and struggled to snap them apart. The alien gods around him all retreated further away from him but made sure to yank violently on the chains, digging the incandescent links into his flesh and pinning his arms against his sides, forcing him to stand straight, immobile and helpless. Still, Killer refused to scream, even as steam burst out of his flaring nostrils and tears of blood escaped his eyes. "Dear, old, perfect Elelyon... how it would have disappointed him, and angered him, to discover my little games here. Always imposing his laws on us, old idiot that he is. Always telling us what is good and what is wrong, keeping us from enjoying our power and our hungers..." Thanathos muttered, snapping a large chunk of bone off Killer's inner cage and studying it idly, holding it in his hand until the bone died away, blackening and rotting away almost to dust. "This place here was my true sanctuary. A place far away from his eyes, where I could play and experiment... but I never left for good because I really wanted earth, you know...?" Thanathos continued, reaching inside the breach with two talon-like fingers and touching Killer's beating heart, sending an explosion of impossible pain right through it as it clenched violently, shrinking away from that infernal contact, causing Killer to groan in agony. So it begins... Killer began to retreat inside his own mind, but part of him was reluctant to do so, because the process greatly reduced his perception of what happened around him. He needed to know and understand what had happened, and his brain wanted to stay alert and listen to Thanathos. Had he been the mastermind all along? Had he murdered Azura knowing what would follow? Was he the architect of the apocalypse? And where did Cerberus fit into the picture? Why a god had not just collaborated but even taken instructions from a mere mortal? Killer craved answers so much that part of him wanted to listen even if every single word came with a contour of pure agony.

Was Thanathos speaking on purpose, to keep his mind alert and ensure he'd feel every last bit of the pain...? Probably. The bastard.

"This world was more technologically advanced than earth. By far. But it was a clear dead end. The civilizations here had reached their peak. They had traded out the ancient arts and beliefs, replacing them with science. That put a hard ceiling to what they could achieve. Even the gods of this place, in fact, were weak and puny... it was easy to crush them." Thanathos said, with cruel, evident glee, before he tore off a sharp chunk of bone from Killer's ribcage and stabbed it hard into the side of the liger's neck, sending blood spurting out in a thick jet. "But earth... earth was full of untapped potential. Elelyon had chosen his world wisely, and you are the proof of it. Oh, how I wanted to become stronger than him, to crush him and take earth away... and finally, the day has arrived!"

Cerberus walked forwards as well, grinning widely and tugging on a massive chain, dragging Vera forwards. The Doberman was so viciously and completely wrapped up in heavy chains that she stumbled and fell, crudely catching herself on all fours, her bloodied face stopping mere inches away from the fleshy ground... before Cerberus dragged her down with a snarl, grinding her into the floor and laughing softly, looking at her with sadistic satisfaction as her eyes burned with powerless rage.

Killer felt a shiver running down his spine as he saw the multitude of wounds in her muscular, beautiful body. Sharp chain links bit deep into her flesh, tormenting her from the throat down to the ankles, and she was covered in other deep gashes and burn marks. She had fought to the bitter hand, using every last bit of her strength before succumbing, and she had paid a fearsome price, especially considering the fact that she was not a goddess. She was no ordinary mortal either, of course, but she was in such a state that Killer forgot his pain as his mind tried to imagine hers. Cerberus followed his gaze and grinned widely, licking his lips in delight before yanking on the chain once more, dragging the Doberman forwards until her muzzle crashed into one of his heavy crystal boots. "This whore is far from done getting punished. I will make sure she learns her place once and for all. And I might even let you watch." The tiger said, turning to look up at Killer with a smirk that filled the liger with fury. Vera looked up at him for a brief moment, and Killer felt immense relief because of it: for a moment, albeit brief, he wasn't alone anymore, even though he struggled to guess what the preponderant emotion in her expression was: disappointment because he had failed? Trust in getting out of the inferno somehow? Fear? Affection? A request for help? There was all that and more, and he was sure his eyes gave off the same kind of mixed message. He only did his best to try and provide her as much relief as she had given him.

Cerberus seemed to notice their silent exchange because he snorted and kicked Vera's head hard to the side, sending her crashing a few feet away, breaking eye contact with the liger, who let out a growl of fury and stomped forwards, struggling against his restraints and dragging several gods along like they were puppies. Cerberus was not impressed, however, and he only grabbed one of the many scythe-poles sticking out of the liger's chest, twisting it cruelly in place to tear apart flesh and muscle, sending jolts of agony up Killer's spine. The alien gods cursed in their many languages and yanked hard on the chains to once again rein him to a painful halt, and Killer panted hard, his chest heaving in a mix of agony, fury and exhaustion, while Cerberus studied his prisoner with an exaggerated frown, tilting his head this way and that until he finally observed: "He really shouldn't stand taller than us. It doesn't give off the right feels."

Thanathos grinned at that, nodding in agreement as he snapped his fingers, and immediately two enormous mutant monstrosities stepped heavily forwards, dragging two colossal mallets behind them, leaving deep, bloody furrows in the fleshy ground. Killer stiffened in place, and prepared for the inevitable, controlling his heartbeat, clearing his mind as best he could and desperately trying to dial back his pride because he knew the hours, the days, probably the weeks ahead were going to be an inferno. He was not going to survive his own bitterness if he allowed his pride to bitch too much. Now his only focus had to be survival.

Cerberus held out a hand and easily formed a blade of golden energy, gripping the hilt and swinging the deadly dagger back and forth as he hummed cheerfully to himself and walked around Killer's great, towering form, while the two undead monstrosities hauled up their gigantic hammers and waited for the command to strike. Thanathos faked intense concentration for a few interminable, torturing moments, leaving Killer there, waiting, his fangs gritted, until he teasingly commented: "He shouldn't wear boots, either. Slaves go barefooted..." The god of death pointed a finger at Killer's toes, and the two monsters immediately smashed their mallets onto them, their grotesque, massive muscles bulging explosive and causing pus to erupt out of countless ugly wounds and fistulas as they smiled ugly, sinister grins with big, square, crude fangs. The first blow was devastating, and Killer felt all his bones creaking loudly as the plates of non-metal groaned and deformed, biting deep into his flesh. The boots, like all other parts of his black armor, were actually composed of the unkillable energies of Deimos, god and personification of fear that he had absorbed, but after taking enough damage they would still shatter. Deimos had enough self-conscience left to try and vanish away to escape the pain, although Killer could easily force him out again and shape him however he pleased. The mallets crashed down again, even more brutally this time, and some of the overlapping plates covering his thick toes were knocked loose, straps dissolving into motes of energy as blood sprayed out through the joints, and Cerberus snickered as he strolled slowly around him, circling him again and again, studying him and grinning at every hint of agony surfacing on the liger's face.

The hammers slammed down again and again and again, destroying the heavy boots bit by bit and cracking Killer's solid bones. His terrible talons were smashed and his toes crushed into bloody pulp, but somehow the liger refused to go down, even as his powerful legs trembled violently, completely coated in his own blood. Thanathos gave a little nod at that, looking entertained more than displeased, and he silently flicked two fingers upwards to tell the monsters to aim straight for the knees... and they immediately obeyed, slamming their ungodly mallets down on Killer's joints. The bone spikes on his knees stabbed right through the mallets, tearing through metal and stone and flesh, but cracks spread through them and sent a terrible jolt of pain that shot right up into his brain. Killer staggered and let out a muffled cry of agony as his vision faded to black, his head pounding violently as he felt his consciousness slipping away, before the beasts began to crudely yank their weapons backwards, causing the bone to creak sinisterly and shift around in ways that made Killer snarl in anguish.

Cerberus laughed in cruel delight at that, grinning widely as the mallets smashed down again on the liger's kneecaps, causing one of the proud spikes to crack wider apart as Killer stumbled forwards... and the king of Alfaya gleefully slashed his blade in the back of one knee, then the other, digging deep into muscles and tendons and then ramming his shoulder into Killer's back to send the liger crashing heavily on all fours. Killer's colossal flaccid cock slammed audibly into the fleshy ground and rested ponderously there, feet and feet of mighty maleness ponderously resting ahead of huge, swollen testicles full of formidable hypervirility. Immediately, cruel undead hands clawed into the fat member, squeezing and yanking and tearing into it and the enormous testicles of the dark god, but they hurriedly retreated as thick, dense black precum leaked out in a huge splatter. The potent cockslime coated the rotting hands and viciously burned and consumed them, turning flesh and bone into ashes and dark sludge, before the thick chords of mutated muscle in the ground flexed and split apart, beginning to mutate in new ways, responding to a new master. Cerberus didn't immediately notice, gloating instead about the humbling of the great titan, laughing as Killer's vast back visibly shuddered, its great and mighty muscles bulging against the chains but failing to snap them as the liger panted and closed his eyes in silent anguish, trying to shut the pain out of his thoughts. Blood sprayed thickly out of his maimed legs and he could feel his muscles attempting to regenerate, the deep wounds flexing as they tried to close up, but that only added to the pain as the deadly scythes glowed with ghastly white force and sucked even more energy out of him.

"This is more like it!" Cerberus exclaimed, smirking in satisfaction as he immediately kicked Killer hard in the side before half-climbing over his back, driving a knee down into his spine and grabbing one of the heavy chains, pulling it sideways just enough to be able to stab the tip of his blade into the muscular, powerful shoulder of the giant, beginning to drag it to create a figure. Killer hissed in rage more than pain as he felt the dagger stinging, but the blade was too small and too weak to break deep into his solid muscles, and the awareness made him snicker a little. Cerberus growled in frustration and disbelief that became fury as Killer chuckled, and the tiger savagely slammed the dagger down only to see the blade dented and bent out of shape, motes of energy falling off it as Killer snarled and his musculature flexed instinctively, bulging with such power to push Cerberus's blade back out of the wound as the chains groaned and several links loudly deformed. Cerberus let out an unarticulated yell of rage and stabbed down even harder, pumping new energy into his blade and leaning his chest over the handle as it finally ripped through the god's impenetrable skin. "How dare you..." Cerberus venomously growled, his muscles bulging as he grabbed the dagger with both hands and yanked it around with great effort, snarling as the sword shattered constantly, forcing him to rebuild the blade every few instants. "No matter what you do, you are mine now! Mine to play with!" Cerberus roared, working to angrily etch the writing "slave" in large, crude letters right into Killer's solid flesh. "This is what you are now! My slave! A mere tool to enable my final, glorious ascension!"

"There is nothing glorious about you, and there will never be, no matter what you steal." Killer coldly replied, matter of factly, and Vera's eyes glowed with approval as she slowly, hesitatingly rolled over onto her side, gazing up at him. Cerberus twitched in rage at that, but then reaching up to grab viciously into Killer's mane, dragging on the great, bloodied bangs of white hair, dragging the liger's skull back as he leaned close and hissed: "Your machismo will get you nowhere... and will not survive the pain and humiliations I'll put you through. I've had an entire life for planning this moment."

"I already told you: your life must suck." Killer simply countered, causing Cerberus to snarl in fury, stepping off the liger's back only to trap his neck between his thighs, squeezing as hard as he could, choking the liger and leaning down to grind the heavy plate of armor covering his groin into the top of his skull. The king of Alfaya leaned the dagger against Killer's cheek, cutting into it just beneath the eye, and then slicing back all the way to the ear, before curling down again, pushing deep enough to scratch into the jaw and teeth, yet Killer somehow resisted in silence, even as Cerberus guided the sharp blade up again, closer and closer to his eye. Killer's heart beat faster, going into a frenzy as the liger looked down at the dagger, gritting his fangs so hard that they creaked audibly, panic filling his chest with a horrible feeling of void and coldness. Among Killer's nightmares, blindness figured in the first few positions. He had always been terrified by the thought of never ending darkness, of the inability to admire the beauty of the world, of the impossibility to wonder at the perfection of a female's body. Sometimes he had wondered what it had to be like, to never see anything, and the mere idea had caused him to shiver in horror... and now he felt the dagger biting cruelly into the side of his face, moving closer and closer to his eye, and much as he tried to keep the pain under control, he couldn't prevent fear from flaring in protest to that violence. He jerked his head away from the dagger, and clawed into Cerberus's legs as best he could, trying to gain more space to retreat from that blade, but the tiger only snickered and then stabbed it viciously through his maimed cheek, sending the blade smashing between his gritted fangs, invading his mouth and ripping through his tongue.

"Don't worry, kitten... the eye stays. For now. There are things I want you to see, before I rip both of your pretty eyes out. I think I'll eat them. I'm told they can be delicious, cooked in the right way." Cerberus taunted, twisting the knife into his muzzle, tormenting him with indescribable jolts of pain as the blade tore bloody tranches in his tongue and gums, while pieces of broken teeth crunched like sand between the other fangs. It was horrible, and Killer knew that it was only the beginning: teeth were surely going to be part of his torment, and that was something else that sometimes came up in his nightmares. His mind immediately began to fill up with images of teeth rotting and falling off; and he fully expected his jailers to rip his fangs out one by one. His mind couldn't help but immediately fill up with images of his face, bloodied and ruined, but he tried to push back against those nightmarish guesses because they only worsened the pain, the fear, the misery.

The undeniable fear covered his body with a sheen of cold sweat, and his enormous cock oozed forth a thick layer of his own omnivirile batter, a black sludge that was dense with pre and in which enormous yet rejected sperms immediately began to form. Even in that moment of despair, his monstrous shaft leaked nothing but hypervirile batter that soaked the fleshy ground and began to consume it, then to evolve it. Without Killer even noticing, or thinking about it, the thick black goo burned the clawing hands into ashes and then consumed the rotting meat, sinking deep into the ground and turning it black, hardening it, forming an outer layer that was harder than steel as new, massive chords of muscle began to grow and swell, soon forming thick, powerful tentacles. The first couple of thick, massive appendages wrapped around Cerberus's legs and rapidly grew larger and stronger, yanking in the opposite directions, and the tiger grunted in shock and stumbled off Killer's neck before looking down with a snarl as the thick appendages all but hefted him clear off the ground.

Thanathos for a moment watched on in confusion, wondering what was going on, and then he looked down, realizing the truth and staring at the liger's massive member dragging on the ground and corrupting it, rapidly, irresistibly, mercilessly. For a moment, he just froze in place, amazed by the sheer power of the liger, but then snorted in distaste and stomped forwards, lashing out a kick that caught Killer in the side, the armored boot causing bones to loudly creak as the huge male was hefted off the ground and sent crashing heavily on his side. The god of death aimed a hand at the growing tentacles and at the spreading black corruption and unleashed a torrent of magic fire that consumed the thick appendages and melted them into liquid. Cerberus landed on his feet with a grunt of surprise, turning around to see what had happened, and then he gritted his teeth with a growl of rage and stormed over to Killer, running the last few steps and then kicking into the male's colossal testicles with all the force he could muster. Killer trembled under the assault, struggling to straighten somewhat onto his side, struggling against the massive chains clamping on him as the other gods yanked on them, and he attempted to shield himself with one leg as Cerberus lashed out again, and again, and again, while furiously barking: "You are so proud of your balls, huh...? You arrogant bastard. You lucky piece of shit. You disgusting parasite, blessed by the fucking gods! I'll take them away from you, and I'll rip your precious dick right off. I'll have it fuckin' cooked and I'll fuckin' eat it right in front of your face!"

"That sounds more insulting for you than for me. Even now do you crave my cock in your mouth...?" Killer taunted, spitting out a thick gout of blood which contained pieces of broken teeth. He tried his best to ignore them, to pretend they weren't there, but a shudder still went through his body, his chest heaving a bit faster than he would have liked. And Cerberus glared at him incredulously, then with indescribable hate as he all but jumped and stomped both feet down on one of Killer's ponderous balls, crushing it against the ground in a way that made Killer throw his head backward with a roar of true agony, while his massive testicles did their best to retreat up towards his body, rising further than they had in many, many years. Killer cursed inwardly, reprimanding himself for allowing his pride to speak out once more, but even in the middle of the agony, part of him was delighted by Cerberus's frustration, at least.

The king of Alfaya turned his furious attention to the massive cock itself, stomping viciously on the fat, enormous black shaft, grinding his spiked sole into the solid meat, and Killer grunted in pain, gritting his fangs as the smaller male landed another vicious stomp, then another right on the fat, colossal head, grinding his foreskin under his spiked boot until he was rewarded by pieces of torn flesh and streaks of blood. Killer nearly broke his own teeth with how hard he clenched his jaws, but when Cerberus looked down at him with an arrogant smirk, he forced a smile on his lips and taunted: "Is that all? Alexis manhandles it worse."

Cerberus twisted his foot violently in answer, but he smirked coldly, shaking his head slowly and spinning the golden dagger between his fingers as he moved over to Killer's head, grabbing hold of his mane once more, and beginning to crudely cut the large bangs of hair, digging into his scalp... and while it wasn't painful at all compared to what he had suffered before, Killer shuddered in fury and humiliation. He was surprised by just how badly it hurt him to be robbed of his proud mane, and the humiliation he felt was such that he finally managed to silence his prideful side. He did his best to keep his gaze firm, his head up high, but it was surprisingly difficult... and Cerberus seemed aware of it, as his grin spread wider and wider with each crude slash.

Thanathos watched with evident pleasure, crossing his arms on his chest and tilting his head to the side, his hidden face no doubt smiling, but he also spied with evident worry the never ending flow of Killer's potent, virile corruption as it continued to ooze out of the great god's powerful body. The power of the dark cock-slime, which wasn't even true precum yet, but little more than extremely virile sweat, was able, on its own, to reshape a world that Thanathos had corrupted and mutated only with many years of enthusiastic efforts. It was a process that the God of Death observed with a kind of envious pleasure, as the goliath cock dragged over the ground and left behind ungodly, terrible scars of black sludge that soaked the fleshy growths and mutated them, spreading at amazing speed, turning strands of rotten meat into chords of muscle that were harder than steel and tangled together to form tremendous, mighty tentacles. Dozens of the thick appendages began to flex powerfully, causing the ground to tremble as they yanked free and reared up like snakes, seeming to look out over the world with the single, vast "eye" in their massive, flat horse-like flares. The alien gods holding the chains nervously retreated from the spreading darkness and the flailing, enormous tentacles; and even the Reapers began to fall back, anxiously aiming their lanterns at the goliath appendages, trying to burn them out of existence... but the tentacles were already too great and powerful for that, and even though the dark meat sizzled and smoldered, they lashed violently out against the first Reaper in line and viciously clamped closed around his ribcage. The harvester of souls struggled pathetically, clawing into the solid black flesh and beating his skeletal fists against the huge member, barely able to get the muscular appendage to flex at all, while he huffed and puffed breathlessly, his bones loudly creaking... and then shattering in countless small pieces and a cloud of powder as the huge cock tightened his coils and grew even larger as more corrupted muscle tissue rapidly grew up on his leg.

Cerberus was too busy reveling in the pleasure of destroying Killer's regal mane, but Cerberus and the others did not fail to notice as another two massive tentacles ripped out of the ground, especially as all of the goliath appendages began to ooze gallons of that potent, corruptive batter, poising even more that doomed planet, speeding up its mutations. "We should really drag him inside and continue there." Thanathos finally urged, and Cerberus looked up to see the darkness spreading and growing around them, his eyes widening as he instinctively gauged the likely diameter of Killer's monstrous tentacles, finding that they had already grown to the size of trees. The king of Alfaya stared at this in awe, contemplating that absurd power and grinning widely as he commented: "Yes... oh, yes... such power...! Look at this!" Cerberus threw his head backwards and laughed, crudely slashing out his dagger against the great tentacles as they whip-lashed against him. He managed to drive the blade deep into one of the great members, half-burying the dagger down the vast cumslit, and he viciously thrust downwards, driving the entire blade down the length of the tentacle's huge cum channel. He was rewarded by a thick, huge blast of dark precum that erupted out with enough force to arch a great distance before splattering onto the ground, corrupting it rapidly, spreading its area of influence. "Yes, you are the best... the most powerful of all past ages! And yet mine. Mine! I can't wait, I can't fuckin' wait to take all this power away, and make it mine. Show off, you goddamn vermin, show off! It is the last chance you get!"

The tiger viciously attempted to rip through the thick, muscular tentacle with his energy-dagger, but the enormous appendage whip-lashed violently to the side and tore the weapon out of his grip, sending it flying away, covered in dark precum that almost instantaneously dissolved it out of existence. The tentacle then slashed violently against Cerberus's face, but the tiger shielded himself with his armored gauntlets and only stumbled backwards with a half laughter-half snort. "Yes, just like this!" Cerberus taunted, laughing as another massive tentacle swung viciously upwards from the ground, aiming for his groin and forcing him to leap sideways, moving to safety and cackling: "All this vigor will be mine! Say goodbye to it!"

Killer snarled, clawing into the fleshy ground and trying to stand up as his immense shaft, however sore and wounded, flexed with power and swelled even larger and heavier, blasting out a thick, powerful jet of corruptive precum that splattered all the way up the staircase leading into the great tower, causing new and even larger tentacles and vicious dark growths to sprout out of the vast steps. Gods, Reapers and the hollow, undead servants of Thanathos immediately surged forwards to chop down the mighty, rampaging appendages, but Killer snarled and crawled forwards, his eyes glowing as he glared at one of the great beasts that had hammered his knees into pieces. The tentacle surging in front of the mutant twitched as Killer took direct control of it, then ducked swiftly under the massive mallet as it swung viciously forwards, and finally lunged forth to swiftly wrap around the undead's legs, pinning them together and immobilizing them. The great tentacle reared up and hefted the beast off the ground, dangling it by the ankles, and another tentacle wrapped around the long pole of the mallet, ripping it out of the claw-like hands of the monster. The undead creature trashed and clawed wildly into the two massive appendages, but the massive flared head of a third tentacle smacked hard into its hideous face, cracking bone and sending out a splatter of rotten pulp, before striking again, and again, pounding its deformed skull until it crumbled completely and then ramming into his chest with enough force to bulldoze its way through the ribcage, invading its rotting body and violently thrusting through mutated, ugly organs that burst apart like overfilled balloons, releasing a disgustingly fetid mass of pus. The two enormous tentacles wrapped tightly around the agonizing beast and then whip-lashed in the opposite directions, shredding its hideous body into two halves that were then crushed into little more than pulp and tossed dismissively away, splashing wetly over the staircase. The other great guard managed to crush a couple of tentacles under its mallet, but the brutal, enormous weapon was too slow and before he could heft it up again he was caught by another three enormous tentacle-cocks ending in equine flares so wide and enormous that even the mindless ghoul shrieked in terror at their sight. One rammed up between his ugly, bent legs and smashed brutally into his ass. Whether he had a hole or not made little difference as the monstrous flare was way too enormous to fit anyway... and way too powerful not to do so all the same, hefting the monster clear off the ground before ripping through flesh and bone, causing its already deformed, grotesque torso to bulge out obscenely, swelling like a balloon covered in tumors and wounds that were torn open even wider. Soon, black precum leaked out of the gashes, cascading to the ground in majestic falls while a second tentacle slammed down right on top of the beast's head, squishing it into pieces in a single, brutally powerful thrust. The monstrous flared head forced the throat-hole to rip apart as it pushed down into the creature's torso, and Killer grinned in savage satisfaction as the two tentacles ground violently together, their muscular, powerful bodies fully visible through the maimed flesh as they caused it to bulge outwards in terrifying shapes, until the miserable undead creature burst apart completely, shredded like a way too tight condom.

Somehow, Cerberus laughed in a mix of delight and fear as he did his best to beat back the tentacles that assaulted him from all sides, and Thanathos gazed at him in horror and frustration as he snarled: "Stop it, you moron! Stop teasing him! We need to drag him inside! Do you really want to see what it is like if he breaks free?"

Killer gritted his fangs in a snarling grin and tried to do just that, flexing hard against the heavy chains and clawing into the ground to crawl towards the two gods, using the multitude of growing tentacles to rip apart the undead monstrosities charging in from all sides. Reapers and alien gods, however, yanked hard on the chains, pinning him down once more, and Cerberus held out a hand to form a massive chain-whip which split into three at the extremities, each weighted down by a sharp inverted pyramid of incandescent metal. Killer glared up at this, a shudder running down his spine in anticipation of the pain to come, and he sent four great tentacles lunging against the tiger, only to groan in pain as the terrible whip cut through them, its razor-sharp links burning with intense, godlike energy and melting the thick meat and muscle into nothing but dark pulp. Cerberus viciously slashed his whip down against the moving tentacles, ripping them into pieces, and he held out his other hand until Vera's leash floated up into his grip. Immediately, he yanked her hard forwards until she smashed violently into the staircase, and she was forced to slowly and awkwardly crawl up the large steps while blood leaked out of her uncountable wounds. She did her best not to shriek, but Killer could hear her broken, choking, sobbing breaths and the occasional whimpers of pure agony that she just couldn't hide. Each one filled him with indescribable rage and terrible despair, because when he tried using the tentacles to help her, to shield her from the undead monstrosities that tormented her, poking their spears and blades into her flesh, the Reapers viciously swung their scythes in and chopped the great appendages into pieces.

Killer's powerful corruption continued to mutate and warp and enhance the organic matter on the ground, forming new tentacles and arming them with terrible spikes and blades of bone and metal, but there were too many enemies. Too many blades cutting into the slashing appendages, too many mages pouring dark fire onto them. And Cerberus grinned widely, dragging Vera up the staircase and snapping his terrible whip against Killer, ripping into his muscular back with all three the terrible ends of the savage weapon.

Killer hissed in pain and rage, his arms trembling and almost giving in as he did his best to claw into the ground, fighting against the army of gods dragging him by the long chains. He felt droplets of his own blood landing on the back of his head, no longer "protected" by his once great and glorious mane, and when the whip clanged again and smashed into his shoulder he gritted his fangs so hard that he thought they would explode. Cerberus laughed. He cackled almost maniacally, and as much as he tried, Killer could not shut that sound out of his mind. He hated it almost to the point of losing his sanity.

Killer was dragged towards the staircase, forced to crawl on all fours like a dog. The whip kept tearing into him, and while his adamantine musculature had been almost unfazed at first, now the glowing, incandescent links and cruel pyramids were digging deeper and deeper inside his flesh. Each strike crudely tore off more chunks of skin, muscle and flesh, getting closer to the bone, turning his back into a horrendous, macabre display of pulsing wounds. Undead monstrosities, Reapers and alien gods finished cutting the tentacles down and then walked up to him with new rage and hate. Many were wounded by the fury of his tentacles and they took their revenges at every step, kicking into him, stabbing spears into his wounds, spitting into them, pouring acid and poison into the bleeding, exposed, maimed muscles.

Killer heard their voices. Their laughter, their catcalls, their insults, their murmurs and comments, and they all added to the humiliation, amplifying the pain and worsening the terrible sense of failure that burdened his chest. Vera's weak laments hurt him to the core, because she had believed in him, utterly and completely, and he had failed her. He had not been able to protect her. He had failed everyone, in fact... No. Focus. Don't let the mind wander. Survive. Endure. Escape. Survive. Endure. Escape. He shut his eyes and sought refuge deep within his own body, like he had been trained to do. He did his best to shut the outside world out, and the voices and noises around him began to fade away, almost vanishing, giving him some relief... But Cerberus, once again, grinned widely and stepped in with a taunting comment, one perfectly attuned with Killer's personality, so that the liger once again lost his concentration and perked his ears to listen.

"Don't worry, Thanathos... this worm is well and truly in our hands now. And he must grovel in the dirt before us, and crawl like a dog all the way to his cell. No matter what he attempts, he is doomed!" Cerberus snickered, pausing for a brief moment that seemed studied exactly to allow Killer's helpless rage to swell, and then he added in a teasing tone: "Don't act like this vermin has a prayer... he hasn't. Show your wife that you have the power, that you really did take down the Amon-Ra! Let her see how our ascension begins!"

Killer had never really associated Thanathos to women and sex in any way, so the mention of a wife immediately flared his interest, because he wasn't only prideful; he was also curious. He tried to resist the temptation, but his concentration was already gone and he cursed under his breath, knowing that he was falling right into a trap again but nonetheless opening his eyes to look up.

Much to his surprise, there really was a female looking down at the scene from the top of the staircase, and she was beautiful: tall, athletic in build, lithe but with toned muscles. She was a tigress, much to Killer's surprise, and her amber eyes gleamed for a moment as she gazed straight at him, estimating his worth with a gaze so interested and eager that Killer could almost feel her hands touching him, feeling the tone of his muscles and pushing a yardstick against his cock. Her gaze was so intense and so incredibly full of hunger and sexual intent that he froze in place for a long moment, staring straight up at her face. Only Alexis and very few others had the same ability to bring the world to a sudden stop with just a look, with a sensual blink of their long eyelashes... but her gaze also had something uniquely and truly vulgar about it, something that aroused horrendous hungers into Killer but at the same time generated in him a form of revulsion. He didn't immediately understand why he instinctively felt contempt for her, but she made it abundantly clear immediately afterwards as her lips crested in a greedy, scheming grin, her eyes flashing with craving as she realized that no yardstick could ever suffice to measure him, his virility, his sheer power. It was a gaze that sent a wave of hunger and arousal down his spine, causing his enormous shaft to flex with majestic arrogance, swelling even larger and growing many feet longer in just that one powerful throb. But even as the heat ran through his strong form, he made a grimace at the same time, realizing that she was one of those accursed creatures who simply do not know how to care for anything and anyone other than themselves. He had already seen eyes like those, and knew that there was fun to be had with females like her: every movement of her body, every gaze coming from her eyes promised him limitless debauchery, assuring him that she was ready to serve and worship his body in any and every way, with no limits, no hesitations. There was nothing that was too dirty, disgusting or taboo: she was ready for everything. But that was only because he could give her power beyond compare, because she could get from him what nobody else could offer. She was not just a hedonistic predator oozing raunchy sex appeal, but a terribly selfish creature with a great ego and an even greater hunger for pleasure, luxury and power, and for that hunger she was ever ready to throw her partners under the bus in order to side with someone who could give her even more. She had no concept of loyalty and no idea of what love even was. She was an insatiable predator who knew what she wanted, was aware that she could get it by bending males to her whims and was more than ready to viciously turn down everyone who failed to live up to her demanding standards. Killer had rarely been able to read a person so completely with such a short eye contact, but that female, whatever her origins, gave off such an arrogant aura that he was left in no doubt at all about her nature. She had clearly already decided that he was the next powerful male she was going to enchant, make a slave to her favors and exploit to increase her own power.

He was not going to play along... but perhaps his time in this inferno was going to have a little bit of sweeteners attached to it. Maybe he could even use her to aid his escape. He could certainly appreciate her spectacular beauty, so impressive to provide a bit of a relief even from the agony he was experiencing. Her tall body was sculpted and chiseled in wondrous ways and her bosom, albeit much smaller than Alexis's, was still plentiful and delicious, firm and proud, only partially hidden by the delicate, precious black robes she wore. Veils of intricate, splendid lace that were tantalizingly almost transparent, showing almost as much as they hid, and with a V opening at the front which went down past her navel, showing off the soft outline of her abs and the proud, rounded flanks of those amazing breasts. Her features were exceptionally pleasant to the eye, feminine and perfect, and her wavy pixie hairstyle looked incredibly right and good for her, complementing her stunning physique.

Thanathos snarled in terrible fury as he caught Killer staring, and the viciously ran forwards to kick him hard in the cheek, knocking him over with a grunt of agony. Killer's head spun viciously, pounding violently as he rolled slowly over with a breathless growl, and Thanathos seized the pole of Requiem Aeternam and dragged him around by it, making him howl in pain as the blade tore even deeper into him, sapping away his energies and causing the flesh all around to rot horrendously. "What are you looking at, huh...? What? Don't you fucking dare laying your dirty eyes on her! She is mine, and you don't even fucking deserve to see her, to walk on the same land!"

Cerberus snickered in entertainment at that, but then snapped his fingers and gestured to the alien gods to march onto the stairs, dragging Killer up over the fleshy, terrible steps made of skulls and pulsing, horrendous tumors and mutant growths sprouting with countless claw-like hands and scrawny yet surprisingly strong arms that flailed and slapped and clawed into him with blind but ferocious rage.

Thanathos growled at that, looking at his partner in crime with a glare of pure hate and looking like he was about to snap, but Cerberus was unfazed, and turned around and walked up the staircase, leading the way and dragging Vera after him, forcing her to crawl over the steps as best she could, leaving behind a scary streak of blood. The god of death savagely stomped into Killer's lower back, then directly onto his massive cock, pinning the vast member to the ground even as the aliens and reapers continued to drag Killer in the other direction. The liger shut his eyes and bit his lip, trying to suffocate the howl of agony coming up his throat as his limbs trembled hard, pain filling his entire body as fire spread through his member, tormenting him... but then Thanathos removed his foot and stomped onwards with a snort of disgust and irritation.

Killer didn't know why, and he struggled against the agony and the exhaustion to force one of his eyes to open: he saw Thanathos hurrying towards the beautiful, evil femme fatale on top of the staircase. The two traded a few words, and Thanathos's anger seemed to immediately recede, before he made a grimace of distaste as she pointed at something in the distance... and when Killer sneaked a look in that direction, he saw a multitude of mutant monstrosities which stared at the scene with evident fidgety, looking at each other and trading loud hisses and barks and other sounds that Killer could not properly understand, but which spoke of shock at the sight of their master being defied. The liger made a note of that, and not without some pleasure: his defiance was effectively forcing Cerberus and Thanathos to rush into the great tower, away from inquisitive eyes of those beasts that were terrified of the god of death... but not entirely tamed. As soon as they had sensed a weakness in their master, they had started wondering, thinking... maybe even plotting. Surely that is too optimistic. I don't think they have much brain at all left in them...

The beautiful and evil femme fatale had warned her husband of the developing problem just in time to save Killer's cock from being ripped to shreds, and the huge male was very thankful for that... and also not very surprised. She had clearly taken an interest in him, and while she was nothing like an ally, she at least wasn't quite an enemy yet. He made sure to take all little consolations he could get, and took careful note of everything that could possibly enable an escape, however unlikely.

Thanathos immediately made sure to punish the mutant beasts he had created, to crush them back into obedience, and Killer glared up at him as the god of Death laughed and hurled crackling bolts of dark electricity into the crowd of monstrous creatures, disintegrating some of them in great blasts that sent many others crashing all around like shrapnel, blood and pus and ichors bursting out in thick splatters as the electricity tore in great arcs through the whole crowd. The beasts scattered and ran away in terror, hissing and shrieking, and Thanathos snapped his fingers once to unleash a pack of Reapers onto the crying beasts, causing their laments to grow even louder and more desperate as the scythes mercilessly swung down, producing distinctive, icy hisses that sent shivers down Killer's spine. Every hiss was followed by the meaty, sinister sound of the blades chopping deep through flesh and wound, and then there were choked, terrifying sighs as the monsters were drained of all life essence, their rotting bodies flopping loudly onto the ground... and Killer made a grimace as he saw the fleshy roots and appendages, the "veins" of that corrupt world shifting around and greedily wrapping over those new corpses, dragging them down, absorbing, assimilating them into even larger and uglier mutations and cancerous growths.

The crowd was quickly dispersed, but Killer knew that the survivors were not going to forget what they had seen. Or at least, so he hoped. He grunted in pain as countless cruel hands clawed into his legs and into his massive shaft, yanking viciously on it while he did his best to drag himself over the sharp edges of the staircase's steps using the only arm he managed to move somewhat, even as the multitude of heavy chains squeezed painfully around it and bit deep into his flesh. In a moment he was dragged on the fleshy floor past the feet of the beautiful tigress, and her eyes glinted as she looked down at him in silent but evident interest. She was grinning, however, amused by his torment and by his powerlessness in that moment, chained up like a feral beast... and she traded a few words with Thanathos before they both laughed loudly.

Killer gritted his fangs in helpless rage at that. He hated being seen in that humiliating position. He loathed being laughed at. And he had always been irritated almost at a physical level by the whispers, perhaps because when studying in Ire he had learned to associate them invariably with people scheming behind his back to cause him grief. Thanathos and the glorious femme fatale looked down at him with cruel amusement, laughing while he squeezed her against his side and she sensually ground her leg against his, caressing the muscular chest clad in thick, chiseled crystal armor... and Killer burned with rage as he was dragged past and into the horrendous, vagina-like door to the great tower. He realized in that moment what annoyed him the most about Thanathos squeezing the splendid girl's buttock in his hand, taking what he wanted from her wondrous body: it was like looking at Alexis and himself in so many occasions. He had put his enemies through exactly that same kind of humiliation... too often, he had forced even allies, sometimes even friends to stare in powerless envy at him flaunting his dominance over a beautiful, unmatched goddess that they would never get to brush with the tip of one finger. For one moment, he felt almost remorse... but it was just a moment. He was not going to change that aspect of himself. He only wanted to be back in the position that was rightfully his.

The hideous spider-like monstrosity looming on top of the fleshy entrance dived down with a shriek and distracted him, however. He saw the beast's terrifying bug-legs snapping viciously towards his face and he made a grimace at the sight of the stiff, sharp needle-like strands of hair covering the bony limbs, before covering his face with his arm as best he could. Each massive leg ended in a curved, poisonous talon that tore through his forearm and pumped an enormous amount of liquid into his flesh, making him scream in agony and trash so violently that one of the chains snapped and his arm gained a bit more freedom. He immediately reached up to catch another long, segmented leg as it stabbed straight down towards his skull, and even as the needle-like strands of hair cut through his fingers, he bent the bug limb painfully back until it loudly cracked. The mutant "spider" monstrosity reared away from Killer with a shriek of pain and outrage, and a dense, acid paste of a disgusting yellowish color fired out of the beast's jaws in a thick rope that caked itself against the liger's abs, scarring them as his flesh and muscles began to smolder and burn.

The rope cut across his torso and, horribly, the disgusting stuff fired all over the terrible wound in his chest, penetrating deep within him and burning through the damaged flesh worse than any acid Killer had had to deal with before. He rolled over onto his side, shielding himself as best he could as the thick rope of "cobweb" pushed further up, coating one side of his head and shooting past to glue him to the floor.

Within instants, the monstrosity had covered Killer's body with a thick, acid cobweb, and Cerberus slowly turned around, smirking in cruel delight and signaling for the alien gods to stop and wait as the "spider" lunged down again, screeching in hate and indescribable hunger as it snapped its pincers against the liger.

Killer's body tensed in agony and horror at once, and the liger rolled over again, gathering himself as best he could, folding his legs back as the aliens made the mistake of relaxing, allowing the chains to follow him somewhat... and then he snarled and kicked both feet up with all the force he could muster, knocking the mutant backwards with a shriek and the sinister, loud sound of multiple bones breaking into powder.

Cerberus's grin died away at that and he snorted in contempt, turning around once more and venturing deeper into the dark tower, ordering the others to follow him... and even though cruel undead hands continued to claw into him, Killer was able to almost relax, closing his eyes and trying to recover from the pain and shock cursing through his system and doing his best not to look at the disgusting, drool-like spider web stuff that filled the wound in his chest, giving him absolute hell. He desperately tried to scrape the stuff off his body, but with the chains clamping down on him and almost immobilizing his limbs it was a hopeless struggle. Much of his body continued to smolder as the ugly substance consumed his flesh.

He allowed himself to be dragged along the dark corridor, which looked uncomfortably like the intestine of a gigantic predator, with its fleshy walls flexing ominously on all sides, clamping tighter as if to crush them all downwards, to digest them. The corridor echoed with terrible laments and hopeless cries and sighs coming from the multitude of victims who had been turned into nothing but parts of the ungodly fortress, trapped within its fleshy walls for eternity.

The deeper they went, the more the place smelled of death and decay. The first few rooms opening onto the corridor were occupied by Reapers and warriors, both mutant and not. Then Killer noticed a series of incredibly clean metallic shutters held close by electromagnetic rails. They looked completely out of place in the middle of walls literally made of agonizing victims and mutant flesh growths, but they all carried the RA marking and Killer was sure that they protected a number of laboratories and research facilities. That was where Cerberus's scientists did their own experiments, he guessed... and he expected them to be just as terrible as Thanathos's own.

Then they started passing by dark cells closed by walls of squirming tentacles and spiked appendages ready to strangle to destruction any victim trying to break out. Killer couldn't quite see the prisoners inside because they were all huddled up in the far, dark corners of those fleshy little infernos. He heard their shrieks, however, and their gargling, broken breathing and the maniac laughter coming from others.

He turned towards the opposite side, trying to meet Vera's eyes for a moment, but a Reaper immediately smacked his muzzle with the pole of his scythe. The Doberman, anyway, looked barely alive, her eyes closed and caked over by her own blood as she was dragged along, kept ahead of him so they could not, in any way, find comfort in each other.

His jailers tried to force him to crawl like an animal, but Killer refused to play along, and finally managed to silence his pride as well, instead focusing on the beating of his heart, forcing it to slow down even further, suffocating the pain somewhat and closing his mind to the point when the outside world almost ceased to matter. He couldn't quite understand what the alien gods ordered and yelled and snarled, and he could barely make out Cerberus's shape ahead as he turned around and said something... and they finally stopped poking him with spears and scythes, probably thinking that he was effectively unconscious and thus not a fun enough target. They dragged him along, simply, and he was almost glad for it. He let them do that, and retreated inside his own mind, trying to silence the shouts of agony coming from every part of his body. It gave him a bit of relief, even though the scythes and Seals continued to drain his energies, preventing his body from healing and regenerating. His mouth was horrendously dry, but at the same time full of blood and tormented by a poisonous, disgusting mixture of hideous flavors. His nose was full of the terrifying smell of decay and filth coming from the living tower around him, but what was really tormenting was the utter solitude. Vera was only meters away, yet she might as well have been in another galaxy, while everyone else... hell, for all they knew, they might actually be in a different galaxy altogether. Thanathos, just like Taranis, had undoubtedly had to venture well far away from Earth before finding worlds he could torment without Elelyon hearing about it, so Killer was reluctant to even try and guess his whereabouts. It was a depressing thought, especially in the sinister silence he had to contend with.

He barely noticed being hauled onto the vast platform of a huge circular elevator running on rails in the middle of the immense tower. His eyes stared at the apparently endless shaft rising skywards above him, but he had isolated himself to such a degree that his brain barely processed the images. He wasn't even sure whether they went up, or down under the surface, but the ride was fairly long.

How long, he couldn't quite say. Pain continued to violently rattle him, demanding to be heard and cared for, but he did his best to shut it out, sitting in a white, empty room inside his own mind. A white floor extending out towards unknown bounds, hidden by the darkness, too far away to be identified.

Killer sat there, with his legs crossed, hunched forwards, panting hard and trembling as he struggled against his own body and mind, trying to get them to stop "complaining". _Pain is a state of mind. Control it. Pain is your body warning you of danger. Tune that alarm down, or it'll break you._He felt like howling against the sky, but instead he focused on his heart and on his breathing, trying to normalize both... and by the time the Killer-inside-the-mind found some peace, the physical Killer "outside" barely breathed at all, his heart beating incredibly slowly. So much that Cerberus, at one point, leaned down to survey him and make sure he was still alive.

For once, Killer actually wished to see some of the annoying presences within his being. He hoped to see Black Killer coming out of the darkness to say something. To offer a way out... or hell, even just to be an arrogant asshole and showoff as usual. Even that was better than complete, miserable solitude. Killer would have accepted even Deimos, the conquered god of fear, but too little of him remained to express much of a coherent image, and anyway the unkillable god had retreated well and truly out of the scene, leaving Killer completely naked and exposed as even the last pieces of his black armor simply dissolved, becoming nothing but loose energy that was absorbed back into him.

Killer could have forced the armor back out, giving it new shape and new strength, but he did not care. It was not going to help him one bit at that point, and he only sat down in the emptiness, in the silence, trying to regain control over his sore, broken body. Around him, he could see what was happening in the outside world, but it was almost like looking at a movie, as if those things were happening to someone else. Even as he was dragged out of the elevator and yanked down a fleshy corridor, the noise and even the pain came to him muffled and distant. But then Vera was dragged away, her unconscious body picked up by a massive mutant guard which carried her in the opposite direction, and Killer actually slowly turned his head around to try and make sure she was still alive; to see where she was being taken. The beast soon turned a corner, however, and Killer lost sight of her bloodied, devastated body, sinking in an even more tormenting solitude filled with painful doubts about her fate. She wasn't a goddess. Strong as she undoubtedly was, could she survive the multitude of wounds tormenting her flesh, all the broken bones, the chains clamping down on her, all the energies being drained out of her body? Could she resist the torture she was going to be put through...? Killer didn't know, and the chances for her were so poor that it hurt him down to the core. He wanted her to live, and to get out of that inferno... and he wasn't sure why. She had been an enemy. She might still be one, in fact. She had worked with the NWOA as well as with the RA, and she had been instrumental in Cerberus's plans. He didn't even know for sure how much of a part she had played, but some of the RA's otherworldly technology had been made possible by her brain and her incredible ability to invade with the same ease the nervous system of a victim and the complex electronic systems that enabled modern society to function, in peace and in war.

She had been in Glacial; she had disrupted the communications network and hacked the army's electronic systems during the wars in Kesteven and Glacial and she had prevented Alexis and him from accessing key data about the way the NWOA financed its activities. She had stolen data that could have provided Killer with the information he needed to terminate the NWOA once and for all... and more than that, she had probably kept him from discovering the truth about the RA. The Raja Alliance. It was tormenting to think that, with the right information at the right time, he could have probably stopped Cerberus early on, well before he could ascend to godhood.

He had so many reasons to hate Vera Raider, the Suicide-Maker, the feared assassin who could, with little more than a glance, "hack" the nervous system of her target and force it to commit suicide. The list of her crimes was endless, and who knew how many more suicides around the world were actually murders.

They say the perfect murder does not exist... but with her powers, Vera can actually kill her targets literally without leaving any trace of her role.

Yet, between him and Vera there had never been true hostility. She had fought against him, sure, but she had... done just the indispensable, in a way. She had never truly insisted on taking him or Alexis down. She had actually talked to them and encouraged them to prepare for the future fights, instead... and now Killer knew why. All along, she had been on Cerberus's side not because she believed in him but because he blackmailed her, held her prisoner and enslaved her by threatening someone she dearly cared for. Killer had heard only part of what Cerberus had barked against her, but had understood the core of the issue at least... and it perfectly explained her weird behavior in their earlier clashes. She didn't want him dead at all. In truth, she hoped that one day he'd be able to free her from slavery. When the moment had come, out there in the unforgiving desert, she had fought without hesitation and to the end to aid him, to try and shatter the barrier. Vera, a mere mortal, had fearlessly fought gods and reapers, showing just how strong and courageous she was... And that made Killer tremble in shame and rage, because he had failed her: he had not been able to break her chains, and trying to imagine what Cerberus would do to her made him feel worse than his own wounds did. And whoever it was that Cerberus held hostage... gods. I don't even want to think of it...

He had failed, and he told himself that the torture he was suffering was a punishment that he had more than deserved with his crimes and with his failures. He had promised to sit on the torture table for the Inquisitors of Hell one day, to atone for his past monstrosities, and he told himself that this was the start of that process. Promise kept. This is how it starts. You've had it coming. You deserve to get knocked down a few notches. Killer, sitting there in his own mind, snorted a bit at hearing his own thoughts. It was crazy that he was willing to undergo punishment when he had the absolute power to ignore or flat-out rewrite all laws. But that wasn't even the strangest thing. No, the real weird thing was that he was perfectly aware that he was never going to truly atone. He was never going to give up his vices, and putting himself through some torture with regularity was never really going to solve anything. It was, and would always be, incomplete justice. At best. Some of his victims would probably call it flat-out injustice, since his pain in that case would be only temporary... and outside of torture sessions, he was god, almighty and owner of everything. From their point of view, that was no punishment, for sure.

Some of my victims probably root for the Cerberus team... and I guess I can't blame them for it.

The alien gods dragged Killer in front of another fleshy door that looked horribly like an ugly, wrinkly vagina armed with gnarled, curved fangs. The "lips" of that unholy hole were sealed shut, but a light touch from Thanathos was sufficient for them to spread wide, revealing a massive shutter of adamantine metal, marked with the RA symbol. Cerberus easily sent this sliding upwards along thick, reinforced electromagnetic rails. Even that wasn't enough, though, as beyond the shutter came a fence made not of metal but of ethereal violet magic.

Killer grunted as two enormous mutant, undead monstrosities stepped forwards and unceremoniously grabbed him by the armpits, dragging him up to his feet just as Cerberus turned around with a wide, sly grin. The tiger studied him for a few moments, then snorted in contempt and slapped his muzzle, patronizingly remarking: "I know you are there. I know you hear me. I know you must be thinking about escaping... how cute. But we go through SERE training in Alfaya as well, I'm sure you know that."

Killer never had a doubt about it. Every military did. But he still held on tightly to his hopes of somehow breaking free. Cerberus's grin widened even further, and Killer's hate for the king of Alfaya grew in proportion with his gloating. What was clear was that Cerberus had violent mood swings: he was supremely confident in his bright mind and in his careful years of planning, and took immense delight from seeing them becoming solid reality. He was also clearly delighted by the new, inebriating power that having ascended to godhood granted him... but at the same time, he was still full of fears. As soon as Killer displayed more resistance than he had expected, he was almost overwhelmed by a mix of fury and terror.

Cerberus was still a mortal at heart. He still felt dwarfed by Killer's astonishing power and resistance and he could barely restrain himself from envious, bitter yet slavish adoration. His eyes betrayed his awe every time he turned to gaze at Killer, and when that fearful reverence spiked, Cerberus tried to drown it down by substituting rage to adoration. But that only made him more, not less, dangerous. And his mind was truly brilliant; that was something that Killer had to bitterly admit.

"Forget about escaping, Amon-Ra. This fortress, and in particular this room, have been built specifically to contain and restrain you as long as necessary for us to discover all of your secrets." Cerberus announced, smiling slyly down into the liger's eyes before turning around and pressing a series of runes to momentarily disable some of the violet, ethereal bars of the fence.

Killer did not reply, in the hope that his exaggerated weakness would delay the worst of the torture. For sure they wanted him to be lucid when they accurately and scientifically destroyed his body bit by bit, inflicting him the maximum possible agony without allowing him to find refuge in unconsciousness or even death. He studied the room instead as he was dragged and pushed inside, his shattered toes giving him hell as they caught onto the bulging, ugly growths and clawing hands sticking out of the fleshy floor. He cursed inwardly as it immediately became clear that Cerberus had not exaggerated: the cell had been clearly built to contain him. Beneath the undead flesh, in some of the fissures leaking with pus, he spotted the same accursed energy-sucking crystal that had given him so much trouble back in Alfaya. The walls and roof were the same story, and they were actually also reinforced by a fence of thick bars of violet energy.

"Nice, huh...? We knew all along that finding a place that could contain you would be a problem. Bars of steel? Ah! You'd tear through them like they were a cobweb. Shutters? Walls of concrete? Might as well use biscuits to build the walls. It was a real problem. A real nightmare. It was clear that we needed something that could constantly drain force out of you. The discovery of this magic..." Cerberus pointed at the ethereal bars of violet light. "... was a decisive step in the right direction, as it is a particular kind of essence which becomes harder and harder the more force it is subject to. Hell already had this kind of magic, of course... it has been used by the Scholars and Scribes for Eons to restrain the most dangerous of damned souls... but Hell's brand of this magic was way too weak to work with you. Developing a more powerful variant was one of the main problems we faced... and the answer came from a planet that you don't even know, and that doesn't even exist anymore!" Cerberus gleefully exclaimed, and Thanathos turned to look at his wife in a way that left Killer in no doubt about the fact he had a smug grin on his invisible features. Undoubtedly he had done the dirty job... and had clearly enjoyed it a lot. The mutant beasts and the alien gods dragged Killer towards a thick, enormous "column" of golden crystals that rose in a disorderly incrustation stretching from the floor to the ceiling. It was exactly the same kind of crystal that he had already seen used to contain and drain alien gods, turning them into batteries of sort. He swallowed thickly, knowing all too well how dangerous that stuff was, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of small cascades of the stuff slowly rolling down the great column, solidifying in new formations along the way.

"You already know this amazing resin, huh...?" Cerberus cheerfully said, grinning widely as he eyed the slow rivers of that dense, tar-like sludge. "It actually comes from this very planet. A material with truly amazing characteristics, able to contain and preserve immense amounts of energy in form of electrical charges constantly moving within an endless labyrinth of natural super-conductors. A true miracle. The gods of this place developed it by mistake, I understand, while trying to give their worshipers a clean, endless source of energy. They developed, essentially, a parasitic element instead, which does not generate power but can absorb it... to them, it was a failure. To us, it was the beginning of a dream."

"We tested it on those who had created the stuff... and while the crystal devoured them until they dissolved, we worked out on ways to pull the contained energy out of the stone and use it. Such a shame that the original creators did not last long enough to see the final result..." Thanathos added, snickering in merciless entertainment, and the femme fatale at his side let out a sound of approval that was almost a purr. Killer made a grimace of disgust, but did not say anything, trying instead to keep his heart from racing as the alien gods and reapers dragged on the chains binding him and used magic to weld them to other lengths of supernatural chains coming out of the wall and ceiling. When they were ready, they dragged him forwards, and two massive mutant, undead warriors spurred him onwards by stabbing their huge spears into his back, while the other beasts let go of his arms, snickering as his devastated legs trembled hard and began to collapse under his weight. Killer felt himself fall down, but even as their laughter filled his ears he continued to pretend complete exhaustion, stumbling forwards until he crashed into the column of golden crystal, wincing as it immediately, greedily tried to adhere to his skin like glue, already trying to steal energy out of his body. Killer considered his options, once more thinking about making a run for it... but the room was crammed full of hostile gods and reapers and mutants, and Thanathos stood right in front of the door, which had already been shut once more. He was in no condition to take on all of them at once. He had no choice by survive, endure, and wait for a better chance... even though the awareness made him shudder in horror and in anticipation of the agony to come.

Rough, monstrous hands turned him around until he was leaning against the crystal with his right side... and a mutant monster with gigantic metallic pincers instead of hands was guided into the room just so he could chop the poles off every scythe still buried into the liger's body. They left every last blade buried deep into his flesh, but the beast methodically went after the delicate job of cutting the poles right at the bottom of the large blades. And of course, those pincers were not delicate at all, nor were the poles made of wood, or even of normal steel. Each scythe was a new torture as the huge weapons shifted and twisted around inside Killer, maiming his flesh, grinding into his bones, destroying chords of muscle and turning his front and his back into what looked almost like mincemeat. Cerberus and Thanathos picked up large sledgehammers once all the poles, save of course for Requiem Aeternam's one, had been ripped off. Killer looked at the heavy heads of dark metal in silent horror and helpless rage, but refused to let out a sound as the two grinning beasts came closer, holding up the great weapons. Cerberus ran the tip of his index down the length of one of many blades which had not been able to fully penetrate through Killer's adamantine musculature, and he grinned slyly up into the liger's eyes as he taunted: "Those ugly things right here, sticking out like this... no, we can't allow it. They are hazardous, and we really don't want accidents, do we...? If they caught into something you might... get hurt."

Cerberus laughed, and Killer experienced the almighty wish of pummeling his face into liquid. He promised to himself that one day he would have revenge. Slow, merciless, delicious revenge... and as he watched the tiger slowly bring the hammer up to the first curved blade, taking aim with deliberate slowness, he told himself that this torture would go some way in making up for his past sins. Accept it as that. A punishment you deserved.

The hammer swung down with brutal force, clanging against the great blade... but Killer's body flexed and his back arched and the great, goliath musculature on his frame tensed and bulged with such power that the scythe and the hammer were both pushed backwards, sending Cerberus stumbling backwards with a grunt of surprise. It immediately turned to a growl as the tiger cocked up the heavy hammer and struck it down with all his strength, and this time the scythe tore deep into Killer's flesh, even though the blade bent out of shape in the process. Cerberus growled a bit, almost panting as he slammed the hammer down once more, even more violently, until the scythe almost vanished from sight, sinking entirely into Killer's massive frame, and he leaned forwards, almost muzzle to muzzle with the tiger, taunting: "See? With a little bit of work, we can fix the problem. You should really thank us."

Thanathos hammered down another of the scythes, and Killer's body shuddered violently, his chest heaving erratically as his lungs desperately tried to suck in air, even though he didn't truly need to breathe to survive. The wet, gurgling sound of the blood flooding his airways was horrible, however, and Killer felt like he was drowning in his own blood. When he was young he had been put through endless sessions of waterboarding, literally so many that by the end of it he was pretty much unfazed by the whole practice and could simply ignore the efforts of his tormentors... but this, this was completely different and far, far worse. One by one, the blades were hammered fully into his flesh. Killer had no idea of how long it took the two gods to complete their sick game. It could have been days, for all he knew. It felt like an eternity of torment, and despite his best efforts to stay fully in touch with reality, Killer realized with horror that he was already losing track of time. In that accursed room her had no way to tell what was going on outside. It was a silent, solitary inferno where his only companion was agony.

Finally, a mutant beast shoved a blade against his side and forced him to turn around further, until Cerberus rammed his shoulder into him and sent his back crashing against the column of crystal, causing the liger's eyes to open wide but seen nothing other than white light born of pain and anguish as the blades stuck through his body all shifted and moved and sawed into his flesh. For a moment, Killer thought he'd lose it. He'd lose it all. His mind, his life. But slowly, his indestructible body began to respond again, and his vision slowly returned... and he panted hard, looking straight ahead to see both Thanathos and Cerberus grinning with sharkish satisfaction... before he arched his back and let out another roar of agony as the alive, merciless crystal began to penetrate into his flesh, pouring into his wounds, feeling like a thousand needles and blades stabbing into his shoulders and spine all at the same time.

"If you haven't understood it yet, let me make it absolutely clear: not even you stand any chance of breaking out of this room." Cerberus gloated, lightly clapping his hands together and grinning from ear to ear, before he pulled up one arm and snapped his fingers. A mutant hurriedly turned around and fetched something that Killer could not identify, and Cerberus's smirk widened, if at all possible, even further as he added: "And just to make extra sure..."

Killer swallowed thickly as the alien gods pulled on the chains wrapped around his arms, forcing him to spread them wide just as more of the golden resin solidified behind him, forming a cross against which he was pinned, while Cerberus and Thanathos each picked up a solid hammer of gold and a series of long, thick, square nails that the mutant happily offered. Killer closed his eyes and once more sought refuge into his mind, but there just was no ignoring the metallic talon-like hands which forced his feet up against the base of the crystal column. As his legs were forced to bend at an awkward angle, the pressure on his torn-open chest increased and he could hear a rivulet of his blood cascading loudly to the floor, unendingly. Other hands, just as cruel, made sure to immobilize his hands and expose the palms and the wrists, and another mutant viciously forced his head sideways and peeled the eyelids up, grumbling: "Watch!"

Killer glared at the beast with such ferocity that the undead recoiled and blood burst out of his mouth, but the monster did not let go, growling in fury instead and smacking the liger's skull hard back against the crystal. Cerberus laughed softly at that, studying the enormous, cruel nails with exaggerated interest, deliberately drawing out that torturing moment, before finally pushing the first massive, pyramidal-tip nail against Killer's right palm, pushing it slowly and savagely forwards.

Amazingly, Killer's skin and flesh refused to be pierced, and Cerberus's lip twitched in rage, his arm flexing as he smacked the nail violently forwards... and still failed to scratch the liger's palm. Killer did not comment, knowing that his "victory" would not last, but his lips crested in a little smirk nonetheless, and he again wondered gratefully about his own strength, and the ability of his body to shrug off amazing amounts of damage. Cerberus finally surrendered and pulled up the heavy hammer, holding the nail in position and then smacking it once, twice, thrice, until it finally pierced deep into the liger's hand, then tore right through it and buried in the crystal behind, and then again, until the whole, enormous nail was driven down and its wide, fat head crushed into Killer's maimed flesh.

The liger gritted his teeth hard enough to make them creak, and before he could get any kind of respite, Thanathos leaned in with a wide grin and smacked a nail home into the palm of his other hand. Behind him, the alien gods worked to pull the chains and weld them to the wall, creating an immense spider web of colossal restraints that stretched from him to the almost literally every inch of the wall behind him. Dozens upon dozens of chains connected to massive rings buried solidly into the reinforced wall.

Apart from the pain, and the sound of the hammers driving the nails through his flesh, Killer knew he would forever remember two sounds: the sizzling of welding incandescent metal, and the metallic jiggling of enormous chains that would have put to shame the anchor's line of an aircraft carrier like the huge Ark Royal. Cerberus surveyed his handiwork as blood leaked and dripped from the devastated hand, and he smirked as he patronizingly explained: "You know, I've studied this ancient practice. Putting the nail in the hand is really not helpful. The hand cannot sustain the weight of the body and would just soon rip apart... of course, with you things might be a bit different. That was a medical assessment valid for puny mortals."

The tiger nodded wisely, then brought a second nail up, this time holding it against Killer's exposed wrist, right between two large veins that pumped visibly, trying to keep the liger's body well supplied with blood even as rivers of the precious life fluid were lost with every passing moment. This time he didn't even try to drive the nail in with solely his hand, but carefully held the spike in place and began to hammer away. Slowly. Each blow was powerful and purposeful, and Killer cried out in agony as the thick nail tore deeper and deeper with every loud impact. "The wrist is really the point where you want to put the nails."

Thanathos nodded in agreement, all but letting out a small sound of approval as he began to add his own nail. The pain was terrifying, and Killer couldn't tear his eyes off the horrible scene of the rusty, cruel nail ripping an horribly wide wound into his flesh, severing veins and tendons and grinding into the bones, forcing them apart, deforming his arm. The mutant beast struggled to keep his head pinned as the liger trashed in agony and fury, but a second monster clawed into Killer's skull to force him to watch... and so he retreated inside his mind again, trying to isolate himself as best he could, and only wishing them gone. Only wishing for it to end.

But it didn't. Several more nails were rammed into his powerful arms, and each one was a new spike of pure agony that seemed to rip right into his core. Even in the white emptiness of his safe inner refuge, Killer shuddered and groaned in pain, seeing himself surrounded by rusty, cruel nails coming from every direction. And his whole body trashed violently, uncontrollably, when Thanathos and Cerberus hammered huge nails into his enormous biceps, into the bulging, formidable mountains of muscle and power that had always been at the heart of his pride. That several nails shattered and others bent like blades of grass before finally tearing into his hard chords of muscle was not much of a comfort. It did nothing to make it easier to resist the agony of the enormous spikes driving down, inch by inch, in his flesh.

Thanathos and Cerberus enjoyed every second instead, and when they were satisfied with the multiple horrendous lacerations and the streams of blood rolling out of Killer's arms, they got back to his hands to drive smaller but equally cruel nails through every single one of his fingers.

And while Killer dared hoping for a moment that the damage to his arms would prevent him from feeling much of the pain, he discovered that he could still experience the agony of each digit.

That sick game went on for so long that the alien gods finished their job with the chains, and when they were done they all eyed Killer with horrible eagerness. They had been battered, humiliated and slaughtered on the battlefield, and now they all craved revenge... but Thanathos and Cerberus were too greedy to give them that, and chased them all out of the room. For once, Killer was thankful... but the relief was short lived, because once the two gods had forced everyone else to leave, they crouched and started tormenting his feet, driving rusty nails through then and completing his crucifixion.

Killer panted breathlessly as nails were driven through each of his toes, already devastated by the hammers, and then closed his eyes and trembled in silent shock as massive square stakes were hammered home through the neck of each foot, smashing through the bone and nailing him against the column of crystal behind him. The golden crystal glowed and pulsed with hunger as it constantly drained energies out of his body, and the cascades of resin slowly coming down from above seemed to move like sentient beings, heading for his ugly, rotting wounds and pouring inside his body, beginning to solidify within him. He could feel thick, sharp-edged lumps of the stuff swelling larger within his wounds and pushing against his bones and into his organs, and the pressure they added made his ribcage creak as it swelled outwards so much that the bone showed even through his thick, hyper-developed musculature.

The weight of his own body seemed to burden purely on his organs as his chest heaved, his heart struggling to beat as muscles and lumps of hardening crystal squeezed down on it, and the horrendous wound in the middle of Killer's chest continued to gape open with wet sucking sounds as his damaged, flooded lungs desperately tried to suck in some air. He should have been more than dead already, but that was the curse of being gods; of having a body so powerful and durable: it took a hell of a lot of damage to cause him to go unconscious and even more before death became a possibility, so that his tortures could truly go wild.

When he had finally had enough, Cerberus straightened and leaned onto the pole of Requiem Aeternam, the only scythe that still stuck, intact, out of Killer's chest. The tiger studied the massive, towering body of the dark god, and then smirked and explained in an awfully sloppy voice: "Don't worry, Killer... as fun as it is to play with you, I'll only keep you alive until it is strictly necessary. You are dangerous, and I'm not going to accept the risk. If my scientists were to discover enough to tell me that they can finish the job using just your rotting carcass, I can assure you that I would put an end to your life really, really quickly. I've not gotten this far by taking risks."

Thanathos straightened as well, and his invisible face looked up at Killer's own for a few long moments before the god of Death hissed: "I would regret losing you that soon... I know I can amuse myself a lot by experimenting with you. You are durable, and torturing you, I'm sure, will be a constant source of surprises and delights."

"At least we'd get to destroy you twice." Cerberus easily observed, grinning sharkishly. They controlled the Reapers, after all, the harvesters of souls, so they could easily capture Killer's spirit and make sure it could never reach Hell, Heaven or any other dimension. And Killer trembled, closing his eyes as a shiver of horror run down his spine at the thought of his father, of that least scream he had heard, at the last, sinister sigh as Seth's soul was pulled out of his body. What had happened to Seth, king and father that Killer revered, admired, loved and took as example...? Was his soul going through the same inferno? Killer didn't know the answer, and his mind filled with the most tormenting of images, of Seth's soul chained down and tormented, shredded, ruined, warped. He chased them away, and told himself that things were going to be okay, eventually. And if they wouldn't... well, he simply couldn't afford other worries at the moment. He had more than enough pain to endure without allowing his imagination to torment him further with the multitude of possible scenarios. There is hope. Cerberus is a loudmouth. That he said nothing about dad is pretty telling. I'm sure he... he'd want me to know, and see, and... But he had nothing to say. Gaia and the others must have taken the reapers down. They must... they must....

"It is unfortunate that your perfect, unfair power refuses to be explained by the genetic material you so generously gifted us." Cerberus coldly observed, reaching down to drag two fingers into a streak of blood leaking out of one of Killer's wounds. He brought the stained digits to his mouth and licked the blood up, slowly, savoring it and staring up into Killer's eyes, then continued: "Blood. Semen. I've collected plenty of your blood from the battlefields of the world. Collecting your seed has been even easier... access to your DNA has never been a problem. But it has never given me the answers I need. It would have been so much easier if they had... and maybe you wouldn't be here today. Maybe. I would have still loved to torture you, I'm sure." Cerberus smirked, but his lips actually crested in a grimace: terrible fury and resentment were evident in his expression despite the hateful delight at seeing Killer in chains. "You are right, you know, when you say that my life sucks. In comparison to yours, it has sucked for all these years. And it sucked for my father before me, and for his father before him. We have all lived our lives, one after the other, with the awareness that we were just insignificant, puny mortals, born to the world just for a fortunate coincidence of genetics, when countless other DNA combinations could have been born in our place... We lived knowing that despite all our money and all our efforts, we'd die within a few short decades, while the gods would continue to live, thrive, and dominate us all."

"Don't we all...? You can accept it, or live all your days thinking that there will be an end." Killer sarcastically countered, unable to resist the temptation. Thanathos immediately grabbed Requiem and twisted the blade in, making him wince in agony.

"Not you, Killer... not you. If you've ever wondered about death and the futility of life, it was just because of your ignorance and of the envy of the lesser gods who sealed you at birth, fearing what your power could achieve. But you were never a mortal. You never carried our burden." Cerberus coldly replied, pacing the room from one wall to the other, his hands behind his back, his eyes full of hate. "Yours was a blissful ignorance, anyway. Even when you were Sealed, even living as a mortal... you never were just a mortal. You've always been a god among us. Stronger as a child than the most powerful of warriors in their prime. More virile as a cub than grown men at their apex. Stronger, faster, bigger... better, in a word. A god in the Northlands, and something beyond godlike in the rest of the world. A titan, a monument of hypervirility who took the world by storm and sent the most powerful nation on the planet cowering in the corner just by dangling out his cock."

"You are well informed about me. Were you a fan...? Did you buy lots of merchandise, little Cerby... did you jerk off to me until your little dick fell off...?" Killer teased, forcing a grin on his bloodied muzzle, and Cerberus snarled in fury, punching him viciously in the face but barely managing to budge his muzzle sideways. "I bet you bought a life-size mold of my cock but started hating me because you never had the courage to impale yourself on it." Killer taunted, grinning down at the tiger, and Thanathos's splendid consort laughed audibly, causing both Cerberus and the god of Death to pick up the great hammers from earlier, snarling as they began to land terrible blows, striking his muzzle, knocking teeth failing out in bloody fragments, then smashing on the base of his cock, on his torn-open chest, on his abs, even striking his ponderous, majestic sack... but this time, even through the agony, Killer kept grinning inwardly. He just couldn't let that one pass.

"Don't... you dare." Cerberus venomously snarled, all but panting and dropping the heavy hammer to the floor when he grew too tired to cock it up once more, before adding in a softer voice, which came across as far more dangerous: "Grinding your signature arrogance out of existence will be the real pleasure."

Killer did not reply, but forced his eyes to stay open and defiant even as blood filled them, leaking from the top of his head, his skull pounding horribly, his muzzle feeling like it was made of pain, simply. His mouth was full of blood and pieces of broken bone, and after a moment he did his best to spit the vile mixture out, even though his jaws were so maimed that he ended up looking like a kid who still can't rasp it up properly.

Cerberus smirked slyly at that, and finally continued: "Perhaps, in a way, yes. I am a "fan". I've spent my life watching you from afar, wondering at your strength, at the incredible things you could do... and telling myself that one day I would have taken your perfect, glorious power away. It would have been mine. My father and my grandfather and my ancestors dreamed and planned ahead, building up the basis of this enterprise... and when you were born I immediately knew that the time had come. I celebrated your birth, you know...? And the sudden eclipse that announced it. When you were born I was given hope: I immediately recognized the Signs. And that gave me the certainty that I would be the Raja to ascend above everything and everyone! Yes, perhaps I should even say thank you. When I was younger I feared that I would have to pass the dream on to my son, just like my father did before me... and I've never liked working in favor of others."

"What the fuck does your old man have anything to do with this...? You are an already an old fart yourself. You are decades older than me." Killer muttered, shivering at the spluttering sounds he made through his devastated muzzle. Cerberus shook his head slowly, smirking in entertainment, before patronizingly exclaiming: "Ah, you see? Your ignorance always shows through! I know everything about you, Killer! I know the things you ignore, and I knew them many years before you were born. My father knew them. My grandfather did... it goes back many, many years. You silly failure, given endless power just to wander in the dark until you lose it... Don't you realize that what the RA has built is something that stretches far beyond the span of a mortal life, or two, or three...? My family has been building up the Raja Alliance for entire generations."

Thanathos's head tilted backwards in what was clearly frustration, and the god of war walked a few steps away before muttering: "Do you really need to waste all this time...? Let's get it over with."

"No!" Cerberus snarled, clenching his fists and turning to face the god of war with a glare. "No." He repeated, calming down and speaking in a soft tone while he added: "It is part of his punishment, Thanathos. He must realize how foolish he's been. And anyway, before we can have proper fun with him, we must let the scientists do their job."

Thanathos crossed his arms, no doubt glaring down at the smaller male, and he let out a sound of irritation that was about to grow into a full out assault when the wondrous femme fatale wrapped her arms around his chest and whispered something into his metallic hood.

"Fine. But I don't feel like listening to your mortal ramblings." Thanathos finally muttered, turning to leave the room and wrapping an arm around the beautiful tigress's waist. Killer felt tremendously insulted by being the one forced to watch, for once, but the tigress sought contact with his eyes and winked, flashing her tongue at him for a brief instant, a quick lick of her lips that came and went, unnoticed by the god of death. That, admittedly, made Killer feel a little bit better. "Remember that you are in my home, Cerberus. My land, my rules. Do what you must, but don't ruin the toy too permanently, because I'm not done with the bastard asshole. I want my fun."

"You'll have it, of course." Cerberus replied, bowing his head deeply and watching as Thanathos and the girl walked outside and closed the tremendous set of doors behind them. Complete silence fell into the room as Cerberus only stared at the closed metallic shutter. Alone with him and no one else, Killer literally shivered at the insane intensity of that unnatural, dense silence. An emptiness that threatened to drive him insane as he literally could hear the blood rushing in his veins and spurting and leaking out of his wounds. The silence seemed to stretch on and on for several long minutes, and just when Killer was wondering whether Cerberus had been petrified, he turned around and laughed, shaking his head slowly. "Ah, Thanathos... never a man of good manners; never well supplied with patience. A born-immortal, a god... and unsurprisingly, arrogant and self-righteous to the point of giving me sickness, just like all other gods. Divinities have always undervalued mortals... they have counted too much on their strength, and for too long, without noticing, or flat out refusing to accept, that mortals have constantly evolved and improved. Now there is technology advanced enough to allow a mortal to order gods around. To allow me to become a god." Cerberus paused, then tilted his head slightly to the side and looked over Killer, finally observing: "You know, you never were a true mortal but... I will admit, you are by far the less hypocritical and insufferable of the gods. There is enough mortality in you to keep you... honest about yourself, in a way." The tiger laughed softly, then drew a finger down Killer's massive abs, shaking his head slowly in amazement at their perfection, size and sheer power, before adding calmly: "But you do share many of his defects. Just like you, Thanathos becomes even more of an idiot when females are around... and around his beloved Persephone, his unjustified machismo skyrockets. She has him wrapped around her pinky... but then again, bending males to her will has always been her specialty. Mortal or god makes no real difference if the dick takes over from the brain."

Persephone. So, that's the name of the evil bitch. Killer said nothing, but his eyes probably betrayed a hint of his curiosity and interest because Cerberus laughed and patronizingly slapped his cheek, before cheerfully announcing: "She is the root of your ignorance and of my knowledge. Persephone Raja, the pearl of the East, the diamond of the desert, the enchantress of kings... you might have read about her in the history books. It was ages ago, but her incredible beauty and her ability to seduce and enslave supposedly strong males has shaped the geography of today's Northlands and beyond."

Killer gaped slightly, leaning his head back against the column of crystal and panting quietly as he grasped the enormity of the picture he was, finally, beginning to uncover from the dust of history and the sands of deceit.

"Yours is not the only family that received blessings and curses from the gods." Cerberus pointed out, grinning as he recalled: "At the apex of her power, when she had subjugated over twenty kings, turning them all into obedient pets and making herself the empress of the whole of the eastern regions of the ancient world, Persephone Raja contracted a terrible sickness that no one could explain or contrast, and within days she was gone. And with her death, so was the eastern empire, which broke down into a multitude of kingdoms in the space of a few apocalyptic weeks of pestilence that killed a king after another. My bloodline barely managed to survive."

"Thanathos... killed her?" Killer asked, and Cerberus snorted in contempt and silenced him. "Of course he didn't. He couldn't just go around and murder the empress just because he was madly in love with her. No, he was an obedient student of goddess Azura, back then, and of course she and Elelyon kept careful track of the names of those who had reached the end of their time according to the endless spinning of the three Moirai. When the three bitches reach the end of a wire... someone dies. Each wire, one life. You know the drill. Thanathos couldn't just go and break the Law. They would have caught him right away." Cerberus paused, then grinned widely as he added: "So he got someone else to do it in a... legal way. Made it look like an accident. Remember your pestilent friend, Erra...? I'm told you defeated and subjugated him and absorbed his magnificent, devastating powers... Thanathos couldn't control Erra. No one could, before your strength crushed him. The gods could stem him, but never get rid of him or get him to obey their commands... But Thanathos knew he only needed to awaken Erra's most powerful desire: to finally develop some repugnant epidemic that would be able to kill even the gods. All Thanathos needed to do was tease Erra and then flee towards Alfaya, mixing in with the mortals. Erra followed him there and spread terrifying diseases through the empire, nearly wiping out its entire populace, causing a whole lot of strings to snap in the hands of the Moirai. Persephone's own string was among those, and while Elelyon, Azura and the others fought to restrain Erra before he could contaminate every last soul on the planet, Thanathos personally reaped the empress's soul and made sure to corrupt the judges Sobek and Anubis to have her soul admitted into Heaven, where he made her his wife. When people started asking too many questions, he made sure to "hide" his queen away into his home dimension, and eventually the scandal died down. Elelyon, of course, was too soft to ruins his friend's love story by properly grilling the Judges about how the sinful empress could ever meet the criterion for entering paradise. Persephone was fodder for the Hell of Lust and should have served a huge time in Greed as well, but... Elelyon always had the defect of pardoning too much, too easily."

Killer made a grimace at that, and shook his head slowly, amazed and horrified at the same time. Persephone Raja. A legendary figure in the ancient history of the Northlands, one whose lust had truly become myth, along with her greedy and very successful quest for power. She had been so promiscuous and so eager to bed and subjugate the kings of her times that some of her blood was said to be present in every royal bloodline. Huxley dynasty included. But she had lived and died so many centuries before his birth that Killer would have never, never imagined he'd ever have to deal with her legacy in any way. To find her alive, splendid, divine and as adept to scheming as she had always been, well, that was a true surprise.

"Thanathos is like putty in her hands. He always was. Even when all she did was roaring against him and kicking his ass for ending her life right when she was turning her dream of conquest into reality. She beat him down, and all he did was thank her and desire her even more... and Persephone soon realized that, though him, she could ascend to even greater power. She began to puppet him and smooth talked him into being far more ambitious. Was he truly satisfied with being Azura's little helper? Surely he was better than that, and deserved to be the one and only master of Death..."

Killer closed his eyes and grimaced, spitting out in disgust: "She was the mind behind Azura's murder."

"Oh yes, she was. She turned Thanathos into a great god, something he had never actually been before falling in love with her. And of course, through him she made herself a true, mighty goddess. And since she can never have enough, she started honey-ing him into planning the demise of Elelyon as well. She wanted the throne for herself." Cerberus cheerfully replied, grinning widely and nodding in confirmation. "It was soon clear to her that Thanathos was never going to become strong enough to ever have a chance of success, and so she took the matter in her own hands, trying to craft a workable plan. She considered the obvious path of seducing another god, one stronger than Thanathos, and she tried her luck with Taranis, but it soon became clear to her that it still would not suffice. She tried to seduce Elelyon himself, but you know the old fart: he is too pious and spiritual and otherworldly to fall prey to a pair of thighs, no matter how beautiful." Cerberus paused and looked very pleased with himself, clearly enamored by the sound of his own voice. He was silent for several long moments, to let his story burn its way fully into Killer's brain and probably as a deliberate way to see whether the liger would expose himself by asking something.

And Killer was tempted, immensely. But he stood silent, refusing to make a noise even as Cerberus picked up a monstrous pair of pincers and shouldered them, walking slowly back across the room and beginning to study the large, sturdy claws of the liger's fingers.

"Domestic cats need to be de-clawed, to make sure they stay docile and that they do not damage the furniture." Cerberus teased, grinning widely as he took the large index-claw between the massive teeth of the pincer and began to yank viciously outwards, grunting and panting as the great nail resisted. Killer closed his eyes with a muffled groan of pain, feeling the tendons breaking and the flesh tearing as the claw was slowly but surely uprooted. He refused to cry out in pain. He was determined to spoil Cerberus's fun as long as he could. The king of Alfaya glared at him, clearly annoyed by his resistance, but merely continued to pull until the whole claw came out, accompanied by a spurt of blood as the finger wildly shuddered, even against the nails keeping it pinned to the golden crystal behind. Immediately, Cerberus tossed the big talon away and hummed a bit to himself before selecting the second one to torment, but when the silence stretched on further, he snorted in contempt and patronizingly said: "I know you are listening, arrogant bastard. And I know you are suffering. Your silence does nothing to change who among us is the winner, and who is the loser... I'm enjoying it fully, and I know that, eventually, you will scream your lungs raw. Your machismo is only making it harder on you."

Killer continued to ignore him, and Cerberus's lips curled in a smile that was more snarl than anything else, his fangs bared as he slowly and cruelly twisted the pincer, tormenting Killer's claw and causing blood to bubble out at the root of it. It was tormenting, even after experiencing the pain of being crucified, even after having his body so badly damaged... any hopes he might have had of a loss in sensitivity were well and truly crushed. But still he forced himself to stay silent, knowing that Cerberus himself would soon enough break it. And after a few moments, as expected, the king of Alfaya soon resumed his tale: "When it became clear that there was no way take over Elelyon's throne, Persephone encouraged Thanathos to explore other worlds, away from Elelyon's asphyxiating laws, and they had some luck, finding planets like this one... full of life, rich, in some cases even more technologically advanced than Earth and yet defended by weak, vulnerable gods. Persephone hoped to find good allies, or perhaps good weapons, or anything else that might aid her plans for our world... but nothing of what she found out here was remotely as important as what she found in Azura's diaries and notes when she started paging through them. Thanathos, being an idiot, never bothered doing anything with Azura's papers and to this day knows only a smidgen of what they say."

"So that's where your knowledge comes from." Killer muttered, glaring into the tiger's eyes in hate and distaste. "Stolen notes. The work of someone else's brain."

Cerberus only shrugged, smirking a bit as he rewarded the insult with a vicious twist of the pincer, bending a long claw backwards at an impossible angle before ripping it out of Killer's flesh, making his whole arm twitch violently. "The genius of my family was not in the initial discovery, you poor idiot. Mortals could never anticipate the future with such accuracy and detail, no matter how smart they are... no, our genius, over multiple generations, has been in making sense of her prophecies, visions and ramblings. The prophecy of the Amon-Ra, as you and everyone else know it, is merely a fraction of what her diaries had to say. She was far more of a scholar than your dear Vesta will ever be: she had traveled far more, seen far more, and her ability to see images of the future remains unmatched to this day. She had understood the Anchors, even though Elelyon never wanted to talk about them. She had visited several of the Anchors, in fact... and she had seen enough of the future to understand that the Amon-Ra, the ultra-god, the god of gods, would reunite Light and Darkness in a single being. She was painfully aware that the mixing of such primordial, unlimited powers would not happen without the universe revolting around it, and she had figured that the Anchors would be in danger, in a way or another.

She spent years studying her confused, fragmented visions. Like many scholars, she did not like to share her analysis with anyone before she was reasonably certain of her conclusions, and so her notes were never seen by anyone else. Elelyon himself does not know the diaries exist. Persephone made sure to hide them when she realized their supreme importance... and she devoted her life to studying them. Eventually, it became clear that the immensity of the prize laying ahead was simply unfathomable; but it also was glaringly apparent that many things had yet to be discovered and understood; that more time was needed and that an immense amount of preparations were required. The Anchors had to be secured; Elelyon had to be removed from the picture; Heaven and Hell needed to be distracted and kept busy; the Amon-Ra identified and somehow subdued. And how do you subdue the most powerful being ever to exist...?" Cerberus paused, spreading his arms wide and looking up at the fleshy ceiling, grinning widely as he exclaimed: "You still don't get it, I know... but the immensity of this enterprise! The enormity of what we have achieved in millennia of preparations, is something that the gods themselves could never even dream of! It is the revenge and triumph of mortals: we are showing the arrogant divinities just what we are capable of. They have always thought us puny and insignificant, yet now I command thousands of them, and influence many more in subtle but decisive ways. I have the knowledge to use them like mere pawns, and they are helpless and confused! For all their strength, they have done exactly what I wanted them to do. They have, effectively, taken orders from a helpless mortal... and now, that mortal is far stronger than most of them, and is on the way to full omnipotence."

"Persephone does not look like one who shares." Killer coldly observed, but Cerberus snorted in entertainment and corrected: "Persephone is loyal enough to her bloodline that when she understood that she needed external help, and lots of it, she contacted her mortal descendents. She crafted the plan together with them, and put them to work on technology, because she had already understood it was going to be an indispensable component of the enterprise. Persephone and my ancestors put your nightmare into motion, Killer. The alliance of Persephone with the great, farsighted kings is the real Raja Alliance, the real instrument for changing the universe forever. The RA that you've known, the military organization which included that pathetic failure of your son Riaku as well as kings and kinglets of the eastern sector... well, that is little more than cosmetics. Riaku himself was little more than a diversion, and light entertainment. He was so full of rage against his father that I just couldn't refuse him a chance to start a huge war against his own family. It was delightful for me to watch... and it kept you busy while I continued my preparations."

Killer made a grimace, but said nothing. He had seen Persephone's eyes and was absolutely certain that she wasn't going to just step to the side and let Cerberus enjoy the triumph. He had no doubts that Persephone planned to stab Cerberus in the back as soon as he was no longer indispensable... but it was clear that Cerberus had exactly the same idea about her in return. And Thanathos, who apparently had only been fed a vague explanation, clearly did not regard Cerberus as a true friend either... although he was completely under the spell of his mistress. The god of Death was the strongest of the three, and until recently he had been like a titan looming over an ant in comparison to Cerberus, yet he was the most vulnerable. He was surrounded by enemies, the worst of which he absolutely adored and utterly, blindly trusted.

Killer tried for a moment to imagine what it would be like to be stabbed, literally, in the heart by Alexis, the one person he loved and adored and trusted above all others, and the horror was such that he felt sorry, truly, for the god of Death. "And Thanathos, to this day, understands less than a fraction of what he is part of..." Killer murmured, realizing how close, and yet how far, he and Alexis had been to the truth in their reflections and conjectures.

"Exactly!" Cerberus laughed and spread his arms, pointing at the room around them and exclaiming: "He is a poor, arrogant, shortsighted idiot who dangles hopelessly from his wife's lips. He is a rope of saliva that she suckles in and spits out depending on her mood... his heart bleeds so much for her that I can tell you this story and then watch you tell it to him. A sweet word from Persephone, a little caress, and he'll be convinced beyond doubts that you are lying. He is so fuckin' blind... forced to follow my instruction because his wife told him that, mortal or not, I was for her like a son and a brother at once."

"When the... when the Divine Tree was broken, and I went into the core of the cataclysm to close the black hole before it could swallow the entire solar system... and he nearly killed me..." Killer said, deliberately hesitating between a word and another in the hope that Cerberus would fill in the gaps, and in his cruel entertainment the tiger did exactly that, muttering: "The idiot almost ruined everything. He almost killed himself, me and everyone else. Ignorance, you see, is the most dangerous of things. He had no real clue what was going on, and he just saw the perfect chance to kill you while you couldn't properly defend yourself... it was a very unfortunate accident, but thankfully he proved insufficient to take you down, even when given the perfect shot opportunity. I'm told Persephone teased him mercilessly about it... Anyway, that unfortunate disaster forced me to reveal him a lot of things I would have rather not shared. But I needed to make sure he'd never again be enough of an idiot again to go and hit an Anchor."

"The Divine Tree... that was a test, wasn't it...?" Killer asked, looking up to meet Cerberus's eyes with a glare that was not devoid of shocked, horrified amazement at everything the tiger had been able to plan out and execute.

"You start to understand your role, finally!" Cerberus patronizingly approved. "Yes, I had to put you to the test at that point. I needed to know if you really were the Amon-Ra or not, before going ahead with the plan. It could have been very unpleasant to start luring gods from other worlds towards our world if you stood no chance of standing up to them. You see, prophecies are a great thing, but even Azura's ones are not quite as unequivocal as we'd like them to be. We didn't know for sure who the Amon-Ra would be, nor the exact year of his coming. Azura could not be specific about that... the signs accompanying your birth, however, she had seen very clearly, and that helped. We didn't even know for sure what made the Amon-Ra so special, either. The notes of Azura said that the Amon-Ra's power would not be absolute and infinite right from the start... Elelyon believed it would come with time and training, and so Sealed you at birth and began to plan out your training for later. But we knew that the Anchors were the actual answer."

Cerberus paused, grinning as he looked at the maimed, bleeding fingers of Killer's right hand, each and every one brutally torn apart to remove the thick claw... and then he began to drive large, rusty nails down into the bloody wounds, snickering as the liger's hand spasmed out of control, lost in an inferno of pain.

"Over time it became clear that you have, in fact, the unique ability of absorbing pretty much everything. Even poison can become fuel for you... and it makes you able to absorb the endless energies of the Unworld, the organic matter of enemies you destroy, all the way up to the primordial forces released by a shattered Anchor. I needed to be sure, however... and so I exploited some useful notes from Azura's diary to identify a conveniently placed Anchor. The comments about Gaia hating the Divine Tree were very surprising and interesting, and gave me the best of ideas." Cerberus snickered and nodded, then threw the pincers away and reached down to seize Killer's gargantuan cock in both of his hands, squeezing the monstrous girth with all of his strength, and despite the brutality of his gauntlets, with their sharp-edged, overlapping plates of crystal, that touch was almost gentle, almost appreciative. Almost worshipful, as Cerberus hefted the monstrous shaft slightly up, feeling its obscene weight. "Since both Light and Darkness live inside of you, no kind of energy or essence of any kind is truly poisonous to you. With a bit of effort, you can adapt and exploit any and everything... that is the secret for true omnipotence. That is the secret to invincibility. That is what I want from you."

"You are insane!" Killer snarled, struggling against his restraints and the vicious stakes driven through his limbs, hands and feet, but Cerberus only snickered and shook his head in pity, only looking amused even as Killer added: "We would all have died, had I failed to close that black hole!"

"Actually, no. Heaven would have been completely destroyed and earth could have been badly damaged, but I knew for sure by then that you were at least strong enough to limit the damage with your sacrifice. I would have survived without a scratch, believe me. I was in a very safe place. Had the test been a failure, I would have dialed back all my operations and gone under the radar for as long as it took, to weather out the storm to wait for the true Amon-Ra. I assure you, I never put my future at risk... but for the unfortunate incident with Thanathos, of course. It was unfortunate, and having to reveal to him the real meaning of the Anchors was... unpleasant. He wanted his share, obviously. But like all other difficulties, it could be overcome. In good time, he'll cease being a problem."

Cerberus slowly stroked the black, enormous cock, grinding into the solid flesh as hard as he could, until he managed to scratch the mighty shaft and send rivulets of blood streaking down its huge length, and Killer grimaced, glaring down at the tiger in a mix of rage and confusion at those sudden almost-worshipful slow touches. Cerberus did not meet his eyes, however, keeping his gaze fixed on the gigantic black shaft as it throbbed powerfully and grew by a monstrous bunch of feet, swelling enormously before blasting out a thick load of dark precum. Cerberus admired the colossal sperms swimming in the thick sludge, and then added in a weird voice that mixed rage and pleasure, awe and derision: "Besides, I had no doubts that the result of the test would be positive... see? I always had utmost confidence in you. I never once doubted your being the Amon-Ra, even when others, when your supposed friends, were full of doubts and hesitations." Cerberus paused, laughing a bit until his voice took on a bitter note as he added: "Ironic, isn't it...? Your worst enemy had to be your greatest supporter. I needed you to survive, succeed, win. I needed you to become stronger than any other god. To become limitless. I watched from afar, wondering at your triumphs, trying to imagine what it had to be like to be you... And at the same time, I spent every day of my life worrying about what you'd do next. Fearing your power, dreaming of it every night. I'm sure you can't even begin to imagine what it is like, to live in terror, day after day, knowing that you are an insignificant bug waiting to be crushed. Knowing that nothing you can do can save you. That the walls of your castle are less than paper. That your army is nothing but a toy. That you can't even pray the gods to save you because they are just as puny and doomed as you... try to imagine it, Killer. That has been my life, and that of my father, and of those who came before, because of you."

"And the best part is, I didn't even so much as know you existed." Killer replied, and he even forced a grin on his lips, looking down at Cerberus and teasing: "Poor little Cerberus... jerking off every night to the thought of me ruling the universe and coming for your insignificant little castle, to crush it underfoot along with every bug hiding inside..."

Surprisingly, Cerberus didn't even try to deny it, instead nodding with a growl of rage, remembering his humiliating past and all those nights spent staring at the ceiling and imagining a gigantic, almighty foot coming down through it to squish him out of existence. He viciously twisted Killer's colossal black shaft in his gauntleted hands, ravaging the solid flesh with the sharp edges of the metal plates, before cruelly squeezing on the fat, gigantic cockhead, making it bleed before he roughly shoved four armoured fingers inside the huge cumslit, burying them right down to the knuckle and making Killer groan in pain as the metal edges ground into the inside of his sensitive member. "You goddamn bastard... you little piece of shit... You had the world on your plate, all along. When you were just a child you could have conquered the whole world using just one hand, but you didn't. When you crushed the invading army at Syrane I spent the night wondering what you'd do after discovering just how powerful you were... but you were content to just fuck a whole bunch of females and bask in the glory of it. Then, when your father sent you to Ire to study, and you started turning the country upside down with your strength and your cock, I was sure that you'd keep going until the whole world was your harem. And you didn't. During the seven years of your reckless rampaging all over the world I spent every night waiting for you to tear my army apart and turn my reign into a pile of ruins... but again you stopped well short of what you could and should have done.

I began to realize that you truly did ignore your own power, and thought of yourself as a mortal despite all evidence to the contrary... but even that was just a temporary hint of relief because in any moment you could still decide to walk all over the world and crush it into submission, ruining hundreds of years of hard work in one instant... It was horrible, and I can assure that you won't find it funny when I turn the table and force you to cower in the darkness like I did for all these years. I will torture you with the awareness that everything you've built is dust beneath my toes; that all your dreams are a moot point, hopeless in front of my whims; that your entire family, every last person you love and care for, are just pieces of meat that I can use as I please. You will experience that torturing impotence in full... and unlike me, you won't have a plan nor a single hope of changing your miserable fate."

Cerberus paused, grinning widely, and then snapped his fingers. Immediately, the shutter door began to open and the terrible "fangs" of the vagina-like breach in the fleshy wall parted wetly open to let a number of scientists through. Killer glared down at them in revulsion, imagining what they were going to do to him, and he also recoiled a bit in surprise, realizing how tiny they were... or better, realizing for the first time how immense he still was, even after being forced to shrink down by the multitude of Seals and energy-draining restraints that had been piled up on him. The scientists were mainly mortals, but there were also a couple of Arkangels in the team, much taller and bulkier than the others and with their wings, stained black with corruption, folded neatly on their backs. Another of the scientists appeared to be a demon, and Killer all but frowned a bit at the sight of the minotaur, with a broken horn and a hint of beard on his chin, clad in some kind of form-fitting tactical vest that was strained by his bulging muscles. Taur demons were renowned for their physical power and their destructive potential as heavy to super-heavy infantry in the legions of Hell, certainly not for shining intellect and scientific knowledge. Having a fine brain was a hindrance for monsters who were supposed to absorb enemy fire, shrug it off and then tear through the ranks of the adversary force, or smash down walls and fortifications. It was a very dangerous job that was best carried out by beasts too stupid to question their own chances of survival, and the gigantic taurs were the epitomes of that mindless destructive force. This particular minotaur, probably about twenty feet tall, appeared to be the exception that confirms the rule. As he looked upwards, Killer clearly saw the intelligence in his brown eyes, and real passion for the job... even though said job entailed inflicting torturous experiments on a far bigger and stronger god. Even the demon, in fact, was still tiny in comparison to Killer: the liger estimated his own height at easily three hundred feet and likely much more. Cerberus's head was barely level with his chest, and the whole group of scientists was like a bunch of ants that Killer could have stomped out of existence with one foot. He thought for a moment about doing exactly that, but when he tried ripping one of his feet free, the huge nails and stakes buried through flesh, muscle and bone made him cry out in agony. It was a short, fleeting noise that he immediately suffocated, but the pain pulsed up his damaged legs and seemed to shoot all the way up into his brain.

He glared down at the tiny scientists with a inner snarl of fury, feeling humiliated by the fact that such miserable, powerless creatures could even approach him and get to see him in the state he had been reduced... and for a moment he dared hoping that some of his the titanic sperms on the floor would swarm over the scientists and devour them whole. The largest sperms, considering their long, powerful tails, were much bigger than even the minotaur, but when one gigantic, corrupt sperm, probably close to 40 feet in length, lunged towards the group of easy prey, a terrible discharge of electricity blasted out of the floor and electrocuted the flailing masses of angry, ferocious seeds, causing them to writhe in agony while the dark, hypervirile sludge boiled and bubbled. The sperm that had attempted to assault the scientists fell back down into the electric storm, twitching in agony, and the same terrible discharge of electricity shot up through the column of golden crystal and tore into Killer's body, causing his muscles to spasm agonizingly, out of control, while his entire nervous system seemed about to burst into flames.

Still, he forced his eyes to stay open, watching down in confusion and trying to understand how the scientists were getting past that inferno... before realizing that they were walking on an a platform which was rising up like an elevator and extending towards Killer's enormous body. As the scientists were elevated up to roughly his waist level, he finally began to see them more clearly, even with blood leaking into his eyes and with his vision tormented by flashes of light and dancing shadows and shapes of color created by the sheer agony and by the violence of the lightning bolts ripping through his form.

The scientists, including demon and Arkangels, were clad in tactical vests that included heavy plates of armor trapped in a solid mesh of white, rubber-like material which was, undoubtedly, protected against corruption and poisons and acids and contaminants. Their heads were protected by transparent domes of thick armored glass, which Killer hadn't initially noticed when they were so far down below, and they all had a fully enclosed respiration system. They were well protected, but Killer knew that even so they were going to last little around him: his corruptive, deadly, hypermasculine scent was going to dissolve those heavy suits in less than an hour and possibly half. That, hopefully, was going to gain him some respite from the torment, forcing the scientists to come and go and probably take long breaks between a visit and another. He was sure that Cerberus and Thanathos would have eagerly made good use of those time windows, but he needed to take relief from any little bit of encouraging news.

Cerberus viciously ground his gauntleted fingers inside Killer's cumslit, digging wounds in the live flesh inside the liger's cock, but the colossal black shaft pulsed powerfully, almost as if enjoying the torture, and enormous masses of thick, potent precum surged up with enough brutal force to burst out around the tiger's fingers. Colossal sperms pushed out in fearsome tangles, their powerful tails twisting together as the fat heads pushed out between Cerberus's fingers, until the king of Alfaya let out a sound that was somewhere between squeal of disgust and groan of awe as an even larger sperm suddenly struggled out, a beast so huge that Cerberus suddenly retreated, ripping his fingers out of the godly cock and staring as the goliath seed pushed out and splashed loudly into the inferno beneath. Cerberus's hand trembled visibly and the tiger flailed it wildly to try and shake away the dense, incandescent, tar-like precum that was rapidly melting his expensive, perfect armor away, turning the heavy gauntlet into nothing but dark smoke.

Cerberus looked at this with a grunt, eyes wide for a moment, but then he grinned and shook his head while the gauntlet rapidly regenerated itself. "Everything about you is dangerous and perfect, isn't it...?" Cerberus hissed, halfway between angry and entertained. "Not only overwhelmingly powerful, but also able to protect your secrets. Indeed, stealing your secrets has proven much more complicated than we had hoped... you know, we anticipated we'd need to get you involved in some serious fighting to be able to get you to bleed enough for us to be able to collect suitably pure samples afterwards. And we were successful in that, many times. Many of the battles you've fought since you were a kid have the Raja name printed on them, in a way or another. But your blood never gave us the breadth of answers we needed. At first we thought that it probably was due to you being still too young, but the years passed with only partial improvements. Your power increased very noticeably, but your blood and DNA samples coming from it continued to deny us the information we craved..." Cerberus idly recalled, seeming to speak more to himself than to Killer. The tiger watched the scientists walk forwards, grimacing a little as he saw how hard they trembled, but he did not reprimand them or urge them to go faster, probably realizing what those tiny creatures felt while venturing in the shadow of the titan. "Perhaps it was because you were Sealed? Because God had made everything more complicated by putting restraints on your growth and evolution...? It seemed like a reasonable assumption at the time, albeit unpleasant because it slowed everything down. I had to... accelerate the rivalries and hates between Heaven and Hell in order to precipitate a war and ensure your training started as early as possible." Cerberus paused, then grinned widely, looking up at Killer in clear delight as he observed: "You see, angels, demons, gods... they are stronger than mortals and not tormented by death, but other than that they are no better than mortals. Indeed, they are often worse. More selfish, more ambitious, less inclined to sharing... and able to hold a grudge for literally forever. Persephone had no difficulties teasing some of Hell's princes into renewed actions against Heaven, and Typhon's plans for the conquest of Heaven were a mystery for no one with the exception of poor, old, gullible Elelyon. The clash between Typhon and the princes of Hell was easily organized... and both sides craved the Raja Alliance's technologies, which in turn allowed me and my forces to get into Heaven, into Hell and into alien worlds I could have barely begun to dream about."

"I never had a high opinion of gods myself... but if they really allowed themselves to be puppetted by you like that, I was still too generous." Killer muttered. In part, his rage was deliberately exaggerated, because he wanted Cerberus to reveal more. He wanted, desperately so, to understand.

"Careful there! Don't forget that the gods include several of your treasured lovers, not just Elelyon and Typhon..." Cerberus cheerfully countered, grinning in entertainment. "But yes... it was easy to nudge them in the directions I wished. Sometimes all they need is someone who gently remembers them of their own wishes... take Taranis. Elelyon had almost domesticated him. Almost. It was enough to get into his ears the news that the Raja Alliance possessed technology that could make his incredibly powerful but mindless sons into controllable super-weapons, all his ambitions were re-awakened. Being the loutish brute that he is, he wanted to kill me and steal the technology away, but Thanathos and Persephone readily persuaded him that brilliant mortal scientists could provide him with even more technology and even better weaponry... and stoke war on the mortal plane on his behalf, even, making him all the stronger. That got even him thinking... and it was the beginning of a reciprocally advantageous relationship between him and the RA, as you already know. Of course, what he ignored was that ultimately the relationship was time-limited and only meant to benefit me. I'm sure he was fully convinced he could squish me at leisure once I had given him all he wanted... Poor idiot."

"But he could have. Thanathos, Taranis, Typhon, the princes, Satan... everyone could have killed you. The risks you accepted... everything could have gone wrong at any moment, condemning not just you, but billions of others! Is there no limit to your greed?" Killer insisted, and Cerberus only shrugged, looking supremely pleased with himself.

"I don't put any limit on my path to omnipotence. Unlike you, I've accepted that if you want it all, you must take it, no matter the risks and the costs. You hesitate all the time. You can't stand humiliation; you can't even get yourself to think of bowing to someone else. You want it all to be perfect, and in the end you waste your opportunities." Cerberus easily countered, turning around to face the liger directly, smiling softly before taunting: "You crave power no less than me, and the thrills it gives, and pleasure. You are a hedonistic monster, no better than me. The only difference between us is that you are a coward. You are soft and pathetic. You crave omnipotence, but at the same time you want only the power that you can understand, that is safe. You are afraid of what power will do to you... you are afraid of what it will make you do to others." Cerberus paused, his eyes flashing as he chuckled and leaned forwards to push his hand against Killer's chained up, bloody chest, before wondering: "You know and feel that there are two different entities within you. Light and Darkness. The contrast between them gives you nightmares, doesn't it...? You fear Darkness, because you imagine yourself as heroic and utterly perfect and handsome and glorious, yet see, again and again, how much more powerful the Monster is. How much greater!"

Killer shook his head slowly, glaring back at the tiger, but Cerberus only nodded and jeered: "Oh, yes, you do. You fear that Darkness will destroy you. You can see his power and know it is unrivalled... and you know he'll take over you, or destroy you to get out... and even though you know there is no fighting back such a power, you still attempt to run away. You pretend you can escape. You delay the inevitable."

Killer did not reply, recoiling because of those accusations, that somehow felt so accurate, so real, and so damning. He swallowed thickly, and wondered about Black Killer, the formidable, supreme beat of darkness lurking deep inside him, and painfully realized how true it was that he both craved that power and ran away from it at the same time.

Cerberus smirked knowingly, and softly said: "I know... as I said, I know you better than you do. And as handsome and strong and courageous as you are, so much of what you are is just a lie. So much of you is built out of weakness and fear; denials and justifications. Whenever you indulge your nature, you then make up some grand reason, some enemy to blame. It is never your fault, is it...? Being bullied a bit, being ostracized by the guys at school was enough to turn you into a beast that sought to break and humiliate families, towns, the whole world. And when the movies were no longer enough you started raping and pillaging and destroying without a real reason. Oh, but I know. That criminal gang you met, and the corrupted police, and crime, and violence... oh, how terrible the world is! You brought destruction and terror for seven years to cleanse the world, to "put things right", huh...? And you have sidelined Elelyon because "it is the right thing to do"... Lies. You always need to find an invisible reason, something that shifts the blame away from you. So you can't be a hero, because you know what you truly crave, but you also can't embrace that power, because you are too much of a coward to live with its consequences." Cerberus paused, laughing again and then slapping him lightly, speaking in an almost sympathetic voice as he said: "You have been given the greatest of gifts, but you failed. You are too much of a coward to accept the strings attached to it. You are chronically unable to evolve... you lack the humility of either admitting what you are or accepting the costs of becoming something more. I will not waste the gift, instead." Cerberus smirked, grasping the liger by the chin and forcing Killer to look down into his eyes as he spoke softly but with amazing, endless determination and strength: "I will not hesitate. I have been humble when I had to be. I've risked everything. I've put all of myself and the whole universe on the plate. The gods could have killed me...? Oh, sure, they could have. But they didn't, and I knew they wouldn't. Because they were all flimsy creatures, just like you. Even when I was weak and puny, I was stronger than all of you: I worked for the gift, and accepted the conditions. I've made few mistakes, Killer... one of them was undervaluing Taranis. I thought the idiot would eventually dare too much and get caught by Elelyon. I hoped he'd do exactly that, as I needed Elelyon out of the way, away from the scene... But Taranis was not as idiotic as I thought, and he always avoided getting caught by Elelyon.

That was a huge problem for me. Taranis alive was a risk; Elelyon in his throne a complete show-stopper. Out of options, I had to start broadcasting parts of the Anchors' story across the universe, to get other greedy gods on the move..."

"You!" Killer snarled, eyes widening as he leaned forwards, trying to break free to grab Cerberus and rip him apart. "You are Lord Skyfall...? You? A microbe like you...?"

Cerberus laughed loudly, clapping his hands together and nodding eagerly, almost jumping on the spot in exaggerated glee as he patronizingly replied: "Yes, I am! Congratulations on finally grasping it!" The tiger then snarled, looking furious as he leaned in closer and snarled: "Do you know how terrified I was when I started transmitting? Elelyon could find out. Thanathos, Taranis, they could find out and turn against me. And the gods I was broadcasting to, alien creatures of unknown power and knowledge... how would they react? Could they find me, destroy me and steal my plan and my dreams? Of course. It was a terrible possibility I had to consider... did that stop me? No. That's the difference between me and you. I accepted my nightmare. I accepted the humiliation of hiding, of pretending, of cowering in the darkness. And through humility, I pulled all the strings. You know what was my shield against the apocalypse I might well be inviting upon our world...? You were! You were my strength. I knew that, once Taranis, Typhon, or the aliens, got too dangerous, you'd be there to take them down. And so it was."

Killer trembled in powerless fury and in pure, absolute disbelief. So it was true: everything had been set into motion through a mortal, an insignificant bug that could have been so easily squished by any one of the gods involved in that mortal, insane game with no return... they had all been used. They had all been puppetted. Every tear, every drop of blood, every life lost, everything had begun with Cerberus. And Persephone. Billions of lives lost, uncountable worlds in ruin, and a universe-wide war all yet to be won... all because of something so small and weak. It was astonishing. It was terrifying. It was humiliating.

"Admit it; you are impressed!" Cerberus gloated, chuckling in delight, before viciously digging his fingers into the horrible wound in Killer's chest, clawing into the rotting flesh and causing the liger to twitch in agony while he added: "And I'll tell you more. Working with you big, dumb gods has been very instructive. There was a lot of stuff we needed to learn on the go. Chiefly among them all, where is the power of a god codified? In the DNA? Remember, we couldn't get much of anything out of your blood. We hoped your semen would contain the answer, especially since procuring them would be extremely easy with how many you've pumped out quite literally all over the world... But we discovered that even your largest sperms do not necessarily contain much of your power and abilities. I don't think it is a conscious thing, is it...?" Cerberus asked, frowning curiously and studying Killer's expression, but the liger said nothing, glaring back in some confusion. "No, at least until recently it was completely unconscious, I can see that. Now you can control it with conscious thought as well, but it must be a recent development..." Cerberus eventually concluded, nodding to himself. "The millions of sons and daughters you spawned around the world are not gods and goddesses, after all... they are all strong, and beautiful, and powerful, and exceptional, and with very few exceptions they are ligers, regardless of the mother's species... but they have less than a iota of your might. The genetic treasure contained in your sperms varies: with a random girl, your cum carries only modest amounts of supernatural characteristics. I'm sure, instead, that whenever you have sex with Alexis, your sperms carry the full treasure... Although you clearly can consciously or unconsciously control your fertility, as well. More than once you made supposedly infertile women enormously pregnant, and already as a kid you made a show of always making your victims pregnant, no matter what, no exceptions... yet you've only had two children with Alexis. And clearly that's not due to lack of sex, nor to any pill or condom... as you made abundantly clear in multiple occasions, such devices have no chance against you."

"You really did watch all my movies, didn't you...?" Killer taunted, unable to resist the temptation. "I bet all the girls you liked got the KO tattoo... that would explain why you have gone so completely insane."

"Arrogant until the last breath." Cerberus coldly replied, punching his gauntleted fist deep into the gaping chest of the liger and wrapping his fingers around the beating heart, squeezing viciously into it, causing Killer's whole body to shudder violently as he let out a rasping sound of agony.

"It's a shame that you currently look more like a clown than anything high and mighty. You are just my jester now, and you'll be until you finally die. Your attempts to deny the evidence only make you funnier."

Cerberus squeezed again, twisting the large heart in his hand until a large amount of blood spurted out of the strong organ, and he continued to crush down on it until he heard Killer spluttering and saw his whole body trashing uncontrollably... and then, finally, he let go with a snort. "What I meant to say before you interrupted me with your sad attempt at clowning, is that the inability to get proper information out of your semen puzzled us and it was the source of major pain and disappointments and of endless complications. We had gallons of the stuff... it would have been so easy and straightforward... but no. You always have to complicate things. You always are perfect and unassailable. I thought about somehow digging your sperm out of Alexis, but back then I had no hope of ever pinning down the empress herself, unfortunately. It would have been my preferred method... but my entire army wouldn't have half of the strength required for that. I dreamt about it a lot, though."

Killer's features contorted in a grimace of disgust and tremendous fury at the suggestion and at the lewd sneer on Cerberus's face, but that only seemed to amuse the king of Alfaya even further as he softly added: "But do hear me out. You'll love this part, I'm sure... When we realized that kidnapping Alexis was going to be impossible, I figured that your daughter would both be an easier target and, at the same time, a just as good source of information. Have you ever wondered why demons assaulted her with such ferocity that night...?" Cerberus grinned widely, licking his lips slowly and leaning forwards until their noses almost touched. "I asked for that raid. I hoped to capture your daughter alive... for more reasons than one. She gets my blood boiling, even more than her mother does... so deliciously young..."

Killer snarled in ferocious hate and indescribable rage, yanking his arms forwards to seize him by the neck and rip him apart, but the huge stakes buried through his limbs kept him pinned, blood bursting out of his terrible wounds as he vainly tried to break free. The nails all trembled and began to pop out of his powerful musculature, but then Requiem Aeternam glowed brilliantly and made him hiss in pain at the sheer, brutal heat that burned into his body as the blade greedily devoured his vital forces. Cerberus studied his unsuccessful attempt, smirking in delight, and then he murmured: "Your intervention and the stupidity of the worthless idiots physically carrying out the assault doomed my plan that night... but I will still bend your daughter over, one day. One day soon. I'll rape her right over your broken body, after turning you into a vegetative wreck. Wouldn't you love to watch...?"

Killer did not reply, but the fury cursing through his veins made him tremble, his muscles flexing and bulging in angry hunger, his heart racing with merciless emotions, his mind filling with images of terrible revenge. Cerberus waited for several more moments, clearly expecting Killer to lose it and hurt himself even more by struggling against the stakes and chains and crystal, and when the liger only glared back with cold ferocity, he snorted. It was meant to be a sound of derisive contempt, but it ended up speaking very clearly of disappointment and frustration... and that made Killer feel a tiny bit better. He told himself once more that he had to learn to be humble, to ignore the reckless suggestions of his pride, but he knew he would fail again at that, and soon.

He was aware that Cerberus's intent was to torture him in the mind as well as in the body, and that he should have just shut his voice out of his mind entirely... but Killer had charged into the trap at Alfaya for one specific reason: he wanted answers. Each one would come accompanied by agony, but he still craved them. He felt like he had been running a desperate race for years, blindfolded, forever on the defensive... and there was nothing he craved more than finally seeing the truth.

"So, the assassins... the mortals that hit her..." Killer quietly said, exaggerating the rage and the despair in his voice, and Cerberus eagerly picked up: "Not so much assassins, but a special team I sent to try and remedy to Satan's inevitable failure. Satan always was a dumb brute, guided by Lilith as much as Thanathos is by Persephone. I knew that he'd choose the most dangerous and destructive approach possible... and I knew that, because of it, he would either fail completely or end up killing your daughter.

My team was there to take the demons down if necessary, and incapacitate Mriya. I had an extraction plan at the ready... but things went downhill very fast once you intervened."

Killer gave a bit of a smug grin at that, but Cerberus ignored him, looking down at him with patronizing contempt, resuming his point. "But in the meanwhile we had started using genetic and cyber additions to make special subjects stronger... My scientists worked, as you should know, on illustrious customers such as Typhon and Satan, to genetically enhance and rebuild them. That was an instructive experience. We discovered that the impossibility of locating a god's abilities in his DNA or sperm is not quite a characteristic unique to you, but rather something congenital in gods and even in lesser supernatural beings. It seems that greed is part of what makes a god, because the powers and abilities of the Immortal beings are genetically codified in a way that protects the secrets from... accidental revelations... as well as from damage in general." Cerberus paused, then formed a sharp stiletto of golden energy in his hand, and he viciously stabbed it into Killer's massive shoulder, before yanking it out only to strike into his lower abs next, growling: "You see, we learned that the powers of a god tend to have an ethereal shape. They are more energy and parts of the soul than they are filaments of DNA. That makes them much harder to collect, study and reproduce... Moreover, we have discovered that both the ethereal essence and the "special" strands of DNA are broken down in parts and hidden in various parts of the body, so that no single hit, no matter how catastrophic, can ever significantly impair the abilities of a god. The parts of the body vary from case to case, although there seems to be a general adherence to the focal points as identified by a variety of different religions and ancient spiritual practices. Which means that our ancestors probably, in some areas, knew more than we do today. It will be a great fun to find your own... special spots." Cerberus sneered, eyes flashing with cruel entertainment as he stabbed his golden blade hard into Killer's groin, just above the base of the colossal black shaft, causing Killer to twitch and trash around violently, letting out a cry of agony and fear, his eyes fixing on the blade as it cut down further, towards the enormous cock. "I'm ready to bet my life on some of your power being codified somewhere in your genitals... and I can assure you that, before our games are over, I'll have your dick on a plate. I want to see your face when I turn you into an impotent eunuch, and hear your shrieks..."

Cerberus viciously tore the stiletto back out of the wound, making Killer hiss breathlessly in agony, and he turned around, walking towards the wall and picking up what looked like an enormous, disgusting fleshy tube with a circular mouth lined with cruel, long, needle-like fangs. It flexed violently, sucking loudly at the air, inhaling a huge amount of it, producing a series of wet, obscene sounds, and Cerberus smirked in a way that gave Killer the chills. The spasming tube of flesh was lined with a series of metallic rings, adjustable thanks to a series of valves, and as Cerberus walked towards Killer, more and more coils of fleshy tube came loose from the organic wall of corpses and decay, revealing a window of transparent crystal that allowed him to see into a nearby laboratory, bigger than the largest of hangars, filled with long rows of gigantic, building-sized silos of thick armored glass, some of which already had a decaying corpse at the bottom, abandoned like a broken doll. Killer swallowed thickly, but did not comment, only staring in horror at that instrument of torture, already knowing what was going to happen.

Cerberus smirked darkly, waving the heavy tube of dark flesh and easily announcing: "Even though it provided none of the answers I truly needed, your seed has always been incredibly useful. We used it in the production of Paladin clones for Typhon's army; and also to create the largest of clone demons used by Satan's army. You've been a bottomless source of excellent genetic material that has allowed us to create warriors far bigger and stronger than the actual Paladins ever were."

Killer snarled in powerless fury at that, but the more he struggled against his restraints the more they dug into his flesh, tormenting him even worse. The stakes buried through his hands and feet seemed to burn like fire, and their rough, rusty edges ground into his sensitive flesh in ways that filled his brain with pure torment. It was still nothing, though, in comparison to the pain he felt when Cerberus hefted his goliath black shaft up and lined the tube in front of it.

The fleshy appendage opened its circular mouth as wide as it could, but the monstrous girth of Killer's godlike shaft meant that the fat, massive cockhead still bumped into the great rows of cruel fangs. The tentacle spasmed angrily, or at least so it seemed, but Cerberus forced it to slide forwards, and the needle-like teeth bent inwards, letting the great cock push forth, causing the tentacle to bulge grotesquely... and then, once the enormous head was through, the fangs sprung back into position and tore deeply into the shaft, causing Killer to roar out in agony... and confusion, because part of him, somehow, inexplicably, burned with a reluctant pleasure and with literal arousal. The tentacle clamped viciously around the great black-fleshed cock, biting into it with considerable difficulty due to the sheer hardness of the solid meat, even though Killer was still fully flaccid. The tube seemed to drag itself forwards with its teeth, and Killer gritted his fangs in agony as the needles tore in and out of his sensitive shaft, before grunting as his cock throbbed powerfully and swelled up, growing even larger, bulging the tentacle outwards so much that its ugly flesh began to rip and tear. The black shaft jumped up arrogantly, growing longer and greater and invading the flexing tentacle with arrogance and sheer power. Killer, hissing in agony, couldn't understand why his body was reacting to that torture with an erection, of all things... but when Cerberus began to work some of the valves and thick vein-tubes along the tentacle began pumping visibly, he growled in realization. He was being pumped full of the lust-inducing poison of Hell's succubus, in quantities that would have caused any other, lesser male to cum his life out of his dick within seconds.

Killer was almost immune to the stuff, such was his own inexhaustible stamina and libido, but as gallons upon gallons were crudely injected into his enormous shaft, even the agony couldn't prevent him from growing hard and erect, his goliath cock rapidly growing to full, glorious mast as his ponderous balls swelled and throbbed with obscene, hypervirile power, his back arching as his member began to ooze a thick, almighty, tar-like sludge of sweat, pre-precum and rejected sperms. The fleshy tube swelled horrendously as it rapidly filled up with that plentiful harvest of godly virility, and Killer saw the black batter exploding out of the tube and into the countless transparent tanks on the other side of the world. Colossal jets of onyx burst into the tanks, smacking into the armored walls, thick streams and gushing waterfalls of hot dark sludge cascading inside the silos and rapidly beginning to fill them up. And horribly, Killer realized that the bodies at the bottom were not even corpses, but horrendously exhausted, starving, tormented citizens of that unfortunate doomed planet. They awakened under the flood of dark, almighty sweat, pushing up to their feet if they could at all, banging their little fists against the armored glass... and then they were rapidly crushed under gigantic sperms far bigger than them. Smacked into the glass, devoured alive, drowned in the thick, sticky fluid. Killer stared at the scene in horror, but he couldn't help himself as the poison rushed in his veins and his enormous cock flexed and grew, throbbed and swelled, growing to its full, epic proportions and blasting out a deluge of thick, sticky dark pre-seed that rushed down the tentacle-tube so violently that it almost ruptured and exploded, pulsing ominously before the flood invaded the countless silos, rushing into them with such force that many of the poor mortals at the bottom were crushed out of existence in tiny splatters of crimson, soon lost in the dark, dense sludge, while others were washed away and slammed against the glass, their useless flailing and struggling making their last moments of agony a sinister, terrible show. The black precum was thick, heavy, sticky, powerful and horribly, undeniably alive, as the helpless mortals felt gigantic, ferocious sperms bigger than sharks, greater than whales rushing around them with indescribable, excessive force as the level rapidly climbed, the dark essence forming lakes, then seas of alpha potency, causing them all to shriek helplessly as the god's castoff flooded the world around them and drowned, crushed, destroyed them.

The mutations began immediately. Even the mortals that had been shattered into little more than liquid gore were rebuilt into new and terrible forms, as multiple mortal bodies were forced to join together in unholy ways as the colossal sperms took over and began to evolve into monstrous war machines.

"That's an even better result than we were expecting." Cerberus gleefully commented, and he roughly dragged the tentacle-tube further up along Killer's goliath shaft, until the whole of Killer's cock was buried inside the stretched-out, pulsing appendage. It flexed and clenched like an eager vagina, milking Killer with greedy, spectacular thirst, making it impossible to resist, and the liger only grunted in shame and horror and denial, his eyes widening as Cerberus grinned widely and observed: "We'll need a lot more bodies. Alive and not."

Immediately, the armored lids at the top of each silo opened and allowed a literal landslide of maimed bodies to precipitate into the onyx oceans. Many were corpses that Thanathos had already tormented, ruined, corrupted and warped, but several citizens were buried alive in that infernal pile of limbs, gore, decay and cruelty. Killer could imagine their shrieks as they stared at the titanic, monstrous sperms, and all but felt some of their anguish, their psychic pain getting to his mind even thought every other through and pain that already kept his mind under siege, threatening to make him insane. The silos rapidly filled up with gigantic, bulky monstrosities with bodies that were half-formed thanks to the merged together remains of countless corpses and fresh, innocent victims. Chests gaped open over swelling, enormously pregnant and fully exposed uteruses; breasts filled with parasitic sperms lodged inside a multitude of bleeding holes that looked like a grotesque beehive; enormous tentacle-like cocks and ponderous, colossal testicles; devastating hooves of metal harder than steel and enormous, chorded muscles bulging with terrifying power. They were hideous, undead and rotten and pestilent... and even covered in wounds and hideous growths as they were, they were stronger and more glorious than most gods. They were constantly evolving and growing, and they were terribly, devastatingly powerful and able to spread Killer's corruption at a terrifying rate, pregnant as they were not only with new monsters, but literally with loads of Killer's throw-away sperms, ready to burst out and seek other organic matter to conquer and corrupt.

"Spectacular!" Cerberus commented with horrible glee, and he sneered at Killer as he added: "They are glorious... and they are only the beginning! Only the fruit of your sweat... of your precum at most! I'm sure we'll be able to create even greater things..."

The door to the cell opened once more, and a couple of mutant beasts carrying a fully enclosed silvery helmet walked inside, one on either side of the mobile platform that allowed the group of scientists to move up and down and around Killer's immense form. Unlike the monstrosities from earlier, these were calm, relaxed, obedient and completely silent. Their bodies were plated over with a protective suit not too different from that of the scientists themselves, and they both carried large metallic suitcases. In the haze of agony he was lost into, Killer took a moment to realize that those two beasts were literal puppets in the hands of the scientists. They were almost like machines, controlled step by step, almost literally with a remote control. The helmet they wore was a reinforced Spirit device hooked into their brain and nervous system, and the whole purpose of their lives had been reduced to serving as an extension of the scientist's arms and hands. After all, tiny as they were, the scientists could do little on their own.

"We are going to experiment with you, Killer..." Cerberus announced, looking delighted, and the demon leading the group of scientists clapped his hands and ordered with a clear voice that was magnified by loudspeakers in his suit: "Insert cables."

Both mutant "puppets" crouched down in front of Killer and roughly reached over to grab his heavy, enormous testicles, making him grunt, not yet in pain but in horrified anticipation. They pulled a series of thick cables ending in large metallic spikes and stakes out of sockets in the floor, and Killer's whole body stiffened as they drove those sharp pins towards his balls. His eyes closed, his chest heaving rapidly.

And then the electrodes were driven through his sack and into his enormous balls, making him wince in agony, his legs trembling and instinctively trying to close and grind together protectively... but he was bound and surrounded, and could not defend himself.

Electric discharged began to tear through his balls, in weird rhythms that caused his shaft to harden even further, and to throb even harder, blasting out more and more huge jets of precum. The scientists took notes, and ordered even more cables to be stabbed into him, while Cerberus snickered and explained: "We'll apply a variety of stimulations, both physical and psychological... it will cause you to produce more, and unleash more. Importantly, it will cause your body to release more precious genetic information inside your sperm. Who knows, we might be able to trick your body into giving away its secrets..." The tiger laughed, then turned to watch the vast silos as they filled up with enormous cascades of dark, almighty, hypervirile sludge, smirking as he softly added: "And even if that proves too optimistic, we still won't waste a drop... I intend to throw these beasts against your darling wife. Let's see if she can kill them all, shall we...? They should keep her and the other sluts busy enough that we won't be interrupted. I want my time here with you to be of great quality, Amon-Ra... and I want to make sure that I leave this place holding all of your secrets."

"And you said you wouldn't act like a comic supervillain." Killer muttered, loudly clearing his throat to spit towards Cerberus... before looking down towards the scientists instead, and realizing that he could literally crush them out of existence with just his spit. He rasped up blood, pieces of teeth, phlegm and whatever else clogged up his throat after the long and torturous... hours...? He struggled to keep track of the flow of time when all that surrounded him was pain. Then he spat, viciously, aiming from the group of insignificant bugs and grinning as they jumped back in terror and began to scatter in all directions... but the heavy lump of slimy, crimson stuff smacked into an invisible wall, a barrier of violet energy that sizzled into view for a moment, trembling visibly but repealing the assault. The scientists hesitatingly stopped in place and slowly, fearfully regrouped, while Cerberus clicked his lips in disapproval, shaking his head slowly and patronizingly saying: "Really, now...? Do you really think I could miss something so obvious...? I was a mortal myself, remember? I know how miserably frail and weak they are. I've made sure to protect them from your scent, from your body, from your psychic force... Just so you know, I've borrowed a page from Hell's book and given each scientist his own protective barrier, granted by a specific team of gods. Just like Hell's Inquisitors are protected by the Scholars and Scribes from the resistance of the most dangerous damned souls. So, please... do not insult my intelligence, and do not make yourself ridiculous."

Killer closed his eyes at that, and tried very hard not to react, not to produce a sound. The rage at being talked down to like that threatened to make his chest explode, but he knew he could not afford to let his pride rule the day, if he wanted to survive.

"As for being a comic villain... You are being stupid again. I'm not wasting any time. I'm not wasting the chance to kill you. No... I'm having a little fun with you while I dig out of your body everything that I need to become you. To become, in fact, something even greater than you." Cerberus happily insisted, crossing his arms on his chest while the scientists used their robotic platform to move on higher, until they could look straight into the horrendous wound in Killer's chest. They conspired for a few moments, and then the demon turned around and ordered: "Cut open his rib-shield. We might find more DNA information inside, as that bone is a mutation generated willingly for increased protection."

The mutant, helmeted beasts opened one of the suitcases and pulled out a huge circular saw with a thick blade with sharp edges of diamond and Godblood. They activated it, and the blade began spinning at terrifying speed, causing Killer to shiver in horror as it was pushed closer and closer to the large "shield" of bone that sat between his double set of ribs, forming a fully enclosed cage for his vital organs. Already breached earlier, the thick shield of bone was still formidable, but also sensitive... at least on the inside. When the blade made contact, sparkles and fragments of diamond and Godblood flew in every direction, while smoke rose from the working saw as it struggled to bite into the adamantine bone.

"Piece by piece, we'll explore all of your body." Cerberus gleefully announced, stepping closer to Killer and almost shouting to be heard over the noise of the saw grinding into the hard bone. "Wherever your power is hidden ,we will find it. No matter how it is codified in your body, we will decode it and I will make it all mine." The tiger smirked, then worked on another valve in the tentacle-tube, and Killer growled in agony as several thick metal rings closed viciously down upon his girth, strangling his cock with amazing force and driving cruel spikes of metal deep into the solid flesh. Cerberus studied the shudders of agony going up Killer's massive form, and grinned with cruel glee, watching as the saw continued to work, sparkles flying from the incredibly hard bone along with pieces of the blade as it rapidly lost its teeth... but finally managed to bite deep into the bone. Killer hissed in agony and almost jumped as a jolt of terrible pain ran through his whole form, causing every muscle to flex, and his eyes widened as he stared at the blade as it pushed deep inside the softer core of the bone-shield. The head scientist ordered to saw to stop, and the mutant beast obediently retreated without producing a sound. The mechanical platform shifted once more, moving even closer to Killer, and the liger found himself surprisingly and inexplicably disgusted and horrified by those tiny, puny creatures as they walked towards the ugly cut in the bone.

He took a moment to realize that his distaste had much to do with the revulsion that normal people tend to have against bugs... that's what they were to him: bugs, and they all but stepped inside his bloodied chest, carefully walking onto the wounded bone. He felt them moving, crawling, touching, and his muscular chest twitched in revulsion, flexing to crush them like fleas... but their solid, supernatural barriers sizzled into view once more, and they pulled out their own saws and other tools to dig out organic matter. Pieces of him. They were far less painful and dangerous than Cerberus or even the helmeted beasts, but they were inside him, and their mere presence proved more disturbing than Killer could have ever imagined.

Cerberus noticed it, and smirked in satisfaction, leaning close to Killer's ear and softly saying: "Don't doubt, Killer... as soon as I have what I need, I will kill you. As soon as they tell me that your dead body can suffice, you will die. I won't waste any time. I won't disappoint you, hero... I'm no comic supervillain. I won't make mistakes." The tiger paused, looking into Killer's eyes and savoring all the pain and powerless rage in them before finally retreating. The king of Alfaya - Lord Skyfall...! - turned around and walked away, lasciviously stroking a hand along the tentacle-tube that continued to violently throb and twist around, bulging enormously as it carried deluges of black, hypervirile sludge into the silos. "There are many more games I want to experiment with you, Killer, but I don't want to damage you too much... for now. I wouldn't want to make my research even more complicated than it already is. I'll let the scientists work, for now." Cerberus stopped in front of the door and half turned around, looking thoughtful for a moment, pretending to have forgotten something... before clicking his lips in happy realization as he softly announced: "But don't worry, I'm sure the scientists will keep you good company... two of them used to serve under Typhoon, producing superweapons for him. One of them has engineered the Purifiers and their cannons armed with Unworld residue. The other was doing experiments on mortals even before Elelyon left Heaven. I had to dig him out of a sealed pit of torment... that tells you how... skilled and inspired... his experiments tend to be. And the head scientist is an ex Inquisitor of Hell, who was tossed into another abyss after being caught playing god with the bodies and DNA of his victims. His experiments at the time had the unique power of horrifying even Satan, so... you should plenty enjoy your time together. And you'll see, I won't be gone for long!"

Cerberus laughed and walked out of the cell, vanishing from sight as the fence reactivated, the shutter heavily slammed closed and the fleshy, thorny walls wetly closed. Killer slumped against the restraints that tormented him, hissing in agony as the stakes buried through him mangled his flesh and muscle with every little movement. Even staying still was of no comfort at all since his own bodyweight dragged him downwards and burdened upon the organs in his chest and torso, forcing his wounds to clamp painfully shut, his maimed flesh to push into the broken blades and stakes buried through him.

There was no doubt about Cerberus returning. And Thanathos would no doubt want his share too.

Killer sighed, breathlessly and brokenly, half-choking on his own blood as it constantly flooded his mouth and leaked out of the corners of his mouth.

He was going to survive. He was going to endure. He was going to fight right to his last breath. He closed his eyes, and focused all his energies on isolating himself, on building a shield between his thoughts, his sanity, and the outside world.

And in that safe space, empty and silent and terrible but at least inviolable, he sat down to meditate and rest. His crucified body could find no respite and no rest, but in his mind, he was free. He listened to his own heartbeat and forced it to slow down, and focused on bringing some peace into his tormented mind, until the pain began to diminish, to become almost distant... alien... something that belonged to another person, to another world.

Pain is a state of mind.

I shell endure.

I shall break free.

I shall win.