Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 148 A Trip 3

The baby beat him within an inch of his life.

Even while it was hitting him, Noel was whining inwardly about how silly it must look. He raised his hands, trying to ward it off, and even used a few spells that sent it flying to the side…but each time, it returned with even more strength, and soon, he realized that he should stop putting up resistance if he didn’t want it to get stronger.

By the time it was done, he was a moaning mess on the ground. The pain was weird, though. It was almost as if he was feeling it second hand. He had heard of this phenomenon: it occurred when the degree of suffering got to a level that a consciousness was able to shield it automatically, but that didn’t mean that it helped entirely. Noel was in more agony than he had ever felt in his life, before, tears leaking out of his eyes as he begged for the baby to stop.

When it finally did, the scene changed again, and he crouched on the ground, unaware of what had happened and still waiting for those little fists and those little legs to descend. When they didn’t, he got up and looked around to see that he was on the marble floor of a mansion, and after standing up and trying to pretend as if he wasn’t the one who had been crying like a little baby until now, he told himself that he would succeed, this time, no matter what.

As he steadied himself, he saw that he was dressed fashionably in a suit. It was in a style that was ten years old, which was curious as he had heard that this was the time frame that it usually took for such things to filter down to those that called themselves nobles on the islands. With half-closed eyes that were intent on not missing anything, he looked around to see that he was in a furnished room with walls made of blocks of stone, and while he was still staring at them, the door opened, making him whirl towards it.

A gorgeous woman stood at the doorway, face glowing with the natural beauty of a mother while she caressed her bulging, pregnant belly. She looked at him with eyes filled with love, but all Noel felt was suspicion.

He was still only 15 years old, and even though he had delved deeply into the pleasures of the other sex…getting someone pregnant had always been the farthest thing on his mind. Frowning, he watched as she walked to him and took his hand, and with his forehead still creased, he heard her say, “Come, they wait,” before allowing himself to be led to the door.

Soon, he abandoned his study of the woman as he found nothing there but what was visible on the surface. Shifting his focus to the large room that they entered, he let his eyes wander over all the people seated at a long dining table.

There were at least 30 present, all laughing and chatting between themselves until they saw that he had arrived. They all stood up respectfully, one hand on their chests, and after bowing to him, they sat back down.

A clock nearby chimed, and he realized that there might be a time limit, too. After all, he didn’t want to stay here forever as he had heard that consciousnesses grew weaker the longer they were away from a body…so, taking the decision to go along with the rules of the scenario with the reason behind this definitely not being that he was scared of more pain, he latched onto the one thing that he suspected might be the answer and shouted, “It’s this woman beside me! I would never get anyone pregnant!”

Everything fell silent again. The entire thing seemed silly, but he had no choice. His eyes were fixed on her belly, convinced that the creator of this place might try to outdo himself by making the baby inside burst out and beat him again…but his punishment arrived in a way that he could not have anticipated, once again.

“False.”

The food and all the plates on the table floated into the air, then flew towards him. Fried chickens punched him in his stomach. Roasted geese slapped his face, knocking his teeth out. Peas and corn forced themselves into his ears and his mouth, tasting like the vilest dung, and his screams started again.

It went on in this manner, scenario after scenario, nonsensical punishment after nonsensical punishment while the voice that said ‘False’ kept echoing in his head. Four times he was placed in situations completely unrelated to each other, four times he was forced to make a decision after a certain amount of time passed, given a hint in some way that time was running out, and four times he failed, and was beaten close to death.

When the fifth scenario arrived, he just stayed on the floor, whimpering. His knees were drawn close to his chest, and tears were now flowing from his eyes.

All of his pride from being one of the members of the prestigious family, all of his strength that he always depended on to hold his own on the islands… none of them mattered. He knew that he was close to being broken, but there was nothing he could do, and the most infuriating thing was probably that he didn’t know why this was all happening, and who was doing it.

He just wanted to get out, even if it meant that he might have to die. He just couldn’t take any more of these weird punishments, and the pain that came with them. After all, he had never before gone through such hardships…and he had never thought he would have to, which had resulted in him living a life of utter laziness.

He wished now that he had done things differently, but alas, it was too late. Knowing that the end was probably near, he got up…and felt a hesitant smile come to his lips for the first time in what felt like an eternity when he saw his guard beside him.

It disappeared in a moment, though, when he realized that it was definitely not him; not really, at least. He couldn’t have saved him from this place that they foolishly fallen into, so with a sigh, Noel walked out of the room.

He hadn’t even bothered to notice it, as it never really figured into the scenario. As he stepped out, he didn’t feel any surprise on seeing that he was on an island, again, just like he had been in all the scenarios before.

He couldn’t tell which one it was, as they were all similar. The slaves looked the same on all of them, too, and right now, in front of him, ten were kneeling on the ground, their hands shackled behind their backs.

The guard beside him saluted and said, “They await their execution, my lord. We have prepared them as you asked.”

Noel frowned. It had also never mattered whether he went along with a scenario or not, but he had noticed that if he did, the pain waiting for him would be a bit less. This was something he had done so many times before, though, that it came to him naturally, and so, he walked to the first slave and snapped his neck without blinking.

A rooster crowed somewhere, and he recognized it to be the sign that the time of the end was closing in. Of the five scenarios, three had been long, spanning a week each during which he lived a mundane life, constantly searching for the answer, but it seemed that this one was going to be short. Once, he had tried not giving an answer, and of course, still, the punishment had come.

Noel ignored it, though, as in that moment before his death…the slave had looked at him in a manner that pricked at something in his mind.

Try as he might, he couldn’t hold onto it before it disappeared. Something told him that it was important, though, so while he beheaded the next one…he kept his gaze on the man’s depraved eyes, and noticed a bit more of what it was.

The answer still wasn’t clear, so he kept watching while he went down the line. At the seventh slave, he got a hint as to what it was, but he couldn’t believe it. But at the eighth, his time ended as the rooster crowed for a second time…and he froze, waiting for the pain to come.

It didn’t, though, and grabbing these moments where his mind was clearer than it had ever been since leaving his body, he thought of what he had just seen…and reached a terrifying conclusion.

‘It’s…me. They are all normal people, living their lives. I know they’re normal and no different from me, cos’ I just lived their lives! I’m the one who swoops in and destroys them every month, so…I’m what’s wrong?’

He blurted out the same, and after a pause during which he kept his eyes closed…the voice returned.

“Correct. And if you don’t change, if you dare to come back here with the intent of hurting anyone again…this is what will happen.’

Unable to stop himself, Noel opened his eyes. The ghouls were back, and now…to his eyes, they possessed the rotting faces of all those he had killed.

He had been right, but he was still going to be punished.

They didn’t just stop with screaming at him, this time. They opened their mouths wide and bit away huge chunks of his flesh, and somehow, he retained the ability to feel what was happening to his body even after it entered the stomachs of various ghouls.

The last thing he saw was a large ghoul biting off his head, and while pain unlike anything he had ever thought could exist radiated throughout him…something in him snapped, something that had been frayed, beaten, and abused in all these ordeals, and when darkness arrived, it felt like a blessing.