29-136

EP.136 Hikari – Saint’s Torture Record (1) 

Standing atop a building in the commercial district, Mizuki coldly gazed down at the remains of the last enemy minion, letting out a thin breath as flecks of ice floated around her. 

“Phew.” 

Thanks to their struggles, the civilians held hostage had been rescued. 

The city was regaining its boisterous, everyday routine, but Mizuki’s mind was a maelstrom of calculations. 

‘They retreated too easily. As if… they’d accomplished their real goal.’ 

Even though the enemy executives had appeared, the ending felt strangely hollow. 

On top of that, she couldn’t shake the image of Morgana’s mocking smile just before leaving the battlefield from her mind. 

With a foreboding sense, Mizuki looked down at the streets and immediately pulled out her communicator. 

The moment she opened it, Akane’s agitated voice burst through with static. 

[Dammit! That tin can bastard, he got away…!] 

“Same here. That fox of a woman… ended up getting away, too.” 

[All their execs show up and then just retreat like this? What were they even trying to do?] 

“No idea…” 

Unable to come up with an answer, Mizuki muttered briefly and immediately switched the channel. 

“Topaz, what about your side?” 

But unusually, there was no reply. Frowning, Mizuki once again called her name into the communicator. 

“…Topaz? Hikari!” 

A tense silence fell over the unanswered line, and on Akane’s side, she grumbled as if it was nothing serious. 

[What, why isn’t she answering? Don’t tell me she’s so into purifying evil that she can’t even hear us?] 

Usually, Topaz’s gleeful, giddy voice would have answered immediately. 

But now, only silence came from the device. 

Just then, murmurs rose from the crowd of rescued civilians below and a sudden burst of smartphone flashes caught Mizuki’s eye. 

She glanced at a screen someone was holding. On it, a video was playing of Hikari being helplessly toyed with by a monster, brought to a shameful climax. 

“…What is that…?” 

[What’s going on? Did something happen to Hikari?] 

Mizuki, not sure if she was seeing things, ignored Akane’s voice and with trembling hands checked social media on her phone. 

But contrary to her desperate hope it was some mistake, there were already dozens, hundreds of similar videos swamping the timeline. 

The video always ended the same way: Hikari, limp and powerless, being abducted without resistance. 

With her rage turning ice cold, Mizuki held her breath watching her friend’s humiliation and the torrent of jeering comments beneath the video. 

Now even Hikari, after Lumina… In the world she believed was perfect, a massive fissure was opening. 

While lying cold on the stone slab, Hikari glared desperately up at the man smiling down at her. 

The place where she woke felt like a sterile operating room everything was blindingly white. 

One wall was lined with glass containers full of unknown fluids. 

On polished metal shelves, sharp surgical instruments were neatly arranged. 

It was so clean, the atmosphere felt eerie, and the smile on the man’s lips became even more revolting. 

“Who are you… you…?” 

At her words, the man set down the scalpel he’d been polishing with a precise, deliberate clink onto the metal table. 

Every movement was elegant, as if rehearsed for a play. 

He gave a deep, courteous bow, like the manager of an exclusive restaurant. 

“Ah, I apologize for introducing myself so late.” 

His voice was a smooth, pleasant baritone, yet bore not a trace of emotion. 

“My name is Thanatos. Within the organization, I oversee prisoner interrogation and psychological corruption.” 

“A Dark Redemption executive…!” 

The moment she realized the name, Hikari strained with all her remaining strength to get up. 

As she twisted her trembling body, her wrists and ankles met the unyielding chill of metal restraints, locking her in place with a mechanical clink. 

She couldn’t move an inch. 

Above all, the holy power that once flowed through her veins and protected her was now utterly gone, as if the well had dried up. 

“Khh, why?!” 

Only then did she become truly aware of her condition. 

Not only had her transformation been undone, she wasn’t wearing her habit or her academy uniform, but rather, a tight-fitting black latex swimsuit. 

The unfamiliar feel on bare skin, the wretched sense of powerless exhaustion, and an overwhelming wave of humiliation crashed over her. 

“These restraints operate on the holy power you give off. The more you resist, the tighter they bind.” 

Thanatos continued in a detached tone, as though explaining an exquisite piece of art. 

“We dressed you in something far more fitting to replace your missing clothes. Do you like it?” 

“Khh…” 

His mockery painted Hikari’s face bright red with rage and shame. 

Thanatos, clearly pleased by her reaction, smiled with satisfaction. 

“That’s good. I’m glad it suits your taste. Now, as for your earlier question: this place is ‘Abyss.’ Thanks to you all, we lost our original HQ, so this underground bunker became our new base.” 

The underground bunker, Abyss. 

Hikari's breath caught in her throat at the mention of the very enemy stronghold she and her friends had searched for so long. 

Simultaneously, she felt a spark of confusion. 

Why would this man reveal something so crucial so easily? 

Did he simply have absolute confidence she’d never escape from here? 

With a sinking dread, she asked in a trembling voice, 

“What are you planning to do to me…?” 

“Hehe. So impatient.” 

Thanatos smiled enigmatically, then lightly tapped a terminal nearby. 

With a mechanical whirring, the stone slab Hikari lay on began to move. 

The backrest rose, the footplates lowered soon, the slab transformed into a restraint chair, forcing her into a seated position. 

“It seems uncomfortable to converse while lying down. Before we go further, there’s one more guest I must introduce.” 

With that utterly meaningless bit of courtesy for Hikari, Thanatos gestured toward the dark door. 

With a spine-chilling creak, the heavy iron door opened, and out of the shadows stepped a familiar figure. 

Dressed in immaculate academy uniform, with eyes as black as night. 

“Kai? Why are you… here?” 

His appearance only deepened her confusion and fear. 

Why would someone who should be at the academy be here in Dark Redemption’s lair? 

Just as countless questions raced through her head, her worst fear came true. 

“Welcome, Onyx-nim.” 

Thanatos bowed deeply to Kai, making Hikari’s thoughts freeze in place. 

“O… Onyx…?” 

Before her eyes, Kai’s gentle smile twisted into the sneer of an arrogant conqueror. 

“My acting must have been decent. You seem really shocked.” 

“You…! You’re Onyx Rex…!” 

Her scream, dripping with heartbreak and rage, rang off the sterile walls. All the pieces fit together. 

He had approached her with a goal from the very beginning. 

From the awkwardness of his first day as a transfer, to the coincidence of lunch, and even the humiliating time in the cathedral everything. 

Every memory of being with him now stank of the awful truth. 

She wanted to purify him with holy light right then and there, but all she could manage was a helpless moan. 

Onyx watched Hikari’s rage-fueled cries with amusement. Once her outburst died down, he spoke. 

“Are you done venting yet?” 

She bit her lip at his mockery, her trembling shoulders slowly settling. 

Now was not the time to be consumed by personal betrayal. 

Clinging to what composure she could, she voiced her most urgent question. 

“…What do you people want? Why did you suddenly cause such an uproar after lying low for so long…?” 

“This commotion was all a plan to capture you, and you alone.” 

“…What did you say?” 

Onyx, almost like a teacher with a student, explained gently. 

Causing chaos all over to scatter the Saviors. 

Sending her a specially-made monster. 

All of it was a massive drama, created just to bring Hikari here to Abyss. 

As the explanation continued, Hikari was left at a loss for words. 

To realize that the entire city had been used as a trap just for her, a crushing sense of powerlessness washed over her. 

“In the end, thanks to the rune I engraved, you suffered a shameful defeat and are now here just as planned.” 

“R rune?” 

Only now did Hikari notice the strange, uterus-shaped mark etched into her lower abdomen. 

“That mark transforms every pain you give to others or take yourself into pure pleasure. Perfect for someone with your taste for sadism, wouldn’t you say?” 

“…! Then the mark I’ve noticed on the inside of my wrist recently, too…” 

The pleasure she couldn’t explain until now suddenly, she realized it was all by his design. Hikari felt like a butterfly pinned in a spider’s web. 

“For you to go to all this trouble just to kidnap me… How pointless. Even as a hostage, my friends will never bow to you.” 

“A hostage?” 

Onyx snorted at her words. 

“What a cliché, unimaginative notion. That never even crossed my mind.” 

Wearing an arrogant smile, he declared, 

“Become my woman, Hikari.” 

“…What?” 

The ridiculousness of it made Hikari’s voice come out totally flat. 

A line worthy of a protagonist in a cheesy romance. But in front of her stood the leader of an evil syndicate throwing the world into chaos. 

Rather than feeling a flutter, she felt sick. 

“Did I… hear that right?” 

“You heard correctly. Give up your crusade for justice and become my woman.” 

Onyx confirmed coldly. Hikari couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief, then spat at him in contempt. 

It was the only physical resistance left to her. 

“I never expected the boss of Dark Redemption to be such a petty man, trying to get a woman this way.” 

".........." 

“I refuse. I’d rather die than be your woman.” 

“Because of Haruto?” 

“…” 

“At least, I’m sure I can satisfy you more than some Haruto.” 

The low murmur from Onyx snapped the last of Hikari’s self-control. 

“Don’t say his name! He’s a thousand times a better person than trash like you!” 

Bound as she was, she thrashed and shouted. 

The rattle of the restraints matched her fury, but Onyx only scoffed at her glare. 

“So be it. Thanatos.” 

“Yes, master.” 

At Onyx’s word, Thanatos worked the terminal, and the restraint chair Hikari sat in buzzed and moved again, 

the backrest folding down and the footrests rising to lay her flat again on the chilly stone table. 

“If words don’t work, you’ll have to be made to understand by force.” 

“You’ll torture me, then? To think you resort to violence after getting rejected so petty, just as I expected.” 

Even as she tried to provoke him with barbed words, Onyx’s face did not change. 

Instead, Thanatos smiled faintly and answered softly. 

“Torture? Barbaric.” 

He shook his head, as if the word itself disgusted him. 

“This is tuning. I’m about to play a beautiful instrument you.” 

At the same time, cold mechanical arms extended from the stone table, the delicate pads at their tips, modeled after human fingers, began slowly running over her body. 

Even with nerves stretched taut from fear of the unknown, Hikari refused to let go of her pride. 

“If you think I’ll break from mere torture, you’d best put that idea aside right now.” 

Onyx scoffed at her steely stare. 

“That goddess as well before we started, she looked at me just like you do now. I wonder if you’ll be any different.” 

“Is Lady Lumina here too!? What did you do to her…!” 

As she yelled and struggled, the tight latex suit clung and brushed against stiffened nipples, sending a jolt of pleasure through her body. 

“Hngh♥” 

The involuntary, obscene sound startled Hikari, and her face went red. 

“W-what was that just now?!” 

Thanatos seemed to enjoy her reaction, adjusting his gloves theatrically. 

“Ah, seems like the drug is finally kicking in? Took a bit longer than expected.” 

At his words, Hikari demanded desperately, 

“…A drug? What did you do to me?!” 

“You’ll understand best by experiencing it for yourself.” 

One mechanical arm came to life, the vibrating pad at its tip slowly approaching her restrained abdomen. 

When it pressed down on the rune carved over her womb  

“Uwah?!♥” 

With the cold mechanical pressure, a hot spiral began to swirl in her lower belly and then, 

Pshuuuuuu♥♥ 

“Nghooooh♥♥♥” 

In that instant, Hikari’s body arched violently all on its own; a raw moan burst from her lips as if her mind was short-circuited by an absolute wave of pleasure. 

Her belly convulsed, and hot juices spouted through the latex swimsuit, soaking the cold stone beneath her. 

“Aaaa...♥ What… is… this… higuk♥♥” 

Panting frantically from the aftereffects of the wave, her body twitching and trembling, Hikari heard Thanatos’s voice pierce her ear like a devil’s whisper. 

“While you slept, I injected you with a special stimulant formulated from your own blood. Judging by this reaction, the effects are outstanding.” 

“S-shtimulant…♥” 

As if his work was done, Thanatos stepped back and, with a graceful gesture, beckoned to Onyx, who had been watching the scene unfold. 

“Well then, Onyx-nim. Shall we begin the real ‘tuning’?”