“Oh, great Emperor, please save us!” Murmured a person with a disheartened look as he was constantly shaking after experiencing the torment that the previous group who were locked up here went through.

  Others looked at this person with fear and stayed as far from him as possible in the small room. Those monsters cramped them together.

  Even though others want to say everything will be alright as the others might already notice their absence and might try to rescue them, those were wishful thoughts as days passed as more and more people were dragged away.

  Only this man came back from all those who got dragged away.

  Many people wanted to ask what happened to him or others, but he did not answer, only murmuring into the air. His spirit has broken, becoming a body without a soul.

  People asked him to stop murmuring or quiet down, but he did not stop like a tape recorder repeating the same sentences over and over.

  Just as everyone started getting fed up with the man, footsteps could be heard from outside.

  Not small and quiet, but heavy and loud as if someone wore iron boots, and the owner does wear iron boots.

  Soon the door opened, and a person came in. His body has an iron suit with only his head that can be seen in a green fluid that he is swimming in with sometimes bubbles coming up. His face was constantly melting and regenerating, and just as if it was mocking them, he also wore a butler outfit.

  Coming inside, he looked at the people present and started searching for one that would be good for his order.

  Soon he picked the crazy man and 2 other people. A woman and an old man.

  The woman was around 30ish with brown hair and an unremarkable face, while the old man might have looked handsome in his younger days, but now his face is full of wrinkles with white hair.

  They tried to resist and were successful until the butler broke their legs and dragged them away after locking the door.

  They were dragged across the floor, and the floor wasn’t normal but a rocky surface, resulting in them suffering bruises and even bleeding if the broken leg wasn’t enough already.

  Soon, the butler stopped in front of a door and let go of their legs. Knocking on the door, soon a voice sounded.

  “Bring them in.” An enchanting female voice sounded from the other side of the door with a bit of laughter in the mix.

  As the butler opened the door, inside was a torture chamber designed for Strix.

  All kinds of torture equipment were on the wall for men and women separately.

  The woman and the old man looked around the door, seeing so many devices.

  One of the devices on the wall was a pair with a screw at its end. Just looking at it makes people wonder what it is used for. (The Pear of Anguish was a metal device that was put into people's mouths or other parts of their bodies and was slowly expanded when the screw was turned.)

  In one corner was a metal chair, but instead of the normal flat top, it was pyramid-shaped. The Judas Cradle was a torture device where the person was lowered slowly on top of the pyramid, which caused great suffering and prolonged mental trauma. It was used on men, and their family jewellery was inserted on top of the pyramid.

  The two people did not recognize these devices, after all, they had seen nothing similar and were banned, but the blood around the equipment had already given them the answer to what it was used for.

  Soon chains wrapped around their necks, making it harder for them to breathe. Looking around where it came from, it was connected to nothing, and they couldn’t even unshackle it as it was glued to them.

  “My little bugs, will you submit to me, or do I have to make an example out of one of you?” Said a Strix as she walked around them, caressing their necks with her finger, but it left a blood trail after it.

  Taking it out of a cloth, she cleaned her finger from the blood and threw it away.

  Neither the old man nor the woman spoke, but another person.

  The crazy guy from before.

  “The Emperor is with us! We will never submit to you monsters!” As he said this, he kept thrashing around, not caring about his broken legs, as both of his legs were broken by the butler.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He wanted to get up and punch the woman but unsuccessfully fell back to the ground in agony but just kept doing it like a crazed beast.

  “Oh, I remember you. I tested one of my abilities on you. How long can my ‘Chain of Subjugation’ affect a person, but didn’t I tell you to get rid of him?” Asked the woman as she turned towards the butler.

  The butler kneeled as he asked for forgiveness, but the next second a splash was heard, and the butler's glass helmet exploded, and the acid sprayed on the unlucky crazy man, melting him.

  But he did not have to worry as he wasn’t dying alone, as the butler was already dead.

  Strix diverted her attention away from the butler's corpse, as she knew he would be soon reborn and would come here to clean it up.

  She just warned him that there won’t be a next time. His fate was saved that he served Dave, otherwise, if he were under her, he would experience a thousand times much worse than this.

  “Now, now, where did we stop? Oh, right torture!” Said Strix as she remembered the two other bugs.

  “I submit!” said the old man, knowing just how ruthless she is with her underlings. His fate will be a thousand times worse.

  The woman wasn’t slow either, as she submitted.

  As both submitted, soon a mark appeared on their heads.

  A circle with 6 segments. One in the middle and around it 5 others. The one in the middle was a red eyeball, with the one above it a crystal, and on the right and left sides of it were daggers, each facing the middle segment, while the bottom two were screaming heads.

  As soon as this appeared, it soon disappeared.

  “You guys don’t know how to enjoy the fun, but I should train you to be at least a decent throw-able puppet for me.” Said Strix as she picked all kinds of equipment down and assessed which one would be good for this situation.

  “Please don’t, I will never betray you!” said the woman with the old man, affirming it too.

  “Oh, my, I am not scared of you guys betraying me, I just do it for my amusement and as a preparation to showcase my abilities later for his lordship.” Said Strix as her lord mesmerized her, congratulating her for her abilities in her mind from the future as if it were set in stone.

  But soon her smile disappeared as she remembered Vorzath and how he was the first one and not her, making her jealous.

  As she thought about it more and more, the torture device in her hand broke, waking her up and remembering how she had to train in the new bugs.

  Later she doesn’t need to do it as they would do it instead of her, so she can fully enjoy it with her Lord.

  Soon Strix started humming happily while screams sounded from the room, making it extremely terrifying for anyone passing by it.

  Outside of the room, the butler was already back waiting for Strix's order, until then, he guards the door so no one will interrupt her except the Lord if he asks for Strix's presence.

  ***

  I opened my eyes as I was in my bed, and as I got out of bed, I felt dizzy from overexerting myself so much.

  “Call Strix, I want to be informed about her progress.” I called out, and soon movements sounded from the other side of the door as maids and butlers came into the room.

  The head butler, Varrick, and the head maid, Selene, both bow and instruct one of their personnel to call Strix, and I can already see both of them forming a rivalry so early.

  They won’t show it in my presence, but their eyes tell me everything I need to know.

  I did not care as long as they did not hinder my happiness, they could do whatever they wanted, even killing each other.

  After dressing up, I went into my throne room and sat on my throne as I enjoyed hearing the suffering of people who were currently being tortured outside my window.

  What can be a better start to the day than hearing the suffering of others so early in the day?

  Soon I heard footsteps as the door opened and Strix came in. Kneeling, she greeted me.

  “My Lord, what is your wish?” Said Strix. I could see lights sparkling in her eyes as she looked at me.

  This left me with a bad taste in my mouth, as I was not interested in such low things as love. Who cares about it anyway?

  “I asked for you so you can tell me the progress of your job, how many people you recruit, and what is the progress of it?” I did not beat around the bush, as I did not want to waste my time with this.

  “I currently enslaved 20 bugs, and I can do more if the Lord wishes, but I do not see it fit to enslave more than the rest is for the Lord's enjoyment.” Said Strix, trying to cosy up to me as much as possible, but I did not care, hearing I had fewer people to torture did not sit well with me, but I needed to get information about the outside world after all.

  “When can they be dispatched?” I asked as I looked down at Strix.

  “Currently I am training them, but if the Lord wishes, I can dispatch them at once. If they fail, we can recruit more later.” Said Strix while not caring about their lives at all.

  “Did you find anyone noteworthy among them?” Remembering that there should be useful talents among the humans who specialize in these kinds of things.

  “3 individuals have the potential, my lord, to be more useful pawns for you.” As she said this, she paused shortly to continue again.

  “These 3 bugs had previous training as spies beforehand, and their pain tolerance was higher than the others, but they too needed a bit more training, and I am sure these 3 bugs can do what you want, my lord.” As she said this, she got up from kneeling after I gestured for her to do so.

  “Good, then train them until you find them prepared enough and send them to gather information for us.” I said this as I got up and left the throne room.

  Outside, I saw people being put into wooden caskets with iron pumps leading into them as they channelled vapour into them.

  Not only were they locked into a casket, but hot air was channelled into the caskets, so even breathing was painful, and I saw the butlers putting some sort of chemical mixture into it, making the people scream their lungs out.

  Normally, hot air is unbearable, but not to the extent where they scream their lungs out, likely something to do with the butler's experimenting.

  I manifested with my mana a glass of wine as I sipped it.

  I can manifest anything I wish inside my dungeon as long as I have enough mana for it and space.

  Imagine manifesting a battleship in a bedroom, it will instantly crumble anyone in the room to meat pasta.

  Soon I heard screams coming from another part of my castle, knowing well Strix started her work.

  Hearing the people below me and far away both screaming made my day so perfect I could enjoy this forever, but I knew it would not last, so I must enjoy it to the fullest.