Chapter 21. Asphyxiation
When Xuelan awoke, her lungs were burning.
It burned because she couldn't breath, and in fact she hadn't been able to breath for a while. Her body was screaming at her for oxygen, but she had been suffocating for so long that she was almost used to this persistent feeling of asphyxiation. She couldn't think clearly, and there was a massive fog over her brain. Every muscle in her body felt burdened with a thousand pounds of weight, and she felt like she was being crushed underneath 11 kilometers of deep ocean water.
She should have been dead.
Neiel had choked her to death.
He had raped her while strangling her neck... until she passed out and died of suffocation.
The experience was horrific, and Xuelan vaguely recalled the calm look on his face while she suffocated from the lack of air. He had done it so casually, almost as if it was any ordinary activity that any demon might do on a daily basis. The incubus was merciless and he knew from the look of terror on her eyes that she was panicking, but he still didn't loosen his grip.
This wasn't a game and this wasn't casual breathplay.
Neiel was proving the cruel reality of this hellish universe to her.
She was too naive, and she failed to recognize how much mortal danger a deceptively friendly demon posed to her.
Was it merciful that Neiel had been the first one to kill her? Perhaps she was fortunate that he hadn't done anything worse for her first time? There were a thousand different ways to die, and asphyxiation was a relatively mild method. In a sense, perhaps it was one of the kinder ways to teach a harsh lesson.
Xuelan suddenly realized at this point that dying in Hell was inevitable. It was a lot like sexual virginity, in the sense everyone lost it sooner or later. Attempting to protect it in a den of wolves was almost futile, and Neiel had merely given her a straightforward initiation. It was common for slaves to die, and it was common for demons to kill their slaves for mere amusement. Thanks to this, Xuelan reached the terrifying epiphany that she was going to die many many many more times for the rest of this eternity in Hell.
Immortality was a horrifying curse.
+ + +
Xuelan couldn't breath.
There was a tentacle-like appendage deep inside Xuelan's throat, blocking her windpipe. It traveled all the way down her esophagus and into her stomach, where it stirred around the folds of her belly and secreted strange fluids, causing the girl to sweat profusely.
It was part of this rope-like snake/octopus creature that was entwined around her entire body. The monster moved and squeezed periodically, tightening and relaxing around her torso like a living organism. Its tendrils actively constricted around its prey, and several free tentacles were stuffed into various holes on Xuelan's body. They were like long snakes that searched new dens to reside in. The tip of each tendril had a narrow little tongue, and it furiously licked away at any sweat, saliva, or body fluids that emerged from her body.
A while ago, the unconscious Xuelan had been shoved back into her cage, her pussy streaming with the incubus's cum. The door was promptly shut and securely locked.
The perpetrator had maliciously opened a jar over the prison, and a small slimy monster had plopped out onto the floor. By instinct, it latched itself onto the nearest body, and it began tightening around its incapacitated prey. The helpless girl was left writhing on the floor, suffocated and unable to breath, sweating profusely and leaking body fluids all over the ground.
Of course, the girl was hardly conscious and barely able to perceive anything that was happening to her. However, the incubus hadn't taken out this exotic creature from his inventory for her sake. He had an ulterior motive.
It was a very impressive sight to behold.
The girl looked utterly devastated and defiled, as if destroyed and broken beyond her physical limits.
The dramatic visual effect was part of his plan.
There was something that he needed to confirm.
Neiel sat on top of the metal cage with the squirming girl and waited patiently.
+ + +
A while later, Neiel's anticipated guest finally arrived.
It was a tall sex demon whose right arm was smeared with gore and dripping a long trail of blood.
He walked slowly in the moonlight, his shadowy figure lonely and fearsome, like a genuine monster that had come back from a bloody rampage of violence and carnage. His torso was streaked with scattered wounds, but he had emerged victorious. Despite some intense fighting, his body was mostly intact, although significantly worse for wear.
"Hey," Neiel spoke casually. "It looks like you've been busy."
The other demon abruptly stopped in place.
"You..."
"Surprised to see me? Which one did you kill? Earl? Arteise? All of them?"
The demon's gaze suddenly stopped at Neiel's cage.
"What did you do to my slave?"
"Oh come on. Look. Kien, you just murdered some guys. Can't you at least pretend to show some concern?"
The red-haired incubus ran his fingers leisurely around the steel bars. The black-haired girl was writhing on the ground, tormented and molested by living rope and tentacles. She was clearly unconscious, half-dead, and unable to breath, but the reflexes in her body were still present. Periodic jerks and twitches of her bound limbs kept her despicably violated corpse interesting to look at.
"Killing is bad, you know? It's illegal in the Empire. You could at least wait until we were all in the Wastelands."
"I don't give a damn about the Empire's laws."
"Oh dear. That's a bit of a problem, isn't it? I don't think you're going to make many friends that way."
"Release my slave."
"I mean, it's a bad idea to make too many enemies. Hell lasts for an eternity, you know? Grudges last even longer. If you kill someone, they drop down a World, but it's pretty damn likely that they'll come back up and start hunting you with a vengeance, together with an army and all their friends. It's not a very pleasant way to live if everyone wants you dead."
"Let her go. Unless you'd like to die as well."
The red-haired incubus hopped off the cage. He spun around a bit leisurely, as if to display that he wasn't concerned or intimidated.
He squatted down near the ground and ran his fingers slowly through the twitching girl's hair.
Neiel flashed a smug look at Kien.
"I kind of like Xue. Mind if I keep her as my own? I could use my own slave. She's fun to talk to."
"You are playing with fire. Don't cross me."
"Hm? But aren't you the one who's bluffing? I know for a fact that I'm stronger than you. What level are you really? And how'd you manage to pull off killing our dear friends, by the way? Trickery, I presume? Earl seems like a bit of an air-headed guy, so my guess is that you found a chance to off him first?"
"I am confident in my abilities. I will kill you too, if necessary."
Neiel laughed all of a sudden.
"Hey. You're hardly in a position to be threatening me. I hold your trump cards, and this precious girl of yours is in my possession. Perhaps you should admit that you've lost, and we can sit down and negotiate the terms of your surrender."
"I have not lost."
"Look. Kien. I honestly don't have anything against you, and I don't care what kind of weird connections you have with that terrorist. I'm a simple man who prefers to keep to himself, and I frankly just don't like it when people try to kill me."
The red-haired incubus smiled sweetly.
"You intended to kill me. Unfortunately, your plan failed."
Neiel's voice was unwavering and serious.
"So after I kill you, remember that you started this fight first, alright?"
He slowly rose to his feet, holding a bright silver dagger in his hands.
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