“A long long time ago, there lived a beautiful maiden with her lovely family,” Karin said, as she stared in the distance. She had a pleasant smile as she spoke those words. “The maiden had two younger siblings and an elder sibling. Her mother was beautiful and caring and her father was a good man, or at least that was what she had thought. Although the family couldn’t be labeled as rich, they none the less was peaceful and happy.”

“When the maiden turned 18, she had gotten many suitors who were interested in her. A young man, in particular, had spared no effort in his pursuit. He was the son of a jeweler and a particularly handsome young man named Wilsow. He had showered the maidens family with all sorts of gifts.” Karin said moving her gaze towards the chained up Baya.

“Although Wilsow had other wives, it was still acceptable. it was later decided by the maiden’s father that she would marry him. The maiden did not disagree with her father’s decision, after all, he was looking out for his daughter and family. The maiden was invited by her husband to be to come visit his family.” Karin said with a slight pause.

“Unbeknown to the maiden, she wasn’t heading for Wilsow’s home. Oh no, she was heading to somewhere completely different. You see, Wilsow did not want this maiden because he loved her. He wanted her for the sport of it. Wilsow took the maiden to a brothel owned by himself and his friends.”

“He had her in chains, just like you,” Karin said pointing at Baya. “On the very same night, he had his friends watch as he ***** the maiden. They chatted about some points Wilsow had gotten for his conquest.”

“Wilsow held the maiden’s neck, like this. While he was having his way with her.” She said squeezing onto Baya’s neck.

“The maiden steeled her heart and stopped crying. All she could feel was a boundless rage with no means to pour it out. She stared fixedly at Wilsow as he ***** her. Wilsow seeing this play out wasn’t too happy.” Karin said as she stopped squeezing Baya’s neck, who immediately started gasping for air.

“He took a knife to the maiden’s face and said he hated the wrinkles on her face as she frowned. Wilsow slashed her forehead multiple times, saying he was getting rid of her ugly wrinkles. He destroyed her beautiful face out of anger.” At this time, Karin had picked up her dagger and pointed it at Baya’s head.

“Don’t worry, I am not as sick as Wilsow.” Karin said tapping Baya’s chicks with her dagger.

After calming his breathing, Baya looked at Karin and said,”Is this your excuse for doing this? Are you expecting me to feel some sympathy for you? Because I don’t.”

Karin immediately burst into laughter. She stared at Baya with a look of surprise. She has previously had countless men in the same particular position Baya was, but none of them, until now, had ever been this blunt to her face.

“I don’t need your sympathy or an excuse. If anything, I thank Wilsow for what he did. I finally realized how the world works. Those with power control the faith of those without. Just like how I control your faith.” Karin responded with a smile.

“Well, for now let me have some fun.” She said as she slowly stripped Baya naked.

‘Will this be my fate?”’ Baya thought to himself as he resigned himself to Karins caresses.

*****************************

Quickly, a week went by. At this point in time, Baya had familiarized himself with some of the operations of the bandit group. His routine was the same for the most part, He was chained in place and instructed not to make a sound throughout the day, of which he silently cultivated the natural energy of the world. While cultivating, Baya had noticed his rate of absorbing natural energy had significantly increased. This was his sole-comforting occurrence of his current predicament. At night, Karin would make her way to him for sex and in some occasions, torture. As his encounter with Karin increased, Baya had secretly pried some information from her. For example, he found out the bandit group was waiting on some buyers to come pick up the slaves, which included himself. He also found out that the root of the living fire plant he had painstakingly gotten, was being kept with the rest of the herbs.

While Baya was silently cultivating, a slight ripple of natural energy burst forth from his core. Baya immediately opened his eyes to scan his environment. He noticed that the guards were in the same exact position, none of them were paying any attention to him. After Baya made sure no one had noticed him, he immediately blossomed into a smile. He had been trapped in the 8th level of natural energy for years, and right now, he had finally broken through that bottleneck.

After cultivating the natural energy of the world for a week, Baya finally had a breakthrough. He had increased his natural energy base from that of a level 8 to a level 9. Baya had an incandescent smile, now he had the physical strength to break his chains. During his brief period with Karin and the guards, Baya had gotten a rough understanding of his current surroundings. Although he had broken through to the 9th level of natural energy, he was doubtful he could escape if he charged through the place. After all, the leader of the bandit group was also at the 9th level of natural energy. Baya knew If he was to make it out of here alive, he had to escape in secret at night.

Baya patiently waited for the night. He was laying with his eyes closed, counting the seconds to his possible escape. He was waiting to hear the words that had terrorized him for the past week.

“Leave this place,” a feminine voice sounded. Hearing this, the guards immediately left their positions to take a walk. They were used to Karins behavior. Whenever she fancied a slave, she will spend most nights either torturing the slave or sexually exploiting the slave until the slave was sold off. This circle has repeated itself for so long, that they no longer cared about it. After all, she was the boss’s younger sister and a crazy woman, they avoided at all cost.

Karin walked towards Baya and immediately started taking off her clothing. She noticed an indifferent look on Baya, who usually had a huge frown when arrives. Karin had a wide smile on her face. She assumed she had finally broken the man before her, down. This was what she sorted after, his hopelessness. She proceeded to sit right on top of Baya.

“Have you finally accepted your fate?” Karin asked Baya in a condescending tone. She was elated that she had broken the man before her.

“Beg me for your life, and I might consider keeping you as my pet,” Baya hearing that still remained silent. Throughout the past week, he had gotten a good idea of the type of woman Karin was. He knew that even if he begged he would still be sold as a slave. Baya feigned a little anger as he moved his stare from Karin to the entrance of the enclosure.

“Good. Good. You still have some fight in you,” Karin said as she lightly laughed.

“Will you be missed?” Baya abruptly asked as he moved his stare back to Karin.

Karin was momentarily speechless. She had no idea what Baya was talking about. Why should she be missed? And why would he have asked that question? Karin’s original elated stated changed to that of anger. ‘Is he trying to scare me?’ Karin thought as she grabbed Baya’s neck.

“You lowly animal, are trying to scare me? It seems I would have to…” Karin was saying before the sound of metal being forcefully torn apart was heard. Baya plunged his right hand straight at Karin’s neck before she could utter a word. With the strength of the 9th level of natural energy, Bay could easily snap Karin’s neck, but he applied just the right amount of force to restrain and choke her. Baya flipped Karin to the floor and got on top of her.

“Let me ask again. When you die, will you be missed?”

Karin was struggling to free herself from Baya’s grip as she gasped for air. Tears immediately rolled down her eyes. She had never expected to be in this situation. She was always the one in control, but now she was knocking at death’s doors. Regret immediately filled her heart. If only, she had left this man alone, she might not have been in this situation. Baya reduced the for force in his grip temporarily and watched as Karin struggled to breathe. More tears came down crashing from her eyes as she pleaded: “Mercy please.”

Baya thought of the life the woman before him had lived. She had been betrayed by someone she thought was in love with her. She was scarred and prostituted away for a couple of years before her brother had killed the guards at the brothel and took her away. She had lived a terrible life, as a bandit forced to always be on the run. Baya felt some sympathy for the woman.

“Don’t worry,” Baya said as he consoled her by petting her hair with his left hand, before he snapped her neck. Dead silence filled the enclosure, the only sounds that could be heard were the flickers of the flames from the torch that brightened the place. Although Baya had felt some sympathy towards Karin, he had also been thoroughly tortured by her. A pitiful life such as the one she had lived could not be saved by just mercy, a pathetic life such as hers needed to be ended so death she could move on.

While Baya was imprisoned, he had figured out his bearing from the position of the sun, and now with the placement of the stars. He rushed towards where the herbs were stored and quickly picked out the root of the living fire plant. Baya extinguished the flames of the torch and quietly made his way out of the enclosure. Baya knew what direction he had to take, and he used the darkness to cover his movements.

After about an hour of walking around, the guards made their way back to the enclosure. They noticed the darkness but thought nothing of it. After waiting for a couple of minutes without a sound being made, they got curious and began calling out to Karin. They got another torch and made their way into the enclosure. To their complete surprise, they found Karin laying lifelessly on the floor.

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