Cain.
The image of the middle-aged man grandly standing in the Hall of Beginning with the backdrop of the gigantic 100 foot(30.78 m) tall chair while speaking about being interested to see the path that Daneel's journey forward would take appeared in the forefront of his mind, and the one thing that stood out to him was the calm and sincere expression he had seen in those eyes which were framed in a severely scarred face.
He had introduced himself with just that name and his ominous moniker- 'The Reaper', and he was the first person that Daneel had met of the Order.
In fact, he had always also seemed like one of the most decent men, and when Daneel had seen the way that he was trusted to speak by many of the Heroes of the Order in that critical moment when the entity had been revealed, he had even felt pity for him, as the shock he would have to endure and the revelation that he had been following the wrong person for all these years would definitely be something that would hit him pretty hard.
After everything had settled down, Daneel had inquired about Cain and found out that the man had cloistered himself in the Order, quoting that he needed to train alone.
Everyone knew that he had reached a certain peak in his power which he hadn't been able to breakthrough from for decades, so apparently, everyone had been able to guess that it must be to handle with and get over the betrayal for which he must blame himself, too, as he had always considered himself a pretty good judge of character. In fact, that was also what he had built his most famous skill around- that which allowed him to act as the Chief Instructor of all Seeds in the Order and the Big Four. His unmatched eye for talent and the limits that one should aim to reach was known to almost all in the Order, and he was revered by many for allowing them to reach heights they never thought possible, and also for the fact that he was one of the kindest of Heroes, often taking time out to direct the weaker members of the Order without having to be enticed in order to do so by favors or other rewards.
Such a man…was also a pawn of the Church?!
It was so unbelievable that Daneel almost felt like stamping down her insinuation, but seeing the poison in her eyes and the pleasure that it gave her when she thought about how she had given him such an incredibly difficult choice, he knew that she must be speaking the truth.
Time seemed to freeze for him as he activated the Basilisk's Breath. Due to Mrs. Quenry already being defeated by the misty giant made of monstrous Heroes, she had been placed under a spell where her Mageroot was locked up. It was only after this that she had stopped her efforts to try and use her power to escape, and had started to depend on these words of her to deliver a devastating blow to the one who she definitely hated the most on this continent.
Hence, Daneel's apparition once more had his consciousness instead of just being an automaton being controlled from afar using a formation, and because of this, he could use his inheritances, which he was also very interested in researching and finding more about as soon as he was healed.
For now, though…her face filled his entire vision, and with even the surroundings being frozen, he could fully focus on it.
Until now, just like he had told the Head, his decisions had been based on his heart, rather than his head.
But at this moment, looking into those brown eyes filled with all sorts of vicious emotions, Daneel asked himself whether he was truly doing that.
Was he truly listening to his heart, which had melted in that unforgettable way when it had been exposed to everything that Xuan had gone through, for him?
NO!
'BANG!'
The answer that resounded within his mind was accompanied by a punch which flew straight at Mrs. Quenry's face, and because she was bound by the formation that had come into effect while being constricted in the giant's hands, she could only look with shock as the fist came closer and closer in her field of vision.
Like a gunshot, the sound echoed in the area, and even the Head looked down with surprise, having just been startled out of the state he had entered unwillingly after finding out the truth about Cain.
What he saw was a man whose features were filled with anger, but which were just now showing just a little bit of the satisfaction of taking that anger out on the thing that was causing it, and a woman who seemed as if she couldn't believe that she had just been punched squarely on the face.
"Y-you punched m-me? You punched ME?! YOU BRAT! I'LL-"
'BANG! BANG! BANG! BA-'
The sputtering reply filled with stupefaction was interrupted by another punch, and then another, and then another.
Each punch had the power of a Peak Warrior behind it, but because its target was the face of a Peak Champion Level Fighter, it needed to depend on volume rather than strength to do damage.
For Mrs. Quenry, rather than the pain, it seemed as if it was the realization that she was being punched directly in her face, which she had always treasured so much, by someone that she had been chasing while thinking of him as if he were but a pesky cockroach that she only had to get under her feet to crush that seemed to be putting her in a state that was filled with rage, disbelief, and humiliation.
It was as if these relatively feeble punches, at least, when compared to the smashes into the ground before by the giant, were doing more damage than everything that the misty giant, which was looking on with interest, had done until now.
It felt the same to Daneel.
Before, when he had seen the giant doing his bidding, he had felt good, but it was nothing, NOTHING, compared to what he was experiencing now.
Each punch seemed to take some of his anger, however small a part of the whole it was, and launch it forward into the face of this detestable woman who still couldn't come to terms with the fact that someone who hadn't even lived for as long as her eyebrows was having his way with her in the most degrading way possible.
Now, Daneel realized that he had been constraining himself before, while telling himself that his carefully thought out torture plan was the best way for him to take revenge.
He had been so, so wrong, and the one had to thank for this realization…was actually Mrs. Quenry.
If she hadn't been so hellbent on showing her true character so clearly, she would never have pushed him over the top to find the truth that revenge taken with one's own hands was more precious, more rehabilitating, and more satisfying than anything else that he could do.
At the moment, Cain didn't matter. The Head didn't matter. Even Angaria didn't matter.
All that mattered…was his fist, and all the places it still had to visit.
"System, cast the formation with the help of the Head to make her lose control of her body- but make sure that she feels everything. Oh, and let her keep control of her face."
[Affirmative. Casting formation.]
The Head had to be prodded into action by repeated messages with instructions from the system(which, of course, made it seem as if they were coming from Daneel), and finally, he flew down.
Daneel finally paused, then, to see that punching for a minute had only caused a nosebleed. If she was a Hero level Fighter, it would have been so much more difficult to make even a scratch appear on her body, but this level of defense was actually perfect.
During the pause, on Daneel's command, the giant suddenly squeezed tight, making Mrs. Quenry let out a scream which was cut off in barely a second as the formation took affect.
Formations of the sort Daneel had asked for needed one's consciousness to be in a state of surprise, and the squeeze accomplished this.
After that, the giant let go and disappeared, but Mrs. Quenry's body floated in the air, while her face was contorted into a horrible expression that didn't seem to be able to decide whether it should show rage or dread.
"I'll leave you to it. But remember, King…helping the one who was affected should take more precedence than taking revenge. Meet me when you are done. Meanwhile, I will keep an eye on Cain."
As Daneel nodded, the Head disappeared, and finding himself all alone with just his target in front of him, Daneel got a cold smile on his face as he cracked his knuckles.
"Let's get started, shall we?"
For three days and three nights, the sound of flesh coming into contact with flesh could be heard in the clearing which was dead silent apart from these sounds.
Daneel first took his time with her face- punching it and kicking it until it no longer looked like what it had once been. At first, she held out, as if daring him to do his worst, but as the hours went on and on, the fact that the King did not relent, at all, made it clearer and clearer that she had underestimated the hate and wrath that someone who was supposed to be 'good' could feel.
Half a day went to her face, itself, and it was only after Daneel was satisfied with the damage that he had done that he moved on to the rest of the woman's body.
He let it all out- instead of keeping it within himself, Daneel let himself go and experienced what it meant to be 'human' again, instead of conforming the chains he had placed on himself, without realizing it, in order to conform to the idea of being 'good'.
Mrs. Quenry was supposed to be a master of pain, but after being done with her face, Daneel had gotten the bright idea to amp up her sensations, allowing her to feel a hundred times more pain than what was being caused by Daneel's actions.
And since then, the real revenge had begun.
She screamed and screamed, forgetting all of the pride she had carried herself with. Often, those screams would devolve into squeals, but they would rise in volume again when Daneel increased the amplified of pain even more.
The skin all over her body was stripped, inch by inch, and her flesh and bones were all pounded on, again and again, until they turned into nothing but mush.
There was no part on her body that was not exposed to the cruelty- the mercy that she should have shown to Xuan was not shown here, either, and the more she screamed, the more anger began to dissolve and evaporate from Daneel's mind.
He kept going near the point where he might lose himself, but each time, the memory of that kiss, and the woman whom he needed to comfort and be with brought him back, telling him that he was doing this to be with her as the man she had always loved, instead of a rabid animal who was only pretending to be normal while holding so much within.
At the end of the day, that was his aim- to be able to at least get on the path of becoming normal, so that he could be there in his perfect capacity for Xuan, instead of ignoring her and only focusing on revenge, which was something that many protagonists from the movies back on Earth were nonsensically wont to do.
By the end of the three days, the screams had stopped, and it looked like they might never come again, as one could not even see a human's body in the place where Mrs. Quenry had been before.
All that was left was a vaguely humanoid mess of intermingled flesh, bones and blood, and all that was keeping it alive was the underlying tenacity of a Champion, and a little help from the system.
The carnage was visible all over- the skin that had been stripped then healed, the teeth and nails that had been knocked off then grown back and removed again, the hair that was matted with blood, and among them all, a man heaved, looking like the incarnation of a demon, come from hell to take his due from those who deserved it.
"Cleanse."
A single word, though, changed all that- the apparition crumbled and another one came into being in the sky, and on its face, a tranquility that had been missing ever since the viewing of that memory had returned.
Taking one last look, and letting out a deep breath which seemed to hold the rest of the emotions that had been released over these three days, the King spoke, and then teleported away.
"Quenry, despite all your posturing, you were just a common criminal who chose the wrong path out of greed. You tried to make yourself seem like you were more, but you weren't- all that was needed to expose your regret was to strip away all your defenses. I commend you for not begging out loud, but I saw it all in your eyes- you're just a pathetic coward holding onto that semblance of pride. I will break that, too, but with time. For now- I am done with you. Farewell- and thank you for showing me that sometimes, it is best to give in to one's base emotions, even if it feels wrong to do so. As for Cain…you are naïve if you think that I am not someone who can create an ideal choice if one doesn't exist. Enjoy this healing period, by the way, because what follows it will be even worse than this little vacation of ours- and that's a promise."