Chapter 24: Shock Therapy

"STAY YOUR HAND!!!"

Cedric sighed and looked at the source of that voice. He paused his movement but made no effort to change it either, meaning that if he really wanted to, he could still easily kill the man beneath him.

Several people appeared in front of him. Cedric figured that this should be a colleague of this poor excuse of a man.

Gustavio looked at Cedric nervously. When that pair of cold and emotionless golden eyes landed on him, the man couldn't help but feel a shudder running through his spine.

Behind him was a group of wardens who were just as nervous as he was. The moment they saw what was happening, they instantly knew that they were in deep shit right now. Inwardly, they were praying that Cedric wasn't as crazy as the rest, or else, things would be messy.

"P-Please! Can we talk about this? I don't know what my colleague did to you but please don't kill him! I-I'm willing to compensate in exchange for his life!" Gustavio pleaded while sweating a bit.

Cedric raised a brow and sneered: "Hoh? Is that so? Then, can you legally get me out of here as soon as you can?"

"..." Gustavio froze on the spot, unable to say anything in front of those demands. Even the guards behind him facepalmed at his stupidity.

They couldn't blame him though. Something like this wasn't an everyday occurrence, there's no way he could've prepared for something like this.

"...as expected, you can't right? Next time, don't be impulsive especially when you don't know who you're dealing with." Cedric sneered at the man.

"Release me, you bufoon! You! Wardens! What are you doing? Apprehend this fool! Can't you see what he's doing? Don't just stand there like idiots! Tell him to release me! I want to- no! I need to go! I can't waste time here! Emilia's waiting for me!"

"Fallon, you-!!" Gustavio was stunned, the guards behind him were also stunned. While the former was still confused, the latter was enlightened. Finally, they're starting to understand what's happening here.

"...this is getting annoying." Cedric droned. He then raised his foot and kicked Fallon in the temples, shocking the onlookers.

Fallon's eyes rolled at the back of his head, losing his consciousness. After doing that, Cedric lifted his foot and looked at them once more.

"I'm sure you guys understand what happened here." He then looked at Gustavo and continued: "You on the other hand might be confused."

"..."

"I'm pretty sure that nobody has informed you about this yet, but the woman you encountered, Emilia, her charm is a passive skill that is deadly to all men and men at heart. Its effects don't end even when she's out of your sight. It will linger and cause those who are already attracted to her, to go crazy. They will keep yearning for her up to the point of absolute desperation."

"!!!" Gustavio shook in his place upon this revelation.

"You aren't affected since you're way stronger than her, but this guy? He's nuts. He came to me plotting something. He wanted to use me and bring him to her. Obviously, I can't do that so things ended up like this. You got it now?"

"...I see." Gustavio muttered. Now, things are finally making sense to him. So that's why everybody has been so distracted earlier.

"I don't know why the wardens haven't informed you about this, but that's no longer my fault." Cedric sighed, the people behind Gustavio on the other hand stiffened up at his remark.

"There are ways to get rid of Emilia's lasting influence in their mind. The first method is to kill her of course."

That got him shocked looks from his audience. He shrugged and said:

"What? I mean, Emilia can simply get rid of it, but knowing how crazy that bitch has become, do you honestly think she would do that willingly? No, right? Killing her would obviously get rid of it, so that's your first option."

"..." the wardens couldn't refute his words at all. Deep down, they knew he wasn't lying at all.

"The second method is by hiring a skilled Superhuman to deal with it. Unfortunately, that can get a little expensive and would take some time to happen. Mind you, the longer this goes, the crazier it gets. So I don't recommend it."

"Finally, the simplest method to deal with it is to throw her victims butt-naked into a freezing Ice Bath. I mean, that's how we dealt with it. It's a horrible experience but it works just fine. If they're still affected even after that, then throw them there again. Do it enough times until they completely wake up."

After explaining his piece, Cedric started walking away.

"It's up to you on which method to pick. Either way, it doesn't concern me." Cedric didn't want to stay here any longer, but then he sensed something happening within his field of senses which made him pause in his tracks.

He looked back at them and said: "You left the rest of them unattended, now they're no longer holding back. I suggest you people return as quickly as possible or else, Emilia would raise hell in there."

"Shit! Shit!" The wardens started cursing obscenely like veteran sailors after realizing what they had done. They immediately took out their devices and started dialing their comrades in panic.

Meanwhile, Gustavo gingerly picked the unconscious Fallon up, carrying him like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder. When he stood up, Cedric was no longer there. It's as if he was just a ghost.

Smiling wryly, he sighed in relief. That was a close call just now. Thankfully, Cedric wasn't a crazy one, or else, Fallon might've been dead the moment he found them.

'Shit! What a mess! I need to look after the rest of the team as well. Hopefully it's not too late yet!' Gustavio was reminded of his present situation so he immediately ran after the guards.

He has to be there or else, the wardens might just kill the rest of his colleagues for what they're about to do.

***

After that messy night, the Heavenly Seal crew spent the majority of the day undergoing shock therapy.

They raised quite a ruckus last night. They nearly reached the cell where Emilia was being held. If it weren't for Cedric's early warnings, they might've actually succeeded. Things would've gotten a lot more hectic then. Thankfully, it was averted.

After giving him such a headache, Gustavo unceremoniously threw them all into a freezing bath, shocking them awake after they got knocked out by the wardens. At first, they didn't know what was happening but nobody cared.

Gustavo, with the help of the guards, forced every single one of them to be submerged from head to toe under that freezing pool to clear their minds properly and completely get rid of Emilia's remaining hold of them.

The majority of the team 'woke up' after their first dip. Unlike the others, their attraction towards her didn't run deep so they managed to shake it off easily with the help of the Ice Bath.

Fallon and two other guys, however, needed to be drowned. Like, actually drowned, in the Ice Bath before they began showing signs of clarity.

When asked, the wardens explained that these three had it really bad and this was the only way. Gustavio then recalled the casual conversation he had with his team before.

They talked about their preference for women, and coincidentally, these three had the same type. Emilia happens to possess the qualities they're looking for so it made sense that they got instantly hooked upon seeing her for the first time.

These three idiots were deeply snared by her charms, that's why they needed more sessions in the Ice Bath.

Still, by the end of the day, everybody had enough. With their minds cleared once more, they shuddered after realizing what happened to them. And that only made them more terrified of this place. To think that this place was hiding something like that...

They were obviously relieved that Emilia was locked deep within the Isolation Chambers and would not be allowed to get out until they left this place.

Additionally, they were also glad that this whole fiasco wouldn't be blamed on them. Gustavio then asked the wardens why he wasn't informed about this earlier and the explanation he got was barely satisfactory.

Apparently, the wardens who were assigned to them the night Emilia got to them, were scheduled to have a vacation the day after. They were looking forward to that so much that they slipped up in their jobs, forgetting about Emilia's abilities altogether.

They assured him, however, that those two guards would be fired as soon as their paid vacation was over. Chief Lucas himself said so, so he could only let it go.

Because of this event, the team's stay in this place got extended for one more day despite their obvious displeasure. Nevertheless, it's to be expected that from that day onwards, none of them left without the wardens as escorts anymore.

Especially Fallon who nearly died at the hands of a convict.