บท 110: Destruction Engraving - Endless Reversal

"Erick!!!"

The beast king cried loudly witnessing the poor figure of his son barely living. Although he managed to keep his life currently due to lion king race's high vitality, it wouldn't be long before he lost that miniscule life on him. After all, the beastman prince's heart and vital organs were all ruptured, no, they're completely gone was more accurate.

His arms and legs were shattered into countless pieces as well, it was a very terrifying attack gave by Haruto. In fact, the person himself was shocked on how much force he exerted since he didn't plan to go this far, at most he'll disabled the beastman with the attack he borrowed from a certain caped baldy hero.

Only later did he realize the reason was the drastic increase in power thanks to his overwhelming fury. His Saiyan power was giving him a large power boost on his rage, similar to when he fought against that Sharingan user more than two months ago. But as soon as his fury receded, so as well the power he gained temporarily.

Still, it didn't completely gone as he's still able to receive some of the benefits of the power boost. Although it wasn't nearly as great as Growth, but he's able to permanently increase his power moderately alongside other thing...

But it's still for later time to think about more as right now the problem was he accidentally 'killed' Erick. He was planning to let him live more to make him suffer so he's frustrated at this. Just at this time he noticed something from his sense and felt relieved.

"Erick.... That damn kid...! How dare he!! I will kill him by myself!!!"

The beast king unleashed his fury and about to break through the glass of his room and struck all of his anger on Haruto for killing his only son. Even if Haruto was far stronger than he thought, he's still able to easily defeat him as a Semi-Transcendent.

"Why don't you stop right there beast king?"

And yet, a voice coming from behind was pressuring on his body and he was glued on spot. This completely astonished the king of beastman so he couldn't help but turned his head against the voice swiftly.

"You, Luminette! Why did you stop me!?"

Lumina was standing while crossing her arms on the room door. Other than her, there's also several young girls none other than Haruto's group who still tending on the tortured women before.

"Please calm down for a bit beast king. We haven't met each other for a long time aren't we? It's a pleasure to meet Your Majesty once again." She gripped the hem of her skirt and gave a gracious and elegant greetings unlike her usual behaviors.

The girls were popping their eyes in shock at this. They truly thought there's something wrong with Lumina's brain or mind. This truly terrified them and some of the girls were quickly imploring Kaori with "Soul Magic, quick!" and Lumina's body shone with the mind stabilization spell from Kaori.

Lumina's face was twitching at the reactions of the girls. Even if she acted nonchalantly most of the time, she's still a genuine princess and able to know about proper TPO. It was natural for her as a foreign princess to show her dignity as a representative of her country in front of the leader of other nation. Despite all of that, she's still aware her own responsibilities.

Her calm and elegant greetings managed to cool off the beast king's mind for a bit and his distorted face was disappearing slightly. Still frowning, he opened his mouth,

"It's good to meet you again too but you still haven't explain on why did you stop me from taking vengeance for my son!"

"Naturally, we have a reason for that. Besides, this match was agreed by both party, shouldn't laying your hands on the matter is a disgraceful behavior as a king?" She smiled with sarcastic tone.

"...."

"Also, if it's about your son, he looks fine over there, what vengeance could you possibly mean?" She pointed on the arena below.

"What!?"

The beast king turned his gaze back on the arena, he was stupefied to find Erick was laying unconscious without any visible injuries spotted on his body. He rubbed his eyes to make sure it was not an illusion but from the energy he felt coming from his son, Erick was truly alright.

'Impossible, I clearly seen with my own eyes that my son is beyond saving what is happening?'

From the audiences, they were talking about light engulfing the body of the prince almost instantly after his dying figure was seen by everyone and Erick was suddenly fully recovered. They thought they were seeing things and it was just an illusion of Erick in perilous situation.

Hearing this, he knew someone was saving his son's life and the culprit was very likely to be the princess' side. He was so impressed and awed from the incredulous healing ability they displayed, it was beyond absurd and unprecedented. Not even the Holy Saintess he knew could display such feat.

If only he knew that the healing magic Kaori had could also revive people from dead (as long as they didn't die for too long), he would surely have a heart attack.

Haruto also noticed his party returned alongside Lumina. He didn't know why Lumina was beside them on their return but he knew they're currently confronting the beast king.

Meanwhile, the audiences were still in stupor as they witnessed the terrifying punch Haruto used just now, that was blasting a giant void hole through the heaven just by the sheer shockwave!

His victory was already declared and Erick was being escorted by the guards to the medical facility. Knowing he didn't have anymore business in here, Haruto made his way to the beast king's room using teleportation.

*Fwip*

He appeared in front of the group and faced his own comrades. By now, he's already calmed down quite a lot and smiled at them. The girls returned a smile and gave him a thumb up with Kaori starting to tell him of their story.

They weren't spending too much time for healing the women's injuries. Elsie was able to produce various clothing to cover their bodies and with Kaori's ability, she's able to made them as good as new in a matter of a minute despite the severeness of the wounds and damages.

Even missing limbs and organs could be restored completely by her alongside nutrition and vitality. The slave collars that restricted their actions were also easily severed by her using similar method like the one she did on Asami case. The only one she couldn't do anything was their severely damaged mind and heart as well as their vigor. Even with Soul Magic, it was impossible to restore them back to normal like nothing happened.

The only thing she could do was stabilizing them and hoped they had a strong heart. If nothing can't be done she would be forced on removing their memories back before the tragedy happened without their consent of which no matter how good of a reason it was left a bad feeling in her heart for tempering someone's memory on her own. Of course if the women said they wished to forget everything after they woke up, she'll gladly do it. The other reason, the main reason was if they wanted to have revenge on Erick and his goons, to which they would helped them happily.

Right now, they were all in a nearby biggest hospital after Lumina came to their location and lent them a hand, hearing the situations. She of course felt furious and completely destroyed the whole structure and related people without mercy.

"So that's how it is..." Haruto heaved a relief sigh, it seemed everything was going well.

He turned his body behind and glanced at the towering man ahead of him. A man could easily be described as the older version of Erick sharing a large resemblance between them. The differences were the atmosphere and aura the man gave off that radiated authority and dignity. He didn't share the same kind of pride like Erick, his pride was stemmed from charisma and confidence, not out of worthless arrogance.

"You're the beast king?" He asked.

"I am. And I see you're the person 'he' chose." The beast king squinted his eyes, he was evaluating Haruto closely. He saw him appearing suddenly using some kind of teleportation ability but it wasn't the first time he saw similar thing.

"I see, then I'll be frank, I'm disappointed in you beast king." Haruto glared at him.

"Disappointed?" Beast king furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, you're the most disappointing monarch I ever seen before. To have a scum as a son, just what is your responsibility as a parent?"

"....I admit Erick was quite a great troublemaker but what right did you have to call him 'scum'?" Beast king's eyes turned fierce at the same time he also felt confusion.

"I have every right to, and based on your reaction it looks like you didn't know what your so dear son did huh?"

"What are you talking about...?"

"Kaori, show him 'that'." Haruto signalled to his companion.

Kaori nodded with darken face and a bit of hesitation. She started to channel her energy and cast the Regeneration Magic to project a certain past events she already recorded before they demolished the entire place. With a swirl of magic power, an image was projected into the empty air similar to a hologram.

What shown was.... without doubt everything that was happening back on that torturous place. A loud and hysterical scream from women in agony, the maniacal laughs from the men violating them and torturing them in a brutal way. The ladies were all pleading with "Stop" "Help" "It hurts" and even asked to just kill themselves.

And then, the person who just watched all of this happening with cold and indifferent eyes, as if he was looking on a lifestock, Erick himself. He was having his own way to another girls collared and tied like a pet without caring of the diabolical events near him. He didn't have a hobby like that but he also didn't care of what his lackeys did as everyone other than him was none other than trashes.

The scene changed to the aftermath of the tortured women, on how they were dumped on a prison worse than animal cage in environments. The lifeless, battered body full of bruises, cuts, burnt flesh and dried blood. The pile of rotten corpses that was abandoned without being buried and became food for rats and insects. Erick and the other men thought it was bothersome to deal with the corpses, that's why they left them like that, if there's too much they could always burn them without traces. The way they treated the ladies were truly no different than treating garbages.

The women there were not allowed to commit suicide because of the slave collar Erick and his goons placed on them. No matter how much they wished for salvation by killing themselves, it was futile.

The girls looked away and closed their ears, unable to bear watching such gruesome scene. At every time the women there were screaming, their heart felt like torn apart and they let out tears from their eyes, especially because both of them were also a woman. Haruto's fury was once again ignited and he gnashed his teeth furiously as his eyes became very cold.

The same applied to Lumina who was narrowing her eyes dangerously. She never considered herself as good or kind but what Erick and the others did was also scrapping on her mind. She was regretting for not putting an end to the prince's life when she last saw him otherwise these things wouldn't happen.

The beast king was shivering as his eyes was misty like he's in a daze. It was obvious he couldn't believe of what happened on the image projections of his son's doings. It was too brutal and barbarical, unfitting as a human being.

"Impossible....this is impossible... such things...how could he...." The beast king shook his head furiously.

"This is the truth. It's the true face of your own son. And also proof of how disappointing you are as a parent." Haruto spoke coldly.

"Impossible! My son couldn't be this kind of bastard! You are all spouting lies on me!" He roared loudly. He knew Erick was causing a lot of troubles because of his demeanor but he always believed his son wasn't this crooked as he seemed to have limitations on causing troubles. He just didn't know that Erick was doing all of that in secret because he thought his father was too soft.

"No, what they said is the truth, Otou-sama."

Another voice from a different person in the room echoed. A young teenage girl with glittering golden blond hair tied in pigtails was standing alongside a few elite Hunters. She wore a gold and crimson elegant dress with a beautiful tiara placed on her head. The golden lion characteristics she had proved that she's also a member of royalty.

"S-Sabrina, why are you here?"

She's the princess of Leonburg, the younger sister of Erick, Sabrina B. Leonburg. Her sudden appearance caused a bewilderment on the beast king's face. He also spotted his trusted aides alongside her, the Royal Hunters.

"...."

"What? This is..."

Without saying anything, Sabrina took out a few bundles of papers and handed them to the beast king. The father took them and started to skim on the contents. He widened his eyes in fright while began sweating profusely.

It was all the report on the evidences found regarding Erick's deeds. The report contained various kind of cases, including the matter of Haruna's village and the kidnapping of the tortured women, how he played and tormented them alongside several other party.

"Blearghh!"

The beast king was vomiting blood from his mouth after the finished reading the report. His face was distorted greatly, looking very miserable and furious beyond help.

This was absurd, if this report was shared on public the damage on his family reputation would be unimaginable!! It wouldn't be weird if the church issued a purge on the royalties by gathering forces from other countries! Just by killing Erick was nowhere near enough!!

The evidences on the recent case was given to the princess by Haruto's group when they collected them in the treatment period. They heard of Lumina saying the beastman princess was a decent person and known to hate her brother deeply. Erick was always treating her horribly with disdainful and mocking eyes. Although she was never been harmed as her position was equal to him for such risky acts, Sabrina had always known of the wickedness of her brother. She tried to warn her father many times but never been treated seriously.

As a result, it was all led to this.

Sabrina gazed at the pitiful look of her father sadly, she always thought her father was a good ruler but it was so unfortunate that his expectations and importance he placed on his own son had deluded his eyes. If only the beast king wasn't spoiling Erick too much and let him took so many praises and graces ever since he's a child... But there's no 'if' as what's done is done.

The beastman princess moved her eyes on Haruto's group and bowed deeply in front of them.

"For the troubles my family has brought upon you, allow me to express my deep apology."

"Don't apologize to us, apologize to the people your brother has harmed." Haruto said.

"...I'm well aware of what he did couldn't be forgiven even with the price of his life. ...But we still have responsibilities against our country so if Haruto-sama does not mind would you tell us everything you desires in exchange for a compromise? No matter what your wishes are, we would do everything we can to fulfill them." Sabrina said with resolute eyes.

"P-Princess!"

"Sabrina!?"

"...."

Her appeal made the royal guards and the beast king shocked. The reason she offered such things on Haruto was obvious, it was to prevent her entire family from being annihilated in the case Erick's deeds reached the church's ears. The only one knew about this matter was Haruto's group, so if they could keep the matter a secret, they would all be saved not counting on Erick.

Even if they tried to kill Haruto's group to keep their mouth shut, it wouldn't work as they were greatly acquainted with Lumina herself, it was obvious what would happen if they laid their hands on them. Furthermore, the human princess had also learnt of the events so the only way to persuade her was by persuading Haruto.

That's why they had to bribe the group no matter what kind of thing they demanded. Sabrina did not mind to exchange her life if she could protect her father, it was because the people still needed him and she didn't want him to be killed. If needed to, she also prepared to sacrifice her dignity and body in the case Haruto wished for her. The beast king and the guards also realized this hence they felt so frustrated, not being able to do anything.

Still, although she's resolute on doing everything Haruto wanted, she was still scared and sad imagining she had to surrender herself for a stranger. Her face remained strong but she gripped the hem of her skirt tightly while her hands were shaking from her fear.

"Hmm anything eh?" Haruto made a smirk. This caused Sabrina to tighten her grip stronger, her heart was pounding very hard as sweat dropped from her tender skin.

"You heard her, what do you guys think?" He glanced at his companions. They signalled him to do what he wanted in response so he instead moved his gaze on Haruna.

"...Well, in that case why don't you bring the bastard here first?" He asked the royal guards beside Sabrina.

They understood what he meant and he's talking to bring Erick to the room. The leader of the squad signalled his subordinates to get Erick.

A few minutes later, the still unconscious Erick was dropped to the floor right in front of them. By now, not even the guards had a single respect on the prince that brought all this troubles, he's already considered as criminal.

Haruto walked forward without saying a word and grabbed the head of the sleeping beastman prince. He lifted him high and his right hand began to conjure an energy blade. Without hesitating, he swung the blade against Erick.

*Slash*

"!! AAAARGHHHH!!!"

Like a hot knife slicing through a butter, Erick's manlihood was skillfully seperated from his body along with a fountain of red blood gushing out. The intense pain he felt caused the beastman prince to regain his consciousness right away and screamed loudly.

"I've done my business, I'll let you have the rest Haruna. Do whatever you want, don't be afraid to kill him." Haruto turned his back on the still screaming Erick, dispelling the blade on his hand.

"Thank you very much, Haruto-san." Haruna bowed and stepped forth.

She looked at the miserable appearance of Erick with emotional eyes. The mastermind of her village destruction was right within her arms' reach, the arch enemy of her family and friends. She still remember the merciless slaughter happened on that day, the faces of the people they harmed.

Putting her hand on the small bag on her waist, she took out an old looking plain dagger. It was the memento of her father, the dagger he used to open the bindings tying her and let her escape. The dagger was originally belonged to her mother when she's still an active adventurer.

That was why this weapon was a perfect choice to do this.

*Slash*

She cut off Erick's left ear.

"It was for Nat-chan that you killed."

*Slash*

She cut off Erick's right ear.

"That was for Gen-san."

*Slash*

She cut off Erick's nose.

"This time it's for Fana-san."

*Stab*

She stabbed and destroyed Erick's left eye.

"For Gina-chan."

*Stab*

She stabbed and destroyed Erick's right eye.

"For Reika-chan."

*Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Stab* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Stab* *Slash* *Slash*

The torturing was going like endlessly, each time the dagger hit his body, Erick would scream in agony but before he managed to scream for a second, another one came on him. Who knows how many times he was hacked piece by piece? If not for Kaori intentionally restoring his body to fresh and began the torture anew, he would be cut into hundreds of pieces already.

The beastman side was watching the spectacle with pale face and fear. They were so terrified of the viciousness Haruna was displaying. But although they thought the sight was gore, they didn't pity Erick at all, he deserved those.

Haruto's side was more casual with almost indifferent eyes, they already witnessed the brutality on that dark dungeon directly with their own eyes, just this wasn't enough to make them feel repulsed. If compared, Erick still hadn't suffered enough just yet to share the women's pain.

"Haa... Haa..."

Haruna was panting heavily with eyes full of tears. Her revenge had gone for more than an hour, mentioning each person she knew that was killed in that tragedy. Erick was already foaming bubbles on his mouth, looking fully broken. She landed a last stab on Erick's heart using the dagger and planted it deeply before taking it off again.

"This... is... for my family....!"

Her voice was radiating anger and sorrow by the last blow, her vigor had also been exhausted as she done her vengeance. Spitting on body below, she turned her back on him and returned to Haruto's group's side.

"Is this enough?" Haruto asked.

"....Yes, I'm already satisfied." Haruna faintly smiled with bloody figure. She looked so exhausted but anyone could see she also seemed a lot better as if a huge burden on her shoulders was lifted.

"I see." He nodded. Now that Haruna's revenge was over, it was time for the finishing touch. Just like what they had agreed upon, this was still nowhere enough for the sins Erick committed.

"Kaori." Haruto called.

"I know."

Kaori nodded and she stepped forward.

"W-What are you going to do?"

The beast king and the others were perplexed, Erick was already dead from the last stab to his heart what more would Haruto do to him? Burned his corpse into crisp? Or torturing him again not minding his death?

*Paaan~~~*

A bright light covered Erick's body as Kaori cast a revival magic on him. His wound was fully regenerated and his heart began beating once again. The scene of all of this happening was like a video playback, as if time was reversing back.

"!! Haaa...!!!"

Erick gasped as his eyes regained light and vitality. The beastman's side was frozen like a statue for the inexplicable situation in front of them. Both Erick and them still couldn't process the whole thing with their brain but before they could so, Kaori already extended her palm against Erick's dumbfounded face.

"Destruction Engraving - Endless Reversal."

"!!!!!??? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA----------------"

In that instant Kaori chanted her spell, a more horrifying scene occurred. The wound that was supposed to be healed was once again ripped open little by little, every wounds he had recently, including the one Haruto inflicted during the match.

Once the wounds were all reopened completely, they then stared to regenerate in the blink of an eye. This happened and suddenly the wounds began opening again. And thus, the cycle of wounds opening and healing was repeating without end.

Destruction Engraving, it was the spell to reopen the opponent's recent wounds using Regeneration Magic's time manipulation ability.

Reversal, it was the spell that did the opposite of Destruction Engraving, this was the spell Kaori often applied on her healing magic, to regenerate limbs and wounds.

She combined the two spells and created the eternal cycle of torment alongside Soul Magic to make sure the pain was deeply engraved on the opponent's mind and soul, preventing them to dull their senses and went insane. Kaori made sure so Erick would stay 'awake' and sober, not allowing him to die or escape by going crazy.

This... was the final punishment Haruto gave upon the arrogant prince.