As my eyes adjust to the dim yellow light again after a long night of rest the metal door at the back of the room swings open.

The short-haired blond walks in with two new silver daggers on her thighs and a leather pouch over her shoulder that seems to be some variation of an item box. She sports a wide grin, showing off her annoyingly symmetric pearly white teeth.

The woman takes a few steps forward and then reaches into the item box to pull out a small wooden stool, a long leather whip, and a silver key. Next, she takes out a small brown box and a crystal clear bottle of water. The scent of spices and hot food fills the air, there must be food in that box.

She places all of the assorted items on top of the small stool similar to the one I sit on at the back of the room as the door slams shut.

The blond gets close, but far enough away this time that I won't be able to reach her with my forehead. She speaks while grabbing one of her knives and twirling it around.

"How was your night? Any trouble sleeping? I bet you're feeling more talkative today, aren't you?"

She smirks, but my eyes are more lively than yesterday after the great night of rest I just woke up from.

I reply, looking at her, then moving my gaze to all of the gear she brought in.

"Just fine. What's on the menu today?"

My mouth is dry and my stomach is empty, but oddly enough it's not as extreme as I would have expected. This may be a positive side effect of using a body double skill. These clones may need less food and water to exist than a regular person, I'm not positive yet.

She replies, ripping out both of the knives from the back of my palms with her free hand in one rough motion.

"If you cooperate, maybe you'll find out. It's all yours if you talk."

The blood-soaked blades hit the ground behind her with a clang and a splash. Crimson liquid starts to leak onto the table again as she's reopened my wounds.

"Now, where were we?"

The woman looks up at the ceiling and then back to me.

"What unique skill did that Demon have, and what element did its Dragon possess?"

She puts a foot up on the table and continues spinning her blade, then takes out her other one. My eyes gloss over and I just stare dully ahead while replying in a monotone voice.

"It's just going to be the same as yesterday isn't it."

She angrily reacts.

"Yeah, and worse is you keep that attitude."

She points the blades to my fingers.

"We'll do one nail for every hour you don't cooperate."

She turns to the pile of gear, pointing out the whip.

"Then move to more extreme measures if you still have nothing helpful to say."

I still don't budge. I'm unsure if the fact that I know nothing that happens to this body matters is the main component of my calm attitude right now, or if this woman is just imperfect at her job... Telling your captive exactly what you're going to do to them isn't exactly prime torture tactics.

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Thinking about my situation even more, with a single release of Demonic Energy while she has her shielding activated, it would most likely be more than enough to take her out. However, if pushed hard enough she'll leak information of her own. Playing along for now may be beneficial.

Returning my gaze back to her, I reply.

"Do your worst."

She does.

Five hours pass and my entire left hand's nails have been taken, but I don't react much to the pain or the situation of guaranteed demise I'm trapped in from her perspective.

Every time the woman asks what power the demon has or the element its bonded dragon wields, I continue to ignore her. Occasionally, I'll return some questions back to her.

"Who do you work for? Maybe I'd be more inclined to answer if I knew where this information was going."

All I get in response each time are slashes to the arms from her daggers and threats to take off my fingers instead of just the nails. I don't react.

Three more hours pass and I can tell she's getting much more frustrated.

After a bloody barrage of attacks followed by an indifferent dull response from me every time, I hear her curse under her breath as she paces near the back of the room.

"If only it wasn't for these cuffs, I could use mind magic on this brat. I need to figure out which one came back."

I raise an eyebrow, then show a grin. This is the first bit of emotion I've shown all day.

"Mind magic huh? Why can't you use it now? What's so special about these cuffs? Take them off, try it out."

The most interesting detail that piques my interest is her last line. She needs to figure out which one came back...? Which what? Arch Demon? Dragon Type? Or something else...

She scowls and grabs the whip at the back of the room letting out a fit of rage.

"They said you'd be a special case and not to take those cuffs off for any reason for the chance that this special investigation would all be compromised."

*Crack*

The lash hits me across the chest. Gritting my teeth and exhaling loudly I reply through the stinging sensation that rips my shirt.

I mock her words from yesterday.

"Good. Information. Keep it coming... Now we're getting somewhere."

I chuckle.

This only pisses her off more, leading to more cracks of her whip and bloody mutilation from her daggers. The remark and info gathered were worth it.

Two more hours pass, and we're both exhausted by the end of it.

Possibly her more than me. Both covered in blood and sweat, she decides to end today's session here. The one thing that irks me a bit is the satisfied look on her face.

With a smirk, the blond opens the door and turns back to me.

"Now you understand what the next few days will be like. I can do this for as long as I need to, it's best you cooperate. If not, tomorrow will be even worse."

She slams the door shut, and I let out a long sigh while placing my head down on the blood-soaked table. My entire body burns with gashes from that whip and my hands can barely move from the knife marks and lack of nails.

I take a deep breath in and out, then begin my Demonic Energy Manipulation training without a moment of hesitation.

The small trace amounts of black wisps continue to spawn every 30 minutes or so just 500 meters away. If I don't grab onto them within a few minutes of them spawning, they float away.

I manage to filter the energy 6 times this session. Even though I'm on the verge of exhaustion, it's much easier to manipulate the black matter this time around.

By the time the 3 hours of training are up, I'm able to filter the raw power through my core to 100% refined energy in under 2 minutes. Expelling it in a single thin blade-like line has become easier too. The initial expulsion uses up almost all of the energy and I can propel it all the way to the back wall of the room. It hits the metal door, but doesn't do any damage and hardly makes a sound. It still takes 15 seconds to drip out all of the remaining matter.

The refined Demonic Energy dissolves away without a trace.

"Good progress... but I need to get better."

The fatigue catches up to me, and I begin to drift off.

Before I can attempt to tamper with these cuffs or make an attack on the woman, I need to get more proficient. Plus, every day I keep her talking will potentially bring me more information. My goal is to absorb, refine, and expel Demonic Energy almost instantaneously before attempting an escape.

At first, I just thought I'd just let her kill me and forget about all of this to go rogue in silence, but the more she tortures me the more it seems she's enjoying herself. It doesn't matter if she's just a hired grunt, or doing all of this by her own free will. I'll get revenge on this woman no matter what.

My new mission is to make her suffer the same fate as she's given me, then burn the organization that trapped me here to the ground.

Everything fades to black as I fall asleep.

Many hours later, I wake up to the sound of loud metal banging and the woman's voice as she barges in through the door.

Today, I have a new plan.