Aranea forced herself to ignore pleas and pursue the regulator. He calmly walked forward, not afraid in the slightest that the wolf hag might attack him. He walked into the corridor, and Aranea followed him. They walked to two metal poles in the distance, blood was dripping from something on top of them, but Aranea could not make out what it was because of the tunnel's height. The man walked out of the corridor, and iron bars slammed into the ground, separating him from Aranea, locking her in the corridor.

"What is the mea…" Aranea started to ask, and then Yasen stopped, pointing up cheerfully. Aranea looked up and gasped in horror.

The bodies of Kate and Kaleb were strapped to the metal poles. Kaleb was lacking his left leg, while Kate was missing her arms and legs. The wounds were roughly sewn together, blood was still dripping from them. The wolf hag screamed at them, but neither of her soldiers responded.

"And here are your friends, ready to be saved! However, just letting you get to them would be a bit easy," The regulator smirked, "No," He dropped the pretense, looking at Aranea with barely suppressed anger, "You made my lady bleed. Now it is my turn to play with you. Here is the dragon for you to overcome before you can rescue the princess. Swollen!" He shouted, lifting his head theatrically, "Move it up, boy, we have a dog to skin!"

Aranea turned back as she heard loud, wet-sounding footsteps behind her. Someone came into the corridor. A large mass of flesh, only covered by leather straps that held mechanical devices. Each of these gadgets keeps syringes about an inch away from the yellow skin. What was once a human face now was a mass of yellow flesh. Two oval eyes gleefully looked at the wolf hag. All the limbs of the person were swollen, with countless marks from injections and distorted images of tattoos on the yellow skin. The man held a rusted-looking blade in his hands.

"Can I eat this one too?" This weird person asked in an excited voice. He loudly inhaled air through his mouth.

"Of course, my dear. Do you worst with her," Yasen purred. The lady will forgive me as long as this one suffered properly before meeting her demise. But please, for my sake, do make it interesting."

"Afraid to take me on yourself?" Aranea snarled at him, "At least release my hands then, coward!"

"Ah, but heroes do not harm people who can’t fight back." The Regulator smirked with delight, "And prisoners must wear handcuffs all the time, I am afraid."

Swollen screamed and raised his weapon over his head, striking with it. Aranea dodged, and the weapon scratched against the bars. Swollen pushed with his elbow, slamming her into the walls. The damned maniac was far stronger than his sick body indicated. She unleashed her claws, scratching his side, but Swollen only laughed, ramming her into the wall again with an elbow, stepping back, slashing with his blade, and slicing part of the flesh away from her shoulder. Aranea dodged another slice, rolling back into the corridor, as the person followed after her, kicking her in the hands with his leg, the force of the kick made her sprawl on the floor. The wolf hag barely had time to dodge before the blade could slam into her head, circling him and ending with her back against the bars again.

"Fighty one," Swollen said angrily, loudly inhaling air once more, "I hate it when prey lasts so long. Get in my belly!"

"Here." Someone behind Aranea said, and a key fell to the floor in front of her feet. She grabbed it, dodging another slash and twisting her fingers, trying to push the key into the keyhole in her handcuffs. Finally, the halfbreed managed to do it, and her hands were free.

Grug, that weird creature from many years ago, was standing by the side of Yasen. His body was covered with scars, he was wrinkled and hunched, as if in constant fear.

"What do you think you are doing?" Yasen calmly asked him, turning to Grug and landing a punch in his stomach, sending his massive body into the wall. Grug fell and covered his head with his massive hands.

"You asked her to make it interesting," The creature whimpered in horror, pleadingly looking at the regulator, "With hands locked, she can’t do much. Besides, lady Blaguna will be angry…"

"Idiot! I was asking Swollen!" Yasen stomped on Grug’s head in anger, drawing blood from the creature, "Who asked you to interfere?! Who asked for your opinion?!"

Aranea lunged at Swollen, grabbing him by the head and slamming him into the wall. He made a slash, but Aranea stepped back, easily avoiding the hit. She slashed with her claws, leaving cuts on the belly of the foe.

"No matter." Yasen said, returning to his cool, "Girl, are you sure that you have time for dodging? Your friends are about to follow the way of the old world." Aranea briefly glanced at the maimed forms of wolfkins, as Yasen reached for some device in his pocket and pressed the button.

Swollen screamed as syringes injected something into him. He charged forward, but this time Aranea faced him head on. She had to finish the fight quickly. Her claws tore through the biceps on Swollen's right hand, just as the blade of the maniac crashed into her right paw, severing tendons in her hand. She groaned in pain as Swollen continued his attack, hacking and slashing her, ignoring all the pain that she caused him with her own attacks. Flesh was hanging from the body of Swollen, yet only a stupid grin was on his face, while Aranea felt how her right hand hung.

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"As expected," Yasen smirked proudly, "Because you worried too much, you allowed yourself to be injured. Swollen, do finish her off, will you?"

Despite his injuries, Swollen raised a blade over his head and charged forward. Aranea waited until the blade was almost on her forehead before dodging to the side and closing her jaws on the right wrist of Swollen, slamming the claws of her left hand into his side. Weird smells and tastes of strange narcotics filled the mouth of Aranea, yet she refused to let go and bit away at the wrist of the man, causing him to lose the blade and step back, howling in anger and pain. Aranea swallowed disgusting flesh, turning to the man behind bars.

"Oh, for the love of…" Yasen expressed his disappointment while pressing another button on the device in his hand.

The roof in the corridor started to lower, and Aranea felt a stone plate falling on her neck. She moved her left arm, holding the massive stone plate at bay with all her force, yet it was slowly moving down.

"You blasted coward." Aranea breathed heavily, "How can a coward like you even sleep at night?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. I have a soft bed and a few mistresses to keep me company," Yasen replied thoughtfully, scratching his chin, "Now do me a solid and splatter against the floor already."

Aranea tried to hold on to the ceiling, but it pushed her to her knees. Panicking, she tried to move her right paw but failed to do so. Blood was freely flowing from her right hand, she felt pain and could barely move her fingers, yet from her elbow to her wrist, her hand no longer obeyed her will.

A loud click was heard somewhere above the ceiling, and the mechanism that drove the ceiling down stopped. A woman in a gold and black uniform jumped from behind the ceiling and landed in front of Yasen.

"You…" The voice of the woman trembled from barely-held fear and anger. Aranea recognized her as the silver mask from before, the one called Geldi, "What is wrong with you? When I was growing up, you were my icon! But the way you treat people, the way you allow her to treat people... Are you even human?!" She screamed in Yasen’s face.

"Course I am human, hon." He extended his arm to caress the chin of the woman before him. "If you want to, I can show you a few…"

"Then how can you torture other people!?" She threw his arm aside and pointed at Aranea and the wolfkins on the iron poles.

"People? Babe, if I have to call them people, then I will have to do the same with cockroaches!" The regulator laughed, grabbing Geldi by the collar and lifting her in the air, "My dear, stupid girl. The heroes of old are sadly dead by now. Not my fault, I advised the old man to clear out the house before she makes her move," He whispered into the face of Geldi, "You think I like it now? Being stuck in here and shit? I was an angel, an inspiration to others. Women named their kids after me! I SAVED PEOPLE! ME!" Yasen trembled with anger, running across his head with one hand to calm himself. He looked past the head of Geldi, a strange longing in his eyes, "I was beautiful back then. People chanted my name..." He shook his head, looking back at the soldier, "But now monsters rule, and I refuse to die in vain like the rest. So keep your mouth shut, and everything will be fine. I may even help with your promotion, if you just…" He stopped as Aranea tore through the iron bars, climbing out of the corridor.

"You," The wolf hag gasped, standing up, "You owe me a debt now." The claws on her left paw twitched.

"I owe things to many people," The regulator smiled, "But to you, honey, I owe only jack and shit." He pointed his finger at Aranea, "One finger. That's all that I need to end your existence. Here’s the deal, pick up your half-dead friends, get back to your cell, or…"

"Master…" Swollen whimpered from inside the tunnel, climbing to the exit. "You wanted to kill me too?"

"You? You are trash. I didn't even think about you for a moment, to be honest," The regulator chuckled, looking at the man with surprise.

"But I always helped you dispose of those boys and gir…" His words were cut short when Yasen pointed to the corridor, a wave of force shot from his finger, breaking the machine over the ceiling and burying Swollen in a sea of stone and metal. Crimson liquid started spreading from the rubble, mixed with dust and pus.

"Whoopsies. My hand slipped." Yasen shrugged his shoulders and threw Geldi to the floor. "So what will it be, wolf girl? Fight or surrender?"

Before Aranea could answer, someone grabbed her from behind, twisting her left arm behind her body. The wolf hag tried to break free, but the unknown attacker made a swooping kick with her leg, throwing Aranea off balance. She fell face down, feeling someone’s knee on her spine, pressing her against the stone floor with ease.

"Miss Green!" Grug shouted happily, "Please save me! A bad person hurt me…" He tried to stand up, when a woman in a green business suit appeared before him, putting the heel of her left leg onto his chest and pressing Grug down, piercing his skin. All the while, someone was still holding Aranea, "I will be good, miss Green! I will, I will!" Grug shouted, his arms jerking in pain. He stared in horror at the heel on his chest, but made no attempt to remove it.

"You stupid pig. We gave you the order to check out this place and leave. Why have you stumbled around the Ravaged Lands for so long? Where are the results? " Two voices asked in unison, one came from someone behind Aranea, the other from the woman standing before Grug.

"But I found it! I found the clue!" Grug argued, crying, tears running down his snout. "But then this bad man took away my informant and fed him to the dead person there!" The creature's hand pointed down the ruined corridor.

"Is this true, Yasen? Did you really dare to play against us?" Both women asked in the same sweet voice, speaking in perfect unison.

"I have no idea what you are speaking about," The regulator snapped at the woman, "Now give me back my toy or I…" Another woman in green appeared behind him, wrapping her hands around his neck affectionately. Beautiful-looking nails were pressed against the neck of the regulator.

"You weren’t so stingy with words last night," All three women purred at the same time, "Come on, Yasen, tell me everything, before I decided to tell Blaguna about your deal with King. I wonder how she will react? "

"You won’t achieve anything…" Yasen swallowed nervously, "My lady knows that she needs me. Without me, the Regulators…"

The woman near Yasen removed her nails from his neck and walked around him before licking his neck gently and kissing him on the lips, causing his body to tremble, "Maybe… How about a carrot instead? Work with me, and I will give you heaven..." Her hand moved to his groin, and Yasen smiled. In the next moment, another woman appeared behind him. She looked exactly like the woman in front of Yasen. Her strong arms grabbed his neck into a hold, while the hold on his groin tightened, "Work against me, and I may just bury you. Your choice."

"I…" The man licked his lips in fear, briefly looking at Aranea, "First, I need to deliver prisoners back to their cell."

Something slammed Aranea behind her neck, and darkness fell upon her.