—I'm alive. —I murmured with weak consciousness. When I woke up, I was again lying on the hard floor. Soon, my memories before losing consciousness came back to me.

—Ah...

I felt like vomiting but somehow resisted.

What did they do to me? Why am I still alive?

Now that the paralysis was no longer in effect, I could moan like this and somehow move my body.

I put my hand on my head and felt a hard sensation on my fingers. Without doubt, that evil ring that spat needles was now completely attached to my head.

It's there... it's really there...

Although my situation hadn't improved in the slightest, I was grateful to at least be alive.

First, I had to confirm the situation I was in.

I was in the same type of empty room where they had kept me at first.

Well, the room was meant to function as a prison, so it's a valid arrangement.

However, my clothes had changed; they had now become similar to those of the masked men, that is, white clothes. Although I wasn't wearing a cloak or mask, just a simple one-piece tunic.

«Was this a prison uniform?»

I joked about my situation.

For now, the fact that I was alive and whole meant they wouldn't kill me immediately.

I refused to die in a situation where they would kill me while I begged for my life.

When I got up and took a step toward the door, the door began to open with a clear sound.

An automatic door? Not possible.

So it meant that someone on the other side had opened it. And the one who opened the door was, as expected, the same masked man.

I was on guard, but the masked man seemed more concerned about what was behind him than about me. It seemed there were also other masked men behind him.

Two masked men entered the room and moved me toward the wall, trying to maintain some distance from me.

And then another entered, or so I thought, but I couldn't take my eyes off his face. That was because he wasn't wearing a mask and showed his bare face.

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He was an old man with white skin and finely chiseled features. His hair was hidden inside his hood, but it was most likely completely white, and his eyes were blue. His age easily exceeded 60 years, and he also had a proud white beard to top it off.

«Could this old man be the leader of those masked men?»

At that moment, I felt an intense headache. I felt as if my head was splitting.

A pain so strong that it made me think I was about to die, but what was actually causing me pain was another person's "will" that kept resonating inside my head.

A different thought began to form by itself inside my head.

«What's happening? Why does it hurt so much?»

The cause of the pain was undoubtedly that thought, and I intuitively understood that the source was that old man in front of me.

As I fell to the ground, I looked at the old man with tears in my eyes. Not with anger, but simply as if I were pitifully begging.

—Without resistance, submission.

Before passing out, the pain stopped, and at that moment, I realized that I couldn't go against this old man, nor against all the masked men. Or rather, I was forced to kneel.

«I can't... I can't resist...»

The effect of the headache still persisted, and I couldn't get up immediately.

Again, the headache began to slowly return.

I struggled and tried to stand up staggering. It was a worse sensation than vomiting, but it was better than suffering that same headache again.

With panting breath, I stood up and looked at the old man.

I stood there, unable to give any kind of reaction.

—Follow me.

As the old man spoke, he turned around and began to walk.

Unable to resist, I followed him with hesitant steps. On the old man's attire, the emblem of a cross was painted. Upon crossing the door, I saw that the tunnel continued into darkness.

As if sinisterly presaging that, compared to the hell that awaits me in the future, it would be much better to commit suicide right now.

After they placed that fearsome ring with protruding needles on my head, an unimaginable daily life in hell began. I didn't know how much time had passed since the day I first saw that old man.

However, there were some things I came to know. First of all, I, under the leadership of that old man, had been subjected to human experiments by this group with the religious symbol of the cross.

Through the white ring still physically attached to my brain, my actions were completely controlled. With just a thought, that old man or that masked man could cause me pain so intense that I wished for my own death.

The first day was bearable.

I can handle this... it's not so bad... The second day was more or less like the first.I

just have to hold on a little longer...

The problems started from the third day.

Ahhhhac!

Uu... Uuk! Stop! Please, stop!

Stop!

The cause was the medicines they asked me to swallow on the first and second day.

My skin went from intense black to pale white. The process repeated.

The pain completely surpassed anyone's imagination.

Kill me! Kill me, please! Kill me, please!

From that day, a day I no longer remembered, my life changed drastically.

I spent my days chained, screaming in pain, begging to be killed.

Please...