Author Warning: Darker overtones this chapter, compared to previous ones. (Torture)

Walking up to the strong and confident woman whose name I had yet to learn, I could see that just before stopping time, she had raised an eye-brow, as if she heard my final thoughts, but didn't quite have time to react.

In my past life, I had some measure of confidence in my ability to fight. I was a nerd, but I was a nerd that could fight back. That said, I had a weight advantage over most people, and so I could put a lot of force behind my punches and kicks.

In this world, I've become a dainty fox—what little weight I can gain even while overeating all flows to my hips, or just seems to vanish. While it's great for maintaining a figure, I also can't seem to build much strength or endurance.

My pain tolerance is fine though, so even if I can't fight very well with this delicate body, I can at least take a few punches.

Well, it's fine. I have the power to stop time after all.

As I walked up to her, I took a close look at her attire. Mostly, she wore thick cloth, layered with leather. It was not very visually appealing, but it would protect her body from the elements, and perhaps a bit more. But it's useless against me.

I grabbed the hem of her top, and pulled up on it. Her top was tucked into the pants she wore, so I just had to apply a bit of extra force to free it. Once the hem was free, I pulled it up, exposing the woman's tummy.

A soft and squishy pale white stomach, devoid of any muscle, but with just the right amount of fat. Honestly, are all Kitsune like this?

Well, whatever. Her guard was down, and her stomach is relaxed.

Taking that into account, I pulled back my fist, and punched her.

Well, I punched her a few times. I was careful though, making sure my punches landed without spraining or twisting my wrist.

With as many times as I hit her, I imagine there would at least be some recoil for her, and I tried making sure she would go in the direction of the stream, where the trees didn't quite reach.

As I returned time to about half of real-time, I suddenly felt the jolt of pain shoot through my arm, as I felt the recoil of my attack, and the soreness from using a knife to cut through wood for hours.

Similarly, my victim was confused for a second as she felt her body pushed backwards to the side. She stumbled, before tripping onto her butt.

From my perspective, it all happened in slow motion, and I could see the instant where her face began to contort into pain, and let out a groan.

Taking no mercy on the girl, and relishing in the act, I brought my leg up, and released a powerful kick towards her face, taking care to avoid her temple—I wanted her to feel the kick, not pass out from it. If there's any consolation regarding this feminine body of mine, my legs at least pack some force behind them.

She had no time to block, as the high-speed kick further pushed her towards the stream of water.

I don't know what the limitations on her plant controlling ability is, but I want to assume there's a distance limit of some kind.

As I returned the flow of time to normal, I watched the girl roll on the dirt for a moment, as she stopped herself, and tried to pull herself up, clearly shaken by the sudden change in circumstance.

"Now now, don't give me that look," I said in response to the confused and bewildered expression she tossed me, as she barely managed to get to her feet. "You should know, you hurt me quite a bit, and then interrogated me. I have every right to fight back," I told her.

—In response to that, her eyes narrowed, and a moment later 4 white bolts were fired at me.

I quickly stopped time, and decided to have a look at what these bolts were. There were very fast, and if I had waited even a moment later, they would have already hit.

What's more, when I took a look down, I noticed that there was a plant's stem which was already working it's way around my foot, but hadn't quite grabbed hold. I didn't notice it because it didn't actually touch me, but it was about ready to restrain me once more. So without any hesitation, I cut the stem, and moved to observe those light bolts.

Looking at them closely, they sort of resembled a shard of broken glass. But they glowed. If I had to make a guess, it was probably some super-heated compressed air or something. I couldn't know for sure, but it was magic after all. It could be any number of things I don't understand. After all, my cut from earlier wasn't cauterized, so my guess is probably wrong. It might be some metamaterial or something?

Well whatever. For now I'll avoid it.

As I walked around her attack, and then circled around my target, until I was behind her, I returned time to its normal flow.

"What?!" She said, as she looked about but didn't see me. "Did he runaway..?" She seemed to consider for a moment.

Can she not sense my thoughts?

Well, that's fine.

I reached forward, grabbing a fistful of hair as tightly as I could, and used all of my body weight (not very much of it) to yank her down to the ground once more. Of course, she shared the same physical weakness as me, so my small weight was just enough.

As she fell, it looked like she tried to grab hold of some kind of support, but there was none. Before the two of us could splash into the water behind us, I froze time once more to get out from under her, and began picking up rocks from the stream. As I deactivated my magic once more, I came to realize that I've never used this much mana at once. Well, I could last for quite a bit longer at least.

As she splashed into the water, she fumbled, trying to pull herself back to her feet, now with her heavy wet clothes.

I thought perhaps she would try and continue the fight, however...

—"I submit!"

She shouted that with her hands held up towards me, in a gesture I could only interpret as surrender.

"Oh? But this was your fight?" I said with a smug smile, as I took one, two steps towards her.

However, a feeling of arousal seemed to wash over me, and goosebumps caressed my flesh into a state of excitement.

"—P-please? Let's not fight," She said, her voice changing by several octaves. Ah, she really is quite a beauty isn't she? That silver hair only added to her allure, and as I took slow steps towards her, I took in her radiance.

I wondered, is she interested in girls? Or perhaps she saw through me..?

Ah, but I'm certainly aroused, and perhaps it really was time for the fight to end.

"Yeah, no more fighting, let's just... get to know each other? My name is Sentra. What's yours?" She asked, with a small smile forming on her face.

"Toyaru," I answered in a half-daze.

However, as I walked into her range, and looked into her eyes which flaunted her sense of superiority, I had a single thought...

—This person clearly doesn't know what's about to happen.

Balling my hand into a fist, I shot it forward, colliding with her chin!

She clearly had not seen it coming, despite how telegraphed my swing was, and she ended up falling into the stream once more.

Confusion and panic written on her face, she tried to use her hands to back away, but as I slowed down time, not quite stopping it to save on mana, I walked around behind her, and sat down. I reached forward, coiling my arms around her neck, and then reaching both of my legs around to lock her arms behind her. It was a weird grapple to say the least, and it was only feasible with my tiny stature, and her awkward position.

Restoring time to how it was, I began a struggle with Sentra, who thrashed as she tried to free herself from my improvised hold. Her arms were trapped in a weird position behind her, and I held her head and neck in my grasp. Even though she should be physically stronger than me, her arms weren't quite enough to resist the lock of my two legs.

I noticed one of her white shards being produced right in front of her, and then being shot backwards at me, but I was too close to her for her to really hit me, and she ended up missing.

I thought she might try to grab me with plants, but I didn't notice the movement of any plants. I wasn't sure if she had an effective range, or if it was because she was half drowning, as I would repeatedly submerge her head into the water. However, there could be underground movement I'm not aware of.

"Come on, come on, you're the one who wanted to play," I said in an excited voice that I don't think I've ever really used.

Sentra choked, as she tried to voice a complaint, "kH-how? You should be under my spell's effect," She tried to say, but a lot of it came out more like gibberish.

Spell? Is that what this sudden feeling of arousal is? Charm Magic?

"What do you mean? Of course I am," I whispered into her ear in a loving voice, as I once more choked her. "You certainly charmed me, and I can't resist you anymore," I said. "I want to have you and break you so badly," I whispered with a chuckle, before submerging her head into the water once more, as she struggled.

Moments later, she became much more frantic, as she tried to escape, no longer using her Charm magic. I could only assume that she looked into what I was thinking, and that the knowledge of what was to come was much more frightening than she could have hoped for.

But honestly, I was far too excited to stop now, even without her magic.

"Now now, don't move too much," I said, as I punched the girl in the face. "This is only part of your training. Understand?" I said with a grin.

"Please, no!" She tried to shout, but my grip didn't loosen at all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see some plants moving, however, neither really came too close. Is it because the plants themselves have a range they can move in? I guess she can't just add mass to plants, and instead has them bend and coil, huh? Well, there's some leaf-like plants in the river, and I noticed they tried to wrap around me, but you know, their grip is pretty weak.

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"Well if you just submit to me now, I'll reconsider your treatment," I said, as I slightly loosened my grip around her neck, though still holding her body down. She could at least breath properly, so I gave her a gentle pet to let her think it over. "Just abandoned your former master, and I'll be sure to treat you well," I said.

Of course, she could see in my own mind that "treating her well", was only slightly better than her alternatives. It's not like I intended to kill her or anything. But maybe that's what terrified her most?

"Y-yes, ok!" She said in a shaky voice, as I caressed her face from behind.

"Truly?"

"Yes! Truly, I'll do as you say!" She claimed.

It's been said that when torturing someone, they are likely to give false information. Anything to end the interrogation. Well, I'm not really after any particular information.

I just want to break this girl. When it comes to this sort of thing, I'm just an amateur, but lets just do some tests.

"I don't believe you," I said, finally letting the girl go, if only for a moment, before grabbing onto her hair, and shoving her face into the water once more. She struggled for a moment, but I didn't bother holding her down for long. I pulled her face back up to meet my own, only after a few seconds.

"Do you know why I don't believe you?" I asked with a devilish grin.

As she once more peered into my thoughts, her face paled.

Simply put, I didn't quite expect her to break that easily anyways. Giving into pain and the fear of death is one thing; coming to accept and submit to your torturer is another. And like I said, those under torture are willing to tell any lie to make it stop.

"I guess we'll have to play," I said, which startled Sentra even more, as she tried to back away frantically. She fired a bolt at me once more but it was quite slow compared to before, and had sloppy aim. Perhaps her frantic state messed with its power? Still, I'm sure she has quite a lot of mana compared to me.

However, at that moment, I realized that she decided to take a more desperate approach. A handful of trees began to shake and quiver, as they pulled their roots from the ground. Of course, if neither of the trees can quite reach, just move the trees, huh?

Well, it's not like they can catch me.

As I shifted myself into a slower rate of time, I decided to toss the rocks I picked up earlier, all aiming at her. Of course the rocks traveled at normal speeds, considering my strength wasn't really great, and because of that, I could alternate the course of each rock easily.

The 5 seconds it took for those rocks to hit Sentra was as long as a minute from my perspective. But I had patience. I would beat her bloody, break her, and build her right back up. That was my intention.

The first rock hit her squarely in the forehead, causing a scratch which sprouted a light amount of blood. The next two landed on her stomach, but as expected they harmlessly bounded away from the thick clothes and leather

However, the next one crashed against her hand, smashing into her fingers. They wouldn't break from just this much, but it was at least painful. She flinched backwards at the pain caused by the rocks all simultaneously hitting her.

She held onto her hand with her free hand while also pressing both hands against the bruise on her forehead, but as I walked around her, she frantically looked about. Of course, she could only see me as a blur. She was in a frantic state, unable to defend herself.

However, each attack only slowed down the approaching tree golems of hers.

She was a powerhouse, I'm sure. Any army of humans would easily fall to her in the wrong battle field, and I'm sure with her control over plants, and her ability to charm her enemies, even Aniel would have trouble with her. She could create a shelter from her plants, while firing white bolts that he has no way to defend against, and at the same time being surrounded by plant-life. If he carelessly set fire to the forest, it could at best become a draw—where both of them end up dying, but even that is unlikely.

However, she is now pinned against an opponent who is immune to crowd-control abilities, and who can take out an enemy before they even realize they exist. She had a bad match up with me, and her Charm ability merely sent my own desires into a state that was only a detriment to her.

Lein, that god-king, probably made her into his one-man-army, and has made her gain much experience in combat thanks to her abilities. Learning that Princess Aire was protected by both a powerful magician who could take on dragons, and an unknown Kitsune, Lein probably thought it suitable to send Sentra.

Well, even a god isn't all knowing, huh?

Still, because of that, it's possible that Sentra had never truly experienced a defeat, or even despair of this scale.

Ah, it's nice seeing that frantic expression.

As I walked behind her ever slow moving body, I took the chance to kick her behind the knees, destroying her balance, as she came down on one knee. As she slowly looked back up, there I was in front of her, watching with a grin plastered on my face, as I slowly sped time back up.

In fear, she lashed out at me with her claws, but I managed to step back just enough for her to miss, but I ended up grabbing onto her middle finger just as it passed me up, thanks to the fact time was still moving a little slowly for me.

She stiffened, as her hand was stopped, with her single finger in my grasp. With a smile, I wasted no time as I began to twist her finger backwards.

She screamed, asking me to stop with that expression that was so clearly afraid of pain.

However, I didn't stop, and her hand let out a weird sound as her finger was twisted out of place.

As I let go of her mangled finger, I cupped Sentra's face, which was plastered with an agonized expression.

"Don't worry about that; I can always have it fixed once we're done with the rest," I said, making sure she didn't look away from me.

Still, that fear she showed continued to strike chords in me, as I couldn't help but look at her ecstatically, with her at my mercy.

She had plenty of mana, I was sure. But she knew it was practically futile. Her plants were easy to avoid for me, her bolts couldn't hit when her mind was so struck with panic, and neither of her mental based abilities would help—in fact they may even make it all worst on her.

Still, I didn't want to risk being attacked by those bolts, so I did the only reasonable thing. I gouged her eyes with my thumbs. She didn't see it coming, as my claws pierced her eyes at once, and my thumb crushed them, even as she screamed in pain.

Her golems seemed to shake, as they collapsed, once more into the ground, though two of them ended up falling over, and crushing other trees.

As I let go of her face which had began to let out tears of blood, I reached for her hand once more, and brought it up. I'm sure her eyes would have widened in shock if they were still there, as I grabbed hold of one of her fingers.

"No... No please!" She shouted as I once more twisted another finger out of place, stopping once the weird and queasy noise sounded out, and her finger looked like a mangled mess.

Already Sentra had become a sobbing mess, and by the fourth finger she no longer bothered to beg, yet still let out a cry of pain. She couldn't run even if she tried. I was too fast, and so she could do nothing more but sit there and take it.

With all the screaming, one might worry about someone hearing us out here, but we were quite far from any of the village's usual hunting grounds, or Lein's camp. The only person who should be able to hear was that girl with Aniel, with the violet skin.

One finger at a time, I went about breaking them all out of place. Even her thumbs were dislocated, However, by the time I got half way through her second hand's fingers, she fainted.

Well, I had intended to break her toes afterwards, but this is fine.

Honestly, even though I want to say my pain tolerance is high, I don't think I could handle my fingers being broken. In some ways, I'm impressed she lasted as long as she did.

Though, I suppose the pain sort of just all blurred together by the time I started on her second hand.

Well anyways, I wasn't done here.

For the time being I left her there (with time stopped, of course), and went to get some rope and cloth from Ellen's place, making sure to leave the appropriate amount of money.

Once I was back, I went ahead and bound, gagged, and blindfolded Sentra.

From there, I slowly dragged her by her four tails over to where Aniel was.

He should have adequate healing magic.

I need to fix my new toy, and finish breaking her in.

It'll trouble me if my new toy had unusable hands, and was blind, you know?

Ah, come to think of it, there's Yenna. She might get jealous of my new toy...

Oh I know, maybe I can use her as a punching bag to teach Yenna how to fight?

She'll love that, if I tell her she tried to hurt me.

I'm such a sweet brother/sister, aren't I?

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Author Notes:

So that was a thing.

Honestly, I thought I could have added some more cruel methods in, but figured twisting someone's fingers (and gouging out their eyes) is gruesome enough for now.

So, find out what happened to Sentra next week!

And of course, Toya does in fact intend to learn about his race from her. He just needs to make her more... docile.

Anyways, as always, Feedback and Suggestions are appreciated and encouraged.

Please leave a review if you enjoyed the story thus far!