He couldn't remember exactly how it was that time. All the moments he once experienced, whether in his dreams or in reality, were for him fragments of memories that he couldn't put together, not assign them somewhere. That's why he had no idea what happened, what didn't, what he actually experienced as a free man in the world and what he only dreamed of in his cell.

All of Rue's memories were bits and pieces that would clear up to him from time to time in relation to something similar to what he was currently experiencing...but not enough to know what happened in that memory. They intermingled, he felt all the feelings in them, but at the same time they were strangely inaccessible to him.

In fact, he almost didn't remember what his entire punishment sounded like. He knew he was to be locked up forever, he knew that even though the king didn't want, luck spared him and let him live...he wasn't free, but at least he still lived.

His connection with Luck changed from two-way to one-way. Although he was still bound to the source, he was unable to draw from it, and his easy life became something no Infey had ever experienced.

However, in the cell, the state of his luck didn't matter. He had no way to use it, and Rue remembered that at the time he was locked up in prison, he was quite happy that nothing worse had happened. He didn't remember what might have happened and he didn't remember what else the verdict included...but he knew he wasn't scared at that time.

He knew that he was grateful that he could still communicate with luck as ever, he knew that he was grateful that he was alive at all. But at this moment he didn't remember any gratitude.

The constant silence in the dark, which he lives though by talking to his guard, whose face he had never seen, made him doubt whether he had ever been free. The first countless years were fine…and he couldn't remember when he started to lose track of what he actually experienced and what were dreams.

One year...two...five...ten...every day he added a line to the stone wall to know how much had passed, to know that some beginning of his life in custody was...that he wasn't always in a cell. However, the walls of the prison were only as wide as the cell would allow them to be...and though Rue remembered what day yesterday marked, it began to fade over time.

Fifty...seventy...hundred...

"It's a hundred years today, Qie," he noted another line on the wall, "or...not?" He didn't know.

He lightly let his fingers touched the wall, marked with countless rough cuts. His palm ran over the stone, which had almost no free spots, trying to figure out when he had time to mark them all.

"Has it really been so long, are you really alone for a century?" he mumbled, "I'm alone too...do you think we'll ever meet again?" he didn't know and hesitated, "Qie...do you still remember me?" he asked to the silence in the cell.

He didn't say anything for a while, staring at the wall and thinking before adding, "Do you think luck will ever forgive me, Qie?

He knew he wasn't going to get an answer, and if he did, he certainly wouldn't like it. But he asked anyway because that was all he really wanted to know. He was aware that he deserved his punishment, he knew that it was right and he didn't intend to resist his fate, but that didn't change the fact that he began to feel more lonely every year.

The lines were increasing, no one answered... his guard standing by his cell brought him a candle every day, helped him start a new day without which he couldn't even know about and even though he didn't answer, at least he listened everyday. And that was enough for Rue ...at least for the next fifty years. A long time passed before he began to wonder if the guard at his cell was even real.

"Qie..." he sat by the bars and lightly touched them, "are you still alive at all?" he asked once into the void from which no answer came no matter how long he waited. But he couldn't do anything else...just wait...and waiting was what was starting to drive him more and more crazy every day.

"It's a hundred and fifty years today, Qie," he muttered after some time, "or a hundred and sixty?" suddenly he didn't know.

He blinked into the darkness and looked at the bars, "Qie...how long have I been here?"

But no one answered... like never.

The days passed, lines after lines were added, nothing morecould be written on the stone, which no longer had room for other line. However, Rue marked them anyway...he always marked them...because it was the only thing that kept him alive.

One day he sat again next to the bars and looked out.

"Today I had a dream...a long dream...we were in the forest, walking by the water...the moon was shining, the stars could be seen in the sky...they wew so tiny...they twinkled as if they were real...I thought they were...I don't know why, but I didn't realize I was dreaming," he admitted,

"We walked for a long time...I don't remember where we went, at all, but we had a good time...I was happy," he laughed, "it was a very nice dream...you would have liked it...you were happy too," he gently reached out his hand through the bars to the guard he didn't see,

"We walked for a long time...fireflies flew by us...I was disappointed because they didn't want to come closer...they all flew around you," he laughed, "it was as if I remembered for a moment that there was no luck left for me...I was disappointed...I said that I miss luck," he laughed, "do you know what you did then?" Rue asked.

"You said if I missed luck you'll bring it to me," he laughed, "I didn't think you meant it, but before I could do anything, you gave me your closed palm...just like this," he clenched his hand in his fist and looked at it carefully, "you took my other one and put something small in it," he laughed,

"I saw a tiny light from it...soft, yellow...beautiful...you gave me a firefly," he lightly opened his hand and looked at his empty palm, "I was then...really happy...really," he laughed and stayed silent for a moment before gently asking, "Where did it go? Could you tell me? Where did that firefly go?"

He stared at his empty palm for a moment and tried to remember what happened after that, tried to remember if it stayed with him or flew away. But he couldn't remember more of the night that meant more to him than any day in the cell... no matter that it was in a dream.

"Qie...when will I have a dream like this again?" he asked, sliding his palm into the cell, "Beautiful, long...just us and the moon, the fireflies and the forest...may it never end...I feel like I actually fell asleep for that time...all the time we walked...all the years of happiness...I was free." he mumbled and smiled lightly as he tried to remember more of the beautiful dream he was living in that dream.

He didn't say anything for a while, he was silent and thought, trying to bring up more memories, to hold on to them and not let them go...but he knew he couldn't...he knew that in a year, in two...in five...even this beautiful dream will become only a short fragment in a mixture of experiences that he could not recall at all.

It wasn't the first time he'd had such a dream, it wasn't the first time he'd caught fireflies or the first time he'd been free and walked with his guardian in the forest...but Rue couldn't remember if he'd actually experienced it before his imprisonment or it was a dream... sometimes he didn't even know if he had experienced anything at all.

"Qie," he murmured more quietly the other day and lightly wiped his wet eyes, filled with tears from the memories that were gradually fading, "I want to be free again..." he placed his palm on his eyelids, which had slipped a few hot drops. He sobbed quietly and wiped away the tears again as he couldn't stop them.

"I'm sorry," he whined, "I know I don't deserve it...I just...it's just...I've been here alone for so long...I-I don't want to be in the cell anymore," he muttered a wish that he had no choice but to comply, "I want to be free..." he cried more softly and pulled his knees to his chest, how out of control he suddenly felt.

He lowered his head to his knees and mumbled, "I want that firefly back, Qie...please, tell me, where did it go?"

***

They walked through the night forest. It had been a long time since Rue felt as good as he did tonight, and although he knew that he hadn't been outside for over two hundred years, although he hadn't seen the night nature for a long time, he felt something nostalgic tonight. Although there were no houses or lights nearby, as there used to be in city streets, they could see the road. The moon shone brightly in the clear sky, reminding Rue of something he had long since forgotten.

He just looked up for a while, watching the twinkling stars and smiling contentedly at the freedom that filled him. Taking a deep breath as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming, he looked up at the bright moon and mentally thanked Luck for allowing him to have this day, for making his life better...for feeling what it was like to be free again.

He didn't remember when he was in the night forest as this one, he didn't remember how many dreams he had about it, but he knew that this wasn't a dream... because he wasn't alone here.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he stretched out his palm as if he wanted to grab the moon, "Don't you think it's more beautiful than ever before? That today is more beautiful than ever?" he asked.

Ylre nodded, "It is," he stared at the moon for a moment before adding, "and tomorrow will be even more beautiful." He promised.

He didn't know how coul be Ylre sure, but just knowing that he would see the moon tomorrow brought a happy smile to Rue's face. He wanted to add something, but in the process his eyes were struck by the shine of small lights from behind the trees.

At first he didn't know what they were, he watched in confusion as something flashed from time to time between the bushes, between the trees and in their crowns, before suddenly one flashed next to him. He stopped and looked at Ylre, who had a single firefly landing on his shoulder.

"Ah," he lowered his voice and lightly approached him, "how beautiful she is."

Ylre stared at the firefly for a moment, his expression not looking contentedly, but he smiled softly nonetheless. He watched in silence as Rue extended a finger towards it , but the firefly flew away in a second. Rue let out a disappointed sigh and laughed softly.

He was about to say something when another one emerged from Ylre's other side...and another one. Flickering lights gradually approached from among the trees and made Reo think they were like living stars in the darkness of the forest.

"Ylre, look," he lightly reached for the fireflies around him, but he couldn't touch any of them, "what are they doing here? They're beautiful." he turned and watched the tiny lights move through the forest.

"There will probably be water somewhere nearby," Ylre clarified and let the fireflies sit on him.

"They all sat next to you," Rue laughed and lightly approached Ylre, "why do they all fly away when I try to touch them?" he asked, and even though he knew it wasn't a problem, even though he knew it was nothing and he was thoroughly enjoying seeing such a beautiful sight at all, something inside him still ached nostalgically.

Ylre stared at the fireflies circling around him for a moment and tried to say something, but Rue wouldn't let him.

"They feel that that Luck loves you," he clarified, "It's beautiful to be lucky."

Ylre shook off a few fireflies, "Luck doesn't love me...it loves someone my luck truly belongs to...nothing more," he said.

"It belongs to you," Rue said as he didn't know what Ylre meant and smiled, "I used to be like you...I had luck on my side...a long time ago...but I still remember some things," he tried to touch the firefly again, but it flew away, "sometimes I really miss it."

Ylre watched him for a moment until Rue moved away a bit and was looking at him a few steps away. No matter how much he wanted his luck to return to its previous state, the sight of Ylre was so beautiful he could forget everything else. His red hair glistened red under the light from the flying fireflies, his bright blue eyes seemed to be even deeper than usual, and as he stood motionless in the swirl of fireflies, he looked like he was part of nature.

Rue felt strangely warm feelings as he looked at him...as if he had seen it before, as if he had experienced it before...and at the same time he couldn't remember if it was all just a dream.

He watched Ylre for a while longer before he looked up at the stars and laughed lightly. He loved the stars...the little twinkling bits of freedom that couldn't be seen from the cell. And since the fireflies were closest to them at night, he loved them too.

However, he didn't have time to watch the stars for long when Ylre's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"You don't have to miss it," he said gently, at the same time, as if something angered him, "it's nothing special...luck is overrated...if it was truly almighty, if it knew what was right, it would always stand by you," he stated, not letting Rue interrupt him, "however...if you truly miss it," he took a few steps until he was standing by his side, "I'll bring it to you," he promised, "every time you miss it, I'll bring it to you."

The few words caused a strange pounding in Rue's chest. He blinked lightly and remained silent for a moment before he hesitated and asked, "Will you?" even though he didn't understand, even though he knew it was unrealistic, something made him trust Ylre's words…like he knew he wasn't lying.

Ylre lightly reached his palm to Rue's hand and asked, "May I?"

He didn't understand for a moment before he realized that Ylre was asking permission to touch him. Not really knowing why, he nodded. He let Ylre's fingers touch his palm , lift it towards him. He felt something inserted into him hand as Ylre closed it and withdrew his own.

Rue blinked incomprehendingly, and the moment Ylre let him go, he asked, "What did you give me?"

"A piece of luck." Ylre said.

Rue hesitated for a moment before pulling his palm towards him and opening it slightly, intending to find out what Ylre meant. The dim light illuminated his palm and lit up Rue's first confuse face with a happy smile, filling his insides with warm feeling.

There was one small firefly sitting in his palm...and at the moment that was all he needed.

***

Nielle couldn't believe his bad luck when he got the report from the members of his Black Guard. He wanted to hear about the suspects in the whole situation and he knew his men were experienced enough to figure something out in two days. However, he didn't expect that their findings would be completely useless.

"The soldiers caught him the day you left the camp, sir. He made no attempt to hide and even shouted out how many Lacrisans he had shot recently. He didn't resist and said he was working alone, venting his anger on the Lacrisans. We sent the message saying that we were looking for him and wanted to be in charge of the interrogation...but he committed suicide on the way and-" he said.

Nielle looked in disbelief at what bullshits he was talking about and said, "That's enough," he laughed, "so you caught him...you didn't interrogate him...he killed himself...and you believe he's working alone."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No sir...if he was working alone he wouldn't have killed himself... he was probably afraid of being questioned in the capital and knew he wouldn't keep his mouth shut," the soldier knew.

Nielle sighed, "I was just starting to think that you turned completely stupid in two days without me...knowing that, did you at least find out something about him?"

"Yes, sir...although we don't know the name, we can't trace who he was working with, he doesn't keep bank accounts and none of the spies have ever seen him in the country, he has a tattoo of the Church of Bad Luck and on the day you left, the patrols saw him walking in the direction of their church.

Nielle blinked confused, "Church of bad luck? That's weird...I don't understand, when did we turn them into enemies?" he didn't know.

"Never, sir...we have never followed their actions until now," he clarified.

"Indeed," Nielle knew that this was true as he himself had no desire to interfere with the running of any church.

Nielle didn't expect the church to carry out crimes in the country, and he didn't intend to make unnecessary work with something that had no meaning. However, as soon as someone took the first step, he wasn't going to overlook it just because people gave them considerable power.

The church of Luck and Bad luck was something that even the king couldn't control. They were independent organizations, living on the faith of the people who believed in them, and governments had no influence over their religion. Nielle didn't want to start conflicts with any of them, and although the church of Bad luck was weaker, it still presented an unappealing fight to him.

However, since they had made the first hostile move, Nielle wasn't going to retreat. Because giving way to a new enemy was the same as allowing himself to be destroyed by him...and he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Be at the main gate with some men in an hour...we'll take a walk," he ordered and as soon as he nodded, he and Shana left.

Shane, who was just listening the whole time, didn't understand why a member of the church would shoot him. But he didn't ask anything. He walked silently behind Nielle, who seemed barely aware of him. In his own thoughts, as if he didn't even know what he wanted to do for the hour, he ignored Shane and walked.

He didn't know where he wanted to go, but he didn't expect to stop by Elyan's house. He watched as Nielle knocked and Prince Brelle let them in.

"Morning Shane…I'm glad you came like I said," Brelle smiled.

"I didn't...I'm just following him," Shane nodded to Nielle.

"Where did Elyan go?" Nielle didn't understand.

"Should I greet your Highness with a red carpet every time you come here?" Elyan asked from behind, "You know where people go for treatment, so don't stand in the doorway and come here." he said.

Nielle laughed and came to him, "I don't need anything...check him so I can give him some work," he nodded to Shane.

Elyan looked at Shane and pointed to the bed next to him, "Sit down."

Shane looked at him, "You saved me?" he asked.

"Prince Nielle brought you in time... I just did my job. If you're grateful, don't look for trouble so you don't add work to me," he clarified, "All Rinselans and Lacrisans like to play with life."

Shane, noticing his appearance the first time they met, asked, "You're from Equil, aren't you?"

Elyan looked up at him, "Boy, I believe I don't have blue or black eyes."

"He's from Equil," Nielle laughed, "when we were smaller, we envied his brown eyes."

"Brutal difference in color," Elyan was preparing his meds.

"Why did you come to Rinsel? Equil doesn't have good relations with any of the countries but this shity country has nothing to offer to you." Shane didn't understand.

"Because of work, of course. The patients are the same everywhere, the doctor doesn't care what country you're from...I got the opportunity to work at the palace, I had no reason not to go...I have advantages that I wouldn't have at Equil."

"You don't sound like you love Equil," Shane was intrigued.

"I love Equil," added Elyan, "as Equil gives its people beautiful fabrics, sweets, all kinds of food, art and entertainment....Rinsel gives the people war," he said, "Equil is a peaceful land full of colors and joy of life, since we can't take luck and we are given right from birth how long we will live, people make life enjoyable for themselves instead of ruining it for others," he said, "Equil is my home...and now sit down." he commanded.

Shane was surprised by Elyan's approach, but he was grateful to him therefore he intended to make sure that he would repay him someday. He thought for a while before he actually sat down and gave Nielle a brief look that caught the prince's attention.

"Do you want to thank me too?" Nielle laughed.

Shane watched him in disbelief, "Thank you?" he ran his fingers across his neck, "I'll never thank you for anything." he declared.

Nielle laughed but didn't speak. He watched as Elyan began to questioned Shane and sat back in his chair wondering what the appropriate plan would be today. The whole examination didn't take long, and after Nielle refused to let Elyan check his back, they headed outside.

Shane was quite surprised when they didn't head to the dungeons. He thought Nielle would drive him to work today, but instead they got to the kitchen.

"Your Highness," one of the Lacrisans from his harem who was working in the kitchen greeted him, "Shall I bring you something?" he asked.

"Yes...something light," he stated and made his way deeper into the kitchen where he introduced Shane to the cooks and staff.

"I don't have time to worry about what you eat... when you're hungry, go here, they'll make you something... if you don't ask, you'll be hungry... I don't care," Nielle clarified.

Shane was surprised a moment, "Can I come here anytime?"

"Aren't you listening?" Nielle didn't understand.

"I don't understand," he said, "everyone who comes to the royal kitchen gets to eat? In Lacris, the royal dining room serves members of the royal family, no one else goes there."

Nielle laughed, "Lacris probably loves to waste food... do you know how much food is brought to the palace? Do you think four people will eat everything you see here? Don't keep reminding me what moronic laws you have in Lacris...anyone I introduce to the kitchen...me, Louis, the king, Brelle, or anyone known to work in the palace gets to eat in the kitchen...I won't say it again."

Shane wasn't sure what to say, but at that moment he was quite ashamed of the customs of the Lacris. Because Nielle was right, and the waste of food in his country was truly intolerable.

"Do you work here anytime?" Shane asked the cook, but his words were met with laughter.

"Anytime? I'm not a machine...if you're hungry before the gate close, I'll make you anything...but after that, I sleep." He said.

"We're here all day, but we're not soldiers to work at night," laughed another, "Iuwine goes out at night to prepare midnight meals for the prince alone...but you want us to work all night? If you want something at night, do it yourself. "

"I didn't mean it like that." He wanted to explain that he wondered if the working hours in Lacris and their country were also different...and they were...because in Lacris the kitchen was open all day, all night...every day.

Shane worked for Prince Darwin at Lacris, but he wasn't a member of the royal family and therefore didn't have the privilege of eating in the main kitchen. Every time he wanted to eat, he had to ask or wait for permission from the prince. The food was more or less a reward for his work. Since he did a lot of his work perfectly, he could eat without worrying, but that wasn't the rule. He couldn't go into the kitchen and ask for anything himself.

He never found it strange, although he knew how much food was thrown away, since the ingredients from it couldn't be eaten by the king and his sons alone.

He didn't think working all day and all night was strange, but the more time he spent in Rinsel, the stronger was the impression that their thinking was different in every way.

The princes in Lacris were far more spoiled, incompetent and lazy...the palace was built to serve the chosen and the entire land was built to accommodate the government's wishes. While in Rinsel, Shane got the impression that the government actually served the people. And while he wasn't at all pleased with the result, he was beginning to understand why Lacris couldn't really beat them at anything all these years, even though they had the upper hand in luck.

As soon as they had something to eat in the kitchen, Nielle made his way to the gate where he had his men summoned. Shane didn't know what his plans were, but he was quite curious as to who wanted to kill him, so he was satisfied when Nielle took him with him.

He didn't know where he actually wanted to go, but he expected them to go out of town. In none of the countries were the church buildings directly in the capital cities. They built their own...and although the Church of Bad Luck didn't have the power and money to build cities, it also didn't build buildings in parts belonging to other churches or governments.

And so they went to one of their places to question the suspect behind Shane's aching shoulder and Nielle's sore back. To repay their attention.

Surprisingly, they only galloped for a few minutes before they arrived at a mowed meadow. Its entire area, marked by metal posts joined in an impassable fence, looked as if it really didn't welcome strangers. Shane couldn't see the whole place but their destination was a building near the gate.

It wasn't tall, but rather massive, made entirely of wood and stone, it didn't have an inviting impression. Nielle and the soldiers went through the gate and along the path they reached the entrance of the building.

Nielle literally kicked the door open and ran with the soldiers into a hall similar to those in classical churches. However, although it had all the parts that the main hall should have, it gave the impression of dungeons with its lack of light and overall dark atmosphere.

Iron brackets with lighted torches illuminated the space, while daylight entered only through small windows in the ceiling. Several people knelt with crystals in their hands by a wooden table behind which a man stood.

He was holding a book reading something.

Nobody gave attention to Nielle's soldiers, so he freely reached a group of people, who weren't bother by him and continued. Nielle had to walk up to the wooden table and kick it to the ground to make their black eyes look up at the prince.

"I didn't want us to ever come into contact, but you wanted to see me so much, I had to come," Nielle laughed and had the people surrounded by his soldiers. One of them put a blade to the neck of the guy with a book, while Nielle sat down on the table.

The guy in the robe looked at him, "Who are you? What do you want here?" he didn't seem terrified.

"My name is Nielle Owen von Rinsel and I have come because one of your members shot one of my men," he said.

With his words the gossip started within the crowd.

"It's prince Nielle," one of the people muttered, "that crazy sadist...you know..."

"Complete madman..."

"I never saw him, but an acquaintance said that he murders people whenever he wants..."

"Someone said he committed a murder in the arcade and is now investigating it..."

"It's not all...I heard that he commits crimes to put people who don't suit him as the criminals for his sins..."

"The moment you get on his black list, you'll end up in a dungeon with his executioners for something you didn't do..."

The sound of bullshits made Nielle laugh at how much of a reputation he had made in that time, "Right, right...and since your church pissed me off, you better get out before I get you involved in tonight's fun as well, " he said nodding to the soldiers who cleared their way.

The crowd hesitated for a moment, but it didn't take long before they got up and ran out one by one.

Nielle looked around the empty hall and stated, "You're the only one left…no other ears…do you want to start talking or do you want one of my man to help you?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the guy.

"I said... one of your men shot one of my and I want to know why. Who paid you? I know that each of you is governed by only one priest, so don't try to lie that you don't know anything. Who's your leader?"

"I don't know, our leader is chosen by world itself, he wouldn't show himself to none of us. Also, in our church we don't talk about every single movement of others, we just follow the leader's words. I don't know what you're talking about."

Nielle watched him for a moment before nodding to his men who scattered around the church in a second. Some ran up the stairs to the floor where probably some members of the church lived, some went through the side door to secure other parts where the members could be.

Nielle, Shane and a few guards who usually didn't move from Nielle until he gave them specific orders remained in the hall.

"You should know," Nielle smiled mockingly, "you're the only place near the capital that belongs to the second church. Plus the patrol saw the culpit walking in your direction."

"Coincidences, a lot of people are coming our way, we're influential, we have a lot of followers," he said, but didn't have time to continue as one of the soldiers kicked him roughly. He dropped to his knees and glared at him, "What do you think you're doing? Do you know, who am I? I'm in charge here! You want to upset the church?"

"The self-proclaimed church," Nielle laughed, sat down a little closer to him and added, "if you don't remember what you did, it's okay," he sighed, "we'll help you."

Nielle looked over at his men, at their familiar faces, and though he knew their skills were top notch, he nodded to Shane.

"Lacrisan, " he said, "I want to see you at work."

Shane glared at him, "Work?"

"Interrogate him...I want to know who hired them and why," he said.

"Just like that?" Shane asked in confusion as without any aids the interrogation was unnecessarily complicated.

"Of course not," Nielle looked at one of the soldiers, "give him the tools." he had the man hand to Shane a collapsible bag containing the tools they used for interrogations.

Shane picked it up and placed it on the table. He opened it next to Nielle and concluded that it contained everything he could need for work.

He pulled out a pair of pliers, a knife, and a thick nail, which he placed in front of the man at Nielle's feet. You looked over the guy's terrified expression and sat down next to the prince.

"My name is Shane and I will be conducting your interrogation today. In case you want to answer things right away, I'm giving you spaces to save time...if you refuse, I warn you that I do things quickly and I don't know how many body parts you'll end up with. Do you want to confess?" he asked as always.

The guy was so taken aback that he didn't answer for a while. But he ignored Shane and looked at Nielle in horror.

"I'm a member of the church...you can't do anything to me...the laws say that the church is a separate leadership...you can't do what you want!" He shouted when the hand violently grabbed his hair, twisting his head back and yanking him towards Shane, who didn't understand.

"Why do you talk with him? I hold the pincers," he stated monotonously, as if he didn't even care about the job, "all Rinselans are ill-mannered swine." he violently grabbed his hand and pressed it against the wooden table where he and Nielle sat.

He took the knife and grabbed his ring finger. He redirected the blade under the man's fingernail and cut roughly under it. The knife cut through the flesh, slipped under the nail and separated part of it from the finger...the table was wet with blood and the hall was filled with screams. Shane ignored the man's scream until the nail was completely cut off.

As soon as he had done so, he put down the knife and took the bloody nail to his hand.

"Do you know why people are actually born with twenty of these?" he asked, wiping a bloody fingernail on the man's tear-soaked cheek, "So that you can practice each of the torture methods on them." he declared, throwing the it to the ground.

He took the pliers in his palm, placed them against the guy's middle finger and pulled the other nail without hesitation. He turned the pliers up and gradually separated the nail from the flesh of the man's finger.

"ААААААА-Ágh-áááá-ágh!" the guy screamed until the nail was completely ripped out. Shane threw it to the ground disinterestedly.

"But don't worry, I don't need to train...I'm not going to rip them all off," Shane said and took the thick metal nail in his hand. He simply placed it over the guy's middle finger at the top joint and pushed. He made a small wound in the skin and placed a pair of pliers to the top of the nail and hit it.

The nail pierced the man's finger, the joint snapped, letting his finger with an unusable layer of flesh and blood. Yet Shane didn't ask anything, he took out the nail and placed it on the joint below. He dug it roughly into the skin and again without hesitation slammed the pincers on nail.

,AAAAAAGH-stop-fuck-aaaagh! Áááá-ágh-fuck-fuck-áágh....áágh-ágh-!" the guy yelled.

"I'm starting to enjoy it," Shane's tone didn't sound like that, "even though I've only destroyed two of your fingers so far." he moved the nail to the other finger and dug it into the guy's upper joint again, he picked up the tongs and slammed them down hard on the nail destroying the knuckle in a second.

,,ААААААGH! Stop-stop! Aaaaaagh-wait...damn...please wait...ááááagh-damn!" he tried to pry his hand out of Shane's grasp, but he didn't seem to care what he was saying, just kept playing with his fingers.

He threw the nail aside, picked up the knife again and cut another of his fingernails. Disinterestedly, he threw it to the ground and cut the blade under another nail. As if he didn't even care about the man's scream, he continued. He seemed to be fully absorbed in his destruction, as if he didn't even care what the point of the interrogation was. The moment Shane grabbed one of his ruined fingers and jerked it violently upward, the guy finally realized what Shane really wanted to hear.

"I-it's not me! It's not me! AAAAH! It's not me...shit...stop...I don't know-I don't know...I lied!" he slapped his other palm on his thighs in pain crying.

Shane finally stopped and asked, "Did you?"

"I-I did...I-I did...I don't run it here...I-I'm just a member...the priest who leads this church a-asked me to stand in for him...today...and not to tell anyone that he took a day off...i-it's not me you're looking for...I-I don't know anything..." he whimpered.

Shane laughed wildly and took the pliers in his palm. As if he didn't hear him, he passed with torture to his other hand and continued his work. He tore out two of the guy's fingernails, broke two of his fingers, and listened dispassionately as he screamed that he didn't know anything. Just as he was about to cut off one of his fingers and the guy was still screaming that he wasn't lying, Shane cut the knife into the flesh and pulled the knife back.

"He doesn't know anything," he looked at Nielle and hid the tools.

Nielle, who was more focused on Shane's work, laughed lightly, "I figured," he had no doubt.

"You look pleased even though you didn't find out anything," Shane observed him.

"I found out more than I expected," Nielle said and without hesitation went out with his soldiers.

He didn't deal with the tortured guy at the table and got out of the building.

"You didn't find out anything," Sane knew.

"I noticed you don't like to talk at work," Nielle praised him, "not interested in whether they talk like you're having fun torturing them...quite a pleasant way." he was satisfied.

"I don't have fun torturing them, " Shane stated.

Nielle laughed softly, "Really?"

Shane nodded, "I don't enjoy the work itself, I'm not a sadist...but destroying each and every one of you...that I always enjoy," Shane pierced him through with his blue eyes and moved on.

Nielle laughed lightly, "So you should be grateful for this job," he laughed, "anyway, good work, Lacrisan." He was satisfied.

Shane stared at him for a moment, but said nothing more.

"Sir... we didn't find anyone... they all disappeared," the guys searching the church caught up.

"I know...they knew we were coming," Nielle stated.

"Did they?" the guys didn't understand.

"Someone is watching us..or predicting well," he declared and left.

Nielle didn't know which of these was true, but he was sure that the church member was not acting of his own free will. Although he hesitated at first, he was currently sure that they had been hired by someone who was powerful enough to control the members of the church and force them to fight him. Nielle was currently unable to find out who even fell into the category, and his list of suspects had shrunk to zero.

"I think we should find out who is at the head of the church of bad luck," he knew.

"Sir...the founder of this church is unknown." The soldiers knew.

Nielle glared at him, "Isn't it your job to find out exactly such things?"

The soldier nodded, "Yes, sir."

Nielle knew that the founder of this church was unknown and knew that it wasn't easy to find out his identity. However, he wasn't going to leave it like that, because as soon as someone challenged him to a fight, he wasn't going to back down. Like now.

Because if he ever did, he would have been dead a long time ago.