Choliac's Regulations

5 days after the mission in the friendly space station. Crimsonbreaking Faction's base, Choliac's headquarters. Heian Ciemnosc's bedroom in his Team's base.

"Mmf," sweet kitty Milyy breathed on Heian Ciemnosc's right cheek as her mouth and nostrils were glued to it. Her limbs and front body entangled around him, locking his body to never be free again. Heian Ciemnosc was sleeping with a satisfied, light smile, though. And just as Heian Ciemnosc felt ticklish and warm from Milyy's embrace after Alyona and Hong Mei visited, surprising them both, the door to his bedroom thunderously sounded with a voice foreign to the Team.

Knock, knock! “Heian Ciemnosc!! This is your last warning! Come out and face punishment!!” The voice didn’t offer any explanation and directly shouted. Heian Ciemnosc opened his eyes but continued being held by his wife. Milyy’s voice was like a mosquito as the person who shouted could be heard stepping out of the Team’s base. “Aaah~, my bad boy is finally getting what he deserves, rawwrh!”

Milyy lifted her body and bit Heian Ciemnosc’s right cheek. Her thin pajamas covered her body, but there was nothing to hide from the front. She struggled, shaking her head left and right after grabbing Heian Ciemnosc’s pale skin. Heian Ciemnosc slowly sighed and sat up with Milyy still biting his face. His darkest eyes turned towards her, and he breathed out from his nostrils. He couldn’t deny he was indeed slightly younger than her. She could call him ‘boy’ all she wanted. But she was being extra painful today.

“Stay here. Choliac won’t naturally act if you show yourself,” Heian Ciemnosc said, lightly caressing his kitty’s neck, making Milyy narrow her eyes to an almost close and incessantly purr. Milyy let go of his skin, coated with her saliva and smelling sweet. Heian Ciemnosc let it there as he stood up, and Milyy followed him. After letting go of her prey, Milyy would enjoy playing with it. Thus, she picked his clothes, and since Heian Ciemnosc had been banned from dressing himself whenever any of his wives was with him, he let Milyy dress him as she planted kisses on his body and mouth. When she finished, she looked at him while accommodating his dark coat’s neck.

“You asked for it. Didn’t want to tell ya, but you were discovered 3 hours after making that deal with the spy who ratted their friend out. Mn! They gave you nearly a week to say something, but since you did not even report anything else other than the spy she betrayed. They grew furious. Are you discontent I didn’t tell you before?” Milyy said, then asked when he saw his startled, expressionless countenance.

Heian Ciemnosc blinked rapidly in quick succession before shaking his head and grasping her hands, “No, I’m not. Milyy, it’s fine. I might be busier from now on. I’ll still make time for you. You’ll have more time to visit Mei Mei. Don’t worry about me. I won’t suffer that badly.”

“Hmm, if you say so,” Milyy pouted and tilted her head to the right, nearly rotating her head. She patted his shoulders after he kissed the backs of her hands and planted a long, beak kiss like a good wife would to his taller husband. This lovely scene was bound to be tragic, the tragedy before disaster struck.

… After bidding a ‘temporary’ farewell to his wife, Heian Ciemnosc walked out of his bedroom and saw his teammates look at him with expressionless faces, but they were looking at him as if it was the start of a ceremony. When Heian Ciemnosc exited the base, he brutally realized more than half the entire headquarters was watching him and formed 2 sides. A space of 20 meters was left in between, with only 1 person in the middle, commander Choliac.

“Gulp…” Heian Ciemnosc visibly gulped once as he felt the pressure of this matter. Nonetheless, he walked and felt a few million eyes look at him without emotion, not even the disdain, mockery, and desire to spill his guts as he did every day. When Heian Ciemnosc stood before commander Choliac, the latter relaxed his crossed arms and stood in a fearsome pose with his arms slightly parted from his sides.

“...” - “...” Commander Choliac looked at Heian Ciemnosc, and Heian Ciemnosc stood in attention, gazing at commander Choliac’s body. Even though Heian Ciemnosc had an astounding will, he couldn’t help squinting and twitching from his darkest eyes slightly, as if he was under the weight of a superior being. Everyone could see this, but they kept looking at Heian Ciemnosc the same as before.

“You know why you’re here,” commander Choliac said as a whip appeared on his left hand. His other hand tightened into a fist, and his veins bulged from his aged but resilient skin. Heian Ciemnosc’s commander from the Frigate he belongs looked from the side with crossed arms. Her face was expressionless, but her eyebrows showed discipline and strictness.

“Please, tell, commander.” Heian Ciemnosc introduced a large breath into his lungs before politely saying. Even then, the crowd around him increased the pressure with how their nature soared and the energy fluctuations within their bodies moved. Anyone in Heian Ciemnosc’s cultivation base would notice it, even if they couldn’t decipher what the former was, let alone Heian Ciemnosc, whose nature reading has been innately granted since he was a child.

“Guts,” commander Choliac said before walking sideways to encircle Heian Ciemnosc. When commander Chocial stood behind Heian Ciemnosc, he twisted his left wrist to warm up before using the whip in his left hand. Heian Ciemnosc felt like his nape was about to receive some sort of attack, but it was just his instincts. The moment that sensation hit, his spine shivered, starting from his upper back, instantly traveling downwards and making his body visibly tremble, even if just a tiny bit. Then, commander Choliac said. His voice was roughened up and stern. “The spy you worked with in our friendly organization’s territory, that who you should’ve caught. She has successfully stolen vital information from our contractor.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc’s face looked ahead despite the pressure, which would’ve made another person bow and start cringing from the sharp stares around him. Commander Choliac looked at Heian Ciemnosc from behind for a few seconds before adding, “Now, there are 2 merchants’ businesses with the same product. Our contractors are unhappy, and we were lucky our friendly organization didn’t blame us. They are too busy dealing with this drama you bought from a random person on the streets!”

“!” Heian Ciemnosc suddenly felt instantly pressured. Not like before. This time, he felt like all the pressure was directed at him, and his knees nearly bent! But Heian Ciemnosc managed to keep his body locked in a straight stance. Commander Choliac didn’t give a more dramatic show and shouted as he brought his whip backwards over his right shoulder. “Your punishment for not only disobeying your role in your mission but also cooperating with your contractor’s enemy will be 172 days under my goddamn fury!”

“...!!!” Without a doubt, the crowd was left speechless. Their commander has just given a newbie one of the worst treatments when messing things up. Even Third Step cultivators in his Supreme Battleship would be given half that amount if they fought between each other for whatever reason, let alone a Second Step cultivator. And everyone knows how ‘equal’ commander Choliac is with his soldier units!

“You hear that?!” Commander Choliac shouted again after the crowd grew deadly silent, and the atmosphere inside the headquarters stopped the other half from working to look at the event. Heian Ciemnosc slowly nodded, and the commander lifted his left hand to last the whip at Heian Ciemnosc. By then, the commander simply said, “What do you have to say?”

Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes glinted and, with his calmness enduring until now, his mouth spitting words like a machine gun. “Commander Choliac, I have done this on my own. Nobody was aware of my ideas. I myself didn’t know I would do something like this. When I thought of the matter at that moment. I saw only benefits and no disgrace for the Crimsonbreaking Faction. If I didn’t read incorrectly in the Universal Conveyance, the new merchant business that copied my previous contractor had found a new flora apple drink that was quite unique in this part of the Existence. Even then, it would’ve been a great source of income to whoever had it.”

“Now, there are 2, and our friendly organization has already taken matters into their hands. These 2 rivals have been fighting for supremacy in the enterprise of their space station. Now that such drama has occurred, they are under our fellows’ hands, and their gains are shared with them. They have won from just taxes to earn 50% of their total revenue, but they still work alone. Those businesses will compete against each other and increase their gains. In the end, they would procure even more sources of income for our friendly organization.”

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

“In the future, those businesses would end merged and into our friendly organization’s hands directly, with their new gains and productivity. They’ll find more space to spend in spaceships, ammunition, resources, and recruiting more elite personnel. Wouldn’t they want to cooperate with an organization as helpful as us if the time came?”

“With that on the table, commander. I only ask my Team to be spared from my actions, I only saw myself benefiting from them, and I did get extra gains from our contractor then.” Heian Ciemnosc said, finishing his words after a while, at last. The crowd remained silent, pondering, while the commander looked at Heian Ciemnosc with narrowed eyes.

“Is that it?” Commander Choliac asked. Heian Ciemnosc nodded as he felt his back entrapped in a tunnel of wind, caged from his sides and with nowhere to escape from the front or the back. The crowd saw this and drew a deep breath into their bodies, cold and knowing what came next. Commander Choliac’s left arm only needed to strike, and Heian Ciemnosc’s punishment would begin. Commander Choliac asked again, “Is your Team’s safety from my punishment all you ask?”

“It is, commander,” Heian Ciemnosc hoarsely said. Commander Choliac waited 3 seconds before declaring. His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached everywhere with barely any trace of energy in the air. “Your punishment will be extended to 180 days. Starting… now!”

Whvvii- PLASH~!!!!

Heian Ciemnosc heard the word ‘starting’ begin, and before the word ‘now’ arrived into his ears and brain, the whip behind him was swung and lashed at his back. When the second word thundered in Heian Ciemnosc’s head, so did the whip’s attack on his body and forced him to his knees, its remnants traveling through his bones, muscles, flesh, veins, and organs. Blood stopped flowing for a second before resuming its impossible flow speed.

Craaaackk~~!!... The ground beneath Heian Ciemnosc’s knees cracked, and his dark coat exploded into two, revealing his spotless, pale back. However, on it, not a scratch was discernible. Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t injured or left with hidden wounds. It was all… physical torment and pain. He received an attack, but he wasn’t affected by it, and besides getting hurt badly to the point he lost all balance and his knees bled from the collision against the ground, Heian Ciemnosc was… fine. He only felt as if gravity had become slightly heavier than a second before.

Whiiiii-plash!!! The whip came down at Heian Ciemnosc’s back again without any protection from either fabric or array formations in his dark coat. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t have his Earth grade armor uniform on, and now it seemed opportunistic. When Heian Ciemnosc felt the second hit, he felt his back feeling the whip again, but he only felt pain on his pale skin before it invaded his body and traveled outwards from it, everywhere. Finally, he felt gravity around him turn slightly heavier again. It was accumulating…

Whii- plash!!!... plash!!!!... plash!!!!... plash!!!!... plash!!!... plash!!!!... plash!!!... plash!!!!!...

“...” As Heian Ciemnosc went through commander Choliac’s punishment start, the crowd silently looked. They didn’t show a thought or expression but continued to watch. The other half that momentarily stopped resumed their activities. The headquarters couldn’t stop its functions just to watch commander Choliac’s punishment after a while. And who else to suffer it than the outcast? Whom many thought to be protected by ‘the gods’ above their heads. However, there he was now, suffering.

The commander wasn’t hasty to discipline Heian Ciemnosc. And this was just day 0. Tomorrow, hell will finally begin for the outcast. Every few seconds, the whip would land on Heian Ciemnosc’s back, and his body would be tormented by the increasing pain, threatening to burst his insides instantly but never crossing that threshold. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc stopped sinking into the formidable, cracking dirt, and the crowd and his Team watched as he resisted on all fours while facing the middle of the headquarters.

Heian Ciemnosc’s pale body uncontrollably sweated. His hands and knees supported his body at the start, but as he received more weight and gravity was against him, only he, his shins, and chest had to exert all 110,000 kg of bodily strength. Only then could Heian Ciemnosc remain from slamming his body against the ground, becoming one with it. His body started being harmed for real, and the bones of his limbs cracked as Heian Ciemnosc felt his consciousness fading…

“...178… 179…!!” The crowd counted the last 8 whiplashes, added after the outcast managed to keep his Team out of the trouble he caused. They turned hasty and more intense as the last hit was yet to come, and the commander kept a straight face during these few minutes. Heian Ciemnosc’s body was clearly not holding for much longer, and his Team looked with crossed arms and intensifying eyes.

Whii- plashhh!!! Then, the commander’s last strike hit Heian Ciemnosc’s back, and more gravity was placed on his shoulders. “180!!!”

“...” - “...???” But then, as the last strike finished, and everyone watched Heian Ciemnosc’s hands deforming and bloating from while his shoulders and waist slumped harder than ever, commander Choliac didn’t say a thing and continued to look at Heian Ciemnosc’s sorry figure.

“No… way…” - “!!” And without a single warning, commander Choliac lifted his whip again, aimed it at Heian Ciemnosc as he had previously done, and sent it down. The whip broke the air, arched through it, and lashed heinously at Heian Ciemnosc’s back! The mere impact made Heian Ciemnosc’s body arch towards the ground, and his belly immediately showed bones crashing from their resting position to when they broke and collided with his skin from within!

“!!!” The whip slowly left his back as Heian Ciemnosc gritted his teeth like no tomorrows were coming. He felt his bones deteriorate and lose all sensibility. Like wood forming splinters from the rupture, Heian Ciemnosc’s bones cracked apart, leaving smallish holes where dark blood seeped out for a second before stopping. Heian Ciemnosc felt as his neck started ‘falling’ from his right, hurting and dislocated, but he endured, persisted, and kept standing with his palms and knees against the ground!!

“HAUFF!!” Suddenly, as if it had always been in his mind, Heian Ciemnosc felt the increase in gravity leave him. His chest felt impossibly strange and new, but he didn’t have time to think as he sent his body flying 500 meters upwards in under a second before slowly increasing it to a few kilometers. PUM! WHOOOOOOOOOOSH~!...

“... My gods, the fucker really flew…!” - “What the… how does he have so much bodily strength? I didn’t see any Art or energy fluctuations. How?!” - “Man… is he… will… can anyone with that cultivation base endure that?” - “Ah, he’s coming down… The ground’s gonna catch him, right?” - “Yepp…”

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistleeeee~~- THUDD!

Heian Ciemnosc’s body flew high up, and nobody could have predicted it, but afterwards, nobody lent him a hand. Even his Team looked up, startled but unsurprised, and watched his body fall back down. When Heian Ciemnosc’s body crashed against the ground, the crack he was forced onto spread tens of meters with equal depth and level of destruction. However, Heian Ciemnosc, whose body became evident after the smoke cleared, landed with his back against the ground.

“Aggh…” Heian Ciemnosc’s hoarse bemoan resounded, and the crowd’s mouths turned into half-smiles, cheeky and content to see the pain he went through after the torment he endured. Heian Ciemnosc heard footsteps, but they were more like probed soundwaves traveling and hitting his sensitive skin in an attempt at echolocation. Heian Ciemnosc opened his deadly, tired, darkest eyes and darted them upwards to look at the commander standing before him, taller than ever.

“You know what, kid?” The commander spoke in a casual tone and loud volume. Heian Ciemnosc continued looking up as if to respond ‘what’s up’ to which the commander added, “It’s not a problem of dishonor. The only problem you became because of your actions… was that you were seen working with your contractor’s enemy.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc… was speechless to begin with. But no matter how shocked he felt at these moments, he couldn’t voice it. The commander said these words so casually that he made it seem as if it didn’t matter if the entire Crimsonbreaking Faction heard it. And as if to prove it, the commander continued with his stern expression. “You’ve given the Faction an opportunistic chance to set a higher relationship level with a little Third Step organization. Not bad. But you messed up, now suffer.”

“Anything to say?!” The commander added in a rougher voice, but his countenance was calm, and his attitude was peaceful. Heian Ciemnosc struggled to stand up. His pale fingers moved first, with some having half their bones sticking out of his pale skin. No dark blood exited his body this time, but it looked creepy. Heian Ciemnosc pushed his body off the ground, leaning on his left and picking his legs up. His bones were re-accommodated as he pushed himself off the cracked dirt.

Truff- whufshh, step- tap, tap, tap- step!

After sweeping up the ground and tripping over to the left, Heian Ciemnosc stopped his movements and stood before the commander. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes wandered towards the crowd, with his Team on his back and the commander before him, a little to his left. Heian Ciemnosc’s blackest-pitchest eyebrows knitter as his short hair fluttered slightly in the wind. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the commander, walked to stand just half a meter before him, and said.

“Ready to start already, sir. Tomorrow is too long,” Heian Ciemnosc’s words fell flat on the headquarters’ precinct.

… CLAAAAAMOOOOORRR~!

…