Half A Year's Worth Of Punishment
That day, at night. Inside Heian Ciemnosc's bedroom, where a moribund young man lay in his bed with a youthful beauty taking care of him.
"Aahh..." Heian Ciemnosc sighed as Milyy grabbed some of the Herbal-Wonder Tear potions, dipped it in a napkin, and spit on it, turning it into a theriac unguent. Milyy poked Heian Ciemnosc's body with the napkin, letting the gooey thing travel through his skin and start helping him ease the pain. After suffering the 180 plus mightier strikes from the commander's whips, Heian Ciemnosc was left to carry dozens of damaged Fighters like a mule put to work, dragging them from one extreme of the headquarters to the other.
“Who asked you to beg for it?” Milyy said after she was done using the napkin and the last potion’s contents. Before, she only used them as lubricants to play with Heian Ciemnosc and her co-wives. Now, however, she used what was left to cure her husband’s internal injuries and ease his pain. The rest would be done by Heian Ciemnosc’s sheer bodily strength that surpassed even hers. If it wasn’t for the ginormous disparity of cultivation base, she would’ve been a tiny ant before him. Or that was at least what Milyy thought, with shining, desiring eyes.
“That was… fun, though.” Heian Ciemnosc said, feeling every inch of his skin and body parts soaked in Milyy’s improvised unguent. Heian Ciemnosc was bare, and Milyy swiftly dropped her fabrics to his right, leaning on the bed with her left arm and hand supporting her small head, letting Heian Ciemnosc see her whole as she undressed. When her precious skin and beauty were unleashed, Heian Ciemnosc felt alive ten times more than when he was at his peak.
“Oh, is that for me?” Heian Ciemnosc asked, acting like a child was trapped in his adult body. Milyy smiled, revealing some mature charm she lacked before, and said, “All yours. Do whatever you want with it. I won’t see you as often as before, right? Mn… You better take what's yours before those times come.”
“!” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes glinted, and millions of atom-sized light bulbs lit up around his head. He pushed his hands through the air, tremblingly as he was horrendously exhausted, and brought Milyy’s body on top of him. Milyy giggled, but before she could start clawing his body and bite his skin off, she felt his head nestle on her soft sternum, between her table tatas, and simply rubbing his face in between before closing his eyes and not moving anymore with his arms around her waist.
“Oi,” Milyy reacted. She felt her husband’s exhaustion and candidly smiled. She looked simply gorgeous and exuded beauty. Her hands ventured to his jaw, then snaked through his nape and held his head dear as the bedroom’s lights slowly dimmed until only darkness remained. Just as they were relaxing and sleepiness invaded their brains, Milyy sighed softly, lost in love.
. . .
6 months later.
When Heian Ciemnosc was being punished, his Team was only given a mission once. This was a drought. However, the first mission they accomplished together after Heian Ciemnosc joined them lifted their moods a whole damn lot. 130 Supreme Neutral Stones were no small thing. Although they were barely worthy to help them buy that Frigate, they did what was worth a couple months’ payment in missions. Still, they were on the losing end.
Fortunately, Heian Ciemnosc could attend this mission, and it just so happened to be another patrolling mission at the friendly organization Heian Ciemnosc ‘helped’ back then. But to make matters funnier, Heian Ciemnosc and the Team were delegated to the business rival whose spy Heian Ciemnosc let go and do her doings that later gave rise to an economic boom for said organization. It was a whole month’s mission, and it helped them a little more.
Thus, after the first mission since Heian Ciemnosc joined the Team and the following 2 patrolling missions, Heian Ciemnosc had 280 Supreme grade Neutral Stones in his pockets… And a few thousands of gold coins. He was damn poor, and if it weren’t for mommy Ruo Wei, he could only resupply a third of his Ornament’s ammunition.
The Team wasn’t as complicated as Heian Ciemnosc initially thought before getting to know them. Despite their cultivation base being known to him all this while, they never pranked Heian Ciemnosc because of his low cultivation base, only because he was the entire Crimsonbreaking Faction’s soreness in its broader eye. Even then, Heian Ciemnosc was little to no help with the recent ‘drama’ he became involved in. Yet, his Team remained the same, and Ruo Wei visited him while he received his punishment, in the headquarters or at the mission.
Beto was the strongest among them and represented the peak in every other Second Step Team at the Light realm 10th stage. Cara, Ruo Wei, and Loma were at the Light realm 8th stage, with Sandra at the Dark realm 6th stage and Clanton at the Light realm’s 7th stage. While Moy, as the second weakest among them, was at the Breaking Point realm 8th stage. Because only 1 was in the Dark realm, the Team was majorly focused on offensive and lacked defensive forte points. That was already noticeable when Heian Ciemnosc first went on a mission with them.
The Crimsonbreaking Faction didn’t have Supreme Arts per se. Although they owned 3 ‘blueprints’ of such things, nobody wanted to die using them, especially when they would be like children playing with water against an adult using their strong arms to cause waves where the former can easily be swept away. Yet, as the punishment started, although the Team gave Heian Ciemnosc the cold shoulder in the morning when he left, and at night when he returned, there was food and medicinal alchemy products for him in the kitchen area and his bedroom, where Milyy waited for him at night.
The punishment wasn’t more whips to his back. Heian Ciemnosc had to carry heavy loads of anything from equipment to pieces of battleships as immense as any Battleship or even Mothership’s fragments. That was how Heian Ciemnosc came to see the incomplete Mothership closer and deducted it only needed a decade or 2 before completing.
Heian Ciemnosc started by carrying Fighters around the headquarters. He moved hundreds of thousands of kg worth of parts, damaged Fighters, ammunition, and raw materials for their creation without any aid. No array formations, wheels, or energy allowed. All Heian Ciemnosc could do was use his bodily strength. If Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t Heian Ciemnosc, he wouldn’t have been given this insanely heavy load of work every day, but his bodily strength was easily read by anyone in the Third Step.
But after a couple weeks, where the Team received another mission. Heian Ciemnosc was to bring millions of kg worth of resources in the friendly organization’s space station from one merchant business’s precinct to the other. They weren’t cooperating, but some underhanded, positive methods were ongoing. Heian Ciemnosc was targeted by his previous contractor, while the merchant business he worked for then accepted having one of their Crimsons bullied in exchange for resources and cooperation.
Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t blame them. In the end, he was once again helping the space station’s source of income and undergoing harsh training where he barely had any time to do patrolling. Heian Ciemnosc had to spend at least 16 hours moving stuff, and he had to be fast, or the workload would overlap, and the next day would be double the amount of kg he had to carry with each step.
But when Heian Ciemnosc returned from the mission, he was no longer working with Fighters and materials to forge them. Instead, he started moving whole Frigates’ parts from small sections to half a Frigate and a few rocket launchers that needed to be repaired. The amount of weaponry he carried increased, and his activities were no longer limited to the headquarters.
Moving between cities, through the streets, and wearing only pants or shorts while his muscles made every man-liking living being in the space station wherever Heian Ciemnosc went ventilate before hurrying away back home to deal with their surging emotions, Heian Ciemnosc delivered goods everywhere, becoming a samaritan messenger of warring instruments.
Yet, before a month went by like that, Heian Ciemnosc received a promotion, and he started moving Cruisers along with some machinery that was obsolete and never used before, also throughout the streets of the Faction’s space station. This machinery was enormous but was only taller than the parts or spaceships they were moving, and was only used when the space station was moving, and the spaceships were busy protecting the former as they changed locations.
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However, there would be cargo spaceships that could take care of these businesses. But who was commander Choliac if he couldn’t give proper punishment to their underhanded newbie? Those machines were transferred from their dust-gatherers and helped Heian Ciemnosc move most Cruisers, Destroyers, and whole Frigates spaceships. Not all needed to be moved, but some were damaged, and others needed a new painting or resupply of array formations. The rest were just for Heian Ciemnosc to continue being punished… No one bothered to even hassle a price to commander Choliac when they knew what it was for. And Choliac didn’t even need to make requests as the other headquarters would call him first once news about Heian Ciemnosc’s punishment spread.
Thus, from the start, as days passed, Heian Ciemnosc’s clothing changed. He only took his dark coat off in the first few weeks. After returning from their third mission, he took everything off and only wore his pants or brand-new shorts. After the mission, Heian Ciemnosc experienced harassment. Starting with Cara, she would float on a speeding spaceship and follow him while eating with some of her pals from other Teams in the incomplete Fleet. They had to fly fast, though. Heian Ciemnosc was no weakling, and he semi-ran despite the mountainous cargo he moved every hour he was awake through the streets.
A designated route and road had to be reserved every day because of Heian Ciemnosc’s punishment so he wouldn’t mess with the traffic of civilians, citizens, cultivators, and helpful robots. One way or another, Heian Ciemnosc knew a third of the space station to the back of his head after going through it for several months.
Yet, Cara and her pals were only the first from the bunch. Heian Ciemnosc started seeing many females coming over to fly in their speeding spaceships or light transporting vessels to see his slender muscles and small frame move mountains. It would be a lie if even a man said this meant nothing. Seeing was much better than believing. Thus, yet again, Heian Ciemnosc was famous in the Universal Conveyance.
However, this time, it was because of his body, nothing else. Fortunately, he wasn’t selling himself. He was only being overly admired by his fellow coworkers. When the first images and videos of Heian Ciemnosc’s muscles came out. He became a sensation. From prodigy teenager to carry cargo. How sad and tragic was that? However, it didn’t take long for the truth to come out and for the obvious to be addressed. Heian Ciemnosc had already joined the Crimsonbreaking Faction!
There was even footage of him when he was on the mission and moved resources from one business’s precinct to another. That was Cara’s courtesy and Loma and Sandra's. Nothing like having a hot coworker that they could ogle at without a care. As for Ruo Wei, she was busy acquiring medicinal alchemy products with Beto and Moy. Patrolling was done but by their Fighters in automatic.
Thus, Heian Ciemnosc’s identity was wildly spread worldwide, not just in the Existence. Heian Ciemnosc’s mighty fine body was revealed to the masses. However, one thing changed, and that was— Heian Ciemnosc’s treatment inside the Crimsonbreaking Faction.
One clue everyone could see through when knowing Heian Ciemnosc was doing a cargo holder’s job was the comment sections in the Universal Conveyance, and that was something Heian Ciemnosc was new to but rapidly learned. The Crimsonbreaking Faction’s soldier units commented on it like crazy, and the original poster was from the same organization. There was nothing to hide. However, nothing about Heian Ciemnosc’s chat with the commander was leaked. His body and situation were exposed, but the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s internal affairs were… completely clean from foreign eyes.
However, that was of little importance. What was the most strange, but the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s First and Second Step cultivators couldn’t see through was… the Third Step cultivators’ absence in responding.
Previously, they would’ve joined in the fun and insulted Heian Ciemnosc as it is needed. However, since the Heian Ciemnosc was declared under commander Choliac’s punishment and a few weeks passed, their participation was cut short or nearly negligent. They had practically stopped cursing Heian Ciemnosc as a group, watching from the sides with arms crossed or thoughtful eyes!
The reason was simple. One that only they could see through Heian Ciemnosc’s innately foreign Spirit Sense and Soul scanning-resistant body. And also that he wasn’t trying to hide his cultivation base… or progress.
During his punishment, not only was Heian Ciemnosc’s bodily strength being pushed through its limits, seemingly breaking past the rupture where he had already sensed before when breaking into the Conflagrate realm when he was just a First Step cultivator punk and hid in his second bunny burrow. When his body evolved to the [All-Devouring Force Chronicles] 3rd level. Now that Heian Ciemnosc was on the 5th level, if he could attain the 6th level way before breaking into the Light/Dark realm, it would be substantial to keep his might heaven-shaking.
Yet, what the Third Step cultivators watched and stayed silent for was something similar. Heian Ciemnosc trained his body tempering, innate Divine Art, but so was his cultivation base progressing!
To break into the Heaven-Breaking realm was uncomplicated. And after storing enough Neutral Energy and having a solid foundation and stable cultivation base. One can simply take that step. It wasn’t difficult, but it somehow made it up for the upcoming danger of breaking through the subsequent realms. While the Heaven-Breaking realm wasn’t dangerous to traverse in the cultivation path, one had to focus their already 100% Soul-connected bodies at the 10th stage of the Blossoming realm and find the first batch of stars in their Spirit Bosom and connect them to their Linked Body.
However, that was no simple matter when it came to Heian Ciemnosc. After all, he was a cultivator without an actual Spirit Bosom or natal spirit back then. All he had was pure, endless darkness. Thus, when Heian Ciemnosc was training his body tempering, innate Supreme Art, and a few days before Beto was called for the mission, Heian Ciemnosc’s body stopped. At first, the watching Soldiers sent off to supervise Heian Ciemnosc and the goods he was moving thought he was having troubles and was met with problems in his cultivation.
A few seconds later, their countenances visibly changed to the naked eye, and they were emotionless left by Heian Ciemnosc, whose inner being glowed 7 mighty, tiny, but dark-engulfing, glowing stars!!
It was strange because they couldn’t see through Heian Ciemnosc’s Spirit Bosom and could only take a general look into his body and see a fleeting image of his inner being so as to not bother him or cross their boundaries. All they could see was that Heian Ciemnosc was no longer a Blossoming realm cultivator and had broken into the Heaven-Breaking realm! And right after breaking through, he continued carrying the Fighter and materials like nothing happened! This… this placed the Third Step cultivators in a tough spot, which they later related to commander Choliac and the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s upper echelons.
Everything continued silently for Heian Ciemnosc and the First and Second Step cultivators, who continued berating Heian Ciemnosc in the Universal Conveyance. However, while they were as mocking, disdainful, slighting, and humiliating as before, they were no longer unrestrained and seemed… moderated.
Months went by, and after Heian Ciemnosc got the hang of it, the stars in his inner being weren’t difficult to ‘find’ anymore. Thus, when Heian Ciemnosc returned, instead of 7 lit-up stars, dark stars, there were 21. Heian Ciemnosc had advanced 2 stages when he was just 1 month away and was seemingly ready to strike the middle stages!
It was decided. The upper echelons gave the green light to the Chairwoman’s proposal, and Heian Ciemnosc’s punishment was to be heavily increased every 2 weeks. It was thought that the Chairwoman’s words were too much, and she exaggerated the notion, but time solved their doubts and thoughts. Heian Ciemnosc’s cultivation base further increased after his workload was increased for the first time to carry Frigates, where he broke through 2 stages in another month and a half, entering the Heaven-Breaking realm middle stages and already moving on to the later stages.
The upper echelons were convinced and, as always, praised the Chairwoman’s insight on the matter. Months passed, and the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s First and Second Step cultivators continued their daily humiliation relief of Heian Ciemnosc through Universal Conveyance. As months passed, they gained courage and went to Heian Ciemnosc’s route to do so personally, even if just yelling.
However, the sight of one man moving the same that only machinery could, other than cargo spaceships, left them baffled and… were left feeling pensive. Heian Ciemnosc’s increase in his cultivation base, with barely any resources, was adamantly alarming!!
If they knew how Heian Ciemnosc felt from his body tempering section of his [All-Devouring Force Chronicles] innate Divine Art, they would’ve at least understood it a little… before treating Heian Ciemnosc as their most precious gem, second to only the Faction’s actual gems.
Either way, Heian Ciemnosc continued being punished… training his body tempering, innate Divine Art, and progressing through the Heaven-Breaking realm. Unbeknownst to him, the Third Step cultivators sent to supervise him went from Soldiers at the Life-Long realm to Officers at the Farsighted realm. Soon, Heian Ciemnosc was visited by actual Bright/Silhouette realm Security Elders, including commander Choliac, who oversaw Heian Ciemnosc’s progress from month 5 to the last day of month 6.
Heian Ciemnosc became the upper echelons’ favorite sightseeing activity as he cultivated. And when he returned to his Team’s base, they left, aware of what eating more than one could chew meant.
… Meanwhile, in the night an exhausted, sleeping-like-a-log, and Milyy-cushioned Heian Ciemnosc was oblivious to the world, safely asleep. An announcement was made to the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s space station.
“... Attention. Crimsonbreaking Faction’s space station will enter flight in 3 months. Preparations for that time are now available for 2 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days. Next target location: Mistaken Fissures Upper Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, a pale young man slept in the hold of a beautiful young wife who was also sleeping soundly on her husband’s sweaty, incredibly well-smelling, bare body.
…
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Let It Rain's note: So, after this whole arc, the last arc will start. And afterwards, the beginning of the end, so to speak.