It was a slow process, but their eyes adapted to the new surroundings. What t Nora’s eyes made her heart skip beats. All around, containers with opened doors revealed beast people with torn clothes stepping out, their eyes wide with fear and confusion.
n dressed in unfamiliar robes shouted orders, so robes marked with a cross on the chest. It was only much later that Nora would understand this place to be a harvest point and black market for sales to the mbers of the Round Table.
For now, they had other problems. As they were led forth, a man with a mask and a whip scread at them, driving them forward. They joined a long queue, their clothes torn from their bodies, leaving them naked.
An elephant core beast with the spiritual control of water splashed them, the cold water both a relief and a painful reminder of their situation. The weather was cold, a terrible awakening.
Still naked, they were led to another point where a man was registering numbers on their necks. "Next!" was scread when it was Nora’s turn.
She was led in, the man examining her body briefly. "A broken leg and stolen talent. Send this one to the bin for processing." anwhile, her cat-girl friend received a different evaluation. "Send this one to the cells."
n ca to lead them apart. Nora struggled, not wanting to be separated, but was pulled away. The cat-girl was given a number on her neck while Nora was led to another side.
Here, the beast people had various deformities. It was not just beast people; there were humans and other creatures Nora had never seen before, like a man with a horse’s lower half.
Most were old, so close to death, unable to stand. The queue led to a large warehouse with fus of charcoal smoke billowing from a huge chimney. The line moved slowly, but it was moving.
Just then, a man with only one arm burst out of the building, screaming, "NO!!! I don’t want to die!" He was huge, pushing his way out with surprising strength.
anwhile, not so far on a building, a woman, commander of this facility. looked below. She frowned as she waved her hand, "get that trash back in the cooker." She ordered and imdiately, n in white robes, rushed forth with whips in their hands, but this man that had run out of the building was strong and he pushed hard. The whips they used on his body barely made a dent on his skin
As he struggled, another suddenly ca with a blade, swiftly cutting his neck. The head hit the ground as his assaulter landed.
To Nora’s shock, the assaulter was a little girl, not much older than herself. She turned, giving Nora and the others a cold look before looking away, as if they were stains in her eyes.
The n in white robes whispered among themselves. "That’s the genius favored daughter of the Second Family of the Holy Church’s Seven Virtues. She is from the Virtue of Temperance. Iris the Unrestrained."
Another nodded, "I heard she was born an Awakened with an S-Dantain."
"WOW! So lucky. While the rest of us had to pay the fee to have our dantains forcefully awakened, and will forever owe loans on it, so people are just born special." His words were shallow, but not so low that Iris herself could not hear.
Iris was young. Nora guessed that she was probably around the age of 12, like her elder brother, Chiron. He had long hair that had been tied into two pony tails, the colors were black and a fine white line at one side.
She was elegant with an oval face and skin that was slightly dark, but well polished, and even from the small distance, Nora could sll the scent of fine rose coming out of her body.
Iris, the girl who had just killed the man, looked around before turning to the n in white robes. "Hurry up and dump this trash in the cooker." She glanced at Nora, frowning as she saw the mark of the yin and yang talent swap flower on her chest.
Then she turned and walked away.
It was now Nora’s turn to enter the building. The fear and uncertainty gnawed at her insides as she took each reluctant step forward.
As Nora stepped inside the building, the scene that unfolded before her was a nightmarish vision from the deepest depths of hell. The air was thick with the tallic scent of blood and the acrid stench of burning flesh.
n dressed as butchers moved thodically around the space, their aprons stained with the gore of countless victims. Each wore a face mask, their eyes cold and detached as they went about their grim work.
Naked people were shuffled into different sections, their terrified eyes darting around in desperate search for an escape that didn’t exist. A gas in here was specifically for weakening spiritual energy formation.
Nora’s heart pounded in her chest as she was pushed forward. To her right, a man much larger than herself was being led to a blood-streaked table. He struggled, his cries for rcy echoing off the walls, but it was futile. The butchers held him down, strapping him to the table with practiced ease.
Nora couldn’t tear her eyes away as the butchers began their work. The man’s screams filled the room, a horrifying symphony of agony and despair. Blood sprayed as knives flashed, limbs and flesh were severed with brutal efficiency. The man’s body was reduced to a mass of twitching, bloody chunks, his life extinguished piece by piece.
Nora’s breath ca in ragged gasps, her stomach churning at the sight. The sheer horror of it all paralyzed her, and for a mont, she couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She realized with a sickening clarity that this place was no ordinary slaughterhouse; it was a factory of death, a place where lives were ended and bodies were repurposed with clinical detachnt.
As she looked closer, she saw the dismbered remains of the man being thrown into a massive furnace. Flas roared hungrily, devouring the flesh and bones. Workers in blood-soaked aprons and masks approached the furnace, pouring in a variety of herbal ingredients. Nora’s eyes widened in recognition.
Among the piles of herbs were spiritual plants used in the creation of dicinal pills. This she recognized because of her origins as one that ca from a clan in the mountains.
The realization hit her like a punch to the gut—they were using the bodies to fuel so grotesque alchemical process.
Her mind raced, trying to comprehend the full horror of the situation. This wasn’t just a place of death; it was a perverse laboratory, combining the macabre art of butchery with the mystic science of alchemy....
(Author’s note: Thank Heavens I finally did it... Don’t worry guys, everybody’s story is of interest and I know you want to see what happens next... LOL. Good! Now send Golden Tickets, Please.)
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