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I wasn't weak by any means. No, I was strong. I was one of the strongest, using my powerful magic and fervent will to fight as a hero of the Old Satan Faction. I was just as strong as my husband and his friends, yet…I was 'weak'. I was unable to do anything in the face of an adversary that knocked all of us Devils unconscious.

But Serafall was fine. Was it the fact that she had previously fallen unconscious or was it because her mental will was stronger than mine? I couldn't accept the fact that I was asleep, unable to do anything against the man that dared to harm Rias.

All I could do was grit my teeth and listen in horror as Serafall recalled every single detail of Issei's battle with that wretched man. I hated myself for it, hated myself for being too weak to protect my sister-in-law, and could only drown in self-pity and sorrow.

"Are you okay, Grayfia?" Sirzechs' voice forced me to raise my head, his blue-green eyes soft with concern. I gripped the hem of my skirt, not wearing the atypical maid uniform I was widely known for, and trembled under his stare.

"I'm just…angry. Angry at myself," I said with a quiet, shaky voice, my eyes falling to trace the details of the small table we sat at. "I'm angry that I couldn't do anything." I laid a hand on my teacup and toyed with it, slipping my finger around the inside of the ceramic arch as Sirzechs sighed, one of his hands reaching out to grab my own.

"There was nothing we could do, even if we were awake." I bit my lip as I too sighed, trying to sort out the feelings that were clouding my mind. I raised my head, briefly staring into his eyes, and glanced around the mostly empty café, taking my mind off of his hurtful but mostly truthful words.

"So what are we supposed to do, Sirzechs?" I muttered lifting my teacup to my mouth, savouring the light, herbal taste of the beverage.

"We can't do anything, but we know someone that can." I placed the teacup back onto the saucer it came from and gently placed my head on the table, shivering under the touch of the cool wood. Sirzechs placed a hand on my head to reassure me, gently ruffling my hair.

I sighed.

I sighed because everything Sirzechs had said was right. I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. He was always right when it came to matters like these. But I didn't want him to be right. I wanted to be comforted, I want to be told that I could have and still can do something to help Rias.

But that's where the difference between Sirzechs and I comes in.

He's being a realist and I want to be an optimist.

When faced with the overwhelming truth, I hid the truth in a locked chest and threw it to the bottom of the ocean, hoping to never see it again. But I'll have to drag the chest out of that bottomless ocean sooner or later to face this truth, this wretched realization that has been tormenting me for the past week.

In the depths of my mind, a week has been too long.

Even if we somehow find Rias, she could be dead, mutilated, broken and all other kinds of messed up. And this was the truth I had to accept. Sirzechs knew that there was no hope for his sister and accepted that while I sat in a corner and refused to believe it.

I refused to believe that Rias' body was probably in a ditch somewhere, already rotting with the skin starting to peel off.

I shuddered at the thought of her dead body and raised my head, tears clouding my eyes.

"If he's the only person that can help us, then why did he disappear?"

I was bleary eyed as I was awakened from some kind of great slumber. My vision was blurring everything beyond any formal recognition, I could hear no sounds and I had trouble moving my mostly numb body. It was painful, annoying and unnecessary for the development of my surroundings.

"Ah. You're awake." Neither was that familiar voice, but at least I knew I was accompanied by the person that brought me here. As I continued to blink the sleep out of my eyes, a silent yawn escaping my throat, a few tears slowly cleared my vision, allowing me to grasp a comprehensible sight of what I had awakened to.

And I did not like what I had awakened to.

As soon as I was able to clearly observe my surroundings, I noticed the rows and rows of cages that were neatly placed throughout the corridor I was in. Most of the cages were occupied by unrecognisable forms, some having familiar sections of crimson on them, some having bones protruding through the skin, but there was a common theme throughout.

All of the figures were moving, breathing and somewhat screaming, sending shivers down my spine as I desperately tried to ignore them. To my right, there was a rank, brick wall that had stains of red on it and on my left was a thick-looking door that appeared to be made of metal.

And at the end of the corridor was him, the one had brought me here, sitting on an old wooden chair with one leg crossed over the other while grinning at me.

Throughout all of this, I had to wonder where exactly I was, though. I mean, everything went dark the last time I was actively conscious and my body was beyond any physical repair, so how was I here in this room, living and breathing as any living thing would?

I had no answers to my questions and I felt as if I would have none any time soon.

Especially when that man was the one that had captured me, not that I knew much about him.

"Do you like my experiments?" That man continued, jumping to his feet as he began to approach me, fear encroaching my heart as I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. He stopped after a few steps, smiling as he stared into one of the cages, and glanced at me, expecting me to respond.

But as I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Nary a word nor a sound, driving the final stake of despair into my heart. I could only frown as he continued to approach me, his eyes lighting up with realisation as he knew that I couldn't speak.

"That's right! You can't speak, can you? Nor can you move very well." This is the first time I had heard of this restriction of movement and, when I raised what I thought was the entirety of my arm I was met with a horrific stump above the elbow that delivered an excruciating phantom pain to my mind. I winced as I glanced down over my naked body at what I thought would be legs but was met with everything above the knee.

No arms, no legs, no speech.

I was effectively screwed, wasn't I? Here in this dark, musty place with a stranger that looks like someone I dearly know…my death was almost confirmed if it wasn't for the fact that this man had somewhat prevented my death, even if it's only for a few hours or days.

But how long have I been here? How long have I been unconscious? This body I am occupying, this body that I am now living in, clearly can't be mine as I had straight up died in that street. So I've come to the conclusion that my soul, my consciousness, had somehow been transferred to another body that may or may not have been an exact replica of mine.

That's not necessarily a good thing, though, as this body has no arms, no legs and a voice that makes no sound. I'd much rather be dead and in my own body than this one, but beggars can't be choosers, can they?

If I was able to, I would sigh.

I grimaced instead.

"If you want to know, you have been asleep for an entire week. That's the longest it's taken someone to wake up, so congratulations! You've broken a record. Do you feel accomplished yet?" The sarcastic tone and slow clapping that followed those twisted words made me want to punch the speaker in the face, however, I had no hands to do so.

It was a strange feeling, actually, not being able to feel anything beyond the stump. I mean, because I'm accustomed to having the extensions of my limbs, it feels as if they're there but they're not. They simply don't exist. And right now I was focusing on trying to not suddenly burst into tears and silently sob as I realised how utterly fucked up my situation was.

So I glared at the man that was now standing in front of me, his arms limply hanging by his side as he loosely grinned at me, his tired eyes staring back into my own.

"You won't be able to resist for long, you know?" He growled at me as his grin dropped off his face. I didn't falter; instead, I spat at him in an act of defiance to show him that I wouldn't bow down to him. However, that proved to be the wrong thing to do as he delivered a swift punch to my stomach that made me keel over, tears spilling out of my eyes as the pain was too intense for my mind to handle.

"At first, I pitied you and was considering mental torture, but now I fucking hate you." He stepped closer to me and cupped my cheek, his cool hand forcing my head up in an attempt to make me look at him.

I averted my eyes like a coward, knowing that my earlier determination and resolve was probably a mask I was wearing to hide my inner fear.

"So, what shall it be? Sexual assault? Physical torture? I'll let you decide because you're so verbal today!" I glared at his snarky remark as we both knew that I wouldn't be able to respond. So, in response to his own question, he pulled a knife out of his pocket and pressed the edge of the blade against my neck, a small smile on his face as he slowly cut the skin, drawing blood in a matter of seconds.

"Do you want to know what I love most?" I didn't move, lest the blade pierce my neck and end my life. Although death would be painful, it would be better than suffering at the hands of this man. But I felt as if he'd be able to bring me back to life…

"A mixture of both." Sheer horror spread across my face as he chuckled. "However, for now, you're in luck. Just before you woke up, I had finished defiling a crimson princess that deserved all of her pain, so you'll have to wait. Disappointed?" His chuckle evolved into a boisterous and infuriatingly annoying laugh that sent me to the depths of despair.

Why?

Because I knew that he was completely serious.

I knew that this man would probably rape and pillage my body until I was nothing but a shell of my former self that would not respond to any stimulus. Only then would he end my misery for there would be no more fun to be had…

"Ah, you're thinking that that Issei you're in love with is going to come and save you, right?" Although he was wrong about the part where I was in love with Issei, I blushed. "Well, he won't be coming to save you anytime soon as he won't be able to get here."

This Issei pulled the knife away from my neck, quickly leaning in to lick the blood away with his tongue to my disgust and discomfort, and stepped away. He turned away from me, his arms in his pockets as he whistled and stopped short of the rows of cages, glancing at me from over his shoulder.

"I hope you enjoy fun, Raynare, because we're going to be having a lot of fun. Well, it may be fun for me and not for you…"

Deep in the mountains, there existed nature. The trees peacefully stood in place, their roots digging deep into the earth, the flowers swayed in the wind, hoping to catch as much sunlight as possible, and the native creatures lived day to day with the hopes of surviving in the harsh world.

And then a giant explosion ruined this peaceful section of the forest, the cause heavily panting and dripping with sweat as they held their hands out in front of them. As the smoke and dust settled, they weakly grinned, satisfied with their work, and collapsed onto their back, staring up at the blue sky above them.

"I've really become complacent, huh?" They muttered to themselves as they held an arm in front of their eyes to shield them from the unforgiving sun, relishing the cool breeze that occasionally blew through the valleys in between the mountains.

A short distance away from them, propped up against a large rock, was the unconscious body of a figure. The cause of the explosion glanced over at the body, sighing as he swung his body into a sitting position, and crossed his legs, rotating so they were facing them.

"The body is in good condition but there is no mental response…" They jumped to their feet, striding over to the body, and crouched down in front of it, staring into the pale eyelids. A sigh escaped into the air as the cause of the explosion turned away from the body, their eyes trailing the empty, azure sky before they settled on the horizon, their lips pursed as the wind once again blew through the valley.

"I hope you're alright, Raynare…"

Spooky. Not really. Well, plot and plot and plot. It doesn't stop coming, same for me (not in that way), and it will stay that way until I am satisfied! Until the end of this story, at least…anyways, I am super satisfied with the quality of this chapter. Avid reader Hellsender (shout out to you, buddy) told me what I was missing this whole time and that was detailed monologues, something I made sure to implement! Thanks, Hellsender~

Thanks for reading World's End! See you in the next chapter!