Disclaimer: This story contains physical torture (trying my best), language, and content not for 13 and under. Dissidia Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix, Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and High School DXD belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi. OC characters belong to me.
"Y-Y-Y-You're…!?" It took Riser a few seconds of hyperventilating and crying before he managed to reveal the armless, magic person in front of him, Mateus, Lucy, Terra, Plue, and Terra's Moogle, surprising the other three prisoners for both Riser's words and fear quickly shedding little droplets of tears. "You're the one who kidnapped Riser from my home! And tortured me with the Hunters!" This Albasar Shadi, everyone noticed, calmly mused with a flat line possibly a blank frown or smile.
"He's also the one who saved us from being caught by the terrible humans, kupo!" Terra's Moogle noted in apprehension and relief, flying away from hiding behind Terra's head to return in her arms embracing it.
"You're half right. Because I'm the only person having magic, and less authority than those so-called powerful hunters, I'm also the only one who heals your body from their torture. Of course, I am strictly threatened to break you and the other prisoners or else I'll also be punished…." Albasar curtly affirmed. The four don't know what surprised them with the response; either his words or his displeased glower not showing pride in being part of the Hunters. This might give them a potential lead with his identity and affiliation.
"So, you were forced to follow their orders?" Terra enquired, carefully holding onto Riser who quickly removed his arms from Mateus to hug her, still petrified of the tranquil mage.
"Ya, budak (Yes, child). My slave collar, which those cowards forced me into, prevents me from using all my powers to both escape from this hell and kill everyone to free the prisoners." Albasar nodded, tilting his head to show the six visitors his human-sized dog collar. Although initially confused about his strange neckpiece like the others, Terra felt a tinge of pain in her head, so she gently grasped one hand off Riser's embrace and held her head against her palm. It's like she had a forgotten memory of having an item that made her…a bit like Albasar's situation as the Hunters' magic slave.
'Slave collar…Why does that sound painful and familiar?' Terra wondered in confusion, waiting for the subtly throbbing headache to fade before releasing her head.
"How did you capture Riser, for having no arms?" Mateus heartlessly demanded, looking at Albasar's empty sleeves and lack of arms. Although noticing his brief pout of annoyance, Albasar said nothing yet everyone spotted a breeze of movement on his sleeves subtly swaying back and front from non-existent wind just as swift blurs of blue liquid and dark brown stone soared onto the air and speedily slipped over and through his sleeves. Mateus, Lucy, Riser, and Terra had their eyes closed when they felt a strong push of wind blowing through their faces for a few seconds before they hurriedly blinked their eyes and saw, what prompted an astonished gasp from Lucy and Terra, Albasar's sleeves now have a pair of arms and hands looking like marble dirt and a translucent tentacle of water shrouded both his now-armed sleeves like a barely transparent water shield.
"I use fire, earth, water, and air as prosthetics or tentacle arms. They ordered me to capture him with Holy water tentacles." Albasar Shadi elucidated, moving his stone fingers like he was counting with the water flying out of his arms like a water snake now entering his cauldron. "Of course, you four children are right to be suspicious of me. A mage those Hunters kept trying to break to do their sins although the prisoners know that I don't take their crap. Shame that this boy is terrified that he only believes what he sees and feels with his eyes and body."
"C-Can't you blame Riser?! I've only been here for two months and everyone wants to break me against Riser's will!" Riser cried, tempted to yell in anger but refrained out of fear for Albasar's water tentacle and stone hands, and not wanting to break down in front of Mateus, Lucy, and Terra who looked at him in mixed surprise and confusion.
"Hunters aside, not everyone wants to break you, and the almost broken-minded prisoners are some of them." Albasar's nonchalantly unfazed response to his outburst surprisingly startled Riser with a brief gasp. Albasar's collected glare in his empty black eyes immediately scared Riser more than how he tortured him…but Riser immediately recalled something that induced his shock with muffled panting and whimpers, feeling Terra gently shake him in curiosity while her Moogle gently lay its stomach on his head. "Hold on, I'll make you kids something." Everyone looked up to see Albasar on his feet and walking towards the cauldron brimming with delicious-smelling brown liquid over the fireplace.
"Hmph. He thinks of us as children?" Mateus scoffed in anger facing Albasar who busily cooking their food but heard Terra whispering her concern to see Riser looking down distraught, almost breaking down again just like when he revealed Albasar's identity. "Riser?"
"…He kidnapped me…" Riser choked with a sniffle. "…But there were times Riser could've sworn that he's not loyal to the Hunters."
Riser kept panting and whining from the foreign treatment that he knew scared him out of the other tortures he'd been given, unable to see from the blindfold around his eyes which also helped him know that he was in one of the WORST places of this hell. Earlier this morning, he remembers the Hunters' female captain roughly waking him up by forcing one of the other prisoners, whom Riser has heard of and grew terrified of, into his cell and making the newcomer do the excruciating torture that Riser believes hurts him the most and not even a Phenex devil can survive. When he woke up from being unconscious due to blood loss, the feeling of his naked body on the bed without his clothes alarmed Riser just before he shuddered in fright at being held by two, familiarly large human hands on his hips and a tongue shockingly licking at one of the gruesome patches of blood that have yet to heal. "W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!?" Riser screamed.
"Calm yourself. Ayeka wants to apologise for almost eating you empty, while I help accelerate your healing." The voice, Riser dreaded to hear his kidnapper, exclaimed beside his bed with a mysteriously blank tone unfazed as Riser continued to whine and whimper of the second person seemingly and leisurely licking or tasting his blood and sweaty body.
"…He tastes delicious." The revealed cannibal remarked after a lick on Riser's navel down to the right thigh, forcing a hitched whimper from the terrified, 'blinded' prey.
"Really? But the Hunters want him alive for his tears. And based on what I read; this will be the first time he's ever felt EATEN." Riser's kidnapper said and Riser felt the cannibal's entire mouth licking, bitting, and nibbling him more aggressively but not ripping him apart with his inhuman strength and teeth like earlier, horrifying Riser to keep screaming his pleas but failed and continuously cry from 'being eaten'. He didn't know how long it took until he felt the cannibal stopping his torture without eating him to death but Riser was left harshly panting from almost losing his breath after crying behind his blindfold and screaming. He can still feel his wet or slimy body being wiped clean, surprisingly gently, before being dressed back into his clothes despite lacking the strength to climb off the bed, pull out the blindfold, and escape from the torturers.
"How's the prisoner?" Riser hitched a whine in fear of the female Captain soldier's disgruntled voice demanding as soon as she arrived in the room.
"Fine, and Ayeka ensured he won't eat your toy." Riser's kidnapper and healer nonchalantly responded, receiving a forced scoff from the always angry woman. "Here's your PRECIOUS Phoenix Tears for today." Riser deliriously heard a briefly shocked gasp only to wince from the furious yell.
"Careful, you idiot! We need all his tears for our army!" A male voice, possibly another soldier, scolded in outrage.
"Then drag him here and I can help heal him for your 'foolproof plan'." Riser's kidnapper stoically proposed.
"Hmph! We don't take orders from a vermin mage and a disgusting cannibal on how we'll break this fool. Take him away from here." The Captain complained in anger but Riser could hear movement heading to his side of the bed, scaring him to painfully and recklessly climb and fall on the bed, unknowingly crawling closer to the two people who were torturing him earlier.
"N-NO, PLEASE!" Riser screamed but he felt a strong but normal-sized pair of legs gently wrapping around Riser's stomach, alarming him to hold whatever was grabbing him with his broken fingers…he felt a body pressing against his but also stumps at the shoulders where the arms should be.
"He just got healed! Don't be rough on the boy!" Riser heard his kidnapper angrily yelling back as the former screamed from feeling a hand roughly grabbing the back of his shirt to pull him away, but still being held on by the armless mage.
'Is he helping me?' Riser wanted to think and ask but he doesn't want the Hunters to drag him back to his cell and get tortured. "P-Please don't let Riser go with them!" Riser begged in desperation.
"Unhand…Un-leg him, you stupid G-AAAAHHH!"
"I almost got my legs cut off for trying to save you if not for Ayeka viciously eating one of them. That penakut (coward) Captain ran off screaming." Albasar admitted as soon as Riser finished narrating to Mateus, Lucy, Plue, Terra, and her Moogle, using telekinesis on his single knife to chop some ingredients and bite-sized beef cubes into the cauldron softly brimming the stew. Everyone glanced back at Albasar cooking yet Riser, Lucy, and Terra winced in fear of Albasar mentioning Ayeka's name from the story. As for Mateus, his violet eyes narrowed suspiciously at the armless mage. 'I'm glad this Ayeka person/ guy's not here.' The four humans thought the same thing.
"…I'm sorry." Riser slumped his shoulders, apologising in sadness.
"Don't worry. What matters is that you'll return here to be healed, even if they always blindfolded you and made you not remember my appearance." Albasar accepted, using his earth and water prosthetics to grab any seasoning and extra ingredients on the table beside the fireplace.
"I kept wondering why they don't want me to see your face…" Riser exclaimed in confusion as Lucy scooted closer to him on the bean bags under them.
"Maybe it would've given them the idea of you begging him to help you," Lucy whispered her curiosity to Riser's left ear, her words prompted Riser to blink his blue eyes in surprise but hesitantly nodded his agreement. If Riser did see Albasar's face, he would've remembered him to beg for his help even if he's the one who kidnapped him in the first place.
"Oi, golden boy." Albasar's voice immediately startled the guests with Mateus assuming that the mage was calling for him. "Your ripped clothes don't look comfortable. I suggest getting you some new clothes." Albasar noted without turning around.
"Hmph. You dare mock me for what those foul humans have done to me?" Mateus angrily scoffed, immediately dreading the others for guessing he would attack the other with his hands.
"I heard what you said to break that jalang (bitch)'s obnoxious pride yesterday. To thank you, I'll dress you up, free of charge!" Albasar noted, noticeably pleased from his smile just as Mateus felt, and everyone else witnessed, in surprise the former immediately being held by large strips of fabric animatedly grabbing him like tentacles from the open, human-sized wardrobe right before Mateus screamed from being pulled into the wardrobe with the doors closing shut and it's prey captured inside.
"Mat/ Mateus!" Lucy, Terra, and Riser gasped, about to dash to the magic wardrobe and grab Mateus out when they heard something that stopped them…the muffled sounds of the voice gasping, and yelping in such pain immediately shocked them with their cheeks blushing red, knowing that Mateus is attacked differently than their presumption. 'What's…going on in there?' The three wished to ask Albasar not watching the scene to cook for them just when the door opened…what they saw made them gawk in shock with Lucy releasing a gasp.
"W-W-W-W-What in the Hell did you do to me!?" Mateus angrily demanded blushing like Lucy, Terra, and Riser. Instead of his torn shirt and leggings, Mateus now wears a knee-length, golden yellow pinafore dress with short puffy sleeves past his shoulders, a purple apron and his same gold, high-heeled boots before the Hunters stripped him off. 'Mat/ Mateus…in a dress…' Mateus heard Lucy, Terra, and Riser thinking the same thought in disbelief with his telepathy, flustering the angry tyrant. "You three! I can hear your minds thinking the same thing!" Mateus yelled in dismay.
"Cute, but not boy-friendly at my home…nope." Albasar calmly remarked with a curious frown towards the blushing mad blonde man but shook his head, just as the wardrobe again grabbed Mateus with its fabric tentacles and pulled him back inside the wardrobe before he could complain. A few times, almost everyone watches in both concern and dread of Mateus being tortured by the magic wardrobe with his muffled screams and releases him to wear a different outfit than the first dress but also sweating and blushing harder to the point of almost shedding tears of embarrassment, only to be pulled back inside whenever Albasar disagreed. Finally, it took seven tries until Mateus was released and Albasar smiled his acknowledgement. "Ah, that looks comfy for you!"
Out of all the other odd clothing, Albasar forced him to dress, everyone now sees Mateus wearing a simple and large, white, short-sleeved shirt with purple linings on the sleeves and collar, purple shorts above his knees with a pocket on each side, and no shoes. However, Mateus's face slowly reduced the blush, trying not to shed tears and his teeth gritting in humiliation made Lucy, Terra, and Riser grimace in worry for the other until Mateus fell and landed on his hands and knees. "Mat! Are you okay?" Lucy called, dashing to Mateus's side and carefully lifting him on his knees with her hands, feeling Mateus hurriedly grabbing and gently holding her back.
"…Lu-Lucy…I want to kill this vulgar insect for his disgusting action towards me!" Mateus's immediately angry response alarmed Lucy thinking the worst. "Seriously, what happened back there!?" Lucy cried in shock, both man and woman blushing harder.
"Bertenang, budak (Calm down, kid). I made you four stews to fill you up." Everyone heard Albasar casually reassure, attracting Lucy and Mateus to see him walking back from the cauldron and seven bowls of steaming hot stew and a wooden spoon each levitating in the air following the mage with Terra, her Moogle, Riser, and Plue receiving their bowls while the other two are hovering closer, waiting for Lucy and Mateus who the former carefully pull the other on his feet and carefully lead him to join the others on the bean bags before both also retrieved their bowls of dark brown-coloured, deliciously smelled meat stew with few soft potatoes.
"Shame the other prisoners could not survive and have decent food for once," Albasar noted, his bowl held in his left hand while his right earth-made hand floated over his bowl. Silently curious, everyone watched as Albasar's bowl slowly shook inside with the stew faintly bubbling until the stew rose unusually from the bowl and floated above Albasar's hand he moved and turned it around, showing the surprised or impressed group of Albasar holding and drinking an orb of meat and potato stew from his now empty bowl.
Not wasting time and hearing their stomachs growling, mostly Riser's, everyone slowly digs into their bowls of stew with their spoons, immediately satisfying Lucy with a smile "Mmh! It's so good!" Lucy remarked although her smile drooped into a surprised glower including Mateus and Terra from watching Riser desperately gobbling all his bowl's contents in seconds but accidentally choke himself from eating the first few meat cubes at once. It took Riser some comforting pats on his back from Terra's Moogle to regain his breath and resume eating slower than earlier, sobbing with little tears out of his eyes.
"Eat all you like. I made more since the Hunters have been starving him with little leftovers during these two months." Albasar encouraged Mateus, Riser, Lucy, and Terra. From behind Albasar, the cauldron's contents again rose from the inside and flew closer towards them, splitting into similar sizes and flowing onto their bowls for seconds.
"T-T-Thank you!" Riser sobbed with another sniffle, taking more of his fill from having real food for a long time. As the others ate until they had their fill, patiently waiting with Riser having his thirds or fourths until he almost vomited from overeating, the prisoners gently reclined against their bean bag seats with only Mateus glaring dark daggers at Albasar using magic to move the now floating and empty bowls towards him, all seven bowls slowly but noticeably changed shape and texture from the hardened clay bowls into soft and liquid-like mud balls he manipulated them and his earth prosthetics into a single mud tentacle he willed it to a large container at the other side of the room, leaving him armless again.
"M-Mr. Albasar?" Terra nervously raised a hand, catching everyone's attention. "Can you please tell us about this place? This Pen…penja…"
"Penjara Setan (Devil's Dungeon/ Satan's Prison)?" Albasar confirmed, seeing Terra nodding and Lucy looking curious and intrigued for the answer. "It's just my unofficial name I thought off this world since the Hunters are more barbaric than real demons even when they torture them."
"So, this world is nothing but a hellish dungeon?" Mateus assumed, still seething for Albasar kindly dressing him up from his torn clothes. "I assumed it is nothing but the endless Void two of my…pawns are obsessed with achieving it for their goals." Terra immediately recalls Onion Knight and Bartz's enemies the Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath for their Void obsessions.
"Oh, it's outside world is real and you four might find a way to escape." Albasar carelessly nodded, stunning the four to blink their eyes in dismay.
"R-Really!?" Riser gasped.
"The Hunters tried everything for their history of tormenting their prisoners to death that it's the only thing in their mind, refusing to believe that anyone can leave. They were so proud of themselves, that they could not see how something out of the ordinary might easily slip through if they made their efforts hard enough." Albasar elucidated with a faintly stern glower, attracting everyone's mixed apprehension or suspicion.
"Then why are you helping us?" Lucy asked.
"…I'm not." Albasar immediately admitted, again surprising the five or six prisoners. "I don't share the Hunters' stupidity of torturing every non-human in this neraka (hell) but that doesn't mean I will help you get out of here with a snap of my fingers. After all, I'm the one who kidnapped one of you but also who made sure he didn't die. How could you easily trust someone who might, massive IF, betray you for their goals? Again, I can only use little of my powers from the Hunters' ownership." Both Lucy and Riser winced and gritted their teeth in unison. Albasar may have a point.
"Ahh…." Mateus mused. "So, you wish to witness how we shall escape, despite our powerlessness, instead of giving us your full assistance."
"Clever, boy." Albasar nodded with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk. "When you three showed up, I foresaw a future outcome of you four…where the Hunters will soon end by your hands. That made me get you four out of your former cell and bring you here."
"Kupo! That's what you meant by 'new players for the game'!" Terra's Moogle recalled what surprised Terra, Lucy, Mateus, Riser, and Plue first looking at the creature in Terra's crossed arms before Albasar calmly frowning without shifting into any suspicious emotion.
"Players…for a game?" Lucy wondered.
"The Hunters' little carnage play for centuries isn't my thing, ever since they took me away from my home, and my love. I would've left you four for dead if not for seeing a possible future of, how is up to you, you four will escape by your efforts and destroy the Hunters." Albasar explained, his tone and face slowly bore displeasure and anger. "Even if you leave us prisoners here, hearing the end of their tyranny will be enough to win the lost souls' freedom both living and dead. I cannot leave unless my forced contract with them will break…or if I die by their servitude." The six listened with almost all expressed astonishment in their eyes and subtle gasps for his words but the one who did not share their surprise closed his eyes, thinking his reaction for seconds…
"…How laughable." Mateus's remark attracted everyone's attention with Lucy, Terra, and Riser visibly distraught and Albasar raised an eyebrow at seeing Mateus grimly sneering his irritation at the armless mage. "You just said that we shouldn't fully trust you. As a manipulator myself, are your words convincing to the people you want to break?" Although he has a point, the three immediately imagine the worst of how Mateus plans to attack Albasar…or the other killing him despite their limitations.
"M-M-Mateus!" Terra whispered in dread, trying to cup her hands on Mateus's mouth as he shook and squirmed against his bean bag seat in surprise and agitation of her, her Moogle and Lucy trying to stop him from making a scene and arguing against the mage. But to Riser's surprise and dread, while hugging Plue, he noticed how Albasar doesn't react the worst.
"I want to see how people would easily see through my lies unless they're idiots," Albasar admitted, stopping Mateus, Lucy, and Terra from moving with all eyes on Albasar faintly smiling. "But, you four don't have time to hear more from me…since it should take effect now." As soon as he whispered the last part, everyone blinked their eyes in mixed surprise and confusion just as they except Albasar felt a sudden anguishing pain shooting their hearts and minds, horrifying them with strangled gasps and Terra, her Moogle, and Lucy quickly removed their hands from Mateus.
From his floating seat, Albasar silently watched his guests harshly panting and gasping in their pain with the four humans grabbing a piece of their clothed hearts with their hands as if they were having seizures…their eyes were closed that they unknowingly started glowing a blinding white light from their bare feet and growing all over to their bodies and head in seconds which then shrunk smaller on their seats. Another few seconds later, the shrinking lights on the intruders reduced and faded into particles of lights that extinguished into nothing and Albasar spotted what he did to the victims…
"W-W-What happened…" Riser panted in disbelief once he felt the strange excruciation in his system end, luckily brief compared to the Hunters' torture, with his ears listening to Mateus, Terra, her Moogle, and Lucy also groaning to know their torture had ceased. But Riser noticed something was wrong; he felt the bean bag under him was larger than earlier. When he both looked around and heard Lucy subtly screaming her horror, he got his answer, and it shocked him the same as the others spotting their situation in dismay…. Riser, Mateus, Lucy, Terra, Moogle, and Plue have shrunken but are possibly bigger than ants with the former four now lying on top of one of the bean bags instead of each sitting on their seats.
"We're shrunken!" Terra gasped in surprise which grew into a brief scream from slipping through the bean bag's material like she was sinking through quicksand. Luckily, Mateus quickly grabbed Terra's arms and hurriedly pulled her back with her Moogle companion lifting her by her back. But they, Lucy, and Riser accidentally leaned to the same side and ended up tumbling, gasping, and rolling their bodies over the bean bag like a soft mountain until they grunted their pain from landing recklessly on the floor.
"M-Mat, Terra, Riser! We're like the size of a foot!" Lucy remarked in shock, hurriedly pulling and holding Plue off the floor and in her arms before climbing on her feet. "Puu!"
"Kupo, Puu-pun and I are even tinier than our real sizes!" Moogle noticed once it flapped its wings and ascended, still holding its stubby paws on Terra's back to lift her while she held and pulled Mateus on his feet. Everyone looked around the new colossal-sized room distraught for ending up shrunken out of nowhere, now seeing everything in worm's eye view and potentially afraid of being stepped on by giant feet like bugs. The possible theory of how they shrunk must be the meat stew they ate.
"How do you all feel?" Everyone looks up and sees Albasar glancing down from his floating position, both unscathed to be giant and unfazed in his scowl confirming their thoughts that he shrunk them with his magic and stew.
"Why did you shrink us?" Terra enquired in surprise, holding her Moogle in her arms like Lucy with Plue.
"The only way I'm curious for you six to escape from Penjara Setan is to go through their building as mice would go through every hole and ventilation, under the Hunters' noses and feet," Albasar admitted with a faintly confident smile. "However, there's one thing other than I made the shrink spell temporary until you four will get to the outside world. You all might find…fatal circumstances beyond your four's current sizes, like a cannibal named Ayeka as one of them. In a way, you'll see anything like giant humans or human-formed monsters that'll squish you four like bugs." Even from his position, Albasar can see and hear the shrunken prisoners' stunned horror with Mateus's face fuming in anger.
"Why didn't you tell us before you shrunk us!?" Lucy angrily demanded in shock with everyone staring at Albasar calmly closing his eyes for his passive smile…
"Because I want to see you fours' efforts to escape or take down the Hunters yourselves in your new, temporary sizes." Albasar's immediate answer masking his menacing amusement automatically dumbfounded the pack of his tiny prey with Terra, her Moogle, and Riser gawking their horror at Albasar before they shakingly turn and spot Lucy and Mateus's faces visibly furious, even making the former more terrifying than the sweet young lady they met yesterday…
"…Guys, let's kick his butt." Lucy calmly suggested with a punch of her fist against her palm, dreading Terra and Riser which grew when Mateus suddenly responded in composed anger that would break out. "Crude but splendid choice, Lucy."
"Mateus, Lucy! Please don't be angry!" Terra hurriedly removed her arms, letting her Moogle fly and land on her head, and quickly dashed and grabbed Lucy with her arms around her struggling body from behind with Riser also grabbing Mateus before they could furiously stomp towards Albasar's giant and flying body millions of feet away from their current sizes.
"H-H-How are you two going to kill this guy if we're the size of a person's foot?!" Riser cried, trying not to loosen his grip and accidentally release Mateus's agitated body wildly struggling to escape from his arms.
"I'll get Mat to throw me and then I'll do the Lucy Kick!" Lucy angrily decided although her words prompt Riser to respond in astonishment or anger, his voice slowly but no longer stutters his sentences from his beatdowns. "What kind of attack would that help!?"
Not once even before he secretly teleported them from their now empty cell, Albasar never reacted to anything serious. However, he mused a smirk at watching the woman Terra and the Hunters' prized Phoenix Devil Riser trying to stop the other woman Lucy and ex-Emperor Mateus from trying to kill him despite their new, temporary sizes. 'Comelnya (So cute) …' Was what he thought just as Albasar heard his door violently shaken to open the lock from outside, also stopping the tiny prisoners from their dilemma with almost all of them frozen in horror. Initially watching the ant-sized prisoners composing themselves to run around the colossal bean bags and hide at the side of the farthest seat, Albasar glanced back at the door that was abruptly pushed open and slammed against the wall by the arrival of two male Hunters led by the only female soldier and Captain.
"Hey, mage!" The Captain furiously yelled, stomping inches closer to the armless mage calmly scowling at the rude visitors sneering back at him. "Where are those prisoners?!"
"What prisoners?" Albasar patiently asked, making sure not to reveal his true plans and fool them into hiding the spies from them with a serene mask and naïve tone. Although confidently fooled them of his ignorance, the Captain and two Hunters grunted their fury with the former gripping her shaking right hand but stopped herself from pulling her electric baton hanging on her left hip.
"The phoenix and the three intruders! Are you stupid!?" The Captain yelled. "We checked the Phoenix Devil's cell and they're gone!" To her vexation, she sees the disgusting armless mage is never intimidated by her or any Hunters' threats.
From their hidden position beside the bean bag seats, right after they heard the door almost open, Mateus, Lucy, Terra, Riser, Moogle, and Plue silently spied on Albasar being interrogated by the Captain and two of her men, with Riser making sure not to scream out of fear of seeing the Hunters even when he felt a hand gently grabbing his arm and attracted him to see Terra tugging him to follow Mateus, Lucy, and Moogle leading them to a mouse hole at the wall behind them. Luckily, Riser and Terra ran over towards them without being caught, seeing their new path was a tunnel vent but the tiny group stayed behind to spy on Albasar and the Hunters.
"Let me check." Albasar serenely proposed, gently landing his bare feet on the floor while looking at his bed where something small and glowing a dim white light leisurely flew towards him to be a golden card. However, Albasar also paid no mind to another annoying complaint by the always obnoxiously proud woman. "You must be hiding them with your powers to fool us from losing the Phoenix Tears! That's what magic users do like the vermin scum you all are!"
'Sheesh, what a jerk. / Such a foul wench.' Lucy and Mateus scowled their distaste for the Captain's awful personality and words, with Terra silently gasping her horror for her disbelief at seeing such a wicked woman mistreating others, not even Ultimecia and Cloud of Darkness can speak as bad as this one, but she leaves Mateus and Lucy to watch over while she tenderly checks and make sure Riser will not break down in fear and blow their cover, listening to Riser faintly panting and shaking from almost crying each time the Captain raises her voice.
"I don't care how many people you Hunters AND your leader kill unless they're more interesting than your entertainment…" Albasar curtly spoke, focusing on his floating card brimming with white light instead of the Hunters' disgust and disdain towards him. "…I can't find their current location or each of their presences. I can only presume this; that the blonde woman in pink pyjamas everyone believed to be powerless, unknowingly does have magic powers even in this magic-proof place." Albasar detected.
Mateus, Lucy, Terra, and Riser were astonished, assuming that Albasar was manipulating the Hunters to hide them from being spotted, initially confused about who he was referring to although Mateus, Riser, Terra, and Moogle turned towards Lucy who noticed them staring at her confused reaction until she quickly realizes to almost scream her shock. 'Me?!' Lucy silently pointed a finger at herself and gawked her surprise at Mateus, Lucy, and Riser with the former pressing his lips in a curious frown and subtly nodding with a shrug before everyone heard one of the Hunters begrudgingly ordered. "How can you think that?"
"Well, from sensing the three intruders when they showed up yesterday morning; I recognise only two auras but the girl with the fairy mark on her hand is special. It appears she can hide her aura even from me and will overcome this hell's magic-binding atmosphere to help her and the other three escape as the first escapees in forever." Albasar composedly explained.
"How dare they…" The first of two Hunters grit his teeth in anger.
"Goddammit. The men were so hoping to have a taste with those two beautiful blondes." The second Hunter harshly sighs his annoyance. "Would be three if that emperor guy was a girl." Mateus snarled his disgust at that sarcastic clarification.
"Excuse me, I'm right here." The Captain huffed in anger which, surprisingly noticeable to Riser's group, her two men glanced back at her from top to bottom with disapproval and visibly looked down on her rather than the opposite.
"Yeah, but you don't have what those girls had." The first Hunter boldly admits with his gaze on the Captain's flat chest, immediately aggravating the Captain shielding her arms around her body from the two Hunters with the other Hunter eying Albasar walking away towards his bed, bored or unamused of their argument. "Hey, maggot. Would you be interested in our Captain, since she loves getting us men's attention?" The same Hunter goaded Albasar as soon as he crawled with his knees and sat down.
"You better not get any business with me, you freak! I'll kill you for even thinking a dirty thought!" The Captain yelled in ferocity.
"I'm married, so no." Albasar curtly rejected in displeasure while stacking his discarded cards on the bed with his bare feet, enraging the Captain growling from her teeth but a snigger from one of her men whirled her infuriation from Albasar to her men who straightened themselves. "As of now, I suspected the four prisoners are invisible like ghosts from humans or scurrying like mice until they escape this hellhole. But they might turn up sooner or later." Albasar added.
"We won't let that Phoenix get away from us. Get all men to search the entire base for the escapees, even if it takes to find their corpses!" The Captain ordered her men and the three Hunters dashed out of Albasar's cell with the last Hunter exiting intentionally slamming the door shut but luckily none of the room's furniture and items fell or broke off their positions. From the mouse hole, the mouse-sized prisoners breathed their relief but kept their voices.
"Poor Albasar…" Terra whispered in sadness, clutching her hands on her heart, as everyone listened to Mateus remarking his bemusement with his sight onto Albasar seemingly not noticing them. "I'm impressed by his patience to withstand that harlot and her men's discrimination."
"But did he have to pick me as the fake reason we're escaping?" Lucy sighed her concern from her shaky frown, starting to fear what would happen to them because of this false outcome. But Lucy wasn't expecting a gentle grip on her left shoulder by Mateus giving an eerily confident smirk. "Come, now, Lucy. You should be proud that, because of that mage's lies, these Hunters now believe you're more powerful than them. And even when I was tortured, I did see you almost knocked one Hunter insect unconscious with your hand when you protected Terra. So, we have no issue in dealing with these miscreants with our strengths." Lucy closed her eyes with another sigh, but her mouth curled into an appreciated smile for Mateus's surprisingly kind reassurance.
"Y-Yeah…I guess, thanks for the encouragement." As he heard Lucy's thanks, Riser looked away from the other three with fear and sadness of not their start of escape or the Hunters catching them, but his initial reaction to Albasar and his involvement in kidnapping him from the Phenex Manor. 'I'm sorry for thinking you want to kill Riser.' Riser mentally apologized, knowing Albasar would not hear him.
"Puu/ Kupo!" Everyone heard Plue and Moogle calling their attention and looked at them pointing to the side to see a sort of tiny but glowing, golden light or flame taking the shape of an owl with bunny-like ears and glowing white eyes illuminating the deep of the vent tunnel, but its appearance startled the group. Before anyone could utter a word, the group saw the bunny and owl-shaped flame silently wave and flap its right wing to the inside of the vent, seemingly urging Mateus, Riser, Lucy, Terra, Plue, and Moogle to venture deeper into the vent tunnel before the owl flame instantly burst and extinguish into flickers of light that disappeared into nothing.
Lucy, Riser, and Terra gasped their surprise at the strange bunny-owl flame that reappeared and disappeared in a second while Mateus stared at the magic entity's initial position before the ventilation path dimly blowing a cool breeze towards them with a softly stern glower…
Without a word, the tiny prisoners walked through the straight and dark vent that was luckily bigger for them to venture, although Mateus, Lucy, Riser, and Terra grimaced for feeling and having their feet stained from stepping on the dirt and slime-like grime that soiled their paths from sides, bottom, and even on top of them. "Woah, kupo…we're so small that you four don't need to crawl through the ventilation." Terra's Moogle glanced around, allowing to be held on Riser's left arm since Terra was holding Riser's right hand to comfort the blonde man in pink pyjamas during the walk.
"At least you and Plue don't have your feet soiled with grime." Lucy sarcastically joked with Plue speaking its voice in the former's embrace. "Puu."
"Don't worry, Riser. We'll get ourselves out of this place." Terra reassured with a small but sincere smile towards Riser and gently squeezed their hands, attracting the Phenex in faint surprise shifting attention from Terra to Lucy and Mateus walking in front of them, lightly holding onto the Moogle looking on his face from feeling his arm's shaky grip.
"T…Thank you, Terra…Lucy, Mat." Riser's initial hesitation broke to thank Terra, Lucy, and Mateus which surprised them with the latter two looking over their shoulders during the walk. Lucy warmly smiled her relief at seeing Riser slowly uplifting from his fear while Mateus faintly frowned but focused on their direction. "It's too soon to thank us, Riser. We might end up in traps not even the Hunters know they can harm us, like mice through their holes." Mateus replied, startling Riser.
'At least thank Riser for thanking us, Mat.' Lucy looked forward with a faintly displeased frown at Mateus's response trying to get his tyrant pride, but she shuddered in bewilderment at Mateus immediately notifying her with a scoff. "Lucy, I heard that. I appreciate Riser thanking us, but we should focus on making sure we're not caught."
"Yes, sir…" Lucy chuckled her embarrassment from her smile as from behind them, Riser and Terra watched Lucy and Mateus briefly argue with each other during the filthy walk through the vent. Although Riser dreads that Mateus will insult something to Lucy, Terra notices or sees something that makes her slowly cheer up and chuckle from her smile as she holds onto Riser's hand. Terra will make sure not to mention her thoughts on it until they leave Penjara Setan and grow back to their real sizes.
A sudden and almost low noise and movement from their right sides stopped them from advancing as Lucy hurriedly stood behind Mateus and Terra stood a bit in front of Riser when everyone saw what appeared to be long, dark brown or black worm-like creatures slithering farther from them onto the walls but their appearances are familiar to them.
"Are those…leeches?" Terra guessed in her concern that the mention of leeches made Lucy shudder against Mateus's back in disgust. "I don't want to remember dealing with them again."
"Swarming wherever they sense movement even if we were in our real sizes. Like the bloodsucking insects, they are." Mateus hissed in repulsion.
"C-Careful, guys." Riser warned, attracting their surprise as Riser carefully walked closer to Mateus and Lucy with Terra by his side and her Moogle in his arm. "Riser has seen them being used on other prisoners and the Hunters would dump one person into a human-sized coffin filled with them to suck anyone dead like an empty husk. Worse, feed them to a colossal Leech-zilla. Luckily, Riser was unaffected because the leeches would immediately burn when they tried to touch me from my fire powers."
Mateus and Terra were initially surprised but understood with a nod, but Lucy froze in horror and started shaking Riser and Terra with each of her hands holding onto one of their shoulders. "That's worse than what I remembered!" Lucy complained in revulsion and fear, ignoring Mateus watching her shaking Riser and Terra to almost scream their shock with a confused sneer and a sweatdrop for the comedic moment.
For the first time in their history, the Hunters received a shocking announcement from their Captain that the Phenex Devil and the rumoured three intruders had escaped and were currently on their way to the outside world, unsure how. Not wanting the source of their soon upheaval against their monster enemies to escape unscathed despite having multiple barrels of Phoenix Tear-induced water, the Hunters immediately ran throughout their base and started their search for the escapees. It didn't take long for the prisoners they were torturing like hell to figure out "Someone escaped?" A non-human jailbird wondered aloud in surprise, hearing the Hunters' voices booming in rage and desperation from outside the cells.
"Could it be…that Phoenix Devil boy they're obsessed with his tears?" Another non-human prisoner coughed his pain but mustered his presumption, weakly but tightly embracing their human partner in their arms. "I hope he's alright…" The human partner, who also received the same punishment simply for disgusting the Hunters of caring and loving with their monster love, prayed.
"So noisy…" Unlike the other prisoners either wondering about the identities of these lucky escapees, there is one of them who just woke up from a nap and did not share the inmates' thoughts…but resumed it's sleep somewhere that is NOT a cell, nor was it not a tortured soul by the Hunters.
In another part of the hellish dungeon world, a Hunter just entered a cell and was about to punish the prisoner inside despite the danger. But he stopped from walking in after pushing the door open when he heard his men screaming something about looking for some people. He would've slammed the door and headed over for the source…instead, his anguish scream was immediately replaced by bone-crunching noises until silent by the person who grabbed him by the neck from inside. The door leisurely pushed open wide, and a figure nonchalantly walked away…leaving the room he filled with discarded and blood-dried Hunter corpses from its meals.
Sitting on his bed in his room, Albasar Shadi was eying two large orbs of mists and light swirling into colours in the centre, showing a different vision using one of his limited powers. One vision shows the furious Hunters running around Penjara Setan while the other shows the four prisoners and their two pets sneaking through the ventilation chute.
Let the games begin.
A/N: After posting this chapter, I'm getting ready for a new semester so writing chapters and other fanfictions will take a longer time. But I'll still write when I have time.