"I know nothing."

Premier's voice was weak, impossibly weak. It felt like the voice of a man at the edge of death, trying hard to claw his way back to the living.

There was truth in that.

At any given moment, Premier could literally die and enter the Spirit World. But that, too, was wishful thinking with the one in front of him.

"I see, Premier." Soleil said, looking at him scornfully, "Is this your last attempt at rebellion? That one thing you would rather die than say?"

Premier said nothing. His one eye was glowing with intense determination, yet there was a depth of exhaustion flickering inside.

His pupil was slowly going white, indicating the effect of Soleil's power on him.

Soon, he would go blind.

That is, if the Bearer of Sun didn't decide to rip it out in sudden anger before that happened.

"S-So you know." Premier said, spitting again, "You know I won't tell you anything. You have tortured me an untold number of times. Doing so would not make me know. I—!"

He halted his words, wincing as the beasts eating his heart increased in intensity.

He gasped, exhaling, but immediately regretted it as the scalding air poured down his throat, burning everything in sight.

His eye dilated, his mouth opening in a painful gurgle, his insides boiling the way water would at a blazing temperature.

Weakly, Premier looked at himself and found a part of his body already transmuted into ashes that flew away.

Fear jolted through his existence, and Premier had to bite his lips — or what remained of them — to not weep in pain and beg for mercy.

But his body betrayed him.

He was shaking like a leaf caught in a storm.

"There is something you seem to misunderstand, Premier." Soleil's voice rang out again.

Strainedly, the Firstborn of Noah lifted his head to see his torturer. He regretted it immediately.

His remaining eye ignited instantly. Premier roared in wrecking pain.

Now Soleil's whole body was veiled in radiant solar fire, making the whole Sunny World quiver and writhe as if its master was burning it alive.

There were no longer eyes on Soleil's face. But literal stars that burned brighter and hotter than the sun where Premier was chained.

Rue Octave staggered a couple of steps back, heart thundering against the ribs of his chest so deep, so hard that it became difficult to breathe.

"If you think death will come to you," Soleil continued, "then your ignorance is very much charming, boy."

"I will keep you here as long as I do not obtain what I seek." He leaned his face forward, closer to Premier, making the little boy's face slowly begin to melt.

He could no longer scream.

"But in the meantime," Soleil seemed to smile, "I will kill you again and again and again."

Premier shuddered.

"I will kill you each second, revive you the next second. Let's see if you remain steadfast in your ignorance about Laeh. Let's see, Premier Vaelgrim, Firstborn of Noah Vaelgrim, if you are what you claim to be."

"And I will find the other Elysiari." Soleil added, looking at how Premier was now shaking in fear, "I will join the hunt of the Elysiari and slaughter all of them."

"So let me ask you one last time," he said, raising his flaming finger to rest it upon Premier's forehead. The young man shrieked in agony.

"Where is Laeh, Main World of the Madman?"

Premier was crying and weeping, his voice so burned down that it sounded like two dry metals scraping against each other.

Yet even amid that wrenching pain, he managed to force out his answer,

"I-I KNOW NOTHING!"

Soleil's face split into a demonic grin, "Then here you go. First death."

BOOOOOMMMM!

Premier's mind exploded alongside his whole body. Everything became ashes.

Ashes that gathered themselves back to reconstruct Premier, making him alive once more.

He opened his eyes, and,

"Second death."

Soleil's merciless voice echoed once more.

And he died. Again.

Behind them, Rue Octave watched, wishing for nothing else but to disappear from that place.

It was horrific to witness such a scene.

But he couldn't.

So he stayed there, bearing witness to the uncountable number of deaths Premier, Firstborn of Noah Vaelgrim, would go through because of his silence.

At that instant, for some reason, Rue Octave briefly considered something.

'What would happen if that Madman came back to life?'

He didn't know why he thought such a thing. But that thought made him feel a terror greater than even the one Soleil was inflicting on him.

He set his jaw tight, telling himself it was impossible, all while watching the scene in front of him.

Already, Premier was on his twelfth death.

…

In the same domain of Celestial, inside their main world, and deep within it, where the prisoners were held, Apollo received a visit.

The two golden, inverted pyramid eyes of Apollo cut through the Living Darkness and settled on his visitor.

A dry chuckle escaped his lips, "Now, what a curious thing. Is the faction about to end? Or something worse? Please, pray tell, what do I owe your visit, Light-Touched?"

The being called Light-Touched, Overseer of Law, watched Apollo with an apathetic face.

Despite the fact that her whole body was like an intense ray of golden light clustered together, one could tell she was a woman by the form of her body.

Her face held no features — no eyes, no nose, neither mouth nor ears. Yet strangely, Apollo could see the scorn dripping from every pore of the Light-Touched.

"An event has occurred in our Universe." Law said, her voice impossibly cold, almost robotic.

"Oh? What kind of event?"

"The type by which you, tainted by evil, will be allowed freedom." She said, "The Progenitor has asked for your assistance in taking care of the intruders sleeping past the barriers of our universe."

"Why should I do such a thing?" Apollo scoffed loudly, "You have imprisoned me for eons. Now something went wrong and you suddenly need me?"

"Dear Law, what do you take me for?"

"Thinking you have a choice in this matter is such an unsightly, cute thought of you, Apollo." Law said disdainfully, and Apollo frowned, "First, it is an order from the Progenitor. True Child or not, you will be killed, your soul completely obliterated, if you disobey."

Her voice lowered to a whisper, "Don't you think I would be glad to do such a thing?"

"Are you that skilled?" Apollo snickered, "The last time, you needed my sister and the other Legacy Bearers, along with the Celestial Beasts, to capture me."

"I have become stronger, Apollo." Law said, "Way stronger than what you would ever believe. And you did not."

Apollo opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again as Law continued sharply,

"But all of that is needless, because I know, for a fact, that you will deliberately choose to fight for the good of our faction."

The Firstborn of Light frowned, feeling a sense of wrongness in the confident tone of Law.

And indeed,

"If the first reason is not enough, let me go to the second." She said, raising two fingers upward, "Simply put, I will personally deliver to the Progenitor how his two children violated one of the greatest taboos."

Apollo's eyes widened, "No…"

"Oh yes." Law said, approaching further into the prison, making the Living Darkness hiss at her, "You would be a fool to believe that I did not know about the matter of Apollonia of BrightSky. I knew, Apollo, you fucking fool. Don't forget I was the one who selected her as the next candidate for the Throne."

"Don't tell me…" Apollo's voice wavered for the first time.

And there, a wide mouth filled with jagged teeth appeared on Law's face as she grinned with absolute malice,

"Oh yes, oh yes, Apollo." She murmured, "I chose her for the Throne only because of that fact. And oh—!"

She barked a laugh.

"How delightful it was to see you two siblings working together to hide such an affair. How pleasing it was to see you willingly be imprisoned to save your sister…"

Her voice turned into a blade,

"…that same sister who had forgotten you. That same sister who certainly moans like a bitch in heat each night with her husband."

"Oh, Apollo, Firstborn of Light…"

Her grin widened.

"How low have you fallen?"

—End of Chapter 456—

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