Chapter 2098: Ah, shit. "How did you do it?" Neremoth questioned but... "..." The child did not say anything. Even now, he kept staring back at Neremoth with the same expressionless look on his face, almost as if instead of his movements, Neremoth froze him in one place instead. Of course, Neremoth expected it. The child had continued fighting all this while. It made no sense he would simply answer his question just because he asked. Actually, Neremoth wanted this to happen. After all, now he officially had a new goal in their little game. He would make him speak. He would break his will, he would break his bravery, he would break his very existence, and in the end, when he was merely a shell of his previous self, He would make the child talk and answer all the questions on his own. Of course, there were far more efficient ways to do it. The child was trapped in Neremoth’s Domain. He could simply ’order’ him to answer all his questions and he would have no other choice but to do it. He could even use Artifacts to directly read his mind, making sure nothing was left out. There were hundreds of different ways but... Neremoth chose the most fun one. From his Claw—that was holding Nux’s neck—tendrils of Darkness formed and crawled their way towards Nux’s mouth and nose. Through these two orifices, these tendrils made their way into Nux’s brain, making his entire body twitch. Then, Neremoth began. He was the being of darkness, a being who thrived on negative emotions. Because of that, he had a certain level of authority on one’s emotions and senses. Slowly, Neremoth began altering Nux’s senses— He raised his pain perception, making it so that even a slight poke would feel like being pierced through by a spear. He slowed down his time perception so that the pain he felt stayed for a much longer duration than normal. Then, he amplified his fear of pain. A Cycle. A torturous, endless cycle where he planned to continue making Nux wither in agony, raise the pain he was feeling, elongate the time he was feeling the pain for, and... later inject the fear of future pain into his mind. What’s worse? This fear would continue to rise as he was subjected to more and more pain. And it did not end here. Neremoth even strengthened Nux’s Willpower, wanting him to resist and fear the agony a bit longer before breaking. This was his masterpiece—a plan to thoroughly enjoy this. And after he made the preparation in front of the immobile enemy, he grabbed the tip of his nail and— Rip He ripped it apart. "AAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!" And for the first time in a long, long while, Nux screamed in agony. His horrifying screams made Neremoth’s grin wider than ever. "Are you going to answer my questions now?" Neremoth questioned with a playful look on his face. And before Nux could answer, Crack The finger was broken. "AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Nux screamed again, with Neremoth enjoying every moment of his soul-shrieking screams. And only when Nux stopped screaming and the pain started fading... Rip He repeated it again. "AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!" The torture continued for a long time. Neremoth continued to rip his nails out using different manners. He broke his fingers, crushed his hands, tore his limbs apart. He even crushed his eyes, peeled his skin. He did every possible thing he could, playing with Nux to his heart’s content—so much that a drop of tear fell out of Nux’s crushed right eye. And when Neremoth saw that... "Recover." He ordered, and suddenly, Nux’s body returned to how it was before, making him widen his eyes in horror. "W-Wha..." He spoke. His emotionless expression was long gone. Now, only the fear of pain remained. Neremoth laughed when he saw that— "You didn’t think this was it, did you?" He questioned, his grin becoming more and more demonic as the sadistic pleasure of breaking him was simply too relishing. He had long stopped asking questions. That wasn’t necessary right now. He had other plans. "Let me show you something interesting." He spoke as he suddenly took out an Artifact—a dark, beetle-shaped thing that was barely the size of a thumb. "It was something my subordinate gave in order to impress me. He said that this little thing is supposed to enter one’s body and contaminate their very blood, making one feel unbearable pain as the contaminated blood moves throughout their body. According to him, this is far more painful than just breaking limbs. What did he say again...? Ah, right. He said the pain is comparable to tearing one’s soul piece by piece. Quite interesting, isn’t it?" Neremoth grinned, and Nux’s eyes widened in even more horror. "N-No..." He stuttered. "P-Please stop this... I-I will t-tell you e-everything!!" He begged. Of course, Neremoth did not listen. He slowly brought the beetle close to Nux, and in his fear, Nux moved back. "N-NO! I-I will tell you everything! Please!! Spare me!!! I BEG YOU!!!" He screamed, his entire body trembling in endless, primordial fear that seemed like it was now etched into his very soul. His golden eyes stared at the thumb-sized beetle as if it was the scariest thing in the world. Even the thought of it getting close to him shook him to his very core. Yes, Neremoth had succeeded. He had broken the Anomaly. Or at least... That was what the Anomaly wanted him to believe. But... Suddenly, Neremoth noticed something. "...I deprived you of your movement. How did you move...?" He questioned in a doubtful voice, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "..." Nux froze. Neremoth’s questions, however, did not end here. "You shouldn’t be able to see anything but my eyes in my Domain... How are you staring right at the beetle? How do you know where it is...?" He asked another question and— "Ah, shit." Nux cursed out loud, his trembling body returning to normal as if everything before was just an act.