"I see." Lith’s voice lost any trace of humanity. "I need you to come pick my prisoners and me up. Discretion is not an issue."

"I can see your position." She replied. "It’s quite far, but I should manage to reach you from the nearest mana geyser with the Warp Mirror. Solus out."

The Demons kept draining the Awakened’s vitality and checking their pulse to ensure that none of them regained consciousness. Lith also reinforced the Griffon Fetters, just to be safe.

Solus arrived a few seconds later and Warped everyone inside the tower. She had already prepared a room where the six elements were sealed, and space was compressed.

"Next stop, the Blood Desert?" She asked.

"Yes, please." He nodded, feeling her worry and rage through their bond.

It took the tower a few more seconds to charge up and move to Salaark’s palace.

Lith and Solus weren’t surprised to find her waiting for them right before the tower’s entrance.

"I’m really sorry about what happened, Featherlings." The Overlord sighed. "You have no idea how angry I am! This would have never happened in the Desert." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I know, Grandma." Lith gave her a polite nod.

"If you need a place to stay until everyone recovers from the bad experience, remember that you’ll always be honored guests in my house." Salaark said. "You can stay here for however long you need."

"Thanks, Grandma." Solus replied. "Can we use your Pits of Agony?"

She and Lith had yet to discuss what to do with the prisoners, but she was certain they wouldn’t argue about that.

"I would be offended if you didn’t use them, Featherling!" The Overlord snorted. "Human-faced monsters deserve special care. If only..."

She bit her lower lip in frustration so hard that it bled. Salaark loved every one of the Verhens. They carried her blood only because of Mogar’s interference, but that didn’t make them any less precious to her.

Salaark wouldn’t have spared an ounce of her considerable power to protect them from the slightest threat if her duty as a Guardian didn’t stop her. No matter how much pain it caused her, she could only stand and watch.

Intervening would have spared them suffering, but also kept them from learning precious lessons and growing from them.

A wave of her hand Warped everyone on the edge of the Pits, and a flick of Lith’s fingers splashed the Awakened with the last cold water that they would enjoy for the rest of their lives.

"Here’s how this works." He said. "We are in the Blood Desert now, and those are the Pits of Agony."

The Awakened’s blood ran cold despite the heat of the evening sun. Everyone knew what that place was and that there was no escaping from it.

"I’m going to throw you in there. I’ll come back in a week to interrogate you one by one about who else formed a cabal like yours. Lie to me, and I’ll throw you back in. Tell me the truth, and maybe I won’t throw you back in. Any last words?"

"Please, spare me!" A young Awakened threw himself at Lith’s feet, sobbing. "I did know about the attack on your family, but I never planned to take part in any plan. My master brought me to that building."

He pointed at Zilma.

"I don’t know any of those people. I don’t know anything that might help you. I’m just an apprentice!"

"You should have called me." Lith’s eyes softened ever so slightly. "I would have protected you, found you a better mentor, and when you had the materials, I’d have crafted you a Blade Weapon.

"I would have done all these things because that’s how much my family matters to me and how important the information that you’d brought me would have been. Yet you bet on the wrong horse and lost."

The youth started to sob, cursing his own cowardice.

Lith paid him no attention and turned to look at Salaark.

"He’s telling the truth." She said. "He doesn’t know anything. He was just following his master’s orders, just like he would have if she asked him to take any part in the kidnapping."

Salaark never used her mind-reading abilities to help others, but in this case, she felt pity for the youth. He had brushed with greatness. All he had to do was find the courage to extend his fingers and grab it, but fear had stayed his hand.

"Thanks, Grandma." Lith nodded, decapitating the Awakened in a single strike. "Anyone else?"

There were no more innocent apprentices, and telling the truth now also meant dying on the spot. Awakened clung to life tenaciously and believed that if they bought themselves more time, they would find a way out of that predicament.

"Perfect." Lith tossed them into the Pits of Agony, and the Awakened instantly regretted their choice.

There was no time or hope in the Overlord’s Pits, only pain.

"Wait, I’ll talk!" Ashtar screamed as his bones melted and reformed like wax.

"I’m sure you will." Lith nodded. "One week from now."

The Warp Mirror brought Lith and Solus back to the tower, and the Tower Warp brought them to the Mansion.

"Before we go, I want you to know that I won’t force you to feed those guys to the Bleed-"

"You won’t have to because I will do it myself!" Solus snarled, cutting him short. "If only I didn’t need a damn mana geyser, we could have gone back home right after leaving the Royal Palace!

"If only I had let you fill the Bleed to the brim with garbage like that, I could have consumed a few tanks to Tower Warp instead of waiting to accumulate the world energy. We could have gotten home sooner-"

Lith wrapped his arms around her and held her tight in an embrace.

"Nothing of what happened today is your fault, Solus." He caressed her head and back. "You didn’t do anything wrong. Everybody is safe and sound only because your tower allowed us to craft many small miracles.

"Your potions saved our family, Solus, and the armor we made for them kept them safe. I don’t want you to beat yourself up, nor to stain your conscience with blood because of misplaced guilt.

"We’ll discuss whether to use the Bleed later. I was just trying to tell you not to ask me for mercy. If those bastards don’t enter the Bleed, I’m going to leave them to rot in the Pits of Agony until the end of their miserable lives."

"I won’t." Solus felt the knot in her heart unravel and started to sob. "I promise."

She hated the Bleed almost as much as Forbidden Magic, but she couldn’t argue with its usefulness. The Bleed allowed Solus to exceed the many limits of her current condition at the cost of wretched beings, but she considered the price too high nonetheless.

Yet if one day her family ended up paying the price for her reluctance to squeeze the lives of monster-faced humans dry, Solus would have never forgiven herself.

"Thank you." Lith kissed the top of her head, holding her tight for one more moment before letting her go. "Let’s see if there’s something we can do."