After assessing the situation, Hildr smiled at the man opposite her. Even though she did not recognize him, she understood that there was no point in dwelling on this matter now that she had fallen in his hands.
"May I ask what you want from me?" she asked with a calmness that even impressed her captor. He was sure that he would not fare so well in her situation.
He had hoped for some panic and maybe some terror to appear on her face. He was disappointed.
He walked closer to her and knelt down to look directly into her eyes.
He said nothing for a long time.
One would think that Hildr would make a move at this point to kill the man who was only inches away from her, but she did not. This was not because she did not want to, but because she had already deduced the helplessness of her situation. The man had placed a chain on her leg. This thick chain was covered in strange runes. The moment she saw them, she understood what kind of treasure had been used to tie her to the floor. If she were to use her Sol with this chain on her left leg, the backlash she would face from the chain would be more than enough to take away half her life. She would not die, but the pain she would go through was enough to make grown men die. She would also grow even weaker after the backlash, and this would diminish her chances of escape even further.
"You are smarter than you look," said Stevens.
"Thank you."
The conversation was polite enough, but the situation was far from cordial.
"What I want from you is very simple. I want your death. I want you to suffer like never before. I want you to understand pain. I want you to dread the day you were born," he answered her question.
This answer made Hildr calm down even more. This was because what the man wanted was not enough to break her. To her, pain was a constant she had to learn to endure. She did not fear pain, be it mental or physical.
To her, there were greater things than pain.
"Pain is just a moment," she thought as she nodded at the man.
"May I know the reason for your anger?"
She did not want to ask this question since it would infuriate the man even further, but she had no choice. If she was to reason with the man, she needed to know who he was. She needed to understand him.
As expected, Stevens' eyes went completely wide. He could not believe what he was hearing. He stood up and walked to the cracked wall. He did so with great composure, but once he reached the wall, he let out all his frustration. He punched the wall with all his power, cracking concrete as his hand went through the wall. The great power he showed allowed Hildr to eliminate a few of her suspicions about who he might be. He was not as physically strong as a Child of Night, but far more physically powerful compared to elemental beings such as the spirits. Still, this did not allow her enough information to remember who this man was. Stevens remained facing the wall for a few more minutes before he turned back around.
"It does not matter whether you remember me or not. You will still understand my pain," he said as he menacingly walked towards Hildr. She gulped slightly. Even she was not immune to fear. After all, she had life.
When Stevens saw the fear on her face, he was finally pleased, even though the fear was only slight. He walked back to the wall and began setting up a magia device. This was a camera of sorts. He pointed it towards her, and she knew what he was plotting. Since he wanted to break her, he most definitely would want to show this to the world.
He was going to broadcast to the rest of the world whatever he had planned for her.
It had been a few days since Hildr disappeared from the academy, but very few people thought about where she could be.
Some thought that she had fled the academy so as not to be disgraced by her lies once the Shadows were summoned, and others thought that she was just slacking off, just like any trouble student would. The Battle Master was the only lecturer who seemed to care about her. Apart from him, Luna was the most vocal about her whereabouts. She even went to the principal and laid out her concern. Flavia was not moved by Luna's pleas to search for Hildr. The principal was more than happy that the Cursed Princess had left her academy.
On this day, Luna, Amelia, and Shet were seated in the common area of their quarters. They watched television as they discussed one thing or the other.
Suddenly, the show that was on the television was interrupted by breaking news. The reporter spoke as though she could not believe what she was saying, and this led most people not to believe in her words, but when they showed the video, everyone was left stunned. The girls all jumped to their feet with their eyes wide open.
The video showed Hildr, who was suspended from the ceiling like some animal to the slaughter. A man wearing a black animal mask stood next to her with a long sword. He did not say anything before he cut Hildr into two parts.
Blood splashed everywhere, and even the camera was not spared.
All who saw this felt as though they had experienced it right before their very eyes. This was due to the magia device that had been used. It was not like the cameras from the human world. These magia devices not only captured sound and video but the very essence of the scene.
Hildr was split into two pieces. Her innards fell to the floor in a grotesque display that shocked the world. They had just seen the Draugr Princess being split into two. Nothing this shocking had happened in the past one hundred years.
For those who understood King Harald, this was a declaration of war.