Chapter 427: Why?
Leo felt confused as to why Charles had killing intent pooling around his body at this moment, however, his thoughts were too sluggish, his body too broken, and his mind too hollow to piece together any meaningful answer.
The only explanation that floated weakly to the surface was that perhaps Charles was angry at how little progress he had made.
Ten feet. Just ten feet.
Far less than the hundred he had been tasked with.
But even in his most far-fetched, nightmare-laced thoughts, Leo couldn’t have imagined the kind of punishment that was about to follow.
"I–I’m sorry, Commander," he croaked, voice cracked and brittle. "But there was... was no fucking way I could have dug a hundred feet non-stop. I don’t have that kind of strength or endurance."
He forced himself to lift his head, blinking hard in an attempt to focus on Charles’s expression, hoping to see a flicker of sympathy, or at the very least, understanding.
But before his eyes could fully adjust, the only thing he saw coming towards him was not a hand reaching out to help but rather a clenched fist barreling straight for his face.
*BAM*
Leo’s head snapped sideways from the force of the blow, his cheekbone catching the full brunt as he tasted copper and dirt at once.
His mind reeled, the pain blooming instantly: raw, sharp, and radiating, yet more than the physical shock, it was the confusion that crushed him first.
What the hell was that?
Why?
Why did Charles just hit him?
Still crumpled on the ground, Leo blinked rapidly, trying to reset his spinning vision as he shakily raised one arm to shield himself, instincts kicking in far too late.
"Wait—wh–"
*CRACK*
The second punch landed square on his forehead, snapping his head back with such force that he heard something pop inside his neck.
His guard was torn apart like paper, his limbs too slow, too weak, too drained to mount any real resistance.
And just like that, he understood.
This was no accident.
This was the punishment that Charles swore would come if he did not fulfill his expectations.
"Well fuck!" Leo hissed through a busted lip, spitting blood as he tried to glare at the blur that was Charles. "Beating a man when he’s down bad and absolutely exhausted, that’s real fucking mature of you—"
*THUMP*
Charles drove his knee straight into Leo’s ribs, sending him skidding a few feet across the gravel like a sack of broken bones.
The skin on his shoulder and back shredded as he rolled to a stop, coughing violently as blood sprayed from his mouth in a crimson arc.
The Monarch didn’t answer.
He didn’t speak.
He simply followed, step by calm step, before kneeling down beside Leo and slamming his elbow into the boy’s collarbone.
*SNAP*
Leo screamed, his cry sounding short, guttural, and raw, as pain unlike anything he’d felt before shot down his left side, his arm going completely numb.
His shoulder bone cracked like dried twigs, and for the first time, a very real flicker of panic crept into his mind.
This wasn’t just standard discipline.
This couldn’t be part of a training drill.
This wasn’t even punishment anymore.
This was him being beaten to a pulp for no reason at all.
"You’re... breaking my bones...?" Leo gasped, his chest heaving, his eyes wide as Charles raised his hand again without pause and drove his knuckles straight into his sternum.
*BOOM*
Something gave way, something in the middle of his chest, and Leo felt a horrifying crack across his ribs, the pressure instantly flooding his lungs with blood and agony.
The shock made his limbs spasm, his body convulsing violently from the inside out as the taste of iron returned, thicker this time, darker.
That’s when it hit him.
’He’s not just hurting me.... The fucker is trying to kill me for real—’
"Too far..." Leo wheezed, barely able to speak as his voice trembled. "You’re going too far..."
In desperation, he reached deep inside himself and triggered [Stormflash Traverse], willing his body to vanish, to blink away from the nightmare that now wore his mentor’s face.
But the moment his form began to shimmer—
*GRAB*
Charles’s hand shot out like a serpent and clamped around Leo’s leg mid-teleport.
"Going somewhere?"
Leo’s scream tore through the night air as his ankle twisted grotesquely in Charles’s grip, a sickening crunch echoing across the empty military grounds.
Then came the slams.
One.
*THUD*
Two.
*CRACK*
Three.
*CRUNCH*
Again and again, Charles hurled Leo’s body against the ground like a blood-soaked ragdoll, the rocky surface splitting skin, tearing muscle, and cracking joints in ways that shouldn’t have been possible.
Blood flowed freely now.... from his scalp, his ears, his nose, every open wound spilling his life away onto the dust-soaked earth.
Every nerve in his body screamed. Every bone begged for mercy.
And through it all, the only thing Leo could do was breathe shallow, fragmented breaths and mutter one broken question.
"Why...?"
"Why are you doing this....?" He asked in a raspy voice, as Charles stopped with his violence only momentarily.
He stood over Leo, his boots soaked in Leo’s spilled blood, as he stared down at the battered boy clinging to life by threads.
Then he crouched.
And leaned in.
Close enough that their foreheads nearly touched.
"Why?" Charles echoed, his tone twisted into something cruel and mockingly thoughtful. "What does it matter why?"
He let the question hang in the air as a manic gleam flashed behind his deadened eyes.
"Maybe Veyr bought off my loyalty last night, and I’m here to finish you off.
Maybe I’m just a psychopath who enjoys killing his students.
Maybe I snapped today after watching you fail my expectations."
His breath was hot against Leo’s face, filled with smoke and madness.
"What does it matter why?"
Another punch.
Another rib shattered.
Another bolt of agony.
And as Leo choked on blood, pain, and terror all at once, something inside him whispered—
’What does it matter why?’
’I always told you.... Trust No-one!’