OOC: Mature for creepy torture and creepy themes and creepy creeps!
Time seemed to slow as Mai's body traveled through the air, a folded tessen extended defensively as she swung the second in a downward arc towards her enemy's head.
But Eck had earned his Seraph title, and he had taken to the position like a spider emerging to slay the latest victim of its web. He was a warrior, backed by training, by experience, and by a willingness to kill any who stood in his way. He had mastered both martial arts and magic, and he knew how to combine the two to create his own unique style. Perhaps the most dangerous thing about Eck, however, was that he was a smart man who had studied those around him...
And he put that knowledge to the test now. Knowing that he would die if Mai's tessen were to hit him -- and also knowing that she could absorb any magical attack he could fling from a distance -- it left him in a very precarious, but manageable, situation.
To Mai, it seemed that, as she was beginning to grow accustomed to the slow progress of the world around her as she moved towards him, time resumed its normal pace...and that, suddenly, was much, much too fast. The mage caught her arm in his and shifted, using her own momentum to bring her midsection down into his knee.
Mai struggled to breathe as the air left her lungs, not even entirely sure where her attack had gone wrong. The magical power she had channeled into her attack vanished too, scattering into the air around them and dissipating. It left her even weaker than before as the world swam in front of her. For a moment, she had no senses at all.
Slowly, then, they returned. Touch came first: a burning, vice-like sensation on her wrist from Eck's hand, followed by an explosion of excruciating pain and numbness as he drove her hand into the wall. Her cry of pain reached her own ears, as if from another, followed by Eck's sneering voice. "Pathetic."
She felt the floor at her back, then, as he lowered her, somehow gently to the floor. His boot came down on Mai's other wrist, and he ground into her tender flesh until she was forced to release her only other weapon.
"You should have listened!" he sing-songed as he drew back his foot and kicked her, hard, in the side. She cried out, miserable, and it was music to his ears. "But no one is going to miss you!" He punctuated the "you" with another kick. This time, from somewhere, there was a crack of breaking bone from the force. "So I guess it doesn't matter!" This time, she only whimpered from the pain the two subsequent, rapid-fire kicks caused at the end of his statement.
"No, no, don't fall asleep," he encouraged in a coo as he leaned over her. "What else can we do to keep you awake?" His fingers slid with a seductive skill beneath her top, tracing a meandering pattern onto her flesh. Some distant part of her felt it, but the sounds of alarm were so heavily sedated by the pain he had drilled into her that she could not identify it until a new pain shot through her. Beneath him, Mai twitched and twisted, sending new flashes of pain through her mind from her side. The fire from Eck's hand had burned away her shirt, and he leered at the hand-shaped burn he flames had left on her breast. It was still smoldering, and he inhaled deeply to better enjoy the scent of her ruined flesh.
Mai stared up at him in wordless horror, and he, in turn, smiled down at her serenely, rambling on to his captive with a glint of madness in his eye. "With a bit of re-education, I always thought I could grow to like you. You're a little old for my usual preferences, but we can just burn away your wrinkles. One by one." He caressed her face with his fingertip, making her whimper softly in fear that he might decide to show her what, exactly, he meant then and there. That seemed to be the reaction he wanted, however, because his smile grew. "Do you want me to let you live, Mai?"
Mai found herself nodding. Survival. That was the only important thing. Always, survival.
Flame curled up from Eck's palm. He showed it to her, watching the fire dance in her terror-filled eyes, then slowly moved down the length of her body. "Spread your legs."
It hurt to breathe, but Mai found herself panting in fear. Gods. Oh, Gods, no. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Don't make me repeat myself." Slowly, trembling from head to toe, she obeyed.
"Now, tell me you want to be burned. Beg for it."
Tears rolled slowly out of Mai's eyes. Survive. All she had to do was survive. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
"Louder."
Mai's tongue felt swollen and thick, and there was blood in her mouth from biting down on it too hard. With concentration, she managed to get it to obey. "Please."
"Tell me what you want me to do."
"Burn me. Please, burn me."
Whether Eck truly intended to, or whether he just wanted to get off would remain a mystery as a roar, loud enough to be ear-splitting, seemed to rock the entire hallway. Even Eck flinched. The fire in his palm vanished, and he rose to peer in the direction from which it had come.
"It seems Peter has failed."