Chapter 32: You're Strong
Ishihara kept being tortured.
The cuts ran deep—sharp, endless—mirror shards tearing through his flesh again and again. Each impact exploded inside him, pain flooding every nerve, every breath burning as if his body was being carved apart from within.
Neraxis grinned.
"Not yet," he said calmly. "It's only been sixteen seconds."
Ishihara's vision blurred. Blood filled his mouth.
Am I going to die?
No… I will die if I don't do something.
His trembling hand tightened.
A card began to glow in his palm.
This will leave a permanent scar on my soul, he thought. But there's no other way.
He pulled the card.
"Card drawn: Endless Endurance — 40 seconds."
The card activated.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
The shards continued. The explosions didn't stop. The pain was so immense his body screamed to shut down, muscles locking, bones grinding. Any normal hunter would have collapsed—broken for days, unable to even move.
But Ishihara endured.
Seconds dragged on like eternity.
Then—
The space shattered.
The fractured domain collapsed as the time limit expired. Silence rushed back in, heavy and suffocating.
Neraxis laughed.
"Stand proud," he said, looking down at him. "You're strong, Ishihara."
He turned his back and began to walk away, laughter echoing through the ruins.
"Not many," Neraxis added coldly, "can survive my Supreme Expansion."
And Ishihara lay there—broken, breathing, alive—his soul forever scarred, but unbowed.