These Devourers are merely soulless creations within the Beast Emperor's body; they lack flexibility and only mechanically execute the Beast Emperor's commands.
Thrall still clung to a sliver of hope, arguing forcefully, "Since time is so short, why not make up for it later? I need to see the Beast Emperor immediately."
"No!" a Devourer sternly refused.
"The rules must not be broken. You must endure eighteen days of torture. Your injuries will be healed after each session. But surely you can't withstand just eighteen days of the Heavenly Emperor's torture?"
"I really can't take it, I'm going crazy." Thrall was on the verge of tears.
The Devourer proclaimed, "Rules cannot be broken! Those who cannot withstand torture are not qualified to meet the Beast Emperor!"
Without a word, the Devourers restrained Thrall, and one of Devourer whispered:
"The first torture is the Body-Shattering Pain. I will cut you into 108,000 pieces. To show my respect for the Beast Emperor, I will inject nerve drugs into your body to intensify your pain a hundredfold. Thank the great Beast Emperor for giving you this opportunity."
Thrall was so angry he wanted to curse, but no sound came out.
The Body-Shattering Pain had just begun. After dozens of cuts, the unbearable agony caused Thrall to suffer a mental breakdown. His consciousness was in chaos, and he let out a neurotic, idiotic laugh.
But the ordeal was not over. In this state of dementia, Thrall endured eighteen tortures, completely unaware of what was happening.
Eighteen days later, the Devourer kicked the grinning, drooling Thrall and said disdainfully, "What a useless piece of trash. He has no right to meet the great Beast Emperor."
Unfortunately, Thrall could not escape the Destiny of having to pay homage to the Beast Emperor.
His consciousness was pieced back together, and when Thrall awoke, he saw a tall figure and a blurry face.
No mortal is qualified to see the true face of the Beast Emperor, the Beast Emperor declared in a majestic voice.
"Hello, Thrall."
"I'm in terrible shape," Thrall sobbed. "Those Devourers tormented me; I thought I'd gone mad, but thankfully I've recovered."
"You'd gone mad. I'm the one who brought you back to your senses. You're a useless piece of trash." The Beast Emperor said calmly, "Thrall, you are my medicine."
The fact that the Beast Emperor himself had uttered these words terrified Thrall, who immediately knelt on the ground and begged:
"I'm really not some kind of medicine. Those Devourers said that in fifteen days at most, the situation would become irreversible. Hasn't that time already passed?"
The Beast Emperor remained silent for a long while, then said with some annoyance:
"I have no concept of time. Two hundred and eighty billion years have flowed before my eyes. My childhood feels like it was just yesterday. As the Heavenly Emperor, this is to be expected. It's nothing special."
Even the Invincible Beast Emperor was not without flaws; he couldn't even calculate simple timing correctly. The Beast Emperor forgave his past mistakes and spoke in a tone of reminiscence:
"You know what, Thrall? I saw you when I was little. I tore you apart and ate you with my own hands. You should feel honored and grateful."
"Why should you be grateful when you're eaten?" Such inexplicable things happen in this world.
The Beast Emperor calmly said, "Alright, I did miss the deadline. Something inexplicable is multiplying within me. I could control it three days ago, but now it's beyond repair."
"Something inexplicable." Thrall realized that the Beast Emperor was not omnipotent after all.
"But Orcs are a race adept at creating miracles, Thrall. I believe you can create miracles. It has already been prophesied; you are my cure."
"Are you going to eat me?" Thrall asked nervously.
The Beast Emperor shook his head. "I've eaten Thrall from this Timeline realm, and it didn't taste good. I've heard of your exploits; you can make Tauren and Pandaren happily become Orcs food."
"It's so good I wasn't eaten," Thrall breathed a sigh of relief, and asked curiously, "Great Beast Emperor, what do you need me to do?"
The Beast Emperor said matter-of-factly:
"There are many Orcs within me, and we are in a constant war with the Devourers. I need you to unite those Orcs with souls, let them be infected by the foreign power, and find a solution."
An external force? What is that?
Sensing Thrall's confusion, the Beast Emperor said:
"The foreign force is very strange. It can use my flesh and blood as material to create a huge army. Its number is now tens of millions of times greater than that of the Devourers, and it is still growing rapidly. The most common ones are called Ghouls. Of course, these are not the most terrifying ones. They are trying to control my body."
"Ghouls, could it be Plague?"
Thrall muttered to himself, with a hint of disdain, that the Beast Emperor didn't even know about the Plague.
The Beast Emperor said unhappily, "Plague is a name used in your Timeline; it doesn't prove anything."
Thrall, wanting to test the waters, respectfully asked, "Respected Beast Emperor, may I have the honor of explaining to you what Plague is?"
The Beast Emperor said majestically, "The Heavenly Emperor knows everything, speak now."
"The Plague is in the blood of us Orcs," Thrall grinned smugly. "Orcs blood contains a toxin that can resurrect the dead, turning them into Undead creatures."
In fact, Thrall also had only a superficial understanding of Plague, and he offered his own interpretation of it. Apart from the Scourge, the understanding of the Plague among the various races of Azeroth, including the Forsaken, was similar to Thrall's, essentially a stage of blind speculation.
The Beast Emperor whispered:
"Just as I understand, so you are my medicine. You must unite those Orcs with souls; you have toxins within you that can neutralize external toxins, fighting poison with poison."
Thrall immediately recalled Eitrigg's hateful face and shook his head, saying:
"Those Orcs won't listen to me."
There's no reason for that.
The Beast Emperor naturally said:
"I am the great Beast Emperor. All Orcs have the responsibility and obligation to sacrifice themselves for me. To die for me is to die for the Orcs, to die for Azeroth. I know they have been misled by the Great Prophet, and previously dismissed them as a bunch of useless trash. Now, go and persuade them, and they will surely see the error of their ways."
Thrall scratched his head and said helplessly, "Beast Emperor, no Orcs will die for you. This is an absolutely impossible task."
"You're lying," the Beast Emperor said arrogantly. "Do you know what I've endured? I saved all of Azeroth, freeing all living beings from suffering. I am the great Savior; all the hardship and torment, I have atoned for on behalf of all beings."
If Thrall were in the Beast Emperor's position, he might understand, but standing on the opposite side, Thrall was confused and asked, "I don't understand."
The Beast Emperor said, puzzled:
"You don't even understand such a simple truth? I'm so disappointed in you. All living beings are born into suffering. The weak lambs graze fearfully, always at risk of being torn apart by tigers and leopards. Tigers and leopards have a hard time hunting and often suffer from hunger. They are all in pain, enduring the torment of survival. Their lives have no meaning. So I deprived them of the right to live, freeing them from suffering. I saved this world, I helped all living beings escape the sea of suffering. I am the Savior, I am the greatest god."
Thrall was momentarily speechless; deep down, he wholeheartedly endorsed this fallacious theory.
Suddenly, the Beast Emperor cried out in alarm:
"Damn it, I've lost track of time again, they're here."