Big Kukri felt as though he were being savagely crushed by a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press.
Every secret buried deep within his brain matter came spraying out.
The temple's internal layout, the guards' deployment, Kassava's standing within the Bloodhoof Family, Kassava's trusted confidants and favored generals, how many children the Bloodhoof Chieftain had, the relationships among those several dozen children, whether the Bloodhoof Family had rivals within the clan besides the Ironhide Family, and so on and so forth.
This black-haired, black-eyed monster truly possessed, as he himself had said, "exquisitely unparalleled techniques."
Many things, Big Kukri had merely overheard vaguely long ago and had long since forgotten beyond the ninth heaven.
Yet after being worked over by this monster, he miraculously remembered them again.
The nightmare-like cycle went on for who knew how long.
Big Kukri felt that both his brain and body had been hollowed out in the most literal sense, leaving behind nothing but a shriveled shell.
Just when he thought the nightmare would never end.
Or rather, that this was not a nightmare at all, that the black-haired, black-eyed monster was not something real, but that he had fallen into the "hell" spoken of by the Holy Light Human Race for some reason and was doomed to endure endless torment.
He finally heard a voice as heavenly as music.
"All right, our work is done. Thank you for your candor, Mr. Big Kukri."
The black-haired, black-eyed monster spoke with impeccable politeness.
Hands as cold as surgical instruments coiled around Big Kukri's neck.
Those eyes, as deep as the night sky and glittering with the light of countless stars, gazed down at him with absolute calm from directly above his head.
The black tide surging from the depths of those eyes was like apocalyptic lava, completely swallowing Big