As Long as the Return on Investment Is High Enough, Ve'nari Can Too

As long as the return on investment was high enough, Ve'nari could call you mistress too.

The Maw was as deathly still and sinister as ever today.

This barren wasteland of death was littered with the hardened steel fortresses of the Mawsworn. Zovaal, master of the Maw, clearly had certain strict "requirements for order" in the realm he ruled, lending this land of despair and suffering an unexpected sense of "vitality."

The Mawsworn moving through those fortresses followed strict commands.

They had established airtight defensive systems for themselves, ensuring that Mawsworn warriors mounted on Shadow Hounds patrolled the Jailer's lands at every moment, while every soul cast into the Maw would be drained of every last bit of value amid endless suffering.

Anima!

Anima was the foundation of the Shadowlands' existence, and naturally the bedrock of the Maw as well. Although anima from Revendreth continually flowed into the Maw, ensuring the Mawsworn army never lacked energy, perhaps to give their hopeless, despair-ridden existence some amusement, the Mawsworn had their own preferences so long as they did not violate the Jailer's stern rules.

They would capture helpless lingering spirits near Gorgoa, River of Souls, which was said to flow through the worlds of all living and dead beings.

Those were pitiful wretches swept from the material world into the Maw by that river of death.

They did not even possess complete souls that could be guided to the material world by the Kyrian. When death came, they could only reach their final destination in such a miserable fashion.

Torturing the malformed lingering spirits yielded very little anima. Most of the time, the Mawsworn could only obtain a clump of cold Stygia, but they were not doing this for the returns.

The torment and pain they inflicted allowed their utterly deathly still