In the real world, only a second had passed.
But the instant that torture of the mind ended in the other world, the Daimyo's son was violently yanked back to reality.
There was no transition, no chance to recover. One moment, his heart was being stabbed again and again in that blood-red space. The next, his knees struck the ground in the real world.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed like a heap of mud. He did not even have the strength to catch himself with his hands. His cheek struck the cold ground.
Cold sweat soaked his entire body. His pupils had dilated until they swallowed his irises, but those were only symptoms of the terrible disconnect between his mind and body.
The worst part was the torture etched into his mind, a torment that had seemed as though it would never end.
Seventy-two hours. Twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty stabs. Every blade entered the same spot, and every time it was pulled free, another stab followed a second later.
The memory had been branded, whole and irreversible, into the most prominent place in his mind. It eclipsed any nightmare, vivid down to the smallest detail. It was a permanent scar on his mind.
"Why... why... why... why..."
He curled into a ball on the ground. Who was he asking? Satsuki? His father? Himself? He did not know. His brain could no longer connect questions to answers. He only needed to make a sound, to feel his throat vibrate, to confirm that he was still alive.
He did not want to acknowledge what had happened to him. He did not want to accept that he had endured such pain.
Tears rolled from his eyes. At the same time, he lost control of his bladder. He did not