I'm a Villainess, But So What? Fuck Off.

The Chair

I watched as the demons crowded around the Dais and lit the streetlight-looking torches with magic. Black, flickering flames enveloped the top of it, and gave the environment a duller, darker theme. The miasma slowly but surely thickened as more and more demons, high and low rank, huddled around the Dais, waiting for the show to start.

There was no announcer, no herald, shouting 'start' or the rules of the test. Instead, the pressure just became thicker. And thicker. And thicker, until it became almost unbearable. Soon, the low-ranks all fell to the floor in exhaustion, unable to withstand. That was my cue. I jumped forward launching myself above the demonic crowd, and once I touched the floor, I did a triple roll to absorb the impact.

Now, you might be wondering, why wasn't I using gravitational magic? Wind magic? Or any of my familiars? Well, I might have forgotten to mention this before, but using magic at all in this challenge was not permitted. It was purely based on physical strength and fortitude, along with mental well-being (since, if the candidate didn't appease the crowd, they would be subjected to horrifying torture methods that they themselves came up with).

I used my momentum and swung my fist to the trunk of a Sabr Tree. After a few tremors and shakes, along with a few demon blobs falling from its massive branches, it heaved and fell with a boom. "And down you go~" I ran my hand along the bark before having it on my shoulder easily. I sped off again.

Mountains quaked, monsters fell, and a few things that I didn't really want to talk about happened, but by the time I finished, I could feel the miasma vigorously thickening. The signal that my time of hunting has come to an end. "And off I go~"

----

I sped back onto the Dais, with my materials in hand- well, in arm, between legs, on shoulders and head, and in hand. The demons hastily cleared the path for me, afraid of being knocked out to death with the sheer amount of substance I was carrying. I put them all down, and the earth trembled from the impact. I first ambled towards the sabr wood and used my arm to chop it in half. The tough, sturdy wood slowly cracked and I was left with two pieces.

I didn't know where I was going with this. I knew that torture methods were - mildly, developed here. The Thumb Screw, Dunking, the Boot, The Breaking Wheel, Flaying, Rat Torture... it goes on. I could do the Maiden, since, even though people think that it was developed and used in medieval times, it was neer actually proven true and is basically just rumors spread by social media. But that's kind of boring, no? Purely physical.

Hmmm... maybe I should do the Brazen Bull. Where the victim is baked to death, and their screams come out from the bull's nose? Or the classic crucifixion, like how Jesus died. What shape should it be? An actual cross, a beam, a T, or maybe an X... should there be a footrest on it? What about the nails? Should my victim just be bound to the wood by rope? Hmmm... too many options, and it's too cliche anyway.

Modern torture... that's good. Dog Rape, that's a pretty humiliating one. Or maybe the Tucker Telephone? Or the German Chair... hmmm, boring, it's too physical. As expected, psychological torture is the best. It'll break them properly. Pulling out a nail or arm won't be enough, subjecting my victims to mental torture will be much more effective. What about the CIA's 'enhanced interrogation' methods? Oooh, I've heard they've got some brutal ones. Should I do White Room torture? Or maybe a Blackout Box? Should the coffin be small or tall... will they have their hands bound?

I can't really do White Room with these materials. I need creation magic, but I can't use it. So... blackout box it is. I like the small coffins, but I feel like it'll be less impressive. Okay! Yosh, let's get started!

----

After one hour of nonstop work, I was finally finished. I used the wood as the base, and carved it perfectly using the tools given to me. The door was... a bit too sealed, I used nyn leather to close it properly. At this point, they might die of suffocation. Well, they'd last about two days, but... ah, whatever. I used qlan fangs to adorn the top of the box, and made makeshift rope using its skin. And last, but definitely not least, at the bottom of the box, I used the wood to craft a thin, sharp basket for my victim to sit on. Essentially, a very painful kind of makeshift toilet.

I wanted to incorporate a sound element into it, though. After all, I wanted to almost completely dull their senses and break their mind, so I needed loud sounds. So I brought back a bottom-of-the-barrel demon, which was basically completely insentient, as a way to create noise... and also to make the onlookers properly fear me. What? ...Don't look at me like that, okay, making my future subjects fear me down to the bone is the most important part of the Games.

When the miasma got thicker, I was finished.

I presented my kind-of-unimpressive-box with a triumphant expression on my face. My handiwork was quite marvelous, if I do say so myself.

The Blackout Box. One of the worst kind of psychological tortures in all of history. The CIA, the In the U.S, the Union Army, the Vietnamese Army... it was known to be so cruel, so horrendous, that anyone who came out would be absolutely mentally crippled. A journalist tried to experience it, to get a full understanding of the topic she was working on, and thirteen minutes in, she was crying and breaking down. And that was in a safe environment. The prisoners, who didn't know if they, or when they would be killed, were the ones truly breaking.

An amazing torture device, or 'enhanced interrogation' method, as the CIA liked to call it. Simplistic, yet deadly. It seemed that the demons didn't think so though. The crowd stirred with dissatisfaction and anger.

After a few minutes, a few voices were raised. More and more joined, until all I could hear was the loudness of their hollers and the thickening of mana from the high-ranks.

"Put her in!"

"PUT HER IN!"

"Torture! Torture! Torture!"

(Author's Note: Please, guys, don't try to make this at home. Seriously. It's like, really dangerous. I'm not kidding. Please, don't. Seriously. No, I'm serious, I read about it, and I think I'll have horrific nightmares tonight. ...On another note, if you would like to watch about some of the torture methods I mentioned above, here are some interesting links that I think you would love to watch (but if you are innocent and not tainted by social media and other forms of... harassments, keep your innocence intact, and don't watch this). Okay, bye! SERIOUSLY DON'T EVER TRY THIS AT HOME.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxqRTH9x4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOc7xdRhAAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ORjD1iX8g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-2PE3ah2E