"It's like Mother said."

Nier looked into the open box; before him, three items were stationed inside. One was a large journal, which accounted for most of the box's initial weight.

Nier picked it up.

It was decently heavy in his hands; the cover itself was made of what Nier could only assume was pure leather. The pages, however, felt familiar as he ran his hand across their firm texture.

"Why does this texture feel so familiar?!"

"Because it's made from the human skin of some of the people Elara has killed. Even the leather is a combination of eight layers of skin stacked on top of each other to make the front and back."

Silence replied.

"..."

Nier remained silent for a moment before commenting.

"Crazy bitch. That's why this entire thing has a lot of negativity coming off it isn't it?"

"Yes, Master. I can sense a total of +23,738 units of Negativity emanating from it. Do you wish to absorb it?"

"..."

"This is going to hurt like a motherfucker, isn't it?"

"Sadly, yes."

"..."

"...Fuck me... Alright, absorb it."

"Very well...now absorbing the Negativity within, please be caution that due to intense pain and suffering of 238 different individuals, collective pain, your sanity is at risk."

"The air was thick, rancid, like someone had slit open the belly of the many cows and let it rot."

"Blood, sharp and metallic, clawed into my nostrils, choking me. I wanted to scream...God, I wanted to scream, but my mouth was stuffed with a filthy rag, soaked in something sour that burned my tongue."

"My limbs were useless, shattered, each bone grinding against the next with every twitch. I could feel her, that sadistic bitch, her blade slicing under my skin, slow and deliberate, carving me slowly. The Tsukami family... why did I take on this private investigation, they were wrong, so fucking wrong. Why did they send me here? Why did they think I could face this...is she even human? I curse them, I curse her, I curse this whole damned world. My sweet Niya, my little girl… I am afraid Daddy is not coming home. I am so sorry, baby. I am so sorry....sniff... I...

The memory is over, but two hundred plus more remain, Nier absorb them one by one.

The first memory last about, three minutes, excruciating pain filled him.

And it got worse and worse, interval of time did not matter.

One by one they came, and Nier feel every moment for each fragment, the price he bared for more power at his disposal.

"The knife twisted, peeling back another strip of me, and the pain wasn't just pain anymore, at this point it my life, why is slowly peeling my skin away like this, all I did was talk to my old friend Bernard, and like a monster gnawing through muscle, she began to scrape at my bones, setting every nerve ablaze. My body bucked against the straps, but there was no escape, just the wet squelch of my own flesh parting, the drip-drip-drip of blood pooling beneath me."

"Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction, she is not human, please someone anyone, please save me, I am scared, I don't want to die... I feel myself getting weaker by the second...as she enjoys my misery. Her hum will traumatize me even in death I know it. Time passes, eight hours, or so I think, at this point I do not know, my dignity as a woman is basically gone, she changes my diapers, cleaning me a grown woman like a helpless newborn, but as she does I come closer to death, each day she slowly peel away my skin further, keeping me lock in this place."

More memories came flushing in, the embarrassment, the fear, and most of the pain, mental and phsycial fuse as one.

This disgusting woman.

Torture, and torture, is pain all she knows many would wonder.

But one thing is certain, before her death might as well be mercy.

Neir continue to take in everything, more, and more, without end.

"At this point I am no different from an apple. Another slice, deeper, and my vision blurred with tears and agony, my throat raw from muffled screams.

"AHHHHHHHH… STWOP ETttTttt…

The words came out garbled, pathetic, drowned by the gag. It hurts. It hurts so bad I can't think, I can't breathe, I just feel the endless ripping, the cold air kissing exposed muscle, the warmth of my own blood soaking my sides.

"Kill me... I begged, my voice a broken whimper, barely audible. Please… just kill me… But she didn't. She leaned closer, her breath hot and sour against my cheek, whispering to me."

"Not yet... My son benefits from pain and suffering, your father right, you should understand, us parent should give our all for our children, Nier I know your absorbing this, or so Kaly ordered me to, she said to make sure I leave behind dense amount of Negativity."

"It's hurt I know, but I do in love... When I am gone, I know at the very least, I left behind just enough to give you a heads start...hehehe Praise The Dark Mother... may her champion take use to the Mother Land."

"Her knife traced a new line across my chest, slow, savoring the way my body convulsed, the way my screams turned to sobs, the way my soul fractured with every cut. In a way, I myself have killed so many people, I see, this is my retribution."

"MoremoreMoremoreMoremoreMoremoreMoremoreMoremoreMore... I need more power."

The pain ate away at Neir Sanity, his identity finally wavering yet, he kept himself anchored, as he reminded himself why he was putting himself into such torment. Chapters first released on novel(ꜰ)ire.net

The voices came, a chorus of the damned, each one louder, sharper, clawing into his skull.

Men, women, children...dozens, hundreds, their pain flooding Nier's mind like a burst dam.

"He was me, he was her, he was all of them. The family friends, the hooker on the street, the private investigator, curious individuals, his defiance crushed as his skin was peeled back, layer by layer, his screams fading to gurgles."

"Each victim's agony was a needle, piercing Nier's mind, their memories seeping into him like poison. He felt their terror, their betrayal, the moment they realized no one was coming to save them. He felt the cold steel that burned his flesh with every slice the slow tear of flesh, the way their bodies gave up before their minds did."

Until....

"AWWWWW...HYAAAA....AAAA..... MAKE IT STOPPPP....

Nier shouted clawing at his face, tears of blood, leaking from his nose, eyes, pores, mouth, and ears.

His body convulsed on the floor, his screams tearing from his throat, raw and animalistic.

His fingers clawed at the ground, nails splintering, as the pain became a living being inside him, a beast with teeth and claws, ripping him apart from the inside.

He was drowning in it, their suffering, her joy, the sickening collision of both. Elara's laughter echoed in his head, gleeful, orgasmic, as she relished every cut, every scream, every shudder.

The victims pain was her fuel, their fear her wine, and Nier felt it all, her sadistic ecstasy and their soul-crushing despair, intertwined, inseparable.

His heart pounded like it would burst, his lungs burned, and his vision swam with red and black, the world tilting into a nightmare he couldn't wake from.

He wasn't just absorbing their pain, he was living every moment as if he where them, every slice, every tear, every moment of their deaths, over and over, until he was nothing but a vessel for their collective horror.

Finally it died down, as Neir lost consciousness for a while, his breathing increase, but soon he open his eyes.

He found that his light where on.

"Ahhhh."

Nier groaned as he got up, holding his head, but his finger hurt.

"What...The...

He said.

Then he looked at his fingers, their where slowly healing, but when he looked he notice dried blood on the floor, and he could feel the grime on his face.

Memories of what happened flash back, as she grab his stomach, and mouth and rush to his balcony.

"BLARGHHHHHH....RAHHH...

He vomited out his last meal. At this very moment Nier felt sick, sick of the pain, sick of knives, sick despair, sick of his mother, and sick with himself.

"Ohhh god.... I have never experienced something so vividly horrific in my life."