Timeless Assassin

(A few hours later, inside the prison cell, Leo's POV)

Twenty-three hours had passed since Leo first regained consciousness inside the cell, and despite racking his brain and testing every inch of his limited movement, he had made absolutely no progress in finding a way out, as he remained helplessly bound by the restraints, gazing upward at the lone hole in the ceiling through which the light poured in from an unfamiliar sky.

"Lord Father, if you allow me to speak, I believe I may have a solution to our problem," Dumpy said at that moment, flopping his belly sideways as he rolled next to Leo, his expression brimming with misplaced confidence.

"Go on… tell me what you think," Leo muttered, raising an eyebrow as Dumpy cleared his throat with the seriousness of a royal advisor.

"Lord Father, how about I teach you my size compression technique? These mana restraints make it impossible for me to expand, but you should surely be able to compress instead and slip through. What do you think?" he proposed, puffing up with hope as Leo exhaled a long, exhausted breath.

"Dumpy, I'm not a frog. I can't just compress or expand. My bones are a little too rigid for that," Leo replied dryly, as Dumpy immediately began cursing the heavens.

"Oh blimey! What a tragedy it is that Lord Father was not born with the divine gift of expansion and compression. When I reach the afterlife, I swear on all my ancestors, I shall march into the throneroom of the overlords and demand answers for this unjust partiality. I will fight them, Lord Father, if that is what it takes to right this grave wrong….. so have faith in me," Dumpy cried out passionately, leaving Leo to let out a soft, amused chuckle.

If nothing else, the little creature had managed to keep him entertained these past few hours, and although they had gotten no closer to escaping than when they started, the fact that he wasn't alone down here, after everything he had endured in the Time-Stilled World, still gave him a lot of psychological comfort.

*Crinkle*

It was at that moment that Leo heard a faint crinkling sound, as through the solid wall on his left walked the smoking man, a cigarette casually perched between his fingers, his body moving without urgency, as if phasing through stone was the most natural thing in the world.

After entering, he took one glance at the man and frog lying side by side on the floor with their belly facing the ceiling, before breaking into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"Look at you two fools! Hahaha! You both look hilarious lying beside each other like that," Charles remarked, pointing a finger straight at them while struggling to contain his amusement.

"How dare you, filthy human, mock my Lord Father! Let me out! Release me from these wretched bounds and I shall break that very finger you dare point at us. Let me out at once!" Dumpy roared in outrage, thrashing against his restraints with every ounce of strength he could muster, though his efforts proved entirely futile.

In contrast, Leo remained still and composed, his gaze locked firmly onto the strange man, as he quietly attempted to gauge his strength.

'I can't sense anything from his aura, he looks completely mundane to me, almost like a mortal, but there's no way he actually is one. There's no opening in the wall he just walked through, and yet he moved through it without resistance, like it didn't even exist. He's definitely a high-tier warrior, maybe even a Monarch,' Leo thought, as he decided to choose his next words carefully instead of speaking rashly.

"Who are you? And why am I bound like this? I haven't committed any crime under Cult law, so why am I being held here?" he asked, watching closely as the smug grin on the man's face faded just a fraction while he considered whether or not to answer.

Then, after a beat of silence, Charles seemed to reach a conclusion.

"I'll answer your question, but only if you answer mine first," he offered, to which Leo gave a silent nod, gesturing for him to proceed.

"How did you know I was approaching your house from the porch that day? A Grandmaster shouldn't have been able to see through my disguise, and I don't believe for a second that you just sensed my high-speed movement by luck," Charles asked, his eyes narrowing slightly in curiosity.

"I didn't see you. But I saw the trail of killing aura you left behind… a faint red streak that cut through the air like blood across silk. That's how I found you," Leo replied calmly, as Charles's face lit up with brief astonishment before he quickly masked the reaction.

"A Grandmaster training in aura perception? That's not too shabby," he muttered, nodding to himself with faint approval.

"Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Vice Sect Master Charles of the Cult of Ascension. And no, you haven't committed any crime, but I've been ordered to train you, guide you, and make something useful out of you... and this is just my preferred method. Brutal, yes, but effective."

He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke curl in the air before continuing.

"If the righteous faction ever captures you, chances are they'll lock you in a holding cell like this for 24 to 48 hours before transferring you to a secured prison. That window, those few hours, might be your only chance to escape. You've already wasted 24 of them, which means your opportunity is already slipping away."

He paused again, pacing the room as he let the weight of his words settle.

"You want to live a life of danger, of freedom and power, then basic survival instincts like this are the bare minimum. I know Rodova Military Academy did not teach you how to escape from high-security cells, but here, that's lesson number one."

He stopped pacing and turned his full attention back to Leo, his voice firm and final.

"This is my first impression of you, and if you want it to be a good one, then break out of this prison in the next 24 hours. Do that, and I'll reward you with a piece of advice that might help you achieve a monumental breakthrough in your aura training. Fail… and I'll continue treating you like a pathetic bum."

With that, Charles slowly unbuckled the thick leather belt from his waist and pulled it free in a single, deliberate motion.

*Snap*

He tested the belt's tension with a swift tug, then began wrapping it loosely around his palms as he stepped forward toward the helpless pair.

"For now, as promised, one hundred lashes each… for wasting the first 24 hours doing nothing," he said with a grin, as Dumpy's eyes widened in terror and Leo braced himself in silence, already knowing there was no talking their way out of what came next.

*Thwack*

"AAAGHHH! By the swollen bellies of the holy frog gods! That hurt!" Dumpy yelped, his eyes bulging wide as the first lash struck him underneath the jacket across his soft green skin.

*Thwack*

"Mercy! Have mercy, you mongrel belt wielder! I have sinned, yes, but I am just a small, gelatinous creature with sensitive feelings and no life insurance!" he cried, wriggling in his binds like a fish out of water.

*Thwack*

"Curse you, Charles! I hope your soup is forever lukewarm and your socks never match!" Dumpy shouted dramatically, flopping onto his side with theatrical despair. "Tell my tadpoles that were never born that I thoroughly loved them!"

Meanwhile, Leo kept his jaw clenched tight and his eyes narrowed, choosing not to give Charles the satisfaction of hearing him scream or groan.

His body tensed with each lash, his breathing steady and controlled, as though he were already familiar with this kind of pain and had long since accepted it as a natural part of his life.

*Thwack*

*Thwack*

Dumpy, however, had not.

"Oh heavens! Is this what humans call training? I thought training involved stretching and light jogging, not being skinned alive by a leather demon!" he wailed, his entire body wobbling like jelly as he tried and failed to scoot away.

Charles continued without pause, his arm moving in a graceful, almost artistic rhythm as he delivered lash after lash, his eyes glinting with sadistic delight.

"Come now, where's all that bravery from earlier, little frog? Weren't you threatening to break my finger just five minutes ago?" he teased, not bothering to hide his grin.

"I was young and foolish back then!" Dumpy shouted mid-wince, "That was a different Dumpy! A naive, unlashed Dumpy! Please, let us speak of peace!"

By the time the final lash was delivered, both master and pet lay slumped on the floor, their bodies marked and sore, breathing heavy and defeated.

Charles dropped the belt onto his shoulder, lit another cigarette, and began laughing maniacally as the smoke curled through the air.

"Hahaha… I like you two. You're idiots, but you've got spirit."

And with that, the madman turned and walked right back through the wall he came from, his laughter echoing long after he vanished, leaving Leo to quietly recover his breath...

While Dumpy whimpered softly, "Lord Father, the day I become stronger than this Charles fellow, I'm returning this humiliation a thousandfold, I swear on everything green and swampy, I'll do it."

"You can count me in on that plan Dumpy, I don't care if he's the Vice Sect Master or The Sect Master's wife. Nobody enjoys belting my pet like this!" Leo corroborated, as he too felt adverse feelings develop in his heart.