DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 42: Out of the Fire

CW: very NSFW implications. skip to where it says "Vali's secret base" if you don't want to see it.

BGM: Persona 5 - Blood of Villain

Raynare awoke and opened her eyes, and yet she still couldn't see. Based on the rough cloth she felt against her face and in her mouth, she was blindfolded and gagged. That was nothing new. She tried to move her arms. They were bound at the wrists. Her legs were bound at the ankles. Also nothing new. Nor was the cold, hard stone floor she was laying on. Must be back in my cell... when did they move me? she wondered. She flinched when she heard a scream from elsewhere.
"Up," an angry male voice commanded. "I'm in a bad mood today, so let's get a move on before I break you right here." His voice sounded like he was a typically very refined man, but was acting more aggressive for some reason.
Raynare heard the sound of her cell door being opened. She tried to get up as best she could with her hands and feet bound.
"I said get up, dammit!" the man violently pulled her to her feet, ripping apart the cloth that had bound her ankles together. "You've still got lots of work left to do for your little transgression last night." He chuckled and began leading her down the hallway and up a few flights of stairs. "Using your free time to visit Praktum was a bold move. Shame nothing came of it. But you know what? It's really been stressing my soldiers and I out that you'd do this under our watch. What do you have to say about that?" He tore the gag out of Raynare's mouth.
You can shove your stress up each other's asses for once, Raynare thought. "I'm so sorry for causing such trouble. Please, allow me to alleviate all that stress for you," she said aloud in a more girly voice, like the one she'd used to trick Issei.
"It would be my pleasure." The man took Raynare into another room and chained her to a pole by the restraints around her wrists. He took off the blindfold.
Raynare found herself in the same dungeon where she'd spent the majority of the past five months. She watched a pair of soldiers carry a girl a little younger than her- a Naiad, Raynare guessed- to a corner of the room and dump her into a trough filled with dirty water. The nymph floated listlessly in the water. Her expression seemed almost dead, and yet she was clearly very much alive. Her entire body was shaking and covered in bruises, a few cuts, and some small and minor burn marks. A fresh cross-shaped burn scar on her collarbone steamed when the water covered it. Raynare winced with sympathy and looked down at her own scar, which was nearly identical except a few months older.
Rizevim Livan Lucifer strode into the dungeon and his calm expression was replaced by one of disgust. "What in the name of Father is going on here?!" he demanded. He waved his hand and the Naiad's water was instantly purified and her various injuries gradually healed. The pollutants formed a ball floating above Rizevim's hand. He flung the concentrated filth into the face of the general who'd brought Raynare into the dungeon. He waved his hand again and the room was instantly cleaned. "I leave you to your own devices here for three months to make my preparations..." Again, Rizevim threw the filth at his general. "And this is what I come back to? I ought to chain you to that pole, slather you in barbecue sauce, and get a hungry griffin in here. Seriously, just look at this." He gestured to the scar on Raynare's collarbone. "Branding? You'd better have a very good explanation for this." Raynare's scar healed itself.
The general wiped the muck off his helmet. "She should know her place... I thought that would help teach her."
"She should know her place? That's rich, coming from the man whose legend of a son lost to a 16-year-old boy who hasn't even been a devil for half a year. I would suggest that you know your place, Bael." Rizevim crossed his arms as a gold magic circle formed beneath his feet. "Good thing I decided to check on you. Get your act together or else." He disappeared, leaving Lord Bael alone with Raynare.
Bael sighed and took his helmet off. "One of these days, Lucifer..." He glared at Raynare and undid her chains and restraints. "Go back to your cell. No deviations."
Raynare silently nodded and walked back to her cell. The door closed behind her. She waited for a few moments, then laughed quietly to herself and disappeared in a flash of violet light.