Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) Chapter 19: Chapter 19: More Than A Man

Read chapter 19 of Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Duncan had been tortured for so long that he was beginning to feel sorry for his captors. For every new wound the lashes inflicted on his body, they closed up before the new one could land. Sure, it was painful each time the strikes landed, but he could heal faster than they hurt. His two captors, on the other hand, only looked more and more tired with each flick of their whip. Their movements slowed, and they were missing more strikes by the minute. “What exactly were your instructions? Torture me?” Duncan casually asked in Japanese. “That’s not going to force my elixir out.” “Shut up, Westerner!” one of the captors yelled, flinging his whip carelessly. It struck Duncan in the side of his mouth this time, splitting the right side of his face open. The uniformed Japanese soldier doubled down, panting in exhaustion as beads of sweat rolled off his face and dripped onto the floor. “Let me talk to your boss.” Duncan adjusted his jaw as the open wound closed right up again. “You won’t hold out like this.” “Every man… has his breaking point.” The other captor picked up a piece of hot iron and pressed it firmly against Duncan’s face. “Even a monster like you.” Flesh sizzled and Duncan groaned in pain, but that was it. “Aye, but so do you.” His blistering flesh smoothened itself in seconds. “And by the looks of it, you’re nearing yours.” “We have men. We have other methods of torture.” “I have time and patience. Loads of it,” Duncan replied calmly. “I can keep this going for another hundred years. Five hundred, even. Can you?” “Cocky bastard!” the soldier yelled, pulling out a dagger and slashing at Duncan’s body in a frenzy. “Die, damn you! Die! ” He pulled out a pistol and fired a few rounds at Duncan, but the other captor quickly pulled his hand away. “ What are you doing?! We already don’t have enough bullets as it is. Stop wasting them!” The steel door swung open from behind the soldiers as Yuri walked into the cell, carrying a set of clothes. Duncan’s expression darkened. “Out, both of you,” Yuri commanded. “I will have a word with him.” The soldiers obeyed with a tired but firm “Yes!” before promptly leaving the cell. “You’ve changed, Yuri.” “And you haven’t. Five hundred years on Earth clearly wasn’t enough for you to adapt to the times.” The woman released Duncan from his chains and put the clothes on his body. “Your ordeal was not my doing. It was not I who ordered the soldiers to torture you.” “Then you ought to tie me back up before whoever sent them finds me like this.” “I need your help.” “You’ve really got no tact, eh?” “This is no time for pettiness,” Yuri insisted. “Hilda has been kidnapped by Miguel, and he’s demanding that I bring you to him.” Duncan scoffed audibly. “And if I say no?” “What’s wrong with you?!” the woman yelled. “My daughter is in danger! Why won’t you help me?” Duncan grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her roughly against the wall. Purple magic pooled in Yuri’s eyes in response, although she didn’t resist. “Help you? You put me in here. I trusted you, but you have been lying to me all this time. You have been lying to your daughter all this time,” the man growled. “Since when did you become so selfish, Yuri? All you care about is what you want.” Yuri shoved him aside and turned one step to the side, chuckling softly. “What I want? I have never gotten what I want. I didn’t ask for my soul to be trapped for five hundred years. I didn’t ask to be resurrected and dragged into this petty squabble. I didn’t ask to be a spy!” Her voice cracked as she let out a suppressed sniffle. “When I met Bertram, he gave me a glimpse of a new life. When I had Hilda, she gave me hope for a new start. For once in my life, I got to live on my own terms!” she cried. “But it didn’t last. All I want is to live again as a normal human. I didn’t want to do this to you, but this is the only way I can.” “What do you mean? How?” “With your elixir of life, Kubo can fully integrate my soul with this body,” Yuri admitted. “H