The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 477: Rules of an Eternally Painful, Ever-Functioning Universe

"...Want to come with me, Hana? I can teach you a few things," Vanessa asks me as I hear the school bell ringing. Those things leave the classroom, and some stay behind reading books or playing with stuff they’ve found.

"Why would I do that?" I ask, fearful that I’m breaking some rule.

"Because... I’m not sure. Maybe I just want to feel like I still have some control over my own life..." she says with an empty look. I glance at Sakura and Kaori, who are quietly weeping, then at Tsubasa and Kaito, who are talking mechanically, their fear obvious.

"O-okay... let’s go..." I stand up and start following Vanessa. Outside the classroom is full of those things wandering the halls and chatting in groups as if they were truly normal students.

"..." They look at us briefly and ignore us as we walk down the corridor. I see a rules chart on the wall. There are so many that the chart splits into nine more lined up beside it.

It’s impossible for anyone to actually follow all these rules at once! Just memorizing them must be hard enough.

"Where are you taking me?" I don’t like the direction we’re heading, because we’re going outside.

"We’re going to the back of the school. It’s near the gym and near the court where you guys got trapped when you first arrived here," she explains monotonously as we walk in silence. Outside, I see a large statue of the Demon King.

’...’

"Do not show dislike for the Goddess statue. It’s a rule. If they see you, they’ll open your stomach and force you to choose ten body parts to be cut off with a scalpel and placed beneath the statue as an offering while you watch," she says, and I immediately look away.

"...Vanessa... do you know what this place is? Or who the Demon King really was in our past life?" I ask as she pauses for a moment.

"Fundamentals of Creation. It’s a book in the library with the following paragraph: ’[The universe is proof of the Goddess’s perfection, a glimpse of what she believes is just—a world without death, where sinners will be eternally punished, and their loved ones will be welcomed.]’" She quotes it with a strange look on her face.

"’[The formation of the universe is due to the Goddess’s grand power. She founded our universe with her magnificent might, and although her visits are rare, the universe is expanded by her power every so often, with the universal foundation being her mind and her laws.]’" She finishes speaking.

"I’m not sure about everything because the books are full of metaphors, but... I know this universe was much smaller before. Right now, it’s the size of a large city. In the past, it was only the size of the school grounds."

"When the universe grows, the number of inhabitants, their intelligence, the resources, and the environment’s logic all increase. Now you can find video games, manga, novels, machines that would only exist in the modern world, but they’re also different from anything in the modern world."

"Although... everything follows a pattern. The games are extremely violent ones about torturing people. The novels and manga are stories of death, destruction, and long descriptions of torture."

"And many of the machines are also related to torture, or food... that’s all I can say about that. Besides, half the books you can find are blank pages, while others are in this environment’s own language, which is confusing to read... We’re here." She stops talking when we arrive behind the gym.

I immediately see three of those delinquent girls. The one who looks like the leader is wearing an eyepatch, holding a metal bat, and wearing a skirt much shorter than the standard school uniform.

"..." I gulp dryly, seeing one of the boys from another class on the ground. His head was smashed by the metal bat, so the floor is bloody with spilled brain matter oozing across the ground along with the pool of blood.

"Who... oh, my personal bitch. You’re early. Good," the one holding the metal bat says, smiling at Vanessa.

"..." I look at Vanessa and see her bowing to the ground, placing her forehead so it touches the spreading pool of blood. I take a few steps back, disturbed by this.

"Why did you bring this slut here, Vanessa?" she asks, looking at me intensely.

"...I-I... thought maybe you’d like her and we could make a dea—" Before Vanessa can finish speaking, her head is crushed by the metal bat. The nauseating sound of her head exploding makes me step back further. I trip over my own legs and fall to the ground.

"You thought, Vanessa? Did I give you permission to think? Bitches like you don’t have the right to think. We’ve talked about this... you fucking SLUT!" She swings the bat again, smashing Vanessa’s back. Vanessa’s hands twitch before stopping completely.

"Tsk. You got my uniform dirty. Great. Now that bitch from the student council will be on my case about this too." She spits on Vanessa and then looks at me.

"And you, you ugly slut, get out of here. I don’t want another bitch bothering me. If you’re looking for a group, go see the student council, or the school nerds, or whatever."

"After all, it’s those four-eyes who like sluts like you. They think they’re so great with those stupid glasses and neat clothes. I should pop their heads off... What are you looking at?! GET OUT!" she yells at me. I quickly get up and start running, my heart pounding.

’W-What the hell was that!!’ I run desperately, not wanting to be next, but because I’m looking back, I end up bumping into someone and falling to the ground.

I look to see who I knocked over and see it’s the girl with glasses. The one who’s always quiet in class reading books, the one I’ve heard others whispering is the class nerd.

Her glasses broke with a crack in the middle, her uniform got a bit messy, and she hit the floor.

"I-I’m s—"

"Get off," she says in a monotone voice, her tone cold and cutting like ice. I scramble off her and stand up.

"I didn’t mean to! I was just—"

"Running is prohibited on school grounds outside of designated times like P.E. classes." She picks up her book and closes it, then grabs my hand. I try to pull away, but she squeezes so hard my bone cracks. I stifle a scream, tears on my face.

"You’re coming with me..." She pulls me along, and I don’t resist because resisting seems worse. I’m taken to a room I see is the student council office. She opens the door and shoves me inside.

"She broke rules. She was running on the outdoor walkway and bumped into me. My glasses were damaged, a page in my book got crumpled, my uniform was disheveled, and I was thrown to the ground," the ’Nerd’ says to the person inside, then closes the door.

’Why does everyone keep throwing me into rooms...’ I stand up and see one of those aberrations that resemble the Demon King, but this one is younger and much smaller. She’s also wearing a little dress instead of a school uniform.

"So, you’re causing trouble? Tsk. Can you humans not live without causing problems? Incompetent." She hops up from her chair, and I see she’s even smaller than she seemed.

"It was an accident... I was..."

"It doesn’t matter," she interrupts. Seems everyone likes interrupting me too.

"You messed up. You will be punished. Nothing more, nothing less. No excuses or justifications. Your words mean nothing here... Let’s see... Running around, damaging school property, damaging school uniforms, destroying personal property, and injuring a fellow student." She lists several things.

"Hey! I didn’t do all that!" I just bumped into that girl.

"..."

"The uniforms belong to the school. Any disarray destroys order. Punishment for that: all your teeth will be pulled. Destruction of personal property: that girl’s glasses and book. Punishment: your eyes will be gouged out, and we’ll pour chlorine into the empty sockets."

"Running around and causing accidents: your legs will be torn off and stuffed into your mouth. Bumping into a fellow student... punishment: your back will be opened, your lungs pulled out and pinned back. You’ll have them outside your body for two hours." She says terrifying things that make me shiver.

"And finally, your most serious sin so far: resisting authority, by trying to deny my right to choose your errors and punishments... [Suicidal Decapitation]. That is an important rule."

"You must tear off your own head first, and then, while holding it, impale it on a stake..." As she says this, I’m shocked. Not just by how brutal it is, but because it’s literally impossible.

If you lose your head, you can’t impale it on a stake yourself! Your body stops moving.

"Until you fulfill these punishments, we will alter your routine slightly. And for every hour you don’t complete your punishment, we will whip you a thousand times while rubbing salt in the wounds."

"And don’t worry. We only give physically possible punishments. It might be hard at first, but fear and pain will serve as incentive. You will manage to make your body, on its own, remove, hold, and impale your head."

"Now, let’s begin." She starts walking toward me as I collapse to the floor crying.

"Urk, you dirtied my floor... you filthy sow. If you were going to piss yourself, you could have done it outside." She takes a gun from her pocket and shoots me in the forehead. A dart hits, and I feel everything fading.

"When you wake up, everything will be ready for your punishment. We’ll see you in 38 minutes and 45 seconds." The last thing I hear is her voice as I fall to the floor completely still.