Chapter 409 Partial Truths From The Past (Part 1)
Coincidentally, two portals appeared on Vincent mansion's living room at the same time, from one, Daimon's group came out, with Aurora bringing the new prisoners restrained with her light chains.
The other one was used by Vincent, Annete and the Valas Duchess to return from the Delphini territory, the Duchess was given her own task by Annete, she had to watch out the perimeter of Carlos's mansion along with Martha who also accompanied them.
It's not that she was lacking the strength to participate in the operation, but Annete wanted to make Carlos despair with her own hands, that's also why Vincent was turned into a thug who beat up the secret protectors of the Delphini raised by the Duke, while the Duchess acted as a vigilant.
And that seemed to have improved her mood, she was brightly smiling, as if she hadn't just beaten a middle stage Stellar ranked an inch away from death a moment ago.
Daimon noticed the thankful expression in her pretty face, when she looked at him and he raised an eyebrow, she wasn't being playful, but she was genuinely showing happiness to see him.
'This is the third time, I wonder what can make such a strong-willed girl like you, smile like that', thought Daimon.
The previous two times he has seen the queen genuinely happy, were when she knew Mellie was safe after the incident with the pirated and the caravan, and when he signed a contract with her and accepted the necklace which was now hanging from his neck, so this was the third time.
He then turned to see the water prison made by Vincent and recognized one of the people being restrained by it, it was one of the special guests that participated as a commentator in the tournament, the Delphini Duke.
And judging by his appearance, he was beaten like a dog, probably by Annete since his wounds didn't leak water laws, which would have been the case if Vincent was the one to beat him to this point.
What's more, he noticed the strange directions in which his arm and leg were pointed, and the fact that his skin was intact, a strange sight to say the less, it was as if his arm and leg were moved that way by his own body which was obviously not the case, unless Carlos was some kind of octopus race Mermen.
Annete saw the strange creature being restrained by Aurora's light chains and she turned to see Daimon.
"It seems there were some changes to the original plan, right?".
Daimon nodded in response.
"Yeah, apparently that scheming guy wanted to bring Black Wave under its wing, one way or another, that or he is haughty enough to send a middle stage Stellar monster to force them into submission, because the previous envoy failed the task", said Daimon with a smirk.
When two strategists face each other, the one whose "nature" is unveiled by the other first, is the loser, Daimon has clashed four times with the one behind the pirates the and the Skelefiends so far, first when he saved Mellie, then the invasion at the beast hunt, the situation with Black Wave and this second creature.
And he has already started to understand the pattern behind that guy's actions, destabilize, find the weakness of the target, use the weakness against the target, and in case of failure retaliate with "crushing" force.
He has seen it happening twice, when the pirates and Skelefiends couldn't force Mellie, Daphne and Jasmine to surrender themselves to save the other members of the young generation, after not being able to capture them due to Daimon's interference, Blackbeard Horrorclaw and Sting directly attacked Vincent and the others.
In other words, whoever was behind the pirates and Skelefiends, hated when his plans didn't give the predicted results, a common trait among those who consider themselves smarter than anyone, unfortunately for him, Erin even managed to trick the Greenwich Sage which is said to be smartest person in the four galaxies, it's not a matter of intelligence but cunningness, and that little fox won't lose to anyone in that aspect.
Naturally, Daimon who has been taught personally by her, is the same, with each clash he approached the truth behind the veil more and more.
"Bring me too, I want to confirm a few things, miss Thea you too", said Daimon to the queen, originally, he wasn't going to participate in the interrogation, but the appearance of the creature changed the plan a bit.
"Mm", Thea and the queen nodded, Aurora was also going to accompany them, while Vincent stayed behind to watch over the girls along with the Duchess, because the following wasn't going to be funny.
For a moment, Mellie hesitated to ask to go with her sister, but Annete patted her head and told her to stay behind this time, they will solve the mystery of their mother's death together, but she didn't need to witness the interrogation.
…
Annete took out a key from her ring and then used an array to open a portal to her private prison, the same place where Daimon got Blacktooth, but a different area, it was without any doubt a classic interrogation room, with tons of "funny" tools to make others talk.
The queen expected Daimon to be at least a bit surprised, but she realized he didn't even flinch at all, which earned him a nod of approbation from the three women that followed him here, one must be mentally strong to lead others, if this scene can cause waves in the heart of the leader, then he or she isn't suited to successfully guide others through the road of blood and carnage that is a mage or a knight's path, at all.
"Pablo, you take your mother and the others from Black Wave to that corner, once we finish with some more pending matters, I'll go talk with you", ordered Daimon, his voice tone gave no chance to refuse at all, even if his upper face was covered with the mask of the hollow suit, Pablo felt as if the eyes hidden behind it were piercing his very soul.
"Yes… young master", Pablo grabbed his mother and the executives and brought them to a corner, to wait for their turn.
Daimon snapped his fingers and a green flames portal lit up in front of him, from which the black armored bone general Horals appeared.
"Horals greets the young master!", as always Horals, kneeled in front of Daimon to greet him and wait for his orders to be issued.
Since the information they will be getting from the creature is probably more sensitive, Daimon turned to see the queen, Carlos should be interrogated first.
"Is there any problem in making him talk first?", he asked.
The queen shook her head in response, she has waited enough to learn the truth behind her mother's death.
Daimon nodded and then turned to see Thea.
"Miss Thea, can you verify if he is under any kind of contract, and if that's the case erase it from him, please", he asked.
Thea nodded and then approached Carlos who was immobilized by the water prison created by Vincent, needless to say but when he saw the Black Empress and Aurora also participating in his kidnap, he paled, two maximum Stellar ranked wanted him dead, regardless of his status as a Duke, he was at the verge of a mental collapse.
Thea's right pupil turned blood red colored as she inspected Carlos, this was part of her innate ability, Nine Malefic Evil Eye, with this red pupil she could see and erase contracts of all kind.
After a couple of seconds, Thea frowned, naturally a middle stage Stellar ranked who has lived for quite some time like Carlos, had a decent number of contracts which he has stablished during his lifetime, but only one outstood from the rest, it was one represented by a red ominous chain around Carlos's magic core, meaning that if he broke it, his magic core will explode and kill him, quite a vicious penalty for a contract.
But that's not what made her frown, but the fact that the other party to which the contract was linked, was undoubtedly stronger than her, and that is a lot to say considering she isn't even afraid of Tideus the captain of the royal guard and a high stage Stellar realm expert, despite she only being at the middle stage.
"I can break it, but since my strength is lower than the other one to whom the contract is linked, the other party will feel it, on the other hand I can temporarily nullify it without the other one noticing it, it will only last a day but it's the better choice", said Thea.
Before Daimon could say anything, Annete answered for him.
"Do it, what I want is answers, his little life isn't worth anything… I can take it after all the turmoil ends, also I won't let him off the hook so easily", she said.
Annete truly wanted to kill Carlos, but she also knew that doing it will alert the one with whom he did that contract, which is probably related to her mother's death, so she decided to leave him live for a little longer, naturally it wasn't going to be fun ride for Carlos, but that's a completely separate matter.
Daimon agreed too, it wasn't the right time to reveal themselves, since he still has to travel to the Elemental Sea, to get the sects to join them and to get what was left by the hero there.
"Let's go with the second".
Thea nodded, her right pupil which was now of a bright red color shone in red light, and then the veins on Carlos's neck swelled up, he retorted and tried to scream due to the pain he was experiencing, but the water prison didn't allow him to make any sound or move at all.
After a couple of seconds, Daimon saw Thea close her right eye, there was a thin trace of blood coming from it, meaning she had to put some effort into nullifying the contract.
"Senior Aurora, if you would, please", said Daimon.
Aurora nodded and she extended her staff towards Thea as she casted.
"Silver Citadel!", a white gentle light enveloped Thea, making the pain in her eye disappear, her mana reserves which were halved due to the strength of the contract she temporarily nullified, were fully recovered and her stamina which also took a blow, returned to its peak.
"Phew, what a convenient spell, at our level something that recovers 20% of our mana reserves is already quite decent, but this spell gives a full recovery, as one would expect from the strongest light mage of Neptune", said Thea before she turned to see Daimon with an expecting gaze.
Daimon bitterly smiled, she hasn't used even a liter of the three-colored water he gave her, and she is already asking him for more, not that he minded since he had way more than what he could use anyway.
"Ahem, when you finish what I gave you earlier, I can always give you more", said Daimon, which made the Black Empress brightly smile, now that her stock of non-intoxicating alcohol drinks was secured, she happily went to sit to enjoy the show.
With that out of the way, Daimon pointed at Carlos while he gazed at Horals.
"Assist the queen interrogating that guy, I want him to spill everything he knows".
Horals's eyeless eye sockets lit up in green flames, he took out one of his multiple notebooks and then approached the Delphini Duke, waiting for Annete to make a question.
Annete dispelled the block on Carlos's mouth, so that he could speak and then she made the first question, one which has been living in her heart for one hundred years.
"Who orchestrated my mother's death?", she coldly asked.
Carlos coughed a couple of times and then looked at the queen with disdain.
"Why should I tell you, once you get your answers, I will no longer have any use, what kind of strategist will destroy his only value, next time don't discuss such important things in front of your enemy you fools!".
What Carlos said had some merit, certainly if an enemy knows that he holds important information, it can be used as a chip of bargain.
'Humph, I just need to endure this, once that person makes it move, you'll all bow down and beg for mercy…'.
"Aghhhhhh!", Carlos's self-complacent thoughts were interrupted by a mind breaking amount of pain which came from all his body, a beastly scream escaped from his mouth, but that wasn't enough to express the suffer he was experiencing right now.
Luckily for him, it only lasted a couple of seconds, before he returned to normal, his eyes were leaking tears without his consent, as he looked for the origin of such horrifying pain, which he found quite fast, his leg was being poked by one finger of the black armored guy called by that silver haired masked youth earlier.
And his next words made the Duke almost pee himself out of fear.
"Who do you think you are calling a fool, you piece of useless garbage, my young master doesn't care about you listening, because with this Horals present, by the time we end, you will beg to talk but won't be allowed to!".
Horals took out his gauntlet to reveal a skeletal hand burning in green battle aura, he then pierced Carlos's skin with his fingers, and the next thing that happened was that Carlos convulsed as a lung-tearing scream escaped from his mouth.
"Arhghhhhh!".
Truth to be told, Horals only needed one finger of a hand for the interrogation, but since his young master was insulted in front of him, how could he not make the other party wish to be death, but being unable to.
Unfortunately for Carlos, the premise of keeping one's mouth shut to crate an opening for rescue, is based on the fact that the prisoner can endure the pain caused by showing resistance against the torturer.
And how could he a strategist, who isn't fond of the battlefield and instead has lived his life, giving orders from the officer's tents during battles, endure the horrors that the mind of a bone general like Horals, can give birth.
"W-Wait, I'll talk, I'll t...aghhhhh!", Carlos tried to confess not even five seconds later, but Horals didn't pay him attention, and since the mistress-candidate who was given the authority over him, during this interrogatory, by his young master in person, didn't order him to stop, he casually continued.
Pablo and the other people from Black Wave, who were sitting on a corner saw Carlos, begging to confess and not being allowed to, and they all felt a chill running down their spines.
Daimon was sitting at the other side of the room, with Thea who was enjoying a drink and offering Daimon some, at his right, and Aurora who was watching over the still knocked out creature restrained by light chains, at his left.