"Tell me," I said, my voice echoing in the tense silence that had fallen over the room.

Though I was in the form of a white-haired child, my voice carried the weariness and waning patience of a being who had lived for centuries.

I fixed my red eyes on the two cornered men.

"Who gave you this orb? Why? In short, tell me everything you know. Do not omit a single detail."

William stepped forward, trying to mask his fear with arrogance.

He still had his sword aimed at me, though it trembled in his grip.

"We're not telling you anything, brat! What do you take us for? We are not cheap mercenaries who betray their master at the first sign of trouble... like you!"

A cold smile touched my lips.

"Ah, is that so? I have bad news for you... I wasn't expecting you to confess so easily."

In one swift motion, I snatched the pinky finger of William's sword hand and snapped it backward.

The sharp crack of bone echoed in the room.

"It would ruin the fun... wouldn't it?"

"ARGGHH!" William howled in pain.

He swung his sword at me in a rage, but Fredrinn intercepted, as if he had been waiting for the move.

He caught the sharp edge of the blade with his bare, gauntleted hand and tossed it aside with a simple flick.

Immediately after, he slammed a fist into William's face with his full strength.

Teeth and blood sprayed through the air.

William crashed against the wall from the immense impact, then crumpled to the floor like a sack of grain.

Fredrinn didn't know Cassian's true purpose or what he was trying to accomplish.

But he knew Cassian's reaction upon seeing that black orb was enough to understand the gravity of the situation.

He didn't think Cassian would act illogically; or rather, he was certain Cassian operated on a logic all his own.

He had decided to follow his lead.

Priest Andreas, unlike William, reacted with more composure.

He tightly gripped the necklace in his hand—a symbol of a cross merged with a sun.

"Lord Fredrinn, we must remind you that we are here as representatives of the Empire. Any action taken against us is an action taken directly against the Empire!"

Fredrinn stepped before Priest Andreas, his massive shadow enveloping him.

"Which Empire?" he roared.

"The one that schemes behind my back in my own territory? The one that plots to kill my men? Or the one that conspires to turn all the great houses against me?"

A cold sweat broke out on Priest Andreas's body when he realized Fredrinn knew everything.

The calm, holy mask on his face had cracked.

They had anticipated he might know something, but for him to know everything... that was a low probability.

They had been trapped.

"Lord Fredrinn... I don't know what you are speaking of. You are accusing us without any concrete evidence. This... this is hardly just!"

"Justice?" Fredrinn's voice thundered. "I am the justice here! These are my lands, and my word is law!"

Before Fredrinn even finished speaking, dark, thorny chains formed of Chaos Flames began to envelop Priest Andreas.

However, the holy cross in the priest's hand flared, protecting its master. It blocked the chains from reaching him.

A sphere of interlocking chains, forged from pure golden, holy mana, surrounded the priest, emanating a purifying, sacred energy.

Fredrinn drew his sword to shatter the defense and delivered a diagonal slash.

An ear-grating screech sounded as the sword struck the golden sphere.

It left a deep gash, but the next second, the sphere regenerated as if the wound had never existed.

"Tch, what an annoying ability," I muttered.

I stood beside Fredrinn.

The black orb was gone from my hand, replaced by a jet-black, needle-thin blade.

I slowly pushed the 'needle' into the regenerating sphere of chains.

The golden sphere shuddered upon contact with the pure, cursed energy.

Black veins spiderwebbed rapidly across the golden chains from the point of entry.

The holy mana tried to resist this toxic energy, but to no avail.

A second later, Chaos Flames erupted from the black veins.

Within moments, the entire golden sphere cracked and finally shattered like glass.

But the person who emerged was no longer the calm priest from moments ago.

A pair of magnificent, angelic wings, in shades of gold and white, had sprouted from his back.

On his forehead, directly above his two eyes, a vertical third eye had appeared.

Part of his body was completely transformed, clad in gleaming golden armor, while the rest seemed... incomplete.

My intervention had disrupted his transformation, leaving him unstable.

Priest Andreas held a spear of light in his comparatively weaker arm.

On his more formidable-looking arm, he bore a bizarre and grotesque shield composed of interlocking, golden human hands.

It was a strange sight.

His transformation initially reminded me of my own Sovereign Form, but its mechanism was different.

Andreas had required an external source. That sun-cross symbol he held was the catalyst that had granted him this power.

"Partner, how about you take this one?" I said, not taking my eyes off the priest.

"He looks a bit out of my league. I'll handle the other one," I added, gesturing to William, who was groaning as he tried to get to his feet.

"Try not to die," Fredrinn replied, swinging his sword at Andreas.

Andreas parried the blow with his spear but was violently thrown back by Fredrinn's immense power.

He crashed into the wall, which tore apart like paper.

The priest was flung out of the building and into the night.

Fredrinn, like a god of war, leaped out after him.

The room fell silent once more.

I turned to William, who had finally managed to struggle to his feet.

"Do you have any cool tricks like that? Or is this all you've got?"

"For you... this is more than enough..." William hissed, clutching his broken finger.

"If you say so."

I snapped my fingers, almost mockingly.

Instantly, black veins began to spread from his broken finger, crawling beneath his skin.

A sudden, inexplicable weakness washed over his body.

William's eyes widened in shock.

"What... what have you done to me?"

"Don't worry. The curse won't kill you. It will just... weaken you."

The moment I finished speaking, I lunged at William.

The man was still crouched, and I aimed a hard kick at his chin.

With a final effort, William parried the blow with his sword.

He must have thought he would sever my leg, but at that instant, a thick layer of ice armored my limb.

The sword tore through the ice and left a shallow gash on my leg.

I ignored the pain and poured more power into the kick.

With his hands occupied by his sword, William was completely defenseless.

Two ice spears materialized behind him and shot forward, impaling his right and left shoulders.

"ARRGH!"

His grip on the sword loosened.

My kick connected squarely with his chin, sending him sprawling to the ground once more.

I stood over his fallen body.

I formed a massive ice sledgehammer in my hand and, without hesitation, brought it down squarely on his chest.

The sickening crunch of his ribs breaking echoed in the room.

William roared in agony, vomiting blood.

"Tch. Weaker than I expected. What's your star-level? Four?"

William couldn't speak. He could only continue to groan in agony.

He tried to stand, but I slammed my foot onto his hand and applied all my weight.

The sound of his fingers snapping mingled with his moans.

I bent down, grabbed a fistful of William's bloody hair, and yanked his head up.

I channeled holy mana into his body—just enough to keep his wounds from turning fatal, to dull the edge of his pain.

Because I still had many more questions for him.

"Now, now, now... Let's return to the first question," I said, leaning close to his face.

"Where did you get this black orb? Who gave it to you?"

William merely growled through his ruined mouth.

"Ah, how tiresome. You're going to confess everything under torture anyway. Why are you so intent on making me work for it?"

"Must I really cut off your fingers one by one, flay your skin, and then infest you with parasites to eat you from the inside out?"

"Threaten... all you want... You'll learn... nothing... from us!"

"Is that so? We shall see."

I put my hand on William's cheek. I instantly froze the skin.

His cheek hardened like stone.

Then, I delivered a sharp slap to the frozen flesh.

William's cheek cracked and shattered like a piece of frozen meat, falling away.

His tongue and teeth were now gruesomely exposed.

His muffled scream of agony distorted into a bizarre sound.

Then, I plunged my finger into William's remaining good eye and tore it from its socket in a single motion.

William barely managed to raise his injured arm to his face, his hand slick with blood.

Before his pain could subside, I hung him upside down from the ceiling with Chaos Chains.

"Come on, William. Don't make this difficult for us. If you tell me everything, I promise I'll let you return safely."

"I can't!" he snarled.

"'You can't?' So... you're asking for more torture?"

"No! I... I can't tell you... anything! There's... a seal... on my heart!"

"The kind that will detonate... the moment I betray the Second Prince!"

"Even if I wanted to... I can't tell you a thing!" William's voice was a pained, suppressed mumble.

"A seal, you say?"

I drew my sword and carefully cut into William's chest, parting the flesh between his ribs until his heart was visible.

Simultaneously, I used holy mana to stem the bleeding, keeping him from dying.

William screamed in agony as his flesh was cut, begging me to stop.

On his heart, glowing red script was written in a language I didn't understand.

I had never seen anything like it. The mechanism was impressive.

How did they apply something like this to a living heart?

It resembled a witch's curse, but it was different... more mechanical, more precise.

Then, I cupped the exposed, beating heart in my hands.

I summoned the Chaos Flames. Dark flames enveloped the organ.

The seal wrapping the heart resisted at first, glowing with a crimson light. But then, it began to crack.

Just as the seal was about to be destroyed, it triggered a final defense mechanism—and detonated the heart.

Warm blood splattered across my face.

I hadn't expected that.

I thought I could break the seal by force, but I was mistaken.

As his heart exploded, William, still hanging from the ceiling, gave me one last, desperate look before his body went limp.

"Oh well," I muttered. "I'll just make a new one."

I focused my holy mana on the empty cavity where the man's heart had been.

Pure life energy began to weave the shredded tissues back together.

Within a minute, a brand new, fresh heart began to beat in the man's chest.

I conjured a handful of water and splashed it on the man's face.

William stirred slightly but did not wake.

"A deep sleep, eh..."

This time, I conjured a continuous torrent of water, dousing him.

William awoke with a violent jolt, shocked by the cold.

And the first thing he saw was a small, impatient demon, his red eyes boring into him, ready to resume the interrogation.

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