The atmosphere in Archvel's room started growing tense as the integration started.
Jareth took the lead in questioning the woman whose name is Aeria.
He pressed her for answers, demanding to know who had sent her and the purpose behind the attack on Archvel.
However, Aeria remained silent.
“I have expected this much; it would be very easy if she spoke with just words.”
Archvel thought.
Jareth's frustration was easy to see; he turned to Aldar and Ally.
“You guys have any plans? I do not want to dirty my hands...”
Aldar's gaze was sharp, his eyes deepened with the question of Jareth.
Aldar, Ally, and Jareth left the room for some time, leaving Archvel alone with Aeria.
"We need to break her resolve," Aldar said.
Jareth nodded and kept his silence.
Aldar and Ally exchanged a knowing look, silently communicating their next course of action.
It was a difficult decision, but they understood the gravity of the situation.
To uncover the truth and expose the Death Tree Organization's sinister plot, they needed to employ more forceful methods.
"Torture it is, then." Ally said.
The four mages thought the same thing, except Aeria from Death Tree thought the same thing.
In the end, they were dark mages; none of them were good people, which is only to be expected.
Jareth took a deep breath.
The room fell into an eerie silence as he began.
With careful precision, he cast a needle-shaped black-fire spell; he then slowly started burning the skin of Aeria.
She grimaced.
Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as the pain intensified.
Yet, even in the midst of torment, she remained resolute, refusing to divulge any information.
As Jareth continued, Aldar and Ally, as well as Archvel, watched closely.
They knew that extracting information in this manner was a necessary evil, a means to an end.
Jareth pushed the boundaries of his mentality, testing the limits of Aeria's endurance.
The strain was evident on her face, her eyes pleading for mercy.
"Nooooooooooooooo!!"
She screamed from the depths of her heart and soul.
The pain was unbearable at this point.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jareth halted his spells.
The room fell into an oppressive silence as the captive woman gasped for breath, her body trembling from the ordeal.
She stared at Jareth and others, but Jareth especially.
Jareth turned to Aldar and Ally, his voice heavy with weariness.
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"We have exhausted our options. She refuses to speak."
Aldar nodded, his expression grim.
"We have pushed her to her limits. It seems she is fiercely loyal to her organization."
Ally sighed softly.
"We did what we had to do, but it seems our efforts have reached an end."
Archvel, who had been observing the interrogation in silence, felt a surge of disappointment.
“So, they are pretending to be stopping the torture to give her hope.”
“I should do the same.”
"We won't give up," Archvel thought in his mind.
At that time, Jareth looked at Aeria, who seemed to be calming down hearing that the torture was over.
“I think I will keep on going,” said Jareth, black fire manifested on the tip of his finger again, and he started using his torture spell again on Aeria.
Archvel gasped for air and then looked at the faces of Aldar, Ally, and Jareth.
At this point, he saw with his own eyes that they were just joking and giving false hope to Aeria.
They were not done, not at all.
They were just making fun of Aeria and trying to break her resistance by talking to each other like they were defeated.
Of course, he thought about it, but seeing it was different than he expected.
He was still too pure for this world; it is clear that he needs to change his perspective.
Archvel shook his head and thought.
"What kinds of lunatics and fucked-up people live in this world?"
In the end, Aeria started talking.
"I am a member of the Death Tree Organization. Our plan was to eliminate Archvel and his friend, creating chaos between the Tower of the Black Sun and the Void Star. We aimed to exploit the resulting conflict to strengthen our own position and seize control."
Aldar's eyes narrowed.
“A simple but effective idea; I am not blaming you guys...”
Archvel let out a breath and said nothing.
"I can understand that there was no anger in any of them—Jareth, Aldar, or Ally—at all."
"They know that they live within the dark mage borders, and they are themselves dark mages, so such behavior should be usual in their lives."
Archvel thought as he kept his silence.
Aeria lowered her gaze.
"The Death Tree Organization is ruthless. We are driven by our desire for power and control. We were willing to do whatever it took to achieve our goals."
Jareth's voice cut through the tension:
"Yeah, it is a simple way of living for dark mages and organizations."
Archvel felt different, as he noticed that he was not feeling any anger towards Aeria or the man he killed.
In the end, he is starting to understand that this world is like this.
These behaviors by women or organizations may be selfish or evil, but they are understandable.
It is a dog-eat-dog world.
If you are not strong, you get eaten by the strong, and if you are strong, you eat more to get even more power.
Ally's voice rang out.
"To think that an organization like Death Tree would use such simple methods to manipulate two big organizations like Void Star and The Tower Of Black Sun."
Aeria pleaded,
"I was merely following orders. Please, you must understand."
Aldar's voice hardened, his tone firm:
"You made a choice. And now, you will face the consequences of that choice."
Aeria smiled helplessly and murmured.
"It was worth the try."
She closed her eyes and said nothing more.
Jareth's gaze bore into Aeria, and his voice was cold.
"Your organization's plan ends here. For the time being."
Archvel's eyes turned to Jareth, and Jareth looked at him as he nodded.
"Archvel, I will be honest with you. I was not expecting you to solve this problem like this."
"But I have to say that I am happy to work with you in the future."
Ally's voice softened as she too looked at Archvel and started talking.
"I too would like to apologize to you. I believe you should understand that we did not trust you much, as you were nobody, and there was nothing about your name."
Archvel looked at two people talking to him and then nodded.
"I understand, and it can be expected."
"I feel nothing against any of you, but I will be adamant on the matter of not connecting to any kind of organization."
As Archvel and others were talking, Aeria, who was tortured and defeated, was silently listening.
"I guess this is the end for me."
Aeria thought in her mind and then remembered her past life.
The time when she was an ordinary woman with an ordinary life with a family, a father and mother, and a brother
It has been twenty years since she saw her family, and now it is just a distant past to her, and it feels weird to remember those things.
But regret will not change anything, especially in the world of dark mages, where there is no redemption.