We use teleport crystals to return to the Crimson City, and I'm led out into the desert, about 50 kilometers away.

There are no main trade roads connecting this far out, and the only major landmark here is the edge of the dark abyss on the horizon.

A large rectangular prison made of mana-manifested stone comes into view, far out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a single door on its front and two level 1400+ guards from the Crimson Army standing watch.

There's a large man with earth magic and body hardening who has high-grade armor crafted by Bri and an earth-imbued longsword that I made for him before I left.

The woman by his side uses air magic. Her bow was crafted by me too, and much of her other high-grade gear also appears to be crafted by Bri, making them up to par with her new level gains these last few weeks.

I feel the aura of my body double's surveillance, even 50 kilometers away, but we're greeted very respectfully once we arrive.

They show us two small bows as they open the front door for us, and the woman speaks.

"Welcome back, it is an honor to see the Flame Emperor's Inner Circle all together. "

At the same time, the man hands me a ring of keys holding over 40 in total.

I take them and llead our group of five into the dimly lit structure, finding it funny how she's given my teammates this name.

We're all supposedly deceased after our mission into the Dark Continent and wear items with high-grade concealment attributes, so our appearances are always changing.

There is an air of mystery around who we are and where we came from that many army members and even citizens of the city have begun to speculate on in their freetime.

It makes me think about my other teammates. Arie and Luna are still off on their venture into the Abyss in search of their old home that was swallowed by the darkness.

I haven't heard back from them in months, and out of curiosity, I bring their names up in my Rising Emperor's Domain interface to see if I can open a long-range transmission; but to my surprise, all of their information is tinted dark purple.

My gaze tightens even more when I try to make contact, but nothing goes through. Either there is interference, or they're unable to answer my calls. I can see their location, over a thousand kilometers away, deep in Sector 4; but the color of all their vitals and stats looks exactly the same purple shade as my Demonic Energy Manipulation skill's text when I view it inside my own status.

I trust them to make it back when they've discovered what they need to, so my attention turns to the rows of cells.

Dozens of high-level Association Hunters are here, locked behind bars.

The cells are all made of a very interesting pink crystalline structure. There are smooth walls, floors, and ceilings; but as we walk through the center of the building, seeing cells on either side of us, there are only small openings in the semi-transparent pink bars to see the captives behind them.

The center of the hall is lit by a few orbs of glass with [Flash] imbued mana crystals inside them.

It's clear one of my body doubles used my new [Crystal Creation] skill, and what looks like millions of MP worth of mana crystals to create indestructible cells inside this temporary prison.

To ensure safety, it seems all the captured B-class hunters have handcuffs made of the same pink crystal material, combined with a black bar of mana-blocking Qi.

It disrupts the connection to the system and doesn't allow them to use any mana or skills while in contact.

Far down at the end of the hall, I can sense the 10 cells with prisoners that have golden collars around their necks. They too have the handcuffs, but their cell reinforcement is multiple times denser than the others.

There are visible dents and small fractures in the cell from their constant use of borrowed Soul Energy to attempt escape, but after over a full week has passed, they have all given up trying to break out.

I smirk and whisper under my breath, "I guess I'll save the best for last."

Then, I turn back and use one of the pink crystal keys on a ring to open up a cell at random near the entrance of the prison.

I look at the young man with defeat in his eyes, then send a single divine energy-imbued mana bullet from my finger to shatter the cuffs on his wrists.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

His body is revitalized with energy in an instant, and I see a spark of hope in his gaze; but I quickly suppress it by activating [Heavy Hand] to increase the gravity inside this cell by over 20 times.

I turn to my teammates and speak up.

"This is probably going to take a while, so get comfortable."

They all look very interested in my process, and a round of nonchalant replies give me the go ahead to do whatever I want to the criminals that attacked them while I was away.

I turn back to the man on the floor and activate my lie detector skill and release a wave of intimidation that would make even a double ranked-up hunter shiver.

"What can you tell me... I want to know everything that happened the day of the attack. Who sent you, and what were your exact orders?"

One by one, I go to every cell and each and every one of them cracks.

With my lie detector skill at such close range, using direct questions, and with such a power gap between myself and the prisoners I'm interrogating, it's basically reading their minds.

I can hear their intrusive thoughts whenever I dip into a hot topic, and when I repeat their words in their heads, it only makes them think about it more.

It isn't perfect, but with the blatant ability to tell if these thoughts and the words they do speak out loud are in fact true or not, it's as close to perfect as I'll get.

I thought it would be a lot harder to get these grunts to speak, but after the screaming noises from their teammates and using small doses of regeneration potions to allow me to do what I have to with the more stubborn ones all over again, the information I need is all gathered.

One by one, I recreate the pink crystal cuffs around their wrists after fully healing them and attach the mana-blocking bricks to their skin.

I've gathered so far that on the day of the attack, the Apex Region was alerted to major dungeon breaks occurring in the Dark Continent.

The higher-ups briefed everyone on the elite attack squad that the source of these breaks was inside the Crimson City.

They all teleported to the teleport platform in Sector 1 right outside of Valor City. There is a small Association base of operations there and a much larger one in Solara. They made the flight over and were ordered to take down the barrier and kill the leader of the city named the Flame Emperor by any means necessary.

Many of the men I interrogate have been dungeon explorers and personal guards their whole lives in the Association; this is one of their first big missions, while others are veterans and have committed similar acts in the past.

Some cry and beg for forgiveness while I torture the information out of them, while others stay quiet, but I use my mind-reading perk to get details out of them too.

By the time I make it to the final 10 cells with the golden-collared hunters, it's clear that many of the hunters I've questioned were not well informed. They follow orders, keeping their heads down and doing whatever deeds the Association gives them.

Just because they had no idea this tale of dangerous breaks in the Dark Continent was a fabrication doesn't mean I won't punish them for their actions.

"Keep them all locked up; we'll assign them proper sentence dates and punishments in five days."

I grin while opening the lock to the first golden-collared B-Class Hunter's Cell.

While activating [Heavy Hand], [Intimidation], and [Lie Detector] again, I break the cuffs of a muscular middle-aged water wielder and start asking questions.

"You heard your friends break; it's time to talk."

Another hour or so passes, and as I make my way through each of these higher-tiered hunters, it's much harder to get information out of them.

Their minds don't wander, and no matter how bad the mental or physical pressure I push down on them, they still don't talk even when they're close to death.

It's like there is a mental barrier up that wasn't present in the others. My best guess is it has something to do with the Sun God's Curse Mark. Even with the system-blocking cuffs on, their soul energy necklaces still glow brightly around their necks.

I make my way back to the first golden-collared hunter I started with and murmur to myself.

"I guess it's time to take that collar off... I'm not going to get anywhere with you all acting like this. I've been wondering if it was even possible for me to do this, so you'll be my first test subject."

In the next moment, I concentrate on letting dark red Soul Energy pour out of my hands, covering the man's entire body that lies on the cell ground before me.

I vividly remember using my absorption skill's innate properties combined with Soul Energy after defeating the Lich King to cleanse those that were still infected by its curse.

As the fiery aura covers the man, and I concentrate on the golden energy that surrounds his neck and is bonded with his cells all throughout his brain, heart, blood, bones, and body, I focus and let the same process play out.

More and more Soul Energy pours out of my body; it feels similar to when I was imbuing the Crimson Barrier with everything in my core.

Getting rid of the Lich King's power was far simpler because he was already gone; trying to force this golden energy out is infinitely more difficult.

I feel my energy clashing with the golden light deep within the man's body, and a microscopic war of Soul Energy particles commences.

At first, it is a losing battle. I feel a tremendous power lurking deep inside the golden energy, and my heart feels tight just thinking of the time the Sun God himself attempted to assert pressure on my own core; however, we're thousands of kilometers away and all I'm doing is trying to overpower the borrowed soul energy within a hunter that hasn't even double ranked up yet.

The more Soul Energy I flood into his system, the more the intrinsic strength of the Soul Energy doesn't matter. I overpower the energy by raw volume alone, and to be on the safe side, I begin enhancing the weight of my own Soul Energy with Divine Threads once the golden light that poisons his flesh starts to be devoured.

This speeds things up drastically.

All of the golden light is ripped from his being and locked away in my item storage.

The process isn't the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am breathing heavily and covered in sweat by the time I'm sure every drop of Qi and Mana has left his body.

Once I'm sure, I take a step back and retract my Soul Energy completely.

The man looks almost as exhausted as I do once it's over, but words leave his lips once I relieve the pressure and watch the golden collar around his neck completely fade away.

"Impossible. You— You did it... I'm free... I'll—tell you everything, sir! Please, just hear me out! I never wanted to harm you or your people—"

As my body naturally regenerates and my fatigue is gone in seconds, I feel a new link of loyalty form from the B-Class hunter that just had a curse lifted from his status.