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Chapter 497: The Fish Wants to be Fried
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Maki was the first to flip out.
“You entered without permission! You capture my people in front of me without reason and proof of any crime… Siva, you better be sure of what you are doing or I swear no matter how much we owe you, I will still not give you what you want.”
Siva understood Maki’s stance. If they switched places, he’d also flip out like this just be seeing a seemingly loyal subordinate being accused of his crime without prior proof or evidence.
“Maki. You have lie detection capability, yes? So I want you to scan every passing moment of what is about to happen and tell me what you feel. Oh, and you should start scanning his vitals now.”
When Siva spoke, he stood up and slapped Gats in the head then verbally ordered to Cortana.
“Contact all the people in The Company that has any lie-detection, hypnotism, and truth seeking ability… we will extract a few information about this bastard about their connection to the Church of the Blood Dragon God and LAGRAM Alliance.”
When Siva spoke to here, Maki shut his mouth and observed Gats. At the next moment, everyone in the Conference Room were transferred to another place. It was the dungeon right below Apus Epirus. Of all of them, only Gats was the one that was surprised.
“How did we—”
“—you don’t have to know.”
Gats was very familiar with Apus Epirus since they owned it before Siva stole it by using the power of the contract. Every features of Apus Epirus are on his head and there was never a feature that let you teleport from one place to another.
In the first, wasn’t he in SS-Pandora earlier? How did he get here?
Of everyone in the Conference Room, it was only him who has a classic face of utter disbelief.
Siva brought Gats who are currently trapped in a humanoid prison into a prison cell and Maki was in a complete mouth-shut as he glared at Siva.
“What then?” he hissed at him.
“We wait.” Siva answered. “We don’t have the right skills to extract the truth from him. If it were me, I would just do on my usual way and make him squeal like a pig with every truth and lie he says but since you’re here, I’m going to treat him as a proper human being…. with respect.”
After he spoke, he pulled out the Asgard’s official [City Lord Panel] and activate the prisoner feature for their captive.
Unlike how the Blue Card Legion treated Scion back then, Siva was as harsh as he can and took away all of Gats’ items in possession.
On Gats’ vision, there was something that caught him by utter surprise, shock, and disbelief.
[You have been caught and condemned to lawful imprisonment!]
[Your sentence will start immediately.]
[Status changed to: Prisoner!!]
[A “Prisoner Status” subjects you to be a captive!]
[Your items and equipment were confiscated!]
[The City Lord of Asgard impounded all of your belongings and branded you as a prisoner judged with the sin of Sabotage, Espionage, and Betrayal to the people of Terroa by allying yourself to the enemies, the LAGRAM Alliance.]
[Proper Trial will take place after interrogation.]
[Sentence Duration: Unspecified.]
As soon as the notifications appeared, a flash of light engulfed his body and all of his equipped gears were gone in an instant.
“How could this be possible?!!”
Gats was utterly shell-shocked.
According to data of people who experienced the “pains” of being a prisoner or a captive, once your items and equipment were confiscated the only way to take them back would be to kill the person who was holding on to it.
In this case, that person should be either the City Lord or the Warden. But by the look of things, it was Siva, the City Lord, who held all of his items.
But wait a minute…
Siva…………. a City Lord?
………Asgard…?!!
As far as he knew, you can count the cities owned by players in Terroa by your two hands. And even then, they were those with huge pockets and big military mights like The Union or the other guilds that were in The North.
But there was a difference between The North and the central plains… in Jeremiah. SS-Pandora is in Jeremiah, so how was it possible that there is a city here owned —or managed— by Siva?
From SS-Pandora to Apus Epirus by teleportation, then as a captive of Siva, a City Lord of a City…
These things don’t have any connection with each other but they are happening to him right now and it was making his head spin, making him confused and destroying his established logic.
Yet before he could even imagine the connection with his current situation——
TING~~!!
[A Mission has been generated!]
TDING~!!
[Mission]
“Escape from Asgard”
Rank “S” Difficulty
Siva, City Lord of Asgard, had discovered your connections with the Blood Dragon God Church who was a subordinate organization to the Demon Armada threatening to attack Terroa. Your crime is legit and Siva is preparing to extract the evidence directly from your own mouth that will provide him with the information to pinpoint the rest of the traitors of Terroa. Escape before that happens or face the consequences of his wrath!
Requirements: Escape from your prison!
Time Limit: three hours
Rewards: You can temporarily retain your life and possibly get a chance for revenge!
Accept Mission?
(Yes?) — (No?)
“H-How could this… what the f…… three hours? I can’t even move a damned finger and you expect me to escape here in three hours?”
Gats cursed in his heart. He didn’t dare spoke out loud in fear that Siva would hear his thoughts and think that he was despairing.
Seeing his facial reactions and his eye direction, Siva immediately realized that perhaps that had also happened to him as well.
—a mission or a quest might have been made…
Siva stared at Gats for a moment. Seeing that he was unable to escape, he felt satisfied.
“You’ll be here for a good while so enjoy your stay, traitor, and you never know, you might not be the only one to be here. Hahaha…”
Siva laughed and stepped back, flashing out of the prison cell, and then looking at Maki.
“I didn’t hurt him, yes?”
“At least free him.” he hissed as he replied.
Siva shook his head, “No can do. That man is a true traitor to Terroa and I can’t let my guard down on a potential threat for the safety of my mission. I will pull all strings necessary and plant all bombs and traps as much as I have to just to keep him in that cell until his sentencing. That, I can assure you, will come. The only reason he’s still alive in here and breathing is because I respect and it is so because we also have a pending deal as well.”
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The cell he placed Gats into was a doorless cell with classic iron bars, only, the iron bars were all made up of pure Black Ironwood Alloy courtesy of Siva’s sense of insecurity.
It was because this cell wasn’t actually meant for a prisoner but for keeping the (on-going project) Universal Territorial Energy Core. The only way to get in and out would be to either use strength to rend the iron bars apart, or to use Akhenaton’s internal transportation matrix —built in on his very own Mobile Prison Warship.
For the purpose he intended to, Gats would be temporarily held in that cell until the ‘interrogators’ arrive. By then, he would be around.
Besides, even if he does escape here, he won’t be able to teleport away, and most of all, he won’t be able to fight back against Akhenaton’s internal transportation matrix.
The Asgard… is part of the [Akhenaton Warship] structure and as an Immortal, even if Akhenaton is in a weakened state, a piece of land 35km-large is just too small an area for him not to be able to see and know what was happening in real time.
Maki stared at Siva but didn’t say a thing.
He was owing him more and more every minute and he knew that sooner or later, he had to give in at some point and give Siva what he wants…
……the latest [Genetic Technology] of Humans.
But that was one of the forbidden sciences of the Human Civilization and he can’t just give it to any man, especially Siva, who had a death grudge with almost every person that stands on the way of him getting his brother back to safety.
Besides, what is he going to use that thing for?
“I will stand by my oath. I will not give in.”
“I can wait.” Siva said with a nod. “But please do understand that I am not going to use that for any evil deed or whatever…”
Siva paused and looked at the bewildered Gats on the cell and while he waited silently for Siva and the company to go away, he read the contents of the information on his panel window in shock.
Is Siva not a player and was actually an NPC?!!
Lately, there were so many things happening in Terroa that the newest players are the ones that are too affected by these changes.
While the older players could cope up with these changes because they already had their player-foundations, the newbies are the ones deeply in a bind because of the large-scale shortages of low-ranked Quests and Missions.
And it was all because of Siva.
“…..as for you, you bastard, I want you to suffer painfully when I deliver my sentence to you.”
Knowing he was talking to him, Gats glared at the man silently then looked at Maki.
“Why are you submissive with this fugitive? Didn’t the Terran-Human Alliance issue an arrest warrant for this man? Why aren’t you arresting him?”
Siva looked at Maki and then to Gats.
“So you didn’t know?” he mocked.
Gats was surprised, “What do you mean I didn’t know what?”
“Heh. There was no more Terran-Human Alliance in Terroa… there was just Terrans and Humans, but no more alliance of the sort.”
Gats’ eyes went wide and he was speechless.
“That expression was classic.” Siva’s disdain was evident on his voice, “I should thank you for being so kind enough to deliver yourself directly to my doorstep. Really, I am glad. Now, why don’t we conduct a preliminary investigation? I won’t ask you where your people are since they will be both dead and hunted down with the sheer number of the force I sent to kill them. But I want to know, I need to know, how did you link up with the Blood Dragon God Church?”
Gats narrowed his eyes, remaining silent. It was his right but Siva laughed it off.
“You should know, we all can detect whether you are lying, nervous, or holding down a secret. Just the fact that your heartbeat changed a little means that you’ve already answered most of my question to you.” when he spoke, he looked at Maki. “You saw that, right?”
“…”
Maki was glaring at Siva but when he looked at Gats, he didn’t have that caring look he had before when he invited Gats to be the protector of the Humans.
It’s not that Gats became nervous. It’s just that he was too calm. So calm, in fact, that as soon as Siva asked the questions and told him the words just now, his chaotic heartbeat calmed down like a reflex to hide secrets.
Just now, it was true that something made Gats a bit flustered but when Siva spoke, like a reflex, his heartbeat and pulses calmed down… a reflex of those who was confident on their lie-detecting skills.
Alas, unbeknownst to Gats, Siva had Cortana and through Cortana, Maki learnt of many doorways on how people “react” on different stimulus.
The fact that Gats’ reflex just now proved that the words Siva said had some connection to the truth, one way or another.
As such, Maki, although still angry at Siva and was still against him locking down one of his people, also now had a building suspicion in his heart.
But… he didn’t question Gats and only gently looked at him.
“I want to know if I can trust you.” Maki said.
These words meant that Maki had started to doubt him and this finally shook a few scales on Gats’ mental and emotional defenses.
On what basis did he trust Siva’s every word?
Just what happened between them and why is it connected to the dissolution of the Terran-Human Alliance? Is it even true in the first place?
He kept himself calm and again, this reflex of him made Maki both doubt and secretly approve of his trusted Guardian’s mental acuity and resilience.
“As far as I can see,” Gats spoke, “This isn’t your plan and was just Siva barging in and imprisoning me here without any justified reason. Why are you letting him do this to me then?”
Maki was stumped for words.
At this time, Galatea spoke up with that gentle and goddess-like voice “Gats, I can assure you. If Siva is imprisoning you is a mistake, I’ll be the one to personally make him pay for it……”
Gats heard her speak word for word in a slow and enunciated manner. And halfway through, he was smiling and feeling glad. Galatea was known as an impartial goddess to the Humans. She was their guardian deity, the one encharged of the safety of the entire Human Race… of the Naturals.
“….but…” and just as he was imagining how Siva was going to suffer from Galatea’s wrath, he then heard her speak the last part of her words with a pure and unblemished coldness in it. “…if I learn that you have actually betrayed us and joined the side of the Demons, I will also promise you that I will personally tear you apart… limb from limb.”
Gats swallowed and for a moment, he almost lost his ability to keep his calm.
Galatea was the oldest Gen-1 Battle-AI from the Human Race of the [50-year War for Earth]. It was said that amongst the Humans, she had served as the SS-Pandora’s Onboard-AI the longest and that she had developed her AI-Logic Matrix through the years, absorbing the captains of Pandora’s hatred towards the LAGRAM Alliance.
Thus, Galatea also inherited this deep hate for the Demons that destroyed earth and killed all of the Ship Captains of SS-Pandora.
By the time she had evolved her own Core Matrix, she was already this calm and indifferently cold woman who always had a sound logic and a very cool and impartial temperament.
And yet, when it comes to Demons, she was the first to always retaliate with full force and brutality.
When she spoke about punishment, Galatea did not even forego any warning and directly went to telling him directly about the price of betraying the safety of the Human Race.
For all she care Terroa could burn but the Human Race must survive at all possible cost.
Gats, for a very short moment, imagined his end if Galatea does finds out that all of Siva’s shockingly accurate accusations… were all true.
He stopped himself from swallowing and only put his gaze at Siva hatefully but with no change at his emotional fluctuations or mental integrity.
“Now that’s something I wanna see.” Siva sneered at him and laughed out loud. “Well then, now that we got our introductions, while we are waiting for the interrogators to come home I will give you a bit of time to at least to try and complete your escape mission.”
Gats’ heartrate increased at this moment.
—what?!
——he knew that I received a mission?
———no! That’s impossible…!!
Although Gats was shocked, he dismissed this tiny thought as there was a large chance that Siva was just wildly guessing.
But still, Siva remained looking at him —or rather, at something on his chest, but because of the angle of Siva’s head and Gats’ position, there was not a large angle difference on their gazes.
Gats… remained looking at him furiously.
Siva and the rest escaped the scene with a bright flash of light. Afterward, Siva’s four Persona BM-Puppets appeared with a ripple in space and they occupied four corners of Gats’ prison cell, their gazes fixed on him, weapons ready to kill at the slightest clue of his successful escape attempt.
He didn’t know that they were puppets because these four were wearing bright armors and real swords, with true (indifferent) facial expressions and skin texture and breathing chests.
Alas, little did he know, hidden in four layers of Mini Realms, Cortana’s Fox Girl WhiteTech Clone was staring at him, reading his every moment, her “scanners” identifying every small detail from his eyes, to his breathing, to his lips, to the changing heartrates he had as he struggled to be free, and also…..
……..to that tiny object on his chest that wasn’t included on the confiscated inventory…
According to Siva’s “thought link” earlier, there is only a few possibilities of that happening:
The first is that it was part of his “Equipment Slot” which was a separate Inventory Space meant for switching a payer’s current equipment —which is ruled out because aside from the unused switch slow, Gats’ current equipment was already looted by Siva and was on his Inventory already.
Meaning, that “tiny something” on his chest wasn’t part of Gats’ [Equipment Slot].
And so, they fall on the second possibility.
—that that tiny something, shaped like a spider, is an entity of its own, and it was even an Invention!
If that was the case then there’s only one outside entity on a player that could act on its own like this one and not affected by the rules enacted by the City Lord upon a state prisoner.
This “spider” is a physical body for a Battle-AI, just like Cortana’s “Fox Girl” —or Maki and Galatea’s— WhiteTech Cones.
Cortana had already given this “intel” to the two beside her inside this Mini Realm. And through the Absolute Domain, they became aware of all and everything happening within this prison.
Siva was already gone, on to the Inner Continents on another important mission. What was left here with them, however, were the four Persona BM-Puppets guarding Gats in every corner of his cell, and his final instructions to Cortana: “Make him feel despair before his punishment.”
He made sure that Galatea and Maki was also able to hear this before he left.
Interrogators?
As soon as Siva noticed that small spider, there was no need to call on the Interrogators since the perfect person to show the two Human Overseers Gats’s sins was he himself.
*****
Minutes passed by… Gats’ began to lose his cool.
—three hours!!?
——surrounded on all sides, can’t even move a finger, can’t even properly breathe, how can I even attempt to escape here?
Gats gritted his teeth and clicked his tongue. His eyes wandered around and sensed the locations of the four guardians.
Luckily —he thought— this entire cell is a bit large and there was room for him to whisper his verbal orders to his Battle-AI.
“Vice. I need you to crawl into my right hand and manipulate my Player Panel. Contact The Legion. Tell them everything that had happened in here. Tell them that danger is coming into the base.”
[Yes sir.]
A robotic voice replied in a hush.
In the Mini Realm, the three WhiteTech Clones only stared, with Cortana smiling as she prepared to intercept the message, gather Intel, and hack the Battle-AI’s physical body.
If it had only remained there silently, she couldn’t have done anything to it. But alas, its master just had to lose his calm and give it orders.
With the improved Liberty Drone she was using, if it was before, then the tiny thing would have been able to fight back or warn Gats in time.
But now, hacking into a low-level AI like this one was as easy as pie to Cortana.
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The big fish presented itself on a golden chopping board…!!
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Next Chapter: Siva’s preparations in attacking the Bloody Church take on another huge step!