Blood, corpses, and Ice decorated the beautiful floor and walls of the improvised battlefield, giving it a grotesque beauty similar to that of a painting done by a master of the craft. If not for the heavy breathing and incoherent murmurs of Shiira, it might even be described as morbidly peaceful by some.

“why are you here?”

Small cracks formed on the marble floor beneath Shiira’s feet, brought on by the immense pressure exuded by Adam’s augments. She tried to free herself from its grasp but her struggle was pointless, only serving to worsen her crushing, invisible bondage.

The more she tried to squirm, the more pressure was put on her. the more magic power she tried to muster up the more pain descended on her body, her very bones cracked and her mouth could barely move enough to assemble the words she needed to speak.

“t-this is their magic…you are their kin…a god.”

Now completely frozen like her victims, Shiira’s mind was clear of all doubt. One of the gods she worshiped stood before her, demanding obedience and submission from his subject.

Adam watched as Shiira completely stopped resisting and dropped to her knees, shocked at the words coming out of her mouth.

“what the hell are you talking about? When we met last time you and your friends didn’t seem too keen on worshipping me, and what do you mean by kin? Have you met other humans? Where?When?”

The cold assaulted Adam’s body but the newborn hope of finding more of his people gave him more warmth than any flame could. He suspected that Shiira was deranged, speaking of gods and leaving a trail of mangled bodies where you go are the actions of a madman, but hope was a rare thing for Adam thus he decided to fiercely hold on to what little of it he found.

“this is but a convenient vessel I’m using to enact the will of your kin.”

Their strange conversation unfolded to the delight of a bound Sariel. Frozen in place by the icy corpse chains of Shiira, he surrendered all attempts to free himself in favor of listening intently to the words being exchanged. Speak of gods and their powerful magic, and the possibility of the reemergence of mankind. priceless information for one such as Sariel, one who can truly utilize it for his benefit.

He analyzed every single word as if it was a book, he listened so intently that even the subtlest change in tone was made clear to him. not a morsel of knowledge was about slip between his fingers, and not a crumb of it would go unused.

Gods? Does she mean the great spirits? No, she can’t be… she called him their kin, so humans? Does she see humans as gods? This is interesting… too interesting. That idiot Raou is still struggling to break these chains. How hopless, I don’t know how she managed it but these things are unbelievably sturdy… she is undoubtedly weaker than both of us, so how can she cast such spells? Certainly, they aren’t clan related, she is a lowborn after all…are they boons from her so-called gods?

“so, she IS being controlled…fine, how about you introduce yourself before you tell me more about these ‘kin’ of mine you’ve been talking about.”

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“I’m a servant…that is all…and the gods… your kin are long gone, yet I remain to serve their will.”

Sariel was shocked, control magic? Gods? It was the stuff of legend he thought. It sounded like a tale told to scare children or a ballad sung by subpar bards, not a truth that the demon race as a whole was unaware of.

Control magic? So Shiira is truly just a puppet… I’ve never heard of such a thing, and even if other humans are behind this how could they have given her such magic when they can’t use even the simplest of spel— that voice, Onvyr? Damn it.

“Moren! What happened here?”

The appearance of Onvyr from behind Adam caught the attention of Shiira, causing her disconnected, dead eyes to fall on him.

Onvyr was shocked at the sight of the carnage. Sariel and Raou’s bound forms surprised him the most; however, his look differed from Adams, it was more than just confusion and surprise. A barely visible hint of realization soured his face as well.

“look at me! Gone where? When? Give me names, were they regular humans or augmented humans? SPEAK!”

Adam ignored Onvyr and continued his interrogation of the mindless vessel of Shiira. Anger and desperation took over him, clouding his judgment as the hope he so tightly held on to started to crumble.

The pressure on Shiira strengthened, driving her head to the ground. The impact cracked the cold marble floor and put her in a prostrating position.

“SPEAK DAMNIT!”

“Moren, calm down she’s—”

“seek me and you will get your answers… I have already obtained what I need… It is unfortunate that I couldn’t finish these two… lord, please find me and grace me with your presence”

Her answer clearly did not satisfy Adam. his frown only grew and the grinding of his teeth could almost be heard by others in the room. He even applied more pressure on her, pushing her unmoving body to the ground further in a vain attempt of getting her to answer him.

“just tell me already!”

“…”

“why are you not answering?”

“…”

“FUCKING TAL—”

Adam raised his hand in a fit of anger, prepared to use all of his power to crush Shiira into submission, hoping that the pain of being squashed alive would get her to give him the answers he was so desperate for.

“calm down. Whoever was controlling her is gone. You’re just killing an innocent person, you don’t do that… do you?”

Onyr’s whispered into Adam’s ear in a barely audible voice while putting a hand on his shoulder.

“…how did you know she was being controlled, you weren’t here when she told me.”

Adam replied in a whisper as well, trusting that Onvyr had a good reason behind his secrecy.

“her magic power just decreased a hundredfold, whoever was supplying her with that power and those spells have cut the line between them… I’ve seen this type of magic a long time ago, but we’ll talk about it later. It’s not safe here.”

Onvyr stared daggers into Sariel as he spoke. His gaze held both hatred and distrust for the head of clan Ash’ai, feelings many held toward Onvyr himself after his stunt at Adam’s trial.

The pressure put on Shiira immediately vanished and her body rested comfortably on the floor.

“you should go get some rest, we have a lot to talk about tomorrow. I try to get those two out of there, if the spell binding is what I think it is I should be able to undo it now that the caster is gone.”

Adam brushed Onvyr’s hand aside in frustration and disappointment.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve also seen this magic before, and even that doesn’t explain—”

Onvyr’s hand covered Adam’s mouth for a second before it was brushed off again, but fortunately, his message was received. Theirs was no place to discuss such a delicate matter, not with Sariel right next to them, waiting to hear every single word leaving their mouth.

“…fine, but remember Onvyr. I care very little about you or this capital as a whole so if there is a chance at finding some remnants of humanity I will take it, even if it means bailing on your little errand… we will take more in the morning, no excuses.”

With those last few words, Adam departed. Leaving Onvyr behind to both clean up the mess and explain how the case entrusted to him by the demon lord ended up in such a disaster.