Divine Beast Ascension

579 Soul Torture

Clap!

“That’s more like it,” Hurman said, slowly rotating his hand to get the man to continue speaking.

When the second captive saw the drake’s claw stop instead of piercing his chest, the man heaved a quick sigh while doing his best to ignore his cold sweat. “I-I know who they are! The Blood Moon Order! They’re from the Blood Moon Order!”

Hurman lifted his eyebrows in surprise. There was a hint of worry but only for a moment. He quickly moved on and asked, “That’s great to know. And what are their names? I’ll also accept the names they entered the city under.”

“T-that I don’t know…”

“But you said you knew their names?” Hurman stated, motioning for Oli to continue.

Scrambling to think of something, the manic captive shouted, “W-Wait! I’m not the only accomplice, and neither is he!”

“I am too!” One of the other servants stepped forward and shouted. “And so are those four! Together, the seven of us helped Walder receive messages from foreign powers and aided in smuggling people and supplies into the city. I helped with the Olerron Family incident and can provide proof!”

The man who had claimed his innocence a moment again turned pale as his fellow servant pointed him out as an accomplice. He yelled, “I did no such thing!”

.....

“He did!” both captives shouted in unison, one yelling through the growing pain streaking through his arm.

“B-but I–”

“Do you have proof?” Hurman asked.

The pale-faced servant nodded, but so did the other accused accomplices. And the servant that had pointed out the others retrieved a scroll with Walder’s signature and a list of orders for a few servants, including the servant in denial.

Looking at the scroll and the agreeing servants, Hurman nodded. “Very well. Make sure the death is painful.”

“NOO!”

Before the accused could decide whether to rush against Hurman or flee for the door in a fit of rage and fear, Oli had already flanked the man. Soul energy coated his full hand as Oli thrust it into the accused man’s right shoulder.

Crack! Frrsh! Drip, drip…

“Aggh! AAAGGH!!”

Convulsing and twitching, the pale servant slammed his own body into the floor. He kicked chairs over and flailed in terror as his soul was being wrung out by the invading forces.

Utterly desperate, the man took out a huge knife. Without batting an eye, the man stabbed and hacked at his own flesh. He was desperate to relieve the pain and remove its source. But the only thing he could try was to hack off his arm and shoulder.

The entire room watched the scene unfold in complete silence.

The other servants, especially those actually responsible for aiding Walder, watched in both horror and relief. And the man that had given up the Blood Moon Order’s involvement almost started laughing in hysteria while watching what would’ve happened to him seconds prior had he kept his mouth shut.

Kuldar and Hurman both watch in awe. Neither of them had only heard of soul torture and assassins in the past. Since aggressive soul arts were so rare, to begin with, soul assassins were an even rarer breed.

Witnessing such a scene gave Kuldar and Hurman a newfound appreciation for the defensive soul art Iron Territory had started handing out to all of their allies and patrician clans. They both made silent promises to train it fully and never be submitted to such torture.

Oli watched with a bland, neutral face. He had attacked with his soul art more times than he could count. But Oli had never wielded the soul art for the purpose of torturing anyone apart from himself.

In theory, it was easier for Oli to torture someone than it was to attack them. That’s because all Oli had to do was activate one level of the soul art and infuse that turbulent energy into someone else, forcing the target’s soul to undergo whatever layer of the Infinite Torture Art Oli wanted.

The drawback was that Oli could only use a level he had mastered unless he wanted to leave himself critically weak and vulnerable while undergoing the same level of soul torture.

However, Oli was amazed by what just the peak-adept level could accomplish. He had thought about using the elder level first, but Oli chose not to in case it left him vulnerable. In the end, Oli was glad he chose the adept level because he was now certain the elder level would’ve killed the man in seconds. And that would’ve gone against Hurman’s order.

Eventually, the torture-stricken man realized that even after halfway hacking off his arm the soul torture didn’t lessen at all. So he stabbed his own heart, dying with a blissful smile as the pain faded along with his life.

… Clap!

Drawing everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand, Hurman clapped before asking, “Now, are there any other treats currently active inside the city besides the Blood Moon Order?”

“No!” all accomplices declared at once. After witnessing what soul torture actually was, they had lost every fiber of refusal and rebellion in their beings.

Even the man stricken with infectious dark-death essence kept his pained grunts as quiet as possible.

“That’s good to hear. How many assassins from the Blood Moon Order are we dealing with?” Hurman asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Three.”

While six of the seven accomplices gave the same reply, the man with dark-death essence crawling up his arm replied with a number. He added, “I don’t know all of their names or fake names. But I know one… Remove the dark-death essence and I’ll tell you everything I know before you kill me.”

Squinting, Hurman stated, “Why should we do that? Because no one else knows the name?”

The captive nodded. “That’s right.”

“What about Walder?”

“If you’re doing this, it’s because you already found all the evidence in Walder’s ring,” the captive deduced and guessed. “I don’t whether that’s because it was taken and finally given to Fulkar. But I would guess it happened after Walder already died. Because he knows he would’ve been tortured and tried if that evidence came out while he was alive…”

Kuldar gave the man a subtle nod, mentally agreeing with that deduction. If anything, hearing that solidified Kuldar’s assumptions about why Walder was so obstinate to surrender the family ring, even to the extent of getting himself killed or interrupting a meeting with other clans or territory representatives.

Hurman waved his hand in silence.

The captive suddenly grunted as the drake reappeared beside him and thrust his claw back into the man’s arm. But the abrupt pain the man felt was washed away as the dark-death essence was slowly being drawn out.

However, Oli removed his claw before all of the dark-death essence was gone, leaving a dribble of it still there.

“We won’t remove it all, but that shouldn’t be enough essence to torture you,” Hurman stated before the man could object. “Now, if you don’t want me or Kuldar holding you down while my drake friend tampers and twists your soul, then I recommend you start speaking.”

Understanding that he wouldn’t be getting any more special care, the captive nodded while still being restrained by Oli’s shadow tendrils, “The name I heard the man use was Dollon. It’s what he told Walder to call him just before a silent formation covered the rest of their conversation. I don’t know the names of the other two. But from what I felt, I think Dollon was one of two elders. I couldn’t get any read from the other assassin.”

“So he was likely a perennial…” Hurman surmised. “Very good. I’m glad you’re being much more cooperative now.”

“Well, what other choice do I have? It’s impossible to escape with you two back up the drake…” sighed the man, defeated but unafraid of hiding his true feelings.

“Anyway… Does anyone have anything else to add regarding Walder’s dealings with Prodson specifically?”

Another servant raised his hand, this time holding a small scroll easy to hide in someone’s sleeve. “These were Walder’s orders. But that’s all I know about Prodson’s involvement.”

“Good. Very good,” Hurman nodded and got out of his chair. He took the small scroll, read it over, and chuckled. “I see. Then we’ve got a lead, at least.

“Now, all of you will be detained here in the Libarn Residence. That goes for the six people uninvolved as well. Mostly to keep this whole ordeal a secret for as long as possible. But we’ll still be double-checking all evidence and leads before setting you free,” explained Hurman. “So, if any of you six is involved and the other seven either don’t know it or have no evidence on them, I suggest you turn yourselves in for mercy. You already know what happens to those that deny the truth.”

“I-I did it too!”

One last servant stood up. He was trembling from the thought of soul torture and took out a small scroll full of orders. “This was the scroll Walder gave me only an hour ago. I’ve yet to fulfill the last order, but the first one is already underway.”