Chapter 93 - Glimpsing Behind The Curtain

It took a while to get the Siren to understand just how wrong her assumptions had been, which caused her to feel ashamed of herself - so even more blushing ensued. In any case, Isaac ultimately got a chance to observe her closely. His professionalism and sheer disinterest in even exploring her body with his eyes - mind you, it was still hidden underneath her cloak - made Ray feel a little conflicted. It was great that she wasn't being taken advantage of, but at the same time, she felt like she was undesirable. Ultimately, however, she was far more relieved than aggrieved.

Using his ability to sense mana, Isaac confirmed that a very small amount of mana, accompanied by an unknown but familiar energy, was constantly siphoned away from the Xenos, and into the ground - straight towards the dungeon.

He could easily make a guess as to what this energy could be - vitality, a.k.a. life force. It was completely invisible, just like mana in its usual state. But unlike mana, which could both become visible to a trained eye and would also be observable by any laymen once it reached a certain concentration, even to Isaac's mana senses, life force was still nearly invisible. He could only vaguely feel its existence and deduce its location through the movement of the surrounding mana.

Nothing else besides the exact amounts that left the Siren's body every minute could be observed, but Isaac hadn't expected anything else anyway. He would need to observe the Xenos' bodies both inside and outside of the dungeon, and figure out how exactly this mana connection influenced them. Severing it would be simple, but what changes would come about due to this? Also, if he wasn't around, who would be able to perform the same 'mana surgery'? Oh well, those matters were for Future Isaac to worry about. For the next few days, there were more pressing issues to deal with.

After bringing Ray back to a secluded spot on the 18th floor, they agreed to meet here again in three days. Isaac had to head to Rivira at that time anyway, so everything worked out nicely. A temporary farewell later, Isaac brought his students to the entrance of their base in the Twilight manor, before hurrying off towards the main building.

-----

With a resigned sigh, Kalin shook his head. When Isaac had announced that he wouldn't have the time to teach them until this threat was dealt with, the entire group had become downtrodden. They understood why his decision was necessary, they really did. But it was undeniable that they didn't feel happy about this development at all. In their hearts, the students grew even more hostile towards their enemies. They hadn't only attempted to take their lives… they had also taken something from them that they looked forward to every morning! Well, only for the time being, but it still stung!

Even the scolding that they knew they were going to get for their suboptimal handling of the situation had been postponed. That, at least, could be considered a good thing.

Before the group could split up further and head towards the baths, to clean off the varying amounts of blood and dirt all over them, hurried footsteps approached the base's door.

A moment later, the shocked face of Valenoa greeted them. While initially, it was filled with a bit of fear, it quickly turned into one of pleasant surprise instead.

"You're already back!? When I heard noises outside, I got a bit worried…"

Her bright and relieved smile simply melted Kalin's heart, and his eyes turned a little watery. He didn't even mind the short bout of slight weakness that had overcome him again. Although today hadn't been the first time that he had been in a life or death situation, it was still scary, every single time. No matter how convinced he had been that he would be safe, deep within his heart, he had still felt terrified. Monsters that were only slightly stronger than him, those he could deal with. But people that he couldn't defeat at all? They made him feel weak and useless. While he hadn't been as defenseless as a cuc.u.mber on a chopping board, it had certainly felt like it.

"Are you okay?"

Both Kalin's teary eyes and the group's new and stylish red spray paint-look made it easy for Valenoa to pick up on the fact that something quite unfortunate had to have happened. The anxious and empathetic look on her face made Kalin's cheeks heat up a little.

He successfully managed to blink his imminent tears away, then he cleared his throat.

"I'll tell you when we get back. For now, though, we all really need a bath."

-----

"Come on in."

Having heard a knock, Finn looked up from the various reports that filled his desk and towards the door. As the sound of the approaching footsteps hadn't been one of the few that he was all too familiar with, whoever wanted to speak with him couldn't be a person that frequented his office.

Seeing that it was Isaac who entered, Finn raised an eyebrow in surprise.

'I certainly don't see him often. What could he want to talk about?'

Before he could even vocalize his question, the young man already stated his business.

"I won't take up much of your time. Do we have a soundproof room somewhere? I need to 'interrogate' someone who had the guts to attack my students."

With a wave of his hand, Isaac showed the captured Asim to Finn for a moment, but before even a drop of blood could start to drip to the floor, he made him vanish into thin air again, as if he had never been there. Just this quick glance, however, made the familia's Captain stand up with a solemn and dark look on his face.

"A member of Evlius!? Where did you catch this pest?"

Isaac showed an intrigued expression for a moment, before he began to explain.

"In the dungeon. And before you ask, that huge tremor was caused by my students. I gave them something that would enable them to let me know that they were in danger when all of us were in the dungeon. Anyway, more importantly. What is Evilus?"

Finn stayed silent for a bit, then he sighed and signalled for Isaac to follow him. They left the office and took several flights of stairs downwards, until they reached what could only be described as a heavily fortified prison. It was guarded by both a locked door made out of an unfamiliar but certainly supremely resilient metal, and the magical formation that covered the entire manor's grounds. To enter or leave this restricted part required one to be accompanied by either Loki, the Captain or the Vice-Captain of the familia.

"Evilus is the name of a group of familias that banded together for the sake of destruction and pursuing their own, twisted desires. They managed to nearly destroy Orario once, when both our familia and the Freya Familia were still a lot weaker than now. For four years, I've been convinced that they were already eradicated. But that prisoner of yours… he sports the same exact clothes that all of their members wore back then."

As this wasn't the right time for an in-depth history lesson, Finn gave a very short rundown of what had happened. They passed by many cells with doors made out of the same material as the one at the entrance. Behind some of them, Isaac could clearly detect the presence of a living being.

His curious gaze couldn't be hidden from the seasoned Captain.

"Most of the stronger law-abiding familias in the city have their own prisons. As the Guild is mainly focused on paperwork, they leave the matter of detaining some of the more dangerous convicted criminals to us. The worst of the worst get executed, but for the ones that were judged to still have a chance to repent, we house them in secure facilities and ensure their basic survival - nothing more, nothing less. You asked for a soundproof place, and here we are. We wouldn't want their cries of perceived injustice to annoy us, so we used the formation to make sure that they can't be heard outside of their respective cells at all."

Although he showed a bit of annoyance at the Guild for making other parties deal with such matters in their stead, Isaac ultimately nodded in understanding. It wasn't too surprising, and he was sure that even without the Guild's requests and requirements, Finn and Loki would have built a prison anyway - they weren't foolish enough to be unaware of how useful they could be.

Finally, the two entered a large room at the very end of the hallway that the cell doors were adjacent to. Besides a few tables and chairs, it was mostly empty. There were some chains on the walls, in case prisoners needed to be restrained, but besides those, there was nothing else.

"Whenever we need to have a talk with one of the prisoners, we bring them here. May I listen in? I'm quite curious to hear how the organization survived."

A slight smirk played across Isaac's lips, then he nodded.

"Sure. Can you give me a hand while you're here?"

Expecting to be asked to do some odd jobs, like helping to hold down the prisoner, Finn nodded - a smoother interrogation was in his interest as well.

"Alright, then please hold this Mermaid tightly. I'll need some of her blood to close our friend's wounds~"

With a bright smile, Isaac pulled the trusty self-replenishing blood bag with regenerative properties out of his inventory and threw it over to the Captain, who caught it without a problem even though he was taken by surprise. Isaac had quickly glanced at the monster in passing and realized that very miniscule amounts of mana and lifeforce were absorbed from it all the time as well, but it wasn't even enough to eclipse her natural regeneration. Aside from that, he noticed that by now, she looked a little pale… he should probably give her some time to 'recharge' outside of his inventory, like he had originally planned. Oh well, that could wait until later!

When Asim reappeared this time and quickly found himself in chains, his mind managed to process what was going on. Seeing that nightmarish, benevolent smile yet again right in front of him, he got goosebumps.

"LET ME GO!!"

The terrified and pained howl didn't even make Isaac flinch. Instead, he motioned for Finn to bring the Mermaid closer, then he cut open her wrist with a wind blade and let her blood drop into the wound on his prisoner's chest, quickly mending it.

The appearance of the famous blonde Pallum made Asim even more horrified, and he quietly stuttered to himself.

"T-The Braver…!"

The man in question just shot a charismatic smile his way, but kept otherwise quiet. He wanted to see how Isaac planned to play this out. Even just observing that small wind blade he had made had already shown him more of the young man's capabilities - it was really intriguing. As for the ability to materialize living beings out of nowhere? He had already put the pieces together and deduced that Isaac's storage ability wasn't as limited as they had initially expected.

Instead of talking to or even asking the man anything, Isaac took out long, metal needles from his inventory. Just in case, he had stocked up on them a long time ago. He was sure that he would need them someday, so they were necessary expenses. He had even paid a premium to make sure that they were made of the highest Level material that he could afford back then. Thanks to that, even a Level 5 adventurer's skin wouldn't be thick enough to withstand them. Well, unless they were afflicted with the 'arrogant young master'-disease.

With slow movements, Isaac pushed the needles into specific spots next to Asim's nociceptors - commonly referred to as 'pain receptors' - evoking louder and louder irrepressible screams from the black robed man. Due to Asim's physiology being pretty much the same as the one of a human from Isaac's old world, he didn't even have to reinvent the wheel.

The chains kept the man incapacitated, so even though he was in more pain than anyone should ever reasonably have to endure, with his eyes bloodshot to the maximum, he wasn't able to move his limbs at all. Attempting to use his teeth to reach and pull out one of the needles also didn't work - his neck wasn't long enough. As for moving the rest of his body? He couldn't do so at all!

Asim's world was filled with unimaginable and constant suffering. His mind wasn't easy to crack, and using regular torture methods, there was no chance at all that he would spill the beans quickly. Isaac assumed that this would be the case, as Asim was a madman who let somebody else implant a bomb inside of his body. That type of person was usually fiercely loyal, and even if he could slowly break him over time, he didn't have the luxury of being able to waste too much of it right now.

Right as Asim was living his worst nightmare and on the verge of passing out, somehow forcefully kept wide awake by the repeated signals arriving in his brain, a calming, steady and rhythmical voice entered his ears.

"Listen closely to me. The more that you hear me speak, the less pain you will feel."

'Are you taking me for an idio--- huh!?'

At first, with all of the mental strength that he could still muster, Asim sneered at his captor, taking his words as nonsense. But he quickly found out, to his delight, that it really was the case. The more that he focused on Isaac's words, the less he felt the pain. It was still there, but being able to distract himself helped more than he had ever dared to imagine.

A minute or so later of Isaac doing his best to spout some random sentences to keep Asim's attention, the man noticed that he was quickly drifting off into unconsciousness. All of the pain and the contrasting respite that Isaac's words offered made his mind sluggish. The words were his light in the darkness, and he clung to them for dear life. But instead of being wary of this development, he welcomed it. After all, once he fainted, he wouldn't be able to feel anything. Even death sounded like a sweet release to him right now. One minute? To him, it felt like hours had passed...

"In a few moments, I will count down from three. Once I reach zero, you will fall into a deep sleep and answer all of my questions truthfully. You will only wake up when I snap my fingers. Three… two… one… zero."

Even though Asim's mind registered these words, all of his mental defenses had already been shattered by what he had endured. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would have been impossible to hypnotize him, and the content of Isaac's words didn't change this. What truly mattered was the exact rhythm that they had been spoken in. It was what had lulled the tormented man's mind into a false sense of security and regularity, making him relax to his fullest, even whilst his various nociceptors were still spamming his poor and overworked brain.

Just like Isaac had said, Asim's body ceased any resistance and fell into a deep, trance-like sleep. Quickly, he removed the needles, so as to not accidentally prematurely awaken him. He ignored the Captain's flabbergasted expression, put the Mermaid into his inventory and started with his first question.

"What is your name?"

A calm male voice that sounded like it was sleep-talking responded softly.

"Asim."

"And your last name?"

"I don't have one."

Witnessing this interaction, Finn heaved a sigh of relief. He had realized that Isaac planned to hypnotize this man early on, as hypnotism was also practiced in this world - albeit barely. Still, it was commonly known that it didn't work during 'interrogations' of this kind, due to the subject's mental defenses being raised too high. Now that he had witnessed it being successful, he felt quite elated - they would be able to gain far more intel in a shorter time than he had ever expected. Soon, however, he noticed that Isaac didn't only ask about the most essential matters - he had Asim pretty much tell him his life's story, in an effort to understand as much as possible about their enemies.

-----

Asim grew up in a country far away, on a different continent whose name he didn't know. Even in his first memories, he was already surrounded by young kids like himself and taken care of by Lady Petbe and her familia's children. Apparently, all of them had either been born from relationsh.i.p.s within the familia or been taken from their real parents shortly after birth. But no matter which category he belonged to, young Asim didn't care about any of this. He led a happy life.

The country that he lived in was hot, and occasionally, sandstorms battered the resplendent tents that were the familia's home. Everyone had olive skin, which could only occasionally be seen in Orario. The only information that young Asim managed to pick up was that the community of tents that their familia was a part of was considered the capital of the country of Albaria, Hadira.

Very early on in Asim's life, when he was barely four years old and still mostly playing around with his fellow children, Lady Petbe got an order from someone to move to a different location - to Orario.

It took over two years of travel, but after crossing a desert, various jungles, fighting off monsters and crossing the sea on merchant vessels, the Petbe Familia finally arrived at the continent that Orario was located on, Peira.

They managed to sneak into the city by bribing some of the merchants with exotic goods and avoided the eyes of the Guild with their help. Only when they had met up with their allies on the inside and been led to their future base of operations did Lady Petbe leave the city with a few of her children, to re-enter Orario the legal way, for appearances' sake.

That was twenty years ago. Most of this time, he and the others had spent in absolute secrecy. They never entered the dungeon using Babel, and instead utilized what their allies could provide them with: An alternate entrance into the dungeon.

While on the surface, it looked like Lady Petbe and her familia lived in a manor in Daedalus Street, most of her forces were actually permanently stationed in a manmade, underground labyrinth connected to it - Knossos.

A special key was needed to open the adamantite doors that could be found just a few hundred meters behind the various secret entrances, walling off all further progress at these points. Most important members of the Petbe Familia and their allies got provided with those keys - Asim himself had had one on hand when he got captured by Isaac as well.

About six years ago, something major happened. Lady Petbe, as the head of the organization "Black Blade", had gathered many forces, made up of various familias. Long ago, this ragtag group had already started to call itself 'Evilus' and made trouble with the local populace, going so far as to engage in wanton slaughter on a few occasions. Then, six years ago, the group that called itself Evilus engaged in an all-out battle with Orario's strongest, after the Zeus and Hera Familias had been driven out of the city following their loss to their most formidable opponent, the One-Eyed Black Dragon.

The Petbe Familia didn't participate in this and observed from the sidelines, as they had been ordered to stay their hand by their mysterious master. This unknown being was also the one who had provided them with the blueprint to the bombs that they, as devout followers of Lady Petbe, implanted in themselves without hesitation. Even those madmen from Evilus followed in their footsteps, albeit for different reasons.

Amusingly, a certain god joined these rampant underlings with two Level 7 adventurers on his side… but in the end, Orario managed to prevail. The Level 7's and most of the underlings died, while many of the familias subordinate to Lady Petbe lost their gods, as they were returned to Heaven - mostly as a punishment, but some were even sacrificed during the battle for numerous reasons.

Lady Petbe was inwardly furious at her underlings' behaviour and failure, but as her orders were clear as day, she didn't even interfere when most of them were wiped out by the revenge-fuelled adventurers in an act of justified retaliation.

She silently grew her own familia's strength, and provided a safe haven to what would later be called 'Remnants' of Evilus. Lady Petbe and her real allies hadn't been harmed by this matter in the slightest, the only annoying part was that their uniform, the robes and veils, were now associated with a force of 'evil'. What was so irritating about all of this wasn't the fact that she and her allies would be seen as evil - their goals could indeed be perceived as such - it was that they had to forgo their uniforms when they strolled through the city now. They were unable to portray the glory of their organization without attracting ire from literally everyone they met.

In such a manner, while the familia stayed undercover, Asim grew stronger and stronger, until he finally reached Level 4. He wasn't the first of Lady Petbe's children who had managed to become this strong, but he still got allotted greater authority and people for him to command.

Every now and then, he would be assigned various missions - kill these individuals, steal crates of some materials, incite conflict between two familias, et cetera.

What Lady Petbe was the most cautious of wasn't the Guild or the law-abiding familias - it was her 'allies'. They had numerous conflicts over the years and while they would never wipe each other out, they all competed with each other. It wasn't to the degree that they wouldn't band together should they have to face outsiders, but it was still a bloody contest that claimed many lives.

Those 'allies' were the "White Blade" and "Red Blade", led by their deities. Asim was only aware of the name of the White Blade's god, Vidar. Seemingly, all of the various Blades had branches in most major cities around the Lower World, and Lady Petbe was the overall leader of the Black Blade, making the one in Orario its main branch. As for Lord Vidar and the local leader of the Red Blade, they were only high-ranking members of their own Blades, not the actual leaders. This was also why the competition between all of them was so fierce. For leaders of the various Blades to fight each other directly was forbidden, but for their subordinate branches to make trouble for another Blade's leader was generally overlooked. Asim only knew about this bit of information because his goddess had thrown a huge tantrum once, after some of her strongest children had fallen to an ambush.

As for the one who led all of these Blades, the one they were all devoutly following… Asim had no idea who they were. Never in his life had he heard any relevant information about them. Occasionally, Lady Petbe would refer to them as 'he' or 'him' - it was clear that they were a male - but she never let anything else slip. Well, aside from her infatuation with them. Needless to say, however, they were sure to be a god as well. After all, such a huge number of deities wouldn't follow a simple mortal.

Asim's life had generally gone well, and following the discovery of his rare Skill, he had only risen in rank. Until today, where he had encountered the most unfathomable opponent. But as Isaac knew all about this encounter, he didn't bother asking too many questions after he established that attacking his students had also been an order from this unknown leader figure.

-----

Once Isaac had snapped his fingers and put the confused Asim back into his inventory, Finn was lost deep in thought. So much new information had been revealed that he had never been privy to. For Evilus, such a formidable foe of the past, to be just a bunch of unruly, lowest-rung subordinates of a much larger force… was terrifying. Had they been kept in the dark about this for much longer, then no plans of his could even impact the eventual outcome of whatever that force was scheming.

'This runs much deeper than I ever expected…'

Suddenly, Isaac's voice brought him back to reality.

"Hey, Captain. This should be the key that he talked about, right?"

Within his right hand, he held an orb around the size of his closed fist. It looked very reminiscent of an eyeball, with most of its surface being a pure white. Some of it was covered in grey metal as well, with golden lines drawing magical formations all over the item. On one of its sides, a carved iris and pupil could be seen, the former of which housed a clearly visible letter - a red 'D'.

Although it seemed to be an inorganic object, Isaac could feel a very faint but stale life force within it.