"Let's meet the people who have done this crime. I want to personally talk to them." This wasn't a small matter in Aditya's eyes. If it was a few Mana Hearts, then perhaps, he might have left this entire matter to Nathan's hands.
But about 138 Mana Hearts had been removed from the Istarin Empire's soldiers bodies. This wasn't a small matter. For the Soldiers who fought for the Istarin Empire, who died while defending the Empire and its people, the graveyard should have been their final resting place yet Mana Hearts from their bodies had been dug. Aditya was determined to find out the truth. It wasn't just about finding out the truth, it was about punishing the person who was behind it all. "I want to meet our prisoners. Bring them to me." Aditya looked at Nathan and said in a stern tone. "Everyone together?" Nathan asked. "No, One by one!" -
Scene change________
In the heart of the austere, shadow-laden dungeons of Azure City, there was the interrogation room that was cloaked in dimness. The interrogation room's very air was thick because of the weight of impending confrontations.
Within this somber chamber, Aditya who is revered across lands as the Dragon Monarch, was seated. Aditya had the air of daunting calmness. Everything was quiet before the trouble started.
Across from him, there was an empty chair facing the steel table. The empty chair was for the prisoner that they were going to interrogate. The room was barely lit, with only a few flickering torches mounted on the damp walls which cast long shadows that danced across the stone floor. In this grim light, Aditya's eyes were a terrifying sight.
Glowing with an intense red hue, they seemed to burn with the fire of countless battles and the wrath of a sovereign wronged. These were not merely the eyes of a ruler; they were the windows to a soul that had embraced the darkness, a being who had journeyed to the depths of vengeance and emerged as the embodiment of draconic fury. His gaze was piercing, almost otherworldly, similar to a predator that had sighted its prey, ready to unleash an inferno of judgment. The blood-red glare suggested a history steeped in conflict and mirrored the chaos of a stormy sea under a blood moon.
Nathan, the head of the Shadow Guardian division, stood silently behind Aditya. His own gaze contributed to the room's intimidating aura. His eyes, though devoid of the supernatural glow, were no less fearsome.
They were the eyes of an experienced assassin. His eyes were cold and calculating. It was the eyes of a man who had mastered the art of death. The slight glint within them spoke volumes of his experiences. It spoke of a life that he spent in the shadows, eliminating threats with precise and silent efficiency. These were the eyes of a silent killer. The air in the room was very tense. The silence in the room only added a layer of tension. Click....!!!
The door of the interrogation room was opened by one guard. Two other guards pushed one of the criminals inside the interrogation room. As soon as the criminals entered the interrogation room his face instantly turned deadly pale. He froze while staring at the pair of red eyes that were staring at him. His entire body started trembling. Even though it wasn't winter, he felt very cold at that moment. But oddly enough despite feeling cold, he was sweating. Within just a few seconds, his whole body was soaked in sweat. 'What is this feeling?' Jack thought as he stared at Aditya's red eyes. Jack wasn't just seeing his red eyes. He was seeing a massive pair of red eyes behind Aditya staring at him as if waiting to devour his soul. He felt as if he was standing in front of the reaper. Seeing the criminal standing without moving, one of the guards pushed him towards his chair. It was only then that the terrifying view behind Aditya disappeared. While trembling, he grabbed the wooden chair and slowly sat down while trying to avoid Aditya's gaze. 'This is the first time I have seen His Majesty being this cold.' Nathan thought in his mind. Even though Nathan did not say a word he saw the changes in Aditya. This cold and calculative version of Aditya put a little bit of fear in Nathan's heart even though he was standing behind Aditya. Jack looked like he was a young man in his 30s. He had short blond hair. He was tan-skinned. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt and a black pant. Jack was around 6 feet 1 inches tall. He had a skinny body. He was a Mid-3rd-order cultivator. "I will keep it short. Why did you steal the Mana Hearts from the dead bodies of my soldiers?" Aditya asked while tapping the steel table with his index finger. His tone was super cold. Aditya's question was met with silence. Jack did not look at Aditya. His head was lowered. He was staring at the table. Hearing Aditya's question, other than slightly flinching in fear, there was no other reaction from him. Today, Aditya was like a beast who was suppressing his anger and was trying his best to keep his head cool in this situation. Tap.....!!! Tap...!!!
Aditya kept tapping on the steel table while staring at Jack. Seeing Jack not answering, Aditya increased the power in his tapping which instantly made a dent on the steel table. From the corner of his eyes, he looked at Nathan. Nathan saw this and instantly nodded his head. Nathan took out a file from his storage ring and then began to read it. "Jack Anderson....!! 39-year-old single male without a family." Hearing all this, Jack was shocked. He never expected that in such a short period of time, the Istarin Empire's forces would dig out his personal information. Seeing the look of shock and fear in his eyes, Aditya felt satisfaction but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted answers not reactions from his face. "When you were just 3 months old, your father killed your mother and then ran away with you. Just one week later, you were sold as a baby. However, the slave trader had a soft heart. He put you and other babies in an orphanage where you all grew up." Jack felt shocked to his very core. Even though he did not know about his parents the Istarin Empire was able to dig out information about his parents as well. Hearing all this, he began to sweat. He nervously wiped the drops of sweat from his forehead. "You knew that upon turning 18, your freedom would be taken from you and you would be turned into a slave. So you killed the trade slave that raised you and then became a Rogue cultivator."
"What you did from the age of 17 to 39 is completely unknown." There was no information about what he did in this period. After killing the Slave Trader, he became a wanted criminal. So he changed his name and appearance and left the Zulux Dynasty; present day the same territory is under the Istarin Empire's Control.
"But now at the age of 39, you have made the biggest piece of mistake in your entire life and that is to make an enemy of the Istarin Empire and our Dragon Monarch." "If you decide to keep your mouth shut about this matter......."
Nathan's tone went from being warm and friendly to dark and very cold. "I swear, the consequences will be very severe."
"Hmph.....!!! Do your worst. I am not afraid." Jack replied in an arrogant tone. It seems from Nathan's warm tone, he had momentarily forgotten that he was sitting in front of the Dragon Monarch. Jack's words had touched the bottom line for Aditya who was already full of heart in his heart. Before hearing these words, he was barely containing his anger. Now these words had broken the dam inside his heart. Just as he finished his words, Aditya suddenly stood up. He grabbed Jack's right arm and then tore it using his raw strength. As Jack's right arm was torn off, a huge amount of blood gushed out of his right shoulder. Everything happened within a few seconds. What Aditya did had left the guards behind Jack terrified and in utter shock. Some of the blood fell on Aditya's chest, and face. But he did not care
Ah........!!!
Jack fell from the chair and began rolling on the ground in pain. While rolling and screaming on the ground, Jack faintly saw a pair of red glowing eyes in the darkness. Aditya grabbed Jack by his throat and then raised him in the air. "I will show you just how worse things I could do to you." More than half of his face was covered in Jack's blood. "Just because I have been Kind lately doesn't mean the darkness inside my heart has been erased." Saying that Aditya easily tore off his second arm. Ahhhhhhh.......!!!!
"I am going to remove your legs as well." Aditya brought Jack closer to his face. "But don't worry, I won't kill you," Aditya said with a bloody smile. His smile Jack feel like he was going to experience hell. "I am going to keep this torture until you can no longer feel pain." Nathan and the two other guards continued to watch everything. The two guards were literally shaking from seeing everything. They had never seen anything more brutal than what was happening in front of their eyes. Even though Nathan tried his best to not show any reaction but even he was having a hard time watching everything without feeling fear in his heart. His heart was beating wildly. 'Even though I have been an Assassin for the majority of my life. Even I have never seen such sight in my life before.' Nathan thought in his mind. Fortunately, his face was covered under his mask. Once Aditya was done, he felt much calmer than before though the anger was still in his heart. His full body including his face and hair was covered in Jack's blood. Jack wasn't dead yet. Aditya had fed him a healing pill to make sure that he stopped bleeding. Jack had been turned into a worm. Sigh...!!!
Aditya wiped the blood from his face with his palm before he looked at the two guards. "Take this trash out. Tomorrow, I want him to be publicly stoned to death." People were gonna throw stones at him till he died. It was a very cruel way of killing someone. But Aditya did not care. This man deserved it. "Yes, sir.....!!" "Bring the next one here.....!!" Saying that Aditya sat down. ----------------
