Shang's right eye narrowed as soon as the Inquisitor asked for a Mind Read.
The entire time, the atmosphere had been somewhat jovial due to Shang's arrogant and joking retelling of the past ten years, but as soon as that question popped up, the entire atmosphere shifted to the opposite.
"Are you serious?" Shang asked with a dark tone.
The Inquisitor was quite shocked by the sudden pressure Shang was exhibiting on him just by getting genuinely upset, but he didn't let it show.
His eyes inspected Shang.
Shang was in the middle of a room inside a fortification guarded by over 30 True Mages. Additionally, even the resident Duke wasn't far away.
On top of that, the Inquisitor had had his Mana Shield active ever since the interrogation started, and lastly, Shang's weapon was placed in a completely different room.
So, even though Shang's mood put a lot of pressure on the Inquisitor, he wasn't scared.
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," the Inquisitor said in a strict tone.
BANG!
The table between them exploded into pieces as Shang's fist hit it with all his power.
"How dare you?!" Shang shouted with genuine anger. His right eye showed genuine hatred and absolute rage inside it.
The Inquisitor's insides shuddered at the outburst, but he kept his appearance under control.
SHING!
A head appeared in Shang's hand, and he held it in front of him by its long hair.
"Look at that!" Shang shouted. "I killed a Late True Mage, several Early True Mages, took down three Mage Towers, and donated these things to the Skythunder Kingdom!"
"I severely weakened one of the Grandmountain Kingdom's frontlines, and I was so happy to finally be back home that I donated all of that stuff!"
"I fucking did more for the Skythunder Kingdom than the majority of Mages do in their lifetime!"
"I answered questions under a Truth Verification Spell for over six fucking hours!"
"And yet, you want to dig around in my mind?!"
"The Skythunder Kingdom should treat me like a hero, but instead, you're treating me like a traitor!"
BANG!
Shang threw the head of the dead Mage against the wall, and the head exploded into a shower of gore.
"What's the fucking point of giving you fucking disrespectful, heinous, scheming little shits anything if you just treat me like a fucking rat that just shat in your bed?!"
The Inquisitor took a deep breath. He could practically feel Shang's burning hatred and rage in the air.
That anger was so very genuine.
For the past six hours, Shang had joked around arrogantly while retelling everything, but as soon as the Inquisitor had asked for a Mind Read, it was like a switch had been flipped inside Shang.
A deep hatred and anger exploded out of Shang, and the Inquisitor was a bit surprised that Shang still had control over his faculties. He had expected Shang to attack him immediately.
However, all of that made the Inquisitor only more suspicious.
"This is not a question, a request, or a suggestion," the Inquisitor said slowly and coldly.
"This is an order."
"You will undergo a Mind Read. It doesn't matter if you want to or not."
For two seconds, silence came over the room as the fire in Shang's eye retreated.
However, for some reason, the atmosphere only became colder.
"If that is the stance of the Skythunder Kingdom, so be it!" Shang said coldly.
Then, Shang extended his hand to his right and opened it.
For just a second, seemingly nothing happened.
Bang.
A distant sound of something exploding could be heard in the room.
Bang!
A second sound came, this one louder.
BANG!
The wall of the room exploded, and something entered.
When the Inquisitor saw the object, fear appeared in his eyes for the first time.
It was Shang's sword!
Somehow, Shang's sword had broken past three walls and had entered of its own volition!
As soon as Shang was reunited with Sword, the pressure he put on the Inquisitor multiplied.
The Inquisitor felt like he would be helpless in front of Shang.
"What are you doing?!" the Inquisitor shouted in outrage. "Are you betraying the Skythunder Kingdom?!"
Shang's expression turned into a sneer.
"What's it to you? In your eyes, I am already a traitor."
Shang readied his sword.
"Might as well act like it."
BOOOOOM!
One entire side of a rather big building exploded outward as a round thing shot through it like a cannonball.
BANG!
The round thing hit the hard walls and stopped as waves of instability spread across it.
The entire encampment looked with shock at what had just happened.
The Inquisitor had been shot out of the building and had hit the walls!
Inside his Mana Shield, the Inquisitor puked a stream of blood. Even though Shang's sword had been stopped by his Mana Shield, the force of the attack had severely injured his organs.
At the same time, genuine fear and terror appeared inside his eyes.
That attack had destroyed over 70% of his Mana reserves!
It was like he had been hit full force by a gigantic beast!
Step.
Shang slowly stepped out of the dusty cloud that had formed around the building, his sword trailing behind him.
"I killed several Mages of the Grandmountain Kingdom!" Shang shouted.
"I destroyed three Mage Towers and gave you two!"
"I answered your questions under a Truth Verification Spell for six hours!"
"Yet, you still treat me like a traitor?!"
Shang's voice echoed throughout the base.
"Well, if it's a traitor you want, it's a traitor you'll get!"
As Shang was talking, all the Mage Towers activated and locked onto him.
Several more True Mages summoned their Foci and prepared their Spells on top of the walls.
They were waiting for orders.
Shang glanced around the base, and a derisive smirk appeared on his face.
"I've broken through one encampment," Shang said.
WHOOOM!
At that moment, the air around Shang began to vibrate with power.
The ground around him slowly turned into dust, which slowly floated upwards before it vanished.
He had activated his Domain.
At that moment, all the onlookers felt a feeling of mortal threat.
It was like a gigantic True Path Stage beast was in the middle of their base!
"I can break through another," Shang slowly said as his right eye narrowed.
The eyes of the Inquisitor were filled with terror.
"Kill him!" he shouted.
BANG!
Shang shot forward and reached the Inquisitor in an instant.
The Inquisitor had been too intimidated to use Mana Step.
He was only a Mid True Mage.
BANG!
Shang's sword hit his shield and broke it apart.
As all this happened, the Mages only looked with uncertainty at what was going on.
They were at a crossroads.
The Inquisitor didn't have the authority to give them orders, which was why they hadn't attacked yet.
At the same time, they didn't believe that Shang was a spy.
No spy acted like that.
However, they couldn't just let an Inquisitor die in the middle of their base while there were so many soldiers around him!
Shang slowly lifted his sword above himself.
The Inquisitor was out of Mana.
There was nothing he could do.
"You'll get the traitor you've been so desperately searching for," Shang said with a mad grin.
The Inquisitor looked at Shang's raised sword with terror.
He was going to die!
Suddenly, Shang's grin vanished.
He quickly glanced to his right and jumped back.
SHING!
A tiny pebble shot past the place Shang had just been standing.
Its speed had been terrifyingly fast!
Shang's eyes focused on a man with short brown hair, wearing quite expensive robes.
Right now, the man was looking at Shang with an eyebrow raised in surprise.
He hadn't expected Shang to sense his Spell and avoid it.
The Spell hadn't been meant to kill Shang but to simply injure him and throw him away from the Inquisitor.
But the man was still quite surprised.
Sure, that hadn't been a serious Spell, but avoiding the Spell of a High Mage was still very impressive.
As soon as that man appeared, the Mages released a sigh of relief.
Their Duke was here.
Everything would resolve itself now.
The Duke looked at the Inquisitor, who was still in complete shock.
Then, he glanced at Shang.
And lastly, he looked back at the Inquisitor.
"What is going on here?"
