"What have you done to me?"
The female ranker asked Eren a question in a weak voice. Her body was shaking uncontrollably. She was drenched in sweat. And her heartbeats were erratic. Her previous cunning was no more.
She didn't pretend to be scared of Eren anymore. She didn't have to. That's because she was genuinely scared of him at this point.
"I told you not to give me a reason to torture you. Will you tell me everything now? Or do you want another special psych treatment…. Fiona?"
Eren didn't tell the female ranker that he couldn't read her memories any further than he already had. Instead, he just made her focus on the part that he could.
"How…. Do you know my name?"
Fiona was spooked by the way Eren knew her name. Her eyes darted across the giant hall and found a female ranker standing not too far from Eren.
"Help… help me, miss. I know nothing…"
Alephee shook her head when she heard Fiona trying to garner some sympathy from her. Seeing Fiona's damsel-in-distress performance, Alephee spoke in a clear voice while narrowing her eyes.
"Lies won't get you anywhere, Fiona. As you can see, we have our means to extract memories from our brains. It's just that you might not survive the procedure and we don't want our prisoner to die on us.
Especially when we haven't received sufficient information from you. I suggest you speak of your own volition. That way, you'd at least be in some semblance of control over what information you want to provide to us."
Alephee said and raised her hand towards Fiona. She used the control she had over the array to free the half-blood ranker from the array's restrictions placed on her.
But before Fiona could celebrate being free to cast her spells, her mana core was completely sealed by Alephee. She became a mortal-like entity even without being subjected to an isolating array. It could be said that she was in a more difficult situation against two Adept-ranked entities than her previous restricted self.
"Let's start this one more time, shall we? Where have you come from and why were you spying on us?"
Alephee asked in a cold voice devoid of any emotion. Her presence felt even cold and callous to Fiona and made her realize that the young woman standing beside Eren was as terrifying as him if not more.
Fiona took a long breath to reset herself. She then looked at Eren before asking him.
"You… what are you?"
Fiona's question caught Eren off guard. He looked at her with a puzzled expression before responding.
"I am what I need to be, Fiona. Why do you ask?"
Fiona looked at Eren's expressions intently before finally speaking up.
"Are you a half-blood?"
Eren and Alephee both looked at each other when Fiona asked that question. Alephee quickly closed in on Fiona before creating a scalpel-like mana spike on her right hand's index and ring finger. She cut Fiona's cheek ever so slightly with the scalpel and drew a drop of blood.
"I don't know how she managed to mask her bloodline energy. However, it looks like someone from Team Half-Blood has done a great job. Under normal circumstances, nobody would be able to tell who she is. She is indeed a half-blood, Eren."
Alephee said after placing the mana-coated drop of blood levitating over her left hand's palm. She then dispersed the scalpel and snapped her fingers, closing the light slash wound on Fiona's face.
Eren was a bit taken aback by Alephee's revelation. But through JJ Edgar's journal, he was already aware that half-blood societies existed in the shadows. So he quickly got over his initial surprise and confronted Fiona about it.
"Are you from one of the Half-Blood societies?"
Fiona was a bit angry when Eren neglected her question and asked his own.
"Information-sharing is a two-way street, mister."
Eren smirked before responding. "It can be. But this is not information-sharing between two parties who have negotiated with each other. What we have here is interrogation. The sooner you realize it, the better it would be for you."
Fiona looked at Eren and pursed her lips. But she didn't budge from her stance. She looked at both of her interrogators with determination before speaking up.
"Go ahead and kill me if that's all you have to say. I'll only cooperate with half-bloods. And nobody else."
Eren looked at Fiona and sighed. He then raised his hand to try to extract some more memories from her. If she dies in the process, so be it. He wouldn't want to let slip the opportunity to learn more about the half-bloods if he could help it.
However, Alephee slapped his hand away and prevented him from taking action.
"Not so fast, Eren."
Alephee said and started to discuss things with Eren through voice communication. They talked for a while before concluding.
Eren looked at Fiona and smiled before turning both hands into slime-like masses in front of her. He turned them back into his hands before speaking up.
"This should establish my identity as a half-blood. Now speak up."
Fiona looked at Eren doubtfully even after she saw what Eren could do with his hands. Even when her mana core was sealed, her mana sense was still active. The thing Eren did with his hands was not a spell, since there were no mana fluctuations related to one.
"That indeed looks like a bloodline Ability. But what kind of bloodline is THAT? I never saw or read anything like what you have."
Eren could tell that Fiona was looking at him like he was some kind of extraterrestrial entity. So he shrugged his shoulders and answered.
"I thought us half-bloods were united for a common cause. Are you not discriminating against me by looking at me like some kind of abomination? What's the difference between you and those cruel normie rankers if you treat me like I'm an outsider?"
Eren made use of the observations Edgar had made in his journal and used them against the half-blood he had just met. And surprisingly, it worked.
"That…. Um…. You are right. You are a half-blood first and foremost no matter what kind of bloodline you have."
AN: Fiona Fenris was first mentioned in chapter 647.
