The power stones have completely stopped for a while now, so I assume no one is reading this novel here anymore, so I'll stop publishing it.
***
Thanks to the small dark electric arcs flashing around the man, he couldn't do anything and was quickly dragged into the shadows. Upon entering the dark space, Erik quickly placed his hand on Tiberius's head and ordered him to flee, since they couldn't afford to alert the enemy, much less get entangled in a fight.
At the same time, Erik tore the bamboo pouch from his waist and threw it to Zoe, who, empowering her vision with mana, was able to see the man's deeply wounded neck and quickly started looking for a healing option. Soon, Zoe found a potion bottle marked with a drawing of a heart, so she quickly uncorked it and let it pour over the man's neck, causing it to release smoke and begin to heal little by little.
Meanwhile, Ebonique placed her right claw around the man's head and then unleashed a dark electric arc, which left him completely unconscious. As for Erik, he began to channel mana into Tiberius in a desperate attempt to get away from the place.
After running for a while, Erik noticed that Tiberius was reaching his limit, so he quickly sent a message to his trusted contracted spirit.
[Ebonique, how confident are you in keeping him under control outside the shadow?]
[There shouldn't be any problems!] Ebonique quickly replied in a serious tone. Trusting completely in his contracted spirit, Erik quickly ordered Tiberius to get them out of the shadow and sent a message to Zoe.
"Zoe, we're going to come out and fly!"
Within moments, Erik, Ebonique, Zoe, and the man were expelled from the shadow, while Tiberius reformed from the darkness. However, his condition didn't look good, as he seemed so weak he was even trembling. Without losing a moment, Zoe hoisted the bloodied man over her shoulder, and Ebonique perched on him, releasing dark electric arcs.
In the same way, Erik took the weak Tiberius in his arms and quickly created a Myst platform beneath them, which he suddenly shot up into the sky, causing everyone to stagger from the intense g-forces. Due to the tremendous force and large amount of mana, the Myst platform couldn't hold its shape for long and soon shattered like glass. Because of the inertia, the group continued to rise through the air.
At that moment, Erik quickly cast a magic circle, which created a new Myst platform, but this one was much more durable, with a solid and compact internal structure. Using his almost supernatural control over Myst constructions, Erik ensured that the Myst platform stayed underneath them and continued to lift them almost imperceptibly into the air.
After a few seconds, Erik stopped the Myst platform and looked toward the temple in the distance while simultaneously conjuring runes that released a gentle green light over the man, accelerating the healing of the wound on his neck.
Although the temple was barely visible through the fog covering the area, Erik, strengthening his eyes with mana, was able to see it without much trouble. Combined with his Mystical Awareness, this allowed him to have an almost complete understanding of what was happening.
Meanwhile, Zoe, who had the tip of her katana pressed against the unconscious man, also looked toward the temple with a sharp gaze, trying to detect any unusual movement. Although it was inevitable that they would be discovered eventually, the longer they remained unnoticed, the better preparations they could make.
"It seems they haven't detected us." Erik commented seriously after a few seconds, then turned to look at the unconscious man and added.
"Let's find a place to interrogate him."
"How about making a hole in the 'wall'? You could create a small cave like the one we appeared in—it would be hard for them to find us there." Zoe suggested, pointing at the colossal wall of the cavern visible in the distance, surrounding the entire stone city.
"Sounds like a good idea. Let's go." Erik quickly agreed and guided the Myst platform to move toward the wall.
Not long after, Erik reached the cavernous wall and quickly touched it as a magic circle formed over the rock. The stone quickly began to deform, opening up a small spherical cavity, into which Erik entered, moving the Myst platform. Upon landing on the ground, Erik looked at the unconscious man and commented seriously.
"Let's take everything off him and search him. He might have some tricks up his sleeve."
"Take off his armor; I'll check his mouth and hands. It's common for assassins to hide poison there to kill themselves if they're captured." Zoe said as she withdrew her katana and sheathed it. Erik nodded and quickly replied while grabbing his machetes from his waist.
"Leave it to me."
While Erik used his machetes to cut away the black cloak covering the man, Zoe removed the hood and a sort of long scarf the man used to cover the lower part of his face. At that moment, Zoe couldn't help but look at the unconscious man's face with a hint of surprise, as he had white, smooth skin without any scars or remarkable marks.
Although at their level scars could be avoided with a potion or a healing spell, it was common for Knights—especially mercenaries and assassins—to keep their scars. They were almost like battle trophies, and many displayed them with pride. Someone with such smooth and delicate skin, almost feminine, was truly rare to find.
Curious, Zoe took the man's hand and examined his palms. While she did find some calluses, they seemed more the result of constant practice than something caused by frequent use of cold weapons—nothing like the hand of an assassin or a mercenary. Growing suspicious, Zoe quickly took hold of the man's chin and began to examine his teeth closely.
After a few seconds, Zoe frowned and quickly checked the man's fingernails, his scarf, and even his neck. But no matter how hard she searched, the young woman couldn't find the poisons she was looking for. In fact, by that time, Erik had managed to remove all the clothing from the upper part of the man's body, revealing his defined chest with skin so flawless it could even put a baby to shame—perfectly smooth and soft.
"There's something strange here, Erik." Zoe commented in a serious tone as she turned to look at Erik.
The young man with starry hair was inspecting the black cloak and leather breastplate he had taken from the man, but he quickly turned to look at Zoe with a calm expression, then spoke in a serious tone while showing the man's breastplate.
"It seems the same over here."
Zoe looked at the man's breastplate with a hint of confusion but quickly understood what Erik meant. On the breastplate, instead of runes, there was an intricate magic circle embroidered with iridescent threads. This marked the man as someone from the Meridian Federation—after all, only they used magic circles to create artifacts. The Arcane Order preferred to use runes because their cost-benefit ratio was the best of the three magic systems.
"With this, I can pretty much be sure that this guy must be some kind of 'noble' from one of the Meridian Federation, and not just any assassin." Zoe commented seriously, which led Erik to ask with curiosity.
"Why do you think so?"
"He has no scars, no poison, and none of the other typical traits of a 'real warrior.' He's moderately well trained, but he's nothing like someone hardened by battle." Zoe replied seriously, then brought her hand to her chin and explained in a thoughtful tone.
"Also, remember his attitude and behavior—drinking tea and reading a book in the middle of an ambush? That complete lack of common sense can only come from someone either very powerful or someone who's been excessively protected and has no real understanding of the world. And since he was so 'easy' to defeat, it can't be the first.
"So there are very few situations where someone like that could be here, and I once saw something similar in the Lotus Union, so it's highly likely this guy is a noble or someone from royalty, but I'd bet on him being a noble. Royal families are far too dangerous; someone like this wouldn't survive long."
"Could he be a 'participant'...?" Ebonique asked as she looked at the half-naked young man on the ground. Erik shook his head and replied seriously.
"I doubt it. His presence doesn't feel familiar to me at all. Even though my memory isn't the best, I'm usually able to tell if I've seen someone before, and this guy feels completely unknown. And during the meeting before we entered the ruin, I made sure to take a look at all the Revealed-level participants."
"You're right, I also made sure to take note of all the Revealed-levels, and this guy wasn't among them." Zoe nodded in agreement and added. Ebonique bared her fangs slightly and commented, emitting a thick murderous intent.
"So, are those 'Federation' people the ones responsible for all of this?"
"It's possible, but things are complicated over there." Zoe replied in a thoughtful voice and explained.
"The Meridian Federation has two main factions: the Fulgur Dynasty and House Solaris. Although the Fulgur Dynasty is the strongest, led by the Legendary-level Aelric Fulgur, House Solaris, leveraging the reputation of the Legendary-level Oberon Solaris, has a lot of influence as well, so it's hard to know who's behind this."
"Asking ourselves that now doesn't make sense." Erik said in a serious voice, quickly starting to cut the man's leather pants as he added.
"Let's remove any magical artifacts before we wake him up to interrogate him. That will be more effective than speculating on our own."
"You're right. I'll check him over once more to see if I find anything." Zoe quickly agreed and began to seriously examine the young man's hair and back.
After a few minutes, the man was left in just a pair of blue boxers, while Erik quickly checked the storage pouch. When he tried to open it, Erik realized it had basic restrictions, which brought a smile to his face. Although the pouch was an artifact from Sacred Geometry—something he wasn't very familiar with—it was simple enough that he could try to break the restrictions without too much trouble.
"With a bit of luck, it might be possible to remove the restrictions on the pouch." Erik said with a calm smile as he tied the pouch to his waist, since he hadn't found anything particularly dangerous in it.
"That's excellent news!" Zoe commented with a smile, hopeful that with Erik's genius, it was only a matter of time before he figured out how to create his own storage pouches. Erik nodded and replied seriously.
"Certainly, but for now let's focus on the interrogation. The guy's equipment was pretty ordinary. Aside from being artifacts from the Meridian Federation, there's not much else that stands out."
As he spoke, Erik took his machete, which became surrounded by runes, and from it shot out dark electric arcs that flew toward the young man's four limbs. The moment the electric arcs touched the young man's skin, they quickly transformed into a sort of electric bracelets, which pulled his arms and legs together as if they were magnets.
Although the electric arcs were dark, they didn't actually have the power of Ebonique's unique ability and were only slightly stronger than normal lightning, since they were boosted by Ebonique's magical affinities. However, that amplification was barely noticeable on him.
Erik didn't have any magical affinities, so the effect was somewhat diminished, but with people like his masters, the amplification was quite impressive. In fact, in Sigrún's case, her blue flames were naturally imbued with the Ignis' "immortality," a testament to her power and her level of synchronization with the phoenix.
"Ebonique, stay alert. The electric shackles will only be able to restrain him for a while, so if he does anything strange, I'll be counting on you to keep him under control."
Erik looked at Ebonique, who was floating by his side, measuring a little over 40 cm, and spoke confidently. The dragoness quickly nodded and replied as dark electric arcs began to flicker around her body.
"Leave it to me. This guy won't be able to move a single finger out of place."
"Perfect." Erik nodded, satisfied, and turned to look at Zoe, at which point he asked seriously.
"Are you going to interrogate him, or should I?"
"Leave it to me. I'm not an expert, but I do have some experience in this area." Zoe replied confidently before stepping forward. Erik nodded calmly and said.
"Then I'll leave it to you, though I'll step in if I see it's necessary."
"Of course. If things get complicated, there's nothing wrong with playing 'good cop, bad cop.' It's a pretty effective tactic." Zoe replied with a smile, which made Erik nod. The boy with starry hair then looked at Ebonique and ordered firmly.
"Wake him up, Ebonique."
"On it." Ebonique replied, and a dark electric arc shot out from her claw, hitting the man squarely on the forehead. After a few seconds, he began to open his eyes in confusion.
***
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