"Humanize demons, huh? An indirect way of exterminating them... I see. That's something quite clever. Who is this Aslam? What's his function inside your organization, if I may address it as merely an organization," Tobey asked.
He didn't think that the paladins were just an organization at all. They seemed much more numerous and present in the town for that. Instead, they approached something more like a secret society or something like that. Of course, it would depend on how their internal affairs worked.
"Well, I don't think you should worry about it at all. You would never come to ever approach Bishop Aslam because-"
"Punch him," Tobey said, then a loud thud echoed from the cellphone, making a chill run down Ariel's spine as his eyes got driven into the phone's direction quickly. He clenched his fists, closing his eyes strongly.
'It seems like he cares about Phill more than it seems. These paladins surely have esteem for humans. I wonder how righteous people like them can look like monsters when it comes to hunting down demons. Is my race really on the wrong side? Is there a wrong side at all in this war?'
"I think that you should answer my questions directly, without rounding the issue, okay? As I said, I can easily tell when you are trying to delay me. Just answer it objectively: who is Aslam? What does he do among you, paladins?" Tobey severely said as he leaned on the table, trying to make pressure on that paladin.
"Bishops are the ones who take care of military affairs. Every decision we have about the war is mainly carried by them."
Tobey nodded his head, scratching its back as if concerned about a certain detail.
"It seems that this guy isn't your supreme leader, huh? Since you said bishops, it seems that there is more than one. It also tells me that your organization is quite big. But it doesn't matter now, I need to go a step at a time, right?" Ariel didn't respond, but Tobey didn't want an answer anyway.
"This Aslam, does he go to the front, or does he stays inside a safe place while giving orders?"
"Both. Depends on what he wants to achieve in the battles..." Ariel said, and he barely finished his statement and got interrupted by Tobey.
"I see. So he is more a symbol of leadership than power. That's typical. Are there exceptions, though?"
Ariel nodded his head. There were a few exceptions of bishops that really held power, but most of them were just a symbol like Tobey said.
'Man... will this guy just read everything like this? Just how good is he?' the paladin thought. 'Also, what's his objective while doing so? He just got the strongest paladins out of the game, yet temporarily. However, he is new in this world, which means that he can't be aware of the coup or any other thing under the covers. It's been... what? Some weeks since he discovered that he belonged to this conflict? It would be utterly unreasonable if he knew something.
'To sum up, he never got in touch with any other demons. Nobody dared to get close to him, except the Bloodseeker, who is still out there. Even so, the latter couldn't talk with him properly at all. Once we discovered that he could reach Tobey, Lancelot went with full force against him and forced them to separate.'
Ariel was puzzled. He didn't have any idea about how much Tobey knew about their scheme... No, more than that, he didn't even know how much Tobey discovered about the war.
'How can I test him without being too obvious?' he reasoned, frowning slightly. 'Well, I don't really think I can do this, not against him. I am completely blind here. It's not a situation where I can risk fundamental information slipping from my mouth. For now, the best option I have is to answer only his questions.'
"Ok, then," Tobey continued. He had a suspicious look towards the paladin as if he knew that the latter was trying to think about a plan. Maybe his slight frown told Tobey more than he wanted to show.
"Well, another thing that was concerning me is that demon who appeared some days ago. That one who helped me. I know that you are aware of this event since everything that happened to me up until now was being monitored. You paladins know every single step of mine since the day the chase began."
'Damn it,' Ariel thought. That was particularly the information that he didn't want to say.
"I don't know who he is, though. They only said that he-"
"Beat him again," Tobey said with a bothered voice, then sighed as he heard the loud thud.
"W-Why?" Ariel asked, more shocked than angry.
"I know that it is a lie. That man seemed to be quite famous among you, paladins. After all, he even had a nickname, and the paladins he fought seemed to recognize him," the detective explained. "Say the truth."
"They call that man Bloodseeker. He has other names depending on the region of the city and country, like reaper or Alucard. People don't know his identity outside the one he uses as a demon, though-"
"Again," Tobey said, knocking on the metallic table. Another thud echoed through the phone and then a pained moan. "I remember very well that he carefreely gave his name to the person he was going to fight. This kind of personality and action just shows that he doesn't care about giving his real identity. You probably know it as well. "
'Sh*t!' Ariel thought, clenching his fists on top of the table and leaning on it.
"Ok, ok! His name is Mark! He is the demon that,"
"Beat him, fellas."
"H-Hey! But I was-" Ariel yelled but got interrupted again.
"Shut up," Tobey ordered, pointing his finger at the man as a frown appeared on his face. "Don't try to deceive me. Tell his surname as well. I don't have time to waste!"
'The surname! Goddamn, I can't tell him his freaking surname! If it happens, I don't even know how he might react. Until now, Tobey not knowing whether he can trust certain demons is a good thing for the paladins since he wouldn't have support from anyone. Nobody would ever try to stop us.'
"Beat him again," Tobey said, crossing his arms, his face getting grimmer.
'What do I do? They will kill Phill like this!'
"Again!" Tobey's face was unwavering as he said that. A thud followed, sending a wave of agony across Ariel's body.
"Okay! It's Parker!"
"Beat him aga-"
Ariel slammed his hands on the table, getting up with a furious look. His calm and serene countenance was now completely gone.
"HOW COULD YOU EVEN KNOW THAT IT'S A LIE!?" he shouted, panting hard. "Are you playing with me or something? Do you know all the answers and keep joking around!?"
"Say the freaking surname, then I answer this only question you have."
Ariel bit his lips so strongly that his teeth cut them, making them bleed.
"It's Foster," he slowly said. He had an expression of a loser.
"I just guessed that he was my relative. His Demon Form is identical to mine, and he called me brother. Also, I prepared all this interrogation to apply enough pressure on you, so you would show it clearly to me when you were lying. All this conversation was made for the sake of this single final question. Anyway, the other information I got was enough.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Ariel. Also, I should say that this phone call is nothing but an act made by people I can trust. The thuds you heard were probably some inanimate object like a sandbag or something. Phill is safe, and the only thing I did to him was make him say those words at the start of the call. That's it."
With no more, Tobey got up and was going to left the room at the exact time as the police broke in into there with their guns pointed at Ariel.
"Everything is fine, guys. I am done with him," Tobey said as he walked towards the exit door. The officers lowered their weapons, nodding their heads to him.
"Lancelot will catch you! You won't even realize from where the blow came once he gets the opportunity!" Ariel Terzic claimed.
Tobey didn't spare a look to him as he carefreely said:
"Ah, don't worry about it... I already know who Lancelot Yoder is, and how he is working to mess with my plans, so there is no way that he will catch me off guard."
Tobey's light steps could be heard yet for some more seconds until they vanished completely in the corridor.
The paladin kept looking at the center of the table with a lost gaze and a pale face. His jaw was slightly dropped and his hands were trembling due to both: the way he slammed the table and the anxiety he was feeling.
'That demon... he was bluffing... wasn't he?' Ariel thought.
For some reason, it didn't sound like a ramble in his mind... but rather a rhetorical question.