"Who are you?" the black knight asked with a deep and menacing voice.
Although lying is generally considered a sin, there exist specific situations where one has the right to judge whether or not telling the truth is justified if telling it causes more harm than good (as long as the person is not protecting itself from danger in case of some wrongdoing) or if the person demanding it doesn't have any right to know it. Since Lucius's life was currently hanging by a thread, he was basically allowed to lie. What is more, by hiding his true identity as a Hell Purger, he could make the black knight less interested in him. If the demons somehow found out who he really is, he would probably be transferred even deeper into hell's territory in a place where security is even tighter than here, and that would be the end of his career and, undoubtedly, his life. But even in an extreme situation such as this, Lucius preferred to give a broad answer rather than lie.
"I am a soldier of Elysium. My duty is to serve the Lord, and this service led me to the Morning Star fortress, where I fought along with its guards and commander Nicholas against the forces of hell." answered Lucius resolutely, trying and (somewhat) succeeding in hiding any fear he was feeling.
"So you admit that you are not one of them?" asked the black knight, almost as if he sensed that Lucius was trying to avoid the real answer.
"All angels are my brethren, and I am their brother; therefore, wherever I go where angels dwell, I am one of them. I myself chose to come to the Morning Star fortress to aid commander Nicholas in fighting the enemy, who recently began with numerous attacks on the fortress. All of those attacks proved to be unsuccessful, and I decided to make sure that things would stay that way by offering my services to commander Nicholas, something which he gladly accepted."
The black knight was silent after Lucius's response. It was hard to know if he was satisfied or dissatisfied with the answer because there was no face from which to read his reaction, and his red eyes weren't exactly full of emotion. Still, deep inside, Lucius knew that he didn't believe his story. This was not some fool who he could confuse easily. This made it even harder for Lucius to remain calm, showing no sign of panic under the unrelenting gaze of the black knight, but he persevered.
"I trust you are smart enough that you realised up until now that your presence here is a result of the incompetence of my troops and your own bravery. We wanted your commander, but instead we now have you. In order to save him, you took his place. That is not something an ordinary soldier would or could do. Instead, such a reaction reminds me more of a bodyguard, someone who was constantly close to the commander to be able to guard him from any grave danger. What do you say about that?" asked the black knight, who was trying to sniff out Lucius's real identity.
Although he was right about Lucius not being an ordinary angelic soldier, black knight's theory was completely wrong. Lucius lost Nicholas at the very start of the battle due to the chaos that ensued, basically in seconds, and for the next few minutes, Lucius didn't know where Nicholas was or what he was doing. If anything, Lucius was a bodyguard for himself, trying his best to stay alive while killing as many demons as he possibly could. If Nicholas himself hadn't found him, the battle itself would have probably ended before they met. Therefore, pushing Nicholas out of danger was something that Lucius instinctively did to save him, and he would have done the same for any of his brethren. This was the truth, and Lucius said it to the black knight without any hesitation.
"You are lying, angel! The time of angelic heroes and Hell Purgers has passed long ago. The angels of today are weak, indecisive, susceptible to sin, and selfish! They currently resemble those filthy humans that they are trying their best to protect more than they ever did in the past. If every angel was as honourable and devout to his profession as you claim him to be, we would have been defeated a long time ago. But, as you know, we weren't defeated, so you are lying. You are no ordinary angel. I can sense that. Don't make me ask this again! Who are you?" said the black knight with a raised voice.
He was clearly losing his patience with Lucius. Despite this, Lucius knew very well that telling the black knight the truth was out of the question. At this point, the fact that he was going to be tortured was unquestionable, so he decided to persist and repeat what he had already said. The black knight went silent again, and though his emotional expression didn't improve a bit in these few minutes, it took no genius to understand that he was watching Lucius with one of those "do you know who you are messing with" looks.
"I advise you to stop acting like a fool and tell me what you know. You are undoubtedly aware that demons are masters at torturing, the act of which can last for days or even months, depending on the durability of the subject, and I believe it's no stretch to say that you look durable enough to last even more than that. Be smart. Spare yourself the unnecessary pain and tell me the truth sooner rather than later."
"I am also aware that demons torture their prisoners and even brethren for entertainment sake alone, and that I would be an even greater fool to believe in the fact that you wouldn't torture me if I told you what you wanted to hear." Lucius snapped at the black knight.
Unexpectedly, the black knight wasn't further irritated by this brazen answer. Instead, he started to laugh, and his laugh somehow managed to be even more uncomfortable than his speaking. It was like someone was laughing from the bottom of the well.
"That's the first true thing you said, angel. In either way, you are going to be tortured until you are dead. What is more, I personally will be your torturer, and trust me that, no matter how high your pain threshold may be, you will wish that you were dead many times before the torture stops. You know something that I would very much like to know. Whether it concerns your identity or something else, I don't know. But I intend to find out. We are going to go now, and we shall return after half an hour. That should be enough for you to consider talking. But then again, I would like it if you remained stubborn. Yes. Be the angel you want to be! Keep your secrets to yourself! Live in the delusion that you are helping your brethren and Elysium by remaining silent! That way, I will enjoy breaking you even more."
Having said that, the black knight and the grolls (who were excited beyond reason when they heard the black knight's last words and grinned wickedly at Lucius) turned around and left Lucius to look at them until they disappeared.
Lucius began to despair. Things were not looking good for him at all. He had to think fast if he was to get out of here. But what could he do? Lightsword was out of the question, and portal was too. He thought. Maybe he could try with the holy verses, just as he did at the end of his first mission? He wasn't delusional. If he couldn't summon a portal here, there was no way angels from Elysium could. But at least his master will sense that he's alive and maybe be able to tell his location. It didn't hurt to try. It's not like he had much else to do. He quickly whispered the holy verses three times. As expected, nothing happened, at least not visibly. He could only hope it had some kind of effect. But then again, he could be located in the heart of hell for all he knew. There was no reason for the demons to keep him at their border when they could just teleport him deeper into their territory to make escape completely impossible.
There was no denying it. Lucius was afraid for his life. Each second felt like a minute, and he expected the black knight to return any moment now. Part of him wanted that. It was maddening to await certain demise, and now that he knew that the black knight himself would be his torturer, it was even more horrible. But then again, there was no hope of being done with it quickly. That torture is going to be long and beyond painful. A thought of suicide passed through his mind, however indecent it might have been for an angel. That's how bad his chances to get out of this peril were.
Refusing to give up for the sake of his sanity, he decided to keep trying to summon his lightsword. A quick death in a fight was much, much more preferable than what was currently awaiting him. His tries, of course, had the same results as before, and it once again looked like he was trying to light a match. He tried it a dozen times, but with no luck. The only thing that appeared were sparks. He just couldn't do it.
"If I were you, I would give up on that. You won't be able to do that here." said the voice behind him, startling him.
Somebody else was in the cell with him!