"In The Mirror Of Guilt, Who Wears The Crown… The Saint's Silent Mercy, Or The Sinner's Frown?"
The Interrogation Begins!!!
Hotoke(Grim): So Which One Of The Two Are You Right Now?!
Jason Looks At Hotoke, Confused… And Yet With A Straight Face As If Nothing He Does Or Says Fazes Him…
Jason(Snarky): Hmph!
Suddenly Out Of Nowhere, Azreal Sends A Chair Hurdling Toward Jason's Face At Full Speed…
As The Chair Then Hits Jason Casing Blood To Spill On The Wall And Jason Falls Over On His Side…
His Right Cheek Bruised And Blood Dripping Out Of His Already Scared Eye…
Azreal With His Authoritive Presence Slowly Walks Up To Jason… The Room Filling With Dread As Tension Rises…
Azreal(Coldly): You Know, Kid… I've Been Wanting To Kill You Since The First Moment I Laid My Sights Upon You Two Years Ago!
Jason(Coughing, Snarky): You Need To Get You're Priorities Straight… While You Pieces Of Shit Sit In Here Beating Up On Me, You Should Be Helping Me Track Down Deimos And Adira Who're The Real Thre-
Without Letting Jason Get Another Word In… Azreal Kicks Him In The Stomach Full Force, Which Causes Jason To Cough Up More Blood…
Azreal Then Makes Jason Sit Straight Up As He Full Force Punches Him In The Gut…
Hotoke(Grim, Calm): That's Enough. He's Not The Type To Just Tell Us What We Wanna Know After We Slug Him A Bit…
Hotoke Then Stands Up As He Goes Over Toward Jason And Crouches Right In Front Of Him…
Hotoke(Grim, Coldly): You Must Think Your Some Saint Sent From Above… But You're Just An Inhumane Devil…
Hotoke(Grim): We Already Know You Must Be Allied With Deimos… You Worked Alongside Them Two Years Ago Ans Slaughtered Children And Their Parents, Just To Satisfy Your Thirst For Blood…
Hotoke(Grim): We Also Know How You're Delinquent Older Sister Selene Worked As Deimos's Right Hand For Quite Some Time…
Jason(Annoyed): I Can't Really Blame Ya For Thinkin That About Me… But If You're Gonna Talk About My Sister Like That… Then You Should Get You're Facts Straight About Something You Know Damn Near Nothin About!
Jason(Snarky): You Really Are Just A Sheep Who Goes And Believes Everything That Old Man Tells Ya Huh? If I Were Workin With Deimos I Coulda Easily Killed Both Azreal And You At Any Given Time Now…
Hotoke(Unfazed): Disrespectful Lil Asshole, Arent'cha?! Well Then What Is Deimos's Goal Then… And What's Was That Temper Tantrum You Went On When You Killed Those Kids?!
Hotoke(Calmly, Coldly): You Even Tried To Kill The Grand Elder, But You Failed And Died Instead So How're You Even Here?!
Jason Pauses For A Moment As He Remembers What Happened Two Years Ago… The Universal Scale Memory Altering Technique Used By Adira Replays In His Head…
Jason(Calmly): Two Years Ago… Deimos And Adira Attacked The City And Used Some Sorta Spell Or Whatever To Give Malum Possession Over My Body And He Killed Everyone In The City…
Jason(Calmly): During All Of That, Adira Used Some Sorta Mind Altering Technique On A Universal Scale To Implant Memories Into Everyone's Brains, And Made Them Believe That I Did That And On My Own Free Will…
Jason(Calmly): The Technique Also Implanted Some Memories In You're Minds That Don't Exist And Of Events That Had Never Happened.
Hotoke Gazes Into Jason's Eyes For A Moment… His Expression Filled With Disbelief…
Hotoke(Pressing): So How Come Your Little Friend Aria, Athena And Your Mother Aaliyah And Selene Aren't Affected By This Technique?!
Jason Shrugs…
Jason(Calmly): That's What We Are Trying To Figure Out… But I Believe It's Something To Do With The Fact That They Are The Ones Closest To Me…
Jason(Calmly): Miss Athena And Aria Are Angel's Just Like Adira So That's Why They Aren't Affected, As For My Mother And Sister That's The Only Logical Reasoning I Can Come Up With…
Hotoke Sighs As He And Azreal Then Leave The Room, And Go On The Other Side Of The Glass…
**Meanwhile Back At The Flame Faction Village**
Kaida Sits In The Infirmary Where Aria, Aaliyah And Selene Lie On Stretchers With Bandages On Their Foreheads, Arms And Torso's…
Kaida(Tense): You All Will Be Alright, We've Tended To Your Wounds…
Aaliyah(Tense, Worried): Where's Jason?!
Kaida(Calmly): That Man Knocked Him Out And Took Him To The Southern Tribe To My Father Hotoke Masayoshi, The Tribe's Leader, And Who We At The Flame Faction Are Currently At Odds With.
Selene Then Tries To Get Up But Quickly Sits Back Down And Clutches Her Side, Still Effected By The Earlier Battle…
Kaida(Reassuring): Miss Selene, I Know You're Worried About Your Brother, But You Still Haven't Recovered From Your Wounds… Your In No Condition To Fight… Which Is Why I'll Go Get Him Back. I'm The One Who Asked Him To Help Us Out With This Conflict So It's My Fault…
Kaida(Determined): I'm Not Letting Someone Else Die Because Of My Weakness And Inability To Defend Nor Lead Anyone!
Aaliyah(Nodding): She's Right Selene, You Stay And Recover. I'll Go With Her, And We'll Get Jason Back.
Selene Pauses For A Moment… Her Face Filled With Disappointment…
Selene(Nodding): Alright… Please, Bring Him Back.
Kaida Nods With Determination Etched On Her Face, As Aaliyah Stands Up And Walks Out Of The Hospital With Kaida…
Meanwhile, Back At The Southern Tribe… Hotoke Stands And Talks With Azreal About The Information They Had Just Received…
Hotoke(Serious): He's Still An International Terrorist… So His Words Can't Be Fully Trusted Just Yet.
Azreal Looks At Hotoke With A Sense Of Recognition…
Azreal(Serious): And Yet There's A Part Of You That Believes Him, Correct?
Hotoke(Scoffing): That's Not It… If There's Even A Slight Chance That He's Telling The Truth, It Changes Everything We've Believed For The Past Two Years.
Hotoke(Serious): I Refuse To Accept We've Been Manipulated By Deimos And Adira By A Technique On A Universal Scale. That Just Seems Impossible… But Something About The Boy's Calmness Unnerves Me. He's Either A Master Manipulator Or He's Telling The Truth.
Azreal Clenches His Fists…
Azreal(Grimly): We Should Have Killed Him Right Then And There. If He's Lying, Every Second We Give Him Is A Risk!
Hotoke Nods, Still Conflicted.
Hotoke(Uneasy): Keep Him Locked Up. We'll Push Him Harder Tomorrow And See If He Cracks. In The Meantime We Should Prepare. Kaida May Be Getting Ready To Barge In Here And Save Him While I Contact The Other Tribe Leaders To Investigate His Claims.
Azreal Turns Away, His Aura Still Radiating A Desire For Bloodshed.
Azreal(Coldly): I'll See To It. But Don't Expect Me To Hold Back Next Time.
Hotoke Watches As Azreal Storms Off, His Gaze Shifting Back To The Interrogation Room. Through The Glass, Jason Sits Unmoved, Bruised But Composed… His Eyes Fixated On The Ground As Though Lost In Thought.
Meanwhile Back At The Flame Faction's Village
Kaida And Aaliyah Rush Through The Village Toward The Outer Gate, Where Their Small Squadron Is Already Waiting. The Tension Between The Flame Faction And The Southern Tribe Has Escalated…
Kaida(Determined): We Need To Move Quickly… The Longer We Wait, The More Danger Jason's In!
Suddenly An Image Of Kaida's Late Sister Chikai Shows In Her Head, Dead At The Hands Of Their Father Hotoke…
Aaliyah(Resolute): We Won't Fail.
At The Southern Tribe Detention Area
Jason Remains Sitting On The Ground, His Back Up Against The Wall With The Throbbing Pain On His Face And Stomach Still There…
His Mind Churning Through All Of The Possibilities Of Hotoke's Next Actions…
Jason(Internally): It's Worse Than I Thought… If We Wait Any Longer, We Might Not Be Able To Restore Everyone's Memories Back To The Way They Were… I Have To Ask Aria Or Miss Athena To Go To The Realm Of Heaven And See With The Celestial Court Of The Possibility Of Reversing Adira's Technique!
The Door Then Slightly Creeks Open, And A Figure Slips Inside— Azreal, His Steps Quiet And Deliberate.
Jason Looks Up, Weary But Unbroken, As Azreal Crouches Down Next To Him.
Azreal(Low, Threatening): You Must Think This A Game Huh?! No Matter What You Say, No Matter What Little Truth's You Tell Us… You'll Always Be One Thing To Everyone, A Monster. And I'll See To It That You Die Like One!
Jason's Eyes Flicker With Exhaustion But Also Defiance. He Leans Forward Slightly, Meeting Azreal's Gaze With Unwavering Confidence.
Jason(Chuckling): Funny… You Sound More Like The Monster Than Me…
Jason(Snarky): Azreal… If You Really Think About It, You're Just As Much Of A Devil Than I Am…
Jason(Snarky): You're A Devil Of "The Forsaken" Who Claim To Be An Organization Of Saints Who Do God's Work, But You've Been Trained Since Childhood To Be Emotionless, Ruthless Demon Hunters And Have Trained You're Bodies To Physical And Mental Perfection All Just To Kill Demons…
Azreal(Intrigued): ?!
Just Who Is Azreal, And What Are His Origins?!
To Be Continued In Chapter Sixty-Two…