A few monts later, within the basent under the manor...
Two wooden chairs were in a corner of the room, both occupied by the masked n. Their masks had been removed, revealing the faces of two n in their late thirties, and both had been bound tightly to the seat with ropes.
Ethan stood a few feet away with his arms crossed. "Again," he said coldly.
Valerie stepped forward from behind the seated attacker and raised both hands to either side of his head as red magic circles materialized over her palms.
The mont they made contact with his temples, the man’s entire body went rigid.
"ARGHHHHH!" His screaming filled the basent and echoed off its walls.
The other man, the driver, was tied to a seat beside his colleague and had already passed out about ten minutes ago from sheer exhaustion after screaming himself hoarse for nearly thirty minutes straight.
Eduardo was by Ethan’s side, watching the proceedings with an expressionless face.
Valerie held her magic circle for another full minute before finally releasing him.
The man slumped forward in his seat, gasping for air with sweat pouring down his face.
Valerie turned toward Ethan with a defeated expression on her face. "There’s nothing I can find," she said.
Ethan’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What the fuck do you an by that?"
Valerie hesitated for just a mont before responding. "Truly, Master Ethan. It’s as if they’ve suffered amnesia."
She gestured toward the captive with one hand. "I’ve used every unsealing spell I know to get their minds open to , but it’s just... blank. If I continue any further, he might die."
"Fuck!" Ethan yelled, throwing his hands up in exasperation as he turned away.
He paced a few steps before stopping abruptly and turning back around.
He pointed directly at both captives with fury in his voice and said, "You know I honestly don’t care if these bastards are dead!"
Valerie nodded but added , "But I can also sense the residual mana in their heads. There’s magic at play here, Master Ethan."
Eduardo finally spoke. "Whoever the mastermind is, they’re trying to cover their tracks."
Ethan clenched his fists as he stared at the two n for a second before making a decision.
"Co, Albedo," Ethan said.
A purple magic circle appeared by his side, following by motes of purple light swirling together to form a humanoid shape.
When the light faded, Albedo was standing there. Except she looked nothing like her usual self.
She wore a see-through nightgown, revealing the pants and bra that did almost nothing to cover her nakedness.
Her eyes were half-closed, and her mouth slightly open as she let out a long, drawn-out yawn that exposed her fangs. Her tail dragged limply behind her on the floor as though it didn’t have the energy to stay upright.
Both Eduardo and Valerie’s eyes widened in shock at her choice of attire.
Ethan, however, wasn’t surprised in the slightest. I an, this was his crazy demon.
"Hey, wake up!" Ethan commanded.
Albedo slowly raised her eyelids just enough to reveal her eyes look up at him with an expression that could only be described as deeply annoyed.
"No fair that you can call even during my bedti," she complained in a groggy voice.
Then she shuffled over toward the n reluctantly.
Through their bond skill connection, she already knew what Ethan wanted her to do: use Charm on them to get them talking.
Albedo stopped in front of the man who had been screaming earlier. She raised one hand lazily and activated her Charm skill without much effort behind it.
A faint pink glow emanated from her body for just a second before fading.
The man slowly opened his eyes. His cheeks flushed red and he looked sheepish while staring up at Albedo with wide, srized eyes.
Even though he was still in pain from the lingering effects of Valerie’s spell, he sohow managed to form a lovesick expression on his face as he gazed up at her like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life.
Albedo yawned again and said in the sa groggy tone, "Tell everything... about who sent you on the attack."
The man blinked a few tis as though trying very hard to focus on what she was saying. Then he shrugged lazily and said in a dreamy voice: "I... I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, beautiful angel..."
He paused, then leaned forward despite his restraints and added with genuine sincerity: "I can’t explain this feeling inside of for you. Would you... would you kindly let be yours?"
There was a pause as Albedo turned around and looked at Ethan with half-lidded eyes.
"Buddy over here isn’t your guy," she said. "Or he doesn’t understand what’s going on at all."
Ethan slamd his palm against his forehead and dragged it down his face in pure frustration.
Albedo yawned once more and asked , "Now please, can I go back, summoner?"
Ethan let out a long sigh and waved his hand dismissively. The purple magic circle reappeared beneath Albedo’s feet, and she dissolved back into motes of light.
Right then, footsteps echoed down the basent stairs. Valerie was the first to notice as she turned her head toward the staircase and said, "Princess..."
Ethan turned around quickly to see Isabella descending the steps with Percival following close behind her.
He walked over to et her halfway and said in an urgent tone, "Wait, why are you..."
But he stopped abruptly and turned toward Percival instead with this look on his face. "Co on, man. You had one job."
Percival spread both hands wide in exasperation. "Perhaps you haven’t realized, but your girl is royalty. I can’t really stop her."
Isabella looked up at Ethan’s face with a slight frown. "Hey, hey. Are you by chance trying to protect my innocence? Really?"
Ethan opened his mouth to respond but sighed instead and shook his head. "It’s just..."
Isabella glanced past him toward the two n tied to chairs in the center of the room. "Any luck with them?"
Ethan shook his head. "For so reason, they’re both blank. Valerie here says they suddenly suffered mory loss."
"Huh?" Percival reacted with visible confusion on his face.
Isabella’s eyes narrowed as she studied the captives. "That’s strange."
Right then, a thought struck Ethan as his eyes widened suddenly. He turned around toward the table at the far wall of the basent.
"Their phones!" he exclaid.
He walked over quickly and picked up one of the Arcphones that had been recovered from the attackers earlier. He clicked on the screen, but it was password encrypted.
He tried the second one. Sa result.
"Fuck," Ethan muttered. "They’re both locked."
Percival then asked, "What model? Old or new?"
Ethan looked at him with a confused expression on his face. "Huh?"
Percival didn’t bother explaining further. He just walked over and took one of them from Ethan’s hand.
He turned it over in his palm for a mont before grinning. "Oh, it’s the old model. They don’t make these anymore."
Ethan frowned at him impatiently. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"ans it runs on the old operating system," Percival explained, "and one of my father’s engineers told a code to break old operating systems."
He held up the phone and added, "Watch this."
——-
A/N:
A reminder that Arcphones are made by the Arcorys Family. The "Arc" was derived from the family na.
User Comments
0 comments from readers