Liam took a close look at the Imperialist in question.
Facial feature-wise, she didn't look too different to Echorians.
Short obsidian-black hair. Long eyelashes of a similar color. Slim figure and brown skin.
Her clothing was familiar to Liam.
An obsidian-black roman toga, draped over her left shoulder all the way to her feet.
There was also jewelry on her neck and earrings. A black tal of so kind.
Other than that, she was a Rank 3 Magus with a Rank 3 core and a Rank 4 body.
And she was still unconscious.
Liam and Jax strapped the Fear Imperialist to a scary-looking chair.
It would prevent her from biting her tongue and killing herself.
As they finally snapped her into place, her eyes fluttered, before flickering open with panic.
Liam noticed the unique color of her irises.
Foggy white.
As though she was blind.
"Where am I?" the Imperialist said in a threatening tone.?"What have you done to ?"
Judging by how she was glaring at Liam and Jax, she could probably still see.
Liam always hid his presence with ntal energy.
It had beco a subconscious thing after doing it for so long.
Thus, she hadn't detected him through that thod.
Just to be sure, Liam connected his King's Eye to her sea of consciousness.
His theory proved right.
Indeed, the woman could see.
Only, it was a surreal shade of black and white.
From her vision, Liam and Jax looked like they were made from hazy wisps of white smoke.
"Answer !" the Imperialist scread. "Who are you?!"
"Friends, depending on how compliant you are," Jax said calmly, with a 'warm' smile on his face.
"Done nothing yet. Could keep it that way, or we could go a different route."
"You see our furry friend over here?" Jax pointed to Kitsu. "She'd love nothing more than to rip and tear you apart."
Instead of her usual bored look, Kitsu looked as rabid and vicious as she could, baring her fangs.
And she did a pretty good job at it.
Silence.
"What do you want?" the Imperialist said threateningly.
To her credit, she wasn't afraid in the least.
Liam could tell from her ntal waves.
'She's already used to seeing horrors,' Liam thought.
"Wait... co closer," she told Jax with a confused expression. "You look familiar."
Jax arched his brow.
He leaned in...
TUF!
Just for the Imperialist to spit in his face.
"Oldest trick in the book," the Imperialist laughed. "Are you stupid or sothing?"
Jax's face turned dark.
"How do you go in and out of the Dual Empire?" Liam asked suddenly.
Apparently, no one knew exactly how the Dual Empire entered and exited their lands.
Not even Alucard, with his vast accumulations of knowledge, knew the specifics.
Although there were gateways and borders, they were never seen leaving.
If Liam found out, his job would get much, much easier.
"I don't know," the Imperialist answered blankly, more annoyed than scared.
Lies.
Liam could tell.
There was a reason Usan kidnapped this woman in particular.
She knew sothing.
"You know fear," Liam said. "Do you know pain?"
From the cloak, Liam's hand blurred as he swiped a nail across her index finger.
Her sliced index flew in the air with a spurt of blood, followed by a suppressed growl of pain.
"You have nine more chances before I move to sothing more painful," Liam said with dead eyes.
...There was still no fear in the Imperialist's blind eyes.
Liam had to hand it to her. She was courageous, despite being from the Empire of Fear.
"There's no need to fear life if death is the final outco," she said with a mocking smile. "You have nothing to threaten with, dog."
Silence.
Liam laughed coldly.
"Never said I'll kill you," Liam smiled.
Liam took off two more fingers.
"Urgh!"
A stifled cry of pain.
Silence.
...But still no fear.
Five fingers in, and the Imperialist was covered with sweat.
There was a pained look on her pale face, and her breathing ca in long gasps.
Jax helped by applying significant pressure to her ntal sphere.
Still no fear.
'This won't faze her,' Liam realized. 'All it's doing is worsening her condition.'
"There's a fine line between courage and stupidity, and you've crossed it," Liam said.
Liam's nail punctured lightly through the Imperialist's arm.
"Is that supposed to hurt?" the Imperialist laughed. "Hahaha! You're a jok—"
Corruption gathered at Liam's nail and injected straight through the woman's arm.
The Imperialist shut her mouth instantly as her arm and body spasd uncontrollably.
Shrill screams filled the dark chambers.
A network of her veins grew black for a brief mont as Corruption shot through her figure.
It was a grim sight.
Even Kitsu stopped acting, but Elder Jax had a stony expression.
As her screams ca to a stop, Liam took another look at her ntal waves.
Fear.
Now she felt it.
"Tell how, and I'll make it painless," Liam said, scraping her remaining arm with his razor-sharp nail.
Two seconds of silence passed, and Liam's nail punctured through her flesh.
"Stop! Stop! I'll tell you!"
Liam kept his nail where it was. "Speak."
"We use the clouds," she said with a shaky breath.
"Abominations aren't just used for killing. They're also useful."
"If we have to go anywhere, we use a Cloud Leech to latch into a cloud."
Jax raised his brows in amazent.
He'd never heard of anything before.
"And?" Liam asked.
She was hiding sothing.
"It… it also makes us invisible to a certain degree."
Now that… was interesting.
"Do you have one now?" Liam asked.
The Imperialist considered her words carefully.
Liam's nail was still lodged in her arm, and silence was punishable.
"...Yes. I do," she answered from clenched teeth.
Liam pulled out his nail. "Take it out," he ordered.
With pained eyes, the Imperialist opened her mouth.
Abruptly, her canine tooth began detaching itself from her gums, wiggling out and slowly expanding in size.
What ca out was a fat and fluffy, caterpillar-like creature that made its way over to the center of the room.
It was pure white, and resembled a cloud!
On its front, was a circular mouth with a series of spiral teeth.
Liam smiled, then transmitted a few words to Jax.
[Found the tickets to their country.]
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