Fleur resisted for as long as she could against the relentless waves of holy power coursing through her soul. For ten grueling minutes, Carn didn't let up, injecting holy marks and tearing into her spirit like a drill piercing through a concrete road. Finally, her resolve faltered, and she scread.
"Stop, Pebble! I don't know anything about the new Lich King or whatever legion you're talking about!"
Carn withdrew his power, though his sharp gaze didn't waver. "Fine. Then what about the previous Lich King? After I killed him, what did you do with his remnants?"
Fleur's voice trembled with equal parts anger and desperation. "I didn't do anything! After you cleansed the entire Bone Mountain, I lost everything! All my power, gone! I had to hide in the Sword Palace's graveyard just to avoid being captured by those dragoons! By the ti I scraped together enough strength to self-resurrect, that damned geezer in the grimoire had already trapped !"
Carn narrowed his eyes, his interest piqued. "Trapped you? What happened?"
Fleur's spectral form flickered as she hissed. "He trapped in a page! I tried to steal his vessel, the grimoire, hoping it had the power to bring back to full strength. Instead, he caught and sealed inside that rubric puzzle cube. Then he handed over to the humans of this world!"
At the ntion of "geezer" and "grimoire," Carn's thoughts drifted to Rosa. She also ntioned a mysterious entity that fit Fleur's description.
"Was the geezer's na Akashic?" Carn asked, leaning closer.
"How the hell would I know? I wasn't paying attention!"
Carn sighed, disappointed. "You? Not paying attention? You're the type who morizes the nas of anyone who talks shit about you."
Carn didn't fully believe in her confession yet. Without warning, he sent another wave of holy power surging into Fleur, eliciting a piercing scream.
"Are you sure you don't know anything? Stop playing gas with , Fleur. You've always made a public hit list. I still rember that you even added a human kid's na to your kill list because he picked a ripened fruit in front of your cave! It's impossible for you not to care about the person who sealed you!"
Her spectral form writhed as she scread again, her defiance unraveling further. "I'm telling the truth! Do you think I gave a damn about that geezer's na when that f-cking tree branch put to sleep for—what? A decade? A century? A thousand years?! Only Aether knows how long!"
The ntion of the "tree branch" caught Carn's attention, though he masked his surprise. He silently cataloged the new information while maintaining his stoic deanor. It was becoming clear that whoever this geezer was, they were tied to both Fleur's downfall and Mother Tree.
Carn's expression softened just enough to mask his internal calculations. "Alright, Fleur. Let's say I believe you—for now. But don't think for a second that you're off the hook."
Fleur's form flickered as her strength waned. She grumbled, "I will rember this humiliation, Pebble! I swear. No matter how long I have to wait, I'll reap your soul and return this favor a thousandfold!"
Carn smirked, flicking the gold coin in his hand. "Keep waiting, then. Once I'm done with you, I'll bury you under Mother Tree and put you to sleep for the rest of eternity!"
"BASTARD!" Fleur was enraged. She hissed once more, attempting to steal Carn's Aether. However, his silver mark didn't budge as she didn't have enough Aether to siphon his energy anymore.
Carn stopped the interrogation session for today. Although he still had a lot of questions to ask her, such as the thod to close dinsional rifts or the prophesy's 'Death's Gate', Carn kept the matter to himself as Fleur wouldn't reveal it no matter what.
He needed to soften the Grim Reaper first, and he planned to investigate this 'geezer' entity, the ferryman ECD-7, and the dullahan ECD-333 in order.
The next step would be the ECD facility. Carn tried to think of a thod to infiltrate the organization.
'Should I get arrested on purpose? But that will definitely expose my real identity. Or should I transform into a gargoyle and waltz into that facility myself?'
Carn had an idea of how he would infiltrate the facility.
.
The afternoon of the sa day, 500 ters away from Carn's house, a commotion ensued.
The ECD agents moved with precision, surrounding the quaint suburban house of Dr. Jasmine Snowcreak at sunrise. Ard explorers and augnted military personnel swept through the residence, systematically searching every room. Monts later, they erged, escorting a disheveled Dr. Snowcreak and her daughter, Janette.
Behind them, an agent in a hazmat suit carefully exited the house, carrying a tallic container that leaked faint streams of golden vapor. Two more agents followed, each gripping a sealed suitcase. Similar golden wisps escaped from the cracks in their cases.
"We've secured Dr. Jasmine Snowcreak and her daughter," one of the agents reported into his comms device. "The packages have also been recovered."
The operator's voice crackled through the radio, commanding the officers, "Take the mother and daughter to the detention center for processing. Deliver the packages to the facility imdiately."
"Understood."
The agents didn't waste a second. Dr. Snowcreak was dragged by the shoulder and shoved toward one of the vehicles. Along the way, she yelled while she struggled against the firm grip of an agent.
"You can't do this! The chalice is a blessing from God! It's the key to curing cancer, to achieving immortality! And you're just going to lock it away in so lab because ECD-8888 told you so?!"
"Shut it!" The agent shoved her head down and forced her into the backseat of the police vehicle.
Despite her resistance, Jasmine was quickly overpowered. The agent slamd the door and locked her inside.
anwhile, her daughter, Janette, watched silently with her pale and emotionless face. Without a word, she climbed into a separate car.
Unbeknownst to the agents, Janette clutched a small vial of golden liquid in her pocket, which was the sa mysterious substance her mother had fought so hard to protect.
As the car door closed behind her, she discreetly pulled out the vial with her trembling hands as she uncapped it. The golden liquid moved as if it were alive.
Without hesitation, she tipped the vial and drank its contents in one swift motion.
The vehicles sped away. While most agents focused on the mother's protests, no one noticed Janette's action, which would soon cause a chain reaction.
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