The inquisitor held my gaze, unimpressed. “You thought to convince me with such a feeble fabrication?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s a matter of public record! Just ask any commoner in Roa, they’ll know who I am!” I hurriedly replied, not hesitating to use one of the few advantages that my sudden bout of fame afforded me. I could only hope the people would still remember me now, a few months after the tournament.

“Hmmm. Regardless, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re suspected of a series of crimes spanning the country, foremost among which is the defacing of several holy statues. I’m not going to mince words with you; I don’t need to. Were you or were you not involved with the destruction of two holy statues depicting Helios?”

I squinted, considering my options. I could lie… but he would probably pick up on that. A misdirection, maybe? That could buy me some time, at least.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it ‘destroying them personally… Besides, that statue never depicted Helios in the first place, just a buddy that helped him out when he was a kid.”

My interrogator snorted, before a white light flashed through his eyes. His derision was swiftly replaced by surprise afterward. “Hold on… You actually believe that to be the truth?!”

“I know it to be the truth, old man. Saw it myself.” I blurted out. His gaze became inquisitive, almost predatory. Another light flashed through his eyes before he resumed his questioning. A lie-detection skill maybe?

“I see… How, exactly, did you ‘see this yourself?’”

“Uhhh…” I stumbled, not sure how much to give away. The existence of the key could be a threat I wasn’t privy to. If he found out that Emeri had it, her life could be in danger… Then again, my life was currently in danger. Perhaps a little information wouldn’t harm anybody.

“An illusion embedded into the statue itself. After the illusion passed, the statue had changed without… my knowledge. No clue how, to be honest.” I had almost said ‘our’ knowledge there, in reference to Emeri, but had evaded the possibility just in time. Unfortunately, my interrogator had picked on my hesitation, rendering my efforts for naught.

“I see.” He began, “But… why would Helios show you, specifically, this vision? I find that to be rather hard to believe. Don’t you?”

“I’m not sure… Maybe Helios wanted to be poetic? You know… light and dark being two sides of the same coin and all…” I tried. The older man got into my face, staring right into my eyes.

“You weren’t there alone, were you?” he asked quickly.

“I was, actually.” I replied, in a rush to deny the fact. His eyes flashed, but instead of white, they shone red.

“A lie.”

“Shit…” I cursed under my breath, having forgotten about that part in the heat of the moment. Think, Arthur think. How could I still keep Emeri out of this… Who could I blame instead… Aha!

“Who was there with you, necromancer?!”

“Not a necromancer, actually. I don’t have any insanity skills.” I distracted, seeing an opportunity to get that part straight, at the very least. His eyes flashed white, accompanied by an expected amount of shock. The distraction had worked, momentarily.

“How?”

“System error, apparently. Very rare, I’m told. Want to hear the story?”

“No, not at all. Your status does bring us to an interesting crossroads, however. Considering that you could, technically be a free man under Alterian law, I’m not obligated to execute you after this interrogation.”

“… go on.”

“Which, in turn, means that I can offer you your freedom back… At the cost of information. What happened to those statues, and who was there with you? Who else is involved, even if indirectly? Answer me this, and I’ll let you go, no questions asked.”

I gulped. That was an enticing offer. But I couldn’t tell him everything. Not easily, anyway. Would I? Would I tell him about Emeri, if doing so saved my own skin? My pride screamed no, while a darker part of me screamed yes… Yet another part of me, a part I didn’t recognise, whispered no. That whisper sounded louder than any other noise, allowing me to come to a conclusion.

“I can tell you how it happened, but I won’t tell you who was involved. I’d rather you kill me, if that’s the case.” I replied determined, making the older man’s eyes go wide.

“It seems that you really did manage to evade the system’s judgment, to a degree. Admirable.” He muttered under his breath. He sighed.

“Truthfully, I don’t need you to tell me. I caught a young lady right after you defaced Agratos’ local statue. Someone with a holy affinity, the same affinity we found traces of in Caltian’s scorch. Ring any bells?” he explained, inspecting me while he talked.

“Not necessarily. Why would I work with someone with an opposing affinity? Besides, most of them are a part of your church, anyway.” I gave him a vague answer, in hopes that his lie-detecting skill couldn’t deal with me asking some simple questions. None of what I had said had been a lie anyway.

Too experienced to be fooled by my attempts, my interrogator got into my face.

“Yes or no. Do you know any young ladies with a holy affinity?”

“Define ‘young’.” I stalled.

“Roughly your age. Now answer me!”

“…I don’t have anything else to say to you.” I replied, gritting my teeth.

To my surprise, my tormentor just started laughing. “You’re probably the first dark-aligned classer that has ever shown even a grain of loyalty to another person. I’m curious to see whether that loyalty of yours is misplaced or not… Why don’t you wait in your cell while I go interrogate your friend, huh? I’ll get back to you with my verdict, don’t you worry about that…”

“Wait!” I shouted, but he had already made for the door. He shoved it open, gave me a wry grin and disappeared into the dark tunnel, no doubt heading towards Emeri’s cell. No matter how much I shouted after him, he wasn’t coming back.

Fuck… I could only hope Emeri would have more luck getting past that lie-detecting skill of his. Then again, she could just blame me. Would she do that? A part of me whispered that she wouldn’t. All I could do was hold out hope.

A few minutes later, a masked paladin I hadn’t met before unstrapped me from the wooden table and carried me back to my cell. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation, so I just let him go about his business, though I kept an eye on the prison’s layout. Not long after that, I found myself hanging from the cell’s walls again.

Left to my thoughts, I decided I might as well pass the time by meditating. Hopefully, Emeri’s interrogation wouldn’t take too long.

I closed my eyes and enter my mental palace which, unsurprisingly, was looking a little rough at the moment. My roses were looking great though. They were close to blooming, but already had a beautiful crimson lustre to them.

For the next several hours, I focused on meditation, careful to stay alert by opening my eyes every hour or so. So far, my interrogator hadn’t returned with new, making me agonise over what was happening. I was powerless as long as I left these wristbands attached, yet breaking them would send me down a path of no return, escalating the situation. At that point, I would either get out or die. Even if I managed to escape, I would be on the run, stuck in a foreign country. One ruled by a tier 7, no less. What to do, what to do…

Suddenly, a rumble reverberated through out the prison, making the walls shake. A startled cry rang out from in front of my cell. The shaking had woken a sleeping guard, I supposed. Another rumble. Another shake. Was there an earthquake of some kind? Hopefully this prison was sturdy enough to withstand it…

My hopes were dashed when another, louder rumble reverberated, making dust fall from the stone ceiling and producing cracks in my walls. Shit. I had to get out, now!

Shouts erupted, loud enough for me to hear.

“What’s happening?! Are we under attack?!” One paladin asked.

“It’s that madman, Dalius! He’s started attacking the prison for no reason!”

“Where’s the inquisitor?!” a third voice asked, shaking. Hold on… that was the psycho from earlier! The low-tier torturer guy! I recognised that voice anywhere.

“Heading there now! He commanded us to evacuate the prisoners and escort them to Agratos!”

“Even the mayor? He’s a tier 5! We can’t escort him!”

“Screw this!” my torturer replied. “I’m not putting my life on the line for a few dozen street rats! Let them die under the rubble, I say.”

“We can’t ignore the inquisitor’s orde-” a paladin began to refute.

Another rumble resounded, interrupting him and making the cracks in my walls grow wider.

“Shit! The place is about to collapse! Run!”

The sound of footsteps and clanking armor became quieter and quieter until I knew they were out of sight of my cell. I had to move, now. With a burst of black mana, I created some onyx chains. My wristbands sent a burst of lightning through my body, making me spasm involuntarily, but I ignored it and persevered. Because I couldn’t feel the pain itself, I wasn’t distracted and my chains were able to wrap around the wristbands, tearing them in half with a furious feat of concentration. I did the same to the metal bands attached to my ankles, freeing me from them. A quick apparition later, I found myself back in the hallway, right as another rumble shook the entire prison. The stone roof above me was starting to give up, threatening to bury me in whatever rested above. First, I had to find Emeri. Then, if I was lucky, I could retrieve my items. Perhaps we could get out of here unscathed after all.