Chapter 4/4 of last week. sorry its a day late.

Donation status: 27/30

“Well, this last group was the weirdest I’ve seen so far,” Isana chuckled as she walked alongside Kiefer, heading back towards the alchemists association.

“Yea. I thought we’d found a substantial lead. They looked like humans but their mana signatures were way out of the usual frequency range that humans had,” Kiefer nodded his head in agreement.

“How is it even feasible in the first place? How do those 2 races even mate?!” Isana asked, trying to come up with simulations within her head.

“Male dwarf and female giant maybe? I mean there is no way a female dwarf would be able to give birth to a half giant baby would she?” Kiefer speculated. “But still, it sure is surprising how many different races this city has. This is the first time I’ve seen a dwarf-giant hybrid. To think they are the size of humans but possess the craftsmanship of dwarves and strength of giants.”

“aww. That poor female giant. It probably didn’t feel anything when they were doing it,” Isana muttered in pity. “Maybe she didn’t even know that they were mating…”

“We’re here. I guess it’s about time we met with this Mempheus person. The receptionist said 4 days but it’s been 7. She must have felt bad that we kept coming back every day, that’s why she sent the messenger to our inn to inform us of his arrival,” Kiefer interrupted Isana’s thoughts.

The moment they stepped through the swinging wooden doors of the association into the lobby, they were immediately greeted by the same receptionist who had attended to them the past week. She led them to some seats and then hastily rushed into the back room to look for the president. Another younger attendant came by shortly and placed 2 cups of tea for both Isana and Kiefer to sip on. After about 10 minutes, the first attendant returned from the back room with a middle aged man.

“He does seem a little off, though the frequency of the mana particles seems to be on the extreme end of what a human should have,” Kiefer whispered, scanning the new man with his mana pulse.

The man was smiling, but almost anyone could tell that it was not genuine. He was not even putting in the effort to make it believable, his brows furrowing as if he would not have come out to meet them if he had any other choice. It was clear that he just wanted to be rid of them as soon as possible.

“Hi, my name is Mempheus, the president of the Alchemists Association. I’ve been informed that you have been waiting for me for the past week. How may I help you?” Mempheus asked while extending his hand forward for a handshake.

“I’m Isana, this is Kiefer, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Isana greeted, shaking his hand firmly.

“We have a problem that we feel only you can help us. Of course, we would appreciate it if you could keep the details confidential. Naturally, we will provide the appropriate recompense for your troubles,” Kiefer explained, taking out a large palm sized skyrite crystal from his bag.

Seeing the size of the crystal, Mempheus’s eyes shone momentarily, before it returned to its original dull glaze. Clearing his throat, he smiled before gesturing for them to move to a private room in the end of the lobby. Locking the door behind him, Mempheus seated himself across the table from Kiefer and Isana, who in his opinion were merely an ordinary elf and human.

“So? What’s this big private issue that you have? If it’s rare potions that you need, I’m sure one of my attendants will be able to help you. I’ll give you the clearance to acquire any potion we have in stock,” Mempheus explained, taking a guess at Kiefer’s request.

“No actually, what we need isn’t potions, but your influence and your connections,” Kiefer explained.

“Oh?” Mempheus pondered. “And what exactly would you need me to do?”

“It is actually quite simple really,” Isana replied, smiling wryly. “We just want you to tell us the names and locations of all the other demon spies within Mayheir city.”

“What?” Mempheus had a brief shocked expression on his face. “What do you mean by demon spies? There are spies in the city?”

“Well. I see you prefer to do this the fun way. In that case,” Kiefer sneered, teleporting right behind Mempheus who did not even have time to stand up. With his hands placed on Mempheus’s shoulders, Kiefer forced Mempheus into his seat, making it impossible for him to stand up. He then leaned in next to Mempheus’s ear and whispered, “Brace yourself, because you are NOT going to enjoy this.”

With that, Mempheus disappeared into thin air as Kifer stored him within his PD. Isana looked at him and asked worriedly, “It’s nice that you trust our daughter’s words without any evidence, but have you considered what you will do if she was wrong?”

“Well, for one thing, we wouldn’t have to do this if your mind control ability could read minds as well. For another, what do you think anybody in this world can actually do to any of us? Just my blackhole ability could devour this planet whole if I will it to.” Kiefer replied, shrugging Isana’s concerns off.

“Hey! It’s not my fault my skill doesn’t work that way,” Isana sulked. “Mind control only controls the target’s body; it doesn’t let me automatically know what the target knows. It’s like playing with a remote control robot... a really life like one.”

“Let’s go shall we?” Kiefer took Isana’s hand gently, before teleporting out of the locked room.

Reappearing on the deck of the supercarrier, Kiefer and Isana prepared to do some vigorous interrogations. Opening his PD once more, he extended his silver mana threads into the blank white space and pulled out Mempheus who had a blank look. Living things experienced time differently in the PD. What was only a brief moment in the real world in fact felt like several years to anyone trapped within. And yet, there was no such concept as time within the PD as everything was trapped in a standstill.

Finally readjusting after several years of solitude, his eyes slowly came back into focus as his mind began to reactivate. Then, he saw the elf and human whose faces he burnt into his memory during the time he spent in solitude. They had not seemed to age one bit.

“So then, I’ll just give you a heads up before you go insane,” Kiefer started, stalking up towards Mempheus who was suspended in the air by his limbs. “What may have felt like an eternity to you is in fact mere seconds in this world. So I can do this as many times as I want, and for as long as I want. You only need to do one thing to end this, and that is to tell me the names of the demon spies within the city.”

Kiefer and Isana waited for Mempheus to answer, observing the middle aged man with greying hair and goatee. However, Mempheus only stared back at Kiefer with absolute resilience, not even twitching his lips a little. Seeing how stubborn this demon was, Kiefer sighed, and controlled his mana threads to pull one of Mempheus’s arms out.

Mempheus winced, but did not speak up nonetheless. Then right before Kiefer’s eyes, the torn off arm disintegrated into a puddle of muk, while a fresh new one grew back, with clothes and all, as if even the clothes were part of his body.

“Well, since you are not going to speak, I’m sure you won’t mind if I conduct a few experiments on you, would you?” Kiefer asked, sneering. Seeing Mempheus keep quiet adamantly, Kiefer shrugged, and began conducting his interrogation.

However, after 2 hours of trying various moves on the hostage, Kiefer could only find out one thing. The demon had frightening regenerative capabilities, even more so than his own or any titan’s he’s seen. If any, it would be comparable to Gondor’s regeneration, except even Gondor required soil and earth to use as a medium of supplementary materials to support his regeneration. This demon however, materialises his body parts from mana. Only in the absence of mana did the limbs not grow back. Aside from that, nothing else seemed to faze him. Burning, freezing, electrocuting, impaling, or even destruction on the cellular level indicated only mild levels of pain for him. He did not have blood and so he could not bleed out. His body seemed to be made of some kind of slimy substance held together by mana.

Kiefer looked to Isana for any more suggestions, but they seemed to be running dry. This demon would not crack regardless of the method of interrogation used. Then, Isana transmitted a telepathic message to Kiefer. Kiefer pondered on it for a while, and then nodded silently. Teleporting back to into the locked room in the alchemist’s association, Kiefer released Mempheus, who seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Then, he disappeared from the room as if he had never been there, leaving Mempheus all alone.

He walked out of the room, straightening his attire, a flash of vengeance blazing in his eyes. He had finally withstood all of the torture that had been performed on him. Had it not been for the fragment of his lord’s soul granting him regenerative powers, he was sure he would have cracked. Quickly making his way out to the lobby, he noticed the attendant who had handled matters with these 2 strangers who had tortured him.

“Riial,” He called out to the attendant who quickly turned to greet him with a low bow. “Tell me everything you know about the elf and human who had arranged a meeting with me earlier.”

“Umm, I’m not too sure of their names, but I do know where they live. They gave me their address so I could inform them when you returned. They had been waiting for a week for your return. This is their address,” she replied, handing Mempheus a slip of parchment with an address scribbled on it.

“I see. Thank you Riial. You may continue with your work. Tell anyone looking for me that I will be busy for the next few days and I will not be entertaining any guests, no matter who they may be,” Mempheus ordered, to which Riial gave a firm nod.

He quickly ascended several flights of stairs, arriving at a conference room located at the top of the building. There, he locked the door behind him and transformed his hand into a slimy rope which flowed into the crevices of the rune engraved inside the table. As the rune activated, the table split down the middle, revealing a single moss green medallion in the shape of a sideways dragon’s head. The details were of the dragon’s head were carved in a purple line to reveal the eyes, jaws, teeth and scales. The most prominent feature though, was the single broken demon’s horn protruding from the side of the dragon’s face.

Picking it up, he activated the medallion, before waiting silently for a response. Waiting for a few minutes, the medallion finally shone brightly, as a deep growl reverberated within his head as a message transmitted through the medallion.

“What is it Mempheus?” the voice asked, transmitting directly to his head, making the room silent as ever to any observers that might have been there.

“General, we’ve been made. I’m not sure how but my cover has been blown,” Mempheus reported.

“Is it that young human girl?” The voice asked.

“No. It’s an elf and another human female. I don’t know how they knew, but they were specifically looking for me. From the looks of it, they only know my identity, the rest are still safe.” (Mempheus)

“You let the girl go. Could she have informed them?” (General)

“No, not possible. They have been waiting for me even before I revealed myself to the girl. They must have known it from other sources. I request your aid in eliminating these threats.” (Mempheus)

“Can’t you handle it yourself? Or even with the other morphlings? This is twice that you have failed at your job Mempheus, you are stretching my patience real thin.” (General)

“No sir. I am absolutely certain I will need your help. The powers your soul fragment gave you would be crucial. I did not get the chance to observe the human female’s abilities, but the elf uses voiceless magic, some kind of restriction spell, and teleportation. Only you can teleport to match up to him. I can lay a trap for him, where I will need your spacial lock rune. I will send someone to monitor him in secret. I’m sure he will be observing me, so I will bait him by arranging a meeting with the other morphlings atop your spacial lock rune. That way with you there, he will not be able to escape via teleportation.” (Mempheus)

“Very well then Mempheus. I will make my way to Mayheir now. But, I will be taking your share of our lord’s soul fragment during the next gifting ceremony as punishment.” (General)

Mempheus quickly stashed the medallion within his palm, letting it sink into his hand as he stored it within the depths of his body. Then, he pinched his left ear lobe off, transforming it into a puddle of goo in his palm before once again transforming it into a small crystalline shard. The shard glowed before he began speaking again, this time aloud instead of in his head.

“Mirillia, Mason, Mina, we might have a problem. I’ll send you the details through the network. We have to catch a few bugs that have gotten entangled in our plans. General Galbot will be joining us as well. We are setting up a trap for these annoying bugs.”