Chapter 223: Naga Interrogation, Gacha Wheel

H’Gael (Naga) POV

H’Gael sat in the cold metal chair.

His scaled arms were bound in place by heavy restraints.

The manacles were tight enough that he could feel the bite of the steel against his skin, and a thick collar sat around his neck.

He knew its purpose.

The moment he tried to draw on mana, it would trigger an alarm loud enough to bring guards rushing in.

It wasn’t just an alarm either. He could feel it suppressing his mana, which made using skills and abilities harder.

He stared at the table in front of him with a dazed expression.

His mind kept drifting back to what had happened.

The battle with the Phantom Voice had nearly cost him and his team their lives, but they had won, even if only barely.

When they escaped the mirror dimension, bloodied but breathing, he thought they had achieved something worth remembering.

Then came the news.

N’theris Serpent—their god, their supposed savior—had awoken.

It had not been salvation their God brought, but annihilation.

Most of his brothers and sisters, those he had sworn to protect, were dead.

They were crushed, burned, and devoured.

N’theris Serpent had been defeated in the end, but by then, the living nagas were captured.

Execution was now only a matter of time.

His head hung low.

The chains rattled faintly as his snake-like hair shifted.

The door opened.

H’Gael looked up, and his expression stiffened.

The woman who stepped in was strikingly beautiful, even by naga standards.

She had an undeniable charm that could make even the wary lower their guard.

But H’Gael’s gaze hardened instead.

He knew exactly who she was.

Catherine Lorraine.

Evil Sword.

Among humans, her name was famous, and not for good reasons.

She was infamous for interrogations so brutal that even other humans avoided speaking about them.

People said she could peel every secret from you, and when she was done, you’d wish she had killed you at the start.

"I suppose you already know my name," she said as she shut the door behind her. "But I’ll still introduce myself. I’m Catherine Lorraine, a Champion rank awakener."

She crossed the room and sat in the chair opposite him.

H’Gael said nothing.

"You look tense. Are you worried about your people?"

His jaw tightened, but he did not let out a single word or reaction.

"If it helps, we’ve managed to save quite a number of nagas."

His head snapped up.

"What...?"

"Our Saintess—you should know we have one—arrived in time. She pulled survivors from what was left of your hideout after the serpent’s rampage. We even retrieved those still alive in its stomach."

H’Gael’s mind reeled.

She had to be lying.

She was trying to bait him into talking, to let something slip.

And yet... the possibility was too big to ignore.

"Are you telling the truth?" he asked slowly.

"I am."

Her answer was simple, without hesitation.

He studied her, searching for the smallest crack in her expression.

She looked sincere.

That only made him more suspicious, and yet he was desperate to believe her.

"Now," Catherine went on, "while we’ve saved them, I can’t guarantee their protection from execution. But I understand your position. You weren’t trying to start a war. You were running for your lives. Your homes were gone, and you had nowhere else to go."

"....You know our homes were destroyed? Did you interrogate the others?"

"I did, but it was nothing excessive. It was mostly a tally of names, occupations, how many were alive, that sort of thing. I don’t torture injured people for basic information."

Her tone was calm, and a matter-of-fact.

She seemed kind.

It didn’t fit the image of the "Evil Sword" he had been hearing about.

"...What do you want?"

"Look below you."

He frowned, then glanced down, and flinched.

A massive magic circle spread across the floor beneath his chair, glowing faintly.

How had he not noticed it until now?

It had been there long before he entered this room, of that he was sure.

But his eyes had simply slid over it, as though it hadn’t existed.

Perception inhibition skill?

A chill ran down his spine.

As a mid-rank species, his stats were high enough to resist such effects, but he hadn’t noticed a thing.

That wasn’t normal.

He looked back at her.

Was this her doing?

....Was she even human?

He was reminded of the fact she had stopped the Sentinel during the Metavore Hive incident.

Everyone had assumed she’d done it with some powerful artifact.

But now... he wasn’t so sure.

"That," Catherine said, "is a magic circle that shields the target from curses."

"...what are you trying to say?"

"I already know your people are cursed. From what I’ve seen, it stops you from revealing information about the spy who was giving you information about us. I want to know who cursed you, who the spy is, and how much you know about them."

He didn’t answer.

"If you tell me," she said evenly, "I’ll guarantee your people’s safety."

His claws dug into his palms. She was asking for something that would kill him if he spoke it aloud. And even if he gave it, there was no promise she’d keep her word.

But...

People were more desperate for hope the worse their situation was.

"Since you know the curse’s goal, you should be able to guess—"

The words choked in his throat as searing agony tore through his chest.

He gasped, clenching the edge of the table. The pain was so intense his vision blurred.

Catherine didn’t move to help.

She only leaned forward.

Her were eyes fixed on him.

Her faint scent reached him. It was sweet, and intoxicating. His mind felt sluggish, his thoughts muddy.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It’s..." His breath came ragged. Blood trickled from his nose. His chest felt like it was being crushed from the inside.

"One of the SSS-rankers?" she asked.

He shook his head weakly, and the pain flared even hotter.

"Then who?"

"That..."

The curse constricted around his heart. His muscles locked, and every beat felt like it might be the last.

Catherine’s tone shifted, almost casually, as though offering him a way out.

"Is it the governor?"

...

Alice POV

Alice stepped out of the teleporter.

The Aeternum University’s stronghold stretched before her.

Normally, getting here from the Sanctum of Masters required clearance and paperwork.

The teleporters between strongholds had been closed due to the battles.

However, the guards had stepped aside without question, and activated the portal at her request.

It wasn’t lost on her what that meant.

Prestige, and influence.

Even among the elite, her words now carried enough weight to bend rules.

Her steps echoed down the corridor as she approached the room Isaac had been assigned.

The door was closed, but she didn’t hesitate to turn the handle and walk in.

Inside, the air shifted almost immediately.

A dark, swirling cloud began to materialize in the center of the room, growing denser until a figure stepped out.

Celia.

Her eyes were red and puffy. The remnants of tears were still visible. Her shoulders drooped, and her gaze stayed fixed on the floor.

There was no energy in her movements, as if the will to stand tall had been drained from her.

Alice shut the door behind her. The soft click broke the silence.

Celia’s head lifted slightly at the sound.

"A-ah... I was looking for Isaac," she said, trying to hold her voice from trembling.

Alice’s eyes lingered on her for a few seconds before shifting toward the bed.

A pendant rested on the blanket. She recognized it instantly.

The Soulbind Pendant.

"He’s inside it," Alice said. "Come with me. He asked me to bring you if I found you here."

Celia blinked, almost as if she wanted to question how living beings could be inside a subspace artifact. But no words came. She simply nodded, still keeping her gaze low.

Alice picked up the pendant, the runes pulsing faintly at her touch, and disappeared in a ripple of light. Celia followed a moment later.

When the world reformed around them, they stood in a warmly lit living room. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and a wide window revealed a darkened sky outside.

Massive shapes moved in the distance. Celia realized they were monsters, but she had no energy to see what exactly they were.

"Oh, you two are here," Isaac said from the sofa. He closed the notebook in his hands and set it aside.

Emily was next to him, a notebook open on her lap, though she wasn’t reading. She was asleep, head resting on Isaac’s lap.

"Emily, wake up. We’ve got some things to do," Isaac said, giving her a light tap on the shoulder.

She stirred slowly, rubbing her eyes before trying to sit up.

Isaac’s gaze flicked to Celia, taking in the sadness etched across her features. He didn’t comment, though. Alice could tell he noticed, just as she was sure he noticed the sharpness in her own stare.

"You two must be exhausted," Isaac said. "Sit down. I’ll get coffee."

"I’ll make it," Alice said with familiar ease before he could stand. She pressed a hand to his shoulder to keep him in place and walked toward the open kitchen.

While she busied herself with the coffee, Emily straightened, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.

"Celia agreed to be my third Subject," Isaac said, knowing Alice and Emily could hear him. "That means I finally have three Subjects. The system gave me a reward for it, and a new quest. I need to gather ten Subjects now."

"Congrats," Emily murmured, giving him a half-asleep hug. "Welcome, Celia."

"Thank you," Celia replied quietly.

From the kitchen, Alice’s voice carried over. "Good for you. You must be pretty happy now."

Isaac resisted the urge to chuckle. There was no mistaking the jab in her tone. She hadn’t even looked at Celia since they arrived.

A few minutes later, Alice returned with a tray and placed cups in front of everyone. Isaac half-expected her to conveniently skip over Celia, but to his pleasant surprise, she set a cup in front of her as well before taking a seat beside her on the opposite sofa.

"So," Alice said, picking up her own cup, "what’s the system reward?"

"Temporary access to the Lord Shop. I can use the Gacha three times."

Alice nodded once. "I see."

"I’ll spin now," Isaac said.

"Good luck," Emily said, leaning over to kiss his cheek before settling back. She didn’t even touch her coffee, clearly determined to drift back to sleep if she could.

"...Good luck," Celia echoed softly.

Isaac opened his profile screen, visible only to him. His gaze moved to the Lord Profile, where the Shop tab pulsed faintly.

The Gacha option was on the top.

The interface displayed a spinning disk, each section marked in different colors.

The largest portion was white: Mortal-grade artifacts.

Even within that, the individual slices varied: weapons, armor, tools, and strange trinkets whose purposes weren’t immediately clear.

The second-largest section was bronze, representing Spirit-grade artifacts.

These were more varied: defensive gear, weapons, auxiliary equipment, cultivation cores, and rare herbs.

Next came the silver sections: Mystic-grade artifacts.

Entire armor sets were visible in some slices, alongside weapons that radiated a sense of power even through the interface.

Gold followed. They were Legendary-grade artifacts.

Here, Isaac noticed something unusual.

A few slices were marked with a DNA strand icon, though he had no idea what they represented.

The rest of the circle was blurred out. Their colors were obscured by question marks.

’It’s probably because I’ve never seen anything above Legendary-grade before,’ Isaac thought. ’The system won’t show what I can’t recognize.’

Of course, he could still get them if his luck blessed him.