His organs felt like they were burning from the inside. Imad Wren gasped for breath, eyes blurring as he looked up at the imposing figure before him.

  “T- t,” he began, but decided not to give away his leader’s identity. “Time won’t favor you. The Auditors will find out you’ve been conducting illegal activities out of their sight.”

  Another flash of pain and Imad retched, blood spattering the worn-out carpet of the empty room him and Nyxandria were now occupying.

  Hands tied behind his back, stripped of his gear, he lay there, sitting on a chair, bloodied and beaten for who knows how long. A few emptied containers lined the corner of the room. A doorway leading upstairs could be seen at the end of the room behind the woman, and Imad wondered if he could find a way to escape.

  “It’s quite simple” Nyx said. “All you have to do is tell me who sent you and why. I’m not asking for much here.” She smiled a devious smile as she grabbed his neck, slowly crushing his windpipe until he strove to gasp for air. Mouth open, she forced his neck to crook upwards, drizzling blackened dust into his mouth again, forcing him to swallow.

  “Now, these things take quite some time to kill, but the agony of it until then is positively indescribable - at least, that was how some of my previous guests described it,” Nyx said.

  Explosive dust, laced with a thin Johrei sheen, combusted within the body at her command, rupturing the organs of her victims until they inevitably die from internal bleeding. Nyx often found new and creative ways to extract information, and though she no longer acted in the capacity of a spy, as she once did for the Valkyries, she still harbored some fondness for the arts of interrogation. The sharp pains this particular method caused were absolutely nightmare-wrenching and in between moments of blacking out, Nyx prepared herself for the next round of questioning.

  “Are you a Division hunter?” she asked. Imad, one eye reddened from blood, marked with bruises across his face and body, spat at Nyx, who casually stood up, wiping herself off. She looked…impressed.

  “Not a hired hand at least. They don’t last very long under interrogation,” she continued.

  “Why don’t you go and – AHHHH!” Imad screamed, cut off from his retort from a Johrei blade stabbed straight into his quadriceps. His legs shook violently from the pain and he gnashed his teeth, holding back groans of extreme pain which surged. In that moment, more explosive shredded through his windpipe causing him to vomit out more blood.

  “Hmm,” Nyx said, thinking. “We’re not getting anywhere like this. I am running on a schedule right now.” She retracted her blade, causing Imad to recoil in pain once more, and tapped the hilt against her chin, contemplative.

  “How about we end this for today,” she said.

  Imad looked up, confused, and partially relieved.

  However, his relief lasted no more than a second with her following words.

  “I don’t think it’s worth keeping you alive. You’ve got three seconds or I’ll decide to end things here between us. I’ve other methods of finding out what I need, and a no-name hunter like you isn’t worth any more of my valuable time,” she added.

  “I- you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, or who you’re dealing with!” Imad began to state angrily, teeth bleeding and throat hoarse from the internal damage.

  “One,” Nyx began.

  “Who do you think you are? If you had any idea of what’s going on out there in the city, you’d be on our side!” Imad’s nonsense didn’t register with Nyx as she continued counting.

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  “Two.”

  Imad began to panic inside. Yora should have been wary of his missing status by now. Each member of the Revenant’s Forge was forced to install a tracker within the surface of their skin. Imad could still feel his within his body and had been broadcasting his location for who knows how long now.

  “You’ll be marked for killing a fellow hunter without authorization. The Auditors will find you!” he rambled.

  “Three,” Nyx said, and began to extend her Johrei blade. Right as she was about to swing, Imad yelled.

  “Wait! I am a Division hunter!” he said. Nyx stopped short, waiting for the next part, but didn’t loosen her grip on her blade. Imad could only buy a minute at most like this.

  Damn it, Yora. Where the hell are you?, he thought, as he frantically sought for a way out of this.

  He didn’t let this woman know more than she needed. A Division Hunter could mean any of the groups, and he wasn’t willing to share his at any cost. However, he needed to keep her guessing.

  “Which one?” Nyx asked, voice as cold as ice.

  “The P-Paladins!” he said. “I was sent here to enforce order within the district by one of the captain of the guards within Taysa’s circle!”

  Nyx smiled.

  “Now we’re making progress,” she said gently. “At first, I thought you were going to die with your secrets.”

  Imad, looked at her, and didn’t relax his shoulders until he saw her put her arm down, withdrawing her blade.

  “But I’m glad you’re contributing some actual information this time around,” Nyx said. “I’ve learned-” Nyx began, leaning a little bit closer. Her crow’s feet were mildly visible under the dim lighting of the room as she closed in.

  “-how bad of a fuckin’ liar you are,” and then grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up ever so slightly.

  “You did tell me a truth, so in fairness, I’ll let you know one of my own,” she began, as Imad struggled to breathe, shaking fruitlessly in an attempt to escape her clutches.

  “Every person has a tell. Habitual hand gestures, shuddering mouth movements, the tapping of a foot, or in your case,” Nyx said, “a slight aversion of gaze. Each time you’ve lied. And I think I’ve just about had it with you.”

  Nyx dragged Imad by his throat, who writhed in agony. He didn’t understand how she was this strong.

  She slammed his face against the wall of the building, breaking his nose. He barely maintained consciousness, still tied onto his seat. Perhaps, this was for the better. For the sake of keeping this woman from knowing about his boss, he would have to endure this. Despite her threats, she hadn’t killed him off yet, which meant she really did need information. If it was him, she would’ve died by now, which means he still had an advantage.

  She turned him towards her again, holding his gaze in hers. Teeth broken, and face swollen and bloodied from the beating, he just smiled at her, noticing the ping of a familiar presence closing in on their location.

  Nyx noticed him smiling and anger flared up momentarily within. However, she kept it down. She knew she would come out on top soon.

  Right as she began to go in for a second round, an explosion rung out upstairs. It shook the room, causing the light dangling above to flicker repeatedly. Imad noticed the ping disappear, and before he could wonder at what happened, the body of his crewmate Yora, slid down the stairs face first, one leg completely gone, face planted on the floor unconscious.

  Imad’s eyes widened in terror.

  “Well, that’s a shame,” Nyx said, as she gazed quickly at the still body of Yora. “I had hoped to ask your buddy there as well.” She threw him back onto the chair, and he slumped forward, unable to move due to pain and exhaustion.

  “Now then…where were we?”

  And the day hadn’t ended before Nyx found what she was looking for. Though Imad never mentioned the head of his group, a slow narrowing of options, a bit of verbal manipulation through leading questions, and Nyx’s read on him narrowed down the options to just one.

  Yet, no matter how much she pressed, no matter how much pain she inflicted, the man named Imad Wren would not tell her where the Trepidor brothers were, vehemently denying his involvement with that group, until the pain overwhelmed him, and he slumped in his chair, stilled.

  Glaring at his lifeless body, Nyx admitted a bit of respect for this hunter. Never gave her any solid answers, fighting her on every front until the bitter end. Though she received no direct confirmation of her suspicions, her suspicions had, historically speaking, never been off the mark. The initial flinch by her hostage when she mentioned the Revenant’s Forge earlier was almost enough to ensure her that was the group he was part of…almost. Though he never flinched afterwards, Nyx was sure of his involvement. It’s a shame he died before she could get more out of him.

  However, this isn’t a total loss, Nyx thought, as she turned to see the still unconscious and bleeding body of the other man at the edge of the stairwell.

  There was another way to confirm her information. Maybe she’ll try a different approach this time around.