The Mystery Thickens

I drove my sword into his stomach again, but I got no reaction from him. Is this man immune to pain?

"You know what? I'm tired of doing all the work."

He had lost both arms, his left eye, a leg, and had a gaping hole in his stomach, but his expression didn't change. If I hadn't been the one inflicting these wounds, I would have thought it was just a trick to fool the audience.

At this rate, he would die from the hemorrhage without me getting any response from him.

It's true that I managed to get a few words out of him, but I hadn't learned anything.

He keeps repeating that it's everyone's right to fight for humanity, and when I asked him about their dealings with the Calamities, he called me a traitor to the emperor and a dog of the Calamities.

If this conversation keeps going like this, either he'll die before I get any information, or I'll go completely mad.

I have no choice, I need to take drastic measures.

Pupil movement, muscle contractions, breathing patterns... During a conversation, you can gather information from someone without them saying a word. There are also a few people who can hide these signs, or professionals who intentionally leave clues to mislead others. I had a hobby during my childhood of reading people. As I grew, I elevated this skill to an art. I could even predict my opponent's next move in chess just from the movement of their pupils.

But this man... I have to admit, he's a rare specimen. He showed almost no reaction to everything I did to him, or rather, none at all. Well, no response is a response in itself. That's not an insurmountable obstacle. From there, I could already form a few hypotheses... and it was time to check them.

The first thought that came to mind was that it might be due to his resonance, that he was immune to pain, but after reviewing our fight, I had to dismiss that hypothesis.

"You must be wondering why I keep going in circles when it wouldn't lead anywhere."

"The answer is simple: I always get what I want, no matter how long it takes."

"Now, it's my turn to ask you a question."

"Why would Executors work for the Calamities?"

I looked him straight in the eyes, but he didn't budge.

"You have the right not to answer me, so I'll take your right leg in exchange."

I raised the Claymore above his leg.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything?"

Silence. Well, it's his choice.

With a flick of my hand, the sword severed his leg, but he showed no reaction.

Well, the second hypothesis seems correct.

I remembered that when I first asked him about why he was working with the Calamities, I had deduced from his eyes that he was surprised I knew about it, and that he had joined the Calamities. That was a clear enough admission.

But the anomaly began when he realized I knew about their plot but still didn't know their goal. To stop me from learning more, he had cut off all his sensory receptors, as if he had pressed an off button.

I deduced that he was either a cautious man or simply refusing to underestimate me.

That contradicts what I had deduced about his personality, because if he could silence his body so well, he couldn't quite shut his mouth properly. His speech, denying his involvement and calling me a dog of the Calamities, was so fervent that it was impossible to deny his deep disgust at the thought of a human working for a Calamity.

I wondered if it was an act, but again, I couldn't detect any attempt to lie in his tone.

That's when it all became clear. It's not that he's trying to hide something... He's simply unaware of it. From the beginning, he's been under someone else's control.

I paused to adjust what I was about to do, then added lightly:

"I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I would have liked to continue, but a graveyard isn't the best place for a conversation."

"Oh, I almost forgot…" I said with a smile.

"What you tried so hard to hide, I've figured it out. If you hadn't worked so hard to conceal it, maybe I would have never known and would have killed this poor man without realizing the trick."

I paused for dramatic effect; of course, I wasn't going to let that go after all this work.

I looked him directly in the eyes, but he showed no reaction I could interpret.

"You can pretend not to understand, I'll just talk to myself."

"The Enforcer you made me fight has been under your control since the beginning, or more precisely, you control his five senses, and the poor man doesn't even realize that everything he sees, hears, and feels is dictated by you."

"I congratulate you, I had the hardest time figuring that out."

"But there are still two questions I haven't been able to answer. Who are you, or what are you?"

"Unfortunately, I fear our paths can't cross anytime soon. I hope one day we can meet in person and have a... let's say civilized conversation."

"And my second question, how do you control his senses without him noticing, and I have a theory I'd like to know your thoughts on."

If it was before my awakening, I might not have had any way, but...

"Recently, I've been experimenting with new things, and I want to share my discoveries with you. After all, I don't like to be ungrateful."

I placed my hand on his face.

"Néphélê."

My ring disappeared, and a mist enveloped us. Maybe he expected me to decapitate him... But before that, I needed to check something.

I ordered the smoke to seep through his nose and head toward his brain.

During our fight, I had gotten a better grasp of what this ring and this white substance were, and I discovered it was linked to my soul. So when it transformed into mist, I could see what was happening inside or, more precisely, everything it came into contact with.

As soon as the smoke reached his brain, he screamed in pain for the first time, as if only now did he realize the extent of his injuries.

Well, the poor man had been unaware of it from the start. If he keeps screaming like this, he might die of a heart attack before...

Boom, his head just exploded. I suppose it was a mechanism put in place by whoever controlled him.

But it's too late now. I've managed to identify an abnormal movement inside his brain before it exploded.

I make the smoke disappear to materialize a scalpel.

I hate doing this, but I have no other choice.