271 The Restrained June
Lucius arrived in the laboratory at the re-education center, having left Kiana behind to perform the interrogation by himself.
While he could have made her accompany him to observe the event, increase her exposure to what ‘Asher’ was actually doing, the truth was that she had already seen him torture the prisoners and do other gruesome things.
There was no tangible benefit to having her around for this too.
Kiana was not really necessary for this occasion and thus he opted to leave her behind.
Lucius walked in to see June currently restrained on one of the tables and she was still knocked out.
One of the reasons why he chose to prioritize the interrogation immediately was to ensure that June remained unconscious when he arrived.
It had given him the time to consider his options.
Lucius also preferred to be on top of things, not wanting to let work pile up on him when it was possible for it to be accomplished immediately.
He glanced at the corner of the room. The Lost were currently standing in their places near the walls, and yet they were also ready to perform any of his orders at a moment’s notice.
Despite their lowered intelligence, all of them had carried out the tasks that he instructed them to do as long as Lucius was specific.
It was how June was brought here without any hitches.
Lucius glanced at the available tools for him inside the laboratory. If he wanted to, he could easily perform a multitude of torture methods to get the answers that he wanted.
There were a great number of Barrom Clan members who highly enjoyed the chance to inflict pain on other individuals, especially servants which made him quite familiar with such things.
Lucius could easily match their methods or even exceed them, but he knew that wasn’t the only way.
“Some individuals might still be able to lie in spite of torture or refuse to speak up depending on their willpower.” Lucius muttered.
He glanced once again at June unconscious at the table and took notice of her broken wrist. Lucius already applied a certain measure of pain but June still managed to hold back on giving him the information he wanted.
“The cruelty of such methods does not necessarily equate to their effectiveness.” Lucius acknowledged with a thoughtful look.
A number of the Barrom Clan members were predisposed to torture methods due to their innate sadism, but that didn’t mean that was the best option utilized by the experts within the clan.
Lucius slightly hummed and considered June’s condition once more.
“It’s a fortunate matter that I do not have to worry about any anti-interrogative spells used on her if she reveals anything useful, I see no possible equivalents except for an exceedingly expensive and rare artifact, and even that is a bit unlikely.”
In the past, there were mages who could place useful spells in order to keep information from being spread.
If a person was ever captured and interrogated, they would either bite their tongue off and die or even find themselves only able to speak lies to spread disinformation.
However, that was not what Lucius was concerned about now. In his case, there was no one he was worried about revealing his secrets.
The Mark of Obedience could instantly kill the individuals serving him in question if he triggered it, and it was something that Lucius might have used if the Church of Duran was to investigate the methods used in the re-education center and he wished to prevent any leaks.
Or say, Neta if he were to prove a liability to be left alive.
“Thinking of the Mark of Obedience, the answer is quite obvious now. A spell is the best method to get the answers that I want.” Lucius said.
It wasn’t visible on his physical body now, but Lucius felt the power of the Necklace of the Damed on his soul space.
There was no doubt that this soul artifact had greatly increased his capacity for spells. And so that was the method that he would be going with.
“The only question now is what spell should I use?” Lucius rubbed his chin and considered his options.
Out of all the spells that were in his knowledge, Lucius was highly inclined to use an enslaving or absolute truth spell as they were foolproof methods for getting the answers that he wanted.
Unfortunately for Lucius, they were too difficult for him as of right now. Even with Necklace of the Damned, that did not change the exorbitant amount of effort still needed to be exerted in creating spell matrices.
Something along the lines of the Mark of Obedience already took him a while to create and it was one of the simpler spells that he knew when it came to controlling someone.
If Lucius were to attempt to create a spell for enslavement that performed everything accordingly, it would be too strenuous for him and the chance for error and repetition was too much.
The same went for the absolute truth spell.
“A shame, since the Lingering Mark is actually quite a useful gift. I could have made use of it if I were to enslave her.” Lucius said to himself.
If he had that gift in his hands, the applications for it were endless. But Lucius chose to put that thought away for now and considered his other options.
It only took him a minute or two to come to a decision.
“Hmmm… I suppose this would do for now.” Lucius nodded to himself. He then went for one of the chairs available in the laboratory and sat down to meditate.
Lucius closed his eyes and focused on constructing the spell matrix.
The spell in question had a high consumption rate. It demanded a lot from its user but in the hands of an experienced caster, its flexibility was remarkable.
It would be useful for him in this situation and in several more to come. Lucius worked on creating the special spell from his past life, the Veil of Terror.