Novel Full Chapter 821: 821: Interrogation
Chapter 821: Chapter 821: Interrogation
The interrogation chamber in Kain’s HQ was a fortress of cold steel and humming energy, its walls etched with containment sigils, drawn by Kain himself —his ability to draw sigils has improved by leaps and bounds since developing the Pangea Awakening Ceremony. And given the secrecy of the HQ, Kain wasn’t comfortable inviting another individual inside to carve the sigils for him.
Moreover, as he was drawing the sigils, he was able to infuse a trace amount of Source power, something that only he could do, which seemed to make the effects of the sigils far stronger than usual.
Currently the sigils around the cell pulsed with a faint, purplish glow, casting jagged shadows across the floor and thrumming with an intense energy.
The 5-star enchanted rope binding her wrists and ankles shimmered with runes, suppressing her spiritual energy, yet her posture remained relaxed, as if awaiting a pleasant chat.
Her violet eyes locked onto Kain’s, who was the only one to enter the room with her, the others on the other side of the reinforced glass, her smile calm and calculated, a mirror of the heartless manipulator from Gabriel’s memories.
Her fingers danced lightly over the rope’s runes, a subtle challenge in her touch, as if she could unravel their power with a thought, her every gesture radiating a confidence that seemed to mock the cell’s defenses. For good measure, Kain summoned Aegis, and left him outside of the cell with the others, and Bea, but keeping her close to himself, in case Airalai tried anything.
“Ask your questions, brother,” she said, voice smooth as polished stone. “I’m an open book.”
Kain stood rigid, his aura chilling the room. “Although I am curious about the Black Dawn and your true purpose for coming here and barging back into our lives, I am more curious about the abyss— I want everything that you know about it.”
Airalai leaned forward, her expression eager, almost luminous, as if unveiling a sacred truth she believed would sway Kain to her side, her eyes glinting with a fervor that bordered on zealotry. “I’m just the person to ask! The Black Dawn has studied the abyss for years. We predicted its return long ago, but our tools finally confirmed that it would be returning 15 days after the winter solstice, twelve years ago. Prophetic visions by those in the Black Dawn with suitable gifts warned of mankind’s fall if we didn’t act.”
Kain’s mind reeled, his face a blank mask. 15 days after the winter solstice twelve years ago. ‘Ha, funny… that’s when I woke up in this body, reborn as an eight-year-old.’ The coincidence bothered him a bit, but he didn’t want to think much of it. Yet the timing gnawed at his core, a splinter in his mind, hinting at a connection he wasn’t ready to face, a thread tying his existence to something horrible.
He kept silent, urging her on with a curt nod.
“The signal was faint at first,” Airalai continued, “barely detectable, but out of caution the Black Dawn began to increase the scale of their operation: expanding recruitment, increasing the number of experiments performed, having more members travel the continent and abroad to look for hints of any invading Abyssals on the planet. Then, two years ago, during Starclear Week the signal exploded! It was as if the Abyss, which had been barely detectable, began sprinting toward our world, accelerating with each passing day.”
Starclear Week was when the sky turned impossibly clear, the stars burning so brightly they could even be faintly seen in daylight. During this time, the star-attribute spiritual power that the Celestial Empire relied upon for cultivation was at its peak. That is why the beast-tamer awakening ceremonies conducted for high school seniors across the Empire were always scheduled then—though never officially confirmed, most believed it slightly increased the odds of awakening. Even a 1% or even 0.1% boost, multiplied across tens of thousands of students each year, meant a staggering difference in the number of beast-tamers over generations for the Empire.
Kain’s eye twitched, his thoughts racing. Starclear Week two years ago… ‘Another coincidence. That’s when I awakened as a beast-tamer.’
‘But as I always like to say: Twice is a coincidence. Thrice is a pattern… No need to read too much into it yet.’
But despite reassuring himself, his eye wouldn’t stop twitching. Did the coincidences really just stop at 2?
Kain thought again and finally recalled something else. The Brightstar City Historical Relic Mission with the other Order members, where they needed to prevent an Abyssal invasion.
Another thread weaved into place. During that mission, his contracts—Bea, Aegis, and the others—had shown uncanny resilience to Abyssal corruption. Where other contracts were corrupted and controlled by the Abyss, they adapted, almost like an immune system against the Abyss.
Back then in the mission, Aegis got contaminated with Abyssal energy and Kain had thought all had been lost. But Aegis had resisted the corruption in a way no one thought possible. His stone body had split with fissures venting black smoke as he fought the Abyssal energy, his eyes flickering between crimson and sandy-yellow as he wrestled internally. Instead of succumbing, he adapted—his form evolving into something new.
He even developed an additional Abyssal secondary-attribute at that time (something Kain didn’t know was possible for non-Abyssal creatures) and learned skills due to the absorbed Abyssal energy: the SS-Abyssal Layered Defense (which later became the X-Abyssal Foundation) which strengthened his defense and let him absorb and neutralize abyssal energy to strengthen himself. He also developed the S-ranked skill ‘Abyssal Suppression: Aegis emits a natural suppression effect against abyssal entities.’
Bea, too. Although she didn’t develop an Abyssal attribute like Aegis, Bea also learned a skill targeted at defeating the Abyssal creatures:
SS-Abyssal Subjugation which allowed Bea to bypass the mental defenses of Abyssals and corrupted creatures, dulling their connection to the “Great Mother” and redirecting their allegiance to Bea instead. Although this skill was only effective on Abyssals of equal or lower level.