After a few minutes of constant attacks from Milo and Roger, the hideout of the angelfish clan was pretty damaged, only then Daimon nodded at Marlene who gave the order to the two elders.
"Detonate it now".
Miriam and Laura had prepared for this since the moment they were betrayed by Lora, but at the moment of truth it would be a lie to say they didn't feel reluctant to blow up the place where they have lived all their lives.
Still, they had a duty to fulfill and also, they had to honor the sacrifice of their late friend, so they didn't allow themselves to be lost for too much time, they both took out scrolls of different colors.
Miriam had two while Laura only had one, the reason is pretty simple, Miriam took the one from the dead elder Tara, after opening them they made slight cuts on their palms and placed them on the papers.
Only three elders were needed to self-destruct the hideout, and Miriam who was Tara's best friend had the authority to replace her, so she activated her scroll, they could have used Lora's, but they no longer considered her a member of the angelfish clan.
The hideout started trembling and then it crumbled apart, the surface of the sea waved as the underwater cave to which the entrance led, collapsed, in a matter of seconds, the place a whole clan called home, no longer existed and the sadness was obvious on the eyes of the young girls.
Thea tapped the end of her spear on the ground and a portal appeared behind of them, the other side showed a glorious silver-like city which was clearly floating on the sky.
Marlene knew her friend was trying to cheer up her clan members, so she smiled at the Black Empress before she spoke to her clan.
"Let's go to our new home", the young girls followed Marlene and the two elders though the portal, only then Daimon and the others crossed, including Aurora who had a white light cage floating next to her.
Each captive was tightly restrained by light chains, and most were heavily wounded.
Once they reached the other side, everyone appeared on the outer ring of the Flying Citadel, surprisingly, even Thea couldn't bypass the barrier around the inner ring, without Aurora's permission of course.
The young girls of Marlene's clan were eager to run to the border of the Citadel to look at the sky, even if it was night, they Citadel was floating above the clouds so the sky was clear for them, but before that according to what Marlene had agreed, with Thea's help, all the young girls and the two remaining elders signed a contract to join the alliance.
Marlene and the two elders were relieved to see that none of the girls refused, and none got backslash, meaning that none had any traitorous intentions, Marlene knew that Daimon wasn't going to let any traitor live, so she was relieved that Lora didn't manage to corrupt any of the others, her clan was already small, so every loss made them closer to go extinct.
With that sorted out the young girls were allowed to explore the nearby area as the pleased, it was a way to help them get distracted and cheer up after what they went through.
"Besides these two, bring the new guests to their cells", said Daimon to Remi as he pointed at Milo and Lora, the black robed guy as well as the Nethereal and those related to them, will be kept in the prison, because their interrogation will be more "sensible".
But these two had a blood debt to pay to the angelfish clan, so they will be interrogated in the presence of Marlene and the two elders, out of respect.
Naturally Aurora didn't want to bring any violence into the inner ring of the Citadel, so she guided everyone to one of the many open areas on the outer ring, a small amphitheater, the two captives were forced to kneel on the center, while Daimon and the others sat on the first row of seats.
"I'm not trying to offed you, ladies, but I'm also not going to lie, things will get bloody here, so if you want to leave, now is the moment", said Daimon to the Risha sisters and the princesses, while he dodged to the side, avoiding Sarah who jumped at him from behind, making her fall gracelessly on the ground of the amphitheater.
The crazy girl was scolded by her mother and then she returned to her seat, those two directed Black Wave in secret, so Daimon didn't bother to include them into consideration, besides Sarah didn't seem like the type of girl that will pale over a bloody scene, in fact she might be delighted by it.
Seeing that the sisters and the others had determined expressions on their pretty faces, Daimon shrugged, while Aisha inwardly giggled.
'They are stronger than what you think darling, even if they don't enjoy killing, they have all gone through that test already', she said through the mental connection.
Daimon didn't answer, being strong doesn't mean one has to enjoy carnage, but there is a difference between killing for fun and killing for self-protection, Daimon might not be a saint, in fact he has never pitied or felt bad towards his enemies, but he doesn't kill on a whim.
Even when he was torturing Roger, he didn't even flinch despite how much the guy begged, cried and cursed, but that doesn't mean he found joy in doing it, it was just something he needed to do, and so he did, it is as simple as that.
The only one he really wanted to rip to shreds and was unsure whether he will enjoy it or not, was Victor and his father, but that is a mental battle Daimon will have to face in the future, so leaving that aside he directly gazed at Milo.
"Miss Thea, can you do the honors, please".
"Mm", the Black Empress nodded, her right pupil turned blood red as she used her ability, and then a smile formed on her pretty face.
"I can see it; besides the useless contracts he has signed in his pathetic life, there is a loyalty curse, and is pretty recent too", she proudly said.
Roger benefitted not only Aurora but also the Empress, as they both learned a couple of things thanks to his "contributions".
"Aghhhh!", Milo's face became red, veins bulged on his neck and then he spat a mouthful of blood, as Thea erased the curse which Marcus had placed on him.
The reaction was quite violent, but it wasn't that bad considering Thea just modified her eye spell recently, and still needed some adjustments and corrections.
Once Thea nodded indicating Daimon that she had finished her job, the interrogation started, and the first question was made by Daimon of course.
"So, why is a member of the angelfish clan working for that idiot, tell me everything you know", casually said Daimon, which made Miriam and Laura look at Daimon in disbelief.
Marlene was also surprised, but she had this weird familiar sensation coming from Milo, which she couldn't understand until now.
But they weren't the only surprised ones, Milo himself was in awe, no one besides his now dead ancestors and the Lord they had been waiting for countless generations, knew their secret, so how come this masked silver haired youth knew it, he wondered.
For a moment he thought of keeping his mouth shut, if the enemy wanted the information he had, then he will be kept alive, so it was a good way to save himself, that's what he thought until he suddenly felt a horrible pain coming from his abdomen.
Milo looked downwards just to she a thin line of white light piercing his abdomen, a millisecond later, his mouth forcefully opened as a pained scream escaped from it.
"Aghhhh!", Olivia was the one watching over them, since Remi was busy accommodating the new prisoners, naturally this would have been Horals's job, but the bone general wasn't here for the time being.
"I made a professional assassin beg for his life in less than five minutes, I wonder how much will a former farmer like you will endure", carelessly said Daimon, as if he wasn't talking about torturing someone.
Not even a minute later, Milo who was already crying shouted.
"I-I will talk, make it stop, please!", the torture wasn't exactly bloody, Daimon just left a thin line of Demon Light enter Milo's body and then waited, he still needed the guy to be sane to answer after all.
And earlier after the few movements Milo exchanged with Thea, Daimon concluded that the guy sucked at battle, he only had a high realm but zero battle experience and zero technique, that combined with the fact that Daimon could feel Marcus system's aura coming from him, made Daimon realize this Milo guy was probably one of the "advantages" that was prepared for him in Neptune, but things didn't go as planned, probably because he interfered with Adam's mission, which triggered a ripple effect that affected Marcus too.
The girls didn't seem to be too impacted by the previous torture session, of course Daimon made it "lighter" and easier to watch, besides them, the two elders were surprised to see a Stellar ranked, a being which they could only admire from afar, beg for mercy so quick.
And the words of the masked youth had an even bigger impact, as he mentioned that this Stellar rank, was a farmer, why would someone that has reached such a high realm do such mundane things they wondered.
Even early stage Stellars were respected and feared, there might be many stuck at the early stage, but there are even more stuck at the mortal realms, so entering the Stellar realms isn't a small achievement as they are the pillar of a family or force.
Milo felt humiliated, he thought that after the person which his family has been waiting for countless generations arrived, he will no longer have to be reminded of his shameful past, but he was forced to speak about it, still the cold glare of the silver haired masked youth made him grit his teeth as he spoke.
"Like that woman, I'm from the royal branch of the angelfish clan, but while she belongs to the Queen branch, I'm from the King Branch", he said as he gazed at Marlene.
Daimon had pretty much already guessed it, but Marlene and the two elders were lost for a couple of seconds, the first one to react was Miriam.
"Nonsense, in the records of our clan there have never been males born, if the baby is a girl, it will be a member of the angelfish clan, if the baby is a boy, then it will belong to the race of the father, that's an iron set rule!", the Bellus elder was a bit agitated as her voice suggested.
"He comes from a different angelfish clan, one that is probably the opposite of yours", Daimon casually said, which made Miriam fell in contemplation, while Milo was terrified.
'Just who is this guy, how can he know so much about us!', he inwardly screamed, of course it's not like Daimon actually knew Milo's backstory, but he knows Marcus is a system user, so it's not hard to more or less guess what's going on.
Feeling the threatening gaze of Daimon, Milo came out of his daze to continue with his story.
"Y-Yes, was purely conformed by men, whenever a baby was born a girl, then it would not be a part of our clan, however unlike you all we couldn't get stronger… well, we could meditate and even advance but we'll only extend our lifespan without being able to exert our power at all, so we lived as farmers in one of the many mobile islands".
"If you lived through similar situations as us, then why did you attack us, why not try to enter into contact with us instead?", asked the elder Laura, which made Milo snort.
"You are descendants of a traitor, and the promise passed down by our ancestor is to either enslave you or eliminate you on the spot, unfortunately we couldn't leave the mobile island in which we lived for that same promise, so we never even had the chance to see you all, that being said we did get to hear about that woman", poisonously answered Milo as he glared at Marlene, just to be kicked by Olivia, so that he "behaved".
The two elders and Marlene frowned, their history records start after with them living in the Clear Water kingdom, after the special trait of that member of the royal branch was discovered by the king of that time, they fled because the nobles coveted them and were planning to enslave them all.
Also, there was another thing that didn't make sense for them, why were Milo and his family unable to exert their powers, while they could, certainly it was incredibly hard for them to advance, but they weren't completely powerless, but weak in comparison to other forces, with Marlene being their ultimate genius as she managed to break into the Stellar realms, something that no one in their history records achieved before.
"Why were you unable to use your powers, why were they different in that sense to your clan", asked Daimon, his biggest doubt will be solved after he hears the answer to that.
Milo gritted his teeth as he glared at Marlene.
"Because it was her branch the one that betrayed our master, so as long as there exists someone with that damn lineage alive, you won't be restrained by that… but don't be quick to celebrate, you probably know it by now, but in exchange your lifespan is limited and if you have offspring you'll die not too long after, that is the punishment you deserve, while we can continue living and expanding until our lifespan ends", said Milo with sufficiency.
Miriam and Laura clenched their fists, what Milo said was true, and that is why there aren't any "old" members of the angelfish clan, their lifespan rounds around three to eight hundred years, which might sound like much, but compared to others is like a tenth of what normally a Lord or Arch rank will live, especially because as descendants of magic beasts, their lives are naturally longer than humans.
Marlene is around two hundred something years old, while Miriam triples that and Laura more or less double that, the four elders are the ones that are born the last from the previous generation, traditionally they are the daughters of the previous elders, while their generation peers have offspring at the "safe" age of below three hundred years, the elders wait until they feel their death approaching.
The mothers of most children live to see their daughters first dozen of years, and then die, but the elders act as their foster mothers, raising them as theirs, sometimes the chain breaks and one elder dies before leaving behind a replacement, the task is then passed down to another member of their branch.
Miriam sighed, she has outlived most of the previous elders, but she could feel death approaching her at this point, she hasn't had the opportunity to mention it to Marlene, but right now it wasn't the time for that.
"Then how come you are able to exert your power now, if you are restrained by that promise or whatever?", asked Miriam which made Milo sinisterly smile in response.
"Because the Lord is back, even if there are very few surviving members of my family, they are all Stellar ranks, and my great grandfather is a high stage, the Lord has started to release our limitations, so even if I die you will all be eliminated later, that's what you deserve for… aghhhh!".
Before he could finish his sentence, Daimon shot a white line of light from his index finger, piercing Milo's right leg.
"You are getting carried away, limit to answer what is asked to you", said Daimon, which made Milo curse in his heart.
'You can bully me all you want, but even that Maximum ranked won't be able to save you, once the Lord comes!', he thought.
Daimon could tell what Milo was thinking and he smirked before saying.
"Let me guess, you believe that Marcus will easily kill me once he finds out about your demise… what a shame, he already lost to me and it was in a 2v1 situation, so you can forget about the illusion of being rescued or avenged".
Milo's face paled, the Lord mentioned that no one in Neptune knew his name, besides his subordinates, and that meant this masked guy wasn't a native of Neptune, in other words, he came from the same place as his Lord.
"Y-You, who the hell are you!!!", shouted Milo, Marcus naturally gave his subordinates a description of Adam, the only opponent that is "worthy" in his eyes, and Daimon clearly didn't match with that, so he isn't the one Marcus told them to be wary off.
Daimon had no interest on answering the questions of someone that was going to die, so his answer was another question.
"What did he sent you to do, I want to hear the same specific words that idiot said, you'll lose a finger for each letter that is incorrect so, don't try to play any games".
Milo was terrified, he knew that if he answered such a specific question, he will be for sure betraying his Lord past the point of return, but if he didn't, he knew the masked guy wasn't joking, ultimately, he was too afraid of pain so he obediently answered.
"I was tasked with capturing as much members of the traitor clan as possible, I could keep the ones I wanted as long as I could lure out that woman, who our Lord wanted to kill personally", he said referring to Marlene.
Daimon nodded, that was everything he needed to know, so he laid back against his seat and let Marlene and the two elders do the questions they wanted, because this regarded the history of their clan.
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