Chapter 258: Torture/interrogation.
"Of course it did..." Layla replied as she grabbed the following Jade.
Her Shadow Domain slowly faded away until they were exposed to the outside world.
Chloe sighed in relief after the domain came down. It seems she had worried too much. She thought they were going to witness an intense battle. A battle that would likely flatten the ruins of the NL Base.
But that wasn't the case. It seemed that a berserk Jade couldn't do anything to Layla. At the very least not when there was a domain involved. Especially Layla's broken domain which had the "Omnipresence" capability.
One would think everyone would have that skill when they deploy their domain, right? Unfortunately, no, the world was just unfair like that. Just like how only Emily can resurrect from the dead when they can all die as well as she can...
"Aww! I was expecting way more than that!" Hope's loud complaint forced Chloe out of her thoughts.
And before she knew it. Her hand moved on its own and smacked Hope lightly on the back of her head. She just couldn't help it. What was wrong with the little girl? When did she become so belligerent? Wasn't she like the sweetest child one they met??
"Hey! Do you want to go also?!... Wait. Forget I said anything" Hope shouted angrily after being hit suddenly. She was ready to fight it out on the spot.
However, she immediately remembered the time she almost died under Berserk Chloe's hand. She immediately backed out after that. If there was a person she never wanted to fight, it was Chloe.
Even though she was currently stronger than Chloe and would definitely win the fight. She was still psychologically afraid of Chloe. It was the first time she had brushed so close with death, after all.
"You still haven't gotten over that? You're literally the one who made me go crazy that time!" Chloe who immediately understood what Hope was thinking about spoke as she rolled her eyes.
She felt that it was unfair for Hope to be scared of her when everything that happened was her fault.
"Cough. Cough. Whatever do you mean? I'm going to help Layla with Jade" Hope replied in an embarrassed tone. She then ran toward Layla. She was too embarrassed to stand with Chloe who caught her red-handed.
Chloe just rolled her eyes again as she let her go. She remained to guard the captives...
....
A while later...
It didn't take long for Jade to wake up. She was a Rank Three, after all. And Layla's attack hadn't actually done that much damage. It was to be expected as Layla wasn't a physical-type Evolver.
"Thanks for that punch. I really needed it. To think I'd actually question myself like that..." Jade who had regained control of herself thanked Layla.
The ordeal wasn't actually a negative experience for her. It gave her clarity. That clarity was that just because her choice was best for her and optimised her growth. It didn't mean the others would be left behind. She needed to stop subconsciously viewing herself as superior to them now.
At the end of the day, their classes were all at the same level. No one was more special than the other. It was just that their abilities were suitable for different environments.
It's something she had just been too proud to see when Hope displayed her strength. She brushed it off as Hope having sneaky abilities.
But Layla opened her eyes.
Another thing she realised was that she shouldn't question her path. While what Emily said to her before was somewhat true, it didn't mean that Jade's decision was completely wrong. She had the strength to show for it, after all. Which was why Emily had given up on dragging her home.
"Ahn. Can we move on to the captives now?" Layla replied. She only made an acknowledging sound after Jade spoke then shifted her focus to the captives.
"... And again I'm reminded why we could never get close... Well, whatever. Let's do what you want then. So, who's going to torture them? Are we doing rock-paper-scissors?" Jade who was a lot more stable now. Didn't mind being brushed off by Layla.
She also focused on the captives. The more she spoke, the more excited she became. She really wanted to be the one to make them talk.
"Well, since you're so eager to do it. Go ahead. I'll go after you if you fail" Hope spoke.
Layla didn't feel like speaking anymore. And Chloe's mood seemed to be taking a plunge as she looked around. It seemed that she was finally starting to realise where she was. The situation had been so crazy since they came that she didn't have time to let the feeling of where she was sink in.
Old and painful memories were starting to resurface. Seeing her mother's preserved corpse. An image which she couldn't forget no matter what. She felt that it was better when she didn't remember her mother at all than remember only that.
Then there was the scene of her father's death. Another thing she couldn't forget.
Fortunately, she had recovered quite a bit. So, she wasn't completely consumed by grief like before. She could still hold on.
Layla and the other two chose to act like they didn't notice for the time being. It was a fight Chloe had to settle herself. They had already helped her enough. At the very least Layla and Hope did...
"Really? Great! And there won't be a need for you to go after I'm done with them" Jade excitedly walked over to the captives after the others agreed to let her interrogate them. Though for whatever reason, she always said "torture" instead of interrogate.
Maybe she misspoke... Nope. She really meant torture!
Under everyone's astonished eyes, she grabbed one guy and broke his fingers on the spot and began beating him up. He soon lost consciousness and she went to the next. In less than a minute all of them were beaten unconscious.
"Hmm, something seems wrong here..." Jade spoke to herself while holding her chin as she looked at the unconscious people.
"Of course something is wrong! You're supposed to ask them something first. If they refuse then you can at most beat them up a little or break a finger. Not beat them up until they are unconscious without even asking anything. A few of those guys even screamed they'd confess but you beat them up anyway! Are you crazy?!" The calm Layla surprisingly burst into an angry shout as she rebuked Jade.
Hope covered her face in embarrassment. That's right, she was embarrassed to even know Jade at the moment.
Even Chloe who was sulking had to put that aside for a bit. Her lip was twitching as she looked at the barely breathing group of five.
All three girls couldn't help but think that it really was for the best that Jade left. Who knew what mess she would have caused in her unstable state if she had stayed home? She might have long destroyed the mansion by then.
"... Ooooh! No wonder I felt that something was wrong. Sorry for that everyone. I got too excited. Hope, you can go. If you'll excuse me for a bit. I have to go powder my nose" Jade spoke in an embarrassed tone. She quickly left the scene after making an obviously fake excuse.
The others didn't say anything to her. They let her go. Who knew what she would do next if she stayed? Of course, they knew she wasn't going far. She would probably listen in from a little distance away.
"Hopefully your method is better than her's" Layla spoke tiredly as she looked at Hope.
She regretted coming along. Who knew she would meet Jade who seemed to be hell-bent on making her break character that day.
"Yeah. Don't worry" Hope gave a positive response then walked toward the unconscious ground.
She held her hand out. A healing glow immediately enveloped the group. She couldn't interrogate unconscious people, after all.
Soon, the group woke up. Three of them woke up screaming "Please don't kill me I'll tell you everything!" It was only after not seeing Jade that they all calmed down.
"Are you going to speak on your own or should we call her back?" Hope thought of an idea and tried it.
She had her own way of making them talk. However, she felt that there was no need to put in more effort if a simpler method was present.
"No! Please Ms! Don't call that demon back! We'll tell you everything!" One guy shouted hysterically. Jade's unreasonable actions made her seem like a demon to him.
"No! Josh! Don't you dare say anything! " One of the two who didn't break under Jade's beating screamed at his teammate to keep quiet.
"No, Andy! I refuse. We don't get paid enough for this! I don't care if you're our leader. You won't stop me today!" Josh shouted back in defiance.
He was resolute in spilling the beans it seemed.
"Then you leave me no choice..." Andy replied cruelly. He then formed a hard fist with his left hand five times. A sound which seemed to be from a button being pressed was heard each time he did it. Then...
BOOM!×4
Four explosions rang out at the same time. Josh and the other three people's heads had exploded into a bloody mess.
"Ah!" Hope who was close to the explosion screamed in surprise and horror...