Seeing his daughter and his King interact so intimately, complex feelings welled up in Minister Akhekhu’s heart. But, he could only bury them for now.
Dyon’s expression relaxed and feeling the practical death grip Amphorae had on his hand, he didn’t dare to let go. It was as though his wife was reminding him to not do anything reckless again.
Time slowly passed, and by now, it was clear to everyone from the dripping sweat on the two traitors’ faces that they were trying to suppress the pain. They likely thought that Dyon exaggerated the effects of his array. After all, Merchant Brinsop was a mere lower saint despite his age, how could he compare to them?
However, they were quickly finding out from their King’s leisurely expression that he was bluffing at all.
There was a reason the array worked gradually. The first reason was that an array made in a single setting didn’t have infinite power, obviously. For an array to be able to accumulate enough energy to threaten a dao formation expert, it needed time. The way Dyon modified the array, it was capable of taking energy not just from the surroundings, but its victim as well, actin like a parasite. This made it harder to suppress the pain as time went on and also automatically scaled the pain appropriately. Meaning, saint energy taken from a victim would obviously provide less pain than enigmatic energy, and so on.
The second reason was just a simple torture tactic. The pain didn’t disappear as soon as you did as you were told. No. The amount of time the pain spent accumulating is the amount of time it spent cooling down. This would be unknown to anyone until the experienced it for themselves. But, after the first time, it was doubtful that they’d want to experience it again. It saved Dyon the hassle of having to wait so long every time he asked a question. It also had the added benefit of providing a higher starting point when questions were asked consecutively.
“Okay! Okay!” Minister Brodaya roared into the skies. “The truth is I hate your guts! You’re the worst thing that could have ever happened to this Angel Clan! If it wasn’t for you, my son would have never died at all!
“You sit here with your look of surprise, wondering why I would betray a clan my son died for. Well, the reason is you!
“You’re selfish, short-sighted, naïve and completely incompetent. Who would want to follow a King a like you!
“AAGHHH,” Minister Brodaya fell against his chains, the pain searing to an all new level. In his rage, he had tried to circulate his enigmatic energy with ill-intent. One can imagine the result of that. Instead of venting his rage, he only fueled the array that was causing him pain.
Dyon sat on the throne silently, completely unperturbed.
Seeing his reaction, his place in the hearts of his ministers seemed to rise another level. It wasn’t easy, especially when you were so young, to stay so calm in the face of someone insulting you, even if that person was currently being tortured. What arrogant young master would accept such a thing? They’d probably want to torture the person who said such words, themselves.
However, Dyon didn’t care for the words because they technically weren’t about him. Even he hated this supposed King, let alone the people he directly offended. The question was, just what did this King do to this man? Or rather, his son.
“You didn’t answer appropriately. You can only blame yourself.” Dyon said faintly.
The fake Minister Brodaya was huffing and puffing, but his anger wasn’t to the level of the real one. In fact, he seemed to be just about to crack.
In timely fashion, he spoke.
“We were sent here by the Queen of the Moon clan.” He said through gritted teeth. A sigh of relief came over him as he felt the pain gradually fade away, he instantly felt better.
“Oh? Not the King?” Dyon caught this small tidbit with ease.
“The King of the Moon Clan isn’t from the planet or even this universe. He would know nothing of our society if not for the Queen. I’m not sure what her plan is by bringing such a powerful family here, but I can say that the King is definitely not the one planning things.”
Dyon fell into deep thought as Minister Brodaya continued to writhe on the ground. His eyes were becoming bloodshot, and he seemingly continued to try and attack Dyon. However, every time he did so, the pain would immediately double. It was likely that the only thing keeping him going was his deep hatred and humiliation.
As for the words of the fake, Dyon found them interesting. This Queen, from the small bits that Dyon knew, was Luna’s elder sister and she was intelligent. She likely wouldn’t invite a clan she couldn’t control over, but from the words of this fake, that’s exactly what she had done…
Even more oddly, the deaths of his father and hers were almost in perfect sync. At first, Dyon had found this odd, in fact, he still did. But, there was something that baffled him more.
By common sense, what was the most logical was for this third-party family to have forced their way. This “powerful family” would have killed his father, as well as Luna’s father, before establishing their power here as King of the Moon clan, effectively gaining control.
However, according to this story, they didn’t force their way in. Instead, they were invited…
What was going on? Why did Luna’s sister do such a thing? How did her father die? And for that matter, how did his father die? Were their deaths related to her? If so, why? And if it was for their clan, why would the death of her father be necessary? And why would they wait decades before attacking?…
It seemed that this trial was only growing more complex…