This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain stepped onto the platform last, just behind Malzahir. And while out of sight of the others, he gave a signal to the already released Bea, who released her newly acquired mental field to only envelop Malzahir.

Thanks to Serena’s reminder, Kain had finally realized he and Malzahir were very ill-prepared for the questioning.

Not only did they not vet backstories against one another, but he also made no countermeasures against mental-attribute skills. And most Dawnbringers, as the counter-intelligence division of the Order, possess mental-attribute abilities. Meaning that rather than torturing him for answers, Malzahir would likely be controlled or hypnotized for them.

Kain is already resistant to mental control—especially since Bea got stronger. However, Malzahir as an ordinary person now, would be extremely easy to get talking.

Fortunately, since Malzahir is an ordinary person, they likely won’t assign a Dawnbringer stronger than 6-stars. Therefore, whoever questions him likely won’t be able to detect Bea.

“Hold tight,” Zareth said. “This version’s smoother than the older public models, but it still feels a little uncomfortable.”

The light swelled.

The world warped.

And the world snapped back into place with a jolt that left Kain’s stomach doing a lazy spin. He blinked and staggered once—but quickly found his balance. Not bad. He barely felt sick anymore.

Then came the sound.

“BLAAAAGHHHHH!!”

Kain turned.

Malzahir was hunched over on all fours, gagging violently into the polished white floor. His hair stuck to his face, his entire body trembling.

*”Holy, merciful Gods. Ugh… please make it stop,”* Malzahir groaned, eyes glassy. *”Death would be preferable…take me away”*

Kain blinked.

And then—much to his own dismay—he found himself smiling. Just a little.

“…Yeah,” he murmured. “Been there.”

———————

The walls of the debriefing center were white. Stark, clean, clinical. The kind of white that erased warmth, personality, and doubt all at once.

Kain sat on one of the obsidian-backed chairs, legs spread, fingers loosely laced in front of him while a nondescript Dawnbringer moved about with a specialized artifact scanning his space ring.

“Please don’t move,” the man said, not looking up.

Kain didn’t. Not because he trusted the man, but because he’d prepared for this exact moment. The space ring only had what he wanted them to see: a few potion vials, some objects from the relic, and survival supplies. Everything else—anything he wanted to keep for himself—had been stored in the System.

A few meters away, Pete was undergoing the same procedure. He grumbled under his breath, looking half-asleep. Lina looked way too used to this procedure by now. Zareth stood patiently, already finished and simply waiting for them all to be cleared. Serena was last to arrive, walking in with the grace of someone who didn’t care how long they’d been waiting.

When the scanner finally let out a soft chime and the artifact’s glow dimmed, the Dawnbringer gave a short nod.

“You’re clear,” he said, dismissing Kain with a wave.

Kain stood, rolling his shoulder as he stepped away. Not long after, a familiar pulse tickled the edge of his consciousness. It was Bea, linking back up through the faint mental tether between them.

‘It’s done,’ she reported. ‘Malzahir has been released.’

Kain didn’t move. Didn’t even blink. But the knot of tension he’d been carrying for the last couple of hours during his debriefing and then this final inspection, slowly began to loosen.

‘The details?’ And soon enough Bea provided a detailed play-by-play of everything experienced.

As expected. They didn’t waste energy interrogating him properly. The Dawnbringer in charge of him used a contract with low to mid-tier hypnotic influence. Likely because Malzahir was an ordinary person now and so they assumed he’d be helpless against even that. Therefore, the opponent was too weak to sense Bea’s presence in Malzahir, or that she was manipulating his memories so that he could say nothing about the ‘more unique actions of Kain in the relic. Like absorbing energy from the crystals, or the abominations targeting him mostly, or about how he thought about ‘eating’ his allies…

A slow breath slid from Kain’s nose. Good.

‘They believed everything,’ Bea added smugly. ‘Sloppy work. How can that kind of creature even be considered to be suitable for interrogation? It is incomparable to me.’

‘Their complacency worked in our favour,’ Kain replied. ‘Don’t get cocky.’

He didn’t add that her pride and personality developed from when he’d first contracted her, was starting to mirror his own…just a little. It felt dangerous—but oddly reassuring too. At the very least, he could rely on her to go rogue and make split-second decisions he’d agree with if they were in a situation they couldn’t communicate.

He looked up just in time to see Serena step through the doorway, her cloak fluttering slightly behind her. Her gaze swept the room, unhurried, and landed on him. Just for a second.

Then she nodded.

Tiny. Almost imperceptible. But Kain caught it.

A quiet acknowledgment. A silent confirmation.

She wasn’t going to say anything either.

The three of them—Kain, Serena, Malzahir—held a thread of knowledge in their hands, and not one of them seemed inclined to unravel it. The others hadn’t noticed anything about Kain’s ‘eccentricities’. Or if they had, they hadn’t said a word or questioned him in depth about anything.

Kain glanced toward the far hall where Malzahir had been led earlier. He hadn’t reappeared yet, but Bea’s confirmation was enough for now. When he did return, no one would look at him any differently. No alarms. No surveillance.

No secrets spilled.

He thought about how easily it could have gone wrong. If Serena hadn’t warned him. If Bea hadn’t been fast or discrete enough. If the Dawnbringer had been more powerful. The whole illusion would have crumbled. But it didn’t. Because all three of them chose silence. Out of loyalty, out of self-preservation… or maybe just out of fear for Kain of what would happen if the truth got out.

But so long as the three of them stayed silent… the truth stayed buried.

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