CHAPTER 24: POISON CAPSULE

Kyrian arrived at the barracks of the Royal Order with the assassin held in his small hands.

But at that moment, Kyrian had already realized. The man had been awake for several minutes.

He must have been looking for a way to escape, but upon feeling Kyrian’s grip tighten, he simply kept pretending.

And Kyrian actually found it interesting. The man really could have gone unnoticed by many. His breathing was slow, calm, and steady.

His heartbeat controlled and his body motionless. He truly looked as if he were asleep.

But Kyrian visibly noticed the man’s musculature and how his body had shifted from when he was asleep to now, awake.

A small smile appeared on his lips, finding the situation somewhat amusing. He walked slowly through the Order’s corridor. The guard did not stop him when he saw the assassin being dragged across the floor.

He only looked with a serious face and nodded.

As he approached the main hall, Kyrian began to hear voices. The hole that Elyria’s ring had made had not yet been repaired, allowing some sound from the room to leak out easily.

And then he opened the doors, the heavy sound of Kyrian’s steps and the door breaking the tension of the conversation.

Kael looked at Kyrian’s hand and then at the assassin, frowning. While Elyria remained with her arms crossed, listening with a serious expression as she reported the latest events.

Kyrian simply placed the assassin on the great hall table and stood in front of the door, listening to the conversation.

"The tournament is being targeted. Always promising youths chosen carefully. Whoever it is, they have inside information. The assassination attempt on Kyrian happened even before he reached the capital. So, they have been following those who would participate in the tournament for quite some time."

"And that’s why the others haven’t arrived yet..." Kael said, punching the table.

Elyria remained impassive as she spoke.

"So, after torturing him, what did you discover?"

Kael took a deep breath, remembering the fight in the alley.

"I thought he would be like the one Kyrian faced. The one Kyrian nearly killed told us everything he knew. He said he was just from a neighboring country sabotaging the tournament. For a genius to rise, and for the alliance to have someone of weight in Valor."

Kyrian listened to everything, interested. It seemed Kael had captured another besides the assassin who fought in the forest.

"But the one I faced in the alley was different, he was a second-level martial artist. They are scarce even in our own country. Let alone in others. They would never send people like that on such a mission."

"I tried to torture this man, but before I could, he was already dead. There was poison hidden in his cheek, behind a scarred wound. Different from the first, who probably had no relevant information." Kael continued normally, but at that moment, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.

The man on the table seemed to react. His eyes opened, bloodshot. He had heard everything. He smiled as his mouth began to move.

Kael shouted as he jumped toward him, but he wouldn’t be fast enough.

It was then that something cut through the air.

A chilling invisible glow passed through the room for an instant. A coldness suddenly arose inside.

And then, on the hall table, inside and over the assassin’s mouth, and even part of the table froze.

A layer of crystalline blue ice, dense and solid. Sprouted from nothing, born from the assassin’s saliva, and spreading outward rapidly.

His face was stuck to the table, while his eyes wept with pain and despair.

He tried to bite the poison capsule, but in vain. It was completely sealed by the ice.

Elyria and Kael, feeling the cold, instinctively stepped back. Their wide eyes had never seen anything like it before.

Kyrian’s eyes shone faintly in deep blue, though mortal eyes could not see it. The only thing visible was that the snowflakes in his pupils were larger than before.

Beyond that, he seemed cold and distant. His childish face did not even look surprised at what he had done.

Kyrian simply sighed and approached calmly. And then slid his small hand into the man’s mouth. The ice melted where his finger passed until it revealed the scarred part of his cheek.

At his fingertip, the ice inside the mouth gathered and formed a small blade. With just one cut, it removed the capsule perfectly.

It was small and purple, and Kyrian could tell it was nothing good. So, after holding it between his fingers, he tossed it to Kael.

When he finished, he looked at Kael and Elyria, who were watching him with serious expressions. Expressions he had not seen in a long time.

’It’s like the children from the village, isn’t it?’ He saw their feelings waver.

He sighed again.

"Don’t ask me." Kyrian began to speak in a firm tone.

"I don’t know how to explain it either. What I can say is that the world is much bigger than you or I imagine."

He then turned as he walked past them without looking back.

"Just focus on interrogating him. Something interesting will definitely come out of his mouth."

And then he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Kael and Elyria remained silent for a few seconds.

"Do you know what that was?" Kael asked, breaking the silence.

Elyria took a while to respond, looking at the door where Kyrian had left.

"No. I thought those eyes, like the snowflakes of winter, were just... something different that sometimes happens, a rare mutation. And that his superior vision was just a coincidence." She took a deep breath.

"But maybe... it’s not just that."

She turned, looking seriously at Kael.

"Whatever it is, it’s not for us to find out. If the boy wants to, one day he will tell us. After all, he is also a member of the Order."

Then, the two fell silent about it and looked at the man, who still had his mouth frozen, completely stuck to the table.

The ice was slowly melting, but it would still take several long minutes.

Kael then grabbed one of the lanterns and brought it close to the assassin’s face. And soon the ice began to melt faster. But for the assassin, that sensation was terrible.

The heat and the cold turned his face into a complete mess. And he could not even scream.

Kyrian had been extremely meticulous. Leaving space for air to pass through the assassin’s throat and freezing only his mouth, teeth, and tongue.

But, having done it too quickly, he ended up losing slight control, and, because of that... the ice spread across the table.

Soon, the assassin was taken to the dungeon.

Meanwhile, Kyrian, with slow steps, returned to his room with a somewhat somber expression.

’Tsk. I used too many particles, how long will it take to replenish? If that damn assassin has nothing useful or interesting, I’ll rip his head off myself.’ He thought as he entered his room.

And after taking a bath, he lay down on his large bed, looking at the moon in the sky.

’Now, at least, perhaps the tournament will become more interesting... won’t it?’ He smiled faintly.