Low-Fantasy Occultist

“So, we have him, right?" Devon asked with a wide grin as he looked down at the three unconscious mages.

Nick didn't answer. He stared at the female mage’s slack face, feeling the thrill of their flawless victory turning to ash in his mouth.

Something was wrong. The fight had been brutal, yes, but she had surrendered too easily at the end. When he shattered her [Prismatic Aegis], there was no final, desperate attempt to escape as he’d expected. No dead-man's switch went off when she was defeated. Just a silent resignation that didn’t sit right with him.

She knew she was going to lose, and even worse, she didn't care.

If this had been an average adventurer, I might have considered it a lack of options, but graduate mages of the Tower aren’t so limited. Osmod managed to hold off and escape from the Circle of Pure Souls with his last resort, and these people are stronger than he is.

"Nick?" Devon’s smile faded, sensing that something was bothering him. Kael and Vance exchanged a tense look and began securing the other mages. "What is it?”

“It doesn't make sense,” Nick muttered, kneeling beside the woman. “Hone is paranoid enough to send elite mages to silence Marius, but he didn't give them any artifacts to ensure their success. And even worse, she just gave up at the end. Why would he send a team he knew could be captured and put under a [Zone of Truth]?”

"Maybe he underestimated us," Devon suggested, though he didn't sound convinced.

"Archmages don't make that kind of mistake," Nick said, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper. “Especially not someone like Hone, who led major operations to infiltrate the dwarven border and seize control of the northern Sunlands.”

Placing his hand on the woman’s forehead, Nick decided that he couldn't wait for the Tower’s Prosecution division to peel her mind apart tomorrow. He needed to know what the plan was right now, or he’d go crazy with speculation.

He closed his eyes and pushed his mana forward. "[Stream of Consciousness].”

Keeping the spell incredibly shallow, he traveled along a thin thread of spiritual wind just beneath the surface of her psyche. He didn't want her life story; he only sought the most recent, prominent memories, where he was confident he’d find what he was for. Moving past her combat instincts and the lingering shock of her defeat, he searched for the face of her employer.

The mindscape shifted at his command, and Nick flipped through a few scenes he made a note of, recognizing several of the people involved, until he found the memory of the briefing.

However, everything was blurred, and even when he pressed the woman’s mind to remember the details, no room was conjured, and no voice echoed.

He went to look for anything related to Elias Hone next, hoping to at least find some scraps to piece together a loose understanding of what was happening, but where the memory of the man should have been, there was only a blank void.

And wrapped tightly around the edges of that nothingness, digging into the very fabric of her soul, was a dark energy he recognized all too easily, especially since his own soul reacted to its presence.