Rangers Endgame

Chapter 85: Interrogation

After the River Town Incident—what the locals had dubbed it—and saying his farewells to his childhood friend, Kiyoshi and Haruka departed, taking the detained distributor with them for questioning. Kiyoshi's heart ached as he left his hometown, ruined. Although there were few casualties for both humans and beasts, the incident left the residents scarred.

The beasts in the western district sought refuge beneath the lake's surface, refusing to return to the western district. Professionals specializing in bestial medicine began putting beasts affected by the event through rehabilitation while workers and volunteers started to rebuild the ravaged western district.

They'd arrived at the Capital approximately a week later and requested an urgent meeting with the council. Since Councilman Rei Yamato was attending the Skirmish, this gave them time to question the distributor, who'd been quiet the entire ride back.

The extravagant buildings reflecting the upper echelon of society grew more common the deeper their carriage ventured toward the Capital's heart. Spires of crystal and towers of ivory reach for the heavens as nobles, carrying themselves with poise, roamed the lustrous streets, escorted by either personal guards or high ranking rangers.

Turning onto a barren road that led to a restricted area, the buildings and spires began to part to make room for an edifice that slowly came into view at the end of the road. The citadel of obsidian and silver loomed overhead, secreting an ominous air. 

As they neared the imposing gates, wrought with black bars with writhing chains, a sense of foreboding descended upon them. Arcing the top of the gate's entrance in jagged letters presented the name of the penitentiary, 'Blackveil Prison'. Kiyoshi could hear the coachman gulp beyond the thin tarp before stopping before the gates. Guards dressed in black and blue approached, hands resting on their swords' pommels and faces hardened by years of enduring the anguished shouts and pleas that seeped from the structure's reinforced walls.

As they inspected their carriage, confirming one prisoner and two Sentinels they saluted to, they allowed them safe passage. A guard beyond the iron gates pulled a lever, creating a chain reaction of intricate mechanisms to roar to life and toil away as the gate heaved open.

As their carriage pulled inside, the eyes of the somber gargoyles flanking the cracked road seemed to follow them. Slivers of unease slipped through Haruka's calm exterior but Kiyoshi's remained unfazed. Throughout his time serving the Capital, he'd detained numerous criminals from thieves to murderers, dragging them all to this penitentiary of judgment.

A line of inmates chained together and dressed in the same rugged jumpsuits dragged their bare feet, caked with dirt and covered in calluses, across the courtyard, transported by armed guards to another section of the prison. The electrified artifacts collared to their neck, the automated ballistas nestled in the watchtowers, and the jagged steel crowning the buildings' heads and the surrounding walls stripped away the inmates' desire to escape, their eyes dark with hopelessness.

Dim lanterns swayed over the front entrance, casting their harsh illumination onto the large rune-inscribed double doors. Kiyoshi and Haruka got out of the carriage and pulled the distributor along with them. Approaching the doors with both Sentinels flanking the distributor on either side, the mechanisms shifted within the heavy metallic doors with a booming screech, creaking them open.

They made their way down the long narrow hall, guards on either side saluting the Sentinels as they passed. The stench of must disrupted Haruka's cool expression as her features twisted slightly in disgust the further they ventured. The morbid smell triggered a flurry of memories for Kiyoshi but keeping his composure was of no trouble.

Torches lit the labyrinthine corridors, their flickering flames revealing the gradually deteriorating walls. The manic cries of tortured souls that haunted the prison's walls became more distinct as they closed in on the holding cells.

Rounding another corner, they were met by a guard behind a pane of reinforced glass that stood next to a door. The guards looked up from the book he was reading and his eyes went wide as he shot up to his feet in a hurried salute.

"S-Sentinel Kiyoshi. Sentinel Haruka. We weren't expecting you." The guard fumbled.

"Open the door," Kiyoshi ordered.

"Yes sir." The guard flipped a switch, unlocking the door with a click.

Kiyoshi opened the door to find a dim lighting artifact casting a depressing glow onto a steel table at the center of a small room. The table was accompanied by two identical chairs on opposite sides and a wall made up of shimmering orange.

Kiyoshi ushered the cuffed man inside then turned back to his partner. "This won't take long."

Haruka nodded as she closed the door behind the two before making her way to the observation room next door. Looking through the now transparent orange wall, she could see Kiyoshi take a seat across from the hooded man.

The room was silent, Kiyoshi's gaze trying to pierce through the hood's shadow to study his obscured features but to no avail. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out the last elixir the distributor had left, tapping it on the table's metallic surface. The man didn't react.

"Illegal distribution of an unauthorized substance. Destruction of public and private property. Murder of innocent bystanders. Disruption of wildlife." Kiyoshi listed his offenses based on what he saw during the River Town Incident. "Add these offenses to the sheer scale of the attack and you're looking at a sentence of around 268 years without the possibility of parole."

The man didn't so much as flinch—judging from his overall body language rather than his facial expression—when hearing this. Instead, he spoke for the first time since he'd been taken in custody.

"A price I am willing to pay." His husky voice secreted from under the hood. "My life is already in tatters but I wished to contribute to making a better future for the world."

Kiyoshi lifted a confused brow, his head swirling with questions from what he was implying. Taking a second to articulate his thoughts, he asked the first thing he was curious about.

"Your life is in tatters? Elaborate?"

Rather than speak, the man proceeded to lift his bony hands to his hood. He peeled the fabric off his head, letting it slide down his scalp. Once the dim light hit the man's face, Kiyoshi's eyes widened slightly in horror as he subconsciously reached for his sword but stopped himself.

The man's blackened eyes sunk deep into his head, outlining the sockets in his skull. His ghostly pale skin clung tightly around his head and ended where his nose and ears should've been.

Kiyoshi went speechless and even Haruka behind the transparent orange wall took a step back even though she wasn't in any danger. The ghoulish man noticed his hesitance and explained.

"The first trial was...unsuccessful," the ghoul spoke, exposing its incomplete set of decaying teeth. "He did not anticipate the elixir to rot radiant channels and mutate the volunteers. Now I am forced to walk the earth as a husk of my former self. Regardless, I still chose to serve."

Kiyoshi was still recovering from subjection to its unsightly appearance. He'd interrogated murderers, thieves, human traffickers, and the like but their eyes always held some hint of emotion that reflected their true character when faced with judgment—selfishness, remorse, pain, anger. However, there was no such thing he could detect from the…thing across from him. The black voids in its sockets held no insight into its mind. No flicker of emotion, no light.

Just oblivion.

Kiyoshi gripped his resolve tightly to thaw himself from his frozen state and regain composure. He continued. "This figure you keep referring to...would he be the manufacturer?"

The ghoul nodded, the tight skin around its neck stretching from the strain of the simple gesture. "Although, it is more accurate to refer to him as our savior."

"Our savior?" Kiyoshi's blood sizzled as anger threatened to build. "His elixir turned two rangers rabid and went on to level a district. I fail to see how that warrants putting your manufacturer in a positive light."

"Humanity is still far too feeble," the ghoul said. "He intends to correct that, to accelerate our progress before it is too late.”

Kiyoshi sighed. The creature he was speaking with was obviously mad. The first trial must've also rotted its brain. Which reminded him...

"You said there was a first trial. How many versions of this elixir are there exactly?"

The ghoul raised his cuffed hands, the chains rattling as he held up three fingers, curling its ring finger down. "The first trial was batched around two years ago."

Kiyoshi's eyes widened in surprise when hearing how long they'd been in production without the Capital's knowledge. The ghoul then curled its middle finger. "After it was deemed a failure, we began refining it. It wasn't until four months ago that we began distribution of the second version—the elixir you have now." Finally, it dropped its index finger. "Now that we have compiled the necessary data, the perfected version has already begun production."

"And what is the 'perfected version' capable of in comparison to this?" Kiyoshi held up the red substance as it swished around in the vial.

"The elixir's final form enhances one's control and specialty while retaining cognitive functions. I was scheduled to distribute the perfected version, but...you have complicated things. No matter."

"Where's the manufacturer?"

The ghoul sighed deeply, its pale skin tightening and its skeletal structure becoming more defined. It shook its bald head. "The Savior and his followers have full access to the perfected elixir. By the time you”—it swept its head towards the shimmering orange wall, its hollow gaze seemingly falling onto Haruka rather than the one-way wall, making her breath catch—”and your allies find them, it will have already been too late."

Kiyoshi leaned forward and hardened his gaze. "Where is the manufacturer?" He repeated more sternly, his voice dropping an octave.

The ghoul studied him for a moment before responding. "He does not wish to fight you. In fact, he would prefer to preserve as many Sentinels as possible. But if you force his hand, you will die."

Through the husk in the ghoul's voice, Kiyoshi detected a trace of sincere concern for him. It was the only indication that there was still humanity lingering behind his grotesque outer shell. It reminded him that this thing—this man was still human.

"The reason he is so dedicated to his work is—"

"His reasoning is of no relevance. He's responsible for the deaths of many. As far as I'm concerned, he's just another criminal out to make a profit from unsuspecting buyers," Kiyoshi raised the elixir, his eyes never leaving the man. "Last chance, where is he?"

"Some do not resort to crime, as you would put it, for something as selfish as making a profit. But if you truly wish to enact justice, his operation is in Sotiri Village...that is where you will find him."