Two minutes passed, his struggles gradually subsided, and Malin whipped him again. The young vampire was of no use.
"A bowl of goblin blood." Malin flipped the young vampire over with his foot. A Punisher, holding a bowl of blood already prepared, poured the contents into the vampire’s mouth.
The fresh blood combined with the holy salt revived the young vampire once more. It thrashed about like a fish out of water for a good while before it finally started gasping again.
"Kata, why won’t you speak? Look how painful torture is, just like when you feed on innocent humans, only the victim and perpetrator have switched roles." Malin squatted down to look at the young vampire at his feet, whose ugly and disgusting appearance filled him with revulsion: "Reveal your secrets, and I’ll grant you an honorable death."
"I... I’ve told you, I don’t know," the young vampire answered again.
Malin fell silent for a moment, just as the Punishers were preparing to proceed with another round, he raised his hand, "Kata, you say you don’t know where your brother has gone, what he’s doing. Then, do you know what your father and mother are doing?"
"Father gambles every day, mother does housework at home in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening, she goes out to hunt for prey," the young vampire answered quickly.
Malin sighed as he looked at the sign of truth above its head, then turned to the old Bishop, "He must have been hypnotized. No matter who asks him about his brother, he will say he doesn’t know. He doesn’t even realize he just told a lie, Your Excellency."
"This indicates that it must be a very significant secret. Camilla, member of the Church of Justice, having witnessed this, do you have anything to say?" The old Bishop of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest turned to the young man who had come upon hearing the news.
The latter shook his head, "We have erred, Your Excellency. I will now inform our Bishop that the capture operation for the Yudam family will commence immediately. Their eldest son will be placed on the wanted list."
"Then leave it to you to handle, Camilla. Do not disappoint the Lord of Justice," the old man said, rising from his stone chair. Without the control of spiritual energy, the stone chair sank into the street.
"Your Excellency, what about him?" Malin looked at the old man.
"The trophy room is missing a vampire juvenile. Bring it back; I will personally make the specimen," the old man turned to Malin, "Do you think I’m too cruel?"
"No, when vampires hunt us, they too see us as mere livestock. Born into this world, every life must pay for its choices. I do find it somewhat cruel, but compared to their deeds, it seems trivial," Malin finished speaking and kicked away the arm of the young vampire that had grasped at his leg.
"No! Kill me! Please!" the young vampire screeched.
Malin smiled, "Don’t rush; your time to die has not yet come."
He stepped back as two Punishers approached, first stuffing cloth into the vampire’s mouth, then covering its head with a hood.
Ignoring its struggles, ignoring its pleas, just as a hunter would treat their prey.
The Bishop had more to discuss with Camilla, so Malin headed back to the carriage first.
The interrogation of the young vampire named Kata Yudam had left Malin feeling very uncomfortable—not out of pity, for such ugly vampires could not evoke any sympathy in him. Perhaps the deity of the vampires would, but what Malin had to do was to ensure these damned creatures met their deity.
Malin’s discomfort was toward the situation itself.
What matter could be so grave that two vampire parents would choose to manipulate their offspring’s mind? It had to be something severe, either a big deal or a major conspiracy.
Interrogating the young vampire was clearly futile, and although breaking the spell that controlled its thoughts was indeed a method, at such a time, needing at least half a month to possibly break the spell was as useless as water far away for putting out a fire.
One must capture the two elder vampires and extract this secret from their mouths, and then apprehend the missing eldest son.
"The Church of Justice will deal with the family’s father and eldest son; they do not have enough manpower, so they are planning to hand over the capture of the wife to us," said the old Bishop as he sat in the carriage. He looked at Malin, "Malin, I remember you saw blood already in Carterburg, correct?"
"Yes, it was the battle with Chaos," Malin nodded, waiting for the old man to speak.
The Bishop smiled and continued, "Chaos comes from beyond, while vampires are indigenous to our world. Although different, the only thing separating them from the forces of Chaos is whether they understand human speech. Thus, any vampire that doesn’t know how to live in the human world must be utterly annihilated."
"I understand, Your Excellency. Are you wishing for me to lead the operation?" Malin asked.
"Yes, I want to see how you handle it, and let my young charges learn what an ace should wield like," the old man said with anticipation, looking at Malin, "Are you willing?"
"I am willing, Your Excellency," Malin nodded.
Someone always needed to do the dirty work, just like the broken sky always needed a tall person to hold it up.