33 Risen#re

The zealot who was once known as Alice began to tremble violently, "No!" she shouted at Lirian with a desperate voice, "Please don't do this, I'm begging you, I'll do anything!" she screamed miserably.

Lirian faced her with an amused smile and whispered, "You can only blame yourself for not being strong enough," Alice recognised those words she had said those words to Edith before she tried to kill Lirian, and just seconds after that Edith sacrificed herself for Lirian.

Lirian stepped away from her and held the disc up in his hand so that everyone could see it clearly.

"I'm sure that all of you know about the history of the submission discs, and it's use, based on how many of you are looking at it, I can tell that you've been deceived by these objects at some points, so I'm sure you are all aware of the punishment that is delivered to anyone that is linked to a submission disc," Lirian said.

"I would like it if a warlock could test to see it it's linked to someone," Lirian said calmly, and as he spoke several of his mother's aides came forward already preparing the spells to test the link.

"I thank you for coming forward," Lirian said, "But since my mother is on my side, you are on my side, it makes any tests you conduct sceptical at best," Lirian said rejecting them, Belinda who was at the front realised that he was correct so she quickly stepped back.

The nobles around were also very impressed by Lirian's decision, it took foresight to see how in the future the credibility of the test would be doubted.

"Haha," a light chuckle was heard and Lord Draco spoke, "Since that's the case why don't you let me give it to one of my warlocks to conduct the test," he said opening his hand for Lirian to pass him the disc.

But Lirian acted as if he didn't even hear him, he ignored Lord Draco even as he spoke and immediately after Lord Draco finished, Lirian began to address the crowd again not even acknowledging that Lord Draco spoke.

"I believe that amongst us there are two people in particular that are extremely motivated to learn the truth behind the deaths of the candidates," Lirian said turning to Lord Callum and Lady Xuanuan.

"I believe that the most trust worthy people to learn the truth, would be Lord Callum and Lady Xuanuan, no one wants to find the real culprit more besides them," as Lirian spoke he indicated for them to come forward and handed the disc to lord Callum, as he was a warlock and Lady Xuanuan wasn't he was the only one that could perform the spell.

Lirian's choice was extremely well thought out in the eyes of the nobles, it was just as he said, no one wanted the truth more than the families that lost the candidates, and from how angry Lord Callum was.

It was certain that he would not play any tricks, he would not be satisfied until he exposed the one responsible for the crime.

With that Lirian handed the disc to Lord Callum, and the link testing spell was used, in seconds it released two yellow beams of light one shone on Lirian and the other shone on Telamon.

In order to use the disc Lirian naturally had to form a link with it so naturally it also shone on him.

As the light hit Telamon however everyone started to chatter wildly, many of them were anticipating that there would be no link and the entire thing was a façade, but the yellow light proved them wrong.

"Wait," Lady Xuanuan said suddenly, "The test is accurate, but there are ways of placing aura inside an object to fake the result," she said to the crowd then turned to the empress and bowed deeply.

"Your majesty, if you'd allow me to create a link with the disc to personally question the zealots!" she requested while bowing deeply, it was a bit of an impudent request and she knew that Lirian who already had a link could do the questioning but she'd only be assured if she could do it personally.

"Mother, I think that what Lady Xuanuan requests is fair," Lirian spoke up with confidence, "Also Lord Callum should also form a link just for an extra layer of security," Lirian quickly added.

Lirian's confidence was reflected in those words by that point no noble doubted his claims at all anymore the fact that he was willing to allow others to do the interrogation instead of himself showed that he had nothing at all to fear.

A ripple of surprise passed through Lady Xuanuan's cold eyes, she was expecting people to start criticizing her for her suggestion, but the first person to support her was the person who she was basically doubting by making such a request.

The empress gave a quick nod of her head to show her approval, from the look on her face everyone could tell that she wanted this entire thing over with as soon as possible.

After getting the approval they formed the link and with it they could feel over a hundred connections to the disc, it belonged to all the remaining students that Telamon had under his control as well as the zealots he still had in training and most importantly they could feel the link to the zealots in front of them.

"Tell us who is your master?" both Lord Callum and Lady Xuanuan asked together.

The zealots entire bodies went stiff when the question was finally asked, pained looks filled their faces as they gritted their teeth together and used all their will power to resist answering.

At first they released only muffled sounds, but slowly they started to sound the alphabets that made up Telamon's name as time passed their words finally became coherent and the first one broke.

"T-----T-TE—L-L-A----M---ON D---AO," as soon as the first one cracked it was like a damn had been burst open, seeing that one of their own had already said their masters name, the others all lost the will power to resist they knew it was over.

"Telamon Dao, Telamon Dao, Telamon Dao…" they started to echo in unison, and despite already being prepared for it the nobles still gasped in shock when they said Telamons name as they revealed their masters name their eyes all seemed to become lifeless.

As zealots they had just committed the ultimate taboo, and they were powerless to resist.

"NOOOOO!" one of the zealots started to scream frantically with tears streaming down her face, it was Alice, "Please master is a good man," she cried in desperation.

"Master made us to protect the empire, to get rid of the trash, master is a saviour you have to protect him!" Alice knew that it was over so she resorted to begging in desperation, the truth was revealed so she had to find a way to save her master no matter what.

But her words landed on deaf ears, the only thing anyone thought of her was that she was pitiful, so were all zealots in a way.

Zealots were brainwashed to see their masters as the sun and the moon, and the people of the empire had mastered the art of creating zealots, any noble at the banquet had their own hidden zealots and they'd bet that in the event of their deaths, a majority of their zealots would commit suicide out of despair.

"Which of you killed the candidates and why?" Lord Callum questioned and the zealots fell silent, before two of them spoke.

The first one to speak was the one who killed Wentian and she also explained the reason, it was exactly as Lirian had said earlier.

Alice trembled in fear as she spoke, "I didn't mean to, my only target was him," she said involuntarily pointing at Lirian, "But the princess candidate jumped in the way and my spell killed her," she said, but as she did a strange look entered her eyes.

She glanced to the capsule that held Edith's body, she couldn't quite explain it but something felt off to her, like the body shouldn't have existed, but as she tried to look back on the memory she was reminded of the snake that appeared in the sky making her shudder even more violently.

After that the two leaders began to ask them a series of questions, from which they learned the circumstance's of the entire expedition.

The zealots were forced to explain how they roused the creatures of the forest to attack the expedition, as well as the mammoth, they explained that it was all to mask the event as an accident, but that Lirian managed to over come the obstacles they threw his way until they were forced to act.

Then they proceeded to speak about the course of events when the elites from the Jane and Eden families appeared.

At that points Lady Elizabeth and Lord Callum had to calm down the crowd and explain that it was all done under the orders of the emperor.

From there they explained the course of events and as it unfolded when they mentioned the serpent that could swallow an entire world whole, the entire crowd was bewildered, even Taliyah and Telamon were shocked.

The nobles wanted to call them out for making things up but they were being controlled by the submission disc, it was impossible for them to do such a thing.

Shortly after the zealots finished recounting the course of events lady Xuanuan turned to Lirian, "To have survived such an ordeal boy, the heavens must have truly been favouring you," she said with a look of appreciation for Lirian.

Contrary to her expectations a scowl formed on Lirian's face, "The favour of the heavens," he muttered coldly but no one heard him, in his opinion if the heavens did favour him it would have allowed him to rest.