Reverse Interrogation

"Yo, Dullip. How was your investigation?" Iota spoke chirpily upon seeing Dullip Garobu arrive.

"Yo?" Dullip felt a headache instantly. He stared at Iota's bloody face forming a sharp contrast to his casual expression as if he were greeting a friend, "Are you not angry at me?"

"Angry?" Iota tilted his head, "For what reason?"

"I captured you and my underlings tortured you." Dullip frowned, "That's enough reason for anyone to hate me for a lifetime."

"Well, it's thanks to you that I'm here." Iota spoke, "Besides, had it been anyone else that captured me, my fate would have become shit."

"What…do you mean?" Dullip pinched himself, wondering if he were dreaming or awake. Iota's attitude was throwing him off his game, unable to concentrate or be serious.

"Sir, this guy just doesn't feel pain on the level we are used to seeing. So, even if we break his bones, it only feels like a light punch to the gut for him. And that's well within his tolerance capacity." The underling said helplessly.

To avenge his comrade that was blinded by Iota the previous night, he tried his best to torture the latter. Unfortunately, all it did was vex him, for he failed to elicit any screams from Iota. As they had never faced such a situation before, the two underlings were indeed at a loss.

"Leave us," Dullip sighed and waved his hand, motioning for the underlings to guard the entrance. Once they had left, it was just Dullip and Iota in the room. He stared at the latter and spoke curtly, "Explain yourself."

"Explain what?" Iota asked, "Be specific, dude."

"Don't ask for the entire Wikipedia."

"Wiki-what?" Dullip felt like his brain was glitching for a moment. He calmed himself and asked, "Where did the girl with you go?"

"She escaped." Iota spoke.

"Where?" Dullip asked next.

"Don't know." Iota shrugged.

"You…" Dullip felt his blood pressure rising, 'This bastard doesn't even feel threatened by me.'

'He's at least responding to my questions. I can at least work with this.' Thinking as such, he continued his interrogation, "What's your relationship with her?"

"Can't say."

"What is she?"

"Can't say."

"Is she a Devil?"

"Are you dumb?"

"This bastard…" Dullip felt anger brimming through his head, on the verge of exploding. He did his best to control his impulse to bash Iota's head and continued to ask, "Where did you come from?"

"Another world, bruh." Iota said, "And don't ask where. You won't know even if I tell you."

"Another…world?" Dullip was shocked, "Is that possible?"

"Were you blind when I arrived?" Iota asked, observing the veins on Dullip's forehead protrude like worms, "You didn't notice that crack in space?"

"The way you speak is pissing me off." Dullip grunted but his mind calmed down rapidly, realising the importance of Iota's words, 'The summoning circle I used can only summon a Devil from nearby. Its range is vast, but it doesn't even cover half the Deccan, not to mention something absurd as another world.'

"What did you do with that summoning circle?" Dullip asked next.

"I ate it." Iota opened his mouth in response, "Why are you asking about things you saw?"

"Are your braincells on a hunger strike?"

"You…leave it." Dullip groaned in response, forgetting the questions he intended to ask. Iota's response was throwing his focus all over the place.

He summoned his sickle and held it steady, focusing on it as he expanded his senses, observing Iota, 'There's a very faint stench of the Fear Path on him. Even the weakest of Devils is a million times stronger than that.'

A mysterious energy circulated in his eyes as he was able to see the energy body of Iota, observing that the source of Fear Path came from a spot on his forehead. He extended his sickle, enlarging it a little as its tip touched the part.

Rip!

A spark resounded as immediately, his sickle was thrown off by an unannounced rebound. It slammed into the wall, cracking it in response. The cracks widened with every second as Dullip hurriedly dissipated the sickle, staring at Iota in shock, "My sickle was rebounded?"

"Were you branded by a Devil?" Dullip asked solemnly, "Based on your energy readings, you're human. So, the only answer for that Fear Path source on your forehead is a Devil's branding."

"The one responsible isn't a Devil, but he somehow harnessed a Devil's power to do so." Iota answered, "Well, don't ask for further details. I don't know much either."

"So, why were you looking for a Devil?" Iota casually slipped in a question.

"For power, why else?" Dullip sighed in frustration, "As a customary practice of our family, my dad turned the oldest among us siblings into an Apostle…"

Dullip stopped speaking abruptly, realising he was leaking confidential secrets to a stranger as he glared at Iota, "You dare probe for information from me?"

"If I understand correctly…" Iota ignored his anger and trailed off before speaking, "You wish to steal a Devil's power and make it your own."

'Did my subordinates blabber it to him?' Dullip frowned in response as he exited the room and stared at his two subordinates, "What the hell did you talk to him about?"

"He knows what we were intending to do."

"Impossible!" One of the underlings said in shock, "The entirety of the time, we were only striving to get answers out of him. We didn't tell him anything."

'So, that means he somehow managed to piece things through just based on the questions we posed him.' Dullip felt a hint of fear bud in his mind as he stared at the calm, almost smiling visage of Iota.

'He doesn't have any power. Dammit!' Dullip was frustrated at the wasted opportunity, 'I spent most of my savings on that magic circle.'

Through Iota's energy body signature, Dullip understood that Iota didn't have whatever he sought, 'But, he still swallowed the magic circle. And those mysterious items and that burst of power he unleashed back then…'

'He's throwing me off!' Dullip became serious, 'Even though I'm the one interrogating him, it seems he's learning information from me instead.'

"Well…" Iota's voice resounded calmly, "If you are done interrogating me, can you free me?"

"I feel an intense urge to crap."