For a moment she couldn't move, or at least, she couldn't move her gaze from his.
It was like something was chained to his eyes, those eyes that no longer held any mercy, something that should've been buried underground, something or someone that deserved to not just to die but despair from everybody's memory.
A person who did everything wrong from the beginning, who used the blessing that some god or alien or who knows who gave to a human for everything worse, to kill others, to literally start drug wars, just to get that one wish.
Joseph and his family killed thousands of people, waged wars against everybody who was in their way, and in the end all of it mattered for nothing… more so it was now the end for him.
"Let's begin formally." She spoke as she finally got herself together. "I am agent Ilona Sarvis and by the authority of the International Investigation Court, and based on findings from the Alexandria Intelligence Agency in cooperation with the International Defense Bureau, you are hereby indicted on the following charges, illegal arms trade, unauthorized possession, and large-scale distribution of restricted military-grade weapons." She looked up at him. "You are also charged with international drug trafficking, multiple counts of premeditated murder, and the targeted execution of political figures and law enforcement officers." She paused, before she read the final line just looking at Joseph's eyes. "And finally you are accused of crimes against humanity. Coordinated atrocities that cross borders with no regard for morality, law, or human life."
Well, silence fell because to be true, it was something else to experience firsthand. Like Joseph had never really been caught like this, he had never even been in an interrogation room where they were reading up the charges against him, and now it was happening and he was kind of excited to hear it.
Yeah, it was easy to hear what greatness he had achieved through the years, because it all felt like an achievement rather than charges against him.
[System Note: In summerry it means you are fucked.]
Thanks for saying that, but shut the fuck up. Joseph thought as he now stared at the paper, and for real, there was the signature of multiple directors of different agencies.
The end was truly here, and that feeling immediately overwhelmed him. He did so many things, he killed so many, his family, the Santinos, killed so many people, and it all ends, not because he could not go on, not because he does not have the will, but because it is literally impossible to continue it for many reasons.
He had been doing it for years, he built up his empire in that span of time, but at the same time, all the agencies, all the feds just got on him too tight, all the corruption and money meant nothing once you are in the scope of everybody in the world, literally every single agency just after him, and up until this point he could get out of their hands with the connections, with the corruption, the bribes and blackmail, but now it matters nothing.
They literally followed him and just simply busted him, and that was all, though there was another part about just not continuing it at all. The reason behind his calmness and not giving fuck was because he reached the peak. He did it and got the Divine Wish, but in the end it… he lost everything because of the wish.
There were only two things that meant everything to him, and both of them were taken away because he chose this road.
The road of the Blood Emperor System and it took away everything from him… what a blessing.
"Your silence tells me that you finally understand it Joseph. It is truly over."
"Well indeed I feel trapped though I captured the director of the NDA." He said as he eyed her, but Ilona did not really look pressed about it. "Oh it doesn't matter huh? You already have me."
"Exactly." Ilona spoke. "You killed many, but we finally got you, and to be true Niam is just as corrupt as you so there is no problem that you got him, I am actually happy as well as the IIC and I am kinda confused by it too." She said as she crossed her hands. "How did you not notice that we were eliminating all of your connections? Moreover, men in your caliber should know that the rope is already around your neck but you still went to the desert… it is a bit absurd."
It was more than absurd to even think about, at least on their side it was. A drug lord, somebody who was at the top of everybody's list to capture, just making moves that made no sense. Moves that were reckless, like going into the after to kill two warlords out of nowhere, where he then got captured.
It made no sense at all to Ilona, nor to any of the agencies, not even to Marcus.
"Recklessness is one of the best things because the outcome is always exciting," Joseph answered, and the worst thing about him was that his whole behavior seemed too relaxed.
Like Ilona just told him it is all over, his empire just fell, but he did not seem threatened by it, worried or anything else.
"So, you feel excited about it?" A smirk. "You think you can do something, like kill us?" Her voice was filled with this mocking tone, and for a good reason.
"Oh, how confident you are." Joseph laughed as he looked down on his handcuffs. "You're confident because of the Runes huh? Restricting my power. You prepared for this for a long time."
"Indeed I did." A smile spread. on her face. "How does it feel to be powerless?" That face of Ilona as she asked it, she was truly having a power trip as now Joseph was limited to use any of his power or at least she thought he was limited as they made the Runes just for him.
These Runes are made with high grade Jade and people with a Runecrafters Skill are able to make many types of Runes and make it work basically just like in games and movies.
Every Rune has different uses. Some restrict others' powers, some weaken them, others heal, and so on. How much a rune affects others depends on how powerful the Runecrafter is and well... the whole interrogation room was covered with top graded ones.
"Well I don't really care about the Runes, but I noticed him too." Joseph said as he pointed next to Ilona where nobody was standing. "Invisibility, what a great Skill that is."
"So, you noticed?" A voice came from where he had pointed, and what followed was something Joseph had never seen with his own eyes. A figure appeared out of nowhere, becoming fully visible from head to toe, and it was not just an ordinary person… it was something far beyond that.
A Hero.
"Yeah it was a bit noticeable, though what a preparation for me just to get arrested, even getting the number one Hero here."
Well yeah, him, standing with a katana at his side was none other than Daniel Client, the number one Hero in Alexandria, a swordsman with the Thousand Blade System.
"But there is a reason the Hero Association never sent you after me right?" Joseph looked at Daniel. "They feared that I might kill you, yeah?"
"No Joseph, I fought in wars to bring peace, the exact same thing you should have done with your life." Daniel began. "But you turned out to be this nobody."
"Uh, nobody, but there needs to be at least fifty Runes and the number one Hero just to arrest me?" Joseph was mocking them, but what he said was true.
They truly feared he would kill Daniel, as Joseph himself had already killed at least ten heroes sent after him, and losing their number one hero would have been catastrophic.
"Does it matter?" Ilona's voice came. "It is over Joseph. You are literally a nobody from this point on."
There was silence for a moment as Joseph closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and looked at Ilona. "You truly know nothing about me. I am disappointed."
"I don't know anything about you?" She asked, but it was more like she asked the question to herself because she was the one who went after Joseph everywhere. She was following him, into every city, every fucking region, country, and continent, just gathering evidence, taking photos, and busting his connections with her team. That's how they caught and cut off his networks, that's how they learned about him and the president, who was then just a candidate. That's how they made sure he would not have even one way to escape through connections or blackmail.
"Sorry, I would like to rephrase it. You know nothing about my System.
That part was true, they knew nothing about his System, that's why they brought the Runes and Daniel in the first place, because Joseph is somebody who never used his System Skills, or at least they never saw him using it.
"And bringing here Daniel, or more so Mister Number One Hero, was the worst move you have made." Joseph continued as a smile spread on his face.
"I can kill you in a second." Daniel said as he grabbed the hilt of the katana.
"That is a false statement Daniel…" Joseph's smile suddenly dropped as he locked as wiht him "Because this is a second, Blood Art." Two words left Joseph's mouth while he moved his finger and that was it.
Daniel just collapsed onto the ground as a drop of blood that was dried on his blade flew out from the sheath of the katana and shot straight through his neck, up into his brain.
He died in a second, he was killed with one drop of blood that was dried on Daniel's blade.
"A important rule of swordsmen is to always clean their weapons. To wipe every bit of blood from their enemies off their blades." He glanced down at Daniel blown off head. "But you didn't clean yours perfectly and I hate when people lie about their skills. Kill me in a second... what joke."
The atmosphere immediately changed, no, not just changed, it collapsed into a darkness that favored only a single person, Joseph Santino.
It had become an abyss, endless and suffocating where fear was the thing that kept him alive and the worst of it was that he was the master of this darkness. He was the one who decided who lived and who died and both Marcus and Ilona knew it, but they couldn't even move.
They were trapped in a space where one man, with one drop of blood, had become more powerful than anything they had ever faced, in the same room that was the trap for him and more over it was clear that there was no way to escape, no way to survive it. It was not just the fact that he had killed the number one fucking Hero in their country, but the aura surrounding Joseph was different, entirely different.
And finally she got it. It was him, not the evil being, the monster… no it was him.
The Blood Emperor.