Earth's Greatest Magus

Knowing about Annara's imprisonment, King Alduin continued on with his defense, stating it was an act of discrimination. Afterall, while rare, it was not uncommon for deaths to occur during such tournament duels.

The King further emphasized his argument by saying such outcome would not be imposed on humans, and the only reason the Alliance was able to put her into custody was because she did not have a major faction backing her.

The Alliance didn't even have any concrete evidence to link Annara and the massacres apart from the coincidental timing.

The King reminded all of these things to Emery, as he was the only one who was allowed to see the imprisoned girl.

Walking out of the meeting room, Emery followed a magus enforcer that led him towards a building only a hundred meters from the headquarters.

It was the place where Annara was being held – the Magus Alliance Prison, Golden City Branch.

Most planets had their own government and regulations making each have their own way to deal with their criminals.

However, for a crime that involved the Alliance such as this one, everything fell under and was managed by the Magus Alliance.

It was a highly secure facility, guarded by grand magus level figures and dozens of magus enforcers. Due to its importance, one had to go through very strict protocols if one wanted to enter.

"We're heading to level 4," the enforcer said, escorting Emery to the guard on duty.

The prison had many underground levels where people were held, from Level 1 to Level 5, which were determined based on their level of crime and power rank. For Annara, being only a Rank 9 acolyte, to be put in Level 4 meant that she was considered highly important by the Alliance.

Even though the part of the prison that was above ground was ordinary, the underground was a massive facility with many hallways and glass walls with runes that prevented all prisoners from casting spells.

Along the way, Emery could see a lot of empty space and thus couldn't help but wonder: there were probably fifty rooms in this Level 4, but it seemed only half of them were occupied.

His thoughts were cut short as he finally arrived at his destination. The enforcer had brought him in front of a room made of opaque glass-like material which when accessed by the former became clear, like nothing stood between them.

"Annara!"

There, Emery could see the red-haired girl sitting in the corner of the four-by-four room, wearing white prison clothes. But then, his attention was immediately drawn to the purple and blue patches that were visible all over her body and face. It was clear that those were bruises.

Noticing his arrival, Annara stood up and slowly walked towards the transparent wall where he was. Even though her appearance looked very miserable, the red-haired girl still had a smile on her face as she gave a little chuckle.

"W-What did they do to you... W-Who did this?" Emery asked, to which the enforcer simply said coldly, "Don't talk about other things. Just focus on what you are here for."

Prior to this, Emery had been given a series of questions he had to ask Annara. However, he couldn't help but feel irritated inside when he saw the girl's state. Knowing the place prevented those inside from casting magic, she must have been in pain for quite a while.

"Let me heal her first." Emery said, and Annara replied

"Don't bother...  they would not turn off the anti magic runes in this room just for me."

Emery looked at the enforcer standing behind him. Seeing the latter not moving, he sighed and offered a compromise. "At least let me give her some healing potions."

Unfortunately, the answer he received was only a slight shake of his head, before the enforcer ignored him.

On the other hand, Annara said, "Wow... Emery Ambrose.  I am touched... I almost believe you actually care for me. No, no, please don't. I don't want to stand against your two girls. Hahaha"

Seeing Emery not amused by her jokes, she added, "Anyway, don't underestimate me. I'm still a half-blood after all. We naturally heal much better than humans"

Emery was silent for a while, seeing her, he recalled her bloody scene after killing Roran. Taking a deep breath, he looked into the red-haired girl's eyes,

"Why... Tell me why did you do it?"

Silence fell before Annara finally heaved a sigh and said, "I had no choice.. I was forced to do it."

"Forced to?" Emery asked again, making sure he had not heard wrong. "Who... Who forced you to do it?"

Hearing the question, the red-haired girl glanced at the nearby magus enforcer for a second before saying,

"I will tell you, but... You have to help me. Help me get out of this place." Staring at Emery in all seriousness, she asked, "Can you do that?"

Emery was perplexed by the request. He couldn't help but wonder why she was asking this to him. After all, what kind of power did he have to be able to help her?

Seeing the look on his face, Annara added her words. "Well, consider this as paying back what you owe me. You still remember right? I've saved your life so many times and you owe me big times for that night..."

The way she said it so casually couldn't help but make Emery feel like she was joking, but he didn't want to joke around, especially not now. Taking another breath, he looked at the red-haired girl and asked.

"Tell me who is behind this and I promise I will do all my power to help you out." Seeing the skeptical look, he quickly added, "I came here with King Alduin. I'm sure he'll help you out if you tell me all you know"

To his surprise, the girl gave a small smile, "King of the Zodiac city, huh.. He won't help someone like me... In fact, I don't think anyone can help me. But you... maybe it's still not too late for you."

"Me? Too late? What do you mean?" Emery asked, becoming even more confused.

Unexpectedly, this question left the girl speechless. It was obvious that she was hesitating.

When he saw that, Emery asked what he was most curious about.

"Annara, tell me, why did you call me here? Why me?"

Seeing the look on his face, the red-haired girl finally spoke.

"Emery... I was asked to give you a message. They want you to kill Eeshoo tomorrow in the arena. Or... they will kill your dearest master."