"Who... who is this man?"
Cold sweat trickled down the soldier's face as he stared at Mo Wang, who had appeared behind him out of nowhere. Of course, he knew of Mo Wang. It would be laughable to think they had no intel on the man who constantly thwarted their plans.
But his file said he was just a video store owner and a Proxy. How could he possess such terrifying stealth capabilities?
It's a trick of the light! It has to be!
The soldier recomposed himself, his eyes glinting sharply. He spun around, intending to use his experience to swiftly disarm Mo Wang. Against a man of Mo Wang's physique, he was certain of his success.
Got it!
The moment he reached for the gun, his world tilted violently. When he came to his senses, he was already on the ground.
"Disarming me? Seen too many movies?" Mo Wang deadpanned, looking down at the weirdo on the floor. Trying to disarm him? In all his travels across worlds, this was a first.
"N-no, that's impossible! Who... who are you?!" the soldier stared at Mo Wang, trying to push himself up, but a sharp pain told him that Mo Wang's single strike had broken at least three of his bones.
"Me? I'm just an ordinary Proxy and video store owner who got caught up in all this. Who else could I be?" Mo Wang said with a shrug.
"An ordinary Proxy and video store owner?"
The soldier wanted to spit at the shameless man. He had been handpicked by the organization to take on the Sword Saint. While no match for a monster like Miyabi, he was at least a T2-level operative in a place like New Eridu—an elite among elites.
And yet, he hadn't even seen how Mo Wang had moved.
And this person had the gall to call himself ordinary? What a joke!
"You..."
The soldier tried to speak, but Mo Wang casually lifted his right foot and brought it down hard on his right hand.
"AAAAAHHH—!!!"
The soldier's scream echoed through the empty corridor as his finger bones shattered with a sickening crunch. He struggled to pull his hand back, but Mo Wang's foot was like an iron clamp.
"Shh, keep it down," Mo Wang said, crouching, his tone as light as if they were chatting. "I'm the only one who gets to ask questions here, understand?"
The soldier grit his teeth, his eyes still fierce. "You... you'll get nothing... from me..."
"Oh?" Mo Wang raised an eyebrow, a chilling smile playing on his lips. "Tough guy, huh... Well, while I'm better at interrogating women—" He gently tapped the soldier's wrist bone. "—I'm quite experienced with men, too."
The soldier's pupils contracted.
Mo Wang's smile deepened, his voice dropping to a demonic whisper. "And believe me... it's much more painful for men."
A long, thin metal needle materialized between his fingers, glinting coldly in the dim light. The soldier's breathing became ragged, the color draining from his face.
"W-wait! You—"
"First question," Mo Wang interrupted, placing the tip of the needle into the seam of the soldier's fingernail. "What is your organization planning?"
The soldier swallowed hard, sweat pouring down his forehead. The cold touch of the needle sent shivers down his spine, but professional stubbornness kept his lips sealed.
"What a shame," Mo Wang sighed.
The next second—
"AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH—!!!"
The piercing scream nearly shook the ceiling. Mo Wang methodically twisted the needle, his voice laced with a hint of regret. "See? You could have saved yourself some trouble."
The soldier tried to speak, but to his horror, he found he couldn't open his mouth.
"Sigh, what a pity. I don't feel like knowing your plans anymore," Mo Wang's smile was now filled with despair-inducing malice. "Even if you told me, I couldn't verify the information. It's much easier to just read your memory later. So, to make up for the fact that I was ambushed by the likes of you, please do be quiet."
...
Ten minutes later, the tough-as-nails soldier was a blubbering mess of snot and tears.
If Mo Wang hadn't been careful to keep him from a complete mental breakdown, he would have surely gone insane. No one knew what horrors the man had endured in those ten minutes.
"You... you're a demon!" the soldier stammered, his eyes filled with terror. He was now certain: the man before him was a demon king in human skin.
"It's not over yet. I have plenty of time to play with you before my companion arrives," Mo Wang said casually.
"Urk!"
Just as Mo Wang was about to continue, Miyabi, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly stood up.
"Hmm? The poison's already cleared?" Mo Wang looked surprised. But then, he saw a black aura coiling around her body.
"Is she... going berserk?" he murmured, a deep-seated memory of miHoYo's fox girls suddenly surfacing.
SWISH!
Miyabi's blade lashed out, striking Mo Wang squarely.
"It worked!" the soldier's face lit up with excitement. He knew the drug they'd used was designed to trigger the dangerous power within her. Now that she'd gone berserk, she would surely...
"Did you learn all your bad habits from Yae Sakura? First going berserk, what's next, making me hit pity on all my pulls?"
Mo Wang's voice cut through the air. The soldier stared, dumbfounded. Mo Wang was looking at the berserk Miyabi with an expression of pure annoyance, then looked down at his own clothes, which had been slashed by the sword qi.
"Sigh, and this was my favorite shirt, too. I'm already broke, and now I have to buy a new one?"
"How is that possible?!" the soldier looked like he'd seen a ghost. The power of Miyabi's attack was immense; he had no doubt it could have sliced an armored car in half. And yet, Mo Wang was completely unscathed, save for a torn shirt.
The berserk Miyabi charged again, her blade radiating a chilling aura. But in the next instant, a new blade appeared in Mo Wang's hand, perfectly parrying her attack.
"Sigh, is it a rule that you can't be a miHoYo fox girl unless you go berserk? Yae Sakura did it, Feixiao did it, and now you're doing it too?" he grumbled.
But Miyabi couldn't hear him. Controlled by her own power, she attacked with even greater speed. In response, Mo Wang simply raised the blade in his hand—Jizo Mitama.
The soldier held his breath.
CLANG!
The two blades met in a shower of sparks. With a flick of his wrist, Mo Wang struck her wrist with the back of his blade, nearly knocking the sword from her grasp.
"Even in a berserk state, your technique is sloppy," he said, leveling his blade at her. "For a true Sword Saint to lose control like this... you should be ashamed of yourself, Miyabi."
The soldier's mind reeled. That's an Ethereal Hunter! A Sword Saint! The woman who can cleave giant Ethereals in two! And this unknown guy is dominating her?! Who is he?!
"I have to get this information out! This man is no ordinary Proxy!"
SHINK!
The black aura around Miyabi surged, and she unleashed a devastating slash that cut through the walls, floor, and ceiling. But Mo Wang simply sidestepped, and with a flick of Jizo Mitama, he knocked her blade aside.
Seizing the opportunity, he plunged his sword into her body.
SQUELCH!
The black aura writhed and fought back, but dark red patterns on Jizo Mitama's blade lit up, and it began to devour the rampaging energy. Miyabi's body trembled, her eyes slowly regained focus, and then she collapsed to her knees.
"What?!" The soldier was stunned again. "The sword went right through her! Why isn't she dead?!"
"Hmm, as I thought, this Ether energy is highly compatible with Honkai energy," Mo Wang mused, and then turned to the now-conscious Miyabi. "Get some rest, milady. I'll take care of things from here."
A gentle wave of power washed over her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
"Mo... Wang..."
He gently caught her and carried her back to the van. The soldier on the floor swallowed hard.
"Heh heh, you saw all that, didn't you?"
Mo Wang was suddenly in front of him, a smile on his face that was even more terrifying than before.
The soldier's face went rigid, and then, from sheer terror, he passed out.
And so, within the Hollow, aside from Mo Wang, there was not a single conscious soul to be found.