Inside a room surrounded by dense industrial steel, two men were chained down to the floor. Their arms and legs were bound with heavy restraints anchored into the metal beneath them, preventing even basic movement. They wore simple beige prison uniforms now, their armor and weapons removed entirely, leaving them exposed and contained in a way that made escape unlikely. The silence of the cell was heavy, broken only by the faint sound of shifting chains whenever either of them moved.
The man with lapis colored eyes finally spoke first, his voice low and controlled despite the situation. "How long will we be kept here?" he asked, glancing toward his brother.
The man beside him, with indigo colored eyes, shifted slightly against his restraints before answering. "I don't know. He just arrested us and brought us here without explanation," he replied, the chain links clinking softly as he settled again.
The two of them were the Demon Knight brothers, the Indigo Demon Knight and the Lapis Demon Knight. Without their armor and without their weapons, their presence felt less like battlefield threats and more like contained prisoners, though the tension in their expressions made it clear they had not accepted their situation as permanent. The restraints binding them were reinforced specifically to hold beings of their caliber, and even now, they had already tested them enough to understand that breaking out quickly would not be easy.
The Lapis Demon Knight exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the sealed room. "I suppose he will be coming back to interrogate us," he said at last, more observation than question.
"That would make the most sense," the Indigo Demon Knight agreed after a moment. "But it's already been several hours since he locked us in here."
Almost immediately after he said that, the heavy cell door began to open.
The sound of reinforced steel mechanisms echoed through the room as the thick door slowly pulled aside. Both Demon Knights turned toward it at once, chains shifting against the floor as they adjusted.
When the door fully opened, three people stepped inside. Aeron was among them, while the other two were unfamiliar. Aeron gave a simple motion toward the prisoners as he spoke flatly. "Here they are."
The man with honey colored eyes stepped further into the cell first, calmly inspecting the two Demon Knights from head to toe with open curiosity. "They seem more… human than I expected," he remarked thoughtfully.
"It does appear that way," Aeron replied with a small nod.
"You said the Demon Lord you fought was human as well?" the larger man with red eyes asked as he stepped into the room beside him.
Aeron nodded once again.
The two imprisoned knights remained silent, simply watching the three men carefully as they observed them in return.
The honey eyed man smoothly cleared his throat before speaking. "Well then," he said pleasantly, "we should probably introduce ourselves properly first." A charming smile spread across his face as he placed a hand against his chest. "Edward Zahar, Deputy Chief of the Ironguard."
Beside him, the broad shouldered man crossed his arms. "Malvin Ashborn," he said bluntly. "Captain of the Ironguard." His sharp red eyes narrowed slightly. "Who and what exactly are the two of you?"
The two Demon Knights exchanged a brief glance with one another before the one with lapis colored eyes spoke first.
"Velmora," he answered calmly. "Demon Knight of Demon Lord Redgrave."
The other followed immediately afterward.
"Kharzek. Demon Knight of Demon Lord Redgrave."
Edward lightly clapped his hands together once with a small chuckle. "Wonderful. We're already making excellent progress in this new relationship between our people."
Kharzek narrowed his eyes at him immediately. "You are as much of a snake as your kind claims Lucifer to be."
Edward raised a brow. "Ah," he sighed dramatically, "you saw through the friendly mask already? That's unfortunate." He shrugged lightly. "Still, we move on."
He stepped back slightly and motioned for Malvin to take over.
Malvin moved forward instead, stopping directly in front of the chained brothers before crouching down to meet them at eye level.
"Listen carefully," Malvin began, his tone firm. "Aeron arrested the two of you for one reason and one reason alone."
Aeron immediately raised a finger from behind him. "It was actually multiple reasons."
Malvin ignored him completely.
"And that reason," he continued, "was information."
"It was also because of assault, battery, resisting an officer, armed—"
Malvin continued speaking right over Aeron as though he could no longer even hear him.
"We want information about why you're here, how you're here, how many of you there are, and everything else connected to this." His gaze sharpened. "You're knights. You understand interrogations and intelligence gathering, correct?"
Velmora answered first. "We understand," he said calmly. "And honestly, we expected this. Capturing enemy combatants and interrogating them is simply logical."
Malvin gave a slow nod. "Then you also understand what happens if we're forced to extract information instead of having it given willingly."
"You won't need to do that," Kharzek said with a dismissive huff. "We'll tell you."
That answer visibly caught both Edward and Malvin off guard.
"You will?" Malvin asked.
Velmora nodded. "There is little point in resisting after already being captured." His chains rattled softly as he shifted slightly against the floor. "Besides, whether we tell you or not, with what is happening currently, your people would have learned eventually anyway."
Edward and Malvin exchanged a brief look at that response.
Meanwhile Aeron was still calmly continuing his list behind them.
"—armed confrontation, destruction of property, disturbing public order—"
"In that case," Malvin interrupted while looking back toward the two Demon Knights, "start talking."
His expression hardened slightly.
"What exactly is going on?"