But before the energy swords could touch Jin's body, Dr. Aris threw himself to the ground, kneeling at Zoro's feet. It was a brave and reckless move at the same time.
"My Leader... please, stop!" Aris cried out, trying to hide the fire burning in his heart—the fire of hatred for the injustice and tyranny ruling the kingdom. He secretly wished for this evil power to vanish today rather than tomorrow, but he feigned absolute loyalty and said, "Jin has been your right hand all these years. He was your infallible sword. Doesn't he deserve a little mercy? Doesn't he deserve another chance, sir?"
Zoro fell silent. He took a step back and began to think to himself. "The perfect machine should not be destroyed over a single mistake... Jin does not deserve a quick death. Death is a mercy for him right now. I will torture him until he regrets every moment he thought of betraying me."
Zoro smiled a cruel smile and issued a new order to the guards: "Do not kill him... take him to the Abandoned Castle instead. Torture him severely, and make him wish for death every second without finding it."
Meanwhile, at the top of the high tower, Julia was sleeping in Jin's cold bed. Suddenly, she woke up terrified, panting and placing her hand over her chest. She felt a sharp pain squeezing her heart, as if she were the one being tortured.
She got out of bed and began pacing back and forth across the room, fear eating away at her soul. Where was Jin? He had disappeared since the morning and hadn't returned. Anxiety took over all her thoughts. She tried to sleep but couldn't; her heart was clenching tightly, and a strange, terrifying feeling told her that Jin was in mortal danger.
By midnight, the room's door opened very quietly. Julia backed away in terror, thinking Zoro's guards had come to kill her. But the person who entered was Dr. Aris.
"Who are you? How did you get in here? Where is Jin?" Julia asked, her voice trembling.
Aris raised his hands calmly to reassure her. "Don't be afraid, my child. I am Dr. Aris; I am the one who treated you when you were unconscious."
Julia sighed in slight relief. Dr. Aris sat on Jin's metal desk. He reached his finger under the desk, grabbed the spider chip, and crushed it under his foot so he could speak safely. He knew that all these disasters were the work of Kyle, who was seeking to bring Jin down. He motioned for Julia to sit. He began asking her gently about Jin and how he had treated her in this locked room. Aris was reading her body language, noticing the fear and the sincere gleam in her eyes.
Aris smiled inwardly. He was now certain of something important: this girl shared the same feelings for him. She had grown attached to him. Despite Jin's apparent cruelty and cold mask, his inner self carried a touch of warmth and mercy that had touched Julia's heart.
Aris took a deep breath and decided to reveal the biggest secret to her.
"Listen to me carefully, Julia," Aris began in a sad voice. "The terrifying executioner you know wasn't born this way. When Jin was just an infant in his crib, Zoro murdered his parents in cold blood. Their only crime was spreading affection and encouraging people to marry for love, because their emotional energy threatened this harsh system."
Julia's eyes widened in shock. She kept listening as tears gathered in her eyes.
Aris continued, "When Zoro stood over baby Jin's crib to kill him, something strange happened. Normal children cry and get scared even of Zoro's shadow... but little Jin didn't cry. He looked at the Supreme Leader with a gaze full of defiance and resistance. Zoro sensed that this child possessed an exceptional power, so he didn't kill him. He took him to the capital and raised him in the harshest and most brutal ways. Starvation for days, savage training, and imprisonment between cold iron walls... Zoro wanted to forge him into a perfect, emotionless killing machine."
Aris wiped his forehead and added, "But Zoro didn't know that blood runs deep. Jin inherited his parents' courage and spirit. His parents were never afraid of Zoro, and that is what made Zoro wipe them out of existence."
At this point, Aris couldn't bear the memories. He bowed his head, and a burning tear fell from his cheek to hit the floor.
"Jin's father was my dearest friend, Julia," Aris said, his voice choking with tears. "Everything I do today, all my pretense of loyalty to this system, is only for Jin's sake. He is the only thing keeping me alive. I want him back. I want to save the remaining version of my precious friend."
Aris raised his head to find Julia completely broken down. She was crying bitterly, her sobs filling the room. At that moment, Aris saw the seed of true love forming in her heart. He realized that Julia was the "merciful heart" he had been waiting for to destroy this tyrannical system.
"Zoro has arrested him, Julia," Aris said seriously. "He arrested him because he found feelings for you in his heart. And now, he is being tortured in a place called the 'Abandoned Castle'."
The moment she heard those words, Julia felt as if a dagger had been plunged into her heart. She fell to her knees at Dr. Aris's feet and cried out through her tears, "It's my fault! All of this is because of me! Please, Doctor, let me help you with anything. Take my life if necessary, just to get him out of this torture!"
Aris held her shoulders to comfort her, saying with deep sadness, "I will do the impossible to smuggle him out of there, I promise you that. But the problem is... the Abandoned Castle is a cursed place. Anyone who enters it never leaves except as ashes."
These words were like a sharp sword to her fragile heart. Aris stood up and left the room in silence, leaving Julia to collapse on the floor, crying in total devastation.
While she was drowning in her despair, a shadow moved from the corner of the room. He stood near her head, and when she raised her tearful eyes, she found Jax, the vent rat.
Jax placed his hand on her shoulder and said in a warm voice, entirely different from his usual sarcasm, "Don't worry, Julia. Jin is stronger than you imagine. He will hold on, believe me."
Meanwhile, in a dark and distant place underground, in the Abandoned Castle, the air was heavy and filled with the stench of blood and burning iron.
Jin was suspended by magnetic chains, subjected to the most horrific kinds of torture. [Hacking internal system... Focused high-voltage electric shocks...] His body convulsed violently with every shock, and his screen flashed red, causing him an agony that tore at his mind and nerves.
Yet, despite all this physical pain, his heart was beating for Julia. His mind blamed him silently: "What have I done to myself? I was the perfect machine, the Inspector everyone feared... and now, I am just a nobody being crushed in the dark."
In the corner of the dark room, away from the circle of light, stood Kyle. He wasn't speaking; he was simply watching the torture scene with a demonic, gloating smile. He said in his heart with sick joy: "I am now Inspector Number 1. You are finished, you idiot! What will happen to you when you find out that Julia will be in my grasp from now on?"
Even though Kyle didn't utter a single word, nor did he make a sound in the dark, Jin suddenly raised his exhausted eyes. Jin's dark gaze pierced through the pitch-black darkness, meeting Kyle's hidden eyes directly.
In that moment, Kyle felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Jin looked at him with a terrifying defiance, as if he had read every evil word Kyle was repeating in his heart. Kyle took a step back, and then...