Juno's head hung low, sweat dripping from his brow. His hands were shackled to a metal ring on a strange cylindrical tube. The room around him was dim, metallic, humming faintly like a machine breathing in its sleep. Across from him, another figure stirred—an orc, bound to a similar tube, twitching and groaning in pain.
Shennong stood between them, arms folded, his voice calm but sharp.
"So…" he began, tilting his head slightly, "are you ready to tell me now?"
Juno didn't answer. His eyes narrowed, watching Shennong with cold suspicion.
Shennong let out a short laugh. "If you'd just swallowed your pride and told me what I needed to know from the start, none of this would've happened. You could've continued your little charade of being the hero with a cursed sword."
He took a step forward. "But now—now you're here. And I need everything. From the beginning to the end. Everything."
