Interrogation

"Although you've only just begun the course of Monster Identification, and what I'm about to explain is somewhat beyond the curriculum, since we've encountered them, this is a good opportunity for a hands-on lesson." The Arcanist smiled, his tone gentle. If not for the thunder, rain, howling wind, and the vaguely intimate warm yellow light, he would have seemed more like a responsible teacher than a butcher with bloodstained hands. Wanda watched in terror as the Arcanist used a silver-plated steel stake engraved with runes to pin the Vampire to the unfortunate car door. Surprisingly, he used only physical strength; it seemed he could handle that Vampire without magic.

When facing monsters that fed on humans, Salomon always displayed a terrifying brutality without even realizing it.

This was also common to all Kamar-Taj Arcanists. In the end, Kamar-Taj was an organization born for war, ever ready to rain magic down upon the Enemy of Humanity. Violence was Kamar-Taj's first language. Even the kind-looking Sorcerer Supreme could instantly become the most vicious thug. Salomon had been trained according to that very model. He had received the most complete Kamar-Taj education, and he would not retreat even before the Vishanti. Kamar-Taj existed for humanity, not the Vishanti Trinity.

The Vampire's sudden leap had indeed frightened her, but rage from nowhere instantly ignited her soul, as if the existence of that inferior creature before her had offended her. In her fury, the force-field spell she had been preparing lost its aim and blasted both the car door and the Vampire away. The companion of this teaching material—the unlucky creature that had attacked Wanda—had been plastered to the other side of the car door not long ago, and had died in a highly abstract fashion—filthy blackened organs were squeezed messily from its flattened body,