Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Standing by the castle’s main door, Xion glanced at the golden door to the throne room.

"What do you think we should do? We have to find Miss Evangeline. Moreover, it’s not as though we can break the door."

They had tried to break it, but the results weren’t all that good. The Ravenshade heir had even used the strange attack that shoots a starlit black sphere, erasing everything in the radius.

But even that attack simply bounced off ‌the door. Saria, too, was only able to put small scratches on it.

The Ravenshade heir, Adrian, shook his head.

"There is no point in looking for Evangeline. She isn’t anywhere in the castle." He turned to Saria. "Am I correct?"

Saria paused for a bit before nodding.

Xion furrowed his brows.

"How can you be so certain?"

Adrian sighed.

"Saria sees the world differently than us. Her origin ability converts mana into visual information. And since every person is constantly leaking mana from their bodies in the form of presence, she can see them as long as they are within the range of her ability. She can probably see through walls to know if a person is inside a room or not."

’I see. So if Evangeline had been in the castle, then ‌Saria’s Origin ability would’ve probably detected her.’

He sighed.

’This looks tedious.’

There was quite a lot of information he had gathered on Adrian Caelis Ravenshade and Evangeline Florivelle.

Based on what he saw, the Ravenshade heir was not too impressive. It felt more like Xion had been caught unprepared back when he had ambushed the black-haired boy.

Even in the fight against the crystal beast, Adrian hadn’t used anything besides what he had already shown before, which either meant that it was all he had in his arsenal or that he was still intent on hiding his secrets.

Evangeline Florivelle seemed to have found a method to combine the properties of spells from her four elements to create a devastating attack. But it took a long time to prepare. He hadn’t seen her use her ability to control others with her voice during the fight against the crystal beast.

Either she was choosing to hide it, or there was some limitation to that ability, which meant that she couldn’t use it on the crystal beast.

The Ravenshade heir also seemed to be more on the cautious side. Still, if Xion had to compare him with the crown prince, then the prince seemed more mysterious and dangerous, even though he was still only a Phase Two.

He hadn’t learned anything new about them, but this mission had solidified some of his understanding of them to a degree.

’In that sense, I would say agreeing to join this team and take on this mission was worth it.’

But things seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

He glanced at his teammates.

"Since the lobby and the throne room have switched places—according to Miss Saria—wouldn’t it be wise to go to the throne room once again to check? The castle clearly doesn’t want us to leave, so we have no choice but to look for a solution to our current predicament inside the castle."

He stretched his lips into an amicable smile.

"Of course, if you think that it’s too risky, then I would gladly become the sacrificial lamb."

Adrian frowned and shook his head.

"We have to stay together. We don’t know what is happening in the castle anymore. If we separate, then our ability to deal with the threats we encounter would be severely diminished."

The black-haired boy sighed.

"But you are right; we can’t simply stay here either." He alternated his gaze between Xion and Saria. "I believe we should enter the throne room once again. If the current situation was caused by touching the skeleton sitting on the throne, then the answer to finding Evangeline and making things return to normal may lie with the skeleton."

Xion nodded.

’He sure is smart.’

Honestly, the most impressive trait of the Ravenshade heir was probably his ability to remain level-headed even when the situation turned bad.

He had displayed this even during the fight with the crystal beast, but right now, when his fiancée had suddenly vanished and they were possibly in danger with no way to escape, the fact that he was still making sound decisions without even a hint of panic was commendable.

Saria also nodded in agreement after some hesitation.

And so, they walked through the lobby and reached the golden door of the throne room once again.

The door didn’t open on its own like before, but unlike the castle’s main door, which hadn’t budged at all, they were able to open the golden door. The interior of the throne room was the same.

The skeleton on the throne, the carpet on the floor, the thick cylindrical pillars on both sides—no detail seemed to have changed.

After scanning the throne room briefly, the three of them slowly walked towards the skeleton on the throne with their muscles tense, completely ready for anything unexpected.

But after walking for a few moments, Xion suddenly tilted his head in confusion.

’Huh?’

Maybe it was just him, but he felt as though the space around them had briefly rippled. He turned to his teammates.

"Hey, I think there is something wrong with—"

Before he could even finish speaking, the room suddenly began changing once again. Walls suddenly rose from below, separating the three. Moments later, those walls expanded, and Xion found himself alone in a vast, empty hall with no windows or furniture in sight.

For a while, he looked around in confusion, but then his lips slowly stretched into a wry smile.

’Well, so much for staying together.’

It was as though the castle itself had decided to separate them.

’But that’s strange.’

A Grade Two fragment relic wouldn’t be able to think for itself. It didn’t have consciousness.

Xion scanned the hall, and his eyes narrowed moments later.

The room was simply too big. Having looked at the castle from outside, as well as having explored the lobby and the throne room, Xion had gotten a pretty good idea of the castle’s structure.

And that was why he was confident that a room this massive couldn’t possibly exist in the castle. Yet the fact that he was in such a room meant only one thing.

’Spatial compression or dimensional space.’

Regardless of which one of the two it was, it was far beyond something a Grade Two fragment relic should be capable of, even if that relic was a literal castle.

Which would mean only one thing: the castle had either always been a Grade Three fragment relic, or it had evolved in the years this kingdom had remained empty.

’Kiryuzor, what do you think?’

A deep voice rang in his mind.

[Hmm... I am not so sure. The castle’s ability definitely exceeds what even the strongest Grade Two fragment relic should be capable of, but I have a hard time believing that this castle is a Grade Three fragment relic.]

Xion frowned.

’Why is that?’

[Do you really think that what this castle has displayed until now is anywhere comparable to the Coin of Time or the other Grade Three fragment relics?]

Well, Xion didn’t really know about any other Grade Three fragment relic besides the Coin of Time, so he couldn’t judge.

[I feel that this castle’s strength is definitely beyond Grade Two, but not quite Grade Three. Somewhere in between.]

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