Chapter 207: Von Everblack House [3]
Chapter 206
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Episode 51 - Von Everblack House [3]
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The half-collapsed mansion was overgrown with vegetation, as if nature had already reclaimed the place.
Skeletons wearing armor and loose robes were scattered across the entire island.
There were also footprints and signs of where bloody battles had taken place.
A thousand years ago, this place must have been filled with the stench of blood.
I walked forward slowly, relying on my senses.
"Seventy percent of the skeletons wearing robes seem to be the invaders, while the rest are those who defended this place."
〖They must have been Messengers of the Holy Church if they wore robes.〗
After walking around the area for a while, I decided to enter the mansion.
My master said the Teleportation Circle should be in the underground level, so there were probably piles of rubble blocking the way.
Once inside, I examined the place. Just like outside, there were skeletons here as well.
I walked through the halls and rooms, searching for a staircase leading underground.
At the same time, I used gravity to move and clear away the rubble around me.
Then, after a long search, I followed my senses and found the staircase.
I first removed the rubble blocking it before heading down.
"Oh, I’m pretty lucky."
The underground level was surprisingly clean. Although it was covered in dust, there wasn’t any rubble to clear away.
As a result, it didn’t take me long to find the Teleportation Circle.
In front of me stood a completely different kind of altar.
It was covered with hieroglyphs, intricate patterns, circles, and lines that formed complex designs.
I cleaned the Teleportation Circle and then stood at its center.
"Master..."
〖What is it, disciple?〗
"You’ve been quiet this whole time, so I’ll get straight to the point."
After seeing what had become of this place, I knew the main house wouldn’t be in any better condition.
So there was a question that had been on my mind for quite a while.
"Do you want revenge against the Holy Church for what they did to your entire family?"
Alice Von Everblack was the tenth head of House Everblack.
I didn’t know much about that family, but with Alice as its leader, I was certain everyone back then either loved or admired her.
And Alice, my master, most likely cared deeply for every one of them.
Then her soul was sealed inside her own sword and somehow ended up at the Academy...
Over the course of hundreds of years, Alice gathered information about the outside world.
And naturally, Alice learned that the last surviving members of her family had died because of the rise of an organization—or religion—called the Holy Church.
’Wouldn’t that be enough to make anyone want revenge?’
I didn’t fully understand a feeling like revenge because I had never experienced anything like it myself.
But I was sure it was a perfectly natural feeling for most people.
〖Revenge, huh... Ever since I found out who killed every member of my family, of course I wanted to kill them.〗
〖But then I realized I was, quite literally, a sword. Without someone on my side, I couldn’t do anything, and above all, I didn’t want to drag anyone else into a mission of revenge.〗
"So that means you have no intention of taking revenge, even if the opportunity presented itself."
My master replied.
〖No, actually, I would. But as you can see, even if I had a body, I’m not even sure how long it would take me to gain enough power to kill them.〗
I thought about it for a few seconds before answering.
"Mhm, well, it’s not impossible. In fact, almost everyone secretly hates the Church, while the rest either profit from it or accept its bribes. But strong Awakened who know what the Holy Church is really like would never join them."
〖What are you getting at?〗
"I’m just saying that there actually aren’t that many Nine-Star Awakened. And just so you know, they don’t have a single Ten-Star Awakened. Director Bernice is the only Ten-Star Awakened on this entire continent."
"So as long as you had enough power to kill a Nine-Star Awakened, you could have your revenge. As for the rest of the Church’s members, there are simply a lot of them."
Reaching the Nine-Star rank wasn’t nearly as easy as people imagined.
There was a reason Nine-Star Awakened were considered assets of immense value throughout the continent.
Moreover, their numbers were extremely small. The Academy had around four Nine-Star Awakened.
Throughout the entire Holy Empire, among the nobility, there were only five Nine-Star Awakened, and they were the leaders of the Five Ducal Houses.
And finally, the Holy Church had only three Nine-Star Awakened.
〖Hey, wait a minute. Why are you asking me all this?〗
I smiled faintly as I poured mana into the Teleportation Circle and then replied,
"Because five months from now, I’ll kill everyone in the Holy Church."
Then I teleported away and appeared somewhere else.
***
Night had fallen, and the full moon hung in the sky.
There was not a single cloud in sight, and the wind blew with unusual force from every direction.
From anywhere, one could see a colossal tree radiating a faint golden light. Its branches stretched toward the heavens.
The base of its trunk was enormous, and its roots extended to every corner of the world.
Curiously, the massive tree had no leaves.
Many people had wondered why it had no leaves, why its wood felt like crystal, and why it radiated a faint golden glow.
The Elvenheims walked calmly along the silent streets.
The City of Karnak was like the Imperial Capital of the Sacred Continent.
However, at first glance, Karnak was very different from an aristocratic or bureaucratic city.
Every house and every building featured elegant, unique architecture that blended nature with the artificial.
Karnak was located directly at the base of the Tree of Dreams and Wishes.
At the foot of the tree stood the Palace of the Chosen, or, in simpler terms, a version of the Imperial Palace where the imperial family resided.
The Palace of the Chosen was enormous and was guarded by hundreds of Elvenheims twenty-four hours a day.
And, in a secluded area hidden within the darkness, a lone figure leaned calmly against a wall.
The figure watched the Palace of the Chosen while drinking coffee taken from a storage ring.
"Ah, how am I supposed to get into the Sanctuary of Dreams?"
Lumina murmured as she stared at the Palace of the Chosen—or, more precisely, at the place where the only entrance to the depths of the Tree of Dreams and Wishes was located.
To contact the Consciousness, Lumina had to enter an area within the base of the tree known as the Sanctuary of Dreams.
There existed a kind of isolated, almost dreamlike space where the Tree’s Consciousness manifested itself.
However, because of the curse, the Consciousness could only speak with an outsider at specific times.
And that time would come in three days.
"The Blood Moon will be my only chance to speak with the Tree and make my offer to remove the curse."
If Lumina managed to accomplish all of that, she would then ask for the Essence of the Divine, which was used as the foundation for awakening a Divine Body.
According to Lumina’s calculations and knowledge of the Essence of the Divine, it should have appeared about three years ago, since only a single drop emerged every thousand years.
"If I can’t obtain it, then there’s only one place left where I can."
A place beyond the seas, but for Lumina, that was impossible.
Traveling beyond the seas was simply suicide.
’Not even a Nine-Star Awakened can survive there. That place is extremely dangerous.’
Beyond the Five Continents and the seas surrounding them, there were places that almost no one ever spoke of.
Lumina took another sip of coffee while using several of her Traits to gather information about the Palace of the Chosen.
"There must be an underground labyrinth that can lead me to the underground prison, and from there, I can reach the Gate of the Chosen."
Lumina finished her coffee and prepared to move.
She had already spent more than five days preparing everything to infiltrate the Sanctuary of Dreams.
And there were only two nights left until the Blood Moon.
So Lumina estimated that it would take her about two days to reach the Sanctuary, assuming, of course, that she was not discovered.
But for that, she would use some of her Unique Traits, which allowed her to become literally undetectable, even to the Elvenheims.
’Unless the Chosen Princess or the Queen of the Elvenheims shows up.’
But other than those two, there was no reason to worry.
Lumina, who had managed to hide from Adel on more than one occasion, was confident that no one in this world would be able to find her once she disappeared.
The only way to find Lumina would be through certain nearly omniscient powers, such as those possessed by the Queen of the Elvenheims and her daughter.
Lumina looked up at the sky one last time. The moon hung in the star-filled heavens.
Then she took a deep breath and thought:
’I wonder what Adel is doing right now.’
With that final thought, Lumina’s figure vanished.
Meanwhile, the Elvenheims strolled peacefully through the streets; boys and girls played, and merchants called out to advertise their goods.
At first glance, it was a remarkably peaceful city.