The sphere of light continued to contract and expand, cycling through pale white and iridescent hues. Lucian's slender fingers shimmered with a silvery-white glow as they were about to touch its edge—when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
Thump, thump, thump. Lucian felt his heart hammering violently, as though it might burst right out of his chest, beating almost in synchrony with the pulsing rhythm of the strange light sphere.
"Why would I choose such a reckless move?"
"I know absolutely nothing about the state of this light sphere, yet I actually dared to try touching it?"
"What if it exploded? What if it contained a strange curse? What if it carried an attack of legendary rank?"
A thin sheen of cold sweat broke out across Lucian's forehead as a wave of intense post-realization fear surged through him. Had his habitual caution not made him hesitate at the very last moment, restoring his calm and clarity, he would have already touched the sphere, leaving his fate to the whims of the unknowable.
"Just now I was blinded by greed and curiosity. I knew this light sphere was extremely dangerous, yet I still couldn't resist reaching out to touch it."
"I seemed to suspect that the sphere concealed mysteries of the necromantic realm, secrets of the Sun King Thanos, the unknown, and domains that arcane magic had yet to explore—and so I became unable to restrain myself."
Lucian withdrew his right hand, gazing solemnly at the sphere before him, analyzing the emotional shifts he had just experienced:
"Was it the influence of the underground palace? Or the effect of the 'Greed' devil's descent?"
"Or perhaps the strangeness of the sphere itself?"
"Could it be that they were all one and the same—closely intertwined?"
Various hypotheses surfaced in Lucian's mind, and a decision quickly formed: "I can't blindly study the light sphere. First I need to check whether the Sun King left behind any related materials. Mm, time is getting tight—I can't afford to delay any further. I must conduct the arcane ritual immediately and activate Mr. Rhein's arrangements."
The inner layer of the palace had been thoroughly inspected by Rhein, yielding nothing beyond the magic circle, so Lucian had no intention of wasting time here. The place that Sophie, Relph, and Baier had spoken of—the location hiding the Sun King's great secrets—was far more likely to contain the books and notes he needed.
He produced the Plantagenet brooch imbued with mysterious power and carefully pinned it to the left chest of Thanos's statue, as though it had always belonged there.
Stepping back several paces, Lucian began the ritual, weaving intricate hand gestures and chanting arcane incantations to activate the magic circle.
…………
Inside the great hall.
As the battle deepened, the bulging veins on Frederick's face grew denser and denser, nearly obscuring his pale complexion entirely. An eerie, grotesque quality suffused his features, yet the more monstrous he appeared, the stronger his power became. He had completely suppressed Prince Baier, leaving the latter at a severe disadvantage—even short-range teleportation was disrupted at the perfect moment each time Baier attempted it.
His performance far exceeded the level of a Great Knight, and Alten—who had been elevated only through equipment—could no longer keep up with their pace. He was forced to step back and guard one of the main doors, preventing Baier's escape.
Not just Alten—even Deni was gradually withdrawing from the combat. Frederick seemed utterly unconcerned with the presence of his own allies, charging forward with wild, domineering ferocity. Rushing in to assist would only risk being struck by his attacks, so Deni also fell back to guard the other door, cutting off Baier's last avenue of retreat.
Only Sophie, casting spells from range, could keep pace with Frederick's rhythm. Wind ropes, magnetic field oscillation, dizziness spells—all of it left Baier suffering terribly.
With only Frederick—a madman who had barely touched the threshold of a Sky Knight—he had thought he could hold out until those outside sensed something was wrong and forced their way into the underground palace. But now, every single second felt like a luxury, because he had no idea whether he could withstand the next attack!
Meanwhile, Sophie had calmly cast a powerful sleep spell on Claire, plunging her into slumber and ending the battle on that front. She did not, however, attempt to use Claire as leverage against Baier. She knew her brother all too well—seemingly gentle and considerate, yet in reality resolute and decisive, completely immune to being swayed by a woman. There was no point wasting time. It was better to leave Claire behind in case entering the secret chamber required Plantagenet blood again. The blood of a single fool like "Borak" might not be enough.
At that moment, Alten's expression shifted. He turned and pulled open the hall door, calling out urgently: "Jocelyn, what's wrong?"
Jocelyn, clad in form-fitting rose scale armor, stumbled into the hall, her face deathly pale. She threw herself against Alten: "Quick—run! Andris has gone mad! He's turned into a monster! A—such a disgusting, terrifying monster!"
"What?" Alten's lack of combat experience left him paralyzed with indecision—should he wrap his right arm around Jocelyn while using the shield in his left to guard against Baier seizing the chance to flee? Should he soothe her with his left hand while brandishing his sword with his right? Or should he simply push her away? He fumbled through several postures, confused but outwardly composed as he asked for clarification.
If they were talking about monsters, there was already one right here!
Jocelyn seemed to have been thoroughly terrified, her willpower as a formal knight on the verge of collapse: "A monster—Andris has become a monster! He killed so many people—no, he ate so many people! Run, Alten, run! Get me out of here!"
By the end she was sobbing in terror, glistening tears streaming down her cheeks in unbroken chains.
After considerable effort, Alten managed to reposition himself so that Jocelyn clung to his chest. Baier had failed to seize the opening to break free from Frederick's relentless pressure, and Alten silently let out a breath of relief. Only then, still shaken, did he ask: "Ate—ate a lot of people? What happened to Andris? Are you all right?"
"I don't know! Andris suddenly turned into a monster, and then—and then I don't know how he just forgot about me…" Jocelyn babbled incoherently, unable to convey to Alten what had actually happened to Andris or how serious the situation was. He turned his gaze toward Sophie.
Sophie lightly furrowed her slender golden eyebrows—an expression that drew a few pangs of sympathy from Alten—then she pointed at Frederick, silently telling him not to worry. What did it matter if Andris had become a monster? There was a Sky Knight right here!
Alten immediately relaxed. Of course—there was still Mr. Frederick, who appeared to be gradually mastering the power of a Sky Knight that he had borrowed. What was there to fear from a monster?
So he kept one eye on Baier's final struggles before his inevitable defeat while comforting Jocelyn, and Sophie cast her spells to help. A soft greenish luminescence enveloped Jocelyn, brimming with a sense of peace and gentleness, gradually calming her near-shattered nerves.
Watching Jocelyn's nightmare-like expression slowly fade, watching Baier speak to her in tender reassurance, watching Deni standing guard to one side, watching the other young nobles maintaining vigilant attention, then glancing at the monstrous Frederick and at Baier—with his disheveled hair and six pairs of broken, drooping wings—a faint smile of satisfaction and mockery curved across Sophie's lips.
"Greed is the greatest of all sins, and you shall be punished for it. The moment Frederick can no longer control the devil's power will be the beginning of your suffering."
With this thought, she glanced at the fool "Borak" standing dazed like a statue, then turned toward Relph with a gaze suffused with feigned, dreamy affection, signaling him to prepare. In a moment, they would take Borak, herself, and Claire and slip into the secret chamber, leaving Alten and the others to be destroyed by the monster that was Frederick.
"Once I obtain the Sun King's secrets, it will be time for Lord Midal to make his appearance—to eliminate the monster that slaughtered the prince and numerous noble heirs, along with the evil mage who summoned that terrifying creature."
"Heh heh. A candidate heir to the Plantagenet family, who lost his faith after failing to awaken his bloodline power, was corrupted by a devil and walked the path of dark magic. He happened to discover, within an incomplete book passed down through the family, a method of summoning an aberrant devil along with incantations that could temporarily alter the underground palace's magic circle. Using these, he intended to defeat all other candidates, steal the Golden Eye Count's title, and eliminate all future threats."
"In the end, the summoned devil proved uncontrollable and possessed one of the secret guards, carrying out a brutal massacre. When His Grace the 'Crown of Glory' shattered the magic circle's seal and came to rescue everyone, only poor Princess Sophie had survived, having hidden in the secret chamber just in time."
"Let us mourn the brave and upright Prince Baier. Let us mourn the loyal guardian Alten… and let us mourn the foolish but 'kind' Borak…"
"This is nothing short of a flawless opera!"
Her gaze drifted toward Deni—his hair tied in a ponytail, his features sharp yet resolute—and a faint tinge of guilt flickered through her mind: "I'm sorry, Deni. This matter is simply too important. Aside from me, Uncle Ulrich, and Lord Midal, everyone who knows the truth must die."
"Only the dead—so utterly gone that neither body nor soul can be found—can keep a secret!"
Had Duke Plantagenet and the "Crown of Glory" not possessed strength beyond what she could contend with, she would certainly have chosen to be the only one who knew.