NOVEL NEXT Chapter 180: Prison
The journey continued, with Richard seeing more and more destruction along the way.
Because the surroundings looked like night, he lost track of time.
He only knew for sure that it wasn't actually night yet.
One sight that horrified him was the claw marks on the ground — now partially filled with water, but still clearly visible.
They stretched as far as Richard's eyes could see. He could barely make out their end.
And at the far end, he saw a blinding light — so bright that from a distance, it looked like the sun.
When he narrowed his eyes to take a closer look, he realized it was a city — not completely destroyed, but about seventy percent of its buildings had collapsed.
The city stood on flat land, making it even larger than the Holy Star City.
However, the area around the city suffered far worse destruction.
Aside from the enormous claw marks, Richard also noticed numerous cracks in the sky — spatial fractures that would take a long time to heal.
'Fortunately, they have two Ancient Sovereigns,' Richard thought.
Those two must have protected the city. Without them, it wouldn't just be destroyed — it would have been erased entirely.
"Richard, let's walk," Grace said suddenly, and Richard nodded.
Although the city was nearly ruined, it was the strongest Magi who had truly suffered.
The weak were protected and still alive. They were surely on high alert and might attack anyone suspicious.
So it was better to enter the city on foot.
Richard stored the ark into the Dragon Hall.
He and Grace stood in the air for a moment before descending.
Despite all the destruction, there was still one road in the city that remained intact.
Grace instantly changed her outfit into a robe — not her Phantom Robe, but a simple hooded cloak.
Wearing the Phantom Robe might draw unwanted suspicion.
Richard chose to wear the same kind of robe as hers.
Their faces were still visible, though faintly obscured.
Naturally, walking took much longer.
As they walked side by side, Richard occasionally glanced at Grace's face.
Two or three times, she ignored him as usual.
But after he looked at her five times, Grace began to frown slightly.
"Is there something?" she asked.
Richard's intention was indeed to strike up a conversation, so he replied,
"Did you realize you have a very beautiful face, Grace?"
"Are you trying to flirt with me?" Grace asked flatly.
"Are you upset when someone flirts with you?" Richard asked, genuinely puzzled that she seemed irritated.
She didn't mind physical contact, yet she disliked being flirted with by someone she liked — it was unusual.
"In my opinion, that's just nonsense," Grace answered.
Richard rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand.
"What about this?" he asked.
This time, Grace didn't respond.
However, she gently held his hand in return.
Richard felt like laughing but restrained himself.
Without a doubt, physical contact was something Grace favored.
Of course, they didn't keep holding hands while walking through a ruined area, brushing past other people on the street.
It was merely to learn what she liked.
Now Richard knew that Grace considered words of flattery meaningless.
That meant sweet talk wouldn't please her.
If he wanted to make her happy, he'd have to just hug and kiss her directly.
Soon, the Holy Light City's wall came into view.
It only had two main gates — yet now there were many holes scattered around, allowing people to enter from anywhere.
Even so, Richard and Grace still chose to enter through the gate.
Despite the destruction, the situation wasn't chaotic.
People were busy repairing their homes, assisted by the royal soldiers.
Richard tried to navigate the city's streets based on the information he had gotten from Layla.
He then walked toward the city center — a considerable distance from the gate.
Cracks split many of the streets, not from direct attacks but from the sheer force of the tremors.
The collapsed buildings must have fallen only due to the violent shaking.
With the city's bright lights, it still looked like daytime even though the sky above was dark and fractured.
What Richard knew was that Holy Light City practically never fell into darkness — it always shone like daylight.
Despite the extensive damage, when he reached the city center, Richard saw that the enormous, magnificent white palace — glowing endlessly — remained completely intact.
Soldiers were constantly moving in and out of the palace, busy with their duties.
Richard had no interest in observing it for long.
He circled around it via the road surrounding the palace.
Just behind it stood a box-shaped building, completely black, with only a single small door at the front.
Even one person might have difficulty passing through it.
The black building, too, was undamaged — just like the palace.
"Is it there, Richard?" Grace asked.
"Yes. I'm going in. You should wait here. For now, you'll probably forget about me and feel confused as to why you came to this city," Richard said.
"I've experienced that a few times already. Don't worry," Grace replied calmly.
Richard couldn't help but make a strange expression at that.
Even though he hadn't been near her when he became void, she somehow remained aware of him.
Did that mean, during those moments, she had always been thinking about him?
He nodded slightly, then took a step forward.
With that single step, he vanished.
Even as he entered the prison building, he turned back to glance at Grace.
Sure enough, she suddenly looked confused — glancing around as if questioning herself why she was even in Holy Light City.
Perhaps because she rarely showed confusion, that expression looked unexpectedly adorable to Richard.
He didn't linger — and quickly entered through the small door.
Instead of finding a room, he found a narrow corridor descending underground, with a steep stairway.
It clearly had a special formation, for even the air felt oppressively tight.
An ordinary human would barely be able to breathe down here.
If just the entrance was like this, how terrible must the underground prison itself be?
Of course, a prison meant to confine Magi had to be made torturous — at least enough to suppress their power.
Richard continued descending the staircase.
The deeper he went, the thinner the air became.
Even space itself seemed to grow heavier, making walking difficult.
Naturally, Richard was unaffected by any of it — since he was void.
He was, in essence, walking through a different dimension.
He descended for over a kilometer before finally seeing the end of the stairs.
Unlike the bright city above, the underground was utterly dark.
Its only light came from small candles.
Here, Richard saw many branching corridors.
At first glance, it didn't even look like a prison — there were no visible iron doors or bars.
Each room had nearly no openings at all, except for small holes — just enough to peek in or out.
The only slightly larger gap was a tiny hole at the bottom of every wall, like a cat door — even smaller, probably only big enough for a plate to pass through.
Richard didn't bother wondering how the prisoners were brought in.
He could sense many prisoners here — and also several wardens wandering around with torches in hand.
All of them were Magi. From the perspective of ordinary Magi, they were fairly strong — consisting of Life Aether Realm Magi, and a few in the World Realm.
"The empress of the Holy Star Kingdom is truly beautiful. She even looks so virtuous."
"Hey, she's no longer an empress. She's not even a dowager."
"What's wrong if I still call her empress? Such a shame our superiors forbid anyone from touching her. If I could, I'd be satisfied just kissing her hand."
"Drop those filthy thoughts, kid. You think a warden like you could ever touch her? She's only fit for great men like the king or Prince Charles. Even they wouldn't dare touch her — fearing she might destroy herself instead."
"Come on, I'm just daydreaming. I can't stop thinking about her — she's so beautiful. If only I were a king and she my wife, life would be perfect."
"..."
Richard overheard two wardens walking past him as they talked.
They were still fairly young — one in his thirties and the other about twenty-five.
The younger one looked like a man struck by lovesickness.
"Stop talking nonsense. We're stationed here to make sure nothing happens. The city's already in ruins — it'll be a disaster if an intruder frees the prisoners," the older one said.
Richard naturally understood the younger man's youthful desire.
The Red Star Empress — whose name was Maya — was, even in his opinion, a woman of remarkable grace.
Her temperament truly embodied that of a beloved empress.
That was her greatest charm — not her beauty, which came second, even though she possessed unmatched beauty as well.
By seeing which direction the two came from, Richard could already guess where the empress was being held.
He didn't need to spread his wave of perception — he simply stepped toward the corridor they had come from, which seemed to be a special passage for high-profile prisoners.
As he walked, Richard closed his eyes, choosing to sense the empress's presence through her aura.
Her power might have been sealed here, but since Richard was familiar with her, he could still faintly feel it.
He soon concluded that she was inside the cell at the very end of that corridor.
Richard touched the wall in front of the cell — and, of course, his hand passed right through it since he was still void.
Then he stepped directly inside before materializing his form once more.