NOVEL NEXT Chapter 647
Chapter 647: What’s Your Name? (1)
“Young Master!”
Belinda screamed as she gripped Ghislaine tightly. The people nearby were also taken aback.
For Ghislaine, the Iron-Blooded Lord, to collapse while working was simply unbelievable.
Belinda and Gillian swiftly moved Ghislaine to the bedroom. Soon, more people arrived as they received the word.
Parniel and Piote poured Divine Power into Ghislaine. Jerome and Vanessa examined Ghislaine’s condition with Magic Power.
The people diligently checking on Ghislaine frowned and shook their heads.
“There’s… nothing wrong…”
“The Mana looks fine too.”
“There’s no harm visible in the body.”
“It seems like… he’s just… asleep?”
Ghislaine looked just like he was in a deep sleep.
And that was the problem. A powerhouse like Ghislaine shouldn’t be able to sleep this deeply with no issues at all.
The only times Ghislaine had fallen into such a state were when he was seriously injured or unconscious.
Belinda urgently turned to Dark.
“Dark! Check the Young Master’s consciousness right now…”
Belinda couldn’t finish her sentence. Her eyes widened at the unexpected sight.
“I feel strange… something is… pulling me…”
The Mana forming Dark was dissipating. This was something that shouldn’t happen unless a long time had passed, or Ghislaine willingly let go.
Yulien hurriedly grabbed at the dispersing form of Dark and infused his own mana into it. But it was futile.
Pssss…
With no proper explanation, Dark crumbled away.
Feeling the sensation of Dark’s body breaking apart from his fingertips, Yulien said,
“…It seems like he was forcibly pulled away.”
Whether that was Ghislaine’s intent or if there was another reason, there was no way to know.
They had tried to wake Ghislaine multiple times using Divine Power and Magic, but every attempt had failed. Even striking him to rouse a reaction yielded nothing.
“It must be that saintess who took him away.”
Belinda gritted her teeth with a cold gaze. Though she said it out of anger, there was no explanation other than that.
“But he looks way too sound asleep for that.”
Vanessa said, examining Ghislaine’s face.
Indeed, Ghislaine’s face expressed a rare peacefulness in sleep, making it feel wrong to wake him up.
Yulien, who had been looking down at Ghislaine quietly, voiced an alternative thought.
“We’ll need to consult Ereness.”
Perhaps she might know something. They sent someone, and shortly after, Ereness arrived.
Yulien hastily explained the situation and then asked,
“Do you know what this phenomenon is?”
“No, I’ll have to find out.”
“Did the saintess really have an influence?”
Ereness sighed.
“Whatever she saw there, it’s just a seal. That place will remain in that state forever. It can’t exert any other influence.”
“Everyone saw Ghislaine enter there. He even told us about his experiences inside.”
“I don’t know how such a thing could happen.”
Ereness furrowed her brow. An impossible event had taken place. Too many people had witnessed it for it to be dismissed as an illusion.
If there was a problem with the seal, it would be troublesome. She decided she needed to check the seal soon.
“I’ll look into that matter separately. It’s important for me too.”
Yulien nodded. He did not believe Ereness was lying. There was still a feeling that she was hiding something.
As Ereness inspected Ghislaine, she waved her hand into the air lightly.
“O spirits of sleep and dreams, hear my call. Open the door to the hidden world and traverse between eternity and the moment.”
Shimmering lights appeared and circled around her hand. The lights twirled before seeping into Ghislaine’s mind.
Ereness was now attempting to penetrate Ghislaine’s consciousness using the spirits.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been impossible, but Ghislaine was in no state to resist.
Swoosh…
She kept her eyes closed and continued waving her hand above Ghislaine’s head.
Everyone watched anxiously, needing to understand the cause.
As Ereness used the spirits to delve into Ghislaine’s consciousness, she frowned.
‘What in the…’
An unbelievable event was unfolding. Ghislaine’s consciousness was empty.
In other words, it was akin to a doll without a soul.
There was only darkness there. She could glean nothing.
Did this mean the being they encountered behind the veil had some influence?
Ereness, deep in thought, quickly dismissed that notion.
‘That’s impossible. A powerhouse like the Duke of Penris shouldn’t be able to lose his consciousness like this.’
What is a transcendent? A being that establishes its own world. For such a being to have its consciousness forcibly taken is not an exaggeration to call impossible.
‘Then…’
There must be another reason.
The likelihood of the Duke of Penris willingly emptying his consciousness seemed much greater. Though it was impossible for an ordinary human, if aided by something, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.
Ereness refocused her consciousness and gathered her power.
Drrr…
The air around began to tremble. Even more force was poured into the spirits.
The spirits she summoned breached the deepest recesses of Ghislaine’s consciousness.
‘I found it.’
Consciousness is an infinitely vast space, akin to the cosmos.
Deep within that darkness, Ereness discovered a small light. She didn’t know what it was, but it was occupying Ghislaine’s consciousness.
Ereness connected her consciousness strongly with the spirits. She approached the light.
‘Reveal your identity.’
As she got closer, she felt something was strange. That light was a presence that shouldn’t exist within Ghislaine’s consciousness.
‘Divine Power? Why would there be Divine Power…’
Suddenly, a memory of something Ghislaine had said earlier floated back to her mind.
― After I got this necklace, I saw the saintess in my dreams. I think she was the saintess from a thousand years ago.
‘No way… could it really be…’
Ereness’s heart began to race. She poured more strength into connecting her consciousness with the spirits.
As she moved closer, the light began to morph, slowly revealing its true form.
‘This is…’
A black circle floated in the air.
It was distant yet so enormous that Ereness felt like an ant in comparison.
At the edge of the circle, blue and purple lights intertwined and danced. The deepening darkness towards the center felt eternal, like an abyss.
The black circle was slowly rotating. The space around it undulated like waves.
Tiny particles of light floated around the black circle, shimmering beautifully like stars of the Milky Way.
Occasionally, flashes of light burst forth from the center of the circle.
Ereness’s eyes trembled at the sight.
‘What the hell is that…’
As Ereness stepped a little closer to the circle, she felt it. Her consciousness was being drawn little by little into it.
Beyond the deep darkness, something faintly glimmered.
‘I must not go any closer.’
If she got too close, her very consciousness might get sucked in as well.
But she was incredibly curious as to why such a thing had manifested within the Duke of Penris’s consciousness. Who could have…
BAM!
Suddenly struck by a powerful impact, Ereness staggered backward, blood trickling from her nose.
“W-What is this…?”
Everyone gasped at the sight. Belinda was the first to support Ereness, asking,
“Are you alright? What happened?”
Ereness’s face was pale with terror. The others looked on in confusion.
Ereness was the strongest of them all. Regaining her former strength, she had been growing even more powerful.
For her to look that way was incomprehensible. What on earth had she discovered within Ghislaine’s consciousness?
“You…”
Ereness was about to say something but hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands.
Yulien stepped forward and said,
“What is going on?”
“A, nothing.”
“Speak.”
Yulien gripped his weapon with a cold glare.
He respected her silence about the past. That was her personal business.
But hiding something in this situation was unacceptable.
Ereness glared back at Yulien.
“Are you trying to intimidate me with your strength now?”
“If necessary.”
The two eyed each other, neither backing down.
A chill began to seep into Yulien’s gaze.
Once he makes a decision, he never looks back. Even towards Ereness, if she kept acting this way, he would truly draw his blade.
Ereness sensed that resolve from Yulien clearly.
“Dare…”
There was a glimmer of anger in her eyes. Did she look like someone who could be subdued by force, a Guardian of the World Tree and the Great Chief of Elves?
Their energies began to spread slowly into the surroundings.
At that moment, Piote dove between them and shouted.
“Why! Can’t you just solve this through conversation!”
“…”
“…”
Both remained silent. After a moment, Ereness finally sighed.
She had been in a heightened state ever since Arterion’s death. She had to acknowledge that.
“The Duke of Penris’s consciousness… is gone.”
Yulien frowned.
“Gone?”
“Yes, I have no idea what has transpired. There was only Divine Power within his consciousness.”
“Divine Power?”
People exchanged perplexed looks. Ghislaine had mentioned the necklace of the saintess and the dream, but he hadn’t said anything about Divine Power.
After a moment of contemplation, Ereness continued.
“I can’t say why there was Divine Power. But it seems to have influenced him. There was a strange ‘door’ within his consciousness.”
The people couldn’t grasp what Ereness was saying. A door? What did she mean that such a thing existed within a person’s consciousness?
Regardless, Ereness shared what she had witnessed.
“It appears that the Duke of Penris’s consciousness must have been drawn in there. Even as I speak… I can scarcely believe it.”
Even Ereness, having lived for so long, had never witnessed a case like this. She couldn’t fathom how such an event could occur.
In the end, they could find no clear cause. They only learned that Ghislaine’s consciousness had truly disappeared.
Belinda wept as she caressed Ghislaine’s forehead.
“What is this… We’ve won the war, and we were supposed to live in peace… Why did this sudden turn of events happen…?”
They shouldn’t have gone to the Forest of Monsters. There was no need to concern themselves with that saintess or the war a thousand years ago.
They should have been able to finish everything and live happily without such things.
She should have done more to stop it. Allowing things to proceed as they wished led to this calamity.
Others also wore equally somber expressions.
Ereness gazed quietly at Ghislaine before finally speaking.
“We may have to wait until he awakens himself. There are no records of a person who has lost their consciousness.”
With those words, she turned to leave.
A heavy silence lingered. No one could find the words to say.
Yulien stared down at Ghislaine for a long time.
‘Ghislaine…’
The friend who had always been bright and lively was now crumpled in such a wretched manner, and so suddenly too.
It was hard to believe even as he witnessed it.
‘I must find the reason.’
Every event has its cause. There can be no result without a reason.
If he could uncover that reason, there would surely be a way to save Ghislaine.
‘Could it be Gathros…?’
He was the leader of the Salvation Society. Perhaps he knew something about the secrets of the veil or Ghislaine’s state.
His instincts pointed towards that individual. Yulien’s gaze grew cold.
* * *
“Uh?”
Ghislaine, who had lost consciousness, opened his eyes and spoke in confusion.
He had clearly collapsed in his office, but now he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.
The surroundings were incredibly chaotic.
“Damn it! Run away!”
“Why are these brats so strong!”
“Aaaahhhh!”
The screams of people echoed nonstop. Looking around, it felt like some bandit hideout.
Corpses lay scattered everywhere, and part of the hideout had collapsed.
Ghislaine tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Where is this? Why am I in a place like this? Did someone move me while I was sleeping?”
Just as he pondered this, someone shouted loudly from beside him.
“Astion! What are you doing! Get your act together!”
Turning toward the source of the voice, Ghislaine’s eyes widened.
“You…”
A boy with beautiful blue hair that evoked images of magical waves was shouting.
There was no one with such hair color around Ghislaine.
But that face looked so much like someone Ghislaine knew well.
“Yulien?”
The hero from his dreams, Yulien, was calling out in a youthful, unfamiliar voice.