Chương 41: Chapter 40: Sanctuary of the Void

The sealed stone door opened heavily. The air outside the underground laboratory, which smelled strongly of blood, poured in through the opening. Worried gazes met him.

"Yuto!" Rivian screamed before the door was even fully open. She rushed inside. Her face had already been gaunt from nursing him all night. The sight of the horrible things that had been done in the underground laboratory, as well as the ominous ether that had flowed outside the stone door and the sounds of intense fighting inside, had made her even paler.

"What was going on in—" she began, looking as if she might cry at any moment. Then she stopped short. She had just noticed a mysterious girl standing beside him.

"Uh... Yuto? Who... who is that with you?" she asked. Her gaze shook. It wasn't surprising since he had gone in by himself, only to reappear with a girl who was as beautiful as a doll but as cold as winter. Flokiro's eyes widened in recognition. He recalled seeing her in the Penalty Zone. And the fact that she had somehow emerged from the room with Yuto was enough to unnerve him.

"Y-Yuto, that's..." Flokiro said hesitantly. Ellun walked behind Yuto's back to hide from view, as if she couldn't be bothered with all the questions. She then spoke in a whisper so low that only Yuto could hear.

"You explain." Yuto felt a headache coming on. How exactly was he supposed to do that? Do I tell them that she is an envoy of the Void, hatched from an invisible egg that I was carrying? That would necessitate an explanation about what the Void even was, since it wasn't just Flokiro who was present, but Rivian as well. Yuto failed to come up with a convincing lie in that brief silence.

No matter how he tried to frame it, Rivian would find it hard to understand, and he would have to expose her to incomprehensible things that she did not need to know.

"Yuto?" she said cautiously. The tear-filled eyes now contained only confusion and doubt. He looked at them and realized that lies would only complicate the situation. He glanced at Ellun, who still wore no expression on her face, but something about her eyes told him she was secretly enjoying this. Yuto sighed heavily and shook his head.

"I don't know."

"What?" Rivian stammered.

"I don't know who this girl is. I found her inside the room," he said. This was technically a lie as well, since he was obscuring the full truth. But he didn't try to launch into a detailed follow-up. It would actually be best to stand his ground shamelessly.

"I couldn't just leave her there. And she said she wanted to come with me. I plan to bring her around with us from now on," he added.

"F-from now on?" Rivian said, blinking rapidly.

"Could she be one of... the test subjects? B-but even so, what could she be doing in there? I thought that chamber was a secret from everyone but the royalty of Velkyne?" she said.

"I don't know," Yuto said flatly.

"D-did you ask the girl?" she queried.

"She told me she didn't remember. All she knows is her name. Ellun." Did he have a talent for lying he didn't know about? Yuto began to wonder.

"I-I see..." Rivian said. She couldn't press for more answers if the girl didn't recall them. Rivian nodded slowly, then turned pityingly to the girl.

"You poor thing..." Ellun stared up at her flatly. Rivian shivered. The eyes felt so cold. And they almost seemed to see right through her. She gathered herself up and gave a gentle smile, then held out her hand to the girl.

"How long were you in there, child? Weren't you hungry?" she asked.

"Hungry...?" Ellun muttered under her breath, tilting her head. This was her first time in the real world, and she didn't really know what hunger felt like.

"I do not know what hunger is," she said.

"Oh...!" Rivian's smile faltered. She couldn't say for sure how the girl had ended up in there, but it was quite clear that she was a victim of the black mages.

"Wh-when we... When we return to Merchant City... I'll find a facility that can provide for her... Ellun, I mean. Or perhaps we can find someone to adopt her—""Not necessary," Ellun said coolly. She shook her head.

"I will accompany Yuto. I don't need anything or anyone else," she clipped off.

"Huh? But you..." Rivian began.

"I will go with Yuto. That is all I need. I do not need your care or pity," she said curtly. Rivian's jaw fell slack.

"Now, that's enough," Yuto said, intervening before the situation grew even odder. Ellun's tone was too direct and glacial for someone like Rivian. Rivian could end up with hurt feelings, or even more doubtful than she already was about Ellun's identity. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Now is not the time to decide where she should go. We need to get out of this corridor," Yuto said.

"Oh... Yes. You're right. Understood," Rivian said, quickly setting her emotions aside.

"Flokiro, Rivian. I need you to go up to the surface this instant and bring the Iron Horses and carriage we left at the entrance of the castle to the underground passageway's exit," he said. The secret passageway led to a cemetery on the outskirts of Velkyne.

"All right, Yuto. We'll go immediately," Flokiro said with a nod. Rivian, on the other hand, turned to him with some concern.

"W-wait. Yuto, you're not well. Are you sure we can leave you on your own?" she asked.

"Physically, I'm fine," he said. He had not only leveled up, he had invested no less than fifty points into his stats. His body was fully ready for another battle, should one happen.

"But how...?" Rivian murmured in disbelief. He seemed to be right since there was no hint of fatigue on his face. But she asked no more questions, and went back up the corridor with Flokiro, the way they had come. Only after they had walked away did Yuto begin to make his way toward the exit with Ellun by his side.

"Question," he said.

"You still have more?" she asked.

"What can I do to save the souls of the people of Velkyne?" he asked. Ellun, who walked beside him, looked up at his face. There was desperation in his eyes.

"Even now... their screams and moans echo in my ears," he said.

"Tell me, Ellun. How can I give them rest?" Ellun swerved in a new direction. She approached a nearby wall, rested her hand against it, and measured the curse that flowed through it.

"The people of your kingdom were directly cursed by every single Constellation that exists. When they died, they produced a powerful harvest of ether that flowed into Babylon," she said.

"Babylon..." he murmured.

"It is where the true forms of the Constellations reside. For as long as the Constellations live, and Babylon stands strong... there is nothing you can do to free the souls that they control," she said. Yuto's face fell, but Ellun continued in calm tones.

"Still, at least the black mages are dead. That means the direct torment and pollution against the spirits will end for the time being. Admittedly, the souls will still be bound to this earth, but they won't have to scream from the splitting pain," she said.

"Dark Star is not completely destroyed," Yuto said through his teeth.

"What if, after I am gone... they send out more black mages to this city? What if they turn it back into a factory for polluted ether and resume their torture of my people?" In his eyes was a crushing sense of responsibility he felt as the last king of this nation. Ellun stared into them, then sighed quietly.

"There is nothing you can do about that. Perhaps you can return when it happens and—" Ellun stopped short. She stared up at the ceiling and did not move. Soon, her body quivered as if electricity had coursed through her.

"Yuto, you designated yourself as Velkyne's last king, and substantiated your claim," she said. Ellun's voice still trembled, even though her body was now still. She blinked a few times, then nodded slowly.

"We have reached... a true understanding. The Void grants you mercy," she said.

"The Void is silent. The Void is a shroud that covers all things. Luke Velkyne, that idiotic ruler, turned his people into sacrifices with a single command. As the king, you may also issue them a command. They may not find rest, but you can give them silence as a temporary measure," she said. She slowly came up beside him and took his hand. Her touch was absurdly cold, but Yuto immediately sensed a strange pulsing in his core.

"Take my hand, Yuto. The glory of all kinds that rests on your shoulders, the evidence of your identity as king—bind them to the Void that lives in me," she said. Yuto did as he was asked. The sword at his waist began to react. Gloria, the treasure that only the king could possess, released a pitch-black radiance that expanded, swallowing up the entire passageway. The Void's surge, which began in the depths of the royal castle, raced upward along the walls.

It did not look like a pillar of light—rather, it seemed like a vast curtain of darkness that absorbed all light. Yuto felt a chill. Then, suddenly, he understood what needed to be done.

"I, Yuto Velkyne, king of Velkyne, command you," he said. His eyes gleamed with a strange, dark brilliance.

"Sleep. Let sleep take you away from the pain. Rest in this canopy of silence until such a day as I return and declare rebellion against the Constellations and Babylon." Velkyne's last king had issued his decree. The veil of darkness that had shot up from the ruined royal castle now exploded outward, covering the entire city that had been destroyed by the disaster. The spirits who had wandered in the ruins, sobbing, slowly faded away.

They had not found real rest nor left the realm of the living, but the moment the Void's shroud covered them, they grew impervious to even the curse of the Constellations. The wails throughout the city were muted all of a sudden, and replaced by a silence that almost seemed bizarre. Yuto could no longer hear them either. He shivered, panting for breath. Just now, he had felt like an all-powerful being. A god. A mercy from the Void.

It reminded him once again just how absurdly strong and vast the power of the Void was, this being who had brought him back from death and tossed him into an entirely different timeline.

"There," Ellun murmured, releasing his hand. Her face had always been pale, but now it was chalk-white.

"The black mages may return, but they will find an impenetrable veil blocking their way. This place is now a sanctuary, declared as such by you and the Void. Not even the Constellations will be able to interfere with it or peer into it easily," she said. Yuto felt the darkness covering the entire city. He felt the anger inside him ebb slightly. This was not salvation, but it was the best that he could do as the final king for the people who had been senselessly butchered.

"Thank you..." he said.

"Don't thank me. Thank the Void," Ellun said carelessly. She released his hand and turned away—then abruptly sank to the floor. Ellun stared down at her legs in mute stupefaction. She could feel them, but oddly, they refused to move. Strangely enough, her vision felt hazy and her head felt heavy. It was fatigue, but she had never experienced it before and did not realize what it was right away.

"You seem tired," Yuto said with a wry smile. He approached her and lifted her up in his arms.

"Tired? Me?" Ellun muttered as if it made no sense.

"You just need to rest," he said.

"I can walk," she insisted.

"Not right now, you can't. Just close your eyes," he said. She frowned. Slowly, she let her eyes close. It wasn't that she wanted to do as he said. Her eyelids actually felt heavy.

"Having a physical body is quite inconvenient," she muttered quietly.