'Ciel is already known as a criminal inside the Floren Kingdom.'
'That means that if I use Ciel as my identity, I might be able to get Spirit by making myself severely feared and hated.'
'Although, I don't think it will be worth it. Using the identity of Ciel will cause the Royal Guards to start searching for me. That's just unwanted trouble right now.'
'I'll start from scratch with Niko Rampancy. It will be much easier in the long run this way.' Ciel thought to himself
"Starlight Lantern. The next Star Contract you can give us is on the 5th of June, right?" Rein asked
"Yes. Why?" The Starlight Lantern confirmed
"That means you're useless until then. You can stay in our Soul World for one week." Rein replied
"If you say that, then don't summon me for your ridiculous and random reasons."
"If you do summon me, however, make sure you have the Star Fragment with you." The Starlight Lantern argued back
Ciel didn't pay much attention to the back and forth.
'I feel like my mood has dropped considerably in the past few minutes…'
'Am I afraid of the future? Well, of course I am… in more than one way.' Ciel thought with an unknown emotion
"Alright. I'm sending you back now." Ciel said
He then took the Starlight Lantern into his Soul World before taking his mask off.
Ciel looked to be in a daze.
The room was left in a moment of awkward silence.
"Hey… wanna talk for a bit?" Rein asked
"Yeah…" Ciel answered
"What do you think of Lumos so far? Do you miss Prisma?" Rein asked
"In terms of civilization and people, I do find Lumos a lot better than Prisma."
"... And I don't really miss Prisma. At all. The only thing that I miss about Prisma was my little sister."
"Your little sister?" Rein asked curiously
"Yeah. It's the first time I've mentioned her to you. To be honest, if it wasn't for her, I don't think I would care enough to survive here on Lumos."
"I see…" Rein said softly
"Though, that viewpoint might have changed slightly after I met and got to know you."
"We were complete strangers a few months ago. Heck, we didn't even exist on the same planet."
"However, after the time we spent together, I think that you are the only person I've truly ever cared about other than Cally, my sister."
"It's not that I've blindly put you as a replacement to my sister, but a true friend that I can support and who supports me back."
"The only question I have is… who are you? More precisely, who are we?"
"Am I you, or are you me?"
"Are we two different people, or are we the same person?"
"Are you a delusion, or are you real?"
"What if I myself am the delusion that doesn't exist?"
"Do I only care about you because we are the "same" person?" Ciel said with a troubled and dazed expression
"I think I share your same sentiments. However, the fact that I can converse with you and hear your opinions makes me feel like you aren't a delusion, and that we both exist."
"I don't know what we are, but I do know that you are the only reason I can move forward with relative ease."
"At the end of the day, I don't think we truly have a purpose in this world."
"Earth and Prisma are truly destroyed, with no life left on them."
"There's not going to be anything we can do to bring those planets back, no matter how much knowledge we gain."
"And no matter how many mysteries we uncover, fighting entities at the level of Soul Tier 10 just seems flat out impossible. There's no vengeance in dying pitifully." Rein said realistically
"Still, I want to uncover the mysteries and understand why our planets were destroyed before I die."
"It's the least I can do for Cally." Ciel said with unwavering determination
"You're right. All we can do is grow stronger and see where it leads us. Who knows, maybe we might actually be able to put up a fight against enemies at Soul Tier 10 eventually."
"Maybe our enemies won't even be at Soul Tier 10 besides the great entity behind the Door of Void."
"There's no point in giving up without even trying and knowing the full situation." Rein said with her own determination
The only reason the duo could even think of fighting such high level entities was because these existences were highly likely the reason Earth and Prisma were destroyed.
Revenge was a part of their goals after all, and being weak themselves didn't make either Ciel nor Rein give these existences a free pass to their wrongdoings.
"Thanks for listening."
"On a happy note, your observer seems to be done with his job. There's no need to be as careful as before with our actions right now." Ciel said calmly
"About time that happened. So, are you going to do something tonight?" Rein asked
"Yeah. I'll stay hidden in the shadows with my mask, don't worry. The last week has given us next to no Spirit, and we're not going to get any stronger at this rate."
"It was only a matter of time before I made a move." Ciel confirmed
"Well, I'd prefer you rest a bit more, but good luck. I can't really help you in our current situation." Rein said apologetically
"That's fine. It's not like I plan on doing anything crazy. I'll just take a night stroll to see if there is anything worth paying attention to." Ciel replied
"Alright. Make sure you tell me if something goes wrong. I'll stay awake until you're back." Rein informed
Ciel nodded before putting on his mask and silently leaving Miriko's Cafe Inn through the window of the room.
.
.
The Avadonn Palace was surrounded by the four quadrants.
The region of the quadrants that bordered the Avadonn Palace belonged to the Duke noble families of the Floren Kingdom, being Terron, Novan, Valenor and Graycell, who all had the highest authority in their respective quadrants.
These four border regions were all boroughs named after their Duke, but were known as the Duke Boroughs when mentioned together.
However, each of these boroughs also held their own base for the Royal Guards.
Currently, Theo – the Royal Guard who was tasked with observing Rein – was heading to the Novan Borough's base for the Royal Guards.
He had gained all the information he needed for the final report of his investigation.
The Novan Borough was exceptionally wondrous, even with the standards of the 2nd quadrant.
The Novan Manor could also be seen from anywhere in this borough.
Soon, he reached the base of the Royal Guards, known as the Eastern Royal Tower.
It was a giant and marvelous tower that was 100 metres tall.
Each of the Duke Boroughs had a similar tower that belonged to the Royal Guards.
These towers were also the only official way to reach the Avadonn Palace that was sitting on a tall hill.
After a few procedures of proving his identity, Theo was let into the Eastern Royal Tower.
He went straight to the third floor, where he could report on his mission.
After finding the correct room, Theo knocked on the door.
"Come in." He heard a female's voice from behind the door
Theo opened the door and walked inside. The room was lavish, but not too overwhelming.
The person in front of him was Captain Emille, who had two Gold badges, one for her Soul Tier and the other one being a Combat Gold badge.
"Captain, I've completed the investigation task." Theo said, handing over a scroll with the details of his observation of Rein
"Thank you for your hard work." Emille said before reading the contents of the scroll on the spot
"So she really doesn't have anything to do with Ciel. Still, her Ability seems quite strong. It's a shame she doesn't plan to join the Royal Guards." Emille sighed after reading the content
The Royal Guards now had zero clues to the whereabouts of Ciel. Emille didn't even really know why he was wanted before he killed one of their Captains, Ryker. All she knew was that it was an order straight from the king, which was quite rare.
"I'll report this information to the Dukes." Emille said
The four Dukes of the Floren Kingdom were also the four Generals of the Royal Guards, and some of the only known Soul Tier 4 humans to exist.
The only other known Soul Tier 4 human beings were the king of the Floren Kingdom, Nicholas Avadonn, the king of the Star Kingdom, and the king of the Tide Kingdom – along with their highest military personnel.
"Take rest for now. In a few hours, you're going to be sent straight into another troublesome mission. Something important recently came up in which we need as much help as possible."
"Your new mission will be to find clues about the treacherous criminal from the Star Kingdom, Yurastian Erastus, who is here hiding in the Floren Kingdom." Emille said with an unknown expression