Caelum carried the unconscious Erta in his arms while checking up on the S-rank survivors in the room. Two of them were heavily injured, but would recover in time. Carl Langdon, however, had fallen.
Caelum bore the burden of his death. He did not run from it, but it was not pleasant. Stretching his colourless wing out, he burned whatever malevolence hung on his corpse and prayed.
"May you find eternal rest among the branches of the Imaginary Tree."
The castle had been slowly fading all around him, and he did not have time to search for the other survivors. Fortunately, he did not need to as all survivors remained once the castle had fully disappeared.
There were about twenty survivors in total, all unconscious. They no longer seemed to be under their feral instincts, but it did not mean they were not dangerous.
Caelum also expected some of them to die even in the following days. That was just how much torture they had been in.
He saw the huge crowd of people surrounding them. It reminded him of when they had cleared Avalon. As people rushed in to assess the situation and give medical treatment to the survivors, Caelum saw the familiar face of a certain princess.
As he walked toward her, he noticed dark circles under her eyes besides the worried look she was giving him.
"Your highness, we've completed the mission. About half of the survivors made it out, but their conditions are pretty bad. And one S-ranker died."
"That's already way more than we had hoped for. Thank you very much, Lord Grace."
"So what's wrong? Everyone looks on edge and you… you look like you've been through hell."
Princess Margaret winced at his comment, but sighed in relief. She was very scared when she saw Erta unconscious in Caelum's arms, but she seemed to have calmed down now that she knew they were fine. After all, Caelum would not stop to talk to her if Erta was truly in danger.
Then she looked straight at Caelum, her eyes burning with urgency.
"We need to talk, Lord Grace…in private. Please bring Lady Ki'ana as well."
They were given a few hours to rest in a nearby hotel.
Within that time, Caelum continuously bathed Erta in his mana and Eternal Flame to help her recover. When she finally woke up, she looked sadly at him.
Caelum immediately realised that she was aware of what happened despite fainting. It seemed he had not been able to prevent his emotions from leaking through the Life Covenant. He was about to explain, but Erta stopped him with a kiss.
She was sad that he had fallen for another woman, but she also understood why. She did not blame him, and instead silently swore to support him better.
After taking quick showers, they went to meet Margaret in one of the hotel's private dining rooms. It did not seem like she had taken any rest at all as she looked as haggard as before, or perhaps even more so.
She had just ended a phone call right as the two entered the room. Seeing Erta awake, she smiled weakly.
"I apologise for calling on you both when you've only just cleared a dungeon, but we have no choice."
"Don't worry about it. Just tell us what happened."
"Yes, Lord Grace. Then let me ask you. How long did you spend within the dungeon?"
"I'm not sure. The environment inside was strange and dulled our minds, including our sense of time. If I had to guess, we were probably inside for a little more than half a day. I'd say about fifteen or sixteen hours."
"For the world, it's been a week since you entered the dungeon."
Neither Caelum nor Erta were surprised to hear it. They already expected as much just from their experience with Avalon. The only difference is that Bathory's castle had a slower time than the world outside.
However, they knew that a lot could happen within a week, and so they remained quiet and listened. But Margaret's next words stunned them both.
"Your prophecy, Lord Grace, the war... it has come."
"...What?"
As Erta squeezed out the question from her suddenly dry throat, Caelum jumped out of his chair and flew out the window.
He did not care that he shattered it. He just soared to the sky and inspected the city below him.
Not much had changed since he last saw it. And there were definitely no signs of an invasion.
However, he could not be relieved just yet. Just because this particular city was not in danger, did not mean that the rest of the world was safe as well.
He flew back to the room and urged Margaret on.
"Explain. Quickly."
"Yes!"
Sensing the gravity in his voice, Margaret could not help but flinch.
She was already having a difficult time trying to control her emotions that had been in disarray, but now something within her was making her want to jump at Caelum.
Erta noticed this and cast a simple spell on Margaret which calmed her down.
"Two days after you entered the dungeon, a gate opened in Aegon. And for the first time, it was not monsters that came out…but humans."
"No… that's impossible! How are they here?!"
"Erta, what do you mean? They're part of the Great War. Wouldn't they have found their way through sooner or later?"
"No, no! You don't understand, Cal! They've lost their True Avatar!"
"What? What are you two talking about? Do you know who those humans were?!"
Margaret watched the two who seemed to have understood what happened far more than her despite their absence.
Caelum and Erta looked at each other for a moment and decided to tell Margaret the truth. They needed her to know now that things have progressed this far. But first, they needed to confirm if their enemies really were the ones they thought of.
"Before we explain, Margaret, can you tell us more about those humans? Did they say anything about why they were here?"
"Yes, they did. When they appeared, they killed so many people. Even with the many Aegon guilds, they had a difficult time stopping their rampage. Each human that stepped out of the gate was as powerful as an A-rank chosen. And when they were about to retreat, they said one thing that I thought only you would understand, Lord Grace."
"What did they say?"
"Grace will pay for betraying Terra."
The room fell silent. Margaret again watched as the expressions on Erta and Caelum's faces grew grim. Only they understood the implications of those words, and all Margaret could do was wait for them to tell her everything.
Finally, Erta looked at Margaret.
"Margarert, I come from a world called Sanctuary. And I am not human. My world, like yours, emerged into the Great War. We had many enemies, but we also had allies. At least, until one of our allies betrayed us all. Most of our other allies perished, and only Sanctuary remained. And the world that betrayed us... was Terra."
"What? What are you…what are you talking about? Great War? Is that the prophecy you've been telling me?"
"I never said it was a prophecy. I told you that war is coming. You should have realised that we had already been fighting it all this time."
Caelum answered her curtly as his finger coated with pitch black darkness touched Margaret's forehead. They did not have time to slowly explain everything, so instead he showed her the truth through her mind.
Perpetual Night was able to perfectly recreate the memories and knowledge he had of the Great War into a dream. He did not show her everything, but only what was essential for her to know.
And after a minute, Margaret woke up. She was visibly shaken and afraid, not only of the truth she had just dreamt of, but of Caelum who had so easily touched her mind.
"Now that you understand, tell us what happened after. Were there any more gates?"
"...No. But I suggest you go back to Aegon. Halo was badly hit."
With the conversation over, Margaret left in a hurry. She had a private jet prepared to have all three of them return on.
Caelum and Erta, on the other hand, went back to Central Park. They wanted to check on the situation before returning to Aegon.
Most of the people that crowded the place had already left, taking the survivors to hospitals. There were only a few chosen under the GA that were guarding the area. When they saw Caelum and Erta walking toward the site of the dungeon, one of them walked up to the two.
"This area is dangerous. Please leave."
"Are you seriously saying that to me right now?"
The chosen seemed to not have recognized them as he stood his ground and even reached for his weapon. As he was already in a bad mood, Caelum was even more irritable.
The moment the chosen pulled out his weapon, a black mass slammed onto his side, sending him flying across the park. The other guards in the area were about to fight them when a shout stopped them.
"Stand down! Do you idiots want to die?! They're the ones who cleared the dungeon!"
It was Mark Spencer, one of the S-rank chosen that Margaret brought along just in case she could convince Caelum to take some escorts. He seemed to have been waiting in the area together with the other chosen.
There was nothing of note in the area, not even any remnants of the dungeon's existence, yet they were guarding it. Caelum found it suspicious.
"I'm sorry about my subordinates' behaviour, Sir. Please spare them."
"Just get them the hell away from me. And what are you doing here?"
"I've been tasked with inspecting the area to make sure that there is no danger of any kind left. But…"
Mark gestured for them to follow him instead of finishing his sentence.
Where they were headed was deeper into the park, to what was once the heart of the dungeon. There was nothing left of the eerie castle that stood there nor of the shroud of darkness that simulated an endless night within the dungeon's perimeter.
However, there were in fact, two remnants of the dungeon.
"I somehow expected this."
At the place which was once the heart of Bathory's Castle was a rose bud as scarlet as Elizabeth Bathory's eyes. And shining a majestic light upon it was a red moon.
Mark stopped a few meters away, unable to continue forward. Instead of a barrier, it was the aura of the flower which made him fear even approaching it.
Yet Caelum walked on, and as he neared the rose, it began to bloom. The light of the red moon also seemed to focus on him.
[You have been recognised as the master of the Red Moon. Do you wish to merge the Red Moon with Avalon?]
"...Yes."
With a simple answer, the light of the Red Moon shone even brighter. Caelum and Erta, who were within its range, suddenly disappeared from Central Park along with the rose and the Red Moon itself. Mark was left alone, utterly confused.
When the light died down, Caelum and Erta found themselves in a familiar place. They were on an island in the middle of a river. It was Avalon. And in front of them, together with the white lily was a red rose.
"This is… Avalon? Cal, how did we get here?"
[Merge successful. You have created a new realm. Give it a name.]
"Eden."