Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation (Volume 6)

Vol 6/ Chapter 34: The Secret Door

The security at Kyndrill Palace was super tight. Not only were there troops all over the ground, but they even had airships patrolling above the buildings.

But these human soldiers weren't much of a threat to me and Adrian anymore. We could easily trick them just by using invisibility skills and some flying moves.

"But now the problem is, how do we find Reider?"

Nicola was right - the palace layout was super complicated. The whole palace was very quiet. Except for some patrol guards, we couldn't see anyone else around. But since we couldn't sense enemies from far away, even though we managed to sneak inside, we were like blind people trying to figure out what an elephant looks like - totally lost.

Never mind all those winding paths between different buildings, almost every building was about the same size, with passages connecting to each other inside. We couldn't tell which way led where! In this situation, we didn't even know what most rooms were for, let alone find our target!

"Eh? She's actually nearby?"

While we couldn't find Reider anywhere, the light elements coming from angels was very eye-catching. Earlier we were so far behind Nicola, I thought she'd already charged in. But surprisingly, she was doing the same as us - quietly crouching outside a second-floor window.

"Shh... better keep it down, or that Reider might run away!"

When she saw us appear and fly down beside her, Nicola quickly put her finger to her lips to warn us. Seeing her act like this, I got excited and whispered:

"Is Reider hiding in this room?"

We'd been searching everywhere with no luck, but Nicola had found him by herself! Though this room didn't look special at all - it seemed like just a place for servants to rest, not somewhere an empire's emperor would stay. Plus, after watching for a while, it was totally dark inside - basically nobody was there!

"It's not that simple. I just used my foresight and found there's some secret passage in this room! But now that he's here, the future is becoming uncertain with many possibilities. We'll have to see how things go!"

Nicola turned her head slightly to look at Adrian beside me, seeming unsatisfied. But I didn't really understand what she was saying, so I had to ask:

"Wait! What secret passage? If you already knew about it, why are you waiting outside instead of going in? And what's this got to do with Adrian?"

"You're so slow, aren't you very sensitive to time stuff..."

Nicola seemed annoyed again, but she still explained the situation to us.

Basically, when she was flying nearby, she accidentally foresaw a royal guard secretly coming to this room alone and opening a secret door using some kind of authentication. Since there was only one possible future without Fate Breaker's interference, following that timeline, she could foresee herself going through the secret door behind the passage, following the guard to another place, and successfully finding Reider there!

Unfortunately, for some reason, the other party already knew that outsiders had invaded the secret passage, and was just about to escape. At this point, Nicola, who was planning to chase, got blocked by a huge man and a strange girl. As for what would happen next, because Nicola's foresight ability started showing many different possible branches from that point on, she couldn't really tell how things would develop.

"From what you're saying, could it be that I was nearby when you got blocked and saw what happened? Or maybe there's another Fate Breaker who's been by the emperor's side all along?"