Their steps continued, and Jaden looked at the situation of the once opulent land of Fatherion.

Most of the buildings were in ruins, rubble piled the roads and the walls, severed limbs littered the cracked, filled ground and worst of all was... the human bodies buried under the rubble.

It appeared the forces of humanity didn't even have enough time to collect the bodies of those who had died due to the sudden appearance of high-ranked dreamgates.

"Blasted hell..." he cursed under his breath and asked Navin, "What district are we in right now?"

"Eastern District."

He nodded and continued with his questions, "Where are we going?"

"We are going to the camp... that's where the teachers and other students are."

"Where is the camp?"

"The only place with enough strength to not fall under the weight of these gates — The Imperial Palace," Arden answered with a slight smile.

"I see..." he mumbled and looked at the far end of the eastern district where the Imperial palace was.

The imperial palace's walls were themed the same as most things related to the Imperial family — White and gold.

It was a large white and gold castle covered with the same characters as the wall.

Within a large room of the Imperial castle, nine figures sat at a round table in silence, and most of them had sombre looks.

Maria looked at a young man with shoulder-length blonde hair and eyes of different colours — one yellow and one blue — and asked in a heavy voice, "Tyron, what do you mean prophecy magic isn't working?"

Tyron gave her a calm smile and answered in a sweet voice, "It's just as I said, it does not work... no matter how many times we try, we can't prophecy the dreamgates."

Everyone's expression turned darker at his words, and a man with white hair and violet amethyst-like eyes asked, "Have you already tried all of your methods?"

He was representing the ducal house of Moon as the eldest son of the Moon duke — Xeron Miravale.

"Yes, we have tried all of our methods," Tyron replied with the same smile as before.

Xeron heaved a sigh and gave a short nod before leaning back in his chair.

"What about the pope?" A man with blond hair and fiery orange eyes asked while rubbing his face.

He was representing the ducal house of Sun as the only son of the Sun Duke — Feamrion Salvus.

Tyron turned his head towards him and replied, "The pope is busy with the emperor and the others... he is also an invaluable part of the cleansing, after all."

Faemrion nodded and fell silent.

"How long can we last like this?" A woman with long black hair and glassy grey eyes asked with a frown.

She was representing the ducal house of Storm as the eldest daughter of the Storm duke — Melissa Silvert.

"We had three saint-ranked dreamgates appear within the central district today... based on how the dreamgates keep increasing with each day, it won't be long before we are forced to retreat in the dream realm," Maria answered bitterly.

Thud...

A tan-skinned man struck the table with his heavy, calloused hand and announced in a sharp voice, "The imperial palace won't fall!"

He had short grey hair, a beard streaked with age, and his eyes were piercing red.

He was the one representing the Imperial Council as the Head Councillor — Baraham Vale.

Maria leaned back in her chair and looked at him before replying sarcastically, "Of course, my lord... we can just tell the nightmares to stop."

Baraham snorted at her words but didn't reply because he had no words to say.

"Hah..." A heavy sigh resounded within the room, and Yorina said, "There's no need to be at each other's throats... all we have to do is save as many people as we can and wait for reinforcements."

"There isn't much of them left to save," a grave voice cut through her words.

The voice belonged to a woman with dark green hair and eyes of the same colour, she was representing the Nature Holyland as the next priestess in line — Pheona Solmin.

Yorina turned her head towards Pheona and said in a sympathetic tone, "I know you are saddened by those deaths... but there's nothing we can do. These gates can't be predicted, so all we can do is close them based on the reports we receive."

"I do understand your words, Head Paladin Yorina, but... are we really making any difference?" Phenoa asked in a depressing tone.

Everyone shifted in their chair at her words until an amused voice dwarfed the gloom.

"Are you undermining our efforts, Miss Pheona?" Zaria asked with folded arms, an amused smile tugging at her lips.

Pheona looked at Zaria with narrowed eyes and replied sharply, "Undermine efforts? I am just stating what's true!"

Zaria nodded and responded in a serious tone, "Right... then what do you want us to do? Run away? Stop doing what we are doing because it's not good enough? I personally would prefer to stay here and save one more life if that is possible."

Phenoa pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded before lowering her head.

All of these people were the representatives of the nine pillars that had kept humanity safe from the threat of extinction till now, and now one of those pillars — The Arcane Knight Academy had fallen.

Maria looked into Yorina's eyes and said, "We need a new method for collecting information about the gates... we can't rely on the reports anymore."

Yorina nodded at her words and responded, "I had talked to Yuka about this... but it proved to be fruitless."

Everyone let out a disappointed sigh before a soft voice echoed within Maria's head.

Maria...

Maria raised an eyebrow and mumbled under her breath, "Yuka? Is something wrong?"

He is back... he is awake...

A confused look appeared on her face before her eyes widened in understanding. She stood up from her chair and stated, "I have to go."

The others looked at her with displeased expressions, but before they could say anything, the strongest of them, Yorina, commented, "You may leave."

Maria nodded and stepped out.

***

Jaden stepped within the walls of the Imperial palace and looked at the tents that filled the vast grounds of the Imperial palace.

"That's where we stay," Navin said while pointing at one of the tents.

He looked at that tent and asked, "Are these tents enough for all of the students and teachers?"

Navin smiled at his words and patted his shoulder before replying, "No. They are not, that's why many of them live within the palace... we live in the tents because we want to answer the dreamgates as fast as we can."

His eyes gleamed in understanding and asked, "Where's the emperor, the kings, the popes and the dukes?"

Seeing the current state of Fatherion, it didn't take a genius to understand that the strongest of the pillars weren't here.

Navin frowned at him and said, "You don't know huh... Well, it's been going on for five years, so they don't speak much of it now."

"What are you talking about?" He asked in confusion.

"The cleansing," Selina replied with a serious tone.

He turned his head towards her with a puzzled look and mumbled, "The cleansing?"

Selina looked in his eyes and explained, "The emperor created an army of the strongest and most talented arcane knights to slay all of the nightmare creatures and star beasts around his realm gate."

His eyes gleamed at her words, and he thought, 'Realm gate...'

"What's a realm gate?" He asked.

Arden answered him with a shrug, "Just as the name says. It's a spiritual gate connected to a realm... similar to dreamgates in a way."

'A gate connected to a realm? Did the system give me that quest because Shadow Sovereign's realm gate is connected to the shadow realm?' He questioned himself, and suddenly a soft voice resounded in his head.

Jaden... what are you?

He frowned and mumbled, "Yuka?"

Yuka didn't reply; instead, he felt his world shift. A few moments later, he found himself in a dark chamber, and a furious voice reached his ears.

"What the hell were you doing for the past two months?"

He turned towards the voice, and his eyes fell to Maria, who was looking at him with anger bubbling in her blue gem-like eyes.

"Big sis?" He mumbled with furrowed brows, but Maria didn't reply. Instead, a wide grin split her face as she stepped forward and threw a punch at him.

Swoosh...

Just before the punch was about to land, lightning began to crackle around his body, and he disappeared from the spot.

"What are you doing?!" He shouted.

Maria furrowed her brows and looked at him with a cruel glint in her eyes, but it soon disappeared as confusion took hold of her face.

She looked at him top to bottom and muttered, "You.... what are you?"

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