Lord of the Mysteries

Bernadette stared at the outline for a long time until it gradually became clearer as the Dawn approached. It was the silhouette of a large island.

On the island, there were huge, towering, dark-green trees that almost bordered on black covering the ground and mountain.

Although Bernadette couldn’t be sure that this was the primitive island that her father had once visited, her intuition as a Clairvoyant told her that this was likely the place she was seeking.

As the coastline entered her eyes, she pursed her lips and lowered her head. She chanted an honorific name:

“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era, the mysterious ruler above the gray fog; the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck…”

Right on the heels of that, Queen Mystic Bernadette raised her hand and made the crewless Dawn stop in the nearby waters without approaching the shore.

At the same time, the sound of pianos, violins, cellos, flutes, and other musical instruments interweaved together into a lively tune.

As the music echoed, the toast, steak, mashed potatoes, fried mushrooms, and other dishes on a plate jumped up one after another and returned to the oven amidst a dance or threw themselves into the trash can.

The red wine bottle, white dining cloth, and other items had all returned to their original positions. They either sealed themselves with wooden corks or kept folding themselves neatly.

Then, Bernadette gently threw out a bright and unrealistic ball of yarn with her right hand.

The ball rolled into the void, leaving a thread behind. Bernadette followed it and strolled through the spirit world before arriving at the border of the nameless island.

This Queen Mystic wasn’t in a rush to head deeper. She searched for the possible existence of the Black Emperor mausoleum, and she cautiously made her sea-like blue eyes turn dark and deep. She temporarily lost focus, as though she was prying into the secrets of the river of fate.

A few seconds later, Bernadette’s eyes returned to normal as she subconsciously looked up into the sky.

She felt that she was being watched by a certain existence.

Of course, this was something she had expected, as she had taken the initiative to recite Mr. Fool’s honorific name.

Above the gray fog, in the ancient palace, Klein accommodated The Fool’s card, draped himself with the “curtain,” and held the Staff of the Stars. He was checking the situation on the island through Queen Mystic’s prayer light.

In his true vision’s field, the island was shrouded in a thin layer of distorted blackness. It made it impossible for him to see the situation inside directly. He could only obtain Bernadette’s point of view.

Even if it’s not the primitive island that Emperor Roselle discovered, this place isn’t simple… Klein nodded indiscernibly as he waited for Queen Mystic to do a deeper exploration.

Bernadette didn’t use the ball of yarn anymore, because she had a premonition that she was going to lead herself into a dangerous abyss that she had no way of fending off.

She took out an illusory hat and wore it.

Her captain-looking figure disappeared, her existence concealed.

This was also one of the fairytale magic that stemmed from Mystical Re-enactment. At its core was a hat that made one invisible.

Then, Bernadette followed a path that appeared to have been opened up by humans and entered the forest consisting of huge trees.

There were no birds chirping, no wild beast roars, or disturbance caused by crawling insects. It was so peaceful as if time had frozen, so dead that there was no sign of life.

According to Bernadette’s understanding, there should be many supernatural beings that had already gone extinct in the outside world. Normally, it would be quite lively. But now, she felt as if she was walking through an uninhabited cemetery. Every giant tree was a tombstone.

If it were any of the Beyonders with weaker minds, they would definitely feel tense. Burdened with a heavy pressure, they would slowly approach the edge of losing control. However, Bernadette’s expression didn’t change at all, as though she was already used to proceeding through danger and strangeness.

After walking for nearly half an hour, she still didn’t see any living thing or even sense the wind.

Suddenly, her vision opened up, because the huge trees in front of her had become sparse.

Bernadette didn’t feel any joy. Instead, she slowed down and raised her hand to press against her glabella.

A pair of eyes that were without eyelashes appeared in front of her, looking cold and heartless.

Then, the pair of Eyes of Mystery Prying was grabbed by invisible hands and placed on an invisible person’s face.

This was Bernadette’s Invisible Servant.

The Invisible Servant brought the Eyes of Mystery Prying and quickly crossed the remaining path to the open forest.

During this process, its vision gradually became clearer, as if it was no longer affected by the faint blackness in the air.

Finally, the Invisible Servant arrived at the boundary of the open region and transmitted the situation to Bernadette through the Eyes of Mystery Prying.

Outside the sparse forest, there was an empty space. There were countless creatures prostrating there.

Among them were red dragons with skin flowing with flames. There were treants that had gnarls for eyes and hollows for mouths. There were demonic wolves with eight legs, giants with four long limbs, and feathered serpents with oily feathers and scales with a dark green shade. The latter coiled there, resembling small hills. There were also different kinds of creatures that looked like human and wild beast hybrids.

At this moment, they were all facing one direction. They had their upper bodies or heads prostrated, as though they were worshiping an unknown existence. None of them made a sound.

There were even a few humans among them.

One, two, three, four, five… When Bernadette counted a few humanoid creatures, her blue eyes suddenly widened.

She had learned from Admiral of Stars Cattleya that the primitive island which her father had discovered had a special type of corruption that allowed dead creatures to return here—to the source—regardless of where their corpses were.

Amongst the “knights” who served Emperor Roselle, Grimm was first to be killed because of this, followed by William and Poli. However, apart from the three of them, no one else was sacrificed in corresponding matters. And at that moment, there were five supernatural or mutated creatures present.

In addition, Bernadette also knew that her father had eventually resolved the corruption problem and made the primitive island his secret base.

Is this not the island? Queen Mystic examined the five humans through the Eyes of Mystery Prying.

They were dressed in opulent clothes from Roselle’s era. Their faces were pale, their skin shriveled, and they looked more like zombies than humans.

As the five of them were prostrating, Bernadette temporarily couldn’t see their faces. She could only patiently wait for the “praying” to end.

A few minutes later, those creatures straightened their bodies and the entire forest came alive.

Seizing this opportunity, Bernadette saw the five of them and compared them with her memories and the images she knew.

Grimm, he really is Grimm. This is the primitive island…

That’s Uncle William. I remember him. He taught me swordplay before…

Uncle Poli…

When she recognized the fourth person, a look of astonishment could be seen on Bernadette’s face.

That person was:

Edwards!

In Bernadette’s memory, the knight had outlived her father’s death. Then, he migrated his family to Lenburg. He hadn’t died on this primitive island.

According to the information she received from Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina, Edwards had lived for nearly a hundred years. He died peacefully and was buried in a cemetery in the suburbs of Lenburg.

Uncle Edwards has also returned to this island… Didn’t he not experience any corruption and didn’t die because of this… Thoughts flashed through Bernadette’s mind one after another. As a result, the Eyes of Mystery Prying on the Invisible Servant’s face kept staring at the human suspected to be Edwards.

The “gentleman” had an old appearance and his hair was completely white. It was the same portrait of the ancestor in his advanced years—the one that Edwina Edwards had shown her. And from his facial features and outline, Bernadette could tell what he looked like in his prime.

At that time, Edwards had been her equestrian teacher.

Suddenly, the human who was suspected to be Edwards turned his head and gazed coldly at the Invisible Servant.

Although Bernadette had inherited quite a bit of Emperor Roselle’s inheritance, she definitely didn’t rely on items to advance to this point in the mysterious world. At that moment, she made a prompt decision and directly made the Eyes of Mystery Prying vanish, allowing the Invisible Servant to return to the spirit world.

Right on the heels of that, she quietly changed her position.

At the same time, above the gray fog, Klein tapped the edge of the long mottled table and enhanced the probability of Bernadette not being discovered.

When the person suspected to be Edwards retracted his blank gaze and walked to a different spot in the primitive forest with the surrounding creatures, Klein frowned slightly and muttered to himself, “What kind of anomaly happened?”

He remembered that the Emperor had already resolved the corruption of the cosmos on this primitive island when he was alive. However, these creatures were still worshiping an unknown existence, holding a mysterious ritual that was close to the earliest descriptions in the diary.

After the emperor’s death, did a particular entity from the cosmos infiltrate this place again? Or is it that they’re worshiping some symbol left behind by the Emperor? Who are the other two? They look like Edwards and Benjamin Abraham from the historical fragment? Klein, who was temporarily unable to see what was being worshiped due to the faint black interference of the island, could only follow Bernadette’s eyes to observe the surroundings.

After a while, Bernadette, who was proficient in prophesying, finally confirmed that there was no living creature in the open space. She summoned the Invisible Servant again and gave it the Eyes of Mystery Prying.

The Invisible Servant passed through the sparse areas of the forest and the empty area, carefully arriving at the spot where the creatures had been worshiping.

There was a huge rock, and on it was a simple baldachin made of dark red wood.

The Invisible Servant circled halfway and arrived in front of the baldachin. It was empty inside. There was no statue, nor was there an emblem formed from symbols.

The creatures on this island were praying to something that didn’t seem to exist.