A Core Ship From The Start - Chapter 1302 - Chapter 1302 Chapter 878 Illusion

Chapter 1302: Chapter 878: Illusion Chapter 1302: Chapter 878: Illusion Ruins of destruction.

The once splendor and solemnity were completely gone, broken corridors, collapsed fortresses, deathly silent courtyards, everything, as if even the air had become dead.

“What’s going on?”

The girl—-Princess Anisphere widened her eyes in astonishment, looking around, she clearly knew that she was dreaming. But Princess Anisphere had never had such a clear dream that felt so real, it didn’t seem like a dream at all. The Royal Palace she remembered was so ruined and shattered, as if everything had been destroyed.

“Father? Mother? Duke Glanz? Is anyone there?”

Princess Anisphere looked around and called out, but there was no response at all; even her voice seemed to gradually fade into the depths of the shattered corridor, falling into silence once again.

“Is anyone there?”

At this moment, Princess Anisphere became panic-stricken, she ran forward with all her might, but even the sound of her footsteps disappeared into the dark shadows. The garden outside the corridor was completely dried up, and Princess Anisphere had never seen the Palace like this, as if not only the Palace, but the entire world had been destroyed.

What on earth had happened?

Princess Anisphere walked through the corridor to the grand hall, but there was also not a single soul here. The girl’s heart started to fill with panic, she screamed loudly, hoping to get even a small response–anything was better than being entirely alone.

But still, there was nothing.

“Bang———-!”

The girl pushed open the grand hall, rushed out of the Royal Palace, and looked outside, then, she just stood there dazed.

In front of her, beneath the steps, the once bustling and flourishing Royal City had also turned into ruins. As if this city, this country, this world had been completely destroyed and forgotten, with no life existing apart from her.

“Why……what on earth happened?”

Princess Anisphere staggered backward, sitting down on the ground, anxiously staring at the ruins before her.

“What happened to the Paretia Kingdom? Why has the Royal City become like this?”

At this moment, Princess Anisphere’s mind went blank, she helplessly stared at the Royal City before her, usually quick-witted, but now utterly devoid of any ideas.

“Thud…Thud…”

However, just then, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded.

“Ah?”

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind her, Princess Anisphere gasped in surprise; the footsteps were slow but also very steady, even every step seemed to make the ground tremble slightly.

Gradually, the footsteps grew closer, and closer—-then stopped right behind Princess Anisphere.

“………”
Princess Anisphere swallowed hard, her instincts warning her never to turn around and see what exactly was standing behind her. Yet, as if possessed, Princess Anisphere still turned her head to look behind her.

Next, she saw an immensely tall steel armor standing behind her, its helmet emitting a dark red glow, coldly observing the young girl before it, as if a fierce beast was watching its prey.

“Wait, what are you?!”

At this moment, Princess Anisphere jumped up in terror, trying to put some distance between her and this horrifying entity. However, at this time, something even more unimaginable happened.

“Clang.”

The armor’s gauntlets suddenly disassembled and split apart, the parts that covered the fingers fell to the ground, and at the same time, the Steel Warrior’s helmet also split open. Then, dozens of tentacles burst out, entwining around the girl’s limbs and body like pythons.

“Ah—-!”

Feeling the chilling touch, Princess Anisphere screamed. These tentacles were covered with a wet, slippery mucus, wriggling on Princess Anisphere’s body. Slowly, they moved up along the slender waist of the young girl, over the peaks, through the deep valleys, and continued forward along Princess Anisphere’s neck.

“No, don’t, don’t come closer… don’t… sob!”

Feeling the wet and slimy touch on her skin, Princess Anisphere turned pale, shaking her head desperately and screaming in an attempt to resist. However, at this moment, a tentacle suddenly burst out from the dark helmet, directly burrowing into Princess Anisphere’s wide-open mouth, silencing her screams. Meanwhile, a slippery tentacle slipped through the girl’s collar. Then, a tearing sound ensued, followed by a bone-piercing chill coming from the air, causing Princess Anisphere to shudder uncontrollably.

“Uh… uh uh… !!”

The girl desperately twisted her body trying to escape from the tentacles that bound her, but the wet, eel-like tentacles remained unmoved and crept slowly over the fair skin, dripping thick, foul-smelling mucus like droplets spreading out.

“———-!”

Princess Anisphere’s body shuddered violently, but before she could recover, something even more unimaginable occurred– the tentacles entwining around her body began to pull back. Under Princess Anisphere’s terrified gaze, the huge armor split open from the middle, slowly opening like a gate on both sides, exposing its hidden interior to the young girl.

Empty.

Indeed, the armor felt more like a torture device from legend, and Princess Anisphere suddenly remembered a similar description she had read, about an iron casket-like chamber with countless sharp spikes on the inside. If a person was stuffed in and closed up, those spikes would pierce through the victim’s body…
As if confirming Princess Anisphere’s speculation, as she and the armor grew closer, Princess Anisphere could gradually see something lurking in the dark shadows within the armor’s interior.

But soon, she saw it clearly.

It was a cluster of fine tentacles that resembled fluff, covering the entire inner side of the armor, moving incessantly like seaweed swaying with the ocean currents.

Then, as if sensing Princess Anisphere’s arrival, these tentacles began to elongate, reaching out towards Princess Anisphere, slowly pulling her into the interior of the armor.

“Uh———-!”

The girl didn’t even have time to let out a scream; the next moment, the dark steel armor forcefully shut, completely swallowing her within.

“Uh ah———-!!”

Princess Anisphere abruptly opened her eyes, screaming in surprise, raising her head to look around, and at the same time, a red-haired maid rushed in hurriedly.

“What happened? Princess Anisphere? What’s wrong with you?”

“I… I…”

Faced with the maid’s question, Princess Anisphere looked blankly around her.

“I think I had a nightmare…”

“A nightmare? What kind of nightmare?”

“This…”

Princess Anisphere furrowed her brows, thought carefully, then shook her head.

“I can’t remember now, ugh… I can’t even remember what the dream was about…”

“I see…”

Hearing Princess Anisphere’s reply, the red-haired maid breathed a sigh of relief, took a glance at Anisphere, and stood up.

“Let me get you a glass of water, Princess Anisphere.”

“Um, thank you…”

Perhaps because of the nightmare, Anisphere felt a heat throughout her body and sweated all over; she took a deep breath and nodded. With Anisphere’s permission, the maid quickly turned around to prepare the drink.

At this moment, the girl lowered her head and suddenly froze.

“Huh?”

Under the candlelight, she saw a strange mark on her wrist, resembling something wrapped around it. She involuntarily screamed. Just then, the red-haired maid returned with a glass of water.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I just…”

Taking the cup from the maid, Anisphere looked again at her wrist.

There… was nothing.

Did she see wrongly just now?

Soon, the night passed.

“Phew…”

When Duanmu Huai walked out of the room, he comfortably stretched his back.

“Good morning, big brother.”

Seeing Duanmu Huai and Ogis coming out, Zhenjiling greeted them.

“How did you sleep last night?”

“Pretty well, I think I even had a nice dream.”

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai stretched his body and neck.

“Speaking of which, how are things on your end?”

“Ah, I did find out some things indeed. Just like you said, big brother, this country has some internal issues…”

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s question, Zhenjiling turned serious and came closer to Duanmu Huai to share the information she had gathered about the internal situation of Paretia Kingdom.

Listening to Zhenjiling’s narrative, Duanmu Huai’s expression became much more solemn.

“So, you mean the Royal Family and the Noblemen of this country have contracts with something called Magic Elves and use magic?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing Zhenjiling’s response, Duanmu Huai tapped his fingers on the table, deep in thought. Usually, Duanmu Huai was cautious about these non-realistic entities like Magic Elves. Proven by experience, if something didn’t exist in the real plane, it most likely belonged to a Subspace Demon.

The legend of Paretia Kingdom’s Royal Family and Nobleman signing contracts with Magic Elves to use magic reminded Duanmu Huai of records where Psychics sought greater power and consorted with Subspace Demons…

Not to mention it’s reliant on bloodline inheritance, so there’s a high likelihood that the Royal Family and Noblemen of Paretia Kingdom are descendants of Psychics.

As for the appearance of Subspace Creatures, Duanmu Huai didn’t care at all; many planetary civilizations are like this, like some Barbarians worshipping Wolf Spirits, or other animal spirits or local Mountain Gods, according to Tribunal’s standards they’re all Subspace Demons, just wipe them out.

So while Magic Elves might be considered deities in Paretia Kingdom, if Duanmu Huai finds out these Magic Elves are Subspace Demons, he’ll have to take action.

Hmm? But why can’t Princess Anisphere contract with Magic Elves to use Elf Magic?

Could she be an Untouchable? But when he interacted with her before, Duanmu Huai didn’t feel that Untouchable vibe from her; she actually had Magic Power… Logically, it seems like she should be able to study the Human Magic System?

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Or maybe there’s something more?

“Looking at it, this country really has a lot of internal issues.”

With that thought, Duanmu Huai shook his head and sighed.

In any case, it seems we can only take things one step at a time now.

As for the specifics — analyze and resolve them as needed.