Rasmus and the others finally arrived at the Brithia Kingdom's capital city where so many buildings were ruined. The people looked at them in disbelief like they were seeing ghosts because everyone knew about the expedition. So of them even showed hostility toward Agnesia and Marina because it was their idea. However, with Aris at the front, nobody dared to even say a word in her presence, they all bowed their heads to her.
When they looked at the palace, they were shocked that it was badly damaged because a third of the palace collapsed. Cracks in the walls and how the workers tried their best to restore and rebuild the palace carefully.
The palace steward ca to welco them and conveyed the queen's ssage. They went into the palace to report on what was happening at the Efiva Mountain because the world demanded an answer. However, when Rasmus walked in the long hallway, he saw a servant carrying a vase. He noticed sothing that nobody recognized from the servant. When the servant walked past Rasmus, Aris, Videl, Rullein, and Rasmus heard the servant's words.
Rasmus glanced at Videl and they both stopped following the group. Doloran and the others noticed when those two suddenly stopped walking.
"Count? Is sothing the matter?" Agnesia asked with her brows raised.
"No, I'm a bit tired and I don't think my presence matters and only Aris's matters. I'll get so rest and I'll have my butler take care of ," Rasmus answered as he shook his head.
It wasn't a secret that Queen Anastasia wasn't fond of Rasmus' existence. Agnesia knew that Rasmus would be ignored like before as if he didn't exist in the room by the queen herself.
"We understand, please have a good rest, Count Blackheart," Agnesia nodded with understanding and continued walking to et with the queen.
Rasmus and Videl watched the group turn into the corner before they turned around. The servant that was carrying a vase had disappeared and the vase was left behind on the marble floor. There was barely any trace of presence with the naked eye, but not when Rasmus could sense the lingering heat with his draconic eyes.
They followed the heat and ended up in the empty royal kitchen because the ceiling collapsed and caused a lot of damage. The servant was standing there, sitting at the table, yawning and playing with a knife. The servant grinned widely at Rasmus, giggling mischievously as he pulled out a tiny bottle then tossed it at Rasmus.
"Sothing is off about this whole continent, Count," the servant chuckled as he jumped down from the table and landed perfectly like a perforr. "Many traces of those vile things," he pointed at the small bottle in Rasmus' hand.
Rasmus and Videl's eyes turned cold when they saw a tiny lump of a twitching black substance. It was a tiny piece of the Womb of the Mother, barely having any corrupting energy in it. However, they knew it was enough to corrupt anything and anyone if it managed to get inside a body or even be attached onto one.
"Where did you get this, Aider?" Rasmus asked as he let Videl hold the bottle so Videl could examine it even further.
"It was Daryus who gave it to . He said that when an earthquake happened because of the appearance of a True Dragon, those things ca out of the crack in the ground," Aider answered as he swirled the knife in between his fingers. "He said that thing acted like a parasite. Not a living thing but alive," he added.
Rasmus looked at Videl and tilted his head to the side. Videl nodded with understanding and left the room to investigate what was happening. Rasmus had expected sothing like this because of the fact that demonic beasts had existed long before humans, the roots might have gone deeper, not just underneath the Efiva Mountain.
"Looks like you know what that thing is," Aider smirked and tilted his head, staring into Rasmus' eyes with his glaring eyes.
"It will turn you into a mindless human. It's like a parasite, a tumor that will feed on your soul and corrupt it. You should be careful not to let that attached to your body," Rasmus warned with a serious expression. "I might have no choice but to kill you if it's already too late," he added.
Aider's mischievous deanor suddenly disappeared and slowly realized the unseen danger.
"Anything from Javi and the others?" Rasmus asked as he leaned against the wall.
"Yes, they have seen movents between two nations that have been at each other's throats, the Vercnium Empire and the Rosemore Kingdom. But, sothing seems different compared to the information that Javi and the others had gathered about those two nations from the past decades," Aider answered as he put the knife down and looked around the kitchen. "There's a rumor that they have signed a treaty. Two nations that have been trying to take each other's territory for decades and now they both suddenly agreed to stop the war montarily at this mont?" He pointed out.
"A treaty rumor? When?" Rasmus asked as he crossed his arms.
"A week ago, I think the rumor was spread not long after we ca to this continent," Aider answered. "I don't know about politics, but I do know when two nations who had a long history suddenly wanted peace when the news about our arrival spread," he added.
Rasmus humd as he furrowed his brows, trying to find a believable answer to the rumor. While he was deep in thought, a knock on the window snapped him back to reality and startled Aider. They looked at the window and saw a raven, pecking on the glass with a small scroll tied to its leg.
Rasmus opened the window and took the scroll from the raven's leg before he let the raven fly again. It was Javi's raven, and Rasmus knew that if Javi used his raven to convey a ssage, it would be an important one. He read the ssage and imdiately his eyes narrowed when the Vercnium Empire suddenly invaded the neighboring country, the Castel Kingdom while the Rosemore Kingdom invaded the Mauntrel Kingdom.
"Expansion..." Rasmus humd as he burned the scroll into ashes. "Now that makes sense," he muttered to himself.
"Expansion? For what? Both of them are doing it for what?" Aider furrowed his brows as he watched the ashes get blown by the wind.
"They got their opportunity because right now the world is in panic because of the sighting of a True Dragon," Rasmus answered as he stared at the dark clouds forming in the sky. "Either it's their plan all along, or they got the drive to invade other nations," he added.
"Do you think it's a coincidence?" Aider stared at Rasmus' stoic expression.
"There's no such a thing as coincidence if you take advantage of a situation," Rasmus answered and noticed that the storm was brewing. "But knowing the situation beforehand is not taking an advantage, it's planned," he muttered when he began to see sothing was off about the brewing storm and imdiately walked out of the room, leaving Aider hanging.
Rasmus rushed out of the palace and looked at the brewing storm that had a similar energy that the Womb of the Mother had, a corrupted energy. He wasn't the only one who felt that, Videl approached him and was about to tell him what he felt about the storm.
"Is that what I think it is?" Rasmus asked.
"Yes, I don't know how, but if the rain starts to pour, humans would turn into mindless beasts," Videl answered with his arms crossed, smirking in excitent and anticipation. "Although..." He paused as the smirk disappeared from his face. "I don't know how they could be up there in the clouds in the first place..." he pointed out.
"If they can be small enough to be lifted by the gas into the clouds, how small can they beco? And how many are they?" Rasmus asked and turned to look at Videl.
"Don't ask , this is the first ti I have seen the Womb of the Mother in the world of the living. That thing isn't supposed to be out here, it should only exist in Hell," Videl answered and noticed there must have been so powerful being's involvent. "Soone brought it here from that place called the Separation," he said with a cold expression.
"You ntioned sothing about Belial who has followers," Rasmus paused to glance at the dark clouds that grew darker. "Do you think this connected to them?" He glanced at Videl.
"I don't like this at all, Rasmus," Videl responded as he shook his head slowly, feeling sothing wasn't right. "That little fucker..." He muttered.
"I t Belial," Rasmus revealed.
Videl slowly moved his pupils toward Rasmus' eyes, and his expression turned even colder.
"What do you an by you t him?" Videl asked, his voice low and barely above a whisper.
"He's waiting for sothing bad to happen to ," Rasmus answered with a straight face. "All of this isn't coincidence..." He muttered and not long after he said that, a loud rumbling of thunder was heard in the distance.
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