Luca’s gaze swept across the bedroom, finally landing on the dressing table.
Luxurious cosmetics were neatly arranged on the table, untouched. The white chair in front of it was slightly askew, as though someone had been sitting there moments before.
After a brief pause, Luca raised his hand. A fleeting divine light flashed in his eyes.
Golden Divine Flame coalesced in the air.
Moments later, a golden figure dressed in a thin nightgown gradually appeared, floating faintly in the room.
Divine-level Fire Skill: Spark Reversal!
Fratis’s ethereal image sat before the dressing table, her hair disheveled, her face pale.
She stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror, seemingly lost in thought.
In her hand, she held a single-ringed stiletto dagger adorned with a sapphire.
Luca’s expression grew complex as he continued to observe.
Fratis sat in front of the dressing table for an indeterminate amount of time. At last, a sorrowful smile tugged at her pale face.
She slowly raised her hand, the sharp blade aimed at her slender, snow-white neck.
The dagger’s edge pierced her delicate skin, a thin stream of crimson blood trickling down her neck. Against her fair skin, the scarlet was striking and harsh.
Even though Luca knew this was just an illusion, he instinctively reached out, as if to stop her.
At that moment, her motion abruptly halted. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked in Luca’s direction.
Their gazes seemed to transcend the boundaries of time and space, locking together in a fleeting connection.
Looking into Fratis’s weary eyes, Luca understood that she wasn’t truly seeing him, but rather someone who had been standing in that spot at the time.
Fratis’s face displayed clear surprise, as though deeply shocked to see that person there.
Then, in an instant, a flash of silver light erupted.
She disappeared from the room entirely, along with the dagger. It was as if she had never been there at all.
The illusion formed by the Divine Flame dissipated slowly into the air.
“Spatial-type Transcendent-Level Skill: Dimensional Leap…” Luca murmured, recognizing the ability that had been used.
This confirmed that the person responsible was most likely a Transcendent-Level Spatial User.
No wonder there were no traces left behind.
Spatial elements, being high-order elements, specialize in dimensional movement.
They’re particularly adept at transporting individuals without leaving any evidence.
However, this revelation significantly narrowed down the search.
Spatial power was already exceedingly rare, and reaching the Transcendent Level in this domain was almost unheard of.
Moreover, it was clear that Fratis probably knew this person. Following this lead would likely yield some clues about her whereabouts.
After all, no matter how cautious the culprit was, they likely hadn’t anticipated someone ascending to the Divine Realm and investigating Fratis’s disappearance.
The situation was urgent, and the perpetrator’s motives remained unclear. This wasn’t the time to waste a single moment.
Luca closed his eyes tightly, and the space around him seemed to freeze in time. A surge of immense spiritual power radiated outward from him, instantly enveloping the entirety of Dawn City. In that moment, the entire city seemed to lay bare before his mind’s eye.
As Luca’s spiritual power swept through the city, many of the powerful individuals within its walls sensed something unusual.
“What terrifying spiritual power!” exclaimed a Superclass expert, glancing toward the direction of the royal palace with shock in his eyes.
Under this oppressive force, he even felt as though he were standing naked and exposed.
Although that youth hadn’t yet truly ascended to the Divine Realm, just the sheer magnitude of his spiritual power far surpassed that of an ordinary Transcendent-level expert.
Meanwhile, in the princess’s bedchamber.
Luca remained still, his eyes closed as fleeting images flashed through his mind.
But his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
“Too slow,” Luca muttered, opening his eyes and rubbing his temple.
Though his body and divine rank had reached extraordinary heights, his spiritual power was still at the Transcendent level and hadn’t yet broken through to the Divine level. This meant there were many places in Dawn City his spiritual perception couldn’t penetrate.
What’s more, the perpetrator was also Transcendent level. If they were determined to conceal themselves, even Luca would struggle to detect them. It was clear that relying on this method to find Fratis wasn’t going to work.
Retracting his spiritual power, Luca paused to consider his next move.
Golden flames once again ignited around his body, and he vanished from Fratis’s bedroom.
When he reappeared.
He was in the king’s chambers.
If there was anyone in the kingdom who knew about Spatial users of such power, it would undoubtedly be King Alfred.
Luca’s gaze swept through the opulent palace, immediately locking onto Alfred’s location.
On the second floor of the royal hall, in a study filled with books, the king sat. Alfred was frail and withered, his frame thin and bony beneath his royal robes and crown. Lying on a cushioned chaise, he scribbled something with a quill in his gnarled, tree-like hand.
Golden flames suddenly appeared in the room, and the overwhelming presence of divine power crashed down upon him, causing his hand to freeze mid-stroke.
“I knew you’d come,” Alfred said, setting the quill down slowly.
He raised his cloudy eyes to regard the confident, godlike figure of Luca standing before him. In a hoarse voice, tinged with a sense of resignation, he remarked, “I always believed you had great potential, but I didn’t expect such a transformation in just a matter of days.”
Luca had no fondness for this opportunistic king and even less patience for small talk. He asked plainly, “Fratis is missing. My investigation points to a Transcendent-level Spatial user having taken her. Do you know who it is?”
To Luca’s surprise, Alfred didn’t hesitate or attempt to hide anything. He simply nodded. “I do.”
“Who is it?” Luca pressed.
This time, Alfred didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the bustling city outside the window. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Do you know how many years it’s been since the Clinton family founded this empire?”
“I’m not interested in that,” Luca replied flatly, his tone blunt and devoid of courtesy.
He was here to find Fratis. What use was this king’s recounting of the Clinton Empire’s history?
“It’s been 33,647 years,” Alfred continued as though he hadn’t noticed Luca’s irritation. “Over 33 millennia. In the entire history of the Eternal Continent, only the Age of the Gods surpasses it.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he added, “But that’s only because their lifespans were limitless, unbound by the constraints of mortality. That’s why the Divine Court endured for over a million years before it crumbled. For a mortal kingdom like the Clinton Empire to last this long, even with the efforts of countless individuals, it has reached its absolute limit.”
Luca’s voice remained calm, but there was an unmistakable edge to it. “If you keep wasting my time, I can make sure this kingdom ends a lot faster.”
The Gods’ Revelation was drawing closer. If he couldn’t find Fratis within this window, he’d have to use his abilities to extend the time he could trace her. But even then, it would only buy him an hour and a half at most.
And if he failed to locate Fratis within that time… Luca didn’t want to imagine what he might do.
Alfred, however, didn’t seem angered by Luca’s threat. Instead, a faint smile appeared on his gaunt face. “There’s no need to rush. She’s not in any danger.”
Luca’s sharp intuition caught the deeper implication in those words.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You know who took Fratis, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Alfred admitted without hesitation. “After all, it was I who personally took her.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand. A swirling mass of silver spatial energy materialized in his palm, its aura unmistakable.
Transcendent level.
The king of the Clinton Empire was not the Superclass user of legend but rather a true Transcendent-level powerhouse—and one with the rare Spatial Element at his command!
Luca immediately recognized that this was the same power he had sensed in Fratis’s room. It confirmed that Alfred had indeed been the one to take her. No wonder Fratis had looked so shocked at the time.
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But why? What was Alfred’s purpose in doing this? Luca stared at Alfred, flames surging violently around him.
His stark white hair, illuminated by the glow of the Divine Flame, appeared like it too was ablaze.
He looked down at the frail king of the Clinton Empire, his voice steady but tinged with menace. “What are you planning to do with Fratis?”
“I know you’re worried about her,” Alfred said with a calm smile. “But rest assured, Fratis is safe. I sent her to the Dawn God Sect… she’ll return soon, transformed—reborn, even.”
Hearing this, Luca’s gaze turned icy, his expression darkening in an instant.
In an instant, an unimaginably terrifying divine aura crashed down on Alfred.
“Urgh!” Alfred, already as frail as a dying ember, was utterly incapable of withstanding the might of a god. A mouthful of dark blood spewed forth from his lips.
Before the blood could even hit the ground, it was incinerated into ash by the golden Divine Flame.
Luca’s golden eyes fixed on him coldly. “So, you’re colluding with the Dawn God Sect?”
The king of the Clinton Empire, conspiring with those fanatical worshippers—and worse, delivering his own daughter into their hands.
For a moment, Luca felt the absurdity of it all, the sheer lunacy of this world.
“I did cooperate with the Dawn God Sect,” Alfred admitted weakly, his face ashen. “But Fratis is my most beloved daughter. No matter what I do, I would never harm her.”
“Never harm her?” Luca paused for a moment, then let out a derisive laugh, as though he had just heard the punchline of a cruel joke. “Your idea of ‘not harming her’ is marrying her off to the Phillips family and then handing her over to the Dawn God Sect?”
His words struck a nerve in Alfred.
“You know nothing!” Alfred suddenly shot up from his chaise, glaring at Luca with a rare fire in his hollowed eyes. His voice trembled with emotion as he shouted, “Fratis was destined from the moment she was born. She is the chosen of the Goddess of Dawn, the one marked by fate itself to guide our Clinton Empire to its destiny!
“What I’ve done isn’t just for the empire—a new future, a new ruler—but also for Fratis! I’ve given her the chance at a new life, a higher purpose!”
At that moment, Luca finally understood. Alfred’s decision not to pass the throne to the Crown Prince wasn’t driven by some personal vendetta against the Dawn God Sect. His calculated stoking of the rivalry between the Crown Prince and Second Prince had been nothing more than a ploy to buy time.
Even Alfred’s announcement in the royal council chamber that he would declare the heir in seven days had been deliberate misdirection.
Because the heir to the throne wasn’t either of the princes.
It was the Sixth Princess, Fratis.