High Above

——Prison Star Prison.

When Ian heard this sentence, his heart suddenly tightened.

He lowered his head.

For a moment, Ian thought of many things... he thought of the star map in which he crossed out the stars one by one in his private laboratory on the second floor of the White Room Grocery Store in Harrison Port. He thought of the past in the Great Maze of the South China Sea. The endless bright sea of ​​stars.

Ian thought about the stars that had begun to disappear before the Skyfall disaster, and the now dim night sky in Terra's dome... Whether it was the second prince's words of 'standing on the top of the mountain', or the The reality that no one looked up to the sky made him tremble in his heart.

I felt an inexplicable sadness.

[Yes, you really know it very well... So, the successor of Hilliard, the only descendant of Fudo Castle - how can you not understand me, my anxiety and urgency? 】

Grand Duke Thorin noticed Ian's momentary lapse. Although the young man controlled it very well afterwards, he was also keenly aware of the fluctuations in his emotions.

He did not laugh at this, but in the same voice that contained complex emotions, he explained to Ian and also to himself: [We all know that the time is coming, and there are almost no stars in the sky... In the end The moment is coming]

[If Heavenly Hell is completed, our last chance - the last chance we got at the cost of the destruction of civilization in the previous era and the collapse of the Overlooking Moon, will soon disappear completely! 】

[However, now I am the only one left... Facing the Prison Star Prison that wants to seal everything into darkness, with my ability, I can no longer resist. I can only try to perfect the Dead Lord... perfect the 'Spirit Fire', To fight for the last chance of survival]

【Grand Duke! 】

At this moment, Adlbert mustered up his courage and asked loudly, confusedly and urgently: "What on earth are you talking about?" ! What is the Star Prison, and what does it have to do with the Skyfall Disaster? ! 】

[Why, in the face of this disaster, do we do such inhumane, cruel and horrific acts? ! 】

After becoming the deceased king, even Adelbert, who had regarded the Grand Duke as his only hope in life, gained the courage to question for the sake of his 'people'.

Grand Duke Thorin was not angry. He just looked at Adebert with a trace of undetectable sorrow in his eyes: [If you want to know, then I will tell you]

[It’s just Adalbert, you have to promise me that you will seriously think about every word I say next]

【Every sentence】

[I will do it, Grand Duke] The Dead Lord took a deep breath, and his face became firm: [Please tell me]

——Well done, Adlbert.

And Ian thought to himself: "You asked me all the questions that were difficult for me to ask!"

From Ian's current position, it is not normal to ask these basic questions. In theory, what everyone in Inaga II knew back then was not normal, and Adebert perfectly helped Ian kick an assist.

Grand Duke Thorin didn't know Ian's inner thoughts. He just raised his hand, and many light balls floating around him rose into the sky in the box garden, and then formed a field that may be a bit incomprehensible to the Terran people, but for the people of Terra, For Ian, only the details were a little unfamiliar, but the overall structure was so familiar that it was like returning home to the star map.

Star map of the Terran solar system.

A huge silver sun shines in the center of the sky, and balls the size of ping pong balls rotate around it at extremely long distances. If you don't pay special attention to these small silver balls, you can't see them in the sky.

[This is the world we live in - you and I all live in this vast and narrow starry sky... From the perspective of the void, all of us are just living on this small ball, not much bigger than my two fingers. 】

Archduke Thorin is floating in the air. Under his will, the Dead River Arms are just a set of ordinary armors. They cannot affect his will at all and can only serve as the physical body of his projection.

The Dead River Arms itself is an artificial catalytic arm that integrates the pilot and all reserve souls through constant fighting and death to form a super-complete individual. It will inevitably have an impact on people's thinking and souls.

If all human beings are integrated into the Dead River Arms, a 'virtual entity' that represents the collective will of mankind may be manifested in the real world.

But facing the fourth energy level, the wails of millions of dead souls were like a breeze blowing on the face.

He raised his hand, and his ferocious claws gently held up a fourth planet representing 'Terra'. The Archduke's voice was gentle and unbelievable: [This is our hometown... the tiny dust of the void, the vast The land of life, our home, our cradle]

He threw out the ball of light that represented the planet. Immediately, the ball of light began to grow rapidly - almost instantly, the shadow of the giant planet appeared in front of Adalbert and Ian.

This is a blue planet. Almost the entire planet is a blue ocean, and the Terra continent they are familiar with is located in the northern area above the equator of the planet... It is a complete continent with the Mediterranean Sea, mountains, Grasslands and forests and snowfields, the entire continent is lifelike, with real bumps and dips.

In addition, there is another continent to the west of Terra, almost opposite the equator, which is the newly 'discovered' or 'new continent' that has been developed in recent years.

But this continent is very strange. There is very little green on it except at the edges. Even if there is, it is only dots and not continuous.

The entire continent was like a burnt but resurrected wooden pile. Although it had begun to regain its vitality and sprouted some green shoots, overall it was still scorched black.

Two moons orbit the planet, one intact but the other shattered.

[Even the land we live on is still insignificant to the planet as a whole - those who have carefully studied the history of the pre-epoch should know that during the pre-epoch civilization, there were as many as five continents. If you include the two-pole glacial continents, there were There are seven pieces]

[However, after the Skyfall disaster, the world changed drastically. We, the late-born, have no way of knowing the reason. However, in any case, it is true that there are only two continents and the southern frost soil on the entire planet]

Thorin was fair, he stared at the planet in front of him: [So, can you understand? Albert, we humans are so small. 】

Adlbert was stunned for a moment, obviously still thinking about what the Archduke had shown him.

For a young man who has never been outside the Grand Duchy in his entire life, and who has only been to the Imperial Capital once in order to get a degree in alchemy, it is obviously a very troublesome thing to understand how big the planet is and how small his hometown is in comparison. matter.

Summer insects cannot speak of ice, this is the truth.

But he still understood it - relying on the fact that he had seen the map of the empire, and through comparison, he knew which area the empire was located and which area the Grand Duke Thorin was located in. Adlbert looked at a corner of the Terra continent.

That was the location of the Viscounty of Avak. He could hardly find such a small Viscounty. It was just like...

[It’s just...just like dust]

He whispered to himself, his eyes dimming a little, as if he thought about how insignificant human beings are compared to such a star - but soon, Adlbert became angry again, he raised his head and glared at Archduke Thorin. : [No matter how small it is, it should not be regarded as a sacrificial prop! Grand Duke, you are not such a person, are you? ! 】

[I want to know...know the real reason why you want to advance the Avak Laboratory and its plans! 】

[Don’t worry] Grand Duke Thorin smiled, this smile had no warmth: [This is just the precondition I want to tell you]

[Now] He said word by word: [Adlbert, start imagining]

[Imagine that on the outer layer of the planet Terra, there is an invisible and qualityless cage that blocks all external objects, even light]

Justice Thorin said: [Can you do it? 】

Adlbert froze on the spot.

If it was before, he couldn't. But if it were now, with the huge phantom of the planet beside Archduke Thorin as the basis, he could certainly imagine it.

He raised his head and looked at the planet.

Archduke Thorin clapped his hands, and a layer of dull dust covered the entire planet. .

Suddenly, the entire planet Terra dimmed, falling into a lightless silence.

Not to mention there are no stars, even the light of the sun, other planets, and the moon have disappeared.

The entire world fell into ultimate destruction and decay, with vegetation decaying, the sea freezing, and everything falling into silence.

[This, what is this...]

This scene made Adalbert's hair stand on end: [Is this the Star Prison? A cage that covers the entire planet? But how is this possible... Don’t we still have the sun now... How can there be such a big cage...]

Even Ian frowned. He thought of something, but wasn't sure yet.

And Archduke Thorin's voice helped him confirm it.

【Are you starting to be afraid? Albert, don't stop, this is just the beginning - now, continue to imagine]

Thorin was fair, with a strange coldness in his tone: [Imagine this cage ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times bigger - until you can't think of it! 】

[Thinking that this cage is enough to cover the entire star field, including the sun, all the planets in this planetary system, and even the outer nebulae]

[Until the gravitational control of this star reaches its limit and the entire territory of the blazing sun is imprisoned! 】

【Imagine! Adlbert! If such a cage enveloped us, could it explain the fact that all the stars disappeared almost at the same time? ? 】

He shouted loudly, almost roaring: "If such a star prison covers us, not just us, but all the stars in the sky -"

[Then can we understand the anomalies observed by pre-era civilizations! ? 】