NOVPUBSensing the dangerous magic power, Sinola reacted immediately.
She was even more familiar with Pranay’s every move than Antanas.
The rising black flame that was about to collide with the barrier dissipated entirely before it could touch it, like a machine malfunctioning midway.
"Brother, it’s me."
Sinola raised her hands, dispelling the attack magic of Truth Pullane while quickly signaling she meant no harm.
"I am Antanas. Self-demon, don’t attack!"
Antanas also quickly added from the side.
"...?"
Pranay, who was initially planning to continue his attack, seemed puzzled.
He did feel that these two strong humans were oddly similar to Guardian Antanas and his sister, Law Breaker Sinola.
Most importantly, the ability to instantly dismantle his magic was unique to Sinola.
Only Sinola, who had seen his numerous spells and had already dispelled most of them, could reverse engineer it at sight.
The next moment, the look of bewilderment in Pranay’s eyes deepened, as if he couldn’t understand how these two were able to come to this level, disguise themselves as humans with a magic he’d never seen, and even fool Herram Prison by posing as prison guards.
Although Pranay, upon inspecting closely, could see that they indeed had a disguise spell woven with demon magic text on them, he couldn’t identify its principle.
Clearly, it was a spell that hadn’t emerged even at the time of the fall of the Demon World.
"Brother, we’ve come to rescue you, we’ve found the New King, who will be our deity and lead us to that perfect world we’ve been longing for."
Sinola approached Pranay and cut the chains binding him. Turning to her long-unseen brother, she continued,
"She’s immensely powerful and cares about us, once you meet her, you’ll surely feel her love."
"..."
However.
Pranay just listened to Sinola’s words, lowered his hands slowly, and remained motionless, as though he was still bound by chains.
He didn’t even remove the mask that was binding his face.
Sinola helped unfasten the lock on the back of Pranay’s mask, allowing him finally to speak.
Underneath the restricting mask, the handsome contours of his face were distinct, revealing a resemblance to Sinola, very fitting of their sibling relationship. The only notable difference was his narrow eyes, reminiscent of the deepest shade of dark blue in the night sky, exuding a sense of cold and distant isolation, veiled by a sublimely mysterious fog.
"..."
Numbly staring at her brother, Sinola somehow didn’t see any joy in the face of the Sage of the Demon World, who usually wore a light smile, upon being on the brink of regaining his freedom.
"What’s wrong, brother?"
Back in the Demon World, they had complete faith in each other, sharing life and death. She didn’t think that after all she had said, Pranay still considered her to be joking.
"There will come a day when I will depart for our true home. But not today."
The Truth Pullane had his gaze lowered, his eyes dull. He spoke softly,
"At present, we lack the ability to survive on the surface."
"Brother, the New King is strong, stronger than all three of us, and even if the three of us worked together, we won’t be afraid of the Grand Sage of the Tuos Empire. You can rest assured about our survival."
Sinola spoke calmly.
She knew what Pranay was worried about and why he was so pessimistic.
Her brother may be a coward, but not to the extent where he even refuses freedom at hand.
"..."
All Pranay did was shake his head and laugh.
When he looked at Sinola again, there was a complicated, hesitated expression in his eyes.
"I can imagine how strong the New King who managed to rescue both of you so perfectly is, and I understand how rare this New King is for us..."
Pranay muttered to himself, staring at the prison wall behind Sinola.
He often saw more than other members of the Demon Race, and therefore, understood deeper implications.
The New King didn’t have the Ninth-order. If she did, no one in the Protoss Empire would be her match today, and rescuing the three of them wouldn’t be so troublesome.
"In the Protoss Empire, the shadow of the curse always follows, but Herram, the entire empire, has offered no response. It will be too late when these foolish beings discover the endless problems and root causes... Sometimes, I feel as if everything is repeating, and no one can change the status quo."
Pranay seemed to be declaring the fate of the Protoss Empire, mumbling to himself.
"Did you see something... "
Sinola asked with some concern.
She knew that Pranay’s innate magic had evolved during their century-long separation.
Because even without an opponent, Pranay could always use his eyes.
Perhaps now, Pranay had acquired some characteristics of the Thousand-Mile Eye or Future Vision, able to sporadically manifest their effects.
Could it be that something unknown was happening in the Protoss Empire and was now about to reach its tipping point, which was why Pranay was so reluctant to return to the surface?
"..."
Pranay remained silent for a long while.
Originally, he didn’t want to say anything as he had no obligation to help the Protoss Empire, but for his compatriots, he decided not to keep them in the dark.
"The Protoss Empire will perish soon, in a few years at most... the bishop election three days from now will be the turning point."
Pranay began, slowly sharing with Sinola and Antanas,
"A few days ago, a battle unknown to anyone took place in the north of the Protoss Empire. I saw some invincible enemies, and their battle, which could easily destroy us, was just the opening fight to the ruin of the Protoss Empire..."
"This..."
Sinola and Antanas exchanged looks.
They hadn’t expected the Protoss Empire on the surface to be in the midst of a century-defining upheaval! 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
At this point, returning to the Protoss Empire seemed to be a very bad situation.
Sinola and Antanas finally understood, Pranay judged Herram Prison to be a more secure natural shelter, he didn’t want to get involved in the conflict, wishing to stay until he reached the Ninth-order before leaving!
History has proven that Pranay’s judgments are usually not far off. Even if the New King agrees with Pranay, the one thing she cannot change is Pranay’s conservative decision making.
So even if the New King had her own judgment and thought it was better to leave the prison, it would be hard to convince the determined Pranay!
"..."
Seeing the shocked expressions on Sinola and Antanas, Pranay knew -
The New King was also unaware of the changes in the Protoss Empire.
