Chapter 167: Thoughts ; Fake ; (Spoiler Title at the End)

I stand motionlessly while observing the blue flames as they consume the corpses of our foes.

"Victor," I hear Yuno's voice as she races toward me.

Looking over at her, I see bloodstains all over her garments.

"Would you like a change of clothes?" I propose once she is near enough to hear me.

"Yes," she simply responds after taking a glance at her clothes.

"Let's head inside the fort," I state before holding her hand and pulling her along.

After a few minutes, we find ourselves in a room that's relatively undamaged compared to the rest of the rooms in the fort.

At a glance, this room seems like one where meetings are held, but it seems like there is more to it than that.

Beneath the ground, there are gems. The very same gems that we found in the machine that I had fought and used by Matilda to form the teleportation channel.

Heck, we even found them in the flying ships that we took over from Gallia.

These gems seem to serve a wide variety of purposes. It can not only enhance magic spells but also perform them.

An example would be the invisibility spell that forms a cloak around the flying ships, rendering them imperceptible.

Nevertheless, there sure is a lot of them here, and they all seem to be in peak condition as well. In other words, they haven't been used. Strange.

"Yuno," I say as I create a luxurious-looking black one-piece dress, "You get changed while I go check in with the others."

"You're leaving?" she asks in a slightly saddened tone.

Ugh. I don't think there is much to do outside, so I will stay here after all.

I approach Yuno and embrace her for a few seconds before stepping back and saying,

"Never mind that."

Yuno instantly beams a smile as she begins undressing without any hesitation.

I lightly chuckle at her actions before making my way over to one of the stools in the room and taking a seat.

Anyway, this room sure looks nice.

The floor is made of wooden tiles, while the walls are made of concrete.

All the furniture inside the room is green, except the table that's at the center.

On the table, there are several pieces of equipment that I've never seen in the past, as well as some that I can barely recognize.

"Victor," Yuno who has already changed into the one-piece dress says solemnly, "There is something that I need to tell you."

Why is she so serious? Is there something wrong?

"What is it?" I inquire.

"When we got here," she says, "I sensed uncanny energy coming from within the fort."

"What do you mean by that?" I ask as I begin to think of what she could be referring to.

The only thing that comes to my mind at the moment is Morpheus.

"The energy greatly resembled that of an Unknown's," Yuno continues, greatly startling me.

I never sensed anything like that, and neither did Irene, as she would've informed if that were the case.

Now that I think about it, I don't know what energy released by the Unknowns is like.

Despite having lived with Ophis and Gula for a short while, I have no recollection of them ever being different when compared to the rest of the girls in the mansion.

I shake my head and begin to think of anything else that could be related to this.

After a few seconds, I realize that there has indeed been something unusual.

Irene, until the end you were still unable to analyze Morpheus's Code, right?

{Affirmative.}

Why is that? What are the conditions for a Code to not be analyzable?

{The most common case would be that the Code is stronger than the one that is trying to analyze it.}

Yeah, that's highly unlikely.

{Another case would be if the energy that is being detected is a long-range imprint left by the opposing Code.}

That was the case with the giant vines that helped in the fight against the giant machine.

{Affirmative.}

I doubt that's the case as well, as Morpheus was in the room with me.

{The other two cases left would be if the Code is specialized in blocking Code waves or the Code is a fake.}

Fake? What do you mean by that?

{The Code is not truly a Code, but just something else that's faking Code Waves.}

As her words sink in, a notion suddenly appears in my mind.

However, I shake my head in denial as that couldn't be the case.

Even so, there is a small chance that it is.

"Victor," Yuno calls out a little worriedly, "Did you encounter an Unknown in here?"

"No," I reply, "At least, I don't think I did."

Deciding that it's worth it to tell Yuno about what happened, I begin recounting all the events that occurred upon arriving in the fort.

"Morpheus," Yuno mutters once I'm done, "He was widely known for being a cunning god, so I don't think that the one you fought against was really him."

That's what I was thinking as well.

[Father, the soldiers have stopped celebrating.]

"Got it," I mutter, "Instruct them to take a rest on my behalf."

[Understood.]

"Yuno," I say once I've shifted my focus back onto her, "It's no use thinking about it so much. For all we know, this might be the foe's plan."

All of a sudden, I hear a loud commotion outside, causing me to use Clairvoyance to check out what's going on.

Soon, I find the reason, which turned out to be the arrival of Tiamat and Ddraig.

Due to her being in her dragon form, Tiamat attracted a lot of attention from the soldiers.

With that said, the little girl sitting on her back is getting plenty of attention as well.

"Tiamat and Ddraig have arrived," I say to Yuno.

"Then, let's go," she responds.

---3rd POV---

"Your Majesty," a cloaked figure voices respectfully while kneeling before a blue-haired man who seems to be in his mid-thirties.

The blue-haired man is sitting on his throne with a neutral expression on his face.

"The experiment was a success," the cloaked figure says, "Not only was it successful, but the enemy hasn't seemed to have realized it as well."

"Good," the man sitting on his throne says while his expression remains the way it is.

"Gather the Knights."

"The Knights of Gallia?" the cloaked figure asks.

Instead of answering him vocally, the blue-haired man glares at him, which results in the cloaked figure to fidget a little before exclaiming,

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The cloaked figure doesn't waste any time as he hastily leaves the throne room.

Now alone, the blue-haired man shuts his eyes as if he were deliberating on something.

However, this doesn't go on for long, as a soft voice resounds in the room,

"Joseph!"

The blue-haired man, Joseph de Gallia, turns his head to face the woman that called out to him.

"Stop this already, Joseph," she says once she's gotten close to him, "What's your aim for doing all this?"

"You wouldn't get it," Joseph responds.

"I can," the woman instantly replies, "Tell me, Joseph."

Joseph takes a few seconds to think before he says,

"He has reappeared."

"Who has?" the woman asks.

Joseph is about to answer when the door leading to the throne room opens.

Then, the cloaked figure enters the room, while a dozen or so men follow him from behind.

Seeing this, the woman lets out a sigh before saying a low voice,

"I will be in Isabella's room."

She then leaves the room without looking back once.

"Your Majesty!" the cloaked man salutes while kneeling as the rest of the men follow suit.

"What are your orders?"

Joseph thinks for a few seconds before saying a loud and sharp tone,

"You are to take down the confidants of the man known as Wales Tudor. That's your only objective."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" all the men respond collectively.

Having received their orders, the men get back on their feet and are about to leave the room, however, Joseph suddenly says,

"Wait."

They stop in their tracks and turn around to see if there is anything else that their king would demand.

"You said that the experiment was a success, right?"

Knowing that Joseph is asking him, the cloaked figure replies,

"That's correct."

"In that case, make use of it," Joseph states.

"Understood," the cloaked figure replies.

"I can count on you, right? Morpheus?" Joseph says, as impassive as ever.

"Naturally," comes the expected reply.

~~~~~

Complete Title: Thoughts ; Fake ; Advent of the Cockroach