Thick fog pervaded as Silas faced his reflection in the mirror.
In the mirror, that handsome young man who looked exactly like him stared at him in despair, then turned and walked step by step into the depths of the fog within the mirror.
He never came back.
"Whoosh..."
That peculiar mirror formed from condensed water suddenly collapsed, as if a breeze had blown past, scattering it back into fog.
It wasn't just the mirror that was collapsing, but the entire island.
"Crack, crack..."
That was the crisp sound of shattering glass, ringing out continuously.
Silas felt that everything around him was collapsing in this endless sound: the fog, the ruins... as if a nightmare that had lasted a thousand years had been abruptly awakened.
Sunlight abruptly shone down, painfully piercing to the eyes.
Silas discovered that the foggy island where he had been standing had completely disappeared, as if it had never existed.
At this moment, he was standing on a reef several meters wide, with the corpse of the "Saint of Darkness," Leomaster, lying nearby.
On the surface of the reef beneath his feet, a dragon scale was rapidly dissipating into flying ash under the sunlight's illumination.
"Meow?"
The black cat Luna was also not far away.
It stood on the reef, its small cat face full of confusion, seemingly completely baffled by the current situation.
The island is gone?
Silas looked around and confirmed he was in the same sea area as before.
Besides himself, there were many corpses and white bones of those who had died earlier scattered across the sea surface, bobbing up and down with the waves.
Beyond the corpses and bones were the flagships of the Queen Mystic and the King of the Black Throne, still engaged in battle.
Ethereal flames burned on the sea, and cannonballs occasionally fell into the water, stirring up columns of spray.
The two massive ships confronted each other, their respective rulers standing at the bows.
Sensing the dramatic change to the island beside them, they almost simultaneously turned their heads.
Thus, both of them saw Silas.
"Get out of here!"
The Queen shouted urgently.
"Hehe... you've finally come out."
The "King of the Black Throne," Barros Hopkins, let out a very pleased laugh.
He could see that Silas's mental state was very poor at the moment, so his smile became even more radiant. "Now then, let's have a good chat..."
As he spoke, his spirituality suddenly surged.
But just as the Queen heightened her guard and Silas prepared to "Travel" away, a small incident occurred on the King of the Black Throne's flagship.
"Creak..."
The cabin door suddenly opened, and a huge rabbit wearing a top hat and gentleman's clothing walked out upright.
It quickly came to Barros's wheelchair side, bent down, and said something in Barros's ear.
Barros's expression changed slightly.
"Alright, alright..."
The old gentleman shook his head regretfully. "I understand. Of course that matter is more important."
After the rabbit stepped aside, he turned his head and gave a slight nod to everyone present.
"My apologies, everyone. I have some urgent matters to attend to. Let's end things here for today."
He said, his gaze especially lingering on Bernadette's face. "Queen, I'll remember this incident."
With that, the large white rabbit pushed Barros's wheelchair and sent him back into the cabin.
The sailors on the ship also seemed to have received a unified command.
They all stopped and instead quickly operated the sails and oars, turning the ship around.
This massive vessel sailed away from them for a stretch, then abruptly disappeared into thin air.
Just like that... he left?
Silas looked in the direction where the massive ship had departed, then saw the "Dawn" rapidly approaching and the still-shaken Anderson on a small boat nearby. A sense of unreality welled up in his heart.
But soon, intense fatigue surged through his entire body. He decisively gave up thinking and simply sat down on the sun-warmed reef.
Luna quickly jumped into his arms.
————
"...So that's the situation. It's already completely bound to me."
Silas showed the black key to Bernadette, saying somewhat guiltily, "I didn't want this to happen either. It was completely an accident. Anderson can testify to that."
"..."
Anderson on the side couldn't help but glance at him, then under the Queen's gaze, sat up straight honestly and showed a somewhat ingratiating smile. "That's indeed the case."
Inside, he was already feeling somewhat numb.
I feel like no matter what happens with Gascoigne, I won't be shocked anymore.
This guy is actually valued so highly by two Kings of the Seas simultaneously: one is the "Queen Mystic," and that other one, that... who was that again? Never mind, it doesn't seem important.
Just as Anderson was muttering to himself in his mind, the Queen suddenly waved her hand at him.
"Swish!"
The next instant, he had already appeared outside the "Dawn's" cabin, staring blankly at Silas's black cat.
Inside the cabin.
"So do you know what this thing is now?"
After sending away the irrelevant personnel, Bernadette turned to ask Silas.
Her voice was relatively calm, her emotions not particularly intense. She seemed reasonably safe.
"I know now."
Silas answered.
"It's the key to the flagship of Intis's Emperor Roselle, the 'Black Throne.'"
"Then you should also know who I am."
"I can roughly guess."
Silas slowly nodded.
"You should be a princess of Intis."
Previously, Bernadette had said to the "King of the Black Throne" that this key belonged to "her father."
Setting aside that Silas had known her identity long ago, just from this point alone, one could deduce that she was Roselle's child.
"...Princess, that's long past."
After hearing this title, Bernadette seemed to be in a trance for a moment, then shook her head. "Now I'm just Roselle's eldest daughter."
By seniority, you should call me ojisan...
Silas thought to himself.
The two were quiet for a while.
"So, what should we do with this key?" He proactively brought up the topic to show his goodwill. "Your Majesty, if you need it, I can cooperate."
"The ship can be yours."
Bernadette withdrew her gaze from the key and looked directly at Silas.
"My only requirement is that when you find that ship, let me go aboard and inspect it."
What, did your old man leave something on that ship?
Silas speculated inwardly.
"Thank you for your generosity."
His face showed appropriate curiosity. "Speaking of which, I still don't know what kind of ship the 'Black Throne' is."
"It's a ghost ship manufactured by the Solomon Empire in the Fourth Epoch.
My father found it and modified it."
Bernadette answered.
"After my father died, this ship also disappeared somewhere at sea, though occasionally people claim to have seen traces of it.
I suspect there might be messages he left behind on it, so I wanted to find it and check. I just didn't expect..."
Just didn't expect that I would intercept it first, right?
Silas added silently in his mind.