Chapter 142: Dawn Laboratory
A barrage of energy pulses, a crushing force field, and the ground where Ara had stood was now a crater.
Bai’s dagger, sent flying by the blast, landed beside her, its blade embedded in the ground.
And on the hilt, a necklace, with a purple gemstone, engraved with two letters.
“B&A”
Bai and Ara.
Nisha saw that her attack had missed. Ara had vanished just before it landed.
“What? Is Pandora dead? No, my attack wasn’t strong enough to even damage her…”
But why had she disappeared?
Nisha tensed, knowing that Ara, with her [Illusion] Authority, could deceive her senses.
Wait, nine Authorities?
Nisha’s eyes widened. When had the ancient empire’s most powerful weapon been reduced to only nine Authorities?
The device that had sealed Pandora wasn’t meant to destroy her, but to contain her.
The former was a last resort, used against beings too powerful to be destroyed.
Like the Abyssal Lord. The seal was meant to weaken her over time.
But Pandora, created to fight the Empire’s enemies, wouldn’t have been sealed in such a way.
The containment device was designed to preserve her power.
Pandora possessed forty-nine Authorities, corresponding to the forty-nine Authorities of the ancient empire of “Xia.” She was, in a way, like the scepter, which also held all the Imperial Authorities, but she was flesh and blood, while the scepter was a cold device.
“Corresponding to the nine Authorities of the North Empire… I remember now…”
The nine Authorities of the North Empire were the original ones, not because they were the most powerful, but because they were the easiest to control.
So, when Pandora was first created, she had also possessed these nine Authorities.
“No wonder she’s so weak…”
The Pandora who had rampaged through the ancient empire had been a force of nature, slaughtering entire Knight units. This Pandora could barely handle the capital of a single, weakened empire.
“If that’s the case, then the real Pandora has always been in Vikarn,” Nisha murmured, a chill running down her spine. “But by bringing this Pandora here, I’ve… brought her back to her awakened consciousness!”
“I remember now. Pandora was contained in the ‘Dawn Laboratory’…”
With that thought, she forgot about Bai, running towards the laboratory.
She had to reactivate the containment device before Pandora’s consciousness fully returned!
…
“Dawn Laboratory…” Lilia murmured, reading the inscription on the building before her.
Unlike the weathered road sign, the letters here were still clear and sharp.
She had followed the scepter’s glow to this place.
“I don’t remember seeing this laboratory in the books…”
She hesitated, then a cold, emotionless voice echoed through the air.
“Visitor, logging.”
“Verification failed. Unknown identity… verification complete. Royal family.”
“Welcome, Your Highness. This is a restricted experimental area. To enter, you will have to use your royal pardon~” a cheerful, pre-recorded voice said, a stark contrast to the earlier, synthesized one.
“Uh… yes, I’ll use it,” Lilia said, realizing her royal status was more useful than she had thought. It had also protected her from Vikarn’s automated defenses.
Technically, the North Empire was a successor to the ancient empire, and their royal families had often intermarried.
That was why they possessed the scepter, and the nine Authorities, and had become the last surviving human empire.
In the ancient empire, Lilia would have been just another princess, not the sole heir to the throne.
“As you wish, Your Highness,” the cheerful voice said, and the door opened.
Vikarn’s architects had a truly… utilitarian aesthetic. The laboratory, from the outside, looked like any other, a plain white box. Only inside was the difference apparent.
But to Lilia, it was all a blur.
The “Dawn Laboratory” wasn’t just a single lab, but a complex of interconnected rooms, all of them sealed.
The atmosphere was oppressive, the dimly lit corridors unsettling. The scepter’s glow guided her, and she hurried forward, not daring to linger.
The further she went, the heavier the air became, until she could barely breathe.
Finally, she reached the end of the corridor. The scepter’s glow intensified, then faded.
“…Is this it?”
She looked up. The room before her was larger than the others, its door slightly ajar, a faint light emanating from within.
“Well, I’ve come this far. I might as well have a look,” she said, clutching the scepter, and cautiously pushed the door open.
But as she did, she heard a soft “thump.”
She paused, peeking inside.
A body, seemingly male, lay on the floor near the entrance, knocked over by the door.
She looked up, and saw a scene she had only read about in the Vikarn Annals.
—A girl, her eyes closed, floating in a transparent container, filled with a strange, glowing liquid.
“Is that… Ara?”
