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"What?" Celene asked.
"This Castle is not endless," Hydra said with a smile. "And this Dinsion... It’s actually much smaller than it seems."
"Eh?" Celene was even more confused. "What do you an by that?"
"This castle has, at most, 128 rooms, still an impressive number," Hydra said. "But nowhere near the billions of rooms that one would be led to believe. You see, the pattern of 32 rooms repeats itself four tis before looping back to the sa spatial area where we were before."
"...?!" Celene’s eyes widened, shocked to learn the truth. "So we’ve been walking in circles this entire ti?"
"Not exactly, It wasn’t that we walked in circles, we walked through what I would dub a dinsional spiral!" Hydra said. "Imagine a spiral, and now imagine it ascending, We’ve been constantly walking up only to arrive beneath again, this space effectively creates more space only for us but then deletes it once we reach the beginning again. It feels four-dinsional as well, and we can destroy it and it will remain destroyed, only for us to walk into the sa rooms once more."
"You an the castle replicates itself based on how many people are present?" Celene wondered. "Wow, that’s incredible, Hydra! You’re so amazing and smart! Maybe even smarter than Drake!"
"Hmm," Hydra remained silent after hearing that, glaring at Celene. "Indeed, and I have also co to another conclusion, Celene."
"Yes?" Celene tilted her head cutely, walking toward Hydra with her eyes constantly winking, as if she was trying to... seduce him.
"I have co to the conclusion that you’re not the real Celene!"
"Huh?!"
Hydra roared, his jaws opening and unleashing dozens of breath attacks at Celene at once!
"W-What are you doing, Hydraaaaaaaggghhh?!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Celene’s gentle voice twisted into a monstrous scream as her true form was revealed, a mass of black miasma and red eyes squirming in agony as it was pulverized.
"A foul mimic! I knew it! Celene was taken away while I was distracted, and if I can calculate my position within this self-replicated space... Loop 5, room 22!"
RUMBLE!
Hydra leaped forward, breaking through countless rooms and tearing them apart with his giant bony claws, arriving at a large room where Celene was encased in black-colored, miasmic spiderwebs, with her powers sealed.
"H-Hydra...!"
Her scream seed weak, She had been there for at least a few minutes, Hydra felt frustrated that he couldn’t realize it earlier, but the mont Celeste started flirting with him, he imdiately knew it wasn’t her. She had clearly shown herself to have feelings for Drake, not for him, and they had just t, so it was completely nonsensical that she would feel anything for him.
What’s more, Celene was a much more reserved dragon, She would not go out of her way to act like she did before, helping Hydra finally solve the puzzle.
"Don’t worry! Thankfully, you ate the pill, right?"
"Y-Yeah!"
Hydra felt happy that Celene had taken the pill before being captured by whatever replaced her while he didn’t realize, It seed that pill saved her life, helping her survive these black spiderwebs from killing her by eroding her body and soul.
"Drink this Elixir!"
Hydra quickly gave her an Elixir, as Celene drank it quickly, feeling more refreshed and stronger, She wanted to thank him, but Hydra wasted no ti, grabbing her and carrying her like a princess as he leaped away before the entire room was to be flattened.
CRAAASH!
"What was that?!"
Celene quickly leaped off his claws after they landed in the next room. They both saw that space had twisted and then flattened itself... No, rather, it was as if the castle itself deleted a room and the weight of both spaces within the empty void closed at incredible speed, causing such a destructive attack.
"Hmm, it seems you’ve figured it out. Impressive, Among every new guest in this beautiful castle I’ve designed so thoroughly, you’re the only one who has figured it out. Congratulations, you’re not half bad."
The voice of a man echoed from the void, as soone suddenly stepped out of an open gate, surprising both Hydra and Celene...
He looked like a man in his thirties, with a tall figure, white skin, and long white hair, covering his eyes, He wore white robes and black pants.
He held a long staff made of old wood, imbued with three rainbow-colored jewels and decorated with colorful beads.
"I knew it! There was soone behind this castle this entire ti! And you say I am the only one who figured this out?!" Hydra said. "Well, you flatter ...! I always thought myself a genius, but now this confirms it."
"Hmph, smart for a lizard, but that’s about all your lesser mind can achieve... For you have now entered my domain, and you will never walk out of it unscathed."
"Is that so?" Hydra asked. "My na is Hydra, a Death Dragon and Genius Alchemist, Seeker of the Unknown and an Aimless Wanderer. Before we battle, tell what your na is."
"Fine, I will humor you. I don’t like introducing myself, I prefer working in the shadows but... might as well give it a try, everyone else loves doing this..."
The man stepped forward, space and ti twisting around him as he walked...
"I am Sarutahiko—path-maker turned pathbreaker. I sculpt thresholds from lies and sanctuaries from traps."
The Kami moved forward, the rooms around him shifted, disappearing and leaving behind an empty black void.
"Each step you take echoes where I have bent the road. Your destination? ."
He smiled. The rooms behind Hydra and Celene quickly disappeared as well.
"Do not ask for directions. They are already inverted. This eting is not fate—it is a fracture. Welco to nowhere, your eternal grave."
He lifted his hand, as the room where both Hydra and Celene were quickly distorted.
And disappeared.
CRAAASH!
The sa phenonon was created again, and the entire room collapsed upon its own emptiness, creating a destructive shockwave.
However...
"Well, that didn’t work as you expected, right?"
"Hm? Oh, I see what you did there."
Hydra and Celene appeared unscathed, above the room that was deleted, floating in the middle of the black void.
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