Chapter 1430: The Umbrella Felt Wrong

Meanwhile, the battle outside finally reached its turning point.

The War Machine bomb plummeted from high above just as the massive energy sphere buried underground exceeded its limit.

The two forces erupted at once.

The explosion tore through the mechanical base, a pillar of light punching from deep underground into the sky. The spatial prison collapsed first, followed by distortions that twisted the surrounding space and time.

Catheryn locked onto the outside world through the Umbral Servitor she had sent away in advance. Everyone still held her hands, keeping them together as spacetime ripped apart around them.

Space inverted.

When the surroundings stabilized, they were back inside the sheet-metal-and-glass room where everything had begun.

A blond man stood before them.

He held an umbrella and laughed at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with mockery and the excitement of having completed his mission.

At first, everyone assumed it was Silas.

But the longer they looked, the more obvious the problems became.

He was the wrong height.

His voice was slightly different.

Even the way he held the umbrella seemed deliberate, as though he were imitating someone.

They weren’t the same person.

Ataneya’s fox tails shot forward.

Before Adrian could react, they wrapped around his legs and waist, hoisting him upside down. The others quickly surrounded him, sword energy and energy spheres locking onto his body from every direction.

"Who are you?"

"Why are you pretending to be Silas?"

"Where is Silas? What happened to Ethan?"

The three questions hit him one after another.

Adrian’s mind had never been particularly quick, and now it stopped working altogether. He opened his mouth but had no idea which question to answer first. His upside-down body swayed back and forth as he struggled to think.

Andona rose into the air.

Golden motes drifted from behind her and fell over Adrian. Divine Power illuminated the entire metal room, its sacred radiance spreading from her golden wings.

Standing nearby, Seraphine merged her own light power into Andona’s.

The Divine Power surrounding Andona gained another layer of purer light.

Adrian narrowed his eyes and looked up at her.

His body began to tremble.

He wanted to kneel, but Ataneya’s tails still bound his waist and legs. All he could do was squirm awkwardly to express his reverence.

"I’ll talk!"

Adrian finally found his voice.

"Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you everything!"

Ataneya flipped him upright, then withdrew her tails.

The restraints were gone, but the sword energy and energy spheres surrounding him remained.

The moment Adrian touched the ground, he dropped to his knees and repeatedly bowed to Andona in the air.

"Please, save my brother!"

His voice trembled with tears.

"He wasn’t always like this, but..."

Adrian spoke in fits and starts for a long time.

Through his account, everyone gradually learned the history of Silas and the Vane family.

But no matter how tragic his past had been, it couldn’t erase what Silas had already done. Truly saving him would be about as difficult as convincing Ethan to wear women’s clothes willingly.

Back in the white space, the atmosphere between Ethan and Silas had also grown peaceful.

Silas told his story, and Ethan listened quietly.

The cruel memories made Ethan angry. When Silas spoke of the few happy moments the brothers had shared, his expression softened.

Silas was only eighteen years old.

Yet everything he had endured had forced him to carry far more than anyone his age should have.

At last, Silas finished recounting his past.

"That’s everything."

He looked up at Ethan cautiously.

"So... can I see my brother?"

Worried Ethan might think he was having second thoughts, Silas picked up the energy sphere beside him and placed it in his palm.

If Ethan wished, the energy could detonate in his hand at any moment.

Ethan watched him, then finally nodded.

A wormhole slowly opened in front of them.

Inside the sheet-metal-and-glass room, Adrian was crouching on the floor, looking up at the people surrounding him.

"Can I see my brother?"

Fear remained in his eyes, but he added earnestly, "He might still be scary, but I won’t let him hurt any of you!"

The others exchanged glances, smiles appearing on their faces.

Silas hurt them?

At this point, Silas was probably the one they should be worried about.

They still hadn’t learned exactly what had happened to Ethan, and there was no chance they would let that man attack again. Without a word, everyone stepped aside and left Adrian a clear path.

At that moment, the space ahead began to ripple.

A wormhole slowly opened.

As if the brothers had planned it in advance, Silas and Adrian finally got their wish and saw each other again.

The reunion was immediately derailed by an awkward silence.

Ethan emerged from the wormhole behind Silas and saw Adrian standing in the middle of the group. His gaze shifted to the side, where he found Andona, Seraphine, Ataneya, and everyone else.

Not one of them was missing.

Ethan hadn’t expected Adrian to be there.

He certainly hadn’t expected everyone to be waiting for him.

Silas also froze.

He had assumed Adrian would be alone on the other side. Instead, he found an entire group staring at him. His previously calm expression stiffened, and he suddenly had no idea what to do with the hand holding his umbrella.

Ethan recovered faster.

His eyes immediately landed on "himself," lying on a stretcher made from branches.

It was the fake corpse Silas had created. Its face, clothes, and even its presence were identical to Ethan’s. Everyone had clearly believed the deception for quite some time. They had even carried the body all this way with the utmost care.

Ethan hurried over and shoved the fake corpse off the stretcher.

Then he lay down in its place.

He folded his hands over his chest.

Closed his eyes.

Opened them again.

Pretending he had just regained consciousness, Ethan stared around in confusion.

No one played along.

Every eye remained fixed silently on his face.

Auri even tilted her head, clearly waiting for Daddy to continue his performance.

Ethan held out for a few seconds before finally sitting up.

"Fine."

He glanced at the fake corpse on the floor.

"This isn’t what it looks like."

With everyone watching, Ethan had no choice but to recount everything that had happened after he entered the white space. As for the fake corpse, it had merely been one of Silas’s little tricks to deceive them.

Silas himself didn’t even consider it worth mentioning.

Yet that "little trick" had fooled everyone for a long time.

Once the explanation was over, the group didn’t remain inside the base.

They boarded the lift again and followed the metal passage back to the beach above. Seraphina walked into an open area and resumed her dragon form, allowing everyone to climb onto her back.

She spread her wings and carried them into the distance.

This time, they intended to find a real beach and a proper continent where they could finally set foot on solid ground.

After waking earlier to help Ethan fight, Lily had once again fallen asleep inside him.

Her routine was starting to look more and more like a daily shift.

Enter Ethan’s body.

Complete the fusion.

Save him when he needed it most.

Then go right back to sleep.

The dragon flew farther and farther away, soon leaving the isolated island behind.