Chapter 2: It's not that he can't... he won't.

"Then so be it." The Woman turned around, receiving only silence in response. She waved her hand lightly. "I'll see how silent you are when we begin."

She held onto the young boy's head, disappearing with him.

Only after half an hour passed did the Knights wake up. Remembering what had happened, they stood up in surprise, looking around. However, neither the woman, nor the Sky Fortress was there anymore.

"To think that demoness was going to be sent here for this. I really thought I was going to die..."

The Knights could still feel a chill running down their spine the moment they thought about the woman.

"Same here. Just who is that kid for Enchantress of Blood to be sent here to kill him?" The other Knight frowned, looking at the empty sky above.

From the beginning to the end, they didn't know why so many people had taken interest in the boy. It was the first time that the higher ups had directly gotten involved, telling them to make sure the boy didn't have a good time in the prison as if they hated the boy.

From the moment they received the command, they did everything they could to break the boy without killing him. There was not a single night where they let him sleep without a new bruise on his body.

"I'm also curious. I tried to dig through his background, but all trails were cut off. All we know is that he was arrested from the crime scene before being brought here. There's no other information. The Round Table has directly suppressed all the information."

"Sigh, it's not our place to think about him. Now that he's in the Sky Fortress, he's already dead. We did our job," the other Knight grimly stated as he turned around.

"Moreover, this matter also involved the Sky Fortress. It goes much deeper than our small Nation. Most probably, Olympus has also gotten involved. We should stay out of it. Too much knowledge can become our undoing."

The two Knights agreed with each other, once again going downstairs while feeling grateful that even after seeing that woman, they were able to survive.

Even the ones of Round Table wouldn't have dared to anger that crazy woman after all.

....

The sky fortress, surrounded by a majestic and seemingly infinite expanse of clouds, had an ethereal appearance. It was as beautiful as it was powerful. It was said that it was impossible to infiltrate the sky fortress, even for Gods.

It was even impossible to see the Sky Fortress, unless it became visible on its own.

The Enchantress walked through the core region of the Sky Fortress, the young boy's body floated behind her, controlled by her like a doll.

"It seems our guest is here."

The Enchantress was already in a bad mood when she heard a man's voice. In the distance, she noticed a young man, his complexion smooth akin to that of a woman, leaning against a wall.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Hermes?" The Enchantress frowned, not even sparing a second glance at the man as she walked past him.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Enchantress. It's not often we get to welcome 'him' in our midst." Hermes laughed, as he appeared next to Enchantress, his foot not even touching the ground as if he was simply walking on air.

He turned around while still keeping pace with Enchantress, glancing at the young boy behind her.

"So you're him." He smiled at the young boy, but behind that smile, a lot of malice was hidden. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day."

The boy named Raven looked above Hermes' head, once again seemingly looking at nothingness.

Hermes was surprised as to why the young boy was looking above his head. He raised his head, but there was nothing there.

"Looks like in this life, you've already started to lose your sanity. That might take some fun away from it. Please don't give up... How else will I enjoy watching you writhe in pain."

He couldn't see anything above his head. Let alone him, even the Enchantress couldn't see anything. For them, there was nothing above their heads. However, none of them knew that the boy could see something they couldn't.

"Don't bother. That boy won't say anything. He has too much attitude. Looks like some things never change..." Enchantress said, still feeling frustrated. She was quite looking forward to the execution.

Hermes started laughing in response, shifting his attention to the Enchantress of Blood. "Don't tell me you didn't read his information?"

"What are you trying to say?" Enchantress asked, frowning as she wondered what the man was trying to imply. What did his information have to do with this?

Hermes started laughing in response. "So I was right. You're still lazy like always. No wonder you were the first to die at his hands during the calamity."

The woman's lips twitched. She hated remembering that moment. It was still her worst nightmare.

Before she could reply, Hermes waved his hand, a file appearing in his hands.

"Raven Ashborn, son of Duke Ashborn of Camelot, was born without vocal chords and has been unable to speak since childhood. This is in the first paragraph itself. That's why I said, it's important to read the information. It's not that he won't answer you. It's that he can't."

Hermes didn't go into the details of the file as he had already read the entire file which contained secrets that only a few were allowed to know. It wasn't just the file. It was the history of Raven.

"Though I also hate that he can't speak. I was looking forward to hearing his screams. But it's fine. If not this life, then... Not like the cycle will ever break."

"No wonder he didn't speak, even under threat. Looks like this time is going to be boring. Let's finish it fast."

The woman stopped before the Central Hall. She placed her palm on the scanner. Once her palm was scanned and her aura verified, the metallic door opened.

The woman waved her hand. The boy's body flew straight inside the hall, where only one chair was kept. Other than the chair, the entire hall was completely empty.

Not under his control, Raven's body flew straight to the chair that was fixed in place. His body sat on the chair, metallic chains tying his arms to the armrest and his legs to the feet of the chair. His throat was also tied, making it impossible for him to move even an inch.

It was after Raven was fully shackled, Enchantress freed his body from her control. The metallic door closed, Enchantress and Hermes staying out of the hall.

Raven could only see their back until the door completely closed, him being left alone in the hall.

Raven turned his head towards the left, looking at the white wall as if something was there.

"He can see us?"

In another room, a large group of people looked through the window, observing the boy. However, all of them were surprised when Raven looked in their direction as if he could see through the wall.

"It's impossible. It must be a coincidence!" One of them explained, realizing how absurd it would've been if the boy was able to see through despite the Curse of Godmother Gaia on him.

"I don't know why, but something feels amiss. It's not our first time killing a reincarnation of his. But this time he seems a bit too... Calm. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. We shouldn't delay anymore."