Was everything... a dream?

Roland blinked his eyes as he walked step-by-step to the fence in order to look down at the school's panorama against the sunset.

No one was in the s.p.a.cious playground. Under the orange sunset, the goal looked lonely and its very long shadow was reflected on the ground. Far away were the familiar library and dormitory and the sunset painted the luminous windows with a ray of gold.

Roland had studied here for almost seven years so that he had been familiar with everything. He knew that he was standing on the rooftop of a teaching building and that this was his favorite place to spend his spare time.

Roland had many memories here.

Such as that iron gate behind him that was driven by the warm wind to open and close constantly.

This iron gate was billed as a unique view of the teaching building's rooftop, and its cover looked as ancient as a cultural relic excavated by archaeologists. When he had come to this school, the gate had already been torn and tattered. As long as it was pushed lightly, it would make noise continuously as if it were out of breath. Yet it was extremely quiet after it was opened and then closed. As far as Roland was concerned, the gate would fall apart soon, but still, at the time of his graduation, it stood still on the rooftop.

"But since this was a dream, why did I look the same as Prince Roland?" thought Roland.

Roland lowered his head to see his slender hands, and then touched his gray hair on his shoulders. Apparently, the height and shape were different from what they were when he indulged himself in his studies.

"So... What had happened?" thought Roland.

Roland frowned, after a while he remembered that the last scene he had seen was that Nightingale had pushed him away, and then after a flash, he had only seen her panicking and despairing face.

"Who on earth... are you?"

A tactful and intangible female voice suddenly appeared beside him.

Roland was scared and abruptly turned around only to find that a lady with long white hair was walking toward him. She had a pair of ruby-like eyes and her red and white robe dropped down to the ground with a golden pattern embroidered on its bottom, which obviously did not belong to this era. Besides, the golden throne of her head showed her ident.i.ty.

"You're a pure witch of the church?"

"Yes. But I'm also the 15th Pope of Holy City of Hermes." She paused and continued to say, "I'm Zero, while you're definitely not Roland Wimbledon."

Well, Roland frowned and said, "So did you create this place?"

Everything made sense. The flash should be Zero's ability that Nightingale had wanted to help him to escape from. And the scenery before him should be an illusion or a virtual s.p.a.ce, something like that. The moment he opened his eyes, Roland thought that he had come back to the modern world again.

Even though Roland knew that perhaps the church was originally the Union, it never occurred to him that the pope was a pure witch. Therefore, it was so incredible to see that these witches boldly turned other witches into inhumane monsters.

"No, you created this place." Zero walked toward him step-by-step and said in an exciting tone, "The place is hidden deeply in your memories and appears frequently in most of your daily life. But I'm curious as to where this is. We both know that Prince Roland of the Graycastle would have never lived in such a place."

"Why should I tell you?" Roland moved to the other side of the fence and kept a distance from her.

What could he do to shake off the illusion? Roland thought of many ideas in his mind. Maybe he could jump off here? Based on his experiences of nightmares, he would instantly wake up from a nightmare if he jumped off of a high place.

Zero smiled and said in a sweet tone, "It's okay that you won't tell me. I'll spend a little of time finally figuring out that who you're, where you're from and why you've become Prince Roland."

Would she finally find out? "You mean to tell me that you'll read my memories?" Roland asked in a very cold tone, "Don't flatter yourself."

Zero suddenly stopped and said, "You know what? I would explain to each one trapped in the illusion the effects, rules, and the impact of my ability. Everyone except for you."

"What?"

The moment Roland asked, he found that Zero had appeared in front of him. And a sudden pain made him lose his hearing.

Roland trembled and lowered his head to only find that a knife was inserted into his chest. Roland wanted to shout, but he could not make any sound. His chest was destroyed completely and the opening and closing of his thoracic cavity could not squeeze even a little air into his throat.

Just like an electrical current, the strong pain spread over his body. Roland would rather die immediately than suffer one more second.

"Because I don't like anything that's confusing."

At the other end of the knife was Zero's calm face. Half of her body was splashed and wet by Roland's gus.h.i.+ng blood. Due to hypoxia and the self-protective syncope of his brain, he quickly became unconscious.

But the next second, Roland stood still beside the fence, his body intact. In addition, Zero also stood far away from him, like she had never left that spot.

"What had happened?" Roland took deep breathes. "Was it just an illusion?" He covered his chest that was moving up and down fiercely, and the wound still hurt. Looking down, he saw the shape of a pool of blood.

"d.a.m.n, what had happened just now was true," thought Roland.

Staring at the knife held by Zero, Roland was quite surprised in his heart because there had been nothing in her hand before.

"Could she create something out of nothing?"

Just at the moment, Zero rushed toward him again. She was so quick that Roland could not see her clearly.

Roland instantly turned around to escape, but just after a step, he felt a pain in his abdomen.

Then, Roland experienced death again. Zero wielded her long knife to cut him into two halves. The pain this time lasted longer than last time and he fell down into his own blood and outflowing guts. The lasting pain made him shout so miserably that even he was frightened by his own voice.

After his second resurrection, Roland had realized something.

This is a nightmare that can't be broken by jumping off of a high place or from feeling fierce pain. It's like a cyclical arena.

d.a.m.n it. What're conditions of escaping from this? What about defeating the white-haired witch in front me?

"Zero can create weapons out of nothing, but what about me?" Roland gritted his teeth and started to concentrate his spirit. "If I had had a s.h.i.+eld, I would be able to fight against her."

A blue light flashed.

A transparent anti-explosive s.h.i.+eld appeared in Roland's hand. He had stopped her attack, but there was a deep scar left on the s.h.i.+eld. What was worse, Roland was blown away by the huge clash.

"Well, this was what had happened," Roland said a dirty word in his heart.

When rolling over, Roland dropped the s.h.i.+eld and manifested an automatic rifle.

When Roland raised the rifle to shoot, Zero disappeared.

"What was going on?" thought Roland.

"I'm right here."

Her voice emerged next to his ears.

After a white light flashed, his arms dropped to the ground, so did the rifle.