Chapter 11: Prison Realm

Nero stood in the middle of the chamber and glanced around, "What is this place?"

"You don't know?" Emilia followed Nero.

"I don't."

"But you were sealed here."

"I was sealed here, but this is not the place they sealed me." Nero placed his hand on his chin. "Maybe they brought me here after that?"

Nero was still confused about the situation. It was like he woke up in another world.

'But still… Why didn't they kill me?' Nero wondered to himself.

Emilia was sticking close to Nero like glue.

"Why are you suddenly being touchy?" Nero asked.

"I am not doing this because I want to!"

"Then stop doing it."

"I can't. I don't have any powers to use."

Nero looked at Emilia with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean?"

"I can only heal, other than that— I have no power."

Nero raised his eyebrows, "Could it be that you haven't realized how strong you are?"

Emilia stared at Nero with a familiar face.

'Her face is clearly saying `You are lying`.'

Nero sighed and said, "Listen, out of all the races; the most superior are angels. Even if you are a half-angel, you possess the power to defeat any other races."

Nero was aware of why Emilia didn't know that. 'I was right after all. This case looks like something different.'

Nero inspected Emilia with his eyes. 'The only possibility I can think of is… her memories are sealed.'

Emilia raised her hand as she spoke, "Can I ask something?"

"Go ahead" Nero nodded.

"You said I am a fallen angel now. What does that exactly mean?"

"I told you already."

"What's different from when I was a half-angel and now that I am a fallen angel?"

Nero's eyes widened as he looked at Emilia and shrugged, "Nothing much. Don't worry about it."

Nero walked further as he thought, 'Being a fallen angel means losing the holy blessings from the gods— meaning you are basically powerless— even weaker than humans.'

'Even the power she used didn't seem like an angel's power. It definitely had blessings, but it wasn't something holy. Just what type of angel is she?' Nero's interest in Emilia piqued even higher.

Nero walked to one of the hundreds of doors and pushed it. One would hope, or at least Nero hoped for it to burst open— but it didn't open.

Nero squinted his eyes, and he frowned his face as he tried to apply some more force to open the door— but it still didn't open.

He slowly glanced back and saw Emilia staring at him.

"It's not opening?" Emilia asked.

Nero cleared his throat and turned around.

"What do you mean?" He tried to play dumb.

"You were trying to open the door, right?"

"Hmm? No, I was just checking the quality of the door."

"Oh!"

Nero then clenched his fists and looked at Emilia, "Look how I shatter this door into pieces."

Emilia backed up some steps and made some distance between Nero and herself.

Nero took a deep breath and stared at the door, then swung his fist to break the door— but it didn't even crack.

Nero gulped down and looked back at Emilia, who was trying to hold her laughter.

Nero's face twitched as he punched again, but this time too— nothing happened. His face showed evident anger.

"Stop laughing, or I will strip you."

Emilia immediately stopped laughing.

Nero raised his hand, and a magic circle appeared before his hand. He then formed a fist as the magic circled started revolving around his fist, then punched the door— but nothing happened.

"Pfft!" Emilia couldn't hold her laughter.

Annoyed, Nero turned back and looked at Emilia and asserted, "There is something wrong with this place."

"What do you mean?"

"The door of the chamber I was sealed in shattered because of your blood. But it isn't like all these doors are seals— at least, I can't sense powers from any of them."

Nero pondered for a while and recalled Emilia's story.

"You said that after defeating all the demons, the door opened, and the two bastards went in, right?"

Emilia nodded.

"Do you know which door it was?"

Emilia glanced at the doors with a serious look on her face, then looked at Nero and shook her head.

"I don't."

"Well, I wouldn't blame you for not remembering it," He muttered. 'If I look back on what spot I found her dying and try to assume any door… let's try it.'

Nero excitedly glanced at the broken door— he glanced at the other side— then on the other side, but he couldn't find the room with a broken door. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Nero raised his eyebrows as he walked to the middle of the enormous chamber.

"I think I know what this place is."

"You know it?" Emilia questioned curiously.

"I do," Nero nodded as he replied, "This place is… prison realm."

Nero looked at Emilia to see her reaction, but Emilia stared at Nero for some seconds and said, "And?"

Nero face palmed himself as he thought, 'Why did I even expect a reaction from her?'

Nero sighed and explained, "Prison realm is a place where evil people from all over the world are sealed."

"Can't they just kill them instead of sealing them?" Emilia asked with an innocent face.

"They probably can't… because they are immortals" Nero's eyes widened in realization. 'Could it be that I had also unknowingly achieved immortality?'

"But this place is a dungeon, not some prison realm," Emilia quipped.

"To put it simply, this prison realm was somehow connected to the dungeon."

"So… how can we get out of here?"

Nero smiled and said with a straight face, "I honestly have no idea."

He glanced around and said, "I might just break all the doors and find an exit."

"But you couldn't even break one, so how would you break them all?" Emilia commented.

Nero's face twitched, but he let that comment slide because Emilia didn't say it on purpose.

He then smirked and said, "Earlier, the door opened after defeating the demons, so for this too— we need to defeat some demons."

Emilia tilted her head and said with a puzzled look on her face, "But there are no demons here."

Nero pointed his gaze upwards at the ceiling as he commented, "You must have bad eyesight."