The sun was setting once again. The second night was about to begin.
'So the day is 12 hours long. Does it depend on the night, or is it constant? Let's see if the Starlight Lantern will answer our question.' Ciel thought
The sun set, and the duo was once again sent outside the ice building, into the freezing cold winds.
The staircase leading into the underground ice chamber was still there during the whole day, making it not exclusive to the night.
[ It's too cold to stay out here, let's go meet the lantern again. ] Rein said
They went down the stairs, and eventually reached the large room.
This time, both Rein and Ciel were in their physical bodies. There was no point hiding Rein as the Starlight Lantern somehow already knew she was with him.
In the center of the room, the Starlight Lantern was shining with its wondrous radiance.
"Hello again, humans. Congratulations on completing my quest, and welcome to the second night."
"So, what question would you want answered?" The Starlight Lantern asked
Ciel didn't hesitate and asked:
"What are all the rules of this Special Gate?"
"That's quite a good question. Firstly, you must survive every night to reach the next day."
"Secondly, you will not be able to enter the ice structures during the night. They are also completely indestructible during that time."
"Thirdly, you need to defeat all the Forsakened that arrive during the night. Until then, you will be stuck in the night that you are in."
"So, you could be here on the second night for 10 minutes, or 10 years if you really wanted. Daytime is always 12 hours."
"Finally, every night, the sum of Forsakened will be increased by 1. This means that on night 10, there will be 10 Forsakened for you to fight. After you clear the final night, you will be free from this Special Gate."
'I see… we now need to learn how many nights we have to spend here.'
'It seems that there's no Forsaken Core in a Special Gate… if there was, maybe we would be able to destroy it and skip all the nights.' Ciel thought
"So, can we get another quest?" Rein asked
There would be 2 Forsakened arriving pretty soon. They had no time to waste.
"Of course. The next quest is a simple one as well. Defeat a Twisted Forsakened in one hit. Shouldn't be too hard, right?"
'What… It's like it knows what our abilities are. Is it a coincidence, or does he somehow know our abilities?' Ciel thought
The task wasn't too difficult, as they just needed to use Void element.
But that was the problem. They hadn't used that ability after entering the Special Gate.
There was no reason for someone to think that an Awakened Sorcerer could defeat a Twisted Forsakened in one hit.
They had seen the outstanding vitality of the Twisted Wolf which they managed to kill.
A normal Awakened Sorcerer would struggle against it even with Spirit Essence.
Yet, the Starlight Lantern seemed confident that they would be able to complete this quest.
[ Rein, I need to test something out. ] Ciel said
He just had a theory, and needed to confirm it.
He shared a few mental messages explaining his thoughts.
"Alright, we accept the quest." Ciel said without hesitation
The third night, in the underground ice chamber.
The previous night, two Twisted Wolves had arrived to fight them.
Rein had used Void element to defeat a Twisted Forsakened in one hit, thus completing the quest.
After they defeated the second Forsakened, it was already day, making them have to wait until the third night began.
This night, there would be 3 Forsakened that would attack them.
But that didn't matter right now. They were about to get an answer to an important question they had.
"How did you know about our abilities before the first night?" Ciel asked the Starlight Lantern
"Interesting question, child. It's simply because I invited you to this Special Gate. I watched you two fighting the Blood Forsakened."
"Did you think you found this Special Gate by accident? No. I allowed you to sense its presence. Why do you think this Special Gate has been hidden for so long?"
The pressure the Starlight Lantern exuded suddenly turned exponentially greater. Sweat was running down Ciel's forehead.
'It's being quite honest… but we expected something like this. There must be a reason why it let us find the Special Gate.' Ciel thought calmly
There was no reason for the Starlight Lantern to kill them if it went out of its way to invite them into the Special Gate.
'I feel like it purposely let us catch on to its actions. The question I just asked was a personal one, it wouldn't be part of the quest's question.'
'Does that mean there is no actual 'quest' and it's just been making stuff up? For what reason?'
"So, what do you want? What exactly are you? Every question we just asked has been related to you. There's no way you can't answer these questions.'
"Quite smart. I didn't think you would figure it out so soon. Well, what I want is to escape from this place. That's all."
"It's true that I could have answered all your questions up till now for free, but that's because they were all related to me."
"If you ask me a question that's not related to me, you would still need to complete a quest."
'What? All the questions, including the one on the second night? How could that question be related to the Starlight Lantern? Unless…'
Before Ciel could ask any question, the Starlight Lantern said:
"Make a contract with me. If you do, I can answer questions that are completely unrelated to the Special Gate. Surely you have some questions that need answers, right?"
"What is the contract?" Rein asked without wasting a second to think
They just found a way to get potential answers about their home planets.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them.
"I'll tell you the details if you can clear the final night. Don't worry, it's nothing that can harm you. I will just be giving you optional quests that you can complete."
"So you'll give us answers as long as we help you escape here, and with no downside to us? Why would we believe that?" Rein asked without any anger
"Well, once you complete the quest I give you. I won't be able to answer the questions you have right away."
"Then give us some easy quest, like walking 10 steps." Rein said
"I can't choose the quest I make, and I can't give out quests without the contract."
Ciel stayed quiet as he watched them speak.
He had figured out the biggest con by accepting this contract. He was still unsure if it was worth accepting. But he knew Rein had figured it out as well, and trusted her decision.
[ I'll distract the Forsakened until you deal with this situation. Tell me when your done. ] He said mentally
They were running out of time to chat, thus Ciel had no choice but to distract the Forsakened. He didn't want to wait until the fourth night to settle this situation.
[ Thanks. ] Rein replied
Ciel went towards the tunnel, to block the Forsakened that would be arriving from disturbing the conversation.
"Tell me about this contract." She said
"I will not be able to maliciously harm you, directly or indirectly. The same goes for you."
"I don't know why, but you are both different people, yet somehow the same person. Therefore, the contract will affect both of you."
Rein nodded.
"That's all I'll tell you for now. There's one more part to the contract, which is related to me."
"As I said before, we won't be able to maliciously harm each other, so don't worry about the rest."
"I see. I can accept these terms. However, there is one thing I need to know before accepting. How many nights are there?"
"100 nights. The 100th night is the finale."
'This damn lantern is acting kinda desperate… Still, there's no problem as long as it won't harm us.' She thought
"How do we make the contract?"
"The conditions have already been set. All you have to do is to pour some of your Spirit Essence into me."
Rein went up to the Starlight Lantern and gave it some Spirit Essence.
The next moment, she felt something attach itself to their Soul Core.
"If any one of us breaks the contract, we'll instantly die." the Starlight Lantern said
"So it's too late to kill you huh. You better be worth saving, or else I will personally find a way to break this contract and kill you." Rein said in a non threatening tone
The largest con to the contract was quite simple. They would have to clear the 100th night.
This was because if they killed the Starlight Lantern, they would instantly clear this Special Gate.
That was because it was the Core of this Special Gate.
'All this for a chance to get an answer...'
"One more question. Are you a Forsakened or not." rein asked
"I am just a regular Soul Core. Im a Special Gate after all, there's no rule saying that i have to be a Forsakened."