Being a knight is not easy

Chapter 178 Ambition
The bauhinia badge on Mrs. Aisha's fingertips glowed faintly, and the candlelight on the walls of the secret room suddenly went out, replaced by fragments of memory suspended in the air.

She placed her hand on Robin's forehead, her voice as low as the night wind:

"Look carefully, this is the truth when Melinda came to Antis Island twenty years ago."

On the storm-ravaged coastline, a damaged Pavel merchant ship ran aground among the reefs.

A woman in a star-patterned cloak staggered ashore, holding a locked bronze box in her arms. The breath seeping from the cracks in the box caused frost to form on the sand on the beach.

The young heir of the Bauhinia family, Aisha, rode up on horseback, but suddenly reined in his horse when he saw the woman's face clearly.

The other party's golden vertical pupils were completely different from those of the people from Antis Island. Even more shocking was the token hanging around her waist: the pattern of twelve stars surrounding a dragon head was exactly the emblem of the "guide" of the Pavel continent recorded in ancient books.

"The Star Gate will open. The Gatekeeper must be stopped." The woman coughed up blood tinged with stars, and the box emitted an ominous hum. "In three months, the Mechanicus will emerge from the rift."

The memory suddenly distorted, and the scene jumped to a secret conversation late at night.

Melinda sank the bronze box into the Bauhinia family's holy spring, and what was reflected in the spring water was the shadow of the towering tower!
"Remember, the Dragon-Devouring Breathing Technique can only be given to someone like you." Melinda's voice was suddenly drowned out by thunder. She suddenly turned her head to look out the window, where a figure with wings of light on its back was flying under the moon.

Robin suddenly broke free and recalled the past. The star marks on the new Tang sword were burning hot. "The Mechanicus were the stowaways who passed through the star gate back then?"

Lady Aisha's skirt fluttered, casting a shadow on the wall, revealing a cross-section of Duke Hawke's castle. "After Melinda's death, her body was taken away by the Mechanicum. The Hawke family analyzed her belongings and discovered a method for extracting astral essence." She pointed a finger at the Duke's heart. "That crystal is a creation of the Mechanicum."

Feng Ling suddenly raised her cracked pocket watch. "No! The Mechanicus is so important, why is it so incompatible with the Royal Family and the Round Table Council?"

The secret door of the secret room suddenly slid open, and six Dark Crow warriors came in, escorting a bloody figure.

It turned out to be the old cat who should have died in prison!

"Because," the old cat's single eye flashed with madness, "the first emperor of the royal family was a descendant of a gatekeeper who smuggled himself in!"

"After Melinda's death, she was transformed into a Watcher of the Mechanicus, a sort of resurrection. The reason they destroyed the Mechanicus was because they had been conducting insane human experiments..."

Lady Aisha's skirt swept the ground, and the dark-patterned redbuds eerily unfolded their petals in the dim light. Her fingertips brushed against the bronze candlestick, and the wax instantly solidified into sharp icy spikes. "Before the Star Gate closed, the guides of the Pavel continent left a prophecy that only by gathering twelve dragon-head tokens could the Star Gate be reopened. And the Hawke family has secretly kept three of them."

Robin gripped the hot Tang sword tightly, and the star-like markings on the blade flickered in the darkness.

"So your covenant with the Knights Guild is to..."

"Take back the token and control the star gate." When Lady Aisha turned around, the moonlight penetrated the diamond-shaped crystal on the dome of the secret room, cutting cold geometric shadows on her face.

"They want to stay in Antis Island and become local tyrants. They've never thought about breaking through to the third level and becoming Morning Star warriors. They're also afraid of people coming from the mainland and shaking their ruling position. The Mechanicus is just an unexpected event, which is why the royal family is so frantic and nervous."

"The madness of the Mechanicus Church goes far beyond human experiments." The old cat suddenly coughed violently, and the blood foam he spat out corroded black holes on the ground. "They want to transform humans into the key to the star gate. And the royal family has been trying to stop them since the first generation." His single eye suddenly flashed red, and the iron chains rattled. "But the Hawke family betrayed the agreement! They secretly cooperated with the church to manufacture weapons with refined star marrow, in an attempt to become the master of Antis Island!" Lady Aisha took off the bauhinia pendant around her neck, and the petals separated and formed a miniature star gate model.

"In three days, the Western Knights Guild will hold a knighthood ceremony." She tossed the pendant to Robin, and the model transformed into a scorching brand in his palm. "Robin, you must use this to infiltrate the Duke's Castle and find the secret room containing the Dragon Head Token."

The secret room suddenly shook violently, and a dark blue liquid oozed out from the cracks in the wall.

Lady Aisha's face changed suddenly: "Duke Hawke's star marrow detector has been activated! He has tracked down our location." She raised her hands and clapped her hands, and twelve knights wearing Bauhinia armor broke through the wall and entered. The leader had half a dragon head token hanging around his waist.

"Let's go immediately!" Lady Eshar threw the cloak to Robin. The iris emblem on it showed blood-red lines in the blue light. "Remember, when the star gate is reopened, it will be the end of the Mechanicus and the Hawke family. But before that..."

Mrs. Aisha's voice was drowned out by the loud explosion.

The entire stone wall collapsed, and dazzling blue light poured into the secret room like a flood. It was not an ordinary magical light, but a detection pulse mixed with the energy of the astral marrow. Wherever it passed, the armor of the Dark Raven Warriors melted like wax.

"Let's go!" Lady Aisha pushed Robin towards the Bauhinia Knight. "Before going to the Duke's Mansion, go to my room first. There's a magic item there that can avoid astral marrow detection!"

In the chaos, Robin grabbed Feng Ling's wrist, and the two were protected by the Bauhinia Knights and rushed towards the secret passage.

The old cat laughed maniacally from behind: "Tell that bastard Hawke - his father's bones are still soaking in the incubator of the Mechanicus!"

At the last moment before the secret passage closed, Robin saw Madam Aisha unfold her folding fan. Twelve purple-gold beams burst out from the fan bones, and the shock wave generated by the collision with the detection pulse lifted the entire dome of the secret room to a height of one hundred meters.

Thirty minutes ago.

The Duke stared at the star marrow crystal beating in his heart. The black-robed wizard was injecting the blood of captured nobles into the altar. With each person injected, the crystal expanded a little.

"Your Majesty, Lord Avel of the Knights' Guild has sent a secret letter." The guard knelt and presented a scroll branded with a dragon head. "The gatekeeper agrees that you can be crowned the new king of Antis Island."

The Duke suddenly crushed the message crystal, and the flying fragments drew blood on the wizard's face: "New king? I want to take it with my own hands!"

He tore open his clothes, and the light thread extending from the star marrow crystal suddenly pierced the wizard's temple.

Amidst shrill screams, the wizard's memory was forcibly extracted, and the scene showed that twenty years ago, the royal family secretly executed all scholars who knew the truth about the Star Gate.

"Prepare for the third stage of fusion." The Duke wiped the remaining brain matter from the crystal. "Activate the astral marrow detection. I want to find those rats."

The castle in the Duke of Hawke's mansion suddenly shook violently, and then a huge gap opened up on the top of the castle. In the distance, a blood-red light pierced through the sky and earth in the direction of Storm Strait.

(End of this chapter)