As the smoke cleared, Vergel looked around, trying to find Enrico somewhere. He knew Enrico was fine because he had seen him use a fully charged burst to escape the attack even after being hit. Right after that, he used the fire steps to move in multiple directions within the smoke.
"These lines stopped me from trying to follow any of them."
At his feet were several lines of fire holding him in place for a few seconds until he used great force to tear them apart.
'He's fun—I hope he hasn't gone too far.'
"Prince, did you—"
"No, he's not dead. I'm sure of it."
All four of his subordinates had regrouped at the site of the explosion that had happened near them.
'For some reason, I feel like that boy wanted me to hit them since he ran exactly in their direction.'
He looked at his power-hungry subordinates, who seemed completely normal, with no change in their personalities or behavior.
'Looks like he wanted me to eliminate them.'
Vergel was right—the plan Enrico had at that moment was to escape through a planned route and use that attack to wipe out some enemies. But when he saw Vergel's speed, he had to adapt and came up with a better plan.
'Good thing I know how this subordinate acts.'
Enrico, who had transformed, walked right behind Vergel, just as the real one did in the story—quiet and cold, the one who lasted the longest among the four in the original tale.
[Your attack was quite cowardly. I didn't think you'd stoop that low.]
'If I hadn't done it, it would've taken much longer. And thank you for the compliment.'
In that state, he could see the castle in more detail and search for items without the risk of being attacked, as long as he kept acting like the Nartheis he had killed, he wouldn't be discovered.
"Prince, why do you think he survived?"
"Because he wasn't using everything in our battle."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I felt it."
Enrico wanted to sigh because it seemed his "prodigy" appearance worked even on the Nartheis—though that Nartheis from the magic zone didn't seem like she'd be fooled.
"What do you mean you felt it? I thought most of us couldn't sense other people's power."
"I didn't feel magic in him. What I felt was Nartheis power inside him."
Upon hearing that, Enrico almost broke character as the cold subordinate behind them, but managed to maintain a blank expression—after all, nothing surprises someone with that look. Still, he raised an eyebrow slightly, because even cold people react when something catches their attention.
"What do you mean, sir? That human is actually a Nartheis?"
"I don't know, but it was a small energy with great potential when it's born."
"So that's why only you sensed it. He's still a Nartheis yet to be born."
Vergel had a natural ability to sense Nartheis even without magic, using it for fun and sometimes to fight Nartheis with great potential to the death.
'Nartheis power inside me?'
[That can't be true—how could you have that if I never sensed anything?]
'When was the last time you ran a full scan on my body?'
[The last time you asked for one.]
That meant some time had passed, so maybe this small presence had only begun to grow recently.
"It must've been that Rank Ranvil from the magic zone."
[If that's the case, wait a second while I request help for a deep analysis.]
'Alright, just make sure you actually find something this time.'
As if agreeing, the system went into pause mode, displaying "analysis" on the screen. Enrico felt like his body was being completely examined—soul and all.
'I can really feel it—they're doing a deep analysis.'
Either way, he'd leave that to the system while trying to think about everything that had happened, remembering the day he fought to survive... If that thing that fought Tilios was what was growing inside him, what should he do? If it gave him power, it wouldn't be good to reject it, but...
'From what they said, it's a Nartheis that's still being born... if for it to be born I have to die, that would be a huge problem.'
If that thing took over his body once, it could've been what defeated Sakura too. Damn, that Nartheis must've done something to his body.
'For some reason, I feel relieved to have found this out... I need to make plans—wait, could it read what I'm thinking?'
If that thing could see all his thoughts, then it would know every plan he tried to make, and if it had any intelligence, it could use that against him somehow.
[The analysis is complete. This presence started appearing two days ago, and it seems this Nartheis presence—though small—is indeed from that Nartheis from the magic zone.]
'From what I heard, most of the Nartheis in the magic zone were wiped out by that guy, and a few escaped, so I thought she might've been one of those who fled.'
That meant he'd been used as a contingency plan by the Rank Ranvil Nartheis. She had been very interested in testing whether his potential was low—yet with a spark of hope in it.
'So that's why I survived that fight.'
[We need to find a way to remove that thing from you.]
'Actually, I'd like to wait a bit. If it's similar to what happens with Kaela, it might be useful.'
[This doesn't seem to be the same as hers.]
Exactly—the reason Enrico had been so interested in training Kaela was because she was the first to have that trait, something that didn't exist in the original story.
'And now I have something similar—not the same, but close.'