"Don't save me! Don't save me!"
"Run!"
Edward suddenly regained control of his mind and body and immediately used Apparition without hesitation.
Crack.
His figure distorted and vanished.
The ancient, enormous hall instantly fell quiet again. The pounding behind the bronze door stopped as well, as though it had never existed.
Edward did not return directly to the inn. Worried that some unknown contamination from behind the bronze door remained on him, he chose an empty warehouse in the Backlund Bridge district.
"Phew-"
He plopped down on a battered crate. That had truly been far too dangerous!
First came the Bronze Gate's control, then Mr. Door's ravings, and there were most likely Sanguine waiting outside as well.
But...
"At the end, Mr. Door seemed to say 'run'? Was he talking to me?"
"So I regained control of my body and mind because Mr. Door helped me?"
"But... why? Even if... even if Mr. Door helped me for some reason, wasn't He exiled to the cosmos? How could He interfere with 'reality'?"
"And what connection do the door tattoo on the back of my hand and the door I saw when advancing have to that Bronze Gate? What connection do they have to Mr. Door? Just what secrets is my cheat hiding?"
At that thought, Edward realized something: so the divination saying he should not come to the Ancient Castle today might not have been because of the Sanguine, but because of that Bronze Gate. More precisely... what lay behind it?
"Perhaps I'll only learn these secrets once I fully push open the door I see when advancing. Huh, why does this feel like Klein climbing the stairs step by step and uncovering Sefirah Castle's secrets?"
After resting a while longer, Edward went to Saint Samuel Church. He sat in the