“I can’t believe that worked…” She slumped to the floor of the glass-like bubble. There was no hiding her exhaustion. It was obvious that her blood loss was severe—her skin had turned pale. As for her sunken eyes, the shadows they casted were deeper than the veil of night covering the skies...
Soren glanced over at her and frowned. “It was a very risky plan, I agree.”
He dropped to one knee and looked over the wound. The obsidian knife was still jutted deep into her stomach—any sudden movements would most likely be fatal. How she was able to fight in this state was a question not even he hoped to understand.
Without another second of hesitation, he activated [Eyes of the Fairy] again.
Even though his headache had gotten worse, Soren ignored the pain and commanded his Soul Weapon to show him the unseen. There was no time to waste anymore.
Almost instantly, information regarding the knife entered his mind. Just like they had guessed, it was indeed a Mystery. Most likely—the product of a Soul Weapon.
But whose… Aside from that one Vynasian, no one else had shown up. If the Fallen had obtained it from an ally, would that not be proof that he was not the only one in the area?
Soren’s frown deepened.
He glanced back at the enemy they had subdued—just like Cassia, he too was heavily bleeding. In fact, Soren was certain that he had already died from his wounds which were more severe than Cassia’s.
They no longer had a way to interrogate him…
Damn it… He cursed. If he had been just a bit more quicker with his casting, they would not have needed to employ such a dangerous plan.
No, calling it a plan wasn’t even accurate. It was more so a gamble—one that could have easily cost them their lives. As for who thought of such a reckless scheme first?
The answer to that surprised even him—Cassia.
She opened her eyes to glance up at her companion. Sweat rolling down her cheek. “Let… go of me…”
Soren shook his head, “I can’t do that. I’ll hold down your wound for you. Myrin should arrive any second now…”
Her vision started to swirl. The blood loss was truly becoming severe. Seeing Soren’s worried expression, she smiled playfully. “What’s this? I thought you only cared for yourself…”
Soren clicked his tongue, “Will you shut up already? Talking so much might kill you.”
She chuckled. Then coughed. Then chuckled again.
“You know… I might have gotten infected by your insanity…” She tried to smile, but he could tell even that was becoming difficult.
Soren nodded, “I was surprised as well. That was indeed crazy plan… Even by my standards.”
Her idea was fairly simple. After engaging the enemy, she became aware of two key facts.
The first was that her speed—both in casting magecraft and physically—could not match the Fallen’s. It was taking all her anima just to somewhat keep up with him in short bursts. After all, there was nothing that could even come in comparison to light in terms of speed.
The second fact was also important—Soren had no way of assisting her information-wise. She knew that if Soren had tried to use [Eyes of the Fairy] on the Fallen to analyze his weaknesses, the Beyond would actively seek to erase that information, or possibly even kill him.
Knowing both of these things, Cassia knew that her odds of beating the enemy alone were slim. Not only was she unable to catch up to him due to his speed, she was also spending her anima too quickly. Before long, she would have run out—that was if her wounds didn’t kill her first.
However, that did not mean they were out of options. Far from it.
Soren’s Mesmerize spell that he showcased to her last time seemed to have the ability to put the desired target to sleep. That alone would have been helpful, but she had also discovered a very crucial quality to his Soul Realm’s inherent ability. Something Soren hadn’t even told her about.
The Hermit’s Eye… It didn’t just provide Soren with the ability to see everything within his Soul Realm’s range. It granted something even more crucial.
The ability to cast magecraft from wherever he pleases inside his Soul Realm.
This was crucial for one reason—anima within a person’s Soul Realm tends to spread radially. The closer to the origin point—the magus—the more concentrated the anima was. Inversely, the further away from the magus, the less dense the anima became…
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
This was an analogy her mistress used to make—that one should not view their Soul Realm as a bubble, but rather a flame. One that cools the further away one was from its center…
It was due to this quality that most magi tend to cast their magecraft closer to their bodies as possible. With the higher concentration of anima, maneuvering it through their channels becomes much easier. Those who specialize in casting spells further away inside their Soul Realms needed to have much higher mental control than those in the same circle as them.
But Soren’s inherent ability ignores this limitation entirely.
The Hermit’s Eye was essentially another perspective of his own mind—one that could move freely outside his own body. Wherever he glances using the Hermit’s Eye becomes highly concentrated with anima, which in turn allows him to cast his spellforms even at the very edge of his Soul Realm’s radius without worry.
It was indeed this miraculous ability that made his illusions so hard to pick apart. With the Hermit’s Eye casting things like Violet Mirage, two identical concentrations of anima will exist within the same Soul Realm, making even those sensitive to the movements of anima confused at the start. What’s more, Soren could most likely learn to suppress his own anima’s concentration, allowing only the Hermit’s Eye to act as a decoy…
After seeing it only once, Cassia was able to perfectly understand its qualities and advantages.
And so, while on the verge of succumbing to her injuries, she thought of a brilliant plan. Rather than try to chase the light—something that was clearly impossible by her current means, she would instead let the light chase after her.
Her goal? Leading the enemy inside Soren’s Soul Realm.
Soren wouldn’t even need to touch the Fallen to cast his spell—that was impossible at the speeds he was going. Rather, all he needed to do was direct the Hermit’s Eye to do the casting for him!
The fact that she thought of all of this all while combating an enemy that could move at the speed of light… I still have a lot to learn, it seems. Soren thought. The mysterious fountain pen was jotting down the remaining bits of information he had obtained about the knife as well as everything else from the battle—[Record] was working as fast as it could.
He glanced back at Cassia who had now fallen unconscious. Her situation had turned from bad to worse.
“When will that elf bastard show up?!” He slammed his hand against the Fairy Barrier spell.
“I am here.” A pleasant yet familiar voice entered his mind. Soren’s eyes widened—he turned back to see the visage of someone he hadn’t seen in a while…
“Myrin…” The word left his lips slowly.
The elf held tightly to his white cone hat. He was riding atop a white crane which he had most likely illustrated using his Soul Weapon. Without a second to waste, he stepped inside the barrier, walking past him. His attention was solely focused on the young dragon girl laying on Soren’s lap.
“Severe blood loss. I won’t be able to recover that with magecraft. But closing the wound should do for now.” He hovered his palm over her stomach.
“Soren,” he glanced briefly at him, “I need you to pull out that knife as soon as I tell you to. Even a second’s delay could be fatal.”
Soren gulped down his hesitation and nodded. “I’ve already analyzed the knife for any traps. It has no wards placed on it—just a single Mystery that seems to have the properties of denying healing…”
Myrin nodded, “I figured as much, but that’s good to know.”
The whole operation only took a moment, and yet to him, it felt like an eternity. He swiftly pulled out the knife just as Myrin had commanded and watched as her wound healed rapidly from the soft light emitting from his palm.
A sigh of relief built up in his chest which he suppressed. All he could do was stay silent and look up at the brilliant night sky while Myrin did his job.
“Say,” the glamorous young man’s voice broke him away from his thoughts. “I watched the battle from a distance. I… never thought Cassia of all people would do something this reckless. She was practically defenseless at the end—if you had failed in timing your spell, it would have been over in less than a second.”
Soren didn’t say anything—he just nodded along.
“How did you two even communicate that?”
“I used the Beyond,” Soren replied.
“The Beyond?”
Soren nodded. “[Eyes of the Fairy]—to be more specific. I couldn’t use it to analyze the enemy directly, so I decided it was best to try and use it on Cassia instead. And it seems, she had predicted I would do that and used it to her advantage.
“While fighting that weirdo,” he pointed behind him, ”she left a few hidden messages within the Beyond using her Soul Weapon’s ability that I was able to read. It was hard to grasp at first, but once I analyzed her flight trajectory, I was able to understand what she was trying to say.”
Myrin smiled then chuckled, “Crazy…”
Soren also smiled faintly. “Well, it was just a guess. I could have easily been wrong. In fact, I don’t believe she even knew I had managed to hide myself away from him that well. Cassia was most likely betting that the enemy didn’t know about my Inherent Ability’s advantages and wouldn't care to approach me…”
He glanced down at the foggy ruins below, “After all, he didn’t know yours in the fight either, right? You read the tone of his soul to pinpoint his location—clever.”
Sensing his silence, he shook his head and frowned, “Either way, fate favored me this time. There’s no other way to put it.” He glanced over at the distant mountain where a large castle wall could be seen. Celestine Citadel was just as glorious from a distance as it was up close.
“I am guessing Tina is looking after the mistress?”
He nodded, “Indeed. I left as soon as we landed. She should still be guarding her.”
“Be vigilant,” Soren warned. “I suspect the one we dealt with is just the beginning. There might be more.”
“You just had to go and say that…” Myrin laughed nervously.
Soren frowned—his words felt somewhat eerie to him. “What… do you mean?..”
All Myrin could do was smile and point up. “Look for yourself…”
As he did, a cold chill ran down Soren’s neck. What they saw was so ridiculous, it might as well have been comical.
“I take it back—fate didn’t favor me at all…”
Reflected in their eyes was the visage of nine hooded figures. Each holding a different weapon. Every single one of them was looking down on the pair as if they were insects.
“I knew there would be more, but I didn’t think they’d multiply that much… What are they, rabbits?”
“Nine of them,” Myrin muttered under his breath. “All of them seem to be in the 3rd Circle… No wait,” he corrected, “the one in the front… He’s in the 4th Circle…”