I can’t go on like this.

  Adion felt he was close to his limit. His Will wasn’t even fully rested before he began his chase, and now he had teleported across all of Cyalis. He knew he didn’t have much more in him.

  Hopefully, they haven’t left the city yet.

  “Did you see an Amyss family carriage pass here?” Adion asked the guards at the city gates. He had removed his mask and come down from the rooftop.

  “Who are you?” The Silver mage guard asked Adion with a frown.

  Should I use violence? No, let’s not be stupid. There are surely stronger mages around here, and I don’t want to waste any more energy.

  “Please, it’s really important. I just need to know if they have passed and how long ago it was,” Adion said as he took out a small pouch of Vastro coins and handed it to the guard.

  “I still need to know-” The guard began, but he stopped as he opened the pouch of coins and took a look inside. “V-Vastro coins? This…”

  “Can you please tell me?” Adion hurried the guard.

  “They passed here a few minutes ago,” The guard said a little absentmindedly.

  “Thank you,” Adion said and ran off. The guard simply stared out into empty space with a confused expression.

  Do I need to get back onto the rooftops? I might not have the Will to continue teleporting, though.

  The road is still a little congested. They wouldn’t be able to go at full speed. I’ll just run for now.

  Adion focused and ran as fast as he could, dodging the people on the street easily as he looked out for the carriage.

  If I don’t catch up in five minutes, I’ll have to make a last-ditch effort to teleport after them. If I give them a chance to get too far away where they can travel at full speed, I’ll never be able to catch up.

  Adion was nervous, but he felt slightly better about the situation for every carriage on the road that he ran past.

  They shouldn’t steer off the main road, right? That would just take them longer.

  Adion debated whether he should go back onto the rooftops or not in order to get a clear overview of the road.

  When he had run for about three minutes or so, Adion couldn’t help himself anymore. He darted into a sidestreet and put his mask back on before teleporting up to the roof.

  He looked out over the road below while running on the roof, trying to see if he could spot the carriage.

  Will I be able to recognize it from up here? The carriage should be pretty luxurious, I- What the!?

  Suddenly, further up on the road, a huge fire appeared out of nowhere. Even at the distance Adion was at, his eyes were almost blinded. It stretched higher than any nearby building, and the surroundings were completely incinerated by it.

  But it didn’t last long. Adion saw and felt powerful mages quickly take control of the situation. The fire receded, and besides the powerful mages, only ashes remained.

  That…That was Sell’s Words of Truth!

  Adion focused and could make out Sell on the ground, unconscious.

  She must have been willing to gamble everything in hopes that the commotion would be enough to alert someone.

  Don’t worry, Sell. Leave the rest to me!

  Adion increased his speed. Once he arrived at a point where he couldn’t jump across, he would teleport. His Will was strained, but he had to push with all he had. It was now or never.

  Is that Mephina? So she is also a part of this…That old lady should be the one in charge, though.

  Adion saw how the people down below were running away in a panic. The people from the Amyss family had put out all the fire and were discussing something.

  They should have to stay here and explain themselves, right?

  But I shouldn’t take any chances. The question is how I should approach this. Will speaking to them lead to anything good? They are most likely not in the best of moods.

  Screw it. I have a better idea.

  Adion was very close now. His space sense was able to take in the scene down below, slightly ahead. He hid behind a chimney and did his best to pull in his aura. With almost everyone having run away, his presence could stand out if he wasn’t careful.

  Adion focused on Sell’s body. Normally, he wouldn’t stand a chance of teleporting someone in this situation. Even the passive Will of someone unconscious would make it impossible for Adion to do something to them. But Sell and Adion had teleported countless times together. Every time they trained together, they would set some time to teleport in order to practice Adion’s teleportation and Sell’s spatial awareness. It was very likely that she would accept Adion’s teleportation even subconsciously.

  They should be very familiar with her aura, however. I’ll have to run immediately. But how many teleportations do I have left in me? If I teleport Sell to me…I don’t think I’ll be able to teleport us away more than two times, even if I push myself to the absolute limit.

  But that should be enough. It won’t be easy for them to conduct a search after all of this commotion. It won’t be long before guards arrive to see what is going on.

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  Adion focused on the space Sell occupied and pushed his exhausted Will.

  Come on. Don’t resist, Sell.

  Finally, Sell appeared before him. He pulled her into his embrace and smiled.

  I did it. It was a little harder than I thought, but I did it. I hope Sell is fine, but there is no time for me to check now. I have to go.

  Adion focused on his sphere of space mana. He felt how the people from the Amyss family panicked and ran out to search for Sell, who had disappeared.

  No time to focus on them.

  Adion pushed and tried to sense space as far as he could in the direction of the city. He found a building and searched for an empty room.

  That should do.

  Adion focused on the space inside and grabbed hold of it with his Authority.

  “Ah!” Adion yelled out in pain. Someone had attacked him. He felt how his shoulder blade was completely crushed by a stone, probably an attack from a powerful earth mage. He coughed up blood all over Sell, who he still held on to tightly.

  “I found him!” A man’s voice yelled out behind him.

  Adion turned around and looked at the man with murderous eyes. He was a Diamond mage, and he was human. He didn’t recognize him from the people he had seen with the Amyss family.

  I don’t know what’s going on, but there is no time to think about it.

  “Who are you?” Adion asked warily. But he wasn’t planning on waiting for the answer. He focused on the space inside the empty room again, planning on escaping.

  Unfortunately, the Diamond mage didn’t seem to want to give him a chance.

  Adion saw the man gesticulating with his arms and felt something approach him from behind.

  That rock again! It’s coming for my head.

  Adion had to let go of the space inside the empty room and focused on the space behind him. He froze the space with the rock in it and managed to slow it down to a stop. Unfortunately, it took a lot of Will to stop an attack from a Diamond mage.

  I have to go. Quickly!

  Adion once again tried to focus on the empty room, but the Diamond mage didn’t give him any breathing room. He broke the rock free from Adion’s hold and hit him in the back of the head with it. Adion had no chance to freeze a conjured rock without giving it all his focus, not when he was contending against the Will of a Diamond mage.

  Fortunately, the speed wasn’t as high anymore, so he wasn’t very hurt by the impact.

  “I’m not giving you a chance to escape,” The Diamond mage said as he ran up to Adion.

  Damn. I’m going to die if I don’t do something. And Sell might die, too.

  He had killed a Diamond mage as a Bronze mage. But he had caught the man completely unprepared, and he had planned for the attack for weeks. Battling a Diamond mage who had his wits about him and didn’t underestimate him was impossible. At least with his Will exhausted and having to protect Sell.

  He saw how the Diamond mage was just about to reach him with his sword and Adion suddenly felt how everything slowed down.

  I’m not that easy to kill. Space! Obey me!

  Adion froze the space around him, catching the Diamond mage off guard. His Authority grew by leaps and bounds. He felt how the Diamond mage struggled, but he didn’t stand a chance against Adion’s Authority at the moment. He felt that he could crush the man in front of him if he focused his Will there.

  But his focus wasn’t on the man. His Will was entirely focused at the moment. A feeling he had gotten slightly used to lately. He knew that it couldn’t last forever. A stray thought was enough for him to lose all his power.

  He focused on the empty room. The space there was entirely clear for him now, and he teleported over with a single thought.

  “Haah,” Adion breathed out as he appeared in the room.

  Damn. I lost it. I had hoped I could hold on to teleport all the way back to the Academy.

  Adion collapsed on the floor with Sell still in his arms. His Will was now entirely gone, and he could barely remain conscious. Even his space element that was always hidden in his aura, even while asleep, was starting to show.

  “Sell,” Adion said, shaking her body with weak arms, “Can you wake up?”

  Adion continued to shake her gently, but she gave no response.

  She was out for hours the last time she used her Words of Truth in the Outskirts. It is probably impossible for her to wake up anytime soon.

  That means I can’t fall asleep.

  We should be safe for a while. But we will eventually be found. Hopefully, the commotion is enough to attract not just the guards but powerful mages from different families nearby too.

  Can I convince them to help using my identity?

  I don’t know. All I can do is wait. Wait and regain my strength. As soon as I can, I’ll teleport us away again.

  Adion let go of everything else. His only focus was on remaining conscious. He breathed in and out, trying to ignore the pain of his destroyed shoulder. He held onto Sell tightly, not wanting to let go.

  “This boy is a lot more interesting than you have reported, Frida,” Soft Soul Hedande said in a calm and unhurried voice.

  “Even I am surprised by his ability to control space,” Frida said, slight impatience in her voice, “But now it is even more important that we capture him so we can question him. We should hurry, before he gets too far.”

  “Quite interesting indeed,” Soft Soul Hedande murmured, seemingly ignoring Frida.

  What is he doing? If he gets away, it will be impossible to capture Adion in the future! The Headmaster will constantly be on guard.

  “I’m sorry for failing,” Diamond Tremis said, bowing slightly to Hedande, “I underestimated him.”

  “No, it was good that you held your blows and didn’t kill him,” Soft Soul Hedadande said. “Do you have the artifact?”

  “Yes, I didn’t get a chance to use it,” Diamond Tremis said.

  “Give it here,” Soft Soul Hedande ordered, stretching out his hand.

  Is he finally going to act?

  “Soft Soul Hedande, do you know where Adion is?” Frida asked carefully.

  “It is quite hard to follow an aura that teleports,” Soft Soul Hedande said, “Thankfully, that boy is too exhausted to hide. And I received some timely help.”

  “Help?” Frida asked.

  “Let’s go before someone too complicated to deal with shows up,” Soft Soul Hedande said, ignoring Frida’s question, “Tremis. Stay here and contact the Amyss members about Sellitha’s location in case we need them. Be close by. We’ll point them in another direction if they get too close and prove to be a hindrance.”

  “Alright,” Diamond Tremis nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Soft Soul Hedande said, “We have made a bigger mess than planned. But that’s not necessarily such a bad thing. We’ve been working in the shadows too long.”

  “What do you mean by that, Soft Soul Hedande?” Frida asked curiously.

  Soft Soul Hedande turned to Frida and smiled, “We’re Heavenly Light, after all. The shadows aren’t where we are supposed to be. It’s time we make ourselves known on Shiora. A new era will begin.”