“Argh!” Adion coughed up some more blood.

  I should never have stopped carrying around a Supreme Healing Pill of Mesana. I got careless. I should have taken more precautions.

  Adion was filled with regret at the moment. His injury seemed more serious than he had first thought.

  I didn’t feel much during the fight, but this isn’t good. Am I going to bleed out? Am I going to die? That would be a shame. I was looking forward to so many things.

  Grandpa will be sad. Brother and sister, too.

  I still have Sell to take care of as well.

  It’s better not to die, after all.

  Adion forced himself to move. It had only been a few minutes since he arrived in the room with Sell, but he felt he couldn’t rely on recovering his Will anymore. It was just a matter of time before he passed out. Even if he somehow escaped from the people who were after him, he might bleed out before anyone finds him.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t have the strength.

  Damn. Just lifting my arm is a challenge.

  This won’t do. Come on, Adion. Come on!

  Adion contracted his abs and struggled to sit up. He couldn’t afford to pass out. It was the only thing he could think about.

  But just as he was about to succeed, he felt how it got harder and harder to move. And it was not because of his exhaustion.

  What’s going on? Space? Why does it feel so like space is freezing? Am I imagining things?

  Adion felt how the space around the room was slowly getting more and more stable. He could also feel that the area of effect was slowly moving in on him.

  Am I doing this somehow? Another space mage? The Celestial Phoenix?

  Adion couldn’t figure out what was happening. He felt a sense of danger, and his senses became more alert once again.

  It can’t be…That artifact? From Dorbarta? Was the mage who attacked me not with the Amyss family but Heavenly Light? They somehow figured out how to make the artifact do something like this?

  The space around him had become so stable that he doubted he could even affect it in his normal condition.

  “Well, there we have him. It looks like I was overly cautious,” A man’s voice sounded from the door that he didn’t know when it had opened.

  Who? I didn’t notice someone approaching. My head really isn’t where it needs to be.

  “He might have died if left to fend for himself in here. It’s a good thing we showed up,” The man continued. Adion was facing the ceiling and couldn’t turn his head to look because of the space around him constricting his movements. He couldn’t even breathe.

  This isn’t good. I have to get Sell out of here. Space! Obey me!

  Adion tried to summon what was left of his Will, but he knew it was pointless.

  Damn! Who are these bastards?

  I should at least try my best to remain conscious. If I pass out, everything is definitely over. There is still hope if I get the chance to talk. They might be interested if I reveal some secrets.

  “Haha,” A girl’s laughter sounded, “It looks like Tremis didn’t hold back so much, after all. Good. Otherwise, this bastard might have found a way to sneak away again.”

  “True. But we should take care not to let him die. He is very useful to us,” The man said.

  “Soul mage Hedande, can you let me talk to him? I’ll be quick,” The girl said.

  “I suppose he needs to breathe, I’ll release his head for you to say a few words. After that, we need to get going.” The man said.

  Adion felt the space around his head return to normal. He took a deep breath and quickly turned to look at his enemies.

  What he saw when he turned his head was the bottom of a shoe that stomped down on his face.

  “Ah!” Adion yelled out in pain. He felt his nose might be broken. His mind started to become misty.

  “I thought you wanted to talk. Don’t kill him, Frida. It would be too embarrassing after all the effort you spent on capturing him,” The man said in a calm voice.

  “I know. Sorry,” The girl named Frida said.

  Adion’s vision was blurry, but it slowly cleared up as he looked up at the girl in front of him.

  It’s her.

  It was the blonde girl who had given him such a bad feeling when she smiled at him. The girl he remembered from somewhere when he first spotted her when he entered the Academy.

  “Who are you?” Adion asked in a weak voice.

  “I don’t expect you to remember me,” Frida said in a low voice, “I bet you don’t remember any of the people you killed in Wender. Let alone someone you left alive. But now I’ve come to collect my dues.”

  Wender…I see. That makes sense. I wanted revenge even if I knew it could lead the cycle to continue.

  It doesn’t matter who is right and wrong. Only who loses and who wins. Who is stronger and who is weaker.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Still. I can’t accept it.

  Adion once again focused and tried to summon some of his remaining Will. He knew he wouldn’t have a good ending if he didn’t do something soon.

  “I want you to know that it's because of your own evil actions that this has happened,” Frida continued, staring down at Adion. Her eyes were filled with a calm fury. “You have no one else to blame but yourself. It’s your actions that have led to this. And now you will see your precious girlfriend die in front of you. Not able to resist. Just like it was for me back then.”

  “Sell has nothing to do with this,” Adion said in a strained voice, “If you touch her, I will kill you. I will kill you all.”

  “Haha,” Frida laughed, “How frightening.”

  “Frida. You can’t kill her,” The man named Hedande called out from behind her, “That wasn’t the plan. We don’t have time for unnecessary complications.”

  “I know, Soft Soul Hedande,” Frida said in a soft voice, “But we should bring her along. He will tell us all we want to know if we have her with us.”

  “That might be true,” Hedande said, “Alright, then. If the Amyss family finds out, so be it. They won’t last long anyway.”

  Damn. Come on. Move!

  Adion struggled against the constraining space, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t move anything but his head.

  Hedande approached Adion and he finally saw the appearance of the man. He was a human, tall and thin, looking to be in his 50s.

  He bent down in front of Adion and put something around his neck.

  “What are you doing?” Adion asked, his voice betraying his unease.

  “You are too troublesome. Even with the spatial artifact, I wouldn’t feel safe. So I have to take some precautions,” Hedande said in a calm voice.

  Adion felt cold metal touch his neck. Hedande did something out of Adion’s vision, and then he felt his mana slowly depleting. He didn’t use much of his spatial mana earlier, relying mostly on his Authority to teleport.

  What is this? Another artifact? It can deplete my space core of its mana?

  “That should do it,” Hedande said with a nod, “Grab the girl and let’s…Frida, get behind me.”

  Right after Hedande called out to warn Frida, Adion heard the window crash open. And he felt the presence of a powerful mage in the room.

  Who?

  The room was silent for a few moments before Adion heard a slightly familiar voice.

  “I’ll be taking that boy with me. Any objections?” Bishop Amelia asked.

  Bishop Amelia? Why is she here? How did she find me?

  “Yes, I object,” Hedande stated, seemingly not bothered by another Soul mage’s sudden appearance.

  “Then I guess we’ll have to fight,” Bishop Amelia said. Then, Adion saw a large stream of fire blow past him into Hedande. Adion felt how the space around him turned back to normal again. But that also made some of the fire able to reach him, and he screamed out in pain. Thankfully, the fire was quickly put out as he felt someone grab him and run off.

  “Sell! Please, you have to get Sell!” Adion yelled out once he realized Bishop Amelia was about to carry him away. He felt that he was really beyond all his limits at this point. The only thing keeping him going was that he was worried about Sell.

  He felt Bishop Amelia stop, and Adion breathed out in relief.

  But then he heard a new voice.

  “I didn’t expect I needed to make an appearance. What brings you here, Bishop?” The voice of an old man sounded from somewhere in front of Amelia.

  Another enemy?

  “Hard Soul mage,” Adion heard Bishop Amelia mutter to herself.

  Is it…Is it over?

  “Aren’t you guys a little too shameless? So many Soul mages just to kidnap a Silver mage kid?” Bishop Amelia questioned, still carrying Adion.

  “Hold, Hedande,” The newly appeared Hard Soul mage said, “Don’t make any moves.”

  “Yes, Hard Soul Ulmero,” Hedande said in a much more respectful voice.

  “Greetings, senior,” Frida said in an excited voice.

  “So you are Frida, huh? I’ve heard a lot of impressive things about you. Well, let’s save that for later. Bishop, let us be frank with each other. We are not leaving without Adion Remori. And you can’t bring him away with me here. I don’t want to fight either, so how about you just leave?”

  “How do I know before I’ve even tried?” Bishop Amelia asked in a calm voice. Then she burst out in unexpected anger, “Shameless old fool! I’m not leaving without him, either! And a Pure Soul mage is about to appear, so scram!”

  “Hehe,” Ulmero chuckled, “I’m aware of the Pure Soul mage in your company. He is nowhere near. If you insist, we shall fight. It’s true we shouldn’t stay here for too long.”

  It’s useless. It’s over. If they fight…even if Bishop Amelia somehow can win, I’ll die from the attacks. And Sell is defenseless at the moment too.

  “Bishop Amelia,” Adion said in a low voice, even if he was trying his best to call out to her, “Leave me. They won’t kill me, so I’ll be fine. Just please take Sell and leave. They don’t care about her.”

  “How would I explain that to your family, Adion?” Bishop Amelia asked.

  “They like Sell a lot, too. I’m sure they’ll thank you,” Adion said, not in the clearest state of mind, “Please. I will do whatever you want in return. I’ll never forget it.”

  After a moment of silence, he could feel Bishop Amelia putting him down on the ground.

  “I’ll go get help right away, so hang on, Adion. Don’t make your family sad. I’ll come back soon.” Bishop Amelia said in a tender voice, but she didn’t say it out loud. He felt that she was talking to him through his aura, just like Fellion used to do.

  “Whatever,” Amelia scoffed after putting Adion on the floor, “I’m taking the girl. If you want to stop me, we can all just die. I’ll aim for the blonde.”

  “That’s fine,” Ulmero said.

  “This…Hard Soul Ulmero, I-” Frida began in a pleading voice but was cut off by Ulmero.

  “Enough! Hedande, grab Adion. Let’s go,” Ulmero said in a strict voice.

  “Yes,” Hedande said before grabbing Adion.

  Adion could see Sell being taken away by Bishop Amelia. She left without looking back.

  That’s good. As long as she is safe.

  Don’t worry, I won’t make anyone sad. I’ll survive.

  “Hard Soul Ulmero,” Hedande said carefully, “That Bishop will soon come back. Probably with reinforcements.”

  “I’m aware,” Ulmero said, “But it doesn’t matter. We’ll be long gone. Let’s go to the ship. We caused more trouble than we should have this time, but it’s fine. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Taking out the Fire Phoenix Church can be a good start to our conquest of Shiora. It will be a gift to Bishop Amelia for her help this time.”

  “Haha,” Hedande laughed softly, “I can hardly wait.”

  “Feed the Remori kid a healing pill. We don’t want him dead,” Ulmero instructed.

  Adion felt something in his mouth and he didn’t reject it. He needed to survive if he wanted to escape.

  They will act against the Fire Phoenix Church. I caused trouble for Bishop Amelia. I haven’t even repaid her for saving Sell yet.

  Like I thought, I really can’t die yet.