“So this is the cave of Gülmundd…” Luka muttered under his breath, his voice barely a whisper as he stepped into the damp, unwelcoming dark. His boots scraped against the rocky floor, the sound echoing back to him, distorted by the thick air. Unbeknownst to him, he had wandered into a place far removed from where Granbell and Saki had gone. Alone, with only the faint sound of water trickling down from the ceiling to keep him company.

  “Esfelto.”

  It was dark, darker than the blackest void and a chilling cold took over him. With a warm sigh, he used his magic to create a small ball of light, a flame, brighter than usual. The light danced and shimmered, casting long shadows along the walls, and yet, it barely pierced the dark veil that covered this place.

  It was as if he had entered a place uncharted and yet unseen by most. One of the last few remnants of an old, forgotten time.

  With the ball of light floating above his hand, he stepped forward cautiously, his eyes narrowing as they scanned the cavern ahead. The air was thick with od, almost as if he was around the World Tree again.

  He had come for answers, but a question was still left unanswered. Was he ready?

  If what she had written was true, if her observations she had done for all these years were correct… Was he capable of handling it?

  It would mean so much, and yet, so many questions would arise.

  “No need to dwell on it too much…” he sighed again, his body already wary from his overworking mind. So much had happened in so few days, and he was starting to feel dizzy from thinking too much.

  As he pressed forward, the cavern began to narrow, its walls closing in around him. Yet, in the distance, a soft, unexpected glow began to appear. A gentle, flickering light that shimmered in shades of green and blue. Luka squinted, trying to make out what it was.

  His heart skipped a beat as recognition dawned on him.

  Bioluminescent mushrooms.

  A rare and fascinating species of living organism that emitted a steady, ethereal light.

  Luka approached them cautiously, his curiosity piqued. The mushrooms bathed the path ahead in a soft glow, casting an almost dreamlike aura over the cavern as he moved deeper into the unknown. A childlike grin tugged his lips as he walked forward. He knew better than to touch them, but he was still thrilled upon seeing such a sight. It almost made him forget the current crisis going on.

  “I wonder if that voice was the one who brought me there…” he murmured as he glanced around. The connection with Saki was still present, the warm mark on his left arm reminding him that she was okay.

  The mushrooms' soft glow seemed to deepen as Luka walked further. The air was warmer, the cold biting chill of winter now gone, and the light became brighter. He undid his spell and moved forward with more insistence, impatience taking over him.

  The narrow path opened up, and Luka instinctively ducked to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. As he rounded a bend, he found himself in a wide, luminous clearing. His eyes widened in wonder.

  "A butterfly?" Luka murmured in surprise as a small insect fluttered by him. Its wings were a vibrant orange, speckled with black, and it drifted lazily through the air just beneath the mushroom clusters. As he watched, the butterfly glided effortlessly into a patch of bioluminescent mushrooms, which seemed to pulse with life as it passed.

  On the ground, moss grew thick and lush, its verdant tendrils carpeting the floor like a soft blanket. Colorful flowers, their petals larger and more vibrant than any Luka had ever seen, bloomed from the moss. They glowed with a soft light, casting a kaleidoscope of hues across the cavern floor, their colors made even more striking by the dim glow of the mushrooms overhead.

  Luka stepped forward in awe. It was like a hidden ecosystem, an entire world thriving in the darkness, completely isolated from the outside world. An underground paradise, buried deep beneath the mountains of Tamia.

  He couldn't help but smile, momentarily lost in the surreal beauty of it all.

  "So this is what adventurers feel like, huh?" Luka smirked softly, reaching down to feel the moss beneath his boots. The soft surface seemed to pulse with energy, as though the earth itself was alive, breathing in time with the natural rhythm of the underground world.

  The cavern stretched out before him, wide and open, the same vibrant life flourishing in every corner. This was no mere cave—it was an entire ecosystem, a world hidden away from the eyes of men. The walls were alive with colors, every surface teeming with strange plants and glowing organisms, all connected in a delicate, harmonious balance.

  And at the far end of the clearing, his gaze fell upon something that made his breath catch in his throat.

  "A tree..." he whispered, his voice barely a murmur, as he took in the sight before him.

  It was an enormous tree, its black trunk rising up from a small platform in the center of the cavern. The branches spread outward, twisting in a bizarre pattern, with limbs reaching both upward toward the cavern ceiling and downward into the earth below. It was a surreal sight, one that seemed to defy all logic and reason. The brunches hung with glowing orbs-like fruits, casting a greenish light across the cavern, while the roots seemed to pulse with life, as if the tree was breathing.

  As he stepped closer, the air around him seemed to shift. The thick, uncomfortable od that had weighed on him in the cavern began to dissipate, replaced by a lighter, more natural scent. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but Luka couldn’t help but notice it. The air felt purer now, as though it had come directly from the earth itself, not tainted by time or decay.

  The scent of fresh flowers, delicate and soothing, filled his nostrils, coaxing his tense muscles to relax with every breath. The atmosphere here was calming, almost hypnotic. He could feel the tension in his chest ebbing away as he breathed it in.

  As he stepped closer to the tree, he could see symbols carved into its trunky—symbols and markings that he couldn’t read at all.

  Between the roots, crystal-clear pools gathered, their surfaces perfectly still despite the tree's rhythmic breathing. The water reflected the glowing fruits above, creating the illusion of stars beneath his feet.

  Small creatures, unlike any Luka had seen before, darted between the roots. Some resembled iridescent fish but swam through air instead of water. Others looked like tiny, glowing butterflies with geometric patterns on their wings.

  And then, right against the base of the trunk, ‘it’ was there.

  It was the most accurate way he could describe that creature. It wasn’t a human, nor it was a demon. It wasn’t certainly not an angel, as it had nothing to do with divinity. No, that thing, which was described in Violet’s journal as a “Sage” was a humanoid life-form that supposedly existed a long time ago.

  However, there was no record of them.

  His hand reached his interior pocket and he pulled out a small vial containing some liquid in it. What he needed to do was a simple test, nothing more.

  While Saki was sleeping, in the middle of the night, he took a single strand of her hair. To add more accuracy to this test, he picked a strand of hair from Violet, and a bit of shredded skin from Granbell.

  It was simple as both he and Saki were asleep last night.

  Now, with the creature in clear view, its otherworldly features became apparent. A cascade of white beard flowed like liquid silk to its feet, partially obscuring its face. What remained visible was alien—eyes like razored slits drawn across its face, a nose forming an almost perfect geometric triangle.

  Even in death, slumped against the ancient tree, its size was staggering. At least two and a half meters tall, and according to Violet's research, this was considered a small specimen of its kind.

  Reality seemed to warp around the creature, as if natural laws bent in deference to its presence. Light gravitated toward it, yet no insect or animal dared venture near—as if some primal instinct warned them away.

  Luka crouched beside the corpse, his heart pounding in his chest. With steady fingers, he reached out and plucked a length of that silk-like beard. This was the moment of truth.

  This world, Tamia, made no sense whatsoever. Luka had that gut feeling ever since he arrived there, like some kind of reminder of his world.

  It was a travesty, a world of miracle and fantasy, yet, everything had to remind him of his world. Why were these two worlds even connected? Why were the demons even the same as the ones told in his world’s stories?

  Succubi, goblins, ogres, devils, even kitsunes, everything was similar to his own world’s fantasy. At first, he had thought this was just a coincidence, that just like any other stories involving transportation to another world, he had to see these kinds of creatures.

  At first, Luka had written it off as a coincidence, a quirk of the kind of stories one might expect in a tale of another world. Creatures that mirrored those from his world’s myths, born from the imagination of long-forgotten storytellers. It was a familiar trope in many such stories: the protagonist finds themselves in a world with creatures and wonders that parallel the ones they knew before.

  “Let’s see,” he murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper as he began the incantation. His words flowed easily, almost instinctively, as he traced the spell he had memorized over time. It was a spell used by researchers and magic detectives in this world, one designed to detect similarities between two objects, two pieces of evidence.

  One he had learned in that cell with by observing Violet.

  Luka exhaled slowly and focused on his task at hand. With careful precision, he dropped the strand of the creature's beard into a small vial. Then, he pulled out a strand of Saki’s hair.

  The spell worked by breaking down the elements within each object, analyzing them to their very core. It was like comparing two sets of footprints to see if they came from the same person. If the elements were similar enough, if there was enough of a match, then the two things were connected—born of the same origin.

  But nothing happened.

  The spell fizzled out in a sudden, unsatisfying silence. Luka frowned, confused. He expected to feel something more, some connection between the two strands of evidence, but there was nothing. Not even a spark.

  “Nothing…” Luka muttered to himself, disappointment lining his voice.

  Perhaps Violet was wrong? Or perhaps…

  That second theory might be true.

  That thought lingered in his mind as he turned to the next step. His gaze landed on Granbell's scale, the one he had taken from the dragonkin’s body earlier. He hesitated for only a moment before reaching for another piece of the creature's beard, determined to test his theory.

  This time, with the scale and beard in hand, he repeated the incantation.

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  “Composition: breaking. Core elements: Comparing…” he muttered as he continued the analysis.

  And then…

  A sudden jolt shot through his veins, a sharp, electric shock that reverberated through his body. Luka gasped, his heart racing, as a wave of realization washed over him. The two objects had reacted.

  They were a match.

  Luka stood silent for a long moment, his eyes watching the soft blue light emitting from the vial, signifying the match of the two components. He then took the strand of hair of Violet and repeated the process, only to see the same phenomenon happen.

  Luka’s breath caught in his throat. Violet’s hair, Granbell’s scale, the sage’s beard—they were all connected to the same origin. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, but the picture they formed was one he hadn’t anticipated. A cold knot of dread settled in his stomach as the implications began to sink in.

  Violet had scoured the world for a long time, searching for the truth of their kind, a way to surpass their nature. But after years of relentless pursuit, she had arrived at a dreadful conclusion.

  Demons were fake.

  In that cave, she had found a specimen—a sage, as she called it. That specimen held the same genetic pattern as all the demons she had ever encountered. Goblins, ogres, succubi, dragonkin… All of them came from that same origin. While a reaction could not occur between two genetic fingerprints of different demons, the same couldn’t be said for the sages. The truth was undeniable.

  Demons were these sages, but modified. They were the descendants of an ancient experiment, their very existence a result of tampering with the original form. The sages were their ancestors, their true selves before they were twisted into the creatures they had become.

  Of course, it made sense. Why another world like Tamia would have demons similar to those told in legends and folklore of his own world? Why would the architecture be the same? Why would these two worlds be connected?

  It was because this world, Tamia, was tampered with. The old creatures living there were modified, humans were brought here, transplanted from another world. Over time, Tamia had become what it was today: a patchwork of manipulated wildlife and ecosystem, a world built on the foundations of experimentation and design.

  This wasn’t just a revelation about demons; it was a revelation about the very nature of Tamia itself. The world he had been visiting, the world he had believed to be a natural realm, was something far more complex—and far more sinister. It had been shaped, molded by some unknown force, its inhabitants altered to fit a design he couldn’t yet comprehend.

  But who could have done such a thing? And why? What purpose could there be in creating a world like this, in twisting the sages into demons and bringing humans here? Was it an experiment? A punishment? A game played by beings far beyond his understanding?

  “Despite all of that, she still wanted to save her sisters…” Luka muttered as he held the vial in his hand, a bitter expression etched across his features.

  Despite knowing the futility of it all, that they were just fakes of a legend from another world, she still tried to live in the end.

  Of course, it was obvious. Before he arrived, she had lost all will to live, that grand spell of hers was just her final work before the inevitability of death. She had known, deep down, that it was all for nothing. And yet, she had tried.

  Luka’s grip tightened on the vial, his knuckles whitening. He felt a surge of anger, unlike anything he had felt before.

  How foolish could he be? She entrusted this knowledge to him knowingly. And now, it was his turn to change things. Now, he couldn’t turn away. He had seen too much, learned too much. The truth of Tamia was a burden he could not unshoulder, no matter how much he might want to. He had to keep going. He had to understand.

  In his own world it would have been unthinkable, too dangerous. But he was not in his own world, he had been in Tamia for a few months, more than enough for him.

  And besides…

  After seeing how much Saki tried to help him, he thought that maybe succubi could help humanity in return. He had seen hope in an alliance that could maybe turn the tides of war.

  But that hope had been naive. War was still coming. Demons and humans would clash, as they always had, spilling blood for a land that was not even theirs to claim. A land that was fake, a construct, a stage upon which they were all merely players in someone else’s grand design.

  “Kaeris is right,” Luka muttered as he stood up and brushed te dust off his jacket. “Demons are the true inhabitants of this world.”

  It was a bitter truth, but one he could not deny. The demons—twisted sages, altered creatures, whatever they were—had been here long before humans. They had a claim to this land, a right to fight for it, to reclaim what had been stolen from them by foreign beings. And yet, as Luka turned the thought over in his mind, he realized there was a flaw in that logic, a detail Kaeris had overlooked

  Demons, for all their power and ancient lineage, were not entirely their own. They were constructs, shaped and molded by human imagination. Their forms, their legends, their very existence had been inspired by the myths and folklore of his own world. Even if they were modified sages, even if they were the original inhabitants of Tamia, they were still, in some twisted way, born of human thought.

  Which meant that none of them could live without humans anymore.

  And one name, one face invaded his mind. The Hatman. A seemingly human who could move through both worlds and knew way more than anyone could.

  This man had a role in this world Luka didn’t know of yet, but he would soon find out.

  As Luka turned around, his thoughts still swirling, he heard an uncharacteristic sound—a soft, almost melodic flap of wings. His eyes snapped to the source, and there, perched delicately on a flower, was a blue bird. It was looking straight at him.

  For a moment, Luka froze. The bird did not move, did not flinch. It simply watched him, as if waiting for something. There was something unnerving about its gaze, something that felt almost… familiar.

  “Who sent you?” Luka asked, his voice barely above a whisper. The bird tilted its head, as if considering the question, but it did not answer. Instead, it spread its wings and took flight, soaring into the cave until it was out of sight.

  At that exact moment, the cave’s temperature dropped. A chill ran through the humid interior, covering the enclosed space. Frost began to spread from afar, covering the moss and flowers as well as the walls of the cavern, creeping further in toward Luka.

  “She’s here,” Luka whispered as he watched the ghost who almost killed him yesterday appear, her spectral form walking silently under the mushroom lights. Her scarf floated like a will-o-wisp, her two curved daggers with sapphire edges glinting and held in her hands, her eyes piercing him coldly.

  “I can’t believe you are still alive,” her hollow voice echoed in the cavern and reached his ears. “How?”

  Her eyes searched his surroundings, and she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

  “The last time I saw you, two spirits were following you. Now there’s only one. Where is the other?” she asked, her arms crossed. While her mouth was covered by her scarf, Luka could clearly make out what she was saying, as if she was speaking directly in his head.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luka sighed, his breath forming a cloud of vapor as the cave’s temperature dropped below zero. “But I guess you’re here to finish the job.”

  She scrutinized him, and looked to his side. There, she was seeing a faceless spirit in a white dress with long hair standing right next to him. It held not much power and couldn’t even be touched, even by her, but she could tell it was helping him in some way.

  The fact alone that it was there and conscious meant it must have been a powerful mage while alive.

  “Exactly,” she said with disinterest as she stepped forward. While Kiku had warned her about him, she didn’t care much about such a human.

  “Let me ask you a question before we start,” Luka raised his hand, his feet planted firmly on the ground. “Are you following Kaeris because now you are a demon, or because you always followed him?”

  The question caught her off guard. She paused, her daggers stilling in her hands. For a moment, the cavern was silent except for the faint crackle of ice spreading across the stone.

  “I don’t like curious people like you,” she said coldly before spinning the daggers in her hands and leaping forward.

  Luka barely had time to react. He sidestepped, the edge of her dagger grazing his arm as he used a reinforcement spell to move away from her next strike. The faceless behind him moved, its form flickering as it extended a hand toward the ghost, as if to tell her to stop.

  But Freya didn’t care and she pressed her attack, her daggers flashing like shards of ice.

  Luka dodged and weaved, his movements fueled by adrenaline and desperation. He saw one of her daggers aimed straight for his head and, instead of stepping backward, he made a split-second decision. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them in a bold, counterintuitive move.

  “Wha—?” Freya’s eyes widened in surprise as Luka’s face drew closer to hers, his body moving into her space. Normally, such a maneuver would result in a collision, but Freya was no ordinary opponent. Her spectral form allowed Luka to pass through her effortlessly, his momentum carrying him several steps beyond her. He spun around, putting distance between them once more.

  “Phew, it worked!” Luka exclaimed, pumping his fist in a brief moment of triumph. His chest heaved as he caught his breath, but his eyes sparkled with a mix of relief and pride. He had used her own spectral nature against her, turning her intangibility into an advantage.

  “By the way,” he added, pointing an accusatory finger at her, “that’s rich coming from someone who hates curious people when you’re the one who started this whole conversation with a question. Hypocrite much?”

  Freya’s expression darkened, her icy composure cracking for the briefest of moments. She straightened, her daggers twirling in her hands as she regarded him with renewed intensity. “You think you’re clever, don’t you?” she said, her voice dripping with disdain.

  She took a step forward, her scarf floating eerily around her like a living thing. The temperature in the cavern dropped even further, the frost on the walls thickening into jagged icicles.

  Luka had to think fast. She was a general, and not being able to hit her was a huge disadvantage. He summoned a fire bullet at the tip of his index finger and shot, but it passed right through her.

  Freya didn’t even flinch. She tilted her head, her expression one of mild amusement. “A mix of earth and fire magic,” she noted, her tone almost conversational. “Clever. Still, I don’t see why Kiku was so impressed by you.”

  Her words stung, but Luka didn’t have time to dwell on them. Freya spun her daggers again, the sapphire edges catching the light as she leaped backward—not toward him, but upward. Her ethereal form passed through the ceiling of the cavern as if it were nothing more than mist, leaving Luka standing alone, his eyes darting around the empty space.

  “That’s cheating, I can’t do that,” Luka grumbled as he looked around, his hand reaching out for a talisman in his jacket.

  The cavern was silent, save for the faint crackle of ice spreading across the walls. Luka’s heart pounded in his chest as he scanned the area, his senses on high alert. Where had she gone? Was she circling above him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike? Or had she retreated, deciding he wasn’t worth the effort?

  He didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

  A faint sound above him—a whisper of movement, like the rustle of fabric—made him look up just in time to see Freya descending from the ceiling, her daggers aimed straight for him. Luka barely managed to roll out of the way, the blades slicing through the air where he had stood just moments before.

  In a heartbeat, a set of jagged icicles tore free from the walls and ceiling, as if the cave was now an extension of her will. Thinking fast, Luka threw his talisman above him, activating it with a quick incantation. A small, spherical barrier shimmered into existence, shielding him just as the icicles struck. The impact sent a deafening crack through the cavern, the ice shattering against the barrier and falling harmlessly to the ground.

  Luka gritted his teeth, his frustration boiling over. This is bullshit, he thought, glaring at Freya as she landed gracefully a few meters away. She could choose whether or not to be physical, slipping between the spectral and the tangible at will. It was maddening. She knelt as if preparing to leap again, but instead, her body sank into the ground, disappearing without a trace.

  His mind raced as he assessed the situation. Freya was relentless, her spectral form making her nearly untouchable. The cave itself seemed to bend to her will, the ice and frost acting as extensions of her power. He needed to find a way to turn the tide, and fast. But how do you fight something you can’t even touch?

  “I guess I have no other choice…” he muttered under his breath as he knelt as well. With on knee on the frosted moss, he held his hand on the ground, his focus turning inward instead of outward.

  She’s a ghost? No, he reminded himself, she’s a human who was transformed, just like that sage over there. The faceless spirit in the white dress lingered at the edge of his awareness, unbeknownst to him. She was bound by the same rules, the same origins. And if she was once human, then she could be beaten.

  “Time for some exorcism!” Luka shouted, his voice echoing through the cavern. His hand shimmered with a faint blue light as his Control spell took form within him.

  At some point in time, he would have to fight things he couldn’t touch, but Luka was never prepared for that occasion. However, a ghost was just a manifestation of one’s will, and now that Luka had the origin of demons in mind, he could grasp that same will and origin with his Control spell.

  To control yourself and the world, that was what this magic meant above all. If he could at least hurt the link that tied her to this world, then it would assure his victory.

  His consciousness expanded outward, flowing like a river through the cavern, guided and amplified by one of his talismans. The paper charm, inscribed with intricate symbols, glowed faintly as it enhanced his mana output, allowing his awareness to fill the space entirely. He could feel the ghost now, her presence like a cold, flickering flame in the darkness. She was close—too close.

  He rolled backward just in time to avoid getting sliced by her daggers. Using his hands on the icy ground, he pushed himself into a backflip, putting distance between them before landing lightly on his feet.

  As he glided on the icy ground, he ducked another swing of her daggers.

  But this time, his body was coated with mana. He threw a quick jab at her chest, and he felt it connecting this time. She grunted from the shock and reeled backward.

  “You can hit me?” she gasped as she clutched her chest in pain. “We’re not even in the same realm!”

  “Of course, we aren’t,” Luka coldly said as he stood high, his feet slightly apart and light. “But ghosts are vulnerable to magic, everyone knows that. You are a being made of od and mana, after all.”

  Her form wavered, the edges of her figure blurring as if struggling to maintain cohesion. The daggers in her hands flickered, their once-solid appearance now fading in and out of existence.

  “Looks like you aren’t very durable, miss,” Luka shot her an icy glance as he stepped forward.

  “Don’t act like you can best me in hand-to-hand combat!” she growled, her legs propulsing her toward him with her daggers raised.

  “Of course I can’t!” Luka cried out, his form disappearing just as she was about to strike. He reappeared right behind her, making her shoot a confused look at him. However it was of a short duration as she was hit by another punch in the face, this time augmented by Svelto.

  The punch connected with a resounding crack, the impact sending her flying across the cavern. Her body crashed through the cave walls, the force of the blow sending a cascade of dust and pebbles raining down in her wake.

  Another talisman burned his skin through his clothes, steam coming out of it. Luka stood still, his breathing steady as his fists were still glowing with residual mana.

  The crash in the wall made a hole big enough to see the other side. The cavern was going further in, but it looked a lot more spacious and unlike this little zone he was in, it wasn’t frosting yet.

  Perhaps he could find Saki and Granbell further in?

  As his mind tried to make sense of his surroundings, he saw the ghost run away, her body traversing one of the walls of the cave.

  “I see, you’re going away, huh?” Luka chuckled. “Then let’s start digging!”

  With his palm stretched out, another one of the talismans sticking to his body flared up, and he launched an explosive ball of fire toward the wall she disappeared in.

  It exploded on impact, creating another hole.