Late that night, long after the house had fallen silent, Lucas remained awake.
Stacks of old documents and sealed files were spread across the desk in his study, their edges worn with age. Faint magical symbols glimmered and faded as he moved pages aside, cross-referencing spell formulas, portal theories, and forbidden rituals. The single candle beside him burned low, its flame flickering each time he turned another page.
He was determined to take Sarah back with him—no matter the cost.
Again and again, he tested variations of teleportation spells, adjusting mana flow, recalculating sigils, rewriting incantations. Yet the result never changed. His magic could not cross worlds while carrying another person. And even if it could, there was no possibility of transporting three people at once.
The laws of magic were absolute.
Lucas leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. For the first time that night, frustration crept into his expression. The dimensional portal remained the only viable method—and that meant risk. Dangerous, unavoidable risk.
At dawn, Sarah woke earlier than usual.
In truth, it looked as though she had not slept at all. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her movements were slow, almost mechanical. She sat quietly at the dining table, staring down at her breakfast without much appetite. The morning light filtered through the windows, pale and cool, illuminating the stillness of the room.
Leon entered shortly after, carrying a neatly packed set of bags.
"These are her belongings," the beastman said, setting them down carefully. "From the Mortayne Mansion."
Sarah glanced at them but said nothing.
Lucas watched her from across the room. By now, every trace of Sarah had been erased from this world. Memories, records, spoken words—gone. No one remembered the Mortayne family's daughter. It was as if she had never existed at all.
For her safety, it had to be this way.
Lucas suspected she might grow bored in the quiet house. There was little to do beyond reading or wandering the halls, so later that day, he returned with several novels and left them in her room. To his mild surprise, Sarah barely touched them. Instead, she found herself drawn to his study.
Every time she entered, her eyes wandered over the shelves filled with artifacts, scrolls, and enchanted tools. She asked about every item—what it was used for, how it worked, why it glowed the way it did. Her curiosity was quiet but relentless.
Seeing this, Lucas gave her a beginner's book on magic theory.
She couldn't use her mana properly yet, but knowledge would not harm her. And Lucas was certain—he would find a way to fix her condition.
Days passed quietly, one after another.
The house remained calm, almost deceptively so. Outside, the world continued on, unaware that someone had vanished from its memory. Inside, time felt suspended, each day measured by careful preparation and silent calculation.
Six days remained before their departure.
Lucas had told Sarah it would take two weeks to prepare, but the truth was darker. He needed time—not for logistics, but for deception. He planned to create decoys—false versions of himself and Sarah powerful enough to fool Viper's senses.
This was no ordinary illusion.
The magic circle required for it could not be drawn with ink or mana alone. It demanded blood—his blood—to anchor the spell across dimensions. Worse still, it required a fragment of Sarah's mana to serve as bait.
That was the most dangerous part.
To extract it, Sarah would have to remove the Blue Crystal Necklace—the artifact stabilizing her mana. Even a moment without it would cause her body to leak raw energy. One minute was enough to expose her location. One minute was enough to invite disaster.
Lucas stared at the incomplete magic circle sketched faintly across the floor of his study. The symbols pulsed weakly, as if waiting.
He exhaled slowly.
This plan would put Sarah in danger—if only briefly. But without it, the portal could not be used safely. And if Viper was already watching, then hesitation would only make things worse.
Outside the window, the sky darkened as evening approached. Shadows stretched across the ground, long and distorted, as though reaching for the house itself.
Lucas closed the book in front of him.
He would not fail.
Not now.
Not when Sarah's life rested entirely in his hands.
Lucas knew he couldn't move forward without telling Sarah first. She had to understand the plan, even if the truth frightened her. At first, he had believed he could create a clone without using her mana—a perfect replica that would act as a decoy for Viper. In theory, it should have been flawless.
But when he attempted it, the result was… unsettling.
The clone looked exactly like Sarah. Every detail of her face, every gesture, every nuance was copied with uncanny precision. Yet when Lucas stood before it, he felt the emptiness immediately. It had no presence, no warmth, no trace of the girl he knew. It was a hollow shell, a beautiful illusion, but nothing more.
A vain attempt.
Lucas exhaled slowly, running a hand over his face. He realized he couldn't force her to participate in something that felt wrong. If she refused, it would be fine. They could rely on ordinary decoys instead. The clones wouldn't be as perfect, but with a properly constructed barrier, they could buy us time—just enough to open the portal.
Time, he thought grimly, was the one thing they did not have.
The barrier wouldn't last long. It was a delicate, unstable creation, and the moment it began to crack, Viper would see through the illusion. They had to be fast, precise, and careful. There could be no hesitation, no misstep. Every second, every motion had to be exact. Any mistake would leave Sarah exposed, vulnerable, unprotected.
Lucas's gaze drifted to the faint glow of the mana circles etched on the floor, the lines pulsing faintly under the dim candlelight. The spell required both his blood and a fragment of Sarah's mana to anchor it properly. Even a fraction of a second of error could destabilize everything.
This was not just a plan.
It was a gamble against forces they could barely understand. A gamble against a group that had already proven time and again that they could find even the hidden and protected.
Lucas's hand tightened into a fist. He would not fail.
he would make sure Sarah survived. He would find a way to take her safely to the Angelo Empire, no matter the cost.