The ground trembled.
Not violently — not enough to topple shelves or shatter lanterns — but enough that every mana-sensitive surface in the Inner Library vibrated in warning. Dust drifted from the upper arches. The golden lanterns dimmed, flickered, and then flared again in uneasy pulses.
Elric's grip tightened around Germaine's wrist.
His expression sharpened into something cold, focused, and lethal.
"Come," he said. "We move now."
He didn't raise his voice — but the tone alone was enough to send the nearby staff stumbling out of their way in hurried bows.
Germaine followed closely, her chest constricting with each step.
The Shard pulsed again inside her core.
Not fear.
Recognition.
The sensation was silent and heavy, like the pressure that comes right before a storm breaks open the sky.
*****
They moved quickly through the twisting corridors. Elric's long strides remained steady and controlled; he wasn't panicked — Elric Arcclair never panicked — but the tension in his shoulders was unmistakable.
Every few seconds, he would flick his gaze toward her as though checking she hadn't vanished.
Germaine kept her hand pressed lightly against her sternum.
Her core… felt hot.
Not burning — but warming in steady waves, rising with every pulse from the southern end of the estate.
"Stay close," Elric said as they reached the courtyard. "If it's a distortion, the barrier will try to repel anything with unstable mana signatures."
Germaine swallowed hard.
"My core isn't unstable," she murmured.
"Not anymore," he corrected without looking at her. "But the northern pulse earlier left a trace. Barriers can detect things you and I can't."
They stepped out into the open courtyard.
Cold air slammed into them.
But it wasn't just cold —
It was draining.
A subtle siphon brushed against Germaine's skin, like something was inhaling the mana from the world.
Germaine's breath hitched.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered.
"Yes." Elric's hand went to the hilt of his staff. "The barrier is losing equilibrium. Something is feeding off it."
The Shard inside her core fluttered sharply.
Not in panic — but in alert.
As if it recognized the energy beyond the estate walls.
Germaine's heartbeat pounded against her ribs.
"It's looking for me."
Again.
*****
The trees grew darker the closer they moved toward the outer edge of the property. Not because night was falling — but because the shadows were thickening, clinging unnaturally to branches and stones.
The southern barrier — normally a smooth dome of shimmering blue light — had fractured.
Hairline cracks glowed through it like veins of broken crystal.
Elric stopped.
So did Germaine.
A group of three ward guardians stood near the barrier, all armed, all tense. One of them rushed forward the moment he saw Elric.
"Second Young Master! Whatever this is… it's unlike anything we've recorded. It doesn't have a clear form. No mana beast signature. No elemental trace."
Elric nodded once. "Show me."
The guardian lifted a hand and activated his detection seal.
Then Germaine saw it.
Just beyond the cracked barrier, in the forest's dark edge…
A distortion hung in the air.
It wasn't a creature.
Wasn't a person.
Wasn't even a visible shape.
It was a hole in reality — a ripple in the air, like heat haze made from shifting shadows.
Germaine froze.
Her chest tightened painfully.
Because the moment she looked at it—
The distortion turned.
Not physically.
Not visually.
But its attention shifted.
Locking onto her.
Like an unseen eye widening in recognition.
The Shard inside her core spasmed.
Germaine stumbled back a step, hand gripping her chest. A rush of cold air flooded her lungs. Her vision sharpened and blurred at the same time.
Elric's hand caught her shoulder instantly. "Germaine?!"
"I-it saw me—" she gasped. "Elric— it's—"
She couldn't finish.
The distortion surged.
A jagged pulse exploded from it, slamming into the barrier.
CRACK.
A fissure split deeper down the dome, casting golden-white sparks across the ground.
The ward guardians raised their weapons at once.
Elric cursed under his breath. "It's reacting to something. No — to someone."
His gaze snapped to Germaine.
She looked back — pale, shaking — but with a horrifying certainty strengthening inside her.
"It's resonating with me," she whispered.
The guardians stared at her in disbelief.
Elric's jaw clenched.
"I suspected as much," he said quietly, urgently. "Germaine — listen to me. Whatever is on the other side of that barrier — it is searching for the Shard's signature in your core."
She shook her head, her voice cracking. "Then how do we stop it?"
Elric didn't look away from the distortion.
"We don't," he said. "We mislead it."
Germaine blinked. "Mis…lead it?"
Elric turned toward her fully.
His white mana flared around him — sharp, bright, controlled.
"Germaine — your core is masking the Shard on its own. But the barrier picks up the residue of that earlier surge." His voice lowered. "I'm going to drown that residue out."
Germaine's breath trembled. "…How?"
"By overwhelming your mana signature with my own."
Her eyes widened.
Wouldn't that—
"Elric, what if that destabilizes—"
"It won't." His expression hardened. "I know your core. I read the purity jump myself. You can withstand this."
Germaine's hands shook.
The distortion pulsed again.
The barrier groaned.
The ground trembled.
There was no time left to hesitate.
She swallowed. "What do I do?"
"Stand still," Elric said. "And trust me."
Elric placed one hand a few inches above Germaine's sternum — not touching her, but close enough for his mana to arc across the space.
White light flared around his palm.
Germaine inhaled sharply as his mana washed over her — warm, stable, heavy like a tidal wave of calm force pressing down.
Her core reacted instinctively.
Not resisting.
Not rejecting.
But syncing.
Following.
Her mana pathways opened beneath the pressure. It wasn't painful — it was anchoring, steadying, pulling her toward equilibrium she didn't know she lacked.
Elric's voice was firm, but calm:
"Match my breathing."
She did.
Slow inhale.
Slow exhale.
His mana wove around her core — not entering, but masking it, wrapping it in a layer of controlled white aura. As the aura thickened, the faint golden residue from her earlier surge began to fade.
The distortion outside the barrier hesitated.
Paused.
Confused.
Elric's mana intensified, pouring around her like a protective veil.
"Stay with me," he murmured. "Just a little longer."
But then—
The Shard pulsed.
Hard.
Germaine winced. "It's— resisting—"
Elric's eyes snapped to hers. "Hold on. Do NOT let it flare."
"I'm not— doing anything—!"
Her core throbbed.
Heat rushed through her veins.
Her vision trembled.
Not again…
Not now—
Elric raised both hands, surrounding her completely in his aura.
"Germaine. Look at me."
She forced her eyes up.
"Your core is trying to pierce through my masking," he said. "You must suppress the impulse."
"How?!"
"You've already done it once," he said, voice steady. "At the Registry. When the Shard hid itself."
Her breath hitched.
Yes.
The Shard had shielded itself then.
Could she… direct it?
She placed her hand firmly over her own sternum.
"Please… not now."
The Shard pulsed—
A softer echo.
A fold.
Like a beast settling back into sleep.
The golden heat dimmed.
Her core quieted.
Elric's aura sealed around her fully.
The distortion shuddered—
Then abruptly recoiled.
It snapped backward like a rubber band pulled too far and released. Shadows spiraled inward, sucked into a single pinprick of darkness.
Then —
FWOOM—
The distortion collapsed in on itself and vanished.
Not dispersed.
Not destroyed.
Simply…
Withdrawn.
The barrier trembled once… then stabilized.
The forest fell silent.
Every guardian exhaled at once.
Germaine's knees buckled.
Elric caught her before she hit the ground.
He lowered her gently to sit against a stone bench near the ward-line.
"Breathe," he said quietly.
Germaine did.
The world steadied.
Her core settled.
The Shard… slept.
She wiped her shaking hands on her robe. "Elric… what was that?"
He didn't answer immediately.
He looked toward the trees, eyes narrowed in troubled thought.
Finally he said:
"It wasn't a creature. It wasn't a beast. And it wasn't a mage."
He turned back to her.
"It was an echo. A remnant of something that doesn't belong to this realm."
Germaine's heart sank.
"The Rift Echo?" she whispered.
Elric shook his head slowly.
"No. The Rift Echo was only a ripple." His voice lowered. "This was the shadow of whatever caused it."
She went cold.
"Elric… it was looking for me."
He didn't deny it.
He didn't soften the truth.
He only placed a steady hand on her shoulder.
"And we will make sure it never reaches you," he said. "Not while you remain under this roof. Not while I am here."
Germaine looked at the fading cracks in the barrier.
Her journey had barely begun…
And already the outer world was trying to break through to her.
Not to destroy her.
But to claim her.
The Shard pulsed once, faint and warning.
Not yet.
Not ready.
Germaine whispered into the cold air:
"…Then we train. Whatever this thing is… I'm not going to stay helpless."
Elric's expression sharpened with approval — and fear.
"Yes," he said. "We train. Starting tomorrow."
But Germaine shook her head.
"No," she said quietly.
Elric blinked. "…No?"
"We start," she said, lifting her trembling hands, "now."