The bright light dissipated, leaving behind an empty, scorched circle on the floor where Alex had kneeled. Vanessa and Alenia stood momentarily frozen, disbelief etched on their faces. The silence in the room was deafening, save for the faint crackling of residual mana dissipating into the air.

“He’s gone…” Alenia whispered, her voice barely audible, her fists catching the last flicker of white left in the air.

Vanessa’s nails dug into her palms as well. She was no stranger to desperate acts—she had been in situations where she had to do things she wouldn’t normally do—but what Alex had just done went beyond recklessness. He had willingly thrown himself into the unknown with no guarantee of survival.

“That idiot…” Vanessa growled, her voice trembling with frustration and fear. ‘I shouldn’t have waited for him to move.’

She couldn’t believe she let this be—that she let this happen.

BAAM!

Her bloodied fist hit the wall next to her, blowing it into pieces and freezing the entire area. Vanessa was angry—fuming even.

Alenia placed a hand on Vanessa’s shoulder, her expression softening. “Vanessa, we need to focus. He’s alive—”

Vanessa, however, shrugged that hand away, her gaze cold as she growled, “I know he’s alive; no need to tell me that.”

Hearing Alenia say it like that made it feel like she had some doubt, which she didn’t. She was just angry at herself for not being able to stop that idiot on time.

“I-I’m sorry…” Alenia, seeing her reaction, lowered her head, realizing her mistake, but what could she do? She was just as frustrated as Vanessa; she was trying to keep her cool.

Vanessa takes a deep breath, forcing herself to regain composure.

“I didn’t mean to get angry at you.” She turned to look at Alenia, her gaze as cold as ever, but there was a light of self-rage in there, which Alenia could easily notice.

“I’m just angry at myself,” Vanessa sighed before her gaze turned serious.

“Call for Beatrice,” she said, gritting her teeth as she knew that she didn’t have any other option. Looking at the broken and scorched magic circle, she knew that there was no one else other than that woman who could help her.

“A-Are you sure?” Her words, however, made Alenia hesitate. “Didn’t she…”

Alenia didn’t say more, as she could already see Vanessa’s body quivering in frustration. It seems that she was aware of it, but what other choice did they have?

“I will do it,” Alenia nodded before vanishing from the spot, and Vanessa, standing in that spot, stared at the magic circle for a second before an icy glint flashed past her already-cold eyes.

Without a word, she disappeared from the spot.

“Check what’s happening with Alex. His expression didn’t—” Emperor Maurice, who had seen Alex storm out of the ballroom with a strange expression that couldn’t be hidden by the mask, suddenly found his words being cut off.

“—Ghhh!”

He was lifted off the ground with his neck being gripped by hands that felt like iron pincers.

Gritting his teeth, he balled his fist, ready to face the attacker, only to pause when he saw who it was.

‘W-What the hell?’

It was Vanessa, who, after disappearing, had reappeared right next to him.

“S-STOP!!!”

Maurice, with his voice barely coming out of his lips, roared as he saw his shadow knights about to jump on Vanessa with their blades out.

It was their job to protect the emperor—at least try to, even if they had to give their life.

Tap

But all it took from Vanessa was a tap of her feet as a cold breeze blew, freezing them on the spot.

The nobles, be it higher or lower nobility, and the delegates from the other empires stood still, unable to move in fear. No one knew what had happened, but the energy Vanessa was emanating was enough to tell them that something was definitely wrong.

“W-What are you doing—?!” Cassandra, breaking out of her stun, rushed toward Vanessa with an angry expression. Her husband was being lifted like a ragdoll; how could she not do that?

But one glance from Vanessa’s cold eyes was enough to tell her something: take one more step and see what happens.

That warning was written on Vanessa’s face, now clear with the mask off.

“You,” turning back to Maurice, who was still looking down at Vanessa with a confused yet pained expression, she growled. “The one responsible for putting Alex in danger is going to die. No matter who it is.”

That was all she said. No justification. No explanation. And then, with a last glance around the room, as if imprinting every face in her memory, she disappeared again.

Thud

Maurice fell to his hips, his expression filled with shock as he didn’t even know what had happened, but one thing was sure: Alex was in danger.

“Y-Your Majesty! Are you alright—?!”

Many nobles and shadows rushed toward Maurice, including Cassandra, but Maurice, filled with urgency and frustration, yelled, “Go look for what happened! I want to know every single detail about it!”

All of them stilled in their spots, but this only made Maurice growl harder: “Do you guys not understand the situation?! We are talking about the rising star of humanity here!”

It was then that realization sank in the heads of everyone present. If something had happened to Alex—something that could make Vanessa angry enough to threaten the emperor himself—then it has to be serious.

The ballroom was again plunged into chaos, with everyone rushing to find anything related to Alex’s case.

Meanwhile, in the void between spaces, Alex felt his body being pulled through a vortex of energy. It wasn’t painful, but the sensation was so disorienting that he couldn’t even scream.

[… hold on, Alex. You have to hold on.]

All that kept him sane was Sophie’s voice, which made him remember who he was. He couldn’t make out her emotions, but he could hear her voice, although muffled by the constant pressure from the vacuum around him.

He could feel his mana depleting rapidly, drawn into the circle to sustain its function.

It seemed like the thing that Sophie feared was coming out to be true. The connection between the points of teleportation was almost cut off, with nothing but a thread-like link remaining.

The only reason Alex was alive was because, even now, with his mana being continuously sucked out of him, he wasn’t completely out of it, and because of the 100% affinity he had for space.

‘Just one more second,’ Alex thought. This was the only thing he had been thinking all this time, counting seconds.

What he didn’t know was that, in reality, it hadn’t even been a second since he was teleported.

But just then, as Alex felt his body starting to break—or more like, shrink—because of the connection getting thinner, the vortex abruptly spat him out, and he landed hard on cold, uneven ground.

Alex groaned, pushing himself up. His mind was still clouded, making it impossible to make out what was going on, but he could see some shadowy figures in his blurred vision.

“He came here himself?” One of them muttered, making Alex frown, growling inwardly as he punched the ground, trying to get the dizziness off by using pain, only to fail as he didn’t feel much.

“Has he gone crazy?” Another voice added, snickering at him.

“He probably realized his situation.” Echoed a feminine voice.

Alex’s string of sanity, however, snapped the moment he heard the next comment.

“Well, now that he’s here, shouldn’t we kill that girl?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep