Chapter 188: The Show About to Start

A sharp clang echoed through the room.

Then another.

And another.

Dren’s workshop was alive with motion—runes spinning, mana surging, tools hovering midair as if obeying his thoughts alone. The Dawnveil Crest floated at the center, its crescent frame glowing steadily, while beneath it a pool of iridescent abyssal liquid metal flowed like living mercury, shimmering with colors that should not exist.

Dren’s hands moved without hesitation.

The last fragments of the old truestone alloy were peeled away, discarded like useless scrap. In their place, the dark iridescent liquid metal rose—drawn upward by invisible force—wrapping itself around the Heart of the Deep Forge’s core.

The metal did not resist.

It adapted.

Runes flared.

The Dawnveil Crest pulsed, its light no longer purely radiant but reinforced—stabilized. The liquid metal hardened where needed, softened where pressure peaked, constantly shifting, constantly balancing.

Perfect.

A deep hum filled the room.

Its was neither unstable

nor violent like before.

It still had the similar signature.

But it felt controlled rather than raging violently.

The Heart of the Deep Forge stabilized.

Dren froze.

Then slowly… he laughed.

“…I did it.”

His breath trembled as he stared at the artifact before him.

“I replaced it. The alloy… with dark iridescent liquid metal.” “And the Dawnveil Crest—”

He clenched his fist.

“—became the stabilizing catalyst, just like I expected.”

The light settled.

The mana flow evened out.

It’s Infinite power, finally restrained.

Dren straightened, eyes burning with triumph.

“I’ve completed it,” he whispered. “The Heart… is perfect.”

—

Morning came to Gravundar Kingdom under a red sky.

One crimson sun had already climbed above the horizon, while the second followed slowly behind, bathing the city in layered shades of ember and gold. Metal rooftops gleamed faintly, steam vents exhaling warm mist into the air as the kingdom stirred awake

.

Inside a quiet guest chamber, Mira’s eyes fluttered open.

She lay still for a few seconds, staring at the ceiling.

Then she sighed.

“…Today’s the guest lecture.”

Normally, she would’ve jumped out of bed by now—buzzing with excitement, thoughts racing about inventions, ideas, discussions with students. Teaching always made her happy.

But today—

Her chest felt heavy.

Images from the night before surfaced unbidden: masked attackers, Dren’s betrayal, the Heart of the Deep Forge vanishing into nothing with him.

She sat up slowly, rubbing her face.

“…I don’t feel excited at all.”

The room was quiet. Too quiet.

Outside, the city moved on as if nothing had happened.

But Mira knew better.

Something had changed.

She had a sinking feeling that today would not end with just a lecture.

A soft knock echoed through the room.

She pushed herself up from the bed and walked to the door. When she opened it—

“Master…?”

Grom stood in the doorway, filling it almost completely.

The early light from the twin suns cast long shadows behind him, making the lines on his face look deeper—older.

“You sleep well, kid?” he asked, voice rough but gentle.

Mira hesitated for half a heartbeat.

Then she nodded.

“…Yes.”

It was a lie, and both of them knew it.

Grom didn’t press her. He simply turned his gaze toward the corridor, arms folding across his chest.

“Today’s your guest lecture,” he said. “Yours and Zane’s.”

Mira straightened slightly.

“Be prepared,” Grom continued, his tone lowering. “Not just for that.”

She felt it then—the weight behind his words.

“We can expect Dren,” he said calmly. “Today.”

Mira’s breath caught.

“If he’s the genius I know,” Grom went on, eyes hard, “then with all the materials he stole… it’s only a matter of hours before he perfects the Heart of the Deep Forge.”

Silence stretched between them.

“And once he does,” Grom said quietly, “he will most likely come here.”

Mira swallowed.

“To kill me,” Grom finished. “And you.”

She looked away, fingers tightening at her side.

A long sigh escaped her lips.

“…I see.”

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Mira lifted her head again.

“Where is Professor Zane?” she asked.

Grom shrugged slightly. “He told me he had a problem to solve. Said he’d arrive when the guest lecture begins.”

Mira frowned.

“A problem…?” she murmured.

Her eyes narrowed, a familiar unease settling in her chest.

“What kind of problem,” she said softly, “would make him leave right now…?”

—

Far beyond the sky, In where no wind stirred and no sound could exist, a lone figure stood in the vast darkness.

Zane Creed.

There was no barrier around him.

No spell.

No visible mana reinforcement.

Yet he floated there effortlessly, coat drifting slowly as if space itself acknowledged his presence.

His deep purple eyes were unfocused, lost in thought as he gazed toward the distant world below.

“…This planet really has terrible luck,” he muttered.

“Getting targeted by this many asteroids isn’t normal.”

Ahead of him, dozens of massive rock shined faintly as they cut through the space, all on a collision course toward the world beneath.

Zane raised a finger.

Thin red beams of mana shot out—silent, precise.

The moment they touched the asteroids, the colossal masses didn’t explode.

They vanished.

No debris.

No shockwave.

Each one dissolved into pure light, erased so cleanly it was as if they had never existed.

Zane exhaled lightly.

Then his eyes narrowed.

Farther out, something far worse loomed.

A planetoid.

Vast. Dense. Slowly rotating as it drifted forward with unstoppable momentum—large enough that, if it struck, it wouldn’t just scar the surface.

It would end everything.

Zane moved.

In an instant, he crossed the impossible distance, appearing directly before the massive body. Compared to it, he looked absurdly small.

He reached out.

His palm pressed gently against the planetoid’s surface.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then—

The entire mass shimmered.

Mana rippled outward like a quiet sigh, and the planetoid collapsed inward, breaking apart into countless motes of pale light that scattered into the void like dust caught in a sunbeam.

Gone.

Zane lowered his hand.

“There we go,” he said casually.

He turned back toward the distant planet, eyes calm, unreadable.

As if what he had just done was nothing more than a minor inconvenience taken care of before breakfast.

Zane glanced once more toward the world below, then let out a small breath.

“Anyway,” he said calmly, “the guest lecture’s about to start.”

A faint smirk curved his lips.

“I’d better get ready for the drama.”

He vanished.

—

Far below, over the skies of Gravundar—

The red morning light was just beginning to spill across the clouds when the air itself seemed to ripple.

High above the kingdom, where no one was looking, a lone figure appeared—hovering silently in the sky, coat fluttering as if caught in an unseen current.

The mana around that point bent subtly, warping light and space.

And then, without a sound—

The figure floated .

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