A battle broke out between Shion Lan and the evil spirits. At first, outside, he had been able to injure them and affect them, but he could not kill them. Now, however, he was able to kill them.
"Everything you've done to me—I'll repay it many times over!"
He did not care where his attacks landed as long as they were not directed toward Solan Neumann, since the attacks passed through the women without touching them. He fought with all his might.
"And now, what about you?"
The remaining fourth-level spirits were three in number, but Shion spoke with force:
"Didn't you use those spells? Now you're nothing."
The spirit inhabiting Florid Neumann's body issued orders to the other spirits through indistinct murmurs, as if it were a language spoken only among spirits. The spirits prepared themselves, and Shion sensed danger. When they moved, they lunged toward the child still in Florid's womb. Shion was shocked and hurried back toward the place of delivery, releasing his stellar aura to its utmost limit.
"(Star Vortex)!"
The attacks vanished. The spirits appeared weakened and exhausted, which surprised Shion, but he noticed an increase in the ominous energy at Florid's position. He looked at her and said with sudden realization:
"Outside, they used weak spirits to form their attacks, but now you are the only source of their power! Since you're going to die anyway, Lady Neumann, let me do it."
Shion raised his claws. The spirit glared at him in anger and tried to force him into submission with its aura, but Shion mocked it.
"I've endured far worse. This is child's play."
He struck Florid's body with his claws. She trembled and screamed,
"Aaaah!!"
Shion noticed that the women did not react to the scream, but he continued striking Florid repeatedly. In the end, despite the evil spirit being confined within Florid's body, it was still at the fourth level and required effort to kill. Several minutes passed, and the evil spirit's screams intensified. As for the remaining spirits outside the Star Vortex, they managed only two more attacks before dispersing and returning.
After Shion had clawed at Florid for some time, her eyes returned to normal. With the next strike, his hand passed straight through her head.
"It seems I can't harm Florid anymore… does that mean I helped her stay alive?"
Yet it was of no use—signs of madness still remained on her. Shion sighed and thought briefly.
"There were twenty evil spirits, the same number as those outside the room. After killing some of them, will they return again or not?"
A woman screamed,
"It's coming out!"
She was terrified of the child who had brought Lady Florid Neumann to such a miserable state. All the fighters rushed in, prepared to battle the evil child. Thunder and rain intensified outside, and lightning illuminated the entire place. The child was finally born.
At that moment, Shion felt as if time had stopped. The thunder and lightning outside did not disturb him. The other fighters also looked at the baby girl, who cried while releasing a beautiful, tranquil aura—like someone returning from war to find their loved ones safe and smiling.
After a short while, the baby opened her eyes. Everyone stared at her in astonishment, Shion among them, unable to look away.
"Solan Neumann, the Pure Spirit."
Pure energy spread through the room with the baby's cries, filling hearts with comfort. One of the mages examined Florid.
"She's dead, sir. There were remnants of an evil spirit inside her."
A heavy silence fell over the room. A female knight looked at the baby, removed her gloves so as not to harm the child's skin, and gently held her, sighing sadly.
"A beautiful child like this, born without a father or mother—especially when her mother was possessed by an evil spirit that tried to kill her."
"Poor girl. What shall we do, sir?"
They all turned toward a seventh-level man, who spoke hastily:
"Let us inform Lord Imat. He will decide—he is her uncle, after all."
Shion's eyes narrowed when he heard that name. He felt uneasy. Seeing the baby asleep, wrapped in silk, Shion felt a spontaneous sadness for her, but then remembered something important.
"Right! Wasn't Imat Neumann the one who summoned that evil spirit?! If I kill him here, would I—ah, I forgot. I can't touch anyone here."
At that moment, an idea surfaced in Shion's mind.
"I don't know how things will unfold here, but if the magic circles are connected to each other, Sol, Solan, the evil spirit, and I have all returned to the past. Then I need to find Sol first."
After confirming Solan's safety, Shion moved to leave and search for Sol. He rushed outside the palace, only to be stunned by what he saw.
"This…?!"
Everything outside the palace was white, like a painting with only the central image drawn, while all surrounding details were left blank. Shion thought again.
"So I didn't travel back in time—I entered a recorded past!"
Something he had heard about many times in stories, both in his own world and in Shi Yun Lan's world: a person enters a recorded past, replaying the memories of a specific area—sometimes for entertainment, sometimes to convey information, display a technique or spell, or serve as a legacy trial.
"Alright. I'm here, as well as Solan and the evil spirit—but what about Sol? Where did she go?"
Shion remembered what Sol had said:
"She's in a coma inside the palace."
'Could it be that Sol went to check on Solan?'
Unsure of what to do, Shion turned back and headed toward the room where Solan was with her uncle. He noticed a gathering of people in front of a certain room, all extremely happy—then suddenly they stopped, and their bodies turned dark.
"Damn it!"
Shion rushed toward the room at full speed.
"(Star Vortex)!"
He pushed back all the spirits and saw Imat Neumann trying to throw the crying Solan.
"You bastard!!"
Shion shouted furiously, activated his claws, and struck Imat's back. Solan slipped free, and Shion caught her quickly. He activated his stellar aura again, accompanied by the vortex, enclosing himself and Imat while blocking the spirits' bombardment-like attacks.
Holding Solan in one hand, Shion pointed his fiery hand at Imat and shouted with intense rage:
"You despicable bastard, you filthy spirit! I'll kill you both!"
He unleashed (Cutting Flames) at Imat. Solan, in his arms, lent him her pure energy, turning the attack into one that countered evil spirits with a stellar brilliance. Shion defeated Imat in a single strike. He returned to normal, as did everyone else, as if nothing had happened.
They all looked at Solan with joy and happiness—now in Imat's arms.
Shion stared at his hand in shock, only to realize it had truly vanished.
"Damn it all."
He cursed inwardly and decided to observe so no one would harm Solan. To his surprise, the baby ignored the crowd and looked at him with great curiosity. Shion focused on her eyes—they were a blend of blue and green, soothing and calming. Combined with her white hair, she was truly beautiful.
Yet that gaze unsettled Shion for some reason.
"Could it be that she can see me?"
He waved his hand, but she did not respond.
"Looks like I'm overthinking it."
He stood up, and the baby's eyes followed him. He moved, but she kept watching. Feeling something strange, Shion stepped out of the room for a moment. The instant he did, Solan screamed and cried loudly.
"Calm down, little one, we'll prepare some milk."
"Sir! Let me put her on the bed and rock her!" "That will take time! Let me hold her myself!"
Suddenly, she calmed down.
"Hahaha! The little lady must like me!"
The two women beside her grew irritated and began arguing. But the baby's eyes landed on that shadow that had returned to the room after she cried, and she became delighted.
Shion Lan did not understand what was happening, but suddenly an idea lit up in his mind.
"It seems Solan can understand what's happening because she is eighteen years old now. But since this space is limited to the palace, and I wasn't born back then, I'm in my normal form while she's in the form of a baby, so…"
Shion did not want to finish the thought.
"I'll have to wait until she grows up a little."
He frowned, then shrugged.
"Well, I lived inside Shi Yun Lan's body for fifteen years without being able to move as I wished. At least here, I can move and influence some things…"
He remembered something else.
"Right! I was able to hold Solan! That means my influence is limited to Solan and evil spirits!"
Shion sat and observed what was happening. Everyone was celebrating Solan, though her uncle Imat's gaze was strange. Shion ignored it and decided to protect Solan until she grew up, at least.
Time passed. Florid's body was preserved for burial, and purification magic circles were placed around it after they sensed the lingering power of the evil spirit. At night, when Solan cried again, Shion thought to himself:
"She may be an adult, but now she's in a baby's body—unable to do what she wants or control her emotions well. But that doesn't matter now."
A woman entered and said,
"Couldn't you take care of her?!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't know anything about caring for babies," the other woman replied nervously.
The lady nodded and said,
"Alright. I brought a wet nurse from the village. I believe she can handle it."
She looked back and said,
"You may enter now."
A woman entered the room. Shion looked at her curiously, but his pupils constricted when he saw her.
"Aunt Lindy?!"
She was his neighbor and Sol Hart's aunt, but in this recorded past, she was the wet nurse for the baby.
"So that's why Sol and Solan were friends?! But why didn't Sol ever tell me? And she looks much younger than she does now…"
The woman took the baby, and Shion turned his gaze away.
"As long as everything is fine and there are no evil spirits, I don't need to do anything."
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Shion looked at the stars of this past and decided to spend time studying them and adapting techniques to them
…
Meanwhile, in the real world, at the royal palace, King Jord Joul sat in council, discussing an important matter.
"As everyone saw, nine pillars of light rose from the Neumann family's province. What do you think?"
A researcher stepped forward and said,
"There's something I don't understand! There should only be two types of pillars: the evil spirit pillars from which they were summoned, and the pure pillar belonging to Lady Solan Neumann, used to seal the evil spirit. But now a third pillar has appeared—dark, with a single bright point at its center. I don't know what it represents."
The king pondered with his aides, until one of them—an academy representative—spoke suddenly:
"A bright point in darkness… could it be a star? Could it be Shion Lan?"