-----Narrator POV-----
Seconds before Matheus and Sebastian Teleported.
Reinhardt tore down the tunnel with Roxy clinging to his back, the world around them warping under the sheer force of his acceleration as pressure rippled outward in violent waves, making the cave walls tremble and stone crack.
Roxy tightened her grip, her voice nearly ripped from her throat as she pointed ahead.
"That wall-!"
Reinhardt leaned forward, gathering even more speed. The air in front of him compressed into a trembling wall of pressure as his body shifted instantly.
He lowered his center of gravity by a fraction as his upper body rolled forward transferring every ounce of momentum into his shoulder.
BAMM!
Stone erupted outward as Reinhardt and Roxy tore through the wall while a thunderous boom chased them from behind.
And in that suspended instant, chunks of rock spun away in slow drifting arcs.
Roxy was already mid‑chant while her staff cutting a swift arc through the air as her eyes forced open against the stinging haze.
Roxy held her breath for the split‑second visual confirmation needed to release the spell.
Through the drifting dust, the chamber revealed itself piece by piece.
A circular room.
A young boy frozen at its center, eyes wide with terror, reaching for another boy in mid air.
And before him—
A colossal dragon's head, jaws yawning open, casting a monstrous silhouette that crawled across the boy's trembling form.
In a moment so critical that a single misstep meant the death of two children, the world around Roxy slowed down.
Her heart thudded once, stretching the instant into eternity.
A strange pressure filled her small chest, a mix of fear and instinct sharpening her senses. She could taste the wind slamming against her face as Reinhardt's charge ripped the air apart. Her fingertips tingled with the warmth of flowing mana. Her tongue trembled as the final syllable of the spell was release it. Her staff vibrated faintly in her hands, carrying her will forward like an arrow drawn to its target.
Her eyes widened as she watched the icicle tore through the air with brutal velocity, a streak of pale blue shooting straight towards the dragon's open jaws.
Time snapped back.
The icicle struck the inside of the dragon's mouth, knocking its massive head upward. The beast's jaws clamped shut on empty air, teeth slamming together with a thunderous crack—barely missing the two boys below.
Dirt and debris exploded upward, filling Roxy's vision again. She blinked hard, trying to clear her sight, but a sudden surge of overwhelming mana washed over her senses.
A bright red light flooded the chamber.
30 min after the Teleportation.
The grasslands stretched wide and quiet under the late‑day sun, an open expanse where the wind moved freely and the world felt far from the noise of any city. Only in the distance did the silhouette of a great kingdom rise.
Closer to the earth, two figures occupied the lonely outskirts.
The first was a small, slender girl perched on a flat roadside stone. Black hair clung to her cheeks in wind‑tossed strands, and her white‑and‑blue scholar's robe was wrinkled and dust‑stained from long travel. Faint mana burns marked the pale skin of her exposed wrists. Despite the exhaustion in her posture, her eyes stayed sharp, scanning the chalk‑lined magic circle at her feet and her fingers trembled adjusting a sigil in the magic circle.
A few steps behind her stood the second figure.
His frame cast a long shadow across the grass. A dark cape draped from his shoulders, its fabric heavy and unmoving even as the wind swept across the plains. The rest of his clothing layered for travel and battle alike. Silver hair fell straight down his back as his golden eyes scanned the horizon with cold, unblinking precision.
The girl rose from the stone with a small, tired push of her palms, dust slipping from her robe as she shifted her body toward the towering man behind her.
The man noticed the subtle signal.
Without a word, he stepped forward, his dark cape brushing the grass as he approached the magic circle engraved in the stone. He crouched slightly, golden eyes scanning the lines with sharp, clinical precision. After a brief moment, he lifted his gaze to the girl.
"Well done," he said in a low, monotone voice. "You learn quite fast."
Her cheeks warmed instantly. She averted her eyes, flustered for a heartbeat before forcing herself back into composure.
"It is all thanks to Orsted's guidance… and your knowledge of the subject."
Orsted's expression didn't soften—if anything, it looked harsher, his brows tightening. But beneath that stern mask, a faint, almost imperceptible relief flickered. He was satisfied with her progress.
Then a sudden sharp change in mana washed across the plains. Orsted's head snapped toward the horizon, his posture tightening as if something far away had seized his attention. The girl flinched at the abrupt shift in mood.
"What's wrong?" she asked, startled.
He didn't answer at first. His eyes narrowed, brows lowering into a deep frown as he focused on a distant point only he could sense.
Then, with a firm, authoritative tone:
"Nanahoshi. Grab your traveling gear."
She blinked. "Are we… going somewhere?"
The man's cape shifted as he turned fully turned towards the horizon, his posture tightening with a rare edge of impatience. When he spoke, his voice carried a weight that made the air itself feel thinner.
"To the Red Dragon's Mountain…"
A brief pause. His jaw clenched.
"No. We go straight to the Red Hydra's Chamber."
The girl's breath caught. Her fingers curled into a fist and pressed against her chest, as if trying to steady the sudden rush of anxiety rising inside her. She followed his gaze toward the distant horizon, but all she saw was open plains and the faint shimmer of heat.
1 Hour after the Teleportation
The smoke still clung to the air like a choking veil when the scene returns to the circular chamber.
Roxy and Reinhardt stood in the center of the ruined room, both of them bent over and gasping for breath. The walls were scorched black, the floor cracked and cratered, and the lingering heat made the air shimmer. Embers drifted lazily through the haze. The smell of burnt scales and molten stone clung to everything.
Roxy's staff trembled in her hands. Her eyes were half‑closed, heavy with exhaustion, her breaths shallow and uneven.
"Is… it… over…?" she managed between gasps, swaying on her feet.
Reinhardt stood behind her, hands braced on his hips, chest thrust forward as he sucked in a long, burning breath. He tilted his head back toward the ceiling, then exhaled in one long, exhausted release before lowering his gaze.
His eyes swept across the chamber.
Two massive red-scaled bodies lay collapsed against the far wall—each one dented with deep, fist‑shaped impressions carved into their hides. Frost clung to parts of their wings and necks, the ice still hissing as it melted against the lingering heat. The ground around them was shattered from the force of the blows.
Further ahead, the last surviving dragons fled through the distant tunnel, their retreat marked by a bone‑shaking roar that echoed through the cavern.
Reinhardt straightened slightly.
"…It is over."
Roxy let out a long, relieved sigh. Her knees buckled, and she slowly sank to the ground, still clutching her staff upright even as her body slumped with exhaustion.
Reinhardt watched her for a moment, then walked toward a large chunk of fallen stone. He sat heavily, elbows on his knees, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to steady his breathing. Sweat dripped from his chin, mixing with the dust smeared across his face.
A few seconds passed.
Then Roxy's eyes snapped open.
She jolted upright, nearly dropping her staff as panic surged through her.
"Matheus—! Sebastian—!"
Her voice cracked with sudden realization, the memory of why they had fought so desperately slamming back into her chest.
She turned toward Reinhardt, fear rising in her throat.
Reinhardt's hand froze halfway through massaging his brow. The defeated look he gave Roxy said everything—he already feared what she was about to confirm.
That fear jolted her awake. Adrenaline surged through her exhausted limbs as she scrambled across the ruined chamber, scanning the scorched floor for any lingering trace of the magic she had sensed an hour earlier.
Just a few meters away from her, beneath a collapsed mound of stone, a unique mana signature pulsed weakly.
Roxy rushed toward it, dropping her staff with a clatter as she fell to her knees.
Her hands clawed at the debris, pushing aside rocks and charred fragments with frantic, bruising force.
"Reinhardt! I found mana traces—here! Buried under this!"
Her voice cracked with urgency.
But the warrior didn't move.
He stood motionless, staring forward at the ancient murals carved into the chamber walls—massive serpentine shapes twisting around the room, nine long bodies coiling upward until they converged at the ceiling. The flickering firelight made the carvings seem alive, writhing in the smoke.
"REINHEARDT! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
Roxy's voice echoed sharply, but he didn't turn. Her hands kept digging, skin tearing against the jagged stone as panic pushed her past exhaustion.
"REINHEARDT!"
The chamber's sounds began to fade, the scraping of rocks, the hiss of melting ice, the crackle of lingering flames, all dimming into a distant hum.
Reinhardt remained still.
His eyes unfocused, his breath shallow as a memory pulled him inward.
A dream from the night before, vivid and unsettling, now aligning with the carvings before him.
The world around him blurred.
And Roxy's desperate voice became a faint echo at the edge of his consciousness.
-----Reinheadt POV-----
A strange sensation crawled up my spine, like my body was sinking through the earth, deeper and deeper, until the weight of the world vanished. Then something tugged at my consciousness, forcing my eyes open.
But instead of the familiar wooden ceiling of my room…
I saw a sky of pure white stretched endlessly above me.
A world of unsettling emptiness that I had seen once before.
My palms pressed against a floor pushing myself uptight. The vast white world swallowed everything in every direction.
"Hello! My friend!"
A cheerful yet mocking voice came from behind me.
I turned as I saw the mosaic-shaped man, shifting and flickering like a broken illusion.
"…Hitogami."
"My my! What's with the long face?" he said, tilting his head with exaggerated curiosity. "Shouldn't you be more enthusiastic? More ecstatic to greet your benefactor?"
A creepy smile stretched across his mosaic face as he floated around me like a child playing pretend.
I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Alice hasn't gotten better," I said. "She's gotten worse."
"Mhmm, I knooowww!" he sang, swaying side to side. "That must be sooo tough!"
He drifted past me, turning his back as he placed one finger on his mouth and the other hand behind him in a theatrical pose.
My brow tightened.
"…Is there someone you want me to kill?"
Hitogami's mosaic features warped with excitement at my words.