They left Mount Cape at first light.
The king provided a fast courier ship and a small crew of experienced sailors. The vessel was lighter and sharper than the one that had brought them, built for speed rather than cargo. Even so, the voyage back to the capital would normally take six or seven full days. Sekai had less than two days left on the timer.
He did not waste time explaining.
The moment the ship cleared the harbor and the mountain began to shrink behind them, he pressed the pause button and went to work.
In the frozen world he studied every sail, every rope, every current chart stored in the captain's cabin. He adjusted the rigging by careful inches, shifted ballast, and repositioned the crew so that when time resumed the ship would catch the strongest possible wind. Then he simply walked the length of the vessel again and again, waiting out hours of stopped time while the frozen waves hung motionless around the hull.
When he finally released the button, the ship surged forward under a sudden clean wind. The sailors shouted in surprise as the coastline of Mount Cape vanished far faster than any of them expected.
Leafa stood at the railing and watched the water race past. "This is the second time the sea has decided to favor us without reason."
Sekai leaned against the mast and kept his expression mild. "Lucky weather."
She did not look convinced.
By the end of the first real day the ship had already covered more distance than it should have managed in three. Sekai continued the pattern whenever the others slept or looked the other way. He paused time, adjusted course, cleared minor hazards from the water, and sometimes simply stood on the empty deck breathing the frozen air while the timer in the corner of his vision ticked lower and lower.
Niña noticed the growing strain on his face. "You look like you have not slept in a week."
"I sleep when I can," he answered.
Fury watched him more carefully than the others. She said little, but every time he vanished from ordinary awareness for a stretch of stopped time, her ears angled toward the place he had been standing.
On the afternoon of what should have been the third day of travel, the capital's distant walls finally appeared on the horizon. The ship had crossed the entire sea in less than two days of real time. The crew celebrated. Sekai only checked the timer again.
Eleven hours remained.
The moment they docked, a royal messenger was already waiting on the pier. Prince Will's seal marked the letter he carried.
The barrier still held, but the pressure from the Realm of Darkness had grown sharper. Darklings tested the edges of the holy field day and night. Alicia's prayer continued without pause. Clau and her party remained at her side. The letter ended with a single urgent request.
Return to the underground chamber at once.
They did not rest.
Sekai led the way through the recovering streets of the capital. Reconstruction continued on every side. Workers hauled stone and timber. Soldiers kept watch at the edges of the city where the darkness still pressed close. People recognized him as they passed and called out thanks, but he barely heard them.
The hidden entrance to the underground chamber looked the same as before. The elaborate magic circle still glowed with soft golden light. Inside, Alicia knelt in the center exactly as they had left her, eyes closed, body wrapped in gentle radiance. She had not moved. She could not move. Her senses remained suspended. One hundred days of continuous prayer had only just begun.
Prince Will rose from a chair near the wall when they entered. The strain on his face was clear.
"You made better time than I thought possible," he said. "We needed it."
Clau stood near Alicia with her Lightning Sword resting against her shoulder. She still had trouble meeting Sekai's eyes, but her voice was steady. "The darkness has tried to break through twice since you left. Both times the barrier held. Barely."
Yelda added quietly, "If the ritual fails, the entire capital will fall inside a day."
Sekai walked to the edge of the glowing circle and looked at Alicia. The golden light made her skin look almost translucent. Her expression was peaceful, but the weight of what she had accepted sat heavy in the room.
He checked the timer one more time.
Ten hours and forty minutes.
Fury stepped up beside him. "The vessel beneath Mount Cape was only one piece. The King of Darkness will not stop because we destroyed it. He will try something else, and soon."
Leafa rested her hand on her sword. "Then we stay ready."
Niña stretched and rolled her shoulders. "I just got off a boat. Can we at least sit down before the next disaster starts?"
Sekai did not answer right away. He kept his eyes on Alicia's still form and felt the familiar weight of the controller in his pocket.
Ten hours.
Whatever came next would have to happen fast.
He pressed his thumb lightly against the pause button and waited for the world to need him again.