The black orb trembled again in place, letting out a low, fragmented hum.
At its vibration, the black mana lake—which had momentarily calmed—suddenly surged with wild turbulence.
Ruuuuumble—!
The ship rocked violently from side to side. Mikhail, dazed, planted his right foot firmly on the deck to keep himself upright. His gaze never left the black orb floating overhead. It was as if nothing else could be seen or heard in that moment. Without a word, he lifted one foot onto the railing at the ship’s bow.
“That’s dangerous, Mikhail.”
But Mikhail didn’t seem to hear Adrian’s warning as he grabbed his arm. Still fixated on the orb in the sky, Mikhail reached out with his other foot.
“I said it’s dangerous!”
Adrian, frustrated, tightened his grip, but Mikhail’s body showed no signs of stopping—he was intent on moving forward.
“You’re going to fall! This is dangerous!”
“Hold him so he doesn’t fall off!”
“Yes—ah, no. He’s too strong! Where the hell is he even trying to go?!”
Catherine and the legion commander, both right beside him, were also trying to hold Mikhail back from being pulled into the black lake, but it was futile. Despite the bow of the ship swaying, Mikhail’s red eyes remained locked upward, utterly unmoving.
Adrian, still gripping Mikhail’s arm, observed him closely.
Wooooooom—
The sword of Fellen Deeps, sheathed at his waist, began to hum and quiver faintly in resonance.
This was just like that time—the time when a furious dragon tried to bring the world to ruin, and a blinding white light rose to stop it. If that same force was what now drew Mikhail toward the black orb, then regardless of the reason, it didn’t seem like it would do him any harm.
“……”
Adrian hesitated briefly, then tousled his hair as though resigning himself.
“Adrian! I think we need to hold him tighter!”
Catherine shouted urgently as she clung to Mikhail’s other arm with all her strength. Adrian’s lips curved into a small smile.
“No, Catherine. That won’t be necessary.”
The tone Adrian Heather used with Catherine was unlike his usual one, no longer the gentle voice of a junior from Basamiel.
Golden mana particles suddenly flared around his bright blond hair. A massive swell of mana surged toward him, gathering rapidly to form something immense. His clothes, which had barely fluttered before, now whipped violently in the intensifying wind.
And it wasn’t just his hair glowing. His eyes, too, radiated with a light as brilliant as twin moons in the midday sky.
“Adrian?” Catherine whispered, stunned, her movements seeming impossibly slow. What Adrian was about to do—something only a dragon should have been capable of—should have been impossible for a man who couldn’t manipulate mana.
The wind pulling toward the dragon forced the entire advance party to shield their eyes with raised arms.
Adrian, his face calm, flicked his fingers with a casual motion. The golden particles of mana surrounding him responded instantly, shooting forward in the direction ahead of Mikhail.
“Because I’m going to let Mikhail do what he wants to do.”
“What… does that mean?”
The legion commander muttered in disbelief, looking up at Adrian. The power displayed before them was certainly not among the abilities listed in the intel they’d received about Prince Mikhail’s companion.
Right then, just beneath the foot Mikhail was about to step out into thin air with, a golden stair shhhk— materialized. His gaze still fixed solely on the black orb, Mikhail stepped up onto the glowing step with a tap.
Then another step appeared, and another above that. Adrian conjured them all with nothing but a motion of his hand.
A staircase of golden light stretched upward, directly connecting Mikhail to the black orb.
“…Is this even the kind of magic I thought I knew?”
One of the advance party members murmured in a daze. Even seeing it with their own eyes, it was hard to believe.
With mana dwindling across the continent, magicians had grown increasingly rare—and with their rarity, so too had the scale of their magic. The glowing staircase before them wasn’t like the typical elemental spells they were used to seeing.
“It’s beautiful.”
Catherine murmured in awe, her eyes sparkling. Rather than worry about what would happen next, she chose to simply appreciate the magnificent power of a noble dragon.
Before anyone realized, Mikhail had already reached the final step.
Woooooooom——
The black orb resonated as if ready to swallow him whole at any moment.
Adrian silently ascended the staircase and gently linked his arm with Mikhail’s.
“So, what now? I brought you all the way to the place you wanted to go.”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
Since losing consciousness, Mikhail hadn’t said a single word—until now, when he responded with a clear, steady voice.
“…What?”
Had he misheard? Adrian turned to him with a puzzled expression—
Ugh—! A gust of wind swept through the air, growing stronger and more violent. Adrian shielded his eyes with one arm and squinted toward Mikhail.
The wind was generated by an immense flow of mana—not Adrian’s power. All the mana in the area was converging toward Mikhail as the focal point. The prince’s silvery hair whipped wildly in the maelstrom, yet he stood tall, eyes wide open, raising his sword.
“Mikhail!”
Adrian gritted his teeth and shouted his name. The prince’s crimson eyes blazed like fire. Slowly, the hand gripping the sword lifted higher.
Mana surged toward his palm, drawn by an overwhelming force.
And then, Mikhail drove the gleaming blade, cloaked in pure sword energy, into the very edge of the black orb.
Crack! ROOOOOM——
With a deafening roar, a massive fracture split across the surface of the black orb. From that crack, fragments began breaking away, dropping one by one into the black lake below with dull thuds.
“…He shattered it.”
That was a real blow. Unlike my own power, that force can affect things not of this world.
Hmph. Adrian muttered to himself in a level tone.
As if his role were done, the intense glow in Mikhail’s red eyes began to dim. At the same time, the mana that had gathered so fiercely around him rapidly dispersed. The prince’s wind-tossed silver hair settled gradually.
Swish—
Mikhail’s body swayed, collapsing again—but Adrian caught him with ease. When he gave Mikhail a gentle shake, the prince blinked slowly. His eyes were no longer glowing red, but their usual color.
“You back with me?” Adrian asked.
“What… What did I just do?”
Mikhail muttered, dazed. He looked down at the sword still clutched in his hand. Though the light wasn’t as intense as it had been when he sliced through the black orb, Fellen Deeps’ blade still shimmered faintly, trembling with a soft white glow.
“This light… and these stairs—what are they?”
The staircase they stood on was anything but ordinary.
Magic? How did I even climb up here?
Ugh… Mikhail groaned as he tried to move the hand gripping his sword’s hilt. The moment he did, Adrian’s arm suddenly appeared in his view.
“Give it here.”
Adrian grabbed Mikhail’s wrist and yanked it hard enough to sting.
Clang!
The sword slipped from his hand and clattered down the steps. Adrian didn’t even glance at it as it fell—he clearly didn’t care.
Instead, he inspected Mikhail’s hand, frowning deeply. His palm was marked with a vivid red wound, as if it might start dripping blood at any moment.
“It’s a mana scar,” Adrian declared.
“…Like back then?”
Mikhail mumbled, stunned. It was as if a portion of his memory had been erased—nothing came to mind.
Adrian blew gently across both of Mikhail’s palms with a long exhale.
As if carried away by the wind, the wound slowly began to fade, until finally, there was nothing left—his palms were smooth once more. Adrian stared at them for a moment, then spoke in a low voice.
“There’s a power inside you—one that’s beyond your ability to control.”
“…Beyond my ability?”
Mikhail clenched his hand into a fist. But he couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
“To be honest, I have no idea how a human could possess something like that…”
Adrian continued, his tone turning brusque.
“But it’s the only power in this world right now that can stand against the black mana of the Demon Realm. Which means you’ll be able to overcome the next trial too.”
“The next trial?”
“Yeah. I can’t say for sure whether that thing connects the Demon Realm and this world, but it definitely doesn’t look like it’s going to vanish anytime soon.”
Adrian’s eyes were fixed on the black orb behind them.
RUMMMBLE——
A deep, resonant crash echoed like a massive object slamming into a thick wall.
From the fractured orb, a monstrous claw suddenly burst out. It was huge—easily the size of several people combined.
The claw briefly withdrew into the darkness… then came the shaking. Something was slamming its entire body into the tear from the other side.
BOOM—!
A beast was trying to break through—desperately clawing its way into this world.
