When Luke threw the knife, Jonathan leaped into the portal and vanished. The blade followed, but didn’t pass through. It simply clattered on the other side, rejected.

  Luke didn’t waste a second. He lifted Allison’s body from the ground. She was a perfect statue.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “I know you can hear me. I’m going to save you.”

  He moved closer to the portal. Lightning crackled from within.

  [Warning: Only one person may pass at a time]

  Luke set her upright, still frozen in stone, right beside the threshold.

  “I don’t have any mana left to widen the portal. When I remove this mask, you’ll have to take a step on your own. You need to do that, Allison. If I carry you across, the portal might take me and leave you behind.”

  His hand hovered near her face. “I need to be sure you go back alive. Then I’ll follow you. I promise.”

  He touched her cheek. Slowly, the gray color receded. The stone skin softened, drawing inward as if melting into liquid. It slid toward her face, then peeled away entirely, dripping off and shaping itself into a mask.

  Luke grabbed it and threw it into the snow.

  Allison’s body shuddered back to life. She gasped, sharp and pained. Her eyes were wide, her chest bleeding.

  “I need to pull the bolt out. I can’t risk it interfering with the healing,” Luke murmured, easing it out. Even so, the pain twisted her expression.

  “Hurry. Go,” he urged.

  Allison stumbled forward and vanished through the portal.

  He didn’t know if she had died, or if she had simply used the very last of her strength for that single step.

  “She went back. She has to be back on Earth,” he whispered, again and again.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 33 seconds]

  Luke sprinted toward Franky. The little snake lay in a puddle of its own blood.

  “Franky,” Luke said, kneeling. The creature opened just one eye.

  “You came to laugh at me… human?” the snake muttered. “Because I’m weak… and useless…”

  “Shut up,” Luke said, scooping him up carefully.

  Franky’s body was torn with deep gashes. A wound split the top of his head.

  “Leave me here, human,” Franky rasped.

  “Yeah, no. You’re not doing that,” Luke replied.

  He reached into his pocket-space and pulled out the mana core of the Midnight Lord, holding it close.

  “Come on. Take it. We don’t have time.”

  “I don’t want your help,” Franky murmured.

  “Take the damn thing, you pathetic coward!” Artemis snapped. “Or are you scared? Is that it?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I’m not a coward…” Franky hissed.

  “Then take the damn core so we can go home, or this idiot is going to feel guilty forever if you die!” Artemis shot back.

  Franky coughed and clicked his tongue. “You two… are unbearable… and annoyingly loud.”

  [Warning: Upon accepting this special evolution, the familiar will enter a long hibernation state.]

  “We’re even now, human,” Franky said. “In the end… I helped you.”

  Luke walked toward the portal. “Just accept the evolution already. When we’re back on Earth, you go your way and I go mine.”

  The moment Franky touched the core, the serpent dissolved into drifting shards of light.

  [Jormungandr is undergoing a special evolution and will remain in hibernation.]

  The wyvern core turned pitch black, cold as nothing. Luke lifted it toward his pocket dimension and, to his shock, it slipped inside and vanished.

  “Stop stalling, Luke. Get in the damn portal!” Artemis shouted.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 20 seconds]

  Right then, the portal flickered. Sparks cracked through its frame and the blue glow bled into a violent red.

  [Warning: The Crystal Throne has exhausted all mana. The portal is now inactive.]

  Luke stepped forward to jump when the notification flashed across his vision. His eyes widened as he read.

  “No…” The word barely made it out.

  Cracks crawled further across the castle walls. The cold deepened, harsh and unnatural.

  [Warning: This pocket dimension will collapse in one minute. All within will cease to exist.]

  The ground shook, a quake splitting the entire island.

  “Shit!” Luke shouted as debris began to fall.

  “Luke! You idiot! You killed us!” Artemis screamed.

  The tremors were so violent Luke struggled to stay upright. Even the archangel’s lower body rattled while the structure tore itself apart.

  “I just need to feed mana into the crystal. It’s the same as that damn dungeon elevator!” Luke pressed his hands to the throne.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 09 seconds]

  His mana was empty. Completely drained.

  “Put the mana in! Now!” Artemis snapped.

  He tried anyway, jaw clenched.

  [Mana Points (MP): 0/(5100)]

  [ERROR!]

  [Warning: Portal destabilized. Additional mana required.]

  “What?! What happened?!” Artemis demanded, but Luke had frozen in place. Terror settled in.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 03 seconds]

  “It needs more mana to reactivate.”

  “Then give it more!” Artemis fired back.

  “I can’t, Artemis.” The words landed heavy. “I’m out.”

  “There’s no way I can regenerate it in time. The time runs out before that. It’s over. I… I’m dead.”

  The castle roared around them as the last supports gave way. For a moment, they said nothing.

  Luke didn’t move. His mind chased strategies, escapes, anything. Nothing came.

  “So that’s it,” he murmured. “I’m done.”

  “I… I’m sorry,” Artemis whispered, voice hollow.

  The castle shook harder.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 54 seconds]

  Luke let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh, his hand dragging across his forehead.

  “I died… because of something so stupid,” he muttered, still unable to accept it. “Over a few damn crumbs of mana.”

  His fist clenched. He sprinted toward the throne and slammed his knuckles against it, again and again.

  “Start working! Come on!” He struck the throne, the embedded crystals, anything he could reach.

  “It’s over, Luke,” Artemis murmured.

  “No, it isn’t,” a loud feminine voice answered, close by. “My lord, I can help you!”

  The voice echoed from nearby.

  Luke’s gaze snapped to the floor. There, near the throne, was his angelic mask. It must have slid across the tilted floor of the collapsing castle.

  He rushed to it, grabbing the mask with both hands.

  “How? How can you help?! And you need to be fast. Do you still have mana inside you?” He was already out of breath.

  “I still have mana, yes, but not the kind that would fix this. It’s the mana of my soul,” she said. “I can’t release it like ordinary mana.”

  Luke shut his eyes, frustration twisting inside his chest.

  “But I can still help,” she continued. “My lord, the archangel’s body. Quickly. Get it.”

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