Noah was still standing there, trying to figure out exactly what had happened, several hours later. He combed through the entirety of Eliana’s shop several times in search of any clues of how time had seemingly reverted itself.

  None revealed themselves. There wasn’t a single trace of the Executioner, their fight, or even anyone else in the maze of mannequins with him. Eliana herself was still nowhere to be seen. As far as Noah could tell, he was completely alone.

  It just makes no sense. I didn’t feel any magic at all from them. Does that mean this Executioner guy was so powerful that I couldn’t even feel his soul? Or is that something you can achieve with immense Soul Shaping?

  Also, I haven’t seen Eliana and the Executioner together at once. Is this a Batman-Bruce Wayne situation?

  Noah’s eyes narrowed at that thought. He dismissed it a moment later. If Eliana had been a bit more… right in the head, he could have seen the possibility that she was moonlighting as a massive sword-wielding creep.

  But from the short while he’d known her, Noah could tell immediately that Eliana was the kind of person that wasn’t going to change the way she acted for anyone or anything. He didn’t imagine she’d be able to hide that even if she’d wanted to.

  Still… what was that magic the Executioner used? I can’t get over it. Jalen was using some minor time magic when I last saw him, but this was different. I feel like any magic that could actively roll back the flow of time in a scale as large as this wouldn’t be something controlled by anyone randomly wandering around Obsidia.

  It would have to be the domain of some immensely powerful mage. Someone like Sievan. Maybe even stronger, really.

  But Noah hadn’t even seen any magic actually happening. He hadn’t felt any Runes against his domain. That might have been believable if the Executioner had never used any magic. There was an argument that he was just so incredibly fast that Noah’s couldn’t track him.

  That argument fell apart when it came to matters of reversing the world itself. There was no way such a powerful change could have gone completely under his nose. Noah was confident he would have felt the magic activating.

  Unless, of course, the magic had been active well before Noah had gotten here in the first place.

  Was it an illusion? Some kind of Imbuement, or a trap that I somehow stumbled into?

  Noah’s eyes narrowed. Unfortunately, with the Executioner gone, there was absolutely no way for him to answer any of his questions. There weren’t any visible Imbuements anywhere in the building. If they’d been there, the Executioner had somehow taken them with him when he’d left.

  He wasn’t sure how many times he walked in a circle through the shop. But Noah was still caught up trying to figure out who the Executioner had been when his domain prickled in recognition. He glanced up just as Eliana pushed her way through the maze of mannequins, layers of sleek black cloth draped across her arms.

  Strands of silver shimmered throughout the cloth in a clear weblike pattern. They stretched across the cuffs of the sleeves and sprawled over what Noah suspected to be the lapels. Whatever material she had used practically seemed to squirm in the dim light.

  The dark parts of the outfit swallowed the light like a hungry void, while the silver webbing caught and refracted it, shifting and changing the closer Noah tried to look at them. His domain prickled slightly.

  There was something… off about the clothing. If magic was water, it wouldn’t have been right to say that they were wet. It was more like the cloth was hydrophobic. His senses splashed off the robes in Eliana’s hands, almost subconsciously slipping out of the way.

  “Still standing here, are we?” Eliana asked. “Normally people get bored and wander off. Did you break anything? I charge extra if you’ve messed with my costumes.”

  A hell of a lot more than you’d ever know.

  “Perhaps you should have said that before leaving me alone,” Noah said. “And does it look like I touched anything?”

  “If I told you, then how would I extort you out of more money? A woman has to live, you know. And living isn’t cheap.” Eliana glanced around. Then she shrugged. “But looks like you managed to keep your grubby little hands to yourself. Good. Unexpected, but good. Take a look at this.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  She thrust the bundle of gossamer cloth toward him.

  “Are you going to charge me if I touch it?”

  “I’m already charging you because I made it. You might as well touch it. It’s not like I can un-make it,” Eliana replied with a snort.

  Noah hesitated for a moment. Then he took the cloth from her and held it up before himself. It was actually surprisingly close in direction to what his professor uniform had been — at least, back before it had gotten torn to shreds.

  There was a definite feel of professionalism to the outfit. It would have fit quite well in at Arbitage as a normal professor uniform if it hadn’t been quite so shimmery. The stylized web detailing killed any chances of it passing for a normal outfit. This was the manner of clothing that a demon lord would wear if they’d decided to take a teaching job on the side.

  “Well?” Eliana asked. “You going to fondle it forever or will you try it on?”

  “You just made this?” Noah asked, looking from the robes up to Eliana. Then his brow furrowed. “It’s… actually quite incredible. I’ve never seen anything like this before. But, uh, how do I word this? I asked for a mask.”

  “There’s a mask,” Eliana said. “It’s in the bundle. You can’t wear a good mask without a good outfit. That’s sacrilege.”

  She reached into the smooth pile of cloth in Noah’s arms and pulled free a small strip of the dark cloth that Noah had completely missed. It was almost entirely black, with the only detailing being thin strands of silver running down from the eyes like scratch marks. The only hole in the mask was the one for Noah to slip it over his head. Somehow, the eyes seemed even darker than the rest of the sleek cloth. They were like two patches of the starless night made manifest.

  A Rorschach mask? Seriously?

  “Huh,” Noah said. “That’s… thin.”

  “It’s a mask. Not armor,” Eliana said flatly. “But it’ll repair itself from just about any damage it takes. This is the level of clothing I make for Rank 7 powerhouses. I’d imagine it will suit your needs just fine. It’ll grow with you even until you achieve separation.”

  Noah started to nod. Then he paused. “Separation?”

  “When your soul is no longer constrained by your body,” Eliana said with a wave of her hand. “Mastery of your Soul Domain.”

  “Ah,” Noah said, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “OF course. It’ll… what, bind to my soul?”

  “Yes,” Eliana said. “Until you remove it, that is. So long as some part of you remains, then it’ll stick with you. But that’s hardly something that matters at this stage. I can tell you aren’t a Rank 7. If you get your mortal body destroyed right now, you’ll have bigger troubles than what happens to your clothes. Just know that if you do manage to make it far enough to hit Rank 7, my work will still work.”

  You’re telling me I can kill myself while wearing this and it’ll… what, come back with me? Holy shit. That’s awesome! I need to —

  No. Stop, Noah. We’re not killing ourselves. I’m in remission. Can’t go breaking my streak for no reason.

  “I see,” Noah said, keeping his face straight. “Impressive.”

  “I know,” Eliana replied. “Now put it on. Not that I have any doubt it’ll fit, but I prefer to see how my creations look on their intended bodies before I send them off. It’s a good reference for the future.”

  “What, here? Do you have a changing room?”

  Eliana stared at him. “You really think you’ve got anything I haven’t seen before?”

  “Yes,” Noah said. “I’d wager you’ve never seen me. I’m already accounted for. The vast majority of the people I get naked for are ones I tend to kill very shortly afterward.”

  Eliana let out a snort of laughter.

  Noah found it slightly less amusing.

  He hadn’t been joking.

  “These are magic clothes,” Eliana said. “Ones resistant to even high-level observation. Not perfectly, mind you. They’re not stopping a Hand. But it’ll be more than enough to keep some random shmuck from sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. And you’re concerned about me getting a glimpse of your ratty underwear?”

  “Yes,” Noah said.

  “You know I can see parts of it through those rags you call clothes, right?”

  “It’s about the spirit of things,” Noah said.

  Eliana stared at him for a second. Then she rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll leave, Your Majesty,” Eliana drawled, turning on her heel and heading for the door. “You’ve got five minutes to get changed. Then I’m coming back in whether you’re ready or not.”

  With that, she strode out the front door of the shop.

  Noah paused. Her words finally caught up with him. Not the ones she’d just said, but the line from a few seconds before.

  They’re not stopping a Hand.

  The Executioner had mentioned a Hand as well, and that was the very same thing that Far-sed had believed him to be. Hands were the top agents of an empire.

  And that meant…

  Noah’s eyes narrowed.

  Far-sed, that rat bastard. Did he report back to the Coral Empire and tell them there was a Hand running around?

  Shit. That must have been why the Executioner guy was here for me. But he realized I wasn’t a Hand or whatever.

  So maybe that’s that. Maybe the problem is solved. I won’t have to even do anything about this from here on out. With the Executioner satisfied that I’m just some chump, there’s nothing left to bother me with…

  Right?

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