The moment I stepped out of the tower, the air hit me with the smell of burnt dust and shattered stone.

  The breach in the wall opened straight to the outside. From there I could see the grey sky and the steep slope just below.

  The tower jutted out from the edge of the castle’s rock base; beneath it, past the drop, spread the valley, the forest, and the fields surrounding Thiseia.

  I didn’t think.

  I jumped.

  I tumbled down the slope with no control.

  Rough grass, loose stones, roots—everything slammed into me.

  My sleeve tore. My arm burned. A rock hit my side hard enough to fill my mouth with blood.

  But I didn’t stop.

  I forced myself upright and kept going until I crossed into the forest.

  It wasn’t dense—just the natural barrier of trees circling the castle.

  The shade felt heavy. But not hostile.

  I kept moving.

  At first simply to run.

  Then… something changed.

  Something pulled at me from deep in my chest.

  A dull, steady tug.

  Like something whispering, this way.

  I didn’t know what it was.

  But the direction was clear.

  I wasn’t just running away anymore.

  I was moving toward something.

  Or that was how it felt.

  Behind me, the castle’s alarm rang three times.

  Then a fourth.

  Internal emergency.

  Search protocols.

  Not to protect me—

  to retrieve me by force.

  Voices echoed in the distance—shouts, orders.

  And something like barking… but not dogs. Not exactly.

  I pushed harder. My legs shook, but I didn’t look back.

  Don’t let them reach me.

  Please—

  Two lights cut across the sky. Tracker orbs.

  They locked above me and stamped a glowing trail into the air.

  Sweat stung my eyes.

  My heart hammered like it wanted to break out of my chest.

  Then I heard it: a faint mechanical hum from the sky.

  Not a spell.

  A lightweight magecraft machine. A hunter-class unit.

  And it wasn’t patrolling.

  It was coming for me.

  One of them dropped in a straight dive.

  Far too fast.

  My feet stopped on their own. Reflex.

  A shape fell behind the machine, in a trajectory no human should manage.

  He landed in front of me with clean, unnatural precision.

  A man.

  Thin, but built to fight.

  A black, segmented mask hid his face.

  He held a long spear.

  A deep blue core pulsed at the center of the shaft—

  not magical,

  more like… alive.

  The tip touched the ground.

  The sound it made was low and metallic—

  a vibration that resonated in my throat instead of my ears.

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  I stepped back.

  Not from fear.

  My stomach tightened.

  My mana recoiled, folding inward like it wanted to hide.

  The air around him was eating magic.

  「What… is that?」

  I didn’t know.

  But my body did.

  And it rejected him completely.

  He raised the spear. No words.

  No command.

  Just the silent intention to capture me.

  I ran.

  Not like before.

  Not like during training.

  I ran like the air itself was burning at my heels.

  Branches cut my arms and face, but I barely felt them.

  Nothing hurt as much as the thought of being caught.

  I heard footsteps behind me. Multiple sets.

  Coordinated.

  Guards.

  Not the regular kind.

  I tried to turn between two trunks, slide down a dip, break their line of sight—

  but they adjusted instantly.

  Something dropped from above.

  A talisman.

  It spun once in the air, then unfolded into a panel of light covered in marks I didn’t recognize.

  The path ahead sealed shut.

  I swerved, forced to turn.

  Ran parallel to the slope now, dodging roots and uneven ground.

  Another talisman fell to my right.

  Another barrier.

  They weren’t chasing anymore.

  They were herding me.

  The forest didn’t end, but my route did.

  The trees narrowed into a funnel, shaped by the barriers.

  A sharp turn forced me into a small clearing—

  natural, but boxed in by trunks and steep earth.

  Not the edge of the forest.

  Just a dead end.

  And they were there.

  Three guards in front.

  Two closing in from the sides.

  And in the center—

  him.

  The hunter.

  He didn’t speak.

  He didn’t need to.

  The way he looked at me through that mask said everything:

  It’s over.

  My eyes darted around—roots, a rise in the ground, a gap between shrubs—

  nothing.

  Another talisman dropped, unfolding right in front of me, sealing the last possible exit.

  Its pressure pushed me inward.

  Toward him.

  He raised his arm.

  The spear vibrated again, that same deep pulse crawling between my ribs.

  With his free hand, he pulled something from his belt.

  A thin, black metal ring.

  Glowing with the same deep blue.

  Restraints.

  I didn’t know how they worked.

  But I knew what they were for.

  Not to hold someone down.

  To shut them down.

  To cut off mana at the root.

  My stomach clenched.

  My mana recoiled so sharply it felt like it wanted to escape my body entirely.

  He stepped forward.

  I tried to move, but my legs gave out.

  I fell backward, hitting the ground hard.

  I raised my hands to protect myself, expecting a strike.

  He didn’t strike.

  He simply leaned in—

  like someone quietly closing a lid—

  and touched the metal to my wrist—

  Everything reacted at once.

  I didn’t cast.

  I didn’t shout.

  I didn’t even think.

  My body screamed for me.

  All the mana I’d held back.

  All the layers I’d forced down for years—

  flipped inside out.

  It didn’t burst outward.

  It collapsed inward.

  Not fire.

  Not light.

  My form… stopped being a form.

  The ground lost weight.

  The air lost texture.

  For a heartbeat, I had no arms.

  No legs.

  No skin.

  Only trembling.

  Pulses.

  A beat that was mine and not mine.

  And I understood.

  This was the sealing moment.

  And my body rejected it—

  with everything I was.

  —

  And after that…

  …there was only silence.

  And a void where I should have been.