[England, Buckingham Palace]

Buckingham Palace’s most famous guest, Ah Hae-in, was currently staring at the outside scenery through the palace’s window. She looked like her usual calm self, but something about her was a little different.

That was the number of stars inscribed on her robe, which now numbered a glorious nine.

Last week, she was promoted to a 9-star magician. Her ability to summon three of the Four Cardinal Guardians had allowed her this honor.

The 9-star realm had only been achieved by thirty people through history. As such, Ah Hae-In felt that the world looked a bit different today. She immersed herself in England’s beauty in deep thought.

Tak, tak.

At that moment, a certain child skipped over to Ah Hae-In. Evandel glanced up at Ah Hae-In curiously, then imitated her solemn expression.

The two magicians stood side-by-side and stared out the window.

Rachel, who brought Evandel here, smiled and tried hard to hold back her laughter.

“...Congratulations on your protion, Master.” Evandel spoke.

“It’s

promotion

, not portion. Also, you don’t need to congratulate me. You will become one too soon enough.”

“Eeh? Me too?”

Evandel’s eyes widened.

Ah Hae-In smiled gently.

“...Yes, you’re already at the 8-star level.”

The quality of Evandel’s summons were equal to those summoned by an 8-star magician. But the sheer number of her summons easily put her at the 9-star realm.

It wouldn’t be long until the quality of her summons would reach the 9-star realm. With enough time, the 10-star realm wouldn’t be out of reach either.

“Ah, thank you.”

Evandel bowed. Having watched Evandel’s growth, Ah Hae-In couldn’t help but find her adorable. But she was worried as well.

The outside world was dark.

It was cruel and full of schemers.

Ah Hae-In wondered if such an innocent child could endure such a place.

“...Evandel.”

“Yeees?”

But the flow of time couldn’t be defied.

Even the clearest water would muddy as time passes, and a generational shift was inevitable.

A time would come when Evandel would have to reveal her overwhelming power to the world, and when that time came, countless adults would try to use her to their benefits.

“It’s time for training.”

Ah Hae-In decided to prepare Evandel for that inevitable day.

“Traiwing...?”

Evandel spoke nervously, but her pronunciations were a bit off due to her missing front teeth.

“Yep.”

Ah Hae-In smiled.

“Evandel, it’s time to create your domain.”

To protect, one had to get stronger. Connections and fortune weren’t enough. One needed absolute strength that would let them tower over all adversaries.

“...Domain?”

Evandel tilted her head.

“Yes, domain.”

Most magicians possessed their own ‘workshop’ no matter how weak they were. A workshop was a fortress of sorts where they could develop their magic and keep outsiders away.

As magicians’ research happened inside their workshop, they frequently had to fight to fend off intruders who wanted access. Ah Hae-In had also experienced countless battles before arriving at the 8-star realm.

But a workshop wasn’t enough for Evandel.

Although the higher-level concept of a workshop was a ‘stronghold’, even that wasn’t enough to hold Evandel’s talents.

A concept above a ‘stronghold’ that no magician, not even Ah Hae-In or the Nine Stars’ Oh Jaejin, could achieve. That was a ‘domain’.

“It’s going to take a long time, and you won’t be able to meet anyone during it.”

Evandel had the talent to create and maintain a ‘domain’. But because this technique placed one’s surroundings under their command, one needed to stay in that place alone for a long time.

“It will be lonely and tiring. But this domain will be of great help to you.”

The strength to survive even if the world falls. The power to act as one wished without being used by anyone.

Ah Hae-In wanted Evandel to develop autonomy.

“...Are you ready?”

With these words, Ah Hae-In slowly turned around. Rachel was staring at her with a worried face.

Rachel’s worry was justified, as a harsh process was necessary for a magician to obtain a domain. One needed to stay in a place for a long time and inscribe their will with magic power. The process could take anywhere from 6 months to 10 years.

But Ah Hae-In smiled.

“Don’t worry, Evandel is a stronger kid than you think.”

She looked down at Evandel who was deep in thought.

The image of Fenrir, who was whimpering in pain from Toji’s attack, surfaced in her mind. Although he was now fully healed, Evandel was deeply hurt. It was the first time she felt powerless. If she was stronger, neither Fenrir nor her other summons would have been hurt.

“....”

Evandel raised her head.

Her eyes were filled with firm determination.

“I want to get stronger.”

“Good...”

“B-But before then...”

Evandel stuttured.

“...I, I want to see Hajin.”

**

[Africa, mid-rank village Lupiton]

The sun set, and darkness descended on the village. Human residents had all returned to their homes as they curfew was up.

In other words, it was time for us to invade the lord’s residence.

“Get ready.”

Jain and I prepared ourselves at Boss’ command.

Boss would infiltrate the lord’s residence as a shadow, I would use [Pinnacle-rank Instant Acceleration] to burst in, and Jain would disguise herself as a humanoid monster to enter through the front door.

“We’re ready.”

Just as we were ready to start our plan...

—Tiriring.

I received a video call on my smartwatch.

“Oh? It’s Evandel.”

I planned to ignore it if it was Kim Suho or Yoo Yeonha, but Evandel was a different story. I asked Boss for some time and picked up the call.

—Hajin~

Evandel’s smiling face immediately came into view.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

I smiled back.

Evandel giggled and spoke.

—I wanted to see you~

“Suddenly? What happened?”

I’ve been calling or texting at least once a day, and before coming to Africa, I often visited her with Spartan.

—No reason~

“...Did something happen?”

I noticed a heavy atmosphere from Evandel’s expression.

—Mm... well...

Evandel hesitated for a moment before dropping her head.

—I don’t think I’ll be able to see you for a long time.

My heart sank when I heard those words.

It was the first time I’ve been so flustered in the past year.

I quickly asked back.

“W-Why?”

—Ah... um... I decided to create a domain with Master....

“Domain? ...Ah.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t anything life threatening. I quickly understood what she meant.

A magician’s domain.

Just like Evandel did in the original novel, she was trying to create a domain of her own.

—Yes, so I won’t be able to see you. I hear the power of the domain will lessen if someone enters it during its construction.

“Don’t worry about that. We can meet whenever.”

The basis of my [Black Lotus Uniform]’s presence-isolation effect was naturalness. Not only did it erase its wearer’s presence, but it also erased all trace of the wearer’s existence. Since not even Chae Nayun’s supernatural intuition could see through it, it shouldn’t affect Evandel’s domain either.

—Eeeh?

Evandel tilted her head.

“Don’t worry about not being able to see me and work hard at creating your domain. Make it pretty and hard. I’ll come by often.”

—...Really?

Evandel looked surprised, which was unsurprising considering how difficult it must have been for her to make this decision.

—Really, really?

“Of course. Have I ever lied to you? Listen to Master Ah Hae-In and work hard. I’ll go see you next week.”

—...Un! Okay!

Evandel smiled brightly and nodded.

“I’m a bit busy. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

—Okay!

Evandel’s lively voice refreshed my ears.

“So cute.”

I smiled and hung up the call.

Boss and Jain’s gazes were a bit bothersome, but I ignored them with a cough.

“Kuhum, alright, let’s go.”

“...You sure are close to her.”

Boss’ voice carried a little bit of jealousy.

“She’s a kid.”

“...Anyways, let’s get going.”

**

10 minutes later.

I entered the residence first and the shadowfied Boss entered after me. Since Jain would walk in casually at a later point, the two of us made our move first.

“Should we kill her or imprison her?”

“We don’t need to kill her since it might alert someone. We’ll imprison as planned.”

“Got it.”

I took out two 8-star cards, [Isolated Prison] and [Soundless Space].

===

[Isolated Prison] [8-star]＊Effective Good＊

—Imprisons a target in an isolated space.

—The imprisoned target will be separated from the rest of the world and will maintain the physical condition before being imprisoned.

—The target can destroy the prison and escape.

===

===

[Isolated Prison] [7-star]＊Effective Good＊

—When activated, all sound within a 1km radius will be annihilated.

—This card can be destroyed by an impact above a certain level.

===

[Soundless Space] was a bit more direct, but [Isolated Prison] was a bit more complicated because of its unique imprisoning mechanism.

—The imprisoned target will maintain the physical condition before being imprisoned.

In other words, if a target was placed inside the prison with a fatal injury, the injury wouldn’t heal or worsen during the time the target is imprisoned. So we just had to beat up Pleron and trap her inside.

“Let’s go.”

We moved soundlessly thanks to the [Soundless Space] card.

Pleron was sleeping in her bedroom at the top of the lord’s residence, and I easily maneuvered through any traps using my eyes.

“....”

After arriving close to the bedroom door, we hid behind the wall. Two guards were keeping watch. Boss and I exchanged glances and quickly made our moves.

I shot five arrows, piercing the eyes, heart, head, leg of the guard on the left.

Boss handled the right guard, slicing up his bodies with her shadow blade.

I immediately activated the 8-star card, [Isolated Prison], trapping the two guards before they could mutter a single sound.

“...Hi~”

Jain appeared at the perfect time, disguised a humanoid monster. The three of us then went into Pleron’s bedroom.

Pleron was sleeping on her large bed. Jain carefully approached her and touched me.

“Perfect.”

“...?”

Hearing her voice, Pleron woke up. The first thing she saw was someone who looked just like her. It was, of course, the disguised Jain.

“...Pieek! Who are you!”

Pleron exclaimed. Her magic power shot out and cooled the surrounding temperature. Boss quickly sliced Pleron’s wings with ‘Kurukuru’s Scythe’.

“Pieeek!”

Pleron screamed but [Soundless Space] prevented her voice from leaking out. Everything was going according to plans.

“Pieeeek!”

Boss dealt a fatal injury to Pleron, and I activated [Isolated Prison] once again.

With this, Pleron was sucked into the prison, leaving behind no trace of her existence.

It was then.

‘Bullet Time’ forcefully activated.

“...?”

The world suddenly slowed down. I could feel the movement of the air around me.

I rolled my eyes and checked for any signs of danger. It didn’t take long for me to see a current of magic power slowly descended from the ceiling.

A ‘magic power explosion’.

It wasn’t a normal explosion. This powerful explosion caused by unnaturally condensed magic power exploding was something neither me, Boss, nor Jain could easily endure.

I quickly tried to activate [Time Reversal].

But at that moment, a strange phenomenon entered my eyes.

“What....”

A golden current erupted with the magic power explosion. I knew very well what this phenomenon was.

‘Narrow Escape from Death’. My luck was guiding me to this explosion, telling me not to use Time Reversal.

[Narrow Escape from Death (6/9) – special stat, accumulation of luck, becomes partly unlocked!]

[It’s a momentary misfortune for the ideal ending.]

The moment I read the alert, I threw myself into the center of the golden current.

“Hajin...”

Boss tried to grab me.

Boom—!

But an explosion erupted.

I blacked out.

**

...Tk, tk, tk.

The sound of a campfire rang out.

“Ah....”

Boss regained consciousness after blacking out momentarily.

A strange scene was reflected before her eyes.

“...Hey, Byul.”

The man she had been looking to kill for years, Bell, was now in front of her.

He was holding Kim Hajin over his shoulders.

Blood quickly rushed to Boss’ head.

“Be...”

“You won’t be able to move or talk. I made that explosion from a part of my body. Even you will be incapacitated for 30 minutes. You should know how strong I am, right?”

Bell smiled bitterly as he said that.

“Anyhow, I’m touched. He tried to protect you guys.”

Bell glanced at Kim Hajin, who was sprawled over his shoulders.

The moment he ignited his magic power, Kim Hajin reacted earlier than anyone else and threw himself forward. He was undoubtedly trying to protect Byul.

And thanks to Kim Hajin’s sacrifice, Byul and Jain only ended up being paralyzed.

“I’m tearing up.”

“...Bell.”

Boss growled and glared at Bell.

Blood flowed from her eyes as she barely managed to eek out his name.

She clenched her teeth and emitted deep-rooted rage and killing intent.

“I’ll take Kim Hajin with me. There’s a lot I need to discuss with him.”

Bell was as leisurely as ever.

“Be...ll....”

Boss reached forward. Her vision was dyed red, but she didn’t give up. She commanded her limbs with all her effort, ‘Move, move, move...!’

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. I don’t plan to either.”

“Let him....”

By the time her hand touched the ground after tremendous effort, Bell had already turned his back on her.

At the same time, humanoid monsters who noticed the commotion flooded in.

“You won’t be able to stay with him forever anyways.”

Boss moved her legs as Bell continued talking. She stepped forward with her broken ankle and forced her broken knees to stand.

Like a wooden puppet, she staggered up in a strange pose.

“...Let him go.”

Boss spoke. But that was all she could say. Bell looked back at her eyes and gave a faint smile.

“Sorry this happened again.”

With that Bell jumped down from the mansion. Boss tried to follow him, but her body refused to move. After taking Bell’s attack head-on, her body was screaming to get rest.

“Keruk! What happened!? Keruk! Who are you!?”

Plus, humanoid monsters had already arrived. Boss continued to glare at the direction Bell disappeared to...

Thud—!

Then, she collapsed.