Seiana vanished along with the flower-scented breeze that swept before their eyes.
“…Lovey?”
Halo muttered as he stared at the empty space, but Seiana didn’t reappear.
No one could understand the situation, and everyone stood frozen, staring blankly at the spot she had disappeared from.
The first to react was Raymond.
An ominous aura began to emanate from his body in waves.
“Hiiik…!”
It was so intense that anyone faint of heart would have had a hard time enduring it.
Those who had come to assist Raymond had trained themselves and only collapsed to the ground in fright, but others nearby were so overwhelmed they nearly lost their sanity.
Halo wasn’t weak, but the energy was far beyond what an ordinary person like him could handle.
While everyone else lay flattened like frogs crushed under stones, only one person remained free.
“Get a grip, Raymond.”
It was a voice that sounded cold at first.
But Raymond, already filled with rage to the tip of his head, snapped at Aries’ words.
‘How am I supposed to calm down in this situation? Seiana’s gone!’
Absurdly enough, she had been kidnapped by a fairy—a race believed to have gone extinct due to their long absence.
Raymond couldn’t forgive the fairies, but more than that, he couldn’t forgive himself.
It was his map that had led them here in the first place.
‘If I hadn’t brought that map here… If I hadn’t let my guard down, stupidly thinking nothing would happen…’
Raymond’s blazing eyes turned toward Aries.
‘If you hadn’t brought up that nonsense about fairies and dragged us on this stupid trip…’
Even though he knew it was irrational, Raymond still wanted someone to blame.
Otherwise, there would be no outlet for his rage.
As Raymond’s furious eyes locked onto Aries, Aries sensed danger and yanked out a nearby tree to use as a shield.
“You crazy bastard…”
The tree he had turned into a barricade crumbled into dust the moment it came under Raymond’s gaze.
He had accelerated the tree’s time and weathered it to ruin.
If it had been his body instead of the tree… Cold sweat trickled down Aries’ back.
“Hey! I said snap out of it!”
The moment Aries saw the tree crumble, he leapt backward to retreat. But the positioning was bad.
‘Why now, when there are so many people around?’
Damn it.
Aries grit his teeth.
The others had gathered nearby under the pretense of providing protection.
No matter which direction he fled, someone was there—if he avoided the blow, others would take the hit.
Honestly, Aries didn’t care if those people got hurt.
‘But if they’re knights from the Count’s family, it’s a different story!’
They were people Seiana cared about.
Having visited the Count’s estate several times, Aries knew that she treated the knights and staff like family.
If they were hurt or killed, how much pain would that cause Seiana?
That’s why he was desperately trying to protect them from Raymond’s power while retreating.
“You’re really pulling out all the stops, huh!”
Raymond used every ability he had to attack Aries.
Suddenly, flames erupted before his eyes.
Then lightning struck down from the sky toward his head.
Aries quickly scooped up some dirt and smothered the flames, and used a knight’s sword to redirect the lightning.
While dodging the relentless assault, Halo tried to help Aries by subduing Raymond—foolishly unaware of the difference in power.
“Don’t!”
If they really wanted to help, they should have just left the two of them alone and run.
Then at least Aries wouldn’t have had to protect anyone.
Of course, Halo’s attempt was useless.
He tried to subdue Raymond like one would a criminal, but Raymond was a monster.
He was floating in the air with the large-bodied Halo on his back—clearly not subdued at all.
Raymond glared at the confused Halo.
It would have been better if he had just let go and fled at that moment.
But Raymond’s rage spared no one.
When his eyes met Halo’s, Halo felt like he couldn’t breathe.
It was like being crushed under something enormous.
The enraged monster could have torn him apart with a single finger—but didn’t.
Instead, Halo sensed Raymond’s malicious intent to make him suffer as much as possible, and at that moment, he realized his end had come…
“Stop it!”
Aries rushed in like he was flying and struck Raymond with all his strength.
Perhaps even Raymond couldn’t ignore the power of a fellow ability-user—he staggered.
Seizing the moment, Aries snatched Halo from his grasp.
“Gasp…!! Gasp…!”
“Tha…nk…”
“Just get lost!”
Without waiting for thanks, Aries shoved Halo away.
Halo, as if sliding across ice, was pushed without resistance and landed where the others were gathered.
Aries had likely pushed them all to that spot earlier.
“Now there’s no hostage left.”
Aries sneered.
As if saying that without a hostage, Raymond was nothing.
It might have made anyone flinch, but Raymond only stared at his enemy with cold eyes.
Soon the two of them began a real fight.
Unlike the usual bickering, this time their attacks carried killing intent.
It was as if the heavens and earth were turning upside down.
The ground split, and lightning struck a clear sky.
Water sprang from dry earth and froze into spears that shot at Aries.
“This is seriously unfair!”
As he split a firestorm rushing toward him, Aries shouted.
He could only use one ability, while he used several.
It wasn’t unreasonable to feel frustrated.
However, it wasn’t like Raymond was unaffected—blood streamed from his nose, and his eyes looked like they would start crying blood.
“You’ll die at this rate, you know?”
Even though Aries hated Raymond’s guts, he didn’t actually want him dead—perhaps because of the strange attachment built up over time.
As Raymond’s body began to give out, his attacks grew more desperate and intense.
Aries, frantically dodging, began grabbing nearby objects and hurling them.
Raymond had been destroying everything thrown at him with his abilities—until he suddenly froze.
‘Huh?’
Why?
It didn’t seem like he had overloaded.
He continued destroying some things, but others remained untouched.
Wondering what made the difference, Aries examined the untouched objects and soon realized they all had one thing in common.
‘You creepy bastard.’
They were all Seiana’s belongings.
Her parasol, gloves and shoes she’d taken off while sitting, her hat, even her fork…
Even while lost in rage, he had recognized them.
Now it was Aries’ turn to take a hostage.
When Aries tried to break Seiana’s belongings—those precious items Raymond had left untouched—he blocked her with matching power.
Tremble tremble.
Because of the clash between their powers, Seiana’s belongings floated midair, unable to fall or move in any direction.
“Hey! Get a grip! You can see Lovey’s belongings, but you can’t see the people around you?!”
Seiana would value people more than things.
Aries narrowed his eyes.
‘Don’t tell me… is he doing this with the thought of harming everyone else and being the only one left?’
Just as that suspicion arose—
“Ah…!”
Aries staggered—not from an attack, but from exhaustion after continuously using his abilities.
The problem was that once one of the two tightly opposing forces disappeared, the item belonging to Seiana, which Raymond had been holding, was torn apart by Raymond’s own power.
A look of emptiness crossed Raymond’s face as he lost the item he had been protecting in an instant.
Before that look could turn into despair, Aries ran toward him.
Just as Seiana had taught him, he raised his fist with the middle finger slightly out and struck Raymond square in the philtrum.
Whack—!
“Ugh!”
“Snap out of it! You shouldn’t be obsessed with some dumb object—you should be looking for Lovey!”
Those words jolted Raymond back to his senses, and the anger clouding his eyes cleared.
Looking at Aries standing there panting, he began to cool down.
“…Yeah. I need to find her.”
Raymond’s eyes scanned the flower field thoroughly.
In truth, due to the fight between the two, it had been completely wrecked and was no longer a flower field but a ruin.
No matter how hard he looked, no clues turned up.
Fairy magic was different from supernatural powers, which made it all the more difficult.
‘What should I do?’
Raymond, anxious again, felt a destructive urge rise within him—he wanted to tear up the surroundings once more.
But it would do no good to relieve his emotions, let alone help in finding Seiana.
While thinking hard about what to do, he remembered the space-manipulating ability that the violet fairy used.
‘This is supposed to be the entrance to what might be the fairy world. If it doesn’t open on its own, then I’ll have to force it open.’
Raymond’s eyes lit up with intensity.
Fixing his wavering heart, he looked toward the place where Seiana had vanished.
Supernatural power was the power of the mind.
It created exactly what one imagined.
Raymond envisioned the strongest castle gate he could and twisted it open with cupped hands.
Crack— Crackle— Craack!
Then, he heard the sound of something splitting in his head and felt his body being sucked in.
‘Where… is this?’
When he opened his eyes again, he saw nothing. Instinctively, he reached out and felt around—it seemed he was trapped somewhere.
The surface was curved inward, making it seem like he was inside a ball or an egg.
‘Sei is… just beyond this wall.’
He was convinced that Seiana was behind this barrier.
It wasn’t just a gut feeling—he could sense the trace of his own power that he had left with her.
Just in case, he had given her a hairpin as a gift and infused it with his power.