My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

"On the surface, this does indeed appear to be a test," Xia said calmly, his tone as indifferent as stating a weather fact. He didn't look at Viktor, his gaze fixed on the massive gate in the distance.

"We're testing students, and we're testing Einstein too. The Tower of Truth has found you, set the location at the Eye of the Abyss, and sent you to activate the Anti-Magic Domain." He paused, his lips twitching slightly, not quite a smile, but more like a confirmation. "This makes you feel like you're also part of the plan, a participant, not someone being manipulated."

He nodded. "Because that's one of their goals, it's quite believable."

Then he suddenly turned his head and looked directly at Viktor. His gray-blue eyes were as still as two mirrors, reflecting every subtle change in Viktor's expression.

"But have you ever considered..." his voice softened, "...what if they have other motives?"

"For example—they know the door exists, but they don't know its exact location?"

He tilted his head slightly.

"Or perhaps... we don't know exactly what you did."

"How can you be sure they know?" Victor retorted.

Char did not answer immediately. He simply and slowly pulled a folded parchment from his pocket, his movements unhurried.

"How do you think I found you?" He unfolded the map, facing Victor. "This map shows everyone's location, name, and even updates in real time."

Char tapped the edge of the map lightly with his finger. "I found it in a sealed-off miners' break room. I thought, given how complex this cave system is, it's normal to have a map."

He paused, then looked up at Victor.

"But I still can't understand why a miner's map could display all of our names?"

"How could a miner possibly possess such alchemy tools?" Sylvia whispered.

Char's eyelids twitched slightly, and the corners of his mouth moved slightly, as if he were smiling, or perhaps confirming something.

"Yeah... how could that be?"

He stopped being mysterious and his tone became calm.

"I initially thought finding it was luck. But now it seems it was deliberately placed there. That path only leads to that mine chamber, and whoever went in would 'just happen' to find it."

Thinking about it that way, the falling of those rock cones is a bit strange. I guess even if he hadn't thrown the hydrogen-oxygen bomb, the rock cones would have fallen and led him to the mine chamber.

Char took the bloodstained diary out of his storage space and waved it in front of Viktor.

"This is the miner's diary. It contains accounts of the 'door,' what he heard, and what he saw."

Char put the diary away and fixed his gaze on Viktor's face.

"Do you think the person who put the map in that mine chamber wouldn't have read this diary?"

Viktor didn't speak again. He simply raised his head slightly and glanced at Char.

That glance was calm, so calm that it didn't seem like someone whose every thought could be seen through.

Then--

He moved.

Without warning or any preparation, his body was like a spring that had been compressed to its limit, suddenly released and launched outwards. Instead of running towards the exit, he lunged at the kneeling female statue!

His right hand was raised high, and the dark red crystal in his palm emitted an ominous light, like a solidified drop of blood.

"Stop him!" Sylvia screamed.

Char reacted faster than her.

Just as Viktor's body was launched forward, a faintly glowing hydrogen-oxygen sphere flew from his fingertip. It wasn't aimed at Viktor's body, but rather at the ground in front of him.

"boom!!"

The explosion occurred two meters in front of Viktor. The blue-white fireball sent him flying, crashing heavily to the ground and sliding four or five meters before coming to a stop.

The dark red crystal slipped from his hand.

Xia withdrew his hand and patted the dust off his robe.

"After all that, you think I wasn't prepared for this?" His tone was calm. "That statue over there, is it your real target?"

Viktor lay on the ground, coughed twice, and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. A large area of ​​his left side was burned by the explosion; his robe was charred, revealing the red, swollen, and blistering skin underneath. But he pushed himself up from the ground, slowly and laboriously.

Then he laughed.

The corners of his mouth curved sharply, revealing his bloodstained teeth, and his eyebrows and eyes were curved, as if he were watching a good show that only he could understand.

"Char..." His voice was hoarse, choked with bloody gasps, "Do you really think my two henchmen have already been teleported away?"

Char's pupils suddenly contracted.

He looked sharply at the spot where the dark red crystal had just fallen—Victor had thrown the crystal toward the statue during the explosion.

The moment Victor finished speaking, the crystal actually flew up on its own.

No, it was an invisible person who picked up the crystal and rushed towards the statue.

Because of his large movements, his invisibility cloak rode up slightly, revealing his legs and feet underneath.

Char tried to retrieve a hydrogen-oxygen bomb from his storage space and throw it over, but it was too late.

The moment the red crystal touched the statue, it seemed to melt into the water.

Char's hydrogen-oxygen spheres followed in quick succession.

"boom!"

The blue and white flames sent the man flying, his right hand was blown off and he fell to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

But in the next moment, a blazing white light enveloped the man and his severed right hand, and a magic circle slowly appeared.

He disappeared from the spot.

Now, he has truly been teleported away.

The space was quiet for a while.

Where the crystals are integrated, a dark red light is seeping outward from inside the stone statue, like blood being refilled into a blood vessel.

Then.....

"Click—"

Cracks began to appear on the surface of the statue, first at the fingertips, then on the arms, shoulders, and finally on the face that was mostly covered by long hair.

The light shining through the crack grew brighter and brighter, revealing an eerie color that resembled both the aurora borealis and blood...

The air began to vibrate.

Or rather, the magic that was originally sealed by the magic-suppressing domain has begun to become active again and has become viscous.

Yes, it is viscous.

The Tower of Truth is also a place brimming with magic, but it has never been so dense, almost liquefied.

The temperature in the entire cave soared in an instant.

Char felt as if a mouthful of scalding sand had been poured into his throat, and then he heard a sound like shattering glass.

"Table tennis!"

He felt the magic within him begin to "flow" again, and he could use magic once more if he wanted to.

—The Forbidden Magic Domain has shattered.

But...neither Char nor Sylvia had a smile on their faces.

"Vilvia..." a voice came from inside the statue.

—This statue is alive!

"You...have come...with Vervia's blood."

Viktor's Adam's apple bobbed. His eyes were filled with complex emotions—guilt and awe. But he didn't back down; he even straightened his back slightly.

"I've come to take you home," he said, his voice remarkably steady. "Lady Cindy..."

The statue did not answer.

The cracks continued to widen. Stone began to peel away from the surface of the statue, piece by piece, growing larger and larger, revealing the smooth, creamy skin beneath.

Peng!

Peng!

The chains snapped one by one.

The entire underground space shook violently. When the second pillar broke, the giant statue on the massive door emitted a low, booming sound that was both a cry and a laugh.

The third and fourth roots.

The chains flew everywhere like broken ropes, one of them grazing over Xia's head and embedding itself in the rock wall behind him, sinking half a meter deep.

Then, she stood up, and all the shackles binding her were removed.

Her long hair was loose, revealing a pale yet delicate face.

She was so beautiful she seemed inhuman—her features were like those of a classical sculpture, and her skin had a sickly pallor.

Those dark red eyes without pupils slowly swept over the crowd, and the air trembled wherever their gaze fell.

She was barefoot. Her bare feet trod on the scorching stone slabs, and broken iron chains still clung to her ankles, dragging on the ground with a soft, clattering sound.