He couldn't breathe.
Not because he needed to—but because even if he wanted to, he couldn't right now.
His eyes stayed locked straight ahead, where Austra no longer stood. But her face lingered in his mind, that twisted smile curling into a grin she barely held back when Magnus had charged forward.
She spoke slowly from someplace behind him, her words mocking and drawn out.
"Aw, you were so close. But the shockwave still hit them."
Even though his mind was a chaos of overlapping memories from the future bleeding into the present, Magnus had managed to stop himself. He forced his body to a halt using [Self Body Puppetry] to interfere with and edit the script created by [Velocity Breaker—Lance]. But in the end, it didn't matter. The real power of [Velocity Breaker] wasn't in the punch itself—it came from the speed of the strike and the pressure it built.
The result was plain for him to see. The family was gone—or rather, they were unrecognizable. Streaks of blood smeared across the stone of the underground chapel. Red covered everything before Magnus's eyes. He couldn't tell who belonged to whom, but he had seen it all.
For once, his ability to perceive things faster than normal people wasn't a blessing—it was a curse.
He had witnessed every moment of their deaths, the images burned into his retina and mind. The way their bodies twisted under the force behind his strike. How they bent, how bones shattered, and their faces froze in horror—too quick for even a flicker of pain. Maybe they hadn't even felt it. That thought passed through Magnus's mind as he tried to find comfort. But it shattered almost immediately. How could that make things better when their crushed organs and broken bones were scattered in front of him? How could it change the fact that his hands were stained red, even though not a drop of blood touched him?
The slow click of Austra's heels echoed behind him as she walked forward. Her hands remained behind her back as she stopped beside him.
"You don't look so good," she said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy as she leaned in slightly. Magnus's face was frozen, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the scene.
She let out a short laugh and straightened up.
"You know, it's funny. Even I wouldn't have made it through those barriers you put up faster than you could reach me. But you made two small mistakes... Your barriers interior was too weak. They'd break if anyone, but you who tried to leave. That made it easier for me, since your barrier didn't block sound or light. Just a few visual illusions—making them think you lost our little fight, a pained voice telling them to run, and a slight hallucination to confuse their sense of direction. Honestly, it was too easy."
She reached out and placed a soft hand on Magnus's shoulder, leaning in so her lips were close to his ear.
"At first, I thought maybe you wouldn't fall for it, and I'd have to kill them myself. Though I doubt it would've worked; you're good at blocking out the deaths of those around you. But you did it. Oh, you should have heard it—the way that silly woman comforted her daughter, telling them they'd be all right. Such sweet, sweet lies. Do you think she believed them? Hmm, Magnus. Did that little girl feel safe for even a moment before you splattered her against the wall? Did she feel any hope before you killed her?"
Those words were the last push that broke Magnus.
He dropped to his knees, letting out a shaky breath as his whole body trembled. Inside his mind, Basker's voice echoed—and for maybe the first time, it was shouting.
[Master! Master, you need to focus! Focus on my voice!]
Basker, the secondary presence in Magnus's mind, could do a lot—but it couldn't take control. It could prune away negative thoughts, the kinds that might get in the way during a fight, but that was like trimming branches on a path. The path itself was whatever Magnus chose to focus on. Anxiety, fear, even pain were just branches. Basker could cut them away, yes, but if Magnus fixated on those distractions, there was nothing Basker could do. It couldn't interfere with the path Magnus deliberately followed.
Magnus had to pull himself back. That was why Basker was frantically clearing the chaos of negative emotions rising inside his mindscape. But no matter what Basker did, it meant nothing if Magnus didn't try to shift his focus.
[Magnus, please!]
Even as Basker's voice grew urgent and strained with emotion, as he called his name for the first time, Magnus stayed silent.
Nearby, Austra watched as Magnus crumpled to his knees. Her grin hadn't faded—it had sharpened into something colder, filled with scorn and disgust.
"You humans... so strong in many ways. But you all share the same weakness. One hit there, and your minds unravel. All your ideals? Nothing but empty words scattered by the wind. It's almost sickening..." She let the words hang as she stared down at him. Just minutes ago, he'd given her a fight. Now, looking at him like this, she only felt confirmed in what she already knew.
"It's also a bit disappointing. But in the end, this is what makes your kind prey, isn't it? Your weakness." Her hand shot out, grabbing Magnus by the hair and yanking him upright.
Then her other arm swung, slamming into his stomach. The strike echoed through the underground chapel, making the ground tremble. Magnus was sent flying, coughing up blood as his eyes bulged. But Austra was faster. Before he hit the ground, she was behind him, grabbing his head. His body went limp like a ragdoll as she slammed his skull into the stone floor.
The stone cracked before his skull did—but it was clear his body was feeling the blow.
Still holding his head, she spat, "Pathetic..."
She tossed him lightly into the air, then unleashed a relentless barrage. Each punch sent him one way before the next cancelled the momentum, each several times faster than sound. Every strike caused shockwaves to ripple through his body. He bounced off the floor more than once, each time flung back into another blow. Her nails raked at him sometimes, tearing deep gashes into his skin.
Now that he wasn't defending himself, blood sprayed into the air and fell to the ground.
Inside Magnus's mind, Basker struggled to reach him but was distracted, forced to use [Perfective Regeneration] without Magnus's help just to keep him alive.
[Magnus, I can't keep everything together alone...]
Basker's voice echoed again inside Magnus's mind just as a heavy strike sent him flying into the air, crashing into the roof. The stone cracked under the impact, rippling with force as debris tumbled down.
Looking up at him, Austra sneered, "Even now, with no will left to fight, you're still healing yourself, clinging to life. Why bother?"
The answer wasn't in words. Magnus's body slipped loose from the ceiling, falling limply back toward the ground. Austra took a step back, then, just before he hit the floor in front of her, she kicked out. Her foot struck Magnus square in the chest, and with a sickening crack, his ribs shattered and caved inward. Fragments pierced his organs, causing internal bleeding as he was hurled through the air. His body hit the ground like a stone, skipping twice before smashing violently against the wall, causing an explosion of dust and trembling stone.
When the dust settled, Magnus lay slumped, half-embedded in the wall, blood dripping from his mouth.
Even then, his eyes seemed empty, without will.
"I suppose this really is it," Austra muttered, the amusement gone from her voice, her face falling into a cold, neutral expression. She stretched out his arm, and dark fog leaked from her true form, condensing into a blade almost a meter long, seeming to grow from her elbow. She said nothing as she slowly stepped toward Magnus, clearly ready to deliver the final blow—to sever his head.
But then, everything froze. The dust hanging in the air. Austra mid-step. The rocks still falling from the ceiling.
Time had stopped.
"And so, we find ourselves here once again. Seems I'm the saner one between us after all."
Magnus recognized the voice instantly—it was Eveline.
But something was different.
No amusement.
No chuckle.
Just a flat, deadpan tone.
Slowly, he lifted his head as Eveline teleported into the underground chapel, standing beside the frozen Austra without even looking at her before walking toward him.
"Eveline..." Magnus whispered, his voice weak, as if barely holding on.
She stopped a few meters from Magnus, eyes narrowed as she studied him. For once, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking or feeling.
"Tell me, Magnus—do you know the definition of insanity?"
Magnus's mind was still shaky, trying to reorganize itself. Basker was slowly gathering the fragments now that Magnus was thinking again, but it was tough. He still wasn't all there yet.
"What...?" The words stumbled out of Magnus's mouth.
"There's the true definition, of course. But there's also the logical one. Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting the result to change. That—that's insanity." Eveline closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath, then opened them and looked back at him.
"You're compassionate, Magnus. Remember when I told you that? Back when we first made our soul binding? I said that kindness of yours—that hesitation to do what needs to be done—would either kill you... or break you. And here we are again. You, on the brink of death, and me bound to save you. Though honestly, I'm not sure why. You never seem to fully learn from your failures." Her words hit him hard. Magnus lowered his head, eyes fixed on the ground before her. Slowly, they drifted toward the bloody mess at the front of the underground chapel.
"Ca- Can you-"
Eveline cut him off with a shake of her head.
"Even I can't bring back the dead, Magnus. Not in that state. The moment the brain dies, the soul untethers itself, and it's almost impossible to find without the right preparation. Like trying to catch a single strand of hair blowing somewhere in the world."
Magnus's gaze lingered a moment longer before he pulled it away.
"Oh..."
Eveline broke the silence with a question.
"Why didn't you kill the vampires?"
Magnus met her eyes and frowned.
"What? I- I can't. They're immortal..."
Eveline snorted softly.
"Now we both know that's a lie. Immortal for most, yes. But you? You have a way to get rid of them permanently. The moment you sealed them in those mana constructs, you could have killed them. So why didn't you?"
Magnus hesitated, his mouth opening and closing.
Finally, he said, "I was bringing them to you-"
"Don't lie to me," Eveline cut in, her eyes darkening, only softening when she sighed and stepped closer.
Leaning forward, tilting her head to meet his gaze eye to eye, she said, "I suppose you don't mean to lie. In the end, you're lying to yourself as much as you're lying to me. I'm sure part of you truly believes the excuses you make. But we both know the truth. The reason you hold back, refuse to erase those vampires, and why you're lying here half dead, is because you won't kill. It doesn't matter if they're street trash trying to take your head for a bounty, slave traders trafficking people you care about, or vampires who treat humans like cattle. You refuse to kill any of them because you don't want to get your hands dirty."
"That's not it..." Magnus tried to argue, but Eveline laughed right in his face as she straightened up.
"Oh really? It's that twisted little mortality of yours that got you coming here all alone, isn't it? That need to take responsibility for every bad thing that happens around you. Doesn't matter if it's a friend or just an acquaintance—you just can't help yourself. But in the end, when you refuse to do what's necessary, when you show mercy as fragrantly as you do, all that ends up doing is getting more people killed. It's a cycle—a loop of self-loathing and the burden you carry yourself. The only reason you've managed to get away with it this far is because of those special abilities of yours. But everything has its limits, Magnus."
She let the words hang in the air, then raised her hand slightly. With a flicker of light, Magnus saw a small projection, like a hologram, appear above one of her fingers—a still image of him entering Takerth Academy for the first time.
"When you first came to Takerth Academy, and I noticed you, I could already tell you had a deep drive. Not the kind that comes from lineage or orders. No... the kind that comes from having faced death once and never wanting to face it again. If I had to guess, you almost died once before coming here, didn't you?"
Magnus didn't answer, but the shift in his expression told Eveline everything she needed.
"You were a coward, to some degree. But you learned to overcome your fears—even the fear of being hunted. You replaced them with curiosity and a drive to learn. You became confident. And eventually, you took the first step toward truly improving yourself. That abnormal skeleton of yours? That was the result of it, right? And you kept pushing forward after that, learning and improving faster than before. Then came your next big lesson," Eveline said, as another projection appeared over her finger—his fight with Gozif.
"This was your first taste of the price arrogance demands. But it didn't end there, did it? No... that lesson needed to be hammered in. So, when you met her for the first time, you were quickly overwhelmed," Eveline's voice marked the moment as another projection appeared—him with Austra's hand piercing through him.
"You learned a lot that day. What happens when you don't think properly and let emotion rule you. You learned to stop obsessing over impossibilities and focus on what you could do now, and how to get better. The arrogance growing inside you was crushed, true losses landed on your shoulders for the first time, and from those ashes came your special healing method... what was it? Perfective Regeneration? Yes, that's it. Clever and versatile. One that almost brought your mindset to a new level. But once again, you fell short. You let our adorable little Celia influence you—you hesitated to push yourself further. And by the time you did against that snake, it was too late. Even more lives were lost."
The final projection appeared as Eveline spoke, showing the moment before his actions caused that family of three to die.
"And now, once again, your hesitation to end things has gotten even more people killed. Every time you learn and move forward, you take a step back. You improve yet stay the same. And it all boils down to one simple fact—you're desperately trying to hold on to some vague semblance of... humanity. So why can't you see that very same ideal is going to be what kills you? You have so much potential, Magnus. So much. It's infuriating! But your refusal to take the final steps—do what needs to be done—not just for yourself, but for those you want to protect... it's a disease." Eveline's voice grew venomous near the end as she glanced back at Austra, eyes still locked on Magnus, ready to kill.
"Maybe that's why she hates you so much. Not just because your abilities make you strange and hard to understand, but because such power is in the hands of someone so mentally unsure. It's... as she said, sickening." Through every word and cut, Magnus stayed silent. The scenes and projections above Eveline's fingers dragged his memories around his mind, playing like a video on loop.
Eventually, from the crack between his lips, Magnus muttered in a trembling voice, "Then... what the hell am I supposed to do? I'm trying my best, I swear I am..."
Silence stretched for a few moments before Eveline replied, "Do you really believe that?"
Their eyes locked as she spoke again.
"From the depths of your being, can you truly say you've done everything?" The question echoed deep inside his mind. Had he really done everything? Were there lines he hadn't crossed, barriers he still refused to break—barriers that separated him from what he needed to do?
The answer showed itself as Magnus's hands, resting at his sides, slowly clenched into fists.
"I see..." His words came out like a whisper as he stared at Eveline.
She didn't confirm or deny his thoughts. Instead, she asked one last question.
"Tell me, Magnus—are you about to die?"
He paused, briefly looking down at his broken body before shifting his gaze to Austra.
"No."
That was all it took. A wide, crazed grin spread across Eveline's face, followed by a laugh that grew into a full, wild cackle.
"Then I suppose I'm not needed here, am I?" With that, Eveline vanished, teleporting away as time unfroze and everything started moving again—including Austra. But she paused mid-step, surprise flickering in her eyes as she watched Magnus slowly rise, freeing himself from the rubble.
"Oh? What's this? Your second wind? A final desperate act?" She asked, a grin playing across her lips.
But Magnus simply looked up at her, his eyes almost passive as he spoke inside his mind.
Basker.
The voice that answered was calm, with none of the frantic energy the hound had shown moments before.
[Yes, Master?]
Apply the modification.
[Master, I... Very well.]
The next second, Austra's grin twisted into a frown. Suddenly, she saw Magnus's eyes roll back, and his body went almost completely limp. Yet some force kept him standing. His body twitched; a gargle came from his throat, and he started jerking as if electrocuted. Austra's confusion grew. A minute later, parts of Magnus's skin began to bulge, as if something moved beneath the surface, shifting and pulling apart. In all her lifetimes walking this world, Austra had never seen anything like it.
It was unnatural in every sense of the word.
"What the hell is he doing..." She muttered under her breath, instinctively stepping back.
Another minute passed. Magnus's body finally stopped twitching and writhing like something was alive under his skin. Slowly, his hunched form became animate again as he sat up straight. He didn't breathe in or out. He simply raised his head and looked at her.
In the next moment, they were no longer in the underground chapel.
Austra's eyes went wide as a breeze brushed her skin. Looking around, she saw they stood atop a hill, grass and rock beneath their feet. The open night sky stretched above, filled with countless glittering stars and no clouds in sight. All around were more hills, with the Verdant Woods visible in the distance.
Teleportation? But when? How did he-
Her questions vanished as she turned to Magnus again. This time, she truly looked at him and realized he looked different. She couldn't pinpoint all the changes, but one thing was clear: his eyes.
Where before they were amber, now they held a molten golden hue, as if something swirled beneath the surface. For a moment, they seemed to glow—not like hers or the other vampires' eyes. No, they were larger, brighter. The light of the world and the stars around them danced within his gaze. It was mesmerizing, beautiful beyond words.
Lost in those eyes, Austra heard Magnus speak. His voice was subtly different—hard to explain.
"Austra," he said softly, a faint smile on his lips. His words were just loud enough to carry over the breeze that fluttered their clothes atop the hill.
"Of all the lessons I've learned since coming to this world, yours was by far the most impactful. For that, you have my thanks." He tilted his head slightly, staring at her as his smile grew just a little.
"I will remember you for the rest of my life."