Chapter 84
"You’re... Elfman, right? I think you need to calm down."
Marshall raised a hand and gave the rampaging Beast King a light pat.
Elfman vanished on the spot, replaced by a card between Marshall’s fingers.
Card Sealing Magic was exceptionally effective against straightforward brutes like this.
Mira finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the tears from her eyes, but the panic in her voice hadn’t faded.
"Marshall! Lisanna is still missing! She was right beside us only moments ago, and then she suddenly disappeared!"
"You left a mark on her too, didn’t you? Please find her! Please!"
"Mira, calm down. I’ll help you."
Marshall gently patted the back of the hand clutching his arm.
He could feel how frightened and desperate she was. This was the first time he had ever seen Mira like this.
Marshall expanded his senses and searched for Lisanna’s location.
A moment later, his brow furrowed.
Something was wrong.
There was nothing.
He couldn’t sense her anywhere.
The spatial mark he had left on Lisanna had vanished from his perception.
How was that possible?
What exactly had happened here?
"When did Lisanna disappear?"
"Less than five minutes ago! She was still beside us when the wind started!"
"The wind...?"
Marshall glanced toward the sky.
"Wait. I’ll use Past-Image Magic to see what happened."
By combining Time Magic with Light Magic, Marshall had created Past-Image Magic, a spell that allowed him to observe "light from the past" and replay events that had already occurred.
He took out a numbered crystal sphere and cast the spell.
The events from several minutes earlier began playing inside the crystal.
Mira immediately leaned closer, and both of them focused entirely on Lisanna.
They saw the tornado descend without warning.
The unconscious Lisanna had been lying directly within its eye. The wind lifted her high into the air, carried her toward the sky, and then—she disappeared.
"What?! Lisanna was swept away by the wind?"
Mira stared in disbelief.
"How is that possible? Why did she suddenly vanish? Lis—"
Before she could finish, Marshall swept her into his arms and used Flight Magic to rise into the sky.
Within moments, they reached the exact place where Lisanna had disappeared.
Marshall extended one hand and closed his eyes, carefully feeling the surrounding space.
"This wasn’t a natural wind."
"It was magic—an extremely sophisticated form of Spatial Magic."
He concentrated harder.
"I can faintly sense Lisanna’s mark from here."
"That’s wonderful!"
Mira grabbed his sleeve.
"Marshall, please bring her back!"
"Give me a moment."
Marshall summoned a Thought Projection beside himself and ordered it to teleport along the faint spatial coordinate.
The projection vanished.
In the very next moment, Marshall’s face went pale.
His body swayed, and he nearly fell from the sky with Mira still in his arms.
"Marshall?! What happened?"
Mira hurriedly activated her Satan Soul, spreading her wings to support them both.
Seeing his bloodless face, a terrible feeling rose inside her.
"My Thought Projection..."
Marshall stared into the distance.
"I lost contact with it."
"The space on the other side probably isn’t anywhere on this planet."
"What?! Then your soul—"
Marshall raised a hand, stopping her before she could panic further.
His mind raced.
The situation was already fairly clear.
Some unknown Spatial Magic had transported Lisanna into another space—or perhaps an entirely different world.
If Marshall’s Spatial Magic hadn’t reached Level Four, he might not have been able to sense that other space at all.
He could now move freely to any location on this planet. If the destination lay beyond even his global perception, then the place on the other side was most likely...
Another world.
Did worlds beyond this one truly exist?
But if the destination was in another world, why could he still faintly sense Lisanna’s mark?
And why had his Thought Projection lost contact the moment it crossed over?
Marshall’s expression changed.
The response from Lisanna’s mark was weakening.
Whatever enormous spatial-transfer spell had connected the two worlds was fading.
There was no time left to hesitate.
Marshall took a deep breath and firmly gripped Mira by the shoulders.
"Mira, my Thought Projection can’t travel too far from my real body."
"I may need to cross over there myself."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"I’ll bring Lisanna back. Trust me."
Mira’s heart clenched.
A panic unlike anything she had ever felt before swallowed her whole. She grabbed Marshall’s arm with both hands and refused to release him.
"No! Wait! Marshall, you can’t go! The other side might not be safe!"
"I have to, Mira. Lisanna is waiting for me over there."
"I’m the only person who can bring her home."
"But... But no!"
Tears spilled from Mira’s eyes.
"There has to be another way! We can go back and find Master. We should think about this first—"
"There’s no time!"
Marshall’s voice grew firm.
"The spatial trace is fading. If we wait any longer, I won’t be able to locate Lisanna’s mark at all."
He placed Virgo’s Gold Key into Mira’s hand.
"Take this."
"I have a soul contract with Virgo. As long as I’m alive, that contract won’t disappear."
"With this key, you’ll be able to confirm whether I’m safe."
He softened his voice.
"Don’t worry. I’ll bring Lisanna home."
"Trust me."
"No, something’s wrong. Marshall, you can’t—"
Lisanna’s coordinate was becoming more indistinct by the second.
Marshall knew he could no longer delay.
He locked the space around Mira, completely immobilizing her, then reached out and gently pinched her tear-soaked cheek.
"Please explain everything to Master for me, Mira."
"And help take care of Ruby and Wendy while I’m gone."
"I’ll be back very soon."
He smiled.
"I promise."
"Marshall! Don’t—!"
Marshall disappeared.
Several seconds passed before the spatial restraint around Mira finally released.
With her vision blurred by tears, she frantically flew around the sky, searching everywhere for even the slightest trace of him.
There was nothing.
Eventually, her strength ran out, and she had no choice but to return to the ground.
At that moment, Elfman finally regained consciousness inside the card.
"Sister?"
His confused voice came from within.
"Why am I inside a card space? Did Cana come here?"
"Where’s Lisanna? Did you find her?"
"..."
Mira felt as though a knife had been driven through her heart.
Every breath became unbearably heavy, crushing her chest until she could barely breathe.
Lisanna had disappeared and Marshall had followed her.
Mira had been unable to stop either of them.
That helplessness was suffocating.
"Elfman... I really am too weak." Her voice trembled. "I can’t protect anyone."
"What? Sister, let me out first!"
"...Sorry, Elfman. I don’t know how to release this spell."
"We’ll return to the guild and find Cana."
"Wait! What about Lisanna?!"
"...Marshall will bring her home."
Mira gripped Virgo’s key tightly.
"He’ll bring her back."
"He promised."
...
In the other world, Marshall wasn’t having a particularly pleasant time.
He was falling from a considerable height.
Beside him floated an unconscious Lisanna, her body covered in injuries.
Beneath them was an enormous chunk of Lacrima.
Unless Marshall was mistaken... that Lacrima was his Thought Projection.
No wonder their connection had been severed.
It was rather difficult to maintain contact when the entire projection had been turned into a crystal.
He had found Lisanna!
Unfortunately, they now faced a much more serious problem.
"I can’t use magic."
Marshall’s expression darkened.
"This is bad. How are we supposed to return?"
There was no doubt about it.
This place wasn’t Earth Land.
Magic couldn’t be properly used in this world.
Not only was the amount of Ethernano in the atmosphere terrifyingly low, even the magic power inside Marshall’s body felt blocked, trapped where he couldn’t release it.
He couldn’t open his personal storage space.
Constructing a spatial passage to return home was completely out of the question.
Losing access to magic felt horrible.
It had been far too long since Marshall had experienced this kind of helplessness.
...
"Ugh... It hurts..."
Lisanna slowly opened her eyes.
"Where am I...?"
Then she noticed him.
"Huh? Marshall? Why are you here?"
"Where are Mira-nee and Elfman?"
Marshall released a breath.
What had happened couldn’t be changed. For now, they would have to investigate this world and find another way home.
"You’re awake? Congratulations! The operation was a complete success."
He nodded solemnly.
"You’re still a girl."
"???"
Lisanna shoved him weakly.
"This isn’t the time for jokes! Where are we?"
"I don’t know."
Marshall looked around at the unfamiliar world.
"We seem to have traveled into another world."
"Hah?!"
Lisanna’s face went pale.
At first, she thought he was still teasing her, but after looking at the completely unfamiliar surroundings, she began to believe him.
"Lisanna... Are you hungry?"
"I’m not hungry!"
She stared at him.
"Wait, can we please focus on the actual problem here?!"
"This is the actual problem. I’m starving."
Marshall pointed ahead.
"I order you to go find something for me to eat."
"You idiot! How can you think about food at a time like this?"
Lisanna sighed helplessly.
"Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you...?"
She looked around.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Good question."
Marshall also surveyed the empty wilderness.
"What can we eat?"