The Sorcerer's Handbook

Whoosh!

The night wind screamed past her ears. Her body felt weightless and unbound, like the freest of birds. Looking down at the city of Vanmura, she saw its buildings stacked like toy blocks far below. Instead of fear, Dia felt an unexpected lightness in her chest. It was an unfamiliar, quiet joy.

When the Watcher had shared the Secret Poison, Dia hadn't envied his teamwork with the Swordswoman in the Sea of Knowledge. She had envied the way they had once soared together to uncover the secrets of the Golden Fish. For her, flight had always been her heart's deepest longing. Countless times, she had gazed out from the high tower windows, wishing for wings of her own. After becoming a sorcerer, her ultimate hope was to finally condense the Gold Wing. Even if only in the Virtual World, even if danger awaited, she wanted to know what it felt like to fly, just like now.

The problem was that she had no wings capable of flight. Last time, the Bronze Dragon had saved her. This time... she was truly about to fall.

When a princess falls from a tower, will there always be a knight waiting to catch her?

She suddenly recalled the countless times she had recited that childhood tale to her sisters, and then she thought of the people she knew. If Annan were to fall, Pankey would surely catch her. If the Swordswoman were to fall, the Watcher would surely open his arms. So... if I fall, will anyone...

A helpless sigh vanished into the whistling wind. "Every single time... I always end up having to save you."

Then, suddenly, the girl was swept up into a powerful embrace.

Dia lifted her head, her eyes catching the gaze of the one falling alongside her in this inverted world.

"Why—"

Her youthful voice was instantly swallowed by the gale.

She felt him shiver slightly against her. "Right now, all you need to say is, 'Thanks, Ashe.' I'm actually a little afraid of heights..."

Dia couldn't understand. Straining her voice, she shouted over the roar of the wind, "Ashe, why? You haven't condensed the Gold Wing either! From this height, we could both die! Why are you being so reckless!?"

"Wow. You don't even call me Daddy anymore." Ashe looked down at the ground, rushing toward them with terrifying clarity. "Did you forget? We're bound by a contract. I have to save you."

Dia froze. Tears welled in her reddened eyes, and she buried her face deep into his chest. "I'm... I'm really sorry..."

"No need to apologize. The moment I saw you fall, my body just moved on its own. I ran straight up the wall to catch you... I don't know if it's the contract guiding me, but I hope it is. And hey, stop making it sound like I'm going to die with you."

Dia lifted her small, flushed face to see Ashe wink at her.

"I'm supposed to be the Endbringer, recognized by the Woven Festival as someone who will shake the world. How could I possibly crash and turn into some indistinguishable parent-child meat paste? Hah. Iger would probably frown at that metaphor, but Harvey would love it."

As he spoke, the buildings whipped past them like a blur, and the street rushed up like a roaring assault.

"Hold on tight."

Dia wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pressing her cheek to his chest. The wind vanished from her ears, leaving only the synchronized, thumping beat of their hearts.

"And now, let's become a Miracle together."

Ashe raised the Honeyed Tongue Sword, aiming it straight down at the earth like a fallen star.

The instant the blade pierced the asphalt of the city street, two columns of warm golden light shot skyward. One beam enveloped Ashe and Dia in a radiant glow. The other erupted on the 56th floor of the Senheiser Building, wrapping around Iger, who had just driven the clone sword deep into the intact corridor floor.

There was a notable difference between the two-level cityscapes of Vanmura and Azura. In Azura, the upper city featured inverted, upside-down towers. Because the surface ground sat at the very top of these structures, everything below it descended into negative floor numbers, placing Annan's home on Floor Negative 51. Consequently, the lowest tip of an upside-down tower never actually connected with the first-level city below.

Vanmura was different. Its second-layered city connected directly to the first via massive, hundred-story high-rises. Because of this structural link, the floor numbers ran continuously from the lower ground all the way up to the upper surface. For instance, the highest floor of the Senheiser Building, Floor 112, doubled as the ground floor for the second-level city.

This architecture meant that the first-level city streets and the corridors inside the Senheiser Building formed a completely continuous, seamlessly navigable path.

So... Starting coordinate, Honeyed Tongue Sword! Target coordinate, clone sword! With Swordheart acting as the guide, Earth Sword forging the path, and Flow handling the execution! Bidirectional Rush!

In an absolute flash, Ashe and Dia dissolved into a faint yellow blur, surging upward from the asphalt street below and straight back into the 56th-floor corridor.

Iger blinked, and suddenly they were there. Ashe stood right before him, holding his daughter safely in his arms.

The fraudster let out a ragged breath, wiping his forehead with a hand streaked with blood and dirt. Ashe braced himself for a barrage of ridicule or a harsh scolding, but Iger merely steadied himself against the wall and slid down to the floor, utterly spent.

"We actually made it," Ashe muttered to himself, a note of awe creeping into his voice. "I always heard a sorcerer's Miracle could bypass reality if the conditions were met. I used to think Miracles were just outlaw-level feats... but now I see. They're not just outlaws. They're like warlords. They don't just ignore reality. They crush it."

Bidirectional Rush had always been Ashe's go-to Miracle for short-distance teleportation. Because of its instant-transit nature, he had thrown the clone swords to Iger the absolute second they emerged. Fortunately, Iger understood the exact mechanics of Ashe's Miracle. Instantly grasping the plan, he had driven the clone sword straight into safe ground.

Theoretically, as long as an unbroken path of solid ground existed between the Honeyed Tongue Sword and its clone, the Earth Sword could establish an instant-transfer route, teleporting Ashe directly to the clone's location. But this time, Ashe had been plummeting from a height of hundreds of meters. Even a fraction-of-a-second delay in activating the Miracle would have resulted in a catastrophic, fatal crash.

However, Miracles existed precisely to rewrite fate.

Inertia, momentum, and the laws of physics. These rigid rules all bent to the sorcerer's will the instant the Miracle took hold.

Ashe paused to savor the rush, unable to resist giving himself a mental thumbs-up. This particular Rush might very well be the finest Miracle he had ever performed in his life. For now, at least.

Yet, no one was around to echo his self-praise. Iger remained slumped against the wall, entirely overwhelmed, while Dia clung to Ashe like a cephalopod, wrapping her limbs around him completely.

"You guys really made a monumental mess. Quinna is absolutely going to blow a fuse when she sees this."

They glanced out through the shattered corridor wall to see a hovering car humming toward them. Annan, Pankey, and Harvey were crammed inside.

The Lady waved casually at them through the window. "Get in the car and let's move. I am definitely not paying for several floors of property damage."