Chapter 21: Once Calia launches her offensive, everything will be set right.

Kalia hesitated after hearing Roland's words.

Accept her own power? Could she really do that?

Kalia felt her hands trembling so violently that she could barely keep a grip on her staff.

Roland chose not to continue speaking, simply sitting in the shadows… He was truly exhausted. The last time he had felt this drained was, well, the last time. During the academy's field examination, a fourth-ring Earth Bull had chased him for an entire day. He had only managed to grind the thick-skinned brute down by kiting it while setting up homemade grenades, mines, and traps. Yet, even when dodging a fourth-ring beast, Roland had never used Blink so frequently.

His eyelids felt heavy, and a hazy drowsiness threatened to swallow his consciousness. This sensation reminded him of high school math class: the teacher droning on with boundless energy while he became sleepier and sleepier, until his notes turned into abstract scribbles and he drifted off into a dream.

"!!!"

The sound of a sharp object piercing flesh suddenly rang in Roland's ears. It was as jarring as being called upon by a teacher after falling asleep, snapping him back to reality. He looked up to see Kalia pointing her staff forward. Outside the shadows, in the real world, the Chaos Apostles who had been locked in fierce combat with the city guard were being skewered one after another by shadow spears erupting from their own silhouettes.

The once lopsided battle shifted instantly. The city guard squad seized the opportunity and slaughtered all the remaining Chaos Apostles within a few exchanges. They looked around, searching for their unseen benefactors.

Kalia wanted to reveal herself, but Roland pulled her back. "Don't... go somewhere else. If you show yourself now, you'll only implicate them. Don't forget that guy named Parker; he's a fifth-ring mage."

"Judging by his performance, his specialty seems to be related to gravity or evocation."

"It's the typical 'fish-slaughtering' specialization. This squad of city guards wouldn't last a blink of an eye against him."

"If you really want to help them, run to the next location and show yourself. If we appear, they will follow us."

"Just drag out the time like this. No need for a direct confrontation."

"We just have to hold on until Lady Flam arrives."

Unfortunately, no sooner had he finished speaking than both Roland and Kalia felt an overwhelming pressure. They were abruptly forced out of the shadows where they had been hiding. Roland didn't even need to assess the situation; he grabbed Kalia and performed another Blink. Limited by his nearly depleted mana, the distance was short—they merely shifted from the alleyway to a rooftop across the street.

The district had descended into total chaos. The Chaos Apostles, whose previous whereabouts were unknown, had emerged in force, suppressing the city guards who had previously held the numerical advantage. While they couldn't match a fully organized city guard unit in total numbers, in this specific district, the fanatics now far outnumbered the patrolling guards.

Roland looked down to see the man calling himself Mr. Parker staring directly at them. Realizing what was likely to happen, Roland was forced to expend his remaining strength for another Blink, shifting them into a blind spot.

"Kalia..." Roland's voice was extremely weak, his chest heaving with heavy, ragged breaths.

"Roland, are you okay?" Kalia grew frantic at the sight of him. She wanted to pull Roland back into the shadows, but she couldn't; the interference had returned. Furthermore, it was clear from the recent turn of events that their opponent had found a way to counter her "god-tier" escape skill.

"Listen... I'm completely tapped out. Everything from here on out is up to you."

"Whether you fight or run, it's all in your hands."

With that, Roland slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. He was truly spent. Counting the last two blinks, he had used the spell ten times in five minutes, all while carrying Kalia. During that final jump, he had even resorted to squeezing his inner core, overdrawing his mana. In simpler terms, he was burning his life force. Now, he had nothing left; even the act of burning one's life force requires a spark of mana to ignite the ritual.

In his extreme exhaustion, Roland began to review the entire incident—or rather, the full sequence of the Riscane Catastrophe as revealed by the system. Though the timing was poor, he needed to think to keep himself from drifting off again.

"First, use methods to create a massive swarm of rats, infuse them with imitation Demon King blood, and then find a way to obtain the key Kalia holds that seals divinity and divine power."

"Then, inject the divinity and divine power into the fake Demon King blood to replicate an outbreak of Divine Plague."

"No wonder Riscane fell so quickly. No wonder the Empire quarantined the plague zone... Such a massive number of rats, each a carrier of the plague, along with so many residents in the city."

"The reason for the warrant on Kalia must be that without my intervention, she never realized it was a setup from the start, right?"

"Lady Flam must have thought Kalia stole the key and colluded with the Chaos Brotherhood."

"No... perhaps Lady Flam wouldn't think that, but others certainly would."

"After all, based on what Kalia and Lady Flam revealed, very few people knew of the key's existence—perhaps only the two of them."

"Lady Flam couldn't have done this, and she was in the capital when it happened."

"Breaking the barrier, taking the key, and finally appearing in Riscane... it's no wonder she's wanted by the Empire."

"Moreover, Kalia's abilities helped her evade the Divine Plague, making her the sole survivor."

Roland fell silent. Once he connected the dots, he suddenly understood the system's mission: to find evidence of Kalia orchestrating the catastrophe. She wasn't an architect; she was merely a pawn who had been exploited.

Thinking this, Roland couldn't help but chuckle softly. It seemed he had played a significant role after all.

At that moment, the system's notification chimed.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for discovering the truth and the sequence of the catastrophe.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for finding evidence that the Night-Mare Witch participated in the planning of the catastrophe.]

[Rewards are being distributed...]

As Roland lay half-dead, waiting for his mana to recover, a tall, thin figure appeared at the entrance of the alleyway. Seeing the intruder, Kalia gripped her staff tightly. This was the first time she had needed power this desperately... She had to protect him, protect the pendant, survive until the old hag arrived, apologize to her, and stop the Divine Plague...

Driven by her inner yearning for power, a grotesque beast of shadow manifested behind Kalia—and behind Mr. Parker as well.

"Die!"

Her amber eyes were now tinged with darkness, her gaze coldly terrifying. The beast, standing as tall as a two-story house, launched its attack. It didn't need to swing its massive limbs; it simply stared down its enemy. But Mr. Parker didn't move, letting the multiplying black arms formed of shadows drag him into the unknown void.

Just as he was about to be pulled entirely into the shadows, Mr. Parker suddenly regained his composure, unleashing a massive surge of gravity that shattered the shadow beast into a cloud of black mist.

"You almost had me, witch. Your death will—"

"Bang!"

Before Mr. Parker, who had just crawled out of the shadows, could finish his sentence, he was swatted away by the hand of another shadow beast, disappearing into a plume of dust after smashing through several walls.