Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Who could it be, his wife or his son?
The door creaked open. It was his son, barely seven. He glanced at Delvis before spinning around, shouting, "Mother! Father is bac—"
Before he could finish, Delvis couldn't contain himself. He scooped the boy up, hugging him tightly. Relief and joy surged through him—this was the moment he had waited for.
Behind them, the door swung wider, and his wife rushed in.
"Delvis!" she cried, her voice trembling with relief. "I'm so glad you're safe!"
"Alisa…" Delvis's heart thudded as he turned to her. His smile faltered when he noticed a faint bruise on her left cheek.
Alisa quickly tried to cover it with her hair. "Haha, this? I just tripped over. Silly me," she said, forcing a laugh.
Delvis didn't buy it. His gaze swept across the room—footprints in the dirt, a broken table.
"I… I fell and broke it. I'm sorry," she added quickly.
Delvis ignored the apology and turned to his son. "What happened here?"
The boy's lip quivered. "Some men… they came and hit Mommy. They broke the table… they said they're from the Star Merchants."
"No, Aven. Mommy just fell," Alisa intervened, her voice tight.
Delvis's heart froze. He already knew who had done this. He gently set his son down, patting his head. "It's okay. Father's home now."
Then he faced Alisa, placing a hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry."
She flinched, moving away. "It's okay… it's just a bruise," she whispered.
His chest ached at her words. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. "It's alright. I'm here now."
Her defenses finally broke, and she allowed herself a small sob. "I… I was scared. I hope… everything gets sorted…"
Delvis's mind flashed to Nithin's words: "Knowledge is for the betterment of the world."
He pulled back slightly, his expression firm. "I'll make it right. I'll sort things out."
Alisa's eyes widened in panic. "No! You can't go there! They'll hurt you too! Let's just sell the house and leave the city."
Pain stabbed at his heart, but he shook his head. "Don't worry. I have a friend I'll talk to."
He looked at his son, voice steady. "You can protect Mommy while I'm gone, right?"
"Yes, Father," the boy said confidently.
Delvis smiled faintly. "Good. That's settled." He closed the door behind him.
As soon as the door clicked shut, the warmth drained from his eyes. The joy, the relief, they vanished, replaced by a coldness.
[Meanwhile, somewhere in the universe.
A figure moved cautiously through the narrow cave, senses sharp. A strange energy had drawn him here. Drips of water echoed, mingling with distant rumbles echoing from somewhere.
It was Leo. It had been four years since he came to this world, and three years since he got admitted to Dalton Academy of Swordsmanship, one of the largest academies on the continent. He was a senior third-year student, and today he came here for a special reason.
"I have to stop it before he completes," Leo muttered. He was here to kill a mad alchemist. Many villages had disappeared without a trace because of this mad alchemist, and today he had to put an end to it.
Then all of a sudden,
Boom! Part of the wall exploded outward. Leo rolled clear, coughing through dust. From the debris emerged a walking corpse, skin rotting away, looking more like a skeleton than a human.
In fact, it wasn't. Leo recognized it right away. The infamous puppet of the one he came to kill today.
And as he expected, behind it stood a man wearing dark robes and a plain white mask, holding a glass container. Inside floated a single bloody eye, its veins pulsing, gazing here and there before focusing on him.
"Oh, isn't it the genius of Dalton Academy?" the man sneered.
"You… piece of shit," Leo spat, eyes locking on the red eye. He knew well what it was. He was late! He couldn't save the innocent people who were used as ingredients for that bloody eye.
"Late, boy. The power is mine now," the man laughed, dark aura surging, energy spiking into the atmosphere. The aura of the puppet and the man started to gradually increase, rising from the base of second star all the way to third star aura in a single leap.
Leo's aura flared instantly. It was a trap he couldn't ignore—he had to kill him before he gained more strength. He was at the peak second star aura rank. No matter how strong his second star aura was, it slowly started to get pushed back by the strong fourth star aura of the puppet.
He rushed forward, lunging with his hand. He had to at least do significant damage before its aura stabilized.
Steel clashed against bone as Leo's blade carved through the puppet, his second star aura blazing blue like fire, causing a small opening to appear in the puppet's black aura.
It was an opening!
Leo lunged forward, rooting his foot on the ground before slicing down with all his might.
Leo lunged, feet digging into the stone floor, every muscle straining. With a furious roar, he brought his sword down in a cleaving arc, aura surging brighter than ever.
Ripping through rotting flesh and brittle bone, almost halving it into two parts. But the damage was enough—for now he retreated.
A huge slash could be seen from the puppet's neck all the way down its stomach. If he could have mustered a little bit more strength, he would have halved it in two.
But then, right in front of his eyes, something horrifying happened.
The two halved parts of the body started stitching themselves! Before long, in mere moments, it stitched itself as if he hadn't even done any damage!
Leo's breath rasped, realizing it was all because of that damned red eye! It had far extraordinary vitality.
"Is that the best Dalton's prodigy can do?"
The man laughed, causing Leo to grit his teeth. He had to escape from here and alert Dalton Academy.
But before he could, the puppet vanished in front of him, and he felt a searing pain in his heart, coughing out a mouthful of blood that stained the ground along with his neck.
He looked down only to see the tip of a sword poking right through him. The puppet was behind him. He couldn't even follow its movement.
Slowly his vision darkened, and he fell down onto the cold ground. The man came to him, putting his nasty foot on his chest, not caring about blood getting on his feet before rubbing it on the wind, causing him to cough out blood once again with the remaining life he had.
"Don't worry. Your whole academy will follow you soon."
Leo felt unwilling, but there was nothing he could do. It was his death. He was dying, all sensation of his body disappearing. Well… that's what he thought.
Slowly he started sensing things again. His vision was blurry. Gradually, his vision recovered, and he found himself staring at the book.
He was confused and gazed at his surroundings. In confusion, what was happening? The bookshelves, the magician with the books… No, he remembered it all. Then he looked at his hand holding the book.
Realization slowly struck him. "I see… I'm back to reality. But what happens to the world now?"
Nithin also noticed Leo was done with reading as the book was closed on the table. "Was it to your liking, Leo?" he spoke, putting on a smile like always.]