The air in the Ryōzanpaku courtyard was heavy with the scent of ozone and the quiet resonance of the fight.
Lucifer looked at Shigure, her dark hair shielding her eyes as she stood with Tochūmaru.
He felt a rare pang of attachment—the kind of emotion he usually suppressed.
"Shigure,"
Lucifer said, his voice steady.
"I'm not from around here. I have the ability to jump between worlds. I'm leaving now, and I want you to come with us."
The elder and the masters seemed to already know he wasn't from this world but they didn't say anything.
There were many strange things in this world, one of them was an alien, the friend of Kenichi.
Shigure looked up, her expression a mix of profound confusion and silent longing.
Raven gripped Lucifer's hand, her violet eyes pleading silently.
For the first time, Raven had found a "kindred spirit," someone whose internal forge was as quiet and cold as her own.
Shigure looked at the Elder, then at her forge in the mountains, and finally at the young man who had successfully mastered her steel.
"I... have a path here,"
She whispered, her voice barely audible.
"The blade... still needs its smith in this world. I cannot... leave. Not yet."
Lucifer understood duty better than anyone.
"I understand. Keep the forge warm, Shigure."
Raven stepped forward, embracing Shigure briefly—a rare display of affection.
"Stay safe, first friend,"
Raven murmured.
Shigure simply leaned into the touch for a heartbeat before stepping back into the shadows of the dojo.
(Don't worry she will come with him in the future but not now.)
Lucifer focused on the Dimensional Logistics function.
The world of martial arts began to blur as the system initiated the jump back to his home dimension.
The transition was instantaneous. The humid, mountain air of Japan was replaced by the familiar, expensive scent of his high-tech apartment.
But the silence Lucifer expected was replaced by the sound of muffled, hysterical sobbing.
Harley Quinn was curled in a ball on the center of the sofa, surrounded by empty ice cream cartons and shredded pillows.
She looked up, her mascara smeared across her face in jagged black wings.
"LUCE?!"
She shrieked.
Before Lucifer could even register his surroundings, a blonde blur slammed into his chest.
Harley wrapped her arms and legs around him, sobbing into his neck.
"You were gone! You were gone for weeks!"
She wailed, her grip so tight it would have crushed a normal person's ribs.
"I stayed! I stayed good! I didn't blow up a single thing! I didn't even prank Batman! I was so bored and lonely and I thought big bro took you away!"
Lucifer stood frozen, his arms eventually coming up to pat her back.
He realized with a start that while he was training, time hadn't stopped here.
Harley had been left entirely alone with her thoughts—a dangerous place for her.
"I'm back, Harley,"
Lucifer said, his Martial Art Master's Presence acting like a stabilizing anchor, subconsciously calming her frantic energy.
"I'm back. And I brought a souvenir."
Raven stood to the side, her heart still heavy from leaving Shigure, but seeing Harley's genuine distress made her realize how much this chaotic "family" actually meant.
"You stayed... well-behaved?"
Raven asked, a hint of genuine surprise in her voice.
Harley pulled back, sniffing loudly and wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"Yeah! I only practiced my gymnastics! I promised I'd be a good girl! But Luce... Tony Stark was looking for you. He looked really worried. Something happened while you were gone."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed. He looked at his new charcoal blade, Void-Seeker, resting at his hip. He felt stronger, faster, and more centered than ever before.
If something was happening in this world, he was no longer the boy who had to hide.
Craze: Read up to chapter 100 at [email protected]/phelio