In the guild hall, Gray lay on the table, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the wooden tabletop, his gaze drifting toward the gate from time to time.
"That guy Shane—going out in such a hurry, what exactly did he do?"
Sitting opposite him, Cana clenched her hands somewhat uneasily, some bad speculations arising in her heart.
"Shane—might have gone to chase Ivan."
She paused, a few traces of regret appearing on her face. "I—I shouldn't have told him where the Master was. His reaction after seeing the Master was wrong; he rushed out directly—"
"What? Shane went to chase Ivan?"
Hearing this, Gray sprang up from the chair as if pricked by a needle.
"Are you kidding! I know Shane is strong, but that bastard Ivan—he is the Master's son, a genuine S-Class Mage! Why didn't you stop him!"
His voice carried obvious anxiety.
"You're very worried about Shane, Gray." Beside them, Erza sat upright, her posture composed, even having the leisure to pick up the hot tea on the table and blow on it gently.
Gray choked on his words, turning his head away somewhat unnaturally. "Now—now isn't the time to talk about this! Although that guy is annoying, what if something really happens? Ivan, that bastard, is a scum who can kill companions!"
He looked at Erza, who still calmly raised the teacup and took a small sip, his face full of incomprehension. "Isn't your relationship with Shane the best? Why not stop him? Aren't you worried at all?"
Erza put the teacup back on the saucer gently, making a crisp clinking sound.
"Although I don't know Ivan," her voice filled with indescribable trust, "I know Shane very well."
In her mind, the scene Shane had shown her uncontrollably emerged—
That wilderness filled with countless broken swords, surrounded by sparks, with flames burning endlessly.
That scorching heat, seeming to melt heaven and earth, was deeply imprinted in her memory.
Unless it was an absolute "monster," it was impossible to win against that kind of Shane.
And Ivan—he was not a monster.
Thinking of this, Erza's unfocused gaze refocused, her tone carrying an unquestionable certainty, saying faintly, "Shane will win."
On the other side, near the rock cave.
"Let me witness true despair? Hahaha—hahahahaha!"
Hearing Shane's calm declaration, Ivan was stunned first, then couldn't help laughing out loud as if hearing the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"Playing tricks! What's the point of fantasizing about these unrealistic things at this point?"
Shane didn't answer.
He just slowly closed his eyes.
The moment his eyelids closed—
A scorching, dry hot wind, seemingly from the depths of a furnace, rolled up out of thin air, blowing across the mess on the ground.
Ivan's laughter stopped abruptly.
He discovered in horror that the surrounding scene was peeling off and blurring like a faded oil painting.
The gravel under his feet, the surrounding snowfield, the long whistle of the train in the distance—everything was distorting, deforming—
Disappearing!
Replacing it was a boundless, desolate, and deathly silent wilderness.
The sky was oppressively dark red, as if roasted by inextinguishable flames. Thick smoke rolled on the horizon, blinding firelight jumping sporadically, roasting eyes hot and skin stinging.
As far as the eye could see, densely packed swords of various shapes stood like a forest. They were rusty, complete or broken, extending all the way to the end of the field of vision.
Sparks flew chaotically between these cold metals, igniting the never-drying hellfire on the ground.
The strong smell of rust, burning, and some indescribable "dangerous" aura, mixed with heat waves, hit the face.
Ivan widened his eyes incredulously, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpoints due to intense shock.
He staggered back a step, kicking a broken sword half-buried in the scorched earth, making a clear metallic sound.
"Th—where is this?! What did you do?!" Ivan's voice carried tremors he didn't even notice.
As a master specializing in illusions, he instinctively tried to find flaws in this "illusion."
Magic Power perception spread fully, vision, hearing, smell, touch—
Even the heat permeating the air that burned the soul, the solid touch from the scorched earth under his feet, and the stinging sensation of thick smoke choking into the lungs—
He didn't let go of any of them.
Then, he discovered in horror.
Everything in front of him—
All, all of it was real!
"Impossible—this is absolutely impossible!" Ivan hissed in horror instantly.
Reason began to collapse in front of absolute reality.
If not an illusion, could it be the brat in front of him transferred him to another location instantly?
Or—more incredibly, pulled him into a real space created by magic?
But no matter which one, it required unimaginably huge Magic Power and profound understanding of magic. How could a mere ten-year-old brat do it?!
"Reality Marble."
Shane's voice sounded in this burning wilderness, calmly resolving his confusion.
"Magic that rewrites reality with the 'Inner World Scenery' experienced personally by the caster, the deepest impression in their life."
Ivan turned his head abruptly, looking at Shane, who was standing on a hillock full of swords at some point.
"Once this thing is activated, it will change the surrounding space into a completely different scenery,"
Shane expounded the desperate fact like a patient teacher.
"Which is the so-called materialization of the inner world scenery. The sizes of us and the world are swapped; the world is completely shut into a small container."
He looked at the expression on Ivan's face mixed with shock, bewilderment, and disbelief, revealing a faint smile carrying a bit of emotion. "Feeling puzzled? When I first knew about this ability of mine, I was also very puzzled. Why does such an outrageous ability exist?"
Speaking of this, Shane's smile carried a trace of faint mockery. "However, fortunately, this is my ability."
"Ma—Magic Trick?"
Ivan seemed to grasp some keyword, his voice becoming sharp. "You mean this level of—this power to change heaven and earth, is just a trick used by ordinary people for performance? Are you fooling me?"
He refused to believe that this scene, which overturned all his cognition of magic, was actually crowned with such a "lowly" name.
"Even if it's a magic trick, it's just a name."
Shane shook his head, feeling a trace of helplessness at Ivan's rage on the verge of cognitive collapse.
"Anyway, admit defeat."
"In this space, apart from experiencing despair, you can't do anything."