Bearlo looked at the man walking towards him. The same murky dark aura oozed out of him as before.

The aura made Bearlo's instincts scream.

Just then, his thoughts froze as he felt a familiar presence coming in his direction.

Why is he here?

—

Meanwhile Cedric who had awakened already looked at his friend in betrayal and surprise all at once. He just couldn't understand what had happened to his friend.

He had been acting strange recently but not like this. The moment he touched that dark scroll everything changed.

Seles was already dead…

… and maybe his friend Lucien had already died as well because whatever controlling his body was not the kind and warm friend he knew.

Cedric's arm was numb as he could see his skin cracking there.

The Crimson Bear, the subordinate of the one he swore to kill, had saved him. If not for Bearlo, Cedric would have been killed by now.

But the mercy was short lived as they had no space to run anymore.

Cedric turned to look at the Crimson Bear, wanting to say one last thing before rushing forward in a reckless charge toward his friend.

Cedric hated Rael but he couldn't bring himself to hate Bearlo who was kind enough to save him even as he could have died.

So, this was his way of repaying the favour.

He was going to charge and keep Lucien, or whatever controlled his body… so that the Crimson Bear could make a run for it.

Cedric was not someone benevolent but…

… but he didn't want to die as a coward.

He looked at Bearlo and smiled bitterly.

"Thank you for saving me… and please escape while I buy you some time."

But the crimson bear didn't say anything… and just kept staring into the darkness.

Cedric followed his gaze.

Bearlo wasn't looking at Lucien who walked towards them… instead his gaze was focused on something far beyond him.

Before Cedric could say anything… The Cloak, draping on the shoulders of Bearlo vanished as a smile appeared on Bearlo's face.

"He is here."

Bearlo muttered softly.

Cedric didn't understand what he meant but suddenly his instincts screamed as he ducked.

A card came flying through the air before lodging itself onto the wall behind him.

The card had a confident figure standing with an infinity symbol above his head.

What is that?

Before Cedric could understand, green flames covered the card as someone stepped out of it.

He wore a crimson mask on his face, a cane in his hands and a tall hat on his head.

The cloak Bearlo once wore was now draped on the back of this new figure. It was fluttering slightly.

Who the hell is he now?

He didn't even have a chance to question before, Bearlo kneeled before the figure. "Why are you here, my liege?"

—

[Rael's POV]

Why are you here, my liege?

Bearlo's voice echoed in my mind and for a second, I just… stood there.

After all that rush… after all that running, melting, nearly getting crushed to death and surviving a tsundere fire tantrum, this was the welcome I got.

This ungrateful bastard.

I resisted the urge to curse. Not because I didn't want to but because my stupid flaw punished me every time I tried to express actual emotion on my face.

It had been barely a few minutes since I melted that goddamn rubble with my overly attached flames.

Seraphina had been utterly stunned by my achievement and after realizing her rookie seduction skills were utterly useless against me, she practically begged me to take her along.

But alas… I was no simp.

And I wasn't in the business of collecting burdens.

So, naturally, I said no.

Because honestly, who wants dead weight when you can barely keep yourself alive in this cosmic comedy?

Then, my benevolent side argued. After all, Seraphina was close to Viola… and abandoning her completely didn't sit that well with me.

Besides, having a healer around wasn't the worst idea, especially since I had no clue how bad Bearlo's condition was.

So, with all the grace and compassion of a truly merciful deity, I allowed her to follow me on one simple condition.

If she slowed me down, I would abandon her without a second thought.

She accepted without protest which, honestly, made me feel like a damn villain for a moment.

But well… who cares?

Everyone's a villain in someone's story and if I happened to play that role in a few people's lives, so be it.

I would rather be the villain who survived than the hero who died trying to please everyone.

After that, I ran straight through the cave to find my assistant. I could feel the cloak's presence tugging faintly at my soul, so thankfully, I didn't have to wander around like an idiot.

But then, I stumbled into a chamber that made me stop dead in my tracks.

The treasure chamber.

A crimson mask floated at the very center of the chamber. The artifact I had sent Bearlo here for.

But that wasn't all because dozens of other artifacts hovered around it. Most of them were useless or weak.

Honestly, I didn't remember shit about most of them… because they hadn't been important in the novel.

Still, I picked them all up.

I mean, anything free had to be picked up, right?

The academy didn't allow any student to carry more than three artifacts from outside.

But the key word here was "outside" because anything students earned for themselves within the academy was theirs to keep.

And the Forest of Unmasked was counted as being within. So technically, everything I found here was fair game.

As for how they knew whether an artifact was from inside or outside the forest… simple.

Anything that had spent more than a year in this place carried a distinct aura, a faint, eerie resonance that clung to it for days after leaving.

A handy feature, really.

It made cheating harder and looting guilt-free.

Among all those extra artifacts, two in particular caught my eye.

A cane.

And a tall hat.

Both were simple, unassuming even, but for some reason, I couldn't resist the urge to grab them.

Probably my Trickster traits whispering, "Go on, try them, you'll look fabulous."

The hat had a simple effect to shield the wearer from rain. Completely useless indoors but stylish enough to forgive that. Whereas the cane would point toward danger after I channel some mana into it.

A walking stick with built-in paranoia.

Honestly, it felt like destiny.

The mask was something else, it had quite a bit of effects but something about it irked me.

I mean, this hideous mask was hiding my glorious face.

So, I did what any sane person like me might've done. I changed the shape of the mask.

I had been in too much of a rush before but now that I had confirmed Bearlo was alive, healthy, and as ungrateful as ever, I could definitely afford a minute of cosmetic adjustments.

But what should I change it into?

The mask could only take the form of something worn on the face which admittedly narrowed my options.

And then, in a stroke of brilliance that could only belong to me, the answer came.

A monocle.

Classy, subtle and perfectly in tune with the Trickster aesthetic. It was, without a doubt, the best idea I have had all day.

My mask shifted into a form of a monocle as I adjusted it properly over my eyes.

Now that's what I call aesthetic.

"How… how are you here?"

A voice broke through my moment of self-appreciation.

I turned, mildly annoyed, to see the boy beside Bearlo staring at me with the wide-eyed disbelief of someone watching a corpse climb out of its own grave.

He looked like his brain had just filed for resignation.

Ahh, this guy was here too, wasn't he?

What was his name again—?

Right. Cedric. The annoying fucker.

And just like that, his face reminded me of her.

Seraphina.

She had been following me the entire time, at least until we arrived here.

I turned my gaze toward the front.

A boy was walking toward us, his body shifting and twisting like it couldn't decide what shape it wanted to be.

He moved slowly as if racing with some non-existent snail. And behind him, some distance away, I saw Seraphina.

She hid behind a wall, trying to make her as invisible as possible. Her body trembled, her lips moving soundlessly as if even breathing too loud might draw his attention.

Of course, that was on me.

I was the one who told her to hide there.

I mean, what kind of idiot brings a healer to the frontlines? So I told her to stay put and support me from behind.

I wanted to check on my assistant's condition before the fight to see if he was still capable of fighting or if I would have to handle this mess alone.

That's why I had teleported here first.

Now that he was okay, I turned my gaze toward the enemy.

The shadowy fucker.

Time to see what kind of screwed up trouble I managed to land myself in this time.

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