CHAPTER 1060: BACK AGAIN

The tension lingered in the air even after Jessica’s words, like smoke refusing to clear.

Everyone still sat in their position, as though the fragile hope Adrius had planted might shatter if they moved too quickly.

Erend finally rose from his chair, his hands resting on the table for a moment before he straightened.

"So I think we should get moving," he said firmly. "Adrius will prepare what he needs. I think Captain Adrien and Billy make sure security around the candidates stays tight. No one goes in or out of that wing unless it’s absolutely necessary."

Adrien gave a short nod. Billy’s expression hardened with grim resolve.

Jessica lingered in her chair, her gaze drawn toward the door as though she could see through the walls to the infirmary.

"Marcus Vollen..." she thought, the name now sounds heavier than the others. If he was truly the tether, then everything rested on him.

Adrius stood as well. His calm presence was a stark contrast to the urgency now filling the room. As an experienced Mage he needs to keep his composure even in any situation.

"I’ll need several hours to collect my equipment from another world. The materials are delicate and some of them I must handle personally. Do not attempt to begin anything before I return. I will need Erend’s help to go back and forth from my world and here," Adrius said.

"We won’t," Adrien assured him. "But be as quick as possible. Erend, you accompany him."

Adrius and Erend give a curt nod.

Adrien looked to Erend and said, "If this goes wrong, it won’t just be the experiment on the line. You know that."

"I know," Erend replied. His jaw tightened. "But if we do nothing, the entity will only grow stronger. This is the only way forward."

Jessica stood then, pushing her chair back with a scrape.

"I’ll check on Marcus myself," she said, her voice steadier than before. "If he’s the focus of this, I need to see him."

Billy frowned but didn’t argue.

"Don’t go alone," he said. "Take someone with you."

Conrad rose immediately.

"I’ll go," he volunteered.

Jessica gave him a grateful nod, and together they left the room, the door shutting softly behind them.

That left Erend, Adrien, Billy, Adrius and Thomas who had kept silent since the start.

Erend finally moved toward the window to see the yard outside. His reflection stared back at him in the window glass, dark eyes filled with determination, but shadowed with worry.

"We’re almost walking blind in this," he thought grimly. "One wrong step and the entity will know and it will be harder to track them again."

Behind him, Adrien and Billy exchanged a glance.

They could read his silence well enough. None of them spoke further. The weight of the coming hours pressed down hard.

Far across the compound, in the quiet infirmary, Marcus Vollen stirred faintly in his bed. Nobody noticed him.

His breathing quickened, his fingers twitching as if grasping something unseen.

For a moment the air around him rippled, like heat haze bending reality itself.

Then it stilled, leaving only the young man sleeping peacefully again as if nothing happened.

Erend sighed, then looked at Adrius.

"Are you ready?" he asked quietly.

"I am ready," Adrius replied with calm certainty.

Without another word, Erend stepped beside him and raised his hand. A portal of swirling light opened before them.

The two of them walked forward together and in an instant they vanished inside. The portal sealed shut behind them, leaving no trace of their departure.

Thomas exhaled heavily, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

The weight of it all pressed on him harder now, realizing how many layers of danger were hidden beneath what once looked like a good and smooth-sailing experiment.

He turned to Adrien and Billy.

Billy caught his expression and smirked faintly.

"You’d better get used to this," he said. "This won’t be the last time something like this happens."

Thomas gave a bitter little laugh, already knowing Billy was right.

"Yeah... I think I need to start preparing myself too," he muttered.

Billy raised a brow. "How are you planning to prepare?"

Thomas tapped his fingers against his arm, pondering for a long moment.

"I don’t know yet,sergeant," he admitted. "But I’ll figure it out. Right now, I need to start thinking ahead."

Adrien gave a slow nod.

"Then think fast," he said in his steady tone. "I don’t want to pressure you, but... you know what’s at stake."

"I know, Captain," Thomas answered. He gave a weary smile, half grim and half determined.

With that, the three of them left the room, each heading off to their own tasks with the silent understanding between them that every step they took now mattered so much.

—

Erend and Adrius stepped out of the swirling light and back into Adrius’s chamber only a few minutes after they had left. Both of them exchanged a glance, unable to hide the faint smirks tugging at their mouths.

For all the seriousness of the task, there was something funny about how they kept going back and forth between worlds like it was just another errand.

Lysander was still seated in his chair, a book open across his lap.

His eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw them reappear so soon.

But what truly caught him off guard was Adrius’s appearance. His master now wore unfamiliar clothes that resembled Erend’s clothes, more suited for the other world.

On top of that, Adrius had changed his look as well. He trimming his beard and hair shorter with a subtle disguise spell.

Lysander blinked, then let out a chuckle he couldn’t hold back.

"Master... you look completely different. I almost didn’t recognize you."

Adrius glanced at him but didn’t seem to mind the amusement. His expression remained calm as he walked toward his shelves.

"Lysander, we have a big project ahead of us," he said simply.

That immediately made Lysander close his book and rise to his feet. "What kind of big project?"

"We need to track a very strong and mysterious Magic entity. Something unlike what you’ve ever seen," Adrius said.

Lysander’s brows shot up at that. His mind instantly raced with questions, but for the first time he noticed the faint gravity in his master’s tone that told him this was no ordinary assignment.

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