[...!]

Looking around, Laura's clone constantly scanned the surroundings, then glanced back at the floor.

The markings drawn in chalk here!
This is the spot, right!?
Then I just devoured it precisely!
Laura's sorrowful expression quickly shifted to one of grievance.

The opponent knows of the evil god's existence and can see it—Aslan.
Therefore, it was expected that Laura would not let her guard down.
She had prepared an attack that could not be countered.

While mana cannot be used, what would happen if Laura’s clone suddenly fell from the sky?
It can’t be blocked.
No, they probably wouldn’t even know it was falling until the shadow loomed over them.

Although Sylvia had displayed a remarkable feat by suddenly drawing the sword from Aslan's neck and crushing the stone golem,
the stone golem could regenerate infinitely until at least tomorrow morning.
So, binding Sylvia’s feet wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Now, all that remained was to force Aslan to kneel in the designated spot and feed him to Laura’s clone.

However, what Irene didn’t anticipate was the appearance of another being with tremendous strength.
She believed she had blocked all foolish attempts with the barrier.
She never expected someone other than Sylvia, who could hide in the shadows and possess overwhelming strength, would appear.

Thus, Irene was rendered helpless, bound by the magical tool, unable to escape.
And together with Aslan, they were swallowed into Laura’s mouth.
They were embarking on a long journey.

[...!!]

Then I’m not at fault, right?
I just followed the plan and threw my body when Irene signaled.
If I were to be blamed, it would only be for following the plan too well.

[...!]

As Laura watched Sylvia struggling against the stone golem and the little green-haired girl,
she quickly shrank down to the size of a human hand.
Then, she began to scuttle across the floor, quickly escaping and vanishing.

'Oh no! The evil god has run away!'

Emilia, who had been hiding below the stairs, widened her eyes at the sight.

She had said to just scream a bit downstairs!
Everything would go smoothly!
But what is happening now!?
Her sister disappeared, and the evil god ran away!

'I don’t know! From now on, it’s every man for himself...!'

Emilia immediately turned around and began descending the stairs silently.
Although they were in the middle of a battle with the stone golem, her footsteps were so quiet that even Sylvia wouldn’t notice.
Having trained by sneaking into the dining hall at night to steal snacks, her movements were near mastery of stealth.

'See? I was totally against attacking Count Vermont!'

What should she do now?
Irene, who had boasted that simply feeding Aslan to the evil god would solve everything, had disappeared.
Aslan had also vanished, but his knight and the other forces were all safe.

So what will happen to Tales now?
Imagining it for a moment made Emilia’s face go pale.

'It’s destruction! Destruction! The demon lord's army will come!'

Tales is finished!
The enraged Vermont forces will come rushing in after losing their master!
She has to escape quickly!
Before that terrifying necromancer, dark knight, and undead legion arrive!

First, she needs to go to her father and let him know it’s an emergency...!

“Ugh!”

Thud!
As Emilia dashed out through the back door and ran down the forest path, she collided with something and fell backward.
It seemed she couldn’t see well because it was already dark outside.
Rubbing her throbbing forehead, Emilia cast a flash spell.
At that moment, a small light source appeared before her, shining brightly.

“Snap!”
“Eeeeeek!!!”

Before her, a skull appeared, rapidly clattering its jaw.
Emilia’s face turned pale, and she quickly retreated.
An overwhelming sense of fear surged over her, but her powerful instinct for survival moved her faster than her frozen body.

'I’m going to die! I’m going to die! I’m going to die! I don’t want to die!!!'

Without looking back, Emilia began to dash down the steep mountain path.
Although she had never engaged in vigorous exercise and had been raised delicately,
her desire to live drove her body to flee down the dark and rough mountain trail.

In an instant, Emilia reached the bottom of the mountain.
Thinking that would be enough, she looked back and saw the skull she had encountered earlier was nowhere to be found.
It seemed she had successfully shaken it off.
Just as Emilia was about to let out a sigh of relief...

“Clatter! Crack!”
“AAAH!?”

With a rustling noise from the darkness, dozens of skeletons suddenly emerged, quickly surrounding Emilia.
At that moment, a silver-haired girl appeared from behind, tilting her head.

“That’s strange. I clearly heard you were kidnapped…”
“Oh, that… um… the Count saved me! I escaped quickly!”
“Then where is Aslan now?”
“T-the Count is…”

Emilia’s mouth began to close slowly as she tried to fabricate a lie.
With a blank expression,
or rather, with a face that seemed to be smiling, the two blue eyes gazed at her.

Those eyes weren’t curious;
they had a mysterious gaze as if they could see right through her mind.
They seemed to know everything already.
Faced with the necromancer's sharp gaze leading the undead legion, Emilia froze.

“Hmph. Are you giving up on your excuses? How boring. Skeletons, bind Emilia.”
“Clatter!”
“Ahhh!”

At the necromancer’s emotionless command, the skeleton soldiers moved without delay.
Sitting down in front of the approaching skeleton soldiers holding ropes, Emilia felt the shadow of death closing in.
The undead army would deal with her here, and then head towards Tales Island.

Ah! Tales is really finished now!

It’s dark.
It’s cold.
Trapped in a world of pure darkness, floating without a place to stand,
if I didn’t know where I was, I would surely panic, filled with vague fear.

‘This is the place connected to Laura’s clone. The Shadow World, huh.’

This is inside Laura’s disguise...
No, it’s the ‘Shadow World.’

One of the evil god Laura’s powers.
It is to possess another world that is separate from the real world.
That said, she is not an absolute being who can create and manipulate the Shadow World as she pleases.
She can only control the entrance and exit of the Shadow World.

So what is this Shadow World?
To summarize in one word, it’s a nightmare.
The memories of those who fall into the Shadow World play back in a jumbled mess like a broken videotape.

‘Irene must have thought she could find out what schemes I was plotting by pushing me into this place.’

Thanks to the eavesdropping, I grasped all of Irene's strategies.
Pushing me into the Shadow World,
she planned to extract only the desired information from the chaos of replaying memories.

But Irene’s plan had completely fallen apart.
She should have been observing my memories as a spectator in the real world,
yet now she was adrift in this darkness with me.

“Oh, what a benefit! Aslan, you little brat…!”

Clank, clank.
I could hear the sound of chains rubbing as Irene’s voice began to come through.

“What did you do to me!? Where is this place?”
“Why ask me? You should know best, sister.”
“Ah! No way!? Ahhhh! Lady Laura, seriously! You should have seen what’s down here before eating me…!”

At first, she seemed confused, still not fully aware.
But soon she figured out the situation and began to wail.
Then she quickly focused again on breaking the handcuffs.

“It’s useless. It’s a magical tool that even Sylvia’s strength can’t break.”
“Then I’ll just rip your arm off…!”
“Are you sure? If you release the handcuffs, you’ll become lost here?”
“...!”

Perhaps startled, Irene made a hiccup sound.
The clanking of the chains also ceased.

This place, the Shadow World, is a space unbound by the physical laws of the real world.
In the real world, the handcuffs only physically bind us.
But in the Shadow World, they serve as a magical tool that binds us magically.

If Irene is well-versed in the Shadow World, she knows what it means to be lost here alone.
If she can’t find a way out,
even if her body returns to the real world, her mind will never come back and will end up as a shell.

‘Of course, I don’t have that worry.’

But for Aslan, who is loved by the evil god, it’s a different story.
This place is also within Laura’s influence.
So, this world cannot harm me.
While it may be impossible to find a way out, at least I won’t end up as a shell spending the rest of my life scribbling on walls.

“Damn it…”

Realizing that fact, Irene bit her lip and held onto my hand.
Ah, her grip is too strong.
Even if the handcuffs come off, she clutches my fingers as if she won’t let go, causing my finger bones to creak.

“So what’s your plan…? To mess with me like this. What’s next? Are you going to leave me here and escape alone? I won’t let you do that.”
“No. Since we’re already here, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to take things easy for a bit.”
“...What?”

The Shadow World recklessly replays the memories of those who fall into it.
So what if two people fall in?
The answer is simple.
The memories that the two share will be replayed.

In that case, I’ll be able to figure out what happened between Aslan and Irene in the past.
If I’m lucky, I might even find out the location of the neodymium.

“Hey, hey!? Aslan! What are you doing…!?”

I began to swim, waving my arms and legs through the pitch-black space.
Then, a light started to seep from the end and began to wrap around us.
Irene, panicking, tried to grab my arm to pull me back, but it was already too late.
The light had transformed into a rapidly passing image, engulfing us.

“Ugh...”

I opened my eyes at the sound of Irene’s moan tickling my ears.
This place is... the Vermont mansion?
It certainly seemed to be the mansion I knew, but the atmosphere felt oddly different.
The corridor felt much gloomier and more ominous.

And at the end of that corridor,
I saw the familiar back of a girl that sent chills down my spine.

“Ugh.”

A young Irene.
That small girl was kneeling,
secretly peeking through the crack in the door.