The alley fell eerily silent after Sylph's dissipated motes faded into the dead air. The tremors of battle had ceased, replaced with the soft rustle of debris settling. Lencar exhaled slowly, releasing the remaining tension from the fight. His mana circuits still buzzed, not with exhaustion, but with exhilaration. The Void Weaving Discipline was stable, functional, and powerful.
A breakthrough bought through a spirit's fury.
He stepped toward Yuno, who lay unconscious amidst broken stone and ash remnants from Catherine's spells. Yuno's breathing was even, unbothered, calm—still showing that uncanny natural affinity toward mana that defined him.
'Even unconscious, he's terrifying,' Lencar thought.
He knelt down beside him. Yuno's grimoire lay just centimeters away, open to a page flowing with gentle wind illustrations.
Lencar reached for it.
The moment his fingers brushed the cover, he sucked in a breath.
Wind mana spiraled, swirling around his hand, curious rather than hostile. It didn't reject him—but it did not welcome him either. The bond between grimoire and mage was strong, but Lencar's replication magic wasn't dependent on approval.
All he needed was contact.
"Replication Magic… Absolute Replication."
A ripple shot through his grimoire. Pages stirred like they sensed prey. The blank domains inside it glowed with amber-gold veins, hungry and ready.
Then—
His grimoire touched Yuno's.
A pulse of energy burst outward, though silent and contained, like two hearts synchronizing for a moment.
Yuno's grimoire resisted. Faintly. Automatically. Its natural defense kicked in, wind mana swirling in a protective cocoon.
But against Lencar's Absolute Replication—the version that directly devoured grimoires—it had no chance.
The wind cocoon shattered like thin glass.
Lencar's grimoire absorbed the wind mana signature—
But then something unexpected struck him.
A pulse different from wind.
A starry vibration, like distant constellations flickering behind his eyes.
Lencar froze.
'Star… magic?'
He had already known, thanks to meta knowledge, that Yuno would eventually awaken star magic. But sensing it now—feeling its latent gravitational resonance—it felt like touching the framework of the world itself.
The absorption completed.
Yuno's grimoire dimmed.
Lencar pulled away, eyes widening slightly as he opened his own grimoire.
Two new sections had formed.
One swirling with emerald wind patterns.
The other etched with faint glowing star sigils.
He let out a low breath.
"So I gained both."
Wind and star—two forces that should not coexist so neatly, yet his grimoire fit them comfortably, molding them into its structure. His replication magic was evolving, strengthening with every devoured text.
He whispered, "Good."
Then he closed his grimoire and looked at Yuno.
His expression shifted—soft, unreadable.
'He is important. Far too important to kill. And… I need him alive for the path ahead.'
Lencar reached into his grimoire again.
A blank page floated forward, shimmering into existence.
"Reverse Replication."
The blank page dissolved, reconstructing the complete, untouched, original form of Yuno's wind grimoire. A perfect replica created from the devoured data.
The recreated book fluttered gently, exactly like the original. Its wind aura was weaker—for now—but that would fix itself once it reconnected with its user's mana.
Lencar placed the recreated grimoire on Yuno's chest with care.
Then he stood and surveyed the ruined alley.
The zombie horde still roamed the outskirts. The tremors had decreased but not ended. More undead wandered toward this direction, drawn by the earlier bursts of mana.
'If I leave him here, he'll be swarmed.'
Lencar sighed.
"Fine."
He extended his hand and opened a dark ripple under his feet—a shadow, woven with the new Void discipline to stabilize the jump.
"Umbral Traversal."
He dipped into the shadow and emerged far across the city, stepping out into a deserted, broken street where no undead were in sight.
The collapsed buildings created natural chokepoints, perfect for defending if needed.
He placed Yuno gently onto the ground.
Then, with swift, practiced motions, Lencar cleared the area.
Wind magic sharpened and sliced through the slow-moving zombies.
Space distortions crushed tightly packed groups.
And shadows pulled several stragglers into suffocating folds.
He was efficient, clinical, and silent. Within minutes, the street was cleared.
He sat down beside the unconscious Yuno and finally allowed himself a moment to rest. His mana core pulsed steadily, knitting damaged circuits back together. His mana reserves, though not depleted, were strained.
Minutes passed.
His breathing steadied.
The night sky above the ruined district glittered despite the smoke drifting through the air.
'Rebecca should be safe with Mariella posing as me. The restaurant too. Good.'
He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
When he opened them again, his mana was restored.
He stood and walked back to Yuno.
The recreated grimoire glowed faintly, responding to Yuno's stabilizing mana.
"Time to finish."
Lencar gently lifted the boy and placed him near the entrance of a safer street—just outside a territory patrolled by Golden Dawn members. It wasn't long before he sensed a familiar mana signature approaching.
A Golden Dawn mage—the one who had been fighting nearby.
Lencar stepped into the shadow just in time.
From his concealment, he watched the member rush forward.
"Yuno! Hey! Are you alright?!"
The member checked his pulse, then sighed in relief.
"He's alive… thank goodness."
Yuno's grimoire fluttered beside him, reacting faintly.
Seeing that the mage did not sense anything wrong, Lencar nodded to himself.
'Perfect.'
He turned away and sank into a nearby shadow, letting the darkness swallow him whole.
The night wrapped around him as he vanished from sight.
His work here was done.
Wind and star magic now flowed in his veins.
His grimoire had grown again.
And the arc of destiny—at least in this moment—had shifted ever so slightly.
He whispered to himself as he moved through the shadows of the ruined capital:
"The next phase begins."