The Royal Capital had barely begun to breathe again.
The echoes of the spatial magic that consumed Captain Fuegoleon Vermillion still vibrated through the cracked stone walls, low and continuous, like a bruise humming beneath the surface of reality.
Asta was the first to stop running.
"Asta?" Noelle called behind him.
He wasn't listening.
His entire body froze as a violent shudder rippled through the sky above them—
a pulse of spatial pressure so sharp and so unbalanced that it felt like the air itself screamed.
The earth trembled beneath their feet.
Leopold staggered.
"N–No… that mana…!"
Noelle gasped as her mana skin flickered involuntarily.
"It's… him."
Asta turned slowly, eyes wide, jaw clenched.
"Fuegoleon?"
Noelle swallowed hard.
"That pressure—it's the same mana signature we felt earlier… but it's collapsing!"
They sprinted.
The Royal Capital blurred around them—burned stone, shattered towers, undead remains scattered like debris from a nightmare.
Another surge hit them.
BOOOOM.
Like a magical heartbeat trying to restart itself.
Asta's legs moved faster on instinct.
"Hurry!"
Leopold's breath came broken and uneven.
He wasn't saying anything.
He couldn't.
Because he could feel it more clearly than either of them.
A fire that once burned like a sun…
now flickering like a candle in a storm.
His brother.
His pride.
His unshakeable north star.
He whispered, voice cracking:
"Please… just be alive."
Noelle forced her mana forward, trying to stabilize her senses.
"This spatial distortion doesn't feel like the one that took him," she said, voice shaking.
"It feels like recoil—like something forced him back."
Asta shouted:
"Meaning he's here?!"
Noelle didn't answer.
She couldn't.
Because another magical tremor rolled through the capital—
this time closer, cleaner, sharper.
Like a shattered gateway trying to open again.
And then, without warning—
He appeared.
Directly ahead.
Collapsed in the middle of a broken plaza.
Fuegoleon Vermillion's body lay facedown on the stone, unmoving, a pool of blood spreading beneath him like a dark crimson flower.
Noelle screamed:
"FUUEEGOLEON-SAMA!!"
They ran.
Asta's breath tore through his chest.
Leopold's heart felt like it was cracking in half.
But before they reached him—
something strange happened.
The air itself seemed to hesitate.
A thin, pearly layer of mist whispered across the plaza.
Not the natural kind.
Not dust.
Not steam.
Something controlled.
Something intentional.
Something too smooth to be accidental magic residue.
Noelle slowed first.
"Asta—wait—this mist…"
Asta skidded to a stop.
"Huh?"
Leopold felt the hairs on his arms rise.
"This isn't Fuegoleon's magic."
And he was right.
Because the mist was not coming from the ground.
Nor from the spatial tear.
Nor from Fuegoleon.
It drifted behind a shattered pillar—
circling like a quiet tide
around the Captain's collapsed body.
Asta moved to push through—
—and the mist shifted.
As if it sensed him.
As if it didn't want to be touched.
Before Asta could react, Noelle grabbed his arm.
"Asta—DON'T!"
"It's not a natural spell," Leopold said through clenched teeth.
"Not royal. Not fire. Something is hiding him!"
Asta's hands shook on the hilt of his sword.
"You mean someone is TAKING him?!"
Noelle nodded, face pale.
"Someone else is here."
Asta raised his sword.
"I'll cut through—"
He never finished the sentence.
Because suddenly—
the mist contracted.
Not outward.
Inward.
As if pulling everything toward the center.
And inside that mist—
something moved.
A figure stepped into the distorted haze surrounding Fuegoleon.
Black suit.
Black gloves.
Black mask.
Emotionless?
No.
Controlled.
Measured.
Calm in a way that didn't belong on a battlefield.
A man they had never seen before.
A shadow without origin.
A presence without mana.
He didn't even look at them.
Not once.
He simply knelt beside Fuegoleon
under the cover of his mist
and gently placed a hand near the Captain's neck—
checking pulse.
Asta took a single step.
"HEY! YOU—!!"
The masked man finally reacted.
His head turned slightly—
just enough to glance in their direction.
No killing intent.
No threat.
But something far more chilling:
Recognition.
Not of their identities.
But of their presence.
As if he expected them.
As if he was already several steps ahead.
And then—
Reality bent.
The mist collapsed inward
like a heartbeat reversing itself.
A soft distortion spread outward from the masked man,
pulling Fuegoleon's body with it
as if they were sinking into an invisible pool.
"A spatial spell?!" Noelle shouted.
Leopold lunged forward.
"STOP!! THAT'S MY BROTHER—!!"
Asta swung his sword, anti-magic surging.
But they were all too late.
The masked figure lifted his hand—
the slightest motion—
and the mist surged like a wave.
A white flash erupted.
And both he and Fuegoleon vanished.
The mist scattered into nothing.
Silence crushed the plaza.
Asta stared at the empty ground, sword trembling in his hand.
"No… no no no no—where did he go?! WHO WAS THAT?!"
Noelle shook violently.
"He wasn't an enemy from the Eye of the Midnight Sun…
Their mana isn't that quiet."
Leopold fell to his knees.
His fists clenched so hard they bled.
"Why…
why would someone take him…
NOW…?"
Asta turned to Noelle, voice rough:
"That guy…
he moved like he already knew what was happening."
Noelle swallowed hard.
"I think he did."
Asta clenched his teeth.
"Then we'll find him.
No matter what."
But he didn't realize…
They never would.
Because the masked man didn't exist in their world.
Not as far as their senses could reach.
Not as far as any mage's eyes could see.
Only the shadows knew him.
Only the mist protected him.
And he had already taken a dying Captain
to the one place no one would follow.