Lily opened a teleportation scroll without further comment, and they transitioned back to the material world.The launching bed at Julius's inn had already found Rocco, and he was rolling across Lily's mattress clutching his broken nose when she emerged from the secret passage. Blood covered his hands, and his eyes were watering from the impact."Hold still," Lily said, moving to retrieve a healing potion from her storage.Marco stopped her with a gesture. "He already used one before."Lily put the potion away without argument and settled beside Rocco on the bed. When he heard her voice, his broken nose suddenly became irrelevant. He forgot the pain entirely and began talking in a continuous stream."I learned three new dishes today and they're actually not terrible and I was worried you were going to be tired from the rescue so you shouldn't run around doing dangerous things and next time I'll handle it I promise and did you eat properly and are you hurt anywhere?"Lily listened with

"Will you stay with me?" Sofia asked, and her eyes held something that made the question heavier than a practical one.Marco found himself talking directly into a corner with no exit that didn't break something. He knew it. But he answered anyway."Yes," he said. "I'll always stay with you."Sofia's expression shifted immediately, tears disappearing as abruptly as they'd arrived. "Then I'm hungry. Lydia didn't feed me during the entire captivity, and I'm starving."The shift was so sudden that Marco almost laughed. One moment she was a devastated princess learning of her family's death. The next, she was simply a girl who wanted food.He took her hand and led her out to find something to eat.On the way downstairs, Sofia asked about Father Dominic. Marco explained that Father Dominic had suspected him of being a rebel spy, had refused to open the gates until he could verify Marco's identity. It was reasonable caution given the circumstances."He left you in the city?" Sofia asked, sur

Julius's expression hardened into something cold and calculating. "The planes. The Eight Great Families control significant dimensional resources. By letting the rebellion grind itself down through its own losses, Constantine avoids direct military confrontation. When the Pratt family finally steps in to crush what remains, they inherit those plane resources without direct cost.""The Eight Great Families are winning on paper," Lily said, understanding the trap. "But they're bleeding out in the plane wars. Their Third Transition fighters are redeployed away from ground battles.""The siege at Stone Moss City only ended because Louise's forces were needed elsewhere," Julius confirmed. "Constantine isn't losing because his strategy is weak. He's winning because his strategy is efficient."Lily's hands clenched. "Should we do something about an emperor colluding with the Hell Sect?"Julius stood slowly, his expression settling into something almost amused. "Let him be. Constantine is pro

The table was hit again, harder this time. Wood splintered slightly under Marco's fist.Sofia cried. Real tears came, not from anger but from something deeper and more painful. "When the Hell rift closed, I believed I would never see you again. I thought you were dead. My heart broke, Marco. Do you understand that? And now you're going to walk into a plane that suppresses power and puts you in danger and you agreed without even knowing what it meant."Her voice broke on the last word.Marco's resistance to Sofia's real tears was approximately nonexistent. He pulled her against his chest and held her while Lily observed quietly that she appeared to be redundant and excused herself from the room. The look she gave Marco carried its own complete sentence about his inability to make decisions and his tendency toward emotional manipulation, whether intentional or not.Late that night, Marco knocked on Lily's door.She opened it slightly drunk, wearing thin fabric that left nothing to imagi

Julius faded back into the darkness, leaving Marco to continue forward. The tunnel widened into a larger chamber where a Ratman general waited. This one was massive for its species, nearly three meters tall, with a Wolf Fang Mace that gleamed with embedded magic.The general roared and charged.Marco sidestepped the initial swing, the mace crashing through stone with devastating force. He countered with an overhead slash that the general barely blocked.For approximately forty-five seconds, they exchanged strikes. The general was skilled and strong, its mace moving with precision despite its size. But it was still just an Early Second Transition fighter facing someone carrying divine blood and three Holy Swords.Marco's blade found an opening and cut through the general's arm. The Wolf Fang Mace fell, and the general stumbled backward.By the time the general realized what had happened, it was already dead.The surrounding Ratmen scattered, their confidence shattered by the loss of th