Chapter 252: I Will Make It Fast

I stared at Lily, narrowing my eyes as I tried once more to scan her using the system. Nothing came up. Not even a class, level, or name tag. Just blank.

She said she carried a part of Azalea’s soul… so what was she, exactly? A fragment? A puppet? An avatar? I couldn’t tell. But whatever she was, she wasn’t normal.

My mind spun as I pieced together everything she’d told us.

In the end, it all traced back to Azalea. She was the one who let the Phantom inside her. She was the one whose failed fusion led to the creation of Deathmist. It wasn’t the Holts or the Contractors, at least not originally. They were just scavengers picking up the pieces.

But what truly disturbed me was the implication that this realm wasn’t as secret as I thought.

If the Ferans knew about it, chances were they told others too. Maybe even sold the knowledge. That might’ve been how the Contractors got involved. The Holts… I still didn’t know how they managed to claim this place.

Then a thought hit me, and I turned to Lily.

“Lily, have you ever left this realm?”

She answered in that soft, calm voice. “No. I’ve always remained here.”

I frowned. “Then how do you know the Ferans successfully developed a transformation method?”

She’d said it so clearly, so confidently. But according to her story, the Ferans had stolen Azalea’s research and escaped. It should’ve taken them years—maybe decades—to turn it into something functional.

So how did Lily know they succeeded… if she’d never seen the outside world?

Lily chuckled, low and bitter, before responding.

“I didn’t leave the realm. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t come in.”

I frowned. “Who?”

“The Ferans,” she said calmly.

I went quiet, stunned. That hadn’t even crossed my mind. I had assumed they stole the research and never looked back. But of course… why wouldn’t they come back?

Lily continued, her voice sharpening.

“They returned—for the rest of the research. Maybe even to take control of the realm itself.

Erase the evidence. They’ve always feared the Nagas in this Galaxy. And now that the method was a success, they wanted no trace left behind. But it was their arrogance that gave them away. They bragged about their ‘invention’—loudly.”

She hissed with anger.

“They were also the reason Iris and Rose fell. The Phantom grew stronger by consuming their fragments. But this time… we killed every single Feran that stepped into the realm. All five of them.”

I blinked hard.

‘Damn.’

The Ferans weren’t just some random enemy of Azalea—they were the root cause of her entire downfall.

First, they ruined Azalea’s experiment, then they came back and triggered the loss of two of her soul fragments.

I turned toward Ana. She met my eyes, but there was confusion in hers—like she wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

Then Steve broke the silence.

“But… how did they even get back in if Azalea controls the realm?”

Lily glanced at him.

“They broke in. Just like the first time. And again the third time—when they brought the people you now see outside.”

My heart pounded as I nearly shouted, “Wait. The people outside… the ones running the prison… they were brought in by the Ferans?”

Lily nodded.

“Yes. They brought the humans in. They created the portals for more of them to come in.”

I clenched my fists.

The Holts were brought here by the Ferans.

That flipped everything on its head. I’d thought the Ferans were victims—based on what Arkas told me. That they were captured and the Holts were trying to take advantage to make some kind of deal.

But if Lily was right… then they weren’t just victims. They were part of this. Either playing the Empire—or planning to carve out a piece of our world for themselves.

My jaw tightened.

No. I had to know.

My perception spread out covering the entire hall. I kept my eyes locked forward and whispered under my breath.

“Freeze.”

Essence flared invisibly. Ana’s body went stiff below the neck.

“Billion?” she called out in shock.

Steve looked at me, tense.

I didn’t look at her. I kept my voice calm.

“Ana… how much do you know? Be honest with me. Were you really captured? Or were you pretending?”

Because now the worst-case scenario was starting to seem possible.

What if Ana was a plant? The Ferans had known all along about the serpent guards, the castle, the research—and sent someone to watch over it from the inside.

I had only ever heard that the Ferans were the ones being experimented on. But in the prison, I hadn’t seen a single Feran—not one. What I did see were Nagas, locked up, used like lab rats. That alone made me question everything.

And then there was Ana’s story.

What if it was just that—a story?

It started to seem possible.

What if the Empire had been fed false information? What if the Holts had never captured any Ferans? If the Emperor believed that, he’d do anything to avoid conflict—maybe even invite the Ferans into our world to maintain peace.

And the place where I met Ana—that was no accident either. It was Dahlia’s pocket realm. The only reason I even got in this hall was because I used a teleportation circle hidden in space, one I could see only because of my runes.

But Ana claimed she just… fell into that one? That her elder had been trying to teleport her out of the realm and somehow she ended up there?

The more I thought about it, the more anger began to churn in my chest.

Ana looked between Steve and me, then finally spoke.

“I didn’t know anything about this, Billion. All of this… it happened before I was even born.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The next question I was about to ask would reveal everything I needed to know—one way or another.

Opening my eyes, I looked at Lily and asked calmly, “Lily, is there any way to enter this pocket space without the teleportation circle?”

Her response came softly, tinged with sadness. “No. That is the only way.”

I pressed on. “Is Dahlia also in a pocket space? And if so, how is that accessed?”

Lily nodded. “Yes, she is. Her space is sealed in the same manner—only accessible through a hidden teleportation circle like this one.”

Before I could respond, Ana’s voice rang out, sharp and frantic.

“No, Billion—don’t listen to her! She’s lying! She hates the Ferans. She’s just making things up!”

I thought back to how I had entered Dahlia’s pocket realm. There was the pool. Then the crab. Then the tree. Inside the tree, hidden deep within its trunk, I had found the teleportation circle. I used it to transport myself into the hut where Dahlia slept.

Compared to the hidden teleportation circle in open space that led to Lily’s pocket realm, the one that brought me to Dahlia could barely be called hidden.

I remembered clearly—I had followed the rats that were spying on me. They led me straight to the tree, the portal, the pocket space.

That meant I hadn’t stumbled upon it.

I’d been invited.

“How convenient,” I muttered with a bitter chuckle.

I turned my head and locked eyes with Steve.

A few seconds passed in silence—heavy, charged.

Then Ana’s voice broke the tension, frantic and desperate.

“Steve, please—don’t trust her! I don’t know anything about this, I swear!”

Steve exhaled slowly and stood. A low hum filled the air as lightning crackled across his hand. His sword materialized in a burst of blue sparks.

He turned toward Ana.

She was still kneeling, completely frozen below the neck—trapped by my command.

Steve stared straight into her eyes. His voice was low, calm.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it fast.”

His grip tightened on the hilt.

Then, without hesitation, he swung his sword directly at Ana’s neck.

Creation is hard, cheer me up!