"Perhaps there was a different way to do this..."

  Her short reddish hair emits embers, the same color and temperature as the burning barracks beneath her feet.

  "But my level is insufficient, if getting out of here means not completing my regressions, I'll take everything that could be of use to me."

  Her current level, level 361.

  "After countless regressions, I understood that level 380 is the level where my future is not compromised. I can still continue, until I reach my limit."

  She distances herself from the place by flying, leaving behind a barracks in flames. All the sentinels who were there have died because of her, for her sake.

  "This is quite unusual."

  The man stops reading his book and looks out the window. "Of all the places to hide, why here?"

  "Three moves."

  "Hm?"

  "You'll understand soon."

  As the man rises from his seat, Coldness Divine is inches from him. In the first move, his wrist is damaged, preventing him from holding his dagger properly.

  "Kuh..."

  The second move, his hand is stabbed by his own dagger.

  "Hah... Damn... Is this how it ends?"

  In the third move, the fan is a decoy, a needle of fire pierces his stomach and then explodes inside him.

  The leader of the barracks is dead.

  She removes the storage ring from his corpse, collecting all useful items into her own ring and keeping only one of them.

  "This fan has accompanied me and will accompany me today."

  With it in hand, Coldness Divine remembers all the events that will never happen. After sighing, she leaves the room and kills a sentinel three rooms away. Unlike the barracks leader, no one else is worthy of two moves.

  She makes no more killings because she has achieved her goal.

  "It's time to return."

  Her former dao protectors were the first to die, knowing their location in advance, she wasted no time in eliminating the others. She directly started the next part of the plan and destroyed a barracks, then headed to the next one to obtain her new fan.

  All these events led her to the present, to the conclusion.

  After reaching level 380, Coldness Divine flies in a specific direction. Unlike her previous regression, no one is chasing her. No one knows who is attacking them, it will be too late when they find out.

  After whistling, an eagle lands on her hand.

  "Go, make sure no one sees you."

  Ruk takes flight and then slows down in the distance, after finding his target, he begins to fly in circles.

  "Not much longer, Lawrence."

  +++

  Lawrence spots the shadow on the ground and makes a small signal with his hand, Ruk immediately understands and moves away from the area like any bird in this subspace. There is no further interaction.

  "Hah, it's time."

  Casually stretching his body and once ready, without hesitation, he escapes using a third of his mana. He does not know if someone is watching him, but if they really are, they will hardly be able to catch up after his unexpected move.

  A minute later, he stops and creates a Dimensional Rift.

  In an instant, a shadow flies towards him. He manages to exchange glances with her, a sincere smile reflected on her face, before seeing her enter the Dimensional Rift in the blink of an eye.

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  No more than three seconds have passed, but it's all over.

  Coldness Divine has successfully disappeared from the Unquenchable Fire Brothel.

  Moments later, he feels the presence of someone behind him, Lawrence looks in that direction and clicks his tongue.

  "I knew I was being followed! What? Do I owe you something? The administration promised you wouldn't interfere with my daily life, I'll report this!"

  The presence does not respond, simply hiding until it is no longer perceived.

  "Tsk."

  Annoyed, Lawrence returns to the path and heads to the main administration building. He then becomes aware of an alarm, just hearing it makes him go pale and he enters the building a bit calmer than before.

  "I want to file a report, I've been followed..."

  Lawrence recounts what happened with a more passive attitude, showing that he has nothing to do with the alarm or the attack on the brothel. The worker nods politely and heads to an office, later returning with three people by his side.

  "Mr. Lawrence, please come with us."

  "..."

  Lawrence swallows hard. 'Shouldn't have spoken ill of them?'

  His demeanor and expression show he is suspecting for the wrong reason, ensuring he is innocent of whatever he is being accused of and that if he has to apologize, he will, because now that he thinks about it, being followed isn't so bad.

  When he discovers that has nothing to do with the real problem, he gets angry.

  "Do you think I'm hiding her in my ass? Look at me, do I look like I can fit a woman in my pockets? Of course not!"

  "Please calm down, Mr. Lawrence, these are just routine questions."

  "Don't tell me to be calm! I am calm!"

  Even users of sacred magic can get angry, so although Lawrence looks exasperated, he is much more harmless than other dao protectors when they get angry.

  After a series of questions and checking his storage ring, they transfer him to a cell. Yes, a dark cell. Although he is so cooperative, he is treated like a criminal, if there is anything good, it's that the room isn't as bad as he thought.

  Meanwhile, the underground city of Agares is in a state of total chaos.

  A barracks has been exterminated, not even the ants were spared. No one can testify about what happened, it's unbelievable how no one was able to escape or send a distress signal. But this wasn't enough, when a barracks tried to offer help, they discover their leader's corpse in his room.

  Is the enemy silencing them in the shadows? Until the culprit is found, they refuse to offer help. Time passes and an alarm is raised at the barracks, the investigations just begin.

  From then on, they slowly piece together the puzzle. All clues begin to point to Coldness Divine and her surroundings.

  +++

  For two days Lawrence remains in the cell, until he receives an unexpected visit.

  "Dark Root... I didn't think you were the type to visit prisoners in jail."

  Dark Root, the rumored high-ranking figure of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel, looks Lawrence up and down and then sighs.

  "Before anything..."

  He casually snaps his fingers, and then two men appear on either side of Lawrence.

  "W- What the hell...?"

  "Don't resist."

  The next second, a magic artifact is placed on his forehead, and Lawrence feels his mana being forcibly sucked out, but not only that. A strange entity circulates through his body at high speed, it's only an instant, but he feels a terrible urge to vomit.

  As soon as the artifact completes its task, in a hurry Lawrence gets up from the bed and heads to the toilet. Thanks to his high level, he doesn't need to eat large amounts of food, so he only vomits transparent liquids.

  Dark Root ignores this and checks the magic artifact.

  "Level 507... sacred magic... Hm... No innate ability."

  Uninterested, he throws the magic artifact back to his men and personally orders them to deliver it. When the door closes, they are left alone in the cell.

  "Long time no see, Lawrence."

  "Bluagh!"

  "..."

  Lawrence takes a few seconds before recovering from the strange discomfort.

  "You already did that damn test when you hired me, the result won't change no matter how many times you do it."

  Wiping off the saliva, Lawrence remembers that day as if it were yesterday, since that time he also vomited like he did now. In fact, it was worse, his level was lower than it is now.

  "I know, I know. You can't blame us, another bitch disappeared and coincidentally this one also went through your hand. If you want to blame someone, blame your bad luck."

  "Tsk."

  Lawrence looks resentful, but inwardly he is relieved.

  That magic artifact was none other than the one used to discover the innate abilities of the people who work in this place. The first time, he foolishly allowed himself to be evaluated by the artifact without knowing its purpose. After learning it, he broke into a cold sweat.

  Lawrence swallows hard. 'Thank God the magic artifact delivered the same result...'

  He doesn't know why his innate ability Dimensional Rift can't be identified by ordinary magic artifacts, but he can deduce thanks to whom it is due.

  Thanks to the evil sect Abyss Soul.

  "Do you have any idea why her?"

  Lawrence snaps back to his senses with Dark Root's question. "She and Serene Will have something in common. An extraordinary innate ability. The same reason I chose them."

  "True, but like them, we have one or two every two years. They sell well, but at the end of the day, they're just like all the others."

  Lawrence thinks for a few seconds and then says: "Each ability is unique, maybe they needed that specific ability?"

  "You're not wrong, even I thought twice after learning about her ability, but it takes time and resources to nurture her... Someone who needs to repeat a day until they succeed, huh."

  Dark Root thinks for a few seconds, but too many people come to mind. From someone taking a risky step on their Way to a pill refiner unsure of success. Anyone could fit the conditions.

  "Let's change perspective. Both are dead, but how? Why?"

  The conversation continued for long hours until someone knocked on the door.

  "Your request has been granted, sir."

  Dark Root stands up from his seat and smiles.

  "Did you hear that? You owe me a damn bottle of wine."

  It takes a few seconds for Lawrence to understand, once he does, he cheerfully gets up from the bed, and they walk out of the cell together. In a way, Celestial Firmament and Dark Root are the closest he has to friends.

  Though the thread that binds them is so thin that it could easily break.