I took a deep breath, organizing my thoughts.

Everything I had learned from the mage was now imprinted in my mind the Eclipse Movement, the Civil War, and the looming shadow of the Morningstar Act.

My thoughts swirled between the possibilities of what would happen if Eval succeeded.

Was he truly a revolutionary, or was he simply guiding the world into another catastrophic war?

I couldn’t ignore the truth I had no illusions that change, especially on the scale Eval seemed to envision, would come without bloodshed.

Whether it was his supporters or his enemies, people would die.

Cities would burn.

I sighed, rubbing my temples.

“This world is built on conflict. Nothing ever changes without war.”

“You and your people fear another Eclipse Movement, another civil war. You think Eval is reckless, dangerous. But tell me, what would happen if things stayed the same? If the nobility and magical organizations continued ruling as they pleased?”

The mage didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he let out a dry chuckle.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” he muttered. “I follow orders. I am sure I have already told you about that...”

I frowned. That kind of answer irritated me.

No conviction, no real belief, just blind loyalty to an organization that had decided for him.

Basically, the battle against the change so that the change would bring no death.

I grabbed the rope binding his wrists and pulled him up.

He stumbled slightly but managed to stand, his eyes narrowing at me.

“So, now that you know everything, are you still going to let me be free?”

I was about to answer, still unsure myself, when a sudden, deafening explosion shattered the morning silence.

The ground trembled beneath us, and a wave of heat and force sent me staggering backward.

Dust and debris filled the air, and I instinctively raised my arm to shield my face.

My heart pounded as the roar of destruction echoed through the forest.

I whipped my head around, trying to locate the source of the blast.

Smoke billowed from a point not far from the cave, rising into the sky like a dark omen.

The captive mage’s expression shifted from cautious curiosity to pale-faced dread.

He knew something I didn’t.

I tightened my grip on his bindings.

“What the hell was that?”

He hesitated for a moment, then muttered under his breath,

“They found us.”

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I cursed.

Of course, they wouldn’t just let one of their mages disappear without sending someone to investigate. But an explosion this big? This wasn’t just a search party.

This was an execution squad.

My mind raced. I needed to move. Staying here was suicide.

I turned to Sacril, who had already positioned himself defensively, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings. He let out a low growl, his body tense, ready to react at a moment’s notice.

I had two choices—run and try to escape with the captive or face whoever had come to silence him.

Neither option was ideal.

The smoke thickened, and I could hear faint, distant voices. The enemy was approaching.

I clenched my jaw.

No time to hesitate.

I had to act now.

As I moved to leave the cave, a big explosion launched me to a tree away from the entrance of the cave.

My vision blurred for a moment, my ears ringing from the explosion.

It took me about five to ten seconds to come back to myself, and the first thing I felt was the sharp, searing pain in my left hand.

Blood dripped steadily from a deep wound, staining the ground beneath me.

I groaned, pushing myself up with my right arm.

The air was thick with dust and the acrid scent of burnt flesh.

My gaze shifted to the side, where the mage I had captured had been moments ago.

What was left of him barely resembled a human body anymore.

Chunks of flesh were scattered, charred and unrecognizable.

His torso had been ripped apart by the sheer force of the explosion.

One thing was certain—he was dead.

I swallowed hard, pushing aside the nausea that threatened to rise in my throat. Whoever had attacked us didn’t want him talking. That much was obvious.

“I did not have a chance to learn about his name.” I thought, but then quickly understood right now there is not the time to be thinking about such things.

I staggered to my feet, forcing my body to stabilize.

My magic pulsed through me, instinctively trying to slow the bleeding in my hand.

Then I saw them.

Elenora stood a short distance away, calm and composed, as if she had been watching everything unfold without an ounce of concern.

Around her, several figures in matching star-symbol masks stood in silence.

Their presence alone was enough to make my body tense.

I clenched my jaw. “Elenora.” My voice came out sharper than I intended.

She met my gaze with an unreadable expression. “

You never needed to make contact with them.”

I let out a short, humorless laugh.

“Is that so?”

My eyes darted between her and the masked figures. I never expected the attackers to be Elenora and her team.

I thought they were the team members of the captive mage, coming to rescue their people.

“I was attacked. I lost my captive. My goddamn hand is barely holding itself together. And you’re telling me I never needed to make contact?”

Elenora didn’t flinch at my words. If anything, she seemed indifferent to my pain, my situation.

“You were told to meet with us, not to get involved with the enemy. And yet, you still did.”

I took a step forward despite my injuries, my frustration bubbling beneath the surface.

“I was attacked before I even had a chance to ‘interfere,’ Elenora. So why?”

She let out a soft sigh, as if this conversation was tiresome to her.

“Because we can’t risk a man like you,” she admitted.

“A potentially powerful mage, one who could shift the balance in the future, siding with the enemy.”

My blood ran cold.

That was it? That was the reason?

I wasn’t a threat now, but in the future? They were trying to eliminate me before I could even choose a side?

I exhaled slowly, my mind racing.

“You’re telling me that I was hunted down not because of what I’ve done but because of what I might do?”

Elenora nodded.

“That’s exactly it.”

I stared at her, my hands curling into fists despite the pain.

The sheer audacity of it, the way she spoke as if it were a simple truth, sent anger burning through my veins.

They weren’t just trying to control the present.

They were trying to control the future.

And I was just another piece on their board.

I gritted my teeth, my magic flaring instinctively around me.

If that’s how they saw meif that’s how they feared me then maybe they weren’t wrong about my potential after all.