On the outward journey, Victor kept his water dome active, avoiding passersby who came too close.

In the center of the village, half a dozen people gathered by the magical well that regularly supplied them with water, waiting their turn to fill their jugs.

Some inhabitants chatted cheerfully among themselves. What Fabio failed to notice was that no one was talking about how the infamous Derick had passed through the village yesterday.

Victor took advantage of his passage to silently refill the well, as he had been doing for the past month.

He sighed lightly, knowing that if they didn't find another solution, the village would soon have another problem besides Lilith.

After an hour of discreet walking, Victor and Fabio reached the edge of the desert, where Fabio's house stood. They hadn't encountered any anomalies in the process… except for the sophisticated cabin that had appeared in front of his house, guarded by an unknown man.

Both avoided the cabin and circled the house, moving under the water dome, observing the interior through the open windows.

It seemed Lilith wasn't inside the house.

Instead, Sophie and Hugo were alone in their respective rooms.

Victor gestured to Fabio towards Hugo's room, which was on the first floor, and Fabio nodded.

After the water dome pressed against the house's wall, isolating the room, Fabio entered through the window.

Then, he was able to observe Hugo's mana closely.

It resembled an extensive meadow under a nighttime sky, adorned by a tiny moon whose light formed waves in the sky, like a small white aurora borealis.

Deep in his eyes, the same mana-made stars Fabio had seen in Victor and himself sparkled.

Before Hugo could greet him, Fabio ran towards him and slapped him on the cheek.

Bam.

"..."

After the faint sound of the slap, Hugo looked at him absentmindedly.

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Fearful that it might not have been enough, Fabio hurriedly gave him another, stronger slap on the other cheek.

Bam!

After the second slap, Hugo's vision cleared.

"What...?"

"Hugo... Are you okay now?"

"Yeah..."

Hugo held his face and stared into space as if processing what had happened the last day, until he finally addressed Fabio.

"...There's not much time, we need to quickly get Sophie. Lily just left for her cabin."

Fabio smiled in relief at Hugo, holding back tears of joy.

"Yes... Let's go!"

Fabio peeked out of the window and signaled to Victor that they were going to move.

Victor nodded and moved his dome towards Sophie's room, all while keeping an eye on the cabin guarded by the mysterious man.

The three of them moved stealthily.

When Hugo and Fabio reached the door of Sophie's room, Fabio looked through the keyhole and had a clear view of Sophie, who was humming a song.

Fabio observed with surprise the mana in her body, which for the most part seemed to have no shape or color.

Above her right hand rested what looked like a small wind-formed fairy, coloring the surface of her arm's mana with an ethereal green, like a gentle breeze winding around a paper windmill.

Deep in her eyes, the same star-like mana was embedded, shining fiercely over Sophie's body, filling her with radiant energy.

Her mana was like a blank canvas that Sophie herself could paint.

While Fabio was mesmerized watching her, Hugo put a hand on his shoulder.

"Fabio, let me go in first."

"Oh, sure."

Hugo managed to open the door and approached Sophie walking.

"Hey, Hugo, what brings you...?"

Before she could finish the sentence, Hugo gave her two slaps with the back of his hand.

Sophie fell silent, and Hugo seized the opportunity to land a few more blows.

Bam, bam, bam...!

Fabio, who was watching Hugo pummel Sophie, ran towards them and stood between the two.

"Stop, that's enough, Hugo!"

"Ouch... You didn't have to hit me so many times..."

Sophie rubbed her sore cheeks, looking at Hugo suspiciously.

"Sorry. It was to make sure."

In response to Hugo's explanation, Sophie smiled gently, then looked seriously at both of them.

"You both remember everything, right? We have to get Lily out of here."

"Yes... Victor has come too."

"So, what's the plan?"

"We'll go for Lily now, before she realizes all of this. We just have to prevent her from controlling us... using the same method as now."

"..."

"It's the only way Victor and I could think of..."

Both Hugo and Sophie looked at Fabio, and poor Fabio could only look back at them, secretly happy that both had returned to normal.